ACJY C46

The weather forecast was spot on. It poured starting Thursday.

The first thing Taeheun did after returning from his two-day trip to Seoul was to look for the man. He stopped by his house, wondering if he should have worn boots. Standing on the ridge of a rice paddy, he rubbed the mud from his Italian leather shoes against the grass as he observed the man.

The man was working in Kwon Iltaek’s rice paddy, drenched in the rain. Judging by the way he was inspecting the furrows, he seemed to be checking the waterways or something. He was wearing a yellow raincoat, but he was clearly soaked through. His faded red boots, saturated with water, looked more vivid than usual.

Taeheun put a cigarette in his mouth. He lit it and inhaled deeply, his cheeks hollowing. He frowned at the sudden dizziness. He exhaled, and the pale smoke dissipated into the rain.

Taeheun watched the man for nearly 20 minutes, holding a large black umbrella emblazoned with the name of a golf course. Even though the raincoat seemed cumbersome, the man’s movements were fluid and efficient. He didn’t cut corners, even without an audience. Just like him. Watching the picturesque man and scenery brought him peace. Even the sound of the rain hitting the umbrella was pleasant.

After 30 minutes, the man finally noticed Taeheun and stopped working. Taeheun raised his umbrella to reveal his face. The rain splashed on him, but he didn’t mind. He waved.

“Mr. Gibeom! I’m back!”

The heavy, rain-laden air swallowed Taeheun’s voice.

The man waved back awkwardly. He didn’t approach or make any move to come closer. He went back to work, and Taeheun continued to watch.

After about another hour, the man seemed to realize that Taeheun was still standing in the same spot. The man, who looked like a dot from afar, stopped abruptly. He seemed lost in thought, staring in Taeheun’s direction. He was so far away that it was hard to tell if he was really lost in thought or even looking his way. Taeheun just had that feeling. He exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke.

The man started walking towards him. A grin escaped Taeheun’s lips. He scratched his eyebrow with the hand holding the cigarette, then flicked it to extinguish the ember. He put the lighter in the half-smoked pack of cigarettes and tossed it into the car. He also picked up the cigarette butts he’d discarded on the ground and put them in the car ashtray.

He cupped his hand around his mouth and blew. There was no way the smell of cigarettes wasn’t lingering. He rummaged through the console box and found some mouth spray. He sprayed it in his mouth and checked his breath again. He was acting like a high school student caught smoking by the dean of students. He burst out laughing.

Despite all the fuss, the man had only come about halfway. Still, he looked like a person now, not a dot. Taeheun could see that he had a towel around his neck and was wearing the new jeans Taeheun had bought him, not his usual worn-out ones.

The man looked like a drowned rat. Taeheun moved closer, holding the umbrella over him. The man wiped his face with the towel.

“You’re back early.”

He finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

“Yes. My business finished sooner than expected. How about you, Mr. Gibeom? Do you have much left to do?”

“Almost finished.”

The man didn’t show any particular sign of being happy to see him. His rain-soaked eyes were so dark that it was impossible to read his emotions, but Taeheun could tell that he had been waiting for him.

Blue veins stood out on the back of the man’s hand as he gripped the towel.

“Didn’t you miss me? I missed you a lot.”

He meant it.

Thinking it was a joke, the man smiled faintly. Water droplets dripped from his raincoat and wet hair. He wiped them away with the towel. Taeheun crushed the grass with the tip of his shoe, and the man straightened the blades of grass Taeheun had flattened with his boot. They both fidgeted awkwardly with their feet.

“I was going to have pajeon and makgeolli after work. Do you want to join us?”

The man asked, his voice still hoarse, so he cleared his throat.

“Sure. Perfect for this weather.”

“Go to the village hall first. Mr. Gicheol will be there. We’re all going to eat at Yongjun’s place.”

“Let’s go together. Is there anything I can help you with?”

The man nudged Taeheun’s shoes with his boot and shook his head. He was indirectly saying that Taeheun couldn’t work in those shoes.

Taeheun laughed. Tap. This time, Taeheun tapped the man’s boot with his shoe. The man, looking down at his feet, curled the corners of his lips into a smile.

“It’ll take about another hour.”

The man wrapped the towel around his neck again.

“That’s not long. Get back to work then.”

“Yes. Um, you really can go ahead.”

“Okay. I’ll manage.”

The man lifted his head. Water droplets clung to the tips of his long, dark eyelashes. Taeheun raised his hand.

“Wait a moment.”

Careful not to poke him in the eye, he curled his fingers and brought them close to the man’s eyebrow. The man flinched and pulled his head back, his face flushing. Taeheun was pleased. He liked how the man’s dark face always flushed at the smallest things.

The man blinked, and the water droplets trailed down his cheek like tears. He wiped them away roughly with his large, rough hand. Taeheun lowered his hand.

“Work hard, but not too hard.”

“Okay.”

