episode_0076

“Oh, Kangsu, you’re here? Right on time.”

A loud shirt with the famous brand slogan, “BalXia,” boldly printed on it caught my eye. Along with expensive-looking watches and bags, this guy’s name is Seo Kangsu. Like Cheolsu, he’s one of my close buddies.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

I greeted him briefly, and he tilted his head with a smile.

“Who are you to speak informally to me… Wait, are you Dohyun?”

Just like Cheolsu, Kangsu was taken aback by my appearance and showered me with compliments.

If I let him, he would probably talk about me for days, so I cut him off.

“By the way, what about your kid? Is your wife watching them? Or your mother-in-law?”

Naturally, by my age, it’s rare to find guys who haven’t married, and most have one or two children.

“My wife? She’s not watching. The housekeeper ajumma is looking after them. My wife had plans today, so she’s not here.”

“Ah, I envy you. A housekeeper, huh? Must be nice having money. Right?”

Kangsu chuckled at Cheolsu’s words.

“Ha, what does an unmarried guy like you know? Get married once. Ugh, I must have been crazy back then.”

Starting a small IT company and managing it, he somehow caught the eye of a big… well, a company that could be called a major corporation, and ended up getting married to the daughter of the CEO. Every time we meet, he complains about his in-laws being overly cautious.

Well, his wife isn’t bad, so even though he complains, he manages well at home. That’s why we tease him as the “public husband” while he claims to be the “private husband.”

“Dohyun, where are your kids staying?”

“Oh, they came down with my younger sibling this time. It’s a school reunion, and my mom wanted to see the kids, so we came down together.”

“What, is it already a holiday atmosphere?”

“Not really. Anyway, are your kids doing well?”

“They’re doing well. By the way, these days, they’re so stubborn with their own opinions. Dohyun’s kids are the luckiest. They’ve already raised them, so they must have a lot of free time.”

“Free time? I cook for them morning and night, attend parent-teacher conferences, and recently had to go to the police station because of the kids’ issues.”

“Oh… did your kids get into a big trouble?”

“It wasn’t a big deal, it was resolved. You know, my younger brother’s husband is a lawyer.”

As we talked more about that day’s incident, the atmosphere became a bit heavier.

“Those kids are really brats. Why are kids like that these days? I saw on the news that juvenile delinquency is becoming serious.”

“That’s right. Ugh, it’s scary to raise kids.”

Feeling the mood getting heavier, I took a sip of my drink.

“Sorry for being late, guys.”

Fortunately, just as I was pondering how to lighten the mood, a man appeared.

“Hyunsoo, you’re here. Why are you so late?”

“Oh, I took the kids to the amusement park today. I dropped them off at my wife’s place and came straight here.”

With a natural tone, Hyunsoo joined us at the table.

He was shorter than me, with a slightly chubby face, dressed casually as if he had just come back from an outing with his kids.

“Wow, you came straight here after that? Your stamina is amazing.”

Kangsu marveled at Hyunsoo.

“Stop it. It’s been about three months since I started exercising. It was crazy trying to juggle work, exercise, and parenting at first.”

“So, I told you to start exercising early.”

Hyunsoo scratched the back of his head nonchalantly, as Cheolsu’s words were coming from someone who had been exercising and managing his health for a long time.

“By the way, is that Dohyun?”

Hyunsoo immediately guessed his identity without even asking who I was. Well, it’s understandable. Among the people sitting here, the woman who looks like she’s in her twenties with these guys? He could easily recognize anyone who has even a slight connection with us or our alumni.

“Yeah, that’s right. Aren’t you surprised? These guys were making a fuss as soon as they arrived.”

“Haha, actually I’ve seen him once before. In a photo.”

“Oh? How?”

“I ran into your mother at the mart a while ago, and she showed me a picture there.”

“Oh, I see.”

Nana, Cheolsu, and Kangsu had all left this neighborhood a long time ago, but Hyunsoo was the only one still living here.

“Anyway, it’s been a while since we all got together.”

Kangsu said with a smile, showing his pleasure.

“Yeah, it feels like we just met last New Year’s.”

Cheolsu tried hard to remember their last meeting, nodding his head.

“Yeah, what were we talking about?”

“About kids.”

“Haha, then Cheolsu must have been bored, right?”

“Don’t say that. How can someone live without kids feeling lonely?”

“Hey, idiot. That’s why you should get married soon. Tomorrow you’ll be 40, how long are you going to stay like this?”

When Kangsu said this, Cheolsu raised his hand as if he was fed up.

“Hey, don’t you start too. I just came down yesterday and had another fight with my mom.”

“Ugh, this pathetic guy.”

Kangsu emptied the remaining drink as if his heart was burning.

“Hey, don’t be like that. He’ll figure it out on his own. But you do have a girlfriend, right? You’ve been together for about 3 years, right?”

