HPK 97

“What brings you here?”

A police officer approached the car entering through the main gate and asked for the purpose of the visit. Taejung, who was leaning his left arm out on the window frame while running a hand through his hair, answered indifferently.

“To report a rally.”

“Excuse me?”

For a moment, a look of bewilderment crossed the police officer’s face. His eyes quickly scanned Taejung and the Urus he was in. However, the officer, who must have been trained from dealing with all sorts of public complaints, soon managed his expression. He took a step back and extended his arm toward the inner parking lot.

“You can enter this way.”

The car, which had been briefly stopped, passed through the main gate and smoothly pulled into an empty parking space.

“What do you mean, report a rally?”

Wooseung, who was sitting in the passenger seat and had been listening to the conversation between Taejung and the police officer, asked.

“It’s fun.”

It’s not fun at all… Wooseung could not for the life of him understand Taejung, who was an expert at the kind of pranks that made others uncomfortable. He could have just said he was there for a civil complaint.

No, coming all the way here together in the first place was a bit strange.

“Would you like to wait here? I just need to give this and come back…”

Wooseung sent Jaemin a text message saying he had arrived. Not long after, someone walked out from the building’s entrance. The shuffling, characteristic gait immediately told him it was Jaemin.

“Oh… there’s my friend. I’ll go and be right back.”

Wooseung picked up the shopping bag he had placed at his feet. And he pulled the handle.

Click, click. But no matter how much he pulled the handle, the door wouldn’t open. Thinking it might be because of the lock, he tried unlocking it, but it was still the same. Only the click sound repeated over and over.

He belatedly realized that someone was playing a prank on him. It was obvious who was behind it, even without looking.

“What.”

As soon as he turned to look, Taejung mischievously raised his eyebrows. Just as expected, his finger was near the door lock button.

“Why are you being like this again?”

“Like what again?”

Wooseung furrowed his brow at the tone that seemed to say, “What did I do?”, drawing out the end of his words. He had wondered if something had upset him again, but seeing his gently curved lips, it seemed to be nothing more than a simple prank.

He could see Jaemin standing at the main gate, looking around. It seemed he was doing so after seeing his text message saying he would wait at the main gate.

“My friend is waiting.”

“So what.”

His catchphrase, which he had heard so often it wouldn’t be strange if his ears had calluses, came out again. So what, and so, what.

Wooseung wondered why he had insisted on following him all the way here just to bother him.

This place was the police station where Jaemin worked. There was absolutely no reason for Taejung to be with him.

Jaemin, who used to go down to Daejeon at least twice a month, must have been very busy lately, as he hadn’t come to his family home at all last month or this month. As it became more frequent for him to hang up the phone in less than a minute, Jaemin’s worried mother contacted Wooseung. Upon receiving the text message, Wooseung had gone down to Daejeon two days ago. And he had gone with Taejung.

He had thought it was strange enough back then…

On behalf of Jaemin, he had explained the situation in detail to his mother and had come back with a load of side dishes and nutritional supplements. He was on his way to the police station where Jaemin worked to deliver them, but Taejung had insisted on giving him a ride and had tagged along again. The man who usually spent his mornings and afternoons sleeping, of all people.

“…Do you know how truly childish you are?”

At the words that finally burst out after he couldn’t hold them in any longer, Taejung laughed with a “Ha.” Not missing the opportunity, Wooseung unlocked the door. When he quickly pulled the handle, the door finally opened with a thud. A gust of hot air rushed inside, making his hair flutter lightly.

“I’ll be back.”

He quickly slammed the door shut with a bang before he could be stopped. Taejung’s face, staring as if in disbelief through the closing door, was quite a sight. Wooseung smiled faintly and immediately ran toward the main gate.

“Kim Jaemin.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

Jaemin rubbed his forehead with his palm and squinted his eyes. He had said he’d been working overtime for several days in a row, and his complexion was definitely not good.

“This. Your mother asked me to give it to you.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Jaemin took the heavy shopping bag and looked inside. Wooseung pointed to the nutritional supplements inside one by one with his hand and explained. It was what Jaemin’s mother had asked of him, even packing a share for Wooseung.

“She said to take this one before bed and this one on an empty stomach as soon as you wake up.”

Magnesium, multivitamins, probiotics. The shopping bag contained various kinds of nutritional supplements. While reciting what Jaemin’s mother had explained, Wooseung also relayed the message that it was a three-month supply, so he should call her right away when he runs out.

“You said you landed a big one, is that why? You look really unwell…”

Fatigue was layered upon fatigue on Jaemin’s face, with dark circles under his eyes. “Yeah, well. Ahem, I guess so,” he replied, scratching the back of his neck vigorously with his palm. The sound of his dry skin being rubbed could be heard.

