He had naturally carried it on his person since leaving the house. He had rubbed it so much since earlier that his fingerprints seemed about to wear off.
“So you’ve been a bystander until now?”
“Bystander…… Yeah, well. I am a bystander……”
Junyeong was shocked by the blunt criticism but didn’t make excuses. However, somehow his gaze lingered downward as if his will had been dampened.
“You like talking about other people’s business. You’re also good at pretending not to know.”
“……”
Seonwoo judged Junyeong as if he were someone important. He had neither the right nor the position to do so. Even so, instead of defending himself, Junyeong just silently listened to Seonwoo’s criticism.
“But Seonwoo.”
His neatly groomed part was disheveled. Junyeong’s gaze without glasses looked directly at Seonwoo. The feeling that he himself was not upright overlapped with puzzlement toward Seonwoo.
“Is that such an important problem to you that you’d come all the way here……?”
“……”
“Did you even become friends with Taejeong? Looking at both your personalities, that wouldn’t be easy……”
“……”
“If you found out about the situation and developed sympathy……”
“That’s not it.”
Seonwoo, who had been silent, suddenly cut off Junyeong’s words.
“I’m not doing this because I feel sorry for him.”
Just as he moved his mouth as if to say something more, he suddenly let out a deep sigh. Then he stood up from his seat. The intention not to talk anymore was strongly felt.
“I won’t take tutoring anymore. Don’t contact me.”
For a moment, Junyeong reached out his hand as if to stop him, but Seonwoo didn’t wait.
“I won’t say anything, so keep receiving the tutoring fee.”
“No, that’s not it……”
“Then what?”
“Are you going to keep staying at that house?”
In other words, he was asking if he wanted to get involved even knowing the household was a mess. Seonwoo answered indifferently.
“Why are you curious?”
“……”
“Don’t try to know this either.”
Seonwoo, who escaped from the study cafe building, immediately walked to the road and caught a taxi. The reason was simple. He wanted to check Taejeong’s face, which had hidden under the blanket right now.
He had to see his face somehow, whether by cutting the tightly wrapped blanket with scissors this time, or by going into the blanket together.
“Student. You have to at least tell me where you’re going.”
Buried in that thought, he had even forgotten to say his destination. The taxi driver looked strangely at Seonwoo, who had just been sitting quietly without saying anything.
In the unusual atmosphere, the taxi driver didn’t speak after receiving the address. The driving speed was also fast, as if he wanted to drop Seonwoo off quickly.
Seonwoo was looking at the remaining distance displayed on the navigation screen the taxi driver had turned on. He didn’t take his eyes off the numbers decreasing in real time.
The key in his pocket was hot because body heat had seeped in from holding it continuously. The skin touching the key felt unpleasant. The fishy metallic smell must have seeped in so deeply that it wouldn’t be erased even if washed with soap.
The taxi arrived home quickly. As Seonwoo, who had finished paying in advance, opened the back seat door, he saw a person loitering in front of the house gate. It was a man with a good physique, with long legs and broad shoulders.
The other person, who heard the car sound, also turned around, but his face couldn’t be confirmed. It was because he was hiding tightly with a black cap and black mask. He looked like anyone would advertise him as a suspicious person.
But for a thief, he didn’t run away even though a person appeared. He even stared intently at Seonwoo getting out of the taxi.
Regardless, Seonwoo ignored him and headed to the front door. He wasn’t curious about who it was, and even if he was a real thief, it wasn’t his concern. So even though a stranger was staring at him from the side, he confidently pressed the password without covering the door lock.
A moment later, the sound of the door lock being released was heard. At that moment, a hand that shot out grabbed and pressed down on Seonwoo’s shoulder.
“Who are you? Who are you to know this house’s passcode?”
His body tilted toward the shoulder that had been grabbed. Thanks to holding onto the doorknob, Seonwoo stood upright without losing his balance.
“Well, well, not going to answer?”
“……”
“Going around barging into other people’s houses? If you don’t talk, I’m calling the police, got it?”
Seonwoo, who had been quietly looking up at the man, let go of the front door’s doorknob and rummaged through his pockets. His shoulder was still being held.
“Why are you suddenly taking out your phone?”
“You said to call the police.”
“What?”
“I should call and say there’s a suspicious person loitering in front of the house.”
At that, the man suddenly let go of his shoulder. Seonwoo had actually pressed 112 on his phone screen, but the man’s reaction wasn’t one of fear.
“Don’t tell me you live here?”
“That’s right.”
“What do you… No, wait, wait a minute……”
The man stepped back about three paces and looked Seonwoo over from head to toe.
“You, you…… How old are you? Eighteen? Nineteen?”
“I’m twenty.”
The sound of him sharply inhaling could be heard, then the man grabbed his head with both hands. Soon he closed the distance he had put between them.
“How did you end up in this house……? What’s your relationship with the owner of this house……”
The man seemed to know the Vice Director. It was easy to tell what kind of assumptions he was making.
“I’m just staying here.”
“Then where are your parents……”
“My dad passed away and my mom is in a coma.”
“Huh? No, ah……”
Though his face wasn’t visible because of the hat and mask, from the way he moved both arms around not knowing what to do, it was clear how flustered the man was.
“Sorry for misunderstanding……”
Seonwoo didn’t think much of it. He had dropped the bomb about his parents so suddenly precisely to clear up the other person’s misunderstanding in one go.
“But I’m really not a suspicious person, you know……?”
The man took off his hat. Even under the sunlight, his jet-black straight hair flowed down. It was a neat length, positioned at just the right spot between his eyebrows and eyes. His face was handsome without a single rough edge.
“You know the tall, handsome guy who lives in this house? His name is Ju Taejeong and he’s my nephew……”
Seonwoo’s eyes widened. He had thought something seemed familiar—his features resembled Taejeong’s.
The reason he hadn’t noticed right away was because of the completely different impression. That man had clear eyes, a refreshing attitude, and everything about him felt full of life. He was the complete opposite of Taejeong, who looked like he was at death’s door, as if just looking at him would bring bad luck.
“It’s been too long since I’ve seen his face, so I tried calling but his phone was suspended. I heard he hasn’t been to the pool in quite a while either, so I just came to check on his condition. Look. Here. The name. Same surname as Taejeong, right?”
The man took out his wallet and showed his ID. The name written there was ‘Ju Seungho.’ Right next to the ID was a family photo taken with a Polaroid camera. A young couple each held one of two baby girls.
“But……”
“No, I’m telling you I’m his uncle? An uncle came because he’s worried about his nephew, and you’re saying ‘but’ this and ‘but’ that.”
So what if he was real family? That bastard who called himself his biological father had destroyed his shoulder blade, so what did an uncle matter? Seonwoo thought that if he were truly someone trustworthy, Taejeong would have asked for help long ago.
Seeing how there was complete radio silence from his mother’s side too, who was supposedly separated, weren’t all his relatives untrustworthy people? Even if someone who cared about Taejeong showed up now, the timing was way too bad. After his conversation with Junyeong, Seonwoo was in a skeptical state.
“I was pacing in front of the house because even when I rang the doorbell there was no response, so I was waiting until I could meet anyone. Now, got it? If you live in this house you must have seen Taejeong too, right? Can you tell me what he’s up to? I heard he hasn’t been to the pool in nearly a month, but that can’t be right. He’s a stubborn fool who’d come out to swim even with a fever and get chewed out by me for it.”
“……”
“Even after I’ve explained this kindly, what more do you need? Wow, I’m seriously going crazy from frustration…… Why are *you* living in this house anyway?”
