Work Text:
It was past 10 in the night when Master Choi Taek took his leave from the Go Club. Barely anyone was there, saved from some securities who bowed their heads to him. He bowed back. He was looking at his car’s keys, hoping to all Baduk’s Gods that he didn’t leave it somewhere in the Club since he knew they would close the building the minute he left it. With a relieved sigh, he found his keys and walked to the parking lot with renewed vigor.
He should have at least ten minutes before Deok Sun had to leave for her redeye flight to Sapporo today. He shook his head in disbelief over how their lives had turned into now. If he told Deok Sun, or himself ten years ago, that they would juggle their love lives between his international Baduk Tournaments and her long-haul flights to even more countries in the world, he would say he was crazy at best.
“Ya, Choi Heedong, are you talking to yourself now? Sheesh” the voice of Ryu Dong Ryong greeted him and he looked up in surprise. But there he was, his childhood friend in the flesh, greeting him from the perch of Taek’s car.
“Dong Ryong-ah” he greeted with a smile as he walked faster to him. “What are you doing here?”
Dong Ryong shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m just around,” he said cryptically, looking at him a bit weird. Well, weirder than usual. “Then I saw the snack cart in the front, and I think, wouldn’t it be nice to have a couple of odens with my old friend”
Taek tilted his head. While Dong Ryong was always the one he knew least among the group, he knew him enough to know that midnight snacks was not the thing that brought his friend to his parking lot.
From his sly smile, Taek knew that Dong Ryong knew it too.
“Sure, but no drinks. I have to drive after” Taek said. Dong Ryong rolled his eyes.
“I drive better than you even with 2 bottles of soju in me”
“Ya!”
~
“Why are we here?” Taek finally asked after they munched their snacks for a while, but Dong Ryong was looking to his bowl with much more interest than he should to a half eaten oden.
Dong Ryong took his time to answer, and Taek thread carefully.
“Is there something wrong with the restaurant, Dong Ryong-ah?” he asked, causing his old friend to look up sharply. “Something I can help?”
Dong Ryong smacked him in the head.
“Geez, what’s that for?” Taek rubbed the sore spot while Dong Ryong rolled his eyes.
“Don’t be cocky, Master Taek. The restaurants go on well,” he said with unusual glints in his eyes. Something he usually saw in his friends’ eyes when it came to contraband stuff and illicit videos they used to sneak out back then.
Dong Ryong was quiet for a bit, until he turned to him with a small smile.
“I have a tale for you”
~
“Once upon a time, there was a group of childhood friends who lived in the same street. These kids had known each other since they were babies and treated each other like siblings.”
“Isn’t that us?” Taek started, but Dong Ryong slapped his head. “I’ve told you, no interruptions”
Taek nodded and gulped his water. He had a hunch that he would need his wit for this tale.
“Until one day, a new kid came to their street. A small, timid kid with clothes too big for his gangly limbs. These kids were told by their parents to befriend the new kid and to take care of him, the kids agreed. They might be naughty and cause a lot of problems for their parents, but they were not bad kids.”
“One kid, in particular, took the most care for this new kid. Maybe it was because she was the only girl in the group, or maybe because she had caused a lot of bruises on the new kid already, but one thing unspoken within the group is that the girl take care of this new kid, no questions asked about why or how”
“As years passed, these kids grew and they grew even closer. The new kid, who was not a new kid anymore, grew up to be an excellent Baduk player. He quit school and went on to be a world champion on his field. The other kids were so happy for him, and were more than willing to take care of little things the new kid was not capable of. Like tying his shoelaces or buttoning his shirt. It didn’t matter to them, because they knew this kid was a good and dear friend of theirs, so they treasured him.”
Taek wanted to speak up again but he flinched seeing Dong Ryong hands, and pursed his lips together.
“Suddenly, this Baduk kid, told his guy friends that he liked the girl in the group. Everyone was startled, but they accepted him and started teasing him because the girl was not someone you expect one’s first love to be. She was loud, and silly and nowhere near the definition of feminine girl. But they knew she was a good person, she was kind and cared a lot about her friends, especially the Baduk kid. Hell, she even went to China to help take care of the kid when his father was hospitalized.”
“For a while, nobody questioned about how the Baduk kid seemed to be working his way to get the girl, until one day, he just stopped. He was suddenly getting even more busy with his games and never shared any silly grin around the girl anymore. She was also drifting away, like the other kids. 2 of them were accepted into their choice of college. The girl and the clown guy weren’t accepted anywhere due to their lack of try. But they decided to go to a prep college far from their home, and barely had time to get together again. So it seemed like nobody remembered the Baduk’s kid infatuation with the girl, because the kid himself seemed to forget about it. And the others were scared to talk about it either”
At this time, Dong Ryong turned into Taek, with a grim smile.
“Scared that maybe, just maybe, their teasings had costed their dear friends’ happiness”
Taek gulped more water, and he felt his eyes sting.
To say that those were some of the worst moments of his life, where he had to let go Deok Sun the first time, was the world’s biggest understatement.
“But life went on, as it should. The girl and the clown were finally accepted into a college. It wasn’t a fancy one, but they felt it was enough for them. They both took hospitality courses, and it seemed to suit them well. For the first time, classrooms were not so scary and the subjects were easier to understand.”
