“Hyung.”
Around six in the evening, Lee Migeon came to find him at the store. Yugeon, who had been sitting at the cash register looking at his phone, brightened at his younger brother’s visit and stood up from his seat.
“You’re here?”
Lee Migeon glanced at Yugeon’s phone for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, I’m back. Let’s go home.”
“Huh? But Grandma hasn’t come yet. Is it okay to just leave?”
“Do you have the key?”
“I do, but…”
“Then let’s lock up and go. No one’s going to come to the store in the evening anyway.”
“Really? But what about the key? Should we stop by Grandma’s house on the way to give it to her?”
“If she gave it to you, doesn’t that mean she wants you to keep it from now on?”
“I guess…”
Yugeon locked the sliding door of the store and headed home with his younger brother. Though it was almost six o’clock, it was midsummer, so the days were long. Perhaps because of the sunlight hitting the surface of the leaves, the greenery spreading in all directions looked both transparent and more vivid.
“Is it manageable?”
Lee Migeon suddenly asked. Yugeon looked up at his younger brother and nodded.
“Yeah. It’s not difficult, and it’s good for passing the time.”
“That’s good. Nothing unusual happened?”
“What unusual thing would happen?”
“Right. But… why were you looking at your phone?”
“Huh? Oh. I thought I should contact the people I used to work with to let them know I arrived safely, but the phone just won’t connect. It’s already been several days, so they’re probably wondering. By any chance, is there a landline?”
“…There’s one at the village hall. It’s on the way, so let’s stop by.”
“Oh, really? That’s a relief.”
Yugeon patted his chest, genuinely relieved. At that sight, Lee Migeon’s expression darkened a little. After passing the funeral home and walking a bit further, they reached the village hall. It was the most modern-looking building on the island, so he had wondered who lived there, but apparently it was the village hall. There was no sign or anything, so he had just thought it was a private house.
“Make your call and come out. I’ll wait outside.”
“Huh? You’re not coming in? Or you can go ahead.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Then I’ll be right out.”
“…Okay.”
When Yugeon went inside the hall, Lee Migeon stared intently at the door he had entered, then sat down on the entrance steps, drew up his knees, and buried his face in them.
“Something like a phone call…”
He wanted to prevent it. Because it might make him want to go back.
Not much time had passed when he heard the sound of a door opening behind him. Lee Migeon quickly raised his head and looked back.
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
Yugeon was looking at him with a nonchalant expression.
“Already… you’re done?”
“Huh? What’s there to talk about at length?”
Lee Migeon had thought he would be on the phone for quite a while. But Yugeon walked past him with a simple expression, taking the lead. His face looked relieved, as if a burden had been lifted. Lee Migeon hurriedly caught up to Yugeon.
“Hyung, by any chance…”
“Yeah?”
“…No, never mind. Let’s hurry home. You must be hungry, hyung.”
He couldn’t ask, ‘You’re not trying to go back, are you?’
* * *
Several days had passed since Yugeon started working at the store. When he used to go to the mart, there were quite a few times he didn’t want to go to work, but now, perhaps because he commuted with his younger brother, or perhaps because the store work wasn’t difficult, he was going quite happily.
As Yugeon was leaving the house with his younger brother, he raised his head at the wind blowing overhead.
“The wind’s pretty strong, isn’t it?”
At Yugeon’s words, Lee Migeon also looked at the sky. The wind was definitely a bit rough.
“Mm… yeah.”
When Lee Migeon answered, Yugeon slightly frowned and looked up at his younger brother. Perhaps feeling his gaze, Lee Migeon also looked at Yugeon.
“…What?”
When Lee Migeon asked, Yugeon pulled his younger brother’s arm to make him lower his head, then touched his forehead and said,
“You know, I’ve been thinking since earlier. Are you sick somewhere?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t seem to have a fever… but your voice sounds hoarse, and you look really tired.”
Lee Migeon seemed a bit flustered as he touched his own face.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I guess it’s because I haven’t been sleeping well at night…”
“You can’t sleep at night?”
“Lately, a bit…”
“Is it because of me?”
“Huh?”
“No, there are people who can’t sleep when they sleep with someone else, you know. I was wondering if maybe you’re like that. That’s why I told you to buy bedding, so why didn’t you?”
At the nagging filled with apology, worry, and concern, Lee Migeon chuckled.
“It’s not that… I like sleeping with you, hyung.”
“…Don’t say things like that, people might misunderstand.”
“So what.”
“What do you mean ‘so what.’ Anyway, either clean up the room quickly or buy bedding. Please.”
“…Tch.”
“Tch what? Are you a child?”
“Tch.”
When his younger brother did the same thing twice, Yugeon gave in and laughed.
Right, at 22 he is still a kid.
