〔 chapter two
MISTER HOW HIGH
〔 CHAPTER TWO — IT'S RAINING SOMEWHERE ELSE!
jintae, yoongi, and seoyul departed the next morning, ready to make the trip back to seoul. their travels were delayed by the hoards of neighbors and restaurant regulars all wanting to pay their respects and see seoyul off. many of the older people in the crowd began reminiscing about watching their seoyul grow up right before their eyes while the younger people reminisced about all the good times they’ve had under oppa! ramyeon’s roof. love confessions, first dates, breakups, fights, marriage proposals, someone even gave birth at oppa! ramyeon and later had a dish named after her. everyone loved old sage, only they knew him as grandpa kang. loving him for his profound wisdom about life and the all the love and dedication he poured into each bowl of ramyeon he made.
“i never knew so many people could be this attached to a ramyeon place.” yoongi said. his tone was mildly impressed, mildly annoyed as his tired eyes scanned the colorful people in the crowd. “oh, now they’re hugging. looks like we’re gonna be here for a while.”
“it’s beautifully odd isn’t it?” jintae asked with his hands tucked deep inside the pockets of his black slacks.
“what do you mean?”
“everything here. this whole scene. we’d never see it in seoul, we’d never see it. it’s like everyone here is a beautiful and naive fool who has somehow been shielded from the harshness of the world. i think it’s kinda nice. maybe it’s because we never get to see displays of love like this.”
yoongi sniffed, “i think it’s annoying. oh god, is seoyul crying?”
sure enough, the flowing love and good vibes and memories brought globular tears to seoyul’s eyes. they streamed down her face faster than a flowing river, and many people in the crowd surrounded her with a warm hug. yoongi complained about how they were going to be late, jintae simply tugged at his shirt collar before heading toward his car in an attempt to escape all the emotions filling the air.
…
after what felt like an eternity to yoongi, the trio was finally able to make it to head off in jintae’s car. yoongi took the gentle rocking of the moving vehicle as an opportunity for his favorite thing besides sending people to hong kong with his tongue, sleeping. his heavy head lolled from side to side, before eventually resting on seoyul’s arm. not her shoulder or lap, but her arm with his cheek smooshed against her bicep.
“i think he likes you.” jintae spoke up as he looked at the pair in the back seat.
“really?”
“he likes to sleep anywhere really, but he’s not the type to sleep on people.”
seoyul nodded to herself, “i like him too. he makes me think of turtlenecks and delicate but expensive rings.”
“oddly specific but… pretty spot on now that i think about it. you’re pretty perceptive, like your old man.”
“it’s how you make good ramyeon.” she said as if it were a fact of life and not the ramblings of a weirdo. seoyul’s eyes traveled from the window to jintae’s puzzled look reflected in the rear-view mirror. “how can i explain? everyone is different and ramyeon is different. if you gave everyone in the world the same type of ramyeon, only a few people would like it. in order to make ramyeon that everyone likes, you need to be able to see them for who they really are. someone like yoongi would like simple ramyeon, something plain yet powerful so he’d want something like an egg in there, or tofu if he’s feeling really wild.”
“isn’t that why there are different flavors? like red broth, spaghetti, kimchi ramyeon?”
“types, not flavors. different types aren’t enough. you have to have something that fits whoever you’re serving. giving people ramyeon is like expressing love, and everyone needs love expressed in a different way.”
jintae listened to her words carefully. they were abstract, artistic even. she was definitely old sage’s granddaughter, maybe he would have to start calling her young sage.
no, that name was attached to things old sage didn’t want her involved in.
“do you know what your grandfather used to do?”
“he was a drug dealer.” her response actually caught him a bit off guard. jintae never expected old sage to tell seoyul anything about his past. but then again, the old man was always full of surprises like when he suddenly quit the gang life, cut ties with everyone except for jintae, and moved him and seoyul out to jeonju all in the span of three hours. he wasn’t just a drug dealer but still, the fact that he even told her anything amazed jintae.
“he taught me everything i know. being under his wing helped me see all kinds of perspectives, not just with drugs either.”
“are you a drug dealer too?”
“not anymore.” jintae shook his head, eyes staring at the expansive road in front of him. “now i’m laying low but… i mostly run things behind the scenes. does that bother you?”
