Chapter 02

Rather than being happy to see him after so long, I felt flustered by the definite change in his aura that was different from the past.

An adult version of Kang Ji Seok in a well-matched suit, with the feeling of a successful member of society, took off his shoes and came inside. As he got closer, I felt that he was no longer the kind and friendly older brother I met in high school. Instead, he gave off a cold and fierce feeling. On this face that resembles Kang Ji Seok, the only difference was the slightly raised corners of his eyes which significantly contributed to this feeling.

“Oh? Hyung1, you’re here already?”

Ji Seok lifted his phone and checked the time with a curious look. It was only four o’clock, and the day was still bright and sunny for a fine officer worker to get off work. Although Ji Geon’s the CEO of an app development company, he’s also an office worker, so I wondered about the time, as well.

“Didn’t you say there was a late seminar today?”

I made eye contact with Ji Seok’s brother, Kang Ji Geon, as he entered the house with quick steps. I stood up in a daze, he looked at me and nodded, and answered Ji Seok’s question.

“I stopped by to pick something up. Don’t mind it.”

A heavy and low voice, unlike Ji Seok’s, came out. The question he answered was Ji Seok’s but I didn’t know why he was still looking at me.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Ji Seok pouting, answered Ji Geon-hyung’s cold words and mischievously pointed at me.

“Hyung, Woo Seo is here, Shin Woo Seo. Don’t you remember? I talked about him recently.”

Ji Seok’s words surprised me and I kicked him on the thigh with my toes.

“Ya2, what are you saying? Did I curse at you?”

“Do you want to curse me? Do it, if you want.”

I smacked his thigh again, Ji Seok mischievously laughed and pretended to be a crybaby.

At this time, Ji Geon-hyung looked away and quickly passed the kitchen, headed towards another room. It was probably Ji Geon-hyung’s room.

I sat back down and reached for my glass, but it was already empty before I knew it. Rather than Ji Seok drinking my share without saying a word, I was bothered that he put his mouth on the same cup without hesitation. It happens often, but the fact that I was in Ji Seok’s house made me even more nervous.

I blamed myself for being a fool, and then I got up with the cup to get some water. Ji Seok grabbed my arm and tried to stand up with me.

“I’ll get you another drink.”

“Just finish what you were doing. I’m already done organizing it.”

“Daebak.3 So fast.”

He deliberately put on an exaggerated expression of admiration, then I left him alone and headed to the refrigerator. I opened the home bar, took out the cool water and poured into the cup. When I drank a sip from where I stood, the orange flavor of the juice was a bit sour and it brought me back to my senses.

As I was leaving the kitchen with the water in hand, just in time, I saw Ji Geon-hyung take a quick step out of his room, almost bumping into him. Fortunately, he quickly reached out his arm to seize my body, the other hand grabbing the cup, otherwise I would’ve stumbled and splashed water on him or myself.

“Sorry.”

“…”

Ji Geon-hyung stayed silent. Almost half a head taller than me, he looked down, loosened his arms and patted my head, tuk-tuk4. Then he quickly told Ji Seok he was going and quickly left the house.

I stroked my head where Ji Geon-hyung touched and watched him walk out the door.

Unlike his cold appearance, Ji Geon-hyung’s hand contained a pleasant warmth.

++++++++++

The day after I had gone back from Ji Seok’s house after preparing the assignment.

I suffered from a severe fever.

My body felt like it would melt from the fever. I couldn’t see what was in front of me and I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed. I couldn’t do anything but groan.

‘A cold…’

It was almost summer and I couldn’t believe I caught a cold without any sign of it.

However, the coughs didn’t start right away like when I would catch a cold. I kept thinking that this fever was actually not a cold.

Uungh–

I heard a small vibration.

Lying on the bed, I fumbled around my pillow and grabbed my cell phone. I didn’t have any strength in my body because of the fever which made even picking up a cell phone difficult.

When I checked the notification on my cell phone with bleary eyes, I saw it was a message from Ji Seok.

[Kim Chan Woo sent me an email of the sample code. I’ll forward it to you too, so let’s look through and arrange it together on Monday.]

While checking the message, I tapped on the keyboard, letting out a hot breath.

[Can you come over to my house for a bit…]

The cursor blinked behind the unfinished sentence. After hesitating for a long while, I deleted it all and wrote a new one.

