Though caring for his sick younger brother was difficult, he wasn’t lonely at least because the kid was there. After the kid died, he felt freedom for a very brief moment, but couldn’t come to his senses from the loneliness accompanied by guilt.
Absolute solitude, as if he was left alone in the world. Because he had no friends or lovers, he was more lonely and distressed.
The maddening loneliness also dulled to some extent with passing time, and the sense of loss that felt like squeezing his heart alive also faded. He had become accustomed to living alone. He lived like that with dulled emotions, consoling himself that the world was about living alone anyway.
But after meeting Haeju, he felt heart-wrenching emotion for the first time in a long while. Sadness, pity, joy, happiness. The emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure he’d forgotten for a while. All sorts of feelings different from when dealing with quarantine subjects welled up. No matter how kindly he treated the quarantine subjects, they and he were just in a doctor-patient relationship, but Haeju was different. He was genuinely worried about the kid and was truly happy that the kid smiled and welcomed him.
And now that he thought about it, he seemed to have disliked that Haeju’s birthday was approaching. Because when Haeju became an adult on his birthday, he would have to leave the Center. In fact, he seemed to have been more disappointed and depressed than he’d thought.
Being worried about Haeju was an excuse—in truth, he himself didn’t want to part with Haeju. As Haeju’s birthday approached, he’d thought it strange that his mood sank and became depressed, but that must have been why. Now that things turned out this way, he admitted his past feelings honestly.
He knew he shouldn’t think this way, but he sometimes thought it was fortunate it turned out like this instead. Because now he didn’t have to part with Haeju.
In truth, Yeojin also wanted to spend all day with Haeju. If he could, he even wanted to bring Haeju home to live with him. Eating meals together, watching TV while eating snacks, exchanging trivial jokes while giggling or lounging around. He wanted to spend time like that, like a family.
And now such a thing wasn’t impossible either. Though the problems piled up before his eyes were troublesome, he felt it would work out somehow. Because he wasn’t alone.
“Yeah, let’s eat tteokbokki right today. I’ll make it for you.”
“Are you good at cooking, Doctor?”
“I live alone so I can make most foods well.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
The face smiling like that saying so was lovely. When he shivered from the chill, Haeju took off his outer clothing and draped it over Yeojin’s shoulders.
“It’s cold, let’s go in.”
“Please go in first. I’ll come in after practicing a bit more.”
“Practice?”
“I was practicing controlling my ability.”
“How do you practice?”
He was curious what kind of practice it was. Haeju pointed with his hand at a tree in the garden.
“I was practicing breaking only a few branches without destroying that whole tree.”
Listening to the kid’s words, he could see broken branches and fallen leaves piled high under the tree. Haeju looked at the tree and put strength in his eyes. Then only a few tree branches snapped and fell to the ground. It was a success.
“Wow, you did well! Amazing!”
Yeojin unconsciously clapped and raised his voice. Kkamang sitting on the railing also tilted its head, puffed up its throat, and cawed. Praised, Haeju smiled happily.
“If I practice a bit more, I think I can handle it skillfully when I need to use my power.”
“You can control the force too then?”
“I need to practice strength adjustment a bit more. I don’t like receiving help, but I’ll try asking the Earth people to teach me how to control my ability.”
“Yeah, you thought well. I know you don’t like those people, but don’t show your dislike too much and learn what you should learn.”
“It’s not that I dislike them. I just don’t trust them.”
“Still, they’re people who helped us. And it seems we’ll continue receiving help. It’s impossible for us to solve all problems by ourselves without receiving their help, actually. The Wi Seokwoo matter too.”
“I can deal with that bastard by myself.”
“You almost got caught by those bastards at first too.”
“That’s because I let my guard down.”
“Don’t be overconfident. I’m not saying this because I’m disregarding your ability, but to be careful. Let’s reduce the risk burden as much as possible.”
He thought there would be an immediate retort, but Haeju looked at Yeojin silently for a moment.
“Doctor, should we just run away, the two of us?”
He said something so absurd so seriously that laughter burst out.
“What are you talking about?”
“Whether Wi Seokwoo does terrorist things or not, it’s none of our business. Let’s just run away somewhere like an uninhabited island and live, the two of us.”
Hearing it briefly, it felt like a very attractive proposal. But if you thought about it even a little, you’d know it was nonsense.
“That’s troublesome.”
Suddenly an unfamiliar voice interjected. Before they knew it, Im Junwoo had approached behind the two.