“for most of my life i’ve been pretending that the nice gifts you give me aren’t bought with drug money.” that made jintae chuckle a bit. “i suppose i don’t mind. if it doesn’t hurt me, it’s not really something i care much about.” her gaze returned to the window, staring at patches of green grass swaying in the breeze. everything seemed to be dashing past the car, as if the world was racing to catch up with kang seoyul. she saw a tawny owl take flight from it’s perched spot on a branch.
“if you ever need anything or like, want anything,” jintae’s voice broke her from her owl-induced reverie and brought her attention back to the inside of the car, “don’t be afraid to ask me. like, if you need help making a payment or if you see some clothes you wanna buy or even if you just want some food, i got you covered.”
she let out a soft ‘thanks’ before yoongi jolted in his sleep only to stick his face right back where it belonged. “actually, i could use a new planner. and a new binder. and folders. and pens. and highlighters. and washi tape.”
“what for?”
“to keep track of sales, living expenses, budget, things i need to do, receipts.”
“smart. maybe we should start doing that.”
…
jintae pulled into the gas station parking lot, handing some money to seoyul and yoongi before letting them buy all the snacks their hearts desired. yoongi came out first with a handful of triangle kimbaps of various flavors. he dumped his boon in the back seat before carefully watching jintae fill the tank up with gas.
“jin sent me a text. apparently someone hasn’t been making payments.” yoongi’s words piqued jintae’s attention, who paused for a moment before resuming his task of filling the car’s tank.
“who?”
“park inchul, some loser with a drug addiction. he’s been running up tabs at bars and nightclubs, too.”
“how much did he buy?”
“over 100 grams.”
jintae choked on his own breath for a moment. yoongi charged 3,000₩ per gram of august d. “over three hundred thousand won. are you kidding? who approved the transaction?”
“we don’t really do background checks when it comes to transactions.”
they should, jintae thought, but that would just be bad for business all around because who wants to buy drugs from people who do background checks. “how long has it been?”
“two weeks.” jintae inhaled sharply, letting out a ‘goddamn’ as he exhaled. “what do you want us to do?”
“send him a warning. but be careful, if he’s running up tabs with aomg or the 88’s there could be trouble. have jin extort the money out of him, don’t send thing one and thing two quite yet.”
not another word on the matter was exchanged between them, both of their minds racked with worries. jintae wanted to avoid both gangs finding him, especially the 88 simply because of how wild keith ape was. seriously, he like only showered in the ocean whenever he could and just wherever he wanted. he was an expert at screeching, biting people, and throwing knives; the thought made jintae shiver. yoongi was worried about his money. august d took quite a few ingredients to make, expensive ingredients and 300,000₩ would be able to make about two batches.
his eyes wandered to the entrance of the gas station, which seoyul had exited with a bag of fries in her hands. she looked up at the squawking birds overhead. holding a fry out above her hand, she seemed to be offering food to the hungry birds. soon enough, one swooped down and snatched the fry from her fingers. seoyul retrieved another one and the same bird came by again only this time she was able to move it out of his grasp.
“hey, no fair. you’ve already got one, you gotta share!” squawk! “don’t talk to me in that tone missy! share with the other birds!” another bird took the fry while seoyul argued with miss greedy wings. in a flash, about ten birds landed on the ground around seoyul, surrounding her and demanding more sustenance. they all let out harsh and angry screams, taking small hops towards her. “hey! stop it! leave me alone you scrubs! i swear i’ll fight you!”
“did she just threaten to fight a flock of seagulls?” yoongi began to ask, only to be cut off by a continuous scream from seoyul and squawking from the birds.
“yoongi! uncle jintae! help me!” yoongi shook his head and opened the door to the back seat, closed the door, put his headphones in, and began the second part of his nap, leaving jintae to rush into the pack of birds. he shooed them away from seoyul’s head frantically before their attacks were targeted on him, their sharp and evil beaks pecking at his hands. he and seoyul began running back to the car, jintae literally leaping into the front seat. he turned the ignition and floored it as quickly as he could while seoyul cried a bit in the back seat.
“you’re sitting on my kimbap.”
seoyul slapped at him blindly, tears of fear stinging her eyes. “you jerk! you didn’t even bother to help me!”
