“So what the police officer said was true.”
“…What was.”
“That Han Yeoreum has terrible stamina.”
Choi Seol, who’d been silently climbing behind me, finally tossed out a remark. I didn’t even have the strength to turn around. I could tell just from his voice how pathetic he thought I looked. I knew it was true, but I didn’t want to admit it.
“Hey, come on, seriously… hah, this is… haah haah, this is brutal.”
“It hasn’t even been five minutes yet.”
“What? How is that possible!”
I cried out as if in agony. Before I knew it, Choi Seol was standing in front of me, checking what looked like an expensive wristwatch instead of his phone. I stared at it for a moment, then spoke up without thinking.
“Choi Seol.”
“What?”
“You know, that wrist—”
When I hesitated for a moment, Choi Seol tilted his head.
“Wrist, what?”
“I mean the watch.”
“Watch?”
Choi Seol glanced at his own wristwatch, then turned his wrist toward me.
“You mean this?”
“No, I mean—”
As my attitude seemed to grow more frustrating by the second, Choi Seol’s brow furrowed. Before he could say anything, I ruffled my own hair and waved my hand.
“Never mind, forget it. That watch looks nice. Looks expensive.”
I had no idea why that memory had suddenly surfaced. Maybe it was from passing by the stream. Even so, what was the point of digging up that old thing now—it would only end up hurting me more than anyone.
I pushed past Choi Seol and went on ahead. Of course, it wasn’t long before I fell behind again. At the sight, Choi Seol, who’d just moved ahead of me, clicked his tongue briefly.
“If you keep this up, you’re seriously worse than my grandmother.”
“…Didn’t you say it takes her ten minutes?”
“At this rate, twenty minutes won’t even be enough.”
Faced with that merciless barrage of facts, I had nothing to say. Still, watching me struggle, Choi Seol let out a sigh and held out his hand.
“Take it. We’re almost there anyway.”
I stared blankly at the hand, then looked up at Choi Seol, straightening from my hunched-over position.
“I’m really taking it.”
“…..”
“I’m seriously struggling right now. Once I grab it, I’m not letting go.”
Choi Seol let out a short laugh at how solemn I sounded.
“That’s exactly why I held it out.”
I wiped my palm on my pants, just in case it had gotten sweaty, before finally taking the hand Choi Seol offered. Right away, Choi Seol pulled me forward with a firm grip, as if leading me along. But he kept the pace slow, matching it to what I could manage, supporting me with his strength the whole way. Strangely enough, the exhaustion seemed to vanish all at once.
Was there really any need to long for that time back then? After all, another memory was being made right now, in this very moment. If anything, since this didn’t feel as painfully yearning or desperate as it had back then, I felt like I had the room now to actually enjoy this feeling.
I looked up at the sky. The clouds still looked like they could pour down rain at any moment, and the summer air was just as sweltering as ever. Maybe because of that, Choi Seol’s body temperature felt just as high as mine. My palm tingled again, but I felt like I could fly, I was in such a good mood.
“It’s here.”
I think I finally understood why, despite being so well-known, no stories had ever circulated about Choi Seol’s house. It wasn’t even in our school’s district, and on top of that, anyone would probably give up on visiting a house located somewhere this steep. Young people, after all, were the type to have boundless energy and motivation for useless things, yet turn utterly listless the moment something they didn’t want to do came up.
I looked at the red-brick two-story house in front of us. It had a structure with stairs installed on the exterior wall, allowing separate access up to the second floor. I felt secretly relieved that the house was bigger and more intact-looking than I’d expected.
Having passed by quite a few crumbling houses on the way up here, I’d half-expected the worst, but seeing this, I figured we wouldn’t have to worry too much about being conspicuous. Choi Seol was silently gazing up at the house.
“Is anything different?”
When I asked carefully, Choi Seol shook his head.
“The exterior’s the same. But…”
Choi Seol fell briefly silent, and I could sense confusion radiating from him.
“It feels like someone else is living here.”
“Ah…”
That wasn’t really something to be surprised about. Ten years had already passed, and Choi Seol had only attended one year of high school here before transferring.
Following his gaze, which hadn’t left the house, I looked up at it too. There was a child’s tricycle and a kick scooter parked in front of the gate. He’d probably guessed based on that.
Honestly, what struck me as more surprising than that was the fact that Choi Seol had grown up here at all. Maybe that was why I’d forgotten I was peering over someone else’s wall and kept staring, when I heard the sound of the front door opening. Soon, a middle-aged woman stepped outside.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, hello. Are you the owner of this house?”
“I am.”
At the wariness thick in her voice, I quickly put on a bright expression and bowed politely.
“Sorry for showing up out of nowhere like this. It’s just that he lived in this house ten years ago. So even though I knew it was rude, we were taking a quick look around.”
“Ten years ago?”
I rattled off the excuse quickly, but her guard didn’t ease easily. Two young men staring at someone else’s house probably looked plenty suspicious. While I was wondering how else to explain myself, the homeowner’s gaze shifted to Choi Seol.
“Wait a second, you’re the one who came by before too.”
I could tell in that instant that her guard had dropped. Choi Seol, on the other hand, looked flustered. It seemed the person she’d seen was Choi Seol after he turned seventeen. The situation had only gotten more complicated.
“Hey, I told you we should come together.”
