After I completely sorted out my feelings for him, I didn’t care where he was, what he was doing, or why he was living in this house—he wasn’t even on my radar. Joo Seolhyeon didn’t show any interest in me either, so I thought we were on the same page.
“Or has your nonexistent interest in me suddenly appeared because I mentioned terminating our contract?”
I could have just ignored him and gone to my room, but I was so angry at how his attitude had changed completely at the mention of contract termination, as if he’d flipped a switch.
“Why are you angry?”
He asked with a face that showed he couldn’t understand.
“Do you think I’m like this because of you?”
My head suddenly cooled, and my reason returned. Come to think of it, the second floor was a common space like the first floor. It was smaller than the first floor and had no separate furniture, so you had to sit on the floor, which was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t really a space where someone else’s presence would be a problem.
“But… you normally don’t come out here like this.”
I realized I had been overly emotional, but my pride was too hurt to admit it.
“That’s my business.”
Joo Seolhyeon was still infuriating. I bit my lip before asking him one last thing.
“So you have nothing to say to me?”
“…”
I expected another irritating answer, but Joo Seolhyeon’s expression darkened. Anyone could see this was the look of someone who had something to tell me. As I looked down at him with my arms crossed, wondering what on earth he was trying to say with that contemplative face, he let out a low sigh.
“No, I don’t.”
My expectation was wrong. After saying that, Joo Seolhyeon abruptly stood up, and before I could say anything, he disappeared into his room almost like he was running away, carrying Serubi. I was left alone on the second floor, feeling like a fool.
“Hyung, you’re back?”
When I trudged into my room after that blow from Joo Seolhyeon, Woo Jeonghyun, who had finished setting up the beer and snacks and was using his phone, asked.
“Well, look at you being all domestic after not seeing me for so long.”
My mood, which had been low because of Joo Seolhyeon, started to improve thanks to Jeonghyun.
“This is nothing for me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at how he lifted his chin and squared his shoulders after just one compliment. There had been a small incident, but I was seeing my brother after a month. Even trivial conversation warmed my heart.
“So, are they feeding you well there?”
When I sat down next to Jeonghyun and asked, instead of answering, he opened a can of beer and handed it to me.
“Let’s toast first.”
I wondered why he was being so enthusiastic when he couldn’t even drink, and sure enough, as soon as he said “Cheers” and took a sip, he started coughing and put his beer down.
“I knew this would happen.”
I clicked my tongue softly at the sight of him coughing severely as if he’d choked. Jeonghyun quickly drank some water, and with a face that had turned bright red, he blatantly pushed his share of beer towards me.
“You drink this too, hyung.”
“…”
I had intended to buy beer just for myself at the convenience store because I knew this would happen, but Jeonghyun had insisted he was fine and grabbed his own, so now I was set to drink twice as much.
“Did you buy this on purpose to make me drink?”
Though it was just beer so I wouldn’t get drunk, I narrowed my eyes at Jeonghyun for this strangely realistic assumption. Jeonghyun shook his head as he picked up and ate some dried snacks.
“No way, why would I do that? I just had a feeling that tonight was a night for drinking, that’s why I bought it.”
“Your feeling must have frozen to death. You can’t even drink a sip properly.”
“I know, right? I definitely had a strong feeling today. But I guess it’s not my day.”
I couldn’t say anything more as he munched on squid jerky while muttering that he didn’t know why either. My chest felt tight, so I gulped down my beer and scooped up a handful of the snacks Jeonghyun had laid out, shoving them into my mouth.
“Drink slowly. You’ll get drunk before we even start talking at this rate.”
Jeonghyun shook the can I had put down and said with a surprised face.
I gave him a side-eye that said ‘whose fault is that?’ while chewing with my cheeks full. Jeonghyun grinned and held the squid jerky he was eating to my mouth.
“Hyung, try this too. It’s delicious.”
His gentle smile was truly fox-like, but since the chips had already melted in my mouth, I quickly accepted the squid he offered.
“I asked earlier if you were eating well, right? That person isn’t very interested in meals either, so we hired a housekeeper. What about you? How do you handle meals? The amount five men eat must be considerable.”
“Seyeon hyung is good at cooking, so he’s in charge of meals.”
The topic naturally shifted to the question I had first asked Jeonghyun.
As I answered Jeonghyun’s question, I thought of Jeong Seyeon’s face. I had seen him briefly before going to meet the Center Director today, but since he returned from visiting his family home, it was hard to see him except at mealtimes. He seemed very busy, so I didn’t seek him out, but once I started thinking about him, I worried about various things.
