His complexion gradually turned into a dull, ashen gray. His heavily hunched shoulders twitched intermittently, resembling sporadic seizures.
The first to notice these abnormal symptoms was his older brother, Gi Jae-ha.
“First, let’s do what we couldn’t last time—.”
“Father, wait a moment.”
Without knowing the exact reason, Gi Jae-ha stopped their father purely by instinct.
But was it already too late?
“Don’t interrupt rudely.”
“We can talk after dinner.”
Ignoring the foolish son’s words, the father persisted in listing his schedule in a stubborn voice, and eventually, “Ugh—!” Gi Jae-eon vomited.
Clatter!
Like a seizure, Gi Jae-eon suddenly stood up.
Through the narrow gap of his straight, long fingers covering his mouth, vomit spilled down.
Startled like a deer hit by a bullet, he stumbled out wildly.
He truly looked terrified. Stumbling and crashing about, he was pitiful beyond measure.
“...!!”
The three left behind froze as Gi Jae-eon disappeared.
What just happened?
Especially Gi Tae-ho and Ryu Seong-hee stared blankly at the ownerless spot.
The frozen air was palpable.
Breaking the chill came a sigh, and at the same time, Gi Jae-ha abruptly stood.
“I’ll go check.”
The eldest son's voice was low and subdued.
“Gi Jae-eon!”
Thump, thump, thump.
He kept knocking on the door, but it was useless.
Inside, only retching sounds could be heard.
“Gi Jae-eon, it’s your brother!”
He called out desperately.
Click! Click! The door handle was firmly locked.
Damn, should I just break it?
Gi Jae-ha placed his hand on his waist and cursed.
“Open the door!”
—Haah, haah... ugh!
“Feeling really bad? Hey? Jae-eon, Gi Jae-eon!”
—Ugh! Gag...
Panting sounds.
Gi Jae-ha bit his lip tightly.
The moment he realized that no matter how much he called, his voice wasn’t reaching his brother, his face twisted painfully.
With hands like pot lids, he wiped his dry, cracked face.
“Jae... haah...”
But soon he realized how hateful his sorrow was.
Gi Jae-ha let out a muffled sigh.
“Not reaching?”
“Of course it’s not, you idiot.”
“What now...”
Not even funny.
“Thinking your brother who chose this path is admirable? Proud? A genius?”
Damn, you left him like that until he reached this state.
“Such a so-called brother.”
“...So embarrassing, damn it.”
What do you believe in? What’s family? What’s a brother?
“Why didn’t you know? Why didn’t you look back even once until he got this bad?”
Gi Jae-ha clenched his teeth and raised his fist.
Veins bulged on his thick forearm.
Breaking the door might harm his brother, so breaking the door handle was the answer.
His iron-like hand drew a big arc in the air.
Bwoong—!
Soon the sturdy door handle shattered miserably.
“Gi Jae-eon!”
He kicked the door open urgently and saw his unconscious brother.
Following were the parents and others.
“Ambulance! Damn it, call an ambulance!” he shouted, veins bulging in his neck.
Gi Jae-ha lightly carried the unconscious brother on his back, thinking,
How much must he have had no one to lean on to hide it inside until it came to this?
Jae-eon, I know I’m not worthy as your brother.
But from now on, I will live hearing you say “Brother, help me.”
“Hey, you alive?”
Kim Joo-won opened the hospital room door with a screech.
An Seo-myeong, currently wearing patient clothes matching his personal color, roughly nodded.
“Yeah, alive. The problem is my stomach hurts like hell.”
His attitude toward Gi Jae-eon was quite different. It was obvious even in a brief glance they were very comfortable with each other.
“What’s with all the apples? Got anything expensive? Melons or mangoes?”
“Thinking of buying some...?”
“Nope.”
“Thought you had?”
“No, just don’t.”
Kim Joo-won lamented as he grabbed a big apple and chomped it down.
Someone might think he was starving.
“Those are mine.”
“Did you put your name on them?”
An Seo-myeong vowed to engrave his name on every fruit tonight.
Anyway, it’s been a week since he got a hole in his stomach.
Fortunately, the surgery went well, avoiding vital organs, and he was recovering steadily.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“What’s with ‘yeah’? I’m talking to you.”
“Yeah.”
“Did Incheon ever call?”
“...?”
An Seo-myeong silently put down the game controller he had been tapping with a cold expression.
Kim Joo-won’s patience was tested by the suddenness.
Surely, that guy would just stare blankly with his typical glazed eyes even if scammed, thinking “Well, it happened. What else can I do?”
Seeing him, Kim Joo-won learned that being too even-tempered can be a problem.
“About that bastard Gi Jae-eon.”
Having finished a whole apple, Kim Joo-won rummaged through the fruit basket and grabbed eight tangerines.
