JKA 27

“Because I can teach you.”

“…”

“It’s not, not difficult at all. You’re good, uh, at making videos too. You’ll learn in no time.”

Jiwoon spoke with a confident look in his eyes for a change. From what he had observed, Hanbyeol was good at video editing. Since editing for YouTube has its own particular style, it would probably take some time to adjust, but if he taught him, he was sure to do much better than himself.

I should ask sunbae right away. Jiwoon thought, taking out his cell phone and starting to send a message to Seungyoon, while Hanbyeol gazed blankly at him. Jiwoon, who kept pulling his hoodie down towards his face as if it bothered him, had at some point forgotten about it and was just showing his face.

He had known Jiwoon for a little over a year, since his freshman year, but it was safe to say this was the first time he had properly seen Jiwoon’s face. In a single day, he had cut off the hair that made one worry if it wasn’t stuffy, and they had had a longer conversation than all their previous ones combined.

In Hanbyeol’s view, Jiwoon was just shy, not a bad person. Because Jiwoon was so quiet and avoided looking people in the eye or hanging out with them, many people said bad things about him behind his back. Things like he looked gloomy, or that he seemed like a bit of a strange person.

Since he didn’t hang out with the students in his department, Jiwoon didn’t seem to know about such rumors, and even if he did, it didn’t seem like he would actively step forward to explain himself. A few of his classmates had even asked Hanbyeol why he hung out with Jiwoon. They said he seemed like a strange kid, and asked if he wasn’t going to get into some strange trouble by taking care of him too much. Each time, Hanbyeol had simply said that Jiwoon just had a hard time making friends, and that he wasn’t that bad of a kid. Everyone would then nod and move on, but honestly, they didn’t look completely convinced.

And then, on the last day of the semester, Jiwoon confessed to him. It was bewildering and also overwhelming. Hanbyeol liked that Jiwoon didn’t act burdensome like the other kids. It was also because he spent his time either at school or at his part-time job, so he unknowingly avoided joining any particular group.

It was also because he would get a mix of emotions when he was invited to go hang out here and there. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to enjoy college life. But due to his circumstances, he couldn’t spend his time playing around. Rejecting those offers to hang out every time was also a chore. To be more honest, he was also envious that his other friends were making their own memories without him.

But when he was with Jiwoon, he didn’t have to have those worries. Jiwoon didn’t obtrusively ask if he wanted to go hang out somewhere, nor did he cling to him insisting they eat lunch together. Jiwoon had said he was grateful that he always talked to him and kept trying to have a conversation, but in a way, Hanbyeol himself was using Jiwoon just the same.

Because he didn’t like eating alone or attending classes alone. But he also didn’t want to join some group and feel needlessly alienated. It was safe to say he had chosen a moderately decent person. So Hanbyeol thought that if anyone here had to apologize, it was himself, not Jiwoon.

“You don’t have to push yourself too hard.”

“Wh-what?”

Jiwoon, who was asking Seungyoon if he was still looking for an editor, looked up at Hanbyeol at his words.

“You said it’s difficult for you to ask favors from others, earlier.”

“Th-that’s true, but… this sunbae is r-really close to me.”

“…”

“We’ve known each other since high school, so, I guess you could say he’s my only friend.”

Jiwoon said, smiling awkwardly. A friend, Seungyoon sunbae was a friend to Jiwoon. He listened to all sorts of stories without making a big deal of them, and he even got him the editing part-time job, saying it was a perfect job for him, who was just cooped up in his house.

If it weren’t for Seungyoon, Jiwoon might really still be a person who didn’t know how to do anything. Even entering the film department was half thanks to him. If he hadn’t met him and had various conversations, he would obviously still be cooped up in his room at his family’s home, living as a shut-in.

“What about me?”

“…”

“Am I not a friend?”

“Uh, uh…”

Jiwoon was momentarily stunned by Hanbyeol’s question and couldn’t speak. Then Hanbyeol playfully pulled off Jiwoon’s hood and said.

“Your haircut suits you much better, like I said earlier.”

“…”

“We’ve even talked about things like seeing demons, so count me in as your friend too.”

“O-of course, th-that’s right.”

If you consider me a friend, Jiwoon wanted to say, but that was still too much for him, so he just turned his head away. Hanbyeol looked at Jiwoon’s side profile. How should he put it, Jiwoon’s bare face was definitely different from what he had imagined.

Even when he covered his face with his bangs, it wasn’t like you couldn’t see anything. But with Jiwoon, who had a smaller frame than others, also keeping his head down, it was difficult to see his whole face. But now, seeing his fully revealed face as he cut his hair and looked at him, he felt a strange feeling.

His delicate features and round eyes were quite large. What should I say, maybe that he was pretty? There was nothing good to be gained from saying something like that to a guy, so he just lumped it all together and said that the haircut looked better. And though he couldn’t bring himself to say it, Jiwoon’s face greatly resembled someone he knew very well.

“Thanks.”

“…”

“I’m curious, that sunbae you’re talking about.”

Is it a girl, or a guy? Hanbyeol wondered, but he stopped himself from asking. And around that time, the bus he needed to take arrived, and Hanbyeol waved his hand to say goodbye to Jiwoon.

“Contact me, okay?”

“Uh, uh…!”

Jiwoon said, getting on the bus and awkwardly waving his hand towards Hanbyeol, who was sitting by the window. How long had it been since he’d said goodbye like this, or was this the very first time? It probably wasn’t the very first time. Because he used to say goodbye like this every time his brother went back to school.