[If you have time, get me medicine from the drugstore nearby.]

I stared at the cursor and erased it again.

[Are you busy right now?]

Again, erased it.

[I’m sick.]

Again, erased.

Just the blinking cursor was left.

[En5.]

In the end, it was a short message.

I worried about writing a longer message if I got a reply, but no matter how long I waited, there was only the sign that it had been read and nothing else.

Feeling bitter, I shut off the screen and put the cell phone down next to my pillow. At that moment, I felt a prickling on my left finger.

“Erk…!”

I briefly groaned and looked at my left hand. The ring finger of my left hand was burning. I didn’t see any injury on the surface but it felt like my finger was cut and that something was tightening around it. Was it an illusion?

The strange tingling around my left ring finger continued incessantly while I felt intoxicated from the hot fever.

++++++++++

After suffering from the fever all day.

I scavenged the internet in a rush. As soon as I entered the search terms, I saw the associated terms listed. I searched through the terms again and again, anxiously and repeatedly.

The more articles and information I found, the more confused I became. I felt my head ache and reached to touch my forehead, then I saw my left hand and trembled.

A bright red band engraved on the ring finger of my left hand caught my eye.

Ring.

It was a strange phenomenon that began to spread like an urban legend decades ago.

It’s said that everyone has a red band, a ring connected to their fated partner. But in the world’s billions of people, the chances of meeting one’s fated partner was too slim. Even if you met, there was no way you would recognize each other.

The only way to find out that you were connected to each other was to check the ring. After becoming an adult, if you have physical contact with your fated partner, you will be tormented by a severe fever within twenty-four hours. Then a red ring will appear on the ring finger of the left hand. Only yourself and your partner could see the ring, and no one else.

Usually, the red ring of the ring finger is only one band, but if the affection for each other was particularly deep, the red band would be tangled as two rings in a twist. It’s said that at that time, even if you were separated, you would be able to sleep well without insomnia. However, if one changes their mind then the ring will become a single band, and you will live miserably again.

It’s said that there is a person who can recognize and distinguish everyone’s rings, but there is so little information that it might just be a rumor.

In short, the existence of this ring has long attracted people’s attention. One cable channel even organized a special program on this matter, and even investigated in depth what the impact of these rings might be.

However the reason why these rings were compared to urban legends was because they were invisible to others. I couldn’t help but be doubtful that only people with rings could identify each other. At this point, half of what I searched were articles mixed with questions like, “Is there a real ring?”

I didn’t believe in the ring either. If this ring of fate is engraved on everyone, why did I have an unrequited love for Kang Ji Seok?

I let out a sigh. My insides felt more and more sick as I stared at the comments floating on the laptop screen.

[If the ring manifests, there is no chance of it leading to anyone else.]

[These are definitely not romantic.]

[It would be nice to love each other and have a relationship with someone who has a ring. But there will be more people who won’t, right? ]

[If you don’t have feelings for each other, you won’t be able to sleep because of insane insomnia unless you’re in contact. Sleeping pills don’t work.]

[If you can’t sleep, it’s likely you’ll get sick. In other countries, there are cases of cancer caused by the insomnia from staying away from the ring’s partner for a long time.]

[Among the people who are connected by the ring, the “Single Ring” folks are probably only living together because they don’t want to die. Actually, I would, too.]

[Whether they like it or not, they have to be together in order to live.]

[If you have a ring on your left ring finger, don’t hesitate to find your partner.]

[Well, guess we’ll have to live and see, first?]

I rested my head in both hands.

To be honest, insomnia wasn’t that scary. Since I started to like Ji Seok, I’ve had more distracting thoughts, and wasn’t able to sleep as well. When I couldn’t sleep, I often read my textbooks until dawn and because of that, my grades were excellent. However, sometimes I was so tired that I’d nap in the club room and would almost be late for lecture.

The insomnia has been around for years, there was nothing to worry about. Even if it got a little worse, it wouldn’t be much different from now.

However, the problem wasn’t insomnia.

‘You already know, don’t you.’

It was not possible for Kang Ji Seok and I to be in such a relationship. I already knew that before and lived pretending I didn’t. However, the manifestation of the ring, which seemed to be killing me, made my mouth bitter.

Moreover, it was even worse to know who the ring’s partner was. That is, before the fever, the only people who I had physical contact with were Kang Ji Seok and one other person.