LLU 13

Only a few days were left in the year.

Everywhere you went, the streets were abuzz with the year-end and Christmas atmosphere. The cafe where I worked also put up a tree and adorable wreaths.

It had always been a day that had little to do with me, but I couldn’t help but feel a little excited. Kim Junwoo must have felt the same way, as he kept pestering me, saying that regardless of the college entrance exams or whatever, he wanted to hang out for a day with a carefree mind.

As I happened to be bored and lonely, I readily accepted his offer. We roamed the streets together, eating tteokbokki and spaghetti, then took the subway back to our neighborhood and played at a PC b**g for a long time. It was fun. It was the first time in a long while that I had spent time just laughing and fooling around without any worries or distracting thoughts.

We got up from our seats at exactly ten o’clock. If I had my way, I would have wanted to hang out all night somewhere else, but I couldn’t hold onto him any longer since he had to work out early the next morning. Kim Junwoo, who came down from the PC b**g with his hands in his pockets and a swaggering gait, asked.

“Pioon. Should I walk you home?”

“Don’t be gross, why would you walk me home? Hurry up and go.”

I cut him off curtly, deliberately leaving no room for discussion. I waved back at him as he waved his hand listlessly, then turned away. When I looked back, Kim Junwoo was still standing in the same spot.

“Hurry up and go, the streets are dangerous at night.”

“Ugh.”

As I grimaced in disgust, Kim Junwoo chuckled.

“Go on in.”

My small voice echoed in the quiet alley, unlike the city center which was still a different world. I turned my back again and didn’t look back once.

It was a distance I could reach in just a five-minute walk. As I walked slowly, I recalled the phone call I had received from my mother earlier.

—Oon-ah, they said Mom is okay now. They said I’m pretty much out of the woods for premature birth. I’ll come home tomorrow.

‘That’s a relief. You went through a lot.’

—I did. And Oon-ah, can you pack a few days’ worth of your underwear and clothes? You just need to pack your things.

What does she mean all of a sudden? I asked, wondering where we were going, but my mother didn’t give a clear answer. She just said we were going on a trip for a day or two.

I didn’t have any other plans, so I didn’t express any refusal to my mother. But honestly, I was worried. How long had it been since she was out of danger of premature birth? I felt it would be even more dangerous if we were going somewhere far away.

However, contrary to my worried heart, my mother was just excited. She said she was completely fine now, and that she had even gotten permission from her obstetrician.

Well, I’m no medical professional. If the doctor says it’s okay, I guess it’s okay. Thinking casually, I hunched my shoulders, which were frozen from the cold. It was the moment I was passing under a burnt-out streetlight.

I heard a presence from the back of the alley.

It was definitely a sound from near my house. This couldn’t be anything but strange. It was because the houses on both the left and right had been empty for a long time since people moved out. The other houses were also set far apart with long walls in between, and since mostly elderly people lived in this neighborhood, there was no one who would make a noise at this hour.

In an instant, all my senses sharpened. I thought I might be able to confirm the presence by its shadow, so I stealthily lowered my gaze, but unfortunately, the direction of the light was not on my side.

“…Is someone there?”

There it was again. A silence that felt artificial. I intuitively felt an unpleasant sense of déjà vu. I didn’t know who it was, but it was definitely someone who had come before.

Suddenly, my heart started pounding. Sweat instantly pooled in my palms. Should I stealthily peek around the corner? But that thought, which lasted only a moment, soon faded.

If, and it’s unlikely, but if it was a vicious robber or something like that…. It seemed like it could be very dangerous to approach without any means of self-defense. I hesitated, then cleared my throat with a hem, and asked again.

“Is anyone there?”

This time, the presence was a bit more distinct. The skin all over my body tightened. But to get to my house, I had to turn the corner of this alley. The moment I took a deep breath, tap, tap, tap! I heard footsteps.

This time, my body moved before I could make any calculations. I shot out like an arrow and immediately checked inside the alley. I saw the back of a man running like crazy toward the opposite end of the alley.

A baseball cap pulled down low, a black padded jacket, sneakers. He was running away so fast that there was nothing I could deduce from his appearance. I had no idea who it could be.

There seemed to be no need to chase after him. I didn’t think I could catch up to a man who was already running for his life, and if he happened to be carrying a dangerous weapon, the chances of winning a fight with my bare hands were slim.

I felt extremely uneasy. In truth, no fool would try to rob a house in this notoriously poor neighborhood, and I also wondered what someone would do by breaking into a house with a single guy in it. Yet, the unsettling feeling just wouldn’t go away.

In the end, I didn’t go into my house and instead turned around and left the alley. I called Kim Junwoo, and thankfully, he answered right away.

When he asked what was wrong, I glossed over it, saying I was lonely sleeping alone and asked if I could stay over for just one night. If I explained the situation in detail, it was obvious that Kim Junwoo would worry himself sick and make a fuss about reporting it to the police or chasing the guy down to beat him up.

