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Ja-kyung, who was tossing and turning on his bed, opened his eyes to the sound of music coming from outside. He looked at his watch and saw that it was ten o’clock in the morning. He stood up and sat, rubbing his face. With twinkling lights on the room’s ceiling, CCTV cameras were still watching him. It felt like he was in a prison.
Ja-kyung stepped out of bed and into the living room. He was puzzled as to who had turned on the music in the morning, but a head poked up from the sofa. Perhaps it was Kang Il-hyun, but the loud EDM didn’t seem to be his taste.
“Who are you?”
The man sitting there turned his head and looked at Ja-kyung. He then stood up and turned off the music. He was taller than Ja-kyung had imagined and wore dark sunglasses, but the atmosphere was eerily similar to Kang Il-hyun. He could tell that he was Kang Il-hyun’s younger brother he was talking about yesterday without even asking.
“Are you awake? You slept late, so I thought about whether I should wake up.”
If he was truly concerned, he would not play music until his ears were ripped apart. Why didn’t he simply walk in and shake his head instead? The word came to the back of his throat. Furthermore, the other party spoke informally without introducing himself or anything.
“Wash up and go out. I have a place to go with you.”
“Where… to?”
“The second brother told me to take you to the exhibition.”
When Ja-kyung noticed the tip of his lips twisting spitefully, he assumed Kang Il-hyun had forced him to do it. That was what he had heard about him before coming to Korea. Twenty-one years old. The son of the third wife, a drug addict, and a party fanatic.
Sure enough, seeing him sniffing his nose was quite familiar.
“And talk informally. I’m the same age as you.”
Kang Seok-joo sat down again on the sofa before hearing the other person’s response and turned on loud music. Ja-kyung entered the room because he would be irritated if he said anything else. He took a nicotine suppressant and showered to get rid of any remaining drowsiness.
Ja-kyung put on the clothes he brought with him after wiping away the water and drying his hair. He has to change his clothes in the bathroom because of the damn CCTV. He put on his horn-rimmed glasses and looked in the mirror while wearing all of his clothes. Regardless of the glasses, the navy blue checkered pattern that looked neat was not to his liking.
He shook his head and walked into his bedroom to put on his watch. He bought a few expensive items to imitate the young master, one of which was the watch. He had to sell everything when he was finished. None of them were to his liking.
Kang Seok-Joo stands up with his feet on the table when he comes out. He followed him downstairs, but Kang Il-hyun was nowhere to be found. According to the butler of the house, he was preoccupied with work and left work early in the morning. After Ja-kyung stated that he disliked rice, the butler prepared toast and salad for him.
Kang Seok-joo sat across from Ja-kyung, engrossed in a game on his phone, while Ja-kyung was eating his meals. His brow on the sunglasses kept getting wrinkled, and if things didn’t go as planned, he’d curse. He drank the juice that the butler made and observed him. He couldn’t keep his lips still, and he looked nervous as he chewed.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Ja-kyung assumed he was distracted by the game, but it turns out he wasn’t. As he bit the toast, Ja-kyung smiled vaguely. He was almost done eating when he heard a noise in the living room. This time, who would it be? He leaned back in his chair, surprised to see Kang Il-hyun approaching him. Huh? He didn’t go to work.
“You are here, sir.”
Kang Seok-joo jumped up from his seat and shoved his cell phone into his pocket as soon as he heard the words. Ja-kyung, who sat across from him, noticed that his nerves were tense. Kang Seok-joo took off his sunglasses and bowed his head to greet Kang Il-hyun.
“You are here, hyung-nim…”
Kang Il-hyun did not respond and pulled out the chair next to Ja-kyung and sat down. After greeting Kang Seok-joo also sat down and looked at his eyes. The attitude he had had a while ago was gone. Ja-kyung put down the toast he was eating and grabbed the juice. It feels like food was on top of an unexpected appearance. The awkward atmosphere was relaxed a bit when the butler intervened.
“Sir. You left work after only two hours.”
“I have something I left behind in my study. I‘d like a cup of coffee, please.”
Kang Il-hyun’s right arm was naturally draped over the chair in which Ja-kyung sat. When he realized Kang Il-hyun’s arms were touching behind his back, Ja-kyung purposefully raised his back and widened the gap. Kang Il-hyun then greets him by making eye contact.
“Did you sleep well?”
He felt uncomfortable. He swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded.
“Yeah… Thanks….”
Kang Il-hyun’s gaze now shifted to Seok-joo.
“Did you two greet each other?”
Kang Seok-joo was restless like a poopy dog.
“Yes….”
His face resembled Kang Il-hyun’s without his sunglasses, but his eyes were completely different. He felt withdrawn and timid, like a student being scolded by his teacher. Ja-kyung hadn’t noticed it before, but he had a noticeable scar on his temple.
The butler arrived with coffee just in time, and Il-hyun took it and stood up. His hand, which had been resting on the chair, moved to Ja-kyung’s shoulder. Ja-kyung stiffened at the sudden contact.
