YHP 39

“Is this such a big deal?”

He asked, genuinely not understanding how something as trivial as buying seedlings could be important enough to make him endure the morning training. Ho-jin nodded his head frantically like a broken toy.

“Let’s go, there won’t be much traffic if we go now.”

Then he naturally led Jeong-in out of the building.

“Why is it a big deal?”

“Um… I don’t know. I guess it reminds me of home. It’s been a long time since I’ve done farm work.”

Listening quietly, he realized that was true. Since it was a summer sport, it wouldn’t have been easy to take time off during the farming season since he started his career as an athlete. Jeong-in recalled Ho-jin skillfully plowing the fields. He seemed genuinely happy to be doing something he had done so familiarly that his body remembered it.

“Okay, then.”

“…Get in.”

Ho-jin opened the passenger seat door with an expression that seemed to be holding back a laugh. Glancing at his own car parked right behind, Jeong-in got into the car. He thought that Ho-jin’s SUV would be better than his sedan for buying a lot of seedlings.

He pressed the button next to the buckle and the seatbelt wrapped around his body. Watching Ho-jin, who had returned to the driver’s seat, start the engine, Jeong-in began to count the cars he owned in his head.

The parking space was ridiculously narrow, so he had only brought one sedan for now, but he realized that he might need different cars for different purposes. Considering the roads nearby, the sedan was the clear winner, but if he considered the occasional need to move things like this, he would need an SUV or a wagon.

For now, he could hire someone to move the cars, but what about the parking space? Was it physically possible to tear down the entire first floor to make a parking lot? Then what about the room where Yoo Ho-jin lived…?

“By the way, Hyung.”

Suddenly, Ho-jin called out to Jeong-in.

“How did you get to know Hyo-jun?”

It was a strange question. Jeong-in, who was thinking for a moment about who Hyo-jun was, realized that he was still mistaking Cho Hyo-jun’s name.

“Why are you curious about that?”

“Just because.”

“He’s someone who will never have anything to do with you anyway.”

“Maybe not.”

He considered a few possibilities at that statement. Since they went to the same school, they might run into each other someday, but Yoo Ho-jin and Cho Hyo-jun were in completely different categories.

At least from what Jeong-in had seen so far, Yoo Ho-jin seemed to be someone whose natural disposition was far from entertainment, and Cho Hyo-jun was a party animal who would chase after any rumor of a lively party. Was there really a chance that these two would be in the same place? After thinking for a moment, Jeong-in asked.

“Do you go to events too?”

“Pardon?”

“Like designer fashion shows or brand parties.”

At that, Ho-jin hesitated, saying, “Um.”

“I sometimes go if the sponsors ask me to.”

“Then…”

Then they really might meet by chance. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a pickup truck suddenly darted out of the next lane and cut in front of Ho-jin’s car at a dizzying angle. The brakes slammed on and his body lurched forward. If he had gone out any further, he would have collided. The pickup truck, which had narrowly avoided the collision, turned on its hazard lights a few times and disappeared into the distance.

“Fucking hell… Are you okay?”

And Ho-jin, who had stretched out his arm to block Jeong-in’s shoulder at the same time as he slammed on the brakes, immediately checked on Jeong-in. With a face like a scholar who eats bamboo leaves all year round, he spat out a curse halfway, but his eyes were still clear and innocent as he turned back as if nothing had happened.

“I startled you, I’m sorry.”

“…It’s okay.”

Ho-jin’s car was a model that had not recorded a single traffic fatality since its release. Even the driving speed was so low that the worst that could happen in an accident would be a slightly damaged bumper. For Jeong-in, whose driving style wasn’t exactly gentle, this wasn’t surprising.

“Are you okay?”

“Let’s just go.”

But Ho-jin kept reacting like a sunfish, asking if his back was okay, if his ankles were okay.

“…So, how did you meet Hyojin?”

After asking about him for a while, his questions turned back to ‘Hyojin’. Even though he thought it was a strange obsession, Jeong-in answered.

“We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

“…How young were you?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but I think I’ve known her since I was almost two.”

Ho-jin gasped.

“Then your father and Hyojin’s parents must know each other too, right?”

“Yeah.”

In the meantime, the car had stopped in the flower complex parking lot.

“Aren’t you getting out?”

He asked, turning to look at Ho-jin, who was still gripping the steering wheel after parking, not even thinking about getting out. Only then did Ho-jin say yes and follow him out.

The flower market, which had cleverly avoided lunchtime, was deserted, just as Ho-jin had said. After walking across the parking lot for a while, they came to a seedling shop.

They entered a greenhouse filled with humidity. The owner, who was watching TV, greeted them casually from afar. Passing him, Jeong-in began to look around at things he had never seen before.

The structure was a simple straight line, but the greenhouse itself was quite large. Next to a path wide enough for people to pass through, shelves taller than Jeong-in stretched endlessly. From the floor to the second level, seedlings that had grown to knee height were densely packed, and above them were unknown foliage plants. Glancing at them, he went a little further and saw the seedlings he was looking for.

There were blueberries and chili peppers. The shapes and varieties were diverse. Some were as small as a finger joint, while others were over 50 centimeters tall. His eyes were drawn to trees that had already started to bear small fruits, but he thought he would be criticized for cheating if he brought something like that and planted it as is.

“Which one of these should I plant?”

He turned to ask Ho-jin which variety would be good to plant first. But Ho-jin was nowhere to be seen.

Wondering where he had gone, he looked around, but only Jeong-in was on the path.

“…What is this.”

It felt strange without the guy who had been following him like glue. Thinking he must be somewhere back along the path, he was about to take a step when he suddenly heard a clattering sound from the shelf behind him.

“…Did you?”

“Really?”

It was exactly at Jeong-in’s eye level. One of the potted foliage plants that had been packed tightly on the shelf was missing, leaving a gap. Like a picture frame between the vibrant green leaves, was the scenery on the opposite side of the shelf.

“Should I put it in a semi-shaded place?”

“It doesn’t really matter. It usually thrives anywhere.”

Ho-jin, holding the plant he had just taken out, was talking to the greenhouse owner.

He looked into the other person’s eyes, nodding occasionally, asking something with a serious expression, and sometimes laughing briefly. Jeong-in could feel, even from across the shelf, that he was completely focused on the other person. It was the same as he always saw.

Then, at some point, Ho-jin, who had been chatting with the shop owner for a while, suddenly turned his head. Through a gap the size of a palm between the lush green leaves of the plant, their eyes met.

Then Ho-jin smiled brightly. It was a smile like the first sunlight after a long rainy season, or like the sky shining through the trees.

“Hyung, look at this.”

Ho-jin reached out and held out the pot. Jeong-in, taking a step closer, immediately recognized the plant in his hand.

The white patterns that looked as if they had been drawn on each delicate leaf were familiar, and he chuckled.

“It looks like Hyung.”

It was ‘that plant’ that had been stuck in the water without a handful of soil, guarding the edge of the consultation room table for six long years.