After Story 5

A café street huh? Maru had a look at all the cafés on the opposite side of the bookstore. Every first-floor stores in the many buildings right next to one another were cafés. They were so densely populated that it made him worry about their sales.

-It’s “Jane”.

She sent him the name of the café through the messenger. It was a rather large one that took up two floors.

Maru went inside. The store was crowded with people taking refuge from the heat. It turned out that his worries about sales were unnecessary. When he followed the line at the counter, he found Haneul who was greeting customers with a smile. She seemed to be busy and did not notice that he had come in.

He lined up and observed the various coffee beans on display. The customers left the queue one by one after ordering, and he eventually met her.

“One iced black coffee please.”

“You’re going to drink inside, right?”

“I was going to take it out, but should I?”

She smiled and told him to wait a moment. Taking the order token given to him by another employee, he went up to the 2nd floor. There were no seats on the 1st floor. He found a seat by the window where the music was pretty loud. He watched a small staring contest between some old ladies chatting and a student trying to study when his order token started vibrating.

“Here’s your coffee. Enjoy.”

Haneul was cleaning the tables with a rag. He grabbed the coffee given to him by another employee and went upstairs. After he took one or two sips of the bitter coffee, she came up to the 2nd floor.

“You look busy.”

She, who was wiping the tables with her rag, shrugged. “Today’s actually one of the better days. Yesterday, there was a heat warning, so the store was so crowded that it was hard to walk. How’s the coffee?”

“It’s good.”

“Who do you think made it?”

“A pretty employee perhaps.”

Her eyes became wide. She looked around and scanned him from top to bottom before speaking,

“I’ll tell Donghoon just that, that there’s a male customer who likes him.”

“Don’t forget to tell him that I’m open to the idea of liberal gender.”

She smiled softly before going down after saying that she’d be back soon.

He looked at the coffee swirling around in the glass. Thinking that this Donghoon was pretty good at making coffee, he took out a book while enjoying the drink. There was a pretty good collection of books considering that they were placed for customers. He skimmed through a recently-released novel.

-You still alive?

That was Park Daemyung. He still used text messages when everyone else used online messengers, whether out of spite or plain lack of proficiency. Maru replied to him that he was still alive.

-Here, everyone’s collapsing because of the heat.

He chuckled as he looked at the text. Just like the previous life, he kept in touch with Daemyung and they were good friends. There were a couple other friends he was close to since high school, but the acting club was not among them. He did not join the acting club in high school in this life in the first place. Their point of contact had disappeared, and along with it, his relationships. His former relationships were now just friends in memory.

He called Daemyung. He wanted to hear his voice instead of texting him.

“You at work?”

-No, I’m taking a break.

“How’s working at the dockyard?”

Daemyung went to the southern coast, saying that he was working on installing a ship dock. That was a year ago. At first, he was an assistant and got paid 100 thousand won per day. He said that it was pretty hard but a decent job, and he ended up working until now, saying that he wanted to make it his profession.

-Well, the thing is, I think I might have to go back up after summer.

“Did something happen?”

-Our whole team got disbanded. I almost managed to get promoted to main worker, but that didn’t happen either. The big brothers I was working with are looking for other contract work, but there’s no one looking for labor because there are no projects. Those on the system side are being taken as experienced workers, but… Nah, forget it. I shouldn’t be talking about this to you, it’s gloomy. How are you doing after returning to college?

Whether it was this life or the one before, Daemyung always put others before himself.

“I dropped out.”

-What? Dropped out?

Daemyung was startled and his voice rose. Maru took his phone away from his ears and looked at the screen for a while. Daemyung’s voice was gushing out of the phone in anger.

-Why? You’re already in the second semester of your second year. When you were grumbling about it to me, you said you weren’t serious. But what? You suddenly quit?

“That’s how it is.”

-Don’t give me that. Does your mother know about this? She must have been really against it.

Now that he thought about it, they were close to the point that Maru brought Daemyung home a couple of times to eat and sleep. Unlike in the previous life, Daemung had also never gotten bullied, so he had a pretty good reputation as a reliable guy among his friends.

“She doesn’t know yet. I haven’t told her about it.”

-You dropped out without even consulting your parents? I know that you’re immature, but how could you drop out without even talking to your parents about it? Isn’t your rent being paid by your parents too? You threw a tantrum saying that you wanted to live by yourself since you’re in college.

Maru looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Just as Daemyung said, he was an immature college student until yesterday. He was a reckless young man who wanted to do everything he wanted to do under the sole guise of being a college student. Whether it was before he enlisted or after he was discharged, his parents paid for his rent. Just because of the ridiculous reason that he was a college student.

“That hurts.”

-You haven’t handed in the application yet, right? If you did, then it should take time for it to be processed, so take it back right now. For now, consult your parents and decide after that. No, I’ll hear what you have to say first. You told me on the day you got discharged. You said you’ve turned a new leaf and will study and get academic scholarships.

“That I did.”

-Then why?

Maru looked outside. He could see cars and people moving according to the traffic lights. He then moved his gaze to the coffee cup.

“I was walking down the wrong path, so I’m trying to set it straight.”

