Chapter 17

“You scared me, hyung.”

“I was trying to surprise you. You didn’t even close the door, why are you spacing out?”

Ji Geon-hyung, who appeared wearing a suit, smiled as he loosened his arms. His bangs were [styled] up and he was dressed in a neat and fashionable suit. His appearance was significantly different from Kang Ji Seok, but as expected, his smile was still the same. Like this, he readily approached me.

I wasn’t sure if it was because I was reminded of the warm and tender moments of the past the day before; I felt that hyung, who had been nervous and cautious until then, became close and friendly like how he was in the past. The close contact from the previous day seemed to have played a part.

He combed my slightly disheveled bangs with his fingers and asked quietly.

“Want a ride?”

“No, that’s okay. It’s the opposite direction of your company. If you drop us off, you’ll be tight for time.”

“It’s fine.”

When he picked up his cell phone and checked the time, Ji Seok suddenly appeared near the door, intervened and asked.

“You know where hyung’s company is?”

The corners of Ji Seok’s mouth were clearly smiling, but for some reason, the corners of his eyes were raised sharp enough to resemble his brother.

Actually, I didn’t even know where his company was until the ring had manifested. I knew the name, but I had never searched for the location before, so I knew nothing except that it was a small app developer somewhere in Seoul. I found the location while visiting the office because of the ring, otherwise I wouldn’t have known until now. I wasn’t interested.

I was trying to sort out the words in my mouth for what to answer, but hyung came forward first and defended me.

“I told him. Next time, come for a practical tour.”

“…”

Receiving a simple answer, Ji Seok didn’t say anything much. However, I wasn’t sure why [the look] in his eye seemed to be wary of his older brother.

Ji Geon-hyung offered me a ride one more time, but I refused again. Rather than thinking that it would interfere with his work, this time, the atmosphere between the two of them was somehow not so good that I felt uncomfortable.

After sending hyung off first, I came out of the apartment and carefully asked Ji Seok, glancing at him.

“Did you two fight?”

Although I roughly knew what they talked about the day before from the veranda, I still pretended not to know. As expected, Ji Seok smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

“Brothers are usually good at quarreling then acting as if nothing had happened the next moment. It’s the same for us, too.”

Following that, he said it was not a big deal and that he was sorry for making me worried.

‘It doesn’t seem like it…’

Whether it was Ji Seok’s serious expression, wary eyes, or harsh words towards his older brother, all of those were things hard to find in the usual Ji Seok, so I couldn’t pass them over. Of course, he didn’t have to tell me the whole story of what happened between brothers, but at least I thought he could let me know what the situation was. Or whatever happened with Minah-noona.

If something had happened to me, he’d persistently ask me to find out, but this time, he tried to cover it up by repressing the matter. That’s why I had a more hateful thought.

‘No, at this rate, there’ll be no end .’

Soothing my heart, I calmed the jealousy that had been cropping up bit by bit. Listening to Ji Seok’s story, Minah-noona will inevitably be involved, and if so, digging deeper may hurt myself.

I wanted to avoid the heartache and frustration I experienced yesterday. The sense of defeat and loss filled my mind.

As I calmed down my restless emotions inside, I began to talk about nonsense as if nothing had happened like Kang Ji Seok did. How many group members will be there today? If they don’t show up for the last checkup, those people will have their names decisively removed. From a conversation about the same group project, to a housewife [-like] conversion about what to make for dinner.

While we were talking about it as we were trying to leave the apartment complex, a man with a hood on was walking towards us, slamming my shoulder hard as he passed by. My body stumbled so much from it that Ji Seok, who was next to me, quickly caught me.

“Ya, you okay?”

The shoulder that was struck to the point it was tingling made a loud pop sound that surprised Ji Seok. The person who passed by and hit my shoulder so hard must’ve suffered some damage too, but he didn’t look back.

Ji Seok looked down at my slightly twisted face and shoulder, couldn’t stand it and shouted loudly at the person.

“Hey! If you hit someone, apologize!”

Although his pace was fast, the distance he had gone was not very far, but the person didn’t look back even though it was clear that he had heard well enough. Feeling doubtful, I stopped Ji Seok from trying to shout again.

“Stop it. Let’s just go.”

“Are you sure it’s okay? You didn’t break your shoulder? The sound was no joke.”

“It’s really fine. We don’t have time, hurry up and go to school.”

