By Zephyria “But, is there a problem?”
“It’s not that.”
Hmm. Ryu Jeong lightly bit his lower lip.
As Ryu Jeong said, Wolhyeon-dong was one of the larger Moon Villages. An entire low mountain that was perfectly fine had been turned into a neighborhood, so its size was bound to be considerable. He wondered why he had to come and see this kind of neighborhood so late at night. Even though Do Hwon wasn’t the first person to visit the neighborhood to sightsee.
He didn’t know how the rumors started, but foreign tourists with large cameras had flocked to the area, and there were people who held up their phones as if taking pictures and muttered to themselves. Once, a car with a broadcasting station logo blocked the entrance to the alley, claiming to be from a broadcasting station. Some of them even wandered around Ryu Jeong’s yard, thinking no one lived there, causing a commotion. This was why he had a lock on the gate as well as the door.
“Why are you looking around our neighborhood? Perhaps…”
“Perhaps?”
Then, what business did the President have in this neighborhood? Ryu Jeong watched Do Hwon’s expression before saying what he was thinking. Even though Ryu Jeong seemed unwilling to speak, only trailing off at the end, Lee Do-hyeon didn’t seem frustrated at all, and just quietly met his gaze.
Ryu Jeong carefully clasped his hands together. His intertwined fingers fidgeted restlessly. To be honest, he had a rough idea of why he was here, but he was afraid to ask directly. So, he brought up something else.
“Are you perhaps moving here…”
He said this even though he knew it didn’t make sense. He was dumbfounded even as he said it, so how absurd must it sound to the listener? Thinking that he couldn’t help it if he was ridiculed, he glanced at Do Hwon.
“Are you really asking because you think that?”
Lee Do-hyeon tilted his head at the word ‘moving’. His tone, as he asked Ryu Jeong for his opinion, didn’t contain any ridicule or absurdity. Ryu Jeong quickly denied it, at the question that seemed to wonder how he came to think that way.
“No. I didn’t think that was it either.”
“Then what do you think it is?”
“Uh…”
Right. It could only be that. After hesitating for a while, Ryu Jeong carefully opened his mouth.
“Is this area perhaps being redeveloped?”
It wasn’t as if there had been no attempts at redevelopment. As Ryu Jeong remembered, there had been several attempts to redevelop Wolhyeon-dong. A banner welcoming the redevelopment news was hung at the entrance of the neighborhood, and conversely, those who were reluctant to redevelop had sprayed it with bright red paint. He was young and didn’t know much about the world, so he couldn’t fully understand the sharp conflict between the two sides.
If he had to choose one side, Ryu Jeong was against redevelopment. So, the voice asking out of hope was filled with the wish that it wasn’t true.
“Why? Would you like it if it was redeveloped?”
Lee Do-hyeon, who had read the subtle nuance, probed him.
“No…”
The steps that had been energetic when leaving the gate gradually slowed down, and then stopped altogether. Lee Do-hyeon, who had stopped walking along with him, looked at his drooping shoulders and then stared at his gloomy face.
“Why?”
“…Because I have nowhere to go.”
That answer gave Lee Do-hyeon quite a shock. Nowhere to go? Did he not know that compensation would be given if redevelopment was confirmed? It wouldn’t be a lot of money, but it would be enough to move to a place that was much better than this, at least.
“Still… it has to be done, right? Redevelopment.”
Ryu Jeong’s expression was mixed with various emotions such as regret, sadness, and helplessness, so much so that he couldn’t readily give an affirmative answer. Even though he was speechless and didn’t say anything, Ryu Jeong nodded with a sad smile as if he knew everything.
He wanted to ask if there were any special circumstances, but he stopped. They weren’t close enough to readily ask about personal matters. More than anything else, this depressed atmosphere was the problem. Ryu Jeong, who had lost his energy to the point where it seemed like he had drooping ears and a tail, was so exhausted that he looked like he would collapse at any moment. He wasn’t shedding tears, but in a situation that was the same as comforting a crying child, Lee Do-hyeon swallowed a sigh. Something caught his eye.
It was a briquette. It wasn’t the black color that he generally knew, but a slightly orange color, so at first he wondered what it was. Seeing the holes in the top, he finally realized it was a used briquette. He had seen it with his own eyes and used it himself, so it wasn’t an unfamiliar object.
“…How do you heat your house?”
Lee Do-hyeon asked, still looking at the briquette. He had used briquettes about 10 years ago, when he was a college student. After completing his bachelor’s degree at a domestic university, Do Hwon, as Chairman Lee wished, wanted to go to graduate school overseas, so he entered a certain university in Korea and experienced everything that ordinary college students did for fun. To borrow Chief Yoon’s words, it was a ‘second-generation chaebol’s experience of the common people’, but it was an expression that didn’t particularly impress him because he didn’t have any particular feelings about it.
Anyway, the only place Do Hwon knew that used briquettes was barbecue restaurants. He knew that it was originally a fuel for getting through the winter, but he didn’t know that it was still being used for that purpose. No, it would be more accurate to say that he couldn’t even imagine it.
