Chapter 9: The Unspoken Agreement

“I’ll probably keep going there too.”

“…Probably?”

“My parents and I haven’t finished talking about it yet.”

“What do you mean, ‘haven’t finished talking’?”

Seo Gi-hyeon’s tone was by no means aggressive. He seemed genuinely curious, with no hint of accusation.

Yet, my conscience pricked me, prompting me to avoid the conversation entirely.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Why later? Just tell me now.”

“It’s nothing much. It’s just not definitively decided yet.”

“So, what do you mean by ‘not decided’?”

However, I had overlooked one crucial detail. Seo Gi-hyeon possessed a tenacious streak.

“Weren’t you planning to graduate high school here?”

“That was the original plan.”

“But what happened? You said before that the situation wouldn’t suddenly change. Are you quitting your studies abroad?”

“No, I’m not quitting my studies abroad. It’s just that my parents asked what I thought about other places, not here.”

“Where? Another state? Or another country? Where did they tell you to go?”

“…What are you talking about?”

The conversation veered strangely off course, suddenly spiraling into absurdity. Hearing such a preposterous suggestion, my jumbled thoughts instantly went blank.

“No, wait a minute. Why are we suddenly talking about other states and other countries?”

“…Huh?”

Seo Gi-hyeon wore a similar expression to mine, as if asking what on earth I was talking about.

“You said your parents recommended another place.”

“Yeah, another school a bit further from here.”

“Ah…”

Having completely misunderstood me until that moment, Seo Gi-hyeon finally grasped what I meant. I, in turn, realized that the ‘here’ Seo Gi-hyeon referred to wasn’t the school we currently attended, but Chicago itself.

“What? That’s what it was?”

Seo Gi-hyeon’s face suddenly brightened, and he let out a sigh of relief.

“I thought you were going somewhere else. That would have been a huge problem.”

“Is another school fine?”

“Yeah, as long as it’s in Chicago, there’s no problem.”

‘Why wouldn’t that be a problem for you?’

I struggled to understand. Even if we were in the same state, attending different schools and seeing each other occasionally was vastly different from attending the same school and seeing each other every day.

Given that the distance would be an hour’s drive, it would clearly become difficult to even meet once a month. This thought brought a wave of bitter disappointment.

‘Even that much is acceptable to him, I see.’

“If you do end up moving, Jeong-woo, let me know beforehand.”

Seo Gi-hyeon put the pizza he was holding back into his mouth and spoke.

“Why?”

“Why, you ask? Because I’d have to move too, of course.”

…What?

The sudden shock instantly swept away my earlier disappointment. It felt as if I had been struck on the head.

Since receiving my parents’ proposal, I had agonized thousands of times over whether to go or not, but not once had I considered that Seo Gi-hyeon might come along.

No, it was only natural not to think of it. I couldn’t possibly know Seo Gi-hyeon’s intentions, and even if he wanted to go, it wasn’t a decision he could make alone.

“You’d move too?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that something you can just decide on your own?”

“Hmm, it probably won’t matter if it’s a school within Chicago. My mom said she’d feel better if I was closer to my uncle’s place than alone. If it’s not another state, it should be fine.”

“……”

I had forgotten another thing.

Seo Gi-hyeon never hesitated in his choices.

‘It’s my life. Even if I’m young, I have to set my own goals.’

Come to think of it, he was the one who had insisted on coming to America and actually did. He was someone who fearlessly tackled challenges others found difficult.

“But which school? Does it have a dorm? If we live in a dorm, can we be in the same room? Or would it be better to just do a homestay in the same area. What are you going to do? Dorm or homestay?”

Listening to the storm of questions, I reflected on my arrogance.

I thought I knew him quite well, but I still didn’t truly know Seo Gi-hyeon. All the worries I’d harbored until now felt utterly futile.

What would Seo Gi-hyeon say if he knew about my foolishness? He would surely say, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Let’s finish eating first, then talk.”

“Alright.”

His cheeks quickly puffed up like a hamster’s. As I reached for my pepperoni pizza, I felt a sharp gaze from somewhere. It suddenly hit me that I had forgotten a crucial detail.

“You jerks. You’re openly excluding us.”

Park Jun-sung and Jang Gi-jae were scowling, one eyebrow raised. Park Jun-sung even shook his head, seemingly upset that we had been conversing amongst ourselves.

“We were clearly all talking together, weren’t we?”

“Didn’t I even ask first what you guys were going to do?”

“You did, you did.”

“But I couldn’t get a word in from beginning to end. Why do you think that is?”

“Indeed, why do you think that is?”

The two clicked their tongues, looking at Seo Gi-hyeon and me simultaneously.

