The back of his neck went cold. His whole body froze in fear, as if he’d committed all sorts of things he absolutely shouldn’t have done. In-seok slowly turned around. There stood Won-hyeok, who had followed him inside, wearing an impassive expression. Watching Han-gyeom grin brightly at Won-hyeok, several scattered puzzle pieces in In-seok’s head came together and completed a picture.
“…Hyung?”
Won-hyeok murmured softly, a faint smile touching his lips. In-seok recalled what he’d thought when he ran into Won-hyeok outside a little while ago. He hadn’t known who the unfortunate person would be that would end up crossing paths with Won-hyeok in this restaurant.
But who could’ve guessed that unfortunate person would be himself?
As expected, Han-gyeom either didn’t notice the strange tension flowing between the two of them or couldn’t read it at all, and he trotted over to Won-hyeok. Even as Won-hyeok naturally reached out and stroked Han-gyeom’s head with one arm, his gaze remained fixed on In-seok.
With two exceptionally tall men standing there blankly confronting each other inside the restaurant, the people around them kept sneaking glances over, wondering if something had happened.
“Sunbae, what brings you here? Weren’t you supposed to come back to Korea tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah. That was the plan, but I moved up the flight.”
Won-hyeok looked down at Han-gyeom and smiled sweetly. Watching that smile, goosebumps prickled down In-seok’s back. But then those terrifying eyes turned back to him, and he had no choice but to tense up.
He’d known Do Won-hyeok for well over twenty years. As cousins, they’d seen each other so often it was sickening, and because of that, In-seok knew better than anyone what kind of bastard Do Won-hyeok was and what he hated.
By nature, Do Won-hyeok had an extremely strong possessive streak when it came to things already in his hands. Back in elementary school, while playing at his uncle’s house, In-seok had once taken an interest in a robot toy Won-hyeok treasured. At the time, he didn’t yet know what Won-hyeok’s personality was like, so with a child’s simple heart, he’d whined that he wanted that toy.
When his uncle and aunt tried to persuade Won-hyeok and suggested he give it to his cousin as a present, Won-hyeok stared at him for a long while. Then, lifting the corners of his mouth into a fresh, bright smile, he readily handed over his toy.
At the time, In-seok had only thought Won-hyeok was an incredibly nice guy. But when it was time to go home and he tried to gather up the toy he’d been given, there was a problem. The robot had vanished without a trace, and when they finally managed to find it, it had been smashed into pieces. And that was when In-seok saw it. Behind the adults scolding him, his cousin stood silently with the corners of his lips raised.
Rather than let someone else have something he cherished, Do Won-hyeok had destroyed it so that no one could have it at all.
In-seok had realized at once who the culprit was, but he didn’t bother telling the adults. Maybe even back then, he’d instinctively sensed that there was something deeply abnormal about his cousin Do Won-hyeok’s personality.
“H-Han-gyeom.”
In-seok spoke in a trembling voice.
“Could it be your lover is…”
“Huh? Ah, yes, that’s right.”
When Han-gyeom broke into a wide grin, In-seok felt like his lifespan had been cut in half. The lover of none other than Do Won-hyeok. That man, who lived drunk on his own superiority and saw everyone besides himself as lesser beings, was dating someone? That alone was shocking enough, but that wasn’t what he needed to be worrying about right now.
For some reason, the expression of young Won-hyeok smiling in front of that shattered robot from years ago came back to him. There was only one thing In-seok had read in that expression.
A warning that if you covet what’s mine in the future too, you won’t like what happens.
Dating really didn’t suit Do Won-hyeok at all, but if the two of them were together for whatever reason, then In-seok’s position right now was incredibly awkward. Of course, he and Han-gyeom were nothing more than close hyung and dongsaeng who sometimes shared a meal, but how Won-hyeok—whose possessiveness was on another level—would see and feel about that was anyone’s guess.
“H-hey, th-that is…”
“You were the one helping out where Han-gyeom works part-time, In-seok?”
Won-hyeok asked with a smile so broad his eyes curved shut. The way he tagged on “In-seok” at the end made In-seok’s skin crawl. Only then did he think he understood why Won-hyeok had earlier told him not to drop the surname when calling him.
“Huh? Y-yeah.”
“Hm? You two… know each other?”
Han-gyeom looked back and forth between In-seok and Won-hyeok.
“Well, yeah. Why don’t we move somewhere else and explain properly? People are staring too much.”
It wasn’t just the customers. Even the busy staff kept glancing toward Han-gyeom’s group. They seemed unsure whether to say something, since they weren’t leaving, but they also weren’t sitting down to eat.
“Let’s all go outside together.”
Won-hyeok grabbed Han-gyeom’s hand and looked at In-seok. He had no desire to follow, but afraid of whatever consequences might come later, In-seok eventually lowered his head.
And so he went outside the restaurant feeling like he was being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
***
“C-cousins?”
Han-gyeom raised his voice. The strawberry smoothie he’d been drinking nearly went down the wrong pipe.
“Yeah. Didn’t I ever tell you I have a cousin my age?”
