Perhaps he was shy. Eunchan smiled and stepped past the male student, walking back toward Choi Hanul. The phone in Choi Hanul’s hand kept vibrating—it seemed his manager had arrived.
“Do you know him?”
Choi Hanul asked as they stepped out of the café together. A cool breeze and brilliant autumn sunlight poured down over Eunchan’s head. Eunchan squinted at the light reflecting off the asphalt and raised his hand to create shade over his forehead.
“My benefactor.”
“Benefactor?”
“Something like that. Is this your car?”
A van with dark tinted windows was parked right in front. Eunchan stood before the car door with his hands clasped behind his back to see Choi Hanul off.
“Are you really sure you won’t have a meal with me?”
“Let’s eat next time if we get the chance.”
Of course, there would be no such chance. He didn’t want to make any more famous acquaintances.
“I’ll contact you. Thank you.”
“Next time, don’t spend money on places like this.”
It wasn’t really something an employee working at an errand center and receiving a salary should say, but Eunchan didn’t like seeing a young, famous kid getting involved in places like this, so he offered his final piece of advice. Fortunately, Choi Hanul didn’t insist otherwise and nodded with a smile.
Choi Hanul waved goodbye until the moment he got into the van, and only let Eunchan go after the manager in the driver’s seat got angry and told him to close the door. Watching Choi Hanul’s car drive off between the alleyways, Eunchan threw both arms up into the air and shouted “Hurrah!” A request had been completely wrapped up.
As expected, the house was empty—Miro hadn’t arrived yet. He sent a text saying he’d returned home, but there was no reply; he seemed quite busy. Since the cake alone wasn’t filling enough, Eunchan rummaged through the refrigerator and took out a sandwich Miro had made that morning.
“I swear, his cooking skills keep improving.”
Miro, who had diligently watched cooking programs and collected recipe books, had grown to the point where he could be believed to be a chef at some restaurant. Thanks to that, Eunchan got to enjoy delicious meals for free every single time.
Tossing his phone onto the sofa, Eunchan immediately headed up to the third floor. The third floor, with its empty rooms and attic, hadn’t been used in a long time and was covered in dust. After confirming there was no luggage in the empty rooms, Eunchan headed straight for the attic. There, he discovered canvases covered with white cloth. He carefully removed the cloth and checked the canvases—they were the paintings that had been hanging in the hallway when he first visited this house.
In one corner of the paintings was the signature ‘h.u.’, so they appeared to be Jang Heewoo’s works. Eunchan examined the backs of the canvases one by one to check their titles. He didn’t possess any aesthetic sense, so he couldn’t discern how much artistic value Jang Heewoo’s paintings held, but he could feel their characteristic sticky, sinking atmosphere.
Leaves that seemed ready to crumble at any moment, parched and cracked earth, deep and dark swamps. Should this be called the artist’s obsession with life? Because he had background knowledge about the artist, his interpretation naturally flowed in that direction.
However, among those gloomy paintings, there was one unique work with warm colors. The hair of a woman swimming among soft clouds seemed ready to be grasped at any moment. The woman’s face was obscured and shattered by sunlight, yet brilliant. Even without checking the title yet, he seemed to know. This was the painting Jang Heewoo was looking for.
“Huiwon? What’s this.”
When he checked the title on the back, it contained the word ‘nanny’ that Jang Heewoo had mentioned. Eunchan took out the painting, held it in one hand, and covered the remaining paintings with cloth just as they had been. Now what remained was the art museum pamphlet with that woman’s image.
Eunchan turned off the attic light and slowly descended to the first floor. Even during his previous exploration of the second floor, no pamphlets or booklets had appeared, so there was no need to search again. All that remained was the storage room, but he couldn’t guess at all which storage room Jang Heewoo had meant. It seemed he’d already searched all the places in the house that could be called storage rooms, but at most there were only cleaning tools and toolboxes.
Sitting on the sofa, Eunchan began pondering where to store the painting he’d found. There was nowhere in Miro’s house that his touch didn’t reach. Eunchan’s room and wardrobe were also under Miro’s management. Even his treasure box was being managed by Miro. Now even Eunchan had to ask Miro to check the box.
“Should I put it in my suitcase?”
Let’s put it inside an empty suitcase and store it as deep in the wardrobe as possible. Once he found the pamphlet too, he could immediately take everything out and hand it over to Jang Heewoo.
Even though he wasn’t on good terms with Jang Heewoo, the reason he was going out of his way to help was simply because he pitied him. Seeing him lying in bed with the clear appearance of a sick person hadn’t sat well with him. And it was no trouble at all to grant such a small favor. If his younger brother died later, Eunchan might be able to lessen the guilt Miro would feel.
