It was somehow an eerie gaze. Lee Junghyeok tried hard to shake off the unease running down his spine and released Migeon’s collar as if pushing him away.
“They say you’re obsessed with the word ‘brothers’!”
Migeon’s eerie gaze instantly softened and he asked back with an innocent face.
“Why is that?”
Lee Junghyeok furrowed his face completely and glared at Migeon as if asking if he was in his right mind. But Migeon rather seemed to be in a good mood.
“When I just heard from Yugeon, I thought no way… You, by any chance…”
“It’s natural because we’re brothers.”
“Are you in your right mind? What’s natural about it? You’re brothers! Not even brother and sister, but brothers! What are guys doing with each other…! At the very least, can you two make an offering, can you do anything! What are you going to do about other people’s eyes!”
“What does that matter?”
“What?”
“Like you said, we’re brothers. Anyone can see we’re brothers. What’s the problem?”
Lee Junghyeok became confused. The conversation felt like it was going in circles. He felt like they weren’t retreating from or advancing past the topic of ‘brothers.’
“Are you crazy? You don’t know what the problem is? That’s what you only do when making an offering!”
“What about our grandmother and grandfather, father and aunt?”
“Th-that’s…”
“It’s the same, right? So hyung and I are also together…”
“You, you’re not even a bloodline of the Lee family!”
“……Even so, the fact that hyung and I are brothers doesn’t change.”
At that moment, Lee Junghyeok realized. The reason Migeon was obsessed with the word ‘brothers.’
It was because they didn’t share blood, so he was obsessed with the word brothers. If it were an ordinary incestuous relationship, they would rejoice that they didn’t share blood, but Migeon was the opposite—because they didn’t share blood, he was obsessed with the justification of being brothers.
Lee Junghyeok looked at Migeon with a pale face, then passed him and approached in front of the room Yugeon had entered, starting to bang on the door wildly.
“Hey! Lee Yugeon, come out!”
At Lee Junghyeok’s actions, Migeon furrowed his brow completely, then strode over and reached out his hand to stop him. But the door opened faster than Migeon’s hand could reach Lee Junghyeok.
When Yugeon, full of tired signs, stuck out his face, Lee Junghyeok grabbed Lee Yugeon’s arm and yanked it.
“You, pack your bags right now.”
“What?”
“Go stay at our house for a while.”
“Why would I go there?”
Yugeon shook off Lee Junghyeok’s hand as if flustered, and Migeon also grabbed Lee Junghyeok’s shoulder as if deliberately surprised. Lee Junghyeok shouted without caring.
“Lee Migeon, that guy doesn’t seem to be in his right mind, so let’s go to our house for now!”
Yugeon looked back and forth between Lee Junghyeok and Migeon as if absurd, then asked Migeon with his eyes.
Why is this guy acting like this?
When the two exchanged glances, Lee Junghyeok roughly shook off Migeon’s hand gripping his shoulder and grabbed both of Yugeon’s shoulders to make him look at him.
“Nothing good will come of you staying here! If you want, I’ll take you off the island…!”
At that moment, Migeon roughly pulled Lee Junghyeok off and threw him onto the wooden floor. Yugeon, surprised by the sudden situation, unconsciously let out a shrill scream, but Lee Junghyeok didn’t seem to care about being thrown and straightened his posture to shout loudly again.
“What are you going to do sticking together as guys! It’s just disgusting! Even when cousins stick together, people who know gossip and point fingers behind their backs! Men together? Do you want to live being pointed at for the rest of your life on the island?”
Lee Junghyeok, who had been shouting desperately, couldn’t seem to handle his emotions and closed both eyes, breathing heavily. Inside his pitch-black eyelids, his parents’ faces came to mind.
Lee Seokyeong and Lee Jeongseon. The two were cousins. It was an open secret to many people, and his parents had lived receiving unpleasant looks and finger-pointing whether they knew it or not. Lee Junghyeok himself was the one who knew the wretchedness of incestuous marriage best and had watched it up close. And he didn’t want to see such a sight again. Especially not the obvious misfortune of those who were like brothers.
