What woke his drowsy consciousness was the small notification sound of his cell phone.
Opening his eyes at that sound, Junghyun blinked for a moment.
After having lunch, he had felt drowsy and lay down for a bit, and it seemed he had fallen asleep again.
In this not-so-surprising situation, he picked up the glowing phone beside him to check, and there was a message.
The sender was an unsaved number.
[We should meet once, you and I?]
At the contact that came sooner than expected, Junghyun sat up from the bed and frowned while running his hand through his messy hair.
Since he had blocked calls because it was annoying, they sent it from another number.
Or maybe they had changed their number entirely.
“This is tiresome, really.”
Sighing about whether they had time to spare, Junghyun immediately added that number to his call blocking list.
And when he checked the notification window again, a message from Jaehyuk appeared.
[Ginseng] I’ll get off work at 6. Let’s have dinner together.
It was a message that came around 3 PM.
After sending a reply saying he understood, he began checking the message window that had been neglected for a month.
But as expected.
All the messages were full of curses.
Not only Yoonho hyung, but the messages sent by Yongwoo and other friends all started with “crazy bastard” and ended with “are you even human?”
Only Seojun had sent a message saying his family was worried.
It was understandable that they were angry since he had disappeared so suddenly without saying anything, but starting right off with “you crazy bastard” was a bit much.
It was accurate, but because it was accurate, it felt bad.
[I’m back. See you later.]
Feeling bad was one thing, but he felt he should at least report that he was alive, so he copied the same content and pasted it into all the message windows filled with profanity.
However, only to Heo Yongwoo did he send a message asking if he was happy selling out his friend to buy a catcher.
After roughly organizing all the messages at once like that, he slowly got up from the bed and picked up the new phone he had casually thrown aside.
As expected, there was a message from the uncle on the new phone.
It was asking why there was no contact when they were supposed to meet for lunch.
Only then remembering he hadn’t contacted the uncle, just as he was about to send a reply, the phone on the bed started ringing like crazy.
The sound was small but felt as loud as a slap, so he approached it and checked the screen – it was Yoonho hyung.
At the expected caller, he immediately pressed the call button and answered curtly.
“What?”
– Where are you?
This time too, as expected, a shouting voice came through.
It was fortunate he had moved the phone away from his ear in advance, expecting this.
“Where would I be? Home.”
– So which home?
“Jaehyuk hyung’s home.”
After the brief answer, sudden silence followed.
And after about 10 seconds of quiet, Yoonho hyung asked again.
– ……You’re really alive, right?
“I’m alive, so I’m answering the phone.”
– Wow…… Jaehyuk hyung really is weak when it comes to you. His atmosphere was so murderous that I thought he’d kill you the moment he saw you. That’s why I was actually debating whether I should mention the pregnancy or not.
“It’s fortunate you only debated it.”
– Yeah, really fortunate. Anyway, I can’t welcome you back, but…… it’s good. Jaehyuk hyung didn’t look good either.
“He didn’t look good.”
– And whose fault is all that?
“Mine.”
– At least you know?
“Because I know, I’m sitting quietly. If I didn’t, I would have already run away somehow.”
I say that’s my specialty, but Yoonho hyung’s voice rises again.
– This bastard really has no answer. You’re thinking of running away again even after seeing hyung’s face?
“I made too big a mess.”
– If you know that, reflect and improve?
“Humans don’t change easily.”
Somehow, as the conversation continued, he felt drained again and sat back down on the bed, eventually lying down again.
His body felt drowsy.
It was natural since he had moved so much yesterday, but somehow it seemed his tension had released because his mind was at ease.
It appeared his body really recognized this house as “home.”
For him, his family home was like a prison he didn’t want to visit if possible, and the apartment where he had lived for 15 years was more like a kind of lodging rather than a home.
A place he stayed because it was necessary, but where he did nothing except minimal sleep and showering.
Perhaps because of that, he had gotten appropriately used to it so it wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t very comfortable either.
That place was just a space where he slept, not something that felt like “home” in the conceptual sense.
