#77

Tae-heun, who had been lying on the sofa in the youth association office, suddenly sat up at the sound of the young members bursting in. The clock had just passed 7 AM.

It wasn’t the youth president Choi Gi-cheol or Kwon Yong-jun, but other older brothers from the youth association. Most were in their 40s, older than Choi Gi-cheol. They were people who were usually too busy with their own farming to be seen, but when it came to village matters, they were the first to jump in. Three out of the five were the same age, forty-four, one was three or four years older, and the eldest brother, referred to as such, was fifty this year. They called themselves the ‘Eagle Five Brothers.’

“Oh! Director Kim, what brings you here at this hour?”

“Oh, yes. Just a bit.”

Tae-heun mumbled as he got up from the sofa and slipped his feet into his rubber boots.

It wasn’t that he had a reason to be here at this hour; he had been here since breaking up with a man. He could have gone home or caught a taxi to the town to drink heavily, but he came here just in case the man might come looking for him. It was a far cry from when he had run away first.

“Ah, it feels a bit better now that I’m inside.”

“Let’s have a cup of coffee.”

The mud that Tae-heun had tracked in had dried and made a mess of the office, and now the youth association brothers had added to the chaos with the mud they brought in.

“But what about you guys? What brings you here at this hour?”

Tae-heun asked. They were on friendly terms, having greeted each other while coming and going with the man.

“Don’t even mention it. I was just on my way back from fixing the pigsty at the back of Yeoncheon. I have to go back again.”

“Oh dear. How did the pigsty collapse? Are the pigs okay?”

“It was old, that’s all. Luckily, the pigs are fine.”

“If I had known you were here, I would have called Director Kim. We needed a strong person.”

“You should have contacted me. You don’t still not have my number, do you? Didn’t I give you my business card?”

Tae-heun joked and passed his number to the two who had their phones.

The brothers, who had been talking about the pigsty like it was a heroic tale, gradually gathered around the water cooler. Three out of the five took mixed coffee, while the other two grabbed paper cups filled with green tea and settled down on the sofa.

“Call me anytime you need help with heavy lifting. I can handle up to 150 kg.”

Several eyes lingered on Tae-heun’s upper body, which was exposed with the zipper of his tracksuit half down. It wasn’t the same sticky and strange gaze as Choi Gi-cheol’s; it was a look that assessed his physical abilities.

“150 kg? You can barely lift 50 kg.”

“Do you have the strength to swing a pickaxe?”

They chuckled, looking down on Tae-heun.

“Come on, why are you saying that? You saw me working.”

“Yeah, I saw. You were just standing next to Ki-beom.”

“Do you think the muscles you build in the gym are the same as the muscles you use in daily life?”

“True. They just look good. Ki-beom is the strongest.”

When the brothers mentioned the man’s name, Tae-heun naturally became curious about him. The man was someone who never missed village matters, so he must have been called as well.

“But I guess Ki-beom didn’t work with you?”

Tae-heun asked nonchalantly while drinking water from the cooler.

“Of course he went with us. He was with us until now, but he had to go to town for the kids’ school duty. He should be back by now.”

“Oh, I see.”

So that was why the man hadn’t come to the village hall looking for Tae-heun. It wasn’t that he had deliberately avoided him.

The thought of seeing the man made Tae-heun smile involuntarily, rendering the worries he had pondered all night meaningless. It was absurd even to himself, but what could he do about feeling good? He sipped water and stared at the office door.

The man appeared thirty minutes later. It was when the youth association brothers, who had drunk coffee and taken a hot shower, were dozing off on the sofa.

He looked extremely tired. After tending to the flooded fields all night and checking the rice paddies, he had also repaired the pigsty, so it was understandable. Unlike Choi Gi-cheol, who wouldn’t lift a finger, the youth association brothers were generally more active, so he likely hadn’t worked alone, but still, the heavy lifting was mostly his responsibility.

“Did you come?”

Tae-heun greeted him first.

The man replied, “Yes,” with a somewhat weary expression, went to the water cooler to drink, and then immediately made mixed coffee. The office was filled with the aroma of coffee. It hadn’t bothered him when the brothers were drinking, but now that the man was making coffee, Tae-heun’s mouth watered.

“Give me some too.”

At Tae-heun’s request, the man set down the cup he was drinking from and poured coffee into a new paper cup. Tae-heun quickly approached and picked up the cup the man had just sipped from. The man turned around, and Tae-heun casually drank the man’s coffee as if it had always been his.

As the man was about to say something, Tae-heun quickly changed the subject.

“Did Ji-hye get to school okay?”

He asked, brushing his hair back.

“Yes. They were both so sleepy from staying up all night that they were out of it.”

