“Mister… what are you doing?”
“Ah… well, uh…”
Caught mid-bow in a half-hearted crouch, the man in debt quickly lowered his head again as his gaze met Tae-yi’s, who had just appeared behind Haram.
“Brought another bribe, huh?”
Tae-yi, now standing between the two flustered men, calmly reached out and took the shopping bag from the debtor’s hands as he spoke.
“Tae-yi…!”
Alarmed by Tae-yi openly accepting the bribe, Haram shot his tail straight up and grabbed Tae-yi’s forearm to stop him. But Tae-yi remained unfazed, patting Haram’s shoulder to calm him.
“It’s food, right? He brought it for you. Isn’t that true?”
The debtor, taken aback by Tae-yi’s nonchalance, blankly stared at him for a beat before quickly nodding.
“O-of course! It’s from that famous lunchbox place people line up for—I just got it fresh!”
He still couldn’t forget the shock of Tae-yi’s unexpected call last night.
“Bring a lunchbox for the sky squirrel at that hour.”
Just because it was said in formal speech didn’t make it a polite request. Without a word of explanation, Tae-yi had hung up after that one line. The man had to cut his summer holiday short and drive out to the countryside with a lunchbox. Naturally, he’d also bought one for Tae-yi, even though he hadn’t been asked.
“This’ll be perfect for breakfast.”
Tae-yi smiled and handed the lunchbox to Haram, who instinctively nodded but quickly caught himself and looked toward the debtor.
“I-I’ll take this. But I’m not selling the peanut field!”
A boldness Haram had never shown before surfaced. It wasn’t hard to guess where he’d learned that attitude. From behind him, Tae-yi grinned with satisfaction and gave him a reassuring pat.
“Go eat inside.”
“What about you?”
“Workout.”
“I’ll go with you. Let me put this away first.”
The debtor glanced between the two of them, observing the oddly affectionate atmosphere they were creating right in front of him.
“But… why’d you buy two?”
There were two lunchboxes in the shopping bag, along with two small containers of soup. He doubted the debtor had known Tae-yi would be there…
As Haram sharply pointed this out, Tae-yi gave the debtor a subtle look, and the man replied with an awkward chuckle.
“Uh, it was supposed to be for breakfast and lunch… I didn’t know your friend would be here, haha.”
His tone was off-putting, but considering he’d brought lunchboxes at the crack of dawn, Haram had no choice but to talk to him anyway.
“So… mister. Is that resort thing really true?”
“Of course! W-what… did you hear exactly, Haram?”
The debtor nearly lashed out in frustration but instantly swallowed it back when he caught sight of Tae-yi looming behind Haram like a stone totem.
“Do the villagers know? Am I the only one you told?”
“That’s right! I only told you so you could sell high. We go way back, don’t we?”
What kind of bullshit “longtime bond” was he going on about now? Haram frowned at the man who was pretending to be close and throwing around favors.
“What about the rich grandma with all the land?”
“Haa… she’s even worse than you.”
The debtor sighed deeply, pressing his fingers to his forehead in exasperation.
“So she knows, too?”
“Probably. That guy went to her place, not me.”
That guy—he must’ve meant the man with the glasses. So the land-rich grandma knew as well.
Tae-yi, who had been silently watching Haram as he stood clutching the lunchboxes, turned to the debtor and asked:
“And you? Why do you have that kind of information?”
Haram needed to hear this too, and more importantly, he didn’t look like he was about to go inside alone—so Tae-yi cut to the chase.
The debtor hesitated, wringing his hands together before finally speaking.
“Just… you know… bits and pieces. Actually, I’ve got something to say to Haram…”
“If it’s about the land, I’m not selling.”
Haram tacked that on at the end of every sentence, and it was giving the man a headache. Glancing nervously at Tae-yi, the debtor finally let out a long breath and spoke directly to Haram.
“He’s coming tomorrow. But you can’t tell anyone I told you about the resort. Got it?”
“He? That guy with the glasses…?”
The man nodded, confirming Haram’s suspicion, then let out a sigh deep enough to bury him into the earth. Tae-yi, who had been listening in silence, narrowed his eyes and asked:
“Who is he?”
The debtor hesitated, clearly unsure whether to answer, but when Tae-yi took a step closer, the man flinched and quickly replied:
“Construction! He’s from a construction company. I don’t know much either.”
“If you don’t, who does?”
There’s no way he didn’t know. The man was clearly lying. And of course, a thug like him wouldn’t respond to reason—that’s exactly why he’d tried to talk to Haram behind Tae-yi’s back.
As Haram began nervously glancing between them, lunchboxes still in hand, Tae-yi suppressed his growing irritation and asked again:
“Which company?”
