After his strange encounter with the snake, Yugeon began to fall ill. He developed a fever for no reason, his throat swelled up, and he came down with body aches. As he lay unable to think straight, delirious with fever, the sound of heavy rain and thunder constantly rang in his ears.
“Hyung.”
At the low voice calling him, Yugeon struggled to open his fever-hot eyes and moved his dazed gaze to look at his younger brother sitting beside him.
“Are you feeling a bit better?”
At his brother’s question, full of worry, Yugeon answered slowly.
“Yeah.”
At Yugeon’s voice, Migeon’s brow furrowed deeply. The severely hoarse voice didn’t sound okay at all. Migeon slipped his hand under his hyung’s back and forced him to sit up.
“Let’s get you to eat something. Eat, take your medicine, and go back to sleep.”
Migeon set down a tray with a bowl of porridge on Yugeon’s lap, and Yugeon stared at his brother intently. How long had it been since someone took care of him like this when he was sick?
“I want baesuk…”
“Baesuk?”
Instead of answering, Yugeon blinked slowly and nodded slightly.
It was a food his grandmother had often made for him when he was sick as a child. For some reason, that’s what he wanted.
“We don’t have any pears…. Can I make it for you this evening?”
Yugeon smiled soundlessly. He’d just been acting a bit spoiled since he was sick. He was grateful to his brother for indulging the whims of his twenty-seven-year-old hyung.
“Do you even know how to make it?”
“I can just ask someone.”
At the nonchalant answer, Yugeon, who had been smiling soundlessly, suddenly looked outside the window. He could see a clear sky without a single dark cloud.
“The rain stopped.”
Migeon shifted his gaze outside following Yugeon, tilting his head with a “Rain?” and answered.
“It didn’t rain though?”
“It didn’t?”
“No. Did you dream about rain?”
“Ah, I guess I must have….”
As Yugeon muttered weakly, Migeon pressed a spoon into Yugeon’s hand.
“Hurry and eat, hyung.”
While Yugeon finished the porridge in the bowl, Migeon stayed by his side, and only stood up after making him take fever medicine.
“You going out?”
“Yeah, I hope we can take the boat out today.”
At his brother’s answer, Yugeon looked outside.
“Isn’t the weather nice?”
“The situation on the sea is often different.”
“Really?”
Instead of answering, Migeon came closer to Yugeon and felt his forehead once.
“You still have a high fever. I’ll come back before it gets too late. Just lie down obediently.”
“What kind of hyung only causes trouble like this?”
At Yugeon’s words, Migeon’s eyes widened as if in surprise, then he smiled.
“I like it though.”
“Haha, you like having a hyung who causes trouble?”
“Yeah. I hope we can keep being together like this.”
“……”
Yugeon couldn’t give any answer. As if he’d expected it, Migeon showed neither disappointment nor regret. He simply removed the hand from his forehead.
“I’ll be going. Dongha said he’d stop by at lunch, so don’t worry and sleep.”
“…Be careful.”
“Okay.”
When his brother left, the house became quiet. It was quiet enough to make him think he needed some noise.
“If only there was a TV, I’d turn it on….”
Muttering, Yugeon checked his phone. Still no signal. Yugeon lay on his side and began scrolling through the conversations he’d had with other people one by one. He had the most conversations with Choi Jacheol.
“I miss ahjussi…”
“Hyuuung-! I’m here!”
With a ruckus and a booming voice echoing loudly, Yugeon, who had been sleeping, woke with a start. At the same time, something rolled out of his hand. It was his phone. It seemed he’d fallen asleep while looking at the conversations.
“Yugeon hyung?”
He heard the voice calling him once more.
Yugeon hastily propped himself up.
“Come in.”
Perhaps because he got up suddenly, he felt dizzy. Yugeon groaned softly and bent over, holding his forehead, and in the meantime, Lee Dongha, who had come up to the wooden floor, looked around searching for Yugeon, then found him lying in Migeon’s room and approached.
