# Chapter 51
Bang-!
Startled by the loud noise, Geonwoo raised his head. A boy was the first thing Geonwoo saw. The boy had his mouth wide open with eyes like a surprised rabbit.
‘Huh?’
But the middle school boy was gone.
‘Where did he go?’
Uh, huh?
Looking carefully, he was lying flat on the ground. Hyung was standing in front of him, dusting off his hands.
“I wasn’t trained to use this on kids.”
Hyung made a sound mixed with a sigh. Then he looked at the boy and gently creased his eyes. With a bright smile and a sweet tone, Hyung asked.
“Did you come to apologize?”
The boy seemed greatly disturbed, blinking his eyes severely. Earlier, the options were: apologize or just leave. This time, the option “just leave” had been deleted from the choices.
Hyung asked the boy again with a smiling face.
“You’re going to apologize?”
The boy nodded his head infinitely at ultra-high speed. Then he quickly ran to Geonwoo and apologized immediately.
“I’m sorry! Geonwoo! I’m really, really sorry! I was wrong!”
The boy even firmly grabbed Geonwoo’s hand while offering endless apologies.
Hyung took care of the middle school student lying on the ground while the boy was apologizing.
At that moment, the boy suddenly came very close to Geonwoo. The boy rounded his hands and whispered softly into Geonwoo’s ear.
“I won’t tease you anymore! So don’t ask your Hyung to scold me! Okay?”
After saying that, the boy gave an extremely desperate look. He even held out his pinky finger to Geonwoo.
Geonwoo looked back and forth between the boy’s hand and Hyung.
Looking at Hyung once, at the boy’s finger once, recalling what the boy had said once.
How many times did he repeat that?
Geonwoo’s eyes sparkled as if stars were embedded in them.
‘Your Hyung?’
At those words, Geonwoo somehow felt good. The corners of his mouth kept twitching. His lips kept curling up.
So Geonwoo hooked his pinky finger with the boy’s.
“Yes! I won’t ask our Hyung to scold you!”
Geonwoo straightened his shoulders proudly and spoke with a voice full of happiness.
But Hyung, who had approached without notice, must have heard it because he said,
“Our Hyung?”
He hadn’t known Hyung was listening. Geonwoo’s face instantly turned all red like a well-ripened strawberry.
“Hyung…”
Geonwoo fidgeted. He opened his eyes wide and watched Hyung’s reaction. Hyung approached Geonwoo. Without saying anything, he picked Geonwoo up on his back again.
Geonwoo became very tense and stuck to Hyung’s back like a cicada on an old tree, maintaining a silence mode for self-reflection.
Hyung bounced Geonwoo once and carried him again, looking at the boy and the middle school student. And then.
“If you touch my little brother again, I won’t let it slide next time.”
After saying that, he turned his body.
Geonwoo’s eyes, who was being carried on Hyung’s back, widened.
And, thump, thump, thump!
Geonwoo’s small heart, pressed against Hyung, went wild. Like receiving a surprise gift much bigger than his height, his joy exceeded the limit. His heart, unable to handle the happiness, beat uncontrollably.
Geonwoo clung to Hyung’s neck. He hugged Hyung’s neck as tightly as he could with all his might.
“Hyung!”
My little brother. Geonwoo really liked that phrase.
He wanted to become Hyung’s real little brother. Then he could see him every day, and be this happy every day.
“Hyung! Hyung!”
Geonwoo rubbed his soft cheek against Hyung’s neck. He couldn’t stop his actions because he was so happy.
He liked Hyung so, so much!
***
The distance between school and home wasn’t that far.
About 15 minutes?
But that path always became longer when with Hyung. At least when looking at the time it took. Not going straight home but eating snacks, playing in the playground, talking. Considering all that, exceeding 15 minutes was, in a way, natural.
But Geonwoo found it strange. Though clearly spending a long time together, the time spent together felt as short as if it were just a few minutes.
‘Why does time go by so quickly when I’m with Hyung?’
That was one of Geonwoo’s biggest concerns.
‘I want to stay with Hyung longer and longer…’
This was also one of the problems he always failed to solve.
It was partly because Hyung always said he should slowly head back and couldn’t stay beside him for a long time.
‘But it’s too short even without that.’
Geonwoo became depressed. The time he could spend with Hyung was already short, but today he would spend even less time together. Since his knees were scraped, Hyung was taking him home. He only had 15 minutes to be with Hyung.
So he felt regretful. It was even more so because he couldn’t see Hyung often.
At that moment, like salvation, a loud grumble! came from Geonwoo’s stomach.