“Are you talking about the boiler?”
Ryu Jeong was a little embarrassed by the sudden question. He didn’t know where the question came from, but thinking that this was also part of the neighborhood tour, he corrected his attitude and answered diligently.
“We don’t have a separate boiler at our house. Oh, there were some houses that changed to boilers, but they said it was a really big project… so we’re using briquettes.”
“Briquettes?”
“Yes. I don’t know if you saw it, but there’s a small tent-like thing on the left side of the yard. Before winter comes, we buy briquettes and store them there. If we buy them in advance before it gets dry, they might get wet…”
“I see. Isn’t it inconvenient?”
“It’s not inconvenient, except that it gets a little annoying when the fire goes out. Oh, but that was a little inconvenient. Once when I was young, I almost died in the winter while sleeping. It was some kind of… poisoning, I think. My dad came home early that day, so I lived. I don’t remember it well now. I just remember my dad telling me to wake up, and I woke up lying in the yard, and my head hurt a lot…”
Carbon monoxide poisoning. It didn’t feel good to hear him talk about a story where he could have died so casually. Not knowing his feelings, Ryu Jeong frowned when he saw the briquette ash that Lee Do-hyeon had been looking at a little while ago. He said that if they left it out like that, no one would take it, and even if he told this house’s Grandfather every day, he would forget, and he smiled embarrassedly.
A dilapidated house, shabby clothes. He had even slept while inhaling briquette gas without even a common boiler, and Ryu Jeong, who casually showed and told about circumstances that sounded very unhappy to others, seemed very strange. He didn’t know what kind of life he had lived and was living. And the unpleasant feeling of pity that suddenly rose up made him feel uncomfortable.
Lee Do-hyeon, who had been following him while looking at his dry back, suddenly stopped walking. Ryu Jeong turned around at the sound of footsteps that he couldn’t hear at some point. He didn’t ask out loud, but at the eyes that seemed to be asking if something was wrong, Lee Do-hyeon forced the corners of his lips up.
“I think it would be good to stop here.”
“Ah…”
It was obvious that Ryu Jeong was disappointed. In fact, if you were to be picky, it hadn’t even been an hour since they had been walking around sightseeing, so it was understandable.
“You said the neighborhood is big, Ryu Jeong. I don’t think I can look around thoroughly in one day.”
But that didn’t mean he was going to end it completely today. He decided that if he walked around any more, he would only spoil his mood even more.
“Are you coming again next time?”
“Do you not want me to? No, I should ask if you’re busy first.”
Ryu Jeong quickly waved his hand with a face that was quickly brightening up.
“I’m not busy. It’s okay.”
“Is Saturday okay too?”
Ryu Jeong paused at the question that came out as if he had been waiting for it. The daily wage he received from working at the logistics center, even for just one day, was quite large, so he hesitated a little. If it were someone else, no, if it were any other time, he would have said that it didn’t seem possible, but Ryu Jeong nodded without thinking any more.
“Yes…”
Then, at the thought that suddenly came to mind, he hurriedly added, afraid that Do Hwon would leave in the meantime.
“But, next time… you don’t have to come all the way up to our house.”
“Why? Was it perhaps uncomfortable?”
“It’s not that… it must be hard for you.”
“Me?”
Lee Do-hyeon widened his eyes as if he was hearing something absurd.
“Isn’t it necessary to go up there to look around anyway?”
“That’s… true, but still, I thought it would be hard for you…”
“It’s not hard at all.”
There were many steep slopes that were rare in the building forest, so he was a little embarrassed, and it was difficult to find Ryu Jeong’s house because the road was like a maze, but that didn’t mean it was hard. Do Hwon chuckled, saying that he was worrying about unnecessary things.
“Do you think I’d have a hard time with just this?”
Still not feeling at ease, Ryu Jeong couldn’t readily answer that he understood, and hesitated. Lee Do-hyeon, who had been quietly watching Ryu Jeong, looked around.
“Is this about halfway?”
At first, he had an expression that didn’t understand what he meant, but soon, as if he knew what he meant, Ryu Jeong opened his mouth wide. It was a word that referred to the middle of the entrance of the Moon Village and Ryu Jeong’s house, but the distance he had walked down to get to the middle was too short. He had come down together, so it wasn’t as if he didn’t know, but Lee Do-hyeon was brazen to the end.
“Then how about we meet here?”
“Here…?”
“Since it’s the middle, it’ll only be half as hard. Ryu Jeong doesn’t have to come all the way down either.”
“No, that…”
Do Hwon made him close the lips that were about to refute.
“Ryu Jeong can come out to meet me.”
Lee Do-hyeon smiled sweetly as he spoke softly. As he intended, Ryu Jeong’s mouth quickly closed. The two cheeks that quickly turned peach-colored replaced the answer to Lee Do-hyeon’s suggestion. The answer was positive.