Mother Tape Chapter 10.3

As if on cue, an article about a swindler by the name of Mr. Jeong appeared on the society page. Around the weekend, a notice asking for tips for an investigative report would appear on public television.

It would appear along with poorly pixelated photos of Hyaegwang Agency, Hyaegwang’s subsidiary mental care system, and the suspicious link between them. The photos would feature figures who were famous enough to be recognized by name alone. The photos of political and business figures would be taken down immediately, but not the ones of celebrities.

The name of the movie that Yuldam Productions had invested a huge sum of money into, which had already generated buzz with just its casting and was currently in the middle of filming, would also surface, entangled in the matter. Yuldam Productions was, of course, Kwak Jaekyung’s production company.

Everything would be pulled up like a net. He would not know where to cut to save which part, and what he thought he could save would instead be the equivalent of willingly slitting his own carotid artery.

And a week later, the investigative report program would fan the flames of suspicion surrounding a person named Jung Taegyu, and talk of a tax investigation would also begin to leak.

The information that Kwak Jaekwon had gathered and seasoned, whether real or fake, would plaster the internet with sensational headlines and keep it buzzing for a while.

Although, like all issues, it would eventually or quickly be forgotten, it would not die down easily. But he could buy at least two weeks, and at most a month and a half, and that would be enough.

❖ ❖ ❖

On Friday afternoon, Kwak Jaekyung received a phone call and his expression suddenly changed. He then dragged Wisoo and went out somewhere. The place he took Wisoo to was not the high-rise penthouse apartment where he lived, but an 8-story luxury villa modeled after a quiet, though somewhat dated, townhouse. It was a duplex with fewer rooms than Kwak Jaekyung’s home, and there were signs of life, as if someone had been living there until recently.

“Don’t get any funny ideas and stay here.”

Kwak Jaekyung issued a stern warning and locked Wisoo in the room again.

How much time had passed? He had drifted in and out of a light sleep several times. Then at 3 a.m., a time more fitting to be called morning, Kwak Jaekyung, who had just come in, slammed open the door to Wisoo’s room with a bang.

“Seon Wisoo. Where is that bastard Jung Taegyu.”

Kwak Jaekyung asked, his eyes gleaming. Wisoo, waking up groggily, stared blankly at Kwak Jaekyung who had suddenly burst in.

“Not that clueless expression! Where is Jung Taegyu!”

“I don’t know!”

Wisoo shouted at the hands that grabbed and shook his body violently.

“I don’t know! I don’t have a phone or anything, how would I know!”

“What do you mean you don’t know! There’s no way Jung Taegyu would ditch you and run!”

“I really, really don’t know…!”

Wisoo pushed Kwak Jaekyung away with all his might.

Kwak Jaekyung, with a rough stubble and clothes so wrinkled it looked like he had been wearing them for days, glared at Wisoo as if he could kill him. Then, after a long moment, he opened his mouth.

“…Jung Taegyu abandoned us.”

“What?”

“He abandoned us. Fuck! That’s what happened! I should have known sooner, that son of a bitch!”

“What are you talking about….”

“I’ve been indicted. For embezzlement of public funds, and I’m even tangled up in unfair contracts….”

Kwak Jaekyung rambled like a madman.

“The bribery case was also exposed, but I didn’t do that. Huh? I didn’t, right?”

“I, I don’t know….”

“That ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!’ How long are you going to not know!”

Kwak Jaekyung lunged at Wisoo like a beast.

But Wisoo truly did not know. Wisoo was merely a symbol, something like a franchise star. Just as a franchise player would not know the front office’s business, Wisoo did not know about Jung Taegyu’s affairs. He knew even less about Kwak Jaekyung’s. They were the ones who had made him into such an existence, and now they were demanding he do something.

“Don’t, don’t do this!”

Wisoo struggled, covering his stomach. A musty smell came from Kwak Jaekyung. It was a mixture of alcohol, cigarettes, and some kind of drug.

“It’s Kwak Jaekwon. Kwak Jaekwon did this. You don’t know even if it’s Kwak Jaekwon’s doing? Huh?”

“I told you I don’t know! You guys are the ones who dragged me away from him!”

