Rabbit Hole Chapter 1

Geumseo, without even opening his eyes, was thinking about whether his ass was one side or two. If it was originally one mass, then his ass could be said to hurt as if split into two, and if it was originally two, then his ass could be said to hurt as if split into four—so it was a crucial question.

Lying face down, Geumseo, his eyes swollen, stared at the black hat placed on the floor. It was a cap hat that Go Unha often wore. One might ask, aren’t there one or two hats that look like that, how could he be sure over such a common thing, but he was certain. It wasn’t as if Yang Geumseo had been following Go Unha around and observing every single one of his details for just a day or two.

Geumseo wriggled forward on his stomach, pulled the hat toward him, and buried his face in it. It smelled like Go Unha’s perfume. He buried his face and rubbed it for a long while before laughing foolishly. Something he had never once imagined had happened to him. Still, if it was hyung Unha, it was okay. Though no one was watching, Geumseo buried his face in the pillow out of shyness.

∞ ∞ ∞

Geumseo clutched the hat and swallowed his laughter. When he contacted Go Unha saying he had something to give him, he was called to the lobby of his building. Waiting in the empty lobby on the first floor, Geumseo forgot about the cold, forgot the memory of his ass feeling like it might split into two or four, and waited for Go Unha. He had arrived a whole hour earlier than the time he was told. His shift started at three anyway, so it was fine.

And right on time, the elevator arrived at the lobby. Every time he heard the elevator open, Geumseo would spring to his feet. Never once being disappointed and always hoping could really be called a talent in itself.

“Geumseo.”

Go Unha approached with a radiant smile. Geumseo had to try hard not to unconsciously crush the hat with all his strength at that smile. An awkward laugh escaped him. Go Unha looked at Geumseo’s swollen eyes, furrowed his brows, and clicked his tongue.

“Were you crying? Are you sick somewhere?”

“No. It’s because I overslept. I went to bed late last night….”

It was half a lie and half the truth. After all, the clock hands that he had barely managed to glimpse while being violently shaken had already been passing 3. Come to think of it, when did he get home? Hyung must have carried him home on his back before what happened, happened. He even brought him home…. He was even more moved. Geumseo filled the gaps in his memory however he pleased.

“Don’t overdo it.”

Hearing someone say not to overdo it wouldn’t magically make his lifestyle bloom overnight, but Geumseo nodded fervently, as if believing would make it so. He didn’t notice at all the fact that the very person who had tormented him until dawn was now asking if he’d cried, if he was hurt, as casually as if he knew nothing. He simply gazed at Go Unha as if at a light. Geumseo’s feelings for Go Unha were akin to religious devotion. Meaning, last night he had spent the night with that kind of being.

Geumseo leaned his head into Go Unha’s hand as it brushed his eye area, closed his eyes, and giggled. Seeing that, Go Unha’s hand quickly fell away. Regret made Geumseo’s eyes snap open. He smacked his lips lightly, then slowly held out the hat he had been hiding behind his back.

“Hyung, this… you left it behind.”

His cheeks flushed pink with shyness. An innocent, foolish beauty dripped from his exceptionally large pupils and his thick lips. Go Unha looked back and forth between Geumseo and the hat, then grinned. And tilted his head slightly. Even that gesture was elegant. Geumseo, looking at Unha’s bangs softly falling down, opened his lips slightly and let out a silent gasp of admiration.

“You’re saying I left this behind?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“That can’t be….”

“Huh…?”

“I haven’t worn this once this week, Geumseo. Ah… mine doesn’t have that discolored part either.”

“Uh, uh…?”

Discolored? At Go Unha’s words, Geumseo turned the hat around. Sure enough, there was a small discolored spot.

“Seems your interest in me has waned.”

Whether that meant he should chase after him even more fervently, or that he should work harder—after making that ambiguous remark, Go Unha glanced at his automatic watch, which cost an enormous amount of time and money, shook his head, and said he had to go.

“Anyway, get plenty of rest, and don’t overdo it. See you next time.”

Unable to stop Go Unha, who pressed down on his head firmly before leaving, Geumseo could only stare blankly at that long, slender figure. That sight was as pitiful as the back view of a dog watching its owner leave.

In the meantime, the elevator, which had been up one more floor, stopped again at the lobby. Even the ding sound didn’t snap Geumseo out of it. Behind Geumseo, who stood dazed, a distinctive gait approached, something between a stagger and a lurch. Then, standing tall behind Geumseo, the man looked down at the hat Geumseo was holding up with both hands. The man reached out for it.

“Uh, uh?”

Geumseo came to his senses at the hat suddenly being pulled from his hands. When he turned around, following it with his eyes, a man who resembled Go Unha a great deal was standing there. Unlike the neat-haired Unha, this man had wavy hair long enough to be tied back leaving a little tail, two moles neatly dotting along his left eye rim, and on top of that, dimples—making him a flashily handsome man.

“What are you doing?”

It was Go Unha’s younger brother, Go San.

“I came to see hyung Unha….”

“Go Unha? Why that bastard? …Never mind. Asking why is the strange thing.”

Go San slipped a finger under the hat and spun it around like a pizza dough. He let out a long yawn, as if short on sleep. Geumseo felt uncomfortable meeting Go San and wanted to get away from this spot quickly. If only that hat were still in his hands, he would have run off without even saying hello.

Go San fiercely snatched the hat that he had tossed into the air. The hat was crumpled pitifully in his hand. The reward of Geumseo’s careful fussing over it was likewise crumpled like a piece of paper.

“While coming to see Go Unha.”

“Why did you bring my hat?”

Ding.

He thought it was the sound of his head being struck hard, but it was the sound of the elevator arriving. Two people got off and walked past them. Go San grabbed his neck and loosened his muscles from side to side. Listening blankly to the harsh, rippling sounds, Geumseo shook his head.

“No. That’s hyung’s hat.”

“It’s not Go Unha’s. It’s mine.”

“It’s the one hyung Unha wore. I’m sure I saw him wear the exact same one….”

“Ha… you creepy bastard.”

Go San said you really are persistent too, as if there was another persistent person besides Geumseo. Flustered, Geumseo stammered.

“Ah, anyway, it’s not yours.”

“Then did Go Unha say it was his?”

“That’s….”

“I’ve been carrying this around all this week. Of course, last night too.”

The color drained pitifully from Geumseo’s face. His already pale complexion turned even whiter.

“Your hair’s sticking up.”

Go San arbitrarily shoved the hat into the pocket of Geumseo’s sweatpants. At the same time, Go San’s face came right up close to Geumseo’s. The two moles neatly embedded along his eye rim, nearly reaching the outer corner of his eye, looked like piercings. Above them, his eyebrows slanted sharply out, and his brow was furrowed today, as it always was when he looked at him.

It was a handsome face. It was also a provocatively sexy face. Geumseo knew this face very well. Honestly, just looking at the face made him a little nervous. Because he knew someone who, while not identical enough to be monozygotic, looked enough alike to make him wonder if they might be dizygotic twins. If this had been Unha, Geumseo would have smiled brightly even from below, where it hurt so much he couldn’t move. Because, as people would appraise him with a pathetic tone, his head was a field of flowers.

But even if his head was a field of flowers, he could still tell whether what was falling from the sky was rain or hail. And of course, right now it was hail.

‘Aren’t the two of them really different? One is kind and decent, but the other….’

Trash, playboy, a guy who sold his conscience for everything he has, a kernel worse than the shell, and so on. If it was the younger brother with all those colorful nicknames, this wasn’t just hail but a full-blown natural disaster.

The natural disaster left the shocked Geumseo behind and leisurely strode out of the lobby.