What should he do about dinner?
After thinking about it for a while, Kang-woo decided to simply wait for the man. He figured the man would probably return around dinner time.
But contrary to his expectations, the man didn’t come home until very late at night. At this point, it almost felt like he had completely forgotten that he had left another person at home when he went to work.
Around eight o’clock, Kang-woo had been so hungry he felt like he might go crazy. But after some time passed, it was as if his stomach had gone numb, and the hunger slowly faded.
In the end, Kang-woo gave up on dinner and went into the bathroom to take a warm shower.
After roughly drying his hair with a towel, he sat in the corner of the room and waited endlessly for the homeowner to come back. Even though he had taken a short nap during the day, yawns kept escaping his mouth.
“…When is he coming back?”
Kang-woo sat crouched on the mattress and poked his head out to check the clock in the living room.
It was already past eleven.
Does he always get off work this late? Come to think of it, he got home late the day before yesterday too.
Sitting there doing nothing, just blinking his eyes, his eyelids gradually grew unbearably heavy. But falling asleep first while the homeowner still hadn’t returned somehow felt rude, so Kang-woo forced his eyes open and endured.
How much time had passed?
Suddenly, it sounded like there was movement near the front door.
Kang-woo quickly stood up.
Right then, the man opened the inner door and stepped inside. Their eyes met.
“You’re back.”
Kang-woo greeted him awkwardly.
The man simply nodded slightly in response.
Kang-woo’s eyes wandered, unsure where to rest, until they suddenly landed on the black plastic bag in the man’s hand.
What’s that?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a loud noise suddenly echoed from somewhere.
Grrrrr—
The deep rumble came from his own stomach.
Kang-woo reflexively tensed his stomach. It had been quiet until now, so why was it suddenly making such a clear declaration at this exact moment?
Grrrroooowl—
Ignoring his embarrassment, his stomach cried out even louder and longer than before.
Kang-woo’s eyes widened, and he wrapped one arm around his stomach.
He desperately hoped the man would pretend not to notice like before. But the man turned around and looked at him.
“Didn’t you eat dinner?”
Heat rose to Kang-woo’s ears.
Every time he met this man, somehow the conversation always seemed to revolve around food. It was embarrassing.
But hungry was hungry.
Bracing himself against the embarrassment, Kang-woo nodded.
The man then held out the black plastic bag he had been carrying.
“Take it.”
“What is it?”
“Cup ramen and triangle kimbap.”
Kang-woo took the bag and looked inside. There was quite a lot in it.
“You eat.”
The man spoke curtly and turned away.
Kang-woo hurriedly grabbed his arm.
The man’s gaze dropped to Kang-woo’s hand on his arm, then slowly climbed up to his face. Kang-woo quickly let go and spoke up.
“Together. Let’s eat together. You bought it for yourself, hyung.”
That evening, they ended up sharing the cup ramen and triangle kimbap the man had bought from the convenience store.
Since the man was clearly a big eater and had bought several different kinds, it worked out.
Of course, it was probably still a bit too little for him.
As they ate in silence, Kang-woo occasionally glanced at the man sitting across from him. But the man remained focused on eating his portion of food without wavering.
***
The next day, Kang-woo woke up early again.
As soon as he got up, he opened the living room curtains wide and lingered there. When the man came out of his room, Kang-woo quietly started following behind him.
There was something he wanted to say, but it was still difficult to start a conversation with the man.
So he couldn’t bring himself to speak and instead hovered awkwardly nearby.
The man filled a bright blue water bottle to the brim, then walked to the entrance and put on his sneakers.
Kang-woo watched from a distance.
Just when it seemed like the man would open the door and leave right away, he suddenly turned his head.
Kang-woo, who had been staring at him intently the whole time, flinched when their eyes met.
The man, however, spoke with a casual expression.
“I’m going to exercise and then stop by the market.”
“…What?”
Kang-woo reflexively asked again, having not properly processed what he’d said.
The man glanced at the watch on his wrist and repeated himself.
“I’m going to the market, so tell me if you need anything.”
Only then did Kang-woo fully understand. Letting out a small exhale, he began listing things hesitantly.
“Uh… then cabbage, carrots… and rubber gloves…”
As he listed food ingredients and household items that came to mind, the man’s fingers moved busily, apparently writing them down in his phone’s memo app.
Since he had just blurted things out without organizing them, the list was somewhat chaotic, but it seemed like he had mentioned most of what was needed.
The man soon shoved his phone into the pocket of his windbreaker and turned the doorknob.
“Have a good trip.”
Kang-woo quickly called out the farewell. But the man left without replying.
About an hour and a half later, when he returned home, both of the man’s hands were filled with bags of groceries.
Kang-woo hurried over and took the heavy bags, neatly organizing the food into cabinets and the refrigerator.
“I’ll prepare lunch right away.”
“No need. I have to go out now.”
Kang-woo froze mid-movement.
Checking the time, it was roughly the same time the man had left the house yesterday. It seemed the trip to the market had delayed him slightly compared to his usual schedule.
