81.
#Far away
“…woon! Jeong Dawoon!”
Dawoon startled awake, raising his head at the sound of his name and the feeling of someone shaking his shoulder.
“Did you doze off?” Ui-hyeon asked, holding out a coffee in front of him.
“Uh…” Dawoon answered awkwardly, tilting his head from side to side. After lunch, while waiting for Ui-hyeon to buy coffee from the cafeteria, he had fallen asleep on the bench in that short time.
“That’s unusual. What were you up to all night?”
“Just a bit…”
As Dawoon mumbled a vague response, Ui-hyeon narrowed his eyes and stared at him.
“I lost track of time looking at the books I bought.”
Dawoon answered with the first thing that came to mind. It wasn’t entirely a lie since he had bought books. Though he hadn’t even read half of that book yet, anyway.
“You’re this worn out from just one all-nighter? You need to exercise. Why is your stamina so poor when you’re in the prime of your life?”
Dawoon smiled sheepishly at Ui-hyeon’s nagging and turned his head away. The problem was that it wasn’t just one night. How many days had it been now? He swallowed hard as he mentally counted the days.
It was Wednesday, so it had been five full days already. Starting from last Friday night when Haram went to his grandfather’s house, throughout the weekend, and including yesterday and the day before – for five days, without fail, Hayun had been visiting every night. He had dismissed it as nothing special over the weekend, thinking it was because it was the weekend and Haram wasn’t home. By Sunday, he was starting to feel the strain on his stamina, but he thought it would taper off once the weekend was over.
But it was the same even on weekdays. On Monday, he left work on time, and the three brothers had dinner together. After Haram fell asleep, Hayun came to find Dawoon. Last night, he thought Hayun might skip it since he was working late, but Hayun came straight to Dawoon’s room after returning home past midnight.
When Dawoon grumbled that Hayun should take it easy and that he might die before his time, Hayun just laughed, seemingly enjoying it. Yet he persistently tormented Dawoon, allowing him to sleep only after 3 AM. As a result, Dawoon was not only sleep-deprived but also reaching his physical limit. Despite the warm sunlight, he couldn’t even sigh at the fact that he was tired enough to doze off in that short time sitting on the bench.
There was no way he could tell Ui-hyeon about these circumstances. He wondered if he should exercise as Ui-hyeon suggested. Would it be less burdensome if his stamina improved? As he considered this, he let out a bitter laugh at the absurd idea of building stamina for sex.
“Maybe I should try some kind of exercise.”
“Want to go swimming? Or hit the gym?”
Ui-hyeon’s eyes lit up as if he had been waiting for this, asking eagerly. It seemed Ui-hyeon was the one who wanted to exercise more.
“I think I’m getting a bit of a belly from sitting around studying all the time. Na-eun even teased me about it.”
He grabbed his stomach with one hand and looked down. It wasn’t noticeable from the outside at all. Compared to Dawoon, Ui-hyeon liked to move around more in general, so he had no excess fat.
“You don’t have a belly, do you?”
Ui-hyeon reached out and poked Dawoon’s stomach.
“Forget belly, your stomach is practically stuck to your back. Someone who doesn’t know you might think you’re a poor student who can’t even eat properly. Why do you seem to be getting thinner?”
Ui-hyeon frowned. Dawoon already had a body type that didn’t build muscle easily, and now with the lack of proper sleep, he seemed to look even more gaunt.
“There hasn’t been any particular change in my weight.”
Probably. He couldn’t be certain since he hadn’t weighed himself accurately, but he didn’t think he had lost enough weight to say he had definitely gotten thinner.
“I really should exercise. How are you going to get a girlfriend looking so scrawny?”
“And you’re one to talk?”
“Well…”
Ui-hyeon shrugged his shoulders. Dawoon couldn’t help but smile at the confidence of someone in a relationship. Although Ui-hyeon and Na-eun bickered occasionally, seeing them still together after several years made Dawoon think they must be meant for each other.
“So, are you really going to start exercising? Should we look for a place where we can do both gym and swimming?”
Ui-hyeon’s momentum was incredible, pushing as soon as he finished speaking. At this rate, it seemed like he would have them signed up today.
“Let me think about it for a bit.”
While Dawoon felt he should exercise, he wasn’t confident he could handle it with his current stamina. At the very least, he needed assurance that Jeong Hayun wouldn’t visit every night.
“If I do, I’ll pass on swimming.”
Thinking about it, swimming didn’t seem feasible. Even though Hayun said he wouldn’t leave marks in visible places, he often left kiss marks on the inside where clothes could cover. Sometimes, he’d leave them in places not easily noticeable, and Dawoon would miss them. If he wore a swimsuit, it would only be a matter of time before Ui-hyeon noticed. Even if he wore a T-shirt style top, he couldn’t let his guard down while changing clothes and showering.
