‘Something urgent?’
I called a taxi at once and headed to the hospital.
I arrived in breathless haste, only for him to say, out of nowhere:
“After I die, live at my place instead of that villa you're in now.”
“……What?”
“I'm saying you should move out of that villa that looks like it might be haunted.”
“…….”
It wasn't haunted.
I had to admit it looked like the sort of place ghosts would like, though.
“Is that…… your will? You're leaving it to me?”
“Something like that.”
Park Song-hu shrugged calmly.
“I'll take care of all the paperwork through a lawyer ahead of time, so you don't need to worry about it.”
“…….”
Listening to him, I felt strange.
I'd never seen anyone speak so calmly about what would happen after their own death.
“Um…….”
“What?”
“……Are you really going to die?”
Maybe that was why I couldn't quite believe it.
“Why?”
A beat passed.
“Do you wish I wouldn't die?”
“…….”
“We didn't even keep in touch. Why bring this up all of a sudden?”
“Still…….”
Still what?
He was still my brother? We still shared the same blood?
Either answer felt shameless.
We'd lived like strangers our whole lives.
If this hadn't happened, I would've gone on without giving him a thought.
“You're just going to keep yourself shut up in your room anyway.”
“……So?”
“Then wouldn't it be better to have a bigger place? What was it, Louie or Ruby? Your cat would have more room to roam, too.”
For the first time, that made sense to me.
For Louie, yes.
Cats did prefer more space, after all.
‘Ah, but wait.’
On the day of the <Our Hospital> variety show shoot, I'd rushed over to his place that morning to pretend to be Park Song-hu. I remembered being left speechless by its size.
Come to think of it, that size was the problem!
“W-wait a second. If it's that big, how am I supposed to clean it?”
“Listen to this bastard complaining with a full stomach.”
“……Eek!”
“You should be getting down on your knees and thanking me.”
“Th-thank you!”
“No…… hey.”
“…….”
“I didn't mean you should actually bow.”
“Oh, right…….”
I stood up, dusting off my knees.
***
I busied myself preparing to move.
‘What should I do with these? Park Song-hu told me to wear the clothes in his dressing room from now on instead of my own…….’
I was going to throw out my shirts with their stretched-out collars while I had the chance, but it seemed a waste, so I kept them.
I could wear them as pajamas.
In fact, Louie had more belongings than I did.
A cat tower, scratchers, toys, treats, food, litter, and so on.
Finally, I tried to put Louie into the carrier. As expected, they put up a fight to the death.
Their strategy was to spread all four paws in every direction and defend the entrance.
If I tried to push Louie in, their hind legs kicked at me. If I lured them with treats, they snatched the treat from just outside the entrance and retreated. It was advanced tactics.
“Louie, please.”
“Grrrrrr…….”
“We're moving. It's a nice place. The living room's about ten times bigger than this one!”
“Mraow!”
After fifteen minutes of back-and-forth, I finally succeeded by tossing catnip deep inside the carrier.
There was a reason they called it cat drugs.
“……It was a war with neither victor nor vanquished.”
I'd lived in this cramped villa ever since returning to Korea, and now that I was actually leaving, a strange feeling washed over me.
At that very moment, I noticed the wallpaper beside the front door had turned black with mold.
‘Bye.’
Any lingering attachment vanished on the spot.
A little later, I passed through the security gate and rode the elevator up.
I'd been here before, so finding my way wasn't difficult.
That day, though, I'd been so nervous that I couldn't remember really taking in the layout…….
‘Wow, it's fucking huge…….’
From the entryway, I had an unobstructed view straight through to the living room.
One wall of the living room was all glass, giving me a sweeping view of Seoul, and the ceiling was really high too.
I set the carrier down and opened its door.
Louie cautiously poked out their nose and began sniffing around.
One step.
Two steps.
Then Louie suddenly tore across the middle of the living room.
They went swish, swish, swish- across the hardwood floor as if sliding, and the corners of my mouth softened before I knew it.
‘I'm glad we moved.’
Louie darted under the sofa, emerged on the other side, then crossed the living room again and vanished down the hall.
Their urge to explore seemed to have switched on.
I started setting up Louie’s cat tower and automatic feeder in one corner of the living room.
By the time I finished, Louie had apparently settled in. They sat before the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the view outside.
A cat enjoying a view of the Han River.
“Louie, you look very sophisticated right now.”
