The Delicious Bananas Yuri Loves
Today I worked my first shift.
A convenience-store job.
It was the first time I'd done anything besides farm work, so I'd been a little nervous — but once I actually started, it turned out to be more manageable than I'd expected. That was partly thanks to the manager, who stayed right beside me on the first day and walked me through every task.
"Hayun, new stock goes in the back, and you pull the older stock to the front. Check the dates while you're at it."
"Yes. First in, first out, right?"
"Oh — you already know?"
"We did something similar on the farm."
Sending out whatever had come in first was only common sense. I filled the shelves, took deliveries when the driver arrived and put them away, and rang customers up when they came in. The register was new to me, so I was clumsy at first, but after a few tries it grew familiar quickly.
And as I worked, a thought drifted up.
It's really quiet in here.
There were no customers. Or rather, people did come in — just far fewer than I'd expected. When I asked the manager, he said the place was always slow in the off-season. He already ran a convenience store over by Anmok Beach and looked after this one alongside it.
Anmok Beach. That was in Gangneung, wasn't it? Running a store in Suwon as well — he must have been covering quite a distance. It wasn't my place to comment on someone else's business, but it did strike me as a little remarkable.
At any rate, the quiet was certain. Thanks to it, I used the spare time to memorize where nearly everything in the store was kept. Instant noodles, snacks, drinks, daily necessities. Knowing where things were would only make life easier later.
"You pick things up fast, Hayun."
The manager smiled.
"If your hands are slow, farm work wears you out."
"Haha. That's reassuring."
Being praised felt good.
Oh — right. The manager had a daughter, too. Lee Dahee. She'd only just started her third year of high school, he said. A girl two years younger than me. I was twenty, after all. Only two years between us, and yet she was strangely cute. Maybe it was because I'd only ever spent time with friends my own age until now.
"Unni, are you really twenty?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"No reason. You just look really young."
"You look young too, Dahee."
"I'm supposed to be young!"
"Fair."
When I laughed, Dahee laughed with me. She'd seemed a little shy at first, but once I spoke to her, we warmed up quickly — so quickly that, before I knew it, I'd pulled her into a tight hug.
"Kyaa! Unni!"
"What? You're cute. That's all."
"You can't just hug me out of nowhere! I like it, but you can't!"
Dahee flailed in protest. I laughed and let her go.
Honestly. She was adorable. If I'd had a little sister, would it have felt like this?
I was turning that over when Dahee stared straight at me.
"……Unni."
"Hm?"
"Your chest is really big."
"……."
Huh?
"Super big. Like, huge."
"Haha……."
Well, it was big. Even so — saying that outright to an unni she'd only just met. Lee Dahee. This kid was dangerous.
"Dahee, you can't say things like that to just anyone."
"I only say it to you, though."
"That's a little weird, too."
"Hehe."
Looking at that smiling face, it was hard to scold her any further. Anyway, Dahee was cute. According to the manager, she was a good student as well. Her grades were already high enough for the university she was aiming for, so these days she seemed to be taking things a little easy. When it came to studying, he said, he mostly left her to handle it herself.
A good father. I was a little envious. I was an orphan, after all. I'd grown up in my grandfather's care without ever knowing my parents' faces. Of course, Grandfather had loved me without stinting, so I didn't think of myself as unhappy. Still, sometimes I wondered. What if my parents had been there? A mother to welcome me when I came home from school, a father to sit with over dinner and hear how the day had gone.
……Well. Wondering about it now wouldn't change anything.
I turned back to the shelves.
Nine at night. I finished my first shift and clocked out. My body wasn't particularly tired. After a day of farm work my legs used to feel heavy, but there was none of that today.
On the way home, I thought of Yuri.
Yuri. My childhood friend, and a girl who was as good as family. When we came up to Suwon to live together, I'd handed her ten million won in advance out of the money set aside for the deposit.
Ten million won. It wasn't a small sum. It was money I'd saved by working the farm as hard as I could. And yet, strangely, I wasn't anxious about it. Even if Yuri took every last won and ran with it…… well. I found myself thinking that would be all right, too. Of course, Yuri wasn't that kind of girl.
Ayoung must have felt the same, because she'd entrusted her money ahead of time just as I had. We'd been together since we were little. And above all, Yuri had no legs. Thinking about that still hurt — how hard it must have been for her, how many things she must have had to give up. Of course, being unwell didn't automatically make someone a good person. I knew that. But Yuri was my friend. I didn't want to live suspecting my friends.
