By Zephyria “It’s okay. I drank some before coming.”
“Ah… then, I’ll get ready quickly.”
“You can take your time. There’s no rush.”
He was at a loss for what to do with such deep consideration. Ryu Jeong, who had been fidgeting with his clasped hands, bowed his head and left the room. Lee Do-hyeon, who had been smiling the whole time, lowered the corners of his lips immediately after Ryu Jeong left the room.
Seeing how he had no sense of caution at all, Do Hwon wondered if something like that had really happened a few days ago. Was he too trusting of people? Not even suspecting how he had found him. Do Hwon glanced down at the blanket Ryu Jeong had laid out for him to sit on, but instead of sitting, he stood askew and looked around the room.
It was an absurd excuse for a house. The small space, no more than a few square meters, was more like a storage room than a home. The wallpaper was yellowed, as if something had been smeared on it, and the blackened linoleum was, on closer inspection, covered in mold underneath. But even this was neatly organized, considering it was a house. That made it all the more alien.
Do Hwon approached the window, which was abnormally close to the ceiling. It seemed to have been opened for ventilation, but the musty, moldy smell from the old building showed no sign of disappearing. Usually, pheromones permeated the things that trait people often used or the houses they stayed in for a long time, but whether it was because he was extreme heat or because of this goddamn dilapidated building, he couldn’t feel any pheromones.
Honestly, he didn’t ask Ryu Jeong to show him around the neighborhood because he thought it would really help. It was impulsive, out of curiosity. There was no attraction to the other person; that was all. But seeing him living in a place like this, calling it home, he felt an uncharacteristic sense of pity rising within him.
Knock, knock. Just as he was sighing at the bleakness, he suddenly heard a knock. Do Hwon’s eyes naturally turned to the tightly closed door. Before he could even chuckle at the tables being turned, he saw the wooden door, its bottom rotting away, and even the chuckle died in his throat. Was this right? Do Hwon, unable to decide what was right or wrong, sighed again and quickly erased his expression.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes…”
“Your hair is wet.”
“Ah, it’ll dry soon.”
Ryu Jeong carefully pushed the door open and entered. His bangs were soaking wet, as if he had washed his face, and plastered to his white forehead. Ryu Jeong, with an awkward expression, smoothed his forehead and glanced at Lee Do-hyeon, then opened the closet. A few simple items of clothing hung in the small closet.
“……”
Ryu Jeong hesitated in front of the closet. He only had three or four sets of clothes in total, but he couldn’t decide which one to wear. He had worried about them not drying in time before, but it was the first time he had ever worried about what to wear, and he felt awkward. Besides, he didn’t know why the lint, which he usually didn’t notice, was so visible today. After a long deliberation, Ryu Jeong decided to wear the cleanest clothes he had.
Ryu Jeong, who was about to take off the clothes he was wearing without thinking, suddenly stopped. He suddenly became conscious of Do Hwon and clutched the hem of his T-shirt, glancing at him. Do Hwon, realizing that he was hesitating, asked as if he didn’t know anything.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…”
“Ah. Should I turn around?”
“Yes? Ah, no. It’s okay. I just thought you might be uncomfortable…”
Ryu Jeong waved his hands, stopping Do Hwon as if he was about to turn around immediately. I’m not the one who’s uncomfortable, you are. Lee Do-hyeon, feeling uncomfortable for no reason at Ryu Jeong’s excessive caution and consideration, was about to frown when Ryu Jeong suddenly took off his T-shirt as if he was really going to change in front of him.
“……”
Do Hwon forgot all about furrowing his brow and stared blankly at Ryu Jeong. He had thought his face was quite pale, but the skin hidden under his clothes was incomparably whiter. He felt like he finally understood why people said skin glowed. His skin was so white that it looked like it was glowing, even though he was just standing under a fluorescent light.
But that was it. Other than his skin, there was nothing else to look at. He looked thin even in his clothes, but now that he was standing half-naked, his meager, skinny body was completely exposed. Lee Do-hyeon frowned even at the ribs that were revealed every time Ryu Jeong moved. Was he not eating because he was working? Such a little thing.
“I’m, uh, ready now.”
In the meantime, Ryu Jeong had slipped his arms into a sweatshirt and changed his pants. He quietly smelled his clothes to see if they smelled like the closet, and wiggled his toes to see if there were any holes in his socks. After carefully checking his appearance, he looked back at Do Hwon, who was strangely quiet. He was looking at him, but his eyes were blank, as if he was thinking about something else.
