#24

“Then I’ll just stay here and play when Ji-hye comes. You’ll come straight here when you’re done with work, right?”

“Yes.”

“Try leaving me behind again this time, and I really won’t let it go.”

“…Yes.”

The way he answered was worse than that of an eleven-year-old child. Tae-heun let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

The man seemed relieved when Tae-heun laughed. He fidgeted with the blanket and went to the water cooler to drink.

“Give me a glass of water too. I’m thirsty.”

“Yes.”

The man, who had been pouring instant coffee into a paper cup, immediately set the cup down and poured water for Tae-heun. Only then did Tae-heun remember the snacks and instant coffee he had bought for the man and Ji-hye. He had completely forgotten about them after setting them down in the shade of the ginkgo tree earlier.

“Damn it.”

Tae-heun jumped up and burst out of the youth association office. He quickly ran down the stairs and reached the front yard of the village hall, but both the snack bag and coffee box were gone. Frustration welled up inside him. It wasn’t because of the person who took his things, but because he had completely forgotten about the gift himself. After looking around for a while, Tae-heun’s eyes lit up as he recalled what the village chief had said.

“CCTV.”

He checked the camera’s location. It was ambiguous. Still, he thought he should check. When Tae-heun returned to the youth association office, the youth president and the man looked at him with puzzled expressions.

“Hyung, can we check the CCTV?”

“Right now…?”

The youth president, who had unknowingly used honorifics, cleared his throat.

“It should be possible. But why the CCTV?”

“I left something in front of the village hall earlier. I just went to check, and it’s gone.”

“Really? Was it something expensive?”

“No, not like that. It was food.”

“Ah, then someone must have already taken it.”

“Still, please check.”

Tae-heun walked around the desk and stood next to the youth president. The youth president, flustered, clicked the mouse wildly. The Go-Stop game closed immediately, but the adult site kept popping up multiple ad windows every time he tried to close it, making it futile.

“Not here, over there.”

The youth president gave up on closing the windows and suddenly stood up, pointing at the TV.

There was no way a digital CCTV system introduced by Ilgwang Financial last year would be in this remote village. Realizing his mistake too late, Tae-heun scratched his eyebrow and followed the youth president.

“It records in real-time, right?”

“Yeah. It should.”

The youth president answered uncertainly.

“Has it been about two and a half hours since I came in here?”

“Not sure.”

“Can you check the footage from that time?”

“Just a moment.”

The youth president turned on the TV and fiddled with the recording equipment. Soon, the front yard of the village hall appeared on the TV screen. The quality was surprisingly clear for a CCTV in such a rural area. The shade where Tae-heun had stood was at the edge of the camera’s view, and it seemed like the situation at that time might be visible.

The youth president fast-forwarded the footage and played it at double speed. Within a few minutes, Tae-heun could be seen standing in the shade in front of the hall. Although only his legs were visible, the scene of him setting down the snack bag and coffee box was clearly captured.

Tae-heun, wearing beach sandals, repeatedly entered and exited the camera’s view. Then the village chief appeared, and the two of them entered the village hall shortly after. Even after the two disappeared, the snack bag and coffee box that Tae-heun had set down remained in their place.

“I forgot to pick it up after I set it down.”

Tae-heun pointed at the edge of the screen. The youth president pressed pause to check what it was.

As the sweet aroma of coffee wafted through the air, Tae-heun looked up to see the man had come over to the TV and was peering at it. When Tae-heun slightly raised the corners of his mouth, the man quickly lowered his eyes and slurped his coffee.

“It’s hard to tell who took it just from the legs.”

The youth president said.

“Still, let’s keep playing it. Who knows, maybe you’ll recognize something, hyung.”

After about thirty minutes of showing the empty front of the hall, a figure appeared on the footage. It was the back of the village chief exiting the hall. The village chief stopped in front of the black bag and coffee box as he walked across the yard toward the road. He bent down to check the items, and soon they disappeared along with the village chief’s legs.

“It’s the village chief.”

“Uh… right. My father wouldn’t have taken it on purpose, and what was it again?”

The youth president looked flustered.

“Oh, of course, he wouldn’t have taken it on purpose. But it’s a relief that the village chief took it. If a complete stranger had taken it, we wouldn’t have been able to find it anyway, so it would have been a waste.”

Tae-heun said this and winked at the youth president.

“Should I call my father?”

“What for? Just tell the village chief to eat it. Please let him know it’s a gift from me.”

“R-really?”

“Yes. The village chief likes Maxim coffee, right?”

“Of course. He likes it.”

“That’s great. We’ll be seeing each other often, so there’s no need to get embarrassed over this kind of thing. Don’t you think so, hyung?”

As Tae-heun kept calling him hyung, the youth president gradually became more confident.

