Runway Chapter 20

“You said he didn’t seem like a very good kid.”

Jeong Hyeonwoo had said that to me. That he didn’t seem like a very good kid.

I had known long ago that it was true. Ever since Lee Wookchan shot BB pellets at me.

At my reply, Jeong Hyeonwoo closed his lips that had been twitching.

“That’s right.”

He opened his mouth after quite a while.

“Seonho.”

“…”

Instead of answering, I steadily met his eyes.

“This is just my thought.”

“Yeah.”

“Ordinary suits you.”

Without realizing it, my brow furrowed. Was that an insult? To be ordinary, put nicely, means to be unremarkable, and soon it meant having no color.

Isn’t that not a very good meaning? Of course, compared to me, the color Lee Wookchan had was far too intense.

Black, itself. But I… don’t have any, right.

Knowing that thinking is poison, I asked outright so as not to twist his words.

“Are you saying that to make me feel bad?”

Jeong Hyeonwoo looked a little surprised. He kept his wide-open eyes for a moment, then soon returned to a calm face. Then he waved his hand and denied it.

“No, I’m not saying you’re ordinary, I mean it seems like it’d be good for you to have ordinary people around you.”

What did that mean now. Jeong Hyeonwoo makes words difficult.

Lee Wookchan is better. If it were Lee Wookchan, he would have said this.

Hang out with dickhead bastards like you. A bunch of pathetic losers crowding together and jerking off.

It’s obvious. An ignorant bastard with uselessly good strength.

“Seonho, you seem to think a lot.”

Jeong Hyeonwoo finally delivered the words that crowned my thoughts. That’s right. I was a human more filled with thoughts than bones and muscles.

Also, to avoid revealing this petty side of me, I rarely formed deep relationships.

But in the end, I was caught. It was embarrassing. Pouf, when I let out a sigh, Jeong Hyeonwoo propped his chin.

Not doing the studying he was supposed to do…. His staring gaze was awkward, so I stood up.

“I’m going to the bathroom for a bit.”

Nod, Jeong Hyeonwoo answered in place of words.

The bathroom was outside the cafe. Because it was a cafe that had only been remodeled in an old building, not a new one, the bathroom wasn’t maintained either.

The bathroom was full of messy graffiti and worn. Because many people came and went, the door handle was broken, and the urinals were in such a mess that it was unpleasant to use.

There, I discharged my thoughts. Because I didn’t want to agonize over the ordinariness Jeong Hyeonwoo had spoken of. I zipped up and stood in front of the sink.

There were two sinks, but one was full of water, and cigarette butts had been thrown in it. I pretended not to see it as much as possible and turned on the faucet of the relatively intact sink.

In the dirty bathroom, paradoxically, there was pump-type soap. I pressed the pump, squeezed out foam, and rubbed my hands.

With the foam rising softly, I rubbed between my fingers, and scratched my unpleasant hand backs and palms with my nails.

I barely turned on the water with the back of my hand and washed my hands with cold water.

Even though I was in a filthy, filthy bathroom, the result was refreshing. As I came out of the bathroom and was about to go back into the cafe, creak, an unpleasant sound rang out.

It was the iron door leading to the outside stairs in the middle of the bathroom and the cafe.

Glancing sideways, I moved my gaze there.

“…”

I almost stopped in place.

“…”

My eyes met a guy’s. The guy hadn’t dyed his hair, but anyone could see he was dressed like a thug. And his face was familiar too.

Byeon Sunhyeok. A bastard irritating from his name. That bastard was a guy who groveled, trying somehow to cling to Lee Wookchan.

I didn’t care what Lee Wookchan thought, but I hated that bastard. And.

“Hey, Bae Seonho.”

That bastard hated me too.

I held the cafe door handle and quietly held my breath. I couldn’t even predict how he would pick a fight this time. It would probably be the same again.

If that guy picked a fight over something trivial again, I also had plenty to say. The last time I met Lee Wookchan was more than a month ago.

So, whether that bastard was dead or alive wasn’t my business.

“You didn’t come.”

