#111
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The movie they had turned on after dinner was already running toward its conclusion. Being quite immersed while watching the large screen in the dim living room, Nam Seonwoo belatedly noticed that the weight on his shoulder had become heavier.
When he slightly turned his head, hair tickled his cheek. Seeing the face so close, Nam Seonwoo unconsciously held his breath.
Kang Jihan, leaning on his shoulder, was nodding off. The motion of his head tilting forward before returning to its place was something he hadn’t seen since high school.
Nam Seonwoo glanced at the clock on the wall. It was still only seven in the evening.
‘And he didn’t even take his medication…’
The movie that had been interesting until just now no longer captured Nam Seonwoo’s attention. Just watching Kang Jihan doze off made the corners of his mouth form a gentle curve. He didn’t want to wake him, but it seemed better to let him sleep in bed rather than on the sofa. After turning off the TV, Nam Seonwoo carefully patted the body embracing him from behind.
“Sleepy? Should we go to bed?”
“Yeah…”
His voice was full of drowsiness. As Nam Seonwoo slowly got up, Kang Jihan followed, maintaining his embracing posture. Still in a sleep-dazed state, Kang Jihan clung tightly to Nam Seonwoo’s back and sluggishly walked to the bedroom.
Nam Seonwoo skillfully peeled off the shell on his back and laid him on the bed. After covering him with a blanket and waiting for a moment, Kang Jihan’s chest soon began to rise and fall slowly. Nam Seonwoo gazed at him with impressed eyes.
‘I guess exams are still exams.’
He had seemed to be studying halfheartedly, but taking the final exams must have been quite tiring. Seeing that there wasn’t a single sleep-talk even after waiting for a while, he seemed to be in a very deep sleep. Hoping it was deep enough that he wouldn’t even be conscious of dreaming, Nam Seonwoo carefully took out his phone. He wanted to capture this moment.
While covering the speaker and framing Kang Jihan on the screen, his phone suddenly vibrated.
“…!”
Hurriedly silencing the vibration, Nam Seonwoo glared at the culprit who had broken this quiet peace.
[Bakgyu]
Seeing that it was a call rather than a text, it must be urgent. Could it be that a property had become available? He glanced at Kang Jihan, but fortunately, he didn’t seem to have woken up. Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, Nam Seonwoo entered the living room bathroom and answered the phone.
“Hey.”
-“Hey, there’s a place available for immediate move-in. But if you want it, we should put down a deposit now. What do you think?”
“Now? Why?”
-“Four groups are coming to see the house starting tomorrow morning. And the owner wants to rent it out as soon as possible. Can you come now?”
“I’ll be there. I should go to your real estate office, right?”
-“Yeah, my dad is holding the owner now, so hurry up and come!”
As soon as the call ended, Nam Seonwoo prepared to leave. Both Kang Jihan falling asleep without medication and the timing of the call somehow felt good. Quietly finishing his preparations so as not to let his excitement escape, Nam Seonwoo looked back at the bed.
Even though it was just for a moment, he felt uneasy about leaving him. Nam Seonwoo carefully sat on the bed and whispered softly.
“Kangji.”
“…”
“Jihan-ah.”
Kang Jihan blinked his eyes. When Nam Seonwoo cupped his sleep-dazed, confused face with one hand, Kang Jihan made a sound in his throat. As if he was actually responding.
“I’m going to Park Gyuhyeon’s place for a bit. Okay?”
If he hadn’t been half-asleep, he would have surely said no, but Kang Jihan’s eyelids looked heavy now. When asked “Okay?” again, Kang Jihan buried his face in Nam Seonwoo’s palm and nodded slightly.
‘He should be fine.’
Still, just in case, he thought he should leave a note or something. Grabbing a Post-it note and leaving the room, he saw the refrigerator in the kitchen directly in front of him. If he stuck it there, it would catch the eye perfectly.
As he was writing on the Post-it note attached to the refrigerator, he suddenly thought this scene felt familiar.
When he lived with Kang Jihan in his previous life, they used to leave Post-it notes on the refrigerator like this when they had something to tell each other. Of course, most were written by Nam Seonwoo, and even those decreased in frequency as the years passed, until eventually some old Post-it notes stayed stuck there for months.
‘The last one that stayed up was…’
Was it the one telling him to take his vitamins? It was a Post-it note that had been left for quite a long time, so he seemed to remember it. He had no particular message to leave, but wanting to leave a note anyway, he had written such a meaningless nagging comment. Nam Seonwoo chuckled as he capped the pen.
“I’m at Bakgyu’s house.
Call me right away if you wake up.”
The Post-it note was a bright fluorescent color that would catch the eye even in the darkness. This should be enough to leave without worry.
As Nam Seonwoo was quickly cramming his feet into his sneakers, he hesitated. What if Kang Jihan somehow missed the Post-it note? That worry caught him by the ankle once more.
