Come to think of it, my younger brother would be more familiar with the sea’s weather than I am. It wasn’t something I needed to worry about in the first place, but I felt a bit embarrassed for making a fuss by myself.
I could feel heat rising to both my cheeks. They were definitely red. Yugeon rubbed his face and deliberately avoided eye contact.
“Then you’re not going out to sea today?”
“Yeah. Can’t go out.”
“That’s good. Go home and get some sleep.”
“No. I’m staying here with hyung. Or let’s go together.”
If he goes home with me, what about the fish market stall? Yugeon swallowed a sigh inwardly. He was relieved that Migeon couldn’t take the boat out since he looked tired, but from experience, he also knew that stubbornness would never bend.
Yugeon headed to the shop without a word, and Migeon followed behind him. Opening the door to the small room behind the cash register, Yugeon turned to his younger brother and said.
“Then, want to sleep here for a bit?”
“……”
Migeon stuck his head out to check inside the room, then looked at Yugeon.
“…You’re not going anywhere, right?”
“Where would I go?”
Migeon seemed to ponder for a moment, but entered the room without complaint. Since it wasn’t a place where people slept, there was no bedding or pillow.
“It’s a bit awkward since there’s no pillow or blanket.”
When Yugeon said this while sitting on the threshold, Migeon lay down on his side, using his arm as a pillow.
“It’s fine. As long as I can lie down.”
“Want me to turn on the fan if it’s hot?”
“No, it’s okay.”
“Then sleep. I’ll close the door for you.”
At Yugeon’s words, Migeon quickly raised his head.
“No, don’t close it.”
“Won’t it be noisy though?”
“It’s fine. I want to hear hyung’s voice.”
“……”
Was he without reserve, without shame, or without hesitation?
How could he say something like that so casually?
It was embarrassing.
“Then I’ll close it halfway.”
“…Yeah.”
Migeon answered slowly and slowly closed his eyes, and Yugeon quietly closed the door halfway.
Before long, steady breathing began to be heard through the half-open door. When he peeked in, he could see his younger brother’s face sleeping soundly without a care in the world.
Yugeon chuckled and buried himself against the backrest, stretching once. The swaying of the tree branches visible through the window was unusual. Occasionally, the shop door also rattled violently. As he worried whether his younger brother might wake up from the noise, a tapping sound began to reach his ears. Round spots began to form on the parched ground, and soon covered the entire floor.
Swoooosh—
The sound of rain pouring down refreshingly was loud. Perhaps because of the rain, there wasn’t a single customer. Thanks to that, he was grateful it didn’t disturb his younger brother’s deep sleep. Yugeon sat at the cash register and stared blankly out the window.
Sitting in a space sheltered from the rain and watching the rainy scenery was quite elegant and pleasant. Suddenly, he thought he wanted to open the door and feel the wind and rain.
Yugeon checked on his younger brother through the gap in the door once, then got up from his seat and slightly opened the shop door, and at the same time, fierce wind and rain rushed in.
“Whoa!”
Yugeon exclaimed in admiration without realizing it and reached his hand outside the door. At the same time, the sky flashed brightly and an ear-splitting thunderclap resounded loudly.
“Hup!”
At the thunder, Migeon’s eyes snapped open. With eyes so rigid he couldn’t be thought to have just woken up, Migeon froze, then slowly moved his gaze to survey his surroundings.
‘Where am I?’
But he soon realized where he was. And who he was with.
“…Hyung?”
Migeon raised his upper body and looked for Yugeon. But no answer came back.
“Hyung?”
Calling for Yugeon once more, Migeon got up from his spot and hastily threw open the door.
Bang! The sliding door hit the end with a loud noise.
“Migeon?”
Yugeon, who had been reaching out his hand to feel the rain at the doorway, turned around in surprise at the sound, and Migeon ran over in one breath with a face drained of color and embraced Yugeon.
“What, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?”
Startled by his younger brother’s sudden action, Yugeon flailed both arms in confusion. At that moment, another sky-ripping thunderclap resounded, and Migeon visibly flinched and trembled.
Only then did Yugeon stroke his younger brother’s back and ask.
“Are you scared of thunder by any chance? Did you wake up from the thunder?”
Migeon buried his face in Yugeon’s shoulder and shook his head.
“No, it’s not that…. I was scared because hyung wasn’t there….”
Yugeon tilted his head as if puzzled.
“I was here the whole time.”
“You weren’t there when I woke up…. I called you but you didn’t answer either.”
“Ah, I must not have heard because of the rain.”
Yugeon patted his younger brother’s intermittently trembling back, then pulled him into a tight embrace. Rainwater was rushing wildly at their feet, but neither of them cared.