…
the rest of the ride happened without any other hungry bird attacks, although the seagulls did trail them for a couple of miles. jintae had put on some music with the volume on low while yoongi had dozed off again, making use of the cold window as his pillow and seoyul fiddled around with her phone.
“hmm.”
“what?” jintae asked.
“it’s raining pretty bad in seoul. thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening.”
word count : 1784
“i never knew so many people could be this attached to a ramyeon place.” yoongi said. his tone was mildly impressed, mildly annoyed as his tired eyes scanned the colorful people in the crowd. “oh, now they’re hugging. looks like we’re gonna be here for a while.”
“it’s beautifully odd isn’t it?” jintae asked with his hands tucked deep inside the pockets of his black slacks.
“what do you mean?”
“everything here. this whole scene. we’d never see it in seoul, we’d never see it. it’s like everyone here is a beautiful and naive fool who has somehow been shielded from the harshness of the world. i think it’s kinda nice. maybe it’s because we never get to see displays of love like this.”
yoongi sniffed, “i think it’s annoying. oh god, is seoyul crying?”
sure enough, the flowing love and good vibes and memories brought globular tears to seoyul’s eyes. they streamed down her face faster than a flowing river, and many people in the crowd surrounded her with a warm hug. yoongi complained about how they were going to be late, jintae simply tugged at his shirt collar before heading toward his car in an attempt to escape all the emotions filling the air.
…
after what felt like an eternity to yoongi, the trio was finally able to make it to head off in jintae’s car. yoongi took the gentle rocking of the moving vehicle as an opportunity for his favorite thing besides sending people to hong kong with his tongue, sleeping. his heavy head lolled from side to side, before eventually resting on seoyul’s arm. not her shoulder or lap, but her arm with his cheek smooshed against her bicep.
“i think he likes you.” jintae spoke up as he looked at the pair in the back seat.
“really?”
“he likes to sleep anywhere really, but he’s not the type to sleep on people.”
seoyul nodded to herself, “i like him too. he makes me think of turtlenecks and delicate but expensive rings.”
“oddly specific but… pretty spot on now that i think about it. you’re pretty perceptive, like your old man.”
“it’s how you make good ramyeon.” she said as if it were a fact of life and not the ramblings of a weirdo. seoyul’s eyes traveled from the window to jintae’s puzzled look reflected in the rear-view mirror. “how can i explain? everyone is different and ramyeon is different. if you gave everyone in the world the same type of ramyeon, only a few people would like it. in order to make ramyeon that everyone likes, you need to be able to see them for who they really are. someone like yoongi would like simple ramyeon, something plain yet powerful so he’d want something like an egg in there, or tofu if he’s feeling really wild.”
“isn’t that why there are different flavors? like red broth, spaghetti, kimchi ramyeon?”
“types, not flavors. different types aren’t enough. you have to have something that fits whoever you’re serving. giving people ramyeon is like expressing love, and everyone needs love expressed in a different way.”
jintae listened to her words carefully. they were abstract, artistic even. she was definitely old sage’s granddaughter, maybe he would have to start calling her young sage.
no, that name was attached to things old sage didn’t want her involved in.
“do you know what your grandfather used to do?”
“he was a drug dealer.” her response actually caught him a bit off guard. jintae never expected old sage to tell seoyul anything about his past. but then again, the old man was always full of surprises like when he suddenly quit the gang life, cut ties with everyone except for jintae, and moved him and seoyul out to jeonju all in the span of three hours. he wasn’t just a drug dealer but still, the fact that he even told her anything amazed jintae.
“he taught me everything i know. being under his wing helped me see all kinds of perspectives, not just with drugs either.”
“are you a drug dealer too?”
“not anymore.” jintae shook his head, eyes staring at the expansive road in front of him. “now i’m laying low but… i mostly run things behind the scenes. does that bother you?”
“for most of my life i’ve been pretending that the nice gifts you give me aren’t bought with drug money.” that made jintae chuckle a bit. “i suppose i don’t mind. if it doesn’t hurt me, it’s not really something i care much about.” her gaze returned to the window, staring at patches of green grass swaying in the breeze. everything seemed to be dashing past the car, as if the world was racing to catch up with kang seoyul. she saw a tawny owl take flight from it’s perched spot on a branch.
