“Ugh!”
At the hot heat touching the back of his hand, Heewoo was startled and dropped the paper cup. On the other hand, Heichi didn’t seem bothered at all and was still holding the paper cup even though the back of his hand was completely soaked with fish cake broth.
Heewoo clutched the hand he’d just burned with his uninjured hand. The broth had been boiling hot, so it was hot enough to bring tears to his eyes, but there was nothing here to cool it with, so a way to treat it was distant. Heewoo, who was just rubbing his painful hand round and round, looked at Heichi, who had also been hit by the hot broth like himself.
But Heichi looked strangely fine. Even more so as he still gripped the paper cup tightly with his damp hands. Heichi looked at the back of the hand Heewoo was clutching and said:
“Are you hurt?”
“…What?”
“Are you hurt?”
“Oh, yes, I got burned a little…”
It was before Heewoo’s words could even finish. Heichi threw the paper cup he was holding to the ground and reached out his hand. Then he brought Heewoo’s hand, which had barely been rolled up to block it from the air, in front of his own eyes.
Heewoo’s pure white hand was flushed red wherever the broth had spilled, painful enough for the observer to feel more distressed. Was it about a first-degree burn? It hurt, but it was also pain that would subside if he waited a bit.
However, Heichi’s gaze looking at Heewoo’s hand was unusual. He was looking with such serious eyes that Heewoo, feeling somehow awkward, brought his hand back and said:
“Are you okay, Heichi-ssi?”
“My skin is thick, so I won’t be hurt by this degree of heat.”
He seemed to have heard something similar before. That his skin was thick so he didn’t feel cold well.
Heewoo thought that was the ordinary bravado of men who had been to the military. Of course, Heewoo, who had just turned twenty, hadn’t gone to the military yet, but he was planning to go soon, and while working part-time jobs, he often saw people who had been to the military. Men born with the same thing all had at least one such boast.
“You should go get treated.”
“…What? Treatment?”
“Your skin is thin, so it looks like it will leave a scar.”
“This much is fine. It’ll just sting for a moment…”
When you bounce around various part-time jobs, even the finest hands are bound to become rough. A few months ago, Heewoo, who was so desperate for money that he even tried manual labor, had his fingernail come off while carrying heavy cement. He’d treated it roughly, but if he kept doing this kind of work, the money going to medical bills seemed like it would be more than the money he earned, so he quit after that day.
Besides, Heewoo, who hadn’t received adult care since childhood, knew how to act composed with most injuries.
Heewoo, who asked the food cart owner and received tap water, poured that water over the back of his hand. And when he tried to pour it on Heichi’s hand too, he suddenly pulled his hand away.
“…?”
“I’m fine. Please use it all on Heewoo-ssi’s hand.”
“…”
Heichi’s gaze as he said that was so firm that Heewoo had no choice but to only cool his own hand. No matter how thick the skin, the fish cake broth just now must have been very hot. He thought that, but didn’t voice it out loud.
Soon after, freshly sliced sundae and tteokbokki came forward. Heewoo naturally started eating diligently, picking them up poke by poke with a toothpick. On the other hand, Heichi didn’t put it in his mouth even when Heewoo stuck sundae on a toothpick and held it out.
Does he not want to eat it?
Sundae made from boiled pig intestines or sweet and spicy tteokbokki were foods somewhat inappropriate to satisfy a foreigner’s palate. Heewoo, thinking that was why Heichi wouldn’t even touch it, gradually slowed down his eating speed.
If it’s like this, he should’ve just gone to eat what he wanted to eat from the beginning…
Everything is enjoyable when both people eat deliciously. Today, unlike other days, Heewoo, who had been able to fill his stomach since morning, felt the sundae and tteokbokki before his eyes were very unappetizing. And his stomach quickly became full.
In the end, Heewoo had to leave food for the first time in a very long while. It was so wasteful that he wanted to ask them to wrap it up, but he already had lunch boxes in his hands and had to go to his part-time job right away. Leaving his regretful feelings behind, Heichi finished paying.
The two, who saw the yellow 50,000 won bill from his hand change to green 10,000 won bills, exited the food cart. Heewoo said awkwardly to Heichi:
“Um… Then I have to go to my part-time job now.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be going…”
“Heewoo-ssi.”
In the atmosphere that had become miserably awkward since spilling the fish cake broth, Heewoo tried to hurriedly flee the scene. There was even a good excuse of the next part-time job. But Heichi stopped Heewoo.
“Yes?”
“…Are you by any chance offended?”
