I was left alone and focused on the movie. The place was very well soundproofed, so no noise could be heard, and perhaps because of the lighting that gently came in along the ceiling grooves, there was little strain on my eyes watching the large screen. It was truly perfect for focusing on a movie, literally.
I was concentrating like that for a while.
Beolkeok—
“Sehyun-ah. We…… Huh?”
Kihyun hyung, who opened the door without permission, saw me left alone and pointed at the empty seat with his chin.
“Where’s Sehyun?”
“He went to take a call.”
“Wow. Again?”
“Why, is Sehyun not here?”
Familiar faces appeared one after another behind Kihyun hyung, each chiming in.
“He’s on a call again. It’ll take at least 30 minutes.”
“He came once earlier, so it might be shorter.”
“I don’t think so. He said his mood was bad today.”
“Then I bet 30 minutes.”
The hyungs shook their heads as if they already knew who the call was with.
“Who is it?”
“Girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend.”
At the answer that burst out simultaneously as if rehearsed, I just nodded. Come to think of it, the people who could freely call at this early morning hour were limited to lovers or family who knew the other person wasn’t sleeping.
“The girlfriend in New York?”
“Yeah. Right. The two of them fight really often. They’re always getting together and breaking up.”
“Rather than fighting, Sehyun gets unilaterally cursed at every time and gets dumped. He’s amazing too. When she comes back, he just says okay every time and accepts it.”
The sight of them coming to the restaurant together came to mind.
‘You’d be pretty even if you gained weight.’
Those words he bluntly spat out passed through my head again.
“He must love her a lot.”
I said that because I really felt that way. It was difficult to evaluate someone I had essentially met for the first time today, but the Kang Sehyun I saw then really seemed sincere toward her.
But everyone’s gaze poured onto me all at once. Except for Jungwoo hyung who was smiling playfully, the rest all had frowning expressions.
“Why?”
“No, it’s just really fascinating that you came to that conclusion.”
“Why is that fascinating?”
“Because once you get to know Kang Sehyun, you’ll absolutely never say that.”
Then does that mean it’s not true? It really seemed that way though.
“He might just be doing it because it’s bothersome. Or maybe he’s gotten used to it. Since they’ve been dating a long time……”
“How long has it been?”
“I heard they knew each other since childhood and started dating in high school. It’s true he still treats his girlfriend well, but whether it’s because he really likes her…… Well, we don’t really know either since he’s a guy whose insides you can’t read.”
They definitely seemed to know each other well. Both the girlfriend and Kang Sehyun seemed familiar with each other. If so, it would be right to think they loved each other more, but the hyungs kept shaking their heads saying no.
“But Sungha, do you really not know? I heard Sehyun’s girlfriend is quite famous in New York.”
In my memory, her face was familiar, but she definitely wasn’t someone I knew. Since it was a place with such a large Korean population, we might have coincidentally passed by, but I had never met her at work either.
“She’s the same age as you. Her name is Cha—”
“Ah, never mind. Let’s just order pizza among ourselves first. Stop talking about someone who’s not here.”
Jungwoo hyung covered Gijae hyung’s mouth as he was chattering excitedly.
“Are there places that deliver now?”
“Yeah. There are places around here that go until 2 AM. Let’s order wings too.”
“Sungha, what pizza do you like? Tell us your favorite.”
“I’m fine with anything as long as it’s not Hawaiian.”
“You don’t like pineapple either?”
“Yes. I don’t like cooked ones.”
“Just like Sehyun. We’re ordering three, so we’ll get two without it then.”
“Hey, I want pepperoni.”
Coming late and empty-handed bothered me, so I took out a $20 bill from my wallet. But as soon as I started with “Hyung, um……,” I was immediately stopped. Originally, the person who loses the game pays for the pizza.
“But I didn’t play.”
“That’s why you don’t have to pay.”
“Then people who didn’t play the game can’t eat?”
“Ey, that’s too petty. You’re still with us.”
“If that were the case, it would be better to just not play cards and mooch off them.”
“Then it wouldn’t be fun.”
Jason hyung was ordering pizza on one side, and the other hyungs all occupied the sofa and sat down explaining how Kihyun hyung went bankrupt first, so the screen had been stopped since earlier. Kihyun hyung, who was belatedly looking at his wallet with a gloomy expression, looked at the stopped screen and asked.
“Is this fun?”
“Yes. It’s okay.”
“What is it? It doesn’t seem like action. Romance?”
“No. It’s not romance…… Just drama? Honestly, the story is ordinary, but the director paid a lot of attention to the visuals and sound, so it’s worth watching.”
When I said that, an additional question about what the content was came back. After I sincerely explained, hyung, who heard the whole answer, made a sulky expression.
In the end, the movie that didn’t catch anyone’s interest remained stopped on that screen.
