ETP Ch 32

In the morning, the moment Sungyeon woke up, he grabbed his hair.

He’d said he’d have a showdown with Hwang Yoohyun Sunbae after work!

Lost in thought after hearing about the forty-ninth day memorial, he had simply fallen asleep.

Sungyeon rubbed his puffy eyes and turned on his phone screen. Was it too late to bring up last night’s issue now?

Bokseung’s white, round fingertips hovered over the screen, then paused.

[010—xxxx—xx78: That bastard. I won’t let him go.]

It was a text message from an unknown number. Even just reading it gave off a chilling vibe.

“What, what the. This crazy bastard.”

Sungyeon made a disgusted face and quickly deleted the message. Even if it was a wrongly sent message, it left a bad taste in his mouth.

He imagined how shocked Bokseung would have been if he had seen such a message. The timid and gentle boy might have trembled all morning.

The thought of having a serious discussion with Hwang Yoohyun about the meal cost had long since vanished from his mind.

🍑‧₊ ⋆˙

“Oh, Bokseung. Come on down.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Sungyeon looked at Bokseung’s reflection in the mirror, wearing a black knit sweater instead of his usual brightly colored sweatshirt.

His face, still round with baby fat, wore a melancholic expression.

“Goodbye.”

Sungyeon bid farewell to Bokseung, perhaps for the last time, and looked around the boy’s house one more time. He hadn’t put the massive amount of sticky notes back up, but he had thoroughly cleaned the house last night.

Even though he was borrowing Bokseung’s body, it still felt strange to revisit the place of his own death.

After a brief moment of daze, Sungyeon remembered Hyungseop waiting downstairs and hurried his steps.

“Hello.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

Hyungseop looked over and smiled.

He, too, was dressed in a black suit. Compared to his usual attire of tracksuits, he looked quite dapper. However, it wasn’t the atmosphere for compliments, so Sungyeon simply fastened his seatbelt quietly.

“Did you sleep well?”

Hyungseop asked a trivial question, glancing at Bokseung from the corner of his eye. His expression was the same as usual, but seeing his tightly clenched fists, Hyungseop could tell how nervous the boy was.

Bokseung only nodded slightly.

After that question, a quiet silence fell over the car.

They drove for several tens of minutes and arrived at the charnel house.

The scenery, not much different from his first visit, brought that day vividly back to Sungyeon’s mind.

The day he had to objectively accept his own death. The despair and fear he felt then were replaying, unforgotten.

Hyungseop, after asking the caretaker to open the door of the charnel house, placed a small bouquet of flowers inside.

The colorful flowers brightened the colorless space, which held only a photograph and an urn.

He even takes care of these small details. Sungyeon was once again touched by his friend’s thoughtfulness. The owner of this urn hadn’t even thought about taking care of anything while cleaning the house.

Sungyeon sniffed and wiped his nose as he watched Hyungseop wiping the urn with wet tissues.

To have a friend like that, Sungyeon’s life was a success.

Sungyeon muttered to himself. His affection for Hyungseop grew.

Unaware of how Sungyeon, disguised as Bokseung, was looking at him from behind, Hyungseop diligently wiped the urn. He didn’t forget to roughly rub his stinging nose with his fingers from time to time.

“Bokseung, come here and let’s offer a silent prayer.”

“Yes.”

Sungyeon hesitantly moved at Hyungseop’s suggestion. Hyungseop had already closed his eyes and begun his silent prayer for his friend.

Sungyeon exhaled briefly and closed his eyes.

It felt a little strange to offer a silent prayer for himself, so Sungyeon spoke to Bokseung.

‘Bokseung, are you around here somewhere? How is it? It must be uncomfortable not having a body.’

‘Teacher may not have lived much longer than you, Bokseung, but you know how they say it’s better to be alive even if it means living in a dung heap? That’s really true. So come back.’

‘It was really great borrowing your body and pretending to be young again, Bokseung, but I think I should go back to where I belong now. It seems right. I have to return it before it’s too late.’

Naturally, there was no reply.

However, Sungyeon felt like Bokseung was listening beside him. There was no basis for this feeling, it was just a hunch.

Both of them continued their long silent prayer. Sungyeon had much to say, as did Hyungseop.

Even after opening their eyes after a long time, neither of them spoke for a while. And it was Hyungseop who broke the silence with an unexpected suggestion.

