Runway Chapter 12

Jeong Hyeonwoo’s way of speaking and behaving was somehow uncomfortable and unpleasant, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. Was it because of his affectionate way of speaking and addressing people, unlike the bastards who try to firmly establish their own authority and hierarchy?

Was it because that voice had a magnet attached to it, pulling the kids in whatever direction he wanted? Anyway, he was a fascinating guy.

But getting close to him felt repulsive. Yet that discomfort wasn’t unpleasant.

I slowly took a step.

∞ ∞ ∞

「It hurts」

There was a text from Lee Wookchan. The text had come after 3 a.m., but I checked it in the morning.

There were also a couple of missed calls. It must hurt. Of course it must hurt. Thanks to that, my weekend morning was about to be ruined.

Lee Wookchan sometimes got sick. Perhaps because of his massive build, he caught a cold about once every two years, but when he did catch one, he suffered severely. There was even a time he was taken to the emergency room.

Hoo, I let out a small sigh and called Lee Wookchan. I came out to the kitchen-living room with my phone.

Traces of Mom having eaten breakfast and gone to work were left all over the place. The bottled water she had taken out without even having time to put it in the water purifier was lukewarm when I picked it up.

I figured I could just finish it and throw it away, so I drank it straight from the bottle. Lukewarm water spread in my mouth. And then Lee Wookchan answered the phone.

[Hey, fuck. If you’re gonna die, just come to the funeral home, why don’t you.]

“I just woke up.”

[Ah, fucked. My throat fucking hurts. I want to gouge it out.]

The guy’s voice was literally like a blade. There was a lot of metallic rasp mixed in.

Kahak, Lee Wookchan gathered phlegm and spat it out. That sound came through the phone vividly and settled.

“You crazy bastard, why are you doing that into the phone.”

When I snapped at him out of irritation, Lee Wookchan deliberately gathered even more phlegm. Kahak, khak, khak. Anyway, an obnoxious bastard.

[Come visit me.]

Lee Wookchan said. It was a coercive command.

If he had texted and called at dawn, was he trying to tell me to come see him at that dawn? Anyway, he’s always doing whatever he wants.

“Where are you.”

[Home, obviously. I’m about to fucking die from being sick, why would I be wandering around outside. Ah, fuck, seriously…. My head fucking hurts.]

His voice was muffled. I couldn’t tell whether he had buried the phone in a pillow or what.

I opened the shelf. There was instant rice. I took out two of them.

“I’ll wash up and come.”

[Come to my place and wash.]

“No.”

Lee Wookchan’s bathroom is worse than mine. That was the first bathroom like that I’d ever seen in my life.

The shower head yellowed with grime and the red tiles embedded in the floor were cracked here and there, and warm water didn’t come out well either.

On windy days, the bathroom window rattled. Ah, there were spiderwebs next to the window too. There was a reason Lee Wookchan didn’t go home often.

[You little bastard, seriously.]

“Wait.”

[Come when I’m dead. Huh?]

I hung up on the guy who kept sneering until the end. I put the instant rice on the counter and washed the dishes Mom had eaten from and left.

After finishing the housework briefly, I showered and put on going-out clothes. With my wallet and phone in hand, I also grabbed the instant rice before leaving.

To think I’d end up nursing Lee Wookchan on a weekend morning. Should I call Mina noona or something.

Ah, did they say those two broke up? Were they even dating in the first place?

Mina noona had set her profile picture to one taken cheek-to-cheek with Byeonggwan hyung every day. Not my business. They were people from a different world anyway.

∞ ∞ ∞

Lee Wookchan’s house was worse, worse, and even worse than mine. I had to wind through narrow and vicious alleys, and it was at the top of a steep neighborhood.

He had no intention of moving anytime soon, and he didn’t pay any attention to security either. Thanks to that, his noona usually stayed at the shop.

“Mina goes back and forth too.”

Lee Wookchan sat perched at the kitchen entrance and lit a cigarette.

I just boiled two bowls of instant rice with water in a pot and let it cook. I stirred it roughly with a spoon. Behind me, I heard the sound of a lighter sparking.

Lee Wookchan smoked, then gathered phlegm and spat. He did that without a second thought, as if it were his own yard.

No, actually, Lee Wookchan was always like that. Wasn’t he a guy who always lived however he wanted?

