“Mister.”
“…”
Seongho’s face, which slowly turned around, was unpleasantly distorted.
He probably couldn’t understand being called “mister,” but from the first time Yeonwoo saw him, nothing else came to mind. Of course, there was the word “hyung” (older brother), but it was obvious that Seongho would hate being called that, and Yeonwoo disliked it too.
“Don’t ever appear in front of me again and don’t touch my things. I find it embarrassing and hate being siblings with someone like you.”
“…”
“I don’t want it to be known that we’re siblings in any way, so be careful and use some discretion.”
“I’m embarrassed by your very existence, so live like you’re dead without even making a sound, got it?”
There were words that Seongho had said to Yeonwoo from the day they first met. Yeonwoo wanted to say the exact same thing back, but he disliked the idea of becoming just like Seongho. So he modified it somewhat, but even this seemed unpleasant for Seongho to hear.
Seongho trembled at this unfamiliar Yeonwoo who was acting and speaking differently than usual, and who had even swallowed the check, but those words just now had touched a nerve. Despite being an illegitimate child, how dare he talk to him like this. Having nothing else to boast about, Seongho grabbed the bottle of alcohol on the table. He got up and tried to swing it at Yeonwoo, but whether because he had been squatting for too long or because of the alcohol he had been drinking, his legs wouldn’t straighten properly.
As a result, Seongho fell forward with the bottle he was holding. Unfortunately, the bottle shattered into pieces, soaking the floor, and fragments of broken glass dug into Seongho’s palm as he hurriedly tried to get up in panic. As a scream burst out, Yeonwoo turned away without hesitation.
“You, you! Where are you going! There’s glass stuck in my palm right now! It’s your fault!!”
He had fallen on his own after acting out alone, resulting in that situation.
Thinking he didn’t understand why Seongho was blaming someone else again, Yeonwoo left the room, and Seongho simply wailed. It didn’t sound like a noise a person would make. As intense as it was unpleasant, it provoked irritation.
Sighing, Yeonwoo closed the door, and with bad timing, his eyes met with a man standing in the corridor. It turned out to be the guard who had helped guide him to the club earlier.
“…Huh? What’s going on?”
He seemed to have heard Seongho’s screams leaking through the door in that short time. Well, it couldn’t be helped. Seongho’s voice, which continued to scream desperately from beyond the closed door, could be heard. Yeonwoo spoke indifferently.
“He’s acting like that because he got angry by himself.”
Despite Yeonwoo’s explanation, the guard checked toward the door with a stern face.
Being in charge of security at the club, he couldn’t help but check when someone was making such a loud noise. But he didn’t want to go in. Seongho was an uncomfortable person to deal with, and rather than that, he wanted to have more conversation with the beautiful person he had just met today.
Yeonwoo, who had been staring at such a guard, opened his mouth saying, “Excuse me.”
As soon as Yeonwoo called, the guard promptly approached and bent his waist. Looking at the eyes visible under the cap, he smiled kindly and asked what was the matter.
“You know that person inside does drugs, right?”
“…”
“He’s drunk and making a fuss now, so it would be difficult if you went in. Please call his parents to take him away. Tell them you know he does drugs, and that they should take him away quietly rather than making a big issue out of it.”
The words delivered calmly seemed like a good solution. But upon careful consideration, it didn’t seem so, which made the guard pull his head back. Feeling that getting involved would be troublesome, the guard hesitated and avoided answering.
At that response, Yeonwoo spoke placidly.
“He called me here on purpose because he wanted to torment me. That’s because I’m his half-brother. He’s been tormenting me so much, probably because he didn’t like the sudden appearance of an illegitimate child.”
“…Ah, I see.”
“If you mention that I was here when contacting his parents, they’ll rush over immediately.”
The word “illegitimate child” alone was enough for the guard to get the picture, and he nodded, making an “Ah” sound. Whatever had happened in the room, the word “illegitimate child” became a magical word that explained all the conflict between them.
He had worried about getting involved and becoming uncomfortable, but this provided a solution. It wouldn’t have been easy for someone to reveal themselves as an illegitimate child.