He felt miserable. He knew even less about Kwak Jaekwon. Wisoo had been abandoned by Jaekwon. At least, their story had been cut off there. Wisoo burst into tears and thrashed about. In the process, his hand struck Kwak Jaekyung’s jaw. Blood gushed from his nose, but Kwak Jaekyung did not even flinch.

“I’m going to hand you over to Kwak Jaekwon. Then this bullshit will end!”

“Stop, I can’t breathe…!”

At that moment, as Wisoo choked and gasped for breath, Kwak Jaekyung’s blood dripped down onto him.

The blood that fell on his white cheek was as red as a flower petal. Wisoo’s breath hitched, huk, and his vision flickered. His eyes rolled back as if he were falling into a trance. The last sight he saw was a massive shower of blood-red petals.

Unaware that Wisoo’s body had gone rigid, Kwak Jaekyung took one hand off Wisoo’s neck and frantically rummaged through his own clothes. What he pulled out was a cell phone. He was going to make a deal using Seon Wisoo. It had to be Kwak Jaekwon’s doing. If it was not that bastard Kwak Jaekwon, there was no way something like this would suddenly explode. With trembling hands, he randomly pressed the screen. And just as he finally found the name and brought his fingertip to the call button, Wisoo’s lips parted.

“You… you’re still living like this?”

It was a bewitching voice. The nape of Kwak Jaekyung’s neck went cold. It was as if the puddle of blood that had been dripping from him had rotted and hardened all at once.

“Are you going to play the part of Kwak Bonyoung this time?”

Kwak Jaekyung’s neck turned with a creak. It was clearly Seon Wisoo’s voice, but it sounded bizarre, as if multiple voices had been dubbed over it.

When he slowly looked at Wisoo, Wisoo’s eyes were sparkling and the corners of his mouth were raised high.

“Wasn’t it enough that you left me behind back then?”

“…Ugh, ugh, ugh, ahhhhhh!”

In Kwak Jaekyung’s eyes, Seon Wisoo was not there. In the place where Seon Wisoo should have been, in the place he had pinned down, was not Seon Wisoo but his aunt, Kwak Jaekwon’s mother, Sooyeon.

Kwak Jaekyung rolled off the bed and frantically pushed himself across the floor with his feet until he reached the door. Bang, his back and head hit it hard, but he did not even have time to feel the pain.

Slowly, ‘Wisoo’ sat up and got off the bed completely. The movement was not human-like, but seemed like a piece of floating cloth.

“You, Kwak Bonyoung, all you Kwaks are just… so tiresome.”

“A-Aunt?”

“You made eye contact with me then.”

“No, no. No. I didn’t! I didn’t do that!”

“Isn’t it just that you wanted to believe so?”

“Th- No! Why are you, why are you doing this to me! The reason things ended up like that with my uncle was because of this body! Because of its owner, Seon Wisoo!”

At that, ‘Wisoo’ raised a hand and slowly rotated the wrist and forearm, looking at its own body. As if it were something unfamiliar.

“You’re quite the director yourself.”

Then, it muttered.

“You should have become a director. Like your business partner.”

“Y-Y-You’re framing an innocent person right now.”

“It was your uncle who framed an innocent person. He framed me.”

‘Wisoo’ bent down toward Kwak Jaekyung. In Kwak Jaekyung’s eyes, ‘Seon Wisoo’ was not there. Only Sooyeon.

“You too should try being left all alone by people who run away even after seeing you.”

And then, black water started to stream from Sooyeon’s eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Kwak Jaekyung screamed, covering his face with his arms. Still, he could not block what was pouring all over his body.

The puddles merged into one and deepened like an ocean. It became an ocean and engulfed Kwak Jaekyung. Kwak Jaekyung’s eyes rolled back and he fainted, foaming at the mouth. ‘Wisoo’ stepped over Kwak Jaekyung’s body, which had wet itself with urine, and went out the door.

Only Kwak Jaekyung’s cell phone remained, blinking.

❖ ❖ ❖

Friday at 3 o’clock, since releasing the article, Jaekwon had been incredibly busy. While preparing a rumor-mill article stating that investments were being withdrawn in consideration of the aforementioned controversy, he simultaneously released the story of Kwak Jaekyung’s embezzlement to an economics reporter. Reporters, drawn by the scent Jaekwon had let out, were surrounding Kwak Jaekyung’s house as if laying siege. The time the reporters went to Kwak Jaekyung’s house was 3:40, and the time Kwak Jaekyung received the call was 2:50, just before the article was released.

