Place to Be Chapter 58

Jang Wigeon, who had been leaning against the bar, cast his gaze toward Seo Chiyoung over the top of his head. After slowly swirling his glass for a moment with a faint, habitual smile on his face, Jang Wigeon soon straightened up from the bar.

“Well, since they’re calling me from over there, I’ll be heading back. Don’t push a gentle person too hard, Mister… and good luck to you, too, Mr. Chiyoung.”

Seeing him start to walk away, Seo Chiyoung looked at him with momentary anxiety; Jang Wigeon lightly patted his shoulder, left behind a calm smile, and turned away.

“…”

Seo Chiyoung watched Jang Wigeon’s retreating figure in silence.

What am I doing here? It wasn’t as if he himself had desperately longed to meet someone. He had never once thought about wanting to meet someone else with Jang Wigeon’s help.

Feeling like an utter, ridiculous fool, Seo Chiyoung silently emptied his glass bit by bit. As the glass grew lighter, his heart grew heavier.

“So, that means you don’t have anyone specific in mind, Mr. Chiyoung. And no particular preference?”

Suddenly, the man’s voice was heard right beside him. Seo Chiyoung, who had been dazed in thought, snapped out of it and turned his head. Before he knew it, the man had moved closer to Seo Chiyoung and was whispering softly. Before Seo Chiyoung could even mutter, “Uh, well,” the man seemed to sink into thought for a moment before continuing.

“Then, how about me?”

Freezing, Seo Chiyoung stared at him. It didn’t seem like he had misheard, and it wasn’t that he didn’t know what those words meant, but he was momentarily lost for words. He opened his mouth to say something, but Seo Chiyoung only blinked, and no words flowed out.

He felt like he might break into a hollow laugh at himself.

He realized that he had never once thought about how to respond in a situation like this. He had completely excluded the possibility of such a thing happening from his mind. Aside from whether he liked it or not, he felt flabbergasted.

Why did I come here? …Because Jang Wigeon brought him. That was the only reason. He poignantly realized that even in his subconscious, he had never thought about meeting someone else or wanting to meet someone. He simply liked the idea of going somewhere that was even slightly related to Jang Wigeon. Even though it wasn’t a place one should come for such a reason.

The man, who had been scanning every corner of Seo Chiyoung’s face, gave a bitter smile.

“Do you dislike me?”

“No… it’s not like that. It’s just…”

Seo Chiyoung shook his head.

The man wasn’t bad. No, in Seo Chiyoung’s eyes, there was no one in this shop who was lesser than himself.

He had simply been foolish.

Seo Chiyoung remained silent and just stared at him. Facing Seo Chiyoung, the man gently stroked down Seo Chiyoung’s arm and whispered in his ear.

“Don’t be nervous. People who come here for the first time are often like that. Because it’s unfamiliar, they sometimes confuse being nervous with a feeling of unpleasantness. Try to think comfortably. Whether you actually dislike it, or if it’s just unfamiliar.”

The man’s voice was kind. Though they hadn’t shared many words, Seo Chiyoung could tell he was a friendly person. The touch slowly stroking Seo Chiyoung’s arm seemed ready to pull away obediently if Seo Chiyoung showed any sign of dislike.

“I liked you from the start, Mr. Chiyoung.”

Yes, the man was right. The whisper softly tickling his ear, the hand sliding affectionately from his arm to his waist—he didn’t know what to do because it was unfamiliar, but it wasn’t unpleasant. If he got used to it, it might even feel very good. But.

“…—. Um, just a moment, to the… bathroom.”

Seo Chiyoung quietly pulled his body back. His mind, bordering on panic, couldn’t even form proper sentences and only linked a few short words.

It wasn’t unpleasant. However, he didn’t feel that it was okay to let things flow this way. Even if things continued like this, he knew himself well enough to know that at the decisive moment, he would end up shaking his head.

Knowing it would look unnatural, Seo Chiyoung stood up from his seat. For a moment, the man’s eyes widened as if surprised, but Seo Chiyoung didn’t even look at him properly and brushed past him toward the bathroom at the back of the bar.

