#85

I walked towards the truck. The driver’s seat and window of the now heated truck were left open, and I stuffed my ID into my pants pocket. After starting the engine and turning on the air conditioning, I cooled down the heat inside the car. As I was about to leave, I pulled up the handbrake, but Detective Park’s car was still right there.

There was still plenty of time to leave. But the sound of the engine starting was still loud. I could hear him grumbling, ‘He’s doing it again,’ as he left the window open. I thought it was nothing serious, just like the truck, but it wasn’t. It had spread quite a bit.

Since there was no cell phone signal, I had to use a landline. There was a man’s house right in front of me, but I had no desire to let Detective Park inside. Tae-heun went back up the alley with Detective Park towards the blue-roofed house. Detective Park called the insurance company. He said it would take two and a half hours for them to arrive. With no other choice, I called 114 to ask for a towing service in town. They said repairs could be done immediately, but there was no tow truck available to send to Dongjam-ri right away. There was no answer except from the insurance company. But rather than waiting together for two and a half hours, it was faster for Tae-heun to move. After all, the car would be towed anyway, and Detective Park could just return to Seoul first with that bag.

“Get in. I’ll take you to town.”

“I’m sorry, Manager. Why does it have to break down at a time like this?”

Detective Park kicked the private car in frustration. The silver Pride sedan shook violently.

Since I was already going to town, I thought I might as well buy some alcohol for the drunkard old man for tomorrow. I also bought beer and snacks to drink with the man. Thinking of him made me feel good quickly.

So, I took Detective Park to town. After dropping him and the bag off in front of the taxi company, I headed straight to the mart. I bought a box each of soju and beer and added three bottles of whiskey. I also packed separate drinks and snacks for the man. I didn’t forget to grab Pocari Sweat for the man, who must have been dehydrated by now. By the time I picked out snacks for the kid, I had quite a load. I first placed the box of alcohol in the truck’s cargo area and packed the rest in a box of ramen to keep in the car. Just as I was about to leave, I noticed a record store.

“There it is.”

I had passed this road often, but it was the first time I had seen the record store sign.

All the tapes in the truck were children’s songs. They were all very childish, suitable for toddlers aged three or four. I felt drawn to the record store and walked in. The hot breeze from the fan and the loud latest pop songs greeted me.

“Welcome.”

A young man, who seemed to be the clerk, greeted me with his nose buried in the monitor, only speaking with his mouth.

After scanning the store, I walked towards the shelf with pop songs and foreign albums. The LPs and CDs caught my eye first. Since there was nothing like that at the man’s house, I passed on them. Fortunately, there were overwhelmingly many foreign albums in tape format. Some had faded from being displayed for so long, but the selection was still quite good.

Among them, I found a tape of Chet Baker. There were trumpet performances that I loved, and several hit song compilations. I bought both for now. Then I thought the man might also like the latest trendy songs. The trendy song tape that was in the old cassette radio borrowed from the kid might have been bought by the man.

I picked up the latest pop song tape for the first time with my own hands. It contained a total of 24 songs, but somehow the title was ‘Top 10 Popular Songs,’ and the number 2000 was written without fail. After paying for the three tapes, I left the record store. It wasn’t a gift, but I felt a little flutter of excitement.

As soon as I got into the truck, I took out the children’s song tape and put in the Chet Baker hit song compilation. I thought I would listen to it on the way home with the man and turned on the radio.

Just then, the news came on. The announcer opened the news with a comment about the first day of July.

Has it really already become that date?

As I followed the man around in a daze, the month had changed before I knew it.

The first day of July.

So, today is the first day of the month for us.

July 1st.

No matter how busy the man was, it was a date easy to remember.

A silly smile escaped me.

Before I knew it, I had completely forgotten about Detective Park, the immigration bag, and the car he left in front of the house.

* * *

The child was all excited. No matter how much I asked what was going on, he just smiled and said nothing. He kept it up all evening, and unable to hold it in any longer, he spilled it out next to the man who was sewing.

“Father, Uncle! Su-ho is being really nice to me!”

“Why is that brat?”

I asked in a tone of disdain.

“There’s a reason for everything.”

He said something I couldn’t understand.

“Su-ho gave me this as a reconciliation gift. Isn’t it pretty?”

In the child’s hand was a glass ornament in the shape of a half-circle. It was a snow globe.

