Kang Han-gyeom took a big step back in shock when someone suddenly popped out in front of him. Then, under the sensor light in front of the studio building, he froze at the face he saw.
“H-han-seo hyung?”
“Wow, you really haven’t changed at all. You look exactly the same as the last time I saw you. You didn’t get even a little taller.”
The man chattered noisily as he patted Han-gyeom on the shoulder.
“Y-you haven’t changed either, hyung. Your voice is still loud as ever… But what brings you here? And how did you even find out where I live?”
“How did I find out?”
Baek Han-seo snickered.
“I asked ahjumma, and she told me.”
“Mom?”
Han-seo nodded and rummaged through his pocket. It looked like he was searching for cigarettes, but when he saw the empty pack, he clicked his tongue.
“But what, you’re not even happy to see your hyung?”
“Strictly speaking, y-you’re not my real hyung. We don’t share a single drop of blood.”
“You really know how to kill the mood, huh.”
The name of the sturdy-looking man with the short sports cut standing in front of Han-gyeom was Baek Han-seo. Han-gyeom’s relationship with Baek Han-seo was complicated in its own way—he wasn’t someone Han-gyeom was close to, but calling him family was even less fitting.
Right around when Han-gyeom had just entered high school, his parents divorced. His father left the country the moment the divorce papers were signed, and Han-gyeom naturally ended up living with his mother. Then, before he moved up to his second year of high school, his mother brought home a man she said she was going to remarry. That man had a son one year older than Han-gyeom. That son was Baek Han-seo.
The four of them lived together until Han-gyeom became an adult, and then Han-gyeom left that house the moment he got accepted to college. It was practically like he’d been driven out after living on eggshells the whole time. Other than when he received living expenses or tuition money, he didn’t contact his mother, and they didn’t keep in touch separately either. Naturally, it was the same with the man who was supposedly his new stepfather, and he wasn’t particularly close with the man’s son, Han-seo, either.
The guy who used to do nothing but fool around had, for some reason, actually taken the college entrance exam and gotten into a university in the provinces last year. The last time Han-gyeom had seen him was when the family met for dinner before Han-seo went down there after getting a room.
“So why are you here? Isn’t it still the semester right now for you, hyung?”
“Ah, I dropped out.”
“What?”
“That shitty no-name university, fuck, there’s a reason people call it a no-name university. I felt like I was gonna turn into an idiot too if I stayed there, so I just dropped out and came back up.”
Han-gyeom absolutely couldn’t understand acting first without thinking things through, but that didn’t mean he wanted to interfere in someone else’s life.
Besides, Han-gyeom had seen plenty of Han-seo’s usual thug-like behavior, so the shock didn’t last very long.
“I see… Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out yourself, hyung.”
“Gyeom, speaking of which, do you have any money?”
Hearing those words attached to a form of address he really didn’t want to hear, Han-gyeom finally began to understand why Han-seo had come all the way to Seoul and tracked him down here.
“I-I don’t have any money.”
“You can’t lie for shit. Hey, you think I wouldn’t know? Ahjumma sends you money every month. If you think about it, isn’t that basically my dad’s money?”
Han-gyeom’s lips parted. He wanted to argue back, but there wasn’t a single part of what Han-seo said that was wrong. It was true that he received money from his mother, whose face he barely even saw anymore, and it was also true that the reason his mother, who didn’t have much earning ability, could send him money so steadily was all thanks to the man she had remarried.
“No, because I dropped out on my own, my dad got pissed and cut off my allowance. Huh?”
Han-gyeom stayed silent, and Han-seo’s face grew a little more vicious than before.
“You know my dad dotes on me, right? What do you think will happen if I tell him to stop giving you money?”
“Hyung… why are you like this? Y-you’re still as mean-spirited as ever…”
Han-seo suddenly grabbed Han-gyeom by the shoulder. At the approaching hand, Han-gyeom unconsciously flinched. He clenched his teeth at the force, hard enough to make the veins on the back of Han-seo’s hand stand out.
“Yeah. Even I think that’d be too low. So should we just do what we used to?”
Han-gyeom’s eyes trembled faintly.
“…O-okay. I’ll give it to you. How much do you need?”
“Just what I expected. My little brother, you’re easy to talk to. Not out here, though. It’s late, so let’s go up first. Even though it’s March, the nights are still cold, right?”
Han-gyeom wanted to say it.
That this money was what he’d been given on the condition that he alone leave the house where Han-seo, his father, and Han-gyeom’s mother were all living together in cozy domestic peace. That it was money rightfully promised to him when he was thrown out.
But Han-gyeom, who wanted to avoid pointless conflict and the worst possible outcome, had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. Han-seo, apparently in high spirits, even slung an arm over his shoulders and dragged Han-gyeom inside.
As they stepped through the glass door, Han-gyeom suddenly thought he heard something like footsteps from the back of the alley. He turned his head, but maybe he’d imagined it—there was nothing there.
“Wow, you live in a place like this? These days it’d be hard to find a one-room this old.”
Han-seo, who had ultimately followed him all the way inside, snickered as he looked around Han-gyeom’s studio.
“Hyung, I sent the money.”
