“Representative!””
Yuni waved her hand out the taxi window, calling out to him in a cheerful voice.
The familiar large sedan was parked in front of Phantom’s parking lot. He had just finished parking and was getting out of the driver’s seat, raising his hand to shoulder height to acknowledge her greeting. A soft smile played beneath his dark sunglasses.
Yuni got out of the car first, followed by Juhan and me after paying the fare. Yuni was already at his car.
“The artwork?”
“It’ll be here soon. But…”
He watched a one-ton truck slowly pull into the empty space left by the departing taxi, narrowing his eyes as he took off his sunglasses. The truck was loaded with about ten large and small potted plants.
“I told you, I was going to bring some plants into the gallery.”
At Yuni’s reply, he crossed his arms and stroked his chin.
“Hmm… not sure that’s a good idea. We’ll probably kill them all, won’t we?”
“We’ve got someone who won’t let them die now.”
Yuni confidently said, putting her arm around my shoulder, but he looked at me with a skeptical expression.
“Have you ever grown anything like that?”
“I used to… my parents grew a lot of them.”
They both loved plants. From relatively easy-to-grow snake plants, cacti, Ardisia, and Anthurium to large potted plants like Ficus benghalensis, Areca palms, and Alocasia. The small veranda was like a jungle.
“Well, seeing how Han manages his place, I guess you won’t at least let them die.”
He folded the temples of his sunglasses and tucked them into his chest pocket, nodding as if in agreement. Yuni showed interest in his words.
“Is the manager’s place that clean now?”
A smile slowly spread across his face. A smile that contained a bit of mischievousness.
“If you’re so curious, go visit sometime. Instead of just hanging around with Kwon Juhan all the time.”
“I’ll pass on your equally useless advice, Representative. Why don’t you help unload the plants?”
He ruffled Yuni’s bobbed hair and chuckled. It seemed like they were exchanging barbed words, but as is often the case with conversations between close people, it sounded like code to an outsider not included in the relationship, making it impossible to grasp the true meaning.
It was quick to receive the plants that the delivery driver brought down from the truck and move them inside the office. There were four of us, after all.
We took his suggestion to have coffee outside until the artwork arrived to mean going to a nearby cafe, but that wasn’t the case.
If you turned right in front of the main entrance, following the building wall without passing the parking lot, there was a secret space surrounded by well-maintained shrubs. It was a small garden with a four-person table set with a parasol that filled the space.
“I’m already annoyed about having to come to work on a Saturday, and why is the weather so nice?”
He took out the sunglasses he had put in his chest pocket and put them on, looking up at the sky diagonally over the parasol.
“The artwork could have been brought in tomorrow, but you were the one who wanted to rush it, Representative.”
Yuni said, scraping ice cream with a plastic spoon.
From the hanok cafe next door, the Representative and I chose iced Americanos, while Yuni and Juhan chose ice cream. The season was already closer to early summer, making it perfect for enjoying cold drinks and ice cream outdoors.
“I can’t just sit still when I think about making money.”
He opened the lid of the takeout container, removed the straw, and smiled as he drank the coffee directly from the container.
I stopped stirring the ice with my straw for a moment. Because his attitude toward the artist Shushu was so special, his statement that seemed to directly convert the value of the artist’s work into money was very unexpected. He was leaning back with a relaxed expression, his hands clasped behind his head. His face was full of satisfaction, as if he were about to hum a tune.
“Are the artist’s new works that good?”
“……”
He didn’t answer. However, the satisfied smile that was faintly visible beneath his sunglasses deepened slightly. I felt like I knew just from that expression that he was reluctant to answer. Talking about money was just words.
He cherished Shushu’s works so much that he was even cautious about revealing his true feelings about them, as if they were too precious to even mention. Perhaps, even the artist who created those works.
“Then we need to make some money too. Remember that we’re going to shoot next Sunday?”
Juhan, who had already finished all his ice cream, dropped his spoon into the empty paper cup and rubbed his hands together. His expression was reminiscent of Tom, enjoying how he would cook ‘Jerry’ that he had caught.
Conversely, he sat up from his relaxed position and frowned.
“Ah…”
“Did you forget?”
Juhan raised his voice.
“Is it necessary to do it that day? The exhibition opens on Saturday. I’m definitely going to be drinking all night.”
“You’ll be passed out drunk after drinking all night, Representative. We’ll take care of the shoot and come back.”
Yuni didn’t seem to care at all that he hadn’t remembered.
“I don’t remember paying you guys poorly… what are you going to do with all that money?”
“Go study abroad.”
