CBR125R
Jingle!
In the end, I threw on the school uniform I'd thought I would never pull out again in my life and stepped into Difo. Hyeonji had dragged me out while I was busy with housework, only to sit there leisurely sucking down a drink loaded with cream.
I was so pissed I couldn't help blurting something out.
"You're not wearing your gym clothes...?"
It was true. The green gym pants she always wore under her school skirt had completely vanished.
Which meant today she was unabashedly showing off those long, toned legs with their defined residual muscles. My gaze locked on them without me realizing it, and saliva pooled in my mouth.
"It's hot, so summer uniform..."
Hyeonji answered while avoiding my eyes, uncharacteristically. The weather had warmed up, sure, but had her confidence dropped along with it?
Anyway, since I'd come all this way, I figured I should at least grab a drink with her. I ordered an iced americano roughly and sat down across from her.
"So what's up today?"
"To hang out."
"What the hell... Then why call me if you're just hanging out?"
"To hang out together."
"You usually hang out fine by yourself, don't you? Weren't you the type who loves wandering the streets alone, listening to music from before you were even born and getting lost in the nineties?"
"Why you pickin' a fight?"
"I'm not picking a fight. You're just acting nothing like yourself..."
"What's 'like myself' supposed to mean?"
"..."
How the hell was I supposed to know that? I'd only said something because I was annoyed at being forced back into the high school boy cosplay I'd thought I'd completely quit.
Even that seemed to have soured her mood; she was glaring at me with those fierce eyes again. Not that it amounted to more than a big dog sulking after having its snack stolen, thanks to that secretly gentle face of hers.
"Haa... Hyeonji? I've told you before—coming to find me in the classroom is absolutely off-limits."
"Why?"
"Why...? When someone says they don't want something, learn to accept it. You hate it when people force you into stuff you don't want, right?"
"You kept bringing up my family, but I just let it slide."
"..."
When she put it like that, I had nothing left to say. Not that I'd ever thought I could sweet-talk my way out of a crisis with this girl in the first place.
"Honestly, I'm thinking of quitting school. So even if you come looking for me in the classroom from now on, it'll be useless."
No matter how I looked at it, this was the only option. I'd already formed too many relationships inside Cheonji High for me to just vanish like a ghost one day.
So I just needed to create a separate reason why I couldn't exist at school. If I said I'd dropped out, then even if we ran into each other on the street by chance, there wouldn't be any reason for suspicion.
"Why quit?"
"What's a guy like me, whose life's already over, doing going to school? Better to just scrape a diploma through the GED and start working, get ready for real life, right?"
"That's true. I don't wanna go either."
"You need to get your diploma. Even if the GED is a joke on the national level, it's not something you can just laugh off..."
Bang!
Hyeonji slammed the table right away in response. I checked the counter out of habit, but the owner didn't even glance over, glued to his phone like this kind of thing happened every day.
"A-anyway, so we won't be able to see each other much from now on. Maybe once a year would already be a lot?"
"Why? If you're not going to school, you'll have more free time, won't you?"
"I said I'd be working. A middle-school dropout like me doesn't get hired anywhere decent, so I'll probably end up in some boarding factory out in Icheon, working six days a week."
"Just do part-time stuff around here?"
"How long would it take to save money on some crappy part-time job? No job security, and if you want all four major insurances, you've gotta get into at least a shell company..."
"So you're going independent? Not living with your aunt?"
"Uh... yeah, I have to. Actually, I fought with my aunt a ton over this, but she seems to be respecting my decision in the end."
"What about your niece?"
"N-niece? I'll take her with me, of course. But you don't have to worry too much. She's young, but she's been doing housework since she was little, so she's super sharp."
I improvised on the spot about how I planned to live independently. Or rather, I was just describing my current life as it was, so the whole thing had plenty of plausibility.
Slurp... slurp...
Hyeonji silently chewed on her straw. Just not wearing the gym clothes already made her look awkward as hell, and seeing her lost in deep "thought" like that made her feel nothing like the Hyeonji I knew.
"What about the yacht?"
After a long stretch of brooding, Hyeonji finally opened her mouth. She'd steeled herself for that long just to come out with that?
"I was actually gonna bring that up too. I can drive a yacht, sure, but I only learned by eye—no license. Driving a yacht your dad owns when I'm unlicensed like that is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Just sneak the key."
"What the hell... You're adding theft on top of no license? And it's not like a car—you don't just tie a yacht up at the harbor and stick the key in whenever you feel like it. Someone at your dad's level would have maintenance staff hired. How are we supposed to just climb on whenever we want?"
