#109

Catching up to the man wasn’t difficult. He was waiting in front of Tae-heun’s car parked at the alley’s entrance.

“What do you want right now?”

Tae-heun shouted lowly. The man didn’t respond.

“What are you doing calling me out at this hour?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you think I came here to hear Ki-beom’s apology?”

“…….”

“Shit. I’m losing my mind.”

Tae-heun roughly swept his bangs back.

“Hyun-sook noona will call later. She said she would tell me why Ki-beom ended up like this. But do I have to hear that from her? Can’t Ki-beom say it himself?”

“I just wanted to see you, Tae-heun. I felt so good… so I asked to be called….”

The man said something out of the blue.

“And? Do you think I’d feel good seeing Ki-beom’s face all beaten up?”

“…No.”

“Then you need to talk.”

Tae-heun stepped closer to the man. He looked him in the eyes, urging him to respond.

“I didn’t drink.”

After a long pause, the man said flatly. He had been talking nonsense the whole time.

“What?”

“I said I didn’t drink today. The elders in the neighborhood and the older guys kept offering me drinks, but I didn’t drink on my own will.”

The man said proudly.

Only now, he was saying that?

Tae-heun couldn’t understand why the man was saying such things. He took a deep breath to avoid getting angry and bought himself some time.

“Okay, let’s say that’s true. You didn’t drink, so you felt good. But why did you fight?”

He asked as gently as possible. He wanted to convey that he wasn’t angry with him, that he could share everything, and he even forced a smile.

“Well, since I was sober, I could hear everything.”

As he answered, the man kicked at the dirt with his shoe and then covered it.

Ah. Tae-heun understood the man’s words immediately.

Whatever resolution the man had made, he hadn’t drunk. Normally, he would have been drunk and asleep by now, but he was awake. At first, everyone must have been careful with their words. Then, as time passed and the alcohol kicked in, they probably laughed and chatted as if nothing had happened. They would have shared warm stories about the deceased, and before long, those stories would have faded away. As they talked about various things, gossip and grievances would have naturally come up. So, it was no surprise that he heard all sorts of things.

Tae-heun stared at the man.

The man continued to play with the dirt with his shoe.

If a decent man got caught up in a fight, it was likely either about a child or gossip about Tae-heun. No matter how incompetent the adults were, would they talk about a child? So it must have been about Tae-heun, who had recently been labeled a liar.

“Is it because of me?”

Tae-heun asked.

“…It could be.”

The man evasively replied.

“It is because of me.”

Shit. Tae-heun scratched his eyebrow.

He wasn’t alone in this. Even if the atmosphere turned sour, he should have gone with him. So, if he got caught up in a fight, he should have been caught up too. He had no intention of doing so, but in the end, he had cowardly used the man as a shield.

“I won’t ask what they said. But still, does it make sense to fight 5:1?”

Tae-heun examined the man’s bruised and swollen face while sitting cross-legged.

“It wasn’t 5:1 from the start.”

“Then?”

“I kept winning, so the numbers increased.”

What was so good about that? The man grinned. Then he winced, touching his split lip with his finger.

“Wow? You’re smiling right now?”

“How can I not be happy?”

“What’s so good about it?”

“I held off on drinking. Since five o’clock. Everyone else was drinking, but I didn’t. For over eight hours.”

The man was back to talking about alcohol.

“Why on earth didn’t you drink?”

Tae-heun was genuinely curious. Why had he refused to drink at a funeral where it would have been okay to drink, when he usually drank whatever was offered?

The man scratched his head awkwardly and hesitated, “Well, I wanted to drink only with you.”

Oh my.

Tae-heun sighed in disbelief, overwhelmed by how much he liked the man’s answer.

“Well, that’s a good thought.”

Tae-heun’s expression softened. The man’s smile spread. He found it ridiculous that he was laughing along. This wasn’t the time for that; he should be angry, but he couldn’t.

The man had held off on drinking just to drink with him and ended up fighting because of him.

Tae-heun felt like he was going to go crazy from how adorable the man was.

“Let me see.”

He reached out and grabbed the man’s chin, turning his face this way and that.

“Shit. What is this? Those bastards, really.”

He had been smiling just a moment ago, and now he was gritting his teeth.

No matter how much the man was smiling, or how good he felt, this was unacceptable. It was one thing to ruin a handsome face. The left cheek was swollen like he was holding a candy, and his lips were split and scabbed. Most importantly, they had dared to touch his eyes. The man’s precious left eye was so swollen that it could barely open. This couldn’t be overlooked.

