It was long.
Really ridiculously long.
That was really ridiculous…
Yeon Cheonguk often woke from sleeping during class and looked out the window where the curtains fluttered.
When the wind shook his hair, that day’s intense kiss vividly came alive inside and outside his lips. It was a memory of his lips getting wet and crushed, completely sucked in. Saliva had flowed down like rainwater. The tingling power he’d never felt in any other kiss, the forceful suction like being bound…
His habit of fiddling with the rim of cups got worse.
He became a senior in his third year and became the most senior in school, and there were no punks forcing him to be a jukebox. Perhaps thanks to keeping Hwang Jegu’s words not to enter his world, Yeon Cheonguk’s school life was peaceful.
His father repaid the money borrowed from Kim sunbae first when Hwang Jegu delayed the movable property seizure execution. He could tell how strong his desire was for his son not to be influenced by bad friends.
Yeon Cheonguk had by now fully adapted to the small, old house. He’d also gotten used to the way to and from school with his face covered.
Yeon Cheonguk worked harder than last year. If he went home without doing evening self-study, he’d obviously only get scolded, and his parents were people who couldn’t even bring up the topic of going to applied music school. In addition to his weekend Canmoa part-time job, he distributed entertainment establishment flyers in the Myeongdong, Cheonggyecheon, and Dongdaemun areas almost every weekday.
Yeon Cheonguk, who lived a life busier than most office workers, supplemented his sleep at school and vented his stuffiness at the comic book room.
‘Kkaebi Video Rental’ changed its name to ‘Kkaebi Comic Town’ and underwent a major renewal. They expanded the new movie DVD corner and removed the yaoi corner. They’d wanted to get rid of that bookshelf so much and finally succeeded.
Through occasional chats, he also learned that the comic book room part-timer was taking a leave of absence from law school. He said his body was weak so he took leave as soon as he finished the first semester. Seeing him ramble that the comic book room work suited his aptitude so he’d probably have to change his career path, it was clear he had energy left to talk nonsense.
Today too, Yeon Cheonguk stopped by the comic book room before going to his flyer part-time job.
“Who’s the errand boy these days?”
“Lately it’s been Sangwon continuously. Jeon Sangwon complains a lot. He says even though he’s at least left minister level, does he have to do menial tasks that only eunuchs do.”
“Gakseori? How’s his fashion these days?”
“His nickname is Gakseori? It’s intuitively fitting. Last time he came, he wore a denim vest that looked like some hunting dog had bitten off the sleeves.”
“Still the same.”
Though there was a stuffiness that couldn’t be quenched with such small talk.
He was annoyed at himself for feeling good at the words that the comic book errand boy position was still vacant. Yeon Cheonguk secretly wrote graffiti with a ballpoint pen inside the book flap of the new <Berserk> volume. It was graffiti in letters as small as dots that wouldn’t be visible.
28-4-25
43-1-1
55-3-9
56-2-12
68-6-1
This meant this:
Page 28, 4th panel, 25th character.
Page 43, 1st panel, 1st character.
Page 55, 3rd panel, 9th character.
Page 56, 2nd panel, 12th character.
Page 68, 6th panel, 1st character.
If you combined all of this, you’d complete this sentence:
‘Fuck, I, hate, you.’
And he’d also left similar cipher graffiti in the new volume of the adult comic book Hwang Jegu liked to read.
2-5-9
3-1-20
13-3-2
20-6-15
36-3-1
40-2-6
43-4-12
‘You, were, good, at, it, though.’
Why was he killing time doing such things? Because his MP3 player broke. The MP3 player that had held out since middle school finally died. Right now when even a few ten thousand won was precious, it wasn’t easy to just buy a new one. If he wanted to listen to songs, he had to go to a PC room and log into Bugs Music to listen.
Yeon Cheonguk, who stuffed the broken MP3 player into his bag, went to the counter.
“Hyung, let me borrow your cell phone.”
The part-timer, who had been diligently texting someone on his new Cyon cell phone, looked up. He readily held out his phone. Thank you, he said and selected send message.
