Runway Chapter 6

“Bae Seonho.”

Lee Wookchan calls me. I reply with my eyes still closed.

“Yeah.”

“You know I don’t contact the hyungs first.”

“How would I know.”

“You know even if you don’t.”

Actually, I do know. That he goes out when the hyungs call. And I also know that the hyungs do strange things for money from someone else.

Among them, some did well and opened phone shops or bars, but most lived poorly.

Lee Wookchan’s hyung was one of them, and his noona was at least better off. She ran a small indoor street food stall in the neighborhood.

That said, it’s not that I want Lee Wookchan to live comfortably and happily forever. I also know that just because Lee Wookchan doesn’t meet the hyungs, it doesn’t mean he’ll live cleanly.

He’s my only friend, but outside he was one of the guys who’d left the fence behind.

Not just students but adults avoid him too. The kind of guy no one can say anything to even if he’s properly dressed in his school uniform and openly smoking in a back alley.

“Lee Wookchan.”

I called him in the time that was stiffening to death. Lee Wookchan didn’t answer.

I belatedly opened my closed eyes. Only then did our eyes lock.

“Let’s just live the way we’ve been living.”

Don’t stray further, don’t cross paths.

At those words Lee Wookchan finally smiled. It definitely looked like a mischievous, playful smile, but it was also a smile that looked like he was forcing his face to crumple.

Seeing that smile, I became a little sad.

∞ ∞ ∞

Lee Wookchan dropped me off at the parking lot of the apartment complex next to the school. Fortunately, he wasn’t such a lunatic as to drop me off right in front of the school and draw the students’ attention.

I didn’t say goodbye to Lee Wookchan. We just exchanged low-level conversation like “I’m going.” “Yeah. See you later.” “I’m not meeting you today.” “Meet me or not, you bastard.” and parted.

My heart isn’t light. Why would Jjeng hyung have given Lee Wookchan allowance. Where would that money have come from. My head was complicated.

When I entered the classroom, guys who looked similar were chattering around the class president. The class president smiled appropriately and received their conversation well.

My eyes met the class president’s. It felt like I’d been caught stealing glances, so I was startled.

I flinched, my body trembling. But soon I returned to my seat as if nothing had happened.

I felt a persistently following gaze.

“Go back to your seats.”

The class president said to someone. Whether they did or not.

I opened my book again to review the period with the native speaker. I stared blankly at the dialogue phrases.

Surely for the performance assessment we’d have to memorize this whole thing. I was about to take out my notebook.

“Seonho.”

He called me. The class president, having sent all his friends away, had come to stand by my side before I knew it.

“Seonho.”

“Yeah.”

Surely he didn’t tell the native speaker. I was stung inwardly but answered calmly.

I couldn’t possibly speak in the aggressive tone I had earlier. I wasn’t that shameless a guy.

“You were in the same English class as me.”

“…So?”

“I found out when I went to the classroom that you weren’t there.”

Is he threatening me?

“Did you skip?”

Skip? The nuance is strange. It felt like watching some middle-aged person imitating an outdated slang word. My brow furrowed on its own.

“My stomach hurt.”

“You didn’t even eat lunch.”

“I went home, took medicine, and came back.”

“Next time let’s move together during moving-class periods.”

Is he serious about being friends. Goosebumps rose on my forearms.

Come to think of it, how did I become close with Lee Wookchan?

I can’t remember at all. At some point we were just friends, and I was standing next to him.

Like talking with this guy, like this—let’s be friends, let’s hang out together—could we become friends like a scene from a youth drama.

“I….”

“What if you get caught skipping class.”

“Yeah.”

“We’re going together?”

“Okay.”

In the end I gave a stiff answer. The class president looked at me, smiled slightly, and finally turned his steps.

Friends, huh. It had been over half a year since I started high school, but I’d never had a proper friend, so strangely I got goosebumps.

Being friends with me wouldn’t do him any good. I stroked my chin and tilted my head.

Whatever it was… it was a bit like that.

∞ ∞ ∞

When I have nothing to do, I come up to the abandoned building near my house. This place had been Lee Wookchan’s hideout from some point, and I was using it too.

I don’t know how he found out about it. Lee Wookchan sometimes brought his leftovers along, but they didn’t come much during the day when Lee Wookchan wasn’t there.

Those guys, who wouldn’t die without Lee Wookchan, acted like they’d had their egos stolen. Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter.

Because when they don’t come, this place becomes solely my space.

I perched on the office desk and looked up at the sky. The weather is nice.

Autumn is autumn. Why do they say the sky is high in autumn.

Has it actually been proven. I thought while looking at the clouds thrown like cotton balls into the blue sky.

“…”

I closed my eyes deeply and opened them. Maybe because it’s the weekend, it was noisy outside.

Why did this building become an abandoned building. At least, it’s the tallest building in this neighborhood.

Rather, it might have been abandoned because it’s the tallest building. Even if you just go up to the first or second floor, the alley is full of supermarkets, bars, restaurants—so there’d be nothing to do going up to the fourth floor. And no reason to.

The person who built this building probably never thought it would be abandoned. They must have been full of hope and expectation.

Now it’s just become a hideout for delinquents.

“Sleepy.”

I muttered to myself. I lay down with my back against the desk.

Since the desk was a size that was comfortable for sitting but small for lying, I had to bend one knee. Even then I put the remaining leg down to the floor.

Lying down, I looked up at the sky. I undeniably long for the sky.

I tried to picture the moment I’d become an adult and be economically free.

Someday will I ride an airplane. Will I fly through the sky on an airplane. Will the moment come when even that doesn’t make my heart flutter.

But I, who have no experience, can’t even imagine it. It feels like I’ll have to live my whole life like this.

With nothing, empty-handed. Just as self-loathing settled in, the phone in my pocket rang shrilly.

Is it Lee Wookchan? Or Mom?

I took the phone out of my pocket and raised my body. It was an unfamiliar number.

“Hello.”

I generally don’t answer unknown numbers. Especially numbers starting with 070 or 02.

What reason would I have to get a call from Seoul. The only reason I answered now was because the number started with 010.

An unfamiliar yet familiar voice flowed out.

[Seonho?]

It’s Jung Hyunwoo. The class president. Instead of answering, I took the phone away from my ear and checked the time.

Just before noon, today is Sunday.

There was no reason for the class president to call me.

“Yeah, why?”

[What are you doing now?]

“I’m just, you know.”

[Are you alone?]

“Yeah, but why?”

[Are you outside?]

“Yeah, why, I said?”

Don’t pretend to be friendly, just get to the point. I said what I wanted to say in a roundabout way.

Are we close enough for him to ask prying questions about where I am. Ah, I’m hungry. Come to think of it, I came out without even eating breakfast.

I’d just naturally woken up, washed, gone outside, and with nothing to do was rolling around here. In the afternoon I planned to go to the library.

Before that, should I go home and eat the cup rice I’d bought….

[Want to eat lunch? I’m hungry but there’s no one to eat with.]

It was an abrupt offer, and I asked back without any intention of hiding it.

“You and me?”

[Yeah, did you eat lunch?]

“I haven’t eaten yet, but….”

[Then let’s eat lunch. I’m the one who asked to meet, so I’ll pay.]

“…”

Why you? Because I said I don’t have money to take supplementary classes?

But it wasn’t wrong either. I had money to buy a triangle kimbap, but I didn’t have money to meet a friend and do something.

That’s why I hung out with Lee Wookchan. Lee Wookchan knew I had no money, and he’d extort from others and generously bestow money of unknown origin.

He said he liked watching me stuff my face, but most of it was mockery.

“Why would you buy me food?”