How stupid. A man so foolish that he couldn’t even manage a sigh was reflected in the mirror hanging directly in front of him as soon as he entered the bathroom.

There was no one in the bathroom. Once he was alone in the spacious, quiet place, some of the tension that had been held in his shoulders without him realizing it finally drained away.

“Stupid…”

Muttering weakly while looking in the mirror, Seo Chiyoung let out a long sigh and hung his head. He walked slowly to the toilet to relieve himself and washed his hands at the sink. When he suddenly lifted his head, there was a familiar man staring back at him in the mirror with an awkward face… it was a pathetic face.

Seo Chiyoung impulsively splashed the water he was using to wash his hands onto the mirror. After staring at the blunt face with water dripping down splat-splat, this time he ended up splashing water onto his own face.

Get it together. You’re a fool as it is, how much more of a fool are you trying to be?

Seo Chiyoung splashed ice-cold water onto his face repeatedly. While splashing water several times and tapping his face hard enough to hurt, his mind slowly settled down. Only then did his returned reason reflect on his heart.

It was exactly as he had thought from the beginning. Unless it was something he desired, this place would inevitably remain a world apart from him forever. To the point where trying to act nonchalant felt foolish.

“…”

Let’s go back. What suited him was his old, shabby shop that looked as if it might collapse at any moment. The nights spent with the drinking customers and the neighborhood regulars who visited that place already felt as comfortable as well-fitting clothes to him.

If he said he was leaving when he had only just arrived, Jang Wigeon, who had gone to the trouble of bringing him, might look at him in disbelief, but he thought it would be better to go back.

Thinking that, just as Seo Chiyoung turned away from the sink, there he was. The man from before was leaning against the bathroom wall, gazing at Seo Chiyoung; it was unclear how long he had been there. When Seo Chiyoung froze, not having felt anyone entering, the man who had been watching Seo Chiyoung with a subtle expression spoke.

“Did you really come here just to use the bathroom?”

“…Pardon?”

“…Somehow… I thought you were saying something excessively bold all of a sudden.”

The man muttered an incomprehensible monologue to himself and gave a bitter smile.

What bold thing could I have said? With a slightly flustered face, Seo Chiyoung looked at the man questioningly. As Seo Chiyoung pressed his sleeve against his face to wipe away the dripping water, the man pulled out two or three paper towels and approached.

“Oh, thank—”

“Stay still.”

Briefly scolding him while avoiding Seo Chiyoung’s hand reaching for the paper towels, the man stroked Seo Chiyoung’s face as if carefully dabbing it with the paper towels. Seo Chiyoung, who was awkwardly receiving the man’s touch as he stroked his cheek with a subtle friction, hesitantly distanced himself from him.

“I’m sorry…. I was thinking of heading back now.”

The man’s hand stopped. He stared at Seo Chiyoung silently before asking nonchalantly.

“Am I not your type?”

“No, it’s not that… I’m sorry.”

Seo Chiyoung bowed his head deeply. The man looked disappointed, but soon let out a laugh mixed with a sigh, saying, “Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.”

“Alright, then…. Here. Contact me later if you’re okay with it.”

The man took a business card case out of his pocket, pulled out one of his business cards, and tucked it into Seo Chiyoung’s pocket. Thinking that he would probably never contact him, Seo Chiyoung looked at the pocket with troubled eyes but ended up just nodding with his mouth shut. As if realizing that ambiguous nod was a rejection, the man smiled bitterly once again.

Seo Chiyoung looked at the man’s mouth with apologetic eyes, but the man smiled naturally as if trying to shake off the awkward atmosphere and changed his voice to a much brighter tone.

“Then shall we head out? Before Mr. Hansu develops the strange imagination he’s probably having right now even further.”

“Pardon?”

When Seo Chiyoung asked in bewilderment, the man just laughed instead of answering and then gave a random piece of advice: “Mr. Chiyoung, don’t go to strange shops alone. Something rough will definitely happen.” Seo Chiyoung had a face that suggested he didn’t understand the reason, but he obediently nodded and said, “Yes.”