Swallow Hunting - vanish into fiction

He had clearly fallen asleep on the sofa, yet the place he woke up was the bed. He had wondered how he managed to draw the curtains while lying on the sofa, but it was possible because he had been lying in the bed located right beneath the window.

Did he move in his sleep because he felt uncomfortable? Looking around, Lee Kang-ju was gone. He had departed without a sound.

He could have at least told me he was leaving.

Swallowing his disappointment, Hae-jun climbed out of bed while stretching languidly. Only a single bottle of water sitting lonely on the table served as proof that Lee Kang-ju had stayed there at dawn.

He was about to take a new one out of the refrigerator, but feeling it would be a waste to discard water that had only been left after a single sip, he picked up the bottle Lee Kang-ju had left behind.

He hesitated for a moment before putting his lips to it. Then, not knowing why he was wavering over something so trivial, he thought, “Whatever,” and gulped it down. The water passing through his throat tasted sweeter than usual.

He had heard something before falling asleep last night.

“What was it again?”

Staring into space and sipping the water repeatedly, he became lost in thought. It was only after his dry throat became moistened that the memory surfaced.

‘Did you wait long?’

It was an abrupt question. The expression “much” instead of “a long time” was a bit awkward, but the answer had come quickly. He had waited for Lee Kang-ju. That was the mission given to him and the task he had to do.

Was there no meaning beyond that?

“…”

Hae-jun held the water bottle with both hands and stared blankly at the bed. It was the place where Lee Kang-ju had been lying at dawn. He walked over unsteadily, plopped down on his knees before it, and buried his head in the disheveled bedding. He took a deep breath. There was no scent of a person. There was only the smell of dry cotton and a faint fragrance of fabric softener.

If he hadn’t moved to the bed, would Lee Kang-ju’s scent have remained? He felt a lingering regret that he had needlessly erased the other man’s scent by lying there.

Hae-jun slowly swept the blanket with his fingertips. The warmth created by being heated in the sun was at least similar to Lee Kang-ju’s body temperature. Taking it a step further, he even rested his cheek against it.

“I think I did,” he replied.

“Did he hear me?”

He hoped he hadn’t. Once one returns to their senses, the things blurted out while drunk and the truths whispered while half asleep are the most embarrassing.

***

Hae-jun paused while crossing the hallway. The trash and empty boxes left out by the neighbor’s house had increased even more.

The weather was cool, so bugs were less attracted to it, but if left unaddressed, it seemed like they would swarm in droves soon. It should be cleared away before then; though there were signs of someone living next door, it was as silent as death.

Assuming they would take care of it themselves, Hae-jun looked away and walked toward his own home. However, a note was stuck to his door.

It is extremely noisy at night. Please be quiet.

“Oops,” he gasped, covering his mouth. He looked around to see which house might have posted this paper.

The hallway was silent. There weren’t many people on the floor he lived on who acted noisily. Or was it the floor below? He didn’t run around or stomp his feet, but it was possible that when he had sex with Lee Kang-ju, the bed creaked or the headboard hit the wall, causing noise.

I should be careful from now on. Making a firm vow, he peeled off the note and entered his house quietly, muffling his footsteps as much as possible.

There was no contact from Lee Kang-ju today. Setting his mind at ease with the thought that he wouldn’t be coming, he flopped down on the sofa. Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, he turned on the TV and fixed his eyes on his phone.

Lately, he had developed a new habit. While he used to kill time pointlessly by repeating short videos, recently he spent every break slowly retracing the conversations he had with Lee Kang-ju. There was no special topic. He sent texts to Lee Kang-ju in a reporting style, sharing what he did today, what he ate, and what happened.

Perhaps because he was busy with work, Lee Kang-ju was slow to check the texts. Still, his replies had become a bit faster compared to before. Though they were short answers like “Okay” or “Yes,” Hae-jun was grateful for even those. Occasionally, he would send a long text. They were usually wellness messages, such as asking if he had eaten or slept well.

With the tip of his tongue sticking out like a clam, Hae-jun tapped on his phone. He was writing that he had returned home after finishing his deliveries. While he was agonizing over what to write next, “Ding-dong,” the doorbell rang. It couldn’t be Lee Kang-ju. Since he hadn’t ordered any food, he couldn’t guess who had come to visit.

“Who is it?”

Even though Hae-jun called out, the person only pressed the doorbell irritably. On the intercom monitor, he could only see a strange man with his head bowed, wearing a hoodie pulled low.

He tried to ignore it, but this time the man pounded on the door with his fist. It was a knocking filled with as much annoyance as the ringing of the bell. Fearing that everyone in the building might come out at this rate, Hae-jun quickly opened the door.