Mother Tape Chapter 6.1

The workers began the job right away without saying much.

“Those people really have nothing to do with this. I do trust the Teacher, but still, they are closer to ordinary followers.”

“Lay believers….”

Wisoo was horrified by that expression. The Teacher was someone who had boasted that even if he could not be the savior who saves the world, he would at least save a select few. Now, it seemed he was even using the term lay believers. Wisoo had grasped a clue as to what the Teacher wanted to do from the myriad of books he had read since coming here.

It seemed the Teacher wanted to create an organization built on some kind of powerful faith and place himself at its center. And in the books Wisoo had seen, such attempts usually ended badly.

‘If it does turn out that way….’

Wisoo mumbled a wish inwardly that he should never say out loud.

But if that was the case, then what in the world was Kwak Jaekwon’s relationship to all of this?

As Wisoo watched with eyes full of suspicion, Kwak Jaekyeong, who had presumptuously sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs.

“Come and sit.”

The way he tilted his head and draped his arm over the back of the sofa looked similar to Jaekwon. However, the feeling it gave off was completely different. It was simply unpleasant.

Wisoo, unaware that Kwak Jaekyeong was in fact imitating what Jaekwon did, sat down in front of him. He wanted to keep as much distance as possible.

“Are you just a worker too, or are you a follower of the Teacher?”

“So you’re using informal language with me? You seem to have a bit of a temper, unlike how you look.”

“You’re using informal language too.”

Kwak Jaekyeong burst into loud laughter.

“Well, of course I am, since I’m over ten years older than you.”

“But Kwak Jaekwon-ssi….”

“Kwak Jaekwon uses honorifics with you. That’s just how he is. He draws a clear line with people and doesn’t erase it easily.”

“……”

“Aren’t you jealous? That Kwak Jaekwon uses informal language with me.”

He could not say no.

However, he himself had heard Jaekwon speak to him casually before. He just did not carelessly boast about such an occasion. It was a situation that the Teacher must not find out about.

“Why did you come here? I didn’t call you. Kwak Jaekwon-ssi didn’t call you either. Go.”

“I’m the one who came to see if this house is being renovated properly. No matter how much of the property is tied up with you, that’s only until the lease to our side is over, not after, right?”

Then, remarking how this place did not even offer a guest a drink, Kwak Jaekyeong headed to the kitchen on his own.

Kwak Jaekyeong was invading the space where Wisoo had eaten with Jaekwon, where he had watched Jaekwon do the dishes, listening to the sound of the water like the sound of rain. After making coffee as he pleased, he returned, stirring his cup with the instant coffee mix wrapper. The sweet smell of coffee spread.

“You’re an outsider, and Kwak Jaekwon and I are connected by blood. I came here to tell you to know your place. If you realize the reality of it later and get your heart broken, I’ll be upset too.”

Kwak Jaekyeong grinned.

“You are the Teacher’s taenghwa.”

Wisoo’s head shot up. The look in his eyes as he stared at Kwak Jaekyeong wavered violently. Only then was Jaekyeong satisfied. Being agitated, hurt, and afraid was a more fitting look for him. Confirming it in person was even more thrilling. All Kwak Jaekyeong had seen of Seon Wisoo was through recorded footage.

“Do you know why holy objects [聖物] were made and why they started painting beings to be believed in as increasingly realistic and beautiful works of art? It was to persuade those who do not believe unless they see with their own eyes. Behold, here is what you are to believe in.”

Kwak Jaekyeong spread his arms in a theatrical manner and made a solemn sound. However, Wisoo did not smile in the slightest. It was not funny at all.

“You are the being who shows that the dead exist and that by following the Teacher, one can meet again the beings they loved, regretted, and longed for. That’s why people call you a taenghwa. You knew that, didn’t you?”

Wisoo gripped his thighs. Jaekwon’s pants crumpled in his hand.

“…Listening to you, you’re not on Kwak Jaekwon-ssi’s side either. You’re on the Teacher’s side, aren’t you? Be clear.”

“Seon Wisoo-ssi. What nonsense are you talking about.”

Kwak Jaekyeong scoffed.

“There’s no such thing as Kwak Jaekwon’s side. He’s alone. That bastard was born alone and that’s what suits him.”

No. Jaekwon is not that lonely of a person, nor is he someone for whom being lonely is natural. Wisoo stubbornly denied it, even if he was just judging on his own. He knew full well how comfortable Kwak Jaekwon looked when he was with Hwang Gujo, how he would sometimes play mischievous pranks. Now he even played such pranks on him….

“And anyway, what belongs to Kwak Jaekwon belongs to the Teacher.”

Kwak Jaekyeong had been hungry for a long time, coveting the scraps that he was not even sure would fall to him.

At first, he worked as a liaison between his grand-uncle, Kwak Bonyoung, and the man called the Teacher. That was when he had just established his company, and things were difficult. It seemed like all he needed was money, but for him, who belonged to a collateral branch of the family, the spout of the money faucet was rather small. So he laundered the money from his grand-uncle that was going to the Teacher.

That was how he came to know the Teacher.

It was a stroke of heavenly luck. No matter how you looked at him, he was nothing more than a master con artist. However, such flashy, plausible things that gave justification to loneliness and suffering were always welcome beings in this bottomless pit called the entertainment industry. Kwak Jaekyeong expanded his connections through the Teacher and soon became deeply involved in Hyegwang.

And he came to know about the affairs between Kwak Bonyoung, Kwak Bonyoung’s wife, Kwak Jaekwon, and Seon Wisoo. The entire current situation was just barely packaged plausibly with a thin, old ribbon; in truth, it was like a box that was about to fall apart. If that happened, who would end up swallowing what belonged to Kwak Jaekwon?

“The Teacher.”

Kwak Jaekyeong began, tapping his cup.

“Was wondering how you were doing.”

He had been doing well. He had been doing so very well. To the point where he never wanted to go back.

But that was definitely not the answer he was looking for.

Kwak Jaekyeong burst into laughter as he looked at Wisoo, who, despite choosing silence, was oozing defiance rather than obedience.

“Jaekwon is treating you well, isn’t he?”

In truth, even Kwak Jaekyeong could not say he knew Kwak Jaekwon well. But he would surely know him better than Seon Wisoo, who had known him for barely a month. The noise would start as they began to break the tiles, so he had to end the conversation quickly. Kwak Jaekyeong hated loud noises.

Tilting his head at the workers who were glancing his way, Kwak Jaekyeong rose from his seat.

“He told me to tell you to take your medicine well. The Teacher is always worried about you. Our Wisoo, raised so preciously, he’s on pins and needles that some bastard of unknown pedigree might lure you away, and yet you….”