“It doesn’t seem like any more customers will come today…. Should we just go home?”
“…Yeah.”
The two shared the one small umbrella left at the fish market stall and headed home. When they arrived home, both of them were soaking wet, unbelievably so despite having used an umbrella.
As soon as Migeon arrived home, he took out a towel from the bathroom, wrapped it around his own head, and pushed Yugeon’s back.
“Hyung, you wash first.”
“Huh? Is that okay?”
“Yeah. Hyung, you’ll catch a cold like that. What if you get sick like last time?”
At his younger brother’s words, Yugeon’s face stiffened for a moment. It was because he remembered the suppository. Thinking he’d only lose out if he declined and trouble happened again, he didn’t add anything more and obediently entered the bathroom.
After washing with warm water and coming out, Yugeon sat on the wooden floor and dried his hair with a towel while his younger brother washed. Then his bare feet came into view. Yugeon raised his eyes and looked at the tightly closed bathroom door.
“I should ask when he comes out.”
Before long, his younger brother came out of the bathroom. Through the open door, thick steam billowed out. Migeon came out with a towel on his head and made a face asking what Yugeon was doing sitting in the middle of the wooden floor, but sat down across from him without any particular question.
When Migeon sat down, Yugeon asked.
“I have wounds on the soles of my feet—do you know why?”
The corners of Migeon’s eyes twitched for a moment, then he grabbed and lifted up Yugeon’s foot.
“Wounds?”
At the sudden situation, Yugeon nearly fell backward as his center of gravity shifted, hastily reaching his hand back to support himself on the floor, and looked at his younger brother. His younger brother was examining the soles of his feet with a serious face.
“You asked me before if my feet were okay. Didn’t you ask that because you knew something?”
“……”
“Do I really have sleepwalking or something? Isn’t the reason you can’t sleep at night also related to me?”
“……”
“No, say something. What good does it do to keep your mouth shut? If it’s really sleepwalking, shouldn’t I go to the hospital?”
Migeon still had no answer. Instead, he looked straight at Yugeon. It was a gaze filled with affirmation.
“What? Do I really wander around at night?”
Yugeon asked as if flustered, pulling his foot away, and Migeon just nodded once with his mouth tightly shut.
“Don’t tell me you go looking for me every night? Is that why you can’t sleep?”
“……”
“Hey! Why didn’t you tell me? This is something that needs a hospital visit!”
“It’s not sleepwalking….”
“What? What are you talking about… making judgments on your own…. What? You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
“……”
“This isn’t some ‘internal island matter’ or whatever, is it? Please tell me it’s not?”
“……”
“What is it? Tell me! It’s happening to me, so what ‘internal island matter’! It’s my problem!”
“…Hyung.”
Migeon called Yugeon with a troubled face. It was an expression that said he couldn’t tell him.
Yugeon felt like he was boiling inside. Internal island matters? If it’s something that happens to the islanders, he could ignore it all he wanted. But what internal matters when symptoms like sleepwalking are appearing in him right now?
Yugeon glared at Migeon as if he could kill him, then lowered his head and caught his breath. Then he slowly got up from his seat and looked down at Migeon. Migeon’s gaze, which followed him up, looked up at Yugeon filled with anxiety.
“Hey.”
“…Yeah?”
“Tomorrow. Take me off the island.”
“…What?”
“I need to leave.”
“Hy-hyung?”
Migeon awkwardly got up and grabbed Yugeon.
“I think I need to go back.”
“W-wait, hyung, are you, are you angry? I, I was wrong…. Hyung, hyung!”
Migeon grabbed onto Yugeon desperately, rambling like someone in a panic. Yugeon pushed away Migeon’s hand with a face that asked what he was doing. Migeon froze in his rejected posture and began to cry tears streaming down.
“Huh? Hey, hey?”
“Don’t go…. I was wrong…. I was wrong…. Hyung, please….”
He’d said he’d cry if I left, but I didn’t think he’d actually cry. Yugeon hovered both hands near his younger brother’s face in confusion, then bit his lower lip with a face full of irritation and roughly tousled his own hair.
“Ah, don’t cry! Who said they’re leaving?”
“?”
Migeon, who had been crying pitifully without even making a sound, opened his eyes wide and looked at Yugeon.
Yugeon clicked his tongue as if wronged, tore off some tissue, and vigorously wiped his younger brother’s face.
“Why are you crying when you’re all grown up? I’m going to clear out my room. And say goodbye to the people I’m indebted to.”
In fact, he had planned to go without telling his younger brother—who only hides and deceives—that he’d be coming back, to make him experience what it’s like. But who knew he’d cry so pitifully like that?
“?”
“I need to find out what that damn ‘internal island matter’ is now!”
