“Go on ahead. I’ll bring Daeyoung.”
Seongheon said he’d leave later and sent them ahead first, and Gangjin and Daesu hid near the pavilion by the ginseng field as promised. Though it was summer, the night was quite cool, so they both covered themselves with blankets and waited for them to arrive.
No matter how much you’ve lived in the countryside since childhood, dark night roads are scary. Gangjin and Daesu remained vigilant, simultaneously shining their lanterns toward any strange sounds they heard.
“Daesu-ya, turn off the light, we’ll get caught.”
“Got it.”
Covering themselves with the blanket again, the two plotted how they’d appear.
“Gangjin-ah, should we spread it out and jump out like Superman?”
“No. Don’t do that. I’ll give you a piggyback ride, so let’s go as a tall ghost.”
“Oh, that’s good? But can you carry me?”
“Shall we practice once?”
At the time, Gangjin was about a span taller than Daesu, so carrying him on his back was easier.
When Daesu put the blanket over his head, now the length was a problem. Seeing Gangjin’s legs completely exposed, the two changed their strategy again.
“Then Gangjin, you appear from over there. I’ll pop out from here.”
“A pincer attack is good. In games too, pincer attacks are essential.”
“When Seongheon shines the lantern for the third time, come out right away.”
“Got it.”
So Gangjin checked the surroundings to confirm no one was on the road, then quickly ran to the opposite ridge. Since it was downhill there, he had no choice but to lie flat in ambush.
‘Just when are they coming?’
He was starting to get annoyed when it happened. In the distance, he saw lantern light along with the sound of chatting. Gangjin stuck just his face out and waved to Daesu across from him, and Daesu also waved his blanket as they exchanged signals.
As they got closer, the conversation became clearer. Thinking of Daeyoung who would soon be startled, Gangjin couldn’t hide his excitement.
“The kids in my class say Seongheon hyung is the coolest of all the hyungs.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Hyung, you play soccer well, study well, and won awards at writing contests. I bragged to my friends that the painting in front of the teachers’ office was drawn by you too.”
“Daeyoung-ah, then am I the coolest to you too among the kids?”
“Yeah. Hyung is the coolest and I like you best.”
“I like you best too, Daeyoung.”
“But you know, when I’m with hyung, I’m not scared at all.”
“Right? Holding hands like this, you’re not scared at all?”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s hold with the other hand now. That side is the ridge, so you come to the inside.”
“Okay. But hyung, you know, are you going to learn swimming during vacation?”
“Why? Daeyoung, do you want to learn swimming too? Want to come?”
“But I don’t know if Mom will let me go. I want to swim though……”
“Weren’t you scared of water because of when you fell in?”
“I am scared…… But I have to learn swimming so I can save you if you fall in, hyung.”
“Really? You’ll save me even if I fall in water this deep?”
Seeing Seongheon stretch his arm upward, Daeyoung hesitated to answer.
“……Mmhm.”
“Then Daeyoung-ah…… If me, Daesu, and Gangjin all fall in the water, who will you save first?”
“Seongheon hyung, of course.”
“What about Daesu?”
“I’ll save him last.”
At those words, Gangjin almost got caught going “Keuhup” with laughter. When he glanced across, Daesu was glaring at Daeyoung with his eyes rolling.
Listening quietly to the two of them talking like that, before he knew it, the two were already walking far away.
“……What?”
According to the original plan, around this time they should have appeared going “Uwak!!” to scare Daeyoung, but he’d lost that opportunity in an instant.
But it wasn’t just Gangjin who was dumbfounded—Daesu was the same. So Gangjin went back to the original pavilion spot and started discussing what had happened.
“Daesu-ya, are they really just passing by like that?”
“No. Seongheon said he’d give a signal, did he forget?”
“I don’t think so. He looked at the pavilion once, so I thought he was exchanging some signal with you.”
“Right. I felt like our eyes met? But why’d he just go?”
Gangjin and Daesu were puzzled together when he clapped his hands lightly as if realizing something.
“Ah……! He must be planning to do it on the way back. Because if Daeyoung cries and makes a fuss here, they won’t go to the convenience store, right? We need to eat snacks too.”
“That’s right. Seongheon really is smart.”
“Right? But…… we have to wait like this again until they come back.”
“Yeah. We have to wait.”
Should we take up positions on both sides again? But the waiting time was too boring, so they just stuck together. As the time spent crouching grew too long, their legs went numb and they were bored.
It seemed like time would pass well if they played mobile games, but they couldn’t do that for fear of getting caught by the light, so they had no choice but to pass the time playing thumb wrestling and word chain games.
“Snack.”
“Bicycle.”
“Spider.”
“America.”
“Ladle.”
“Bicycle.”
“Hey, you can’t repeat words!”
“You can’t.”
“Then ‘dae.'”
Daesu flicked Gangjin’s forehead, then laughed silently.
But even this got old after doing it once or twice between just the two of them. Daesu slapped somewhere on his arm and said with annoyance mixed in his voice.
“Ah, I got bitten by mosquitoes again.”
“Me too.”
