I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 59
Jaewoo laughed. Hyunjin laughed himself at the sight without realizing it. The entire night had been magical. His heart pounded as he remembered what had happened.
They’d laughed and joked around as they walked, arriving at the movie theater quickly. The movie theater was small, but it was fully equipped, and located in the city. Naturally, it also sold popcorn and other snacks. Jaewoo stared at the variety available and asked.
“Do you want some popcorn? I’ll treat you today, since you invited me to the movie!”
Hyunjin nodded silently. Before he’d met Jaewoo, he never could have imagined something like this happening. There was a time when accepting any sort of favor from someone else would have made his skin crawl, and the fact that he’d been forced to accept such kindness in order to survive was agonizing. But now, he understood. The fact that Jaewoo wanted to help him without expecting anything in return – he was inexpressibly grateful for that.
“Let’s see, I think I’m going to have some caramel popcorn. What about you?”
“I like garlic flavored.”
“Then give me half caramel and half garlic! What about something to drink?”
“I’ll have a coke.”
“I’ll have one too!”
Jaewoo seemed like he was in a good mood; every time he spoke, his voice sounded excited. Hyunjin held the two cups of Coke in both hands as he watched Jaewoo take the large bucket of popcorn.
“Let’s see, we’re in theater 4.”
The time was 7:45, and the movie started in 15 minutes.
“Seating is beginning for !”1
The voice of an employee came over the intercom, and people began to move.
“Oh, that’s our movie. Let’s go.”
Hyunjin walked carefully, holding the two cups of soda. He’d worked as a server many times over the course of his life, but today, his body felt strangely clumsy. Maybe it was because it was his first time in a movie theater.
As soon as they got inside, Jaewoo took a seat, placed the popcorn on his lap, and held out his hands. As Hyunjin stared at him blankly, not knowing what he wanted, Jaewoo whispered to him.
“I’ll hold the cokes for a second.”
Hyunjin silently handed the cups to Jaewoo and took his own seat before Jaewoo passed Hyunjin’s soda back.
“Does scary stuff freak you out?”
Hyunjin couldn’t help but feel a bit worried at Jaewoo’s question. Did it seem like Hyunjin was scared? He didn’t know if he liked scary movies or not – he’d never seen one before. He’d watched movies in school a few times, but he always ended up dozing off part way through. He’d had to work so hard that it had taken all his strength just to stay conscious during lessons. The truth was, Hyunjin barely knew any movies.
“I don’t know.”
Hyunjin whispered back to Jaewoo, and then leaned closer to make sure he could hear any response. Jaewoo’s ears were so pretty, Hyunjin had to resist the urge to touch them. He didn’t want to do anything to mar this magical night.
“What about you?”
“I’m great at horror movies.”
Jaewoo answered confidently.
‘Ah, I guess he must watch a lot of horror films.’
It was just a small thing, but Hyunjin felt happy that he was getting to know Jaewoo a little better. He wanted to know more and more about him. The desire that he’d been suppressing began to creep forward again. It made him feel almost out of control, but he couldn’t stop his feelings.
“Are they fun?”
Hyunjin kept talking to Jaewoo just to hear more of his voice.
“Shh, the movie’s starting now.”
The last commercial ended, and the movie began. didn’t seem any different from a typical horror movie. Some eerie music would play, a ghost would pop out, and without fail, the people watching would scream.
‘Are people really scared of something like this?’
Hyunjin stared at the screen blankly. Then something touched his arm, and he looked over to see Jaewoo nudging the popcorn bucket towards him. Only then did he reach out and grab some to eat. The salty popcorn was tastier than he’d expected, but it wasn’t just that. Every so often he’d taste a stray caramel piece that had fallen across the partition. Sweet and salty, salty and sweet. The combination of the two was fantastic.
‘Why are there so many on this side of the barrier?’
Hyunjin glanced over at the bucket carefully, and realized.
‘Jaewoo’s scared.’
Contrary to his confident proclamation that he loved watching horror movies, Jaewoo flinched every time a ghost appeared on the screen. Every time that happened, the popcorn container trembled and shook. No wonder the flavors were mixed together.
‘Maybe I should offer to hold the bucket instead?’
Hyunjin was silently moving his hand over to the armrest when a sudden close up of a ghost appeared on the screen.
“Augh!”
Letting out a small shriek, Jaewoo grabbed for the armrest, and found himself holding Hyunjin’s hand instead. Hyunjin blinked his eyes silently. He couldn’t bring himself to look directly at their clasped hands, staring straight ahead at the screen, completely frozen by the warmth rushing through him from his hand.
Once the ghost scene had passed, Jaewoo suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing. He looked embarrassed and tried to take his hand back, but Hyunjin didn’t want to let go. As soon as Jaewoo started to draw back, he reached out and grabbed his hand again, squeezing it before it could leave. Then he whispered to him.
“It’s scary.”
Jaewoo’s hands, which had been as stiff as a block of wood, loosened up, squeezing him back.
“Ah, yeah? It’s a bit scary.”
Jaewoo’s voice sounded a bit apologetic before he lapsed into silence.
‘My brother’s hand…’
From the moment Jaewoo had reached for him back, Hyunjin wasn’t able to concentrate on the movie. Every nerve in his body was focused on their joined hands. He wanted this moment to last forever.
‘That won’t happen, though.’
Hyunjin smiled bitterly. When the movie ended, their joined hands split apart once more. Hyunjin mourned the loss of Jaewoo’s warmth.
“Oh, that was fun.”
Jaewoo stretched his back and stood up.
“Let’s buy another bucket of popcorn on our way out. We can give it to the kids.”