“Then I’ll have to stop you from shooting. It’ll only be a loss for me if you quit.”
The three of them were playfully exchanging words. I seemed to be the only one surprised by the word “study abroad” that came out of Yuni’s mouth. Whether it was Yuni’s own plan or a project that included Juhan, it seemed clear that she was considering studying abroad, and judging from the Representative’s reaction, it didn’t seem like it was the first time he had heard about it either.
The area of shade that diagonally divided the table became darker. Everyone was diligently connecting their present to the future.
“And half of my greed I learned from you, Representative.”
After eating the ice cream by inserting the spoon to the side to avoid her lip piercing, Yuni pointed the spoon at the Representative. He raised the corners of his lips and smiled coolly, saying.
“I always consider that an honor. But isn’t making money the most fun thing in the world?”
“Exactly. What else is there to do? Making money is what’s left.”
“You guys are doing what you like, having fun, and making money. Kids these days are different. I’m jealous.”
“But we’re on a different scale than you, Representative. We could work our whole lives and not be able to afford a car like that.”
Yuni pointed to his car parked behind the front gate, only the front bumper slightly visible from where we were sitting, and he gave a self-deprecating bitter smile. Then, as if trying to erase the lingering bitterness of the smile, he snatched the spoon from Yuni’s hand just as she was about to put it in her mouth and swallowed the ice cream. It wasn’t an uncommon prank, as Yuni didn’t seem surprised at all and simply scooped up more ice cream with the spoon.
Judging by his facial features alone, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that he had a bit of a cleanliness obsession, but in reality, he didn’t seem picky at all in that regard.
“What are you talking about, you don’t even have any desire for things like that. For me, the only joy in life is making money, buying things like that, and showing them off.”
He was talking in a light tone, but I could sense from the subtle change in the atmosphere between the three of them that it was a topic that couldn’t be easily touched. It was a topic that could only be brought up as a joke, and if it went any deeper, the peace of the moment would be shattered. Studying abroad, his materialism, it all seemed like that kind of cautious topic to me.
“What are you talking about, Representative, you’re the one who has no interest in a life of just living on dreams? Just provide a place for the 20-year-olds who have nothing but their bodies and dreams. Just open the door.”
He still had a dissatisfied expression, but he didn’t seem to want to advance the conversation any further.
If someone from Phantom were to leave, he would object, but I couldn’t picture him trying to hold onto someone by deeply interfering in their life, no matter who it was.
“If you don’t have any plans, want to come with us? We’re going to shoot clothes for the Old Future update, and we’re going to shoot in the Representative’s garden. It’s very desolate there, so the photos come out well. It’s not maintained at all.”
Juhan invited me, but the space I was invited to was his house. I was at a loss for words, so I looked at him, but he just playfully complained, “I don’t know why I have to be criticized like this even after providing a place.” Rather, it was Yuni who noticed my gaze and caught the meaning.
“Are you worried about the Representative? It’s okay. We’re only going to shoot in the garden anyway. Representative, is it okay if Lee-hyun comes with us?”
“You said you’d do whatever you want while I’m sleeping and leave. Do whatever you want. Just don’t wake me up.”
He rummaged through the jacket he had hung on the back of his chair and took out a cigarette case, saying nonchalantly. Yuni lifted the last spoonful of ice cream and gestured to him with her eyes, asking if he wanted it, and he leaned forward and took it instead of lighting a cigarette. He licked the sweetness that remained on his lips and frowned.
“Ugh, I really don’t like sweet things.”
Yuni and Juhan laughed happily at his reaction.
His dislike of sweets was as expected, but then why did he take it when she offered it, and why did he steal Yuni’s ice cream a little while ago when no one had even offered it to him? I belatedly laughed at the unpredictable, childish behavior of the big man.
A delivery truck carrying pamphlets arrived, and I tried to get up from my seat with Yuni and Juhan, but Yuni pressed my shoulder down, saying that it wasn’t necessary for three people to do it and that she was planning to use me a lot today anyway, so don’t waste your energy beforehand.
If it’s something that doesn’t need three people, then Yuni should just stay and send me. Being alone with the two of them is still awkward…
“Come to think of it, did you quit the moving company? Or, since you can’t leave, you have no choice but to quit?”
Still, he was now asking me questions first, and at least he had stopped treating me like I didn’t exist.
“Yes. I originally only did it when I had the time…”
That didn’t mean that he was now paying attention to my feelings. He didn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t very interested in what he had brought up.
“How have you been since then?”
“……”
His expression changed when he talked about things he was interested in. Just like right now. He lit the cigarette he had been holding in his fingers without smoking, and looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
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