#006
“Flow-wer… flow-wers…”
“Ah, you startled me. Hey. Pronounce properly. It’s perfect for misunderstanding, you know? And what time is it now to be talking about flowers? The store is closed.”
“I came… fl… flow-wers… to buy flow-wers.”
“Come back later and go home for today.”
I grimaced at the man who kept rubbing his forehead and cheek against the store window.
“Ah, hey. Why do you keep rubbing your face on the window? Stop pressing your hands too. Are you crazy…!”
“Excuse me… here flow-wers… no… flow-wers… fl… fl…”
The man with his tongue completely loose couldn’t even properly say the word “flower.” Why is he like this, really?
“Ugh, get away from here— I told you to go.”
When I pushed the man slightly away from my store to remove him, his body swayed as if he would topple backward in an instant. Ah, shit. If he falls here, it’s at least a concussion. As I reached toward the man who was swaying back and forth, he finally lifted his head and looked at me with a grin.
Seeing him smile made me genuinely not want to help him, so I stopped my hand, but when he really seemed about to fall, I hurriedly reached out. I barely grabbed his arm to steady him upright, and a completely slurred thanks came over.
“Ah… almost… died.”
“Ah, you startled me. Now please go. Why are you doing this at someone else’s store?”
“…Here…”
“……”
“Here… for rent… was available.”
What, was he also trying to set up something here? Then could this be Kang Min? I looked over the drunk’s appearance with suspicious eyes. The man wearing black jeans, a turtleneck, and a khaki field jacket looked small as he was leaning his body halfway down, but when I supported him, he was quite tall.
His curly, fine hair came down below his eyebrows, and his thinly double-lidded eyes and straight nose fit harmoniously in his small face. Especially his red lips were glossy, whether wet with alcohol or saliva.
How did Kang Min look? They said he looked like a gigolo. I looked at the drunk who looked like a gigolo and considered the probability that this was Kang Min.
“Hey. You look decent, so what are you doing in front of someone else’s store?”
“Ah… are… are you the owner?”
Unlike his cold-looking face, his low voice making lisping sounds was annoying.
“No.”
“Oh, you’re not…”
I waved my arms vigorously toward the road. It seemed like taxis wouldn’t stop because anyone could see this drunk was completely wasted.
“Where’s your home?”
Even though I asked irritably, this drunk found something so amusing that he smiled and then suddenly lowered his head to put his lips to my ear.
“Won’t tell you.”
“This crazy bastard…!”
“No… I’m a dru… dru…”
Must be “drunk.”
I gritted my teeth at the curse that popped out and roughly pushed away the drunk who had put his chin on my shoulder.
“Go home quickly while I’m asking nicely.”
“…Fl… flow… wers…”
“What flowers when you’re all drunk? Why are you being such a drunk mess?”
“I wanted to buy something pretty… to go home with…?”
Pretty things aren’t only in flower shops. I dragged the drunk into the convenience store next to the flower shop. I crouched in the corner with children’s toys and looked for something sparkly, finding a light-up gem ring.
I quickly went to the counter, paid, and tore open the packaging. I brought the drunk back out, put the ring on his pinky finger, and turned on the light, making his alcohol-soaked pupils sparkle as they held the light.
“Wow… amazing…”
“I gave you something pretty, so go home now. Quickly.”
“Wow… hyung is the best.”
“Who are you calling hyung, disgustingly.”
I leaned the drunk against a street tree and worked hard to catch a taxi again. As the night got colder, taxis wouldn’t stop, and my nose started running, I began to think about what I was doing because of a drunk I’d never met.
“Hey. Drunk guy.”
“…Yes…”
“Do you have someone to call or not?”
“I’m an only child though?”
Why is his way of speaking really like that?
“I see. A drunk and an only child. Give me your phone.”
The drunk obediently handed me his phone. I pulled his hand over, used his fingerprint to unlock it, and scanned through the call log.
“Are you close with ‘Idiot1’? You’re close, right? You called them the most.”
“Ah… idiot… who is that…”
The drunk, whose mind was completely wiped clean, seriously pondered who ‘Idiot1’ was. I determined that conversation with the drunk was impossible. Instead of calling ‘Idiot1’, I pressed 112 to report to the police. That there’s a drunk man who can’t communicate. After confirming the location, I firmly leaned the drunk against the street tree.
“Hold your phone well. You can answer calls, right?”
“Ah… yes.”
“If you want to see something pretty, press this button under the ring like this. Okay?”
“Yes!”
“Stay still until a pretty car with flashing blue and red lights comes? Got it?”
“Yes!”
