Chapter 09

There were three people living at Ji Seok’s house.

Ji Geon-hyung, Ji Yeon-noona, and Kang Ji Seok.

I wondered why, out of the blue, I was in there. Why am I, an outsider, living in a house with these three siblings?

When I looked at [him] with an incomprehensible expression, Ji Seok took it upon himself to explain.

“Ji Yeon-noona’s company is moving to Pangyo1. In a few days, she’ll have to go there for work so she’s going to get an officetel2 nearby. That’s why there’s a room available. I won’t charge monthly rent. Just bring your body.”

I was a little flustered with his last words, but I had to leave it at that and get to the point.

“Hold on a moment… You don’t need someone to pay your rent, anyway.

‘You only have to pay utility bills and maintenance fees every month, at most, for that place. So just because there’s a room available doesn’t mean you have to take in someone else who’s not even your family.’

“Hyung won’t be uncomfortable, either? I know I’m your friend but…”

“Ji Geon-ie3 hyung was the one who suggested it in the first place.”

“What? Why did he…?”

“I told him you live alone in the studio apartment, then he told me to bring you over because the world is dangerous these days.”

It felt like I became a vulnerable child.

“I also said you’re a good cook, too. I still remember even now. In your room, when you cooked pasta, fried rice, kimchi stew, stir fried webfoot octopus, bulgogi4…”

Looking at Ji Seok list the foods that he’s been fed so far, I understood a bit more. These siblings, including Ji Seok, are people who have built up barriers with cooking, so all they could do was make ramen, and that has not changed even now. That also includes cup noodles, too.

Food can be made anytime when there are ingredients, however, regardless of all that, it was hard to understand when I thought about [the offer to move in].

At that time, the cell phone in my jacket vibrated softly. There’s no one who’d call at this time in the morning, so when I checked the LCD screen I was startled.

“I’ll be back after answering this call so save my seat.”

“Huh? Who is it?”

“Part-time job’s boss.”

I answered shortly and headed to the bathroom with quick steps. As soon as I answered the phone, Ji Geon-hyung’s voice pierced through from the other side.

“I know you’re not in class, so why did you pick up so late?”

Since my schedule was exactly the same as Ji Seok’s, I guessed that he would know everything.

“It’s [because I’m at] the library.”

Actually, even if it wasn’t for being at the library, I would still have avoided answering the phone in this way. Ji Seok still didn’t know that Ji Geon-hyung and I had exchanged contacts yet. He didn’t think we’ve met up in the first place, except for that day I was doing the assignment with him.

I didn’t want to tell him about my relationship with Ji Geon-hyung, so I wanted to confirm what he heard from Ji Seok.

“Hyung, I heard you told Ji Seok to tell me to move in, are you serious?”

“En, serious. Come and move in.”

It felt like he was saying a passing greeting, and my eyes narrowed [at it’s] lightness.

“What are you thinking? If we live together, Ji Seok might realize everything.”

“He’s dense anyway, so he won’t know. And you always feel burdened every time we sleep at a hotel.”

Of course, I agreed with him, but the biggest problem was the risk of being discovered by Ji Seok. For that reason, I couldn’t help but worry.

“Ji Seok will be staying at home during the holiday. I heard that [your apartment’s] monthly rent is quite substantial. You will save money, sleep well and Ji Seok will play with you if you stay at [our] house.”

He talked as if Kang Ji Seok were a toy or pet.

If Ji Seok doesn’t discover my relationship with Ji Geon-hyung then, to be honest, it was quite tempting.

“Ji Seok will pass out at midnight anyway, and he has his own room. Come to my room early in the morning, and go back to your room before Ji Seok wakes up.”

Ji Geon-hyung seemed to have prepared in advance as he tried to smoothly entice me.

“I called because I thought you might be troubled about it. Quickly decide and come.”

Ji Geon-hyung already obviously knew that I was gonna fall for it.

It felt like I was the only one at a loss, going around, back and forth in his palm. In that case, what he has in his hand won’t change.

After anxiously agonizing for a while, I ended up sitting in Ji Geon-hyung and Ji Seok’s house.

++++++++++

I came to Ji Seok’s house for the second time.

This time it felt different, maybe because I wasn’t a guest like before.

“Ji Yeon-noona used to use this bed, but I’ve cleaned the mattress, and the sheets, blankets, pillows and everything else are new. The desk was just bought, she didn’t really use it, so it’s clean. Same goes for the bookshelf. Ah, the wardrobe was a bit worn out, so hyung got a new one. Looking at it all like this, noona…really just slept and changed clothes.”