“The group barely ever meet up anymore. The two smarties were away in their studies, the Baduk kid was busy winning championship after championship, breaking out records as he went. And the girl and the clown were enjoying the last bit of their youth freedom. Things weren’t great, and there were times where they lamented the lost era. But they were fine”
Taek was silent. The story was alien to him, despite knowing he was there all the time. Like always. But these insights about his friends’ life after highschool were new to his ears. He didn’t exactly bridging himself with them, but he didn’t make any effort either. And for the first time, neither did their friends.
As Dong Ryong said, they were busy. Busy with life.
“Things were fine, until one day the clown kid got a call from his friend that the girl needed his help” Dong Ryong after observing his silence and a chill went through Taek’s spine. He turned to Dong Ryong with horror in his eyes.
“The girl was wasted in one of the karaoke sessions with their shared friends and she asked them to call him to pick her up. She was not used to heavy drinking, but somehow, that night, she chugged soju like water and ended up blacked out on that karaoke. The clown kid picked up the girl, and in her stupor, she begged to not take her to her house because her parents would kill her. The clown kid agreed and took her to one of their friends’ apartment”
Taek was about to say something when Dong Ryong turned to him and smiled wryly.
“Their friends were good people and the girl was safe. But you can never be too careful with a blacked out girl”
Taek nodded and Dong Ryong sighed before turning back to stare at the boiled snacks in front of them and resumed his story.
“The girl apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again. The clown kid believed her and took no offense, because he knew he had done far worse than her and she had had her fair share of taking care of his blacked out episodes. So things were fine, at least for a while”
“But then another phone call came. And again. Each were far and so random in between that the clown kid didn’t even bother to check the reason. It was not about their academics, because for once, they were in a good place. It was also not about dating life”
“The girl was popular, a lot of guys wanted to get close to her”
Taek shivered hearing that.
“But the phone kept coming to the guy, some days were closer than others. He started to question, why, why it kept happening. He didn’t ask, knowing that the girl would lie or made up reasons so he wouldn’t worry”
“That was always the girl. She was loud and annoying when it came to little things. But in things that mattered, she clammed up.”
“Until one day, he saw it. The clown kid who barely managed to solve an algebra problem, saw the pattern.”
Taek frowned and Dong Ryong turned to him and looked at him in a confusing expression. They stared at each other for a while until a sudden realization took Taek’s breath away.
The dates.
Dong Ryong nodded over the silent question, and Taek felt like a bucket of ice was poured into his head.
“They coincide pretty often. Sometimes it was the newspaper. Sometimes it was the laughter of mothers between the alleys” Dong Ryong said, then added with a sigh. “At first they were so random, but after the clown kid had seen it, he couldn’t unseen it. Ever”
“Is that why?” he asked and Dong Ryong nodded.
I’m taking herbal medicine.
“It’s getting better, especially after the girl got her flight attendant job. The job suits her because if anything, the girl was best at taking care of people. She had a lifetime experience on that with his brother and her Baduk kid. But she still stayed away from alcohol as far as she can and she shied away from news of any tabloid”
Taek wished there was a hole in front of him and it would swallow him whole. He clenched his fists so hard until they were white, and Dong Ryong put a hand on them.
“I’m not telling you this to put a blame on you, or anyone, really” he said, then added. “Nobody was at fault. The clown kid could’ve called out the problem. The Baduk kid could’ve been braver. The girl could’ve been smarter”
“The soldier could’ve man up and put his foot down, for once” he added and Taek whipped his head to his old friend, and Dong Ryong smiled wryly.
He knew.
“I might not be able to pass SKY universities, but I think I know better about people and money than Bo Ra noona and Sun Woo, combined” he said.
Taek didn’t know what to say, other than he wanted to vomit in his own mouth.
His Deok Sun. His lovely Deok Sun.
“Nobody was at fault” Dong Ryong said firmly, as if making sure that Taek understood him. “I’m telling you this just to let you know the power that you have over my dear, dear friend”
Taek looked intently at him and Dong Ryong laughed.
“It’s never like that, you fool, but Deok Sun has done so much for me over the years that I can’t help but look after her now,” he said, then added. “That girl would die in laughter if she heard me saying this, but again, she’s always the one who never see herself as others see her”
“She’s the best woman I ever knew, and if that doesn’t suit you, Master Taek, I don’t know who will”
Taek felt a tear fall down his eyes over the sincere confession. He couldn’t agree more.
“Be good to her, take care of her” Dong Ryong said in finality. “She might be all loud and thorny outside, but inside, she was still the Deok Sun we knew who cried when her mother made her sister fried egg and not her”
He gripped Taek’s shoulder so hard, it almost felt painful. But at the same time, he felt reassured that his friends got him. And Deok Sun.
Like always.
“Always” he said to Dong Ryong clearly, trying to convey his conviction to his friend. And Deok Sun’s best friend.
For once, the eyes behind the comically large eyeglasses were looking sharp and analytical. But after a while, they softened and he laughed after ruffling Taek’s hair.
“Our Choi Heedong is growing up,” he said.
Taek laughed among his tears.
~