***
Thinking about it, I was originally the type who became well-behaved in front of Jeongwoo hyung-nim.
It wasn’t that I acted artificially. I just complained less about side dishes than usual in front of hyung-nim, and ate my rice heartily and plentifully.
I started seriously acting mature from my third year of middle school. It was because I wanted to seem even a little more like an adult to hyung-nim, who was a far-off adult compared to me.
Now I know that effort was actually completely useless. No matter how much I pretended to be mature, to hyung-nim I would have been a kid in a school uniform.
In conclusion, my behavior of wanting to seem mature in front of Jeongwoo hyung-nim gradually forced me into that mold.
Anyway, through such time, my scholarly gentleman image solidified in both households, but I also often acted immature in front of mom and dad.
There was a reason why I got along so well with Jeongyeon, the troublemaker. I was actually a troublemaker on the inside, no less than Jeongyeon. That’s why Jeongyeon also found me annoying for being loved by the adults of both households.
Between mom and dad, if I had to choose the more lenient person, it was definitely dad.
Mom was affectionate as if she’d grant my every word, but tended to become firm the moment I crossed even a slight line.
But dad wasn’t like that. Using dad’s kindness, there were countless robots and toys I got behind mom’s back when I was young. The biggest haul was a gaming console worth hundreds of thousands of won that I got in my second year of high school.
“Dad, dad. Did you have a good trip yesterday?”
That’s why the first person I sought out to achieve my goal of living alone was dad.
“Mm-hmm, our son, you slept at Jeongwoo’s house yesterday, right? You’ve been getting along especially well with hyung lately?”
“Yes……”
When hyung-nim’s name came up, I unconsciously gulped down dry saliva.
“I’ll have to discuss this with your parents. I need to fix your bad habits.”
It was because I recalled hyung-nim’s threat from last night when he transformed into schoolmaster mode.
I wondered if hyung-nim had already said something, but father’s expression as he fried eggs for his family after returning from the trip was only gentle. He even looked to be in a good mood.
“Hyung must have come back to the main house on purpose to play with Hajin.”
“Haha, there’s no way……”
Play, what play—these days hyung-nim only scolds me every time he sees me.
Suddenly remembering last night made me feel sorry toward hyung-nim. Even though he threatened me yesterday and looked at me with a scary face, hyung-nim had decided to overlook my mistake once more.
He’d even packaged it as if we’d played together and slept in hyung-nim’s room.
“Your Highness, if you have time, could you please put out the utensils on the table?”
“Yep.”
Even though I’d stayed up all night, I placed three pairs of spoons and chopsticks with movements much more brisk than usual. When father scooped rice into bowls, I carried them one by one, and stuck right next to father as he finished cooking to taste the soup’s seasoning too.
“How is it, should I add more soy sauce?”
“It’s just right. Dad’s cooking is the best after all.”
“Hahaha!”
Dad’s mood seemed to reach its peak.
And finally, before mom came out of the room, I quickly brought it up.
“You know, dad. Can’t I live alone?”
“Hm?”
I slipped in the main point while carrying side dishes.
My heart grew anxious for no reason at the sound of dong-geurang-ttaeng sizzling in the heated pan. Dad stopped the hand holding the spatula, then glanced back at me.
“Live alone? Why live alone?”
“I’ve entered university now, so I think it would be okay to try living independently. All my friends are doing it, and it seems like a good opportunity to develop independence.”
Dad tilted his head at my words, then slowly flipped the dong-geurang-ttaeng again. Another moment of silence passed, and dad answered.
“Well, just because your friends are doing it doesn’t mean you have to follow them. Our son’s school is only twenty minutes from home.”
“That’s not true. If I miss the subway in between, when I’m unlucky it can stretch to forty minutes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Actually, it was an exaggerated statement, but instead of answering, dad made a short sound like humming, “Hmm.”
“Well, I wonder what Jeongwoo would say.”
“H-hyung-nim, what does he have to do with it?”
For a moment, I felt like he’d hit the nail on the head. My mom and dad had a habit of seeking out Jeongwoo hyung-nim whenever things got difficult. But the situation now was a bit different from usual. Because the biggest reason I wanted to live alone was hyung-nim, I couldn’t help but feel guilty.
