I shrug. “Well, I don’t know why you want a fifty, but if you’re
going to beg for money, isn’t a five hundred better? You could
buy more of…well, whatever you’re buying.” The man sighs.
“You don’t have a fifty, do you?”
I shake my head.
“No I don’t.”
“But you gave me a five hundred? Why’d you give me a five
hundred?”
"I don’t want to buy anything. I don’t really have a reason for
a fifty won coin. I just want a fifty won coin.”
I am puzzled. Why would he want a fifty won coin for no
reason?
The man seems to read my mind. “Why would I want a fifty
won coin for no reason? I don’t know, maybe I want to look at
the rice plant picture on the back of it. Maybe I like how much
smaller it is than the other coins. I don’t know. I just want a
fifty won coin, the coin, man, but people just think like that.
Like I want a fifty won coin because it’s fifty won, not because
it’s a fifty won coin. You get that?”
He ruffles his messy hair with his hands.
“And that gets me so fucking angry. Because everybody
thinks you gotta want something because it’s fifty won or five
hundred won or five million fucking won and not because it’s
that thing that you want. Why should I want something for
what it costs, huh? I just want it, for fuck’s sake.” The man
looks at me again.
44
“Hey, sorry again, man, if I scared you. But I don’t want
your five hundred. And I’m not sorry I threw that in there,”
he say