When he slightly raised his gaze, he could see Seonwoo’s seemingly indifferent face. It was enough to give him goosebumps.
“I’m sorry….”
“I’m not trying to accept an apology. The reason I’m saying this is…!”
Thinking a loud voice would come out, Yoonjo gently grabbed the fingertips of Seonwoo who had approached him. Then Seonwoo let out a sigh and continued in a slightly softened tone.
“You’re moving without thinking about yourself. What are you going to do with your injured leg? What would have happened if you got stranded on that mountain?”
“That’s not true. I only thought about myself. And… in the end, hyung found me. Plus, my leg will heal soon from this much. You said so yourself, hyung. That my ligament almost tore. Then it didn’t tear. If I take medicine and apply saliva, it’ll heal. Huh? Look! Here! Like this!”
Yoonjo, who was lifting his leg as if kicking, fell face-first onto the bed without even being able to scream at the stinging pain that came.
“Wow… this really… hurts more than when I ran trying to be Superman….”
Yoonjo, who remembered that Seonwoo was right next to him, quickly changed his words.
“…not at all. When a person lives, they need to have medals of honor like this too!”
Looking at Yoonjo laughing haha, even the anger he had melted away smoothly. Wasn’t it said that what stripped the traveler’s clothes was not the wind but the sunlight? That was exactly what Yoonjo was like. Before he knew it, Seonwoo relaxed his hardened expression and helped Yoonjo lie down properly again. Then he flicked Yoonjo’s forehead gently so it wouldn’t hurt.
“See, even now. How is pretending nothing’s wrong only thinking about yourself?”
“Ow…! My leg! Village people! Come see the elephant leg!”
Yoonjo, who suddenly made a groaning sound, grinned mischievously while watching Seonwoo’s eyebrows twitch.
“Should I do something like this?”
At the innocent words, Seonwoo’s energy completely deflated with a thud. Instead, he replied with a sigh.
“…Fine. Just do that.”
Yoonjo squirmed and straightened his waist. At times like this, there needed to be one heavy blow. An unexpected blow, an unexpected blow. Yoonjo, who muttered several times to himself, cleared his throat ahem, then said in a serious voice.
“Ah, but thinking about it, taking medicine and applying saliva won’t make it heal completely. Actually, I have a cure-all medicine, would you like to hear about it?”
Wondering what he would say, Seonwoo’s gaze became crooked. Regardless, Yoonjo’s eyes were sparkling like never before. Then he crossed both index fingers and thumbs to make a heart and winked.
“Ki Seonwoo’s heart!”
“…Where did you learn something like that?”
He thought it was a heavy blow, but apparently it wasn’t. Yoonjo, who rolled his eyes slightly, tried shooting hearts again pew pew, but Seonwoo’s expression was as cold as if an early cold wave had arrived.
“Are you in your right mind?”
“I told you I didn’t drink. Ah, should I drink and do it?”
“No. You absolutely must not drink. Never drink again.”
At the answer that came charging in as if waiting, Yoonjo blinked and carefully asked.
“Did I throw up last time?”
At the innocent question, Seonwoo had to dry-wash his face.
***
He had to wrap a bandage around his right leg, but fortunately it wasn’t to the point of needing surgery. Just like that, Yoonjo was able to be discharged exactly one day later. Leaving behind the limping Yoonjo, his grandmother and grandfather worried saying my grandson, my grandson, but when morning came, they all went out to the field. Since farm work couldn’t be postponed, he wasn’t particularly disappointed.
In the end, it meant Yoonjo was left alone at home. Yoonjo, who had opened all the doors wide and was lying in front of the spinning fan, flipped his body over from time to time. That appearance looked exactly like a fish cooking evenly on both sides.
Between the fish on the grill and Ji Yoonjo in front of the fan, there was a difference in species, but if there was one thing in common, it was that his flesh really seemed like it would cook. Yoonjo, who had been lying face down and staying still for a while, raised his head. The sound of cicadas crying incessantly outside was now at the point of being stuck in his ears.
Sweat trickled down the nape of his neck. The countryside house without even one air conditioner was really deadly. He suddenly missed Seonwoo. More accurately, the air conditioner in that house.
“Ah…. Should I really just close my eyes and contact him.”
He’d thrown a heavy blow, but what came back to Yoonjo was an empty laugh as if it was absurd. In that state, he dawdled around and was discharged, and the current situation was that he’d returned without even greeting properly.
On the day he returned home, his grandmother and grandfather asked Yoonjo what had happened, and Yoonjo couldn’t give a proper answer.
What was there to brag about falling and rolling over alone trying to catch a dog and breaking his leg? Of course, that wasn’t all. He also worried that it might lean toward assigning blame to one side or the other for no reason.
Yoonjo’s grandparents were good-natured for old-fashioned people, but they were less into what people nowadays call affection for pets. They were people who thought humans came first no matter what, so it was better to be careful not to let unnecessary words come out.