Dad pretended to be busy, deliberately checking the dong-geurang-ttaeng that was frying well one by one and examining the flame’s intensity.
It seemed like he was trying to avoid answering a difficult question. At that sight, I widened my eyes.
Dad glanced at my sullen face and finally opened his mouth.
“Our son, I understand your heart, but how about thinking about it carefully? Living alone isn’t something to decide so hastily, I think.”
“……”
To be blocked so directly by dad, whom I’d trusted. I couldn’t hide my dissatisfied expression. Dad’s tone wasn’t firm, but he hadn’t given a refreshing permission either.
“Rather, why don’t you try commuting this semester, and if it’s difficult, then you can live alone……”
“What? Live alone? What is this about?”
And that’s when it happened. Mom’s voice, coming out of the room, interrupted.
Before I’d even changed dad’s mind! I bit my lip in dismay.
“Why, who’s living alone? Surely you’re not talking about our son?”
“I-it is though.”
“Oh my, Jeongwoo is quite the ghost.”
Mom looked at me with her arms firmly crossed. As hyung-nim’s story suddenly came up, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.
Did what happened yesterday reach mom’s ears?
“From the looks of it, Jeongwoo must have known you’d be like this.”
“What……?”
Yesterday I almost kissed a friend I’d just recently become close with in front of my house and got caught by the hyung next door. After hearing me say I did it because I was curious, the angry hyung-nim kissed me instead. Then, unable to control his excitement, he showed me something I shouldn’t have seen.
“Why, why? Why hyung-nim……”
The more I thought about it, the more my blood ran cold. Among the things I did yesterday, there wasn’t a single thing that mom and dad could know about.
“Jeongwoo said so. If you happen to say you want to live alone, absolutely don’t let you. Jeongyeon can’t be helped because of school, but for you, absolutely not.”
“What?”
I doubted my ears. When did Jeongwoo hyung-nim say such a thing?
“Why, why? I’m all grown up now too. And my school isn’t that close either.”
My heart sank and pounded loudly. As expected, people shouldn’t live while committing sins. There were so many things I felt guilty about.
“Why, you ask? Because in this day and age, it’s incredibly dangerous for kids to live alone. I saw the news Jeongwoo sent this morning as soon as I woke up, and good heavens.”
Mom shook her head as if just thinking about it again was horrifying.
“There are so many scary crimes targeting university students living alone, mom never knew before.”
“Hyung-nim sends news like that too? Since when?”
“Yeah, he’s been sending them quite frequently since you guys entered university?”
“Oh ho, Jeongwoo did that?”
“It came this morning too, come to think of it.”
When even dad spoke in an admiring tone, I stared blankly with my mouth open. Seeing me like that, mom chuckled.
“Jeongwoo didn’t send them to you? Well, you won’t be living alone anyway, so what would be the point of showing you? No need to scare a kid with a small liver.”
“……”
Something was going wrong.
“Certainly if it’s Jeongwoo, he doesn’t seem like he’d say such things for no reason. Have you seen him do things without reason?”
Just as dad said, hyung-nim wasn’t a person who would act without reason, even over trivial things.
Then all the more, hadn’t Jeongwoo hyung-nim precisely targeted the person to scare? Not me, but mom who held all the decision-making power…….
“Well, Jeongwoo is quite deep. There are so many such incidents these days that when he was at the law firm, he saw them frequently in reality too.”
“Whoa, such things? Hajin-ah, hearing Jeongwoo’s story, dad is suddenly having second thoughts too?”
Everything was becoming increasingly certain.
Before I even thought of living alone, hyung-nim had already worked on my mom and dad from early on not to let me live alone.
“Dad didn’t know Jeongwoo had talked about such things too. But if Jeongwoo says so, it must be so. It’s what the lawyer said.”
Just until earlier, dad was about to offer a compromise of watching for just one semester. But now that compromise had already disappeared beyond. I’d worked hard buttering dad up by his side for over an hour…….
With just a few messages, Jeongwoo hyung-nim had accomplished all of this.
