SMW 38

“I pressed it. Start.”

“Okay.”

I stepped firmly with my boot on both sides of the chestnut burr, which had been held in place with tongs, and the half-open shell peeled away completely. The moment two small chestnuts revealed themselves, an exclamation escaped my lips.

“Wow, look at this. The chestnuts are only as big as a thumbnail. So cu— ah, I was filming.”

I hopped around holding the chestnuts, then suddenly remembered the camera and awkwardly looked away. A low chuckle followed.

“Why? Keep going.”

“Stop filming. Just showing that we’re picking them is enough.”

“That’s a shame.”

Muttering something incomprehensible, Choi Seol obediently pressed the stop button on the camera and approached me.

“So, what kind of contract did you sign?”

“Huh?”

I thought he wanted to look at the chestnuts, so I tilted my head at the sudden question, then recalled the conversation that had just been cut off.

“Ah, that… But isn’t this fascinating to you?”

“What is?”

“The chestnuts. Usually, city kids’ eyes sparkle and they go ‘wow’ when they see things like this.”

“…And who exactly are ‘those’ people?”

“Eh?”

“I’m asking who the city kids are that sparkle their eyes while looking at the chestnuts in your hand.”

Why does he keep getting fixated on such useless things? Sometimes it felt like conversations with Choi Seol always flowed in an unexpected direction.

I just wanted to brag about my memories of these cute little chestnuts, and I didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling of constantly being dragged elsewhere. Should I just ignore this too? But if I did, Choi Seol’s gaze was so persistent that I felt it would only make things bigger.

“Do you remember Gyeong-ho? We were in the same class in the first year of high school.”

“Gyeong-ho?”

Choi Seol narrowed his brows, wondering who that was. Honestly, I was a bit surprised.

“You don’t remember? I think you talked to him a few times too.”

“There are more than just one or two people who strike up conversations with me.”

Well, that’s true. In my memory, Choi Seol was always surrounded by kids from other classes whose names I didn’t even know. And yet, [stolen content]the fact that he managed to remember me among them—was visit our siteit because he liked me? I pressed my hand against my chest where Choi Seol couldn’t see. I almost wished this was just my own overactive imagination.

“Baek Gyeong-ho. He’s my friend.”

The first thought I had when I first heard he liked me was, Why me? Because I believed I was just one of those one or two people who spoke to him. Though, in terms of who initiated the conversations first, Choi Seol had actually done it more.

“He’s the one who was always with me. He’s quite big and good at sports, so we played soccer together.”

“Ah, you mean the guy who was always stuck to you?”

The words he spat out, as if he finally remembered, were strangely cold.

“Is he still following you around?”

“I am?”

“No, that Gyeong-ho guy.”

“If you’re asking if we still meet, then yes, because we’re friends.”

“You were friends?”

I looked at him to see if he was joking, but Choi Seol looked genuinely surprised, as if he were hearing it for the first time. Because of that, I became even more genuinely baffled.

“Then, what on earth did you think the relationship between Gyeong-ho and me was?”

“Didn’t I say it? The noisy guy stuck to you.”

Did Gyeong-ho do something wrong to Choi Seol?

“He was noisy, but it’s true we hung out, and it’s true we’re friends. Gyeong-ho and I have known each other since elementary school. So our bond is quite tenacious.”

“…If it’s been since elementary school, you must be quite close.”

“Hey, if you live in the same neighborhood for a long time, you naturally become close. I had plenty of other friends besides him. It just so happened we were in the same class often, and I ended up hanging out with him specifically.”

“Then have all those many friends come here at least once?”

“No, only Gyeong-ho.”

It couldn’t have been an illusion that Choi Seol’s gaze turned icy for a moment. I wondered why I was walking on eggshells over a single look. I felt like a lover who had been caught cheating and couldn’t utter a word.

Nah, no way. He can’t be under the delusion that I’ve accepted his confession…

“I suppose if he’s a friend, it’s only natural he’d come to see you. Sorry, I misunderstood for a moment.”

I guess not. I felt strangely embarrassed as Choi Seol accepted my words coolly, unlike before. After all, would a guy with intuition sharp enough to make people uncomfortable really have such a ridiculous misunderstanding?

Wait, misunderstanding?

“Misunderstanding? What do you mean by that?”

When I clung to the word I had almost overlooked, Choi Seol looked troubled.

“It’s nothing, just…”

“Just what?”

“Just, I wondered if he liked you.”

What did I just hear? First, I decided to stay calm.

“Gyeong-ho isn’t gay.”

At that, Choi Seol frowned.

“How do you know that?”

“Of course I know, I’m ga—”

“Ga?”

“Ga… he, I know him very well. Very well indeed. Hahaha.”

Phew. I almost confessed that I’m gay. I think I was too calm.

“He and I, we share a friendship as friends, a relationship where we treat each other with pure, clean, white hearts. So absolutely, abso-lutely not that kind of thing.”

“Not what kind of thing?”

“Huh? Uh… I mean, like you said, that word ‘like’ isn’t something stained or pitch-black.”

