Seonwoo, who stopped the car at a wide open space, unfastened his seatbelt with a familiar posture. When Yoonjo moved as if to get out as well, Seonwoo reached out to Yoonjo first. With a short click sound, the seatbelt brushed past his chest as if licking it.
If someone else had done it, it would have been a creepy action, but somehow when Ki Seonwoo did it, it looked so natural. Yoonjo held his breath again, thinking his sniffing behavior might look strange, then barely let it out.
“Come to the driver’s seat. I’ll teach you properly.”
At the gentle voice, Yoonjo finally came to his senses. When he hurriedly got out of the passenger seat and went to the driver’s side, Seonwoo was waiting with the door open.
“Get in, Best Driver-nim.”
“…Hyung, if you keep teasing me, one of your lungs is really going to disappear. Or your heart will get ripped apart.”
His tone as he stuck out his lips and muttered was quite serious. Seonwoo, unfazed by such a threat, tapped Yoonjo’s lower back and said.
“I got it, so get in. At this rate, you won’t even be able to touch the steering wheel all day today.”
“Yes~.”
Once he actually sat in the driver’s seat, Yoonjo became serious. It was a car that showed with its whole body that it was expensive at first glance. The luxurious emblem embedded in the center of the steering wheel crushed Yoonjo’s spirit.
“Hyung….”
Yoonjo stared at the emblem as if having a staring contest, then slightly raised his head. Because the sunlight was behind him, the sunlight settled completely behind Seonwoo’s back like a halo.
“What if I suddenly have sudden acceleration while doing this and crash it?”
“Do you want to crash it?”
“No… it’s not that…. I’m really good at driving a cultivator, but this is my first time with a car…. I saw on the news that there are a lot of sudden acceleration problems with cars….”
His stammering tone seemed lacking in confidence. Seonwoo tried to lean his arm on the window frame but it was too hot so he subtly pulled it away. Instead, he firmly gripped Yoonjo’s shoulder and answered.
“Crash it. I’ll take this opportunity to change to a car with better riding comfort.”
“Hyung, do you show off your money in places like this?”
“That’s what I earned the money for. Step on the accelerator refreshingly and crash it.”
It was a serious voice that didn’t seem to contain even a bit of joking. The one flustered by those words was Yoonjo instead. When Yoonjo blinked several times, Seonwoo, thinking it was because of the light, raised his hand to create shade over Yoonjo’s eyes. Only then could he properly see Seonwoo’s face that had looked pale due to the backlight.
“Make sure to crash it, Yoonjo.”
It was as if he was urging him to crash it. Yoonjo looked at Seonwoo’s clear face, then slightly frowned.
“I can really crash it out of a sense of duty, hyung.”
“Then I can happily pick out a new car.”
He didn’t know how they ended up talking about crashing or not crashing, but Yoonjo kept frowning and lightly pulled his lips. The corners of his mouth pressed tightly in a straight line and the cheek area rose plumply. At the same time, dimples formed.
Seonwoo quietly examined Yoonjo’s face as if measuring something, then raised his hand and pressed his brows firmly.
“Ah, why! Why! Hyung, ah!”
“Don’t frown.”
It was a languid voice that seemed strangely drawn out. It was even clear, as if carefully separating consonants and vowels and pressing them into his ears.
“When you frown, you look like a pufferfish.”
“Wow…. Even when you speak, you just….”
Yoonjo also tried to say something to Seonwoo, but there was no way to find fault with his face. Yoonjo went “Ugh, ughhh….” then firmly grabbed Seonwoo’s wrist.
“Hyung, if you keep doing that….”
“If I do?”
“If you do….”
“……”
“I’ll never give you a ride on the cultivator again!! Never! Huh? Do you think it’s easy to get around in this vast countryside without a cultivator?”
He waited to see what great words would come out, but as expected, Yoonjo didn’t disappoint. Seonwoo laughed lightly, roughly tousled Yoonjo’s hair, then bent down and entered the car.
“Mmm. Scary.”
“Ugh…!”
He thought a punch might fly, but surprisingly Yoonjo stayed still. Seonwoo pressed the start button to turn it off lightly, then fastened Yoonjo’s seatbelt. Then he straightened his bent waist and came out of the driver’s seat. Just from being outside for that short time, beads of sweat formed on Seonwoo’s forehead.
“Then shall we take driving lessons with Namhang’s scary son?”
“Ah, really. Hyung!”
At the tone that kept teasing him to the end, Yoonjo stamped his feet, but Seonwoo had already closed the driver’s seat door. Going around the hood and sitting in the side seat, he exhaled hot breath and leaned slightly toward Yoonjo.
“You said you drove the cultivator for a long time, so you’ll probably drive pretty well.”
“…Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Earlier you were speaking casually, so why are you suddenly using formal speech again? It was really awkward before too. You call my name ‘Yoonjo~’ but keep using formal speech. Hyung, you don’t have to do that. You’re obviously much older…. If you keep doing that, I feel uncomfortable.”
We need to sort out this form of address issue too….
Yoonjo, who spoke as if muttering, looked at Seonwoo’s face. As if caught off guard, Seonwoo’s expression looked strange.
