Place to Be Chapter 52

“…”

Thinking about him coming over to hang out makes him seem like a real friend.

As that thought briefly crossed his mind, Seo Chiyoung became embarrassed by his own assumption and hurriedly gathered the blankets, heading up to the rooftop. I’m not a kid, what am I thinking?

But perhaps it was precisely because he had grown older that he felt this way even more. The more one aged, the fewer occasions there were to invite someone into one’s home unless they were considerably close. Maybe that was why, at the news of someone visiting, his hands and heart were busy yet fluttery while tidying up.

Well, it was also because of the person who was coming.

It wasn’t long before Seo Chiyoung had cleaned the house spotless, but even then, he kept peering around the house restlessly until Jang Wigeon arrived. Then, just as his heart had calmed down and he was beginning to feel a bit tired, Jang Wigeon called to say he was nearby. His heart leaped right back up again.

Before long, a heavy mechanical sound echoing into the alleyway could be heard. Just as he was letting the sound pass by as something ordinary, the phone rang.

『Mr. Chiyoung, do you want to come out for a second?』

Jang Wigeon said only that without any explanation the moment Seo Chiyoung answered, but Seo Chiyoung nodded obediently and went outside. There, right next to the building entrance, he discovered Jang Wigeon.

“I’m sorry for dropping by while you’re resting on a holiday.”

Taking off his helmet and dismounting the motorcycle, Jang Wigeon gestured toward Seo Chiyoung. Seo Chiyoung muttered, “Uh, no,” while staring at him in bewilderment as he walked over hesitantly. Then he looked down at the motorcycle the other man had been sitting on. No way…

“The motorcycle I mentioned earlier, it’s this one.”

“Here’s the key,” Jang Wigeon said, holding out his hand, and Seo Chiyoung reflexively held out his own. Only after the key dropped into his palm did he think, Uh, this isn’t right.

“I bought it during university to get around easily, but I haven’t had a use for it since then. It’s been a few years, but it’s been stored well, so there shouldn’t be any problems. I rode it here just in case, and it felt fine.”

“Th-…”

With a troubled expression, Seo Chiyoung looked back and forth between the motorcycle and Jang Wigeon.

The motorcycle, which looked much too heavy for Seo Chiyoung, seemed excessively grand to simply receive just by looking at it.

“Um, Mr. Wigeon. This is a bit much for me to accept…”

When Seo Chiyoung spoke while awkwardly holding out the hand with the key, Jang Wigeon laughed like a sigh.

“I can’t take this back. I have a place I need to stop by this evening, a gathering to see my relatives, so I can’t go there on a motorcycle. Besides, once I pulled this out of the warehouse, my hyung was so happy that storage space had opened up that he shoved all his own luggage in there; there’s no place to put it anymore. If you really don’t need it, just hand it over to a junk dealer.”

“Uh… but…”

Seo Chiyoung opened his mouth to stammer, but he looked back and forth between the motorcycle and Jang Wigeon, who was already stepping into the building Seo Chiyoung had come out of, and followed behind with a troubled face.

He should have thought of it beforehand, but only after Jang Wigeon entered the house did Seo Chiyoung realize he had nothing to serve a guest. However, as Seo Chiyoung was about to leave, saying, “Uh, just a moment…” to go to the supermarket, Jang Wigeon quickly noticed and stopped him.

“I don’t really drink things like juice. I barely eat snacks, either. Do you just have some water? It would be nice if there’s ice, but it’s fine if there isn’t.”

After looking around the kitchen-cum-living area, which was barely a few pyeong, Jang Wigeon went into the room as Seo Chiyoung told him to go in and sit down.

Seo Chiyoung quickly poured some water. Fortunately, he added the two or three pieces of ice that remained and brought it over.

Jang Wigeon was sitting beneath the window. Even though it was a semi-basement, it was close to the ground level so light came in well, but since the legs of people passing by were visible through the window, he kept it closed during the non-summer months while ventilating through the window in the living area.

“…”

Jang Wigeon was sitting in the room, which felt somewhat empty since there was almost no furniture. Seo Chiyoung watched him with an extremely strange feeling as he looked around the room with interest.

Jang Wigeon was sitting in his house.

That fact felt like a lie or a dream, so he stood dazed in front of the door before approaching him only after making eye contact with Jang Wigeon, who was looking around the room.