Migeon protectively embraced Yugeon’s shoulders. His hand was trembling slightly. Yugeon held his younger brother’s trembling hand and said to Lee Junghyeok.
“I’m not going. I won’t go to your house, and I won’t go off the island either.”
At Yugeon’s words, Lee Junghyeok’s eyes widened and he shouted emotionally.
“You’re going to stick with your younger brother while being pointed at?”
Yugeon’s pretty brow furrowed completely.
“Don’t speak so crudely. I’m just trying to live together as brothers.”
At Yugeon’s denial, Lee Junghyeok looked at Migeon as if surprised. Migeon didn’t seem to be denying it either. He was just looking down at Lee Junghyeok warily while holding Yugeon in his arms.
Yugeon closed his eyes long as if tired, then opened them.
“I’m not feeling well, so please go home for today.”
Lee Junghyeok raised his body hesitantly with a face full of worry.
“Wh-where aren’t you feeling well…?”
“I’m just not feeling well…”
Only then did Lee Junghyeok scan Yugeon’s body here and there. Then he discovered the bandaids on his fingers and the bruises faintly remaining on his neck and widened both eyes in surprise.
“You, why are you like this?”
Lee Junghyeok immediately reached out his hand, but he couldn’t even get near Yugeon and was swatted away by Migeon. Lee Junghyeok glared at Migeon irritably, then asked Yugeon urgently as if realizing something.
“Did Lee Migeon do this?”
At the absurd question, Yugeon’s mouth fell open.
“Are you crazy?”
“Lee Jaeyeong did it.”
Then Migeon spoke without even a chance to stop him. Yugeon looked at his younger brother with reproachful eyes, but Migeon only pulled Yugeon’s shoulders closer to embrace him.
Lee Junghyeok had a completely stiffened face. Then he slowly looked at Yugeon and asked.
“Lee…Jaeyeong did this?”
Yugeon immediately shook his head in denial.
“No.”
Lee Junghyeok looked at Migeon as if he couldn’t believe it, and Migeon buried his nose in Yugeon’s hair and silently closed his eyes. It was a clear affirmation.
“That crazy bastard…!”
Lee Junghyeok, who muttered curses as if bursting, left the two brothers’ house without looking back.
Yugeon, who had been watching Lee Junghyeok’s retreating figure with worry, turned to Migeon and furrowed his brow.
“Why did you do that? I said it wasn’t Lee Jaeyeong…”
“To me, it’s the same.”
“……”
“And there’s no law saying it won’t possess Lee Jaeyeong again, so it’s better to find him and lock him up. It’s safer for hyung too.”
Yugeon silently hung his head. Since that day, Lee Jaeyeong hadn’t been discovered at all, hidden somewhere somehow. He had been implicitly anxious about that.
Migeon pulled the shoulders of Yugeon, who was standing with a complicated face, and went into the room, saying.
“Let’s apply medicine.”
Migeon, who had seated Yugeon on top of the blanket, brought the first aid kit and began examining Yugeon’s hand. After removing the bandaid, disinfecting, applying ointment, and putting on a new bandaid, Migeon moved his body back on his knees.
“Now lie down on your stomach, hyung.”
At his younger brother’s words, Yugeon hesitated as if troubled.
“Th-there, hasn’t it healed by now?”
“Your fingers are in that state?”
Yugeon looked at his pitiful fingers that wouldn’t heal, sighed, and lay down on his stomach.
A few days ago, his younger brother had caught him not applying medicine properly. It wasn’t healing easily anyway, but he’d only neglected it and the wound had worsened. From then on, he’d become dependent on his younger brother even for down there.
When Yugeon lay down on his stomach, Migeon approached again on his knees and pulled down his pants. Yugeon squeezed both eyes shut as if preparing for what was about to happen. Then he felt hands grabbing and spreading his buttocks. Strength involuntarily entered his hands. Yugeon, who had clenched his teeth and gripped the blanket, only hoped this short yet long time would pass quickly.
After thoroughly applying medicine inside and out, Migeon pulled out his finger, cleaned up with tissue, then pulled the blanket to cover Yugeon’s lower body and kissed him.
