Place to Be Chapter 57

“Then this person is just a classmate of Mr. Jang Wigeon. What is your name?”

“It’s… Seo Chiyoung.”

“Seo Chiyoung? Mr. Chiyoung? That’s a nice name to say.”

The man tried saying Seo Chiyoung’s name aloud and smiled with his eyes. Seo Chiyoung bowed his head, saying, “Thank you.” The man laughed out loud as if something was very amusing.

“Right, but how did you end up getting dragged to a place like this, Mr. Chiyoung?”

“I wasn’t… dragged here.”

“The way you’re frozen with your eyes just flickering back and forth makes you look exactly like someone who was dragged here.”

Flustered, Seo Chiyoung waved his hands to say no. He wanted to explain that Jang Wigeon wasn’t the type to ignore someone’s opinion and force them to come along, but the man laughed once more, perhaps having been joking.

“It wasn’t like that; he brought me here because he said it was a good place to meet people. Because I… am not very good at making friends.”

After saying it, he suddenly felt pathetic. Next to Seo Chiyoung, who fell silent bitterly, the man wore a smile with narrowed eyes.

“Aha, you came to meet someone… what kind of person is your type?”

Type—Seo Chiyoung, who repeated that word in his mind, looked momentarily perplexed.

He had never even thought about something like that separately. Come to think of it, it was true. During the time he hadn’t run into Jang Wigeon, life was so difficult that he had no leeway to think about other things, and after meeting him again, he only looked at Jang Wigeon. The only person he had consistently looked at in his life was that man.

Seo Chiyoung’s gaze drifted toward the inner part of the bar before he even realized it. Then he froze.

Jang Wigeon, holding a glass in one hand and talking to the person next to him, came into view. Yet at the same time, his gaze met with the man’s, who had been looking in this direction.

Even though he had a smile on his lips, he was looking this way with eyes that were somehow expressionless; upon making eye contact with Seo Chiyoung, he gave a faint smile with his eyes. However, this time he did not wave his hand to acknowledge him.

Keep talking. Don’t worry about me. That’s what you came here for today.

That brief eye-smile seemed to be saying exactly that. Seo Chiyoung returned a gaze that was somewhere between a smile and a blank look, then turned his head away.

Inclusively enough, he was realizing it anew just now. Throughout his life so far, the only person he had been so captivated by that he stared blankly was that man. And that person had brought him to this spot, saying it would be better to seek a partner in a more comfortable and trustworthy place.

Could there be a kindness more bitter than this?

Seo Chiyoung muttered lowly to the man who was waiting for his answer.

“Just, someone kind and… that kind of person.”

It wasn’t an answer to the question of what his type was. It was because no one but Jang Wigeon came to mind as an answer.

But he liked kind people. In any sense.

He didn’t expect much else from people. A little bit of kindness was enough. Though sometimes, a kindness full of goodwill like the one he was receiving now could cut his heart.

Seo Chiyoung’s answer shouldn’t have been that strange, but the bartender who was listening to those words suddenly started laughing. The man laughed, too. When Seo Chiyoung looked at them in bewilderment, not knowing why they were laughing, the bartender spoke as if it were amusing.

“No, seeing as he brought you here, you must be close with Mr. Wigeon in your own way, but I was just thinking that your personalities are really different. When I asked Mr. Wigeon about his type, he answered right away that he likes a beautiful man who is clean-cut and doesn’t leave any lingering attachments.”

“I’m telling you, you can roughly see people’s personalities just by listening to them talk about their ideal type,” the bartender said, laughing again. Seo Chiyoung stared at him blankly, then muttered to himself, I see. A beautiful man who is clean-cut and doesn’t leave any lingering attachments. It didn’t give him a precise feeling, but at the very least, it wasn’t him. He did not fit those words.

Seo Chiyoung nodded silently and put the glass to his lips. His throat felt parched for some reason. The man who had been staring at Seo Chiyoung reached out and lightly stroked Seo Chiyoung’s shoulder, as if he knew exactly what he was thinking. His shoulder stiffened reflexively, but he slowly relaxed at the touch that was simply stroking him quietly as if to comfort him.

Just then.

“Hmm?” the bartender muttered briefly. Seo Chiyoung, turning only his eyes to look at the bartender, turned his head toward where he was looking. But before he could even cast his gaze in that direction, a voice reached him first.