Fortunately, Kim Junwoo readily agreed. I felt extremely sorry to his father, who must have just gotten off work around now, but I shamelessly entered his house. No matter how close we were, it couldn’t be pleasant to have someone show up so suddenly late at night, but his father welcomed me as I entered hesitantly.

After his father went into the small room, Kim Junwoo and I took turns showering. As I lay on the floor of his room, wearing his borrowed clothes, side by side, the tension finally melted away.

“Hey, let’s have a deep talk all night. Huh? You know the vibe, right?”

“Be quiet and go to sleep. You, who has to be out at dawn tomorrow.”

“Ah… that darn workout, it’s not like I do it for just a day or two.”

Even as he said that, his words grew drawn out like taffy, and his eyelids blinked slowly. After what seemed like several consecutive yawns, Kim Junwoo eventually fell asleep quickly.

A small laugh escaped me. He said he wanted to chat all night. I guess it was already late. Just as I was about to get up and turn off the light, I checked my phone screen at the buzzing vibration.

“……?”

It was an unknown number.

At this hour, and a call from an unknown number at that?

The incident I had just experienced came to mind, and my nerves became on edge. A mysterious man habitually loitering around my house and a phone call coming in at this hour. Could it really be a coincidence?

My heart began to pound. But seeing Kim Junwoo’s face, sleeping peacefully next to me, I felt a little less creeped out than when I was alone in the alley earlier. Taking a deep breath, I answered the phone.

“…Hello?”

—Hello.

“Who…”

At first, I couldn’t immediately recognize who the caller was. It was a voice that was excessively low and flowed like a wave, yet never gave a bright impression. And as far as I knew, there was only one person with such a voice.

My mind, which had frozen for a moment, began to spin. The chilling sensation was gone, but at the same time, an immense sense of displeasure washed over me. A curse escaped through my clenched teeth on its own.

“Why the h**l… are you calling me?”

—I’d be hurt if you say it like that. When I’m breaking my back taking care of your mother.

The voice was still leisurely and seemed amused. He was the only human being who could turn my stomach inside out within 10 seconds without even showing his face.

“F**k, don’t talk about my mother like that. And don’t worry, she said she’s leaving tomorrow anyway.”

—She’s going to be completely stuck here in a few months anyway. How very generous of you.

“Ha…”

In an instant, my forehead grew hot. I wanted to scream a curse at him, but looking at Kim Junwoo’s peacefully sleeping face, I clenched my teeth and lowered my voice.

“Why the h**l are you calling at this hour to pick a fight? You act all busy, are you that bored?”

I heard a small laugh. If he were in front of me, he would have grabbed my hair or slapped my cheek, telling me not to be impudent again.

But he, on the other end of the phone, sounded genuinely amused. Should I just hang up on him? Just as I was contemplating it, a low voice came through.

—Aren’t you being too harsh? I just called because I wanted to hear your voice.

“…What…”

—Do brothers need a reason to call each other?

I was at a loss for words. From the beginning, he was the type to casually spew dog-s**t talk about me being like a flower, being interesting, or asking if I missed him.

But among them, the most disgusting was, of course, the talk about being brothers. Hearing this kind of talk even over the phone, I was so dumbfounded that no words came out.

Again, I heard the sound of a deflating laugh. Right, he’s probably saying this crap because he finds my reaction funny and amusing.

A clear anger heated my head. Nothing came to mind except the thought that I had to say something back.

“Brothers? Don’t say such disgusting things. I told you, didn’t I? The adults’ business is the adults’ business. You and I are complete strangers who have nothing to do with each other.”

In the quiet room, my calm voice, suppressing its rage, weighed heavily on the air.

“And f**k, is there any hyung who grabs his younger brother by the hair and slaps his cheek?”

—Was that what upset you? Our Oonie. If so, that’s a shame.

His chuckling voice was equally low, but clear.

—Still, the relationship between Oon and I isn’t one that will be shaken by such mere horseplay.

“……”

—We’re going to be very deeply and intensely intertwined from now on.

I was definitely about to unleash a torrent of curses. But at that moment, the root of my tongue froze of its own accord. Seized by a strange feeling I couldn’t understand, I was unable to say anything for a moment. It was because Choi Junghan’s tone, which at a glance sounded like low-quality mockery, was for some reason unassailably firm today.

It was certainty. Hard to understand, and I had no idea where it came from.

“…Not even if I die and come back to life will I ever be tangled up in such a s**tty relationship with you. If you want to have fun teasing a kid, look elsewhere.”

My tongue, which had been momentarily frozen stiff, belatedly came loose. I was about to hang up the phone, but a casual greeting came through as if he didn’t care.

—See you soon, Oon-ah.