Kang Sehyun returned after the hyungs said they’d play pocket ball and went out to the living room, when the male protagonist stopped on the screen was leaving on a solo trip.
Dalkak—
Kang Sehyun, who quietly opened the door and entered, let out a short breath and sat in the seat next to me. Below his irritably swept-back hair, his previously neat forehead was crumpled.
“They ordered pizza while you were gone.”
“Who’s paying today?”
“Kihyun hyung.”
“Again?”
His thin lips rose crookedly. It seemed it wasn’t the first or second time Kihyun hyung paid for pizza.
“Two out of three times, Kihyun hyung will pay. He goes all-in recklessly when things seem okay. If not Kihyun hyung, then Jungwoo hyung.”
“Jungwoo hyung?”
“Yeah. Strangely, Jungwoo hyung shows everything on his face when he plays games. He shouldn’t play cards.”
“Unexpected.”
“Right.”
After continuously hearing stories about him from the hyungs, conversely hearing stories about the hyungs from him felt strange.
“The hyungs came and you could only watch up to here?”
Kang Sehyun pointed at the screen that hadn’t even passed the beginning yet.
“Yeah. They came and went a little while ago. They said they’re playing pocket ball. If you want to play too, go now. It probably hasn’t been long since they started.”
“It’s fine.”
“You don’t like billiards either?”
“No, it’s not that, but I might have to leave in the middle.”
“Ah……”
I almost threw out the tactless question of whether there was still more to say, whether he had to make another call. Before I knew it, the time was approaching two o’clock.
The movie was still the slowly flowing introduction part. For the interesting middle part to start, the protagonist had to arrive in Vienna, but he was still on a train going from Switzerland to Austria.
Perhaps because of that, after a while my eyelids became heavy and I started to doze off. The sofa that allowed me to half-lie down also played a part.
“Should I turn it off?”
It seemed useless to pretend otherwise. The person who noticed in the meantime suddenly held out the remote control. He also had an indifferent expression.
“The beginning is a bit boring. If not for that, it would have been a box office hit. It gets fun from the back, but the beginning is a barrier, so people didn’t watch it.”
“Right. Then should we watch something else?”
“It’s fine. Let’s just watch this. If we endure for about 10 minutes, the fun scenes will start.”
“By that time, the pizza will probably arrive.”
“Ah…… Right.”
Kang Sehyun burst into laughter. He laughs better than I thought. Along with that thought, a little while ago when he was especially stingy with laughter came to mind.
“You came to our restaurant, right?”
Actually, I had wanted to ask since we met. It was a question I already knew the answer to, but still.
It wasn’t that I wanted to act like I knew, but it kept bothering me to pretend I didn’t know when I did.
“You mean the Japanese restaurant in Glenview?”
Kang Sehyun asked, mentioning the familiar name, and I nodded, saying yes. Fortunately, he seemed to remember me even after seeing me once.
“Right.”
As I thought. It’s you, the $300.
“The person who came with you then was your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.”
“She was pretty. You two suit each other well.”
I had just said something obvious, but his eyes grew bigger looking at me. Did I say something wrong? Surely the compliment couldn’t have offended him.
“That day,”
“Huh?”
“I went too late and was a nuisance. I shouldn’t have done that normally.”
At the words full of regret, the person surprised this time was me. I felt it then too, but even though Kang Sehyun had enough money to casually leave a tip of over $300, he was different from the selfish people who grew up doing everything they wanted.
Even when I was in New York, I saw several children from wealthy families. There were nouveau riche children who had nothing but money at home and came to study abroad because they caused so many problems in Korea, and there were chaebol children who entered art school borrowing the work skills of great teachers to create a decent enough educational background to hand out business cards for families that cared about appearances.
Of course, not everyone born into wealthy families was like that, but whatever the reason they came to study in America, most were accustomed to being treated as much as they had money. And because they had money, they thought that even if they did something wrong or caused trouble to others, they could be absolved of that sin.
Although Kang Sehyun came late that evening and caused trouble for us remaining at the restaurant, in exchange for taking just one hour of time, he had paid an amount worth not having to work for several days. If it had been someone else, they would have thought they didn’t need to feel sorry because they compensated that much with money, but surprisingly, he thought his actions and money were separate things.
Ding-dong-.
“The pizza must be here.”
As soon as the words ended, he stopped the boringly flowing movie. Soon the door opened and a loud shout was heard.
“Sungha-ya, Sehyun-ah— Come out with your friend and eat pizza.”
I had that thought.
It’s unfair, but God is a bit unfair. The kid with a handsome face and lots of money also studies well. On top of that, he even has an upright personality, so it was infuriating.
But what was even more infuriating was myself thinking that such a Kang Sehyun was really nice. Thinking he would really be nice to have as a friend.
