DI Ch 179

“How insensitive. Kwon Jung-hyuk, you’re just the same. Asking if he forgot, is that what you should say?”

The guy who was grumbling at me turned and shouted at a new target. His tone of rebuke was quite sharp.

“It’s the truth, so what. Let’s sit down first. This is making me dizzy.”

After mediating roughly, I picked up the teapot on the table. I thought maybe drinking something warm would calm down the guy who was getting all worked up.

As the cups were filled, steam rose with a nice fragrance. However, the luxurious tea set and the fragrant tea didn’t quite match a group of twenty, no, twenty-one-year-old guys. If it were alcohol, it would make more sense, but tea?

“This is nice. It’d be good as a pre-meal tea too.”

Unlike Park Kang-woo who hesitated to reach for it, Kwon Jung-hyuk quickly grabbed a cup and savored the tea like drinking wine. The talk of pre-meal made me wonder if they had eaten, so I asked.

“Did you eat?”

“Yeah. They fed us here.”

That’s a relief. He took care of that. If he had made them wait indefinitely without food, I wouldn’t have known how to apologize. As I was feeling relieved, Kwon Jung-hyuk started describing the three meals he ate with sparkling eyes that contrasted with his rough attitude. It seemed quite delicious.

“The food was good. The combination of the menu and the seasonal fruit for dessert was perfect. Even the rice was good. Do they use Icheon rice? Oh, I should have asked.”

“Does it matter now? What are you going to do by asking that?”

“I’m going to suggest we switch our restaurant’s rice to that.”

The rice was indeed delicious. Even I ate more than two bowls piled high at each meal. I wonder what’s for dinner tonight. Not knowing what they were talking about, I was about to wait until their conversation ended while imagining dinner when Kwon Jung-hyuk suddenly said:

“We’re talking about our family restaurant. You used to come to eat there too. Since the first year of high school.”

“…”

I hadn’t been in touch with friends from middle or elementary school for a long time. When I met them by chance, we’d just acknowledge each other. In the end, the only ones I could call friends were those from high school.

I looked closely at their faces, feeling doubtful. I couldn’t tell. Even looking at them, I didn’t know who they were, but somehow I felt like I almost knew. Though I wasn’t sure.

“You probably already know this, but… I’ve become strange. I lost my memories and my body’s sick.”

I absent-mindedly stared into the teacup, tracing its shape. It was flawless and sturdy. It seemed like it wouldn’t break even if dropped several times. Though it would break on rocks. I snapped out of these pointless thoughts and straightened up. Even with good posture, it was rude not to look at the person I was talking to. Just as I was trying to make eye contact with the guys, I found myself laughing nervously, forgetting my tension.

“…He told me I’m twenty-one, but in my memory, it’s not long since I started university. So my high school memories are still clear. Of course, Though I’ve forgotten faces and names, I think I can figure out who you are if we talk… Are you both going to keep crying before I’m done talking?”

“I’m not crying.”

“At least blow your nose. It’s hard to talk properly.”

“I said I’m not crying…”

Somehow, both guys were scrunching up their faces, trying hard not to cry. I felt dumbfounded, grateful, and embarrassed all at once. Remembering how they suddenly started contorting their faces earlier, I cleared my throat awkwardly.

“Are you done now?”

“Yeah…”

“I’m not. Just a moment…”

“…”

I intended to keep quiet until they calmed down, but being that considerate might push dinner time too far. Regardless, we had to eat.

“If you went to the same high school as me… I think I can guess who you are if you tell me your names.”

“Are you crazy? Asking us to introduce ourselves? What are we, elementary schoolers?”

“Sniff. You idiot. I told you not to use the word ‘crazy.'”

Park Kang-woo, who had been sniffling and crying, stopped mid-cry to scold Jung-hyuk who was frowning. I was about to tell them to stop fighting like little kids when I frowned. Did someone tell them to watch what they say? To me? Why?

I couldn’t shake off my curiosity and was about to ask when Kwon Jung-hyuk started fussing.

“Hold on. What should I say first? What do I need to tell you?”

“Why are you so nervous? Just talk.”

“… We messed up at first.”

“…”

Park Kang-woo, who had been scolding Kwon Jung-hyuk, opened and closed his mouth like someone with a lump in their throat. I thought they were talking about something I couldn’t understand again, but seeing them glance at me, I somehow felt I knew. It seemed they had made a mistake when I first lost my memory. As if confirming this, both of them started confessing with repentant attitudes.

