CH 13.2

I blinked slowly. Yeon Woojeong’s words had magic-like power. I stared at him and asked.

“Mr. Yeon.”

“Hmm.”

“Are you feeling good?”

My question made the smile disappear from Yeon Woojeong’s lips. He looked in another direction as if thinking for a minute, then he pulled up the corners of his lips again.

“Yeah, I am. I’m feeling good.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Because you’re here?”

I looked around. There was a very big house to the side. But strangely, it was blurry. Although it was blurry, I could tell that it was very luxurious, like a place where rich people would live. The lush greenery spread out in the sunny garden was vivid. I felt like I had been here, but I couldn’t figure out where it was.

“Where are we now?”

“Erm, it doesn’t matter where we are now.”

He stroked my cheeks while laughing endlessly. I also felt good because Yeon Woojeong was laughing. I wanted to kiss the open lips, but I only stared at him quietly because I didn’t want to ruin this moment.

I faced the cast down eyes for a long time. Something dark dripped from his black eyes. I wiped my cheek, but there was nothing there. Yet strangely, it became sweet at the tip of my tongue.

“Mr. Yeon. What are you thinking now?”

Yeon Woojeong gently tickled my cheek with the back of his hand and then lowered his head. The tip of his nose and mine touched. I looked up at the close face without blinking my eyes. It seemed to smell fresh and fragrant. 

“Thinking that you make me smile.”

It felt like the clean air entered inside and overturned everything inside my body. My chest swelled.

I grabbed Yeon Woojeong’s nape, and was about to pull him to me.

“Dad, Dad!”

I opened my eyes to a whisper. When I sprang up with a gasp, the child next to me was surprised and fell with a thud. I looked at the child, then I looked around. There was an old man sleeping in the sleeping room.

Ah. I faced the child, who looked up at me with wide eyes, then I sighed and rubbed my nape. I wasn’t sweating, but my heart raced. I looked between my legs just in case, and there was no response.

The dream was vivid. Yeon Woojeong’s smiling face seemed to be drawn before my eyes. I looked down at my palm, then I put it over my eyes. After staying like that for a while, I got up and left the sleeping room. I looked at the clock. It was 9 o’clock, so I thought it’d be good to eat, take a shower, and go out.

It was the first time Yeon Woojeong appeared in a good dream. It was ironic that I had such a dream only after I left him. I tried hard to scatter the continuing train of thoughts.

I filled my stomach with a boiled egg and fish cake bar, then I went outside. The day was clear and the air was good. It was like the air I felt in the dream.

I walked slowly through the roundabout. I walked past restaurants and fruit stands with fruit laid out on the sidewalk. I dodged a bicyclist. It wasn’t bad scenery, but I wondered if I could live here. I thought the place with high buildings didn’t suit me, but this place didn’t look any different.

It was a futile thought. I would surely live wherever it would be.

As I got closer to the terminal, I saw the car center. Woojeong Car Center. I looked at the letters for a while before moving my steps.

I saw a man unlike yesterday. It seemed like he is the husband the boss said. He looked unfriendly. I tidied up myself before entering.

“Good morning.”

I bowed my head deeply. The man looked at me, then scanned me from head to toes.

“Hmm, are you the one who’s supposed to come today?”

“Yes.”

“Honey!”

The boss I saw yesterday came out. She smiled at me after wiping her hands with a towel.

“Oh, you’re here? Come here. Take a seat.”

I was directed to a chair in the back. When I sat on the chair, the boss handed me a paper cup. Inside was hot tea.

“Would you like to have this and wait a minute? We need to take a look at a car.”

“Yes.”

I nodded, then I blew the tea and drank it. As I looked at the tools on the wall, I saw the bosses chatting around the car. The couple who were opening the hood and tinkering with the engine compartment looked cool. 

Although I couldn’t really hear, I listened carefully. It felt like seeing the videos about the cars that I saw alone directly in front of my eyes.