Kwak Jaekyeong reached out his hand. Wisoo felt a cold shiver run down his spine even before the fingers touched his neck, and he slapped the hand away. At that, Kwak Jaekyeong tapped his own neck.

“You’re covered in marks like that. The Teacher will be disappointed.”

Horrified, Wisoo pulled at his clothes to cover himself. But it was already too late.

“You were eating sweets last time, too. Breaking so many rules. It seems like your world has come, but it’s only for three years at most. But now even that’s out of the question.”

“What does that mean—!”

Wisoo shot up from his seat. Kwak Jaekyeong was getting ready as if to leave. He stuck his hands in his pockets, stretched his body, and smiled with utter confidence.

“What parent would just leave a child who runs off and lives however they want.”

“The Teacher is not my parent.”

“Then where are your parents.”

“……”

He could not give any reply to that. Wisoo pressed his lips together firmly.

Kwak Jaekyeong became cheerful. He had seen Seon Wisoo, time and again, suffer from the aftereffects after embodying and connecting people with whatever dead spirit they desired, regardless of age or gender. To others, it might be a miraculous video, but to him, it was more stimulating than most pornography.

But seeing him in person, the Seon Wisoo who cried and begged in the videos was a fake. From now on, nothing would satisfy him more than this.

“You don’t want me to tell the Teacher?”

“…Yes.”

So honest. But honesty was a strength that would only work in textbooks or in a soft-hearted world, not in their world.

“Then want to suck mine?”

Kwak Jaekyeong asked in a tone like he was offering ice cream.

Wisoo doubted his own ears. The gaze that shot up to him was wavering so much it was pitiful.

“Right here, in front of those men.”

Kwak Jaekyeong pointed to his own crotch with his index finger.

“Mine’s not bad, you know. Ah, if you’re uncomfortable, should I go wash up?”

“……”

“Then I’ll just report it as, ‘I think he ate some sweets.’ I won’t mention you’ve been fooling around with some bastard.”

“…That bastard is your cousin.”

“Yep. That’s why I’m acting like a bastard too. Actually, I’ve known about you for a long time. After you bestow love, your body temperature drops severely, you get muscle spasms, and you have a sudden emotional crash and you cry. It was a good sight. You don’t know how many times I got off to that.”

Wisoo’s eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Even in the midst of it all, he felt a sense of relief that Jaekwon was not here.

“What will you do. Should I go wash up?”

But at the same time, he could not do that one thing.

He did not care if the Teacher found out. Inwardly, it was even cathartic. Look how I disobeyed you. How are you going to use this body that I’ve defiled, the one you told me to keep clean? He was at the point of wanting to talk back. As long as Kwak Jaekwon did not know. As long as Kwak Jaekwon did not get involved in this. As long as not even a single drop of filth from that puddle splattered on him, and he remained the cleanest spring in my world as I know it.

Wisoo sneered through his tears.

“You’re worse than a dog. How dare you compare yourself to a dog?”

Kwak Jaekyeong let out a deep sigh. He waved away the workers who were stealthily approaching.

“Fine…. There’s another option.”

As if bestowing a favor, Kwak Jaekyeong raised his index finger and twirled it in the air.

“There’s a project I’m starting, and I need investment. Kwak Jaekwon’s personal funds won’t do. The rumor has to spread that Kwak Bonyoung invested. What do you say, can you persuade him?”

In short, it meant that he had to make Kwak Jaekwon spend the money.

He already felt sorry that the fortune that should rightfully belong to Jaekwon was tied up because of him, and now he was being told to make him use it ultimately for his own—Kwak Jaekyeong’s—sake. He, too, had a sense of self-respect and a sense of shame.

Watching his pale face as he clasped his hands tightly together, Kwak Jaekyeong whistled.

“It’s either suck mine or suck Kwak Jaekwon’s, I guess, in the end.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

Wisoo was used to and desensitized to insults directed at himself. Just looking at his relationship with Kwak Jaekwon in the beginning proved that. But it was hard for him to listen to insults directed at Jaekwon. Because Kwak Jaekwon was the only clean zone in his life, which in its very existence was filled with filth.

“Kwak Jaekwon-ssi is… Kwak Jaekwon is someone no one can treat carelessly. He’s not like us, someone who falls for ridiculous nonsense.”

Kwak Jaekyeong had no desire to listen to praise for Jaekwon. “Hmph,” he grunted and turned his body.

“Call me when you feel like sucking it. You know my number, right?”

“……”

“I’m giving you a grace period because you’re prettier than I imagined and more defiant than I expected, Seon Wisoo-ssi.”

As he headed for the entrance, Kwak Jaekyeong scoffed as if he had suddenly remembered something. And leaving the middle door open, he shouted as he put on his shoes with a shoehorn.

“But what was that about Kwak Jaekwon? That he doesn’t believe in anything?”

Kwak Jaekyeong burst out laughing, “Wahahaha.”

“When we were young, no one in our family had as many nightmares as that bastard did. You think my grand-uncle disliked that punk for no reason? I even heard him say it outright, ‘There’s no way such a weak-willed punk is my bloodline!’”

Wisoo threw the cup. The one Kwak Jaekyeong had used to drink his coffee. It shattered as it hit the handle of the middle door. At the loud crash, the workers who had just connected their tools and were about to start working whipped their heads around.

Kwak Jaekyeong left, and Wisoo seethed, trying to calm his anger. The rage simply would not subside. Seeing the workers staring at him, he was about to shout at them to get out immediately too, but the gazes fixed on him were frightening.

“I, I….”

The momentum was already gone. The workers began the task of breaking the tiles. An enormous noise erupted, and Wisoo, gathering up his belongings that were strewn about the living room as if sweeping them up, ran upstairs.

Even with the door closed, the noise shook the building and pounded in Wisoo’s eardrums and head. Despite the heat, he closed the windows tightly and pulled the blanket over his head.

“It’s loud. It’s so loud….”

Among the things he was hugging, a crayon stained Wisoo’s clothes without him noticing. No, it was Jaekwon’s clothes.

Realizing this, Wisoo took off the clothes, rolled them up, and hugged them. As if that was not enough, he put the t-shirt on a pillow. Then he hugged it as if it were Jaekwon himself.

How long had he been like that? The phone rang. Wisoo flinched. Until now, the only person who had ever made his phone ring was Kwak Jaekyeong.

When he checked the screen with a trembling hand, ah, there it was….

“Kwak Jaekwon….”

Wisoo called his name in a tearful voice.

“When are you coming…?”

Jaekwon was about to chide him, asking, ‘Did you just call my name?’ but was at a loss for words.

—When are you coming…?

Thinking he had not heard him, the voice asked again, and Jaekwon’s expression turned cold.