I grabbed Ji Seok’s wrist, he was still holding me, and glanced back. Sure enough, the man was diligently walking, making his way like a man who could not hear or feel anything.

Whether he apologized or not, if he hit a person that hard, he should look back, but the guy didn’t and ignored us. That being said, it meant that he deliberately aimed at me and slammed my shoulder.

‘Did I meet him somewhere?’

He was wearing a deep hoodie, so I couldn’t see his face, but it was clear that he was a man of similar physique to me. I looked back for a while, wondering if there was such a person like that in my memories, then I looked one more time.

Far away, I saw the man from before, staring intently at me with both hands in the pocket of his hooded jacket.

++++++++++

There were still empty seats at the meeting place for the last meeting of the group project with one hour left before the lecture where the assignment was to be presented. Two of them, too.

At this point, I felt relief along with anger.

“Kang Ji Seok, remove them without mercy.”

“Already removed.”

Silently cursing at the two free-riding group members who still couldn’t be contacted, Ji Seok erased the names of those two people from the presentation powerpoint1. Two group members sitting opposite each other said they also had to start over from the middle and brought out all kinds of curses, saying they felt hateful of the members who were not there.

Fortunately, considering the absence of the two of them, we had thoroughly prepared in advance. Perhaps the presentation itself won’t be a problem, but for the two whose names are missing, the professor’s summons will hurt like being struck by an arrow.

When the four of us finished checking and went into the classroom, the two free-riding group members approached us with wide smiles. They left with various excuses; the person in charge of presenting pretended to have a hoarse enough voice to be noticeable, and the person in charge of the powerpoint raised his loosely bandaged finger saying that his injury was not healed. Ji Seok, who was going to present instead, said it didn’t matter and smiled. They said he was nice and thanked him.

However, after belatedly confirming that their names were omitted from the powerpoint, they looked at us with all kinds of resentment. In the end, as soon as the lecture was over, they were called by the professor. The two of them with anxious faces and drooping shoulders had it coming.

Everyday, because of homework we would [usually] split up, however, [this time] other friends were having a drinking party with carefree expressions as if a major exam had ended. Some friends said goodbye to the boring group project, and some said it was better to do ten individual assignments.

“Ohwoo! The alcohol is sweet, it’s sweet.”

One friend over-exaggerated and shook off an empty soju glass over his head2. Two or three drops fell onto the top of his head, but he didn’t seem to care. I wondered if it would be immensely smelly if he fell asleep without washing his hair like that. I thought about it since tomorrow was the weekend, anyway.

Now that the eventful group project had been completed, the remaining crisis was the final exam. Finish up just that, then it’s the longed for summer vacation.

When it’s summer, Kang Ji Seok is also Kang Ji Seok, who lives with a cold which doesn’t suit his body, but I also had many problems.

Every summer, I would be exhausted and it was my daily life to stick to the cold floor like a piece of gum. When the rainy season came, the gloomy sky and humid air made my body constantly heavy, and I often dozed off like a sick chicken. Compared to Kang Ji Seok, who gets energized by just overcoming his cold, I’m like this the whole summer. I can’t even count the number of samgyetang3 I’d eaten for those three months.

This time, thinking about it again, I only thought of how I should relax more rather than have expectations for vacation. In the meantime, these friends were already getting drunk, no matter how many times they had already turned their glasses over. Kang Ji Seok was the same, shouting “pour” and “drink”. As my excited friends played various games and filled up my glass, I had no choice but to tilt my glass and drink together with them.

Swept away by the atmosphere, as I continued to drink, I could feel myself slowly getting drunk and my face burning.

‘How many cups did I drink…’

My head felt too dull to calculate well. It wasn’t that strong, but the problem was that it had been a while since I drank and since I liked soju, I drank several shots in a row.

I put my hand on my feverish forehead and pulled out my phone to check the time. The first thing that caught my eye even before the clock was the floating preview of Ji Geon-hyung’s message.

[Aren’t you drinking too much?]

Suddenly, I felt sober. I raised my head and looked around, but I couldn’t see Ji Geon-hyung.

Then another message arrived.

[You’d better stop drinking. Your face is so burnt.]4

I looked around once more with a red-hot face. As expected, he wasn’t there, but I saw a familiar car through the window closest to where I was sitting. The car’s passenger seat window was about a third [of the way] open, and two familiar eyes could be seen through the gap. The person’s eyes met [mine] and curved like Kang Ji Seok’s, arcing into crescent moons.