5) Spreading
Kwon Seok-ho watched Jun-seo’s movements, lightly tapping his fingers on his knee. Meanwhile, Jun-seo twirled a thick bundle of jjajangmyeon and shoved it into his mouth.
“By the way, wow, jjajangmyeon tastes so good after not having it for a while. Where did you order this from? Is it somewhere near here?”
Seeing him ask so brightly with dark brown sauce smeared around his mouth, Seok-ho’s suspicion quickly faded. Instead, his face naturally twisted into a frown.
“Wipe your mouth. It’s filthy.”
Clicking his tongue, Seok-ho tossed the box of tissues on the table toward Jun-seo. Jun-seo, who had been scraping up every last bit of the jjajang sauce, pulled out a tissue and wiped his mouth. Soon after, he started complaining.
“Seriously though. Aren’t you way too indifferent to me, hyung? I mean, I’m your only cousin. Huh? The CSAT is literally a week away, and you can’t even give me something like chocolate, huh? Or taffy or something as a gift.”
“…CSAT?”
Seok-ho counted the days in his head. Was it already that time? Time really flew.
It felt like just yesterday that Kwon Jun-seo had stubbornly insisted that since he was now a proper test-taker, Seok-ho should treat him carefully because he was in such a sensitive period.
The moment the CSAT was mentioned, Kim Kang-woo naturally came to mind. Seok-ho’s thoughts quickly drifted away from the person in front of him.
If he was the same age as Kwon Jun-seo, then that guy should also have been preparing for the CSAT this year. From what he had heard, Kang-woo was fairly smart, so he probably studied hard for it.
But Kim Kang-woo wasn’t currently attending school, and publicly it was said that he had gone abroad for language study, so there was no way he could take the CSAT this year.
“Hyung, so with that in mind, can I sleep over at your place just for today? When I’m at home, I feel strangely suffocated and can’t concentrate. I guess it’s because the CSAT is so close.”
Jun-seo leaned his upper body against Seok-ho with a playful gesture and smiled warmly.
Regardless, Seok-ho didn’t answer and simply stared at some point on the table. Even when Jun-seo waved his hand near his face and called out, “Hello?” he didn’t budge.
“This guy, seriously. Thinking to himself again while someone’s right in front of him.”
Jun-seo shook his head from the side. At times like this, it was better not to bother him.
If he kept pestering him, it was obvious he’d only be met with a vicious glare and some brutal curses.
After sitting quietly in thought for a while, Seok-ho picked up his phone and rose from his seat with a leisurely motion. Then he abruptly kicked Jun-seo’s shin while he was sitting on the sofa.
“Argh! You could’ve just said something—why kick me?!”
Caught off guard by the sudden hit to the joint, Jun-seo jerked his leg aside and rubbed the struck spot vigorously with his hand. Even though he deliberately groaned louder in pain, Seok-ho simply walked past him indifferently through the open path.
“If you’re done eating, clean up before you go.”
“Ah, seriously, that hurts. Tss… You want me to clean all this up by myself?”
“I’m not asking you to pay for the food. Just clean it up properly. And air the place out too—it smells like the restaurant.”
“What are you talking about? This is a basement—how am I supposed to ventilate it?”
The pain still hadn’t subsided. Ignoring Jun-seo’s resentful glare and grumbling, Seok-ho grabbed his lighter and cigarette pack and headed outside.
Before the back of his dark head completely disappeared from view, Jun-seo shouted after him.
“Hey, hyung! Can’t I come hang out at your place today?!”
“No.”
With that firm answer left behind, the door closed helplessly. Jun-seo’s gaze dropped to the remnants scattered across the table.
“Seriously, what a jerk. We ate together—why do I have to clean everything up by myself? Am I his servant or something? I mean, yeah, okay, he paid for everything, but still… isn’t this a bit coldhearted…?”
Well, actually, it totally made sense. The one paying was basically a god.
After fuming in his seat for a moment, Jun-seo quickly accepted reality. Then he got up and began gathering the empty dishes from the table.
He separated the food waste from the general trash, tied the bags tightly, and carried them to the small pantry in the corner of the workshop. While he was at it, he figured he might as well imitate ventilation and left the entrance door wide open.
Even after finishing every task Seok-ho had ordered, Jun-seo stubbornly lingered on the sofa. Exactly ten minutes later, when Seok-ho returned reeking strongly of cigarette smoke, Jun-seo was unceremoniously kicked out.
***
As soon as he woke up, Kang-woo groped around the bedside in the darkness. Recently, Seok-ho had installed blackout curtains in this room as well, making it difficult to gauge the time because it was pitch black all around.
When he tapped his phone, the screen lit up. Squinting, he barely managed to read the numbers displayed.
[12:04]
He hadn’t expected it to be this late. Even after realizing he had completely overslept, Kang-woo remained curled under the blankets for quite a while before slowly pushing himself up.
Back when he didn’t have a phone, he had no choice but to wake up whenever his eyes naturally opened. But even after getting a phone, he never set a wake-up alarm.
He wasn’t someone who slept in much, so out of habit he would usually wake around 9 a.m. At the latest, his eyes would snap open by 9:30.
But today he had slept unusually late. As he approached the window and pulled the blackout curtains aside, bright noon sunlight poured into the room. Kang-woo stared quietly at the striking sunlight through narrowed eyes before turning around.