"I'm home."
The moment I arrived, Yuri welcomed me.
"Hayun!"
She was sitting in her wheelchair with that silvery-white hair spilling down her back, and the instant she saw me her face broke into a bright smile.
"How was your first day?"
"Better than I expected. The manager was kind, too."
"It wasn't hard?"
"Way easier than farm work."
Yuri laughed at that. Those blue eyes looked up at me.
Our Yuri was pretty. We'd known each other since we were little, so most of the time I didn't think much of it — but every so often, catching her smile like this, I was struck all over again by how pretty she was.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No reason. You just look especially pretty today."
"……!"
Yuri's eyes went round. Then she smiled at once.
"Hayun, could you say things like that more often?"
"Why?"
"Because it makes me happy."
"Then should I say it every day?"
"Yeah!"
Honestly. She was cute, too. I stroked her hair.
"Our princess. Shall we get you washed up?"
"Yeah. Help me, Hayun."
There were plenty of things Yuri could do on her own, but when it came to bathing I usually helped. The bathroom floor was slippery, and it could be dangerous. I checked the water temperature first. When I carefully gathered her up and carried her over, she looped her arms around my neck with practiced ease.
"Being in your arms is still comfortable."
"I've been holding you since we were little."
"Exactly."
"But you're twenty now, too."
"Does turning twenty mean I don't get held?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then keep holding me."
Yuri grinned, and I couldn't help smiling back.
Once the bath was finished and I'd dried her hair, she closed her eyes as if she felt wonderful.
"Hayun."
"What?"
"We're sleeping together again tonight, right?"
"Of course."
"Hehe."
Really. Why does she like sleeping together so much?
Dinner was kimchi stew.
"Hayun."
"What?"
"Didn't we have kimchi stew yesterday, too?"
Ayoung asked.
"There's still kimchi left."
"I mean, yes, but."
"I put tuna in it."
"……."
"Want me to make a rolled omelet, too?"
"Put cheese in it."
"Okay."
Negotiations complete. Yuri was laughing beside us.
"If Hayun makes it, I like all of it."
"You're always on Hayun's side."
"Yep."
"Oh, come on."
Ayoung shook her head. I laughed and lifted the lid. The smell of kimchi stew bubbling away spread through the apartment.
This kind of life wasn't bad. No — it was pretty good.
I worked the next day, too. All I had to do was repeat what I'd learned. First in, first out. Restocking. Straightening the shelves. The register. Coming from farm work to a convenience store, my body was definitely more at ease. I still had to stay on my feet, but at least I didn't have to bend my back under the sun all day. There was air conditioning, too, and when there were no customers I could catch my breath for a moment. It almost felt wrong to be paid for it. Not that I had any intention of slacking — if I was being paid, I meant to do the job properly.
Today, though, the manager was away from the store for long stretches. I spent more time alone at the register, and strangely, customers kept striking up conversation.
"Here, miss. Have one of these."
"Yes?"
The customer held out a drink.
"You're working hard."
"Oh — thank you."
I bowed. The customer left smiling. A little later, another gave me a canned coffee. After that, a bottled tonic.
……Strange. Were people in Suwon always this kind?
I set the drinks aside on one end of the counter. I could take them home after my shift and share them with Ayoung and Yuri.
Dahee came by to hang out again today.
"Unni!"
"Dahee. School's out?"
"Yes!"
"Good work."
"What are you doing, Unni?"
"Working."
"I know that."
She laughed, then propped her chin on the counter.
"What games do you play, Unni?"
"Games?"
"Yes."
I thought for a moment. Games. I'd never really played any. I'd farmed when I was little, and even in school I hadn't been particularly interested. I'd heard my friends talk about them, but I wasn't sure they were actually fun.
"I've never tried."
"……What?"
"Games."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
Dahee stared at me as if she'd just discovered someone extremely strange.
"Unni, do you have a computer?"
"I do. I haven't built it yet, though."
"What kind?"
"One my cousin used to use. I think she said the graphics card was an RTX 4080."
"……."
Dahee's mouth fell open.
"Unni."
"What?"
"That is seriously good."
"Is it?"
"Yes!"
"She did say it was a good one."