"I'll... think about that."
Thankfully, she seemed like the type who could be reasoned with at least this far. Hyeonji looked a little resentful that things weren't going her way, but she still agreed to put the yacht on hold for now.
"So what do we do now?"
"You called me. Why call if you don't have anything planned?"
"You weren't answering."
"Uh... sorry about that. I was busy yesterday. Spent the whole day talking with my aunt about the dropout thing."
The reason she'd called me was pretty absurd. It was true I hadn't answered all day because of work, but we weren't exactly the kind of friends who chatted about nothing just to bond.
"I've got a shift from three."
Hyeonji informed me we had about three hours left. A high schooler booking a part-time shift before even the end-of-day assembly?
"Huu... Fine. I'll stick with you till three. Wasn't there something you usually wanted to do?"
"Bike."
"Bike as in... motorcycle? Don't tell me you're saying you want to ride one. Hey, are you seriously dying to get yourself killed out on the road?"
Had she lost it? Even showing off had limits—what kind of girl decides to grab handlebars instead of a rice paddle?
"Not riding yet."
"You should never ride one in your life. You don't even have a license."
"Gonna get one soon."
"Then what the hell were you planning to do with a bike?"
"I've almost saved up enough. Gonna go look."
"..."
Stay calm. Once Hyeonji set her mind on something, not even Jesus or Buddha could stop her.
I would disappear from her life using the dropout excuse, but in the end she would use the money she'd honestly earned from part-time jobs that didn't suit her at all to buy a bike and charge straight down the road of empty bravado.
Even if we never saw each other again, she was still my daughter's senior. Beyond that, I couldn't just stand by as an "adult" while an innocent kid decided to pull stunt driving on the River Styx.
"Haa... Fine. Let's go look together."
The place Hyeonji and I headed to was a used bike shop about a twenty-minute bus ride away. The moment dozens of used motorcycles lined up in front of her eyes, her whole expression changed.
"Saved up a lot? If you don't buy this soon, it's gonna sell."
The middle-aged owner stroked a black Honda CBR125R as he spoke. It looked like a 2017 model or so—nice finish, well-maintained.
"I need this month's paycheck first."
The first polite speech I'd ever heard from Hyeonji's mouth was that. Surprising. I'd forgotten she only acted like a delinquent—it was pure cosplay.
You're not seriously thinking of buying this, right?
I whispered to her. She tilted her head and answered.
I like it.
Who in the world hates a CBR125? But that one's way too hardcore.
You know bikes?
Roughly?
Thinking a sailor only lives on a boat is a big mistake. It's not like some random fishing boat runs on nuclear self-power, and you don't just eat fish year-round either.
Naturally, we made port stops for supplies in between. As a fairly competent navigator who was also good with paperwork, I was usually busy with the documents needed at the harbor.
So most harbors rent bikes for people like that. Riding them every time, the knowledge just piled up naturally.
You ridden one?
Till I was sick of it. Anyway, not bad for a beginner, but you said you're saving money to go independent—burning a hundred fifty on that is a bit much, don't you think? Ride this instead.
I led her over to a cute little Yamaha Vino standing there. Hyeonji immediately scrunched up her face and raised her voice.
"You kidding? It's fifty cc."
"You barely go anywhere except school and home anyway—do you really need a hundred twenty-five? Plus this one you can ride with just a regular Class 2 license, so once your birthday passes and you get it, two birds with one stone."
"Don't use hard words."
"If 'two birds with one stone' is hard, what the hell is easy... Anyway, once you start riding, a CBR125 just gets overshadowed by the cruiser class and you end up feeling awkward. Sometimes taking a completely different route isn't bad either."
Setting the route was the most important part. Kids who rode CBRs eventually got their eyes turned by cruisers, but the ones who just puttered around short distances on scooters never even looked that way.
"Doesn't suit me."
Hyeonji cut it off flat. Of course—what mattered to this girl wasn't convenience, it was the look.
She believed that at least a hundred twenty-five for the proper image would be the peak of her runaway high school life. So how was I supposed to talk her out of it?
"What are you talking about? It's perfect for you."
"What's perfect about it?"
"Well... a cute, adorable girl like you is exactly right for something like this. Ride this around the streets and people will all turn to look at least once, wondering where such a cute kid came from."
"D-don't talk bullshit! I've never heard that once."
"That's 'cause you've never met me till now."
"..."
More precisely, she'd never become friends with a thrice-divorced guy who saw through her essence and found every high school girl cute.
