Just in time, since Taejeong had quit tutoring, there was truly no reason to run into him anymore. For several days already, there’d been no sign of him and no way to know any news. It seemed like the entire environment was helping him to distance himself from Taejeong. Since Seonwoo also acknowledged that was better, he intended to do so.
But his resolution crumbled on the tenth day, past the three-day mark.
Even Seonwoo felt wronged about this. It wasn’t like he’d wanted to run into the housekeeper taking out the second-floor master key. He’d woken up early in the morning and come out to go to the bathroom when it happened.
“Oh my, student Seonwoo. You woke up early?”
Seonwoo bowed his head lightly and pointed to the open door.
“You can just go in.”
Then the housekeeper waved her hands.
“Not there, I’m trying to enter Taejeong’s room.”
“……”
“It’s my job to keep this house clean, so I can’t arbitrarily decide which places to clean and which not to.”
Perhaps feeling Seonwoo’s stare, the housekeeper put the master key in her pocket and smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t do this often. Even so, shouldn’t I clean at least once a month? If Taejeong would cooperate, I wouldn’t have to do this either……”
“Does he use the room messily?”
“No. That’s not it, but he doesn’t clean on his own either……”
Seonwoo wasn’t the type to voluntarily clean without any particular reason either. Right now, even the wardrobe Taejeong had ransacked, he’d only done minimal cleanup by roughly stuffing the spilled clothes back in and closing the wardrobe door.
“He hasn’t even come home for over a week…… Since he’s not home anyway, it would be easier for both of us if he just left the door open. Right?”
The housekeeper vented her grievances while inwardly hoping for agreement. Seonwoo glossed over it appropriately with a smile, but the housekeeper seemed to take it as affirmation.
“Student Seonwoo, are you going out somewhere?”
“No. I’m going to the bathroom.”
“I see. Then I’ll quickly clean Taejeong’s room and prepare breakfast. Is there anything you want to eat?”
“I’ll just eat whatever you give me.”
“Oh my, both teacher Junyeong and student Seonwoo are so sweet, it’s nice.”
The housekeeper opened the door with the master key and entered. She looked familiar with it, as if it wasn’t the first or second time. At that level, he’d know that locking it was meaningless. Seonwoo withdrew his interest around then and entered the bathroom.
When he came out after a light face wash, something was piled up in front of Taejeong’s room. It was winter bedding and bed sheets. The reason for cleaning early in the morning was because of washing the bedding.
Come to think of it, except for dawn, he could feel the cold had lifted. It was already the season changing. What date was it today? He tried to picture a calendar in his head, but he couldn’t gauge it at all.
That’s when it happened. From inside the room came a surprised scream along with the sound of something pouring out with a clatter.
Seonwoo immediately went to check the situation. Things were mixed up in a jumble in the middle of the room, and the housekeeper had fallen in front of them. Seonwoo approached and helped her up while asking.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not hurt, but…… Oh my. What a fright……”
The housekeeper stroked her startled chest and spoke incoherently; from what he heard, it seemed she’d stepped on something and fallen. Seonwoo belatedly looked around the room.
When you opened the door and entered, the bed was placed vertically on the immediate left, and behind it was a window. Pitch-black blackout curtains hung there in double layers. Even though they were pulled back as much as possible and the window was wide open, there was no sense of openness.
Leaving a little empty space next to the bed, there was a desk, but it wasn’t arranged to face the wall—it was positioned facing the bed. So the door was in view from wherever you were. The remaining empty space had a bookshelf. It was pressed close to the wall and sparsely empty inside, so it didn’t feel like it took up space.
More than that, the items spilled on the floor immediately caught his eye. Workbooks, reference books, notebooks, writing instruments, all sorts of things were scattered messily. Moreover, unstapled printouts separated into individual sheets were chaotically strewn about.
“I’ll help you.”
“Then I’d feel too sorry……”
“I don’t have anything to do anyway.”
The housekeeper smiled awkwardly but didn’t actively refuse. Two people began to clean the owner-less room. While the housekeeper busily moved between the first and second floors carrying bedding, Seonwoo organized the spilled items.
When the housekeeper, who had returned to the room, was separating the heavy blackout curtains, a growling sound came from Seonwoo’s stomach.
“Oh my, are you hungry?”
It was too loud to pretend he hadn’t heard. The housekeeper said she’d prepare breakfast first and went down to the first floor. She said to look forward to it because she’d prepare something delicious, but she didn’t tell him to stop organizing and rest.
Seonwoo sat down and leisurely organized only what was within arm’s reach. It was more manageable than at first, so he could handle it alone. His right hand showed minimal change in appearance, but compared to before, its range of activity had expanded much more.
Even if the thick workbook was too much, he could easily move something like a pencil case. Books were difficult to carry, so he stacked them all in one place to organize them. Then he saw a long piece of paper sticking out, wedged in like a bookmark.
It was none other than a college entrance exam score report. Taejeong’s name was written on it, and all the grades were first rank. The percentile was a number that Seonwoo had never experienced before.
Seonwoo wondered if it really was Taejeong’s and read the name written on the paper about three times. But no matter how much he did that, the letters wouldn’t change, and the birth year was also the same as Seonwoo’s.
Taejeong’s birthday was in January. January 13th. It was a date that had already passed. Seonwoo stroked the lined numbers with his thumb and thought.
On that day, I was lying unconscious in the ICU. I was peacefully sleeping without even knowing what was happening, but what was this guy doing? On a birthday, you should eat cake. Did the Vice Director buy him one?
Every year on his birthday, Seonwoo’s mom and dad would make him a cake themselves. Dad did everything—making the dough, baking the bread, layering on the cream, and decorating it—but Mom’s role was to supply the ingredients from beside him.
“……”
He had decided to reduce idle thoughts, but recalling old memories like this wasn’t helpful. Seonwoo put the paper back where it was and continued organizing.
Then something under the gap beneath the bed drawer caught his eye. When he approached closer, it was a transparent plastic bag. He pulled at the edge, but it didn’t budge at all, as if it was completely wedged in the gap.
Seonwoo opened the drawer and applied force as if gently pushing it out. At one point, the plastic bag that hadn’t budged at all slipped out smoothly. It was a zipper bag. Inside was a toothbrush that looked familiar.
He picked up the zipper bag with his fingers and held it up in front of his eyes. The bristles hadn’t changed shape since it hadn’t been used for long, and the color was exactly the same. There was no need to examine it further. This was Seonwoo’s toothbrush.
Why was the missing toothbrush here? The only things that came to mind about what one could do with someone else’s used toothbrush were bizarre and grotesque imaginings.
“……”
Seonwoo put the zipper bag in his pocket and went down to the first floor. From the stairs, the rich smell of doenjang-jjigae wafted. When he scanned the dining table, it was full of foods that required a lot of work from the morning.
“Taejeong’s phone number?”
The housekeeper approached, wiping moisture on her apron. When Seonwoo suddenly requested Taejeong’s contact information, she had a puzzled face.
“I do know it. But why do you need it?”
“I have something to ask him. It’s nothing serious.”
Since she seemed to have doubts, Seonwoo deliberately smiled as he spoke. Then the housekeeper naturally took out her phone from her apron pocket.
“I can give it to you, but he probably won’t answer.”
The housekeeper showed him the contact saved as “Vice Director-nim’s Son.” Seonwoo called that number, but it only rang and then disconnected. It was the same when he called from the housekeeper’s phone.
“Should I try calling from my husband’s phone?”
She was referring to the caretaker who was busy working in the garden. It seemed obvious what the result would be, so he shook his head.
