Chapter 38

“Young man, what’s that over there, did you come to catch the farm truck?”

“A farm…?”

“Aren’t you going to the farm to earn money?”

“W-well, yes.”

Naru had never planned to go to a farm. He didn’t even know a truck to the farm stopped here. But the moment he heard the word money, he blurted out a lie without thinking.

From what the grandmothers said, it seemed you could earn money at the farm. Naru, who had grown up in the countryside as a child, liked farms. There were plenty of lettuces to snack on, cabbages, and if you dug the ground well you’d find potatoes—it was the best.

While waiting for the truck to the farm, Naru fiddled with his hands. They said the truck would arrive at exactly twelve noon. Checking the electronic clock on the building across the street, it was only eleven in the morning.

“Oh my, young man. Go inside and wash your face at least. You’re a mess.”

“Can I use water…?”

“Sure, it’s fine if we allow it.”

A grandmother who felt sorry for Naru pointed toward the inside of the senior center. Naru bowed deeply in thanks and ran inside the senior center.

The restroom next to the senior center was fairly clean. It was well maintained and even smelled nice. Of course it wasn’t nicer than Gyu-yeon’s house, but for Naru in his current state, he was grateful for this much.

Checking his appearance in the mirror, Naru let out a big sigh. He’d been rained on last night and slept outside, so his face looked dark and dirty. He turned on the tap and scrubbed his face with a bright blue cucumber soap.

After washing up like that, his skin looked pale and clean again. He couldn’t take a shower, but after splashing water and rinsing his arms, Naru left the restroom looking refreshed.

“Now you look a bit tidier.”

“Your face is pale and kind of pretty.”

“Can someone like that do fieldwork?”

“Kids these days have gotten even weaker.”

At Naru’s appearance, the grandmothers added comments and continued chatting. Thanks to his pretty face he even got some rice cakes, and before long he had become friendly with the grandmothers and chatted away. If it had been before, he would have been afraid of people and avoided them, but living with Gyu-yeon seemed to have naturally made him more sociable.

Time flew by while he was with the grandmothers. The digital clock on the building now read twelve noon.

“Huh, huff, almost late. Ugh.”

“…”

While waiting at the stop for the truck, a tall man came running over, out of breath. With red hair and piercings, he looked a bit delinquent.

Naru backed away a step, wary of the man. As he caught his breath, the man noticed Naru tucked into the corner of the stop and frowned. It clearly looked like he was avoiding him, and that didn’t sit well with him.

“Hey, what’s up.”

“…”

The man’s tone was similar to Gyu-yeon’s. The difference was that Gyu-yeon had an insolent air that somehow seemed refined, while this man felt just rough all around. Thinking he must avoid him at all costs, Naru stepped back two more steps.

While trying to ignore the man’s words, a black van pulled up in front of the stop. The side of the vehicle had ‘Our Farm’ in a sans-serif font. A phone number was printed underneath as an extra.

A middle-aged man in the passenger seat rolled down his window and gestured for them to get in. When the door opened the man climbed in first, and Naru, dazed, followed behind him.

Sitting pressed up against the window, Naru waved at the grandmothers. Though it had been brief, they had treated her like a grandmother and he had grown fond of them, so he was sad to part.

“Hey, hey.”

“Ah shit, what.”

“Well? I don’t recognize your face, why are you here?”

The man showed interest in Naru and started a conversation. He seemed like someone who’d ridden this truck several times. Annoyed by him tapping her shoulder, Naru boldly responded in blunt speech. Since he used blunt speech, he dared to mirror it.

The man’s interest was piqued by Naru’s refusal to back down. Usually, people either ignored someone like him or cowered and answered meekly. But Naru didn’t flinch and came at him.

“Why are you here?”

“I came to make money.”

“Farm work is fucking hard.”

“So what…”

Naru was getting irritated. The man kept pestering him and saying things he didn’t care about.

The man, delighted by the ‘so what’ reply, burst out laughing. It amused him that someone pretty and gentle-looking would bare their teeth like that. Naru completely ignored his laughter and stared out the window.

“What’s your name?”

“Song Naru.”

“What kind of name sounds like ‘son of a bitch.’”

“Not ‘son of a bitch’—like a puppy.”

Naru frowned and corrected him to ‘puppy.’ There were many insults in the world, but Naru hated ‘son of a bitch’ the most. His Previous owner had used it whenever angry, and it made him feel dismissed, so he hated it.

“Isn’t it normal here for people to get mad and shout ‘what do you mean, son of a bitch’?”

“…”

“Guess my name.”

The man persistently stuck to him. He felt different from Geon-hyuk. Geon-hyuk had approached with a cold vibe from the start, but this man only had a rough way of speaking and didn’t seem malicious. That made him more annoying.

Feeling a bit guilty about not answering, Naru blurted out any name.

“Kim Deok-chil.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“…”

Even Naru felt it was a ridiculous name. Kim Deok-chil for that man’s face—no way. Though he didn’t want to admit it, the man’s looks were quite striking. Sharp features and a refreshing impression made his face subtly attractive.

But Gyu-yeon was still more handsome.

Naru turned his head sharply and let the corners of his eyes droop. Thinking of Gyu-yeon made him feel drained.

“I’m Do Geon-hu.”

“Ah, okay.”

