Episode 55. Chuseok Holiday (2)
The family home.
Honestly, it wasn’t a hard question to answer.
I could just say, “Things happened, and I basically got kicked out of the house.”
But when I recalled the look on Bak Juu’s face—the one he’d worn when he misunderstood that I couldn’t go to college because I had no money—doing that felt awkward.
And there was no easy way to change the subject and gloss over it.
I cut a meatball in half, placed it on Bak Juu’s plate, and asked.
“What about you.”
“Huh?”
“I’m asking why you didn’t go home.”
If it were I Cheonghyeon, he would have latched onto it, saying, “I asked you first!” But Bak Juu wasn’t the type.
Sure enough, Bak Juu only picked up and put down the halved meatball with his chopsticks a few times before he opened his mouth.
“……Somehow, holidays feel like days when you should be with your family.”
It was a contradictory statement given his own situation, choosing to stay at the dorm instead of going home.
Perhaps sensing my bewilderment, Bak Juu continued.
“I lived at my aunt’s house. For about ten years now…….”
It was the first time I’d heard this.
Come to think of it, among Spark’s excessive TMI, there had never been any mention of Bak Juu’s family.
There was probably a reason he never brought up his parents. So I didn’t ask about that.
Instead, I pretended it wasn’t a big deal and asked trivial things.
“How many people are in your aunt’s family?”
“Four. My aunt and uncle, one older male cousin and one older sister…….”
“Then you must have been the youngest there. It must be tiring having to look after two younger siblings here?”
“No. It’s nice having the place so lively.”
A smile formed on Bak Juu’s lips as he said that. It seemed his life at his aunt’s house hadn’t been bad either.
‘If he’s not avoiding it because it’s uncomfortable, is he staying away to be considerate of his aunt’s family instead?’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Bak Juu spoke.
“Since I’ve been living under their roof for so long, I somehow get the feeling I should make myself scarce on days like this.”
“……I suppose that could be the case.”
In the quiet kitchen, the sound of jeon frying served as background music.
It was bewildering. Who would have expected such a heavy conversation to come up so suddenly?
I know full well what it feels like to live under someone else’s roof.
After all, I was the one who had gotten a room and lived off money borrowed from my older sister.
But it was a bit sad not having anyone to meet even during the holidays. At least I got to see my sister whenever I didn’t have overtime work.
A sigh escaped me inwardly.
After a brief hesitation, I flipped the skewered jeon and spoke.
“I’m not going because I don’t get along with my family.”
Good grief, I asked for his reason and ended up having to share mine too.
“It’s not like we hate each other. We’re just distant. That’s why I’m not going.”
Bak Juu, who had been laying a fresh paper towel on a plate, looked at me with wide eyes.
I’d phrased it vaguely to avoid another huge misunderstanding, but he still looked quite surprised.
“……Did you have a fight?”
“It wasn’t that bad. I just took the opportunity to become independent since I’m an adult now.”
They say speak straight even if your mouth is crooked. I didn’t fight with my family; I was beaten one-sidedly. It was one hundred percent their fault, I’m telling you.
“So that’s why you’ve never made a single call……?”
“How did you know?”
“When we all got our phones…… you were the only one who never called anywhere, Hyung.”
At UA, they handed out personal phones for about thirty minutes once a month so we could contact our families.
During that time, the guys usually contacted their families.
A popular guy like Jeong Seongbin had to use those thirty minutes sparingly.
So what did I do during that time…….
‘What else would I do? I just spaced out.’
I could get a phone from the manager whenever I wanted, and since I had no one to call, there was naturally nothing for me to do.
I’d buried most of my stocks deep in my inner core anyway. Meaning there was nothing to do even if I got a phone.
“I didn’t know you were watching that.”
“I just happened to see it. ……I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”
“No. I was just a little surprised.”
Actually, I was very surprised.
I thought everyone would be too enthralled by the fruits of civilization they hadn’t seen in thirty days to pay any attention to someone like me.
I’d been too complacent. I didn’t want to stand out for no reason, so next time I’d better take a public opinion poll call or something.
“Who do you usually call?”
“My aunt. Or…… my older brother or sister?”
“What. Why are you leaving your uncle out?”
Bak Juu smiled slightly at my words. He definitely seemed to be on good terms with his aunt’s family.
“I’ll call my uncle too next time.”
“Good. Make sure to tell him you ate tofu meatballs.”
With that heartwarming conversation, our jeon-making session came to an end.
The kitchen, into which we’d poured our daylight hours, now held a basket of jeon, neat side dishes packed in three Lock & Lock containers, and…….
“Ju-woo.”
“……Yes.”
“The dishes…… you can finish them today, right?”
……An enormous pile of dishes remained.
I looked at the frying pan thoroughly soaked in oil and resolutely pulled out a paper towel.
* * *
“Ha…….”
After a solid two hours of dishwashing, Bak Juu and I were finally freed from the cleanup.
The moment we finished, we closed all the windows we’d opened for ventilation and fled to a cafe near the dorm.