The man stepped back and out from under the umbrella. He walked back the way he had come, a little faster than when he had approached Taeheun. The man moved further away and became a dot again.

Taeheun resumed his role as spectator.

Back in the car, he retrieved the cigarette pack, put a cigarette in his mouth, and inhaled deeply, his cheeks hollowing repeatedly. Cigarette butts piled up at his feet. He scratched his eyebrow with the hand holding the cigarette and continued to watch the man, tirelessly standing in the same spot.

It had only been two days. To be precise, it was only one full day. He wasn’t a long-time acquaintance, nor a best friend he’d grown up with, let alone someone he was romantically interested in. Yet, he missed the man. He missed the man’s faded red boots and the smell of cheap detergent from his laundry. He longed for the small moments of everyday life, like doing homework and playing jacks with the child while the man ironed, watching boring daily dramas while he swept the yard, the laundry folded by him, and above all, the meals they shared together.

Taeheun mostly drank. He washed away his longing with alcohol.

While those gathered at the safe house in Seoul ate and rested, he sat with the ledger, meticulously writing explanations and providing proof.

‘I don’t think we’ll need to bother Mr. Lee Seonjae anymore. You said you wanted to go to Canada, right? That’ll happen soon.’

The prosecutor in charge, codenamed Wolf 1, said confidently as he returned the last ledger.

Thanks to his agonizing insomnia, he was able to return to Dongjamri earlier than expected.

Taeheun had a lot to say to the man.

“Today is the last day of my funeral. The rain sets the mood, right? How was the funeral? What can I say? It was perfect.”

He chuckled to himself.

While he was at the safe house, the agents who had summoned him relayed the atmosphere at the funeral home. Contrary to expectations, Lee Seonjae’s funeral was a small family affair with no mourners. There were no customary chrysanthemum flowers at the funeral hall, no wailing mother or siblings. There was only a large, printed portrait photo of Lee Seonjae and incense. It was so simple that the detective disguised as a hospital employee, managing Lee Seonjae’s funeral, was taken aback.

Damn. Serves Lee Seonjae right.

He laughed like a madman in front of a concerned Detective Oh.

He hadn’t expected a lavish funeral. He just wanted Lee Seokdu, Lee Hyeonjun, to wear armbands and mourning clothes for Lee Seonjae. But they hadn’t. They must have felt it wasn’t worth it. Lee Seonjae was nothing more than Lee Seokdu’s loyal dog.

With the news that Ilkwang Financial had begun a massive recruitment drive to find a replacement for Lee Seonjae, Taeheun decided to forget about him. He should have forgotten him a long time ago. He had been clinging to a man who was already dead.

“It’s all thanks to you. If it weren’t for Mr. Gibeom, I would still be clinging to the past. I was doing pretty well, you know. All the big shots were trying to get on my good side, bowing and scraping. I got treated like royalty. You didn’t know, did you? I wasn’t anyone important, but I was doing pretty well.”

He had been thinking about the man since the moment he left Dongjamri. He felt uneasy about not properly enjoying the kimchi jjigae the man had made before he left. He hadn’t anticipated that this unease would turn into longing.

Taeheun couldn’t handle his emotions these days. He was overly sentimental, as if going through a belated puberty. He was taken aback when his affection and guilt transformed into longing and then a desperate desire to see the man. It felt absurd to have these feelings, which should be reserved for a lover, for a healthy man who didn’t even arouse him when naked, a father no less.

Sigh, he exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke, forming smoke rings. The rain continued to fall, and the man, who had turned back into a dot, showed no sign of returning.

His left hand, holding the umbrella, was stiff. His pant legs had been wet up to his shins for a while, and the rainwater had seeped into his leather shoes. His socks were, of course, damp. Despite all this, Taeheun remained rooted to the spot, watching the man. Every time the dot flickered, he watched anxiously, fearing that he would disappear.

The man didn’t disappear. He returned to Taeheun, albeit taking longer than expected. The man, in his red boots and yellow raincoat, stepped back under Taeheun’s umbrella. Taeheun shivered. He trembled as he greeted the man.

“You’re back?”

Taeheun said.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t bored at all.”

He winked.

“Let’s go.”

Taeheun pointed to his Benz, and the man hesitated, looking down at his clothes.

“You can get in with your raincoat on.”

“My truck…”

“Let’s take my car. You can do that for me, right?”

The man didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he glanced towards where his truck was parked.

Taeheun grabbed the man’s wrist. The man flinched. Taeheun thought he would pull away, but he just said, “Okay,” and removed Taeheun’s hand. Despite his indifferent tone, his face and even his neck were flushed.

Taeheun was equally surprised. His hand had moved on its own accord. He had gripped the man’s wrist so tightly that it had turned white.

Should I just leave with him like this? Where to? Anywhere.

What about the child? Can’t he stay with his older sister, Sojin? That’s entirely possible.

He arrived at the village hall in the midst of these frivolous thoughts.