The bus made a loud hissing sound as the air brakes released and quickly moved away from him. Jiwoon kept waving his hand until then, and only after the bus was very far away and completely out of his line of sight did he awkwardly lower his hand. Then, strangely, his eyes welled up with tears, and he unknowingly pulled his hoodie back on and started walking towards home.

‘Like I said before, my mom is not well. She started getting a lot worse right around when I started high school. Because of a cerebral infarction…’

He said that while she wasn’t completely unable to carry out daily life, economic activities had become difficult since then. He added that now she had facial paralysis and some difficulty walking, but it was a relief that she was okay to move around at home.

His younger sibling ran the minor errands, and Hanbyeol took care of the rest. They received government support, but it wasn’t enough, so he started working part-time jobs since high school. The barbecue restaurant Hanbyeol worked at was originally where his mother had worked. The store owner felt sorry for Hanbyeol’s family situation and had been employing him as a part-timer ever since.

The pharmacy was the same; he got the job through an introduction from someone his mother knew before. Hanbyeol’s mother divorced her husband early and raised two children on her own. There was no job she hadn’t done, and she had suffered a great deal. Since she was always suffering from overwork, her body breaking down was perhaps a foregone conclusion.

‘My dad. I don’t even want to call him dad, but he’s real trash. So he had a lot of gambling debts, and he also took out private loans, so my mom paid those off too. Even after the divorce, they somehow find you and collect. In fact, it wasn’t just once or twice that that bastard came to find my mom to get money. My mom thinks I don’t know, but honestly, he’s the kind of person who could show up at any time and it wouldn’t be strange.’

Shaking the takeout cup that had only ice left, Hanbyeol looked into the distance. Clatter, clatter. Only the sound of the melting ice clinking was clear.

‘But we lived okay. But about half a year ago, my mom collapsed again. At that time, she was drifting in and out of consciousness, and whenever she came to, she would say strange things.’

‘Like what…?’

‘That it seemed like she could finally do something for us.’

It was a meaningful and strange thing to say. Hanbyeol said he asked what she meant, but each time his mom’s consciousness would fade again, so he couldn’t ask properly.

‘It’s strange, right, for my mom to say something like that on her deathbed. So every time my mom regained consciousness, I told her. That I hated the idea of her dying the most, that there was nothing she could do for us other than staying alive and coming home with us.’

Not long after that, his mom regained consciousness. And then she couldn’t remember anything she had said, and even came home in a similar state as before, without any major aftereffects. Hanbyeol said he had always thought that was strange, until one day he saw a strange sight by his sleeping mother’s side.

‘It was a demon.’

‘…’

‘It was spouting strange nonsense next to my mom. That if she just died it would be a dog’s death, but if she obediently followed him, he would make it so her children would never have to worry about food for the rest of their lives. No, he would make them rich.’

So I grabbed that guy by the collar. I thought it was completely a dream. But it wasn’t a dream. I’m telling you, I thought I was crazy back then. Hanbyeol’s face looked terribly sad as he laughed, adding that.

‘It said that’s what our mom wanted. That bastard said that, that he had presented a fair price. That he didn’t tempt her first, but that he had read her heart. That… those words.’

From then on, the demon began to follow Hanbyeol persistently. Committing all sorts of acts. But when Hanbyeol didn’t yield to any of his temptations, he recently started saying strange things. He said that if he made a contract with him, he would make his mother’s body healthy again, adding that he would never appear before his mother again.

Jiwoon could immediately understand what that meant. For the demon, who had been whispering all sorts of sweet words to get his mother’s soul, to make such a proposal to Hanbyeol meant that he had changed his target to Hanbyeol’s soul.

All the way home after sending Hanbyeol off, Jiwoon thought about the conversation they had. He kept thinking even as he arrived in front of the studio apartment building and climbed the stairs.

‘At first, I just pretended not to know, but these days it’s getting harder and harder to do that. When I think that I don’t know wahen my mom might collapse again, my heart doesn’t listen to me. My sibling is too young, and it’s too pitiful to send my mom off like that.’

‘…’

‘I feel so sorry for my mom. That’s all it is.’

‘Y-you’re not going to do it, right?’

At Jiwoon’s question, Hanbyeol answered that of course he wouldn’t, as if it were obvious, but somehow his expression didn’t look as refreshed as his answer. That kept bothering Jiwoon. What if, as mentioned in the class he took during the day, Hanbyeol at some point came to view the stressful situation of the demon’s appearance not as a threat, but as an opportunity.

Arriving in front of his door, Jiwoon pressed the passcode and entered his home. As he did, the smell of food wafted out, as if 1129 was in the middle of cooking. Taking off his shoes and stepping inside, Jiwoon came face to face with the ridiculous sight of 1129 in a suit and an apron.

1129, as always, clicked his tongue upon seeing Jiwoon and nagged him to hurry up and put down his bag, wash his hands, and come out.

“Were you wearing that fucking hoodie the whole time? Man, you really are…”

“You said you’re supposed to look at a person’s face when you talk.”

“What kind of bullshit is that.”

Are you on drugs, 1129 added, placing the freshly made, steaming rolled omelet on the table. Jiwoon paid no mind to 1129’s sarcasm and said.

“You have to look at their ex-expression and words and stuff together.”