TYS Ch 4

“You still have the same baby face. Do you really not remember your hyung?”

“……”

When Seungwan only blinked in response, the man let out a small chuckle and ruffled his hair. The faint dialect in his speech thickened for a brief moment.

“Never mind. So, when you were just a little thing and told me we should get married, that was all a lie, huh? Guess I’ll forget about it too.”

“What are you…”

Seungwan was too caught off guard to form a proper question. His ears flushed red as he looked up at the man, but the man only grinned, showing no intention of explaining further. Seungwan’s childhood memories were fragmented. It wasn’t a time worth remembering anyway.

Besides, he had only moved to his father’s hometown in high school. As a child, he had lived near the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, so there was no way he could have known a man with such a thick local dialect.

“Pick up the phone when it rings, and your debt will be deducted from your work, so make sure you eat properly.”

With that, the man left Seungwan standing there, lips slightly parted but unable to say anything. He remained dazed in the middle of the living room, as if spellbound, until the sound of an engine rumbled from the garage. Like a cat suddenly relocated to an unfamiliar place, he couldn’t quite believe he had been left alone there.

For the first few days, he remained on guard. Even as he left for work at the agricultural cooperative and returned to the house, he kept checking for any sign of the man’s presence.

However, he truly didn’t return until the year changed. Occasionally, he would call or send messages nagging Seungwan to make sure he ate, but he never showed his face. From that summer until winter, Seungwan lived alone in the house.

The man’s messages were all over the place. His texting style was oddly similar to Manager Song’s. He didn’t seem that old, so what was the deal with him…

Seungwan had no idea how the man got his contact information, but ever since that day, he had been reaching out consistently. Seungwan rarely replied, yet the man didn’t seem to mind. In fact, when Seungwan did send a response, the man wouldn’t reply back.

Still, he continued to send essential items and daily necessities without fail. The clothes he sent fit Seungwan perfectly, but they were slightly different from his usual style. When he received crisp shirts and pants with somewhat flashy patterns, he was baffled. He had no idea where he was supposed to wear them. The only saving grace was that some of the clothes were suitable for wearing at home.

When he hurriedly packed his things before leaving home, he had only managed to bring the polo shirts and cotton pants he wore to work. It was a relief to have something to wear to bed. However, he was a bit surprised when even the size of the underwear matched perfectly.

“…Is it that obvious?”

Was it really that easy for others to guess his size just by looking at him? It was impressive because just from briefly seeing the man, Seungwan wouldn’t have been able to guess his underwear size. What followed was pure admiration for the man’s sharp eye.

In any case, thanks to the man who had saved him but then left him in the house without checking in on him, Seungwan gradually adjusted to living there.

At first, he curled up to sleep in any random room. Later, he started sleeping on a small bed in what seemed to be a guest room. Then, one day, the man unexpectedly sent over a set of bed sheets and a duvet. Noticing that they were meant for a bigger bed, Seungwan finally realized that his room was right next to the largest room in the house.

From that point on, Seungwan stayed only in that room. It had a window as large as a table big enough to seat four people, and the view outside was breathtaking.

There was also a desk that retained the natural grain of the wood, and sometimes, Seungwan would sit there and read books that seemed to have been bought by the man. Milan Kundera, Abbé Prévost, Park Wan-suh, Fitzgerald, and even old-looking martial arts novels. The bookshelf reflected the man’s taste, but there was no clear pattern to it.

When he took books from the shelf and read them as if borrowing them, time passed quickly. At first, Seungwan stayed shut in his room reading, but gradually, he began to expand his range of activities. He sprawled out on the living room sofa to read, vacuumed after meals, and cleaned the sink with bleach. Sometimes, he swept up fallen leaves in the yard, and on weekends, he did the laundry for his bedding.

One day, birds flew into the front yard, chirping, so he soaked some rice grains and scattered them outside. As the days passed like that, the frogs that had been croaking incessantly disappeared before he even realized it, leaving only the quiet sound of insects chirping.

