ACJY C57

Even though he was driving, he could still easily eat ice cream. Gibeom, who drove a truck every day, would know this, but nevertheless, at Taeheun’s request, he wordlessly put the child in the passenger seat and squeezed himself into the middle.

“I guess I’m not used to the truck yet, it’s a little hard to drive with one hand.”

He added a needless excuse and started driving again.

Gibeom peeled two ice cream cones and offered one to Taeheun.

“Mr. Gibeom, it’s all melting. Don’t just give it to me, eat some yourself.”

The child sipped her ice cream, watching what the two were doing.

“Jihye, you eat your ice cream quickly too. You know ants will swarm if it melts and drips in the car, right?”

Taeheun nagged the child before taking a big bite of the World Cone Gibeom offered.

The child belatedly noticed the melting ice cream dripping down her hand, and Gibeom, holding a cone in each hand, could only look at the child helplessly. The child, with sticky hands, found wet wipes in the glove compartment. She grinned at Taeheun and Gibeom.

“Mr. Gibeom, ours are melting too. Ahhh.”

He opened his mouth wide, his eyes still fixed on the road ahead.

Flustered, Gibeom put one cone in his own mouth and offered the other to Taeheun. Just then, the car lurched as if it had hit a rock. As a result, Taeheun bit Gibeom’s hand instead of the ice cream. It was a light bite, but Gibeom was startled and dropped the ice cream. Without hesitation, he bent down to pick up the fallen ice cream.

Taeheun slammed on the brakes. He barely managed to stop Gibeom from bending down towards his crotch. The ice cream had fallen right by Taeheun’s feet, and Gibeom’s posture, as he bent down, looked like he was performing oral sex. After stopping him, Taeheun felt awkward, wondering if he was the only one who perceived it that way. Then, Gibeom seemed to realize it belatedly and turned bright red. Only the oblivious child innocently asked, “Why aren’t you picking it up?”

Taeheun grinned like a madman. His face was probably as red as Gibeom’s. His whole body was flushed. His lower body tingled for the first time in months. He cautiously looked down, worried he might have an erection. Fortunately, he didn’t.

Throughout the drive to the stream, Taeheun was conscious of Gibeom and kept gulping.

Despite the child’s excitement, the stream was small. Taeheun wondered how many crayfish could live in such a small stream. They spread out a mat and unloaded their belongings. After taking a commemorative photo, the child quickly undressed and jumped into the stream in her swimsuit.

“You have to warm up first!”

Gibeom raised his voice and hurried towards the child, his slippered feet unsteady. Taeheun followed and caught Gibeom, who almost slipped on a rock.

“I’ll get her. Mr. Gibeom, finish organizing. Yoon Jihye! Didn’t you hear your dad? You have to warm up before going in.”

Taeheun ran to the child. Even though the stream was shallow, barely reaching an adult’s knees, Gibeom seemed worried. Taeheun picked up the child, who was doing a dog paddle, and carried her to the bank.

“You need to exercise before going in. Your dad is worried.”

“Okay,” the child replied dejectedly.

“Follow me.”

Taeheun raised his arms first. The national exercise music echoed in his ears, but he couldn’t remember any of the moves. Maybe it’s because I only went to elementary school for four years. He tilted his head, then, because the child was staring so intently, he tried some random movements. The child’s criticism flew in.

“Mister, didn’t you go to school? How can you not do that? You’re worse than the grandpas in our village. Follow me. One, two, three, four.”

The child called out the count in a clear voice.

“You still do national exercises?”

“Of course. During PE class, we mainly do the New Millennium Health Exercise, but during assembly, we do the national exercises. The older teachers only know the national exercises.”

Gibeom, who had finally approached them, quietly watched Taeheun and the child. Taeheun winked at Gibeom. Gibeom nodded and smiled.

The child was remarkably active. It was hard for Taeheun, an adult, to keep up. He wondered if the child had been a rabbit in a past life, the way she ran so well on the uneven, slippery rocks. Gibeom, already unsteady on his feet, seemed to struggle walking on the rocks, but he tried his best to keep up with the child without showing it.

While Gibeom waited downstream with a net, Taeheun and the child overturned rocks, making a lot of noise.

“Looks like your friend caught all the crayfish, Jihye.”

“Yeah, how can there be none?”

The child huffed.

“Let’s catch fish then.”

“Okay!”

