WYK 24

“Jeong-yoon-ah. Seo Jeong-yoon. Our pretty Jeong-yoon. Give me some candy too…”

Min-soo, who received a candy from Hyang-gi, stuck to Jeong-yoon. He asked Jeong-yoon to open a piece of candy for him just like he did to Mi-hee earlier.

Oh, he’s at it again. Annoying. Jeong-yoon pushed away Min-soo, who was sticking to him. Min-soo’s nonsense, or rather, his attempt to playfully tease Jeong-yoon, was about to begin.

“Hey, why aren’t you peeling for me? You peeled one for Mi-hee. Why not for me?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“We’re friends. Why won’t you do it for me? Peel one for me too, quickly.”

Min-soo pressed the candy upon Jeong-yoon while whining like a toddler. Hyanggi, who was sitting in front, laughed heartily at their little skirmish.

Jeong-yoon shook his head and took the candy from Min-soo. He peeled the candy wrapper and put it in Min-soo’s mouth. Ugh. Gosh. It felt like feeding a baby. Despite Kim Min-soo looking like a local dog, his lips were surprisingly soft when touched. Ugh, that was even worse.

Min-soo grinned as he munched on the candy.

“Ah, you should’ve told me to do it. Why are you just giving it to me? Ask me more tenderly.”

“…Hey, I’m serious, really.”

“You can’t give up.”

When Jeong-yoon looked at him with a straight face, Min-soo withdrew easily. American Kim Min-soo knows how to give and take a punch. Jeong-yoon wiped the fingers that had touched Min-soo with a wet tissue, then pushed away the body sticking to his shoulder, standing up.

“Jeong-yoon-ah. Where is our pretty Jeong-yoon going?”

“Min-soo. Our pretty Min-soo. Jeong-yoon is going to get some fresh air.”

Giving a half-hearted response with an expressionless face, he turned his back. If he went out for about 10 minutes, the night breeze might sober him up a bit. Kim Min-soo would probably be sticking to someone else. Please let it be so.

When he stepped out of the pub and closed the entrance door, the lively noise subsided quietly. Perhaps it was about to rain, and the night breeze hitting his face had a faint moisture.

The alley was shabby. The paint was peeling off the walls here and there, and faded posters were plastered all over. One corner was particularly tattered.

Jeong-yoon walked slowly past the promotional poster for the concert from two years ago. It was not a major street but a direction leading inward. Strolling through a place where the lamplight was faintly smearing, he noticed someone standing at the dead-end of an alley.

It was Kang Chae-heon.

In the dim and old alley, Chae-heon leaned against the wall, smoking a cigarette. The dim street light faintly illuminated his black hair.

Wondering what to do, Jeong-yoon decided to approach him. He couldn’t shake off the slightly unpleasant expression and the sight of him silently drinking since earlier.

“Kang Chae-heon.”

Calling his name, Jeong-yoon approached slowly. Chae-heon, turning his head, noticed Jeong-yoon and nonchalantly flicked the cigarette he held in his hand. Jeong-yoon stood leaning against the wall opposite him. Although it was supposed to be the opposite, the narrow alley made it almost like facing each other.

Come to think of it, this was the second time he had seen Chae-heon smoking a cigarette since he saw it once before he went to the military. If he hadn’t found it unexpectedly like this, he probably wouldn’t have known.

Although he mustered the courage to come, he didn’t have anything to say. The closer they got, the more they seemed to drift apart. After being discharged, he thought they could build some friendship over coffee, but it appeared like a wall had been created once more.

A sigh escaped him spontaneously. Why did ordinary conversations and everyday matters feel so difficult and challenging when it came to Kang Chae-heon? Even though he wanted to get closer, he also wanted to keep his distance. The relationship with him and his own feelings was a mess.

Jeong-yoon decided to say something first.

“You’re good at basketball.”

“…”

“All the kids were cheering for you. Even the ones from other classes.”

“Yeah.”

Chae-heon answered as if it was no big deal. His brief response was not unusual, but it felt awkward today.