“That’s obvious. I’m not saying this just because he’s my father; there’s nothing wrong with making a good impression on the village chief. He works so hard for the villagers.”

“That’s a valid point.”

The man quietly listened to the awkward praise relay between Tae-heun and the youth president while sipping his coffee.

After all, it was his own fault for leaving the items behind, so there was no need to blame the village chief. He could consider it a gift opportunity. Still, he had originally bought it for the man. Letting it go felt like it would keep bothering him, but going back to buy it again felt like overdoing it. He was in a dilemma.

Damn it. I don’t know.

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

Tae-heun opened the door and stepped out of the office, then leaned back in, holding the doorknob.

“Ki-beom, wait here. Don’t go anywhere while I’m gone.”

The man, who was about to sit on the sofa, turned around at Tae-heun’s call and nodded.

Tae-heun dashed toward the supermarket with all his might under the blazing sun. He was excited. No one had asked him to do this, and it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Yet, he just wanted to give it. Avoiding a near fall over a stone, he finally reached the supermarket.

“This is the last box of the 100-pack, so you’re lucky.”

The grandmother, perhaps forgetting that she had said the same thing to Tae-heun earlier, shamelessly lied.

“Wait a moment. Drink this while you go. It’s a service.”

The grandmother pulled a can of Lotte’s coffee from the fridge and handed it to him.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t run, go slowly. It’s hot.”

Tae-heun looked down at the coffee can. It was a drink he usually wouldn’t touch even if it were free. He hated sweet things, and among drinks, this was the worst.

The sweet scent of coffee that the man had been exuding earlier came to mind. Curiosity sparked within him. Even though he knew what it tasted like, he wanted to try it. He tucked the coffee box under his armpit to open the can and hung the snack bag on his wrist. Click, a cheerful sound rang out. Bringing it to his nose, the distinctive sweet scent vibrated. Just the smell was enough to make him feel nauseous. Cold water dripped from the can he held.

After a moment of hesitation, he took a sip of the drink. The taste made him scrunch his face. He debated whether to swallow it or not, then gulped it down. It was sweet and bitter. It wasn’t as bad as he had expected. The path to the village hall was hot and sparsely populated. Dragging his beach sandals, he sipped the can slowly until it was empty. Once he finished, his mouth felt dry. It felt like his teeth would rot, so he licked the spots where the coffee had touched his teeth and palate.

The man was standing in the shade in front of the hall. Tae-heun waved at him. The man neither waved back nor acknowledged him. Suddenly, he bent down to look below and tapped the ground with his boots. He must have turned as red as his neck.

What a strange man.

Tae-heun laughed.

* * *

The child was very talkative. Inside the truck heading home, he raised his voice, saying he almost got into a fistfight with a classmate named Su-ho. The man listened quietly and made a cliché remark like, “Isn’t that just fighting with a friend?”

“My dad doesn’t know, but kids like that need to be taught a lesson from the start. Otherwise, they’ll get out of hand!”

“Still, you should get along with your friends.”

“Hey, are you bigger or is he?”

Tae-heun interjected.

“He’s bigger.”

“What a petty little brat.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Ji-hye turned her body toward Tae-heun and passionately continued.

“He only picks on kids smaller than him. He acts all meek in front of bigger kids or those who look like they can fight.”

“That’s cowardly.”

“Right? I held back for a long time, but I thought I had to confront him, so I challenged him to a fight.”

“What does ‘challenge to a fight’ mean? You should use nice words.”

The man admonished.

The child made a face as if he realized he had said something wrong, but when Tae-heun asked, “So?” he excitedly continued with the next story. Then, out of the blue, he mentioned what he wanted for dinner.

“Dad, we’re having doenjang jjigae tonight. We have tofu, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome! Uncle, you haven’t tried my dad’s doenjang jjigae, right? It’s really delicious.”

“Really? I’m looking forward to it.”

Tae-heun, who had been responding sincerely to the child’s words, now replied half-heartedly.

Tae-heun didn’t like colorful foods like kimchi jjigae or doenjang jjigae. He preferred clear soups and avoided spicy side dishes. Although this eating habit had developed after he started learning sports, in reality, he found doenjang jjigae and kimchi jjigae to be too rustic and avoided them. It was a prejudice that they were foods that old men like his uncle would go crazy over.

The child ran to the yard and took care of the dog food and water first. Crunch, crunch. The dogs ate their food well. The child watched them with a satisfied expression, just like the man had done.

The little bastards were strange like the man too. They barked ferociously, but after just a few glimpses, they wagged their tails at Tae-heun.

“Which one is Mansu and which one is Mugang?”

“This one is Mansu, and that one is Mugang.”

The child answered without looking at Tae-heun. He didn’t even point with his finger, and ultimately, he sat on the porch without knowing which one was Mansu.