“I spoke casually to you….”
During his long actor career, the number of times he’d spoken casually to someone could be counted on one hand. It took about 2 years to speak casually even to his manager, and he and his agency president still addressed each other formally and respectfully.
Seonwoo basically had difficulty speaking comfortably to others. Whether it was because of his upbringing or his entertainment industry life, he didn’t know. For such a person to speak casually to Yoonjo was amazing. If his manager had been next to him, he would have opened his eyes wide and interrogated them about what their relationship was.
Seonwoo pondered that fact for a moment, then added with a bitter smile.
“Let’s solve that gradually. First, adjust the rearview mirror and side mirrors. Mr. Ji Yoonjo.”
At the words to stop using formal speech, formal speech was attached again. With ‘-ssi’ added too. Yoonjo felt unnecessarily disappointed at the distance that seemed to have slightly increased, but thinking it would be better to follow Seonwoo’s words rather than say more, he obediently moved his hands. Fortunately, he remembered the method, so adjusting wasn’t difficult.
“Next, start the engine and….”
When he pressed the power button while stepping on the brake, the engine started with a shallow exhaust sound.
“Press this P button here…. Ah, don’t release the brake.”
Yoonjo, who was firmly pressing the brake with his right foot, released it a little at the words not to release it, then hurriedly stepped on it again. Because of that, the car that was about to roll forward stopped with a clatter before moving even 1mm.
“Heok, uhhh….”
A strange sound came out naturally. Because it stopped with a clatter, his heart also fluttered. When he pressed his chest area with his palm, Seonwoo sitting next to him said with quite a stern face.
“When driving, you can’t take your hands off the steering wheel. If you drive irresponsibly, not only Yoonjo but other people will get hurt too.”
“I’ll snap to attention!”
“Mmm. Good boy.”
At the touch lightly patting the back of his hand placed on the P button, Yoonjo’s gaze came down slowly. Regardless of such a gaze, Seonwoo talked about the next step.
“Now take your foot off the brake and try going forward little by little.”
As the wheels rolled slowly, his shoulders hunched in tension and his body leaned as if to stick to the windshield. Then, like a ghost, Seonwoo’s hand intervened and pushed Yoonjo’s chest area with his palm.
The large hand broadly enveloped his chest. The slightly cooled hand was clearly felt beyond the thin shirt. When Yoonjo rolled his eyes, a firm voice flew in as if telling him not to mess around.
“Keep your posture straight. If you start with bad habits, they’re hard to fix.”
“Yes!”
Like that, after slowly moving around the wide open space and turning the steering wheel several times, Yoonjo’s face gradually became comfortable. It was as Seonwoo said. Thanks to driving the cultivator, there was no resistance to the wheels rolling. Come to think of it, when he went out for road driving to get his license, it was quite natural too.
“Now try going out to the road. It’s a country road anyway, so there are no people.”
“Wow… already? Can’t I drive around just a little more?”
“Mmm. No.”
At the drawn-out tail end saying no, Yoonjo made a tearful face and turned the steering wheel. Fine, whatever. If it really doesn’t work while driving, I’ll just crash it. The one who confidently said it was okay to scrap it wasn’t Yoonjo but that man, Ki Seonwoo.
When the car that had been crawling sluggishly entered the road, Yoonjo stepped on the accelerator a little. The car moved forward refreshingly. It was a completely different speed from the rattling cultivator. There was nothing in the way, and even the common engine vibration was hardly felt.
“Keep going.”
“Hyung, hyung. Can I go where I wanted to go?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“They said a calf was born in the next village. I wanted to go see it but I had no time…. Ah! Of course, if you don’t feel like it, I’ll go separately next time.”
Though he said that, as if he had lingering attachment, Yoonjo went on and on about how cute calves are. Seonwoo quietly watched Yoonjo’s chattering lips, then tapped his knee with his finger. Who’s cuter, saying such nonsense.
At Seonwoo’s silent and still behavior, Yoonjo subtly rolled his eyes thinking he might have brought it up wrong, then looked at the road again.
“Let’s go. We can go wherever Yoonjo wants to go.”
“You really mean it? Then hyung, let’s go to the Space Science Center with me tomorrow too. Uh… and they said there’s a fireworks festival at Nokidong over there, so let’s go there too!”
At Seonwoo’s permission, Yoonjo got excited and bounced his body as he moved forward cutting through the long stretched road. The straight country road, as always, had no obstacles.
After driving forward for a while, Yoonjo gradually reduced speed and turned the steering wheel to the side. It was at the sign that read ‘Somong Barn.’ Because it was an unpaved road, the car kept swaying.
“It’s here! The grandpa here said three calves came out this time. Don’t you think they’ll be super cute? You probably don’t know, but cows really have pretty eyes and calves are so tiny and adorable. In winter they wear clothes because it’s cold, ack…!”
Yoonjo, who was trying to reduce speed, unconsciously stepped on the accelerator, and at the same time got over a small bump that was in front. He stepped on the brake urgently, but the car body momentarily floated up with a vroom and came down with a large thud vibration.