‘I didn’t see Seyeon hyung’s shoes at the entrance either. Did he also go out after I left?’
I had seen him go out at this time before, but now that I knew his profession, I began to worry.
“I thought your face looked better than before. I guess they’re feeding you well.”
Unaware of my inner thoughts, Jeonghyun teased me, saying I seemed to have gained weight. I half-listened to Jeonghyun’s words while grabbing my phone from the bedside table.
I sent a message to Jeong Seyeon: “Hyung, are you out?” When I looked up, Jeonghyun was staring at me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Do you have something urgent?”
At Jeonghyun’s question, I became extremely embarrassed and rubbed my face. I must have been really obvious just now.
“No, I just suddenly remembered that one of the Guides hasn’t come home yet. I texted to ask where he is.”
“Guide Jeong Seyeon?”
I was so surprised by Jeonghyun guessing correctly on the first try that my eyes widened, and his lips quirked up subtly.
“Hmm, I see.”
He didn’t say more, but seeing his suggestive look as if he knew everything, I could clearly see what he was imagining.
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Well, if he’s good at cooking, what else do you need to look for? I approve.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Why is it nonsense? You should get your own exclusive Guide soon too, hyung.”
Jeonghyun was joking with a smile, but I couldn’t smile back. I remembered the advice Jo Hail had given me recently. At the time, I thought I should discuss this with the Guides and hear their opinions, but ultimately I would have to choose one of them. But just now, talking with Jeonghyun, I realized: I couldn’t possibly choose just one person.
“What’s with your face? Why did you suddenly get ugly?”
My thoughts must have shown on my face because Jeonghyun grabbed my face with a serious expression.
“Does that Guide not like you?”
When Jeonghyun frowned and made an angry face on my behalf, I felt the corners of my mouth, which had been drooping, start to rise again.
“It’s not like that.”
“Then why are you like this?”
Jeonghyun looked me straight in the eye with a serious face devoid of any humor. I avoided his gaze and mumbled an answer.
“Just… it’s complicated in many ways.”
“There’s a solution for times like this.”
He spoke so confidently that I thought he had something amazing to offer, but what he thrust in front of me was the beer I had been drinking.
“Here, drink. And tell me everything without leaving anything out. I’m not going to sleep tonight until I hear all about it.”
His attitude of acting like the older brother when he was my younger brother was funny, but his words gave me more courage than ever before. I downed the beer Jeonghyun gave me in one go and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Here, have some snacks.”
As I accepted the beef jerky he put in my mouth, I nodded slightly, feeling a bit tipsy.
‘Where should I start?’
Actually, there was nothing to think about. For some time, I had instinctively felt that I should reveal to my brother Jeonghyun that I had regressed. But what made me firmly decide was when I directly heard about the Center Director’s regression.
‘I should tell him everything from the beginning.’
Right now, the Center Director was interested in me, but there was no guarantee that this interest wouldn’t extend to my brother. Even if that didn’t happen, Jeonghyun had a right to know about me—how the Woo Jeongjae he knew differed from the current Woo Jeongjae.
“What I’m about to tell you might be hard to believe.”
I laid the groundwork.
“It’s okay, I’ll believe you.”
And Jeonghyun knew exactly what I wanted to hear. I took a deep breath and slowly began my story.
What kind of life I had lived before regressing, how I died from surging, and what happened to me after I regressed using Mom’s keepsake. As the night deepened, with each word I spoke, Jeonghyun cried and laughed, got angry and despaired, expressing many more emotions than I did.
“So you’re going to terminate the contract with that bastard tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
After hearing everything, including recent events, Jeonghyun rubbed his face and stood up. One of the things Jeonghyun couldn’t understand about my past was why I had made a contract with Joo Seolhyeon again. I felt so satisfied when Jeonghyun’s way of referring to Joo Seolhyeon changed to “that bastard,” but suddenly I felt uneasy.
“Where are you going?”
I asked, grabbing the hem of Jeonghyun’s clothes as he turned away.
“I’m just going to have a quick talk.”
“With whom?”
“That bastard.”
“Why are you the one talking to him?”
“Are you just going to end it like this? Do you think terminating the contract with that bastard and not seeing him will make it all go away? You said you still can’t sleep without Guiding because of nightmares. That bastard will sleep just fine. Fuck, thinking about it again makes me so angry.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