“We were in such a hurry… We bothered you before you even had a chance to recover.”

“That’s right. We should have talked when you were okay.”

Ah, I think I know who these guys are.

“…The guy who’s always getting scolded since first year, loves games, lives with his grandfather, talks a lot, and is overly meddlesome – is that you, Park Kang-woo?”

“Yeah, it’s me. You jerk, is that how you thought of me! Hey, I’m not meddlesome, I’m just full of affection!”

Seeing him get angry but also moved, I felt a bit relieved. I had been anxious about relying solely on unstable memories without knowing any particular habits or mannerisms of my friends, but I was lucky. Kang-woo’s voice grew louder, seemingly overjoyed that I had recognized him to some extent. Just then, the sliding door that hadn’t budged before opened swiftly.

“I thought you might have run out of tea, so I brought some more.”

We hadn’t even touched the tea, let alone finished it, and it had gone cold… But who is this? Except for Tae Seong-je, they all looked similarly rough and dressed alike, so it was confusing, but this seemed to be one of the people here. The man, unlike someone who had barged in, efficiently filled the table with a polite and diligent attitude.

“There are drinks and snacks too, please help yourselves.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The man casually accepted my thanks, bowed his head, and withdrew. As I turned my gaze from the man who had left the room with a neat attitude to Kwon Jung-hyuk and Park Kang-woo, I wasn’t sure if their earlier expressions were gone, replaced by pale, stiff faces.

“What’s wrong with you guys?”

“No, it’s nothing…”

“Yeah, it’s nothing. Hey, don’t you feel like you need to get out of a place like this somehow? Aren’t you scared of those people?”

I was scared, but…

“They haven’t done anything.”

“Crazy, do you think a gangster will continue doing nothing just because they’re not doing anything now? Haven’t you heard that even if a gangster turns over a new leaf, they’re still thugs and ruffians?”

“Just because they’re scary, should I be afraid of them without reason? I haven’t seen anything. But speak up, I can barely hear you.”

I acknowledged that I was being naive but rebutted out of slight indignation. Park Kang-woo then thrashed about in silent frustration.

“Ugh, this stupid jerk is driving me nuts.”

“Park Kang-woo, watch your language.”

“Oh, right. But seriously, hey. Does this guy even think? Am I the only one feeling frustrated?”

Kwon Jung-hyuk massages Park Kang-woo’s shoulder as if telling him to understand and bear with it. It was truly absurd.

“This is my first time seeing so many traditional houses outside of Gyeongju, so I’m more scared and all sorts of thoughts are going through my mind, but you, Seo Seung-won, you’re not thinking anything? Like, what money was used to build this, and where did all that money come from? What kind of money could it be? Don’t you have thoughts like these?”

His imagination was impressive. I was so taken aback that I just shook my head instead of answering. The guy who had been chattering quickly then clicked his tongue annoyingly and sneered.

“I thought so. Were you even surprised by this house?”

“I was surprised.”

“Sure, you were. You probably just thought, ‘Wow, it’s big.'”

“Ugh. Enough already.”

While dealing with Park Kang-woo, who was making a fuss, Kwon Jung-hyuk, who had forgotten to eat snacks by himself, shook his head and said as if he was pitiful.

“Hey. Do you guys still think you’re kids? Stop fighting already.”

Didn’t he just fight like that earlier? Park Kang-woo seemed to find it absurd too, and what started as a light argument began to escalate. It was incredibly childish. I didn’t want to get involved, so I backed off and drank the cold tea. The kids are nice, but their flaw is that neither of them are very mature.

After the pointless argument ended, we continued the conversation from where we left off earlier. How we became friends in the first year, what we did on April Fool’s Day, where we went for the school trip, who did what, and what happened…

As we pieced together vague memories, some things matched up, while others revealed misunderstandings I had, which was surprising. We cleared up misunderstandings about past events, exchanged lame jokes, and then the topic of the college entrance exam came up.

Naturally, we started talking about graduation and how everyone was doing afterward. One would think stories about what our former classmates were up to wouldn’t be interesting, but hearing about how people who were once in the same class had separated and become independent, and what they were doing now, was quite intriguing.

“So I started with game streaming, and now I’m filming all sorts of things and experimenting.”

“You always did love games… I thought you might do it someday, but you started quite early.”

“With plenty of time and freedom, there’s no reason to delay.”

Even though he said that, I knew it must have been tough living alone and taking care of his grandfather. As I was thinking this, Park Kang-woo spoke up.