“Ah. I was going to answer the call yesterday, but I’ve been so busy preparing for my driver’s license test lately.”
—Where are you right now?
“Here at the driver’s license test center. I’m about to take the written test.”
—Should hyung come pick you up? I don’t have classes in the afternoon.
“No. I’m with Dongwoo.”
—If Dongwoo doesn’t mind, let’s eat together, the three of us. When you come out after the test, it’ll be around 2 o’clock, right? There won’t be anywhere to eat around there anyway, will there?
“Then hyung, I’ll think about it and contact you.”
—Okay. Think about what you want to eat.
It was supposed to mean I’d think about whether to meet or not, but hyung seemed to think I meant I’d think about the menu. So just as I was about to correct him, hyung added,
—Oh right, I need to give you the key too.
“Ah, right. The key.”
Right, whenever it was, I had to receive the pure gold key from hyung.
But I wanted to avoid meeting alone, so I looked at Dongwoo with eyes pleading for help. Dongwoo, who happened to raise his gaze toward me, furrowed his eyebrows.
—Call me when you’re done. See you later.
“Yeah.”
I pressed the call end button and let out a long sigh.
No matter how I thought about it, Seongheon hyung made me uncomfortable right now, so I was wondering if I should say let’s meet next time. While my thumb was hovering over whether to touch the message profile picture or not! Dongwoo’s finger suddenly interjected and tapped the photo. Then the photo taken with hyung filled the screen.
“Huh? The person next to hyung, isn’t that you?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s so good that you’re grinning while looking at him?”
“I don’t know either. What I was thinking to be grinning like that.”
“Because you’re next to Seongheon hyung, you look so…”
“I know. I’m fully aware of it, so stop looking.”
To think I was smiling like such an idiot while looking at Seongheon hyung. It’s really new every time I see it.
I was about to send a message to hyung telling him not to come, but wondering if it might be possible, I looked at Dongwoo wistfully.
“Dongwoo, you know.”
“No.”
Dongwoo refused something I hadn’t even asked while fiddling with his phone. It didn’t seem like it would be easy, so I thought I needed to entice him more specifically.
“You remember being disappointed before that I only took Dongmi to the steak house, right?”
“Ah! Right. You said you’d buy me that 25,900 won lunch set back then. When are you going to buy it?”
“How about eating it today?”
“Yes!”
“Instead of me, Seongheon hyung will buy it.”
“Ah…”
“If you go, not just the lunch set, you can order whatever you want. Before, Dongmi also went and ordered rib-eye steak and au jus cheese and—”
“No.”
“Before, you were disappointed that I only took Dongmi.”
“That was then, and now I don’t want to. It’s uncomfortable.”
“Why? Is Seongheon hyung awkward? You’ve run into him a few times when you came to my house before.”
“Forget it. You go eat.”
“Dongwoo. Just once, please? Let’s eat together just once.”
“Hey, why are you being like this?”
When I finally grabbed his arm and clung to it, Dongwoo, who had been holding his phone, shuddered.
I kept whining because it seemed like it would be less awkward if I was with someone. Otherwise really, every time I make eye contact with hyung, I feel like my face will turn red from embarrassment.
“If I sell that pure gold key, I’ll buy you a good birthday present.”
“A car?”
“Have some conscience.”
“Then, a smartwatch!”
“Okay. Deal.”
As expected, there’s nothing in the world that can’t be solved with material things. We shook hands to confirm the deal.
But right now taking the test was important, so we went into the test center. I was going to register for Class 1, but I didn’t trust myself so I took Class 2.
I thought I did pretty well, but as expected, both Dongwoo’s and my receipts had a red stamp that said ‘Failed.’
“Daeyoung, what score did you get?”
“I got 47. You?”
“I got 57.”
We both got scores that we couldn’t even say were disappointing.
Dongwoo seemed shocked looking down at his score that would have failed even if he’d taken Class 2. Since you can retake the written test the next day, the two of us came out of the driver’s license test center weakly and sat on the bench at the bus stop in front of the main gate.
People who had taken the test like us started gathering one by one and sitting on the bench. Among them, a man wearing a bucket hat sat right next to us while on a call.
“Hey, the written test is a piece of cake. It was at the level of ethics you learn in elementary school, right? Are there even idiots who fail the written test these days?”
The two idiots glanced at the man saying that. Before the pain of failing had even subsided, sharp criticism came from the side.
“Seriously, people who failed should go back to elementary school. Me? Of course I took Class 1. Who takes Class 2 these days? A Class 2 license is at the bumper car level—why would you spend money to get that? I wouldn’t take a Class 2 license even if you gave it to me.”
Dongwoo and I were being dissed by a stranger to the point of feeling wronged.
“I heard if you fail the written test, they stamp you with a fail stamp, but people who actually get stamped must look like total losers.”
My pride hurt by those words, I wanted to lift Dongwoo’s spirits.
“Haha, now I just need to pass the Class 1 practical test.”
“R-road driving will be fun, right?”
“The day I hold the steering wheel isn’t far off!”
Dongwoo picked up on my words cleverly, but that man had no interest in us whatsoever.
“Hey, I’ll call you later. The bus is here.”