“Whether you two set up house on an uninhabited island or not, do that later. Not now. It’s quite disappointing if you do this after having a meeting together until late last night. We need Haeju’s power for the Wi Seokwoo capture operation. Once things are sorted out a bit, we’ll be able to help you two have a stable life later. But it’s really troublesome if you pull out now.”
“Yes, we weren’t thinking of doing that right now anyway. Haeju just said it.”
Yeojin tried to make excuses, but Haeju just looked at Im Junwoo without saying anything. Im Junwoo also quietly gazed at Haeju before opening his mouth.
“I understand that Seo Haeju doesn’t think favorably of us, but we didn’t help Seo Haeju and Dr. Min with some ulterior motive. We’re not expecting something from you two either.”
“I don’t trust you.”
Haeju countered Im Junwoo’s words in a cold voice. Looking straight at Im Junwoo, he immediately added one more thing.
“I don’t trust anyone.”
Im Junwoo chuckled.
“We never asked you to trust us. You don’t have to trust us. But shouldn’t you at least have a grateful heart toward someone who helped you?”
“Of course I’m grateful. Thank you, really.”
Yeojin thanked him on Haeju’s behalf, but Im Junwoo’s gaze remained on Haeju. Unable to watch anymore, Yeojin poked Haeju’s side with his elbow. Only then did Haeju also reluctantly give thanks.
“Thank you for helping us.”
Though he still said it while stiffening his neck and glaring coldly at Im Junwoo. Fortunately, Im Junwoo didn’t expect any further reaction.
“You’re free to trust or not trust us, but one thing I can say for certain is that we’re different from Wi Seokwoo. We think of Seo Haeju as a fellow Transcendent comrade, not planning to use you for something.”
Im Junwoo’s tone and gaze were serious and weighty. It didn’t feel like he was telling a lie. If nothing else, they could at least believe the one point that these people were different from Wi Seokwoo’s gang. But who knows. They might stab them in the back later.
Still, for now, he decided not to think even about the future that hadn’t happened yet. He thought he’d think about later matters later.
“Let’s go in. It’s too cold.”
Yeojin exaggeratedly shivered and entered the house first. When Yeojin entered, Haeju also followed in, and Im Junwoo and Kkamang came in last. Kkamang, who flew in flapping, sat on Yeojin’s shoulder. It was cute how it followed Yeojin around acting adorable, so Yeojin had already grown quite fond of Kkamang.
He didn’t know a bird could feel this cute. He didn’t particularly like birds because they felt somehow disgusting.
“May I make breakfast?”
When he asked while walking down the corridor, Im Junwoo said it was fine. Yeojin immediately went down to the first-floor dining room. Haeju also followed closely behind. As the two were peeking around the kitchen with no one there, a middle-aged housekeeper who came out to prepare breakfast stopped in surprise. She saw Kkamang sitting on the sink and flinched once more, exclaiming loudly, “Oh my!”
“Are you hungry? I need to prepare the meal now. Should I take out something simple for you to eat?”
“No, we want to make and eat tteokbokki.”
“Tteokbokki?”
“Yes. Do you happen to have the ingredients?”
“We don’t have tteokbokki rice cakes, but we have rice cakes for tteokguk. We can find other ingredients if we look.”
Saying that, the housekeeper took out rice cakes for tteokguk from the freezer. Then she also found vegetables and seasonings one by one.
“Please go out. I’ll make it.”
“Don’t mind me.”
Though she said that, she couldn’t help but be bothered with guests in the kitchen. Still, since she couldn’t tell them to leave, the housekeeper had no choice but to leave Yeojin alone and do her own work.
“Kkamang, you go over there.”
He chased Kkamang away since bird feathers could get in the food. The kid obediently jumped down from the sink and moved to a spot in the back where it wouldn’t be in the way.
“That’s amazing. The crow really listens well to people. It’s not an ordinary crow, is it?”
The housekeeper washing rice glanced at Kkamang and asked.
“It’s not an ordinary bird. Haeju, you’re in the way too. Go to the back.”
Haeju hanging around beside him was more in the way than Kkamang. The kid also obediently turned around without complaint and sat on a chair in the back, watching Yeojin make food.
The kitchen was big enough for him and the housekeeper to make food simultaneously. The housekeeper cooked rice, made soup, and made side dishes for people to eat. Yeojin also made tteokbokki beside her.
Though Yeojin said he’d make tteokbokki on his own, she kept giving advice from the side. Since he was making it anyway, she kept taking out ingredients, telling him to add this and that.
