Place to Be Chapter 42

The space, which had been horribly mixed with curses, shouting, and the sounds of impacts, did not last long. Seo Chiyoung, who had paused for a moment outside the room holding the blanket, impulsively threw the blanket over Kwon Kanghee and stepped between them.

Kwon Kanghee, whose vision was momentarily blocked, and Jang Wigeon, who was pulling his arm back to swing a fist forward, both stopped moving. In between them, Seo Chiyoung looked troubled, as if belatedly becoming flustered.

Kwon Kanghee, who roughly cast aside the blanket over his head, faltered for a moment when he saw Seo Chiyoung standing right in front of him. Staring fixedly at Seo Chiyoung as if bewildered by seeing someone completely unexpected, he muttered, “What is this?” and grabbed Seo Chiyoung by the collar. However, before his light fist could even brush Seo Chiyoung, Jang Wigeon suddenly rushed in ferociously and tore Kwon Kanghee’s hand away from Seo Chiyoung.

“――Don’t touch him!!”

A voice so rough it made the heart feel chilled erupted by Seo Chiyoung’s ear. Kwon Kanghee, shifting his gaze to Jang Wigeon while faltering, was pushed by the grip and ended up retreating a couple of steps.

“What’s that――.”

However, cutting off Kwon Kanghee as he opened his mouth to speak, a short and cold voice wedged its way into the scene.

“What do you think you’re doing? What is everyone doing here?”

Beside them, Yoon Junyoung, who had been looking back and forth at them with wide eyes as if having woken up in an instant, stood firm between them. Standing between them with unstable steps as his fever had not yet broken, Yoon Junyoung looked at them alternately with a flickering light of confusion in his pale blue eyes.

However, he did not look surprised to see Jang Wigeon and Seo Chiyoung, as if he hadn’t forgotten how he returned home. Passing over them, Yoon Junyoung’s gaze finally headed toward Kwon Kanghee. His eyes, which seemed to swell slightly, soon sank coldly.

“Why are you here?”

“―…”

Kwon Kanghee did not answer. Strength entered his clenched jaw beneath a gaze that glared fixedly at Yoon Junyoung. Yoon Junyoung’s pupils seemed to tremble for a moment, but he soon averted his gaze.

“I thought you said the wedding was in the morning so you had to leave early tomorrow. Go back. I told you that, as you wanted, I would never appear before your eyes again. Or, were the congratulations insufficient? ――Congratulations on your wedding, Kwon Kanghee. That’s enough now, go.”

Yoon Junyoung, who spat the words out as if grinding his teeth, turned his body. He didn’t even cast a look toward Kwon Kanghee, as if he didn’t want to see his face anymore.

Kwon Kanghee, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Yoon Junyoung for a single moment, twisted his lips upward at some point. With a face where it was impossible to tell if he was smiling or angry, he uttered lowly.

“Wedding? There’s no such thing. Ever.”

Those were the last words.

Kwon Kanghee turned his head as if he had nothing more to say. Then, he grabbed the shoulder of Seo Chiyoung, who was standing a couple of steps away, and dragged him outside.

“Ah…!”

Behind Seo Chiyoung, who was being dragged toward the entrance by a grip so strong it felt like his shoulder would be crushed, Jang Wigeon’s complexion changed as he bared his teeth.

“Let go of that hand…!”

However, Kwon Kanghee didn’t even look back at Jang Wigeon, who had struck his face earlier; he dragged Seo Chiyoung to the entrance and threw him out the door. And right after that, at the same time he turned to face Jang Wigeon, who was just about to grab Kwon Kanghee’s forearm, he drove a fist into his stomach.

“…―!”

By the time Jang Wigeon pulled himself up, he had already been thrown outside the gate as well.

Kwon Kanghee closed the door as soon as he had pushed Jang Wigeon out. However, just before the door closed, Jang Wigeon caught the doorknob.

Through the door that was only about a palm’s width from closing, Jang Wigeon faced Kwon Kanghee. A bitter light flickered across his fierce face.

“Junyoung… don’t touch him. Don’t make things hard for that guy anymore…. Please.”

A sigh was etched into the final words. They were friends he had known for a long time. Both of them.