“Geonwoo?”
At that sound, Hyung called Geonwoo. Geonwoo blushed his round cheeks with embarrassment and,
“Yes?”
He answered timidly, fidgeting.
Then Hyung,
“Are you hungry? Do you want to go home? Or should we eat something before going?”
He asked.
“Let’s eat before going!”
Geonwoo answered without a second of waiting.
It was a voice so loud that all the people walking nearby turned to look. Hyung must have been startled by the loud voice too, as the body pressed against him trembled slightly. But soon, Geonwoo heard a small laugh in his ear.
‘Huh?’
I must have misheard.
Anyway, thanks to that, he could spend 15 more minutes with Hyung, each with a snack in their mouths. Geonwoo, still being carried on Hyung’s back, tore into a snow-white cotton candy shaped like a bear face, bigger than his own face.
“Hyung.”
“Yes?”
“Want some?”
Geonwoo held the cotton candy to Hyung’s face. Originally, Geonwoo didn’t particularly like cotton candy. But the reason he chose cotton candy was because Hyung had been staring at it intensely.
Yet Hyung didn’t end up choosing cotton candy. So Geonwoo chose it to eat together with Hyung.
“Ah!”
Geonwoo even made a sound telling Hyung to open his mouth. He opened his own mouth round. He was demonstrating. In response, Hyung obediently opened his mouth.
“Ugh…”
At Hyung’s reaction, Geonwoo opened his eyes wide and raised a question mark.
“Doesn’t it taste good?”
“I don’t really like cotton candy.”
‘Then why were you looking at it?’
Geonwoo tilted his head.
“Hyung. You kept staring at this, right? Didn’t you want to eat it?”
At those words, Hyung made an “Ah” sound and then spoke as if he understood.
“No, my little brother, he, liked this.”
At Hyung’s words, Geonwoo suddenly remembered the existence of the little brother Hyung had mentioned briefly before.
“Hyung! Hyung’s little brother!”
So Geonwoo tried to ask Hyung about his little brother. How wonderful it must be to have such a caring Hyung.
“Geonwoo. At this time, are your parents home?”
But Hyung said something else.
Geonwoo thought deeply with his small head. Come to think of it, it had always been like this. When talking about his little brother, Hyung initially spoke happily, but it always ended sadly. It was only with the topic of his little brother. After this happened several times, Geonwoo suddenly realized.
‘I shouldn’t talk about his little brother!’
At first, he thought he was mistaken. But it doesn’t seem so.
‘Could he have a bad relationship with his little brother?’
Geonwoo decided he should be careful about mentioning the little brother in front of Hyung from now on.
So he answered Hyung’s question, completely omitting any mention of the little brother.
“No. At this time, only I am home.”
“Really?”
But what was this? After saying that, Hyung boldly entered the house.
“Get your clothes ready, and only wash the wounded area with water.”
Hyung carefully took care of each detail, like looking after a young sibling.
Geonwoo opened the wardrobe and pulled out sky-blue pajamas. While holding the pajamas in both arms and turning around, Hyung was looking at Geonwoo’s desk. There was a family photo there. It was a picture of mom, Geonwoo, and his little brother sitting together.
“Hyung?”
At Geonwoo’s call, Hyung took his eyes off the picture. He looked at Geonwoo, who was holding what seemed to be soft pajamas in both hands, and gestured to go.
Geonwoo’s room was on the second floor. Since the bathroom with a shower was on the first floor, Geonwoo and Hyung went back down to the first floor.
“Where’s the medicine?”
“Over there, in the drawer in the living room!”
“Got it. Come out after showering. I’ll apply the medicine for you.”
Hyung pushed Geonwoo into the shower room.
Geonwoo put his dirt-covered clothes in one place and turned on the water. He squeezed out body wash to make bubbles.
At that moment, a small sound was heard from outside the door.
‘Did I hear wrong?’
Geonwoo thought for a moment but then focused back on washing. After finishing his shower and putting on his pajamas, he opened the door, and a small conversation could be heard. At the entrance, beside Geonwoo’s shoes and Hyung’s shoes, in the space that should have been empty, there were other shoes. They were his mother’s shoes.
“…Esper is…”
Small sounds continued to be heard. Geonwoo slowly moved towards the living room. The conversation sounds grew louder. One was his mother’s voice, and the other was Hyung’s voice. His mother and Hyung were having a conversation in the living room.
It was about Espers. There was talk about his deceased father, and occasionally mentions of going berserk. Hyung explained several things to his mother, just as he had changed “Esper” to “hero” in front of the children.
But his mother was different from the children.