“Why? Do I have to go? We just got here,” Hwang Gujo asked, but there was no time to answer. Jaekwon was moving before he could even think. He grabbed his car keys and headed for the parking lot.

—I miss you….

Was he talking in his sleep, or was this nonsense?

Jaekwon clearly remembered the nights when Seon Wisoo was ‘Seon Wisoo.’ Had he, like those times when he was clearly not in his right mind, become not Seon Wisoo but a strange ‘Seon Wisoo’ that he did not know?

“Seon Wisoo.”

Jaekwon called his name clearly. He dropped the honorifics, just like during their play. But this was not a game.

“Keep your head on straight and wait with the door locked tight until I get there. Don’t you dare go anywhere.”

Before he knew it, Jaekwon was running.

“Because I won’t tie you up, I won’t call you Seon Wisoo, and I won’t sleep with you.”

It was not play. It was not a game either, but for a threat, it was quite adorable and cute.

However, its weight was enormous. For both Jaekwon and Wisoo.

Wisoo nodded, knowing Jaekwon could not see him, and Jaekwon, without seeing Wisoo, knew that he had nodded.

Screech, with the sound of tires screeching, Jaekwon left the hotel.

Almost at the same moment the car stopped, Jaekwon jumped out.

The house was enveloped in a noise so loud it could be heard from outside. It was the sound of breaking and dismantling.

As soon as he opened the door and entered, the workers turned, having sensed his presence even amidst the noise. Jaekwon shouted, whether they could hear him or not.

“You should have called before you came!”

Even as he spoke, his body was heading toward the second floor.

As he reached the second floor, he saw a firmly closed door. He did not need to search; that was the one.

In the room, on the bed, there was a lump curled into a ball. Although it was so hot outside, and the room should have been even hotter, the air was strangely settled and cool. Jaekwon did not know that this was because the dead things had gathered together, drinking in the warmth and swallowing the bright moods and feelings of happiness just as people breathe in oxygen.

Even if he had known, would he have believed it?

“Kwak Jaekwon-ssi….”

Did he really leave, not knowing that Seon Wisoo, left alone, would become unstable?

“What… what happened?”

Despite having rushed over, Jaekwon asked calmly.

Something had definitely happened before the construction started. But Wisoo could not say a single word about it. If he said that Kwak Jaekyeong had told him to suck him off, would Jaekwon take care of him before everything blew up? Would he stop Kwak Jaekyeong before he went to the Teacher?

He was skeptical. The reason Kwak Jaekyeong could be so triumphant was clearly because he had spent more time with Jaekwon and shared his blood. As such, if he were to place himself and Kwak Jaekyeong on Jaekwon’s scales, it was obvious which way they would tip.

Besides, he could not ask Kwak Jaekwon to harm his own family. He did not want to be disappointed, nor did he want to dirty his hands.

“It’s nothing.”

Wisoo simply stretched out his arms. Jaekwon, without realizing it, bent his back to match that height. The arms around his neck were slightly damp, as if from a little sweat. But it was not unpleasant.

“I was just scared.”

The emotion of fear was something Wisoo had experienced the most and most frequently since he was born, so he could gloss over most of the difficult-to-explain things he felt this way. It was not entirely untrue, either.

“I’m sorry for being childish.”

Belatedly, Wisoo apologized.

“I’m sorry for scaring you, for making you rush over.”

Jaekwon felt a sense of futility, as if the secret behind his calmly asked question had been completely exposed. It seemed he had been putting on a brave face in front of a kid who was a full twelve-year cycle plus two years younger than him.

“You’re right. I think you especially need to apologize to Hwang Gujo. I ditched him and came here.”

“What does Hwang Gujo-ssi like? I heard it helps to buy what the person likes when you apologize.”

“Should we buy something sweet?”

It was so anticlimactic it was as if nothing had happened. Now that he had regained his senses, he felt his own actions were ridiculous. And yet, he was not angry. Jaekwon hugged Wisoo back and lifted him off the bed.

“Because I, Hwang Gujo, and Seon Wisoo-ssi all like sweet things.”

“The friends’ gathering….”

“Looks like we’ll have to do it a bit early. Let’s go and apologize, and you should tell me you’re sorry, too.”

“Since I did something wrong, do you want to spank my butt?”

Wisoo asked cheekily.

Jaekwon noticed that just as he had put on a brave face in front of a child, Seon Wisoo was now putting on a brave face in front of an adult older than himself.

“Forget it. I can see that for Seon Wisoo-ssi, that’s not a punishment, it’s a reward.”

He was as drained as he had been startled. Jaekwon plopped down on the bed. Only then did he understand why the blanket was still in a round shape even after Seon Wisoo had gotten out. There was a pillow inside.

Jaekwon’s expression turned puzzled as he pulled it out.

“This is….”

It was his own t-shirt, a mess of multi-colored crayon marks.

“Ah….”

Wisoo showed a look of dismay.

Was it just the t-shirt? The crayon was smeared on the sheets too. A truly childish mistake. He barely had an elementary school diploma; it seemed he had stopped growing right there.

Jaekwon, seeing the mess he had made, a mess he had soiled, stripped it all off in one swift motion.

“Did you see something strange again?”

Wisoo, in that moment, felt fortunate that to him, he was just a strange being who sees strange things.

“Yes. This time it was incredibly scary.”

“Really? I’m curious what it looked like.”

At that moment, Wisoo inadvertently looked beyond the bedroom door.

The noise that made his head ring. The walls that vibrated ever so slightly. And beyond the threshold of the room, those things that had been in this space with him until Jaekwon arrived.

Among them, the one that was the most terrifying, despite having all its limbs intact, was decidedly one thing.

“Kwak Jaekwon-ssi’s father….”

“Hmm?”

“It looked like Kwak Bonyoung-ssi. That’s the scariest thing in this house.”

In that instant, Jaekwon’s memory returned to the villa where he had spent every summer during his childhood. The place was papered with dark, forest-like green wallpaper, and curtains were drawn over the windows. Half of the walls were covered with wainscoting made of wood the same color as the stairs and stair railings, and on the diagonal line above the ascending staircase hung a huge family portrait, as if they were some historically distinguished family.

He had forgotten it for so long. How could he have forgotten for so long? So completely, without a trace. He, too, had been most scared of his father in the photograph every time he climbed those stairs. So the scariest being in his world at that time was….

‘Don’t be scared.’

Jaekwon, who had been momentarily lost in the past, flinched. The haziness that had settled in his eyes cleared. Seon Wisoo was looking at him. It seemed Seon Wisoo had said something like that.

