Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter (Prologue)

Im Jeong-woo

“Huh? What did you say?”

The person who had been distracted again asked back. A pale, white face suddenly emerged from behind a box full of beer bottles.

“I didn’t hear what you said. What are you going to do now?”

Seo Gi-hyeon, despite his slender frame, had single-handedly moved all those bottles and now wore a relieved expression. He hadn’t properly heard a single thing I’d said so far.

It wasn’t just that he hadn’t heard; he clearly hadn’t caught even one sentence.

Seo Gi-hyeon was always like that. It was the same when I confessed I was adopted, when I said I’d found my birth parents, and when I explained who they were.

He would act distracted, almost as if on purpose, and then when the story ended, he’d simply say, ‘Oh, really?’

After hearing that monotonous reply, even things I’d worried about for years would feel utterly meaningless, as if they were nothing at all. It was then that I would realize.

Rather than wanting someone to empathize with my pain, I had secretly wished for them to tell me it wasn’t a big deal, that it was nothing significant.

When I was with Seo Gi-hyeon, everything I worried about seemed trivial. My lifelong loneliness, my sense of alienation, even my alarming obsession.

Would it be the same today?

“I said I hoped we could date now.”

“…Huh? Who? Who’s dating whom now?”

Even now, Seo Gi-hyeon was talking nonsense. Since he hadn’t heard properly, he couldn’t have understood, and there was no hint of doubt in his subsequent questions.

“What? Who is it, you said?”

Who else? Seeing him press me now, pretending to be interested, made me smile inwardly.

Seo Gi-hyeon was simple and honest. Because of that, my hidden, darker true feelings became increasingly difficult to reveal to him. But just as everything has an end, my patience, which I had endured for so long, finally reached its limit.

An indifferent voice spontaneously slipped out.

“You and me.”

Let’s see. Will you still be unfazed this time?

****

Seo Gi-hyeon had always been like that.

From the moment he suddenly appeared in our scorching summer, maddeningly boring neighborhood.

[Jon, I’m going to the supermarket soon. Would you like to come along?]

[Unless you need someone to carry groceries, I’ll stay home.]

[Really? Ray and Tom will surely be disappointed.]

[Please tell them I’ll go next time. I want to practice basketball alone.]

The host family I was staying with at the time wasn’t bad at all. While their living environment and diet were ordinary, the most important aspect—the family members themselves—were quite wonderful.

The bushy-bearded father and red-haired mother were kind, and their two sons were also bright and cheerful. This family, so perfect it was almost unbelievable, always did their best as hosts.

Usually, when doing a homestay, various complaints are bound to arise, but until then, I hadn’t found any particular inconveniences.

[My husband will be home late today. You’ll be alone until then, is that alright?]

[Of course. Absolutely.]

The reason I couldn’t find any inconveniences was further intensified by the fact that at the time, only they and I lived in that house. Typically, homestay families accommodate several international students at once.

However, this particular family had accepted only me. I didn’t know if that was always their practice, or if the study abroad agency, which had received several times the usual fee from my parents, had arranged it that way.

Thanks to this, the number of people I had to interact with was reduced, and I adapted to the unfamiliar environment quite quickly. The frustration caused by the language barrier also eased somewhat after half a year.

My solo journey studying abroad had a slight loneliness, but no real difficulties.

Looking back now, it was all possible because I was young. I had no idea how daunting the future reality would be, or how many things I would have to navigate alone.

[Well, I’ll be back then.]

Unable to overcome my stubbornness, the mother eventually left the house with only her two sons.

[If anything happens, be sure to call me.]

[Don’t worry and have a good trip.]

[And it’s hotter than usual today, so practice in moderation, then come in and rest. Don’t forget to hydrate in between.]

[Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.]

In truth, basketball was just an excuse; I simply wanted some alone time while everyone was out. But the mother, unaware of my true intentions, poured out a stream of worries before ultimately taking out a bright blue sports drink from the refrigerator.

“……”

After seeing the three off, a profound silence settled over the empty house. The long-awaited tranquility was welcome, but with nothing to do, it felt a little awkward. Unable to wander aimlessly, I stood by the entrance for a long time.

‘What should I do now?’

With the slow internet here, even with a computer, I could barely play the basic card games installed on Windows. I had neither talent nor interest in the single console game available.

Watching TV or reading books also had its limits, so no matter how hard I looked, there was nothing to do inside the house. Going outside didn’t offer much either. Even a walk in the quiet residential area was boring.

All I could see were the houses next door and across the street, the rows of homes beyond them, and a small community pool.

Eventually, after pacing here and there, I sat on the sofa and turned on the TV, though I had no intention of watching it. As I zoned out, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

‘Maybe I should have just gone with them.’

I hadn’t realized vacation would be so tedious. In a way, it was a continuous weekend, yet it was poles apart from the weekends I so eagerly awaited during the semester. It was, truly, maddeningly boring.

‘No. It might have been better if I had stayed in Korea.’

The thought that I might die of boredom made me resent myself for stubbornly insisting on returning two weeks early.

[Look at this. Every drop of sweat in the world has value.]

The TV screen showed an advertisement whose meaning I couldn’t grasp. Several basketball players ran tirelessly, then suddenly struck serious poses in a strange commercial. At the end, a bright blue drink bottle popped up.

It was the very drink the mother had conspicuously placed on the counter.

“Haa…”

I turned my head, and on the shoe rack, an identical drink bottle stood rigidly, as if waiting for someone.

‘…Alright. I might as well warm up my body.’

A hidden sense of guilt, stirred by the random commercial, surfaced, and I finally got up. I hesitated, wondering if I should go upstairs to change, but instead, I put on my sneakers in my current clothes and went outside. As expected, it was the worst possible weather, with not a breath of wind.

Thump. Thump.

Under the blazing sun, I bounced the basketball listlessly. Standing alone on the hot ground in this sweltering heat, it felt as if not a single ant lived in this large residential complex. In a way, it was only natural.

I was probably the only person who would come outside in such weather. I continued the uninteresting dribbling practice, intending to only do it for a very short while before going back inside. I didn’t know if it was because of the heat or the extreme boredom, but no thoughts entered my mind as long as the basketball was in my hands.

It was during this meaningless practice.

“…Huh?”

At the sudden sound of a voice, I instinctively cradled the bouncing ball. Turning my head towards where the sound came from, I saw someone staring intently at me from a short distance away.

“……”

“……”

With bright yellow hair and fair skin, the scrawny boy wore an oversized T-shirt that looked as if he’d stolen his older brother’s. He appeared a head shorter than me. However, due to the distance, his face wasn’t clearly visible.

‘Did he move in recently?’

If he lived in this neighborhood, I should have seen him passing by, but his appearance from afar wasn’t even slightly familiar.

Since he hadn’t spoken to me directly, I didn’t feel the need to respond. I met his gaze for a moment, then turned my head away. ‘He’s probably just passing by anyway,’ I thought, when suddenly, the other person’s feet moved. There was no hesitation in his approaching footsteps.

‘…What is it?’

The boy, who had drawn closer to me, suddenly crossed his arms and asked,

“Are you, by any chance, Korean?”

To my surprise, the words that came from his mouth were Korean—a language rarely heard in this neighborhood; in fact, it was the first time I’d heard it.

“……”

The affirmative didn’t immediately leave my lips. The first reason was my surprise at meeting a fellow Korean so suddenly, and the second was how excessively unreserved the other person was in approaching me.

But in that moment, he took another step closer, revealing his neatly aligned teeth in a wide grin.

“I’m bored, let’s play together!”

Completely ‘my way.’

That was my first encounter with Seo Gi-hyeon.