“This is the first I’m hearing about it. Cousins… wow, the world is seriously tiny.”
He looked back and forth between Won-hyeok and In-seok again. Come to think of it, he remembered that strange sense of familiarity he’d felt when he first met In-seok. He’d thought there was something about him that vaguely felt similar to Won-hyeok, and now it made sense. It was because they were blood-related.
Now that he looked, even the sharp shape of their eyes had a rather similar feel.
“That’s what I want to say. I never imagined you’d be working at the place where Han-gyeom works part-time too, In-seok.”
“Huh?”
In-seok, who had been sucking down his Americano like it was plain water, jolted in surprise at the arrow suddenly flying his way.
“No, well… I told you before, didn’t I? That I’d been going often to a café owned by a hyung I’m close with these days. They hired a new part-timer there, and that turned out to be Han-gyeom.”
“I see.”
Feigning calm, In-seok kept checking Won-hyeok’s face. The fact that he’d been smiling brightly this whole time felt deeply unpleasant. It was hard to tell whether he was angry or not. In the past, In-seok had been able to see through a fake smile right away, but these days, whatever level Won-hyeok had ascended to, it was impossible to read what was going on inside him.
“Still, this is kind of a relief. Knowing there’s someone trustworthy where Han-gyeom works.”
Pffft.
The supposedly trustworthy person Won-hyeok was referring to suddenly sprayed out what was in his mouth, as if it had gone down the wrong way. A flash of disgust crossed Won-hyeok’s face as he watched, but he pretended nothing was wrong and handed him a tissue.
“In-seok’s been helping you out well, right?”
“Yes. Thanks to him, I was able to settle in quickly too.”
“Well, his personality’s good enough for that.”
As In-seok wiped up the spilled coffee with a tissue, he wore an expression that said he absolutely could not believe this. Praise for him had just come out of that mouth of horrors? At this rate, tomorrow the sun might rise in the west.
“You two must be really close for cousins. I don’t have any cousins or relatives, so stuff like this makes me jealous.”
“Well, we’re close enough. The only cousin I trust and rely on is In-seok.”
This was getting more ridiculous by the minute. If he were being honest, he wanted to record this and play it back later when they were alone just to mock him with it. But if he did that, the chances of crossing the Styx were alarmingly high, so unfortunately he didn’t dare try.
Still, it looked like Do Won-hyeok really was hiding his true nature while seeing Han-gyeom. All this absurd nonsense he was spouting now, and all those stories Han-gyeom had proudly told earlier at the galbi place as moving anecdotes about his lover—they were all stories about this bastard. If that was the case, then he didn’t even need to see the rest. It was obvious.
“…”
In-seok sat across from them, looking back and forth between the two. Won-hyeok and Han-gyeom were talking with complete ease. He hadn’t known Han-gyeom for very long, but judging from the things he’d heard and the way he’d seen him act, Han-gyeom probably liked Won-hyeok quite a lot—no, a whole lot.
It was pitiful, really, that he’d somehow gotten caught by a psychopath like that. Part of him wanted to expose that bastard’s true nature and tell Han-gyeom to run. But at the same time, what In-seok was curious about wasn’t Han-gyeom so much as Won-hyeok.
If In-seok was the sort of person who simply didn’t particularly feel the need for dating or love and therefore chose not to bother with them, Do Won-hyeok was closer to the type who considered love trivial and useless. So then, was that bastard really dating Han-gyeom because he truly liked him?
“…”
In-seok sucked down the rest of his coffee until he could see the bottom of the cup and came to a conclusion. Probably not. That bastard and love? It suited him too little.
Besides, back at the galbi place, even when he’d seen Han-gyeom calling him hyung in a familiar way and spending time with him, he hadn’t reacted all that much. This was a guy who, when someone merely wanted a single robot toy, had destroyed the very thing he cherished at such a young age rather than let them have it. If he’d really been sincere about Han-gyeom, he wouldn’t have let something like that slide so easily.
Especially when the other person was his cousin, whom he detested so much. Going by his original personality, he would’ve had plenty to say even to Han-gyeom, his own lover. But he hadn’t done anything, and above all, he was hiding his true nature even in front of Han-gyeom. Maybe he had no intention of continuing the relationship, or maybe he simply wasn’t serious.
Han-gyeom’s starting to seem kind of pitiful.
A kid that sweet and cute had to be sincere.
As In-seok swallowed back a sigh of pity, Han-gyeom stood up from his seat.
“I’m going to run to the restroom for a sec.”
“Okay, take your time.”
Han-gyeom disappeared down the hallway where the restroom sign was. In-seok blankly sank into thought. He wondered if Han-gyeom might end up getting dumped because of him. It was only natural that Do Won-hyeok would lose interest in a lover who had a connection to someone around him.
In-seok picked up his cup. The ice clinked against itself with a crisp, refreshing sound. And at the same time, Won-hyeok opened his mouth.
“Hey, you fucking piece of shit.”
“Khk—”
At the sudden curse, In-seok spat the ice he’d been chewing right back into the cup.