Jaekwon had also considered the possibility that Kwak Jaekyung might have heard the news first. Right now, Wisoo would be with Jung Taegyu or Kwak Jaekyung. Since he had severely soured the relationship between Jung Taegyu and Kwak Jaekyung, the probability of Jung Taegyu leaving Wisoo with Kwak Jaekyung was low, but one never knew. He was a rat in a trap, yet the path ahead split, making him wish he had multiple bodies.

Finding Jung Taegyu’s residences, which he had established under various laundered identities over the years, was an enormous headache. He can’t be on Jung Taegyu’s side. Jaekwon rested his forehead on his hand and chain-smoked.

Kwak Jaekwon’s body was also reaching its limit. But the more his fatigue soared to its peak and his insomnia severely accumulated, the more his other senses were honed like the tip of a spear. A very loud, clicking, mechanical sound rang out. An unpleasant metallic scraping sound as well. He now knew what this sound was. It was the voice of the dead. Perhaps the reason Wisoo had sought him out was because the Kwak Jaekwon from before he met Seon Wisoo was so very similar to him.

Just then, Jaekwon’s cell phone rang. The caller was Kwak Jaekyung.

Bang, the chair fell backward. Jaekwon answered before the phone could even ring once and, holding the phone, focused as much as he could on the sound he was hearing.

—Wasn’t it enough that you left me behind back then?

But what he heard was his mother’s voice.

Jaekwon threw away the barely smoked cigarette and left the office. While frantically pressing the button for the underground parking garage where his car was, an unpleasant sound of kkagak, kkak came from over the phone, along with his mother’s voice.

—You, Kwak Bonyoung, all you Kwaks are just, so tiresome.

“Seon Wisoo, Seon Wisoo!”

Jaekwon screamed like a madman inside the car.

Reporters were surrounding Kwak Jaekyung’s house. Jaekwon had already sent people to watch Kwak Jaekyung’s parents’ house. Then where is he. Where is he, is he with Jung Taegyu?

“Where are you, Seon Wisoo!”

But the person on the other end was not Wisoo. It was Wisoo, yet not Wisoo. Jaekwon’s eyes became bloodshot. Arriving at the underground parking garage, he violently opened the car door.

He tallied the addresses of the houses Kwak Jaekyung owned. Kwak Jaekyung owned three in his own name. One, which he had memorized just in case, was in the name of a woman Kwak Jaekyung had once kept as a lover, but that woman was currently not in Korea.

That’s it.

It felt as if someone was whispering, It’s there, Jaekwon-ah, and pushing him from behind. Kwak Jaekwon connected the phone to his car and then used his second phone to find Hwang Gujo.

“You have people stationed at all three of Kwak Jaekyung’s houses, right?! Just in case, you go to his family home. The address is…!”

Hwang Gujo replied, “I know!”

There was no time to explain why, and fortunately, Hwang Gujo was not the type to demand reasons. After ending the call, a sound came through clearly in Jaekwon’s ear.

—It was your uncle who framed an innocent person. He framed me.

It was a statement that added certainty to what Jaekwon had seen.

Jaekwon pressed down on the accelerator. The speed cameras flashed one after another. Tickets were a problem for later. Jaekwon cut across the city at dawn.

Soon, a bloodcurdling scream filled the car. Was it Seon Wisoo’s? No. It was Kwak Jaekyung’s. Jaekwon clenched his teeth.

Silence followed, and Jaekwon slammed his fist on the steering wheel and shouted.

“Seon Wisoo. Seon Wisoo! No!”

He could feel him getting farther away.

He did not know where he was going, but he was afraid he was going too far.

❖ ❖ ❖

Jaekwon called for people. They picked the lock on Kwak Jaekyung’s door and went in. It was a strange world where a locksmith would pick a lock for anyone who just said they forgot the password. But setting that aside, what caught Jaekwon’s eye as he entered in his dress shoes was Kwak Jaekyung’s upper body, sprawled out past the bedroom door.

Kwak Jaekwon went over and slapped Kwak Jaekyung’s cheek. But his eyes, rolled back in his head, did not return to normal, and the foam around his mouth had long since dried. Only the urine he had wet himself with remained damp.

