Midday Guest Chapter 13

“Yeah, come over here.”

Yiwon hesitated. Cha Seokjoo was watching Yiwon intently, with both arms stretched out behind him.

“What are you doing? Come up and sit. You said it was break time from now on.”

Did I speak up for no reason? He clambered up hesitantly and sat at a distance. Watching that, Cha Seokjoo turned his head and let out a cold laugh.

The reason he felt the urge to keep his distance even while sharing a calm conversation surely lay elsewhere. Cha Seokjoo was the man who, just a few days ago in this very spot, had calmly watched as an assailant was rolled up in a straw mat and beaten.

Was that man dead or alive? A part of him was dying to ask, yet a strange ambivalence made him want to remain ignorant forever.

“He didn’t die.”

“What?”

“Weren’t you thinking about the guy taken from the yard?”

“How did you know?”

Yiwon asked, genuinely surprised.

“You’re telling the story with your whole body.”

the man snickered after saying that.

Feeling sheepish after having his thoughts read so accurately, Yiwon aimlessly tapped his toes and looked into the distance. He gradually relaxed his hands, which had been pressed tight against his body. It helped that the man’s casual way of speaking reduced the sense of distance.

A summer breeze blew through, brushing between the two of them. Cha Seokjoo’s scent lingered there, tickling Yiwon. Whatever perfume he used, even his scent was a cool fragrance that resembled him perfectly.

Tok, tok—tapping the wooden veranda with his fingertips, Cha Seokjoo leaned toward Yiwon.

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

Yiwon looked back at Cha Seokjoo with wide eyes. Cha Seokjoo, who said he was curious about something, remained silent for a while. He kept his gaze fixed on one spot, looking at Yiwon intently with a subtle expression.

He should either speak or not.

In any other situation, Yiwon would have stood up long ago saying, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going,” but he sat still and waited for the words to fall. He was intrigued by what this man, who seemed indifferent to everything, could be curious about.

“…”

He must have a very easygoing personality. Just as he was about to turn his head away, Cha Seokjoo asked Yiwon in his signature low voice.

“Is there a meat restaurant nearby?”

“…A meat, restaurant?”

“You know, the kind where they grill ribs over charcoal and set the side dishes out for you.”

A breath escaped from between Yiwon’s lips. A meat restaurant—based on his description, he seemed to want a place that serves full-course Korean meals. There was no way such a place existed in Yonggung-ri. Yiwon looked at him with a deflated expression.

“There isn’t one.”

“How about a raw fish place?”

“The seafood market opens at dawn…”

Cha Seokjoo let out a laugh and blinked his eyes open and closed. Why did it feel like he was being teased? Yiwon unknowingly furrowed his brow slightly.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because it’s interesting.”

“…It’s interesting?”

“Yeah, and it’s a bit troublesome. Something like that.”

Feeling a different kind of trouble than the one Cha Seokjoo felt, Yiwon steadied his breathing. Somehow, it felt like he was being pulled in. I shouldn’t get swept up. Yiwon asked again with his original voice and expression.

“Shall I prepare a meal for you?”

“Forget it. I don’t feel like it.”

He asked just in case, and sure enough. After thinking for a moment, Jung Yiwon gestured toward the neighboring village in the distance and continued.

“There’s a new resort in the next village. There are many good places if you go there.”

“Not that. Isn’t there a decent shop nearby?”

He’s quite a picky person. After muttering that to himself, Yiwon carefully parted his lips.

“There is a small restaurant in town that sells set meals along with soju and snacks.”

“Where is it?”

“But they sell meals while they’re doing the liquor business, so they don’t open for lunch.”

“It’s fine. I’m planning to feed those guys dinner before sending them off. Just tell me the name.”

“It’s not a place that does business with a sign out, so it’s hard to explain it that way. If you go out to the main road… hang on.”

Yiwon pulled out his phone. He pushed the screen toward Cha Seokjoo as much as possible.

“If you go down along the Haeundang alley, you’ll reach the main road. From here, if you go right…”

Cha Seokjoo slowly approached Jung Yiwon. A quiet voice explaining the route on the map app flowed out. Cha Seokjoo, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke.

“I can’t see it well.”

Cha Seokjoo leaned his body in. He placed one arm behind Yiwon’s back and directed his gaze toward the phone screen. Because of the suddenly changed posture, the wind blew and Cha Seokjoo’s scent hit him. The words that had been flowing well were cut off in an instant.

His hand was touching Yiwon’s back.

“…”

“So, where do I go from here.”

“Oh, yes. You just have to turn… left and go straight.”