Byeon Sunhyeok said something sudden instead of picking a fight. Only then did I turn my body.

Even indoors, Byeon Sunhyeok spat out that disgusting, dirty phlegm without any sense of guilt. I didn’t even look at the clump of phlegm that fell to the floor.

If I saw the white phlegm with small bubbles rippling, I’d surely gag.

“What.”

Instead, I answered without adjusting the pitch of my voice, indifferently. As soon as I finished speaking, Byeon Sunhyeok scrunched up his face.

He really has an ordinary face, but when he makes that kind of expression, he must think he’s Lee Wookchan or something. Pathetic bastard.

I wanted to click my tongue, but I couldn’t. I was worse at fighting than Byeon Sunhyeok.

“What, you don’t know? I really want to beat you to death.”

Only words like that came out of Byeon Sunhyeok’s mouth. I kept meeting his eyes.

“What’s your problem.”

If you’re going to pick a fight, do it in moderation. I don’t know the reason, and I don’t know why that bastard is acting like that.

“You.”

“What?”

“You’re a fucking bastard, Junchan hyung ended up like that and you didn’t come even once.”

I really don’t know. I.

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying right now.”

Junchan hyung. Lee Wookchan’s hyung.

Hyung had been at home for almost two years. Long before, hyung had also hung around with similar guys, running away and causing trouble, and only came home once every few years.

The reason Lee Wookchan became like this might be because of his build and conspicuous appearance, but hyung’s influence was also big.

Always around Lee Wookchan, hyungs and noonas his age gathered more than same-age peers. And among themselves, as if they were some great backing, they asked, Are you Junchan hyung’s dongsaeng?

One day, that hyung came home, and without forming any deep relationship with his family, just stayed at home.

What happened to someone who was supposed to just stay at home.

I only met eyes with Byeon Sunhyeok.

“Hey, Bae Seonho.”

“Why do you keep calling me.”

“You really don’t know?”

“I said I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Chan, that bastard, lived stuck to Bae Seonho, Bae Seonho, but when it’s his turn to have a hard time, huh? Looks like he doesn’t need you at all.”

What good would it do to scratch at someone? Moreover, Byeon Sunhyeok and I live in different worlds.

Would I get involved in power struggles among trash, in hierarchy fights?

I can’t fight. At most, I throw out a few words and end it, and I’m timid and weak against hits.

Even though I live getting beaten countless times by Lee Wookchan, fighting is nothing. I only occasionally slap Lee Wookchan’s forearm, so what would I gain from a battle of nerves with me.

“…”

I put strong strength into my jaw. Still, what’s unpleasant is unpleasant.

Byeon Sunhyeok threw out shitty words to pick a fight, and I immediately took the bait.

So what. I want to say. But I hold it in. It’s really irritating, but.

“Stop talking crookedly and just say what you want to say. That’s more comfortable. Why do you keep talking around it?”

“Ask your kept man.”

He’s going. Byeon Sunhyeok only left after scraping at people thoroughly to the end.

At the sight of him leaving as if he were cool, as if he were something, I clenched my fist tightly and glared at his back.

He can’t say a word in front of Lee Wookchan, yet acting tough in front of me was laughable. He’d go and in front of Lee Wookchan, it’s obvious he’d be like, Chan, Chan.

My insides boiled furiously. Since it was his back anyway, I thought about hitting his shoulder or back or neck once and running away, but in the end, I held reason and endured.

In the end, I couldn’t do anything and returned inside. The air that had been sharp a moment ago had softened generously before I knew it.

Inside, where nothing had changed, calm jazz music was playing.

Before going to where Jeong Hyeonwoo was waiting for me, I took out my phone. It couldn’t be helped.

In the end, I left a message.

「Hey, Lee Wookchan.」

After sending the message to Lee Wookchan, I had no confidence to focus on studying anymore. I checked my phone constantly.

I had always kept it on silent, but I set the sound and even turned on messenger notifications. Even while reading the text, I glanced sideways at the screen.

Around the time I had maintained studying that was worse than not doing it for about an hour, I finally closed the book. I really couldn’t do it.

“I think I need to go home.”