Chapter 05

I never thought my younger siblings were cute. I have a sister who is three years younger and brother who is seven years younger, but neither of them are cute. Occasionally, when they pretended to be cute to ask for pocket money, I’d wrinkle my face in disgust.

If I were to count on my fingers how many times I’ve found a person cute, in my entire life, I could fold three or four fingers. It would be more than that if one asked me to include animals, but I can confidently say that it is very difficult for people to look cute in my eyes.

However, I found out that someone on the rare “cute person” list had been connected me to a ring.

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My younger brother, Kang Ji Seok, has a close friend whom he’s known since high school. Our parents were working abroad, so I used to listen to Ji Seok’s stories like how a father would, and at the heart of those stories was always a certain friend. I could very well tell the two of them are close friends just from his excited face and listening to his enthusiastic comments.

Even though there were other friends, they were always together and stuck to each other for hours, without getting sick of it. When he went out to play, they were together, when he did homework or study, there was always the other person next to them. If one needed something, the other would be able to see it first, as if they were telepathic, and if they talked to each other, they’d be able to talk for hours.

“Are you a married couple?”

This question naturally popped into my head just from listening to the stories. In regards to that, high school student Kang Ji Seok didn’t get angry but said, “Everyone asks me that often,” adding half jokingly, “If there was a woman who was as good-hearted as him, who also matched me so well, I would have already confessed.”

By the time news of the ring circulated, South Korea, like the rest of the world, had already changed its perception of same-sex marriage so much that it was decided to be made constitutional, but it didn’t mean that everyone wanted to be in a same-sex relationship. Just as every person has their likes and dislikes, Kang Ji Seok also had strong preferences towards love.

In fact, when I heard about this friend, I thought he was a decent person. No, sometimes I thought he was a pushover.

In my opinion, Kang Ji Seok was so soft that I thought I should educate him before he entered society. If someone asked him, he couldn’t refuse, and he was the kind of fool who would never doubt a person even if he was taken advantage of. But after listening, it seemed like the friend was just as soft. Anything that Kang Ji Seok might have trouble with, even if he didn’t say it, his friend was considerate enough to take care of him. I wondered if the phrase ‘birds of a feather flock together’ could be used in this kind of setting.

So I was a little curious.

Unlike my younger sister, Kang Ji Yeon, who always told me not to interfere because she’ll take care of herself, Kang Ji Seok, the youngest brother and youngest sibling, had been recounting his stories so much that I couldn’t help but care less. Furthermore, if a certain person is always in the stories, wouldn’t one get curious?.

So for the first time, I said, “Bring him home sometime,” as if I had let him off the hook like he was dating someone.

I thought he’d look like a pushover.

‘Looks cute.’

I thought so as soon as Ji Seok showed me the picture he took with his friend.

It was a picture of the two of them, sitting on a bench, with Ji Seok putting his arm around his friend’s shoulder. At first glance, judging from what appeared to be a workbook on his knee, it looked like he was studying or doing homework. Maybe because of that, unlike the mischievous Ji Seok, he felt like a decent model student.

Since he was friends with Ji Seok, I thought he’d be quite big, but he seemed rather thin and bony compared to my younger brother. I didn’t know for sure because he was sitting down, but his image was genial with moderately good proportions and a small white face.

Unlike Ji Seok, who had a bright and playful smile, the friend had a calm face and easygoing smile. The gently curved eyes and vibrant lips caught my attention.

I was fascinated by the warm smile, as if he was looking affectionately at someone behind the camera. After all, it was the front camera mode of the phone, so there couldn’t have been anyone on the other side of it.

“What’s his name?”

When I asked about his friend who filled the LCD screen, Ji Seok answered without hesitation.

Shin Woo Seo.

I memorized the name as soon as I heard it.

One day, it suddenly began to rain heavily.

I received a message from a crying Ji Seok that he had left his umbrella behind. After returning home early for the first time in a while, I was called to drive back out again before I could even change my clothes.

By the time I had almost arrived at the familiar gates of the high school, another message came from Ji Seok.

[My friend is taking me home. You don’t need to come, hyung.]