His body went stiff. Everything from his feet hanging off the veranda to the fingertips holding the phone. Kung, kung—his heart suddenly pounded and heat rushed to his face. He had no idea how he managed to finish speaking.

“Ah, I see where it is.”

It was a relief that he understood.

Yiwon quickly pulled back his phone and subtly moved his face away. It was only after seeing Cha Seokjoo’s flawless, clean face up close that he remembered his own appearance must be a mess after working on the planting all morning.

While he was sliding his hips away, Cha Seokjoo’s face moved close to the nape of Yiwon’s neck. Taking a light breath, he laughed.

“You’ve been planting flowers all day.”

“…”

“You smell like flowers.”

Cha Seokjoo turned his head and watched Yiwon. At a distance that was neither close nor that far. He quietly looked at Yiwon while slowly rubbing his back.

“You’re clearly grimy, though.”

Cha Seokjoo’s finger approached without warning and brushed across his cheek. The finger, which held a coolness despite it being summer, pulled away only after scratching him as if to tickle even his heart.

He was surprised, but he acted like a person who wasn’t.

He didn’t know why he acted that way himself, but Jung Yiwon calmly looked up at Cha Seokjoo and blinked his eyes slowly.

In terms of how it felt, he only realized what had happened a long time later.

Yiwon held his breath and pulled his body back. He had clearly widened the distance, yet it was a strange feeling as if the hand was still touching him.

“Director!”

“What.”

“They’re sayin’ they want to meet you over there.”

After finishing his sentence, Oh Taesik gestured toward the large men scattered in the yard. It seemed the break time was over. Cha Seokjoo stood up and looked down at Yiwon.

“I’ll be late today. I might not come back for a few days.”

“…Okay.”

“Don’t give that room to anyone else. I’m leaving all my things.”

“…Okay.”

Cha Seokjoo disappeared into the guest room with long strides. Yiwon, watching his broad back blankly, lowered his head toward the yard.

“…”

The summer was contained entirely in his two cheeks after working for a long time. Jung Yiwon shifted his gaze while trying to cool the heat with the back of his hand. It was a day when his body felt like it would melt in the scorching summer heat.

☼

Even moving just a little bit caused sweat to seep out.

Yiwon, who was drinking cool barley tea with his legs spread wide, was watching the tightly closed sliding door of the guest room across the veranda.

Yiwon’s face peeked up over the spinning fan blades. Occasionally Oh Taesik’s voice would leak out, but he was generally excited, so it was hard to understand what he was saying.

Because of that, the thought suddenly occurred to him: why was he paying so much attention to a guest? At this rate, it felt like he would be listening intently until the guest in the room opened the door and came out.

I should go out.

After a moment of thought, Yiwon decided to go for a bath. He turned off the fan, closed the sliding doors, and left Haeundang.

There was an old bathhouse in Yonggung-ri. When he was very young, going to the bathhouse with his grandfather whenever he came down to Yonggung-ri for vacation was a routine.

His grandfather enjoyed early morning baths. His father was someone who slept in a lot, and he remembered him being dragged along as if he were being beaten on the back by his grandfather, who asked how he couldn’t do this one thing for a son who had come down after a long time.

Watching that, there were days when he walked even more energetically. I’m all grown up now, too. I’m an adult now and there are things I’m better at than Father. He felt a sense of pride as he walked the dawn path with a swagger.

The slowly flowing streets of Yonggung-ri remained unchanged from that time.

Having walked the path where the three used to walk alone now, Yiwon pushed open the glass door of the bathhouse covered in a translucent brown film.

It was a familiar smell and a familiar landscape, to the point it felt like only yesterday he had entered vigorously and cried tears and snot while being scrubbed hard.

“One person, please.”

He pushed aside a footstool covered in grimy handprints and stepped inside. It was when he was standing in front of the locker, stepping on the linoleum that stuck to his feet.

Someone’s voice filled the dressing room.

“Jung Yiwon!”

“…Shin Heeyoung?”

“I was going to contact you after washing up, but how do we run into each other exactly here?”

A welcome face offered a greeting. Shin Heeyoung, a childhood friend who had gone to high school together in this town where children were rare, and had even lived in Seoul together.

“When did you arrive?”

“The day before yesterday. I couldn’t call because I was sleeping after pulling several all-nighters. Sorry.”

Shin Heeyoung laughed as he pulled open a locker. Yiwon took a spot a few spaces away from him and asked.

“How long are you staying?”

“Until tomorrow morning.”

“That short?”

“I got a call saying a schedule was set, so I think I have to head back up right away.”

“What kind of work is it that you have to go back so busily?”