The moment I tilted my head slightly, Min Yugeon took my hand.
“It’s going to stay dark for a while. Don’t be scared.”
Right as he said that, the elevator began to move. As we passed through the ceiling, a blanket of darkness suddenly fell over us, and I flinched. But Min Yugeon’s warmth calmed me.
Vrrrrr— A low, eerie vibration echoed as the elevator ascended endlessly through the pitch-black space. It didn’t seem like the kind of place someone faint of heart could ride without trembling. Almost unconsciously, I found myself inching closer to Min Yugeon.
After a brief silence, a soft chuckle escaped him.
“What’s so funny?”
I threw the words at him, grumbling, and he pulled me into a tight hug.
“Sorry.”
His lips were saying sorry, but his body trembled subtly… It was clear he was still laughing.
“Seo Suho.”
At the sound of my name, I looked up. In the pitch black, it was as if he could still see me—his large hands gently cupped my face. I blinked in confusion, and in the next instant, something soft touched my forehead.
“What the…!”
Realizing what it was a beat too late, my eyes went wide.
“Are you out of your mind, Min Yugeon?!”
“It’s fine. There aren’t any cameras in here.”
“Even so…”
The heat in my face was definitely being transferred to his palms. The awareness of that only made me burn hotter, and just as I was about to shove him away in a fluster—
“Ah. We’re here.”
He muttered, almost in awe.
“…?”
Light flooded my vision so fast it made me squint. I ended up squeezing my eyes shut, and that’s when I realized something was off.
This wasn’t the familiar lighting I’d known since birth, always bright at just the right level… This was a brightness so intense it made my eyes ache.
…What is this?
Bewildered, I cautiously lifted my eyelids.
“What do you think?”
And I was left speechless.
“……”
A world of gold, blue, and white—blended together.
Clouds that flowed like smoke, yet didn’t disperse. A sun glowing in the distance, casting its radiance across everything.
It was my first time seeing the sky. More surreal than a painting. A landscape more beautiful and warm than anything I had ever known. A breathtaking sight that, in its sheer majesty, made the world I’d lived in feel utterly insignificant.
I stumbled toward the wall of the elevator, dazed. Min Yugeon let me go without resistance.
Even though it felt like staring at it too long would make me go blind, I couldn’t tear my eyes away, as if under a spell.
“Suho.”
As I pressed my hand to the transparent wall and gazed at the sky, Min Yugeon called out to me. I turned my head, and under the blazing light, he squinted slightly as he looked at me.
He had asked what I thought.
“It feels like I’ve come to a different world.”
The words spilled out honestly.
“This is why…”
Suddenly, something hot surged up my throat, cutting me off. My fingertips trembled, and my nose prickled. My vision blurred in an instant.
“…What’s wrong?”
Alarmed, Min Yugeon stepped toward me. My tears dripped onto the hands still cupping my face like earlier.
“Why are you crying all of a sudden, huh?”
He looked completely flustered, unsure what to do. He must’ve rarely seen me cry. But despite his concern, the emotions rushing up inside me were completely beyond my control.
So this is why my mother and father yearned for it so much—for this sky, for the world below. If even I, seeing it for the first time, could feel what freedom was… then how desperately must they have longed for it, having known it as children? The longing and desperation they’d shown in front of me were only a fraction of what they truly felt. I finally understood that now.
‘The dawn is blue, and the morning is bright. By afternoon it turns a deep orange, and gradually darkens. When it’s completely black… that’s night.’
“It’s bright.”
At my whisper, Min Yugeon flinched slightly, staring at me.
I lifted my head and met his gaze.
His white hair shimmered under the sunlight. His brown eyes, brighter than usual, reflected me completely.
The sky wasn’t the only thing so dazzling I could barely look straight at it.
Min Yugeon pulled my head to his chest. I closed my eyes and let myself lean into him fully. My breathing trembled, just faintly, almost too soft to notice.
***
“Phew… this is just upsetting.”
“Suho, your mom and dad are so sorry.”
