#75
The third morning in Fukuoka. We were moving to a suburban village famous for hot springs.
“I’m so jealous…”
Before moving, the production team asked me to choose a partner to share the privilege with.
It would be a lie to say Lee Chan’s behavior didn’t bother me, but I didn’t want to choose him for that reason. I chose Jin Woohyeon as I had originally decided.
“I want the special home-style meal, private outdoor bath, private accommodation too…”
I chuckled at Hwang Yeonwoo’s tearful gaze.
“You weren’t really expecting it anyway, were you?”
“Well, that’s true though.”
That made sense, since Hwang Yeonwoo had maintained a playful attitude throughout while asking to be chosen. Like someone with strong curiosity who enjoys new experiences, he was probably just curious about the privilege.
“Of course I wasn’t seriously expecting it! I do have something called a conscience!”
Didn’t he say there could be no conscience greater than a private outdoor bath?
“I’m not that kind of person, you know? Someone who doesn’t know their place and all that. How could I dare compete with the Alpha hyungs?”
Bae Taeseong came up beside me and put his arm on my shoulder, saying to Hwang Yeonwoo.
“We can use the outdoor bath too. It’s communal though.”
“Wow.”
At those words, Hwang Yeonwoo’s eyes lit up as he raised both arms.
“Amazing. My well-built biceps that I’ve been hiding from our Four-Way Transit family… Ah, Taeseong hyung! How can you just leave when someone’s talking? At least leave Sanho hyung behind!”
“No way.”
Bae Taeseong waved his hands and replied.
“I’m going to make him sit next to me today.”
“Huh?”
This was the first time I’d heard such a thing. When I looked up at him blankly, Bae Taeseong tilted his head and said.
“You’re not going to sit with Jin Woohyeon on the way there too, are you? You’ll be sharing accommodation anyway, so shouldn’t you compromise this much?”
Jin Woohyeon chuckled and answered.
“I don’t mind. If that’s what Sanho hyung wants.”
It was just a couple hours of travel, so what did it matter who sat next to whom…
“Don’t you need to sit with Jiwon hyung?”
“Ah. I got kicked out.”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“He said it’s too cramped sitting with me and told me to get lost. Crazy bastard. He acts like his build is only as big as Jeon Yudam’s.”
Han Jiwon, who had been bringing motion sickness medicine, shot back not to be outdone.
“You take up too much space horizontally, Taeseong. Even sitting still, you’re a volume that loses points, and with that way of speaking too, who would want to sit next to you?”
“Hey. Everyone except you wants to sit there, okay? Who would want to sit next to you? Always making snide remarks. Looking at it, that sarcasm is a habit of yours…”
“Again, they’re fighting again. I get it!”
I clapped my hands to nip their childish argument in the bud.
“You were going to give me that motion sickness medicine, right? Thank you, hyung. On the way there, I’ll sit next to Taeseong hyung and… hmm.”
I stopped talking and stared at him intently, making Bae Taeseong frown.
“What? Did you change your mind because we were fighting too childishly? Still, if you sit with me, there won’t be any reason to fight…”
“No, no. That’s not it.”
I smiled slightly and asked.
“Can I sit by the window?”
* * *
I got to sit by the window as I wished.
The discomfort in my ankle persisted, probably because I’d been moving around so much. Thanks to Jin Woohyeon’s help, the pain had subsided considerably, but for now, not limping was the best I could do.
I’d have to keep moving around until the trip ended, so I should rest properly when I could.
‘They said we’d get off briefly to look at the mountains later…’
Instead of getting off and walking around with the others, I decided to be satisfied with opening the bus window and getting some fresh air. I’d want to go into this shop and that shop once we arrived at the hot spring village anyway, so for now I planned to busily sightsee with just my eyes.
So I was just trying to sightsee, but…
“Taeseong hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“Hyuuung…”
“What.”
I was stuck to the window and let out a deep sigh.
“Should I switch seats with you? Do you want to sightsee from this side?”
“No. I can see fine from here too.”
“You wanted to sightsee outside so much, why did you give up the window seat?”
“Because you wanted to sit there.”
He said with a voice full of laughter.
“Don’t worry about me and keep looking at what you were looking at.”
“How can I not worry when you’re staring at me like that…”
“Who’s looking at you? I’m sightseeing outside.”
