LLU 15

I’m on a trip with my mom and that Mister

I’m bored

I could almost hear his giggling voice in my ear. I furrowed my eyebrows, but a smile played on my lips.

Right… why did I do that

To be honest, it’s comfortable and not bad here either… but it’s still boring

I’m leaving tomorrow anyway. Let’s meet up as soon as I get back

Where would you come when you’re so busy preparing for college entrance exams? While grumbling like that, I found myself imagining it. What it would be like if Kim Junwoo were here.

We probably would have taken a taxi to a PC b**g, or wandered around downtown Chuncheon? We would have eaten dakgalbi too.

Just imagining it was fun. I’ve never been on a trip with him, but I should suggest we go once during summer vacation when we’re college students. What would it be like to go to the beach? I think it would be really fun.

That aside, tomorrow is the last day of the trip and the first day of the new year. Lying flat on my back on the bed, I pictured in my mind the daily life of the new year that was about to begin.

Even after becoming an adult, not much will change before I start school. Things like overseas travel, working out, or getting a driver’s license, which other kids do a lot around this time, didn’t apply to me. I’ll just spend my time working more part-time jobs, a little more seriously.

The thought was a bit bitter, but still, from March onwards, a life very different from the one I’ve known will unfold. XX University, Department of Computer Engineering, Class of XX. The new identity that would be attached to the front of my name, that would describe me from now on, gave me strength just thinking about it.

A new life will begin in a new place. I’ll have to study fiercely if I want to keep receiving the scholarship as I wish.

Even while living so busily, when I meet up with Kim Junwoo from time to time, we’ll laugh over a glass of beer and share such trivial worries. Things like a dormitory roommate’s nasty habits, complaints about a group project member, or that the assignments are too many and too difficult… those kinds of worries.

I slowly sat up and stretched. I washed my face and opened the door. The delicious smell of food was already wafting up from downstairs.

The voices of Chairman Choi and my mother, chatting amiably, were also coming up. I was about to move my feet without thinking, but I stopped myself and listened to their conversation.

It was an utterly ordinary conversation. About how the morning mist they saw on their dawn walk today was so pretty, or how it would be even prettier if it snowed, but it was a shame that rain was forecasted.

Listening to Chairman Choi’s gentle voice saying that he had made the galbi-jjim my mother wanted to eat for breakfast and that she should eat a lot, I thought. My choice not to report his wrongdoing when Choi Junghan slapped me back then was not wrong.

“Good morning.”

I went downstairs and greeted them. My mother and Chairman Choi welcomed me with bright smiles. When Chairman Choi suggested we go out for coffee to a place with a nice view after breakfast, I nodded my head obediently.

After drinking coffee, eating dakgalbi for lunch as my mother wanted, and even going for a drive to a nearby beach, we came home. It was closer to an early evening nap than a siesta, but we all went to our rooms to rest, following my mother’s insistence that we needed to get some sleep if we were to stay up for the New Year’s countdown.

I wasn’t very sleepy and didn’t plan to sleep, but I fell asleep at some point while reading a book. I fell into a deep sleep with the book by my head.

When I suddenly woke up, the first thing I heard was the sound of rain violently beating against the window.

The outside was so dark that I was startled for a moment. When I checked the time, it was almost 9 o’clock.

The rain was pouring down fiercely, just as the news had forecasted. I stared blankly out the window. It was so dark that it was difficult to even make out the forest right in front of me. The scenery that had felt so clear now felt eerie today.

The gloomy dampness that filled the room was unwelcome. I hoped the rain would have stopped by the time we leave for home tomorrow.

When I went downstairs, my mother and Chairman Choi were already out. My mother, having rested well, was extremely excited. Under the pretext of preparing a party to celebrate the New Year’s countdown and the moment I become an adult, my mother moved about diligently.

“Don’t overdo it. Aren’t you having a hard time right now?”

She was so busy going back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, picking out things like champagne and wine, so I held her and asked in a small voice. My mother smiled brightly and shook her head.

“Oh, honey, I’m fine. I don’t feel that way at all.”

“Still…”

“That’s right. Ms. Jeongin, I think you’re overdoing it right now. Just rest a bit.”

Even Chairman Choi came over and gently stopped my mother. In the end, my mother was half-forced onto the sofa. I watched with a slightly awkward feeling as the employees silently prepared for our dinner in addition to the party preparations.

“Well then, we will be leaving now.”

“You’ve worked hard. Just come in tomorrow morning and take your time cleaning up.”

After all the employees left for their nearby accommodations, only the three of us, myself, Chairman Choi, and my mother, were left in the villa.

“Well, this is the last meal of the year.”

Chairman Choi, sitting at the neatly set table, raised his glass and cheerfully proposed a toast. My mother had non-alcoholic champagne, Chairman Choi had wine, and I had soda.

“You’ve all worked so hard this year. Especially our Ms. Jeongin, thank you so much for trusting me and making an important choice.”

“Oh, Chairman. I’m the one who’s so grateful. I can never express it enough with words.”

