The Best of Tomorrow [ 내일의 으뜸]

Chapter 21

Late at night, I was alone at home. At my dad's college class reunion, my mom and dad said they were going on a trip today as a couple, so after lunch, my mom and dad packed their bags and left the house.

I sat on the sofa in the living room, eating shredded vegetables and drinking the beer left in the refrigerator. It was a golden opportunity at a time when I was feeling depressed and frustrated. While changing channels with the remote control, I picked up a beer can and shook it because it was too light.

"Have you finished drinking already?"

I looked at the table. Two empty cans of beer were dented. I wanted to get drunk, but this was all the alcohol I had in the fridge.

"Oh, I don't know."

I put on my coat, took my MP3, wallet, and cell phone and left the house. The journey to find supermarkets that sell alcohol without checking resident registration cards has begun.

□ ■ □

I have already been rejected for the seventh time. The world is stricter on minors than you think. The girls, who were smoking cigarettes behind the school auditorium, trudged along, wondering how on earth they had bought items prohibited to minors. Maybe it was because it was a cold day, but it seemed like even the slightly drunk energy was running away.

I took out my phone and checked the time. It was 1:20. In the past, I couldn't even imagine being outside at this early in the morning. I thought it was natural because I was a minor, and I was scared of the early morning hours. However, as a 24-year-old who was about to graduate from college, I was a person who often drank and returned home early in the morning for the four years after entering college, so I was very familiar with the distance during this time zone.

It wasn't a bad feeling walking down a quiet street at dawn while listening to an old song from MP3. It would have been better if I had alcohol, I thought, and walked aimlessly. As I walked, I found myself near 66 Entertainment. It was like walking two subway stops. Is unconsciousness this scary? I shook my head and walked away. I had walked far enough from home that I couldn't go any further.

As I was walking, dragging my shoes, I saw someone walking in the same direction across the street. He was walking with his padded hat on, his hands in his pockets, and dragging his slippers on. Strangely, his eyes couldn't move and he kept glancing. The person across the street turned and headed toward the bridge. The hat I was wearing was taken off by the blowing wind. The man walked without heeding anything. The familiar back of my head came into view.

That, maybe Seonjae?

It was after 1 o'clock in the morning. He just walked forward and didn't seem to have any intention of catching a taxi. It doesn't seem like it's the way to meet anyone. My eye was drawn to the slippers Seonjae was wearing. When I appeared on the radio, wasn't this the Gamgamdaegyo episode where I had to walk home because I couldn't afford a car, which was cited as the most difficult day of my trainee days?

They said it was a series of bad things. He said he lost his wallet and didn't have any money, and because practice ended late in the morning, he couldn't call home. So I had no choice but to walk for over two hours, and my phone battery ran out, so I couldn't even listen to music. At that time, she said that she saw the lights reflected on the Han River as she passed the bridge and it looked so sad.

I watched Seonjae walking away and stood in front of the crosswalk. She said, "I have a wallet, so she could lend Seon-jae money for taxi fare." If I run into you this early in the morning, hey, you're such a scary kid! He felt like saying that, so he zipped up his coat all the way and wrapped his scarf around his head to cover his lower body.