Baek Sang-eun grinned. He was the type who said fishing work was fun. How is that possible? How can someone like their job? Not satisfied with just fishing for work, he even fishes when he comes out to play. Dozens of question marks floated up in Go Seok-jun’s mind.
“Let’s cast together.”
When Baek Sang-eun held his fishing rod at an angle and extended his hand, Go Seok-jun naturally took that hand and stood up from his seat. He staggered a bit but quickly regained his sense of balance. Watching the experienced angler’s casting form, Go Seok-jun immediately followed suit. Even though he’d never fished before, mimicking the motion wasn’t difficult.
“I don’t know how to fish.”
Having already finished casting, he acted coy out of awkwardness. Baek Sang-eun indifferently adjusted the angle of his fishing rod and leaned his upper body forward with his arms propped on the railing. Even though nothing was visible beneath the pitch-black water.
“When you get a bite, reel it in and pull. It’s a full moon, so it’s high tide. Right now below us, it’s half water, half fish.”
“Are you praising me right now, or praising the fish?”
“Huh?”
As he quietly watched Baek Sang-eun blink, not understanding what he meant, he felt a wriggling sensation in his hand.
“Huh?”
“See? It’s already here.”
Baek Sang-eun hummed a tune as he stood behind Go Seok-jun. He completely wrapped his arms around his body and overlapped their right hands. Go Seok-jun merely kept his hand on the fishing rod while the reel spun rapidly under Baek Sang-eun’s touch.
“Welcome.”
With a voice as deep as the ocean, he spoke playfully and snatched up the fishing rod. Go Seok-jun shouted as he watched a fish whose name he didn’t know dangling from the end of his fishing hook.
“Wow! I actually caught a fish?”
The person who’d been talking about dying just moments ago had vanished somewhere, and Baek Sang-eun took out his phone and snapped away at the thoroughly excited Go Seok-jun standing there. He must have taken about twenty photos. Even though the size was embarrassing to commemorate with photos.
“What’s this one called?”
“It’s a flatfish. It’s the end of flatfish season, so you’re lucky. Should I make sashimi?”
“You can make sashimi from one fish?”
“Just for you to taste.”
A cutting board and knife were prepared in no time. Baek Sang-eun crouched down on the deck and struck the fish’s head while wearing gloves. Go Seok-jun squeezed his eyes shut at the primitive and gross scene, then opened them to slits.
Rather old pop music was flowing from the speaker placed on the table. It was music Go Seok-jun used to enjoy when he was in high school. In time with the fast-paced beat, Baek Sang-eun skillfully peeled off the fish’s skin and carved out the white flesh. Then he brought out a burner, pot, and ramen.
The hand that poured water into the pot and made broth from the fish bones was as natural as if he did it every day. Though it seemed absurd to boil precious flatfish just to make one pack of ramen.
“If Uncle wasn’t here, I would’ve starved today.”
Even though it wasn’t that big, Baek Sang-eun said he was lucky, that some people are just meant to have good fortune with fish, excessively praising Go Seok-jun. Being praised constantly made Go Seok-jun’s shoulders rise too.
“If I take Uncle with me when I go out to work, I’ll buy Baeksang Shark No. 2 soon enough.”
“Is it Baeksang Shark No. 1 because you want to catch all the fish?”
“Well… it’s Baek Sang-eun’s boat.”
“How lame.”
Go Seok-jun chuckled and picked up a chopstick-full of well-cooked ramen. The noodles became springy in the refreshing breeze laden with salt. The broth had a deep flavor uncharacteristic of instant food and had cooled to just the right temperature for eating. Was ramen always this delicious? He buried his face right in it.
How long had he been like that? He belatedly noticed that Baek Sang-eun was watching Go Seok-jun without picking up a single chopstick-full.
“Is it that good?”
“Uh… aren’t you eating?”
“Come during the day next time. I’ll dive for abalone and sea urchin for you too.”
His face looked quite proud as he puffed out his chest while speaking. The confidence that only someone who loves their profession can have. Go Seok-jun couldn’t help but think about his own professional spirit.
If asked why he became a police officer, he didn’t really have anything to say. He just picked one from among stable jobs. He thought being a police officer would be more interesting than being a general administrative civil servant. When he entered university, the American financial crisis caused chaos, and civil service exams became trendy, so everyone prepared to become civil servants without exception.
Even after becoming a police officer, did he strive to realize a just society? No, he didn’t. Rather, he got used to receiving entertainment while going around under the pretext of business inspections. Saying it was difficult to speak up against what senior officers were doing was just an excuse. When he got promoted, he’d lick his lips and wait, thinking I’ll receive envelopes like that too.
It would be a lie to say he didn’t think about benefits at all when marrying his wife, who was from the National Police University. So it wasn’t strange that his wife also had an affair with a lawyer based on mutual interests either.
Floating on the open sea, even the thoughts that had been tangled up complexly in his head became calm. He thought he’d want to hide in a mouse hole out of embarrassment for crying and making a fuss in front of a young guy about being scared, but the vast ocean with nowhere to hide even a single strand of hair comforted Go Seok-jun instead.
