Sunjeong’s parents didn’t expect much from him. They only wanted Sunjeong to be happy being himself, and while they subtly kept their distance from Taeon, they weren’t cold-hearted enough to completely cut him off. So Sunjeong’s black card would give Sunjeong freedom regardless of Taeon’s poverty.
But that seemed unreasonable in Taeon’s eyes. Sunjeong had a life he could rightfully live, and it didn’t seem right to make him give up even a portion of it because of him.
There had been another option. As Sunjeong’s parents had suggested, enrolling in Hanguk University with Sunjeong, working as a driver while taking care of Sunjeong in various ways.
Taeon had refused this proposal because he didn’t want to build his life easily through someone else’s power.
In truth, there had been another motive.
He had been afraid of watching Sunjeong’s life from so close.
Like the changed Sunjeong now, he hadn’t wanted to know about Sunjeong’s life unrelated to Taeon.
The more he knew, the more he would want. The more he knew, the more he would want to have. Like someone who knew neither their place nor their station.
For Taeon, these were all extremely reasonable decisions he had made thinking they were the best choices along with various thoughts at the time.
Perhaps what he had thought was best might not have been the best—Taeon realized this for the first time.
At the same time, he didn’t feel like he could make better choices even now.
Taeon still had debts that were now nearing the end of repayment, and he had a life and livelihood to manage.
Sunjeong had to shine like Sunjeong.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t understand at all why his heart kept feeling so disturbed. Taeon ended up staying up all night with his eyes open.
Having stayed up all night, Taeon was in a hazy state, but the atmosphere at the work site was particularly good today.
It was because the announcement came that Mr. Choi’s son—who had always stuck with Taeon teaching him since he first started working—had been accepted to Hanguk University.
Each colleague was preoccupied with their own family circumstances and raising their children, so it might have been difficult to offer purely congratulatory words. Even so, the reason the atmosphere was just plain good was because Mr. Choi had distributed expensive café drinks and snacks since morning under the pretense of “bragging fees.”
What got people more excited was that instead of the usual snacks he often distributed, these were coffee and desserts called macarons from a famous franchise café he would never set foot in otherwise.
Since Mr. Choi had already declared he would buy lunch, not a single person complained about the unusual snacks.
The work foreman, who took a big sip of the sweet iced vanilla latte from the famous franchise café, said to Taeon.
“Do you buy this kind of stuff often?”
“No. I don’t drink it. It’s a waste of money.”
In reality, Taeon only drank the instant coffee at the work site unless he was with Sunjeong. Even then, he would roughly drink a cup when he felt his tired body needed the sugar from the sweet instant coffee, but he never sought it out for caffeine.
“Why do you live so frugally, kid? I heard you’ve almost paid off your debts.”
At the work foreman’s usual comments, Taeon didn’t even bother to respond and just smiled.
“Hey, Yoon Taeon.”
“Yes.”
As always when he had something to say, the work foreman called Taeon “Yoon Taeon.” Taeon obediently responded to his call.
“Mr. Choi’s son is the same age as you.”
“…”
“That guy’s family situation is obvious too. Even earning money here, he can barely put food on the table. That’s why his son worked part-time for years while studying incredibly hard.”
“…”
“Don’t just waste your time here either. If you’re going to learn a skill, learn it properly, and if you’re going to study, study hard.”
“Yes.”
“Answering too quickly shows no sincerity either.”
“…Yes.”
The work foreman patted Taeon’s shoulder and laughed as he deliberately answered slowly as a joke.
Taeon took a big sip of the iced vanilla latte in his hand. It should have been sweet coffee, but somehow he could barely taste the sweetness.
As usual, he was called here and there for physical labor and ate lunch.
Lunch was, as Mr. Choi had announced, the lunch special at a ssambap restaurant they sometimes went to but couldn’t visit often because it was expensive. On top of that, they each had a glass of makgeolli.
Even the work foreman, who normally didn’t allow drinking during work, just seemed in a good mood today. Taeon also declined several times but eventually accepted and drank a glass, not wanting to ruin the atmosphere. Everyone left the restaurant in a pleasantly buzzed state with just a slight intoxication.
Following the footsteps of people holding instant coffee in their hands as usual, Taeon also began walking quickly.