Thinking back carefully, he had definitely spoken that way when he had inflicted unjust violence on him. It was natural, but it seemed the events of that day had left quite an impression. Jaekwon, clicking his tongue, thought he should soothe the renewed sense of apology by gifting him something delicious.

“Let’s go. I want to look at some delicious desserts and some wine.”

Pushing the colorful sheets and t-shirt into a corner of the room, Jaekwon wrapped his arm around Wisoo’s shoulder. As he did so, leading him away, the gloomy villa of his childhood and the family portrait that looked like a post-mortem photograph popular in the Victorian era were cleanly erased from his mind. As if someone had erased them.

❖ ❖ ❖

The noise must have truly been noise, as the farther they got from the house, the more he felt his ears were muffled. Jaekwon could have dismissed Wisoo’s unusual daze today as being for that reason. But, the more he thought about it, Seon Wisoo was not someone who would fall into such a panic over something so minor.

Jaekwon, resting his elbow on the window frame, pushed at his lips with his thumb knuckle and chewed on it restlessly.

“Seon Wisoo-ssi.”

Jaekwon finally broke the silence.

Wisoo, who had something to hide, flinched. He quietly picked up speed on the way to the hotel where Hwang Gujo was staying.

“Did someone come to the house? Besides the construction workers.”

“……”

“Then I’ll ask differently this time.”

Jaekwon tapped the steering wheel, tap, tap.

“Is the reason you don’t honestly tell me what’s wrong every time you get like this because of me?”

This time, there was a reaction from Wisoo. Feeling the gaze turn towards him, Jaekwon asked again.

“Because you don’t want me to get involved, or you’re afraid I’ll be in danger if I do get involved?”

Wisoo’s gaze wavered.

It seemed that, deep down, he had been hoping he would ask like this. He did not want to lie to Kwak Jaekwon, and doing so was difficult. So, he would rather Jaekwon at least knew the reason why he was not talking. Even bringing that up first was difficult, so when he was asked, Wisoo became endlessly weak.

He nodded his head with teary eyes. Several times.

“Alright.”

However, Jaekwon replied with the same sharp atmosphere he had when he asked. Even though it was a leisurely suburban road, the increasing speed of the car was frightening.

“Then that’s settled.”

“Kwak Jaekwon-ssi.”

“I’ve understood enough that the person called the Teacher and that organization are dangerous enough to make Seon Wisoo-ssi unable to even open his mouth carelessly, and that the people who came to the house today and scared Seon Wisoo-ssi were from their side.”

Wisoo’s tear-filled eyes widened in shock.

“I told you. There’s no need for Seon Wisoo-ssi to tell me.”

Jaekwon did not feel sorry for Wisoo. At this point, it was such an obvious question that it was embarrassing to even call it a leading interrogation.

Considering it fortunate that there was no traffic, Jaekwon hurried to where Hwang Gujo was. It seemed there would be a lot he needed to hear.

Even in his hurry to get there, Jaekwon stopped at a dessert cafe. He had a somewhat special talent, which was that he could pick out a high-quality place even if he just chose one at random.

Even while looking at the adorable dessert boxes held generously in Jaekwon’s hands, Wisoo’s heart was not at ease. It felt like a last supper, as if he would be told to get high on sugar and confess everything.

It was nothing new, since he had already heard all about what he had been doing, even if he did not believe it. But if he were to be asked about the Teacher, even if he were to snap that it was already too late, he had nothing to say. Despite having spent so much time together, Wisoo knew almost nothing about the Teacher.

With Wisoo lost in gloomy thoughts beside him, Jaekwon was also lost in thought. Even so, the car steadily arrived at its destination.

“Hwang Gujo. I’m coming up to the room.”

Jaekwon said only what he needed to and ended the call. Since his hands were full with dessert boxes, Wisoo was holding his phone to his cheek for him. He would not allow him to hold the boxes himself. Wisoo, holding the phone that had turned into a black, dead screen, blankly looked at Jaekwon’s side profile.

“Put it in my pocket.”

Without looking his way, Jaekwon leaned his body toward Wisoo.

It was confusing whether he was joking because his mood had improved. Still, Wisoo liked it when Jaekwon came close, so he quickly moved closer and did as he was told.

The elevator arrived and ascended to the sky. Wisoo let out a sigh of relief as he faintly heard the sound of a dog barking. If only Kwak Jaekyeong had not come, the noise of the tiles being broken would have felt like white noise to Wisoo, masking the shrieks of the dead.

“Hwang Gujo.”

Jaekwon knocked on the door with the tip of his foot. When the door swung open from the inside, what appeared was Hwang Gujo in a bathrobe. His hair was wet as if he had just showered.

“Fuck, what are you doing?”

Jaekwon snapped with a sudden burst of irritation at the sight of him greeting him as if they were having an affair. Hwang Gujo replied sheepishly.

“My body was feeling stiff so I was working out a bit….”

“This is annoying. Hurry up and get dressed.”

“It’s not like I wanted to show you this side of me either, you know? How impatient can you be. I rushed over because you told me not to cause trouble, and yet you’re still being a pain. You know this is an abuse of power, right?”

Hwang Gujo grumbled. In this moment, the two were certainly just close friends.

While Hwang Gujo dried his hair and changed his clothes, Jaekwon placed the desserts on the table. Chewy terrine, soft Victoria cake, yellow cheese crumble bars…. He brewed strong coffee with the machine provided in the hotel.

“Wow. What is all this?”

Having changed his clothes, he returned to his usual Hwang Gujo way of speaking. Jaekwon pulled Wisoo, who looked dejected as if he had been called to the teacher’s office, to his side to make a seat. To be precise, he pulled the chair Wisoo was sitting on.

Even though it was an adult male sitting there, he was instantly brought next to Jaekwon. Wisoo was surprised, and in the gap when his lips slightly parted in surprise, a small forkful of the relatively less sweet Victoria cake popped into his mouth.

“Chew it well.”

“……”

Kwak Jaekwon… even though he must have been angry, even though he must have been in a bad mood, he was kind to him. In that sense, he was hard to figure out. If the Teacher was always hard to figure out because he was scolding him, Jaekwon simply made him want to live forever wondering about him in this soft, sweet confusion.

Forever.

Wisoo chewed the raspberry jam between the layers of the Victoria cake like that very word. The raspberry seeds crunched. He was crushing them diligently, bewildered that he had dared to think of something like forever.

“It’s delicious. My head is finally working now that I’ve had something sweet.”

Hwang Gujo clapped his hands lightly. Then he glanced at Jaekwon and gestured with his eyes.

“Should we talk here?”

It meant that if not, Wisoo should step aside.

Jaekwon tapped his plate with a fork, not loudly enough to be noisy. Then he tilted his head.

“Do it here.”

Hwang Gujo, while sending a look that asked if he was really okay with it, turned on the tablet.

