When I struggled to open the car door and got out, Ddanji was lying sprawled at my feet wagging his tail happily.
I closed the passenger door and waved weakly. I couldn’t see inside at all—the tinting must be really dark. Even though you couldn’t see who was in the car, Ddanji welcomed us happily… I really shouldn’t expect Ddanji to guard the house.
Since it would be dangerous to lie next to the car, I picked up Ddanji and moved away a bit, then the car slowly reversed and the window rolled down with a zing─.
“See you next week. I’ll call you.”
“Drive safely, hyung.”
Seongheon hyung drove the final nail in once more and left. Watching hyung’s car move away, the first thought that came to mind was ‘I’m screwed.’
* * *
[Ssapseonbi: Hello Keyboard Cleaning! A concrete plan has been set.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: Hello! Ssapseonbi-nim.]
[Ssapseonbi: We’re planning to hit the place marked as number 4 among the hideouts you sent first. I went scouting with Bugilma, and the monsters guarding the area are raid level 4 mobs, so it seems manageable.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: Is that so? Then when are you planning to attack? Can I participate too?]
[Ssapseonbi: Keyboard Cleaning-nim, your level is still low right now, so the nearby mobs are strong and it’ll be difficult. How about joining us next time?]
[Keyboard Cleaning: I’m fine anytime. Ah! Except next Saturday.]
Next Saturday was… the day I had to show Seongheon hyung my girlfriend who doesn’t exist in this world. Separate from raiding the hyungs’ hideout, that matter was also weighing down on my life.
I wondered whether to stop raiding the hideout even now and confess to the hyungs, but stopping this wouldn’t make my sins disappear.
And even if not for this incident, the hyungs would continue to tease and ignore me. And I’d already packed my bags. If things went wrong, I’d run away to my uncle’s house on the island as soon as I graduated.
[Ssapseonbi: We’ll attack Monday at 5 AM.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: Good timing.]
First of all, I’d never seen my older brother wake up at that time. Gangjin hyung and Seongheon hyung do stay up all night playing games, but since they’re students anyway, they probably wouldn’t be gaming from Monday dawn.
[Ssapseonbi: Then I’ll let you know the results by Monday.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: Yes. Good luck.]
Today was Saturday. Daesu hyung had gone out early in the morning, and right now I was home alone.
I’d agonized for days about how to make a girlfriend, but no method came to mind. I begged my classmates to introduce me to a girlfriend, but all I got back was indifference.
“Ah, what do I do…”
Looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling, I put my hands together and started making a wish.
“Please help me get a girlfriend. Just make a girlfriend appear for one day. Even if she exists briefly at lunch and then disappears, please─.”
Bam.
“Girlfriend… huh?”
“Stop talking nonsense by yourself and come out to eat.”
Mom glared at me pathetically while holding a rice scoop, then closed the door and left again.
Somehow, there isn’t a single person in our house who knocks. I wrote ‘Knocking Required’ on the door, but like ‘Pull’ written at any store, it was useless.
Worries aside, I went downstairs to fill my starving stomach. Just as I was about to sit at the kitchen table, Dad also came into the house dusting off his hat.
“Honey! I told you to dust off your hat outside. Geez! Look at all that dust!! Anyway, did you finish spreading chicken manure on the field where we’re planting perilla next year?”
“Yeah, I plowed it all with the tiller. I’ll eat lunch simply. I promised to go fishing at the reservoir with Yeongman later.”
I got up from the table, got Dad’s spoon and chopsticks and placed them on the table, then scooped rice for Dad with the scoop but made it a small portion after hearing what he said.
“Kid, do you want to come too?”
“Where?”
“Fishing.”
“No. It’s boring.”
“Dongwoo, that kid follows his dad around well.”
“That kid originally likes fishing… Go with Mom.”
Mom and Dad get along very well, but even Mom absolutely wouldn’t go along when Dad went fishing. She said it was too boring…
Because Dad’s fishing skills weren’t good, he often came back empty-handed. So when Dad said he was going fishing, our family would say in roundabout terms that he went to feed the fish. Dongwoo even misunderstood that and asked ‘Does your family run a fish farm too?’
“Dongmi follows her dad well too, but our kids hardly ever follow me.”
Dongmi was Dongwoo’s fraternal twin sister. Does Dongmi like fishing too? I was ladling soup listlessly when a good idea suddenly flashed.
“Wait, Dad. Dongmi is coming too?”
“Yeah.”
Why didn’t I think of that?
From the start, I shouldn’t have thought about making a real girlfriend—couldn’t I just ask a girl to pretend to be my girlfriend for a bit? I must be a genius.