“Won’t you open your eyes, you son of a bitch?!”

Jaekwon yelled, but it was no use. The locksmith, waiting for payment, asked with a startled face.

“Sh-Should I call an ambulance?”

Jaekwon gave a rough nod and then pulled out whatever cash he could grab from his pocket and handed it over.

“Please do.”

He could not let him die just like that. He could not let him go that peacefully.

Jaekwon pounded on the elevator button, then absentmindedly raised his head. As if someone had called him.

“…What’s up there?”

“Uh… that’s the sky garden for the penthouse floor residents….”

There.

He had a strong premonition.

Jaekwon bounded up the stairs, taking three steps at a time.

Don’t go.

Without a sound, without even realizing he was muttering, his lips moved.

Don’t go far.

A plea escaped him.

I’m finally on my way to get you, so please wait just a little longer.

‘Mr. Kwak Jaekwon, you don’t have scary dreams anymore, do you?’

The words Wisoo had said the moment he had given up on him swirled around Jaekwon.

‘You don’t have scary dreams anymore, do you?’

‘Don’t be scared.’

‘Do you have to come get me?’

‘Do you have to come back to get this from me?’

“Yeah. I’ll come find you.”

With that thought, Jaekwon flung the door open.

There stood Wisoo’s back, with the deep dawn sky and the skyscrapers spread out like wings behind him.

“Seon Wisoo!”

The wind blew fiercely. Jaekwon shielded his face from the wind with his hand and called out to Wisoo again.

“Seon Wisoo!”

Only then did Wisoo turn around.

His clothes, with the wind at his back, billowed. And he was barefoot.

“Again….”

Jaekwon asked with a pained smile.

“What am I going to do if you come out barefoot again.”

He did not know if he could be heard. Jaekwon raised his voice and asked again, cautiously moving his feet forward. He deliberately feigned a cheerful tone as he grumbled.

“What’s the point of buying you socks, and what’s the point of buying you shoes.”

“……”

Wisoo, ‘Wisoo’, was looking at him, smiling quietly.

“You don’t even wear them. What are you wearing? Did you come out without knowing how cold it is?”

“Jaekwon-ah.”

“Yes, Mr. Seon Wisoo.”

Jaekwon answered stubbornly, even though he knew it was not the Wisoo he knew.

“Did you like the clothes I picked out?”

“……”

“I picked them while imagining how much you would have grown, did the size fit?”

Haha…. Jaekwon laughed and lowered his head slightly.

“You’re so stubborn. I see who I take after.”

“……”

“Of course…. Who do you think picked them out.”

As it was a slightly older villa-style apartment, it was on high ground but at the same time not as staggeringly tall as modern apartments. However, it was high enough to be fatal if one fell. Jaekwon approached a little more cautiously.

“That’s a relief. I saw you wearing them. Though I couldn’t see them well. And everything looked upside down.”

“Whose son are you? Of course they’d look good on you.”

“That’s right. You’re my son.”

Jaekwon rubbed his stiffening eyes with his wrist.

“I’m wearing them today, too.”

Jaekwon spread his arms to the sides. The knit sweater he was wearing happened to be one of the ones Wisoo had given him.

“How is it? Does it suit me?”

“Yes. You look so handsome.”

He takes another step closer.

“You don’t resemble Kwak Bonyoung at all. You’ve grown up well, my son.”

“You should have called me ‘my son, my son’ sooner.”

“Were you sad about that?”

Another step.

“I felt sorry.”

Jaekwon answered in a choked voice.

“I was sorry.”

‘Wisoo’ leaned his body back. For a moment, it felt as though his heart had plummeted. But he realized he was just tilting his head back to look at the starless sky and approached again.

“I always hated it here because you can’t see a single star. This city’s air is dirty, there are too many people, it’s too noisy, and it’s too bright.”

“Is that so? It would be nice to go to a quieter place.”

“There’s no such place anymore.”

The place where Jaekwon’s mother grew up also bore no resemblance to its old self due to redevelopment. The person who had held the most land when it was being redeveloped was also Kwak Bonyoung. Including his father-in-law’s land.

“There’s no such place anymore, Jaekwon-ah.”