Dragging his feet, he went into the living room and opened the curtains there as well. After that, he stepped into the bathroom and took a shower with hot water.
When he came out, he wiped his wet hair with a towel while naturally grabbing the remote control with his other hand.
“—Once again this year, many families and juniors gathered early in the morning to cheer on CSAT examinees. Despite the cold weather under a cold-wave advisory, the enthusiastic supp—”
The television had been broadcasting the news. Behind the anchor’s energetic voice, interviews with citizens followed. Even by the time Kang-woo placed the damp towel into the washing machine and returned, the report hadn’t changed.
Kang-woo sat down on the sofa and picked up his phone. Even when he skimmed through internet articles, they were all filled with stories about the CSAT and the cold snap that always seemed to accompany it.
Well, it was only natural. It was a major exam held just once a year, so the media couldn’t help but make a big fuss about it.
The hand holding the phone dropped limply onto his thigh.
Before he knew it, it had already been a month since he left home. Which meant that Kang-woo’s runaway life had lasted longer than he had expected.
When he first left home, he thought he’d probably end up going back within a week. But fortunately, despite everything, he had met Seok-ho. Thanks to that, he had been able to spend his days in a peaceful space until now.
Was his father even looking for him? At this point, he couldn’t even be sure of that anymore. Hadn’t his father told the school that he had gone abroad for language study?
Maybe his father had no intention of looking for him at all. After all, he had been such an eyesore of a son. Perhaps his father wanted to take this chance to live as though he never had a child like him.
Even within peace, anxiety always existed. How long could this life continue?
Lost in such thoughts, Kang-woo unconsciously pulled his legs up onto the sofa and hugged his knees.
It didn’t feel real that today was the day of the CSAT.
Since leaving home, time had flown by like an arrow. When he had been beside Baek Kyung-wook, each day felt like hell—every minute and every second crawling by, suffocating him.
But the time he spent with Seok-ho had been so peaceful that a whole month felt incredibly short.
Maybe that was why.
For an entire year—no, even longer—he had studied desperately, yet now he felt nothing at all. He had imagined himself holding his admission ticket and entering the exam hall countless times a day, but now that the actual day had come, he didn’t feel even the slightest regret.
Thinking about it now, the studying had never been something he wanted in the first place. He had only done it for his father.
Despite his calm mind, his body felt strangely heavy. Sitting there with a languid feeling and staring blankly at the TV, he suddenly sensed someone’s presence.
When he turned his head, Seok-ho was standing there with the bedroom door open.
Kang-woo had no idea how long he had been standing there quietly watching him. But in the dull emptiness of Kang-woo’s eyes, a spark of life suddenly returned.
“You’re awake?”
He straightened his slumped body and greeted him. Seok-ho nodded silently.
“You woke up a bit late today too, hyung. I overslept as well.”
Kang-woo smiled faintly as he stood up from the sofa.
“Should I prepare a meal for you? I made a few stir-fried side dishes yesterday, and they turned out pretty good.”
Chattering as he walked to the refrigerator, he opened it.
Once again, Seok-ho responded only with a small nod.
Kang-woo flashed him a light smile and took out the containers of side dishes.
Yesterday, he had suddenly felt the urge to cook, and before he knew it he had made stir-fried potatoes, sausage kimchi stir-fry, stir-fried fish cake, and even stir-fried anchovies.
Every kind of stir-fry he could think of—he ended up making them all.
Thanks to that, it looked like they wouldn’t have to worry about side dishes for a while.
Seok-ho watched Kang-woo’s back as he busily moved around taking dishes from the cabinet. After a moment, he turned and headed toward the bathroom.
“Kim Kang-woo.”
Soon he turned back again and spoke toward Kang-woo’s back.
“The side dishes you made yesterday—we’ll eat those for dinner later. For now, get ready to go out.”
Kang-woo turned to him.
“…Yes?”
His eyes blinked.
“We’re going out.”
“…Together?”
“Yeah.”
“What about your work, hyung?”
“I’m not going.”
Kang-woo stared at him with a bewildered expression. Was it originally his day off?
More than that, though, this was the first time Seok-ho had suggested going out with him.
“Where are we going?”
“To hang out.”
He had asked for a destination, but received a completely different answer.
Soon the bathroom door closed.
Kang-woo stood there blankly staring at it for a while before placing the dishes he had taken out back into the fridge.
***
What should I wear? They said there’s a cold wave… I should probably dress warmly.
After standing in front of the dresser for a long time debating, Kang-woo picked out clothes of a moderate thickness. Since he didn’t have a padded jacket, he chose the thickest outerwear he owned.
Standing in front of the mirror, he checked his outfit once and then took a deep breath.
Ever since running into Baek Kyung-wook and his group the last time he went outside, he hadn’t tried going out again. He had been afraid he might run into someone he knew.
For Kang-woo, this was his first outing in several weeks.
“Wear something warmer.”
He thought he had prepared quite thoroughly, but the moment he stepped into the living room, Seok-ho immediately rejected it.
“More than this?”
“Layer up more. It’s cold outside.”
“…I don’t have any more clothes.”
When Kang-woo answered hesitantly, Seok-ho silently looked at him.
“Wait.”