“Let’s finish quickly and wrap this up today.”
Normally they would take a good nap and then restart work, but this time it was a suggestion to rest less and finish up faster instead. Since no one disliked leaving work early, everyone agreed.
Taeon also wanted to stop by home and rest a bit before going to work at the café since he was finishing work early.
If possible, he wanted to change into cleaner clothes too.
Just in case Sunjeong might stop by the café.
While carrying luggage diligently with these thoughts, Taeon’s gaze suddenly went upward.
“What the hell is Choi Yongjae doing? He only had one glass of makgeolli earlier.”
Taeon wasn’t the only one whose gaze went upward. Kim Seungjae, seeing Mr. Choi, frowned and spoke. It was loud enough for Mr. Choi to hear everything.
And for good reason—when he should have been hammering diligently, Mr. Choi was now standing facing the air.
“The old man seems a bit strange right now.”
Taeon said with a frown. Mr. Choi was standing still, trying to bring his hand to his left chest. Even that seemed to be struggling, moving with great difficulty.
“That guy seems to have some problem right now. I’ll go up. Yoon Taeon, you watch and call 119 for now.”
“Yes.”
While Kim Seungjae climbed toward Mr. Choi, Taeon took out his phone from his work clothes pocket.
Kim Seungjae, who hurriedly climbed to the second floor, caught Mr. Choi’s body just as he was about to collapse.
“Shit.”
If he collapsed right now, he could fall down and hit his head. It was really fortunate that he and Taeon had noticed the suspicious behavior first.
“Taeon, hurry up and call. Call 119.”
Focused on Mr. Choi, Kim Seungjae missed even the faint groan that could be heard from far away.
The hammer that Mr. Choi had been holding was no longer in his collapsed hands.
When he lost strength in his body and collapsed, Mr. Choi’s hand let go of the hammer. And that hammer struck the back of Taeon’s head.
Frustrated because Taeon wasn’t answering when it was urgent, Kim Seungjae shouted downward and looked down, nearly fainting. He thought he had experienced all sorts of things doing construction work his whole life, but this was the first time someone had been knocked out by a hammer.
Taeon barely regained consciousness two days later.
The situation of being confused in the hospital room like in dramas didn’t happen.
As soon as he opened his eyes, Taeon clearly remembered the moment he was hit in the back of the head with the hammer. He also clearly recognized that this terrible headache that seemed to echo through his skull was the source.
At the same time, Taeon muttered. Seriously fucked.
First of all, it was unclear whether it would be processed as a work injury, so the hospital bills were a problem. He would manage it, but it was an unnecessary expense.
And he hadn’t been able to contact the café, so he had ended up being absent without notice. He might get fired.
Go Sunjeong… well, they weren’t in contact every day anymore, so maybe it didn’t matter.
Only after all these thoughts did Taeon realize once again that he had survived being hit in the head with a hammer.
His mouth, which had almost screamed in surprise at seeing Mr. Choi staggering and seeming about to collapse, could only make an “ugh” sound because of the object flying toward Taeon’s head.
I guess when life doesn’t work out, it really doesn’t work out like this.
Thinking about how many people in life get the experience of being hit in the head with a hammer, only a hollow laugh came out.
While thinking this, what came to mind was Sunjeong’s murmur he had heard at the Han River.
‘Next time, I hope both you and I can love courageously in our own ways. Right?’
Recalling Sunjeong’s calm voice seemed to make the terrible headache even worse.
First, he wished this terrible headache would disappear. I should at least take some painkillers, and as Taeon looked for the call button he assumed would be there, he paused at the surrounding scenery entering his view.
Taeon had never been to a hospital ward. The only times he went to the hospital were maybe once every few years to get medicine for a terrible cold that wasn’t even the flu. The hospital where he went to get pheromone suppressants wasn’t this kind of hospital.
But he had knowledge about hospital rooms. Hotel-like hospital rooms where those who seemed to have committed some great crime on the news headed in wheelchairs, and hospital rooms where several people stayed together both noisily and quietly.
The place where Taeon should be was clearly the latter type of room.
But the hospital room where Taeon was lying now was much larger than Taeon’s studio apartment. Not only was it large, but it was clean and cozy.