“You hanging out with Byeonggwan?”

Byeonggwan hyung was one year older than us, but he and Lee Wookchan had decided to be friends. Anyway, it was a strange relationship.

And when he ran into me, he’d mutter curses as he passed, saying he couldn’t stand seeing that bastard Bae Seonho not bowing his head.

Then I would belatedly bow my head. Honestly, I was scared Byeonggwan hyung would hit me.

“Yeah. I saw it on KakaoTalk.”

I replied indifferently while stirring the bubbling rice. There was no need to check the seasoning. It wouldn’t taste like anything.

“He called yesterday, and is she seriously fucking crazy.”

“What did she say?”

“She told me to come home.”

It’s all a strange relationship. Dating and breaking up repeatedly, and yesterday a close hyung’s girlfriend becomes today my girlfriend.

It was no different from Animal Kingdom. A shabby kingdom. Lee Wookchan was living there, adapting well.

“Did you say you’d go?”

“I’m about to fucking die from being sick, why would I go.”

“Is that so?”

And I am a third party. A human who couldn’t adapt to the kingdom and watches them from far away, peeping.

But my truly wicked heart shows itself here now. Just hearing that Lee Wookchan wasn’t going to Mina noona made the corners of my mouth curl up slyly.

I’m so rotten too.

I didn’t even eat half of the boiled rice. I scooped out only as much as I would eat into a bowl the size of a soy sauce dish, and gave the rest to Lee Wookchan.

For side dishes, I only ate kimchi. In fact, there was nothing but kimchi.

The soy-braised dish with only boiled eggs, no one knew who made, and the dried radish strips covered in mold were impossible to eat.

Lee Wookchan said his throat hurt but ate the rice well. In between, he kept chewing curses like ‘fuck, fuck, fucking, fucking,’ but even so, he didn’t leave any behind and scraped it all clean.

After finishing his meal, Lee Wookchan went straight to the futon and lay down. He didn’t seem to have any intention of clearing the table, nor did he tell me to clear it.

“You come lie down too.”

“Am I you? Eat and immediately lie down?”

“Because I’m sick, because I’m sick, you bastard.”

I told Lee Wookchan to rest, then took the dishes and washed them. Lee Wookchan, who had been lying down, smoked another cigarette in the meantime. And then went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth.

When I returned to the room, Lee Wookchan was lying there without even covering himself with the blanket. He had his forearm over his forehead and was staring at the ceiling.

I approached Lee Wookchan. I crawled on my knees and looked down at him.

“Where’s hyung?”

“Don’t know. Maybe he went up a mountain and hanged himself.”

Lee Wookchan said something desolate without even opening his eyes. But the time for being startled had already passed. I just spat out a curse once.

“Crazy bastard…. And noona?”

“It’s been a few days since she came from the shop. Even if her little brother is about to die, wouldn’t she show her face at least once.”

“Ah.”

I see. There was nothing more to ask. Now there was nothing left to do either. I fed him, and confirmed he was alive. The only things I’d brought were two bowls of instant rice, so there was nothing to take home.

I looked around the house that was always dirty even after cleaning.

“Hey, can I go now?”

“Where are you going. Today might be the last time you see me.”

“You really say… obnoxious things.”

I furrowed my brow at the guy making a fuss over a cold. At my reaction, Lee Wookchan giggled and laughed.

At the laugh mixed with metallic rasp, I stared blankly at his face.

“…”

“…”

Lee Wookchan opened one eye and looked at me. I avoided his gaze. He grabbed my wrist, which was braced against the floor, and pulled.

“Lie down next to me.”

“No. I’ll catch your cold.”

“I said lie down.”

Then he forcibly pulled me. It was hard to beat Lee Wookchan.

I ended up lying next to Lee Wookchan. I likewise lay looking at the ceiling.

Lee Wookchan twisted his body. With his large frame, he turned heavily onto his side.

Just then, the phone in my pocket vibrated. I, who had been looking at the ceiling, turned onto my side. I rummaged through my pocket and took out my phone.

「Seonho, what are you doing?」

It was Jeong Hyeonwoo. Jeong Hyeonwoo sent a pointless text once a day.

Usually it was trivial stuff like, What are you doing? Did you do your homework? I’m on my way to tutoring right now. Today was the same.