# Chapter 98
Seeing Woosang running with anger, my mind suddenly cleared.
If Woosang were to knock down that harasser, the situation might spiral out of control.
“W-wait…!”
I rushed forward and grabbed Woosang by the nape of his neck. With the sound of a deep inhale, he stopped abruptly in place.
Then, perhaps angered by being suddenly grabbed from behind, Woosang twisted his face and turned his head toward me, shouting loudly.
“Are you crazy? Let go!”
It was the first time I’d heard him say I was crazy, so I was startled and almost let go. But I couldn’t let him go like this, so I barely maintained my composure and shook my head vigorously.
“Calm down. Stay here. I’ll go.”
At my words, Woosang made an angry face, pressed his lips firmly shut, and shoved my hand away.
Leaving the angry Woosang, I quickly looked in Bel’s direction. By the time Woosang had started running, Bel was already reaching out to the man who was leaning in to kiss her, so the nimble Bel must have dodged well.
As I expected, I could now see Bel grabbing the harasser by the collar and slapping his face wildly.
I was glad I had stopped Woosang.
I silently pointed my finger at where Bel was to Woosang, who was breathing heavily. Woosang, who had been glaring at me as if his anger wasn’t resolved, turned around and looked in that direction.
“…”
“…”
The man’s screams made us frown for a different reason.
“This filthy bastard is crazy and attacked me!”
For Bel, who casually lifted and put down people of her own build, subduing one weak man seemed to be nothing.
As Bel’s emotions intensified, fearing that the opponent’s cheek might start bleeding if this continued, Woosang and I rushed over to stop the one-sided violence, for a different reason than before.
“Bel, stop! You’re going to make him pass out!”
“Who are you? What have you done so well that you’re coming here to take his side!”
Woosang, who had been pulling Bel’s struggling arm, suddenly turned his gaze to me, who was pushing the harasser back. It seemed like he wanted help in stopping Bel. But I was afraid of getting slapped by Bel if I approached, so I couldn’t easily go closer.
After being angry for a while, Bel began to breathe heavily, albeit slightly, as she saw Woosang’s bewildered expression.
“Haa…”
“…”
The two people who had been standing still for a while seemed to realize they had caused a commotion and looked around.
By now, not a single person remained around us, and only unfamiliar people staring blankly at our actions from a distance could be seen.
We, standing there, were clearly out of place to anyone looking.
“Hah…”
A deep sigh escaped, though I couldn’t tell whose it was.
***
The harasser who had tried to kiss Bel kept repeating that he was sorry and crying for a while, and Bel, perhaps not wanting to make a big deal since she was a foreigner here, settled the matter to some extent on her own.
Woosang insisted they shouldn’t just let it go, but seeing Bel’s composed demeanor, he eventually decided to follow her opinion.
The three of us walked with tired steps. It would have been quick to take the bus, but both Woosang and Bel seemed to want some fresh air, so we ended up deciding to walk.
“Are you okay, Teo?”
“…What?”
“Walking.”
“I’m fine, of course.”
Bel deliberately spoke warmly to me, perhaps embarrassed about her intense behavior. I also pretended to be nonchalant, but my lips still felt tightly bundled and wouldn’t move well.
Woosang just watched Bel and me conversing, standing one step away from my side.
It would be fine to just walk like this, but I knew that at times of complicated feelings like this, one should walk right beside the other.
“Come over here.”
I deliberately pulled Woosang’s arm to make him walk right beside me. He hesitated, uncharacteristically, but soon complied and came close to me.
“Being like this reminds me of when we went to Switzerland.”
“Switzerland?”
Bel asked with bright eyes, as if hearing this for the first time.
“Don’t talk about that time.”
“…”
But Woosang firmly silenced me. I had thought it would be a good change of topic, but with my words shut down, I pressed my lips together.
Looking at the sulky Woosang, I wanted to talk more about Switzerland, but thinking about it again, it probably wasn’t a good memory for either Woosang or me, so I thought I should follow his opinion.
When I swallowed my words, Bel seemed annoyed, clicking her tongue and backing off with a “fine.”
“Do you need to hold onto Teo so tightly to feel at ease?”
“What am I doing?”
“If it were me, I would’ve been suffocated a long time ago, right?”
“…I don’t mind at all.”
I added ambiguously, not wanting to take Bel’s side here. After the brief conversation, the two seemed to have sorted out their emotions, and they continued normal conversation, so relaxed that it was impossible to tell when they had been so sharp with each other.
Seeing this, I relaxed my tensed body and maintained a step-back attitude, just agreeing with their conversation as much as possible.
