Place to Be Chapter 54

It seemed like he had always been that way. With a confidence rooted deep within him, he likely stood tall like that, never fearing anyone’s cold glares or sharp tongues. Just as he did now, and just as he had in the past.

“Mr. Chiyoung, how did you find out that your orientation was toward this side?”

Seo Chiyoung hesitated for a while at Jang Wigeon’s words as he turned the topic toward him.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk about it or wanted to hide it. It was just that he had never had such a conversation before, so it felt uncomfortable. Especially considering the person he was talking to was Jang Wigeon.

Jang Wigeon waited quietly for Seo Chiyoung to open his mouth, and only after a long time had passed did Seo Chiyoung speak haltingly.

“In high school… while attending a study room, I also went to a gym to exercise… and I met a man there. We talked a few times and became a bit close… at first, I didn’t know, but that man, he…”

But while speaking, Seo Chiyoung ended up falling silent.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t that man. The moment Seo Chiyoung accurately recognized his own orientation was when he saw Jang Wigeon by chance while wandering the streets that day. At that moment, Seo Chiyoung realized poignantly that the way he looked at him wasn’t just simple admiration.

“…—.”

Seo Chiyoung dropped his head. He didn’t want to say any more. No, he couldn’t. Even if Jang Wigeon knew that Seo Chiyoung liked him, he couldn’t tell that kind of story.

With a slightly flushed face, Seo Chiyoung scratched the back of his neck and glossed it over, saying, “I just found out after thinking about this and that after running away back then.”

However, for some reason, no answer came back and it was quiet. Even though Jang Wigeon’s knees, sitting right in front of him, were in his field of vision, it was quiet above his head as if he had fallen asleep while sitting.

Seo Chiyoung hesitantly raised his head. But then he froze.

Jang Wigeon was staring at him with an expressionless face. The light in those black eyes was momentarily fierce enough to turn his chest cold, and Seo Chiyoung unconsciously hunched his shoulders.

Seo Chiyoung, unable to fathom why he was suddenly glaring at him with those eyes, only blinked his eyes wide as if walking on eggshells.

However, Jang Wigeon, who had been giving Seo Chiyoung such a chilly look, soon seemed to notice Seo Chiyoung’s reaction and slightly frowned his expressionless face. Soon, as he pursed his lips and let out a displeased sigh, the fierce light in the gaze looking at Seo Chiyoung softened a bit.

“By any chance, do you still know who that is now?”

When the voice reflecting a dissatisfied light asked that, Seo Chiyoung shook his head somewhat bewilderedly. Jang Wigeon was silent for a moment before letting out one more sigh.

“When you look at this side, there are often strange guys. Only picking out people who seem gentle and unlikely to resist…”

But stopping mid-sentence, Jang Wigeon suddenly frowned between his brows and sat still for a while rubbing the space between his eyes with his mouth shut.

Only after the wrinkles between his brows disappeared did Jang Wigeon give his gaze to Seo Chiyoung. Looking at Seo Chiyoung with a faintly frowning face, he clicked his tongue and opened his mouth.

“Mr. Chiyoung, you don’t go out to play much, do you.”

At the sigh-laced words, Seo Chiyoung nodded his head hesitatingly.

“Go with me next time. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but there’s a place I go to occasionally, and there aren’t many bad people there and it’s quite alright. For someone who isn’t used to it, it’s better to go looking at the place rather than the people.”

While staring blankly at Jang Wigeon, who was speaking lightly and calmly as if having an everyday conversation, Seo Chiyoung nodded his head vaguely.

Ah, he’s worrying about me.

The fierce gaze from a moment ago, the sigh, and the wrinkled brow were all because he was worried about Seo Chiyoung. It wasn’t because something about Seo Chiyoung was particularly displeasing.

But.

Seo Chiyoung let out a quiet sigh. He quietly brushed aside the feeling of a subtly bitter taste lingering somewhere and looked at Jang Wigeon. “Yes, thank you,” Seo Chiyoung ended up saying awkwardly in a somewhat stiff voice, and Jang Wigeon gave him a soft smile.