I deliberately put on a hurt expression and elbowed Choi Seol lightly. Leaving him be as he merely furrowed his brow slightly without responding, I smiled at the homeowner.
“This guy was going on and on about missing the house he lived in with his grandmother, saying he wanted to come so badly, and it looks like he ended up coming alone without me after all.”
“Oh my. You two are the same age? I thought you were a student. Are you brothers…? Doesn’t seem like it, must be friends, then.”
“Yes, high school friends—classmates. And I am a student. I just look a lot younger than him.”
When I tried to say “friends,” sensing Choi Seol’s gaze on me, I quickly changed my words. Thankfully, the homeowner relaxed and treated us warmly after that.
“Still so young, and yet you’re both homesick, huh. That one was hanging around here just recently too, you know.”
“…Recently?”
I’d assumed it was sometime after he became an adult, but to hear it was that recent. Surprised by the unexpected information, I quickly asked the homeowner.
“When you say recently, exactly when was…”
“About a week ago, wasn’t it?”
The homeowner looked at Choi Seol as if seeking confirmation. I worried he might ignore her or react strangely, but Choi Seol nodded calmly.
“Sorry for the trouble that time too.”
“Oh, please, no trouble at all. Like I said back then, when we first moved in here ten years ago, I heard a lot about it from the neighbors. They said a grandmother lived here with her grandson who was tall and handsome enough to be a model, and everyone kept going on about how polite and smart he was—I really wanted to see him for myself. But then I heard that after the grandmother passed away, he went abroad to study right after, following his real father.”
It felt like I’d just been let in on an enormous secret all at once. I cautiously checked Choi Seol’s expression. It didn’t look good. I had a bad feeling about this.
Worried the silence might stretch on too long, I quickly spoke up to the homeowner.
“So you bought this house ten years ago, then.”
“That’s right. When we signed the contract, some middle-aged man came in his place, saying he was his father’s lawyer. I felt like I was watching a drama. You know how it is, rich families have their own personal lawyers who handle everything for them, right?”
I stood there blankly, wondering if I’d just heard something significant, when the homeowner let out a deep sigh and muttered as if lamenting.
“Anyway, back then I never imagined we’d end up leaving like this, practically running away. Going back and forth to the city center was a hassle, sure, but the view was nice and the neighborhood was quiet, so I thought I could live here for the rest of my life. But then suddenly it got included in a redevelopment zone… Of course, the land value going up is nice, at least.”
And now, something even more shocking.
“Redevelopment? You mean this place is going to disappear soon?”
“That’s right. We’re actually planning to move this month too. So I think that’s why he came by as well, to take in the sight of his hometown one last time.”
The homeowner looked at Choi Seol as if to confirm. I also turned to check on him at that moment.
“Choi Seol?”
Choi Seol suddenly spun around and walked off into the distance.
“Hey, where are you— Ha ha ha, I think he’s pretty heartbroken. Thank you for your time. We’ll be going now.”
I quickly said my goodbyes to the homeowner and hurried after him.
“Choi Seol!”
“…..”
“Wait a second, I said. Let’s go together.”
I shouted desperately and chased after him, but Choi Seol paid no attention, quickly making his way back down the path we’d come up. It was easier going downhill than up, but there was no way I could keep up with Choi Seol at my pace. The distance kept growing. I was getting out of breath.
At this point, I found myself, of all things, resenting my own terrible stamina. But what I resented even more was Choi Seol, who still wouldn’t even glance back. Thinking I might actually lose sight of him at this rate, I gritted my teeth and started running down the slope.
“Hey! If you keep this up, I’m leaving you behind!”
In reality, the opposite was far more likely to happen, but I didn’t care. I screamed it out with all the spite I could muster, and only then did Choi Seol finally stop. My knees nearly gave out right at that moment too.
Damn it, once I get back, I really need to start exercising or something. If Hae-sook noona heard that, she’d probably be shocked, calling it a miracle. Thinking I should catch that guy first and worry about the rest later, I was about to straighten back up from my hunched-over position when—
Choi Seol’s shoes came into view in front of me. A drop of water fell onto them, leaving behind a dark stain. More followed, one after another, soon spreading stains across the back of my hand, my hair, my clothes too, with a soft plip, plip-plip. Before long, the rain began pouring down with a heavy whoosh.
“Argh! Why does it have to rain now of all times. Choi Seol, is there somewhere we can take shelter from the—”
A hand suddenly shot out and grabbed my wrist. The grip was so strong, as if trying to seize me and pull me back down before I could run away, that I startled and looked up at Choi Seol. Our eyes met instantly. In that moment, my mind went completely blank.
Every thought—about needing to get out of the rain right away, about asking him to let go of my wrist, about wondering why things had suddenly turned into this—vanished entirely. Choi Seol’s face, soaked with rain, looked like it might burst into tears at any moment. Maybe he was already crying. With the rainwater mixing in, I couldn’t tell for certain, but at the sight of an expression I’d never once seen on him before, I was struck with shock. Then Choi Seol opened his mouth.
“Don’t leave me.”
Startled once again by the sorrowful voice that rang out so suddenly, I was still reeling when Choi Seol closed the distance between us. This time there was no doorstep to trip over, but I couldn’t move. In that span, Choi Seol finally drew close enough that our breaths touched, murmuring desperately.
“If you leave me again, I might really go crazy this time, so please…”
Don’t leave me behind.