“Meooow.”
They sounded as if they couldn't care less, but the way their tail swayed lazily from side to side suggested they were pleased enough.
I fetched my laptop and sat on the sofa.
I opened my serialization page on Soseol Joa.
The chapter I'd posted yesterday had received no fewer than three comments!
[Keep up the good writing]
[(emoji praying for back-to-back chapters)]
[This is fun lol]
I was feeling generous!
‘Open wide, here come back-to-back chapters!’
I opened my writing program right away and started tapping at the keyboard.
Thankfully, the words came today.
***
The VIP Room.
Park Song-hu sat propped up in bed, fiddling with his phone.
Park Song-min sat in the caregiver's chair with a laptop on his knees, working on something.
His lips moved now and then. He was probably writing his novel.
“It's pretty good.”
“……What?”
Park Song-min looked at him, his eyes round with surprise.
It was an expression entirely unlike anything Park Song-hu would make.
“I even left a comment. Said it was fun.”
“……W-wait! That was you?!”
“Hey, keep your voice down.”
“Ah, s-sorry……. But you really read it?”
His eyes began to sparkle for no good reason.
“I just read it to kill time because I had nothing else to do. What's all the fuss?”
“Oh…….”
“But the part where the protagonist levels up with an Enhancement Stone felt a bit contrived.”
“I-I laid the groundwork for that part! If you look at Chapter 16…… Shh!”
Well, look at him.
Beating both the drum and the hourglass drum all by himself.
“What are you doing?”
“Anyway, there's foreshadowing in Chapter 16…….”
“I know that. Foreshadowing or not, I'm saying the development itself feels contrived.”
“Urgh……!”
“Unclench your fist.”
“Okay.”
“Isn't it a bit much to leave an Enhancement Stone just lying in the middle of a dungeon? Right before the boss fight, of all times.”
“…….”
“From a reader's perspective, the payoff's different when the protagonist stupidly scoops one up versus when he decides for himself how to get one. Remember the ore vein you briefly mentioned in Chapter 16? If you turn that around and have the protagonist plot his own mining route, you can pay off the foreshadowing and kill two birds with one stone.”
“…….”
Park Song-min stared at him in disbelief.
Then he turned away and started noting something down on his phone.
“Are you seriously writing down the idea I just gave you?”
“N-no!”
“Forget it. You know the <Scene & Cut> interview comes out today, right?”
“……But didn't that last scene get you fired up?”
“Oh, it's just been uploaded.”
“…….”
……Park Song-min had been ignored!
Park Song-hu showed him the screen.
The official YouTube channel of <Scene & Cut> magazine.
[Actor Park Song-hu, First Interview Since His Return “I Thought I'd Regret It”]
“I-I don't think I need to watch…….”
“I'm playing it.”
“W-wait……!”
The video started.
The interviewer's question came through.
[Was there something that made you decide to return?]
After the interviewer asked the question, Park Song-min on the screen lowered his eyes slightly.
[……I felt I couldn't go on like this.]
“……?”
Something was strange.
The voice naturally sounded just like his own, but it seemed to carry a depth of emotion.
[I thought I'd regret it.]
It was just one line, delivered almost in a murmur.
How could he put it?
For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off the screen.
The angle at which Park Song-min lowered his eyes, the breath that broke between words…….
‘……Was that a coincidence?’
Comments began appearing in real time.
-Wow, what's with this atmosphere?
-Has his voice projection improved?
-It's such an ordinary line, so why does it have that strangely chewy, sticky quality?
-So this is where he talks about deciding to come back.
-What regret, though? lol
└Why did I hit the table back then? I should've slapped his face.
└lololololol
The mockery began to grow, comment by comment.
A vein rose at Park Song-hu's temple.
[Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans?]
[……I'd like to tell them thank you.]
[For waiting for me.]
So far, it was an ordinary enough comeback message.
A textbook answer.
Fine, this much was all right.
It would end neatly there.
But then came the next part.
[……You waited for me, and yet…….]
His voice trailed off.
An unfinished sentence.
As if he'd swallowed something more he wanted to say.
‘……What?’
On the screen, Park Song-min's lips moved.
He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about the atmosphere had subtly changed at that point.
He just didn't know why.
All Park Song-min had done was let his voice trail off.
[What side of yourself would you like to show from now on?]
Park Song-min's gaze slowly dropped.
He was looking down at the hands resting on his knees.