“Mr. Hansu, give me another glass with a stronger base. Mr. Chiyoung’s glass is empty, too. You have another glass, Mr. Chiyoung. Do you want to drink the same thing? Or would you like something else?”

The kind voice laced with laughter stopped next to Seo Chiyoung. Jang Wigeon, who had approached holding an empty glass, leaned his arm on the bar and held out his glass to the bartender.

“What are you all talking about so interestingly?”

Seo Chiyoung blinked and looked up at him as he asked curiously. He had thought he wouldn’t even strike up a conversation for the rest of the day.

Seo Chiyoung felt a faint sense of relief in spite of himself. “Just this and that,” he muttered with a smile, and Jang Wigeon, looking down at Seo Chiyoung, wore a somewhat troubled face. However, that face was soon masked by his usual smile the moment the bartender threw out a comment.

“What have you been staring at so much since a while ago? Like you’re monitoring him.”

When the bartender gestured with his eyes as if mocking him, Jang Wigeon laughed without a hint of hesitation.

“He’s a friend who isn’t used to a place like this, so how could I not worry? I can’t just leave him here and say ‘I don’t know’.”

“Since when do you worry about others, Mr. Wigeon?”

“Ahahaha, ‘since when’. What a thing to say about a kind person like me.”

Jang Wigeon burst into laughter, yet tapped the table with his knuckles as if he were feigning displeasure; the bartender, who had known him for a long time, ignored him and gave a snort while handing over a new glass. Jang Wigeon turned his head toward Seo Chiyoung as he pulled the glass toward himself.

He hadn’t expected him to come back, so why did he come? Yet Seo Chiyoung was happy to share even a single word again, so he ended up smiling, albeit bashfully.

“Aren’t your friends waiting for you?”

“I just came for a moment because my glass was empty. I’ll go soon, even if you don’t give me the hint.”

When Seo Chiyoung asked, pointing toward the table where he had been sitting, Jang Wigeon smiled with his eyes while looking at Seo Chiyoung’s shoulder, where the man next to him still had his hand. Give him a hint? It wasn’t like that; Seo Chiyoung looked flustered at the unexpected words, and Jang Wigeon let out a low laugh.

“It’s a joke. …”

Having said that and lightly tapped Seo Chiyoung’s arm, Jang Wigeon lifted his eyes, which were still full of laughter, and looked at the man sitting next to Seo Chiyoung who had been staring at them intently. Noticing that gaze, the man also looked directly at Jang Wigeon.

A gaze was exchanged for a moment between the two men who occasionally passed each other in the shop and knew each other’s faces. Between them, the bartender cut in, handing a new glass to Seo Chiyoung.

“What are you two staring so intently for? Are two regulars of several years finally falling for each other now?”

In front of the man who wore a strange expression and then smiled bitterly, Jang Wigeon, who had a similar face, laughed lowly.

“Ahahaha, well, seeing him up close, he’s such a cool person that it makes me wonder why I’ve just let him pass by until now.”

“Haha, was it okay even if it’s not a beautiful man who is clean-cut and doesn’t leave lingering attachments?”

The man also laughed and replied with a joke. Suddenly falling silent and raising an eyebrow, Jang Wigeon muttered, “Aha…” and soon gave a troubled laugh while glaring at the bartender.

“I wondered what kind of interesting story you were telling, and it was just a boring story like that?”

“Where could there be a story more interesting than that? Mr. Chiyoung says he likes kind people, so how fun is it that his friend’s type is completely different?”

When the topic suddenly turned to him, Seo Chiyoung, who had been quietly tilting his glass, lifted his eyes. Jang Wigeon looked down at Seo Chiyoung. After staring at Seo Chiyoung intently for a while, he nodded as if he understood and laughed. Just then, the man mixed in his words as if cutting in.

“As far as types go, I think I’m similar to Mr. Chiyoung. Because I like kind people, too. To be more precise, people who are gentle and good-hearted.”

“Is that so,” Seo Chiyoung nodded and looked at him vaguely. He felt a bit sheepish being faced with the man who didn’t take his eyes off Seo Chiyoung with laughter-filled eyes, so he sneakily dropped his gaze.