The rumor that I was bullied by an upperclassman who used to have a crush on Min Yugeon spread like wildfire. Things had escalated so badly that it didn’t end with that senior coming to me to apologize—in the end, both our parents were summoned to the school.
Even after receiving an apology from the senior’s parents—and despite my protests—my mother and father also received a formal apology from Min Yugeon himself. They couldn’t hide how conflicted they felt. For many reasons, but mostly… they had no idea until the school called that I had been quietly enduring harassment. That was the biggest shock for them.
It was because I never said a word. Yet, instead of being upset with me, they blamed themselves for being inattentive and spent the entire day fretting over whether I had been having a hard time. They didn’t believe me for a second when I said I was fine.
In fact, they seemed to think I was just trying to comfort them.
“When did our Suho grow up so much?”
My mother stared at me with fresh eyes for a while, and then fell silent.
Perhaps she was mulling over the fact that this whole incident stemmed from teenage romantic drama. Eventually, she grasped my hand tightly and began to speak.
“Suho, if someone who truly loves you ever shows up…”
“You need to bring them straight to your dad. He’ll have to approve. If they’re not at least at Yugeon’s level, I absolutely refuse… Ow, hey! Honey! That hurts.”
“Our Suho’s smart. You’ll know. You’ll know whether that person really loves you.”
My mother stood on her tiptoes and stroked my head.
“But listen. If you either like that person too, or feel absolutely nothing for them, then that’s fine. But… if you can’t be sure for a long time, no matter how hard it is, you have to say no. Just like Yugeon did—firmly.”
I understood what she meant. Dragging someone along while being unable to make a decision… it was the same as monopolizing their time and emotions.
It was, in a way, a really cruel thing to do.
…And I was doing that right now.
“Feeling any better?”
After I’d cried my eyes out in the elevator for a good while, Min Yugeon brought me straight home and sat me down on the couch, worried about my condition.
As he knelt in front of me, looking up, I saw the shadow of his younger self—checking on me back when I was in a wheelchair.
He really hadn’t changed.
Maybe that’s why my mother had anticipated all of this and tried to warn me.
“Min Yugeon.”
“Yeah?”
I took a quiet breath.
“What exactly are we?”
“……”
It felt like I heard my heart crash to the floor with a deafening thud.
A suffocating silence fell over us.
“What…?”
His eyes wavered, and his lips parted a beat too late.
“What are you talking about…?”
“It’s a straightforward question.”
I kept my tone as neutral as I could.
“Are we really just friends?”
“…If we’re not friends, then what are we?”
He forced a smile, like he thought the question was absurd. He tried to act like it was nothing, but I could already see the emotions spilling through the cracks.
Truth be told, my own mouth was dry as sand.
“Then let me rephrase it.”
My own voice echoed in my head, telling me not to ask. That once I did, it would all be over. That I should just stop.
I ignored the desperate warnings and pushed forward.
“Not us. You.”
My chest pounded so hard it felt like it might explode.
“Do you… really think of me as just a friend?”
I finally said it.
No matter what answer came next, I had to define what we were.
Whether he admitted that his feelings had been exposed or tried to brush it all off as my misunderstanding—whatever it was, there could be no more ambiguity.
Predictably, Min Yugeon stared at me, completely drained of color. He clearly understood why I was asking, and what I meant.
He had always known exactly what I was thinking.
“When did you find out?”
His voice trembled with helpless vulnerability. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes visibly shook. His lips, pressed together so tightly, had gone pale from the lack of blood.
I couldn’t bear to look at his devastated expression, so I dropped my gaze to my knees.
“……Not that long ago.”
I didn’t need to say exactly when.
There probably weren’t many times he’d said something that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for just a friend’s words.
“I see. So you heard.”
I lifted my head at the sound of his voice, tinged with a faint hollowness.
Min Yugeon stared at me with unfocused eyes. He didn’t look like someone who was embarrassed about being found out—he looked like someone who had read my expression, tone, and mood… and had the strength drain right out of him.
He gave off a strange air, as if he had already expected this, mingled with quiet self-deprecation.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
“I must’ve made you really uncomfortable.”
A fragile smile spread across his pale face, one that looked like it could shatter at any second.