“What’s ‘okay’? Aren’t you gonna say ‘nice to meet you’ or something?”

“Nice to meet you.”

Do Geon-hu. It was a name that fit his face. Naru stifled his curiosity and watched outside. He felt uneasy as they gradually left the city.

The truck that had been barreling along stopped once more midway. Naru looked at the driver’s seat, puzzled. The middle-aged man who seemed to be the farm owner had his passenger-side window down, wagging his hand as before.

The door opened and the men who had been standing at the stop began boarding one after another. This time they looked a bit older. As a flustered Naru didn’t know what to do, Geon-hu grabbed his arm and pulled.

“If you stay there, the older guys can’t get on.”

“Ah…”

“You’re dumb.”

“Dumb?”

‘Ddilppang’—he’d heard that word from Gyu-yeon before. At first he didn’t know what it meant, but now he understood perfectly: it meant dull and stupid.

Naru frowned and glared at Geon-hu. Then he reached out and pinched his thigh hard.

“Aah!”

“I’m not dumb.”

Geon-hu, who giggled even after being pinched, kept teasing Naru. He said things likely to make him angry—pinch me again, your personality is actually bad—picking at him on purpose. Naru sulked and turned him body away.

Naru, who wanted to sink into thoughts of Gyu-yeon, found his brow twitching at how things wouldn’t go his way. Geon-hu wouldn’t leave him alone, so he had no time to be lonely.

“Everyone get off!”

While bickering with Geon-hu, the truck stopped in front of the farm. The men grabbed towels to wipe their sweat and disembarked, and Naru and Geon-hu followed.

The farm was fairly large. Near the entrance stretched a row of greenhouses, and beside them a wide field of dark ochre earth. Leaving the city and smelling the air of nature made him feel much calmer.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. What? There’s one extra person.”

“You’re here?”

“Oh—but that’s strange. There’s one extra.”

“Either way there’s a lot of work, so it’s good.”

A woman carrying a basket of potatoes waved her hand, urging them to get to work. The farm owner assigned work to the men and then approached Naru.

“Oh, Geon-hu, you came again?”

“Mister, long time no see.”

“Don’t be so short with your words, you rascal!”

Geon-hu seemed to have a close relationship with the farm owner. His comfortable manner made him seem like the owner’s son. The owner, who was nagging Geon-hu to dig potatoes, tilted his head at the sight of Naru.

Naru smiled brightly to avoid being kicked out. Fortunately, the owner didn’t suspect him and gave him work. He was assigned to dig potatoes—the same job as Geon-hu.

“Let’s go, Song Naru.”

“Eek!”

“What are you wearing, who comes to a farm in clothes like that, are you crazy? Isn’t that designer?”

“Don’t. My boyfriend gave it to me.”

Today the lies slid out easily. Boyfriend—Gyu-yeon was no longer Naru’s owner or his boyfriend.

Geon-hu, inspecting Naru’s clothes closely, nodded with a strange expression. If those were designer clothes from a boyfriend, it was odd to have dirtied such precious garments. Though his face looked fine, Naru’s outfit resembled a puppy that had rolled in the mud.

“You have a boyfriend too?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn, he must be a big shot.”

“A big shot?”

“Yeah, your boyfriend must be rich.”

“…He is.”

He is rich, but that boyfriend isn’t actually mine.

Naru swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say and wore a bitter expression. Geon-hu didn’t fully believe him. Who would calmly let their boyfriend go off to field work? It didn’t make sense that someone with a rich boyfriend would come to a place like this alone.

“Let’s go dig potatoes.”

“Don’t hold me back.”

“You’re really picky, seriously.”

Moving on from the conversation, Geon-hu put his arm around Naru. His friendliness was almost too much. Naru pulled his arm away and walked ahead, tucking the pink basket given by the owner neatly at his side—somehow cute.

Entering the potato field, Naru took a deep breath. Every time the strong smell of earth filled his nostrils he felt better. He plopped down on the ground and, without gloves, started to fondle the soil. Geon-hu clicked his tongue and handed his gloves.

“Hey, if dirt gets under your nails it’s a pain.”

“I like bare hands…”

Loving to dig, Naru left the hoe aside and dug into the mound with his hands. The way he scooped the soil was like a playful puppy.

After exactly three hours of filling the basket bit by bit and just digging out soil, the farm owner strode over through the glaring sunlight, cleared his throat, and shouted.

“Hey, everyone! You packed your things, right?”

It was sudden—what did he mean ‘packed your things’? It was hard to understand. Geon-hu, who had dug two baskets of potatoes, waved his hand and affirmed it. Others did the same. Among them, only Naru was bewildered.

What was this situation? Weren’t they going to send him home today?

“Okay! At six o’clock go into that lodging you can see over there!”

The owner, having neatly given his orders, turned and left. Naru faced another crisis. He had thought they’d send him home, but apparently everyone would be living together in the lodging.

He looked in the direction the owner pointed and saw a shabby building. All of them were supposed to live in that small one-story place. Not used to communal living, Naru fought back tears.

Vrrrr.

At that moment, the phone in his pants pocket buzzed. Another low-battery warning? Naru secretly checked the screen and frowned.

He was pretty sure he had seen Gyu-yeon’s name, but at the worst timing the battery died and the phone shut off.