Pretending to chase invisible fish, Taeheun ran towards Gibeom with the child. Amidst all the commotion, Taeheun tripped, and Gibeom laughed loudly at the sight. The child also screamed and giggled, then tripped herself. Soaked, Taeheun and the child exchanged glances and slowly approached Gibeom.

Unaware, Gibeom beckoned them to come quickly. Taeheun and the child exchanged glances again and then, almost simultaneously, splashed water at Gibeom. Gibeom yelled and blocked the water with his hands. As their attack intensified, Gibeom started to fight back. They all shouted and screamed, attacking each other. The target of the attack shifted from the child to Gibeom to Taeheun.

Their wet, slippery bodies bumped against each other as they wrestled and pushed. Even if there had been crayfish or fish, they would have fled from the noise the three were making.

Exhausted from playing in the water, the child lay down on the mat. Gibeom dried the child’s wet body and hair with a large towel and then wrapped her in a dry towel.

“Let’s change our clothes,” Taeheun said, taking off his wet shirt.

Gibeom nodded towards the woods.

“Jihye, Dad and Mister are going to change clothes, so rest here.”

“Okay,” the child replied indifferently, drinking the Ambasa Gibeom gave her.

Gibeom led the way, carrying the bag with their change of clothes. Taeheun, following behind, playfully snatched the bag from Gibeom’s hand. Gibeom looked back and smiled.

They stopped at a spot not far away, but out of sight of the child. The deeply shaded woods emitted a strong grassy scent. For some reason, Taeheun was conscious of Gibeom.

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Taeheun said, looking up at the sky.

“Yes.”

Following Gibeom’s brief reply, the plastic bag rustled loudly.

“By the way, the church lunch was delicious today.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Was the rice from here?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“The local rice is definitely different.”

No matter what he said, the awkwardness didn’t disappear.

Gibeom grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it off. Taeheun, more conscious of Gibeom than usual, took off his clothes. The sound of his wet clothes falling to the ground was unusually loud. The rustling of the plastic bag, the sound of toweling off – everything seemed ten times louder than usual.

Glancing at Gibeom toweling himself off, Taeheun also wiped the remaining water from his body. He gulped as he saw Gibeom’s hand disappear between his legs. His lower body tightened for no reason.

This is all because of that bastard Kwon Yongjun. He needlessly blamed Kwon Yongjun, who wasn’t even there.

It took less than a minute to change, but it felt like an hour. Despite changing into dry clothes, his skin, which should have felt cool in the cloudy weather, felt strangely hot and sticky.

“Do you want ramen?” Taeheun asked as they walked down the mountain.

“Yes.”

“I’ll cook it.”

“Okay.”

Gibeom gave a short reply and walked down quickly, as if he had something urgent to do. His large body swayed dramatically to one side. Worried that he might fall, Taeheun hurried to catch up. He got so close behind Gibeom that his chest brushed against Gibeom’s back several times. The back of Gibeom’s neck turned bright red. Taeheun’s face also flushed.

The child was lying on her stomach, leisurely reading a comic book. She looked up at the sound of their approach and asked, “When are we eating ramen?”

“Now,” Taeheun replied, and Gibeom busily prepared the portable stove and ramen.

“I said I’ll do it. Mr. Gibeom, just bring the beer.”

Taeheun gently pushed Gibeom aside and quickly lit the stove and put on the water. Gibeom took the beer out of the icebox and held it out.

“Mr. Taeheun, here.”

“Thanks.”

He opened the can, and the cheerful fizz of carbonation rose with the foam. They both put the cans to their lips and drank without a word. It was incredibly refreshing.

“Ahhh, that hits the spot.”

He furrowed his brow. Gibeom also squinted, savoring the beer.

Gibeom sat down next to Taeheun. Glancing at Taeheun, he pointed at his face.

“You’re getting tanned even on a cloudy day. Won’t your skin peel?”

He asked worriedly, handing Taeheun his white ball cap.

“Wear this.”

“It’s okay. After one night, it’ll be fine.”

Saying this, he took the cap and put it on Gibeom’s head.

“White suits you. Maybe because your skin is dark.”

Gibeom smiled shyly at Taeheun’s compliment.

The water boiled. While Taeheun added the vegetable flakes and seasoning, Gibeom broke the ramen noodles in half and put them in the pot.

“I like chewy noodles. How about you, Mr. Gibeom?”

He asked about Gibeom’s noodle preference, even though it wasn’t their first time eating ramen together.

“I like chewy noodles too,” Gibeom replied. Taeheun was pleased, for some reason.

‘We even have the same taste.’

He smiled at Gibeom.