“How long has it been? Is there anything good going on these days? Why did you get so pretty? Uh, this is the new cotton that I saw recently at a department store.”
When Young-joo, who was very interested in fashion, saw Jae-hee, she was surprised and asked. She poked her in the side as she paid for the taxi and climbed into a small studio apartment.
“Why are you wearing clothes that aren’t even yours?”
“I just borrowed them for a reason,” Jae-hee replied.
Youngju stared at Jaehee’s face, which was slightly trembling. They entered the small studio apartment where the boiler had just started running, and Young-joo pushed her in. There were a few bottles of soju, dried snacks, and fish cake soup from the convenience store on a small table.
“You said you were good at drinking, but I didn’t know there would come a day when we would drink together.”
“Who told you that?” Jae-hee asked.
“Jae-won did.”
When she heard Jaewon’s name, Jaehee’s eyes widened.
“Do you contact Jaewon?”
“I do sometimes. You don’t have a phone, so… I was worried about you when you worked night shifts. You don’t contact me so I asked him instead. I thought Jaewon was in frequent contact with me and you.” Young-joo said.
Young-joo sat down opened a bottle of soju and filled Jae-hee’s glass. Without refusal, Jae-hee emptied it in one gulp. The strong and bitter alcohol went down smoothly. However, something was still lodged in her throat and could not be swallowed. Jae-hee refilled her glass and emptied it again. Young-joo silently watched her do it straight several times.
Young-joo was a good friend. She was the only person Jae-hee could call a friend even if she knew her situation.
Youngju was a good friend. She was the only person who could be called a friend. She was aware of Jaehee’s situation but did not abandon her.
“Let’s meet at least once a year. You know it’s been over a year since we last met, right?”
“When I work, time goes by so slowly. But when I look at it every year, it seems to pass by quickly,” Jae-hee replied.
She was already in her late twenties. Young-joo always felt sorry for Jae-hee. She still couldn’t believe that someone as smart as Jaehui had only graduated from junior high school. Jaehee had once confided to Youngjoo, crying like someone who was about to die, to go to a bar and tell her if anyone came looking for her. At that time, except for that one time, Jae-hee never fell apart.
Today reminded her of that day ten years ago.
Jaehee had decided to get drunk…
It cannot be swallowed. Jae-hee refilled the empty glass herself, only to have Young-joo empty it again, straight down, several times. Young-joo was a good friend, the only one who stayed with her despite knowing her circumstances.
“We should meet at least once a year. Do you know it’s been over a year since we last met?”
“When I’m working, time passes too slowly. But when I look back at it in one-year increments, it’s surprisingly fast.”
Before she knew it, she was in her late twenties. Young-joo always felt sorry for Jae-hee. She couldn’t believe that someone so intelligent had only completed middle school. There was a time when Jae-hee confided in Young-joo, crying like she was going to die if she didn’t get it off her chest. She asked Young-joo to promise that if anyone came looking for her, she would tell them that she had gone to the bar. Jae-hee cried silently and uncontrollably, except for that one time with Young-joo.
Today felt like that day ten years ago.
Jae-hee drained a bottle of soju like someone who had made up their mind to get drunk.
“What’s so difficult?”
“It’s just difficult.”
Jae-hee smirked and leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back as the hazy world slowly approached.
“I can see why Jaewon can’t tell you.”
“Jae-won talks to you? I don’t know. I don’t know what Jae-won is thinking.”
“Nuna (older sister) says she feels like she’s going to die.”
Youngjoo said the words because she felt like she had to.
“She says she’s been working herself to the bone all her life and suddenly feels like she’s going to die.”
“I’m not going to die.”
Jaehee said this with a wry smile. Youngjoo mistook her disappointed and bitter smile for tears. She would rather Jaehee just cried. Her foolish friend was laughing, not even realizing that it looked like she was just acting tough.
“Have you ever thought about why he’s so messed up?”
“Since high school…”
“You said you’d get a job instead of going to college. I said you had to go to college, that it would never work out if you didn’t.”
Translator’s note: Follow the link to discover more enthralling stories today.
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The next chapter will be updated on April 29, 2023, Saturday.
More about my translations can be found here.
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