3) A Time of Peace
Kyung-wook pulled the phone away from his ear. He had already called five times, and the response coming from the other end had been the same every single time.
—The phone you have dialed is currently turned off, so you will be connected to voicemail…
Ignoring the tedious automated message that continued to drone on, he hung up. Just as he tried to place the call again, the classroom door opened and the homeroom teacher walked in.
“Everyone, take your seats.”
Kyung-wook clicked his tongue and shoved his phone into the pocket of his pants. The sharp clack of high heels echoed as the teacher walked to the front and stopped by the podium.
“Alright, let’s begin homeroom.”
“Teacher.”
Kyung-wook raised his hand high. The teacher looked at him as if asking what it was. Pointing at the empty seat beside him, he explained why he had interrupted homeroom.
“Kim Kang-woo didn’t come to school.”
“Huh? You’re right. What’s going on? Kyung-wook, did you try contacting Kang-woo?”
“Yes. I tried, but Kang-woo isn’t answering.”
“That’s unusual. Kang-woo not coming to school… Well, I’ll try contacting him later. For now, let’s start homeroom.”
The teacher spoke lightly and signaled to the class president. Soon, the dull homeroom announcements continued.
After homeroom ended, the teacher left the classroom, and there was silence afterward. Kyung-wook waited for a while, but even though he patiently stayed put, the news he wanted never came.
Even after the third class period ended.
Tsk.
Clicking his tongue, Kyung-wook stood up. He headed straight to the faculty office and went to the teacher’s desk.
“Teacher.”
The teacher, who had been talking on the phone with someone, noticed Kyung-wook and gestured for him to wait a moment. He stood beside her, waiting for her to hang up.
“Oh, Kyung-wook. Why did you come?”
After continuing the call for about another minute, the teacher smiled and asked what he needed. She looked as though she had completely forgotten what he had asked her to do earlier. Kyung-wook quickly smoothed over the expression that had almost twisted across his face.
“Did you contact Kang-woo?”
“Ah, right. I spoke with Kang-woo’s father. Apparently Kang-woo is sick today, so he couldn’t come to school.”
“Sick?”
“Yes. It seems he hasn’t been feeling well since last night. From what I heard, it’s probably just a cold.”
Skipping school over nothing more than a cold?
Kim Kang-woo not coming to school for such a reason?
Kyung-wook knew Kang-woo’s personality well enough. That bastard would show up to school even if he looked like he was about to die from illness.
He had always been like that. Kim Kang-woo, whom he had known since they were very young, was more rigid and stubborn than anyone else. In elementary school, middle school, and high school alike, he had attended as if his life depended on earning perfect attendance awards.
He clung to school classes far more than necessary.
Even last year, when he suffered through a vicious summer cold, the bastard stubbornly attended every class. In the end, he collapsed and had to be taken to the emergency room—but even then, Kim Kang-woo hadn’t said a single word about being sick.
The only time he had ever been absent was three years ago, during the ten days when he suffered manifestation pain.
And now he was saying that just because of a cold, Kang-woo had ignored all his calls and disappeared?
Skipping school was secondary. What irritated him the most was that he couldn’t get in contact with him.
Our Kang-woo pretended to be obedient and well-behaved, but it seems he’s gotten pretty lax lately.
Something cold settled deep in Kyung-wook’s chest.
“Understood. I’ll head back upstairs, teacher.”
“Alright. Study hard today. Oh, and…”
The teacher held Kyung-wook’s gaze for a moment before adding,
“Don’t cause trouble.”
Kyung-wook sneered inwardly. What if I do cause trouble—what are you going to do about it?
“Yes, ma’am.”
Hiding his true thoughts behind a pleasant smile, Kyung-wook bowed lightly and returned to the classroom.
He placed his hand on the desk, clenched his fist tightly, then slowly opened it again.
There’s no need to get anxious for nothing. If it’s really just a cold, the absence will last one day at most.
If he saw Kim Kang-woo tomorrow, he intended to make it very clear what the price of ignoring his calls would be.
Kyung-wook made that promise to himself.
***
The second morning in an unfamiliar house.
Habits were impossible to ignore. Unlike yesterday, Kang-woo woke up early.
But there was nothing in particular he needed to do, so he tried going back to sleep. In the end, however, he failed spectacularly. Left with no other choice, Kang-woo got out of bed and started moving around.
After washing his face and brushing his teeth, he walked straight to the refrigerator and opened it. Since he had promised to take responsibility for the man’s meals in exchange for staying in this house, he wanted to do his best.
But as soon as he made that determination, he ran straight into the wall of reality.
No matter how long he stared inside the fridge, there were no suitable ingredients.
Refusing to give up, Kang-woo searched the freezer, the kitchen shelves, and every cabinet. If there was at least some seasoned seaweed, he could make rice balls.
But it seemed the ingredients he had used to make omelet rice yesterday evening had been the last of the food in the house. Nothing else caught his eye.
“What on earth has he been eating all this time…?”
Muttering to himself, Kang-woo scratched his cheek awkwardly.
Since there was nothing he could do right now, the only option was to wait for the man to wake up.
