‘C-Could it be GPS location tracking on my phone? Did he set something like that up?!’
Jeong Minha hurriedly turned on his phone and checked various settings and apps. However, there was nothing particularly suspicious.
‘Now that I think about it, this phone was also something hyung bought for me….’
As he stared at the phone with suspicious eyes, other worries began to creep in.
‘W-wait a minute. Then could this also have wiretapping or something? Or if there’s even screen sharing…!’
Just in case, he frantically deleted his search history and MiTube viewing history. It was because he had searched so many things related to unrequited love recently.
After spending several minutes deleting records like that, he just wanted to throw the phone away. But it was clearly a very expensive latest model phone. He calmed down while rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.
‘That can’t be, haha…. Now that I think about it, if hyung really knew all that, my unrequited love would have been exposed long ago.’
In fact, he had talked extensively about Seo Sihan to his friend over the phone. Especially thinking about that sponsorship misunderstanding incident back then, he still wanted to kick his blanket.
If Seo Sihan really knew, privacy invasion aside, he would be the type to make a tearful face saying, ‘I didn’t bring Minha here for that purpose….’ At least that’s what Jeong Minha currently thought.
‘But still, what if… he knows everything but is just pretending not to?!’
Even when trying to think positively, he couldn’t help the suspicions that kept arising.
In the end, that night, Jeong Minha’s suspicious illness flared up again like when he first met Seo Sihan. That said, he couldn’t not use his phone. Jeong Minha was an internet addict. Therefore, to use his phone with peace of mind, he conducted his own test for a week.
He turned on the phone and left records in every place where he could write text—notepad, search bar, messages, etc.
[I really hate hyung]
[Seo Sihan is an idiot]
[I’m going to run away from home]
[Looking for a part-time job]
[Running away one more time for dinner today ㄱ]
[If you don’t stop me, I’m really leaving]
He wrote them to provoke a reaction from Seo Sihan as much as possible, but Seo Sihan said nothing. He spent a peaceful week.
‘Hmm, I guess that’s not it after all. That would definitely be a crime…. Hyung isn’t that kind of person.’
Jeong Minha used his phone with relief.
However, a few days later, when he got in Seo Sihan’s car to go to school in the morning.
“…Minha-ya, did you leave your phone behind?”
“Huh? …Huh! What, really? Where did it go?!”
As Jeong Minha panicked and rummaged through his bag, Seo Sihan answered with a laugh.
“I think you left it on the living room sofa.”
“Whoa, I’ll quickly go get… But how did you know that, hyung?”
“…I think I saw it in the living room earlier.”
“Okay….”
Jeong Minha took the elevator back into the house and hurriedly checked the living room sofa.
“……”
The phone was in the exact location.
If Seo Sihan had really seen it before leaving, he would have told him then. But telling him belatedly meant….
‘The GPS was real….’
He picked up the phone while breaking into a cold sweat. He got goosebumps, but remembering that the culprit was his hyung, he brushed off his worries again.
‘Well, it’s not like it’s someone else, and even if hyung knows my location…. And isn’t this kind of convenient? Now I don’t have to worry too much even if I lose it.’
If his friend had heard this, they would have asked if he was crazy and recommended a hospital, but Jeong Minha really didn’t care much. In the first place, Jeong Minha was someone who had even overlooked Seo Sihan investigating his life.
* * *
Mid-May. Jeong Minha, who was very sensitive to heat, had already started wearing short sleeves.
Seo Sihan said it was okay to turn the air conditioning up high for Jeong Minha, but Jeong Minha refused. What air conditioning when hyung is still wearing long sleeves. It’s fine. Thanks to the cool Jeong Minha, Seo Sihan was moved.
While spending such peaceful days, an announcement went up.
[202X National Shooting Team Candidate Training Camp Notice]
Jeong Minha, who read the notice at school while only pretending to listen to the lecture again, closed his phone.
A few days later, Jeong Minha gave Seo Sihan another same-day notice.
“Hyung. I’m going to the training camp starting tomorrow.”
“Huh? Ah…. For how long?”