“No, what are they buying that’s taking this long?”
“Since they usually can’t eat snacks, they must have gone to clean the place out.”
Gangjin, having grown bored even of word chain, just sprawled out on the pavilion.
“Hey, So Gangjin. You’ll get caught doing that.”
“My legs are numb and I’m a bit sleepy. Wake me up when they come.”
Maybe because the day was a bit cool, once he lay down covered with the blanket, sleep came gently.
Cock-a-doodle-doo─!
“……?”
Suddenly, Gangjin’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a rooster crowing. As if there was a rooster right next to him─.
“Wh-what……”
When Gangjin turned his head to the other side, the first thing he saw was a rooster walking around on top of the pavilion. It seemed like he’d only closed his eyes for a moment, but the surroundings were already bright morning.
The rooster that woke him walked around them, then pecked at the top of Daesu’s head, who was still sleeping.
“Ah…… Ow! My head hurts……”
“Heey, Daesu-ya.”
“Huh?”
“Did we sleep here last night?”
“……What?”
Belatedly, the two sat up groggily and looked around. It was definitely the pavilion where they’d hidden to scare Daeyoung yesterday.
They must have fallen asleep here while waiting for them. Fortunately, since they both had blankets, they didn’t catch colds from the morning frost, but the problem was their faces.
“It’s so itchy everywhere I could die. My eyes won’t open well either.”
“Me too. Gangjin-ah, I think you got bitten by a mosquito on your eye. Your eyes are mismatched.”
One of Gangjin’s eyelids was swollen and red, half-closed. But it wasn’t just Gangjin—Daesu’s upper lip was also more swollen than usual from being bitten on his philtrum, and from the side, it looked like a duck’s bill.
The two pointed at each other’s faces giggling and laughing, then soon returned to reality.
“What the. When did those guys pass by?”
“No, if they saw us they should have woken us up before going.”
“Ridiculous.”
They grumbled and got down from the pavilion, wrapping the blankets around themselves like capes as they headed to Seongheon’s house.
As soon as they entered his house in that state, Uncle Jongsik scolded them asking why they were going around looking like beggars. Uncle Jongsik was only kind and affectionate to Daeyoung.
“Where’s Seongheon?”
“Seongheon? He must be sleeping in his room.”
They hadn’t thought he’d be sleeping soundly after abandoning them. They urgently entered Seongheon’s room, and sure enough, Seongheon and Daeyoung were lying side by side on the bed sleeping.
“Ha……”
Looking at them incredulously, Gangjin jumped between the two like diving.
“Ah!”
Seongheon got up with an annoyed tone, and Daeyoung also rubbed his eyes and looked back and forth between Gangjin and Daesu.
“……Mmm? Haha, hyungs’ eyes and mouth.”
Daesu scolded Seongheon with his protruding lips, “Hey! When did you guys pass by? You said you’d give a signal! Do you know how long we waited there!” Gangjin thought he looked like an angry duck from a cartoon.
Only Daeyoung, not knowing what was going on, looked at them with an “Huh?” expression, and Seongheon buried his face in his pillow laughing “kkeuk kkeuk.” Angered by that sight, Daesu and Gangjin covered, pressed, and pummeled Seongheon with the blanket, and Seongheon belatedly escaped shouting surrender.
After that, when they told him to confess about yesterday, he was so shameless that he crossed his arms and spoke about yesterday’s events matter-of-factly.
“That’s right. If I scared him on the way there, I thought Daeyoung wouldn’t go. And when we came out of the convenience store after buying snacks and stuff, the factory manager happened to come to buy cigarettes. So I asked him for a ride. When we were actually about to walk, my legs hurt too, and Daeyoung said he needed to use the bathroom.”
“Hey! Still, that’s not what we agreed on!”
“How could I do that to a kid who was startled by a frog? And you guys should have come back after waiting a bit too.”
Seongheon instead scolded them for stupidly staying like that until morning, and Gangjin and Daesu once again pressed and pummeled Seongheon with merciless expressions.
“Don’t bully Seongheon hyung!”
Gangjin said who’s bullying who here, and even when he said we did that to prank you yesterday, Daeyoung protected Seongheon to the end.
Normally Seongheon would have countered them with a pillow or something, but since Daeyoung was protecting him, he pretended to be weak, calling “Daeyoung-ah!” doing a weak person cosplay.
The more that happened, the more desperately Daeyoung blocked for him, and Seongheon stuck his tongue out saying “Meh-rong” from behind, provoking them. Seeing that, it felt like humanity was disappearing.
“Hey! Gam Seongheon. Even so, you abandon us? I’m not playing with you anymore!”
“Me too! I’m abandoning Seongheon!”
“Go ahead and abandon me, I just need Daeyoung.”
Those words didn’t seem like Seongheon was just saying them—they seemed truly sincere. Seongheon smiled the most when he was with Daeyoung, was happier than with anyone else, and unlike before, looked happy without pain.
Like that, Daeyoung frequently hung out with them and became like a kkakdugi, and Gangjin also liked hanging out together since only Daeyoung would listen to his gags. Except when playing games, that is.