“What…?”
Heewoo didn’t properly understand Heichi’s question. Asking if he was offended?
“Uh…”
Not knowing what to answer for a moment, Heewoo hesitated with his answer, saying “Uh…” out of habit. But as soon as he said that much, Heichi’s brow crumpled mercilessly. Heichi, who closed his eyes deeply then opened them, quietly bit down hard inside his mouth.
“…Yes. Please go.”
“Uh, ah, yes…”
Even though he hadn’t answered yet, Heichi sent Heewoo away. Heewoo, who looked at him questioningly, ultimately had to leave the scene before understanding this situation. While heading to the store, Heewoo’s head was still full of questions.
Why did he ask if I was offended? Because of spilling the fish cake broth?
Of course, it was true that his mood hadn’t been good since spilling the broth. But that wasn’t because of spilling the broth—it was because he felt upset that he alone was eating deliciously when he was getting food that Heichi couldn’t eat.
While going to the store, Heewoo blamed himself for not being good with words. If he had clearly said what he was thinking earlier, Heichi wouldn’t have made that scary expression at the end. But for Heewoo, who had lived without this kind of detailed conversation with people for a long time, it was a difficult task.
Heewoo ultimately resolved to properly correct it when he met Heichi again. Since Heichi had come to find him as soon as his part-time jobs ended from this morning through lunch and dinner, he naturally thought he would come to meet him after his part-time job ended at night too.
But that night, Heichi didn’t come to meet Heewoo.
* * *
Heewoo, who woke up after sleeping about four hours as usual, rubbed his eyes and got up from his spot. He wished he could sleep just one more hour, but he couldn’t.
It was already the weekend. Of course, for Heewoo, who had been working part-time jobs without rest since age 14, the weekend was just a day to do different work than usual, not particularly recognized as a day off.
Today too, Heewoo, who simply washed only his face with cold water and came out, moved diligently. Today was the day to go clean a commercial building that had been reserved since morning. Heewoo, who came outside wearing his usual crossbody bag, opened his flip phone.
On the flip phone where even spam texts rarely came, a single text had arrived alone after a long time.
📶✉️ 🔋
Text Message
Sender: 010XXXXXXXX
Heewoo, Mom needs money
Heewoo, who had been blinking while looking at the text, closed the flip phone with a clack. The text he’d just checked was no different from a spam text. No, a spam text would be better.
Heewoo’s father was a gambler famous in the vicinity, and his mother was a woman who worked at a bar. Since such people couldn’t properly care for a child they gave birth to, Heewoo was abandoned to his paternal grandmother’s side when he was a baby he couldn’t even remember.
His paternal grandmother wasn’t particularly warm either, but Heewoo still thought his grandmother was better than his father or mother. At least she didn’t ask for money. Though in her later years, getting cancer had about doubled Heewoo’s debt, which was already busy being paid off from his father’s gambling debts.
Fortunately, his father died of alcohol poisoning before Heewoo even graduated middle school. His paternal grandmother also ultimately passed away from cancer two years ago, and now only his mother remained, but she came to find Heewoo whenever she had a chance and nagged him persistently for money. No matter how much he ignored and avoided her, she followed him even to his part-time job locations, so Heewoo getting fired from part-time jobs was a regular occurrence.
It was an obvious and tedious story. Though it would be reasonable to complain about how hard it was, Heewoo thought living like this was so natural that he didn’t even think he was having a hard time. Only when his hunger became too severe was that a bit hard.
“The address is… around here.”
Checking the address he’d received by text a few days ago, he arrived at a commercial building. It was a simple job of sweeping and wiping the emergency staircase of an 8-story building. Before entering into full-scale cleaning, Heewoo rubbed his stomach that was making growling sounds.
On weekends when there was no convenience store work, it was difficult to expect breakfast. If he only had time, he’d go to a nearby 1,000 won restaurant, but he couldn’t do that either. No, if he’d only had time, he would have at least eaten the lunch boxes Heichi had bought.
Heewoo, who had been thinking up to there, soon reached thoughts of Heichi. He’d thought he’d be able to see him again last night or at least this morning, but there was still no contact. Had he gotten busy?
Heewoo gripped the broom, thinking he should at least leave a text for him if he had time later. It was when he was just about to start cleaning.
“Did you eat breakfast?”
The man who had been floating around in his head until just now appeared before his eyes. Heichi, wrapping his large frame in a black coat, had the same expression as yesterday. No, there was exactly one difference.
Under the long sleeves, his hand was swollen blue and bent.