Originally, Jaekwon moved through data rather than instinct. He did not have anything like an eidetic memory. His memories were often erased for convenience, probably due to a self-protection mechanism. Such incidents had been rare since he left Korea, but since he could not trust his gut feeling based on his own experience, he would bring in data.

That was Jaekwon’s style. As much as he had worked with monstrous stamina even when sleep-deprived, the accuracy of his results was also quite high. As someone who was well aware of and had adapted to that style, Hwang Gujo found the impulsive and instinctual Jaekwon, only when it came to Wisoo, to be strange and unfamiliar.

“You mustn’t have any regrets.”

“Saying that makes me think I’ll have even fewer regrets.”

Jaekwon pushed the Victoria cake towards Wisoo. Whatever story he heard, this would be his breakwater.

“Then I’ll begin.”

Wisoo, not even knowing what was beginning, became serious along with them, assimilated into the atmosphere.

And at the first words Hwang Gujo uttered….

“Hyegwang Entertainment, but the real entity is the Hyegwang Foundation behind it.”

“Ah….”

“I believe that behind this Hyegwang Foundation, the person called the Teacher is hiding.”

The fork in Wisoo’s hand tilted, about to fall limply, but was saved by Jaekwon’s hand.

Although they clearly knew that Wisoo was agitated, the two men got to the main point. Instead, before proceeding, Jaekwon simply pushed Wisoo’s chair to press it firmly against the table. So that he would not fall backward or forward.

“The agency has a few actors. The most recent contract was signed three years ago. That… Kwak Jaekyeong seems to be the figurehead president.”

Hwang Gujo glanced over stealthily. Wisoo hung his head low. Hwang Gujo had noticed that Wisoo was adept at a certain level of lying as long as he did not show too much agitation. He might fool ordinary people, but to his and Kwak Jaekwon’s eyes, who came from a jungle made of money, he was just naive.

“Hmm.”

“I also took apart their financial statements, and they’re ordinary. The profits are just enough to keep things running without any trouble. But they are too lacking in ambition. Is that even possible? It’s suspicious because it’s too clean.”

Hwang Gujo seemed excited.

“So I thought, this smells fishy, and dug deeper. And then the Hyegwang Foundation behind it emerged. It’s a corporate foundation that advocates for psychological healing.”

Tap. Jaekwon’s hand tapped the table. As if to say, this is it.

“This is where it started to get difficult. The more I dug, the more money came out, but it doesn’t make sense with the stated sources of revenue. Of course, I wonder how many people would go this far to tear it apart and investigate, but….”

That person was right here. Jaekwon and Hwang Gujo smiled quietly. They looked like a well-matched duo of villains. From Hyegwang’s perspective, they would be, and from Seon Wisoo’s own perspective….

‘I’m supposed to be on Hyegwang’s, that is, the Teacher’s side….’

But these two people, who were forcibly prying open the door with a cake between them and snooping into every detail of the household goods, did not seem like bad people at all. There was no way they were.

“First, looking at the foundation’s profit structure, it’s psychological therapy, lectures, and product sales. For products, they sell things like aromatherapy. It’s unremarkable. There’s nothing particularly to find fault with. But just like the agency, they can’t make a big profit with just this. There must be another source….”

“The size of the hole where the profit comes from has to match up.”

Jaekwon, propping his chin, asked. At that, Hwang Gujo, as if he had been waiting, displayed a map and several building photos.

“This is all Jeong Taegyu’s.”

“Jeong Taegyu?”

“I don’t know if it’s his real name, but that’s his current name. Jeong Taegyu, current estimated age sixty-five.”

“What do you mean, estimated.”

“It seems he’s done some document forgery.”

“He laundered his identity? In a country like Korea?”

“What can’t money do. No matter how systematic the public system is. Above the system, there’s always a hierarchy that controls it….”

“That’s enough.”

Jaekwon cut off Hwang Gujo, who was about to ramble on in high tension.

Jaekwon mumbled, “Jeong Taegyu… Jeong Taegyu.” As he did, pretending to be lost in thought, he turned his gaze to look at Wisoo.

Even with the name Jeong Taegyu revealed, he was not agitated. He had been tense and flustered all along, but his reaction was lacking for a jackpot like the Teacher’s name to have come out. Then it was one of two things. Either Jeong Taegyu was not the Teacher, or….

“Do you have a picture?”

“The quality isn’t great.”

Hwang Gujo, giving a warning beforehand, displayed a photo of an elderly man on the screen. A gray-haired, thin man with a strong scholarly air appeared in profile. He was wearing glasses. The quality was disappointing, but if his eye for detail was correct, the eyeglass frames were a bit… unusual. Meaning, if one knew this person well, one would be able to recognize him.

“…Hh.”

Wisoo let out a trembling groan and sharply turned his head away.

Either Jeong Taegyu was not the Teacher, or even Seon Wisoo did not know the Teacher’s name.

It was the moment Jaekwon’s second hypothesis proved correct.

“So, Jeong Taegyu.”

Scrape.

Wisoo attempted to stand up. But Jaekwon grabbed the back of the chair and pushed it back in. Then, facing not Hwang Gujo but Wisoo, he continued.

“What is this person trying to do? And what is the hole where the money comes from eating and spitting out.”

The story about the ‘Teacher’ that Wisoo had told was all based on what Seon Wisoo himself had experienced. To know the reality, he had to find bigger parts and assemble them.

“I think we need to focus on the psychological healing part.”

Hwang Gujo’s voice became noticeably lower.

Every country has its share of damage caused by occult groups. As such, he was cautious about forming a hypothesis this time.

“It’s not an accredited therapy, of course. They themselves say they gather to soothe each other’s wounds, but….”

“You’re saying its form is different from group therapy.”

“Should we send someone in.”

“No. I don’t trust sending someone into a place where people are gathered and going crazy.”

“And it’s hard to generate profit on this scale. It seems more like a bait event.”

“And above all, it doesn’t add up with what Seon Wisoo did.”

Kwak Jaekwon crossed his arms and leaned back deep into his chair. Wisoo could no longer even attempt to stand up. His trembling figure was pitiful to behold. At Jaekwon’s nod, Hwang Gujo, braving the humidity and heat, turned off the air conditioner. At last, it became quiet.

“The meetings are a smokescreen, and the real business is conducted privately. The exchange of goods wouldn’t have been just in the form of money. It could have been watches, it could have been paintings, it could have been both.”

“Bags are also possible.”

“From then on, it seems we’ll have to connect rumors and add some flesh to them.”

Kwak Jaekwon looked at the nape of Wisoo’s neck, where tiny beads of sweat had formed. Had he left a mark there? He could not remember well, but he had not been in his right mind either. Jaekwon imagined gently pressing on Wisoo’s neck from behind.

