HYUNG 6

I felt a bit hungry after using some strength. I wanted to eat something delicious. Not something like school cafeteria food. I felt a bit awkward just sending home a kid who had helped me this far, even if he talks nonsense. Ah, is that place still open? It’s a bit uncomfortable to go back there, but I really want to eat it… I slowly stood up from my seat while searching for the business name on my smartphone.

“Do you have time? I’ll buy you a meal. Let’s go eat.”

“Can’t I buy it?”

“No. You can’t. I’m dragging you along because it’s a bit much to go there alone. Just think of it as lending me your physical presence.”

The guy, who hurriedly followed after me, asked as if pleading. However, I flatly refused. Fortunately, there was information that they were still open. I could go there.

“I’m hungry, so just hurry up and follow me.”

The restaurant was a place that sold Indian curry on the second floor of a building about a ten-minute walk from the Fine Arts building. As soon as I entered, the scent of exotic spices wafted in. Along with a strange sense of anxiety. Surely I won’t run into her here? …She must have graduated.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I didn’t know there was a place like this near the school.”

“I didn’t know either. I last came here during my freshman year, but fortunately, they’re still in business.”

I looked into the menu brought by a waiter who appeared to be Indian. There were many different things.

“What do you want to eat? The tandoori chicken is good here. Ah, you said you can’t eat chicken. Other things are delicious too.”

“I, I want to eat this.”

“This? This has tandoori chicken in it?”

“Still, this one. Hyung can just eat the tandoori chicken.”

“Well, alright…”

The guy, who had spread the menu on the table, pointed earnestly at a set with his index finger.

“I’m definitely going with the couple set.”

The couple set had a good combination since it included tandoori chicken, lassi, naan, curry, and even salad. Still, I wondered if there was a need for such a determined expression.

“Is there anything else you can’t eat besides chicken?”

“No. I eat everything well.”

“Spicy food is okay too? Lamb as well?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll choose the curry on my own. Excuse me!”

I called the waiter and chose Palak Paneer made with spinach and Lamb Korma for the curries in the couple set, butter and garlic for the naan, and mango lassi and plain lassi for the drinks. I stumbled a bit since it had been a long time, but remembering what I had eaten before, I was able to order reasonably well.

“You must like curry?”

“No. I’ve never tried it.”

“Then why are you laughing like that?”

“Just… because it’s my first time eating it, and I’m happy thinking about doing it with hyung. Besides, it’s a couple set… A couple set is, because it’s a couple set… So that means we’re a couple… I think I know hyung’s heart well.”

Is he crazy? His ear tips and the area under his eyes were bright red, and I couldn’t quite grasp those words he poured out shyly while covering his mouth with his hand.

However, I didn’t necessarily have any intention of understanding. You just have to nod along with strange kids like “Yeah, yeah.” Perhaps because it was the College of Fine Arts, this was the know-how I had realized thanks to encountering so many kids with bizarre mental worlds.

“What kind of work are you going to…”

“Ye Hwanoh?”

“…Ah.”

While waiting for the food, the words I brought up to change the subject were cut off by an uninvited guest. I really didn’t want to run into her. I thought she had graduated…

“To think we’d meet here of all places?”

The uninvited guest looked around the shop and the seat where I was sitting with a meaningful smile. …It made sense. This was a place she had told me about, and this seat was the one I sat in every time with her. I just sat here out of habit because it was comfortable; it wasn’t that I couldn’t forget the girlfriend I briefly dated during my freshman year of college. I mean that ex-girlfriend, Hwang Miji.

“Oh, it’s Ye Hwanoh?”

Standing behind Hwang Miji, her friends also made strange expressions. They whispered from behind, but I could mostly hear the voices. Isn’t this your regular spot, Miji? The place you told him about? Could he still be…

“I guess you still come here often?”

Hwang Miji tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled softly. As if I wouldn’t know the hidden meaning behind that innocent smile. I pretended not to notice and smiled back brightly.

“I didn’t know the place my companion asked to come to was here either.”

