Sangho, who was scratching the back of his head, diligently swept and wiped the 2nd floor as if trying to shake off random thoughts. After 8 o’clock passed, he could occasionally see staff coming and going on the 2nd floor too.
Having climbed up to the 4th floor and finished the final cleaning, Sangho stared blankly at the athletic storage again. The athletic storage he’d organized well had piled up again over the weekend, mixed with all kinds of items. Sangho sighed deeply and started organizing the items again as if he had no choice.
“Uh…”
A few items in the storage caught Sangho’s eye that he hadn’t seen before. Various equipment was supposed to have school property numbers attached, but there was a sleeping bag and electric heater that appeared to be personal items. The management team required all such private items to be stored in personal lockers. They’re probably items students used and left.
A sudden voice rang out from behind Sangho, who was worrying for a moment.
“Lee Sangho-ssi. What are you doing?”
At the sharp voice, Sangho’s body flinched. The Facilities Management Center Director was looking at him with a displeased face. The rimless glasses shining coldly seemed to be glaring even more chillingly today. The Center Director rarely came out to the field, but seemed to have come for an inspection since filming was starting today. His shoulders felt stiffly frozen with tension. Sangho quickly bowed his head in greeting.
“Hello. There was something I hadn’t seen before.”
“Why are you touching personal items without permission? Are you a thief?”
“Ah, I didn’t touch them.”
At the Center Director’s interrogation with a furrowed brow, Sangho shrank completely. At the gaze looking him up and down, Sangho felt a pressure like his heart was being squeezed. His face burned and seemed to spin.
“Did you finish wiping the floor?”
“Yes.”
The Center Director triumphantly crossed his arms in front of the completely shrunk Sangho. At least the cleaning supervisors scold or ignore you, but the Center Director had a tendency to strangely corner people.
When fidgeting Sangho tried to slink away, the Center Director, whose mood had twisted for some reason, stopped Sangho.
“Lee Sangho-ssi, how long have you been working?”
“About two months.”
“Shouldn’t you be adapted to the work in two months? Why are you working like this?”
Though Sangho didn’t quite understand what work he was doing how, he didn’t have the courage to talk back to the Center Director. At Sangho’s stiffly frozen expression, the Center Director even clicked his tongue and kicked the trash bag in front of him.
“Dispose of things like this immediately. Can’t you see it?”
The Center Director used to say to throw it away only when the bag was full. Sangho spoke haltingly with a confused face.
“Y-you told me to fill it up before throwing it away…”
“What? Who did?”
“You, Center Director.”
“What? Me? Are you really stupid? The broadcasting filming team is coming and going, so of course you need to put these away out of sight when they’re around. Are you going to work like this?”
When the Center Director raised his eyebrows as if absurd, Sangho’s lips twitched with an even more frozen expression. His face froze like plastic and sweat started seeping damply from his hands. All kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind and Sangho gradually fell into self-loathing.
I really didn’t know you shouldn’t show this kind of thing to broadcasting people’s eyes. Actually, maybe I’m a moron who can’t even do simple cleaning work properly. Other people all do it well on their own. A life loser who can’t even do this simple work on his own—maybe that was actually me.
As Sangho’s face trembled and turned pale, the Center Director finally stepped back with a slightly flustered expression. He seemed to belatedly realize he’d cornered the cleaning worker ‘too excessively.’ He suddenly changed his attitude and spoke in a reasoning tone. He doesn’t want to be a bad person, it seems.
“Lee Sangho. Why is your expression like that? It’s not like I said anything wrong. Two months is still the evaluation period, so I’m telling you to do well.”
“…”
“Huh. Are you crying? I’ve made a few girls cry, but you’re the first guy like you. Ridiculous.”
The Center Director gave a reprimand while making sneering sounds. He seemed to feel some kind of superiority at having someone under him show tears in front of him. Sangho was embarrassed to death for showing tears in this situation. Though tears didn’t flow, his nose felt stuffily blocked.
“…Yes. I’m sorry.”
