I thought maybe it had been an unreasonable request, but in the end, I was allowed access to the underground research facility. My parents turned out to be more vulnerable to me than I’d expected. Although the exact reason remained unclear, Rai’s non-aggressive attitude toward me also played a role in their decision.
From that day on, my life began to change. I started going down to the lab with my mother and father and spent a lot of time with him there.
Rai would silently watch me as I solved the cube, or quietly listen to my voice. Sometimes he’d absentmindedly groom his fur with those huge front paws, but I could tell he was focused on me by the way his ears perked straight up.
“Rai.”
-……
Rai twitched an ear, his face buried between his forepaws. His stiff, angular tail thumped the ground a couple of times. I sat on the soft mat my parents had laid out for me and sketched Rai in the notebook I’d brought from my room. As long as he wasn’t displeased, Rai didn’t move around much, which made him a pretty decent model.
I tried to draw seriously, but what I ended up with was a clumsy mess of uneven lines. When I spread the drawing out and held it up against the wall, Rai cracked one sleepy eye open.
“What do you think?”
-…Kkiruk kkiruk.
A sound that almost resembled a mocking chuckle slipped out as he showed a hint of his teeth. The noise was loud enough to pass through the walls, so even though I was outside, I could faintly hear it. On the other hand, with Rai’s heightened hearing, my voice must have been perfectly clear to him.
Looking at Rai with his mouth now shut as if he’d never made a sound, I wondered for a moment if I’d just imagined it.
“So that means you liked it, right?”
Since he didn’t get angry, I decided to interpret it in the way that suited me best. I pulled the sketchbook off the wall and flipped to the previous page. It was a picture of Min Yugeon stacking toy blocks. Traces of the time we spent drawing each other for fun. Thinking back, I realized Min Yugeon had made a similar sound when he saw one of my drawings.
“This is my friend.”
I pointed out Min Yugeon’s figure to Rai.
“The one who gave me this.”
I pulled the cube out of my pants pocket, and Rai’s shiny eyes locked onto it. Maybe because it was colorful, it always seemed to catch his eye more than anything else I’d shown him.
“It’s tough, so I still haven’t finished it. I think I’m close, though.”
I slowly turned the nearly completed cube, leaving just one side unsolved, making sure Rai had a good view of it.
-Grrrng.
Facing the crouched beast, I laid down flat on the floor as well. Staying like that, with his gaze locked on me, I began solving the cube again.
Surprisingly, every now and then, Rai would seem to want to give me advice—tapping the wall with a paw or letting out a short rumble from his throat. When he did, I’d obediently follow his hints.
This sort of daily routine went on for quite a long time, continuing unchanged until I’d grown tall enough for my eyes to be level with Rai’s when he was in his lowered posture.
***
The ship’s education and employment system wasn’t all that complicated. Children received mandatory schooling on board until they became adults, then each of them chose the field they wanted to enter. Usually, as soon as they graduated, they were assigned to the jobs they’d selected. But rather than being thrown into the field right away, they first had to go through a designated period of training or internship based on their chosen occupation.
Of course, you couldn’t just go wherever you wanted. If there were too many applicants for a particular field, or if you had some disqualifying factor, you could be rejected. The latter could include things like problematic behavior or poor academic performance.
“What’re you doing during lunch?”
Min Yugeon flopped down into the empty seat in front of me. I looked up from reviewing the questions from our recent exam.
He’d shown promise since we were young, and sure enough, he’d grown ridiculously tall. With his baby fat completely gone, there wasn’t even a hint of the cuteness he used to have. The change made me keenly aware of how much time had passed.
It felt like just yesterday we were meeting for the first time at the school entrance ceremony, marveling at everything together—and now we were already on the verge of graduation.
“That was the final test, right? I already submitted my application after it ended. Don’t you think we should relax until the results come out?”
Tapping my test sheet, Min Yugeon leaned back in his chair and started chatting. From the dampness of his bangs, it looked like he’d probably just finished playing sports with the others, like he usually did.
“Doing what I normally do helps me stay relaxed.”
I replied briefly, then started gathering my materials off the desk to pick things up later. Min Yugeon squinted at me.
“Yeah? Guess that’s what makes you the top studen—!”
I unwrapped a piece of candy I’d fished out of my pocket and popped it straight into his mouth. It meant “shut up with the nonsense,” but for some reason, Min Yugeon just started grinning like an idiot.
“That’s exactly why I told you not to worry about it.”
Soon after, he said while sucking on the candy:
“You’ve been all anxious, haven’t you? Afraid the lab might not accept you after all, even though it’s unlikely.”