I glanced over the room while listening to Ji Seok laugh as he scratched his cheek. The room was spacious with clean furniture and plenty of sunshine.

After checking out the room, I tried to bring in some luggage, but Ji Seok ran over and lifted up the heaviest looking box first.

“Ya, that’s my collection of books, so it’s heavy. You’re gonna hurt your back, let’s carry it together.”

“It’s okay. It’s not that heavy.”

As if it was really light, he moved it to the room with big strides, and then snatched away the heavy box I that just picked up.

“You open and tidy up the boxes. I’ll take care of moving them.”

“It’s fine. After we move it all, we can clean up slowly.”

“I’m not fine [with that].”

I put another box on top of the heavy box Ji Seok was holding, took them and carried them away.

“Ah, I’m so hungry. We need to clean up quickly before I can have Chef Shin’s full course…”

Ji Seok glanced at me and muttered as if to get me to listen. Chucking, I took a box cutter knife to the room and sat in front of him to open the box.

“Don’t you know, black bean noodles5 are for move-in days?”

“I always eat take-out or the school’s food, I want a home-cooked meal, Woo Seo-ya.”

Putting down the box, Ji Seok crouched down and clung to my side, and jokingly cried.

I gently slapped his pouting lips with the back of my hands so it wouldn’t hurt.

“Alight, alight. Just think about what you want to eat.”

“Of course, kimchi stew!”

“That’s all?”

“Make the soup rich, full of pork shoulder. And tofu.”

“That’s really specific.”

When asked what Kang Ji Seok’s favourite food is, it’s definitely kimchi stew, so I expected as much. Once in a while, he would come to the apartment and I’d make kimchi stew as a side dish for drinking together.

It was almost time for dinner, I thought about finishing up and going grocery shopping, so I spurred to clean up my luggage. There were six boxes of luggage, two of which were just books. I didn’t have many clothes and since I lived in a small studio apartment, I didn’t have much luggage.

Organizing the clothes and miscellaneous items quickly ended, and with Ji Seok’s help, I arranged the books one by one. By the time cleanup was finished, I saw it was already past six o’clock. Ji Geon-hyung didn’t contact us until I stopped by a nearby supermarket with Ji Seok for grocery shopping. He should’ve been done with work at that time.

When I asked Ji Seok during dinner, he said Ji Geon-hyung had a late meeting that day and said not to wait for him. I was really bad. When I heard that, instead of worrying about when Ji Geon-hyung would be home, I was thinking that I could watch a movie alone with Ji Seok.

After leisurely watching the movie with Ji Seok, we went to our separate rooms early, thinking of the morning lecture the next day.

However, I couldn’t sleep well. Although it was also because of the damn insomnia, the changed ceiling and environment made a stronger impression of the fact that I was living together with Ji Seok in his house. My heart skipped a couple times.

Lying on the bed, I stared blankly at the ceiling then sat up.

‘I can’t sleep until Ji Geon-hyung comes home anyway, so I’ll just study.’

Even if the environment changed, at dawn, my work was still the same. Sitting in the chair that was much more stable and luxurious than the one I had at the studio apartment, I opened the book on the desk. I knew it wouldn’t work, but I’d been digging through books in hope it would help me fall asleep.

Before I knew it, I was concentrating on the books and taking notes.

I vaguely heard the mechanical sound of opening the door lock. Picking up my phone, I checked the time and it was already one o’clock in the morning.

I wasn’t going to sleep immediately, so I opened the door thinking that I should greet Ji Geon-hyung first. Then, before I knew he was approaching, I saw him standing in front of the door.

“You’re…here?”

I greeted, but his eyes were half lidded and looking at me coldly. Judging from the pungent smell that stung my nose, it seemed that he drank quite a lot of alcohol6.

“Hyung, Are you drunk? For now, wash up and go to bed…”

“No matter how much I drink, I can’t sleep…”

Ji Geon-hyung’s words flowed slowly. I thought he might be fine because rather than being tongue tied, his voice was lower than usual.

As I was thinking about what to do, Ji Geon-hyung walked in, closed the door, then suddenly grabbed and hugged me. My whole body was wrapped up in his arms in one fell swoop, and nestled into the faint scent of cigarettes mixed with alcohol. Ji Geon-hyung had the corners of his eyes on my shrunken shoulders, then he said in a peculiar voice that it felt like he had licked my ear.

“Let’s sleep together…Woo Seo-ya…”