The summer, which had once felt unbearably humid for just one person, was slowly passing. During that time, Seungwan gradually regained his stability. He belatedly thanked Manager Song, who had introduced him to the funeral hall used by the cooperative members so he could hold a service for his father, who had died from a fall. He also managed to get by fairly well, ignoring Chief Chae, who was always harassing him.

Meanwhile, the man continued to contact him regularly. Sometimes, he even called.

— Hey, what have you been eating these days?

The man was constantly making sure Seungwan had something to eat. Lately, Seungwan had regained enough energy to eat properly, so the other day, he bought another sack of rice from the supermarket at his workplace. It was only then, somewhat embarrassed, that he realized he had already finished the one he had bought before. But as he loaded the rice onto his scooter, he couldn’t help but feel a little cheerful.

Remembering all that, Seungwan suddenly felt ashamed. Even though the man had told him to make himself at home, he wondered if he had gotten too comfortable. Feeling guilty for no reason, he stammered as he replied.

“Just… rice… and some side dishes…”

— What side dishes? Do you know how to cook?

Since childhood, Seungwan’s mother had frequently run away from home, and his father, who would come back drunk as if household matters had nothing to do with him, would demand a table set with alcohol. Because of that, Seungwan had learned to handle most things on his own.

The problem was that, even though the people in this area were country folks, they were all picky eaters, and Seungwan’s cooking skills weren’t even worth mentioning in comparison. Knowing this well, he hesitated to answer. Then he heard a chuckle from the other end of the line.

— I’ll cook something delicious when I get there, so just wait a little longer. It’s almost over.

He had no idea what was “almost over,” but he quietly replied, “…Okay.”

The man’s voice over the phone was gentle and pleasant to listen to. His usual dialect wasn’t as noticeable, making Seungwan wonder if he had gone to Seoul. Seungwan himself spoke in a Seoul dialect, so it occurred to him that the man had always toned down his regional accent when speaking to him. Without the accent, his speech felt clearer and more refined. He had probably lived away from his hometown for a long time. Seungwan silently stored away this new piece of information about the man without anyone noticing.

— Take good care of the house. I’ll be there soon.

This time, Seungwan didn’t respond, but he wanted to ask when exactly the man would arrive. However, before he could, the call ended. Even after the new year arrived, the man did not return.

And just like that, spring came.

***

Mugwort, wild chives, and shepherd’s purse had just begun to sprout in the fields. With the start of spring and the season of rain already past, spring was in full bloom in this southern region. By now, Seungwan had grown completely accustomed to living in the house of a man whose name he still didn’t know.

Soon, the busy farming season would begin. As the farmers prepared for the hectic days ahead, Seungwan also had to be ready to be called over to the pesticide storage whenever there was a spare moment. As a contract worker hired through a special recruitment program for high school graduates, Seungwan rarely handled credit-related tasks like loans or deposits. Instead, he was usually assigned physically demanding work in the economic sector.

Most of the people working at the counters, even the contract employees, had connections through their parents, who were cooperative members. For Seungwan, even holding a position at all was considered a privilege.

Still, he couldn’t afford to sit idle. All morning, he had helped wrap coins in paper rolls. Just before lunch, he rushed back to the supply center to load rice onto a truck for delivery. Then, he went to lunch with Manager Song.

Every farming season, Manager Song would see Seungwan helping out in the cooperative members’ fields and seemed to think he was overworking himself. His constant nagging to eat more somehow felt endearing, so Seungwan eagerly shoveled food into his mouth.

On the way back to the supply center, he could clearly feel how much warmer the weather had become. Over the weekend, he had noticed that the shepherd’s purse flowers would bloom soon. Maybe he should pick some before that and make pasta with them. Just as that thought crossed his mind, a sharp impact struck the back of his head. A loud thud rang out.