‘Did he stop because he didn't know what to say?’
That was what Park Song-hu thought.
Of course.
It was only reasonable to think he'd lost his words in front of the camera.
But something bothered him.
The guy had answered fairly well up to that point, only to stop dead at the very last question.
‘……Could he have done it on purpose?’
No way.
He dismissed the thought.
The kid had simply frozen from nerves.
Then Park Song-min's eyelashes trembled.
The rims of his eyes reddened, and something clear gathered at the tips of his lower lashes.
“Hey, you crazy bastard. Why are you crying―”
The instant he saw Park Song-min's face on the screen, his mouth closed of its own accord.
He could only stare, dazed.
……Why is that kid crying?
-?????????
-What the hell was that?
-Holy shit, Park Song-hu is crying?
-Turns out I like moist-eyed Song-hu…….
-It's obviously acting.
└Nope, Park Song-hu can't fake tears.
-But seriously, why is he crying?
└Looks like he got choked up on his own while thanking the fans for waiting for him T_T T_T T_T
The comments were fierce.
Positive and negative reactions tangled together. He'd naturally expected the negative ones to dominate, but…….
-No, but he really looks like he's crying for real?
-Does bawling make everything forgivable?
└Who said anything about forgiving him? It's just surprising to see him cry.
-Those really aren't the eyes Park Song-hu used to have. Looks like there's a story there;;
-That's 100 percent acting. Don't fall for it lol
└You know how bad Park Song-hu is at acting, right? There's no way he could fake tears that naturally.
└Oh, right…… It can't be acting.
-Wow, but he's fucking handsome when he cries.
-I almost became a fan just now. Is that normal?
└Same, same, same, same, same, same
└Totally normal, yep.
To his surprise, he saw quite a few favorable reactions.
Of course, there were still more negative ones overall.
-Milking people's sympathy is disgusting.
-Guess he spent his whole time lying low practicing how to fucking cry.
‘Acting like he was crying?’
Park Song-hu glanced over.
Park Song-min was feigning indifference, but seemed to be avoiding his gaze desperately.
“Hey, don't tell me that was acting just now.”
Park Song-min's eyes darted from side to side before he nodded stiffly.
“…….”
Acting?
That had been acting?
No way.
‘He must've just gotten lucky.’
Maybe he'd been swept up in the mood of the interview and gotten emotional, or maybe he'd held back a yawn. Whatever it was.
Park Song-hu had just reached that conclusion when Park Song-min muttered:
“……I just tried putting myself in the character's shoes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“N-nothing. I was talking to myself.”
Park Song-hu started to press him for an answer, then decided against it.
The kid would obviously just open and close his mouth before running away.
He glanced at the clock.
“Should be time now.”
He picked up the remote and turned on the TV.
The opening of <Our Hospital> was just beginning.
Background music played, and the hospital room set appeared on screen.
“I-I should get going.”
Park Song-min sprang to his feet.
“Why?”
“Uh, I just got this feeling that a burglar's about to break into the house.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? Security there is excellent.”
“N-no, actually, I left the refrigerator door open when I came out.”
“Why would you leave it open?”
“……! I-I think I need to hurry back and water a potted plant!”
“What are you babbling about? I don't have any potted plants at my place.”
Park Song-min's eyes began darting about with nowhere to settle.
“Oh, and my manuscript! I'm behind on it! My readers are waiting, so I need to go write some more right away…….”
Park Song-hu narrowed his eyes.
“What, do you need the bathroom? It's over there. You can use it.”
“N-no. I'll just go. Thank you. Yes, I'm leaving!”
“…….”
Park Song-min fumbled for the doorknob.
Park Song-hu warned him from behind.
“You're going out looking like that?”
“!”
Only then did he put on his mask and hat. He gave a quick bow and fled the VIP Room.
“What's with him?”
<Our Hospital> was airing on TV.
The scene where ‘Park Song-hu’ entered came on.
Even to his own eyes, the face was exactly the same.
The walk was a little awkward, but with the camera mostly framing the body, it wasn't very noticeable.
The host asked a question.
[So what illness brought you here?]
According to the script, he was supposed to say prince syndrome…….
[Anger management disorder……?]
[※Actual situation※]
……Wait, wasn't he supposed to say prince syndrome?!
“You f*cking bastard!”
He grabbed his phone by reflex and checked the live comments.
At least something was coming in fast.