The man’s voice was hoarse as he answered. His lips were also pale. Now that he thought about it, the man was still wearing the clothes he had come out in the early morning. They were clearly wet.

“I figured as much. But why does Ki-beom’s voice sound like that?”

“Oh, that.”

The man glanced at the brothers sitting on the sofa and rubbed the back of his neck, continuing his sentence under the assumption that they knew what he had been doing.

“I yelled a lot while fixing the pigsty, and now this is what I get.”

“You yelled? Why, did someone not listen to our Ki-beom?”

He raised his voice. The man waved his hands and glanced at the brothers.

“Not like that, the pigs were just crying a lot.”

“Well then. Those piglets are no good. I should go help out a bit.”

Tae-heun pretended to roll up his sleeves, causing the coffee cup he was holding to tip over and spill coffee everywhere.

The man set down his cup and quickly went to the coffee table to grab a roll of paper towels. Just as Tae-heun thought the man’s movements were impressively quick, the paper towels flew through the air. Tae-heun caught the white bundle coming toward him in surprise. They both laughed, looking at each other almost simultaneously.

Ah. This feels good. I really like that man.

His heart felt like it was going to burst.

He felt ashamed of having run away from the man this morning. Damn it. He tore off a piece of the roll and scrubbed the floor.

While Tae-heun was cleaning the floor, the man briefly stepped outside the office and returned with a mop in hand. The sticky floor became smooth in no time as the man swept it with the mop. Whatever disappointment and anger he had felt began to wash away little by little.

“Ki-beom.”

Tae-heun called the man’s name while squatting on the floor.

At that moment, the office door burst open. It was the youth president. He walked in with a big yawn and stopped abruptly, surprised by the crowd filling the office at such an early hour.

One of the brothers who had been dozing on the sofa suddenly pointed at Choi Gi-cheol.

“Hey, you bastard! Why didn’t you answer your phone? Huh? Do you think you’re still the youth president after that? Do you think we gave you that position because you didn’t know how to wear a crown?”

That started a chain reaction, and one by one, the brothers woke up and began to vent their frustrations. Unrestrained words poured out.

“Look at that bastard. I guess he slept well. He’s got grease dripping off his face.”

“Choi Gi-cheol, what were you doing last night? Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“I went to your house, but you didn’t even open the door. I clearly saw the lights on. Seriously, there’s a limit to neglecting your duties. Just wait and see, you and the village chief.”

The atmosphere was tense. Even the man, who usually sided with Choi Gi-cheol, kept his mouth shut and glared at him. Tae-heun had nothing to say.

The timing was just terrible.

Grinding his teeth, he stood up abruptly.

“No, it’s not like that. It’s just… that.”

Choi Gi-cheol stammered.

“What do you mean?”

“Speak if you have a mouth, you bastard!”

The eldest brother stood facing Choi Gi-cheol, his fist trembling. Choi Gi-cheol stepped back, trying to escape quickly.

“That bastard! Hey! Aren’t you going to stand there?”

With the eldest brother as the catalyst, the others surged toward the direction Choi Gi-cheol had gone. It was like a sitcom. Unlike Tae-heun, who chuckled at the absurdity, the man looked serious, contemplating whether to follow or not. He seemed to flinch.

“Ki-beom, don’t even think about following them. Just change your clothes.”

“But still.”

“What do you mean ‘but still’? Just let the brothers handle it. Your lips are turning blue.”

At Tae-heun’s words, the man touched his lips with his fingers.

“I don’t have any clothes to change into.”

“Why not? There are plenty here.”

Tae-heun strode over to the office cabinet.

“Those are for the youth association.”

“I know. I took one out too. So did the brothers.”

“They’re not free.”

“Not true. And Ki-beom, you’re a member of the youth association too. What makes you think you can’t wear it for free?”

He opened the cabinet and handed the man a set of tracksuit top and bottom.

“But the sleeves and pants are a bit short. It seems all the larger sizes are gone.”

Saying this, Tae-heun pointed to his exposed wrists and ankles. The man smiled at that.

If he received it, he should just wear it, but the man hesitated, fiddling with the tracksuit.

“Just wear it.”

With no other choice, Tae-heun pushed the man’s back with both hands.

He felt a chill from the man’s body, separated by a thin layer of fabric. Even though the temperature had dropped, it was still summer. It wasn’t easy for body temperature to drop in the middle of summer. He had been wearing wet clothes all this time, claiming he had no clothes to change into, so no matter how healthy the man was, he couldn’t help but feel cold. He really had no flexibility.

“Don’t catch a cold and pass it on to Ji-hye. Hurry up!”

As soon as he mentioned the child’s name, the man finally relented and took the clothes, heading toward the shower.

“Fool. Idiot.”

After saying it, Tae-heun realized it wasn’t something he should say to the man.

