I stepped into the building without knowing what was going on.
As I went into the elevator, Huang Hyunjin’s scent hit me hard.
For a moment, I felt light-headed.
I’d come back into the room where Dad was again,
After showing my face, I headed to the parking lot.
The unchanged smell of cigarettes and men in suits.
Facing Huang Hyunjin’s dad, with his gruff-looking face,
memories of that day came flooding back again.
“Said he was going to eat, huh”
“Yeah, I’m going to get Japanese food”
I lightly swept my hair back.
My slightly messy hair blew in the wind, giving off its scent.
Huang Hyunjin, who was walking in front, stopped for a moment and
put his phone to his ear and said,
“Hello, II’m going to eat with a friend now”
That voice echoed through the parking lot.
The voice of an older man flowing out from the other end of the phone
was impossible to make out no matter what he said,
but every word sounded kind.
The place we arrived at was a top-class omakase restaurant.
When I heard it was Japanese food,
I had expected something ordinary, like ramen,
but I couldn’t hide how flustered I was by the completely different menu.
The shop was very quiet.
calming lighting welcomed me.
Huang Hyunjin introduced this place as a regular favorite, but
the atmosphere was far from what you’d call a regular favorite spot.
I followed Huang Hyunjin, who sat down as if he were used to it, and took the seat beside him.
The chef was closer than I expected, so I didn’t know where to look,
and my eyes just darted around.
The food came out as a course.
The chef kept repeating the same lines,
briefly explaining each dish.
Appetizers like tea, starters, and steamed egg
came out three times,
and for the main dishes, sea urchin, abalone, tuna, and other
expensive seafood kept coming one after another.
In the quiet atmosphere of a shop
where no one spoke to each other,
I felt like I was going to get indigestion.
Huang Hyunjin, as if he were actually used to this kind of atmosphere,
ate as smoothly as water flowing,
and dabbed around his mouth with a napkin.
On the way out of the restaurant, as we headed to the car,
Huang Hyunjin, who had kept quiet the whole time, calmly spoke up.
“Thanks for earlier, and if you ever want to come hang out at our house
you can come and go as you please”
“Why?”
“Just... because we’re friends”
After the meal, we went back to the company where Huang Hyunjin’s dad was.
I registered my fingerprint and face recognition,
and even on the front door of the house where Huang Hyunjin stayed,
they registered my face and fingerprint.
When I asked why, he just kept repeating the same answer,
saying it was just something he was doing because we’re friends.
Even though we weren’t that close yet,
Huang Hyunjin kept showing behavior that made it seem like he trusted me.
On the way home, I kept turning over the idea of friendship all day.
Was there a chance Huang Hyunjin liked me?
Or did he really think of me as a friend
and treat me like this?
I was caught up in all sorts of thoughts,
and my head just kept getting more and more tangled up,
with no clear conclusion at all.