When ‘Wisoo’ lifted his head again, his face was thoroughly wet.

“There’s no one left now.”

“I have someone.”

Jaekwon reached out his arm. If he got just a little closer, he could grab him, but there was still the distance of one more arm needed. He could not approach recklessly. Even though the one inside ‘Wisoo’ was his mother, the dead, those who have gone to a place the living can never understand, move in unpredictable ways.

“I have someone. To me, that person is that place. So please….”

“……”

“Please, Mom.”

He was a child who rarely whined. He had no choice but to mature early. He thought the tendency to cry from nightmares every night was something he had inherited from her. Sooyeon, too, had always been sensitive to the surrounding atmosphere and strange things since she was young.

“Do you like him that much?”

“Yes. I do.”

Jaekwon answered without a hint of hesitation.

“Enough that if something goes wrong, I will immediately jump off over there too.”

“You heard it from Jung Taegyu. That I was ruined because of him.”

“But that’s not true, is it.”

“……”

“You showed me that too, didn’t you. To tell me, that it wasn’t true.”

Sooyeon, who was inside Wisoo, smiled quietly.

“Thank you for not burying Kwak Bonyoung next to me.”

“It was the natural thing to do.”

“Find Mr. Seokho.”

“I will.”

“And when you find him, scatter my ashes with his.”

“Yes. I will. I’ll do that. I’ll lay you to rest in your hometown.”

“Jaekwon-ah. I was so….”

Sooyeon closed her eyes.

“So tired for so long.”

Behind him, the city at dawn stirred quietly.

A place where the air is dirty, there are too many people, it is too noisy, and it is too bright.

Even in its midst, Wisoo was buried in darkness. Yet he was transparent. It felt as if one could see everything inside him.

“And I only now realize that you must have been just as tired.”

Wisoo, muttering with his eyes closed, looked as if he would disappear somewhere just like that.

Jaekwon approached with a sense of urgency.

“So now….”

Wisoo’s body began to lean back limply. Haa, he let out a long, single breath. His eyes closed completely, and the hand that had been gripping the railing slowly loosened.

His body was tipping over completely, like a feather. He arched back as if slowly sinking into water.

Jaekwon rushed forward as Wisoo’s waist was almost all the way over, his toes lifting from the ground.

So now I want to end it.

That voice was heard in both their minds simultaneously, and Wisoo opened his eyes.

What unfolded before his eyes was a shower of stars that should not have been visible, a sky like black ink, and… Kwak Jaekwon.

He was gripping the front of his collar tightly. The hand clutching the railing was trembling. Through that arm, water that he did not have, water that only Wisoo could see, dripped down. But it was not the sticky, foul-smelling sewage like that of others. It was a very dark and transparent… it was water that illuminated the night.

He was the night.

He held his breath, hoook, then raised one corner of his mouth and smiled.

“…Do you have a dream of living on a high floor? If you do, throw it away from now on.”

Below the two of them, the sound of a siren wailed. Following the ambulance, police cars entered one after another, cutting through the dawn. It was autumn, and it should not be possible, but it felt as if an early dawn was breaking. If not, there was no way the other person would be so clearly visible. As if you were the only one in the world….

❖ ❖ ❖

He was experiencing this situation for the second time. Seon Wisoo not waking from his sleep, and himself just watching over him.

However, the situation was clearly different from back then. Jaekwon does not kill time with something like a 4×4 cube. Doing so does not make time go by any faster, nor does it distract his mind. All he could do was sit by the hospital bed and watch Wisoo endlessly.

“It’s raining.”

Hwang Gujo entered the hospital room, brushing the moisture from his shoulders. Jaekwon, who had been clasping his hands, unfolded them and slowly rubbed his nose and lips against the side of his hand.

“I don’t know why it’s suddenly raining. It’ll probably snow all of a sudden and become winter after this, right?”

“…What about Jung Taegyu?”

“Still tracking him. But he’s been indicted. Child abuse charges were added as well. It was a pain getting a witness.”

“Seon Wisoo’s parents.”

“We found them but….”

Hwang Gujo hesitated for a moment, then after confirming that Wisoo showed no signs of waking, he lowered his voice.

“They were already processed as accidental deaths a long time ago.”

“So they didn’t leave….”

