“It seems Teacher Jeon had something happen today.”
After getting in the car, Seongjo said while preparing to depart. Yujeong, who had leaned his body fully against the backrest, answered.
“I’m particularly tired today.”
Yujeong originally wasn’t the type to go on and on about his own stories, so he thought the words would end there. But his words soon continued after a brief pause.
“I got a complaint call from a parent today… and the content was a bit tiring and strange.”
“Being a teacher really isn’t ordinary work either. You have to deal with students and parents too.”
Seongjo nodded carefully in response. Yujeong smiled slightly and muttered ‘What work isn’t tiring though…’ while leaning his head against the car window. Seongjo quietly started the car and then opened his mouth.
“So Jeon Yujeong-ssi has days like this too.”
“What kind of day is this?”
“A day when you open up about having no energy.”
Feeling Yujeong’s gaze staring at him, Seongjo drove smoothly and spoke again.
“Today I can contribute to improving Yujeong-ssi’s mood…”
“How will you improve it?”
The question came immediately without any words of refusal saying it wasn’t necessary, which made him briefly wonder. Was this answer also evidence that Yujeong’s attitude had changed a bit? Or was it simply because he was that tired?
Seongjo answered without showing such doubts.
“Should we go for a drive? This car, the top even opens. If you get some wind, your mood will improve.”
Yujeong laughed softly out loud. Though he was clearly laughing, it sounded like a voice drained of energy, which now made him feel sorry. Yujeong looked outside the window and said a word.
“I want to see the ocean.”
“The ocean?”
“If I asked you to take me, would you?”
* * *
Seongjo’s phone navigation was showing the estimated time remaining to the destination. The reason an unusually long time was displayed compared to the distance was because the roads were jammed.
Rather than answering Yujeong’s words first, Seongjo entered the beach location as the destination in the navigation. Since it was already evening, it would be the middle of the night when they arrived, but what did that matter?
If he had to point out a problem, it was that because it overlapped with rush hour, there were noticeably many vehicles going back and forth. Especially getting to the highway was the hurdle. Getting caught at signals several times in the middle of the streets, it already took several tens of minutes just to get to the highway entrance.
In sections where they couldn’t move at all due to traffic congestion and were stopped like a parking lot, he was conscious of Yujeong. Seongjo briefly turned his head and checked Yujeong’s face.
He had an inscrutable expression. Was he regretting having said to go to the ocean? His ambitious words about improving his mood felt meaningless. Since they couldn’t even move yet, let alone get some wind, he had nothing to say even if Yujeong’s emotions had hit rock bottom.
Improving his mood seemed like a distant prospect.
Seongjo let out a troubled sigh.
Yujeong didn’t turn toward Seongjo. He was only looking out the window overflowing with moving vehicles. Perhaps because Seongjo’s face was reflected in that window, Yujeong seemed to have already noticed that Seongjo was looking at him. He slowly opened his mouth and spoke.
“It seems like it will take several hours to get to the ocean.”
It was a voice that only stated facts and was still inscrutable. Soon Yujeong, who had turned his head toward Seongjo, asked.
“Would it be better to turn the car around?”
“You said you wanted to go, to the ocean.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m asking you to take me somewhere Lee Seongjo-ssi doesn’t want to go.”
It was a calm voice. Seongjo laughed as if he didn’t understand. If he hadn’t wanted to go, he wouldn’t have taken him out in the first place. He answered nonchalantly.
“Yujeong-ssi took me all the way to Gangwon-do saying you’d change my mood. Do you think I would say I’d improve yours with such a flimsy mindset?”
Seongjo grinned while glancing at Yujeong.
“Once you start, you have to see it through.”
Having finished speaking, Seongjo turned the steering wheel toward the highway. Vehicles entering in a single line were following tail to tail at a sluggish speed, but when he briefly raised his eyes to look above, it seemed like the road would open up a bit once they actually entered the highway.
Yujeong quietly stared at Seongjo who was looking straight ahead to drive. Seongjo, who noticed the gaze without difficulty, said.
“You must be tired, so sleep a bit while we go.”
But Yujeong falling asleep didn’t happen.
A ballad was flowing from the radio. It was originally a 90s ballad from around the same time Seongjo was born, but it was a female singer’s voice, not the original male singer. There were parts where he knew the lyrics here and there, so he sang along to only those parts in his head.
Yujeong sat with an expressionless face, whether he was listening to the song or not. He didn’t speak to Seongjo, but he also didn’t seem to have any mind to close his eyes. Was it consideration for Seongjo who would be driving alone?
However, because his expression was dark and he didn’t seem like he wanted to talk much, Seongjo also just drove quietly without deliberately making him talk about this and that.
It was about an hour later when rain began to pour. What had been falling like drizzle soon changed to fierce rain streaks.
Now the highway the two were traveling on was deserted. However, because there weren’t many visible cars, more caution was needed. If they drove without thinking, there was a possibility they couldn’t avoid vehicles that suddenly appeared because the rain blurred their vision.
Seongjo adjusted the wipers to close to maximum speed and gripped the steering wheel firmly. Yujeong, who had been sitting somewhat listlessly, also had his posture straightened unlike before the rain started. In a voice that sounded heavy, Yujeong said.
“…There’s still some distance to the next rest stop too.”
“It seems like a shower. It’ll probably stop by the time the rest stop comes up.”
Seongjo answered nonchalantly while carefully surveying the front, but Yujeong was silent. Seongjo, who only checked his expression with a sidelong glance, said.
“Why does your expression look so bad?”
“Sor—”
“If you’re going to say you’re sorry, just don’t say anything.”
Then Yujeong closed his mouth.
It seemed he was indeed going to say he was sorry. The expression he glimpsed through the rearview mirror looked sullen. He looked sorry like the words he was trying to say, but he also looked somewhat sulky at a glance.
Was he interpreting it too arbitrarily?
When Seongjo laughed lightly, Yujeong opened his mouth again.
“We can rest a bit at the rest stop and turn the car around.”
“Why do you keep making weak sounds? Since we’ve started, let’s see it through to the end.”
Yujeong closed his mouth again. He seemed lost in thought. Seongjo didn’t think deeply and focused on driving again.
It wasn’t just something he said or words simply for Yujeong’s sake. No matter what he said, he planned to go to the ocean. Now, even if it wasn’t just Yujeong’s words, Seongjo also wanted to see the ocean.
“Lee Seongjo-ssi has that attitude toward everything.”
“What, being unreasonable?”
“I mean trying to see things through to the end.”
Yujeong’s tone saying those words was calm. Should it be described as him seeming drained of energy somewhere all day, but now returning to normal? His eyes also seemed to have cleared up a bit. Perhaps he too had been swayed to some degree by Seongjo’s words.
It seemed he’d given up on turning the car around now. At least it was fortunate that it didn’t seem like he’d ask to turn the car around again until they arrived.
“Want to talk about something?”
Anything. When he added lightly, instead of asking exactly what kind of talk would be good, Yujeong maintained silence as if lost in thought. Now an unfamiliar song was flowing from the radio. The melody he was hearing for the first time felt noisy somewhere, so Seongjo just turned off the radio.
Only the sound of rain streaks hitting the window could be heard clearly. It was silent, but not silent. It seemed like if he uttered a small voice, it would be swallowed by the sound of rain.
Then Yujeong opened his mouth in a voice just barely not swallowed.
“Actually, when I was young, I wanted to become an accountant.”
Though he’d said any talk was fine, this was unexpected content. However, in that it was a story about Yujeong himself, it drew Seongjo’s interest much more than other stories. Seongjo waited for Yujeong’s next words with an interested face.