He didn’t resemble Seongho at all, and his heart was so different too. He must have been forcibly called here by Seongho today. Remembering Yeonwoo who couldn’t enter the club directly and stood far away, the guard felt sympathy and again narrowed the distance.
“You must have been scared being suddenly called to a place like this. Aren’t you tired? Would you like to rest before leaving?”
“…”
“Ah, I’m not trying to do anything strange right now, no. Was what I just said strange? Then, at least let me help you get home safely? I’ll call a taxi right away…”
“No, I’ll get back on my own. I’m sorry for causing a disturbance.”
Yeonwoo quickly passed by him, afraid the other might try to hold him back. He heard a “Just a moment, please” from behind, but he pretended not to hear and hurried his steps.
The last sight of Seongho before leaving wasn’t one that could be described as okay, even generously. It would be burdensome for the club to take care of such a Seongho. But since he had brought it up first, they would immediately contact Lee Jonghoon thinking this was the solution. They would probably say something like, “We don’t know much, but after this person who is supposedly a half-brother or something came, he ended up like this.”
Much of the content would be abbreviated, but from the club’s perspective, that was the best they could do. And hearing the club’s words, Seongho, with his eyes rolled back, would spew out anything that would excite Jonghoon to contact him again. Or come directly.
When that time came, he would ask.
Why did you pretend it was your money when you had taken out a private loan?
Why did you only deceive me from the beginning?
Was I, from the start, neither your child nor anything else, but just a dominant omega commodity?
Having quickly left the club, Yeonwoo pulled his cap down low. The street, darker than before, was filled with even more colorful lights, and quite a few people were out. Yeonwoo, avoiding groups of people who were laughing loudly about something so enjoyable, moved with his shoulders thoroughly hunched.
***
After Seongho had turned things upside down once, the house didn’t feel as safe as before. Nevertheless, it was quite ironic that only when he came back and lay down on the living room floor did he feel the tension release.
Slowly turning and lying straight, Yeonwoo placed one hand on his belly. After rubbing it up and down, he giggled. Eating a check. It would be fine. It was only this once anyway. If something went wrong, he would suffer for a few days and that would be it.
Yeonwoo, who repeatedly dismissed it as nothing, turned his body. Pressing his back against the wall and curled up, he recalled Seongho who had been frightened at the sight of him.
“…It wasn’t even a big deal.”
I guess he didn’t expect me to confront him like that.
Of course, what he had done wasn’t simply confrontation but had completely overturned the situation. Yeonwoo was usually quiet, but occasionally like this, he would do something that no one could predict.
In the past, during high school, while helping his grandmother at the supermarket, there was a strange person among a group of college students who tried to cling to him. He kept asking for Yeonwoo’s contact information and eventually started flirting, asking if he had done it before, and offering to teach him how to kiss, until his somewhat decent friends dragged him out, calling him a crazy bastard.
As it turned out, they were students who had come to help with farm work in the neighboring village. Like typical college students their age, they halfheartedly helped during the day and then had barbecues and drank at night. During those few days, one student was particularly persistent with Yeonwoo. He didn’t hesitate to sexually harass him. When Yeonwoo would frown in disgust, the student would lick his lower lip with his tongue and wink, which was truly disgusting.
Still, thinking they would leave after a few days of endurance, he tried not to pay more attention. That was until that trash came near Yeonwoo’s house.
It was late at night, when Yeonwoo had opened the window to look outside, waiting for his father to return. There was a can sound from below, followed by the sound of a cat meowing. It was a small sound that he usually couldn’t hear, so wondering what it was, Yeonwoo looked down and saw a bright yellow head of hair.
The moment he saw that hair faintly visible even in the darkness, Yeonwoo’s head went cold.
‘…’
A sane person wouldn’t have continued to sexually harass someone knowing they were a high school student in the first place. Nor would they be wandering near his house at this late hour. Moreover, it was the time when his father would be returning from work. If he happened to encounter his father and something happened…
In that moment, Yeonwoo’s body moved on its own.
He put on his outer clothes and quietly opened the rusty front door. He went down the stairs, reached the first floor, checked outside, and then pushed the entrance to go out. Being so old and worn out, the bulb at the entrance that operated on sensors was completely dead.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