“Wow, hyung, were you sleeping this whole time?”
“I guess so.”
“But why are you in this room? Isn’t that Geon’s room?”
“He said he hasn’t cleaned my room yet.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah.”
Dongha looked at Yugeon’s room with its closed door with a puzzled expression, but soon with an unconcerned face, he set down all the things he’d brought.
“Mom packed all this stuff because you’re sick, hyung.”
Yugeon slowly sat up. If he got up in a rush, it seemed like he’d get dizzy again.
“Really? Please tell her thank you.”
“You hungry? All you had for breakfast was a bowl of porridge. I’ll set it out. Let’s eat together.”
“I’ll help.”
When Yugeon tried to get up, Dongha hurriedly waved both hands.
“Ah ah, just stay lying down. If I make a sick hyung work, Geon will glare at me and chase me down.”
Yugeon watched Dongha’s back as he headed to the kitchen excitedly with slightly anxious eyes. He worried he might make a mess of the kitchen rather than set out food, but a moment later, making his worries seem foolish, Dongha appeared with a smile, holding a well-prepared meal table.
He didn’t seem like it, but he appeared quite familiar with preparing meals. He could guess why his brother had called Dongha.
After setting the meal table in front of Yugeon, Dongha fanned himself with his hand and looked around as if searching for something. Then he pulled over a fan that had been pushed into a corner of the room.
“Aren’t you hot, hyung? You didn’t even have the fan on.”
“Hm? It’s cool inside the house though?”
“Come on, no matter what, it’s not cool enough to not need a fan.”
“Geon didn’t have it on either though?”
“That guy doesn’t feel hot or cold. Strangely, he used to feel the heat a lot when he was younger, you know? But his constitution suddenly changed or something, seriously.”
“Really?”
“I’m telling you. There’s an air conditioner at the village hall, you know? In summer he got caught sleeping alone at the village hall with the AC on because it was hot and got in trouble.”
“It was that bad?”
“Yeah. When he was young, his skin tanned easily too, so he was the darkest among us, but now he doesn’t tan well either, and even though he’s on the boat all day, he’s so pale, so pale. Seyeong noona is really jealous.”
“Does he have tough skin?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s secretly applying something…. Since I’m here, I should search around before I go!”
“Go ahead.”
Yugeon laughed cheerfully. They might have been close when they were kids, but now they were practically strangers to each other, yet Dongha made people comfortable as if they’d known each other for a long time. He seemed to have good social skills too.
“It’s nice having a conversation.”
“Huh? Don’t you talk with Geon?”
“No, we talk a lot. But being alone makes me feel lonely. Why isn’t there a TV?”
“Ah, since no one watched it, it became a nuisance so they got rid of it. That TV is probably at Woongin hyung’s place now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Or talk to Geon about it. Tell him to buy you one.”
“No… why would I… What kind of freeloader am I to ask for a TV too?”
“Huh? Why are you a freeloader, hyung? You’re family. If it’s too much to ask him to buy one, should I go steal it back from Woongin hyung’s place?”
At Dongha’s confident words, Yugeon burst out laughing.
“That’s okay. How can I just watch TV at home when my brother’s working? I should find something to occupy my time.”
“Well, whatever you prefer, hyung.”
The two finished their meal while chatting about this and that. Yugeon said he’d clean up, but Dongha stubbornly refused, did all the cleanup, and even put the side dishes he’d brought into the refrigerator before leaving.
Left alone, silence found him again. Yugeon took his medicine and lay quietly in the room for a while, then dragged his bedding out to the wooden floor and lay down. He could see the yard clearly beyond the windbreak. He’d be able to see his brother returning too.
It was evening when Migeon returned home. Opening the windbreak door and stepping inside, he stopped walking when he saw his hyung sleeping on the wooden floor. As Migeon silently watched his hyung, his eyes turned yellow and curved gently.