Moreover, though he’d been a bad younger brother to Miro, that was already a past story. Though it felt uncomfortable to seem like he was agreeing with Jang Heewoo’s words, the truth was that, just as he said, Miro had inherited most of the fortune and was scheduled to receive his younger brother’s share as well.
Of course, if his younger brother recovered his health, that would change. Well, for now, that was the fact.
Maybe it was because they were a wealthy family, but he was surprised that there was someone else besides their parents who took care of them. Furthermore, if Jang Heewoo drew paintings like this for her, they must have been close, yet it was puzzling that he’d never heard about her from Miro or actually met her. Leaning comfortably against the sofa, Eunchan placed both hands on his knees and recalled Jang Heewoo’s empty hospital room.
A man with no parents, no caregiver, but even so, he was less pitiable than Miro. Above all, Eunchan knew well that the most pitiable person in the world was himself.
Having stored the painting in his suitcase as planned, Eunchan opened the front door and walked outside. He remembered the small storage shed he’d seen last time when going to the parking lot. Walking along the small path behind the house, Eunchan suppressed the goosebumps rising on his forearms. The back of the house hadn’t been tidied yet, so weeds were thick and the trees hadn’t been pruned either, growing every which way. Stopping beneath the deep shade, Eunchan stared at the small storage shed with its tightly closed door. About the size of one room? It was neither large nor small.
Should I not go? I really don’t want to go. In horror movies, the kid who acts up first dies the fastest—it felt exactly like he was in that scene right now. The wind rushed through the leaves with a rustling sound. Eunchan forcibly swallowed his uneasy feeling and approached close to the storage door.
Eunchan grabbed the door handle. The cold, chilly texture unique to metal made his spine tingle. Come on, what could possibly happen? Eunchan swallowed and turned the handle.
“Eunchan-ah, what are you doing there?”
“Ah! You scared me.”
Startled by Miro’s voice from behind, Eunchan’s body trembled as he patted his wildly beating heart. When he turned his head, Miro was holding a cake box in his hands and looking at Eunchan with tranquil eyes.
“Uh… I was just taking a little walk and noticed there was a storage shed here.”
It was like being caught red-handed committing theft. Eunchan forced a smile and slowly removed his hand from the door handle.
“You shouldn’t come here.”
“Really? I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
Acting as if nothing was wrong, Eunchan brushed off his hands and approached Miro. Miro’s characteristic soft rose scent was fragrant. Eunchan naturally linked arms with Miro and offered an affectionate apology.
“It’s okay. Y-you like cake, don’t you, Eunchan-ah? Let’s go eat.”
At Eunchan’s physical affection, Miro smiled and soon began explaining the shape and taste of the cake he’d bought. Eunchan let Miro’s words flow over him while thinking about the storage shed he hadn’t been able to open moments ago. Though Miro’s timing had been bad, it was locked anyway so he wouldn’t have been able to enter in the end. But was there really a reason to keep the storage shed locked? What were they storing there?
“It’s s-strawberry cake, your favorite, Eunchan-ah.”
“Wow, that sounds delicious. Let’s eat together.”
“Y-yes.”
Ah well, whatever it is, it’s the homeowner’s business… Eunchan didn’t think deeply about it and responded enthusiastically to Miro’s words as they crossed the garden together. Miro’s brightly smiling face bloomed brilliantly in the autumn sunlight. And right now, that wasn’t what was important. Eunchan said boastfully to Miro:
“I’m going to have a lot of time now.”
“H-how much?”
“A lot.”
He didn’t know how much Choi Hanul had paid, but it had been a big job that Eunchan finished. This should be enough to rest for a long time, right? The problem, if it was a problem, was that after meeting Miro, he only thought about playing every day.
“Good.”
But when Eunchan saw Miro happy that he would have a lot of time, he thought, what’s the problem with that? Besides, Eunchan had more days when he was too busy making ends meet day by day to even have any leisure. Since there was someone by his side with whom he wanted to spend time, he should enjoy that leisure now.
The house was still in disarray and the garden wasn’t perfectly organized either, but since there was plenty of time, those things could be put off. Eunchan opened the front door for Miro and asked shyly:
“Want to go out and have fun together?”
And he wanted to set a date to confess so they could have a deeper, more complete relationship. Eunchan waited for Miro’s answer, unable to hide his flushed cheeks that had heated up.
“Yes, together.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Miro gave his answer immediately. His expression was fluttering like that of a young adolescent boy. That sight was so beautiful and cute that Eunchan spread both arms and embraced Miro fully.