“I never said it that way. I just meant it seemed like that guy had a considerable amount of affection for you.”

Isn’t that the same thing? As I tilted my head, unable to understand his phrasing, Choi Seol let out a sigh.

“Fine. Let’s just say it’s a pure, clean, white heart.”

“I’m not saying ‘let’s say,’ I’m saying it actually is.”

Actually, I didn’t even want to attribute such a pure heart to that bastard Gyeong-ho. Just [unauthorized copy]because visit our sitesomeone is gay doesn’t mean they like all men; I have my own tastes. The problem was that my tastes were so high-end that I risked living as a bachelor for the rest of my life, but regardless, Gyeong-ho was absolutely not it.

Furthermore, they say gays have an intuition for spotting other gays, and that guy Gyeong-ho was one hundred percent heterosexual. Crucially, the very idea of being linked to a guy like that made me feel unpleasant. Even more so to be misunderstood like that by my first love.

Thinking about it, it’s really unfair. Just as I was about to say something to set the record straight—

“Sorry.”

As if he had read my inner thoughts, Choi Seol apologized first. And with a remarkably sorrowful face at that.

“I think I got jealous because you said you brought someone else here.”

Why is he being so honest, proactive, and just… everything?

Setting aside the fact that he likes me, I couldn’t fathom how he could reveal his feelings so confidently when he hadn’t even received a proper answer from me yet.

If he was going to be like this, he should have waited for my answer immediately after his confession. Of course, at the time, I was so blank that I was grateful Choi Seol just let it slide, but standing on this ambiguous boundary and testing each other’s feelings wasn’t desirable.

If Choi Seol didn’t work out, I could just draw a [visit our site]clear line myself. [visit our site][visit our site]That’s how it should be.

“But Gyeong-ho has never done this either.”

Despite that, my heart wavered, and I ended up handing the chestnut I had been rolling in my hand to Choi Seol.

“These are native chestnuts, so they’re sweet and delicious even if they’re small. Let’s roast them in a cauldron when we get home later.”

It wasn’t that I had suddenly regained passion for my first love from ten years ago or that I had completely fallen for him. I had simply grown soft-hearted. I didn’t want to hurt Choi Seol, who had climbed the mountain on such a beautiful day just to help me. That was the only reason I was soothing him.

“Aren’t these for the ancestral rite table?”

I replied lightly to Choi Seol, who knew the purpose of our visit here better than I did, even in this situation.

“We can just pick a lot. And I think I’ll have to look for slightly larger ones for the rite. You never know. My uncle might cut the payment if the chestnuts are too small.”

I said it half-joking to be funny, but he took it seriously.

“Would he really cut the payment again from a mere three hundred thousand won?”

“Right, a mere three hun… What did you just say?”

In that instant, the warmth that had been tickling my insides vanished.

“Mere? Me-re?”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Hey. Three hundred thousand won is my—no, our side-dish budget for a month and a half. I’m already clutching my head because three months’ worth of living expenses went flying in a single month thanks to someone, and you dare ignore three hundred thousand won? Do you think money just drops from the sky?”

“It was a slip of the tongue. Sorry.”

He’s certainly good at apologizing. Still, this time, I wasn’t satisfied.

“Is being sorry to me enough? Hurry up and apologize to the wounded Thirty, too.”

“Thirty? What on earth is… Ah, okay. I’ll apologize to Thirty too, so calm down.”

Since he was quick-witted, he seemed to realize immediately that ‘Thirty’ referred to the three hundred thousand won. Choi Seol’s expression crumpled as if personifying money was a blow to his pride, but thanks to that, I felt a bit better. The problem was that it was only a bit.

“Pick the rest of the chestnuts on the way down. We’re going to pick persimmons, so follow me.”

I decided to work him to the bone without a shred of conscience.

I resolved to become a bad boy who takes advantage of the guy who likes him and started walking. After that, I spent a while lecturing Choi Seol on how much a large sum like three hundred thousand won could accomplish. By the time I finished explaining how many pounds of pork hind leg one could buy with three hundred thousand won, we reached our destination.

“This way.”

I pointed to the side of a well-weeded, neat uphill path. There was a hidden trail obscured by uncut grass.

“This way leads to Maternal Grandmother’s garden. My mom comes to look after it occasionally lately, and there are persimmon and chestnut trees further inside.”

“If you’d told me earlier, I would have cleared the grass here too. Why didn’t you say so?”

“You don’t have to do it here. It’s left this way to prevent outsiders or wild boars from intruding. [unauthorized copy]Though of course, those who want to get in [stolen content]always do. The Read on Read BL Novelsinside has coconut mats laid down, so the grass isn’t that overgrown.”

“Coconut mats?”

“Yeah. To stop grass from growing. You know, the ones they lay in parks or construction sites; you’ll recognize them when you see them.”

I pushed back the grass that grew up to my waist and stepped inside. After passing a short downhill path, a long rectangular flatland unfolded. Gardens were tended on both sides, and a yellowish mat stretched long toward a place where a tent was installed.

“Impressive.”

Hearing the low exclamation from beside me made me feel unexpectedly proud.