“…Ah.”
Only then did Do Hwon seem to come to his senses and lift his gaze. The eyes that looked up at him cautiously seemed to be asking if something was wrong. Do Hwon smiled insipidly, saying it was nothing, paused for a moment at Ryu Jeong’s appearance, which was no different from before he had changed, and gestured to the door.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Ryu Jeong answered briskly, his eyes sparkling. Lee Do-hyeon sighed without Ryu Jeong noticing. Did he even know what he had been thinking when he looked at his body? If he did, he wouldn’t be smiling like that.
Lee Do-hyeon, who had been wearing a somber expression as he watched Ryu Jeong lock the door with an excited look on his face, changed his expression as if nothing had happened the moment he met Ryu Jeong’s eyes as he turned around. But despite his best efforts, Do Hwon’s expression gradually hardened with each step he took.
“I’ve never shown anyone around the neighborhood before, so… I don’t really know where to start.”
Unaware of what kind of expression Do Hwon was wearing, Ryu Jeong was just excited and chattering away. It wasn’t a lie. When other kids his age from the same neighborhood brought their friends to run around the alleys, eating sugar-sprinkled scorched rice as snacks, Ryu Jeong would hide in the mountains to avoid his father’s drunken rants, or sit alone under the stream below the Moon Village, playing with stones.
As he grew older, he became ashamed of living in this kind of neighborhood and never thought of inviting anyone over, and the kids he had grown up with also called the kids who lived in Wolhyeon-dong beggars. After giving up high school and jumping into the workforce, he didn’t have any friends to speak of, so Ryu Jeong had become accustomed to walking the alleys alone.
“Everyone’s moved away now, but the neighborhood itself is huge. I got lost a lot when I first moved here, and I cried a lot.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The adults helped me a lot when I was crying. Oh, there’s an Old Lady Jeong living here now. I used to get food from her a lot. She used to run a restaurant, so she’s really good at cooking.”
The sound of footsteps with different strides echoed through the narrow alleyway. Like other Moon Villages, Wolhyeon-dong was built along a steep slope, so there were many alleys that were difficult for cars to pass through, let alone people. Some alleys were wide enough for three or four people to pass through comfortably, while others were so narrow that only one person could barely pass through. There were also many stairs, many dilapidated and broken places, and a lot of trash left behind by people who had abandoned their homes and belongings, leaving the neighborhood like a giant garbage dump. If you weren’t careful, you could fall and get seriously injured.
Unfortunately, Ryu Jeong’s house was located at the highest point, so the slope of the alley was steeper than other houses. Ryu Jeong, who went up and down the alley a couple of times a day, knew where to slow down and what to be careful of, but for someone like Do Hwon who was visiting for the first time, it wouldn’t be easy to even pick up speed. So Ryu Jeong watched Do Hwon’s every step as if he were watching a baby’s first steps. What if he fell and got hurt? Even though he himself was more precarious in his worn-out sneakers.
“Um, but, sir.”
While coming down with Old Lady Jeong’s house behind them, Ryu Jeong suddenly had something on his mind and looked at Do Hwon. He was about to continue, saying he had something to ask, but Do Hwon, who was walking forward, suddenly cut him off without even looking back.
“Lee Do-hyeon.”
“Yes?”
It was none other than his name that came out of his mouth. When Ryu Jeong looked at him with wide eyes, Do Hwon finally turned his head slowly. Even while walking, his gaze was fixed on Ryu Jeong’s eyes.
“I told you my name. Why are you calling me ‘sir’ so awkwardly?”
Because he said the same things every day, the words that were ingrained in his mouth seemed to have popped out without him realizing it. Ryu Jeong smiled awkwardly, embarrassed, and moved his lips, recalling what he had said before. Ah… then.
“President…?”
“Yes.”
He carefully uttered the title that he had prepared as an alternative because he was somehow embarrassed to call him by his name as he had been told. Only then did a smile appear on Do Hwon’s lips in response to the call. It felt like he was praising him, saying, ‘That’s right. Good job,’ and he felt excited.
“I’ve been thinking about it a bit.”
“Thinking about what? Ah, how to show me around?”
“Yes…”
Lee Do-hyeon, seeing the expression that matched the shy answer, was momentarily lost for words. He had even thought about how to show him around the neighborhood, which was just a simple thing. He wondered when he had even had time to think about that in the midst of his busy schedule, and for some reason, he looked cute.