Han-gyeom’s hand tapped weakly on his phone screen. It was true that he received living expenses from that house, but because the money included tuition too, it wasn’t actually that much. That was one reason he was trying so hard to get a scholarship somehow. Only by cutting costs throughout his daily life could he manage to have even a little breathing room.
He had thought about getting a part-time job, but he had no confidence at all that he could balance it with schoolwork. If he ended up losing the scholarship too, he felt like he’d be left with nothing, so he’d been treating that as a last resort only.
“Oh, thank you.”
Han-seo giggled and plopped down on the living room floor. He looked pretty delighted, as if he were checking the transfer in his account.
“Y-you’re not leaving?”
“Huh? Ah, I am. I should leave, but… Gyeom, could you maybe let me sleep here just for tonight? It’s late already, and you’re gonna kick out a hyung as lofty as the sky?”
“Like I said, we’re not related by blood, so you’re not my hyu—”
Ah, seriously. When Han-seo shifted threateningly, Han-gyeom took a step back.
“O-okay… fine.”
“I’m making ramen.”
The studio was tiny to begin with. Thinking there was no way he’d be sleeping on the bed tonight, Han-gyeom trudged weakly into the bathroom, ignoring Han-seo’s grumbling about whether this was the only brand of ramen he had.
***
Han-gyeom stared at the student cafeteria kiosk for a long, long time. There was a very good reason he was glaring at the screen like he was in a staring contest with it. An unexpected expense had come up, and his living expenses were now, quite literally, in emergency mode.
The culprit who had suddenly shown up yesterday and caused all of this had even gone so far as to steal the bed from the room’s owner. On top of that, he’d played games on his phone noisily all through the early morning, so even though Han-gyeom had been drinking, he’d still slept badly. Han-gyeom had wondered what he’d do if Han-seo just refused to leave like this, but Han-seo had gone out this morning.
“Ugh, how do you even live in a cramped dump like this? I’m leaving.”
After looking around Han-gyeom’s room—which Han-gyeom personally thought was a pretty decent place—with the same expression someone would use for a bug.
“See you again, little brother.”
That last thing he’d said bothered him, but Han-gyeom was still overwhelmingly grateful that he’d left at all.
“Han-gyeom?”
While Han-gyeom was in the middle of his intense staring contest with the kiosk, Kang Yubin’s face suddenly slid into view and blocked the screen, as if he’d appeared out of nowhere.
“Oh? Hello.”
Even while greeting him in surprise, Han-gyeom looked around. Sure enough, Do Won-hyeok was with him too.
“Did you get home okay yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“But what are you doing standing in front of this? Trying to decide what to eat? Have this. This is the best thing at our school, isn’t it?”
The menu item Kang Yubin picked out for him, saying he’d choose for him instead, was none other than the cheese pork cutlet set meal that cost a whopping 8,000 won. He even added that since he’d been drinking yesterday, wouldn’t udon be good? That menu also had fried food in it and cost 6,000 won.
“Ah, actually, I… have plans.”
Han-gyeom, who had been debating whether or not to buy even the cheap menu he always ate, gave an awkward smile and stepped backward. When his eyes met Won-hyeok’s, he even bowed his head before fleeing out of the student cafeteria.
Han-gyeom bought a single triangle kimbap from the convenience store in the student union building and headed to the club room. Whenever he came here, he felt strangely at ease, like he was returning to his spiritual hometown. Maybe it was because of the smell of old books.
Maybe because it was lunchtime, there wasn’t a single person in the club room, just as expected. Han-gyeom weakly tore open the wrapper and took a bite of the dry rice. Thinking he’d have to hold out on this for a while, he finished it without leaving anything, when suddenly the door swung open and Won-hyeok came inside.
“Uh… sunbae?”
With an expressionless face, Won-hyeok stared fixedly at Han-gyeom, who was holding the triangle kimbap wrapper.
“You said you had plans. There’s no one here.”
“Ah, well, that…”
A wave of embarrassment rushed over him. Han-gyeom could only scratch his head awkwardly without saying much, and Won-hyeok strode toward him.
“Then you don’t have plans, right? Come with me somewhere.”
“Huh? What about Yubin sunbae?”
“He said he wouldn’t come.”
Come on, hurry up. Following Won-hyeok’s urging, Han-gyeom hastily grabbed his bag and trailed after him. They passed the back gate of the school and walked a little farther, and the place they arrived at was none other than a hangover soup restaurant.
Han-gyeom looked back and forth between the hangover soup restaurant’s sign and Won-hyeok. Won-hyeok had only said to come somewhere with him, not that they were going to eat, so of course Han-gyeom couldn’t help being surprised.
“You drank yesterday, so you should cure your hangover. Have a hangover meal with me, okay? Or do you not want to?”
Won-hyeok asked in a slightly subdued voice.
“No. Of course I want to!”
Han-gyeom shook his head and even waved his hands. As expected, Won-hyeok took the lead and went inside first.
“Sunbae, did something happen? Are you in a bad mood?”
Won-hyeok hadn’t smiled even once, unlike usual—not yesterday, and not when they’d run into each other earlier either. Even his voice was, somehow… a little cold. Of course, Han-gyeom liked that version of Won-hyeok too. Because even a cold sunbae was incredibly handsome.