He answered so well that I trusted him even less. His eyes were getting drowsy like he was about to lie down and sleep.
“I’m freezing to death.”
I bounced in place and then covered my ears with my hands because they were stinging from the cold.
“Ah… excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“That flower shop there… that… cafe.”
“……”
“I wanted to do…”
Why are there so many people who wanted to open cafes in my flower shop? Maybe because it’s an officetel building with buildings all around? Because it’s a good location. Well, if the flower shop is doing this well, how well would a cafe do? I should try it for about a year and if it does too well, I’ll have to put the store up for rent immediately. I didn’t want this kind of busy life. Sorry, but I wanted to live comfortably playing and eating with Seo Ranho’s money. While I’m at it, it would be better if I could avoid Kang Min.
“That must be disappointing. Since a flower shop moved in.”
“Exactly… I have such… not even rat-shit luck… here really… lots of people pass by…”
I looked at the drunk leaning against the street tree with his eyes closed, muttering, and stepped back one step at a time. I didn’t want to act like I knew him. Just then, I could see a police car running with flashing lights from far away.
I stretched my hands above my head and waved them back and forth as if appealing, “Here! Over here!” The police car stopped exactly in front of the drunk, and a police officer got out and quickly lifted the long body that had gone completely limp like a mollusk into the back seat.
“Phew, it’s cold and you’re really having a hard time! I was passing by and he seemed too drunk, so I reported it. In this weather, I was worried he’d freeze to death if he fell asleep on the street.”
“You did well~ In weather like this, it’s really dangerous! Do you happen to have a guardian’s contact information or anything…”
“I tried asking him to tell me, but we couldn’t communicate…”
I had seen the contact information for ‘Idiot1’ who had exchanged numerous calls with the drunk’s phone just before, but decided to pretend I hadn’t seen it.
“Oh my… what kind of drinking did such a young person do… Sir! Sir! He can’t get his wits about him. Then we’ll protect him at the district office and send him home safely when he sobers up.”
“Yes! Drive safely!”
I bowed to the departing car and then quickly turned around to slip into the officetel. With good timing, I got on an elevator that had arrived at the first floor, pressed 8, and leaned my weary body against the wall.
Ah, cold. Today was too long. I was so tired I wasn’t even hungry. I hadn’t thought about food at all, but suddenly when I was about to arrive at the 8th floor, I thought I should make ramen. I should put spicy peppers and green onions in the ramen, add lots of red pepper powder, and sprinkle pepper at the end, then slurp it up and sleep. Then my frozen body would thaw quickly, right? My empty stomach would be filled too.
Good. Then… let me wash up first.
***
I remember eating ramen but I don’t remember falling asleep. I woke up without knowing how I fell asleep and found myself lying long on the sofa. I moved only my eyeballs to look at the window where the day had turned white and bet all of Seo Ranho’s fortune that it wasn’t morning.
“Ah.”
My throat was scratchy. Like I had caught a throat cold, my throat stung every time I swallowed saliva. On top of that, because the house was warm and I slept wearing only short sleeves and shorts, coldness circulated through my whole body.
“Cold…”
I sluggishly got up and crawled into bed. Buried deep under the blanket, I stuck out only my hand to turn on the heated water mat and raised the temperature. I set both sides to 40 degrees and slept several more hours in that state, and when I woke up again, the whole day had passed.
Everything around was completely dark. I pulled my head out from being buried in the blanket, looked around, closed my eyes again, and when I opened them again, it was dawn as if time had been erased.
“Ah…”
How can my body have no strength like this? I felt like I’d only closed my eyes for a moment, but when I opened them, time had whooshed by. I had slept too long so my head was throbbing. I kept my drowsy gaze in one place, barely got up, took a shower, and sat in a dining chair for a long time.
I didn’t feel like eating anything, so I poured a glass of orange juice and sipped it, then took out my phone that I had forgotten. The battery was running low. I carefully checked the missed call list that had piled up more than I expected.
Right, Gyoyeon. There was contact from Gyoyeon.
Maybe because Seo Ranho often went missing, she had sent a threatening message saying “You bastard, if you don’t answer and just stay holed up at home sleeping, I’ll really kill you.” Ah, I should contact her right after opening the flower shop tomorrow.
“Hmm… huh…?”
…Ban Hajoon. Ban Hajoon… Ban Hajoon, Ban Hajoon? Why are there so many from him? There were missed calls from Ban Hajoon at almost every time slot. What’s going on? I rested my chin on my hand and quickly checked the missed call list and also checked the accumulated messages.
The messages were also all from Ban Hajoon, except for a few similar threatening messages from Gyoyeon.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
