Chapter 26: Aladdin in a Vest

Tae-young, catching a glimpse of himself in the camera, squeezed his eyes shut as if confronted with an unbearable sight.

“Damn it. I look like Aladdin.”

“Oh? Right, that’s it!”

Seo Yeon-ho exclaimed, his face clearing as if Tae-young had just scratched an itch he didn’t even know he had.

“I knew you reminded me of something, but it was Aladdin in a vest.”

Tae-young’s face twisted into a sour expression.

His features became so menacing that if the Inwangsan carving on Seo Yeon-ho’s arm were placed beside him, they would appear to be brothers.

“Amusing, isn’t it?”

Just as Seo Yeon-ho was about to retort, ‘Why wouldn’t it be amusing?’, Tae-young ripped off his vest and slammed it onto the table.

“Why throw it? Are you trying to show off your nasty temper?”

“Do I look like I wouldn’t get angry? Or simply stop laughing.”

Tae-young, bristling with irritation, took a long drag from his cigarette.

Seo Yeon-ho subtly observed Tae-young, wondering if he had teased him too much.

Despite his imposing physique, Tae-young was surprisingly prone to sulking, quite apart from his foul temper.

‘Could he be the youngest child at home?’

As Seo Yeon-ho put his vest back on, Tae-young pressed his cigarette, burned down to the filter, into the ashtray and asked,

“What happened with you, then?”

“Huh?”

“You said something crappy happened, didn’t you?”

Why had the topic suddenly veered back to that?

Seo Yeon-ho, wearing an awkward expression, scratched above his eyebrow with his thumb.

His earlier attempt to interrogate Tae-young had inadvertently led him to confess that something had happened to himself.

“It’s just… things got complicated, a tangled mess.”

“I can tell things are tangled just by looking at your face.”

Tae-young pulled out a fresh cigarette, put it in his mouth, and then gestured for Seo Yeon-ho to come closer.

Presumably, he wanted Seo Yeon-ho to light it for him, just as Seo Yeon-ho had done for him earlier.

“It’s so obvious, you could tell even if you just drove by.”

Seo Yeon-ho felt his mouth go dry.

Tae-young, having whispered his cryptic words, subtly flicked the cigarette up and down.

It was as if he was personally instructing Seo Yeon-ho to bring the lighter to it.

Seo Yeon-ho gripped the armrest tightly and slowly leaned forward.

He couldn’t be sure if it was his imagination, but Tae-young’s cologne, previously obscured by the chocolate scent, began to resurface.

Tae-young and Seo Yeon-ho’s knees touched.

Following the cologne, the scent of hairspray and wax, which Seo Yeon-ho hadn’t noticed before, now assaulted his senses.

Seo Yeon-ho tensed not only the hand gripping the armrest but also his feet confined within his sneakers.

If he were to light Tae-young’s cigarette now, he would see him inhale up close, and that felt like it would be too strange.

An alarm blared in Seo Yeon-ho’s mind.

Convinced this was wrong, he pulled back, then crushed the cigarette into the ashtray, extinguishing it.

“Hey, what are you doing? I asked you to light it, and you just put it out?”

Tae-young shot up from his seat.

He seemed to think Seo Yeon-ho had done this to spite him.

To prevent Tae-young’s misunderstanding from deepening, Seo Yeon-ho quickly pulled out his lighter.

“Now that I think about it, I have a lighter too.”

He set it down on the table with a sharp *clack*, and Tae-young’s gaze shifted to the lighter.

“You’re really something. Can’t even remember you have a lighter. Are you an idiot?”

Tae-young muttered a soft curse under his breath, then picked up the lighter.

Click.

In the dark alley, an orange flame ignited, and white, chocolate-scented smoke swirled around Tae-young.

“Anyway, don’t try to gloss over it. If you’re going to talk, say it properly. Unless you’re trying to drive me crazy with curiosity.”

“Hmm. The idea of driving you crazy with curiosity is rather tempting.”

“Seo Yeon-ho.”

A shiver ran down Seo Yeon-ho’s spine when Tae-young called his name.

To escape this unfamiliar sensation, Seo Yeon-ho blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You’re surprisingly nosy, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I can’t stand not knowing. I’ve gone through some crappy things because of it, but I still haven’t changed.”

Was it curiosity rather than nosiness? Indeed, he did seem to have a highly curious nature.

He was a man overflowing with energy, quick to pick a fight, and full of questions—a person forged by pushing their vibrant ‘yang’ energy to its absolute limit.

Seo Yeon-ho took a deep breath, filling his chest, then spoke.

“My relationships got twisted, and I lost an opportunity to save my career. Or rather, I squandered it?”

Just moments before, Seo Yeon-ho had harbored not even a speck of intention to confide his situation to Tae-young.

While part of it was reluctance to speak to someone he considered an enemy, the fundamental reason was different.

Seo Yeon-ho never complained to others, even when facing difficulties.

He knew confiding in someone wouldn’t solve anything.

Instead of feeling lighter, he only felt guilt for burdening those who listened to his woes.

In that regard, Tae-young was a safe choice.

He was someone Seo Yeon-ho could vent to without feeling an ounce of remorse.

Was this the psychology behind confiding deeply personal worries, unspoken even to loved ones, to a bartender or fortune teller one had never met before?

The certainty that this person wouldn’t be entangled in his life, or perhaps, the certainty that they couldn’t influence it.