But strangely, this house where he had lived for only about three months, he considered his “home.”
That was ironic.
When he first came to this house, he had come with the feeling of staying at a luxury resort for a while, but this place had now become the most familiar and comfortable place.
– How’s your body?
“Fine. If it weren’t for sleeping at newborn levels, I wouldn’t even know I was pregnant.”
– That’s interesting. I thought a baby from you and hyung would be quite ill-tempered and prickly, causing chaos even in the womb.
“Sorry to break your expectations, but fortunately the baby is very mild.”
– That’s why it’s strange. Does it make sense for a baby from you and hyung to be mild?
“I was told I was mild when I was a baby too.”
– ……You?
“I was the mildest in the world until infancy. It’s just that my temper came out from toddlerhood.”
I was definitely mild as a baby. I slept well, ate well, and didn’t cry.
It’s just that my awful personality came out from the moment I started walking and talking.
– Jaehyuk hyung probably would have been difficult even as a baby. So is that baby taking after you?
Yoonho, who had paused at that part, shuddered after a moment.
– Ugh, I don’t like imagining it. One like you is already burdensome enough, but if there were two…… It would be a disaster, a disaster.
“You’re not the one who’ll raise it, so mind your own business.”
– It’s not me but you who’ll raise it, that’s why I’m worried.
It was worry about how the child would grow up with such an innate temperament and such a primary caregiver.
It was a sufficiently realistic concern.
“That’s true.”
– So definitely tell him. Jaehyuk hyung. From what I see, hyung is much better as a caregiver than you.
“That’s also true.”
– So definitely say it. Or should I tell him?
“I’ll think about it.”
– Don’t just think about it.
When you say you’ll think about it, it’s scary now, Yoonho said in alarm, when a message notification sound rang.
It seemed someone else had sent a message.
It was obvious that messages would keep pouring in from now on, so he decided to end the call around then.
“I’m hanging up. Since I reported I’m alive, contacts are coming from everywhere.”
– Alright. And let’s cut off our persistent connection with this. Nothing good seems to come to my life from being involved with you.
“If hyung wants that, there’s nothing I can do. You know that good relationships break easily, but bad relationships surprisingly don’t break well?”
– Shut up.
At the slightly teasing tone, the call was immediately cut off.
Smiling at his consistent reaction, when he checked his phone, friends’ messages had indeed arrived in a line.
[Heo Yongwoo] If our Elephants can just win the championship for the first time in 18 years, I can sell you out 18 times.
Even after contact from a friend who had suddenly disappeared came after a month, starting with baseball talk was so typical of Heo Yongwoo.
“This bastard isn’t sane either.”
Although it would be stranger to be sane in that environment, this guy was still a bit much, he thought, shaking his head as he moved to the next message.
Fortunately, the rest of the messages were normal.
They still contained various profanities, but everyone was at least asking about his well-being.
At least these were messages that showed humans were social animals. As he was sending replies to each one, the phone rang.
It was Seojun.
Wondering what was going on with a guy who usually didn’t even send messages after marriage, he pressed the call button.
“Yeah. What?”
At the question of what was wrong, a low voice immediately came through.
– Long time no see, isn’t it? For us?
It wasn’t Seojun.
At that unexpected voice, Junghyun let out a small sigh.
Annoying.
Since he had blocked numbers one after another as contacts came, they had apparently borrowed Seojun’s phone.
At this point, it was disgusting.
“You’re persistent?”
– Are you the only one allowed to be?
“Then let’s not be mutually disgusting and hang up.”
– Let’s meet briefly?
“Why?”
– I think we need to meet.
“I don’t have any business.”
– Business will arise.
“I’ll meet when it does. I’m blocking this number too.”
If they thought he couldn’t block calls because it was Seojun’s number, that was a stupid judgment.
He could contact Seojun through his family anyway.
So telling them to do as they pleased, he unilaterally hung up and immediately pressed the call blocking button.
But even while doing so, he somehow felt that things might get a bit troublesome.
He hoped it was just unfounded worry, but the problem was that such bad premonitions always turned out to be accurate.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
