# Chapter 16
I don’t know how many times Yeomin and Yeojin chased each other around the shopping mall.
As a result, Yeomin and Yeojin, having exhausted all their energy, were now sitting dazed in the same cafe as before.
Yeomin asked sharply.
“The watch.”
“Watch?”
Yeomin, whose temper flared at his shameless noona’s attitude, shouted.
“What did you do with the watch!”
“…I sold it, so what!”
He had expected it, but to think she actually did it.
Even though he had predicted this situation, it didn’t mean there was no impact. No, rather, Yeomin was twice as furious.
“The money.”
“I couldn’t get much for it since there was no certificate.”
“What happened to the money?!”
“I spent some. Bought things I needed, registered for classes, paid rent.”
How can a person be so shameless? This is still theft. Do you think crimes don’t count between blood relatives?
“So how much do you have left?”
“Nothing left.”
“Are you insane?”
She spent it all? Even if it was second-hand, she must have gotten quite a bit for it. No, wait, why did she sell it in the first place! When it wasn’t even hers!
As Yeomin’s expression became more disgusted, Yeojin instead became more defensive.
“Are you trying to eat me alive?”
“That wasn’t mine. Did you know that when you stole it?”
“Steal? What did I steal?”
Yeojin was denying it. Yeomin had expected her to react this way.
“He gave it to me so I took it, what’s wrong with that?”
“Stop lying. You came looking for me with that intention from the start, right? Wondering if there was anything to steal.”
“Wow. Unbelievable.”
She had always been naturally gifted at lying since childhood. Because of that, how much had he suffered growing up.
He was already well-accustomed to being deceived by Yeojin. It’s his eternal regret that he occasionally missed such a person, just because she was his noona.
“To think I had such intentions from the start, that’s unfair!”
“You cause trouble and then claim it’s unfair?”
But Yeojin was stubborn. She defended herself with an attitude of being offended.
“I’m telling you the guy living with you gave it to me!”
“Joo Yeojin, stop lying.”
“It’s true! …What? He really didn’t tell you?”
“Noona, you’ve never even met him. Do you even know who he is? When you’ve never seen him—”
“I did meet him. After you went to the convenience store.”
“What?”
Yeomin frowned. This was the first he’d heard of this.
“It must be him. Tall, wearing a blue hoodie and Adidas pants that day. With eyes like this.”
Yeojin raised the corners of her eyes, imitating Jiho’s face. The description she gave was quite similar to Jiho.
Yeomin remained silent for now.
“After you went to the convenience store, I was looking through your closet to borrow some pants, and the watch suddenly appeared. It was strange that you would have something so expensive, and it looked tempting, so I tried it on.”
“…And then.”
“And then he came in. He entered the password and came in, so I knew he was your friend.”
Jiho had never mentioned anything like this to him.
“As soon as he saw me, he greeted me asking if I was Joo Yeomin’s noona. We don’t even look that much alike, do we? Nobody ever recognizes us as siblings when they see us outside. But he knew right away, so I thought he must be really close to you.”
Joo Yeojin and Seol Jiho met that day? Moreover, he recognized that Yeojin was my noona?
I never even mentioned to him that I had a noona.
‘Noona? You have a noona, hyung?’
Jiho even said something like that that day.
“I never talked about my noona. No one knows I have a noona.”
“That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? Are you embarrassed of me?”
“If you had any conscience, would you still want to act like a noona?”
“Hmm hmm. Anyway- while I was standing there, he asked first if I wanted the watch. I wondered what this guy was up to, so I said I was just trying it on, and then he said it was his and that I should take it.”
“And you just accepted it?”
“He gave it so casually that I thought it was fake. But when I tried to sell it later, it turned out to be real. I thought I was going to faint.”
Yeomin’s mind was chaos.
Jiho had never said a word to him about meeting Yeojin. Instead, he had comforted Yeomin when he was devastated after having the watch stolen.
“If that’s true, why did you leave without saying goodbye to me?”
“He said you had an urgent matter and would be late, so he told me to go first. What is that bastard saying? Is he saying I stole it?”
“…”
That would make sense if it were the case.
“Don’t tell me, he’s asking for the watch back? After he gave it to me…”
Yeojin’s excited words no longer reached Yeomin’s ears.
Yeomin became serious.
“If what you’ve just said is a lie, I really won’t let it slide.”
“If I were to lie, I’d make it perfect. I don’t tell lame lies like this.”
He needed to organize his thoughts first.