“It’s getting warmer, perfect for swimming. Why not? Then shall we just do the gym?”
Whatever it was, Ui-hyeon seemed full of determination to drag Dawoon along.
“If you’re going to the gym, come to our house. We have pretty much all the exercise equipment you’d need. If I tell Hayun, he might even assign you a professional trainer.”
At the mention of coming to his house, Ui-hyeon immediately became serious. When Hayun was mentioned on top of that, he shook his head firmly as if he really disliked the idea. Back in high school, while other friends were desperate to visit Dawoon’s house at least once, Ui-hyeon came just once and then refused to come again even when invited. The first reason was that it didn’t feel like a normal home, and the second reason was undoubtedly that he didn’t want to run into Hayun.
“Let’s do it separately. To each his own.”
Ui-hyeon changed his tune, drawing a line that exercising together with Dawoon seemed unrealistic. Dawoon just chuckled. He thought he should at least do some light running on a treadmill.
“Just a moment. It’s Na-eun.”
When his phone rang, Ui-hyeon checked the caller and pressed the answer button.
“Class canceled? Really? … Okay, got it.”
After a brief call, he turned to Dawoon.
“Your next major class professor went to a seminar? They say it’s canceled.”
Na-eun, who had just finished an elective class with another friend, had passed by the major lecture hall and saw the notice posted on the door. Dawoon checked the notice board on the department website. As Na-eun said, there was a notice that the next scheduled lecture was canceled due to the professor’s seminar attendance.
“Na-eun wants to go see a movie.”
It was an invitation to hang out due to the sudden class cancellation.
“You two go.”
Not only did Dawoon not want to intrude on their date, but since the canceled lecture was the last one, he wanted to go home early and rest.
“Na-eun said to make sure you come along.”
As Dawoon was about to get up, Ui-hyeon grabbed his arm. Dawoon smiled and removed his hand. He wondered if Ui-hyeon would be this eager to look after him even after graduation in six months. He even suspected that might be why Ui-hyeon wanted him to get a job at the same place as Na-eun.
“Tell Na-eun I went on a blind date.”
“A blind date?”
Ui-hyeon’s eyes widened, asking what this sudden talk of a blind date was about.
“Are you really going on a blind date? Finally going to get a girlfriend?”
Dawoon chuckled and took out the ticket for Choi Seon-gyeom’s photo exhibition from his bag.
“A blind date with some good artwork.”
He had originally planned to go straight home, but thinking about it, it didn’t seem bad to visit when he had the time.
“Ah…”
Ui-hyeon couldn’t hide his disappointment, as if he should have known better.
“Anyway, I’m heading out first. Enjoy the movie.”
Dawoon turned around quickly before Ui-hyeon could hold him back. He checked the location of the photo exhibition written on the ticket and headed towards the subway. He was looking forward to visiting a photo exhibition after a long time, more than he expected.
***
After getting off at Hoehyeon Station and walking for a short while, he arrived at the exhibition hall. At the entrance of the hall, there was a sign that read “‘
These were landscapes rarely seen in cities. Sometimes it was the middle of a desert, sometimes what appeared to be a jungle. People were living in these places too. Compared to the vast nature, the people were just a tiny part, as small as a fingernail. He slowly moved his steps, keeping his gaze on the picturesque scenery.
As he viewed the exhibited works one by one, he began to understand why the photo exhibition was titled “Far Away.” Most were places far removed from daily life, places one might have only imagined with a sense of longing. The scenery, both surreal and captivating, drew him in more than he had expected.
Just when he felt he had walked quite far into the exhibition, there was a long frame standing in the center of the hall, leaning against each other. No, not a frame, but a screen. The image was moving at a very slow pace. In the darkness, a few trees could be seen in the distance, and between them, the backs of two people sitting caught his eye strangely. The screen slowly panned upward, moving away from the trees and people. Just when it seemed only perfect darkness remained, it wasn’t so. White stars poured across the pitch-black screen. At that moment, a “wow” escaped his lips involuntarily.
[Far away, but beside you.]
A short phrase appeared among the stars.
Far away, but right by your side.
All the photos he had seen up to that point suddenly came together in that sentence. Places he had thought were far away, places he had thought had nothing to do with him, were all places right beside us.
As the artist’s message became clear, his heart skipped a beat.
“Did you like the video?”
Turning at the sound of a deep voice, he saw a man with a familiar face standing there. It was Choi Seon-gyeom himself, whom he had seen in a photo in the artist’s autobiography.
