By Zephyria 
Seo Chi-young lowered his gaze and murmured as he read the short message on the screen: ‘Got some good liquor. Coming over tonight. —Kim Kyung-chul.’
Despite his exhausted body, the sudden visit from a friend brought a wave of welcome. They used to see each other often in the past, but after the wedding, though they kept in touch, meeting in person had become rare.
“But why so suddenly? You said you’d be busy with work again soon.”
“Yeah, that’s why.”
His friend spoke nonchalantly while unwrapping the paper covering the liquor bottle.
“Your birthday is coming up. I’m starting a new project next week, so I think I’ll be out of it for a few months. I have to celebrate early.”
“Huh…? Oh, ah, right. Already…”
Only after looking at the calendar on the wall did Seo Chi-young realize his birthday was approaching. These days, birthdays didn’t evoke much emotion, but it still warmed his heart to be remembered by someone else when he had forgotten it himself.
“Thanks,” Seo Chi-young said with a shy smile. His friend of over ten years hadn’t always been able to celebrate his birthday on the exact date and occasionally forgot, but he always made sure to congratulate him eventually. These were the kinds of people who provided a breathing hole in a life that sometimes felt suffocating.
“I’ll just use that as an excuse to enjoy a drink myself,” the friend said as he took out the bottle. Seo Chi-young smiled silently and set out the glasses. Watching his friend hum a tune with a joyful expression, opening the bottle without even needing snacks, Seo Chi-young’s mood improved as well.
“Let me tell you how good this liquor is. I happened to try it just once a few years ago by chance—” As the friend began bragging cheerfully about the alcohol, Seo Chi-young, who had been smiling, suddenly glanced at the clock in the corner of his vision. It was just about to strike midnight.
“But if you go back this late, won’t your sister-in-law say something?”
“Hey, calling my wife ‘sister-in-law’ you brat. My lady went to her parents’ house yesterday. She won’t be back until next week.”
“…….Have you been dumped already? I told you to drink in moderation.”
Speaking half in jest but half seriously, Seo Chi-young frowned. His friend was flawless in every other way, but since he loved alcohol so much, it was a common topic among their friends that if any problems ever arose in his domestic life, the cause would undoubtedly be drink.
However, the friend widened his eyes and shouted, “No!”
“My mother-in-law called, so she went to eat some nourishing food.”
“Why, is she not feeling well lately?”
“No, I’m going to be a father by the end of the year.”
Though he spoke with a deliberately blunt face, a smile crept up the corners of his mouth. Seo Chi-young stared at his friend with wide eyes before laughing, “Really? Hey, congratulations!” Seeing his friend respond with “Yeah, thanks,” his face full of joy despite a hint of shyness, Seo Chi-young felt even happier. That was why he was so glad whenever such welcome news arrived.
“You actually came here to brag, didn’t you? Just let me brag a bit. The baby has to take after the mother…” Sharing such stories, Seo Chi-young drank with his friend.
Seo Chi-young always shared in the joy of his few friends’ happy events as if they were his own, but news of a growing family—whether a marriage or a child—was the most welcome of all.
Perhaps it was because such things might never be related to him for the rest of his life. Along with a touch of envy, he felt that it would be enough if his precious people were happy on his behalf.
For a moment, a sudden chill brushed through his heart. It was a feeling he had been experiencing sporadically lately. A sensation akin to loneliness or desolation, a feeling of being somehow cold. However, Seo Chi-young quickly brushed the feeling aside and sincerely blessed his precious friend’s happy occasion.
May you be happy forever—you, your wife, and your child.
It was just as Seo Chi-young was lightly clinking glasses with his friend while thinking those thoughts.
Jang Ui-geon stepped out of the shop. Jang Ui-geon, who had picked up the keys hanging by the door as if to go to the restroom, paused in his tracks when he locked eyes with Seo Chi-young, who was turning his head while still wearing a full smile for his friend.
Whether it was because the sight of Seo Chi-young drinking side-by-side with someone was strange, or because the expression of his face, brimming with emotion, looked amusing, he stared intently at Seo Chi-young for a moment before shifting his gaze to the friend. Jang Ui-geon looked at the friend, who had stopped bringing the glass to his lips to follow Seo Chi-young’s gaze, and a smile suddenly flickered in his eyes.
“Are you the CEO’s friend?”
“Eh? Ah, uh, high school…”
Thinking it was unexpected that Jang Ui-geon would stop and speak instead of just nodding and passing by, Seo Chi-young answered instinctively, but trailed off mid-sentence. A sudden sense of realization hit him. Come to think of it, they had attended the same high school. Since the friend, like Seo Chi-young, had been the type to barely be noticed, he didn’t think Jang Ui-geon would specifically remember him, but—.
“Uh.., Jang..?!”
However, Jang Ui-geon wasn’t the only one who didn’t remember.
