“···Hmm.”
The first day off after returning from Liverpool.
Sitting in the passenger seat with my arms crossed, I gaze out the window.
The weather is quite nice.
It had been raining but stopped, clearing up, and the sun is peeking its head out.
I’m not especially fond of rain, but I like the feeling of this moment.
The faint scent of rain brushing against my nose, the scenery of sunlight shining on damp ground—there’s a certain charm to it, you could say.
After it rains, everything feels one shade fresher.
···No.
But when on earth is this car going to leave?
“···Aren’t we going?”
“We are. Just wait.”
“I feel like we should have left by now···”
“Ah, I told you to wait. Hmm··· I don’t think I forgot anything. Side mirror’s good···”
Was Jiu always such a meticulous person?
Seeing that she still looks nowhere near ready to depart, I look out the window again.
Usually, watching someone prepare so carefully should inspire confidence.
I don’t know why I only feel more and more anxious right now.
If it were a normal day off, I’d still be in bed at this hour, but today Jiu dragged me out, rubbing my eyes as I left the house.
Something had come up downtown, so we decided to go together.
And of all things··· in a car driven by Jiu.
Unlike me, who had temporarily put off getting a driver’s license—it’s not that I gave up; I really just postponed it because we’re in season—Jiu said she steadily studied and practiced alongside everything else and got hers.
They say it’s really difficult to get a driver’s license in the UK.
It’s a mystery how Jiu, who hasn’t been able to leave for ten minutes now, managed to pass.
So I seriously asked her several times how she passed, and I got smacked on the forearm.
Thanks to that, the urge to ask is burning like a chimney even now, but I’m holding it in.
We should be able to get there today, right?
“Phew. I think I’m good. I’ll head out now.”
“Yeah.”
“We’re really leaving?”
“···Yeah.”
What a relief.
So we are going today after all.
Hmm.
So, to explain where we’re going right now—Dad and Jiu had checked out a small shop, so we were going there.
It’s not exactly downtown, but somewhere close to home, just a place where shops are gathered.
Honestly, since Dad is there, I don’t really need to go check or verify anything.
But still, I should see where it is.
Since it’s my day off, I was going with the idea of just dropping by······
“···Urk.”
“Le-let’s go. Hehe.”
···Should I just say I’ll stay home and rest instead, even now?
Jiu laughs hehe as if embarrassed, but this doesn’t feel like something to laugh off.
There’s no need to pull away so violently that my head snaps back, is there?
I’m beginning to doubt.
The thing about UK driver’s licenses being incredibly strict.
“Hey, hey. You don’t need to hold that. I’m warmed up now. It’s always like this at first.”
“···Can I trust you?”
“Of course. Don’t you trust your noona?”
“I trust you in everything else, but today is a bit···”
“Trust me. Trust me and put your hand down. You’re getting on my nerves.”
What does she mean, getting on her nerves.
Slowly, I release the overhead handle that I’d been gripping without realizing.
Is it not allowed to hold on just in case?
I feel like I’d be more at ease just holding onto it.
“See? I told you I was warmed up, right?”
“···I get it, so watch the road.”
“I’m good at this, I told you. Have you ever seen something your noona can’t do?”
Well, maybe she really has relaxed a bit.
She takes the curve out of the house parking lot and onto the road quite smoothly.
I don’t particularly want to admit it, but it’s true that I’ve never seen Jiu truly unable to do something.
She was quite good at studying from a young age, and better at sports than most boys.
That’s why I put up with her “noona this, noona that” act.
“···How many minutes did you say it takes?”
“About 15? It’s close. That’s how long it took the first time I went, so we should get there faster today.”
“Go slowly.”
“Getting cocky? You don’t even have a license.”
I shake my head and look out the window.
By the way.
The scenery of this neighborhood is gradually becoming quite familiar.
A little further down, there’s a convenience store.
Across from it is a small clothing store, and if you turn the corner, it leads to the main road.
Well, if you’re asking whether this place feels completely like home, like Florence did, honestly it still doesn’t.
Maybe it’s because the people here don’t have that warm, personable temperament like Italians do.
In Italy, even strangers treated me like family, but the people here aren’t like that.
Perhaps that’s why it still doesn’t feel quite like my own home yet.
Still, considering how long I’ve been here, that’s only natural, and perhaps I’m actually adapting faster.
As expected, is who you’re with more important than where you are?
If I had come here with just my busy dad, I wonder if it would have felt unfamiliar even after several days.
I wouldn’t have spent my days off walking around and taking in the streets like this, nor would I have thought to settle my heart here.
I’m sure even the people passing by would have seemed frightening.
Anyway.
Come to think of it, everything seems to depend on my heart.
Depending on whether my heart is open or closed, even the things surrounding me······
“···Ack!”
Thud.
The impact, enough to jolt my hips, sends all stray thoughts flying.
“···Hehe. Sorry. I went over that a bit harder than I thought.”
When I glare beside me, Jiu is smiling sheepishly again.
Goodness.
Who jumps over a speed bump like that?
I realize anew how great Dad was for teaching Jiu to drive without ever getting angry at her like this.
If she weren’t so pretty, I would have given her a piece of my mind.
···Right.
*
“···But hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it normally like this here? There’s so much honking.”
“W-well? I think it’s usually like this?”
“···Is it?”
“Yeah. Probably···”
Jiu’s answer is far from reassuring.
Before I know it, we’ve reached a four-lane road on the main street.
She said we’d arrive in about 10 minutes, but the more we drive, the more the estimated arrival time is delayed—a magic we’re experiencing.
I wonder if it’s just my imagination that I’ve been hearing horns honking only from behind us since earlier.
There are quite a lot of cars on the road.
