Place to Be Chapter 43

After looking out toward the heavy rain from the apartment entrance, Jang Wigeon left only the words, “Wait here for a moment,” before dashing to the convenience store right in front of the main gate. Even after he handed Seo Chiyoung the umbrella he had bought, no words were exchanged between them as they walked through the rainy night streets, where hardly any sign of people could be seen, until they reached Seo Chiyoung’s shop.

The sound of rain. The splish-splash sound of water every time they took a step. The pitter-patter sound of raindrops falling on the umbrella.

Seo Chiyoung silently watched Jang Wigeon, who was walking three steps ahead. That broad back, exposed without reservation, had forever lost the warm body heat it had carried when he was being piggybacked up this very path.

“…”

His pace must have slowed down without him realizing it. Before he knew it, the three steps had increased to six or seven, and Jang Wigeon looked back. He waited for Seo Chiyoung to get closer, and only when the distance narrowed back to three steps did he turn around to keep walking.

During the ten-minute walk until they reached the shop, Jang Wigeon walked ahead in silence, occasionally looking back at Seo Chiyoung like that. Every time he looked back, Seo Chiyoung shortened the gap that had widened with quick steps.

In the meantime, the shop came into view in the distance.

In the dark alleyway where all the other shops had already closed and no people were passing by, white light was shining out from that spot alone.

Jang Wigeon, whom he thought would go straight back to where the car was parked, entered the shop naturally. Seo Chiyoung followed him in and handed a dry towel to Jang Wigeon first. Even though he had used an umbrella, the raindrops that had flown onto his bare body would steal his body heat.

“Thank you,” Jang Wigeon said as he took the towel to wipe his body and pulled up a chair to sit down.

“Come to think of it, you left without even locking up the shop… I’m sorry, I was out of my mind earlier. Did you lose anything by any chance?”

Jang Wigeon asked as he looked around the neatly organized shop. Seo Chiyoung, who felt under the counter, remained silent for a moment before shaking his head.

“No. It’s not the kind of shop that has anything worth stealing…”

Jang Wigeon nodded casually at Seo Chiyoung, who answered with a faint smile. Seo Chiyoung, who had been lost in thought while looking down at his feet for a moment, lifted his head upon hearing the sound of a low click of the tongue. Jang Wigeon, who had been wiping his chest with the dry towel and roughly dabbing his face, was frowning, perhaps having accidentally touched his split lip.

In Yoon Junyoung’s house, there had been no time to survey the situation, and after coming out, he hadn’t noticed because they were walking through dark alleys, but seeing him under the light inside the shop, Jang Wigeon was a mess. His lip was split, and the area near his temple was swollen and faintly bruised. It looked like the bruise would become quite prominent by tomorrow.

Seo Chiyoung hurriedly soaked a towel in water and approached Jang Wigeon. Then, he applied the wet towel to Jang Wigeon’s mouth, where bloodstains had dried messily, as the man sat there blankly and lifted his head.

“Ouch…”

Jang Wigeon’s face contorted as the wet towel touched his mouth. Seo Chiyoung silently pressed and wiped his split lip, and also pressed the wet towel against his palms and elbows, where the skin had been scraped from accidentally brushing against the cement wall of the hallway while being shoved or colliding. Jang Wigeon, who had grumbled “Ouch, that hurts” once or twice at first, eventually fell silent.

The part that hurt wouldn’t be these superficial scrapes or a split lip. The place that hurt more severely would be so painful that he couldn’t even make a sound. It was a heart that had been festering for years, for decades.

“…”

Seo Chiyoung washed the towel, now stained with blood and dust, cleanly in the sink, wrapped it around the man’s hand again, and then sat silently a short distance away. Jang Wigeon fell into silence, staring down at his hand wrapped in the wet towel.

It was a night where a long time seemed to be reaching its end. Daylight would break in a couple of hours, but on a day when it rained like this, the sun likely wouldn’t rise. It was a dawn that arrived darkly and quietly.