“Good job, hyung.”
Yugeon reflexively tried to push his younger brother’s shoulder away, then gave up and lowered his hand. At the sight of Yugeon accepting his kiss without resistance, Migeon’s eyes curved prettily. Migeon made a smacking sound as he pulled his lips away, then whispered right in front of his nose.
“Hyung, we’re brothers, right?”
At the sudden question, Yugeon asked back “Huh?” But he soon slowly nodded.
“Yeah… We’re brothers.”
A smile spread between his lips, and the lips descended once more. Yugeon felt his younger brother entwining with him thickly and closed his eyes.
Lee Junghyeok’s words about taking him off the island if he wanted were actually very tempting. But he couldn’t leave the island. The ghost might kill his younger brother, so he could never leave his younger brother behind and go.
And even if Lee Junghyeok didn’t worry, he wouldn’t live long. So until the end, he wanted to stay by his younger brother’s side as his younger brother wished.
* * *
“Oppa.”
A cautiously calling voice was heard. Lee Jaeyeong, who had been hiding his body inside the old abandoned house, revealed himself at the familiar voice. Lee Jaeyeong, who walked out hesitantly as if wary, looked around once then said.
“You came?”
“Yeah. I brought some water and food.”
Lee Jeongyeon passed what she’d brought into Lee Jaeyeong’s arms, and Lee Jaeyeong began eating them hurriedly. Lee Jeongyeon watched Lee Jaeyeong start eating, then sat down carelessly on the floor.
Their meeting had been by chance. Lee Jaeyeong, who had been hiding in the forest starving, couldn’t endure his hunger and came down near the village looking for food when Lee Jeongyeon caught him. Lee Jaeyeong was horrified and tried to run away, but Lee Jeongyeon held onto Lee Jaeyeong to reassure him, hid him in an abandoned house a little away from the village, and from then on started bringing him food.
Lee Jaeyeong, who had been focused on eating for a while, belatedly raised his head and asked.
“Um, how is… Lee Yugeon?”
“Yugeon oppa? I don’t know. These days he’s been staying indoors with Migeon oppa all the time?”
“…Does Lee Migeon say anything special?”
“? About what?”
Lee Jeongyeon asked back with an innocent face. At his reaction, Lee Jaeyeong was relieved. It seemed what he had done hadn’t been revealed yet.
“Did you get a boat?”
“Is that easy? Unless there’s a boat coming in from outside…”
The two sighed simultaneously. The reason Lee Jeongyeon was helping Lee Jaeyeong was because she had no great ill feelings toward him and they both had in common that they wanted to leave the island. But finding that method was still not easy.
As for a boat, if they put their minds to it, they could extort one or secretly board one at night, but the problem was that neither of them knew how to operate a boat. They’d need to find an accomplice who could operate a boat, but there would be no one inside the island who would help Lee Jaeyeong.
“Swim, or make a raft.”
Lee Jeongyeon, who muttered the impossible talk indifferently, checked outside through the broken window and stood up.
“I’ll get going.”
“Huh? Uh…”
When Lee Jaeyeong answered vacantly, Lee Jeongyeon nodded slightly and quickly exited the abandoned house. Lee Jeongyeon, who had been walking for a while like that, stopped walking when the abandoned house was no longer visible, touched her knees, and took deep breaths.
She had goosebumps all over her body. It was like this whenever she came back from that house alone. Perhaps because it was an abandoned house, the atmosphere was also dreary and the air was off-putting. Lee Jeongyeon turned around to look in the direction of the abandoned house. She wondered how Lee Jaeyeong could be alone in that house.
Lee Jaeyeong, left alone, picked up the remaining food and headed back inside the house while being wary of his surroundings. It was a small room with a back door from which he could escape if necessary. There was even an old blanket laid out, proving he had eaten and slept there for several days. Lee Jaeyeong sat on the blanket and continued eating the remaining food.
Outside the window, the sun was setting slowly. In the small room where darkness was gradually falling, Lee Jaeyeong and the Hangi were together.
