PA 47

With the dream-like concert in Paris as his last, Yejun announced a temporary suspension of his activities. Thanks to the active help of the members, Yejun was able to leave with a relatively light heart, without being conscious of the chaotic situation around him. He spent some time in a town in the south of France with beautiful scenery, and then, without any notice, he boarded a ship bound for Spain.

How much time had passed? Feeling stuffy inside the ship, Yejun got up from his seat and went out onto the deck. Perhaps because it felt like he was floating in the middle of the endlessly vast Mediterranean Sea, a smile naturally spread across Yejun’s lips. A briny, sea-scented breeze coolly brushed past Yejun.

Yejun wanted to share his overwhelming feelings from looking at the magnificent scenery with someone. At the same time, the image of Junhyuk lying on a grassy field with a beautiful campus in the background came to his mind. Yejun’s gaze fell into the jet-black sea, its depths impossible to fathom. Yejun bit his lip gently, holding back the tears that kept trying to escape.

[Where are you from?]

Yejun turned his head at the sound of unintelligible words coming from nearby. He was startled by the sight of a man standing closer than he thought, looking at him, and took a step back.

[Where are you from?]

“I can’t speak Spanish.”

Yejun tried to withdraw from the spot by saying he couldn’t speak Spanish. He thought that by doing so, he would get away from the unfamiliar white man. However, that assumption was splendidly wrong. The man persistently followed Yejun and kept talking to him.

[I just want to be friends with you.]

“……”

[Hey, why are you being so stiff?]

“Leave me alone.”

Yejun kept showing his dislike by saying he wanted to be alone, but the man was unyielding.

[He said he doesn’t want to.]

It was then. A tall, bronze-skinned East Asian man cut in between Yejun and the white man and spoke threateningly.

[Who do you think you are….]

“This guy is bothering you, right?”

“Huh? Yes.”

The East Asian man spoke to Yejun in Korean for a moment, then looked down at the white man intimidatingly. The man looked back and forth between the two, who seemed to be speaking the same Korean language, then subtly backed away.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah… thank you.”

“Sometimes there are people who look down on you just because you’re from out of town.”

“It seems so.”

“My name is Han Gyeongchan.”

Gyeongchan extended his hand, asking for a handshake.

“Ah… my name is Lee Yejun. Thank you so much.”

Hidden in Gyeongchan’s face was a friendliness that revealed itself when he smiled, his eyes curving like crescent moons. Yejun chuckled without realizing it and replied a beat later. As they introduced themselves, they learned they were the same age and decided to speak informally with each other, and from then on, Gyeongchan talked nonstop. Yejun sat quietly on a chair listening to him, but he eventually dozed off, nodding his head as sleepiness washed over him.

“Yejun.”

“Huh?”

“You should wake up a bit.”

“Ah….”

“As you know, there are a lot of pickpockets in Europe and….”

“Thanks. Ah… ah.”

Gyeongchan chattered on from behind, nagging Yejun. But it was only then that Yejun noticed the small bag he had been holding in his arms was gone.

“Gyeongchan.”

“…What?”

“My bag is gone.”

“Sigh…… Yejun, I think you got pickpocketed.”

Gyeongchan let out a big sigh and spoke to Yejun. Yejun looked around for his bag, but he couldn’t find it anywhere.

“Ah… the money I needed for a while and my passport were in there….”

“Your departure date isn’t something like the day after tomorrow… right?”

“No. I’m staying for a year.”

“Let’s get off first.”

The ship had already arrived at the dock. Yejun, who got off the ship with Gyeongchan, took out the cell phone he had put in his jacket’s inner pocket.

“It’s a good thing I didn’t put my phone in the bag.”

“I know, right?”

Gyeongchan looked at Yejun’s phone and let out a sigh of relief, while Yejun was flustered, not even having money for a bus right away. Just then, Gyeongchan put a hand on Yejun’s shoulder and made a suggestion.

“Should we grab a late lunch together?”

“Ah… sorry, I lost all my money.”

“I’ll pay for now, so you can pay me back later when you get money.”

“Ah… about that.”

“My stomach feels like it’s touching my back. So let’s go, quickly.”

Gyeongchan, who laughed heartily, had no qualms about expressing his thoughts openly. Bragging that he knew Barcelona well, he confidently promised to find a great restaurant and began to lead the way.