“It sounds like super important stuff, so why don’t you let us in on it? So, you two are both going to different schools, right?”

“Not ‘going,’ but ‘might go’.”

“But Im Jeong-woo, why didn’t you tell us you were going to a different high school sooner?”

“Again, I’m not saying I’m going.”

“Regardless, you didn’t tell us beforehand.”

“I couldn’t because it wasn’t decided. It’s still not completely set.”

“You little punk, you still should’ve said something.”

After I appeased Seo Gi-hyeon, the other two erupted. They weren’t neighbors, but they saw each other every day at school, didn’t they? They ate together five days a week, and complaints poured in from both sides, demanding that we treat them like proper friends.

They were so loud and bothersome that even the slight remorse I felt vanished.

“Oh, sorry.”

The apology slipped out automatically, simply because I wanted them to quiet down. However, those two, quick-witted only in such moments, instantly read my true intentions.

“You don’t look sorry at all… Doesn’t Jeong-woo sometimes speak so soullessly?”

“Yeah, he really does.”

As I listened to them badmouthing me openly, Seo Gi-hyeon, who had been quiet until now, suddenly interjected.

“No, he does. That’s a truly sincere face. Can’t you tell?”

“Uh, no. Not at all.”

“Right, you guys wouldn’t know. But I do.”

His face was filled with baseless confidence.

“Everything Jeong-woo says is sincere. How can a person show all their thoughts on their face? Only simple people do that.”

This implied that he himself was incredibly simple.

“Hey. And how could he have told you guys about the school beforehand? He’s still talking it over with his parents, he said. It’s important, so he probably wanted to wait until it was more definite. Of course, it was a bit wrong not to tell me, but not you guys.”

Once Seo Gi-hyeon’s mouth opened, he unleashed another rapid-fire torrent of words. I had wondered why he was so quiet when there was a chance to interject; it seemed he wanted to speak but had simply postponed it to eat his pizza.

“Come to think of it, I had no reason to apologize. Jeong-woo, take back your apology right now. If you really want to apologize, you can apologize to me a little.”

He said, giving me a playful smile.

The two boys, bombarded by Seo Gi-hyeon’s word-bomb, looked even more dumbfounded than before. It seemed they were thinking, ‘Fine, just do whatever you two want.’

Ultimately, the unexpected commotion passed just like that.

****

Seo Gi-hyeon, whom I had expected to leave with Park Jun-sung and Jang Gi-jae, stood beside me in the entryway, seeing them off. Just like when he arrived, he acted as if he lived in this house.

“What should we do now?”

The next question came so naturally. Even after spending five whole hours together, he seemed to imply that wasn’t nearly enough.

“I’m tired of games.”

“You barely played.”

“That’s why I’m tired of them. Playing is better than watching; watching is ten times more boring.”

And to think he was the one who’d excitedly explained everything. While it didn’t look that way at all, I decided to believe him for now.

“I’m tired.”

As soon as he entered the room, he flopped onto the bed. It was surprising, however, that he showed no intention of going home.

“Then sleep.”

“No, sleeping would be a waste.”

“What’s a waste? You said you were tired.”

“Still, it’s a waste of time when I could be playing during sleep hours.”

“Time is something we have plenty of, anyway.”

At my words, his sprawled body suddenly shot upright.

“Still, time spent with you is precious.”

This was a guy who easily got embarrassed by trivial things, yet he said something like that without a hint of hesitation.

“Hmm, want to watch a movie? I rented a few.”

“Oh, when did you go rent them?”

“I went to Walmart last night.”

“They have a place to rent there?”

“Yeah, inside.”

As I explained the newly appearing kiosk machines, Seo Gi-hyeon’s eyes sparkled. I then described the rented DVDs one by one and asked for his opinion, to which he replied that he wasn’t sure. So, I recommended the most innocuous action movie, and he readily agreed.

The movie opened with the protagonist’s happy childhood. It was a scene of a birthday party, with the main character having grown up in a loving family.

“Doesn’t it feel a bit… off, when they’re too happy?”

“What do you mean?”

“You can practically see the next scene coming. His parents are definitely going to die. Look, that friend of his dad’s will kill them.”

While it was somewhat predictable, Seo Gi-hyeon, who voiced it without a shred of guilt, seemed completely unbothered.

“But don’t you need popcorn for something like this?”

“I’ll be right back. It only takes three minutes, so just keep watching.”

I put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and poured two cups of cola. It took exactly two minutes and fifty seconds.

When I returned to the room, Seo Gi-hyeon, who had claimed time was precious, was fast asleep, oblivious to the world. On the screen, the protagonist’s parents lay on the floor, shot.