Seungun gently closed his eyes, feeling the sand piling up on his body like circuit breakers. The cheerful sound of waves. The cries of seabirds. The shouts of people playing. Following that, at the sound of something scratching across his body, he opened his closed eyes. His vision was hazy from the intense sunlight.
Patrick had brought over a branch he’d used when playing the sandcastle game and was creating a lattice pattern starting from Seungun’s waist. He placed his hand on his side and looked down proudly at his ambitious work. Then he brushed off the sand on his hands and gave a triumphant smile.
“Are you done making it?”
Seungun asked in a tired voice.
“Yes! Whoever made this did an amazing job.”
“I want to see it too.”
“Uh, uh. Stay still. It’ll be big trouble if you move. I’ll take one photo. Okay, one, two, three, kimchi!”
“Kimchi….”
He unintentionally followed Patrick’s lead. Patrick, who had taken Seungun’s photo, laughed heartily and showed him the screen. Seungun frowned for a few seconds to see the photo. When his appearance finally came into view, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Haha, what is this? Is this what you worked so hard to make?”
“I made it well, didn’t I?”
The result of Patrick’s hard work, sweating profusely, was an ice cream cone.
From the waist up, sand piled up like several balls took the shape of ice cream scoops. At the very top, Seungun’s head popped up like the final scoop of ice cream. The shape that narrowed toward the feet was a lattice-patterned waffle cone holding ice cream. Here and there, leaves and colored stones decorated the upper body like sprinkles on ice cream.
“It came out really well, didn’t it? Give me Manager-nim’s number. I’ll send you the photo.”
“Can’t you send it without a number?”
“Oh! Sunbae-nim!”
Gi Siyoung, who had suddenly appeared, snatched Patrick’s phone without permission and stared at the screen. With two tall men standing at his bedside, a shadow fell. Seungun finally opened his eyes comfortably.
“Doesn’t Manager-nim look really cute? And I made it really well too!”
“……”
Patrick’s eyes sparkled as if he wanted to be praised by Gi Siyoung. If he had a puppy tail, it would be spinning like helicopter blades. Gi Siyoung carefully observed Seungun lying in the square screen in a ridiculous state with an awkward smile.
He came out even uglier with sand all over his ugly face. At Siyoung’s reaction of not saying anything, Seungun, feeling awkward, opened his mouth.
“Um, can I get up now?”
The sensation of sand pressing down on his body was cozy and nice, but if he stayed like this, his face would ripen red from the sun.
“Ah… What a shame.”
Patrick became dejected. He even whined that it had been a long time since he’d made such a perfect work.
“My face is too hot.”
“Ah! Then I’ll go get sunscreen.”
“The sunscreen is at my seat. Can you go get it?”
Gi Siyoung personally told him the location of the sunscreen.
“Got it!”
Patrick ran off, kicking up sand. When Patrick disappeared, Gi Siyoung took out his own phone from his pocket. Then he put the heads of the two phones together and transferred the photo. Seungun just looked up with his reddened face, completely unaware of what he was doing. Soon, Gi Siyoung finished his business and slammed Patrick’s phone onto Seungun’s sand tomb.
“Manager-nim! I’m here. I’ll apply it for you.”
Patrick, who had arrived like a flash, knelt down by Seungun’s bedside. Then he squeezed white sunscreen onto his face and started rubbing it in. He applied too much so it didn’t absorb right away. Patrick grinned at the ghost-like face.
Seungun’s eyes met with Gi Siyoung’s, who was standing behind with his muscular arms crossed and weight on one leg, looking down at him. Feeling his energy completely drain and stamina depleted in real time, Seungun closed his eyes tightly. Somehow, young people were exhausting.
***
The sun slowly sets beyond the horizon. If they returned to the city of Seoul, such scenery would be hard to see. Gi Siyoung, who had been staring blankly at the magnificent view of the entire sky turning red, glanced back at the sound of the bathroom door opening.
