Yugeon, who had been sitting blankly on the bench in front of the fish market stall, let out a sigh with a complicated expression.
It was because of the stories he had heard from his younger brother yesterday. Putting aside the imugi and the sacrifice and all that, what bothered him most was that the reason his younger brother hated Lee Jaeyeong and Lee Sanghoe was because of him.
Yugeon fiddled with the beverage can in his hand. Because of the hot weather, water droplets had formed all over the surface and were dripping down.
Were we such affectionate brothers?
He remembered that he had a younger brother. That his name was Lee Migeon, and the face that used to cling to his hand and look up at him. But the time they spent together was only five years. Was that enough time for deep affection to form? He first met his younger brother at six and parted at ten. Honestly, he was too young then, so he didn’t even remember about three of those five years. His younger brother would be even more so.
To hate Lee Sanghoe and Lee Jaeyeong for making him separated from me for 17 years….
Was that a reason others could accept when they heard it?
He couldn’t accept it at all….
Yugeon emptied the remaining drink in one gulp and threw the empty can toward the trash bin. The can made a loud noise as it hit the edge of the trash bin and bounced out.
“Damn it….”
Nothing was going right. His mood was already complicated—would it kill it to go in on the first try?
Yugeon got up from his seat irritably and picked up the can. He was about to throw it again but decided not to make work for himself twice, so he threw it directly into the trash bin and was about to enter the fish market stall when the sole of his foot stung painfully.
Yugeon stopped walking and frowned, looking down at his foot.
The reason his soles were covered in wounds.
‘The imugi calls hyung out every night.’
According to his younger brother, the imugi called him out every night. Then he would go looking for the imugi without even wearing shoes, and when he disappeared, his younger brother would wander all over the island looking for him. Now he understood his younger brother’s behavior of sleeping while clinging to his waist as if hanging on. How worried must he be when his hyung wanders through the mountains every night?
“Crazy.”
The curse came out naturally. Why does that imugi call people out every night and tire out someone else’s younger brother? If it has business, it should come directly or call him out during the day while he’s in his right mind.
“……”
What does he do with the imugi during the time he has no memory?
What does the imugi do after calling him?
It seemed like something was about to come to mind fragmentarily, but it quickly faded away dimly.
His chest felt stuffy. Yugeon tapped his chest a couple of times and was about to enter the fish market stall and sit at the cash register. If only the door hadn’t burst open behind him.
When he turned around in surprise, Lee Jaeyeong was standing in the doorway, panting and looking at him.
“What….”
As the flustered Yugeon hesitated, Lee Jaeyeong shouted as if filled with resentment.
“You…! Where were you yesterday!”
“?”
* * *
Lee Jaeyeong felt he had been strange lately. Precisely, he had been strange since buying ointment from Lee Yugeon at the fish market stall. When he came to his senses, he would find himself at the fish market stall or staring blankly at Lee Yugeon from a distance. Then if their eyes met, he would be startled like someone who had been caught doing something and run away.
He felt intense aversion to his own behavior, but regardless of his will, it seemed like his body and head were moving and thinking voluntarily.
That day too, he headed to the fish market stall quite naturally, as if led by instinct. But the moment he saw the fish market stall, all the blood in his body turned ice cold. Because the inside was dark without lights on, and the old sliding door was firmly locked with a padlock.
Lee Jaeyeong, who had been blankly looking at the fish market stall, gradually had his face distort and then crumple miserably. Lee Jaeyeong hurriedly ran and stuck to the entrance of the fish market stall, frantically examining the inside.
“What? Where did he go?”
His heart raced violently. Lee Yugeon wasn’t there. He couldn’t see him.
“Hey! You, what are you doing?”
At that moment, a sharp cry was heard from behind. When he turned around, Lee Junghyeok was standing with a face looking at something disgusting. Lee Jaeyeong looked at Lee Junghyeok blankly, then clung to him as if rushing at him.
“Wh-where did he go? Where did Lee Yugeon go!”
At Lee Jaeyeong’s sudden action, Lee Junghyeok seemed flustered, but soon pushed Lee Jaeyeong away and threw him off as if he had touched something dirty.
“Has this bastard gone crazy? Who are you to look for Yugeon!”
Lee Jaeyeong, who had fallen miserably on the ground, raised his head with reddened eyes and shouted frantically as if struggling.
“Where did he go! Where did Lee Yugeon go!”
At Lee Jaeyeong’s appearance he was seeing for the first time, Lee Junghyeok unconsciously stepped back. But soon he hardened his face even more menacingly, grabbed Lee Jaeyeong’s collar, and began swinging his fist.
“What trouble is this crazy bastard trying to cause by looking for Yugeon! Don’t even come near Yugeon!”
At first, Lee Jaeyeong tried to avoid Lee Junghyeok’s fist while defending passively, but at the words not to even come near Lee Yugeon, he began throwing punches as if filled with resentment. Since Lee Jaeyeong’s build wasn’t small either, when his fist had strength in it, it was quite threatening.
The two exchanged punches recklessly, but Lee Jaeyeong gradually began to be pushed back. Lee Jaeyeong, who had been gritting his teeth and enduring, finally pushed Lee Junghyeok away and ran away.
Lee Junghyeok warned menacingly toward the back of Lee Jaeyeong, who was fleeing in a hurry.
“If you come snooping around one more time, know that I’ll really kill you!”
At Lee Junghyeok’s voice ringing loudly from behind, Lee Jaeyeong gritted his teeth.
Why do I have to hear this? Lee Yugeon is… Lee Yugeon is….
His eyes furrowed deeply with a sense of injustice.
His eyes, which had momentarily blurred, split into two before returning.
That’s mine.