The silence that continued for a moment without much to say soon shifted to stories of high school, and even though they didn’t share the same memories, they slowly exchanged words about things from a long time ago.

It was a quiet and peaceful holiday afternoon.

∞ ∞ ∞

Seo Chiyoung had forgotten the conversation they had then, and Jang Wigeon must have forgotten it too. Since then, that kind of topic had never come up. In fact, there was no room for it to come up.

Not long after, once the building renovation permit was issued, the frequency of Jang Wigeon’s visits to the shop dropped to half of what it was before. Unlike the renovation and repair of general buildings, the renovation and repair of traditional houses was several times more difficult, starting from recruiting specialized contractors.

From the time he searched for contractors, set the renovation schedule, and secured materials until the actual construction began, the look of exhaustion never left Jang Wigeon’s face. He, who used to visit almost every other day, could barely visit twice a week for a while, and it was inevitable that the times he crossed paths with Yoon Junyoung at the shop decreased. In the meantime, when Yoon Junyoung’s moving date was set, he seemed to be trying to come more often, but the best he could do was visit the shop nearly at midnight.

While leading the cheerful atmosphere just like any other time, a tired light seeped through the slightly sharpening lines of his face, the occasional silent sighs, and the way he touched his forehead as if exhausted.

“Are you okay? I think it would be better for you to go back and rest.”

When Seo Chiyoung spoke carefully, unable to watch any longer, Jang Wigeon gave a bitter smile.

“Do I look very exhausted?”

“…Yes.”

“Oh boy… I shouldn’t show a weak side when I come here to rest.”

Jang Wigeon laughed while speaking jokingly.

“But it’ll get better soon. Now the preparations are mostly complete and construction starts next week, so it’ll be fine after that. If I just hang in there until this week.”

Having said that and waved his hand as if it were nothing even with a tired face, Jang Wigeon’s complexion had improved when he visited over the weekend, just as he had said.

It was Saturday evening. Jang Wigeon, who entered the shop with his shirt’s neck button loosely unfastened, had a much better expression than when he came a few days ago. He still looked tired, but the face that struck up a conversation with a smile, saying, “I’m here, Mr. Chiyoung,” seemed to have set some worries aside.

Seo Chiyoung smiled brightly upon seeing Jang Wigeon. A smile would often surface on his face as he nodded saying “Welcome,” even without Seo Chiyoung realizing it. Jang Wigeon stood still for a moment staring at Seo Chiyoung, then sat down with a smirk and a deeper smile.

“Is the busy work finally over? Your face looks good.”

Now, even if he didn’t place a separate order, he would usually serve a plate of gopchang and a bottle of beer as long as nothing was said. Only when he occasionally waved his hand saying, “I brought the car today,” would he serve barley tea instead of beer.

Today as well, Jang Wigeon, who received a water bottle filled with barley tea instead of beer, smiled broadly as he took the cup Seo Chiyoung handed over with four ice cubes in it.

“Yes. There won’t be any more reason to be this tired until I prepare for the shop’s grand opening. Since construction starts right away next week. Getting the permit and doing the groundwork is tedious, but once that’s done properly, there’s not much else to worry about.”

Jang Wigeon, who gulped down the barley tea as refreshingly as if it were beer, let out a relieved sigh. Then, with a smile appearing around his eyes, he looked at Seo Chiyoung.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come to eat ten servings in the meantime. Actually, I wanted to come in between, but after returning from the countryside or running around to meet contractors, it was usually past midnight. I came by the day before yesterday just in case, but you were already closed.”

“Oh… if you wanted to eat that much, you should have called… I would have come out.”

When Seo Chiyoung muttered in a troubled tone, feeling unnecessarily apologetic, Jang Wigeon said half-jokingly and half-seriously, “I’ll do that from now on. Or I’ll just find my way to your house.”

Seo Chiyoung raised an eyebrow slightly and soon lifted the corners of his mouth. Those informal words were somehow welcome, so he laughed bashfully. Whether that smile remained on his lips without him knowing, Seo Chiyoung, who was handing a plate of fully stir-fried gopchang to Jang Wigeon, suddenly froze upon seeing Jang Wigeon staring at him intently.

“…?”