When Sangho barely answered with a pale face, the Center Director shook his head as if he’d really seen a strange person, then turned sharply and disappeared. His face looked like he didn’t even want to talk.
Sangho, left alone in the athletic storage, stood there for a long while. If I move even a little, I’ll cry with a stupid face. He didn’t want to become such a pathetic person who cries at work. Sangho calmed his heart while pouring out sighs deeply instead of tears.
Looking at the clock, quitting time had already passed long ago. Sangho, who picked up the trash bag in front of him, roughly tied up the bag that wasn’t even half full. Thump, thump, he trampled it so the trash inside would shrink more, become smaller, become more distorted. All I can do is vent my anger by trampling trash like this.
At the trash bag torn into a mess, Sangho looked around in case someone might see, watching others’ moods again. He got even angrier because he looked stupid doing that. After sighing long once more, Sangho picked up the tattered trash bag and plodded his feet.
After throwing the dangling bag in the trash area, Sangho stared at Korea University students gathering in groups of three to five well past lunchtime. Bright and wonderful lives four or five years younger than me. Sangho, who became somehow more depressed, plodded along on his late way home.
Barely arriving at his studio apartment, Sangho took a warm shower then lay down on the cheap sponge mat. Sangho, who placed his elbow over his eyes, only then started quietly sniffling. I don’t care about Han Kyungoh or Jang Wonha. It seemed like life was really livable until he was assigned to the indoor gymnasium. Getting excited about words like it becoming a sweet position during vacation—I was an idiot.
Sangho, who had fallen asleep, suddenly opened his eyes only when it had gotten dim outside. His limbs felt heavy, so he barely found and turned on his phone to see several missed calls. They were all the same number.
“…?”
The time was past 10 o’clock again. If I leave around now, I won’t have to ride the bicycle at dawn. Thinking that, when he raised his stiff body, his head seemed to spin. Come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten anything since the chicken feet yesterday.
Ring-ring, ding.
Then Sangho’s phone rang again. It was that number with several missed calls. There’s no one who would call me. Sangho worried until his phone rang two more times, then barely answered the call. His voice was completely hoarse from sleeping all day.
“Hello.”
—Ah, Sangho-nim! I’m sorry. I think I’m calling too late… were you sleeping?
“Who is this?”
—What? It’s Jang Wonha! The filming just ended, so I was calling to see if you might be at school!
At the unexpected voice, Sangho took the phone from his ear and checked the number again. It’s an unknown number, but Jang Wonha seemed to have saved his number. A lively voice rang from beyond the receiver again.
—I need to eat dinner and I’m hungry. There’s a killer pork soup restaurant, but it’s a bit awkward to go alone…
“Ah, the pork soup restaurant.”
It was the place Wonha had mentioned in passing the day before. He thought he’d said it was clean pork soup made with clam broth. When pork soup came to mind, he felt hungry and his mouth watered.
But to meet Jang Wonha personally again—that was quite burdensome too. When Sangho hesitated for a moment, Wonha urged him as if pleading.
—Everyone’s gone home and I’m alone. I’m super hungry, can’t you come with me?
“Ah… I’m at home. Um, it’ll take time to go out too.”
—Ah, it’s okay! I can wait. Or should I come pick you up? Where do you live?
“What?”
—If it’s Jinje-dong, that’s the neighborhood right next to Korea University, right? I can get there in about 10 minutes. I’ll drive. I think you said it was near that big supermarket, right?
“Yes, that’s right, but, um…”
—I’ll call you again when I get nearby!
“What? No. I, Wonha-ssi. Wonha-ssi?”
At the conversation that passed in an instant, Sangho called out to Wonha again with a flustered voice, but the call had already been cut off. After staring at his phone for a few seconds, Sangho placed his hand on his forehead and sighed.
“What am I supposed to do…”
“How is it? Looks delicious, right?”
Sangho stared at the earthen pot bubbling before his eyes. It was pork soup piled mountain-high with clams. Sangho, who liked clean broth, gulped at the faint clam scent spreading. Though he hadn’t tasted it yet, it definitely seemed like a good restaurant.