I thought not many places would be open because of the holiday, but I was wrong. I didn’t know because I’d always just rested at home after the ancestral rites.
Bak Juu and I each ordered a yogurt smoothie and sat at a terrace table.
As I sucked down the smoothie to soothe my throat burning from the long hours of cooking, Bak Juu asked.
“Could it be…… is that also a menu choice to prevent tooth discoloration?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow…….”
Bak Juu let out an exclamation whose intent I couldn’t read.
I wondered if he was being sarcastic, but the guy’s expression seemed to say, ‘I am purely admiring this.’ You little punk, I’ll let it slide this once.
“You worked hard today. Setting up an ancestral rite table is no easy task, really.”
“No. You must have had a harder time, Hyung…… For the coming Seollal, let’s just buy food.”
“My head wants to, but my heart won’t allow it.”
If it were someone else, I too would have said, “It’s too much trouble, why bother making everything from scratch, you could just buy it.”
But when it came to doing it myself, it was different.
“Well, I might not be able to do it regardless of my will anyway.”
“Why……?”
“Because prices have gone up so much…….”
I was already shocked when I went to buy green onions.
It was lower than the price nine years from now, but still, that much for a single bunch of green onions.
I’d realized once more that memories tend to become rosier as time passes.
It was the moment my meager thought of buying some meat while grocery shopping scattered like dust.
“It’s a good thing I only bought apples and pears. If I’d bought chestnuts and persimmons too, I wouldn’t have been able to afford this yogurt smoothie today.”
“……It’s because it’s the holiday, right?”
“Right. But prices don’t drop after the holidays are over.”
“My aunt always says that too.”
Bak Juu laughed silently. As if recalling a holiday scene.
It was just Bak Juu being considerate; as I’d suspected, the atmosphere at his aunt’s house itself seemed quite warm.
When my thoughts reached that point, I started to feel a bit sorry for Bak Juu, who probably hadn’t gotten to eat much holiday food either.
“Maybe I should have made japchae too.”
My regret slipped out in a needless comment. Bak Juu, who had keenly caught it, asked.
“Hyung, you know how to make japchae too?”
“I know how. I can’t guarantee it’d be delicious, though. I didn’t make it this time because it’s high in calories…….”
“Ah…….”
I wondered if I should have made just a little so these guys could have had some.
We were talking about how much flour we’d used this time and how the jeon tasted bland since we hadn’t made dipping sauce, when suddenly I felt a stinging gaze on the side of my face.
I turned my head to see the middle-aged ladies at the next table looking our way.
I hurriedly averted my gaze, lowered my upper body, and asked Bak Juu.
“……Was I talking too loudly?”
Even if there weren’t many people, raising your voice in a space used by multiple people was terribly rude.
Fortunately, Bak Juu shook his head.
If even a guy who preferred quiet said it wasn’t loud, that meant I hadn’t been a nuisance.
Perhaps sensing my awkwardness, the ladies soon withdrew their gazes.
Instead, I caught the conversation from the next table, which had briefly paused.
“Unni, where did you buy songpyeon this year?”
“You know the rice cake shop at the bottom of the apartment complex? There.”
“You buy from there every year.”
Aha.
It seemed they’d overheard two young men sitting like blanched spinach, talking about the exact same topics as the middle-aged ladies.
If it were me, and two elementary school kids were drinking misugaru at the next table while…….
talking about whether this year’s new student recruitment would go well?
Who knows. I wonder if we’ll be able to fill the quota.
……I would have looked over too.
“……Should we buy some songpyeon too?”
“I’d like that.”
Feeling oddly embarrassed, I wrapped things up with Bak Juu and slipped out of the cafe.
* * *
The quick-footed people had already done their shopping, so there weren’t many songpyeon left, but Bak Juu and I successfully procured some.
Having enjoyed the jeon and songpyeon, we headed to the Han River at 10 p.m. to pay off the karmic debt of songpyeon—five of which contained the calories of a full bowl of rice.
If you eat, now you have to run.
Since the gym was closed for the long weekend, running along the Han River was our only option.
We were warming up with the resolve to run for roughly two hours when a phone rang. Bak Juu pulled out the personal phone he’d received as a vacation souvenir from his pocket.
“Uh…….”
Bak Juu faltered after checking the screen.
“What? A public survey number?”
“No. My aunt is calling……. Hyung, do you mind if I take this……?”
“Why are you asking me for permission? Pick up, quickly!”
Making an elder wait for your call. If it were Manager Nam, he would have rained down thunder the moment I picked up.
‘Assistant Manager Kim! Did you put away your phone to brew soup?! Why aren’t you answering immediately!’
‘What were you doing not answering, Assistant Manager Kim? What if I was calling about something extremely important?’
……I should have heard such things once or twice.
And those calls weren’t even for work purposes. The reasons were varied, but I didn’t want to recall them one by one.
I pressed Bak Juu, asking what he was doing not answering the phone already.
Unable to win against my urging, Bak Juu answered the phone with a sour expression.