He didn’t enjoy eating alone, so he was planning to order room service together on the terrace while watching the sunset once Im Seungun finished washing up. Would Im Seungun have ever eaten hotel room service to his heart’s content in a place like this? Seungun, who had finished showering in the bathroom, came out silently and started pouring bottled water into a cup. But somehow, he wasn’t in shabby pajamas.
“Where are you crawling off to again?”
“I’m going to have a drink at the bar downstairs for a bit. I heard the bar here is famous and was even featured in magazines.”
“With whom?”
“Patrick.”
Im Seungun put down the water bottle while scratching his temple. Gi Siyoung was silent for a moment. Sometimes Im Seungun did things that left him speechless without a care. However, his schedule was already over, and there was no reason to hold Im Seungun back.
“If things go well, you might not come back at all today?”
“It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean it’s not?”
“I can guess what you’re thinking. Patrick and I aren’t in that kind of relationship.”
“So what kind of relationship are you talking about? A body-rubbing relationship?”
“When did we rub bodies?”
“From what I saw earlier, you were stuck together on the beach and wouldn’t come apart. I thought you were a duo of mating flies.”
“Even if you must make a comparison…”
“What’s wrong with my comparison? Did I hit the nail on the head?”
“If Gi Siyoung-ssi doesn’t want me to go, I won’t go.”
This time, Gi Siyoung raised both hands above his shoulders with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Why would I? Are you my lover, Im Seungun-ssi? I’m not controlling a lover, so why would I tell you not to go?”
“Then do you want to come together, Gi Siyoung-ssi?”
“Why would I go there?”
“…Then I’ll just go and come back alone.”
“……”
When the conversation ended, Seungun left the hotel without looking back. Listening to the heavy door slowly close and then the sound of the lock clicking, Gi Siyoung collapsed onto the sofa with enough force to destroy the springs. Then he bounced up again as if springing back.
He strode out to the terrace that overlooked the reddened sea at a glance. Not long after, a round back of the head appeared, heading toward the annex where the restaurant and bar used by hotel guests were located.
The chestnut-like back of the head glimpsed between palm trees soon disappeared into the annex as if to provoke Gi Siyoung. Whenever Im Seungun, who was just a staff member, didn’t fit into his plans, an inexplicable spite spread quickly like that sunset.
“Fuck. Did I come here to work or to play?”
Having cursed, Gi Siyoung stretched both arms out on the terrace, lowered his head, then raised it while taking a deep breath. Beyond, the sun was setting. On the beach, couples lying entangled and sharing deep kisses as if this were their own bedroom were not uncommonly visible.
“Anyone would think he’s Patrick’s staff member.”
Gi Siyoung turned his back to the red horizon and came back into the living room. He had even set up the terrace table and chairs for comfortable sitting, but seeing that made him suddenly feel hungry. Gi Siyoung picked up the phone, ordered a heap of food in fluent English, then sprawled out on the sofa.
“It’s comfortable and nice being alone. No unnecessary noise either.”
Now what he was waiting for was delicious food and beautiful scenery. It was paradise on earth. Soon after, the terrace table was filled with a feast so abundant there was barely any space left. Handmade burgers with several thick meat patties and some sweet potato fries. Various dipping sauces to eat according to preference.
On a large, wide plate was a glossy Margherita pizza, and next to it was a properly grilled steak with mashed potatoes. That wasn’t all. Appetizing skewered dishes grilled over hot coals were gathered in a bundle.
On one side, there was fresh salad that came as an appetizer and soft bread with flower-shaped butter, and a plate of Neapolitan-style tomato spaghetti sprinkled with parmesan cheese powder was barely placed at the edge of the table.
To avoid greasiness, there was 100% watermelon juice made with only watermelon, and beer served with crushed ice as well.
Having gulped down his beer and finished his third skewer, Gi Siyoung glared at the chair across from him. On the empty chair was a plump cushion, and on that cushion lay his phone. On the phone screen was Im Seungun buried in sand in a ridiculous state, looking this way with an awkward smile. He had transferred it from Patrick’s phone to his own phone.