He went back into the room and sat absentmindedly on the mattress. Around eleven o’clock, the man finally opened the door and came out of the room. Hearing the faint sound from the living room, Kang-woo quickly poked his head outside.
At that moment, their eyes met.
The man looked like he was about to go out for exercise, dressed in a tracksuit.
Kang-woo hesitated briefly, wondering whether he should greet him good morning or not. In that short moment of indecision, the man simply walked past him.
“Uh, um…”
Left standing there alone, Kang-woo hurried after him—but the front door had already closed with a sharp click.
He stared at the door blankly for a moment before reluctantly returning to the room.
About an hour later, the man came back home.
Kang-woo, who had been listening attentively, ran out of the room the moment he heard the front door open.
This time, determined not to miss the chance, he trotted over to the man. The man looked at him curiously as he took off his sneakers.
“…What should we do about lunch? There aren’t any ingredients in the house.”
Kang-woo hurriedly explained.
The man, however, pulled out his phone from his pocket without much thought. With a serious expression, he tapped on the screen for a while before holding the phone out to Kang-woo.
“Pick something.”
Startled, Kang-woo accepted the phone politely with both hands.
Pick something?
Looking down in confusion, he saw a food delivery app open on the screen.
The man immediately grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom.
Sitting carefully on the sofa, Kang-woo examined the photos and descriptions on the screen. Among the various burgers available, he chose the one that looked the safest and added it to the cart.
“I added something to the order.”
When he told the man, who had just come out after showering, the man took the phone back.
Less than thirty minutes later, the delivery arrived.
The man opened the door, picked up the food bag placed in front of the entrance with practiced ease, and carried it inside. As he pulled out the contents of the bag, his hands suddenly paused.
Then he tore off the receipt attached to the bag and stared at it blankly.
Kang-woo walked over beside him and looked at the food.
Had something been ordered incorrectly? Or had they received the wrong menu item?
“What’s wrong? Did something come wrong?”
When Kang-woo asked cautiously, the man looked at him.
“You ordered just the burger?”
“Yes, that’s right. Did one of them not arrive?”
Kang-woo took the receipt from his hand and compared it with the delivered food.
Everything matched. What’s the problem?
Even after checking carefully again, everything had arrived exactly as ordered.
Tilting his head in confusion, Kang-woo looked up—only to see the man staring at him with an oddly dissatisfied expression. His sharp eyes made Kang-woo instinctively shrink his shoulders.
What? Was ordering just the single item not allowed?
While Kang-woo nervously watched his reaction, the man soon looked away and quietly sat down. As he unwrapped his burger, he glanced briefly at Kang-woo.
That look seemed to ask, Why are you just standing there?
Kang-woo hurriedly sat down as well.
“Thank you for the meal.”
He spoke softly before taking a bite of the burger.
It had been a while since he’d eaten one. The taste wasn’t bad, but it was rather strong.
Food this salty isn’t good for your body. Does he usually eat things like this?
Considering there wasn’t much edible food in the house, it seemed like a likely guess.
The two focused silently on eating, without conversation. In the awkward atmosphere, Kang-woo chewed slowly while wondering if he should try to start a conversation. But when he looked at the taciturn man in front of him, the words wouldn’t come out.
Eventually, Kang-woo gave up on communicating with the homeowner and only glanced at him occasionally.
The man’s large hand wrapped around the burger, making it look smaller than it actually was.
After quickly finishing two full burger sets, the man cleaned up the trash and stood up first. Unlike during regular meals, he ate burgers very quickly.
The man went into the room and soon returned wearing outdoor clothes. A car key hung from one hand.
Kang-woo continued chewing the remaining burger while following him with his eyes.
Regardless, the man walked straight to the entrance without giving Kang-woo a single glance, as if he didn’t exist in the first place.
Soon, the sound of the door opening and closing followed.
“…You’re really not much of a talker.”
The man hadn’t said where he was going, but it seemed like he had gone to work.
Left alone once again, Kang-woo muttered to himself and slowly finished the rest of his burger.
After his somewhat late lunch, Kang-woo began doing housework.
First, he decided to put the clothes from the laundry basket into the washing machine.
But he soon faced a problem—he had no idea how to operate the washing machine.
Adding detergent and fabric softener and turning on the power was easy enough, but after that he struggled for quite a while. Pressing various buttons, he slowly figured it out and finally managed to get it running.
While the washing machine worked, he found a vacuum cleaner in the corner of the living room and cleaned the floor.
Afterward, with a little time left, he sat on the living room sofa, picked up the remote, and turned on the TV. While he blankly watched a drama he didn’t even understand, a chime soon sounded indicating that the laundry had finished.
Kang-woo immediately opened the washing machine and separated the clothes that should go into the dryer from those that should be hung up to dry.
Even in front of the dryer, he struggled for quite a while before finally managing to start it.
The remaining damp clothes that were unsuitable for the dryer were shaken out firmly and hung on the drying rack by the window.
As the pleasant scent of fabric softener spread through the living room, Kang-woo felt rather good.
At the same time, drowsiness crept over him. He returned to the room and took a nap.
Around six o’clock, hunger stirred in his stomach and his eyes naturally opened.
The man still hadn’t returned.
