ACJY C37

Taeheun greedily piled bulgogi onto his plate, adding plenty of wrapping vegetables and soybean paste. He skipped the side dishes, as nothing particularly appealed to him.

He slid past Yongjun and sat across from the man.

“Eat some meat. I think I got too greedy. There’s a lot.”

Before digging into the bulgogi, Taeheun transferred some to the man’s tray. The man tried to stop him, but since it was already done, he said, “Thank you.”

“By the way, Yongjun, you’re hard to catch around. What do you usually do on weekdays?”

Yongjun hesitated briefly at Taeheun’s sudden question.

“Work, mostly.”

“What kind of work?”

“This and that. Helping with some farming, too.”

“Come on, farming? Just looking at your hands, it’s obvious you don’t do any rough work.”

Taeheun’s blunt remark seemed to offend Yongjun, whose expression hardened.

“Did I come off too harsh? I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m genuinely curious. I’m just hanging around here, bored out of my mind. I even ended up helping Mr. Gibeom with the melon greenhouse work.”

Taeheun’s earnest tone softened Yongjun’s expression.

“I’m usually in town. Playing games at the PC bang, looking up stuff I need, grabbing coffee at a café.”

“Alone?”

“No, I’ve got a friend who runs a business in town. Unless something special comes up, I’m with him most of the time.”

“Man, I’m jealous. Having a close friend nearby.”

Taeheun exaggerated his envy.

“Well, not that close.”

Yongjun glanced at the man, who seemed uninterested in the conversation, and brushed it off.

“If it’s cool with you, take me and Mr. Gibeom along next time. We’ll grab food, have some drinks. I’ll cover the cost, so just let me know whenever.”

“Sure, let’s do it.”

It wasn’t just polite talk. Taeheun was genuinely curious. Yongjun was the only person the man called a friend. He wondered if the man was as shy around Yongjun as he was with him, where they hung out, and what they did together—small things like that.

Perhaps due to his naturally easygoing nature, Yongjun soon dropped his guard and started asking Taeheun questions. Having heard misinformation from the youth group leader, he eagerly asked about real estate speculation, including apartments and commercial buildings. Taeheun, practically an expert in the field, answered some questions directly with jargon, while stalling on others.

While talking with Yongjun, the man didn’t glance their way once. He ate quietly, as if he weren’t even there, a person with his own solid world.

The kid, having nearly finished his food, closely watched Taeheun and Damas talk, excluding his father. He seemed anxious. Who was he jealous of? Taeheun wondered.

The smell of instant coffee wafted around. Church members who’d finished eating were pouring coffee into paper cups. The kid, having cleaned his tray, appeared with a paper cup of soda in both hands.

“Dad, drink this.”

“Thanks.”

The man, still eating, downed the soda in one gulp. Only later, after finishing his meal, did he grab a coffee and sit back down.

Taeheun, with little appetite, quickly cleared his tray. He scraped leftovers into a blue bin and slid the empty tray into a red basin with soapy water. His stomach churned.

By the end of lunch, only women remained in the annex. The youth group leader whispered that dishwashing was the sisters’ job. Yongjun and the leader called Taeheun to go smoke.

“Mr. Gibeom, you coming?”

“Go ahead.”

“What about you, Mr. Gibeom?”

“I’ve got to do the dishes. Jihye, go play outside.”

The man sent the kid out of the annex first.

“None of the other brothers do it. Why just you, Mr. Gibeom?”

Taeheun asked, displeased.

“I’m strong. This kind of work is for strong people.”

The man answered casually.

Taeheun gestured to Yongjun and the leader, waiting outside, to go ahead.

“I’ll help too, then. Don’t hog all the good-guy points.”

Grumbling, he stood beside the man.

“We’re going to heaven together.”

The man gave a shy smile at Taeheun’s words.

Taeheun thought he heard a soft “Yes” in response.

After finishing the dishes, the kid, still in the same clothes, ran off to Sojin’s sister’s place. Yongjun and the youth group leader invited Taeheun for drinks in town, but he made an excuse about needing to drop the man off at home, promising next time.

“I can catch a ride with the elders nearby.”

The man, feeling bad that Taeheun was missing out because of him, repeated himself several times before getting into the car. Even a ride wouldn’t get him far, and he’d have to walk a good distance to his house.

“It’s not because of you, Mr. Gibeom. My stomach’s just not great. Besides, drinks are better at night.”