“What he showed those various madams and chairmen, and what he ‘healed’ them of, to become so famous in this circle.”

“……”

“Meeting the madams and chairmen is a rumor and a fact, and a little bit of seasoning to connect that with Hyegwang’s Jeong Taegyu is that Seon Wisoo-ssi ‘healed’ those people by being that spirit medium or whatever…. I’m thinking of cooking it up like that. What do you think, Seon Wisoo-ssi?”

Wisoo turned to Jaekwon with trembling lips.

“I didn’t know…. about the whole story.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know a person named Jeong Taegyu either…. The person in the photo is the Teacher, he is, but Jeong Taegyu is….”

Jaekwon gestured to Hwang Gujo with his eyes. At that, Hwang Gujo packed up both the tablet and the laptop and went into the room.

Jaekwon and he were left alone in the hotel living room. Wisoo felt as if the room was shrinking, about to crush him until he burst. It was a psychological pressure.

“Stop, can’t you… just know this much and stop?”

“That’s strange. Seon Wisoo-ssi says he doesn’t know the whole context, but he’s stopping me like someone who knows it will be dangerous if I go further.”

“It’s because the Teacher is a scary person…!”

“Do you know the tethered elephant theory? They say that if you tie an elephant to a stake from a young age, it can’t escape from the small stake even when it becomes an adult. To Seon Wisoo-ssi, isn’t that unremarkable middle-aged man called the Teacher something like that? To me, he looks like a stake that’s worse than a toothpick.”

“That’s, not it…. I’m telling you it’s not! You don’t know how scary the Teacher is, how, how cruel he is, Kwak Jaekwon-ssi!”

Wisoo shouted, trembling almost convulsively.

He was having a panic attack. A state close to a panic disorder. This time, Jaekwon let Wisoo jump up from his seat. In his mind was an unremarkable, ordinary man between middle and old age; before his eyes was a beautiful, young man, mired in anxiety, pacing a small living room like a madman. The combination of the two was just fucking disgusting to even list.

“Seon Wisoo-ssi.”

Jaekwon called out to Wisoo, who was pacing all over, tormenting both his lips and his fingernails, to stop him. But when Wisoo did not hear him at once, he called him like this.

“Seon Wisoo.”

At that magical sound, it felt as if a tiny switch in his head had been pressed. Wisoo’s head automatically turned to where the voice came from, and his body relaxed pliantly towards Jaekwon. His face was on the verge of tears, about to cry, and his lips and hands, which he had been picking at and abusing, turned reddish and froze.

Jaekwon asks with a picturesque smile.

“Am I not scary?”

“Uh….”

“Come here.”

Jaekwon beckoned with his hand. Wisoo flinched, his arms hanging limp. Suddenly, the hotel changed from a shrinking basement to a room where only the two of them were trapped, and Wisoo wanted to entrust everything to Jaekwon.

“These days, I’m the only one who scolds you.”

As if mesmerized, he approached Jaekwon. Jaekwon squeezed Wisoo’s butt hard. At the pain, Wisoo recalled his first butt spanking.

“I’ll scold you. Is Jeong Taegyu still scarier?”

The closest and most intimate emotion in Wisoo’s life is fear. Fear permeates every part of Wisoo’s joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. So he cannot distinguish the taste. Like a person with a dull tongue, everything Wisoo licks is scary.

Thus, he becomes able to feel sweetness by hitting the same synapses, and therefore, the scariness Jaekwon speaks of becomes the sweetest thing in the world.

The answer is sufficient, so Jaekwon does not rebuke Wisoo for being unable to answer as if he were being choked. Instead, he carefully cut the chocolate terrine and placed it in Wisoo’s mouth.

The reason he had been careful until now was precisely for this moment, to eat something this sweet.

The synapses in Wisoo’s head explode all at once.

❖ ❖ ❖

“What are you going to do?”

Wisoo had not realized it in his bewilderment, but the hotel living room was thickly steeped in Jaekwon’s pheromones. He had released them slowly over a long time. It was from the moment he started talking about Hyegwang. So it was only natural that Wisoo was particularly unable to hold himself together around him and had immediately approached him, half-fainted.

Jaekwon, having laid the fainted—or perhaps sleeping—Wisoo on the bed, had come outside the hotel to smoke a cigarette. Hwang Gujo was keeping watch beside him. He, too, had no choice but to light up a cigarette for the first time in a long while, faced with the bitter certainty that became clearer the more he dug.

“You’re asking as a friend, right?”

Jaekwon answered as he flicked the ash.

“Both. As a secretary, and as a friend, both.”

“……”

Jaekwon did not answer easily. Hwang Gujo felt a little relieved by that. And he was disappointed in himself for it.

“Right. Think about it a lot.”

“And?”

Jaekwon asked as he lit a new cigarette. Because of his mumbled pronunciation, Hwang Gujo did not understand at first. As he lit it, Jaekwon tilted his head and asked again.

“And. What result should I produce.”

The taste in Hwang Gujo’s mouth became even more bitter.

“…If possible, I hope you don’t get involved.”

“Hope I don’t get involved, you say….”

“With this kind of line of things, not getting involved is the answer.”

“……”

He was saying it out of genuine concern. And he also knew that these words were a selfish sound, thinking only of Kwak Jaekwon as his friend, completely excluding Seon Wisoo.

However, having already spoken this much, Hwang Gujo decided not to stop.

“I hope you don’t go any further from here. It’s true that I feel sorry for Seon Wisoo-ssi, but as you know, this isn’t the place we used to live, and besides, you’re someone who’s going to leave.”

Jaekwon ended up lighting a third cigarette. His mouth was dry and his head felt heavy. It was probably also due to the humid weather. No, it had to be due to that.

“The old man’s 49th day memorial is this weekend.”

Jaekwon mumbled, the filter becoming damp.

“You come too.”

“…Okay.”

“And I’ll think about this matter a little more.”

Jaekwon, turning his head, firmly grasped the shoulder of Hwang Gujo, who was looking at him with concern.

“I’ll take care of it. Have I ever done anything that resulted in a loss? I’m not that much of a philanthropist. Go inside. I’m going to smoke more before I go in.”

He was speaking softly, but it was a firm command to go inside. Hwang Gujo had no choice but to take steps that were reluctant to move.

Jaekwon narrowed his eyes. He was ruminating on the blurry photograph of Jeong Taegyu’s profile. It looked familiar, yet unfamiliar. Was it because it was a common impression?

The memories from before he decided to leave Korea altogether and was actually kicked out were mostly like a single lump of tangled, rotten cheese. It was confusing whether this memory was from when, and whether what happened at that time was true, and of course, he did not think of digging it up. Because no one would bother to rummage through cheese that was covered in mold and stank.