Not only the child but even the child’s father, the man, had been insulted by Su-ho, who now apologized for his past mistakes and gave a gift. I said it wasn’t a big deal, but it certainly didn’t look cheap. Inside the glass was a ballerina. Every time it was shaken, snowflakes and sparkles fell, creating a beautiful scene. The child shook the object several times and gazed at the slowly falling sparkles with a mesmerized look.

The man, who knew nothing, simply said, “That Su-ho has grown up.” But Tae-heun was displeased. There was no way that clever boy would have given such a gift to the child without expecting something in return. I wondered if I was being too materialistic for thinking that, but Tae-heun’s world had always been like that. Ever since the time of Kim Ji-yoon.

But thoughts of the child and Su-ho didn’t last long. If anyone was excited, it was Tae-heun who was more so.

From today, the first day.

Once I became aware of it, that thought consumed me.

From today, the man and Tae-heun began their romance. Of course, it wasn’t said outright, but since the man didn’t reject me when I hugged him, it was indeed the first day. The hundred days would be coming up on October 8th. In the season of ‘Cheonggoma-bi,’ when all kinds of grains ripen, Tae-heun and the man’s love would also mature.

Ah, how wonderful!

“Uncle, you’re drooling!”

The child’s shout snapped Tae-heun back to reality.

I must have been so excited that I was even drooling. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and winked at the child. The child frowned and silently grumbled, ‘What’s wrong with him?’

Just because I succeeded in hugging the man didn’t mean I had thrown off all my prejudices. After the hug, it was so awkward that both the man and I knew it. We pretended as if nothing had happened, acting oblivious throughout the work and even on the way back in the truck, and when we got home, we continued to behave that way.

Regardless, it was the first day.

“Father, is it hot?”

The child asked, peeking at the man.

“Your face is bright red. Should I bring you some ice water?”

The man turned even redder at the child’s words. Tae-heun, who had been quiet, also felt the heat rising.

“Uncle, you’re red too. But I think it’s because you got sunburned, and Father….”

Just then, the child’s eyes widened. With hands as dark as the man’s, the child touched the man’s forehead.

“Father!”

“I’m not hurt. I just worked all day in the blazing sun.”

The man cut off the child’s words.

“It’s too hot, though?”

“Well, I was working in the field without a hat….”

“Right. Both Uncle and Father worked without hats in the midday sun. Normally, you should rest during the day to avoid heatstroke, but there was just so much to do. So, Uncle and Father were together.”

Tae-heun spoke rapidly, helping the man. I should have just acted normally, but my voice even got louder. The child frowned and covered his ears. The man shook his head as if to say that was enough.

What am I doing this for?

I felt a little disappointed but then broke into a big smile. Hehe, I couldn’t believe the silly laugh that escaped my own mouth.

“Uncle had something good happen. That’s why.”

The child asked in a disinterested tone, “What good thing happened?” The man exaggeratedly shook the child’s pants, which he was sewing.

“What was it, Uncle?”

At the repeated question, Tae-heun was about to answer when the man interrupted.

“Did you finish your homework?”

The child made an ‘oops’ face and quietly got up from his seat. At this time, the child usually finished his homework, but it seemed he had forgotten because he was so captivated by the gift from Su-ho. The child, who was about to go into the room, turned back, grabbed the snow globe on the floor, and quickly disappeared.

With just the two of us left, it felt awkward. The man was naturally a quiet person, but for some reason, Tae-heun, who usually chatted away, also fell silent. It wasn’t intentional; I genuinely couldn’t think of anything to say. My usually light tongue felt as heavy as a ton this time.

It would have been fine to talk about the weather, mention that today’s farm work was quite hard, or even bring up how rural life was noisier than I expected. I couldn’t go into detail about what happened with Detective Park, so I could have just said that I bought a gift to take to Namchon-ri while I was in town earlier. My mind was overflowing with things I could say, but none of them felt important. I thought it would be better to keep the precious time between the two of us rather than fill it with trivial chatter.

They say lovers start to resemble each other; maybe I had started to resemble the man. Hmmm, hmmm, phew. The only thing I could come up with after all that was, “You did a great job sewing.”

“The torn hem is properly attached.”

I said something obvious.

“…Yes. It is.”

The man responded, albeit reluctantly.

Silence fell again. It would have been nice if it rained, but there was no rain, nor was there any wind. The only sounds echoing in the eerily quiet living room were the sounds of us swallowing and breathing.