“Kang Seok-joo.”
Kang Seok-joo raised his head as if on fire. Yes.
“You take good care of Yi An-gun.”
“All right… . hyung-nim.”
It was amusing that a twenty-one-year-old kept using the title ‘hyung-nim.’ That’s how challenging the relationship was. Or at least it was uncomfortable. The hand on the shoulder naturally fell off. Kang Il-hyun grabbed the cup of coffee and went inside after saying his goodbyes.
Ja-kyung moved his shoulders unconsciously to shake off the warmth. After a small sigh, his gaze met Kang Seok-Joo, who sat in front of him, and for a brief moment, he felt a sense of unity on his face. Those eyes appeared to be a representation of his heart.
You also… Kang Il-hyun, that bastard, you don’t like him, do you?
***
Even painting with his feet would be better than this. Ja-kyung thought to himself as he looked at the picture that he could not understand at all. It was a painting of a human face, but it also had eyes on the back of its head. He wondered what the artist wanted to say. He was curious as to what the artist intended to say. Make sure you don’t get hit in the back? If that was the intention, he intended to purchase one and hang it inside the house. The thing no one should believe was the fact that even a child on the floor knows everything.
Ja-kyung spent the whole day looking around with Kang Seok-joo. After going to Insa-dong to view exhibitions and purchase souvenirs, they arrived at the art museum run by the shipping group around the time the sun went down. Even though he looked at the pictures all day, he was not interested at all because he was an outsider.
He felt sorry for the young deputy director who had been explaining for a long time. Ja-kyung has been mentioning his art major, so he must respond… At best, he nodded, and sometimes he only said a lot of soulless lines such as wonderful, cool, and awesome.
“Even if I paint with my feet, I’ll paint better than this.”
Ja-kyung looked back at the sudden voice. Kang Seok-joo, who had gone to the bathroom, arrived later and shared his thoughts on the painting without filtering. The smile on the deputy chief’s face faded as she listened to the harsh tone, saying that it would be better if he hung a picture he drew when he was seven years old, or what the hell was he going to buy and use this for.
“How much is it?”
Kang Seok-joo asked, and the deputy chief tried to smile.
“Are you talking about the painting?”
“No, how much does it cost to sleep with you?”
“What?”
“Why are you pretending not to understand? Stupid.”
The deputy chief’s neck and ears were bright red. Just then, an employee called to inform her that she had received an urgent call. She tried to hide her embarrassment as she politely excused herself and walked to the staff. Kang Seok-joo smacked his lips boldly as he looked back.
“Doesn’t she look delicious?”
Kang Seok-Joo raised and waved his little finger when Ja-kyung didn’t respond.
“That, Kang Tae-han’s? Do you know Kang Tae-han? My big brother. There is a reason why he got the position of deputy chief here at a young age.”
“…”
“Should I ask one for you as well?”
“…”
“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you shy to talk about something like this?”
Ja-kyung was baffled as to why he had asked him if he was shy while he himself had done something embarrassing. Ja-kyung would have smashed the back of his head until the eyeballs popped out if he had been a close friend. Just then, Kang Seok-Joo received a phone call. He was on the phone right next door, and the other person’s voice rang out loudly. Kang Seok-joo didn’t even consider turning down the volume.
“How many times do I have to tell you, damn it. I told you I couldn’t make it.”
[Why.]
“A guest came to my house, and my brother asked me to take care of it.”
[What guest? Is it a woman?]
“It sucks, you asshole. It’s a man.”
[That’s great. Ask him to play together. Choi Ki-tae is going to come with something amazing today.]
Kang Seok-joo’s irritated eyes lit up for a moment. His gaze was then fixed on Ja-kyung. Ja-kyung moved a little further away and gazed at another painting. He hung up the phone and called Ja-kyung’s after some thought.
“Hey… What was your name?”
They’d been together all day, but Ja-kyung was taken aback when he couldn’t remember even three words of his name. He wondered if it was because he took too much drugs and his brain grew stupid, or if he was born with a stone head.
“Zhang Yi an.”
“Yes, Zhang Yi an. Do you need to see more paintings?”
“Why…?”
“I need to go see my friends for a while. Do you want to go with me?”
“Now?”
“Yeah. I just have to go and sit down for a while.”
“…”
“But don’t tell the second brother.”
“…”
When there was no reaction from Ja-kyung, Kang Seok-joo’s expression becomes anxious. Ja-kyung kept his mouth shut, so Seok-joo took off his watch and held it out. It was an expensive watch worth over a billion dollars. It was ridiculous to toss something like that to a passing dog as if it were a snack.
“Condition to keep your mouth shut.”
Ja-kyung stared at the watch and nodded his head up and down. There was no reason to refuse. Ja-kyung, too, was slowly getting tired of appreciating paintings that he didn’t even want to see. As soon as he received the watch and put it in his pocket, Kang Seok-joo said he liked him and patted him on the shoulder, and smiled.
“Let’s go.”