Jaekwon swept his hair back with a troubled expression.

It seemed that Seon Wisoo, who had to bear the full brunt of others’ depression, anger, longing, and unprecedented love, also had to accept all the misfortune that should never have been his share.

“Jung Taegyu, he didn’t flee overseas, did he?”

“A travel ban has been placed on him. Since he’s been indicted. In the first place, his esteemed clients are hell-bent on catching him first to cut their own tails off.”

“That won’t make it as if it never happened.”

“But it will become as if it never happened. At least the fact that those people came to see Mr. Wisoo.”

The eye of the storm in this whole situation, Seon Wisoo, was asleep with a very peaceful expression. It was just as they say, that the eye of a typhoon is the calmest.

Kwak Jaekyung was currently on another floor of this hospital. His wrists were in handcuffs. This was because a blood test came back with an undeniable positive drug reaction, and he was indicted for embezzlement of public funds.

The sudden shock of Kwak Jaekyung, who had been healthy except for a record of habitual drug use, was concluded to be the result of combining drugs and alcohol, thanks to the blood test. Kwak Jaekyung’s parents kept calling Kwak Jaekwon, but he was consistently ignoring them.

The call history on his own phone was processed as Kwak Jaekyung having asked for help. Coincidentally, that was not entirely wrong. Thanks to Kwak Jaekwon going there right away, Kwak Jaekyung’s life had been saved.

In this incident, the cause and effect were organically connected and everything was perfect, without any flaws in terms of science, reason, and logic, so there was no room for what the public would see as nonsense, like the voice of the deceased Sooyeon or a possessed person, to enter the picture. It was a good thing.

“Drink something. Eat something, too. You’re going to collapse.”

Hwang Gujo pulled up a chair and sat next to Jaekwon, unwrapping a protein bar and handing it to him. Jaekwon reluctantly chewed on it as if it were fodder.

“He’s thin.”

“They said it’s malnutrition.”

“Again?”

“I know. Again.”

Jaekwon answered without taking his eyes off Wisoo.

Again. This happened to Wisoo again. The image of Wisoo from the video was still playing in Jaekwon’s mind.

He had overcome the risk of a miscarriage, but they said he needed to lie down and rest for a long time. In the case of male omegas, it is common for implantation to be unstable, as is often the case, but in Wisoo’s case, the implantation was unusually strong and had settled in well. They said it was close to a miracle, especially given the instability of Wisoo’s pheromone organs.

It is a miracle.

Jaekwon quietly nodded his head.

Isn’t it something that happened after untying what had been tied up? Since they say the probability of that happening has become extremely low recently, it was definitely a miracle.

However, if that thing were to put Wisoo in danger, Jaekwon could not guarantee that he would still be able to consider it a miracle then.

To him, the fetus was still just that kind of existence. If he had heard about it differently, he might have been more purely happy, but in a situation like this, it was complicated. If he had to rank priorities, it would barely make it into the top 10. The first priority was, of course, Seon Wisoo, and after that, up to the fifth priority, were things like Seon Wisoo’s stability, waking up, and happiness, in that order. After that came Jung Taegyu’s arrest, and the realization of justice. Something like that.

The realization of justice.

Jaekwon smiled bitterly.

“Kwak Bonyoung shouldn’t have died like that.”

“I agree.”

“I should have come to visit sooner. Even on Parents’ Day or something.”

“Coming for revenge on Parents’ Day… that sounds like the plot of some B-grade horror movie.”

“What is this we’re filming now if not a B-grade horror movie.”

Hwang Gujo, who was peeling an apple after the protein bar, looked into the air and said, “Hmm.” Then, peeling the apple with a crisp sound again, he answered.

“I was thinking something like ‘The Notebook’.”

Jaekwon turned to look at Hwang Gujo with an expression of disgust.

Hwang Gujo, with a build that would have been more than suitable for an American football center back and a face that looked like it belonged at the forefront of the NYPD, was, uncharacteristically, a huge fan of romance movies. ‘The Notebook’ was the movie Hwang Gujo considered the film of his life and cried at every time he watched it, which, from Jaekwon’s perspective, was nothing more or less than a movie that induced a truly unsightly scene.

“Don’t say such jinxing things.”