“It’s close to the shop. Does it take about 10 minutes to walk from here?”

Having received the cup, Jang Wigeon asked after wetting his lips. Seo Chiyoung sat politely in front of him like a student being punished and nodded, saying, “Yes.”

“But there are many traffic lights in between, so if you get caught at every light, it takes about 15 minutes. If you’re lucky and don’t hit any lights and run fast, you can make it in 5 minutes…”

“I see,” Jang Wigeon nodded. Then, he suddenly smiled with his eyes.

“It wasn’t this side, but I used to come to the other side of the road often when I was in middle school. There was a huge comic book room over there.”

“My father hated his children reading comics, so he scolded me severely if I got caught,” he said, and seeing his laughing face, the tension slowly began to ease. “My father was like that too,” Seo Chiyoung laughed sheepishly as well.

“Then, once I became a high schooler, I went down a path of debauchery and went out to clubs every few days; eventually, my father got so frustrated he told me he’d rather I just read comics.”

At Jang Wigeon’s words, Seo Chiyoung also recalled his memories. Back in high school, there were many rumors surrounding Jang Wigeon in various directions. That he met a celebrity at a club and slept with them, that a fight broke out at a club and he and Kwon Kanghee took down fourteen people by themselves, that the club owner was Jang Wigeon’s older cousin… there were many rumors whose truth could not be known, but looking back at those stories, it seemed he did go out at night quite often.

“That’s right. There were many rumors back then.”

When Seo Chiyoung muttered while nodding his head, Jang Wigeon raised an eyebrow. Then he asked as if it were interesting.

“Rumors? Rumors about me? Haha, what kind were they?”

Seo Chiyoung opened his mouth to say, “Uh, well,” then hesitated. Now that he was about to speak, there weren’t particularly any good rumors. They were mostly stories about fighting, sleeping around, or playing.

As Seo Chiyoung, who had just been about to speak, got stuck and hesitantly looked at Jang Wigeon, Jang Wigeon laughed out loud. It seemed he himself was already aware of those things called rumors.

“You don’t actually believe all that, right?”

At Jang Wigeon’s laughing question, Seo Chiyoung quickly nodded his head.

“Of course. Since it was exaggerated enough to say you fought fourteen people, the kids probably didn’t believe it either, just saying it for fun.”

“Fourteen…? Ahh, you mean that time. Haha, it really was exaggerated. There were only nine.”

“So that’s why the kids were so wary whenever I just asked them to go hang out together,” Jang Wigeon said to himself with a laugh, while Seo Chiyoung watched him, his laughter gone, only his eyes shifting. Seeing Seo Chiyoung like that, Jang Wigeon burst into laughter. Even though Seo Chiyoung looked at him curiously, he muttered, “Mr. Chiyoung, your face is just like a mirror…” and laughed for a long time.

Seo Chiyoung felt a bit awkward, but seeing Jang Wigeon laughing cheerfully in front of him made him feel good, so he ended up staring blankly. Then, making eye contact with Jang Wigeon, he sneakily turned his gaze away.

Letting out a pleasant sigh, Jang Wigeon suddenly seemed to lean his body over and then sprawled out flat. Using the neatly folded blankets as a cushion, he closed and opened his eyes as if he might even fall asleep.

“It really feels like I’ve come to a friend’s house to hang out.”

“…”

At the words Jang Wigeon suddenly muttered, Seo Chiyoung just blinked his eyes while looking at him. His hesitant lips didn’t offer any response. Friend—at that word, Seo Chiyoung felt needlessly shy and dropped his gaze slightly; Jang Wigeon only turned his smiling eyes to look at Seo Chiyoung.

“I have many friends I get along with well and often meet for drinks, but for some reason, there aren’t many friends whose houses I go to or who come to mine. There were some in middle and high school, but these days there are none at all. Even Junyoung or Kanghee, though we meet often enough, our schedules don’t match well, so we’ve only been meeting frequently for a short while lately…. Well, once Junyoung moves out and those two start living together, we probably won’t run into each other as much again.”

Suddenly, Jang Wigeon fell silent. Hearing those names, Seo Chiyoung also fell silent. Jang Wigeon, who was silent for a while as he gazed at the ceiling as if looking into the past, eventually chuckled.