[I’m performing on the Migliore stage today too. See you there at 9]
It was a message to send to the juice shop owner. Last time the owner had asked him to let him know when he went out to sing at Migliore. He said he’d go see the audience reaction. Since he remembered, he sent the message and left the comic book room.
Yeon Cheonguk sang at the Migliore stage every Thursday.
To avoid being caught by his parents, he put forward the pseudonym ‘Seolyun High Jo Seongmo.’ There were even audience members who deliberately came to see Yeon Cheonguk every Thursday.
The owner was excited, saying it was his first time seeing Yeon Cheonguk singing on stage. They ate dinner at a famous potsticker restaurant and even got slushies for dessert. When they were about to head toward Migliore, the owner pointed in the opposite direction.
“There’s a place I need to stop by with you for a moment.”
“With me?”
“Yeah. There’s something you need to pick out for me. Let’s just go together for a moment.”
Yeon Cheonguk, who was walking following the owner while sucking on his slushie, had his gaze stolen by the other side.
It seemed like a denim vest had just passed through the crowd.
‘……’
After quickly rolling his eyes again, he found the vest. A denim vest with torn sleeve ends, short bleached hair. It was definitely Gakseori.
It seemed they had business in the back alleys of Myeongdong today.
The owner called out to Yeon Cheonguk, who had turned his head all the way back.
“Yeon, what are you looking at, what are you looking at. You should look here. Ta-da.”
“…What should I be looking at? This is SK Telecom?”
“Right. It just won’t do, so I’m going to give you a cell phone as a gift.”
“What…?”
Yeon Cheonguk was very surprised, but soon laughed and shook his head.
“No. No. That’s not it.”
“It’s uncomfortable for me. We need to contact each other often but you always use pay phones or borrow other people’s cell phones.”
“Really, no. If I have that, I’ll just play Bungeoppang Tycoon all the time and neglect vocal practice.”
“I’m doing this because I really need it.”
Yeon Cheonguk hugged him tightly to shut the owner up. The owner was slightly taller than Yeon Cheonguk, but he hugged him tightly and spun around in place.
“It’s fine. Sunbae-nim, done! You don’t need to buy it! I’ll just accept the thought.”
When he released the hug, Manager Kim pinched and shook Yeon Cheonguk’s nose.
“It feels good that we’ve gotten closer, huh? Huh? Let’s go.”
“No, I’ll stop saying I’m okay.”
When he repeatedly refused, the owner couldn’t bring it up anymore. The owner, who put his arm around Yeon Cheonguk’s shoulder, turned his steps with regret.
Jeon Sangwon, who was watching that scene from the rooftop of a theater building, spat sarcastically.
“Oho, Yeon Cheonguk looks good these days. He got close to the boss and rides around here and there in a shiny car.”
“Shiny car?”
Hwang Jegu, who had been treating Jeon Sangwon’s words as background noise all along, opened his mouth. It was a voice heard for the first time in two hours. It was Yeon Cheonguk who made Hwang Jegu, who had the talent to turn off his hearing when annoyed, open his mouth for the first time in the evening.
“That’s the Canmoa owner over there.”
“……”
“He must feel alive since we’re not bothering him.”
Hwang Jegu didn’t personally go in and out of the comic book room, and didn’t go to Migliore often either. Because when Hwang Jegu showed up, the annoying thing of students from the area including enemies and allies gathering in a swarm would happen. So he probably didn’t know Yeon Cheonguk’s news at all.
Moreover, Hwang Jegu had been stationed near Cheonggyecheon these days because of the redevelopment committee. He’d come to Myeongdong in person for the first time in a while at the news that a fight broke out among brawlers.
At the dark air that momentarily engulfed Hwang Jegu, Jeon Sangwon deliberately flinched first.
“Why, shouldn’t I even talk about Yeon Cheonguk? Should I shut up? Delete completely? Shift delete?”
He bounced around reading the mood, but Hwang Jegu had no answer. He, who had been keeping his mouth shut, suddenly burst out in loud mockery.
“Puhaha! They’re putting on quite a show.”
Hwang Jegu’s eyes were directed far below. Hwang Jegu’s gaze was bleakly stopped on the scene of Yeon Cheonguk and the juice shop owner clinging together in a hug and pinching noses.
