Chapter 34: Chapter 34 - Hes Nearby (2) (1/2)
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
When Juho and the boy went into a common fast food chain, they were welcomed by its distinct deep fried smell. There were part timers in their yellow-and-red uniforms working busily at the counter. Juho got in line to order. The cas.h.i.+er seemed to be around his age, but it might have been her thick makeup.
The line was not very long, so he was able to order quickly. His eyes met with the cas.h.i.+er's. Her eyelashes were smothered in black liquid, and he was given a nonverbal signal to order. She was quite unfriendly, but he ordered a combo meal, paying no attention to her att.i.tude.
”What are you getting?”
”The same.”
Juho and the boy each paid for their own meal. As Juho finished paying, the boy handed her a ten dollar bill. With an insincere tone, she asked him to wait about five minutes and then handed him the change. However, he wasn't moving for some reason.
”You didn't give me the correct amount of change.”
”Pardon?”
”I'm supposed to be getting forty cents, but you gave me eighty. You must have gotten one of the coins mixed up.”
With a bitter look, the cas.h.i.+er took one of his coins back and exchanged them for the proper amount. There was definitely something different about that guy. Heck, he even tried to take three dollars that he found back to the police station. He must not like getting any more or less than what he's due.
After they each received their buzzer, the two went up to the second floor and found a table by the window. The restaurant was not very crowded. In the distance, there were two couples in their suits who appeared to be corporate workers.
As the two waited silently for their buzzers to go off, the boy suddenly started talking, ”What's your name?”
Juho realized that they hadn't introduced themselves to each other.
”Juho Woo. How about you?”
”I'm Pil Sung Choi.”
”I don't recognize the uniform. Where's your school? I'm a freshman. Are you older than me?”
Pil Sung shook his head and said that he was in the same year.
”I'm from a neighboring town.”
He made it sound like it was not a big deal. Seeing how he had caught Juho near the front gate, he didn't seem to know anybody at the school. He didn't seem like he knew the neighborhood either. The only thing that had brought him to Juho's school was a dated rumor about Yun Woo. He seemed like a doer.
”So, you just blindly made your way here?”
”I took the subway.”
Their conversations crossed, and Juho stopped talking. That moment, their buzzers started vibrating. He stopped Pil Sung getting up from his seat and went down on his own to pick up their meals.
”You came a long way. Stay here.”
Since he was hungry, Juho took a big bite out of his burger. It tasted like how he expected.
”So, is Yun Woo really not in your school?”
”Nope. We did have an impostor, but she confessed,” Juho explained without getting into a lot of details.
”That rumor's kind of dated now. You must have heard it late.”
”I have no friends around.”
As if he were talking about the weather, he sounded humdrum. Juho found his att.i.tude odd.
'He doesn't look like he's rough around the edges. Could it be his personality? Either way, it's not a good subject,' he thought.
He took a sip from his drink and asked, ”So, what did you mean by rival?”
”It's exactly as I said. I'm going to be Yun Woo's rival.”
He sounded determined this time. 'Yun Woo's rival. He could not look any more unrefined chewing on his burger.'
”Is that what a rival means to you? Did you think about Yun Woo's perspective?” Juho said with a smile.
”That's why I came here, to see what that person looks like.”
”So, did you accomplish what you came for?”
His thick eyebrows scowled a little.
”I'm still not giving up being a rival,” he said stubbornly.
”How come?” Juho asked.
”What do you mean?”
”Why do you want to be Yun Woo's rival?”
”Because I also write.”
Juho was slightly surprise. Of course, he a.s.sumed that the boy was also a writer when he first said the word 'rival.' Yet, hearing it from him was a different experience.
He was a writer too. He was Juho's age. Yet, he boldly declared himself to be Yun Woo's rival.
”Everyone seems to think of Yun Woo as this mysterious, unreachable person.”
”Is that so? I'm not sure.”
”You're not sure?”
After some time thinking, Pil Sung said, ”My friend lives far away.”
His answer was far from the subject they had been on, but for now, Juho listened.
”We'd been close since elementary school. We moved up to high school together, but we ended up in different cla.s.ses. I adapted, but he was bullied.”
He picked up a french fry and put it in his mouth.
”It didn't matter that I was at the same school. Even when I told the teacher, it only went as far as a warning. What's funny is that both my friend and I received warnings. 'Be aware of the trends. Don't show off. Get used to people calling you names that you don't like.' It sounded like we were the ones at fault. I was so p.i.s.sed, but the teacher was looking the other way. So what could I do? My friend ended up transferring to another school, and I was left alone.”
He explained that in the process of standing up for his friend, he naturally grew apart from friends he was close to previously. He was alone.
”That's when I saw the name Yun Woo. It was in the school library. I had been thinking about why things happened the way they had, but it felt like that name would give me an explanation.”
”So, did you get an explanation from that author, Yun Woo?” Juho asked.
Pil Sung shook his head, ”No.”
'Of course.' He chugged his drink. Meanwhile, Juho ate a French fry. Somehow, Juho felt empty on the inside.
At that moment, Pil Sung continued,
”It was still comforting. You're supposed to be next to the person you're comforting. So I don't feel that Yun Woo is distant.”
Juho hesitated.
”I wanted to be like Yun Woo, but obviously, I'm not Yun Woo. So I'm going to be his rival.”
It still didn't make sense entirely, but if that was what he wanted…