Yoonjo, who moved only his hand to press the fan button, let out deep sighs, unsatisfied even with the slightly stronger wind.
“Dongtae… I’m worried…. I miss hyung too…. The air conditioner is cool… huuh….”
It would be better if he could at least cool his back, but with his leg in this state, he couldn’t even get properly wet. Thinking it would be better to bring a wet towel, Yoonjo rolled all the way to the bathroom. As he was clumsily getting up while holding the wall, he heard a knocking sound on the door.
The village elders generally just opened the gate and came in, tending to knock on the front door. Thinking this time was probably the same, Yoonjo limped and shouted languidly.
“Grandma, Grandpa went to the field! Today it’s the sesame field!”
“Yoonjo-ya?”
His steps stopped for a moment. He wondered if he’d heard wrong for an instant. Yoonjo carefully called out the name with a just-in-case feeling.
“Seonwoo hyung…?”
“You’re home alone, right? Open the door.”
When he opened the door, Seonwoo was standing in front of it. He brushed back Yoonjo’s bangs that were dampened with sweat and replied.
“Why are you home alone when it’s hot. Let’s go next door.”
While listening to the low voice, Yoonjo inadvertently nodded. An opportunity to execute the second plan had arrived unintentionally. In other words, unconditionally hovering by his side and then boom! seeping in, that was exactly it.
***
As warm water was poured over his head, Yoonjo squeezed out the shampoo foam with his hands. He was washing his hair evenly when he felt a gaze and slightly raised his head. Right in front was Seonwoo holding a basin. Yoonjo, who lowered his head again, rubbed his head roughly like doing laundry.
“But, Seonwoo hyung. I told you it’s not my arm that’s hurt but my leg, right?”
“I know.”
“I wrapped the injured leg well with plastic too, so it’s really okay. Really! Try believing me!”
Seonwoo looked at Yoonjo, who had been grumbling continuously from earlier, with a crooked gaze. He could somehow manage showering alone, but washing his hair was absolutely impossible in this environment. If there was a bathtub or shower like in newly built buildings these days, maybe, but what could he do in a bathroom where at best he just filled water from the faucet?
Even now, he was barely washing his hair while crouching so water wouldn’t touch it, with only one leg stretched out.
“I know you can do it alone, but I want to help.”
Thinking it was better than making him upset with unnecessary words, Seonwoo replied perfunctorily and scooped out a basin of water that had been filled. When he gently poured water on Yoonjo’s head, the foam subsided to some extent.
“I’m really curious, but hyung, you really didn’t have any scandals?”
“Do you want me to have had them?”
“No… that’s not it…. It’s just that there’s no way you wouldn’t have.”
As water was poured on his head again, Yoonjo lowered his slightly raised head deeply. When he shook it off a few times, his head felt much cooler. As he tried to roughly wipe off the moisture in his eyes with his palm, a towel was placed on his head. Yoonjo obediently stood up properly while receiving Seonwoo’s touch.
“I’m just thinking how there could be no scandals when you treat me so well. Actually, like the Pied Piper, people were hanging on in a line but suddenly they all drop….”
Yoonjo, who was about to ask if they all dropped off, shut his mouth tight.
“They all dropped off?”
At the words that came charging in from an unexpected point, Yoonjo’s gaze went upward. Yoonjo quietly kept Seonwoo in his eyes. It was still a handsome face. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he saved not the country but the world in his past life.
“So it really was true….”
“Then I’ll say they dropped off. Yoonjo, if it helps you give up.”
“Aw…. I already dropped off. Ah, but I don’t get hurt by things like this. I kind of… believe in that. An adult lion pushing a cub off a cliff to raise it strong…?”
“That would be a mother lion. And that’s a myth.”
Yoonjo, who narrowed his eyes like a flounder, muttered while looking at Seonwoo’s flat stomach.
“The point of what I’m saying… isn’t that. Anyway, wouldn’t it be terrible if hyung became my mom? Hul, this is really something I don’t even want to believe.”
It was ridiculous. Seonwoo messed up Yoonjo’s hair roughly, then removed the towel. After unnecessarily rubbing Yoonjo’s eyes roughly with the towel, he tapped Yoonjo’s lower stomach with his fingertip.
“You’ll only come to your senses when your stomach hurts.”
Seonwoo, who added to finish washing and come out, immediately left the bathroom. Questions from Yoonjo kept flying beyond the closed door, but he never ended up answering.
Yoonjo, who settled down in the spot where the cool air conditioner breeze came out directly, gradually melted away. Like gum sticking to the asphalt ground on a summer day, his body went down more and more, then soon became one with the sofa.
Yoonjo, who was wiggling his toes, quietly turned his body at the warm breath touching his fingertips. Right below, as expected, was Dongtae. The fur that had been dyed pitch black the other day was now white as if asking when that happened.
“Dongtae-ya!”
Woof! Dongtae, who replied while panting, immediately rubbed his nose against Yoonjo’s fingertips, then soon lifted his front paws. It was a posture as if he would pounce on Yoonjo at any moment.
