#91
Though Do-hyun seemed especially playful today, Ho-woo wasn’t too annoyed. He figured Do-hyun was trying his best to cheer up the dejected Ho-woo in his own way.
Ho-woo briefly stared at the tightly closed bathroom door where the sound of running water had started, then flopped down on the bed. Perhaps due to being harassed all week, his eyes started to close drowsily even though it wasn’t bedtime yet.
“Are you sleeping already?”
Do-hyun was looking down at Ho-woo, dripping water from his hair. He must have finished showering while Ho-woo had dozed off. The water droplets falling on his cheek pulled Ho-woo back from the edge of sleep.
Still drowsy, Ho-woo sat up on the edge of the bed and noticed the wet spot, frowning slightly.
“…You’re getting the bed wet.”
Do-hyun, who was halfheartedly drying his damp hair with a towel, plopped down at Ho-woo’s feet by the bed.
“Then dry it for me.”
Do-hyun whined, holding out the half-wet towel and resting his chin on Ho-woo’s knee.
“Are you crazy?”
Ho-woo expressed his genuine disgust. His attempt to push Do-hyun away with his leg, thinking he must have drugged the tteokbokki earlier, was in vain. Do-hyun firmly wrapped his arms around both of Ho-woo’s legs and held on with all his might. After about ten minutes of wrestling to push him away, both sides were exhausted.
Ho-woo was the first to raise the white flag, feeling his already tired body becoming even more limp. He roughly rubbed Do-hyun’s head with the towel he had carelessly tossed on the bed.
“Ow! Ow ow ow!! It hurts! Hey! I said it hurts!”
Do-hyun yelled as his hair was roughly pulled during the process, but Ho-woo persistently rubbed his wet hair. When the harsh treatment that seemed like it would pull out all his hair finally stopped, Do-hyun checked the numerous hairs stuck to the towel and made a pitiful face.
“Would you do this if your boyfriend asked you to?”
“Of course not. You’re not Oh-yul.”
“Haven’t you heard of a dress rehearsal? A dress rehearsal!”
“Stop talking nonsense. Don’t try anything funny and go to sleep!”
Ho-woo kicked Do-hyun away, not hard enough to hurt, and went into the bathroom. There was still hot steam lingering, but he didn’t have the energy for a shower. This was all Kim Do-hyun’s fault. If he hadn’t caused such a fuss, Ho-woo would have had enough energy left to shower.
After weakly washing his face and brushing his teeth, Ho-woo now had no energy left even to move a finger. He dove onto the bed as if collapsing.
“Are you really going to sleep?”
Do-hyun, who had quietly approached, clung to the bedside and poked Ho-woo’s side.
“Even though I came?”
Though Ho-woo thought this guy would barge in every weekend if he wanted, he still turned over with a sulky face, having been lying face down.
Seeing Ho-woo’s half-resigned reaction, Do-hyun grinned and burrowed into a corner of the bed. Do-hyun squeezed himself into every possible space, making Ho-woo, who was pushed into a corner, groan before finally relaxing his body. As Ho-woo glared at him, wondering what he was up to, Do-hyun casually dropped a somewhat out-of-the-blue remark.
“Ho-woo, they say goodwill goes as far as pork, but beef means ulterior motives.”
“…”
“Just so you know.”
“Then does all the beef you bought for me have ulterior motives too?”
At Ho-woo’s gruff question, Do-hyun pulled up one corner of his mouth crookedly. It was closer to a smile that seemed to say, “You rascal, you finally figured it out?” rather than a sneer.
“You need to be careful from now on. When you date that Esper.”
“Why?”
“Doesn’t he look incredibly malicious? His face is covered in malice.”
If that face looks malicious, then there’s not a single normal person in this world, you fool.
Ho-woo pushed Do-hyun away with his foot as he unreasonably criticized his boyfriend’s face. Resisting that force stubbornly, Do-hyun grabbed and stretched Ho-woo’s cheek.
“Listen here, my advice will be your flesh and blood, so listen carefully.”
“What kind of advice is this?”
Ho-woo snorted, but soon swallowed hard as he saw Do-hyun’s expression slowly losing its smile. Even though Do-hyun liked to joke around, he didn’t make that kind of face when he was joking.
“I’ll give you an extreme yet common example that’s easy for you to understand. Let’s say there’s someone who approached you because they like you. Whether it’s a man or a woman, they’d probably try to impress you, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
Ho-woo nodded slightly. If someone likes you, of course they’d want to impress you.
“Then that person dies.”