Was the fool meeting another fool?

He let out a soft laugh.

About fifteen minutes later, the man returned dressed like Tae-heun, with his wrists and ankles exposed. The tracksuit was tight around his chest, yet he zipped it up to his neck as if he had something to hide.

The man sat down on the empty sofa, and Tae-heun took a seat opposite him. Both of them were in a comical position, with their knees above their waists. He wanted to speak in a stylish manner in a somewhat atmospheric place, but there was no time to hesitate. He didn’t know when the youth president and the brothers would burst in, and if he missed this opportunity, it might be hard to speak up again.

Tae-heun hurriedly opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry for leaving without saying anything this morning.”

He apologized to the man.

The man shook his head vigorously.

“No, it’s okay. You must have been surprised by my sudden words. You were probably already tired from doing something you don’t usually do, and then I said that… I’m sorry.”

The man continued, “I’m a bit clueless,” blaming himself. It seemed he thought Tae-heun had run away because he was surprised by the man’s confession. To make the man think such an absurd thing, Tae-heun realized he had done something truly foolish.

“It’s not your fault, Ki-beom. It was understandable. It wasn’t because you were tired.”

“…….”

“I won’t run away again. Really.”

“Run away? What do you mean?”

The man asked with a puzzled expression.

“I ran away. I’ve always done that. For some reason, I just keep running away in front of you. Cowardly.”

“What do you mean by that….”

The man still didn’t grasp the meaning of Tae-heun’s words. It was only natural; he had been the only one making a fuss all this time.

“Actually, I was scared. I ran away because I was scared.”

I explained it properly, having made up my mind. I confessed that I liked you, that I was crazy about you, but that I was scared last night. I said it was the same in the market. Every time you talked about the future, I trembled in fear at the thought of not being in it. I wanted to hold you and embrace you, but unexpectedly, I failed. I also mentioned that it seemed like the problem was that damn thing we both had.

“I thought I was the one who woke up, but I guess I still have a long way to go.”

The man silently listened to Tae-heun’s words.

“Of course, I know that Ki-beom never gave me permission to do such things with him. I know that, but still, I believed it could be possible.”

Tae-heun bit his lip. ‘But I messed it up. I didn’t even know I was this much of a coward,’ he sighed.

The man flicked his lips a few times but didn’t speak. While listening to Tae-heun, he rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat, that was all. Of course, he was blushing.

Honestly, from the man’s perspective, the current situation must have been quite bewildering. He probably never imagined he would hear such nonsensical confessions in the morning after a night of work, in the youth association office of all places, while wearing clothes that were too small for him.

“I was so happy when Ki-beom said he liked me.”

Tae-heun returned the answer he should have given to the man long ago.

Yoon Ki-beom likes me, Kim Tae-heun. Definitely in that way.

Thinking about it made my heart feel like it was going to burst. I was overwhelmed with joy, not knowing what to do.

Looking back, the man’s confession was truly remarkable. While talking about duck farming methods, he had been unable to resist Tae-heun’s relentless questioning and had let it slip. The situation and the words were clumsy, but the message was clear.

The man turned bright red in an instant. Not only his ears but even the tips of his fingers, which were unusually dark and hard to notice, turned pink. Seeing that, Tae-heun shivered.

“I will never run away. No matter what happens, I will stay by your side, Ki-beom. So you must stay close to me too.”

He made a firm promise.

Simply pouring out his feelings wouldn’t change anything immediately. Perhaps for a while, it would be difficult for Tae-heun to embrace the man while sober, and the man wasn’t someone who could fully rely on Tae-heun just because their feelings were mutual. They might be on parallel paths forever. Nevertheless, just deciding that he would never run away from the man brought a significant change in his heart. At least, that was how Tae-heun felt.

The two fell silent. Fortunately, that silence didn’t last long. The older brothers who had caught and beaten Choi Gi-cheol returned with him.

“Let’s go eat.”

The eldest brother shouted.

The man jumped up as if he had been waiting for this. He then looked down at Tae-heun and extended his hand. Without hesitation, Tae-heun firmly grasped the man’s large, rough hand. The man shyly smiled.

The brothers, including the battered Choi Gi-cheol, took Tae-heun and the man to a duck soup restaurant.

The man seemed very hungry. He ate with great gusto. He focused solely on eating, without a care in the world. It didn’t look gluttonous or pathetic. Rather, it was beautiful. And it made me hungry.

“Ki-beom, I get hungry just looking at you. A lot.”

I said to the man.

The man, who was tearing into the meat, looked up. His lips, glistening with grease, parted slightly. In front of the man, I picked up a piece of duck meat, showing off. As I bit into the tender meat, juices flowed into my mouth.

“That’s amazing.”

I gave a thumbs up to the man.