“I’m even more grateful. Not only did Ms. Jeongin come to me, but she’s also carrying our baby with difficulty.”

My arm started to hurt as I held up my glass and listened to the lovers’ conversation disguised as a toast. At the same time Chairman Choi shouted, ‘A toast to the New Year!’, the three glasses met in mid-air.

I took a sip of soda and was just about to put a spoonful of rice in my mouth. Just then, Chairman Choi took out his loudly ringing phone from his pocket, and his eyes widened with a pleased expression.

“Oh, oh, hey. Junghan, what a surprise.”

I had seen that expression on the first day I met him. A cold shiver suddenly ran down the back of my neck. An ominous sense of déjà vu washed over me.

No way. No way.

“Oh. Really? Gosh, we’d be so happy to have you. Come on over!”

After hanging up the phone, Chairman Choi said with a bright face.

“Junghan says he’s almost here?”

Raindrops laden with a heavy weight relentlessly beat against the car window. Thud, thud. The unusually large drops threw themselves at the thick glass with all their might. Their headlong movement and the weight with which they collided were just like bullets.

But the things that had crashed headlong into the glass window inevitably crumpled. A small world that would have held the air of the sky and sparkled in the starlight is shattered and destroyed the moment it touches the car window.

Junghan liked that futile and empty-looking movement. That was the reason he had been staring out at the barely visible outside for the entire journey to the villa.

Looking at that pitiful and frail form, one person invariably came to mind. The target he was heading for, despite this troublesome weather. The thought that this situation of thinking of that kid while looking at the raindrops was quite romantic made Junghan let out a small laugh.

A few days ago, he had called that kid to light the fire on the pile of dry firewood he had gathered. Just a snippet of that snapping voice would be enough to start a beautiful blaze.

The call with Pioon was more enjoyable than expected. That kid’s voice, asserting that he would not form any connection with him, generously doused the piled firewood with oil. Filled with more than enough certainty, Junghan was able to hang up the phone with satisfaction.

‘You and I are complete strangers who have nothing to do with each other.’

That kid didn’t know. What kind of goal the predator targeting him would harbor when he uttered those words.

CRACK! With a flash of lightning, light flickered from all directions. At the same time, the music that had been playing at an unobtrusive volume ended, and a new Chopin piece began.

He liked the beginning of the piece, which flowed clearly despite the boisterous sound of the pouring rain. Chopin’s Étude, ‘The Chase.’ Thinking it was music befitting the day, Junghan tilted his gaze.

Yes, the game he enjoyed was similar to a hunt.

The target flees from him desperately. They fall, splatter blood, and their face becomes a mess of tears and saliva. Their mouth spews out incoherent pleas and curses. The ecstasy that can only be obtained when laboriously chasing the target into a corner. He wanted to feel that sensation deeply for the first time in a long while.

I don’t want to get involved with you. We are complete strangers. Pioon had emphasized those words over and over again.

A scoff escaped him. He wants to take all the benefits from his parents getting together, but he doesn’t want the relationship that should naturally form with him? That kid, running wild without knowing his place, was both cute and infuriating. The very way he reacted to the word ‘brother’ as if he were about to vomit was what aroused his sadism.

Brother.

If that word had come from the mouth of one of the other women’s brats that had passed through Choi Muhyun’s life, and not Pioon’s. He probably would have carved out that mouth and buried it in the backyard.

But for the first time, Junghan wanted to hear that word. From Pioon, and no one else. The thought of that kid calling him hyung sent a light tremor through his stomach.

He would call him that, his pretty face contorted, letting out messy sobs, drenched in humiliation.

For the first time in a while, his lower body felt heavy. In the face of his smoothly rising l**t, Junghan felt pure pleasure. The tapping of his fingers on his knee was light.

He was looking forward to the luscious and fragrant thing that would ultimately fall into his hands, but what he anticipated most from the act was the thrill of the moment he broke the stem and held it in his hand.

The life force that had been so full just a moment ago being severed by his hand. The sensation of the forcibly snatched freshness seeping into his palm. The vivid scream that digs deep into his skin…

Woon was a flower just about to bloom. The fact that he would become an adult in a few hours added a special relish to tonight’s pleasure. He wasn’t exactly the type with a strong sense of law-abiding spirit or conscience, so it wasn’t as if he had been counting down the days until the kid legally became an adult. The timing was just good.

Wasn’t it quite symbolic? That the very first life force he blossoms is snatched away by none other than the brother he so desperately wanted to avoid being involved with.

The steadily moving car began to jolt slightly. In three minutes, he would be entering that villa he hadn’t been to in a long time. To the place where a pathetically promiscuous man, a woman who knows nothing, and his younger brother who suits his tastes are waiting.

The corners of Junghan’s mouth curved into a broad smile.

‘Even if he snaps because he doesn’t know any better, please embrace him with a generous heart, Mr. Junghan.’

Of course.

The moment the car stopped, the chase ended. Now, it was time for a fine dining experience.