Migeon climbed onto the wooden floor and shook his sleeping hyung’s shoulder.
“Hyung. Why are you sleeping here?”
At the touch and call, Yugeon groggily woke from sleep. Yugeon confirmed his brother with squinted eyes, then rubbed his eyes and sat up sluggishly.
“I was waiting for you….”
“You waited for me?”
A vivid smile was embedded in the question.
“Yeah….”
When Yugeon nodded in agreement, Migeon reached out and felt Yugeon’s forehead. The pitch-black eyes looking at Yugeon were endlessly tender.
“Your fever seems the same.”
“Really? I took medicine though.”
“How’s your throat?”
“Hm? It still hurts.”
“I bought pears. You’re going to have baesuk, right?”
“You’re really going to make it?”
Migeon showed him the pear as if to prove it and added.
“Yeah. I learned how to make it from Grandma at the fish market too.”
Migeon told him to wait a moment and headed straight to the kitchen, and Yugeon also got up and followed his brother.
“Why? Keep lying down.”
“I slept all day so I feel too stiff.”
Migeon nodded as if that made sense and tried to focus on cooking, then looked back at Yugeon again.
“Oh right, I’ll buy you a TV soon.”
“…What?”
“You told Dongha you were bored because there’s no TV.”
“No, why did he…? You don’t have to!”
“Then should I steal it back from Woongin hyung?”
“…That doesn’t sound like a joke.”
“It’s not a joke.”
When Migeon answered matter-of-factly, Yugeon smacked his brother’s shoulder, and Migeon held the shoulder he’d been hit on as if it hurt and laughed.
The baesuk his brother made was clumsy, but it closely resembled the taste his grandmother used to make. He thought that maybe living with his brother on the island like this wouldn’t be so bad either. Cooking meals together, nursing each other when sick, and spending evenings having trivial conversations.
He’d eaten well, had the baesuk his brother made, and taken his medicine. Yugeon went to sleep thinking he’d get better soon, but contrary to expectations, his fever rose even higher throughout the night. Migeon, who had been sleeping stuck close to Yugeon’s arm, woke at Yugeon’s groaning, and panicked by the sight of Yugeon moaning in high fever, didn’t sleep a wink all night.
Before leaving the house, Migeon felt his hyung’s forehead. The fever that had risen all night had gone down a bit, but it seemed hotter than yesterday.
“I’ll buy medicine that works better today.”
“What are you going to do since you couldn’t sleep all night because of me?”
“That much is fine. Don’t worry about stuff like that and just rest well.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“I’ll be going.”
“Be careful.”
When his brother left, Yugeon dragged his blanket out to the wooden floor and lay down. He could see his brother’s small figure going down at the edge of the yard.
At lunchtime, Dongha came and woke Yugeon to eat lunch together. Today Lee Jihui was with him too. Watching the siblings bicker without a moment’s rest, time flew by.
He didn’t know when he’d fallen asleep, but Yugeon opened his eyes to his brother’s voice and touch waking him. As his blurry vision became clear, he could see his brother’s face full of worry.
“Why are you sweating so much in your sleep, hyung?”
“?”
Yugeon sat up and wiped around his neck. His palm was completely wet. His head felt severely hazy too.
“Cough, cough.”
When Yugeon even coughed, Migeon pushed Yugeon’s shoulder with resolute eyes.
“Hyung, lie down.”
As his body tipped backward, Yugeon shook his head and grabbed his brother’s arm.
“I don’t want to lie down. The medicine? Didn’t you say you’d buy some?”
His severely hoarse voice was pitiful. Migeon nodded with his brow slightly furrowed.
“Yeah, I need to put it in, so lie down.”
“Why put in the medicine? Give it to me. I need to take it.”
“It’s not medicine you take.”
“Then what? Is it a shot?”
He was wondering if they even gave shots on the island and tilting his head when Migeon forced Yugeon to lie down.
“No, it’s a suppository.”