* * *
Yugeon frowned at Lee Jaeyeong’s behavior of barging in and shouting without warning. But without showing it much, he asked calmly.
“Why…? Did you need to buy something yesterday?”
Perhaps because of Yugeon’s attitude, Lee Jaeyeong released his resentful momentum and slowly softened his expression.
“…No… I just didn’t see you.”
“Then you should just say that—why are you shouting?”
Lee Jaeyeong slowly lowered his head and muttered in a small voice.
“…Sorry.”
“……”
Yugeon looked at Lee Jaeyeong’s crown with an incomprehensible expression. He came barging in and got angry, then immediately apologized. And why does he keep coming to find me? If he listened to his younger brother, Lee Jaeyeong should hate him too. After all, because he didn’t die, Lee Jaeyeong lived on the island being treated like that together with Lee Sanghoe.
‘What is it, really….’
Yugeon, who had been wondering if his mind was coming and going, briefly shook his head and swallowed an unnecessary sigh before saying.
“I went to the mainland yesterday.”
Lee Jaeyeong suddenly raised his head.
“The mainland?”
“Yeah, I had business, so I went with Geon-i.”
“What… business?”
Yugeon looked at Lee Jaeyeong silently. He wondered if he was going to ask even that.
“I had various things to settle outside. I’ve decided to live here now.”
“……”
Lee Jaeyeong opened his eyes wide in surprise and blinked. It was as if asking if that was real. Yugeon slowly nodded, then looked at Lee Jaeyeong quietly.
“And I heard everything. The story about you and me.”
“…Ah.”
A small sigh flowed from Lee Jaeyeong’s mouth.
After that, Lee Jaeyeong came to the fish market stall once a day. Though all he did was briefly ask how he was doing or sit silently before leaving. Perhaps conscious of people’s eyes, if there were other people at the fish market stall, he would watch from afar before going back.
Lee Yugeon wondered whether he should tell his younger brother that Lee Jaeyeong came to find him every day, but decided not to care much. He figured that at least he felt some intimacy since Yugeon talked to him. Until now, he must have lived like an outcast on the island.
When evening came, he could see his younger brother’s boat entering the dock. Yugeon cleaned up the fish market stall and headed home with his younger brother who had arrived just in time. Throughout the walk, Yugeon’s leg seemed uncomfortable. Migeon looked at Yugeon’s leg with a worried face and said.
“Is your leg okay? If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you on my back.”
Yugeon burst into laughter.
“This much is fine.”
Though he said it was fine, there was nothing he could do about his soles stinging with every step.
When he woke up in the morning, there was a large wound on the sole of his foot. It seemed he had been called out by the imugi again and wandered barefoot, getting injured.
Arriving home, Yugeon sat on the edge of the wooden floor, took off only one shoe, and examined the sole of his foot. Because his younger brother had treated it well, the wound hadn’t opened or bled again. Meanwhile, Migeon headed straight to the bathroom and said.
“Come up after disinfecting and applying ointment again, hyung.”
“Okay.”
Yugeon took off the rest of his shoe and came up completely onto the wooden floor. The sound of water was heard from the bathroom. His younger brother seemed to be washing his hands. A little later, Migeon came out of the bathroom with disinfectant, ointment, and new bandages, sat in front of Yugeon, raised his knee, and placed Yugeon’s foot on it.
Yugeon stretched both arms behind him to support his body and obediently left his foot to his younger brother.
Looking at his younger brother’s serious face concentrating on the sole of his foot, Yugeon said jokingly.
“How about tying me up completely when I sleep?”
“……”
The corners of Migeon’s eyes twitched and his busy hands momentarily stopped. Yugeon’s eyes widened.
“…You’ve tried it, haven’t you?”
“Yeah…. It was useless.”
“Wow, damn… without even asking me….”
Yugeon grumbled as if wronged and lay down completely. Migeon glanced at Yugeon, then focused on the sole of his foot again.
“Why does it call me out every night, or at the very least, couldn’t it at least make me wear shoes?”
“Right.”
“Hey, what if… I go visit the dragon pond once?”
“…What?”
Migeon stopped his hands and looked at Yugeon. But Yugeon was looking at the ceiling, so he didn’t notice Migeon’s gaze.
“There must be a reason it calls me out every night. But I can’t remember. Wouldn’t it be better to just go visit once while in my right mind… Agh!”
Yugeon, who had been chattering on, screamed at the intense pain felt on the sole of his foot and raised his head. Migeon with a hardened face was gripping his foot with all his might.
“Hey! It hurts, hey!”
Yugeon, who had half raised his body, tried to remove his younger brother’s hand. But Migeon put even more strength into pulling his foot, then stretched his arm next to Yugeon’s face as if pouncing and looked down as if trapping him.
“Why would hyung go there?”
In an instant, Yugeon was dragged down and Migeon’s face was placed right in front of his nose.
“It’s better than wandering around every night! Then you don’t have to suffer all night either!”
“I’m fine.”
“What’s fine… Urk! It hurts! Let go of my foot!”
“If I let go? Will you go looking for the imugi?”
Migeon’s thumb forcibly dug into the flesh that had just started to heal.
Yugeon’s back heaved greatly. He couldn’t even scream.
The pain neither increased nor decreased. Realizing that his younger brother had absolutely no intention of backing down, Yugeon finally opened his mouth urgently.
“I-I won’t go…. I won’t go, I won’t go…!”
As soon as the desperate cry ended, the pain subsided. Yugeon, who had become soaked in cold sweat in that brief moment, looked at his younger brother while panting. His younger brother smiled brightly at him, then began treating the sole of his foot again with care.
But it was a natural course that the wound deliberately torn open would fester.