“if you ever need anything or like, want anything,” jintae’s voice broke her from her owl-induced reverie and brought her attention back to the inside of the car, “don’t be afraid to ask me. like, if you need help making a payment or if you see some clothes you wanna buy or even if you just want some food, i got you covered.”
she let out a soft ‘thanks’ before yoongi jolted in his sleep only to stick his face right back where it belonged. “actually, i could use a new planner. and a new binder. and folders. and pens. and highlighters. and washi tape.”
“what for?”
“to keep track of sales, living expenses, budget, things i need to do, receipts.”
“smart. maybe we should start doing that.”
…
jintae pulled into the gas station parking lot, handing some money to seoyul and yoongi before letting them buy all the snacks their hearts desired. yoongi came out first with a handful of triangle kimbaps of various flavors. he dumped his boon in the back seat before carefully watching jintae fill the tank up with gas.
“jin sent me a text. apparently someone hasn’t been making payments.” yoongi’s words piqued jintae’s attention, who paused for a moment before resuming his task of filling the car’s tank.
“who?”
“park inchul, some loser with a drug addiction. he’s been running up tabs at bars and nightclubs, too.”
“how much did he buy?”
“over 100 grams.”
jintae choked on his own breath for a moment. yoongi charged 3,000₩ per gram of august d. “over three hundred thousand won. are you kidding? who approved the transaction?”
“we don’t really do background checks when it comes to transactions.”
they should, jintae thought, but that would just be bad for business all around because who wants to buy drugs from people who do background checks. “how long has it been?”
“two weeks.” jintae inhaled sharply, letting out a ‘goddamn’ as he exhaled. “what do you want us to do?”
“send him a warning. but be careful, if he’s running up tabs with aomg or the 88’s there could be trouble. have jin extort the money out of him, don’t send thing one and thing two quite yet.”
not another word on the matter was exchanged between them, both of their minds racked with worries. jintae wanted to avoid both gangs finding him, especially the 88 simply because of how wild keith ape was. seriously, he like only showered in the ocean whenever he could and just wherever he wanted. he was an expert at screeching, biting people, and throwing knives; the thought made jintae shiver. yoongi was worried about his money. august d took quite a few ingredients to make, expensive ingredients and 300,000₩ would be able to make about two batches.
his eyes wandered to the entrance of the gas station, which seoyul had exited with a bag of fries in her hands. she looked up at the squawking birds overhead. holding a fry out above her hand, she seemed to be offering food to the hungry birds. soon enough, one swooped down and snatched the fry from her fingers. seoyul retrieved another one and the same bird came by again only this time she was able to move it out of his grasp.
“hey, no fair. you’ve already got one, you gotta share!” squawk! “don’t talk to me in that tone missy! share with the other birds!” another bird took the fry while seoyul argued with miss greedy wings. in a flash, about ten birds landed on the ground around seoyul, surrounding her and demanding more sustenance. they all let out harsh and angry screams, taking small hops towards her. “hey! stop it! leave me alone you scrubs! i swear i’ll fight you!”
“did she just threaten to fight a flock of seagulls?” yoongi began to ask, only to be cut off by a continuous scream from seoyul and squawking from the birds.
“yoongi! uncle jintae! help me!” yoongi shook his head and opened the door to the back seat, closed the door, put his headphones in, and began the second part of his nap, leaving jintae to rush into the pack of birds. he shooed them away from seoyul’s head frantically before their attacks were targeted on him, their sharp and evil beaks pecking at his hands. he and seoyul began running back to the car, jintae literally leaping into the front seat. he turned the ignition and floored it as quickly as he could while seoyul cried a bit in the back seat.
“you’re sitting on my kimbap.”
seoyul slapped at him blindly, tears of fear stinging her eyes. “you jerk! you didn’t even bother to help me!”
…
the rest of the ride happened without any other hungry bird attacks, although the seagulls did trail them for a couple of miles. jintae had put on some music with the volume on low while yoongi had dozed off again, making use of the cold window as his pillow and seoyul fiddled around with her phone.
“hmm.”
“what?” jintae asked.
“it’s raining pretty bad in seoul. thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening.”
word count : 1784
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