“A little over two weeks?”
“……”
Seeing Jeong Minha casually mention such important information in the middle of eating, Seo Sihan felt déjà vu. Last time it was already hard being apart for a week, and this time it would be even longer? Still, it couldn’t be helped, so he suppressed his disappointment.
However, Jeong Minha told him an additional shocking fact.
“I don’t have to go, but I’m going to go anyway.”
“…Why?”
“It’s optional…. I was going to practice at the personal training facility you made for me anyway.”
“Yeah….”
“And there are only people I know there. Honestly, I don’t want to go.”
“Then….”
Then you can just practice here comfortably. Before Seo Sihan could say it, Jeong Minha beat him to it.
“But I made up my mind with determination. I now have a reason why I absolutely must win a gold medal this time.”
“Uh…?”
“So I’ll go and come back.”
Jeong Minha said it with such a cool smile that Seo Sihan was at a loss for words.
Even though he himself had been the one to tell him to return as an athlete, now seeing Jeong Minha about to leave to practice separately like this, he felt like stopping him.
With complicated thoughts, this time it was Seo Sihan who became dispirited.
Jeong Minha said it wouldn’t take long and ultimately packed his bags and left the next morning.
* * *
After that, Seo Sihan felt various emotions while living alone.
It was manageable while he was at the company, but when he came home, it was definitely empty. No, more than that….
Going out together in the car in the morning, occasionally contacting each other during the day, then coming home together in the car in the evening, eating together, and on holidays going out to play or in the living room together… together.
Being alone in the spacious house, there was nothing particular to do. What did I used to do normally?
Thinking about it, he had always just worked all day even before. But even so, just encountering and talking with Jeong Minha each time was enjoyable.
‘…I wasn’t like this before.’
With an inexplicable loneliness, Seo Sihan sat alone on the living room sofa when he discovered an item that had fallen under the table.
It was a small candy wrapped in a sky-blue wrapper.
“……!”
Seo Sihan immediately unwrapped it and put the candy in his mouth.
“…Urgh.”
It was bitter and astringent to an unbelievable degree for candy. It was an unforgettable taste.
“He still has this….”
He had memories of eating this candy of unknown origin long ago. It was because a man who had greatly helped him had given it to him.
Jeong Minha thinks his first meeting with Seo Sihan was this January, at a cafe.
But the first meeting Seo Sihan remembers was different.
Four years ago, during the Olympics.
Seo Sihan and Jeong Minha first met then.
* * *
Seo Sihan, 23 years old. Jeong Minha, 20 years old.
The first meeting with Jeong Minha that Seo Sihan remembers was from this time.
It was late July, four years ago, when the Olympics were in full swing.
Seo Sihan, who had graduated from university early and immediately started working at the company, was feeling quite a lot of pressure and anxiety. It was because his team had taken on a major investment project related to this Olympics.
If he could just finish the upcoming meeting well, the director position was confirmed. He didn’t have a great desire to be promoted, but since the CEO of the British headquarters was his father and the chairman of the Korean branch was his grandfather, this task was practically a given mission. He could feel the expectant gazes from those around him all too well.
“……”
He felt like throwing up. His stomach was churning.
Seo Sihan sat down and lowered his head.
From the moment he was born, what he would do was already decided. Following his father’s will to take over the company. Seo Sihan had lived silently studying without much rebellion. He couldn’t particularly think of anything he wanted to do. This was just the natural life.
He had lived diligently to meet expectations as much as possible, but his father’s attitude was always the same. He only told him to work harder. So Seo Sihan worked even harder.
He had no particular memories of conversations with his father outside of that. It was awkward. In the first place, he hadn’t spent much time with his family at all. Since his mother and older brother had gone to Korea, Seo Sihan, who remained at the British main house, had mainly lived only with the mansion’s employees.
Still, Seo Sihan thought he was living a reasonably good life. He did well in school too. It took a little time to adapt when he first came to Korea, but since he just had to study all day anyway, it wasn’t a big problem.
However, it changed after joining the company. Working life was harder.