“That’s still classified…”
Classified? Not just a secret, but classified? What a load of crap.
As Tae-yi’s fist clenched, the debtor instinctively backed away. Seeing this, Haram gently grabbed Tae-yi’s wrist and pulled him toward the house.
“Tae-yi… let’s just go inside.”
Watching Tae-yi obediently follow Haram’s light tug and walk into the house, the debtor called out after them in a hurry.
“Hey! Haram! Talk to him tomorrow when he comes!”
“No thanks!”
Slam.
Haram shut the gate hard and went inside with the lunchboxes still in his arms.
***
“Wow…”
Haram had never bought a lunchbox in his life. As he opened the one the debtor brought, admiration poured out of him.
The packaging was elegant, and it came with seven different side dishes, glossy white rice, and beef radish soup. As he heated the soup in the microwave, sunlight began streaming in through the windows.
“I’ll take it.”
Tae-yi approached, picked up the small tray with the warmed soup, and carried it to the living room.
“What are you gonna say when that guy with the glasses shows up?”
Sitting across from Haram, Tae-yi asked the question while setting the tray down. Haram hesitated, holding his spoon, then finally answered in a soft voice.
“…That I’m not selling.”
“Why so adamant?”
There were more than a few questionable parts to this whole thing, but redevelopment in a place like this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was also a chance to sell high if timed right. It wasn’t like Haram would be taking a loss.
So Tae-yi was genuinely curious why he kept refusing without hesitation.
Haram slumped slightly and answered in a quiet mumble.
Tae-yi once told him that he admired him for being a farmer. But honestly, Haram didn’t expect someone like Tae-yi—a city boy—to understand what it meant to be attached to land. Plus, he didn’t like attention, so he gave a vague answer.
“I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t know how to do anything else… I just wanna farm here and live quietly.”
Like a sky squirrel in a peanut field, not a frog in a well. That was it. That was the reason.
Tae-yi felt a tightness in his chest. Haram didn’t even realize how wide the world was—he was just trying to avoid everything. But Tae-yi understood; no one had ever shown him otherwise.
“You’ll figure it out. You’re still young.”
Haram, eyes fixed on Tae-yi’s deep gaze, cautiously asked:
“Do you like your job? Since you’re working at our age, I guess you didn’t go to college… Was it your dream?”
Tae-yi, who had gone to college but dropped out to study abroad, hesitated at the thought of having to lie again. In the end, he just gave a vague nod.
Haram stared silently at him, sensing the lack of sincerity. Tae-yi, noticing, picked up a spoon and gently placed it in Haram’s hand.
“Just think about it, okay?”
Whatever Haram decided, Tae-yi intended to help. He’d just do some digging about the resort project first before jumping in.
Seeing Haram still not eating, Tae-yi picked up a generous portion of seasoned eggplant from his own lunchbox and plopped it on Haram’s spoon.
Haram blinked and looked at him in confusion.
“Why are you giving me all of it? You don’t like eggplant?”
The dish had minced meat mixed in—it looked delicious. Why wouldn’t Tae-yi eat it?
“You like eggplant.”
Tae-yi smiled as he replied. Haram pointed to himself, baffled.
“Me?”
Had he ever said that? He didn’t particularly dislike it, but he didn’t remember saying he liked it either. He didn’t think he’d cooked eggplant for Tae-yi before… When did he say that?
“Yeah, you like it.”
Tae-yi spoke with certainty, which only left Haram more flustered. Still, he took a bite of the eggplant Tae-yi gave him and began chewing slowly. The flavors were well-balanced—the minced meat paired perfectly with the eggplant.
Now that he thought about it, maybe he did like eggplant.
***
Even though Tae-yi had said it didn’t matter, Haram had stubbornly given him the master bedroom again.
So that morning, Tae-yi woke up in the big room. As soon as he opened the door to head out, a rich, nutty aroma hit his nose. A faint smile escaped him despite himself.
He turned toward the source.
There was Haram, standing at the sink, hunched over—eating nuts?
“You’re eating peanuts this early?”
“Huh?”
Tae-yi stepped closer, but stopped short as Haram turned around.
“I’m peeling garlic… Does it smell like peanuts?”
In front of Haram sat a large aluminum bowl full of garlic. Now that he saw it, Tae-yi furrowed his brow—he could clearly smell the garlic now.
But what was that other nutty scent earlier? Like roasted mixed nuts… It had faded now, almost completely.
“…Never mind.”
Maybe he was just half asleep. But it wasn’t like he imagined the smell.
It lingered in his mind—strange and inexplicable.
No, not just strange.
It had been almost like… a pheromone.