Tae-young was nothing more than an extra in Seo Yeon-ho’s life, certainly not even a supporting role.

Seo Yeon-ho rolled his eyes upward, glancing at Tae-young’s reaction, but his expression was unreadable.

It seemed he had asked out of curiosity but now held no real interest.

“Boring, right? Why keep prying, then? Everyone’s lives and worries are pretty much the same.”

“There’s a career in delivery work?”

An unexpected reply came back, making Seo Yeon-ho’s eyes crinkle as he let out a small laugh.

Tae-young’s idiotic remark didn’t even make him angry; it was simply amusing.

“It seems you lack a sense of reality, Tae-young, having only walked on red carpets as a top star.”

“There’s no easy job in this world. Do you think becoming a branch ace is simple?”

Seo Yeon-ho also rose from his seat and offered Tae-young a portable ashtray.

“I don’t need to flick the ash yet?”

“Not the ash, the cigarette. I’m leaving now.”

A look of bewilderment spread across Tae-young’s face.

“Why are you so arbitrary? You said you couldn’t throw away a long cigarette earlier because it was a waste, but can’t you see mine is also long?”

“Wouldn’t you agree that people’s positions change depending on the situation?”

“It’s not a demand. If you don’t like what I’m doing, you don’t have to comply.

But then, you’ll have to deal with your cigarette butt yourself.”

“Not a demand, my ass.”

Tae-young gritted his teeth and flicked the long cigarette, which he’d barely smoked a few puffs of, into the portable ashtray.

Seo Yeon-ho closed the lid and said,

“Let’s never see each other again.”

“Don’t steal my line.”

Tae-young turned first and headed for the driver’s seat.

Seo Yeon-ho listened to the sound of Tae-young’s car starting as he walked up the sloping alley.

“Childish, as always.”

After walking for a while, Seo Yeon-ho chuckled, recalling Tae-young’s frustrated expression at not being the first to say, ‘Let’s never see each other again.’

Given his personality, it was surprising he hadn’t threatened Seo Yeon-ho not to use this convenience store.

Returning home, Seo Yeon-ho took off his vest and caught a faint whiff of Tae-young’s cologne.

Had the scent transferred when Tae-young wore the vest earlier?

It was strange how the cologne had clung to it, given Tae-young had only worn his vest for a brief moment.

Seo Yeon-ho stood still for a long moment, holding the vest, before finally hanging it on a hanger.

He briefly considered washing it, but if he did so now, it likely wouldn’t dry by morning.

Besides, the cologne scent would surely dissipate within a night, or even just an hour or two; no matter how expensive, no perfume lasts forever.

Emerging from the small bathroom after a shower, Seo Yeon-ho meticulously dried his hair before lying down on his comforter.

Whether it was from being clean or from having vented his troubles to the ‘bamboo forest’ of Tae-young, he felt distinctly better than when he had first gotten home from work.

“They say even dog shit has its uses.”

In the darkness, Seo Yeon-ho gazed absently in the direction of the hung vest before drifting off to sleep.

****

Seo Yeon-ho took only one day off a month.

Until early this year, he had worked every day without a break, but feeling his body start to strain, he had begun to allow himself a day of rest.

On his days off, Seo Yeon-ho always cleaned his apartment thoroughly and packed a lunchbox to hike nearby Muaksan Mountain.

Although it was the only day he could sleep in, Seo Yeon-ho always set his alarm for his usual waking hour.

He believed a consistent wake-up time was better for him in the long run.

Even though he cleaned regularly, a deep clean always made him reflect on whether he had been living lazily and messily.

He scrubbed the bathroom vigorously with bleach and aired out his comforter in the sunlight.

While the rooftop was either oppressively hot or bone-chillingly cold depending on the season, the ability to freely dry his bedding was its greatest advantage.

He could also lie sprawled on the flat surface and gaze up at the sky, though today the sky was overcast.

“Is it a good day for hiking?”

Seo Yeon-ho shook off the temptation to keep lying down and promptly got up.

There was much to prepare for a mountain trip.

He filled a thermos with hot water and made rice balls with ingredients from home, placing them in a disposable lunchbox.

He hadn’t bought the lunchbox; he had gotten it for free from a regular delivery affiliate that was about to discard it due to minor defects.

After packing the thermos, lunchbox, instant coffee, and emergency medicine, he changed into his hiking clothes.

His hat and hiking clothes were either received as donations at a flea market or bought secondhand.

His trekking poles, backpack, and goggles came from Bang Hyo-jun, and his hiking boots were hand-me-downs from Son Eun-hee.

Seo Yeon-ho received the hiking boots from Son Eun-hee because, for a man, he had relatively small feet.

Bang Hyo-jun, with his size 265 feet, found the boots uncomfortable no matter how tightly he laced them.

The couple, Son Eun-hee and Bang Hyo-jun, spared no expense in providing Seo Yeon-ho with hiking gear.

It was bait from seasoned hikers, eager to reel a newbie into the world of mountaineering.

Perhaps thanks to their efforts, Seo Yeon-ho quickly developed an interest in hiking.

However, their schedules rarely aligned, so they had only hiked together once.

Since that first ascent of Inwangsan with the Son Eun-hee and Bang Hyo-jun couple, Seo Yeon-ho had always climbed alone.

For Son Eun-hee and Bang Hyo-jun, who had introduced Seo Yeon-ho to hiking specifically to share the experience, it was a rather bittersweet happy ending.