Comfort. Was what Baek Sang-eun did comfort? Do sailors originally save each other with kisses when panic strikes? Like that famous photo of saving an electrocuted colleague on a telephone pole with a kiss.
Perhaps they have their own unwritten rules among themselves. So Baek Sang-eun must have naturally kissed Go Seok-jun when panic came over him.
“I’m really asking because I don’t know, but… do sailors normally kiss each other and stuff when something happens on the boat?”
“What kind of disgusting shit is that?”
Baek Sang-eun frowned slightly. He shuddered, saying “Ugh,” as if imagining a dirty scene.
“Then it was a mistake?”
“A mistake? Bumping into something and dropping it, that’s a mistake.”
“Then why…”
Why on earth did you kiss me? What were you feeling when you did it? Things like that, to put it that way. He asked if sailors kiss when a colleague has panic on the boat, but that wasn’t it. It wasn’t a mistake either. So what the hell was it?
“I liked it though. Let’s do it again later.”
“Again? Hey man, what kind of kiss are we having between you and me?”
“We decided to date. Uncle, you even said you love me.”
What is this kid talking about right now? Absurd, Go Seok-jun laughed “Haha!” loud enough to make the ocean ring. He should at least say something that makes sense. Of course, an absurd situation did unfold, but still.
Baek Sang-eun wasn’t surprised, flustered, or even pretending to read the room. He was upright and confident as if saying something obvious. Not satisfied with that, he cheekily folded his eyes into a grin.
“Look, enough is enough. How can you and I be lovers? You should say something that makes sense.”
“Doesn’t it just matter that Aunt doesn’t find out?”
“This bastard, are you really just saying anything now?”
When he tried to get up to confront him, the boat swayed once from a large wave at just the wrong moment. In the end, he slumped back into the chair and buried his face in his palms.
There’s no way to escape from Baek Sang-eun, who’s spouting nonsense. He doesn’t know how to pilot a boat, doesn’t know how to swim, and most critically, doesn’t know how not to fear the ocean alone. Right now, the place where Go Seok-jun had his footing was the most comfortable place for Baek Sang-eun and the most uncomfortable place for Go Seok-jun.
He desperately needed a cigarette. But he couldn’t even know if it was okay to smoke on someone else’s boat, so he’d have to get permission from Baek Sang-eun again. What has become of me, Go Seok-jun? Now he even has to watch the eyes of a nephew nine years younger.
“Fuck, I should just die, really…”
“Why are you thinking about dying? I’m okay with being second. Don’t worry.”
This is getting more and more ridiculous. It wasn’t a conversation he could have with Baek Sang-eun at all. All of this.
“What do you mean second? Wake up. I’m not your lover, I’m your uncle.”
When he firmly corrected him, Baek Sang-eun stood with one leg cocked and his hand on his hip. His cheeky expression hardened in an instant. His lips pressed together tightly with force as if displeased about something, then opened with a long “Haa” sigh.
“What’s the problem? Am I ugly? The ahjussis said I’m not bad-looking.”
If I’d let my guard down for a moment, I would’ve said not just ‘not bad-looking’ but ‘you’re fucking handsome, you idiot.’ But he couldn’t get swept up by this guy here. Because he had clear reasons and logic.
Baek Sang-eun is tall and has a big build. No matter how much he grows his hair, no one seeing him from behind would mistake him for a woman. So Baek Sang-eun is a man. Obviously a man to anyone.
“You’re a man.”
“Does that matter in this day and age?”
“It matters to me. I don’t date men. No, I absolutely can’t.”
“I see… Then why did you just stay still earlier? I may not be educated, but I’m not stupid enough to not understand. If you’d told me not to, I would’ve backed off.”
Because I felt like I’d die if I didn’t do at least that, why. Those words just wouldn’t come out. He didn’t know the reason. Just say that you’re driving me crazy by constantly pulling my trigger, and that would be it.
He didn’t want to show weakness to his nephew who’d already become more masculine and superior than him. He’d already shown himself looking like a complete idiot, but it was the last manifestation of his pride.
“You’re family to me. Did you forget?”
“Who was it that drew the line saying ‘Go’ and ‘Baek’?”
The already tall guy looked down at him from way above and sneered sarcastically. Conversely, Go Seok-jun sat in the deeply sunken camping chair, looked up, and let out a hollow laugh.
Unlike his noisy head, the world was only quiet. He learned for the first time that you can’t even hear the sound of waves far out at sea. Go Seok-jun couldn’t say anything and just chewed on his lips repeatedly. Then Baek Sang-eun flicked Go Seok-jun’s lips with his index finger. How cheeky for a young bastard.
“You seem to be thinking about it pretty seriously. You don’t need to.”
The guy who dismissed a serious problem as if it were nothing and smiled shallowly turned toward the fishing rod. When he pulled in one of the cast fishing rods, his arm muscles split into several pieces. There was a fish caught at the end of the fishing rod. The fish he tossed into the bucket floundered by itself.