However, at those words, Kwon Kanghee distorted his mouth.

“Don’t touch him…?”

“…―.”

“Do you know how much I’ve endured to not touch that guy? Because I know he shouldn’t be caught by someone like me, you don’t know how much I’ve endured. Every time you were with him, how anxious I was, how angry I was, ――if you knew even as much as a hair’s tip how much I felt like I was going crazy, you would never be able to say something like that.”

With that said, Kwon Kanghee pulled the door shut without hesitation. It was as if he had moved past some taboo within himself, or as if he had given up.

Through the crack of the closing door, Yoon Junyoung could be seen. Before one could even confirm what kind of expression finally appeared on that face as he stared fixedly at Kwon Kanghee’s back as if possessed by something, the door slammed shut.

The door, closed with a heavy sound, did not open again.

∞ ∞ ∞

In front of the closed door, Jang Wigeon did not move for a long time.

The hand that had reflexively grabbed the doorknob when the door was closing had, however, momentarily faltered and eased the pulling force. And then the door had closed.

Jang Wigeon stood silently for a long time while holding the doorknob, as if he had frozen in place. He did not knock on the door, nor did he press the doorbell. He didn’t even call out a name; he was merely silent while looking down at his hand gripping the doorknob.

“―…”

Seo Chiyoung stood beside him without a word.

What kind of words were being exchanged inside the door. What kind of things were happening. What he might be thinking.

There was no way for Seo Chiyoung to know. However, just as the man probably knew one thing, Seo Chiyoung knew it too.

The one-sided feelings Jang Wigeon had been harboring had come to an end. No, perhaps they hadn’t ended within his heart. But those feelings had lost their place to go. The door that had been held open by a narrow crack at the end of the dead end where he stood had finally closed.

Whether he would open that door again, or merely gaze at it vacantly. If he gazed at it, just how long he would do so.

Seo Chiyoung watched Jang Wigeon, who stood there vacantly without moving, his head bowed as if he were offering a prayer; Seo Chiyoung likewise stood there vacantly, watching him.

…It would be nice if I could pray too.

Suddenly, such a thought occurred to him.

That he wouldn’t hurt for long. That he could find the one thing he desperately desired within his life.

“…”

Suddenly, Seo Chiyoung huddled his body. The wind mixed with rain coming through the open window of the hallway was chilly. A small cough ended up breaking out.

Only then did Jang Wigeon lift his head. Seeing Seo Chiyoung cough twice in a row, he let go of the door handle and walked toward him.

“Are you okay? You’re cold, right.”

Jang Wigeon, who approached and spoke to Seo Chiyoung, looked unexpectedly composed. Although he was a bit more subdued than at other times, his voice was quiet and calm. It was as if it were a lie that he had been exuding a terrifyingly ominous aura and fighting fiercely with the man inside just a moment ago.

Seo Chiyoung stared back at Jang Wigeon, who was looking down at him with concern, and whispered.

“…Rather than me, you look colder, Wigeon.”

Jang Wigeon, who had been kicked out without even putting on a shirt, looked down at himself as if only then remembering he was bare-chested and shrugged indifferently.

“Ah, this much is fine. I don’t really get cold, so even in the middle of winter, I get around fine in just a single cotton shirt.”

“…And it’s raining.”

Jang Wigeon, looking up at the sky outside the window, stared at the door again for a moment. However, as if he truly had no intention of knocking on the door to call out the people inside, he turned his head.

“Shall we buy an umbrella at the convenience store and go back?”

With those words, Jang Wigeon moved his steps. After moving a few steps away from Seo Chiyoung, who was standing as if nailed to the spot, he turned back in confusion.

“Why aren’t you coming?”

“…No…”

Seo Chiyoung hesitated for a moment. He looked at the door to Yoon Junyoung’s house once more. Even he, who had no reason to feel lingering attachment to that door, felt so weighed down.

However, Jang Wigeon gestured to Seo Chiyoung, saying, “Come on,” and Seo Chiyoung took a step and began to walk toward him. Jang Wigeon waited for Seo Chiyoung to approach before moving his steps again, and for a while, there were no words between them.