Place to Be Chapter 4

That day was the very next day after returning from a three-day, two-night training camp held by the Taekwondo dojo, and it was a Saturday to boot. Even though the dojo opened normally, it was the kind of day when almost no children would show up.

Seo Chiyoung was not planning on attending the dojo anymore once he became a junior after this winter, and he had not gone to the training camp. In truth, it was such a cold day that he wanted to stay home, but since Seo Chiyoung never skipped without a specific reason, he went to the dojo that morning as well.

And there, he saw Jang Wigeon. He, too, seemed to have arrived just a moment ago, and was warming up by stretching alone in the empty dojo.

As soon as Seo Chiyoung stepped into the dojo, he instinctively hesitated, and Jang Wigeon, sensing a presence, turned his head to look at him.

“Did you come to practice, too?”

To him, who struck up a conversation naturally and without hesitation despite them never having spoken once, Seo Chiyoung hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, “Yeah.”

“That’s good. I was getting bored because no one was here; let’s warm up together. Give me a hand. I’ll help you, too.”

Following Jang Wigeon’s gesture, Seo Chiyoung approached, albeit waveringly. Following the request to press down on his back, he carefully placed his hands on his back. Jang Wigeon looked back with a laugh at Seo Chiyoung, who was pushing forward very cautiously, unable to bring himself to press hard.

“Press a bit harder. Stretching doesn’t work if you’re just resting your hands there.”

Seo Chiyoung quickly put strength into his arms and pushed. Jang Wigeon pressed his stomach to his thighs and rhythmically bounced his body.

Warm body heat reached his palms through the training uniform. Even though it was a dojo so chilly that his breath came out white, he couldn’t feel the cold.

“Did you go to the training camp?”

Jang Wigeon asked suddenly with his back turned. After a brief pause, Seo Chiyoung answered softly, “No.”

“You didn’t go either?”

“Yeah. My aunt’s family came to visit from America, so I couldn’t go. I wanted to go, though.”

Tsk, Jang Wigeon clicked his tongue, but before long he straightened up and pulled Seo Chiyoung down to sit, saying, “Alright, now it’s your turn.” He began to push Seo Chiyoung’s back with hands that were unusually large compared to the fact that their frames weren’t that different.

To Jang Wigeon, who brought up trivial things like “Why is the master so late?” or “Is he on the phone with his girlfriend again?”, Seo Chiyoung gave short responses like “Yeah, he is late” or “I guess so,” all while feeling a strange sensation. He was sharing trivial stories without reserve as if he had become friends with Jang Wigeon. It really felt as though they had become friends.

His heart fluttered and his heartbeat quickened. It felt as if there were clouds under his feet instead of the ground.

That feeling continued throughout the practice session after several other children arrived and the master showed up. It lasted through returning home, through several nights of sleep, and until he went to the dojo again with that same excited heart.

Perhaps because their schedules didn’t match since it was vacation, it wasn’t until the end of winter break that Seo Chiyoung saw Jang Wigeon again.

Since it was a time when almost everyone who had gone away on trips had returned and not much time was left until school started, there were many children at the dojo. Amidst the bustle that made the dojo look cramped, Seo Chiyoung spotted Jang Wigeon at a single glance.

A sudden surge of joy rose up. Every time he had come to the dojo since then, he had looked for Jang Wigeon’s figure, only to be disappointed when he wasn’t there; now, finally, they had crossed paths again.

What should he say? “Hi”—would that be awkward? “It’s been a while, how have you been?”—would it be better to say that? “I haven’t seen you much lately, where have you been?”—saying that might make it seem like he was acting too close.

Thinking “It’s been a while” would be best, and soothing his thumping heart despite it only being a greeting, Seo Chiyoung approached Jang Wigeon, who was playing around and wrestling with his friends. His palms, which he had clenched without realizing, were damp.

“Lo… long time no see.”

A voice filled with tension burst out as if he were picking a fight.

