Chapter 18: CH 3.1

I wondered how he lived when he was alone. Yeon Woojeong never woke up with one alarm. I eventually also woke him up today. I’m sure Yeon Woojeong’s parents always turned older every morning because of that. 

After having breakfast, I went to the second floor while bringing the shopping bag. I opened all the doors of the built-in closet, then I took out everything in the shopping bag, but I winced. Underwear that I didn’t know when it was bought was inside the last shopping bag.

“What a nutjob.”

All of them were of intense color. Dark red, clear blue, light azure, white, and such. They were all triangle-shaped. Did he buy this for me to wear?

I tried to consider if these were Yeon Woojeong’s that were mixed here, but when I took a look at his wardrobe, the color of his underwear was calm. Based on his personality, there was a high possibility that he bought these on purpose. Just to tease me. 

I was thinking of throwing all these underwear on Yeon Woojeong’s bed, but I felt that would make him happy instead, so I roughly folded them and put them in the drawer. Then, I organized the clothes. Some of them were the ones I tried, and some were not. There were normal clothes, and there were also fancy ones.

I didn’t have any preference because I possessed nothing, but plain patterns and solid colors were better. I chose those kinds of clothes, then I put them in the wardrobe first. Next, I put the clothes with vivid colors or the fancy ones on the other side. Folding clothes and hanging them was quite fun. An hour had gone by before I knew it. I was proud to see that the closet was almost full.

This is mine. Mine that is given by Yeon Woojeong. Although I couldn’t completely say this was mine, at least it was mine while I stayed here. Well, I can’t stay here forever, though.

I felt like it was meaningless to organize them after thinking like that. Looking at the closet filled with colors, I closed the door.

It’ll be good if I can stay here until I come of age. It is really less than a month away now. I should start looking for a job, shouldn’t I? Can I continue to stay here once I become an adult and have a job? I don’t think I can do that. Although Yeon Woojeong has nothing he wants from me for now, he can kick me out once he gets tired of me, and it might be disgusting to eat and sleep for free like now when I have a job. Everyone’s like that, so Yeon Woojeong might be the same. 

I stood absentmindedly, and the bell rang. Is this the day the cleaning employee comes? As I went down and turned on the intercom, there was a man’s face.

—Bed delivery.

Bed?

I finally remembered; Yeon Woojeong’s words that it was better to bring in a bed.

As I opened the door, two delivery men came not long after.

“Where should we put this?”

“On the second floor.”

As I entered first and pointed to the stairs, the men moved the bed upstairs. The frame of the bed was black, and the mattress was gray. It was so wide that I thought I wouldn’t fall even if I rolled to the right and to the left. After putting down the bed, the delivery men left. 

I checked if the door was locked properly, and then went back to the second floor. After tearing the vinyl covering the bed, I felt it was somewhat empty, so I took the folded blanket and pillow on the sofa, then spread them.

I never imagined the bed to come this fast. Correction, I never expected it at all. He really spent money easily. Will he just throw this if I leave?

I kept the bed in my sight, then I slowly walked and sat there. It was soft. There was no rough touch on the fingertips. I threw my body down. I could see the low ceiling. When I closed my eyes, it felt like I was falling down. It wasn’t like crashing down, but something like floating aimlessly. 

I lifted my hand to brush my hair. He said it’s already time to cut my hair, didn’t he? I felt like I had to cut my hair just like what Yeon Woojeong said.

As a plan that I didn’t plan before slipping in, I suddenly wanted to go out quickly. My steps felt light merely because of cutting hair.

I opened the closet after having lunch. Wearing knitwear and jeans, I took out the black long padding jacket that looked complementing. The padding jacket that hung down until my knee was light, but once I wore it, it was warm as if the heat was trapped inside. The inside was so full, and it was even fluffy.

As I went outside, it wasn’t cold at all. After fiddling with the sleeves a few times, I moved away. 