As they chatted about this and that while walking, they arrived at the store before they knew it.
“By the way, will the weather be okay today?”
At Yugeon’s question, Lee Migeon turned his head to look at the sea.
“Mm… the wind isn’t that strong yet. It should be fine as long as it doesn’t get stronger than this.”
“Really? Well, anyway, be careful.”
“Okay, I’ll be back. See you later.”
“Yeah, take care.”
Yugeon saw Lee Migeon off, and Lee Migeon received his hyung’s send-off as he walked away. Yugeon watched until his younger brother became a dot, then turned around to enter the store but frowned and stopped.
“Ugh, what?”
The soles of his feet were stinging. Just like thorns had been stuck in them. Yugeon looked down at his feet, then sat on the wooden bench, took off his shoes and socks, and examined the soles of his feet.
“What is this…?”
There were many fine scratches on the soles of his feet. Yugeon tilted his head.
“When did these happen?”
It was strange. There was no reason for such wounds to appear on the soles of his feet. Just in case, Yugeon checked his other foot too.
“……”
Both soles of his feet had scratches he didn’t know about.
“What is this? Like someone who’s been running around barefoot.”
As Yugeon muttered to himself without realizing it, he suddenly recalled what his younger brother had said.
‘Hyung, do you have sleepwalking?’
“…No way.”
Yugeon shook his head with a forced smile. But he couldn’t take his eyes off the soles of his feet. For the past few days, his younger brother had looked very tired. When he woke up, he would often find him hugging his waist tightly while sleeping. Could it be that he had been wandering around all night due to sleepwalking, and his younger brother couldn’t sleep at night because he was looking for him? And he hugs his waist while sleeping in case he wanders around again?
“N-no way…”
Yugeon shook his head in denial, then remembered something.
‘Hyung, are your feet… okay?’
His younger brother had asked him that when he woke up once.
“……”
It seemed he would have to ask his younger brother about the soles of his feet.
“Yawn.”
Sitting at the cash register, Yugeon yawned and stretched without realizing it due to the quietness. A tear squeezed out. Yugeon rubbed the corner of his eye and rested his chin on his hand.
“He looked really tired, is he really okay?”
He was worried about his younger brother for no reason. What if he really was losing sleep at night because of him? Since it was something like self-employment anyway, wouldn’t it be better to take a day off if he was tired? As he was randomly tapping the calculator while thinking this, he suddenly felt someone’s gaze. When he raised his head, he saw a familiar face in the distance looking at him.
“Lee Jaeyeong…”
When their eyes met, Lee Jaeyeong quickly turned around and left.
“Why does he keep acting like that?”
Since last time when he bought ointment at the store, Lee Jaeyeong kept coming to watch him from a distance. He wouldn’t come inside the store, wouldn’t talk to him, and whenever their eyes met, he would just run away.
“……”
As he was wondering whether he should catch him and ask why he kept doing that, the sliding door rattled violently.
“?”
Wondering what it was, Yugeon got up from his seat, opened the door, and went outside.
“Huh?”
The sky, which had been blue just a few dozen minutes ago, was now completely overcast. The wind had also gotten stronger. Yugeon urgently looked down toward the dock. The waves were getting rough, and he could see dark clouds rising ominously from the distant sky over the sea.
“Migeon…”
Yugeon’s face turned pale in an instant. Migeon must have gone out to sea, right? Yugeon immediately rushed out of the store. He didn’t even think to lock the door. As he was hurrying down to the dock, he heard a voice calling “Hyung?” from below the road.
When he quickly looked up, Lee Migeon was climbing up the slope.
“Where are you going?”
His younger brother, with eyes wide open, asked curiously, and Yugeon blinked a few times before dropping his shoulders.
“The, the sea looked unusual… I thought you had gone out…”
When Yugeon mumbled barely audibly, Lee Migeon looked between the dock and Yugeon alternately before asking,
“Were you worried about me?”
“Yeah…”
When Yugeon nodded without hesitation in affirmation, Lee Migeon smiled more than ever and strode over to Yugeon’s side, pointing toward the dock.
“Look, can you see it?”
“Huh?”
Yugeon looked at his younger brother’s face instead of the dock he was pointing at. Lee Migeon didn’t seem to mind and continued talking while making eye contact.
“The boat with the deck painted mint.”
Only then did Yugeon turn his gaze to look where his younger brother was pointing. In the distance at the dock, he could see a fishing boat with its deck painted mint.
“Oh… I see it.”
“That’s my boat. If that’s at the dock, it means I haven’t gone out, and if you see that boat among the boats coming in, it means I’ve come back.”
Yugeon’s mouth opened on its own. His younger brother’s mint-colored fishing boat. He slowly nodded while capturing that fishing boat in his eyes again and again.