Yejun felt like he had eaten his fill for the first time in a very long while. He purposely stepped out of the shade and into the dazzling sunlight. Gyeongchan came out of the restaurant slowly and spoke in a satisfied voice.

“How was it?”

“It was delicious.”

“See. I told you it would be delicious.”

Yejun didn’t find the very smug Gyeongchan to be all that annoying. He picked up his phone and looked for the address of the place he had rented long-term from Korea.

“Where are you going now?”

“I’m heading to my lodging.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s in the center of Barcelona, so I think I can walk. Where are you going, Gyeongchan?”

Gyeongchan slung on his backpack with a look of disappointment and said.

“I don’t know, I have to find a place to stay now. Oh… and it takes about a month to open a bank account in Europe. It’s different from the banks in Korea.”

“Ah… really?”

Yejun was in a bind because he had lost all the money he needed for the time being.

“For now, use this and pay me back later.”

“Uh….”

Gyeongchan said as he slipped some money into Yejun’s pocket.

“Ah, no.”

“Take it, you’re not in a position to be picky right now.”

“Ah… Gyeongchan, how long are you planning to stay here?”

“That’s not decided either.”

Yejun, who had been hesitating and thinking for a moment, looked at Gyeongchan and carefully began to speak.

“Then, instead of borrowing money from you, let’s share the lodging with me.”

“Won’t that be uncomfortable for you?”

“Ah… it has two rooms. So I don’t think it’ll be that uncomfortable.”

“Really? If you’re okay with it, I’d love to!”

Gyeongchan accepted Yejun’s offer without much thought. Then he continued to chatter on and on.

Yejun reached the lodging while conversing with the landlord via messages. In front of the building stood a very persnickety-looking old woman holding a key.

[Are you the landlord of this place?]

Yejun tried to converse with the old woman using a translation app.

[Are you Mr. Lee?]

[Yes, that’s right.]

The old woman seemed relieved at Yejun’s somewhat neat appearance. She handed over the key and said something or other in Spanish. Yejun couldn’t understand a single word, but it seemed to roughly mean that he should be careful with the house. After pouring out a torrent of nagging like that, the old woman turned and left.

“Let’s go in.”

“Okay.”

Opening the door and entering the house, there was a kitchen immediately to the right. Past the kitchen was a living room with a small terrace.

“Yejun, you pick a room first. I’ll take what’s left.”

“Okay.”

A hallway appeared past the living room, and Yejun put his luggage down in the large room at the end of the hall and shouted loudly.

“Gyeongchan, you use the room in the middle of the hallway.”

“Got it.”

Yejun flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a long time. The house was old, but it seemed to have been kept very clean. Staring blankly at the ceiling, Yejun felt himself slowly getting sleepy from exhaustion, and his eyes fluttered shut.

☂︎

7 years later.

“Are you really not going to Korea?”

“No.”

Gyeongchan hovered around Yejun like a puppy that needed to go out, speaking as if he were begging. But Yejun focused on making coffee with a nonchalant expression.

“It’s the grand prize in a screenwriting contest, for crying out loud.”

“So what?”

“A movie is going to be made from your script.”

It took Yejun a little over a year to be able to use Spanish passably. He had enrolled in a language school with Gyeongchan and focused solely on the language for almost a year and a half. After that, he had to spend another year getting qualified for university admission. Having completely withdrawn from his Korean university, he then entered the University of Barcelona and majored in film studies.

[Your coffee is ready.]

[Thank you.]

A woman with flushed red cheeks couldn’t even make eye contact with Yejun and, just taking the coffee, quickly left the cafe.

“Hey, the customer is leaving. I’ll clear the table.”

“Check the book numbers and put them back properly. Don’t just stick them anywhere again and make a customer have to look for it.”

Gyeongchan only learned Spanish and did not go to university. Instead, he opened a book cafe in the center of Spain. Before graduating, Yejun worked part-time at the book cafe while attending school, and even after graduating, he worked at Gyeongchan’s cafe while freely writing movie screenplays or TV drama scripts.

“Who’s the boss and who’s the employee here? At times like this, you’re the boss, Yejun.”

“Got a problem? Should I quit?”

“N-No, you can’t do that.”

“Then….”