‘I came all the way to school just to pick you up…’

It was quite troublesome to send a message while driving, so I pulled over near the school and called.

“You want to die, Kang Ji Seok.”

I said in a low growl as soon as I heard him pick up, Ji Seok said embarrassedly, “Are you here already?”

“Already at the front door. Come and get in, quickly.”

“Yes, hyungnim1!”

I deliberately gave a sharp answer, when suddenly I overheard a voice of someone talking to him. I quickly recognized that it was the friend named Shin Woo Seo.

After a while, Ji Seok and Woo Seo walked out through the main gate. They were sharing a grey umbrella that seemed to belong to Woo Seo, but clearly looked too narrow for two men. Despite that, Ji Seok’s arm outside the umbrella was not very wet. On the other hand, Woo Seo, who was holding the handle, even though his arm was completely wet, he didn’t seem to care at all. He turned his shoulder cleverly so that it was invisible to Ji Seok.

When they approached the car, Ji Seok climbed into the back seat. Woo Seo smiled as he tilted the end of the umbrella so that Ji Seok wouldn’t get wet. Perhaps it was because I liked that smile, but at that time, I readily uttered something that I wouldn’t have said to Ji Seok’s other friends.

“I’ll take your friend [home]. Tell him to get in.”

I said as I glanced at Woo Seo, Ji Seok smiled brightly and opened the door. However, Woo Seo insisted that his house was in the opposite direction and closed the door. Woo Seo bowed his head from across the tinted passenger side window as I backed out and drove away.

There was something strange about seeing Woo Seo through the rear-view mirror. Covered by the rain, his face was unclear, but it was obvious that he was still looking this way.

Between friends, more precisely among boys, was it common to quietly watch one’s friends leave in the rain?

‘It’s possible.’

I didn’t think much of it, at the time. I just thought he was a good friend of my younger brother.

Since then, Shin Woo Seo had frequently showed his face at our house, following Ji Seok. At the time, I had left my company and was preparing to start a business at home so I met him often, but unlike my younger brother, he was calm and mature so I liked him quite a bit. Occasionally, when he laughed happily, I patted his head without realizing it. Perhaps that’s why, like there were no walls, we were close to each other like biological brothers.

When Ji Seok and Woo Seo became high school seniors, I became their tutor as I was an alumni of the university they were going for. The cut-off score2 to meet was pretty high there; Woo Seo was fine, but Ji Seok was the problem. While preparing for my start-up, I usually stayed at home so I was willing to help them study, however, Woo Seo insisted he would pay for the private tutoring no matter how much I refused. So during that time, Woo Seo called me ‘teacher’ more often than ‘hyung’.

During the tutoring we quickly got closer and when we’d finish studying, we’d gather in the living room and watch movies together, or play games with the three of us using computers and laptops. One day, we looked at the app I developed and exchanged thoughts with each other. There was another time, as soon as we found out that Woo Seo had never been shopping with his family before, we visited a department store and went around for a long time.

To be honest, no matter what we did, it wasn’t bad. At a time when I had countless thoughts about just going back to work because of the pressure of starting a business, this was a way for me to clear my mind and vent my frustrations. Furthermore, Woo Seo, who was mature for his age, was quite tactful, so I didn’t feel as if I was hanging out with a child.

Shin Woo Seo is a person who knows how to make the people around him comfortable. He acted courteously without saying anything, kept a certain distance, but sometimes he would draw unexpectedly close and smiled like he could see through one’s heart. Knowing that he was so considerate and taking care of others in a way that it was not obvious, I thought he was too good of a friend for my younger brother, Kang Ji Seok.

The youngest sibling’s dependable friend. A smart student. A sensible child.

Shin Woo Seo, who I’ve seen so often it can be described as ‘every day’, like my real brother, was just like that.

No, it was actually more than that.

It was not long after that, I realized my thoughts and feelings were completely separate.

1 Hyungnim – much more respectful and formal version of hyung. (t/n: this is Woo Seo replying to Ji Geon over the phone in case it wasnt clear.)

2 as in entrance exam scores. even for university, students have to take entrance exams