While everyone else is driving quietly, is it really my imagination that only the cars behind us are honking?
“···Don’t get flustered.”
“Huh? Me? I’m fine, though?”
The reason I can’t say anything is that though she’s pretending to be nonchalant, anyone can see she’s extremely nervous.
If I tell her to hurry up for no reason, it feels like she might burst into tears, so I’ve been keeping quiet.
I just hope we arrive without any incident, but···
Beep-!
“···!”
Startled by the horn blaring right beside me, I flinch hard enough that my shoulders jump.
Wondering what it is, I turn my head to see a fairly large car driving right beside us.
And it keeps honking.
“Wh-what? Is it doing that to us?”
“I don’t know either···”
Anyone can see it’s directed at us.
I want to grit my teeth and pretend I don’t know.
It’s scary.
Please just go···
“···!”
But that earnest wish is shattered in an instant.
The car driving right beside us goes beyond honking—the driver’s side window begins to smoothly roll down.
I steal a sidelong glance··· It’s a really scary-looking man.
He looks like someone I couldn’t make eye contact with if I met him on a dark night.
Of all people.
“──!”
···He’s saying something.
He starts yelling something, even pointing his finger.
No, even if Jiu was going at a crawling speed.
I wonder if it was something to go that far over, but of course I don’t have the courage to roll down my window and argue back.
I just wait, hoping he’ll go away first, but when I sneak a peek at Jiu’s expression, the thought that we’re in big trouble flashes through my mind.
“Wh-what should I do? Should I go forward?”
I think this is the first time I’ve seen Jiu so flustered.
She’s so flustered she doesn’t know what to do—it’s almost visible that cold sweat is running down.
At this rate, something really bad might happen.
···He wouldn’t hit us, would he.
Hoo.
I exhale deeply, blow courage into my index finger, and lower the passenger window.
Then the voice that had been jabbering something becomes clear, and I gulp, turning my head···
“Fuc··· uh?”
The voice that had been grating against my eardrums suddenly cuts off.
At the same time, the man’s face, which had seemed nothing but frightening, goes blank for an instant, then brightens—not merely gentle, but radiant as sunlight breaking through the clouds.
“Oh my days, Lee!”
···Am I saved?
My name comes out of the man’s mouth.
He seems to know me.
No, he even seems to be a Man City fan.
“So, sorry! I didn’t know······”
Whether he’s overly excited or talking too fast, I can’t quite make it out.
Anyway, the man seems to be saying he’s my fan, and that he’s sorry—he never imagined I’d be in the car even in his dreams.
Then, saying he’d do something I didn’t even ask, he falls back behind us.
“I got your back!”
I don’t know what he’s doing, but the man’s car pulls in behind us.
Is he trying to protect us or something?
I don’t really know, but I feel relieved that the man at least doesn’t seem to be a Man United fan.
“···I think we can go slowly now.”
“O-oh. R-really?”
For now, I roll the window back up.
I try to calm Jiu, who is still flustered.
Since she doesn’t seem to calm down easily, I say something to reassure her.
“Don’t worry and go slowly. If anyone says anything, I’ll step in. You saw, right? Everyone moves aside just by seeing my face.”
“···Yeah. Okay.”
···Hmm.
Actually, my heart is still pounding too.
When I sneak a glance behind through the rearview mirror, I see the car slowly following us as if protecting us, which is funny in a way.
Perhaps the people here are only like that on the outside, and inside they might be warmer than I thought.
···
Dad once said something like that.
That as you grow older year by year, time goes by really quickly.
He said that in the blink of an eye, a week or a month passes, and before you know it, a year has gone by.
I don’t really know what that has to do with age, but anyway, that’s what he said.
But if that saying comes to mind these days, is it proof that I’m getting older?
Come to think of it, I’m already eighteen.
It feels like just yesterday I left Korea holding Dad’s hand, but that was when I was thirteen.
Goodness.
I’m getting old too, getting old.
Maybe that’s why time rushes by so frantically.
After the away match at Liverpool, we played four consecutive home matches.
In League Rounds 13 and 14, we faced teams called Crystal Palace and Everton.
In between, we played the FA Cup Third Round match, and finally the Champions League group stage match.
Thankfully, during that time, we never disappointed the home fans even once.
We won all of them, securing 3 points or advancement to the next round.
However.
If you’re asking whether only good things as good as the match results filled that time, I suppose you could say that wasn’t the case.
There were a few not-so-good pieces of news as well.
First, there was news that De Bruyne’s return might be a bit later than expected.
Well, there wasn’t a major problem with his recovery, but they said they couldn’t help but be careful since he had reinjured the area that was hurt before.
They said in the worst case, they couldn’t guarantee a return until December, so for now we have to wait and see.
Perhaps thanks to that, the coach has been coming to talk to me more often.
That said, it’s not that we talked about various topics; the coach mostly aired light complaints to me.
Among those complaints were also ones about Haaland.
Surprisingly, it was because Haaland had only managed a single goal over the last four matches.
Even the coach, who knows everything about football, said he didn’t know the reason.
The reason the goalpost had suddenly become blocked.
Even to me it was incomprehensible—Haaland’s body looked light even while he couldn’t score.
It’s just that the goals wouldn’t go in.
He even missed easy chances to the point it was almost fascinating.
The player I know him to be is absolutely not like that.
So even as I couldn’t figure out the reason.
The coach told me something absurd.
It was truly absurd, and what it was—
since he wasn’t a forward by trade and couldn’t give direct advice about scoring, he asked me to say something instead.
Me, of all people.
To Haaland, of all people.
Telling me to give Haaland advice on scoring.
···It was without a doubt the most absurd thing I’d ever heard in my life.