HYUNG 29

Ham Dowon, who took a sip of water with a scowling face, kept spouting things I couldn’t make sense of. I really have no idea what he’s talking about.

“Right, well…”

Only then did Ham Dowon offer a faint smile. However, it was a somewhat twisted smile.

“Hyung, I like movies too. I’m really good at going to watch movies with someone. I’m also good at sitting for a long time, so although I’ve never tried watching two or three in a day, I think I’d like it.”

Is he asking to go see a movie together again? I basically preferred watching movies alone, but it was also quite enjoyable to come out and share impressions. If Ham Dowon intended the same, it wasn’t a bad suggestion.

“Sure. What kind of movies do you like?”

“I don’t really have one favorite… Among the ones I’ve seen recently, 《Things That Can’t Be Helped》 was the best. My noona saw it at a theater in France and said it was decent, telling me to watch it when it opened in Korea, and it was good.”

“I liked that one too! The original title is in French. I heard that if you translate it literally, it means ‘Things That Must Be Done.’ But the Korean adaptation feels too passive, so I don’t really like it. It doesn’t suit the content and theme. Do you like Hollywood movies too?”

“Yes. I watch them often. I like big franchises too.”

“I watch most things. I like horror too. There are actually a lot of funny things in horror. They do a lot of experiments too. My favorite among horror movies is…”

Until the movie began, I excitedly prattled on about movies. It was quite exhilarating to talk about movies after a long time. Then, oops! I stopped talking because I felt like I was the only one chatting away about things my companion might not be interested in.

Ham Dowon was looking at me in a slanted posture, leaning his arm and head against the steering wheel. Ham Dowon’s eyes narrowed and curved softly. He smiled prettily, as if he were trying to seduce someone. Feeling a bit flustered, I avoided his gaze, looked forward, and changed the subject.

“But this is my first time at a drive-in theater. It’s really fascinating. I’ve only seen them on TV.”

“It’s my first time too. I saw it in a movie when I was little and thought I definitely wanted to come here on a date…”

When I was little, I also saw a scene in a movie and thought I wanted to go to Disneyland with my friends when I grew up. I just didn’t know there wasn’t one in Korea.

“Well, do you want some popcorn or anything?”

“It’s okay. I don’t really eat while watching movies.”

“Actually, me neither. Even if I buy popcorn, I end up eating it all during the commercials anyway. Sometimes I buy water, but if the movie is too long, I don’t even buy that. In case I have to go to the bathroom. I watched a four-hour movie last year and thought it would have been a disaster if I had drunk water.”

“That Taiwanese movie?”

“You saw it too?”

“No. I didn’t see it, but I heard about it. My noona said she wanted to see it and that it was good it was being re-released.”

“I want to talk with your noona.”

“Why are you talking about my noona when you’re talking with me right now?”

I just threw the words out without thinking because I thought our movie tastes would be similar, but Ham Dowon scowled. Is he jealous right now? He acts like he doesn’t, but he must really like his noona. Anyway, he was like a child. I quickly changed the topic.

“What time does the movie start?”

“45 minutes past.”

Commercials began to play. I tuned the radio frequency as instructed by the ticket booth. Ah, the sound is coming through. It’s interesting to watch a movie this way. It’s not the best environment for concentrating on a movie, but I felt like I could understand why many people seek it out as a date spot. Since you can sit alone as a pair and talk inside a confined space.

After a beer commercial and an ad for a travel app, the movie finally started. A woman with a melancholy face stared at the screen. She was wearing black clothes, so I thought it might be a funeral, but it was just a scene within the movie. Since the woman was a bit-part actress.

It was a romantic comedy caper where the woman, a bit-part actress, gets cut from another film and dumped by her boyfriend, then impulsively travels to Europe only to get caught up in an espionage case. The actress was a new face to me, but the male actor playing the CIA agent was a familiar face. He was the lead in this director’s previous work.