The friend, who had been staring intently and blinking from the moment Jang Ui-geon stepped out of the shop, muttered a single syllable, as if he couldn’t recall the full name. While Jang Ui-geon seemed to have no idea who the friend was, he noticed that the friend knew him and looked down at him with a curious expression.
“….Have we met somewhere?”
Faced with the awkwardness of the other person knowing him while he couldn’t remember them, Jang Ui-geon gave a troubled smile. Before him, the friend looked back at Seo Chi-young, whose expression had subtly stiffened.
“Uh, I think that’s right….Chi-young, don’t you remember? That guy who was in our class in high school, Jang, Jang… what was it…”
Looking down at the friend who was frowning deeply and tapping his temple, Jang Ui-geon wore a strange expression. Then, shifting his gaze to Seo Chi-young, he asked suspiciously.
“Did you graduate from Gyeonghwa High School?”
“…Uh.., yes..”
Seo Chi-young lowered his gaze, his lips merely twitching. The gaze staring down at him felt stinging against his cheeks.
He could feel his own expression stiffening. However, since there was no way to hide the emotions laid bare on his face, he lowered his head in dismay.
He felt it was a predicament. It would have been better if he had just glossed over it; as it stood, it was only natural for Jang Ui-geon to find Seo Chi-young’s attitude strange.
“……Were you in the same class as me?”
At Jang Ui-geon’s question, Seo Chi-young answered only with his lips. Since his head was lowered, the movement of his lips likely wasn’t visible, but Seo Chi-young’s demeanor served as the answer.
Seo Chi-young knew who Jang Ui-geon was, but he had been pretending not to. The friend glanced back and forth between Jang Ui-geon and Seo Chi-young with a puzzled look, asking, “What, how did you meet again? You two didn’t know?” but Seo Chi-young remained silent. And Jang Ui-geon looked down at Seo Chi-young in silence.
“……, But back then, I never even spoke with you and we weren’t close, so I thought there was no need to act like I knew you…”
Only after a long while did Seo Chi-young mutter these words like an excuse, and Jang Ui-geon listened silently. The voice that replied “I see” sounded as if Seo Chi-young had been understood. However, since that voice also sounded slightly bewildered, Seo Chi-young slowly raised his head.
Jang Ui-geon was stroking his chin, looking down at Seo Chi-young intently. As if trying to recall a memory sleeping deep within his mind.
Their eyes met, and a hint of apology flickered in Jang Ui-geon’s gaze. Those eyes scanned every corner of Seo Chi-young, as if trying to catch even the smallest clue of a memory. Seo Chi-young shrugged his shoulders at the gaze that seemed to pierce through to his very thoughts, but he couldn’t avoid the look.
Then.
Jang Ui-geon’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Looking at Seo Chi-young with a somewhat ambiguous expression and a crease between his brows, he slowly tilted his head.
“By any chance, have we talked before? I mean…, was it in the classroom…”
The moment he heard the question asked in a slightly uncertain tone, Seo Chi-young felt a pang in his heart. And simultaneously, relying on a small clue caught in a vague and uncertain memory, Jang Ui-geon, who had been lost in thought murmuring, “I don’t think anyone else was there, at that time…….” suddenly stopped talking. Seo Chi-young could tell that a short and clear realization had flashed across his face.
Beep beep. A short mechanical sound was heard. Seo Chi-young snapped his eyes open. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he had heard the sound in a dream or in reality, so he blinked his heavy eyelids a couple of times and fumbled for his phone by the bedside. A new message had arrived.
‘Young-ah, happy birthday. Even if you’re busy, make sure to eat well and take care of your health. I miss y—’
He knew who had sent the message with the cut-off ending even before checking the sender. His mother used to call him by the last syllable of his name; as a child, he hated it, saying it sounded like a girl’s name, but as he grew, he came to like the soft resonance of her calling him. But now, he no longer heard that name. Except for the once or twice a year he managed to see her.
Ah, birthday. Come to think of it, my birthday was around now, he thought vaguely while staring blankly at the calendar on the phone screen, only to realize: his birthday was yesterday.
He had no complaints that his mother congratulated him a day late. Seo Chi-young himself had completely forgotten. If not for this message, he might have only remembered it months later.
Yesterday, Saturday, he had no leisure for other thoughts. Usually, when he returned home at night after finishing his daily routine, various thoughts would surface, but yesterday was different.
Only around two in the morning did he close the shop, after which he went straight to the rice cake factory to help unload ingredients. He spent the night frantically carrying boxes that felt like they weighed dozens of kilograms in the factory that ran all night, and by the time he regained his senses, the sun was already rising.
Returning home this morning, dragging legs that felt as if they would collapse on the street, and falling into a dead sleep—that was Seo Chi-young’s last memory.
It seemed he would be going out every weekend for a while. He had tried hard to save money in preparation for moving the shop in a few months, but for now, he was barely scraping by just to maintain his current life.