Maybe because they’re fraternal twins, Dongmi doesn’t resemble Dongwoo, so there were quite a few friends who didn’t know they were twins. Since Dongmi was also in the same grade, I often went around downtown with Dongwoo or did homework together, so we had some rapport.
The reason Dongmi was perfect for this role was that the hyungs knew Dongwoo but didn’t really know Dongmi. And even if it was later revealed she was Dongwoo’s sister, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
Right, this was the only way.
I had no choice but to tell Dongmi my circumstances and ask her!
“Dad, I’ll come too!!!”
Dad stopped mixing rice in his soup and smiled contentedly.
* * *
“No way.”
As soon as we arrived at the fishing spot, I found Dongmi handling a fishing rod with Dongwoo. I greeted her cheerfully, then abruptly asked Dongmi to pretend to be my girlfriend and heard this.
Even though Dongwoo claims not to care about his younger sister, perhaps disliking being connected with me, his friend, he wrinkled his face and opened his mouth.
“Daeyoung, are you lonely these days? You only go on about girlfriends even in the classroom.”
“No, it’s not that I actually want a real girlfriend… You just need to pretend to be my girlfriend once. I just need to show you to someone…”
“Who?”
“The hyungs…”
“Your hyungs?”
“Yeah.”
Dongmi must have heard rumors about the hyungs somewhere—after listening to my conversation with Dongwoo, she made a disgusted expression and openly showed her dislike.
In front of such Dongmi, I rubbed both hands hard like a wild person making fire with a wooden stick. Why do I have so many things to beg for these days? My fingerprints might wear down. Come to think of it, lately my phone hasn’t been recognizing my fingerprint well.
“Dongmi, hm? Can’t you do it thinking you’re saving a person’s life?”
“Why would I bother saving you? If rumors spread all over that you and I are dating, I’m done for marriage, aren’t I?”
“I’ll be your wedding jester wearing a squid mask when you get married. I’ll pick up money on my own even if you just throw 100 won, okay?”
“Who does that these days? And no matter how I think about it, it’s a losing deal for me. I won’t do it.”
Dongmi flatly refused and returned to her spot with her fishing rod.
This was a reservoir fishing spot, so each spot was provided with a tent on a platform, and Dongwoo and I fixed our fishing rods at the spot next to Dongmi’s. Sitting next to her, I watched for opportunities vigilantly, but Dongmi didn’t even glance my way.
In the end, I got so exhausted I went into the tent and flopped down. Meanwhile, Dongwoo must have gotten a bite—he skillfully caught one and plopped it into the fishing bucket.
In the past, I would’ve been happy saying ‘It’s a lunker!’ and taking selfies together, but now I was just watching listlessly like a pollack’s eyeball, so Dongwoo came over.
“Bored?”
“Yeah.”
“Come catch some crabs. I’ll attach a squid to a discarded rod tip for you.”
“Don’t even bring up squid.”
“But do you really have to pretend to have a girlfriend? Everyone in the world knows you don’t have one though?”
“I said something I have to keep…”
“You can’t deal with those hyungs. Don’t rebel for no reason. Just honestly say you don’t have one even now.”
Twenty years old, twenty years old. As if chanting a spell inside, I lost my mind then called him weakly.
“Dongwoo.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m leaving for the island soon. Let’s say goodbye in advance.”
“Why the island all of a sudden?”
“It’s better you don’t know.”
Dongwoo comforted me in a different way while baiting the fishing hook.
“My sister is originally cold-hearted, but she usually grants requests, you know? But seeing her act like that, it’s probably because of something in the past.”
“Something in the past?”
“Yeah.”
Dongwoo and I had been close since middle school, and back then Dongmi had interfered telling him not to hang out with me. At that time, I’d never talked to Dongmi separately, and greeting her when I went over to play was the first time.
But I didn’t know why she said that—I found out later it was all because of the hyungs.
Dongmi attended an art academy and got close with older students preparing for entrance exams, and among them there must have been people who went to the same school as the hyungs. She said she saw those academy oppas fighting with the hyungs, and since Daesu hyung was among them, she viewed me badly too, thinking I was ‘that kind of younger brother to that kind of hyung.’
Hearing Dongmi’s words at the time, I just thought Daesu hyung’s personality must be so bad that he even fought on the streets, but I’d forgotten that Seongheon hyung must have been there too.
“But she said you were clumsy, so she didn’t say anything after that.”
“Anyway, she viewed me favorably.”
“If you put it that way, then yeah. My sister said that. To treat you well.”
“Why?”
“Saying how hard of an adolescence you must have had with those hyungs’ pestering.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Anyone watching would think the hyungs tormented and bothered me tremendously, but rather the opposite—I was the one constantly begging the hyungs to play with me first. In reality, it was hard to even see the hyungs’ faces, so maybe that’s why I belatedly learned about Seongheon hyung’s various sides.