But why now, all of a sudden….

Jaekwon came to his senses at the heat searing his fingers. He threw away the cigarette and absently looked at the heated flesh before sucking on it.

His steps on the way back dragged heavily.

It must be because of the humid weather.

It had to be.

❖ ❖ ❖

Since Wisoo did not wake up until late at night, he decided to let him sleep as he was. And after staying up all night, reading and rereading all of Hwang Gujo’s investigation findings, the financial statements he had dug up, and the suspicious connections, Jaekwon entrusted Wisoo to Hwang Gujo and headed home at dawn.

“I wonder if he installed cameras…. that old man.”

The sense of déjà vu he had when he went after receiving Seon Wisoo’s call also lent weight to that hypothesis. The people who came as if they had been waiting for him to leave his post.

And it probably was not just them. Did the Teacher come himself?

Jaekwon thought of Kwak Bonyoung, who seemed to have been born from suspicion. In that house, there were no sharp objects, nor were there any long things that could become a rope. The blankets were so tough they could not be torn by hand, and the same went for other fabrics, including the curtains.

That, too, must have been an obsessive tidiness born from suspicion. To prevent Seon Wisoo from making any kind of choice.

“Obsession….”

Jaekwon recalled that it was precisely because of that that he had never obsessed over anyone he met, anything he did, or anything he ate until now.

So he felt unfamiliar to himself now. His mind had been continuously sounding warning alarms for a long time about the series of decisions and actions he had made recently.

You’re crossing a line right now. An error has occurred. It might be a bug. But those warning alarms had been ringing so frequently, and for so long, that he was becoming accustomed to them.

“……”

Jaekwon, entering the living room, slowly looked around the inside of the house.

He took out the bag he had brought, packed Wisoo’s medicine envelopes, and also packed his workbooks and clothes. After some thought, he put in the mourning clothes and for the rest of the clothes, he put in his own. Because they could just share.

Jaekwon, who had put the bag down in the living room, stared at the bedroom door as if looking at a refrigerator that had not been opened in a long time.

“…Fucking hell.”

Muttering, he messed up his soft, unstyled hair and headed for the room.

The doorknob is cool. Even though the day is hot and so is the inside of the house, it is strangely so.

Right. The air conditioner. I need to install an air conditioner. Jaekwon deliberately thought of something else as he entered.

“……”

The bedroom is quiet. It is also muggy. Would he have called Seon Wisoo to warm his bed even in a summer like this?

Jaekwon stared at the bed, then gathered his saliva and spat. The sheet becomes dirty. As if that was not enough, he went to the entrance, put on his shoes, came back, stepped on the bed, and crushed the blanket.

Even after seeing the mess, his mood did not improve. He went straight into the closet room and packed a few more clothes of his size that Wisoo had been hugging.

‘You’re acting as if you’re not coming back.’

While muttering to himself, Jaekwon did not stop his actions.

He also cast a glance at the watch collection of Kwak Bonyoung, who had been obsessed with watches. Then, Jaekwon saw that one of the obsessively arranged watches was askew. It was something he could have just passed by, but he could not. His mind, his instincts, were drawn to it with a frightening pull.

“……”

Jaekwon, without realizing it, reached out his hand.

And without caring whether the expensive, limited-edition watch slid to the side, he flipped the case over.

Underneath it, there was a small box. Jaekwon realized immediately that it was a ring case.

“What is this….”

His heart, with his brow furrowed, pounded with an unpleasant premonition.

Thump, thump, at the end of the pounding, he flicked the case open with his thumb.

Inside it, there was a ring.

“A ring…?”

The design, and the size, were clearly a woman’s. If Kwak Bonyoung was keeping it here, there could only be one owner of the ring. But, he had never once seen his mother wearing such a ring.

But… the ring clearly showed signs of use, and it was so cheap that it could not be seen as something Kwak Bonyoung had chosen and gifted. It was not a cheap knock-off, but by Kwak Bonyoung’s standards, it would only be seen as cheap or trash.

“…For now.”

Right. For now.

Jaekwon’s lips were dry, so he wet them with his tongue. And he shoved the ring case into his pocket.

A small box, not even half the size of his palm. But why is it so heavy.

Jaekwon loaded the bag into the car and looked back at the house. He was well aware that it was an unpleasant, gloomy, and somber mansion, but today it was especially so. The bright sunlight above was rendered meaningless.

Should I just go like this. He was tired. Jaekwon unconsciously thought of Seon Wisoo, who had a clear and transparent pheromone like glass. The transparent impression that resembled the pheromone was also what he needed now.

But as if to hold him back, the workers arrived.

“Ah. Are you the owner?”

Seeing Jaekwon come out of the garage for the first time, they were flustered but soon greeted him calmly.

The tired Jaekwon nodded his head and made a visor with his hand. The sunlight was relentless.

“We did the demolition work yesterday. Starting today, we’ll be tiling and officially starting the remodeling. It will take two days.”

“Time doesn’t matter. Please be meticulous and, um…. just make it a bit brighter.”

Jaekwon pressed his temples firmly and tapped the bottom of his cigarette pack. He pulled out the filter that popped out with his lips.

Jaekwon, who had bowed his head and was about to enter the house, saw them and called out again, “Ah.”

“I’m sorry about yesterday. The kid was startled, so I was flustered too.”

“It’s alright.”

Jaekwon smiled faintly at them, who readily accepted his apology.

“By any chance, did anyone else come yesterday besides you two?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s just that I’m a bit sensitive to outsiders. Ah, I said I was sensitive and yet I left the house empty. Well, something came up… and it seems like something more happened because someone else came. When I’m already so busy.”

Jaekwon smiled like a villain, chewing on the filter as if he would tear it.

“So it would be nice if you could just tell me nicely who came. I’m not in a very good mood.”

“……”

Of the two workers who exchanged glances, the one who was a bit older stepped forward and spoke.

“We did not bring in any other outsiders.”

“……”

“Because that’s a matter of course. No outsiders other than authorized personnel are allowed in. No one.”

Jaekwon stared at the middle-aged man and then nodded his head. Very slowly.

“I see.”

“Then we’ll get back to….”

“No. There’s no need for that.”

Jaekwon waved the hand holding the cigarette.

“There’s no need for it to be brighter either. The contract is terminated. Go back. You don’t have to return the down payment.”

Originally, Jaekwon was not the type to act so recklessly. But he did not want to show even the minimum of courtesy. Because he was in a really foul mood, and they were not worth the effort.

Jaekwon, who had returned to his car, turned on the air conditioner to full blast and pulled out roughly. And he discovered a small van parked next to the wall.