“…Huh?”
Ho-woo looked at Do-hyun, thinking he must have misheard, but he firmly repeated what he had said.
“They die without anyone knowing. They’d probably be reported as missing, I guess?”
“…Why?”
Though Ho-woo asked why, he had a rough idea. And Do-hyun gave the answer as Ho-woo had guessed.
“Because your boyfriend would do that.”
If Ho-woo hadn’t known about Oh-yul’s chilling side that had only seemed weak, he might have gotten angry, asking what nonsense this was. But Ho-woo couldn’t do that. He already knew. That he was a man who could very well do such a thing.
“You really only have difficult relationships.”
Do-hyun sighed and got up from the bed. He turned off the lights and then crawled into the bedding prepared on the floor. In the darkness that had fallen, Ho-woo belatedly answered.
“I think so too.”
***
[Are you coming today.]
Ho-woo checked the message on his phone with a blank face while brushing his teeth. There was a message from his father.
That’s unusual.
The father-son relationship was awkward. During his adolescence, Ho-woo spent a lot of time alone in his room with the door closed, while his father watched TV in the living room. Even if they had talked then, Ho-woo thought the chances of having a more amicable relationship were slim.
[Yes, I’m coming with Do-hyun today.]
As soon as he sent the reply, a response came back as if his father had been waiting.
[When are you going to introduce me to that sick friend you mentioned?]
Ah, that excuse…
That sick friend probably won’t be able to come together even if a lifetime passes. Ho-woo swallowed his discomfort with a groan and moved his fingers busily with the toothbrush in his mouth.
[I’ll ask if he can come today.]
He absolutely would not ask. For some reason, he felt that if it were Oh-yul, he would promptly answer “Yes, I’ll come” as soon as he asked. He was, to anyone’s eyes and at any time, the S-class Esper Oh-yul.
Ho-woo didn’t know because he wasn’t interested in Espers at all. His father, even if he disliked Espers, was likely to know about them. And it wasn’t something he should gamble on in the first place.
[Alright. Today, don’t come home, just go straight to the columbarium.]
[Okay, I’ll see you there.]
Ho-woo pressed send after putting the final period.
“What are you doing?”
Do-hyun, who had suddenly interjected, briefly glanced at Ho-woo’s phone screen.
“Your father?”
“Yeah.”
Ho-woo turned to look at Do-hyun, who had finished getting ready. The navy blue tailored suit that fit his body perfectly revealed his well-balanced physique, though not as much as Oh-yul’s. His hair was neatly combed back, and his tie was tightly knotted without being disheveled.
Even that sly, annoying smiling face looks quite presentable when dressed up like this.
Feeling Ho-woo’s gaze on him, Do-hyun pulled up the corners of his mouth in a grin.
“What, have you fallen for me?”
But no matter what, the core is still Kim Do-hyun.
“It’s too late to fall for you now, brother. That opportunity has already passed.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Ho-woo pushed away Do-hyun, who was approaching with a sly look on his face, and finished getting dressed. He tied his tie in a plain knot and put on a dark brown jacket, which made him look quite presentable. Ho-woo, who was staring at himself intently in the mirror, casually spoke to Do-hyun.
“Let’s stop by a flower shop on the way.”
Despite the sudden request, Do-hyun didn’t bother to ask why. He just nodded briefly in agreement and focused on his phone for a moment, probably searching for a flower shop on their route.
Did his mother like flowers? He wasn’t sure since he had no memories at all. The memories preserved in photographs only gave Ho-woo a sense of “Oh, I see.” Sadness or longing didn’t exist in the first place since he had no memories. He faced it calmly and spent each year like that.
He wondered if it would be different if the lost memories returned, but he gave up on such assumptions. Lost memories are usually bad memories, that’s why they’re lost. If there was a possibility of these memories returning, he hoped that the memories he had built up until now were much stronger than the ones he had lost. He wished not to be swayed by small memories that had long since passed.
“Shall we go?”
Ho-woo nodded lightly at the question asked while twirling the car keys on a finger. He left the house, adjusting his slightly tight tie, and unconsciously looked back at Oh-yul’s house before moving on.
“What has your father been up to these days?”
“Just working, I guess.”
He was an ordinary office worker, and though he had been promoted quite a bit due to his outstanding abilities, he was still ordinary if you could call him that. His father used to say habitually that although he hadn’t started a business or achieved great success, he had saved enough wealth to support himself comfortably.
“You look like such a filial son, but you’re actually quite unfilial, you know.”
“What are you talking about?”