But it seemed to land pretty well. Hyeonji's face suddenly flushed red and she started glancing around restlessly. But you know what?
That only made her cuter.
"Anyway, we're buying this one, right?"
"Not buying anything."
"Huh? Then that's fine by me. Let's head back now..."
"You buy it."
"...?"
It felt like we were riding completely different conversation tracks. I'd barely managed to curb her bike lust, so why was she suddenly bringing me into it?
"What did you just say?"
"You buy it. The Honda."
"What the hell... You're the one who wants to ride a bike, so why are you suddenly telling me to buy it?"
"If you buy it, I won't. So you buy it."
"..."
That made zero sense front to back. I was a thrice-divorced guy who already drove a perfectly good car—now I had to buy an extra bike just to match her whims?
But Hyeonji looked pretty serious. The fierce will in her eyes, determined to force her way through no matter what, was making me waver without realizing it.
"If I buy it, you really won't buy one?"
"I hate buying the same thing someone else already rides around."
"That does sound exactly like you, but..."
What now? Did I really have to throw away a clean hundred fifty just to crush a kid's empty-bragging ego?
But if Hyeonji didn't stop here, she would take next month's part-time pay and buy the 125R. Then, soaked in her own special brand of sentiment, she'd tear through the streets like a maniac until she turned into morning dew and vanished.
When a person dies, that's it. That razor-sharp T-zone measured like with a ruler, that high-bridged nose like a classic Western actress's.
Plus those pure big-dog eyes and those plump lips that practically begged for a kiss. I'd never see any of it again—could I really handle that?
Ah, no way! Giving up just because a hundred fifty felt wasteful would be too big a loss for humanity.
Beyond that, if one day Harin suddenly dressed in black and headed to Hyeonji's funeral, how was I supposed to live with that guilt?
Beep!
In the end, I bought it right there on the spot. Call me crazy if you want, but this was the best I could do. Bearing the immediate loss for a high school girl with her whole future ahead of her.
That was what I considered a real "adult."
Vroom vroom...
When I kicked the engine over, I got a rough feel for it. I'd thought the price was a bit steep for the year, but sure enough, it had been maintained that well.
"Do I really gotta wear this? It's ugly."
Hyeonji held up the pink helmet in her hand with a face full of complaints.
"Hey, Kim Hyeonji? Just because you want to live in the nineties doesn't mean we actually turned into the Kanto Alliance, okay? Honestly, I'm against even putting you on the back. Even if I do, I'd want you fully armored wrists and ankles, but all they had here was the helmet, so that's all I bought."
She'd only told me to buy it—she'd never asked me to give her a ride. But since she'd spent months saving for this, I figured I had to take her out once so she could cut the attachment clean.
Grumble grumble...
Hyeonji muttered to herself as she put the helmet on. Then she climbed on behind me and gripped my waist tight...
"..."
I hadn't seen this coming. Of course I'd known this position would happen from the moment I said I'd give her a ride, but the actual feeling was completely different from everything I'd calculated in my head.
So right now Hyeonji was sitting behind me? Using those trained arm muscles to wrap me from behind, which meant my back and her chest were pressed perfectly together?
Gulp...
In the end I couldn't even turn the handlebars—I just swallowed dry spit. Hyeonji, seeing me completely frozen, urged me on...
"..."
I'd expected her to tell me to hurry up and go, but surprisingly she said nothing. As if she herself had been thrown off by a posture beyond anything she'd anticipated, she just kept her arms around my waist and silently lowered her head.
"Th-then let's go."
"Yeah..."
Vroooom!
If I stayed any longer I was going to step outside the bounds of human decency again, so I took off right away. The spring wind blowing backward cleared my head a little.
Yeah, it worked out fine. A whole month's salary had gone out in one shot, but for short-distance travel, having a bike around seemed like it could be useful.
On top of that, the sense of security I felt from behind my back added a tiny bit of abundance to a life that owned almost nothing. It felt like my shabby existence—old only in years, recognized by no one—was getting a little compensation.
I couldn't tell what expression Hyeonji was making. She might be regretting dragging me here because she never got the bike she wanted, or she might be dying of embarrassment having to wear a helmet that killed her cool.
But so what? That Hyeonji was relying on me.
Just the way she clung with all her strength like a little kid and sent me infinite trust was enough to make me feel like I'd become a real "adult."
So I was feeling pretty good, but the moment the thought reached that far, I started to clearly recognize what I was actually doing.
For the first time in my life, I'd put a girl on the back of a motorcycle. And that girl was my daughter's school senior.