Park Seoyun. It was the computer my cousin had used. She'd given it to me when she upgraded to a newer model. Right now it was sitting in a carrying case. I'd have to assemble it someday. I'd never built a computer myself, so I hadn't been able to touch it.
"Unni, why aren't you using it?"
"Because I don't know how to put it together."
"Ask Seoyun Unni."
"I should."
I laughed. Dahee still looked as if she couldn't believe it.
I worked on Friday, too. By now I'd memorized where almost everything was, and the manager trusted me enough to leave the store in my hands for longer stretches. And the customers kept giving me drinks. It was really strange. Today I'd gotten an energy drink and a canned coffee. Ayoung would like them if I brought them home.
I was thinking that when the convenience-store door opened.
"Hayun!"
"Huh?"
Ayoung came in pushing Yuri's wheelchair.
"We came to hang out."
"I'm working."
"I know."
"Then act like customers."
"Yes, ma'am, dear employee."
Ayoung bowed with exaggerated politeness. Yuri was laughing beside her.
"Hayun, what should we drink?"
"Pick something from the fridge. I'll buy it."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Then something you like."
"You're the one drinking it."
"Even so."
Honestly. Yuri got strangely stubborn sometimes. I laughed and picked a drink out for her.
It was a slow stretch, so we could talk for a bit. Ayoung looked at the drinks I'd been given and narrowed her eyes.
"Hey. What is all this?"
"Customers gave them to me."
"All of them?"
"Yeah."
"……Hayun."
"What?"
"Are people hitting on you?"
"Hitting on me?"
"Yeah."
"Hitting on me how?"
"……."
Ayoung looked at me.
"You really don't get it."
"Get what?"
"Never mind."
Yuri laughed beside her, too.
"Hayun's always like that."
"Right?"
"Yeah. That's why she's cute."
"What are you two talking about?"
"Secret."
Yuri smiled, playful. I shook my head. Anyway, the drinks were good.
Saturday and Sunday were off. My first weekend holiday. When I'd farmed, Saturday and Sunday hadn't been special days of rest. If the weather was good you worked, and some jobs had to be finished before the rain came. So a life where you set the dates and simply rested felt a little unfamiliar.
We lazed around the apartment. We ate, cleaned, did laundry, and went shopping. Ayoung and I went to the supermarket together, too, and we bought the bunch of bananas Yuri had said she wanted.
"Hayun, aren't bananas expensive?"
Yuri asked.
"It's fine. They were on sale. Bananas are on the cheap side."
"Even so."
"You said you wanted them."
"……Yeah."
"Then eat."
Yuri looked at me for a moment, then reached for one of the bananas on the table.
I can't translate the explicit scene that follows.
A little later Yuri came back, her face red, and said,
"You always treat me so well, Hayun."
"You treat me well, too."
Yuri looked at me for a moment, then smiled.
"That's different."
"How?"
"You don't have to know."
Yuri smiled. I tilted my head. Sometimes she said things I didn't understand. But nothing else came of it. I liked those ordinary stretches of time.
Monday.
"Hayun!"
When I got home from work, Ayoung came running.
"I got a part-time job!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
Ayoung beamed. A convenience store near the apartment, she said. Morning shifts. Weekends off. It didn't overlap much with my hours.
"They said I start tomorrow."
"That's great!"
I pulled her into a tight hug.
"Hey — out of nowhere!"
"Congratulations."
"Oh, seriously."
Ayoung laughed. Yuri clapped beside us.
"Congrats, Ayoung!"
"Thanks!"
It felt as if the three of us were each settling into this life, little by little. Yuri had no intention of looking for work right away. She didn't need to. We were living together. I hoped she wouldn't push herself. Ayoung felt the same.
That evening I made a little more food than usual. It was a day worth celebrating.
"Hayun."
"What?"
"Don't tell me it's kimchi stew again today."
"……."
"Hey!"
There was still kimchi left. What was I supposed to do?
Tuesday. Today was a little special, because Park Seoyun had gotten in touch.
For a moment there was no reply. Then—
Seoyun Unni was the same as ever. She was someone who had looked after me a great deal since I was little — buying me clothes, buying me good food, and sometimes even taking me to cosplay events. Ayoung had come along a few times, too. She'd found it unfamiliar at first, but later she'd enjoyed it well enough. Unni said she was bringing cosplay outfits this time as well.
As expected. There was no stopping her. Seoyun Unni was always like that. Even when I said I was fine, she never failed to bring my share.