Jaekwon grumbled and stuffed the rest of the protein bar into his mouth. With his mouth full, he muttered, ‘Just you dare wake up with amnesia. I’ll beat you up.’

“Losing his memory again would be the worst.”

“Same for me.”

Hwang Gujo had heard almost the entire story of the two while by Jaekwon’s side. He was surprised that the two had already met in the past. And for the first time in a long time, he had cursed at Jaekwon in informal language.

‘When he said that, Wisoo was four years old? No, he might have been three. What would he have known when he said that. And you fell for what Jung Taegyu said? You, of all people?’

Even with ten mouths, he would have had nothing to say.

Jung Taegyu truly was a born swindler. It was amazing how well he could exploit people’s vulnerabilities; he was clearly a born son of a bitch. A vile and cowardly bastard.

“Ha….”

Hwang Gujo sighed as he held out the plate of fruit slices.

“Thinking about it again… the age gap between you two is making me feel troubled.”

“……”

This was another reason why even ten mouths would not be enough.

Mulling over the words ‘three years old, four years old’, Jaekwon had even woken up with a start at dawn. At that time, he was eighteen, so the reality check that hit him was different and more intense than the one between twenty-two and thirty-five.

“You have to treat him really well when he wakes up. Be really good to Wisoo. Don’t even get angry.”

“Seon Wisoo.”

Jaekwon pushed the apple away, opened a plastic bottle, and gulped down water as he muttered.

“Huh?”

“I said, call him Seon Wisoo. Not Wisoo. Mr. Seon Wisoo would be even better.”

Hwang Gujo was at a loss for words at Kwak Jaekwon’s indescribably childish jealousy, spoken without a single change in his expression.

Soon, Hwang Gujo covered his face and let out a sigh, “Oh my god.”

“I really hope Wisoo, no, Mr. Seon Wisoo, wakes up soon. I can’t handle you.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for, too.”

It is because of accumulated fatigue, he must have been under severe stress too. It is better for the patient himself to recover his depleted stamina and body and then wake up. No matter how many times he heard the explanation until his ears bled, he could not help but feel anxious.

However, if he was going to sleep anyway, he hoped he would not have a single dream. And he wanted to catch Jung Taegyu while Wisoo was sleeping sweetly. Because he hoped that in the new world the awakened Seon Wisoo would meet, there would be no Hyaegwang and no Jung Taegyu.

❖ ❖ ❖

Wisoo was standing in that yard again.

The reason he could be sure it was again was because it was a memory he could never forget. However, his position was different from before.

He was in the position of a bystander on the side. In front of him stood a woman and a man. Both of them looked familiar. Especially the man.

However, the man Wisoo knew was entering his old age, but his current appearance looked difficult to age. His appearance kept changing, as if the frame was split. He looked like he was in his 20s one moment, then in his 60s or 70s the next. But what was certain was that his facial features were those of Kwak Bonyoung.

Jaekwon’s mother was shouting at him. It was exactly the same scream she had shouted towards him. That you ruined me and Jaekwon.

‘Ah. It wasn’t me….’

Wisoo watched the scene as if it were a muted screen. It did not disappear even when he slowly blinked his eyes. Despite the misunderstanding being cleared up, Wisoo was stoic. He was neither happy nor sad. It felt as if all his emotions had drained out from under his feet.

Time flowed endlessly. Only then did Wisoo realize that this situation was repeating itself over and over, like a song set on a single-track repeat.

His legs ached. He slowly squatted down. He remembered his fighting parents, whom he had forgotten for a long time. His parents also fought frequently, and the reason was always because of him. And yet, even at the very end, because of me….

Tears dripped onto his cheek, which was resting on his hugged knees, and then they shot upwards, not downwards. There was no expression on his face, but tears quietly welled up.

The scenery soon overlapped into two. One was Kwak Jaekwon’s parents, and the other was his own parents. Wisoo glared at the thin sliver of orange light coming through the gap in the hospital room door, then closed his eyes again. At some point, he had become a five-year-old child.

I wish time would stop here. The teacher doesn’t come in, and my parents don’t leave. It’s okay if I never get discharged from the hospital….

But Wisoo knows what comes next. The surroundings will grow quiet, and the door will open. Then the teacher will come in. Wisoo squeezed his eyes shut. It is not like the monster under the bed will disappear if I do that.