I’m dragging him in a bit. I’m sorry. I’m buying you dinner today, so let it slide. I’ll even buy you coffee. Apologizing inwardly, I gestured toward Ham Dowon. My X also looked at the fellow. Ham Dowon was blinking with an expression that said he had no idea what was going on.

“Ah, companion? What did you order? A couple set? You used to eat that with me often, too. It’s delicious enough to be unforgettable…”

Hwang Miji leaned over the menu on the table. Her long hair brushed against my nape and shoulder as it fell down, obscuring my vision. A faint scent of perfume wafted over. It was a scent I smelled often when I was dating Miji. It didn’t particularly bring back good memories. It only reminded me of immature, embarrassing times.

I tried to avoid it by pulling my body to the side, but it was insufficient because the space was narrow. Just as her slender fingers passed the menu and were about to touch my arm, another voice intervened.

“Hyung, what size is the canvas you bought today?”

“…Ah, that… Size 50. 50F.”

“Can we stop by the art supply store after eating? I want to buy one too. In 50F.”

“Sure… Do you have other materials?”

“I’m going to buy new ones. I need to buy gesso, brushes, paint—everything. Can you help me carry them?”

“Sure.”

“That’s a relief.”

The fellow smiled brightly, and the employee, who had approached at some point, carefully squeezed through the gap and set down two cups. They were plain lassi and mango lassi.

“Well then, have a nice meal.”

Hwang Miji, who had stepped back, finally walked toward the table where her friends were sitting. I know all too well that she just wants to shake me up without any intention of meeting again. She was always mischievous and spiteful like that.

“Who is she?”

“…Someone I dated briefly.”

“Hyung, do you meet women ‘briefly, briefly’? Is that so? Do you meet everyone ‘briefly, briefly’ like that? Huh?”

“Th-that’s not it. It’s not like I meet everyone only briefly…”

Why is he so grumpy? I tried hard to understand. Right! He might have heard someone he really liked, an old girlfriend, call him someone she ‘briefly’ met. Even so, it wasn’t fully convincing, but let’s let it pass generously. If I try to understand a strange kid, I’m the only one who loses out. I just laughed, “Haha!” but the fellow only crumpled his expression further.

Ham Dowon glared at me with narrowed eyes while slurping, slurp, slurp, on his plain lassi. There was no way the sight of him slurping a drink like a child would feel threatening. It was a bit absurd, but since someone younger than me—and especially someone who looks like that—was doing it, it was almost to the point of being cute, so I handed him a napkin.

“You got some on your chin again.”

“Where?”

“Here.”

Since he was wiping the wrong spot, I pointed to my own chin to show him the location. However, while he rubbed his chin roughly with a somewhat irritable touch, he managed to avoid only the part where the white drink was smeared.

“I said it’s on here.”

“…Hyung, you wipe it for me.”

Ham Dowon lunged his body forward. Even though he had his lower lip pouted out. I don’t know what he suddenly got cranky about. To even ask me to wipe it. He was a guy more difficult to handle than my younger brother in high school.

“Are you a baby?”

“Hyung, do you hate young things?”

“Whether you’re young or not, what does that matter?”

“So age doesn’t matter to hyung, because it’s me.”

The fellow suddenly beamed. He’s saying strange things again. Since I know from experience that mixing more words with kids who have bizarre mental worlds only leads to exhaustion, I just quietly wiped his chin with the napkin.

“As expected, hyung likes me.”

It was for the same reason that I didn’t bother to challenge that confident voice.

“Did you eat well?”

“Yes. What about hyung?”

“Yeah. It was delicious eating it after a long time.”

Since two grown men devoured it, the meal ended sooner than expected. That was even though my nerves were on edge in case Hwang Miji talked to me more. I felt a bit like I had lost because I had another delicious meal at the restaurant she told me about. Ah, how childish.

“Let’s stop by a cafe before going to the art store. Do you like bubble tea?”

“Yes. I like it. What about hyung?”

“Of course I like it.”

I must have brought it up first because I like it… At the words “of course I like it,” Ham Dowon chuckled, saying, “Ah, as expected, you of course like it!” Seriously… Is he crazy? Even in America, where I encountered all sorts of people, there wasn’t a kid like this.