The man who got on the bus sat in a seat, and Dongwoo and I glared at him as hard as we could until he was far away. Although he hadn’t said those things for us to hear, we’d both received as much emotional damage as possible.
Worried it would be too embarrassing to say we failed Class 2 like the man said, I subtly asked Dongwoo a favor.
“Dongwoo, if Seongheon hyung asks if I failed the written test, I’m going to say I failed Class 1, so just pretend you don’t know.”
“I’ll cooperate just this once. But don’t ever think about fooling anyone from the start.”
Just as Dongwoo was about to start another lecture at me, a matte black car stopped in front of the bench where we were sitting. Since even the windows were tinted black, the two of us kept our mouths shut tight in tension.
*Whirr—*
“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting in?”
As expected, Seongheon hyung opened the passenger window and called us. I could see several people at the bus stop glancing back and forth between Seongheon hyung and the car.
Thinking that both hyung’s appearance and vehicle were unusual so attention was focused, I quickly introduced Dongwoo.
“Hyung! This is my friend, Dongwoo.”
“Hello.”
“Oh, yeah. You get in too.”
Unlike Dongmi, Dongwoo bowed politely at a 90-degree angle and opened the back seat car door and got in. I briefly debated whether to get in the passenger seat, but then got in the back seat with Dongwoo.
Seongheon hyung saw me getting in the back following Dongwoo through the rearview mirror and greeted with his eyes instead.
“Where should we go? What do you want to eat?”
I leaned toward the front seat at hyung’s question and timidly suggested,
“Hyung, can we go to that steak house I ate at with Dongmi before?”
“Sounds good. I’ll start driving.”
As the black vehicle started smoothly, hyung played a calm song. Dongwoo seemed somewhat relieved by the comfortable seat and hyung’s kindness.
Dongwoo and I were each looking only out the car window from our seats without even talking to each other, when we simultaneously looked forward at hyung’s question.
“Did you both pass Class 1?”
When neither of us answered for 3 seconds, we could hear hyung making a sound like “Kup.” trying to hold back laughter.
“Well, you can just take it again. Don’t be discouraged.”
Hyung tried to comfort us, asking if we took the test without looking at the study book, if we failed regrettably by just one question, or if we took it hastily because we wanted to see hyung quickly, but we didn’t fit any of those.
Together with Dongwoo, we didn’t deny it and just smiled while letting hyung’s words flow past. Correcting it would only make us look shabby. We stayed quiet knowing well that if you unnecessarily argue with what adults say, you can’t even break even.
The driving hyung felt impressive anew. Interpreting all those many road signs and operating the car according to the signals itself seemed to overflow with intellectual charm.
Because I was sitting diagonally in the back seat, I could see the back of hyung’s neck and his profile, and his hair seemed a bit shorter, as if he’d recently gotten it trimmed. I was so awkward even with such small unfamiliarity that I couldn’t make eye contact, but hyung didn’t seem to care at all.
‘Does hyung really not care at all?’
While I was timidly secretly stealing glances at that back view, hyung briefly turned around while waiting at a signal. My face reflected in his light brown transparent eyes, so I lowered my gaze slightly.
“Daeyoung, what should I do, I’m sorry?”
“Huh?”
“I originally left the key in the car, but I left it at home yesterday when I got the car hand-washed. I forgot to bring it out today. Do you want to come to my house together later?”
“N-no! I’m not going!”
“Huh?”
“That is, give it to me next time we meet. Next time!”
Dongwoo looked at me suspiciously as if asking why I wouldn’t go right away, but for me, I wanted to avoid being alone with hyung.
“Okay.”
When I refused, Seongheon hyung didn’t say anything for 3 seconds, then answered belatedly and immediately looked straight ahead.
Hyung’s lips that had hesitated briefly flickered before my eyes. I tried to kill brain cells by banging my head against the car window, telling myself to forget, to stop thinking about it, but it was useless.
While we were driving along on the bridge, Seongheon hyung, perhaps bored, suddenly pointed at a sign.
“Hey guys, guess what that sign means.”
Together with Dongwoo, I looked at the road sign hyung pointed to through the front windshield.
It passed by quickly in a few seconds, but there was no problem recognizing what sign it was. So I looked to the side to sneak a peek at the answer, but Dongwoo was also looking at me with desperate eyes.
“Are there even idiots who fail the written test these days?”
Worried we’d look like idiots to hyung, we maximized our collective intelligence.
“Uh? That! Dongwoo, you saw the thing hanging like a sock, right? When you hang socks like that on a bridge, they flutter like a flag.”
“Right. During war, the surrendering side waves a white flag. It’s a sign with deep history.”
“Maybe they waved it on bridges during wartime? To make it more visible.”
“Daeyoung! I know a snack shaped like that—they sell 3 bags for 2,000 won at the mart? It’s bulgogi flavor.”
“Wow, sounds delicious. Buy me some later too.”
“Okay. I’ll definitely bring some next time.”
We chattered enthusiastically, but in the end we couldn’t guess the road sign even after crossing the bridge. Perhaps because we talked so much nonsense, Seongheon hyung seemed to assume the correct answer must have come out among them and moved on.
But hyung’s questions didn’t end there.