After changing clothes, the man grabbed his car keys and left again.
Silence returned to the house.
Kang-woo made egg fried rice and ate it alone for lunch, and the day passed much like the previous one.
Since he had already done laundry the day before, there wasn’t much housework to do. At most, he ran the vacuum to clean dust off the floor.
Afterward, he sat on the living room sofa and watched a variety show on TV.
He wasn’t usually someone who enjoyed watching videos, but if he didn’t do at least this, there would truly be nothing to do. So he half-obligatorily fixed his gaze on the screen.
At six o’clock, Kang-woo washed rice and started cooking it, then gradually began preparing dinner.
Using the ingredients the man had bought earlier, he made braised tofu and cabbage soup. He waited for the man to get off work, but when it seemed like he would be late again today, Kang-woo eventually set the table and ate dinner alone around ten.
After finishing his quiet meal in the empty house, Kang-woo washed the dishes and carefully gathered his underwear before heading to the bathroom.
After washing up quickly and coming out, it was already past eleven.
He usually comes home around this time.
Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he heard movement at the entrance. Kang-woo walked into the living room and greeted the man as he entered the house.
“You’re back?”
He greeted him awkwardly again today.
“Yeah.”
The man responded in a low voice and walked straight toward the room.
“Um…”
Kang-woo called out to stop him as he passed by.
When the man turned around, Kang-woo asked cautiously,
“Did you have dinner?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll prepare something for you right away.”
Kang-woo spoke brightly and hurried off.
The man watched him for a moment before quietly entering the room.
Kang-woo reheated the braised tofu he had portioned and stored in the refrigerator earlier in the microwave and brought the cabbage soup back to a boil.
After reheating the rice cooker, the rice became hot and fresh within ten minutes, as if it had just been cooked.
After quickly setting the table, Kang-woo knocked on the man’s door.
A curt voice answered from the other side.
“Dinner’s ready, so please come out and eat.”
Kang-woo then went into his own room and closed the door.
He didn’t want to make the man uncomfortable, so this was his way of being considerate. But immediately afterward, he pressed his ear against the door.
Of course, that didn’t mean he could actually confirm whether the man was eating well, but Kang-woo still listened intently with a serious expression.
Naturally, he couldn’t hear anything.
It must be lonely eating alone, but it didn’t seem like the man had turned on the TV or was watching anything on his phone either.
Kang-woo slowly climbed onto the mattress and kicked his feet idly.
He planned to wait like this and go out to wash the dishes once the man seemed finished eating.
At some point—
Kang-woo suddenly opened his eyes wide.
What? Did I fall asleep?
He rolled his eyes around, trying to understand the situation.
The bright ceiling light shone above him. He was lying on his side, his body tightly curled. In other words, he had fallen asleep curled up like a shrimp.
It seemed quite a bit of time had passed.
Had the man finished eating already?
Kang-woo cautiously walked to the door and pressed his ear against it again.
There was no sound on the other side. It was very quiet.
Slowly opening the door, Kang-woo stepped into the living room.
He turned his head and checked the glowing wall clock.
Two hours had passed in an instant—it was already two in the morning. That’s more than enough time to have finished dinner.
Accepting this, Kang-woo walked into the dim kitchen and looked at the sink. As expected, it was completely clean.
“I was going to wash the dishes for him…”
He blamed himself for accidentally falling asleep and glanced toward the man’s bedroom door.
He had assumed it would be dark inside, but contrary to his expectations, a faint light was leaking through the crack under the door.
Even at this late hour, the man still wasn’t asleep.
If there were sounds in the living room, it might bother him.
So Kang-woo carefully softened his footsteps and returned to his room.
It seemed like it would take some time to get used to the man’s daily routine.
***
Kyung-wook’s vow to correct Kang-woo’s increasingly lax attitude never became reality.
Kim Kang-woo’s absence continued.
One day. Two days.
The days kept stretching until his absence filled an entire week.
On top of that, Kim Kang-woo ignored every single one of Kyung-wook’s attempts to contact him—KakaoTalk, text messages, phone calls, even voice messages.
Eventually, Kang-woo went as far as turning his phone off completely.
Kyung-wook’s anger steadily piled up.
The moment Kim Kang-woo appeared in front of him, it felt like his hand would immediately grab his throat.
How long could this precarious patience last?
Kyung-wook could only hope the bastard would show up at school before his fraying nerves finally snapped.
But a few days later, the news their homeroom teacher delivered from the front of the classroom was completely unexpected.
“Kang-woo has suddenly gone to Australia for a language study program. Due to personal circumstances, he had to leave the country quickly, so he asked me to apologize to his friends for not having time to say goodbye. Please keep that in mind…”
After casually relaying the news about Kim Kang-woo, the teacher continued rambling on about other things. But none of it reached Kyung-wook’s ears. Her voice faded outside his awareness.
By the time he came back to his senses, the bell for break time was ringing.