Hyunsoo said soothingly, but who would have known that it was a minefield?

“Oh…that…why…”

“Why, did you break up?”

He looked at me for a moment, then bowed his head deeply.

“Because it was burdensome.”

“What? What do you mean by burdensome? It’s not like there’s a pressing reason economically… Oh, is your girlfriend pressuring you to get married? It’s natural for women in their mid-30s to be in a hurry to get married. And you’re not even a confirmed bachelor. Why did you break up when you could just get married?”

Despite Kangsu’s continued questions, he raised his head again and spoke very seriously.

“Listen carefully. A woman in her 30s who’s never been married is a monster. Oh…really, I’ve had my share of relationships, you know? But when I’m with her, my energy is drained. I’m 39 now, and I’ve done it up to 5 times a day. But she’s still fine. People are crazy.”

“Wow…my…”

Kangsu exclaimed, and Cheolsu was washing his face with a somewhat miserable expression.

“Even now, if my wife showers before going to bed, I can’t help but feel scared.”

Hyunsoo patted Cheolsu’s back in agreement, and Kangsu looked at the two of them as if he was amazed. Then he turned his head, met my eyes, and asked.

“What about you? How are you?”

“What? I got divorced, remember.”

“Oh, no. Not that. I mean, like…sexual desire. How does it compare to when you were a man?”

“Kangsu, that’s sexual harassment…”

“Ugh, who else would I ask if not this guy?”

“Whatever, man!”

Hyunsoo cautiously stopped Kangsoo, and Cheolsoo also chimed in to scold Kangsoo.

“Nah, it’s nothing. Actually, it’s more awkward when you guys act all weird around me. Just relax.”

As I said that, their squabble quickly subsided.

“Hmm…sexual desire? I’m not sure. I haven’t had the luxury to think about that for a while. I don’t think it was as strong even when I was a man. Oh, I don’t know about sexual desire, but I definitely became more emotional after becoming a woman. Something like that.”

“Well, for example, what makes you feel more emotional now?”

Perhaps crossing a sensitive topic, this time Hyunsoo actively asked what he was curious about.

“Um…sometimes there are issues that I would normally just brush off but for some reason I take them more sensitively, and when I’m in a good mood, I feel overly happy? It’s like that…”

As an extreme example, I could mention what happened on the Songdo Cable Car in Busan before, but it was embarrassing, so I didn’t bring it up.

“Isn’t that just bipolar disorder?”

Kangsoo casually blurted out.

“It’s not that extreme. It’s just…I don’t know. I feel like my emotions are a bit out of control?”

“It’s fascinating. Well, becoming a woman in itself is a fascinating thing, but anyway, it’s amazing to see someone who was once just a news story about a disease around me.”

“Yeah, I mean, when I first got a call from this guy, I really thought he was joking. Well, I believed him because he’s not the type to joke around much.”

And so, the four of us sat around chatting, but someone at the other table stood up and raised their voice.

“Hey, hey. Have you caught up with your familiar friends? Should we mix up our seats now?”

Looking at the time, it had already been about an hour since the alumni meeting started.

The guy who was in charge of the alumni association wasn’t particularly close to me, but I knew his face. Well, there were reasons why I didn’t attend the alumni association often, but he was an insider who even served as the student council president when he was in school, so it was natural that there was some distance between us.

“Ugh, so annoying.”

Kangsoo blatantly showed his dislike.

“Well, what can we do. I’m annoyed too…if we were going to hang out together, it would have been better to see each other separately, but anyway, it’s an alumni meeting, right?”

Hyunsoo seemed to accept it reluctantly.

“Hey, should we just leave?”

Cheolsoo suggested leaving altogether.

Honestly, I also wanted to leave and have a comfortable conversation with these guys.

“Why are you like this, acting like kids. In the end, this is all part of social life.”

As is often the case with alumni meetings, only those who come will come. But how many of them really come because they remember old memories? Most people come for business, self-promotion, or just for fun.

Me and these guys, we’ve been friends since elementary school, not just high school, so we come together for old times’ sake, but others won’t do that.

Knowing this purpose, we mix up the seats like this to fulfill the true purpose of the alumni meeting.

“Alright, let’s do that. Who’s going to move seats?”

When the alumni association president suggested that two people move seats, everyone agreed, and accordingly, two of us at our table had to move seats.

“I’ll go.”

Unexpectedly, Cheolsoo, who was negative about moving seats, volunteered to move seats.

However.

“Take this guy with you.”

He grabbed my arm and tried to get up from the seat.

“Hey, I’m more comfortable sitting.”

“Let’s see how well you handle social life.”

“Ugh, no~”

However, despite my resistance, I couldn’t overcome his arm strength, so I just ended up getting up from my seat.