Throughout my window gazing, Bae Taeseong’s gaze was so vividly burdensome. It was so intense that the back of my neck and ears, where his gaze kept landing, naturally grew hot.
“Sightseeing outside, my ass?”
Hwang Yeonwoo, who was sitting in front eating snacks with rustling sounds, snorted and interjected.
“What are you talking about? This hyung really has zero interest in his surroundings, you know?”
Han Jiwon, sitting next to him, chimed in.
“That’s true. He’s secretly the charging type.”
“Exactly. And he’s incredibly indifferent to other people from the start, you know? He feels like someone who won’t even look unless it’s absolutely necessary. Even if a dinosaur jaywalked outside and got hit by a car, he’d ask when that happened.”
Bae Taeseong burst out laughing.
“Hey, who do you think I am, a wild boar? I’d look at something like that. But if you hit a dinosaur, what would the fault ratio be?”
“If you hit a pedestrian, wouldn’t it automatically be 10-0? Ah, is this too unlicensed of a perspective?”
Han Jiwon said seriously.
“The ratio could vary depending on whether there’s a crosswalk or overpass nearby. If there’s a crosswalk within 50 meters… maybe 7-3?”
Jin Woohyeon joined in too.
“It could be a highway. If it’s a car-only road, it would be pedestrian fault, so the driver would be 0.”
I, who had been pressing not only my palm but also my forehead against the window, sneakily looked back.
How did the topic change to this? No, dinosaurs went extinct in the first place. They wouldn’t suddenly appear in the 21st century and jaywalk, would they…
“But you know.”
Before I knew it, the dinosaur jaywalking controversy had spread to the seats across from us. Jeon Yudam raised his hand and asked a question.
“Does it make sense to classify a dinosaur as a pedestrian? The car that got rammed would be at a loss anyway.”
“That’s true too. And even if the driver’s fault is 10, would the dinosaur file a claim… It would just keep going where it was going, right?”
The topic flowed and flowed until it eventually reached driver’s licenses.
“Sanho hyung. You don’t have a license either, right? Any thoughts on getting one?”
“Huh?”
At An Lei’s question, I could only smile awkwardly.
“Yeah. I’m not really thinking about it.”
“Really? Driving is really convenient.”
I knew that. There were bound to be limits to the range you could travel by public transportation, and if you happened to overlap with commuting hours or last train times, it was quite a struggle in the crowd of people.
But even knowing that, I didn’t want to get a license, let alone a car. Beyond simply having no intention, I even felt resistant to it.
The reason was simple. Memories of the traffic accident kept coming back. When I was young, I was even a bit scared to ride in cars driven by others, though it wasn’t that bad now.
It was something from long ago, and I knew that overcoming whatever wound it had become was much better than being tied to it, but my heart just wouldn’t go the way I wanted it to.
When I hesitated without being able to explain further, Jin Woohyeon, who was sitting behind me, said.
“Is there anything as convenient as not driving and getting rides? I’ll be your driver, hyung.”
When I looked back at him, he smiled brightly and added.
“I didn’t know this before, but it’s nice having someone in the passenger seat.”
At those words, An Lei pouted.
“You said you didn’t like having your attention divided while driving, and you never gave me a ride even once.”
“Mm.”
Jin Woohyeon shrugged.
“People change, I guess. I wasn’t trying to treat you poorly on purpose, but sorry.”
It was a refreshing and honest apology, but perhaps because of that, it sounded even more heartless. An Lei seemed to feel similarly, looking at Jin Woohyeon with a subtle expression for a long time.
“Anyway, isn’t my car pretty good? You can comfortably get some sleep while traveling.”
Lee Chan, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up. He looked incredulous.
“You slept in the passenger seat? Yoo Sanho did?”
“Yeah. He slept well.”
I cleared my throat softly and turned my gaze away. It was to pretend I didn’t notice Lee Chan’s sharp stare as much as possible.
There was a reason he asked that. It was because I had rarely dozed off in Lee Chan’s car. Of course, I wasn’t so rude as to just think about sleeping while leaving the driver alone, but still.
Maybe that was exactly what it was. Not scared, but not completely at ease either. Even though I had liked you so much for my whole life, did I somehow know that you wouldn’t be able to become my home in the end?
While I was tasting the somehow bitter feeling in my mouth, the bus that had been rolling along diligently stopped.
The scenery beyond the car window that I looked out at again was so blue it made my chest feel wide open.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
