Chapter 07
By the time it was almost 10 a.m., the thin white curtain drawn across the living room window overlooking the reservoir in the distance blocked out the sunlight. Thanks to the air conditioning, the house was comfortable and cool.
The two sat facing each other in the quiet kitchen. Unable to answer his question, she ate the meal he had prepared. She did not know whether she was eating sand or whether food was even entering her mouth. It was when she could not meet his eyes because she felt awkward and embarrassed, and was uselessly tormenting the scrambled eggs, that a nerve-grating vibrating sound rang out repeatedly.
“Sounds like you’re getting a call.”
Jaegyeom brought Jisu her phone. He said he had plugged it in to charge because the battery was low. On the screen of her phone, which was buzzing loudly, the four characters “Yeongbaek Oppa” were vivid.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“No.”
Jaegyeom nodded. It was when Jisu was about to stab at the egg again and put it in her mouth. This time, it was a call from someone else. “Yeongbaek Oppa’s Mother.” Jisu flipped the phone face down toward the floor.
“Im Jisu. If you go to Seoul, you won’t answer my calls either, right?”
“……”
“Look at this. I guess you were planning to eat me and throw me away.”
“No, um, let me, say something, huh?”
“You have no conscience. Are you really in a position to get angry right now?”
Feeling as if she were being beaten with the club of rightful words, Jisu could no longer retort and put her mouth to the juice cup. Jaegyeom was still looking at her and smiling, so she just smiled too. The problem was that she did not have enough shamelessness to make any other expression.
Jaegyeom also seemed to have given up pressing her.
“The car, where should I send it? I’ll try to fix it as quickly as possible.”
And so, unavoidably, Jisu’s contact information and address were completely disclosed to Yoon Jaegyeom.
While they went outside together and headed to Gyechon Station, the two maintained silence even in the car. Jaegyeom did not bring up things like, “From now on, don’t avoid my calls and answer them,” or, “What exactly are we starting today?”
Before Jisu got off, he left only a plain greeting suggesting they meet again soon.
On the train to Seoul, Jisu sent a message to Eunmi, her classmate and closest friend.
[Eunmi, are you busy? I have something I’m curious about. By any chance, do you know a classmate of ours named Yoon Jaegyeom?]
[Eunmi: One of our classmates? Gyechon? Yoon Jaegyeom? I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know.]
[You don’t know? He was extremely handsome.]
[Sorry for contacting you about something useless when you’re probably busy.]
Eunmi was a reporter for one of the three major national daily newspapers. She called, saying it was more comfortable to talk because she happened to have a bit of free time.
“It wasn’t something worth calling over.”
— I’m curious, though. You’ve never once asked about something like this, and now you’re asking about another guy. And if he’s handsome, even more so.
“But what…… you said you don’t know him either.”
— Ah! Now that I think about it, I do remember a guy who was really fucking handsome. Tall, with a face like a sculpture.
“Was there someone like that at our school?”
— Yeah, and coincidentally his name is similar too.
“What’s his name?”
The name of Gyechon High’s greatest beauty, as Eunmi said, was “Kim Jaegyeom.”
— Kim Jaegyeom was one year below us. And he didn’t live in Gyechon. He was originally from Seoul.
“You really know even the juniors. And how do you know he’s from Seoul? Anyway, he must be a different person. The one I’m talking about was the same age as me.”
— By the way, didn’t you say you were taking that shitty boyfriend to greet your mom? Did he look so shitty that your mother collapsed again? If I were your mom, I would have taken to my bed. No, wait, come to think of it, what the hell is this sudden talk about some strange man when you went to greet her with your boyfriend!
Jisu wondered where she should begin pointing things out.
Should she say that calling him a shitty boyfriend was too harsh, or should she tell her he was no longer her boyfriend. She had introduced to her mother a strange man she had believed without doubt was her classmate, and she had slept with that man? Which should she say first. After worrying for a moment, Jisu decided to start with the thing that was easiest to bring up on the train.
“Eunmi. I’m going to break up with him.”
— Uwaaaak!
It sounded like a scream, but Jisu knew. This was a cheer.
— Wow, fuck. I just gave a standing ovation.
“You’re at work. Watch your language a little.”
— Watch what language! What do I do. Our Jisu has finally come to her senses. The day has finally come.