“Even if we can’t do anything about the money you’ve spent, give me the money left from selling the watch.”
“…”
“Hand it over.”
When he spoke sternly, Yeojin opened her bag with an annoyed face. Looking at the wad of cash that came out, Yeomin felt devastated.
If Jiho had lied because he was worried about facing criticism for giving the watch to Yeojin, that would be understandable.
But Yeomin couldn’t shake off the feeling.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen you cry, hyung.’
‘So what… you think it’s funny?’
‘It’s cuter than I expected.’
The feeling of being played like a toy in Seol Jiho’s palm.
* * *
After getting Yeojin’s contact information just in case, Yeomin headed home late at night.
The money he got from Yeojin.
‘Should I throw this money in Seol Jiho’s face and rage at him for playing with me?’
He ran simulations for a while, but…
Still, he should get something for all the trouble he went through taking care of this guy. Yeomin carefully put the money in an envelope.
His mind was complicated. What should he ask Jiho first when he saw him?
‘Why did you give the watch to my noona and then pretend not to know? Did you enjoy watching me panic about it being stolen? No, how did you know Joo Yeojin was my noona in the first place? Why don’t you go home and why do you keep staying at my place? From the beginning, a guy who barely attended school being drunk and collapsed near the school…’
Once he started questioning one thing, everything he had overlooked began to seem suspicious.
‘Why did you kiss me that time? Were you playing with me from the start?’
While curious about everything, part of him didn’t want to know at all.
It was pathetic that he had cried and been comforted by such a guy.
Yeomin only turned on his phone, which had been off the whole time, when he arrived near his house.
18 missed calls
Jiho was definitely not normal.
“What kind of crazy person makes eighteen calls to a phone that’s not being answered.”
The messages were even worse.
[Sundoli: When are you coming home, hyung]
[Sundoli: Are you eating before you come?]
[Sundoli: Why is your phone turned off]
[Sundoli: Are you trying to upset me?]
“And why did you play with me?”
Yeomin clenched his fist. He could see the light on in the basement window in front of the house. Jiho seemed to be at home.
Should he go in right now and throw the money at him, or just pretend not to know and move out, or kick him out tomorrow, or never enter that house again?
As Yeomin was pondering, a car passed by him.
“…”
The car stopped about 5 meters ahead. It was a large black car that didn’t match this shabby alley.
Yeomin remembered seeing this car before. It was the same model as the car that had come looking for Jiho before, with the same license plate.
The back door that Jiho had smashed that time was now neatly repaired.
‘Is he here to see Seol Jiho?’
But if he was here to see Jiho, the car was just parked far away. As if it were on a stakeout.
A bright idea flashed through Yeomin’s mind. Yeomin strode purposefully toward the car.
Yeomin boldly knocked on the back seat door.
“Excuse me.”
Despite the dark tinting, there must be someone inside. But there was no response.
Yeomin knocked on the window again.
“Excuse me!”
Only then did the window slowly lower. The person in the back seat was a man in a suit who looked to be in his thirties at most.
“What is it?”
Yeomin asked the man, who clearly looked displeased, cutting straight to the point.
“You’re here for Seol Jiho, right?”
“…”
The man seemed flustered by Yeomin’s direct question. He suddenly looked around, and after confirming that no one else was there, replied tersely.
“…And if I am?”
His expression seemed to say, “Who the hell is this guy?” Yeomin continued without batting an eye.
“Seol Jiho is at my place right now.”
“So?”
“Take him away.”
“…”
“Take him away from my house right now.”
‘I did pick him up, but it seems like I’ve been played by him. I’ll return him, so the original owner should take him back.’
Yeomin felt quite desperate.
“…Hmm.”
The man seemed to be trying to gauge Yeomin’s intentions, but that really was Yeomin’s only concern.
He just wanted Seol Jiho to disappear from his house, from before his eyes.
If he went home now and saw that guy’s face, he would only feel betrayed and his heart would be in turmoil. He had no desire to clear up misunderstandings or listen to explanations.
‘We were strangers to begin with, right? We were never involved with each other.’
If he hadn’t found Jiho on the street that day, they probably would never have been involved.
But the man’s response was cold.
“Why should I do that?”
Why, he asks? Yeomin replied, slightly angry.
“Well—”
The person who put him out in the world should be responsible for cleaning up! Just as he was about to retort,
“What are you doing here, hyung?”
At the chilling voice from behind him, Yeomin’s words stopped.