After thinking for a moment, Nam Seonwoo changed into Kang Jihan’s slippers. They were comfortably roomy, which is why he often borrowed them for quick trips nearby.
Then he deliberately left his shoes in place. Seeing his shoes still in the entryway, Kang Jihan would think he’d be back soon.
When he returned after securing the contract, it was already close to midnight.
Entering the residential area, Nam Seonwoo checked his phone again. Given that there had been no contact so far, it seemed Kang Jihan was still sleeping well. Still, not knowing when he might wake up, he needed to hurry. Slightly panting and dragging the slippers, he walked quickly, and soon Kang Jihan’s house came into view in the distance.
But something was wrong.
“Why is that…”
The gate seemed to be open.
He was sure he had locked the door when he left. Besides, there was no way the door would be wide open at this late hour. Thinking he must be seeing things, he hurriedly ran to the house, but unfortunately, he wasn’t mistaken. Nam Seonwoo, staring blankly at the wide-open gate, slowly entered.
A house with the lights off, a front door open like the gate. The moment he saw that, his legs moved quickly.
“Jihan-ah?”
There was no sign of anyone in the house. Without even taking off his shoes, Nam Seonwoo ran into the living room and paused at the scene inside. All the room doors that he had definitely closed before leaving were open. As if someone had searched through the house.
Even Baek Heeyeon’s room, which was always closed, was the same. The drawers under the vanity were all open, and items that seemed to have come from inside were scattered all over the floor. It was strange that only that room was in such disarray, so Nam Seonwoo, unconsciously holding his breath, entered Baek Heeyeon’s room.
Among the objects his feet bumped into, what caught Nam Seonwoo’s attention was the necklace Baek Heeyeon always wore. His gaze lingered strangely long on that pendant, which Kang Jihan had said looked equally faded to his eyes.
‘…This isn’t the time.’
Snapping back to his senses, Nam Seonwoo hurriedly called Kang Jihan. Around the start of the second ring, he heard a familiar ringtone. It was Kang Jihan’s ringtone.
“…?”
Without removing the phone from his ear, Nam Seonwoo followed the sound. It was coming from the bedroom.
The bedroom was empty. The blanket he had covered Kang Jihan with was on the floor, and the only thing emitting light, the phone, was still in the place where Nam Seonwoo had put it. As his arm holding the phone fell limply, the ringtone stopped.
He hadn’t been sleeping. The reason there had been no contact was that Kang Jihan had been too distraught to check his phone. Imagining Kang Jihan looking for him as soon as he woke up, Nam Seonwoo momentarily felt like everything went black.
‘Why… I definitely left a note…’
Had he not seen the note? Nam Seonwoo ran to the kitchen and inhaled sharply at the scene before him. He hadn’t noticed earlier because he was too distracted, but the kitchen was as much of a mess as Baek Heeyeon’s room. The Post-it note he had stuck up was crumpled and rolling on the floor, and vitamin bottles and medicine containers from the storage cabinet were scattered on the floor as if someone had thrown them.
Kang Jihan was gone. But Kang Jihan, who had sobbed while having a seizure at dawn, lingered like an afterimage in this quiet darkness.
And his voice, mumbling ‘Don’t go.’
There was no time to sink into guilt. Nam Seonwoo immediately ran out of the house and headed straight for his officetel.
Even the time to catch a taxi felt too precious, so he just ran. The shoes in the entryway, which he had glimpsed on his way out—Kang Jihan’s shoes still sitting there—made him resent the bumpy gravel paths of the residential area and the asphalt roads holding the early morning chill.
Unlike the residential area, the officetel building was brightly lit, but it was equally devoid of any signs of life. The elevator was stopped at the top floor. Watching the numbers slowly decrease, Nam Seonwoo eventually ran up the stairs. Every two or three steps he climbed, he felt like he could taste metal in his throat.
Please be here. He hoped Kang Jihan was waiting for him here, but the corridor in front of his home was too quiet. Nam Seonwoo, frantically catching his breath, shook his head vigorously. He had told Kang Jihan the door password when he said he would bring him his things. So he could be inside.
His fingertips trembled, perhaps pressing the wrong numbers, as the door lock beeped. Nam Seonwoo, unknowingly slamming the door, caught his breath again and entered the password.
“Kang Jihan!”
But Kang Jihan wasn’t here either. In fact, there was no sign that anyone had entered the house at all. The long-empty home felt cold despite it being midsummer. Still, Nam Seonwoo deliberately entered the house and called for Kang Jihan. Thinking he might hear a response if he shouted loudly, he raised his voice, but only silence returned.
It was then.
“Damn it, there he goes again. Please, let’s just sleep, just sleep!”
A voice was heard from beyond the wall, but it wasn’t the voice he had been waiting for. However, with the sound of banging on the door as if telling him to come out, he had no choice but to go outside.
In the corridor stood the man living in the next unit. With disheveled hair as if he had been sleeping, the man said irritably.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