He heard the sound of the door opening. Wisoo pulled the blanket over himself more tightly. The teacher is good at finding gaps, so he will push his hand inside here. As he trembled, pressing down on the blanket with his small, fern-like hands, his body was suddenly lifted, blanket and all, contrary to Wisoo’s thoughts.

‘Huh…?’

Still wrapped up in the blanket, Wisoo was bewildered.

‘Huh? This isn’t right….’

‘What isn’t?’

What he heard then was a voice that was just a little bit younger than he remembered. But still rich and deep….

Wisoo flailed, trying to pull off the blanket. But his clumsy young hands only managed to tangle the blanket covering his body.

A large hand rescued Wisoo. When the thin blanket was pulled down, what Wisoo saw was a face that was familiar but definitely younger than he remembered, no, it was truly the appearance that only existed in his memory.

Unstyled hair, a school uniform with a navy collar and a white body, the name Kwak Jaekwon on the name tag….

‘Mr. Kwak Jaekwon….’

Wisoo muttered.

Kwak Jaekwon was walking along a thin orange path. Except for the path that seemed to be made of that light, only pitch-black darkness dripped around them.

‘I promised, didn’t I.’

Jaekwon said, stepping forward without hesitation.

‘That I would come find you without forgetting.’

Wisoo looked down at his own hand. It was very small and soft. The nearly 17 years of time did not exist between the two of them. There was only the moment of their first meeting.

‘Did I also tell you that I don’t lie?’

And the face that turned to look at him and smiled was again the face Wisoo remembered.

It felt like a dream, so he touched that cheek. Jaekwon turned his head and lightly pressed his lips to his palm. That hand was not the hand of a five-year-old child from a moment ago, but the hand of a twenty-two-year-old.

‘I got back what I left with you.’

‘You got it back…?’

Wisoo muttered blankly. A dressing gauze was attached to the forehead of Jaekwon, who was now turned completely towards him.

‘But if you take it back again, you’ll be scared again….’

‘If I’m scared, I can just sleep with Mr. Seon Wisoo.’

Before long, the width of the orange path they were treading on was widening.

‘Don’t tell me you won’t sleep with me?’

No way.

Wisoo shook his head blankly before he could even think.

That headshake grew more and more vigorous.

Jaekwon asked, just as Wisoo had asked him playfully.

‘Can I sleep with Mr. Seon Wisoo?’

A flimsy paper cup telephone was in Wisoo’s hand. He was holding one end, but the other end was at the end of that path, beyond the door. Wisoo, as if possessed, brought the paper cup to his lips. After a moment of hesitation, he answered.

‘Let’s sleep together….’

In that moment, the world became bright.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Oh, don’t open your eyes. Just a moment.”

The first thing he heard was an urgent voice.

“Just a sec, just a sec…. Okay. There.”

With the words “there,” he lifted his heavy eyelids. Still, he could not see anything. There was only a hazy darkness.

“I, I can’t see anything.”

“Yeah. It’s because I covered them. I was afraid you’d hurt your eyes since you’re opening them for the first time in a while.”

“Really, really? I’m not hurt…?”

“I told you, I don’t lie.”

Wisoo’s hand, which had been fumbling over his eyes, stopped.

Only then did he realize he was holding a hand that was thick like a vine. And whose hand this was.

He remembered Jaekwon’s hand letting go of his. Unconsciously, the strength drained from his hand, and he almost let go. It was Jaekwon who caught it as it slid down. He caught it and placed it back on top of his own hand.

“Wait just a little longer.”

“……”

“I want to see Mr. Seon Wisoo’s eyes too, but I’m holding back.”

“You… were angry at me.”

“When did I ever say I was angry?”

“You… let go of my hand and….”

Wisoo’s lips trembled and then changed into the shape of someone about to cry.

“I really, really didn’t say it thinking it would turn out that way. I, I didn’t even say it like that. But, still, because what I saw was right….”

“Mr. Seon Wisoo.”

Jaekwon, watching his breathing and heart rate quicken, pressed down gently on Wisoo’s chest. Not painfully, but in a way that would bring a sense of relief.

“You are not the one who ruined me. Mr. Seon Wisoo, you’re not that amazing of a person, are you?”

Jaekwon said, deliberately teasing.