“…Okay.”

The man’s response was half-hearted, but Taeheun let it slide.

“What do you do when you get home?”

“Some fieldwork.”

“Oh, right. Let’s go.”

It was unusually hot, the temperature exceeding 32°C. For mid-June, it was swelteringly unbearable. The car seats were so hot they were impossible to sit on right away. With the man’s help, Taeheun opened all the doors and windows to let the car cool.

“Gibeom, come on, join us in town to cool off. Huh?”

Yongjun, still reluctant to give up, now nagged the man.

“I’d love to, but I’ve got to pick lettuce, peppers, and green onions. If I leave them in this heat, they’ll all die. And the weeds? Don’t even get me started.”

“Man, you’re too much. Do you really have to work that hard? Lettuce and peppers are everywhere. People would give them to you if you asked. Why bother growing them?”

The man gave an awkward smile at Yongjun’s scolding.

“The forecast says it’ll rain next week. Let’s have green onion pancakes and makgeolli then.”

Taeheun chimed in, backing the man up.

“Yeah, sure.”

Yongjun replied reluctantly.

“Manager Kim, you’re coming to the youth group office tomorrow, right?”

“Of course. Where else would I go?”

The youth group leader laughed, pleased.

“Car’s cooled down. Let’s go.”

“Alright. Get in. See you, brothers.”

The man said goodbye to Yongjun and the leader individually before climbing into the passenger seat.

Taeheun glanced in the rearview mirror. Yongjun and the leader, who he thought would leave together, were walking off separately like strangers.

As soon as they got home, the man changed clothes. He put on a black short-sleeve work shirt, jeans, and layered a long-sleeve checkered shirt over it. Then he tossed his and Taeheun’s sweat- and grime-soaked church clothes into the washing machine, started it, and sat on the porch to put on his boots.

“Mr. Taeheun, you rest.”

He said it like it was obvious.

“Rest? We’re doing this together.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine with me.”

Taeheun threw on some work clothes he’d bought at the market. Without boots, he wore his Nike sneakers again.

The man went to the shed and came back with three large baskets, a hoe, a pickaxe, and a shovel. Taeheun took the pickaxe and shovel.

“Got a lot to pick?”

“Yeah. I should’ve done it earlier, but I’ve been too busy to touch it.”

The man walked quickly toward the side gate, the dogs trailing behind him.

“Oh, one thing I’m curious about.”

The man turned around.

“That chicken coop. Why’s it empty? Is raising chickens tough?”

“No, it’s not that.”

The man hesitated before speaking.

“A few years ago, I did raise chickens. Originally, I got them to eat on Boknal, but I got attached while raising them. So I gave up on eating them and let them roam the yard. To keep them from breeding, I ate the eggs right away. Did you know? Chickens recognize the person who feeds them. They’re surprisingly smart.”

The man opened the side gate wide, letting the dogs into the field first.

“Then what happened?”

“One morning, I woke up, and a raccoon had killed them all. Some were even carried off.”

“Damn!”

“So it’s been empty since.”

The man spoke as if it had happened just days ago, still pained.

So sentimental, Taeheun thought.

He glanced at the empty coop before stepping through the gate.

The sizable field was meticulously fenced with stakes and barbed wire, covered with a green net. Glass shards were embedded under the wire to keep wild or stray animals from digging through.

The man bustled around the field, sighing at dying crops and overgrown weeds. Most of the green onions had yellowed leaves from the heat. The lettuce and peppers, though wilted, still looked edible.

The man pulled red work gloves from his jeans’ back pocket and handed a pair to Taeheun.

“Pick the lettuce and peppers. Just take it all. I’ll start with the weeds.”

Without waiting for a reply, the man strode to the far end.

Taeheun stood under the blazing sun in front of the lettuce.

“How do I even pick this?”

He squatted, examined the lettuce, and started pulling it up by the roots. It was easier than expected. Why’d they plant so much lettuce for just two people? he grumbled.

Easy didn’t mean cool, and his legs still ached. Without a towel, the only thing to wipe sweat with was his shirt. He lifted the hem to wipe his face, noticing the man, who’d also forgotten a towel, doing the same.

The dogs, who’d been running around carefree, were nowhere to be seen. Probably hiding under the porch to escape the heat. Lucky dogs, Taeheun muttered to himself.