-And that’s the reason you’re dropping out?

“I can’t drive in reverse when going forward might not be enough.”

-You didn’t get involved in multi-level marketing or something, have you?

“I’m planning to dip my hands in it if I have the opportunity.”

-Don’t joke with me. You’re saying you’re going to give up on college life because of some abstract things like that? What are you going to do about your tuition?

“I guess I’ll just have to treat it as having learned a life lesson with 10 million won.”

-Don’t be like that and try a little harder. You were pretty smart, weren’t you? You hung out with me throughout high school, but you were always above average.

“Isn’t it funny to call slightly above average good?”

-You were better than me at least. You got into a college you wanted to go to too. I heard that companies don’t accept people who don’t have a graduation certificate, so think again.

“If you are so knowledgeable about college degrees, why did you jump into employment?”

-That’s because I have no interest in studying. As you know, I’m pretty large. The heavens just decreed that I should work a job taxing my body, so there’s no need to waste money studying.

“And yet when you got drunk, you talked about how you wanted to try to go to college?”

-You’re on about that again? I just meant I want to know what it is like to live a campus lifestyle. Someone like me obviously isn’t going to study.

“People like you are much better than those mindless idiots going to lectures like zombies. Colleges aren’t anything much unless it’s a prestigious one.”

-Are you drunk? You always praised your college.

“You might find it ridiculous if I say this, but just consider me as a different man since yesterday. I’m not joking. I’m pretty serious.”

-You didn’t get into trouble, did you?

“Why does it go there?”

-Because you’re saying something strange all of a sudden. Honestly, you rarely talk about serious stuff with me. We’re good friends, but we rarely talk about what we think deep inside.

“I’m going to do so now. I’m moving one of my worries to you. Why, do you hate me?”

-Like hell I do.

“Anyway, thanks for the heartfelt advice. But I’m not going to retract dropping out. If you come up and see me face to face, you’ll see that I didn’t say all these things on impulse. I’m really a changed man like the characters you see in movies.”

-You’re being really strange right now. You’re talking like a completely different person too. You always swore at the end of every single line, but now you’re such a good talker.

“The Han Maru you didn’t know was always like that.”

-The you I don’t know?

Maru sipped some coffee before speaking,

“Would you believe me if I gained memories of my previous life?”

-Were you some amazing guy in the Chosun era or something?

“You always talk about the distant past when I talk about previous lives. Just think that I’ve lived the same life over and over again like a hamster in a hamster wheel. With every new life, one lifetime’s memories are erased, but I got all those memories back now.”

-I want to ask if you’ve been dreaming, but you don’t seem like you’re kidding, so I can’t really say anything. Anyway, you’re saying something big happened that you’re feeling like that, right? Some kind of big shock that changed your attitude towards life.

Maru told him the truth, but even then Daemyung twisted his meaning, so he couldn’t help it. Well, who in the world would believe him? Anyone who believes his words might need psychotherapy.

“Anyway, it’s like that. I definitely didn’t decide to drop out because of an impulsive decision.”

-If you say so, then sure. But I can’t agree to not telling your parents about it.

“You’re entirely right. But if I tell my mother that I’m quitting right now, she’ll say the same thing. Even if I convince her, she might not accept it or feel disappointed. So I was planning to tell her about it after I get some results.”

-So the conclusion is that you’re going to earn money?

“Yes. I’m going to earn money. Just enough so I can get by.”

-Don’t tell me something absurd like you will do a part-time job. You can do part-time jobs alongside studying.

“I can see how little faith you had in me. I’m sure I must have looked like a kid and also pathetic.”

-Not entirely.

“If you say so. I find myself pathetic. Well, in any case, I’m going to produce visible results. With that, I’m sure my parents will understand why I’m quitting studying.”

-You sound like you already decided on what to do?

“For that, I’m going to have to consult my wife.”

-Wife? Do you have a girlfriend?

“I’ll introduce her to you once you come up. She’s a woman very close to me.”

-I really don’t get it. First, you’re saying you’re dropping out of college, and now you’re telling me you have a girlfriend. You do seem like you’ve changed. Alright, let’s talk face-to-face. I’m planning to go up during the weekend.

“It’s hot, so be careful. Let’s have a good talk.”

-We saw each other just a few months ago.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

Daemyung smiled and hung up.

“Who were you calling for such a long time?”

He turned around to see Haneul.

“It’s Daemyung. Is your shift over?”

“Of course not. I just came up because it was quite free.”

She glanced at the coffee cup before snatching it away. She took big gulps before putting the empty cup down on the table.

“Some caffeine in the system really is effective.”

“Do the workers here drink their customer’s drinks?”

“Do you want a refill then?”

She looked at the watch.

“I need to work about one more hour. Isn’t it boring to wait?”??e????no???. c??

“I’ll wait while reading,” he said as he showed her the book cover.

She nodded and turned around.

It was when she was walking towards the trash can with a bunch of disposable cups that she turned around. “Oh, right. I have something to consult about too.”

“What is it?”

Her nose twitched. She showed this expression when she had some difficulties.

“I apparently have a boyfriend.”