Swallow Hunting - vanish into fiction

Opening the veranda door, he heard the chirping of birds and the distant sound of passing cars. Hae-jun stood there blankly before leaning his cheek against the window frame. His lips jutted out, pressed out of shape by the flesh of his cheek.

“I want to stay just a little longer.”

Since no one was around, he let out the wish he had been harboring inside.

It wasn’t that Lee Kang-ju was heartlessly kicking him out, and he knew it was shameless to want to stay longer, but the heart rarely follows the head. He wanted to stick to Lee Kang-ju’s house for even a moment more. It wasn’t just because of the pleasant environment. Even the studio apartment Lee Kang-ju had provided was a palace to Hae-jun.

However,

“Who do I think I am?”

He muttered and closed the veranda door. He had organized all his luggage the night before. He hadn’t brought much anyway, so his path was light.

Before leaving the house, Hae-jun toyed with something in his hand. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he lost sleep debating whether to leave this behind or not.

After hovering by the entrance for a few minutes, he pressed his lips together and placed the item in the empty space between the shoe cabinets before leaving the house.

After finishing his delivery work, he returned to his old home. The front of the neighbor’s house, where trash used to be piled up like a mountain, was neatly cleaned. The vulgar curses on his front door had also vanished without a trace.

He pressed the keypad and went inside. Perhaps because a cleaning company had come through, there wasn’t a single speck of dust. He tossed aside the bag that had been weighing down his shoulders and collapsed onto the bed. The number of delivery runs had been the same as usual, but his body felt heavy and tired.

“…….”

He closed his eyes for a moment then snapped them open and raised a fist. He struck the wall. The booming sound was quite loud. He pounded it three more times.

Then he waited. For that bastard to appear again.

But even after a long time, the next room remained silent. If the madman was still living there, he would have sensed Hae-jun was home alone and came rushing out to act like a lunatic.

“It’s true.”

Lee Kang-ju had kept his word. Along with the trash, the madman next door had been dealt with. It was peaceful now. Hae-jun let out a clear laugh and threw his arms up in the air.

“Ha……”

The final laugh came out mixed with a sigh. Suddenly, he missed Lee Kang-ju. Similar abnormal symptoms have been occurring continuously lately. The man would suddenly pop into his head before sleep, and Hae-jun found himself curious about mundane things like what he was doing or if he had eaten.

When he closed his eyes, that face flickered before him. Even if he covered his ears, it felt as though he could hear the voice calling his name. Even while doing deliveries, the time he spent blankly holding the handlebars increased, and he stared endlessly at the text messages he had exchanged with Lee Kang-ju on his phone, which used to be nothing more than a gaming device.

He had even felt a pang of disappointment when told to return, so it was clear his state was far from normal.

It wasn’t that he liked him. Absolutely not. It was just because he was different from the guests he had dealt with before, and because the unexpected twists the man occasionally showed were impressive.

Hae-jun shook his head, trying hard to erase the thoughts that followed one after another.

This lingering regret was… yes, it must be because he was sorry to lose a benefactor.

There was no need to worry. The relationship wasn’t ending like this. Only the location had changed. There was hope. If Lee Kang-ju had intended to cast him aside, he wouldn’t have bothered to clean this house.

So, it was okay for now. He slapped his cheeks to wake himself up and picked up his phone. He sent a message saying thank you and that he had arrived home safely. Though there was no confirmation or reply, Hae-jun stared at the still screen for a long time as if it were Lee Kang-ju himself.

***

When Lee Kang-ju returned after exercising, the house was silent. It was an atmosphere he was once used to. He looked around the quiet living room and headed toward the kitchen. The smell of food that always lingered was gone. The scent of toast that was sometimes burnt, sometimes bitter, and sometimes savory.

Yesterday afternoon, Cha Hae-jun had returned to his original place. This meant the person who would babble incessantly while putting out food had vanished. He should have felt relieved, but from the moment he arrived home until now, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on was bothering him, like a hangnail.

He opened the cupboard. He thought the boy would have taken it, but the bread remained right there. Despite praising it for being so delicious, it seemed it wasn’t worth taking along.

A new bakery had opened in a spot visible from his office window. Perhaps it was a place rumored to be good, as the line was long from the morning. By afternoon, the “Sold Out” sign was quickly put up. He must have stared at it for a long time without realizing, wondering what was so famous about it, because someone who particularly liked bread had come to mind.