The silence that seemed as if it would last forever was broken by a short sigh. Jang Wigeon raised his towel-wrapped hand and slowly stroked his mouth and cheek, grimacing. After muttering “Ouch…”, his eyes met Seo Chiyoung’s, and he muttered with a click of his tongue.

“That guy Kanghee, he really has a strong punch. I’m not exaggerating.”

Seo Chiyoung just blinked for a moment, not knowing what to say, and nodded awkwardly. Jang Wigeon let out a sigh.

“He looks exactly like that, doesn’t he? Fierce and tough-looking. He’s been like that since a long time ago. Blunt, no gift for words, and if he’s misunderstood, he just keeps his mouth shut. If Junyoung and I hadn’t played with him, he probably wouldn’t have had a single friend. He only knew how to blindly break through forward by swinging his fists like a fool, not knowing how to flexibly avoid things.”

His voice, which began as a sigh-like mutter, rose slightly in volume midway through. Even after finishing his sentence, he seemed to have more he wanted to say, but Jang Wigeon fell silent when his eyes met Seo Chiyoung’s, who was blinking widely. After staring at Seo Chiyoung for a moment, he continued like a sigh.

“Truly, that guy always misses what’s actually important. Still, I suppose it’s a relief that he seems to have grasped it properly this time…. Even so, to beat up a friend so mercilessly, damn it, just watch if I help him with anything from now on. He can just ask Junyoung to look after him.”

“…”

“Junyoung will take good care of him. That guy seems indifferent to his surroundings, but he’s surprisingly devoted to people he’s close with. He doesn’t look like he would be at first glance, so it’s unexpected, right?”

Jang Wigeon gave a faint, hazy smile. Seo Chiyoung nodded silently.

He knew. Yoon Junyoung was a kind person, just somewhat clumsy. There hadn’t been a single lie in his words when he answered “no” to the question of whether he disliked him. He was a person worthy of being loved. By both Kwon Kanghee and Jang Wigeon.

“Hmm… I’m hungry…. You were just about to close the shop when you left, right? I guess asking you to fry up some gopchang now would be too much…?”

Muttering as if to himself, Jang Wigeon glanced at Seo Chiyoung with eyes full of laughter. Seo Chiyoung, who had been sitting quietly in his seat, opened his eyes a little wide and soon stood up.

He took the ingredients out of the refrigerator and lit the burner for the iron plate. Looking at the iron plate, which soon began to emit steam with a sizzle sound, Jang Wigeon sat with his chin resting on his hand, wearing a smile that seemed habitually plastered on his face.

“That guy Kanghee… you have to date him for maybe a hundred years to barely start to understand him, but he has a gentle side. Usually, he hides it under that bleak face, so it’s hard to tell…. But people’s eyes are actually quite accurate, so even if it doesn’t seem like it, everyone knows. Who’s a decent guy and who isn’t. That’s why people end up staying by his side. Even for me, even though I’m hurting like hell right now, I don’t feel like stopping being friends with him.”

Even though the place that truly hurt likely wasn’t there, Jang Wigeon rubbed his struck cheek. Then, as if suddenly remembering, he asked Seo Chiyoung.

“Come to think of it, Mr. Chiyoung, your eye for people seems really good sometimes; what do you think? What do you think Kanghee will do?”

Seo Chiyoung paused for a moment with the spatula he was using to stir the gopchang, then tilted his head ambiguously and muttered.

“Uh… well…. I… I’m not very good at reading people.”

“Haha, but you knew that I liked Junyoung.”

Seo Chiyoung averted his gaze from Jang Wigeon, who was laughing and speaking as if it were nothing, and bowed his head silently.

That was because he liked him. Because he was always watching him, he couldn’t help but know. How he looked at someone while always laughing as if he were cheerful, how much sincerity was mixed in the words he threw out as if they were jokes about just dating him, and whether that smile that laughed like the sun while acting as if nothing was wrong at this very moment was actually happy or not.

Seo Chiyoung placed the plate of gopchang down in front of Jang Wigeon. Despite saying he was hungry, the man didn’t even pick up his chopsticks and was lost in thought. Then, at some point, he suddenly opened his mouth.