He had no choice during the weekdays since he had to run the shop, so he had to increase his work around Sunday, the day the shop closed. Thus, by asking around, he found a job with a time slot that fit his situation and a relatively decent hourly wage: the loading and unloading work at the factory he first went to yesterday.
And today—although this was just a temporary one-day job—he decided to go help a Seonbae who was opening a pub.
Wait, I’m supposed to be there by 5 PM…
Still shaking his heavy head slowly, Seo Chi-young looked at the time reflected on the phone screen. It was past 4 PM. He suddenly snapped awake.
Hurriedly getting up, he rushed to the bathroom, roughly washed his face, and changed his clothes, clicking his tongue. With every step, he repeatedly checked the desk clock.
He had fallen asleep shortly after 9 AM. No matter how exhausted he was, he didn’t expect to sleep this long. He had intended to wake up early in the afternoon, tidy up the house, and then head out.
As soon as he threw on some clothes, Seo Chi-young ran out of the house, calculating the time in his head. Fortunately, it seemed he would arrive just in time, barely.
Barely boarding a bus that was just about to leave the stop, Seo Chi-young finally caught his breath, which had been rising to his throat from running since leaving the house, and sat in an empty seat at the very back.
Once he caught his breath, he felt that his physical strength had dropped significantly. Of course, he couldn’t compare it to ten years ago, but back then, working to this extent was nothing. He had lived a life where he left the house before 4 AM, worked all day without almost ever sitting down, returned home after midnight, slept for a brief moment, and then left again. After living like that for several years, the strain that had accumulated unnoticed in his body burst all at once, and after suffering greatly for a while, he had gradually reduced his work to reach his current state.
Still, compared to then, he was living quite comfortably, so he thought adding one overnight shift on the weekend wouldn’t be a problem.
Seo Chi-young sighed. Looking at the road, which was slightly congested but flowing reasonably well, he looked down at his phone, which served as his clock. As long as there’s no traffic, I’ll make it on time… he looked outside with a hint of worry.
Then, his finger habitually pressed a button while fiddling with the phone. He went to the message inbox and reread the message from his mother—the one that had arrived before he left the house and woken him up.
“……..”
He tried to recall when he had last seen his mother, but it didn’t come to him immediately. After thinking carefully for a few seconds, he remembered it was the winter of the year before last. His mother, who worked at a fairly famous restaurant in the countryside due to her excellent cooking skills, looked reasonably better than when he had seen her a few years prior. He had contacted her by phone a few times since then, and he felt relieved that she seemed to be improving little by little.
Come to think of it, his mother would be turning sixty in a few months. He always contacted her on her birthday, but because his circumstances were tight, it was difficult to visit her in person.
Still, I should find a way to visit her, even if only for a short while, this year, he thought as he sent a reply to his mother thanking her. Then, after hesitating for a moment, he also sent a message to his father. Since his father had likely completely forgotten about Seo Chi-young’s birthday, he didn’t mention it and simply wrote a brief message telling him to stay healthy.
While he didn’t contact his mother very often, it was even rarer with his father. After the business went bankrupt and the family scattered, his father must have been overwhelmed while being chased by creditors, but more than that, as if he felt ashamed before his family, he almost never initiated contact. Seo Chi-young was always the one to contact him first, and then his father would only give a blunt, short response.
Over a decade.
His mother, who would soon be sixty, and his father, who would be seventy in a few years, were at an age where they should have been spending a peaceful retirement. But thinking of them, whose ties to a happy home had vanished, Seo Chi-young’s chest felt tight.
He felt a lingering pity for them, living solitary, lonely lives even as their hair turned white and their bodies grew frail, and he felt pity for himself, not being capable enough to support them comfortably.
“…….”
Seo Chi-young sighed and closed his phone. He tried to divert his thoughts and looked outside.
The bus was about to cross the Han River. Perhaps because it was the evening of a holiday, the road had been gradually clogging up just before crossing the bridge, but this much was still okay. Seo Chi-young checked the time and looked out the window again.
In the distance, before the bus stopped at the traffic light just before crossing the bridge, a newly built shopping mall caught his eye. Seo Chi-young gazed at it blankly. To be precise, he was looking at the park—invisible from here—located on the sloping hill behind the shopping mall.
It was a place he had visited a couple of times long ago.
He hadn’t gone there for fun. At that time, he wasn’t living a life with enough mental leeway to visit a park for no particular reason.
That place was ‘the gathering spot.’ A place where people with the same inclinations as Seo Chi-young gathered to find someone to spend a brief moment with, without desiring a specific partner.
He didn’t know how it was now. That was one of the few known spots, and Seo Chi-young had only been there once or twice.
Would they still be lingering there? The marginalized people trying to soothe the loneliness of a day.
“………”
Suddenly, his heart stirred with a cold sensation.
A feeling akin to that desolate loneliness—a sensation he had forgotten for a while but which had been popping up sporadically lately to strike his chest—washed over his heart with a tingling ache.