“Come to my senses……”
— Hey. I was so happy I almost cursed. No, I already did. Yeah, friend. This time, let’s really break up properly. Okay? This is your unnie’s request.
“I will.”
Whenever Jisu declared a breakup, Yeongbaek’s mother worked hard to clean up after her son’s shortcomings. Under the pretext of providing for Jisu, who lived alone, she hauled over side dishes, supplements, and even skin lotion, coaxing her not to break up. The “six years of dating responsibility” logic permeating all of it was what Eunmi hated most.
— That ajumma is so annoying. Hey, honestly, what power does a relationship without even one time having sex have, that she keeps using those six years to tear you down? If those six years were truly beautiful, then her son should have waited for you devotedly. That bastard was drooling over every woman in a skirt around town and doing all kinds of filthy things!
“I’m sorry. Calm down a little.”
— Calm down what! Honestly, that Yeongbaek or Yeonggam or whatever crazy bastard keeps brandishing as a medal the fact that he didn’t sleep with another woman, but honestly, was it that he didn’t sleep with them? He couldn’t!
“……Eunmi. I get it, so at work, please,”
— Ahem. Right. I got too excited.
Saying she should go back into the office now, Eunmi once again warned Jisu. She absolutely must not reverse this decision.
Looking down at her phone, warmed hot as if representing Eunmi’s heart burning with anger on her behalf, Jisu also steeled her resolve.
The following Friday, Jisu’s car arrived.
She had been very worried that Jaegyeom might drive it over himself, but it was transported on a vehicle specialized for delivery, and the driver even carefully parked it in the piloti parking lot on the first floor of the studio apartment building where Jisu lived.
“Wow, it came back looking so pretty.”
This car, registered under Yeongbaek’s mother’s name, had already had quite a few minor scratches and rusty stains where the paint had peeled off on the lower parts of the doors from the time Jisu received it as a gift. But now all of these had been cleanly repaired.
Over the past week, Jaegyeom had sent Jisu only one-sided messages. Yet those messages were not particularly burdensome or objectionable. They were simply his short everyday life.
[Photo]
[Yoon Jaegyeom: I was running by the reservoir and it was pretty, so come see the sunrise]
[Photo]
[Yoon Jaegyeom: The mascot dog at Gyechon Mart. Looks a bit like your white dog at home. Kind of looks like Im Jisu too.]
[Photo]
[Yoon Jaegyeom: The resident registration card Im Jisu gave me and then abandoned]
[It’s weird to bring that back too. How much is the repair cost? Where should I send it? Can you give me your account number?]
When she asked about the repair cost, the replies stopped.
“This man, really.”
Now that she had even gotten the car back, she could not avoid giving him money.
Besides, considering the favors he had shown her, not paying would really make no sense.
After searching online for the used market price and repair costs for the same model, Jisu could not close her gaping mouth. If sold used, it was 1 million won, but the repair cost for major engine parts was 800,000 won. And considering he had even fixed all the external flaws……
“So that’s why he told me to throw it away.”
Jisu smiled bitterly. Yeongbaek’s mother, who had given her something like this as a gift while saying, “Still, we’re the only ones who think of you,” was now too much to bear.
She pressed and held Yoon Jaegyeom’s name in the messenger. Fortunately, the send money button became active. As she saw fit, she entered 1 million won, the used market price of that car, into the amount field.
“Thank you, Yoon Jaegyeom.”
As soon as she pressed the send button, she deleted his contact and also pressed block in the messenger.
The next day, Jisu contacted Kim Yeongbaek first and arranged to meet him.
At a large franchise cafe, she ordered one Americano and looked outside. Across the street, the convenience store was renovating its outdoor display stands and preparing Chuseok gift sets. Chuseok, she thought, autumn really has come right up close. It was then.
“Hey. My mom told you so many times that places like this are just expensive. Don’t you know there’s a cheap and good place just a little farther? An unmanned cafe where you don’t have to watch other people’s eyes.”
“……”
“And you know I like iced cafe mocha. Did you order it with whipped cream piled up like a mountain? They haven’t brought it out yet because you ordered it, right?”
As soon as Kim Yeongbaek arrived, he was spouting that. She had never once enjoyed hearing it, but she had thought of him as just frugal and a person with firm tastes. She had believed that because he was an only son raised indulgently by his parents, he might talk like that but was soft-hearted inside, but now Jisu no longer needed to put up with it.
What she placed before him instead of a drink was the car key.