Perhaps because I didn’t have high expectations, the movie flowed quite interestingly until the midpoint. Watching the woman shoot guns and leap around using the action acting she had learned to get cast, I thought the action was filmed quite well, and as it gradually became more emotional, I felt the romance wasn’t bad either when the woman and man kissed. It was a scene revealing that the misunderstanding between the woman and man, who had been lovers in high school, was finally resolved.

But for a rom-com, the kiss seems quite deep. It feels a bit long, too… Oh, they’re going to the bed. Right, well. That can happen. But wasn’t this rated for ages 15 and up? Was it actually 19? I did think the action scenes were excessively violent for some reason… It is 19. They began to have sex in earnest.

“…Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

I hated being talked to while watching a movie, but since it wasn’t a regular theater and the scene playing out was quite agonizing, I just answered.

“I …like you.”

Ham Dowon grabbed my arm, so I turned my gaze toward him. Ham Dowon, his face slightly pale due to the light from the bright screen, moved his lips and said something. But I couldn’t hear well. It was because the two main characters, who were stuck together, went thud! as they hit their heads against the wall.

He likes what? …Don’t tell me he likes the movie scene playing right now? That doesn’t seem right… I furrowed my eyebrows. Ham Dowon moved his lips and said something else. Now I could hear a bit.

“I think …when I first saw you …seemed.”

What is he saying? When he first saw me? First saw what? …Something like that? Is he talking about when he first saw something like that? Suddenly? Were we that close? Are we at a level to talk about such things? But isn’t now not the time? But first, I want to turn down the volume. It was quite a burden because it felt like the male lead was pouring out rough moans and panting right against my ear.

“I got it. But hold on a second.”

“Is that …the only answer?”

“Huh? What…”

I was a bit flustered as I reached for the volume control button. I turned my eyes to the screen and met the blue eyes of the male actor. I felt gross, as if I had suddenly peeked at someone else’s private business. Ah, they’re doing it for a damn long time. It’s ruining all the good impressions I had earlier. I can never give this more than 3 stars.

“Hyung?”

“Yeah, I got it. Yeah.”

I don’t know what it is, but I just answered quickly for now. Because for the moment, I just wanted to turn down the volume of the moans and gasps—hic, haa, ugh!—noisily filling the car. And as I tried to manipulate the button, Ham Dowon, who shouted “Hyuuung!” hugged me.

“Hyung, hyuuung…”

“Uh, yeah?”

Ham Dowon rubbed his head against my shoulder. As if he were acting spoiled.

“I think …I like you. No, I love you… Hyung, then from today, it’s …right?”

“Uh, yeah. Right. Right.”

Ugh, hic! Ahh…! Why did they film a scene like that? I don’t really know what Ham Dowon is saying, but I just gave a vague answer and fumbled with my hand to find the volume button. And just as I was about to turn the sound down, my hand slipped. Aa-hic! I ended up turning the volume up instead.

While I, startled, turned the volume back down, Ham Dowon bit his lips hard and then slammed his head against the steering wheel. He was exhaling somewhat rough breaths in a hunched posture, so I wondered if he was in pain. His face was red, too, so it looked like he had a fever…

“Are you sick?”

“…I’m not sick.”

“Well, that’s a relief then.”

Ah, it’s finally over. The scene in the movie changed to the next day. Anyone watching would think it was a porno. The star rating in my heart dropped from three to two and a half. No matter how great a spectacle they show afterward, they can’t make up for this.

The final star rating for this movie was 2. It dragged on the whole time after the long sex scene, and even when fancy action came out, it was just boring. I’m not the type to complain about a predictable ending fitting for a commercial film, but because it slipped up in the middle, even that was subpar.

“The action at the hotel restaurant in the middle was decent, wasn’t it?”

Still, I didn’t want to complain to Ham Dowon, who had brought me all the way here and showed me the movie, so I picked out the best scene and mentioned it. He seemed to have his head slammed against the steering wheel the whole time, but when I looked back, Ham Dowon, who had been staring intently at my face instead of the movie, slowly straightened his back.

“I don’t know.”

“Really? I thought that was the most fun…”