‘All the kids said you were cool.’

Although he wanted to say something like this, the atmosphere was too stiff. Suppressing his feelings, Jeong-yoon changed the topic.

“But usually, you don’t drink much, do you?”

“…”

“Are you not good at drinking?”

Chae-heon nodded instead of answering. Jeong-yoon smiled. Knowing that Kang Chae-heon, who has it all, also has a weakness somehow made him feel a little satisfied.

“If you drink a lot, you get used to it. I used to be really weak too, but after drinking frequently, I got better.”

The first alcohol he drank was four glasses of soju during a school trip. After drinking that, he had dreams full of excitement. Even two bottles wouldn’t keep him warm now. He didn’t drink heavily because he didn’t want to have a hangover the next day.

Kang Chae-heon in front of him was the reason he started drinking so much in the first place. He’d had a dream about drinking and rolling around with Chae-heon, and he figured if he drank again, he’d experience that dream again. As a result, he drank with hope. However, it yielded no results.

“Do you also not like the taste of alcohol? Frankly, when I first drank, I was surprised. I thought it was acetone or something.”

“…If I drink, I can’t control myself. So, I usually don’t drink much.”

“Everybody’s like that when they drink.”

Jeong-yoon chuckled. Chae-heon was always upright and undisturbed, so it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand his feelings. But what would happen if he lost a bit of control?

Jeong-yoon thought about the scene inside the bar he had just seen. Kim Min-soo was so drunk that he asked for some candy and laughed, and one drunken senior was talking about the military when he suddenly fell to the floor and took a prone position. Some were showing crazy aegyo, and some were literally crawling on the floor like dogs. What was the harm in losing some self-control?

Even though it was a bit uncharacteristic of Chae-heon, sometimes, he wanted to see him loosening up. Perhaps a Kang Chae-heon who wakes up with bed hair, or a bewildered expression when caught off guard. Those private and secret moments he would only show to someone close.

Chae-heon stared at the cigarette pack in his hand and muttered.

“When I’m drunk, I want to do things. Even now.”

He said that in a voice that did not seem to indicate any intoxication. Jeong-yoon looked at Chae-heon’s face silently. Chae-heon spoke again.

“But it’s not allowed. That’s why I don’t drink.”

“…What?”

It’s an atmosphere where he had to listen quietly, but a strange question came out. It seemed strange, probably because he also seemed a bit drunk.

Chae-heon took out a cigarette and put it back in without answering. It seemed like an unconscious action. Jeong-yoon said, looking at his cigarette.

“You can smoke.”

“…”

“It’s okay.”

At that, Chae-heon lit the cigarette. A red glow emerged in the dark alley, and the smoke of the cigarette mingled with the night air. Jeong-yoon silently observed Chae-heon.

Soon, Chae-heon extinguished the cigarette. It seemed he only took a puff. Raising his head, Kang Chae-heon silently stared at Seo Jeong-yoon.

“Seo Jeong-yoon. Are you pretending not to know, or do you really don’t know?”

Kang Chae-heon’s eyes glowed lazily through the scattered smoke.

Looking into Chae-heon’s eyes, Jeong-yoon didn’t understand why his heart suddenly sank. He didn’t know what answer he should give. For Jeong-yoon, the current situation was filled with things he didn’t know.

‘Are you pretending not to know, or do you really don’t know?’

What am I pretending not to know? Jeong-yoon wanted to ask what he meant exactly. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything because of Chae-heon’s expression. Chae-heon’s face, devoid of a smile, seemed so expressionless that it made people nervous. It was the same even now.

Jeong-yoon pursed his lips and found it difficult to bear his gaze due to the awkward atmosphere.

Chae-heon detached himself from the wall he leaned on.

“I’ll go first.”

He turned away with a brief farewell. It was a step that seemed to have no regrets at all. Jeong-yoon absentmindedly watched his back and stared up at the sky as he disappeared around the corner. The crescent moon hung ominously over the small buildings.