In his hands, the tangerines looked more like kumquats.
An Seo-myeong watched Kim Joo-won’s tangerine eating show with a horrified expression.
How many more is he going to eat?
“Even if you can’t visit, shouldn’t you at least call out of decency?”
“If you had decency, stop eating.”
“Should at least have some sense if you’re rude, but no sense or manners. People don’t stay sharp in every way like that. Right?”
It sounded like a sincere backtalk, as if they suspected Gi Jae-eon had extorted money.
“Did he trade his personality for talent?”
A bitter smile crossed his muttering face.
But An Seo-myeong knew.
Kim Joo-won was more satisfied with his use of the difficult phrase “trade” than the fact that he was badmouthing Gi Jae-eon.
Of course, knowing saying this would extend the hospital stay, he only blinked quietly.
“Hey, why so quiet?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re just dull.”
An Seo-myeong’s indifferent attitude seemed to annoy Kim Joo-won.
Well, if anything, his nonchalant attitude was partly because of his natural temperament...
And partly because these weren’t really words to sympathize with.
He got hurt because of yokai. It was just a happening that occurred because he was weak. In fact, Gi Jae-eon had saved his life.
Sure, his early behavior was somewhat annoying, but considering that, this side’s stomach-piercing coughing was no joke either.
If it went to court over who held the other back, this side would probably lose.
Beep beep.
An Seo-myeong looked down at the game controller showing [Game Over] and said, “There must be a reason.”
“Reason?”
Kim Joo-won made a face like “don’t be ridiculous,” but An Seo-myeong shrugged.
He kept recalling the last image of Gi Jae-eon fading in his cloudy consciousness.
“I-I will save... ha, can do it. Won’t let you die again.”
He definitely said so.
“Again?”
With nothing else to do while hospitalized, An Seo-myeong thought about it repeatedly.
“What again?”
<Again [adverb]: something repeated>
“Repeatedly.”
Then...
He remembered.
“Wasn’t he going to jump in front of the train?”
An Seo-myeong suddenly became curious.
At first, he just thought Gi Jae-eon was a gloomy, peculiar person, but now it seemed there was some story.
“Weak, afraid of yokai...”
Rumors were totally different from the real Gi Jae-eon.
“What kind of curse does he have? Even the master can’t perform haejusa on it?”
For An Seo-myeong, who was usually insensitive, this was quite unusual.
“Does he normally stutter?”
His chain of thoughts eventually led him to wonder, “What kind of person is Gi Jae-eon?”
“Hyung.”
An Seo-myeong waved his hand at Kim Joo-won, who had moved on from tangerines to bananas.
It was a signal to stop with fruit and focus on the patient.
“Stop raiding the pantry.”
“Fruit needs to be eaten fast. It goes bad quickly.”
He was eating bananas like a monkey.
An Seo-myeong showed a bloated look watching Kim Joo-won.
“Give me some time, then speak.”
“Hey, just one cola.”
“This is about toemasa Gi Jae-eon.”
“I don’t want to hear about that bastard.”
...?
Who was chewing him out so harshly earlier?
An Seo-myeong pursed his lips at Kim Joo-won’s shamelessness, then returned to his usual blank expression and handed over the cola.
“Didn’t you notice something strange about his condition?”
Gulp gulp.
“Doesn’t seem normal.”
Gulp gulp.
Kim Joo-won emptied the difficult 500ml carbonated drink in one go and tossed the empty bottle perfectly into the nearby trash bin.
“Don’t know.”
“...”
“Just seems crazy.”
Kim Joo-won’s expression, despite the harsh words, looked quite complex.
He seemed to be bothered by something.
Well, he wasn’t good at lying either.
An Seo-myeong smiled faintly, finding him cute.
At that moment, without knocking, the hospital room door opened with a loud shout,
“Hey!”
“Kim Juwon!”
It was Lee Kyung-hak, one of Bonryeong’s toemasa and Kim Joo-won’s left “ball buddy.” By the way, An Seo-myeong was the right ball buddy, a title he had been rejecting for years.
“Kyung-hak, take that throat out and live, will you? It’s noisy.”
“My throat isn’t the point. Ah, Seo-myeong, hi. How’s your body?”
“Yeah, so-so.”
After exchanging simple palm gestures, Lee Kyung-hak began fussing around Kim Joo-won.
“Got some awesome news.”
“What, decided how harsh my punishment will be?”
The Gi family, proud and great, was ready to put all pressure to shame him.
The teacher defended him, but he knew it wouldn’t work.
Salary cut? Disciplinary action? Qualification revocation? Whatever it was, bring it on. He wasn’t scared.
“But...”
But what came from Lee Kyung-hak was an utterly unexpected statement that shattered all of Kim Joo-won’s expectations.