1novels Chapter 29 Special Talent: Thick Skin
Chapter 29 Special Talent: Thick Skin
Azuma turned her head and looked at Lee Woo-bin, who was slumped next to the salted fish basket. Her gaze swept over his mud-covered suit, the brand of which was no longer recognizable, several times.
"What does your second brother do? Look at his fair skin, even whiter than a girl's."
Lee Jung glanced at Lee Woo-bin to the side.
The man next to the salted fish basket had a suit covered in mud, only one sock left, and his face was smeared with tears and mud, forming a map-like pattern.
He thought about it.
"He works in aviation."
"Oh my god, a pilot, no wonder."
Lee Woo-bin opened his eyes and glared fiercely at Lee Jung-il with his mud-free eye.
Li Zhengyi grinned at him.
The girl driving the tricycle glanced at them in the rearview mirror.
"It's such a waste that city people are so good-looking yet so slovenly. Go on."
She freed one hand, pulled a handkerchief from under the seat, and tossed it behind her.
Blue and white checkered fabric, coarse cloth, slightly faded from washing, folded neatly into squares.
It smells like soap and sunshine.
Li Zhengyi caught it.
"Wipe your face, your hair is covered in dust, you look like a mud monkey."
Lee Jung-il wiped his face and covered Lee Woo-bin's face with a handkerchief.
"Take a break, I'll call you when we get there."
Then he leaned against the iron railing of the truck bed and stretched.
Sunlight burst forth from the mountaintop ahead, turning the entire dirt road the color of salted egg yolk.
The girl in the driver's seat hummed that song about life again, her wheat-colored face half-lit and half-shadowed in the rearview mirror.
The Azumas behind them clapped and hummed along.
He glanced down at Lee Woo-bin.
The second brother was staring at him from under the handkerchief with dead fish eyes.
The look in his eyes said, "He wants to kill me, but he doesn't have the strength to do so."
Lee Jung-il pressed down on Lee Woo-bin's shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Second brother, seriously. Next time you want to cause me trouble, come up with something fun. Skydiving is so outdated."
As the sun rose, the Azumas in the salted fish cart began to sing their second song.
Lee Woo-bin pulled the handkerchief off his face and held it in his hand.
He wanted to say, "If you dare to make me jump off a plane again, I'll buy your crappy convenience store and turn it into a public toilet."
But he didn't say.
For some reason he couldn't even explain, he chewed up those words, swallowed them down, and swallowed them with his back teeth.
A small town on the coast of the East China Sea.
It doesn't matter if I can't remember the name.
The important thing is that this place doesn't even have a decent train station.
The so-called "station" was just a faded iron sign standing under a crooked locust tree in front of the police station, with the words "boarding point" written on it.
Someone added the sentence "Don't blame me if the car doesn't come" in chalk below.
5:40 a.m.
As dawn broke, the town was still yawning.
As soon as the breakfast stalls opened, the steam from the steamers mingled with the mist from the river, making the whole street look like a scene from a period drama.
Several stray dogs lay in the middle of the road, too lazy to even lift their eyelids when they saw the approaching person.
Li Zhengyi and his second brother sat on the steps in front of the police station.
To be precise, it was Lee Jung-il who was sitting, and Lee Woo-bin who was slumped over.
Neither of them looked presentable.
Lee Woo-bin, wearing a Versace suit.
It's inferred to be Versace because the logo is so obscured by mud.
Only one Italian handmade crocodile leather shoe remains, and the hair looks like it's been styled like a tornado.
He leaned against the wall of the police station with an air of "my life is over," staring blankly ahead.
Li Zhengyi, wearing a blue convenience store uniform, Converse sneakers that were coming unglued, legs covered in mud, his hair was slightly better than his second brother's but not much better.
But he is in good spirits.
It could even be said to be excessively good.
Jumping out of a plane in the early morning, making an emergency landing in a field, and being jostled all the way in a farm tricycle—to him, these things were just like going to an amusement park for a particularly thrilling ride.
Right now, he's humming a song while drawing little figures on the ground with a twig.
The little figure is a stick figure that has fallen from an airplane, with a parachute drawn next to it.
After finishing the drawing, he admired it for a moment and added a line of crooked words next to the stick figure.
Parachuting championship champion.
"Can you just shut up for a minute?"
"I am recording history."
Li Zheng twirled a tree branch around, saying, "If someone were to write a family history of the Li family in the future, the material from this night would be enough to write three hundred chapters."
"I'll burn it after you finish writing it."
"Then I'll write an electronic version. I'll back it up in the cloud."
Lee Woo-bin glared at him, but found it was useless; the younger brother's thick skin had been fully demonstrated in the past few hours.
He gave up.
He remained paralyzed.
Looking at the steamer baskets of the breakfast stall across the street.
silence.
The stray dog outside the police station yawned and looked at the two of them with disdain.
"...Do you know that girl who drove the tricycle earlier?"
Lee Woo-bin suddenly spoke up.
His voice was still hoarse, but his tone was no longer the fierce "I'm going to kill you" he used to say; it had become a flat tone with little strength.
"I don't know you. This is the first time we've met."
"Then why were you chatting with them so happily?"
"Otherwise what? After jumping off the plane, you'll want to cry, then you'll want to throw up, and then you'll want to die. Someone has to talk to the driver, otherwise it'll be awkward for everyone to sit there doing nothing."
Li Zhengyi counted on his fingers.
"Ah Hua sang three songs, and the Azumas told four pieces of gossip about the town. The most valuable one was that the owner of the seafood shop at the east end of town had a lover in Incheon last year, and his wife found out. Did you listen? No. You just stared blankly at the salted fish basket the whole time. What's so interesting about salted fish?"
Lee Woo-bin remained silent.
He did indeed stare blankly at the salted fish basket the whole way.
It wasn't because salted fish looked good, but because his brain was in a state of shutdown and failed reboot at that moment.
By the time he came to his senses, the tricycle had already sputtered into town.
The girl driving the tricycle was exchanging contact information with Li Zhengyi.
"Is it okay, Ahua? I'll treat you to barbecue next time I come to Seoul."
"Okay, Oppa, you owe me a barbecue. I'll remember that."
Lee Woo-bin found the thought of that scene absurd.
His younger brother, CJ's third son, is now a convenience store clerk. Covered in mud, he sits in the back of a tricycle and goes out for barbecue with a country girl.
The appointment was arranged so naturally.
The girl actually agreed.
He suddenly asked, "Do you treat everyone like this?"
"What?"
"You're incredibly outgoing. You can chat with anyone as if you've known them for three years. From stunningly beautiful female idols to country girls driving tricycles, you're the same to them all."
Li Zhengyi thought about it.
"Pretty much. Humans are social animals, and I have a special talent."
"What are your special skills?"
"Thick-skinned."
Lee Woo-bin was amused.
Then he immediately stopped, as if laughing was something shameful.
Li Zheng saw this but remained silent.
He made a mental note about it.
After my second brother finished crying in the field, it seemed as if he had expelled some things along with his tears.
At least for now, he can still smile.
Lee Woo-bin wouldn't have smiled like this before.
Lee Woo-bin used to only know two kinds of smiles.
A triumphant laugh, and a mocking laugh.
Now there's one more.
A normal person's laugh.