I pictured myself between them. Can I do that, too? Won’t I be able to do it if I learn? A skill is something that can be taken wherever to go once learned. What will Yeon Woojeong say if I decide to work in this field? I think he’ll give an okay since this is not dangerous. It’d be good if I could fix Yeon Woojeong’s car too. So that he can go anywhere with confidence.

The more I thought about it, the better it seemed. There would be no contact point with Yeon Woojeong if I only did any part-time job, but I could help Yeon Woojeong with this kind of work. At least I like cars…

But Yeon Woojeong isn’t here. Because I left him.

I clenched my hand, then I emptied the cup. I tried to erase the sensation in my palm with the warm taste of tea in my mouth. 

“Okay, that’s it.”

The two bosses closed the hood and washed their hands. I rubbed my palms on my knees, then I chased after them with my eyes.

“We will have lunch. Do you want to join us?”

“No. I’m o—”

“Eat. Look at that thin body, tsk…”

I closed my mouth at the man’s scolding. The woman replied to him, “Why, it’s just perfect. The kids nowadays are all like that.” And brought over a delivery brochure.

“Yeah, eat. We’ll have jjajangmyeon. It’ll arrive soon.”

They talked casually to me at some point. I didn’t feel offended because they were older people. She ordered the food without listening to my answer. Even after ordering the food, they moved busily. I was only sitting like an accessory in this place.

Not long after, the delivery from a Chinese restaurant arrived like what the boss said. Three bowls of jjajangmyeon and a plate of tangsuyuk were placed on the table. I opened the plastic wrap in their places because they looked busy. I also set out the wooden chopsticks and they sat down. 

“Wow, looks good. Let’s eat, let’s eat.”

I wondered if it was okay for me to eat this, so I only picked up my chopsticks after them. The jjajangmyeon was delicious. 

“You are twenty?”

“Yes.”

“What about school?”

“… I’m a middle school diploma, but I will take the GED.”

The man furrowed in disapproval. But I didn’t tense up because it wasn’t that different from his original expression. 

“Did you used to work in this field?”

“No.”

“Then where did you work?”

“In a barbecue restaurant and a convenience store.”

It was a poor answer, even for me. It wasn’t that I had to get hired here, but I wondered if I could find a place with the same name somewhere else.

“We just need someone to do the car wash and help when one of us is absent.”

“Yes, I’ll do well.”

I nodded my head vigorously, trying to look a little more dependable at the woman’s words. Silence fell over the table.

I saw the two people exchanging glances, but I pretended to not know and put the tangsuyuk into my mouth. The sound of crispy tangsuyuk crunching in my mouth was unusually loud. 

“Take the test first. Even if this work is more of experience than education, a middle school diploma and a high school diploma aren’t the same.”

“Yes.”

“How long will you work here? We can’t give you much. It might work if you’re just taking it easy to kill time, but a man with a bright future will make more if you look for another place. No matter how hard the work is.”

How much can they give me? It would be bad if it was too little. I have nowhere to live here. It might be better to go into a factory or something, save money for a room, then learn to get some experience.

“I don’t think it’ll be much help if you learn in this kind of small place. This city is good to live in, but if you want to get some experience and study, it’s better to go to a bigger city. If you know the right institute, they’ll give you free tuition and a dormitory room. It’s even better to go to college if you want to get a job in a corporate service center. Even though your academic background is bad, you’re only twenty, right? How long will you spend your life here?”

Everything the man said seemed to be correct. I listened to him with chopsticks in hand, and a piece of tangsuyuk was placed on my bowl. The woman looked at me and smiled softly.

“I saw you have nowhere to go. I’m sure you have your own circumstance. If it’s really bad, we can provide you lodging because there’s a small room in this shop.”

“… Yes.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Seoul.”

“We’re from Seoul, too. Seoul. It’s hard living there. Well, it’s not like it’ll be easy to live anywhere.”

The woman sighed and smiled. They were all good people. What did they see in me that they could even provide lodging? Did I look that desperate? It was a good thing, then.