What was needed now was a conversation between Woosang and Bel. We couldn’t leave with things so tightly blocked.
I didn’t want him to give up many things because of me. And that naturally included relationships.
The two hadn’t completely hidden their thorny words yet, but they exchanged everyday conversation in a more subdued tone than before.
As we waited for the signal at the crosswalk, the sunset light fell over our faces. I squinted at the somewhat hot light and looked up at the sky.
“The sun is setting at this time already.”
“What time is it?”
“6:30.”
“…Summer is already ending.”
At Woosang’s fading words, I too felt that summer was ending. I had been spending such suffocating days that I didn’t have time to feel the seasons, but it was disappointing that as soon as I started to feel it, the season I looked forward to the most was ending.
Just then, Bel stood still and didn’t walk on. We, who had been walking ahead, stopped and looked at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why don’t we walk a little more before going home?”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“It’s okay. This much is nothing.”
Bel turned with heavy footsteps and headed somewhere. Woosang and I followed her through the alleyways without saying much.
I wanted to ask where we were going because it felt like we were wandering aimlessly, but neither I nor Woosang said anything on purpose.
After wandering through unfamiliar places for a while like that, we saw a convenience store that sat alone, shining brightly in the residential area.
Bel, as if she had just come to her senses, gestured for us to wait and went into the convenience store.
Woosang and I remained silent, even though we were left alone, and waited for Bel. After just a few minutes, Bel came out with a light footstep, holding beers in both hands.
Woosang, who already smelled of alcohol from drinking at the bar, seemed displeased with the beer in Bel’s hands and scolded her.
“…You already drank at the bar.”
“What’s the big deal about one beer? Take one each.”
The cold beer was forcibly placed in each of our hands. Woosang sighed openly at the sight, and I, unable to drink alcohol, just rubbed the mouth of the bottle with my hand.
“You can at least have a beer with me before you leave.”
“…”
At the mention of leaving, she deliberately trailed off as if to gloss over it. At those words, neither Woosang nor I could refuse, and we stood in place waiting for her next move.
“Let’s go toward the park. Let’s each have one drink there and then go home. That much is okay, right?”
“Alright…”
Many emotions were visible in his faded voice, but I silently nodded in agreement.
Bel led us toward a brightly lit open space. The surrounding area was already filled with people drinking and watching the sunset.
It seemed like people who didn’t want to miss summer gathered one by one to enjoy the last of it. And I was one of them.
Bel went to an empty bench and beckoned to us. Woosang sighed and sat down where she led.
Bel took a lighter from her pocket, took the beer from my hand, opened the cap coolly, and gave it back to me.
A cool air rose from the open bottle mouth. The sweat that had seeped out from tension also seemed to cool with the chill flowing from the bottle.
I took a small sip with anticipation, but still not finding the taste to my liking, I just rolled the bottle around.
For a while, Woosang and Bel just drank in silence. Bel, perhaps thirsty, quickly emptied her bottle and looked straight at the darkened sky.
“I thought you had perfectly attached yourself to this place, so it feels strange that you’re leaving.”
At her words, uttered as if in despair, my chest felt heavily filled. Woosang drank his beer as if unbothered by her words. After a brief silence, he too put down his empty bottle on the ground and spoke.
“I thought I would just live in resignation. With you here, and other people… I thought I would live ignoring the parts that were lacking and unfilled.”
Resignation. It was a discordant word for someone who had been consistently flexible and relaxed in dealing with everything. Negative words from his mouth always surprised me.
“I thought it would be okay to live without a place to attach my heart for a lifetime, and I was really doing well…”
He looked at me and smiled slightly.
“But what can I do when I’ve found something important?”
“…”
In Bel’s silence, I felt lonely too somehow. For Woosang, I was an important person, but if I were Bel, I think I would have felt an indescribable sense of loss. I could only indirectly feel her emotions.
It was even more so because Woosang was a precious person to me.
Looking down at my full beer, I felt him looking at me, but I deliberately pretended not to notice.
And yet, I felt grateful to him for being able to casually say I was important despite going through so many things, failing, and growing distant.
Bel slowly rose from her seat at Woosang’s words and cast her gaze into the distance. Her back, visible from nearby, somehow felt as if it were at a very far distance.
And Woosang, perhaps feeling the same as me, slightly furrowed his expression and also stood up.
“That doesn’t mean you think you’re meaningless in my life, right?”
“…”
Bel didn’t answer.
“Teo is the one who has entered my life the most significantly and whom I love, but I’ve never once thought my relationship with you was lighter.”
“…Really?”
“Is it because I said it’s bound by the word friendship rather than love? I don’t think the word friendship lacks any affection.”