He let out a long puff of cigarette smoke and took out his phone to take a picture of the mark on the van. The company name was not written on it. He thought about going back and investigating those people again. But he decided not to show his suspicion so openly. Because he thought it would provoke Jeong Taegyu instead.

“Outsiders other than authorized personnel… you say.”

He had a bad feeling. That feeling, the one he trusted the least, had been moving him from some point on. He was being swayed by it.

“Fuck…. you’re lying?”

He, chewing on the filter restlessly, sped up.

All this confusion, this displeasure, those people who lie while looking straight into your eyes, this foul-feeling house. All of them were simple formula values that he could separate from himself if he just abandoned Seon Wisoo.

But Jaekwon, knowing that, was heading towards Seon Wisoo, the very center of that confusion. Because it felt like this confusion, this fucking unpleasant feeling, would only subside a little if he saw Seon Wisoo.

Even though he also knew that that was exactly what they called the eye of the storm.

Wisoo heard Jaekwon’s voice in his sleep.

“He’s sleeping.”

“I know.”

Hwang Gujo’s voice came first, but what struck his ear was Jaekwon’s first. It was always like that.

When the door opened, Wisoo, without knowing why, squeezed his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.

“He’s sleeping in….”

Wisoo, who did not know the time because of the blackout curtains, could tell from those words that it had been a while since the sun had risen.

Even so, it would be late morning or at worst around noon, but Jaekwon’s voice was extremely tired, as if he had already had a long, hard day.

What had happened?

He wanted to ask, but he missed the timing to say he was awake.

Footsteps approached. Wisoo relaxed his eyelids and pretended to be asleep as best he could. The wholehearted acting looked plausible. Because it was not something he had only done once or twice in the basement the Teacher had sent him to.

“…Why are you sleeping so hard.”

Can you even sleep hard? Wisoo almost laughed.

Whether it was fortunate or not, Jaekwon flopped down on top of Wisoo like that. It was the first time he had seen him like this. Just from his gestures, his atmosphere, his voice, he could feel that he was tired. Thanks to Jaekwon lying on top of him in a hugging manner, Wisoo could open his eyes. He looked at the ceiling with an anxious gaze.

Is he having a hard time because of me?

“Seon Wisoo-ssi.”

He almost answered, yes.

“Seon Wisoo.”

He wanted to answer, yes.

“What value do you have to me?”

Jaekwon might have just asked to confirm a fact calmly.

But to Wisoo, they were words that made his heart sink.

It was a strange and surprising thing. Because he was inured to the point where he would not get hurt by most words.

But those insignificant words, which did not even have the intention of insult, cut deep into Wisoo’s heart. Like a finger cut by paper, it was itchy and painful and extremely bothersome.

Jaekwon fell asleep a short while later, breathing evenly.

It was only after a long time that Wisoo could hesitantly touch him. He stroked him with an incredibly awkward touch.

“I hope I have value.”

And in a very small voice, he uttered his wish.

“I keep getting greedy….”

Jaekwon does not answer.

Inwardly, Wisoo hopes that Jaekwon, like himself, is also pretending to be asleep. A deception that was infinitely light and infinitely heavy, where they could confess what they wanted to say while avoiding responsibility, was enough.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Oh my. Both of your faces are all swollen.”

Hwang Gujo chuckled as he opened the lids of the lunch boxes he had ordered. The two of them had slept for two more hours like that. Wisoo had woken up first, and he tried to hold it in as much as possible, but the urge to urinate was so urgent that he had no choice but to wake Jaekwon.

Jaekwon, with drowsy eyes, stared at Wisoo and said, ‘You have to pee?’ and got up.

It would have been fine if it had ended there, but the problem was that the still-sleepy Jaekwon had taken Wisoo’s hand and led him to the bathroom. He was yawning continuously and leaning his door-sized body against the door frame, half-dozing, but he showed no sign of closing the door.

‘The door, please….’

‘Hmm.’

Was it an answer or sleep talk…. Wisoo, who was tapping his feet, tried to push Jaekwon away but quickly gave up, thinking he would suffer a great humiliation if he used more force. Jaekwon, who did not move a single step even though he knew he was being pushed, was a bit detestable. And so, with his face bright red, he had to relieve himself where he was.

When he peeked in the mirror, he seemed to be dozing with his eyes closed, but as soon as he washed his hands, he said this.

‘You must have held it in a lot. Why is the bladder in your small belly so big?’

Wisoo, fed up, cupped his palm, filled it with water, and splashed it at him. Since he had no knack for it, most of it spilled on the floor and flew into the air.

The sulky Wisoo and the slightly swollen Jaekwon took their seats.

Jaekwon pushed the just-split wooden chopsticks towards Wisoo and announced.

“Tomorrow is the 49th day memorial.”

Not the day after tomorrow, not next week, but tomorrow, he says. Wisoo’s head shot up.

“In case you forgot.”

He had completely forgotten. Because he had no reason or need to count the days since Kwak Bonyoung died.

“Are you sad?”

Wisoo turns to look with wide eyes.

He could say he was sad, even if it was an empty word, but he did not want to say empty words to him. Was it because he was already hiding so much?

“No. I’m glad.”

“Hmm.”

“Does it make you sad if I say I’m glad?”

Since it was a matter of him losing a family member, he asks. But Jaekwon smiled very brightly and shook his head.

“No. I’m glad.”

People are strange. Sometimes they feel a stronger bond when they dislike the same thing than when they like the same thing.

Wisoo, feeling a deep sense of camaraderie, reached down and took Jaekwon’s hand, which was hanging loosely. He thought he would shake it off, but holding it as it was, Jaekwon also began his meal.

With the 49th day memorial approaching, calls came from all over. Jaekwon was constantly on the phone, and because of the resulting urge to smoke, once he went outside, he would stay out for a whole hour before coming back in.

Thanks to that, Wisoo ended up spending more time with Hwang Gujo.

Wisoo, sitting across from Hwang Gujo, who was constantly fiddling with his laptop without him knowing what he was doing, was solving problems in a workbook. It was middle school math. It was not that he did not understand the principles, but the concepts were difficult. That is, the language used was abstruse.

Wisoo did not want to ask Hwang Gujo, who had found out the facts he wanted to hide and had revealed them all to Jaekwon, but Jaekwon, who had just gone out, did not seem like he would be back soon. He had no choice but to bring back Hwang Gujo, whom he had intended to remove from his friends list for a while….

“Excuse me.”

At first, Hwang Gujo was too busy with work to hear.

“Excuuuse me.”

But the second time, he had no choice but to hear.

Hwang Gujo, like a student caught dozing, shot his head up and shouted, asking.