“Sounds good.”
The two bought another bucket of popcorn and put it in the shopping bag that they’d brought with them. Thinking of how happy Hyeonu and Woohee would be made them feel proud.
“How did you like the movie?”
Hyunjin answered Jaewoo’s question with a smile.
“It was fun.”
Hyung, it really was. Anything he did with Jaewoo was fun. Hyunjin swallowed back the words he wanted to say and said something else instead.
“I want to see another one with you sometime.”
“Great! It’s good to enjoy things like this occasionally.”
Jaewoo answered quickly. Hyunjin didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, but either way it hurt. But Hyunjin was so weak for him that he had no choice but to endure it. If it was Jaewoo, Hyunjin couldn’t help but like it.
The evening felt too short as the time flew by.
Jaewoo was satisfied with Hyunjins responses. After all the hardships he’d been through, all Jaewoo wanted to do was give him even a little smidgeon of pleasure. In that sense, their outing to the movies had been a success. The atmosphere between them had improved. As they were heading home with their shopping bag full of popcorn, Jaewoo’s phone suddenly began to ring.
‘I wasn’t expecting a call?’
Confused, Jaewoo picked up his phone and saw an unfamiliar number. It wasn’t even Mujin calling him.
‘Should I answer it?’
He asked himself that question for only a moment. Hyunjin was watching him. It was less awkward for him to just pick up. Jaewoo pressed the call button on his phone.
“Good evening?”
A chuckle came through the phone.
‘What?’
Was this a prank call? Just as Jaewoo thought that and was about to hang up, a familiar voice was heard.
─ Why haven’t you called me?
It was Jiheon. Jaewoo looked at his phone with a confused expression – he’d never actually promised to call him. He put the phone back up to his ear again.
“Why did you call?”
─ Am I not allowed to call you?
“I didn’t think you had any reason to.”
─ Don’t I? Most friends call each other a lot.
Jaewoo was shocked to hear those words.
“Are we that sort of friend?”
─ Of course. Should I just not talk to you?
“Would that be okay?”
─ Sure.
“Okay. Then I’m hanging up.”
Jaewoo responded without hesitation and hung up his phone.
“Who did you hang up on like that?”
There really wasn’t any excuse that Jaewoo could give to Hyunjin. Maybe that was why he settled on the words that Jiheon had been using this whole time.
“A friend.”
“A friend… Was it the person from last time? The one that answered the phone that time when you were drunk?”
“Um? Uh huh.”
“It’s so late, why did he call you now?”
Before Jaewoo could answer Hyunjin’s question, his phone rang a second time. When he looked at the screen, it was the same number again. Should he just decline the call? On the other hand, Jiheon was someone that willingly hung out with Mujin. He was probably just as crazy as Mujin too. It was better for him to try to end things politely, just in case. Jaewoo let out a quiet sigh and picked up the phone again.
─ Why did you hang up?
“It’s almost time for me to retire, so I can’t speak for long.”
─ Don’t you normally go to bed late?
“No, I go to bed early.”
─ You liar. You always stay up past midnight.
Jiheon wasn’t wrong, but that had been the old Jaewoo, in his previous world. The current Jaewoo always fell asleep before midnight. Instantly, Jaewoo’s arms erupted in goosebumps. He tried to remain calm and respond to Jiheon.
“I’m not lying.”
─ Hmm, are you sure about that?
A sly voice came from the other end of the phone.
─ Jaewoo.
“Huh?”
─ See you next week.
“What? Why?”
─ I have something I need to tell you, and it doesn’t seem like now is a good time. Is your friend next to you? The one that you live with.
What was this, was he stalking them? Jaewoo glanced over at Hyunjin, walking silently next to him.
─ See you next time, then.
The call suddenly hung up. As Jaewoo was staring at his phone in bewilderment, Hyunjin spoke up again.
“Are you very close with that person?”
No, actually they weren’t close at all. The problem was he couldn’t tell Hyunjin that.
“I mean, we’re friends, you know?”
“But you sounded kind of formal with him.”2
“It’s because my friend is a bit older than me. It was awkward talking to him again after such a long time.”
Fortunately, that part seemed to make sense. Hyunjin didn’t seem too bothered by his use of formal language. But then it seemed as if another question occurred to him.
“I guess I didn’t realize because I’ve never had a friend before. Is that what friends are supposed to be like?”
Until now, Hyunjin had been living such a hard life. Because of that, he hadn’t been able to make friends properly, and so he’d grown up without having any. Jaewoo was familiar with how that felt.
“Actually, I don’t have many friends either, so I’m not sure. To me, I think a friend is someone who brings something positive to your life.”
“Something positive…”
Hyunjin repeated Jaewoo’s words.
“So for you, that’s what friends are, huh?”
“Mmhm.”
At those words, Hyunjin laughed, an unreadable expression on his face. Half of the streetlights on their path were broken, and within a step or two Hyunjin’s face was shrouded in darkness, making it impossible for Jaewoo to see his facial expressions anymore.
“I hope I can be that kind of person to you, Jaewoo.”
Around the time they got home, Hyunjin said that.
Footnotes
통곡 – tonggok – bitter weeping, wailing, lamentations. I decided “Wail of Sorrow” sounded like a good horror movie title.
하지만 존댓말을 썼잖아요 – hajiman jondaesmal-eul sseossjanh-ayo – “But you used honorifics.” Throughout the course of their conversations, although moreso in the first one, Jaewoo used formal language when speaking with Jiheon. This is hard to get across in English, so I mostly just tried to make him sound slightly more formal than normally would have.
