***
The date for the school violence committee hearing was set.
It was the preliminary process where the school first grasped the situation and determined whether it needed to be forwarded to the Office of Education. With Han Jun and Yi-hyeon still unable to get their hands on the phone, the two of them went to Han Jun’s house after school every day and combed through Oi Market together.
“Let’s go, Yoon.”
The suddenly shortened form of address made Yi-hyeon flinch, his shoulders twitching.
“Huh?”
“Let’s go.”
Han Jun sounded perfectly natural, without a hint of self-consciousness. Which only made Yi-hyeon feel even more pathetic for having his heart pound wildly over nothing more than a name.
“Yeah. Just let me grab my bag.”
Once again today, Yi-hyeon headed to Chairman Joo’s house together with Han Jun. They searched through Oi Market until eight in the evening. Lying down with his head resting on the sofa armrest while staring at his phone, Han Jun eventually complained that his eyes hurt and got up to bring over the laptop that had been sitting on Actress Joo Mi-yeon’s desk.
The moment Yi-hyeon saw the laptop screen, he felt a sharp twinge in his chest. The background image was a photo of a smiling mother and son, beaming brightly against a beautiful seaside backdrop.
He’d thought before that their overall vibe was similar, but seeing them side by side in a photo made that resemblance feel much stronger. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud—when Han Jun spoke first.
“I don’t look like her, right?”
Thanks to that, Yi-hyeon was able to answer a little more comfortably.
“No. You do look like her.”
“I do? Where?”
Since Han Jun was the spitting image of his father, he couldn’t immediately believe Yi-hyeon and pressed him for specifics.
“At first, I thought it was just the vibe. But seeing you smiling together, your eyes and mouth look exactly like your mom’s.”
At the words that he resembled Actress Joo Mi-yeon, Han Jun smiled with a pure, almost childlike expression, genuinely happy. Understanding his feelings all too well, Yi-hyeon felt a quiet sense of comfort as he watched Han Jun’s pleased face.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Han Jun’s eyes grew softly moist as he gazed at the background image, as if longing for his mother.
“I didn’t think she’d pass away so early. I regret so much that I couldn’t stay by her side longer.”
Because she loved surfing, she used to practically live at the beach with her friends. Han Jun’s voice trembled faintly as he talked about how, after coming to Korea, they’d spent even less time together.
“I made her spend more time with Chief Kim than with her own son. I was such an unfilial kid.”
The title Chief Kim wasn’t unfamiliar to Yi-hyeon. But since he’d assumed he was someone from Assemblyman Han’s side, he couldn’t quite understand how he’d spent so much time with Actress Joo Mi-yeon.
“Your mother wanted you to be happy, so she wouldn’t have thought of those times you enjoyed as being unfilial. But… wasn’t Chief Kim someone on your father’s side?”
At Yi-hyeon’s words—mentioning that he’d heard about it by chance during a hospital visit—Han Jun let out a deep sigh laden with history.
“He was originally Grandpa’s secretary. Then every time Mom came to Korea, reporters and those tabloid vultures would swarm her, so Grandpa stuck him with her as a sort of manager, telling him to handle security and stuff.”
“I see……”
“Not long after Mom passed away, he went and latched onto that man without a second thought. I was so dumbfounded that I asked Aunt what the hell his deal was, and she said they’d been digging into him because there were signs of embezzlement. But apparently, it wasn’t embezzlement at all—he’d been laundering money so Grandpa’s slush funds wouldn’t get exposed, or something like that. He got all pissy over that, handed in his resignation, and then out of spite or revenge or whatever, went crawling over to him.”
I see. Nodding quietly, Yi-hyeon’s gaze was drawn to a yellow folder that stood out among the rest: Memories with My Son.
It was a folder full of photos. Thinking that Han Jun’s past was contained inside it, Yi-hyeon suddenly grew curious about what his childhood had been like. But worried that saying he wanted to see it might bring up painful memories of his mother, Yi-hyeon hid his true feelings and kept his eyes fixed on the monitor.
Watching Yi-hyeon’s profile as he stared intently at the screen with wide, alert eyes, Han Jun asked,
“I was insanely good-looking as a kid. Wanna see?”
“Is that okay?”
Feeling as if a heartfelt wish had just come true, Yi-hyeon raised his voice without realizing it and smiled brightly.
“Of course.”
When Han Jun clicked the folder, numerous subfolders popped up, densely organized by date and location.
“Wow, this is organized so meticulously.”
“My mom was kind of obsessive about organizing. And she had an analog sensibility—so even though I showed her how to use the cloud, she said she couldn’t relax unless she sorted everything like this and saved it properly.”
[With Jun in Santa Barbara, 20xx–20xx]
As Han Jun was about to click the very first folder, his finger paused, and he glanced sideways at Yi-hyeon.
“Don’t fall for me just because I’m too cute. I even get jealous of my younger self.”
Han Jun’s problem was that he flirted unconsciously—even with people he didn’t like, no, even with male friends. He didn’t realize it himself, but for someone who had feelings for him, it was impossible not to get flustered. And since it was a relationship that could never come to be, it inevitably left a bitter taste behind.
“What are you talking about?”
After calming his briefly fluttering heart, Yi-hyeon deliberately brushed it off and pretended not to care, keeping his eyes fixed on the monitor.
***
As they moved on to the fifth folder, Yi-hyeon gradually understood why Han Jun had warned him not to fall for his younger self. Though he’d grown into a man handsome enough to rival actors, Han Jun as a child was the very definition of adorable.
“Seriously, you’re so pretty. You were ridiculously cute and pretty as a kid.”
“What about now?”
Han Jun asked while looking at Yi-hyeon, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from the photos.
“Now you’re handsome.”
Apparently satisfied with that answer, Han Jun smiled and flipped to the next image.
“Whenever I went out as a kid, everyone asked if I was a girl. What about you? Don’t you have childhood photos?”
“When I went to the market with my mom, grandmas and grandpas would say I looked just like her and give me candy. My photos are at the orphanage. I’ll show you later.”
“You promise?”
Mesmerized by Han Jun’s smiling eyes, Yi-hyeon nodded without thinking.
“Your mother must’ve been really beautiful too.”
As he flipped to the next photo, Han Jun murmured softly. Yi-hyeon turned that statement over in his head, then wondered if he’d understood it correctly. A beat too late, he let out a small, questioning “Huh?”
Maybe it was because of the pink sunset in the background, but Han Jun’s face looked oddly flushed.
“Just look at the pictures.”
Yi-hyeon was about to open his mouth again to ask what he’d meant earlier, but Han Jun grabbed the back of his head and turned it toward the screen, leaving him no chance to ask.
When the next photo appeared, Yi-hyeon’s mouth—previously hanging open in admiration of Han Jun’s looks—snapped shut. It was a picture taken at the beach, a surfboard propped upright beside them, and Han Jun had his arm linked with a girl. More precisely, the girl had hooked her arm through his and was puckering her lips as if asking for a kiss.
She was a strikingly beautiful girl, someone who didn’t fade into the background even standing next to Han Jun. In that moment, it seemed Han Jun hadn’t noticed, his gaze turned elsewhere.
Wow… she looks like an idol……
With the two of them together, it looked like an idol photo shoot collaboration. Someone that pretty—of course Han Jun must’ve liked her. Even if he hadn’t liked her, he’d had to feel something. As these stray thoughts piled up, Yi-hyeon felt his mood slowly sink.
Maybe they’re still in contact……
Just as he was sinking into that gloomy fantasy, tap—Han Jun lightly smacked Yi-hyeon’s arm with the back of his hand.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?”