“I’m heading in. Thanks for this.”

Jaemin gave a small lift of the shopping bag and turned around right away. Then, with long strides, he quickly moved away and disappeared into the building. It seemed it wasn’t a lie that he was busy. Seeing that his face looked even worse than the last time.

Wooseung avoided the people entering and exiting the building and went back to the parking lot. He had wondered if Taejung might have gotten sulky and left on his own, but the flashy yellow car was still in its spot.

As he opened the passenger door, a stream of cool air poured out. It was mixed with the perfume Taejung often wore, making the tip of his nose feel cool.

Taejung was staring intently at Wooseung, with his arm resting on the steering wheel and his left cheek resting on top of it.

“A man? Or a woman?”

“…A man.”

“Hmm.”

With an unintelligible sound, he slowly raised and lowered his eyebrows. But it didn’t seem to have been a particularly important question, as he soon straightened up and pressed the accelerator.

Wooseung gazed at the police station building receding in the distance outside the window, then sent a text to Jaemin’s mother.

He wrote that he had delivered it safely, and that while he looked tired from working overtime, he didn’t seem to be sick.

Wooseung had not lived a very long life, but he had spent most of it in circumstances that were not easy. To be honest, he had never once felt the emotion of enjoying leisure or being bored because he had too much time on his hands. It made sense, because even apart from the financial problems, his home had always been in turmoil.

But lately, Wooseung had so much time on his hands that he found himself pondering trivial thoughts like what the difference between boredom and leisure was.

He spent most of his day with Taejung, but since he wasn’t one to sleep much in the first place, he found it hard to take naps during the day after quitting his job. So he always had to spend the daytime hours when he was sleeping, alone. There wasn’t much to do. He mostly watched TV or played on his phone, but he got tired of that too after doing it every day. The occasional drives to the suburbs with Taejung were the extent of his outings. The life of a person without a hobby is this monotonous.

Wooseung wandered aimlessly around the living room before turning his steps toward the dining room. He opened and closed the refrigerator for no reason and looked at the liquor displayed on the shelf. Regardless of the fact that Taejung didn’t drink much, gifts of alcohol were always coming in for him.

Looking at the whiskeys neatly arranged on the wooden display shelf, he naturally recalled that day. The day he had calmed down Taejung, who wanted to play a drinking game, and the two of them had drunk together.

“…That one was tasty.”

Wooseung muttered to himself and, without realizing it, picked up a bottle of whiskey. He turned it back and forth, admiring its unique shape. The almond-colored liquid sloshed inside the bottle. He didn’t particularly like whiskey, but the one he had drunk with Taejung back then was quite good.

When you hold it in your mouth, your tongue flinches, surprised first by the strong taste. Next is the sensation of it scratching its way down your throat with a burning heat. If you can endure the first one or two glasses, the heat soon spreads from your temples, and from then on, a strange feeling sets in, as if your brain is submerged in warm water.

The worries and troubles that weighed on his shoulders become like insignificant dust, and a sense of euphoria, as if he could do anything, fills his entire body. His heated breath craves more alcohol, and his laughter becomes more unrestrained with each glass he throws back.

“…”

As he was blankly staring down at the number ‘40%’ on the package, his hand suddenly felt empty.

“Oh, a thief.”

A voice, low from just having woken up, echoed from behind him. The whiskey that had been slipped from his hand was placed back on the display shelf.

“I should report you.”

At the same time a thick arm wrapped around his waist, a heavy weight settled on his shoulder.

“…I was just looking.”

“You were about to drool.”

Wooseung unconsciously raised his hand and wiped the corner of his mouth. Taejung, who had buried his lips in his shoulder, laughed. The light tremor was transmitted directly to him.

“If you’re going to drink, we should drink together, you cheapskate.”

“You don’t drink, President.”

“But I’ll drink with you?”

He lightly set his teeth and nibbled on his nape and shoulder. It didn’t hurt, it just tickled. Wooseung smiled faintly and said, “That tickles,” as he hunched his shoulders.

At that moment, the arm wrapped around his waist tightened with great force.

“Ah…!”

As he twisted his body at the feeling of his breath being caught, Taejung chewed on his earlobe as if telling him to stay still. The wet sound resonating so close gave him goosebumps on his arms.

“Are we going to do it?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s do it after we wash up. I haven’t washed up yet.”

“If you dry my hair.”

Smooch, smooch. Taejung said so while planting kisses on his small ear. Wooseung thought it was a very him-like answer and nodded his head in agreement.