“……”
I thought I’d been hiding it well… but he saw right through me without even trying.
When I was little, I had a vague dream of becoming a researcher, just like my mother and father, who walked their chosen paths with such joy. But after meeting Rai, that fuzzy dream became something firm and unwavering. Now that the moment to finally realize it was so close, all sorts of worries had started bubbling up inside me.
I stayed quiet, crinkling the candy wrapper in my hand.
“You overthink everything.”
Min Yugeon poked me on the cheek with the tip of his index finger. I used to be the one who comforted him when he was often in a foul mood because of the tension between Min Sanghan and Lee Minha. But at some point, it became more common for Min Yugeon to pick up on my inner thoughts with unsettling precision.
Feeling both embarrassed and grateful, I gave him a gentle shove.
“…Did you,”
I hesitated a moment before speaking.
“…tell your parents you applied to be an engineer?”
Min Sanghan wanted his son to become a researcher like himself. But Min Yugeon had a clear grasp of what suited him and what kind of work he actually wanted to do. If he had told Min Sanghan about applying to be an engineer, they might’ve had a serious fight.
“Mm… I only told my mom.”
Min Yugeon shrugged those broad shoulders of his.
“Not my dad. He’s gonna find out eventually anyway. Telling him early will just make him mad sooner.”
The shake of his head radiated exhaustion—he already seemed tired of the argument that hadn’t even happened yet.
His frustration with Min Sanghan had been piling up layer after layer. Min Sanghan was still always busy, and his relationship with Lee Minha remained strained. I’d heard that the only real conversations they had these days were arguments. If you could even call those conversations.
The same dynamic applied to his relationship with his son.
Min Yugeon, who once used to hang on every bit of my childish advice, had grown into someone who could counter Min Sanghan’s words with logical, unflinching honesty—sharp enough to shut his father up entirely. Min Sanghan, in turn, became angrier and angrier with his son, and always seemed to be the one to start their fights. Apparently, he’d been pressuring Min Yugeon to submit an application to the research institute. He desperately wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but that desire had clearly crossed the line into overbearing.
In the end, all of it accumulated to the point where it was only natural that Min Yugeon harbored these negative feelings.
Crunch—the candy shattered in his mouth. I gave his tense shoulder a few taps, sensing he was grinding his teeth at the thought of his father.
“You’ll break it.”
“…Seo Suho.”
“Yeah?”
“If you hang out with me today, I think I’ll feel a bit better.”
Gripping my wrist tightly, Min Yugeon whined like a little kid, his eyebrows drooping. It was partly a joke, but there was sincerity underneath. As I looked into his deep brown eyes, I nodded without hesitation.
Just then, as if lunch break was ending, the auditorium doors flew open and a crowd of students came pouring in. Among them were some of Min Yugeon’s usual friends, and when they spotted us, their eyes lit up as they made a beeline in our direction.
“Yooo, Min Yugeon! You ditched us right after the game again—came to see Seo Suho, huh?”
“What were you two doing alone in a place this big?”
“Come on, just tell us the truth!”
They didn’t even wait for answers before spewing their nonsense. I stared at them with a blank, lifeless gaze.
Min Yugeon, meanwhile, raised the corners of his mouth as if he hadn’t been sulking at all just moments ago. He gently tugged the wrist he’d been holding, pulling me toward him.
Our upper bodies suddenly pressed close together.
“Wanna know? Should I show you?”
“Ooooooh…”
“Wooo!”
“Do it, show us!”
Cheers and jeers blended into a ringing mess in my ears. Their energy was so over the top it felt like it was spilling into the air.
Too loud. A wave of fatigue hit me out of nowhere. I let out a quiet sigh and turned to Min Yugeon. His face was so close to mine, it felt like we were about to touch.
And then—just for a second—his body gave the tiniest jolt, like he was surprised.
Even though he was the one who pulled me in.
“Let go?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Min Yugeon respectfully let me go.
Because of this kind of behavior, there had long been a ridiculous rumor going around the school that we were dating. Of course, over time people realized it wasn’t true, but Min Yugeon still milked the joke whenever he felt like it—just like today.
The noisy crowd dispersed back to their seats, and the afternoon classes began.
The soon-to-be graduates were sluggish. In a room where everyone else was dozing off like they’d been hit with tranquilizers, the teacher’s laser focus and booming voice aimed solely at me felt more burdensome than usual. Still, I adjusted somehow, and before I knew it, the day’s school schedule had come to an end.
After that, just as I’d promised, I boarded the train with Min Yugeon and headed to his place.