“Um, Bokseung.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to take a walk around here for a bit?”

“A walk?”

Confusion filled Bokseung’s clear eyes. Hyungseop thought about the past few days he’d been agonizing over whether this was the right thing to do. Even now, he wasn’t sure.

But he felt so sorry for Bokseung that he wanted to do something for him.

The living must live on.

Sungyeon followed his determined-looking friend onto the walking path. What kind of silent conversation did he have during the prayer to suddenly become so serious?

Meanwhile, Hyungseop, leaving Bokseung behind, wandered down the path, organizing his thoughts.

How could he make this seem less intrusive? He ran through the simulation dozens of times in his head.

Finally, having somewhat organized his thoughts, Hyungseop turned around.

The boy, who had been quietly following him, widened his eyes at Hyungseop’s sudden action and stared at him.

“Bokseung.”

“Yes?”

Hyungseop scratched the back of his head, grimaced, and finally spoke.

“So, are you seeing anyone these days?”

“Huh?”

It was an out-of-the-blue question. Sungyeon blurted out a loud question without realizing it.

Ah, Bokseung wouldn’t have that kind of volume.

He was momentarily flustered by his unintentional mistake, but it was nonetheless a sudden and absurd question.

Sungyeon quickly regained his composure and asked again.

“By seeing someone, do you mean dating someone?”

“Uh, yeah! Just in case, you know!”

“No!”

A firm “no” popped out of Bokseung’s mouth without even 0.1 seconds of hesitation. He shook his round face, denying it once more.

Seeing that, Hyungseop felt even more apologetic.

“Bokseung, I know it’s presumptuous of me to talk about this, but there are no adults around you.”

“Yes.”

“Of course, it hasn’t been long since the accident, and it was such a big one, so I know it’s hard to recover.”

The more Hyungseop rambled, the more question marks filled Sungyeon’s mind. Did he really have to make such a big deal out of this?

Sungyeon clicked his tongue inwardly, watching his friend, who not only looked like a bear, but was now starting to talk like one too.

“No, what I mean is… Sigh, Bokseung, don’t misunderstand me.”

“Yes.”

“You’re still young, and, um, you have a lot of people to meet and things to experience in the future. So, what I’m saying is! If there’s someone you like, or someone you want to date, don’t hesitate because of Sungyeon and meet them freely. Okay?”

Hyungseop’s face flushed red as he spoke, as if he were confessing his love.

Bokseung’s cheeks also flushed red as he listened.

Not from embarrassment, but from frustration.

Why didn’t he clarify that they weren’t in that kind of relationship back then!

The small, sand-like misunderstanding had piled up and grown into a castle. If he were to deny it now, there would be a mountain of explanations to make.

Moreover, Hyungseop, who had been looking at Bokseung with pity, would surely be horrified by the sense of betrayal. Unable to do anything, Sungyeon just pressed his fingers together.

That must have looked pitiful to Hyungseop. He patted the boy’s shoulder with his rough hand.

“The old sayings are always right. Time heals all wounds, and you get over someone by meeting someone new. Of course, I’m not in a position to tell you what to do, but… You know what I mean, right?”

Know what? They were never anything in the first place!

Sungyeon felt like Hong Gildong. Was this how he felt, unable to call his father “father”? The frustration of not being able to say they weren’t dating…

His biggest worry was how upset the real Bokseung would be if he ever found out.

Not only would he have a dating history with an older man, albeit unintentionally, but he might also be wrongly accused of wasting his time on dating when he should have been studying.

Sungyeon stared into space, making excuses in his mind.

‘I really didn’t know it would turn out like this, Bokseung. I wasn’t in my right mind back then. Please understand! But don’t ever tell him we weren’t dating, even later. That Hyungseop bastard will go completely mad. It’ll be a disaster if you get hit by one of those fists, got it?’

“Um, yes, Boss. I understand what you mean. Thank you so much for your concern. But I really don’t want to see anyone right now.”

“Yeah, I know. But things happen, you never know. So, if you happen to meet someone you like soon, Bokseung, don’t feel guilty or hold back. Okay?”

Hyungseop grinned and ruffled Bokseung’s soft hair.

Sungyeon forced a smile despite Hyungseop’s heavy-handedness.

He felt that Sungyeon’s life wasn’t entirely meaningless, having left behind a friend in this world who cared about him so much.