“Ji-hye is alone, right?”

In the midst of it all, the man was thinking about the child.

“I locked the door.”

“That’s a relief.”

“What relief? If Ji-hye sees this, it’ll be a disaster. Brace yourself.”

At Tae-heun’s words, the man’s expression fell.

“Wow. So Ji-hye is scary, but I’m not?”

He gently stroked the man’s swollen cheek.

“Oh! Your nails!”

The man pointed at Tae-heun’s hand. Despite only being able to see out of one eye, he had an unnecessary sharp eye.

“Oh, this? Ji-hye did it for me. Just as a demonstration. I should have dyed the balsam flower water.”

He turned his hands over towards the man. The man’s eyes traced Tae-heun’s fingers.

“It turned out pretty.”

“Ji-hye’s hands are prettier.”

“I thought so.”

The man grinned widely. Then he winced again, bringing his hand to his face. His hand wandered over his face, unsure of where it hurt, before it came back down. The man’s fist also had scratches. Tae-heun grabbed the man’s hand and said, “Look at this, look at this. Your hand is a mess too.”

“But why didn’t you do it all?”

The man kept talking nonsense.

“If I dyed all ten fingers with these big hands, Ji-hye wouldn’t have enough to do.”

“There are plenty of balsam flowers….”

The man looked disappointed.

“This year, let’s just do this much, and next year, let’s do all ten fingers together. Ki-beom should join too.”

“Sure.”

“Did you hear about that rumor regarding balsam flower dye?”

Tae-heun asked as he opened the passenger door.

“Oh, the first love?”

“Yeah. You know about it too, Ki-beom?”

“Of course. Ji-hye has been chattering about it every year since she was little after hearing it somewhere.”

After seeing the man sit in the seat, Tae-heun closed the door and got into the driver’s seat.

“Do you believe it?”

He started the engine.

“Believe what?”

“The first love story.”

The man neither confirmed nor denied it, rolling his eyes.

“I’ve decided to believe it. They say the first snow here comes earlier than in Seoul, right?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s late. Even if Ji-hye doesn’t know, I think my nails will definitely stay until the first snow comes.”

He was confident.

“Do you have a first love?”

The man asked cautiously, stuttering over his words.

“Of course. Don’t you, Ki-beom?”

“I… do.”

The man answered hesitantly, casting his gaze out the window. His profile looked stoic. At times like this, it was impossible to know what he was thinking. Tae-heun felt anxious, wondering if he was thinking about someone other than himself.

“I just recently got one. It hasn’t even been a month.”

At times like this, straightforwardness was best. He openly appealed to the man.

“I think I’ve been married once, and I even have a ten-year-old child.”

Tae-heun rambled as he drove. The man quickly turned to look.

“He’s eleven.”

The correction was filled with laughter. The man seemed pleased to know that Tae-heun’s first love was him.

“Anyway, what can I do? No one pushed me to like someone, and I’ve tangled my own fate, so I have to live with it. Don’t you think?”

The man chuckled softly.

“What do you think of Ki-beom? Doesn’t it seem like I’m at a disadvantage as a bachelor?”

“…Yes.”

“What do you mean yes? When I think about it, it doesn’t seem like a total loss. Is raising a child easy? But since it’s already raised, I also gain something from it. Right?”

“That’s true. But still.”

“But still.”

Tae-heun laughed, mimicking the man’s words.

He drove past the back alley. They passed the village hall and crossed the seemingly identical rice fields. They had entered the beginning of Yongdu-gol, where the man lived. Before he knew it, there was no sign of anyone. Although it was the same time, it felt like Yongdu-gol had regressed by a couple of hours compared to the other places they had passed. Perhaps it wasn’t regression; it suddenly occurred to him that time might have completely stopped here.

How wonderful would that be?

Tae-heun wished time would stop just like this. He wanted to live self-sufficiently with the man right here without moving to another place.

Ji-hye… well, he should let her join in.

He chuckled inwardly.

He looked back at the man. The man was sound asleep, leaning against the car window. Despite being beaten to the point where his handsome face was unrecognizable, he was sleeping soundly. He looked innocent, like a child dreaming sweet dreams, even though he seemed to be frowning. His heart swelled.

But that face is unacceptable.

He could hear the voices of Officer Oh, who had been anxious for him to stay still, and the helper who was fed up with Tae-heun’s meddling. But there was nothing he could do.

After all, who told them to touch what’s mine?

Tae-heun resolved to take revenge.