I wandered nearby, but I didn’t see any place suitable to cut hair. When I reached the main street, there was a shopping district. I found a hair shop on the second floor, but I stopped once I saw the written text at the entrance.

[Hair cut 14,000 won~]

This is crazily expensive.

I had forgotten about it; that cutting the hair once had somehow reached 10,000 won at some point, and the price insanely went higher from when I arrived in Seoul. Therefore, I always cut my hair using scissors the moment it went a bit longer, but if I lost that moment, it gradually became hard for me to handle.

I tried to put my fingers between my bushy hair. I might find a cheaper place than this one, but it was Yeon Woojeong’s money anyway. He wouldn’t care even if I spared the money, so there was no need for me to continue wandering around.

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When I entered inside, a yellow-haired man who stood behind the counter greeted me.

“Welcome! Do you have an appointment?”

“No.”

“Aha, what brings you here?”

“I want to cut my hair.”

“Could you please wait for a moment?”

As I sat, waiting for a while, the man soon brought over a gown. After entrusting my outerwear and wearing the gown, I sat on the guided seat and another employee showed me a small menu. After checking the phrase that the beverage was part of the service when I was told to choose one between coffee, green tea, and cocoa, I chose cocoa. 

While I waited, drinking the cocoa, the man returned with a cloth in his hand. The cloth hung under my head. The man touched my hair.

“How long would you like to cut your hair?”

“Moderately.”

“Moderately…. Okay, I’ll cut it pretty.”

The man laughed in silence and sprayed water on my hair. In the mirror—my face was obviously seen there. It was rare for me to see my face in a big mirror like this for a long time.

It was a face with a lot of discontentment. I had never liked my face, perhaps because when I stared quietly, I often heard people saying something like ‘why are you looking like that?’ or ‘how rude’. It’d be good if it looked faint, so people wouldn’t remember it no matter how many times they looked. Then, there would be no such thing as people picking a fight at work, and someone remembering my face when I did a bad deed.

The mole under my eye entered my sight. As I recalled Yeon Woojeong talking about the thing which I never cared about in our first meeting, my mood turned strange.

“You have good hair. Do you take care of it?”

“No.”

“Ehm, are you a student?”

“…”

“Trainee? Are you perhaps preparing to be something like an idol? It’s okay to tell me because I’m tight-lipped.”

I got a feeling that he would keep saying this kind of nonsense while cutting hair. The question asking if I was a student was the question that annoyed me the most among the commonly asked questions. As I closed my eyes, the pouring questions stopped.

I heard the sound of the scissors cutting my hair. It felt like my head slowly turned lighter.

Once the sound stopped, I opened my eyes. The eyebrows were shown as the hair got shorter, and it clearly looked neat with the bushy hair taken care of.

“How is it? You also looked pretty with long hair, but you look attractive with your hair cut, see?”

I felt awkward with the short hair. I looked at myself in the mirror and then got up. As I went out after paying, the cold air attacked my exposed neck and ears.

It’s still noon, so Yeon Woojeog won’t be home even if I go back. Will he come earlier today?

I went home and got off the elevator. There was an icebox in front of the door. I checked the waybill. The recipient was Yeon Woojeong. The sender was Namulnara. I stared at the strange name that didn’t relate to Yeon Woojeong, then I brought it along inside.

Because it was an icebox, I felt it should be opened immediately, so I opened the package without asking Yeon Woojeong. There were vegetables packaged like a lunch box inside. Namulnara. Vegetable Country. Only then did I realize what the meaning was. Will he eat this along with the lunch box?

All of a sudden I realized there was no vegetable in this house except for the side dish inside the lunch box. Did he order this for me to eat? My nape turned stiff. I took out the vegetables from the box while stroking my neck.

I organized them by putting some in the freezer and some in the refrigerator. I felt lighter once I threw out the trash. Furthermore, I wanted to move my body, and I wanted to do anything.

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