Jang Wigeon, who had been playing around by pinning a friend down and putting him in a chokehold, looked at Seo Chiyoung. It seemed he only realized after their eyes met that the greeting was directed at him. After blinking a couple of times while looking at Seo Chiyoung, Jang Wigeon soon grinned widely and greeted him, “Oh, long time no see. How have you been?” In that moment, he pressed down even harder on the friend struggling to escape from underneath him and let out a playful shout, “I told you to surrender!” Jang Wigeon, busy playing back and forth with the friend who screamed no, was no longer looking at Seo Chiyoung.

And only then did Seo Chiyoung realize his delusion.

He was not Jang Wigeon’s friend. Jang Wigeon vaguely remembered Seo Chiyoung but didn’t particularly recognize him. Seo Chiyoung was not a person significant enough to remain in his mind.

Suddenly, his face turned hot. Just then, the master entered, and Seo Chiyoung quickly turned around and went to a corner spot far away from him.

Treating everyone without reserve and comfortably was a natural thing for Jang Wigeon. He did not hesitate or act awkwardly out of difficulty even when dealing with high school or college hyungs who were years older than him, the master, or people he was seeing for the first time; he treated them all politely. He struck up conversations comfortably and in a friendly manner with anyone. It wasn’t because they were especially close.

Even though he knew this, he had gone and hallucinated. He had let a fantasy grow in his head and let his heart race.

Dejection and disappointment covered up his anger or embarrassment. Yet, even within that, Seo Chiyoung continued to stare at Jang Wigeon, who stood out exceptionally even while buried among so many children. Until that session ended.

After that, Seo Chiyoung only went to the dojo a few more times. Soon, as winter break ended and February began, Seo Chiyoung quit the Taekwondo dojo. And after that, there were no more occasions to run into Jang Wigeon.

Occasionally, when he stretched or performed a few Taekwondo movements to loosen his stiff body, he would habitually think of Jang Wigeon, but that was all. He spent a year recalling just a tiny bit of regret and curiosity, and the following year, Seo Chiyoung became a high school student.

And there, he saw Jang Wigeon again.

Since they were in the class right next door, there were times they had art or PE classes together, and they often passed each other while moving through the hallways during breaks or lunchtime. However, Jang Wigeon, who always passed by mixed among people, naturally did not remember Seo Chiyoung at all.

Not long after entering school, he became a celebrity to the point where there was no one in the whole school who didn’t know him, and that was not strange at all. Rather, it would have been stranger if he hadn’t become famous.

In fact, since his family background was only revealed by chance near the end of his sophomore year, it wasn’t because of his background that he became famous as soon as he entered. It wasn’t as if he had caused any particular incidents or accidents either. He couldn’t help but stand out by his existence alone. On top of that, his friends played a part in making him stand out.

Jang Wigeon got along well with everyone, but he had two friends he was especially close with. According to the rumors, they were friends who had been close since they were young.

Those two were also people who stood out in their own right. In a sense, one could say they stood out even more than Jang Wigeon. A genius with grades and competition records that were always at the top, and a “fist” who, they said, had no one who could beat him in a fight since middle school, so even high schoolers avoided him.

Between those two, it could even seem as though Jang Wigeon had no other distinct characteristics to boast of. If there was anything exceptionally notable about Jang Wigeon, perhaps it was the rumor that there was a never-ending stream of women because he went out to play at clubs every night. However, amidst such stories that were rife with rumors but unconfirmed, it was certain that Jang Wigeon, who always mixed with people without reserve yet possessed a clearly distinct presence, was popular with both women and men.

And while hearing those rumors and instinctively searching for Jang Wigeon with his eyes whenever he passed the hallway of the next class, Seo Chiyoung spent a smooth and ordinary high school life, just like most other boys.

Those days continued just the same even after moving up to the second year and being in the same class as Jang Wigeon. If something had changed, would it be that Jang Wigeon came into his line of sight without him having to intentionally peek at another class?