The way he huffed and puffed in frustration looked just like a five-year-old who’d lost at rock-paper-scissors.
At the same time, it was such a childish side of Hongdan that was rarely seen, so Seonha couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He smoothly uncrumpled the origami paper Hongdan had wadded up and handed it back to him, speaking gently.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll help you. Let’s try it together.”
“Forget it. All I’ll make is garbage anyway.”
Hongdan’s confidence seemed to have already hit rock bottom. His small lips were puffed out in a sulky pout. And yet, why was it that the quiet elation nestled in a corner of Seonha’s heart hadn’t disappeared? If anything, it only deepened.
“I’ll teach you until it stops being garbage.”
Hongdan stared blankly at that smile. He watched for quite a while, but there wasn’t even a flicker of wavering. It was almost as if Seonha was trying to show him something.
Probably that tiresome affection of his.
By now, accepting this much of it wasn’t particularly unpleasant. Hongdan turned his eyes back to the origami paper Seonha held out.
“…You promised, you hear me. Don’t you dare get annoyed just because I can’t do it.”
“I won’t.”
Just like Seonha’s answer, only gentle conversation passed between them. Hongdan’s fingertips were still clumsy, and there were many moments when he couldn’t follow the instructions, but each time, Seonha tenderly layered his hands over Hongdan’s and helped him directly. Thanks to that, there was no difficulty making progress. There was also no opportunity for cold air to seep into Hongdan’s hands. For a moment, Hongdan had forgotten that this villa had pretty severe drafts. It was also partly because Seonha had wrapped his own blanket around Hongdan without him noticing.
They really were absorbed in this play-house-like origami game for quite a while, not even realizing their bent backs were getting stiff.
Had the half-moon at the window tilted about half a finger’s width in that time?
Finally, a red rose bloomed in Hongdan’s hands. Seonha let out a cheer as if this moment made him happier than when he’d won the bet earlier.
“Wow! Hongdan! It’s so pretty!”
He made a huge fuss, attaching every exclamation in existence. But Hongdan didn’t feel entirely proud. Rather, he felt more embarrassed. And for good reason.
“…It looks kind of different from yours though.”
Because his own rose and Seonha’s rose casually tossed on the floor were clearly different at a glance.
Had he really gone blind from folding those things all night? Even if you stood on your head to look at it, you probably couldn’t call the rose—no, the crumpled paper ball—that Hongdan made “pretty.”
At Hongdan’s point, Seonha quickly added clarification.
“I mean it’s prettier than mine, obviously!”
“Your eyes are also…”
“Hm?”
Hongdan, who was about to ask if his eyes were injured, just swallowed his words.
“Never mind, forget it.”
Looking at those eyes brimming with joy, he somehow felt like he had to. If this was repayment for teaching him how to fold a rose with infinite patience, then it was repayment.
Hongdan fiddled with the small, somewhat shoddy result. Even though it was just a simple scrap of paper, he felt strangely cautious about touching it.
Just then, a large hand suddenly popped out.
“Hongdan, Hongdan. Can I have this?”
Unless ghosts existed, it was naturally Seonha. Hongdan’s eyebrows twitched at the somewhat absurd request.
“…This?”
“Yeah! Sell it to me. I want to buy it.”
From the vigorous head-shaking, it didn’t seem like empty words. In the end, wrinkles formed on Hongdan’s forehead…
“Money to burn…!”
…which immediately smoothed out as he faced reality.
“Yeah, you’ve got money to burn. Probably.”
“Yes, yes!”
Even being treated like a nouveau riche throwing money around, he said it was fine.
Hongdan ruffled the shaggy large dog’s—no, Seonha’s—hair and lifted his chin.
“Then just give me a million won. It’s originally three million, but since you taught me well, I’ll give you a special discount.”
“A million? Okay. Wait, my wallet…”
Was the performance really necessary?
In Hongdan’s scoffing field of vision, a rectangular piece of paper appeared right in front of him.
“Here, one million won!”
Because Seonha had placed it so close to his face, it took a moment to focus, but if nothing else, he couldn’t miss the text in the center that read ‘₩1,000,000 (One Million Won).’
“…Huh?”
Hongdan’s eyelids blinked slowly. He didn’t even have the thought to reach out and accept it.
But the Young Master, for whom a check like this was no different from pocket change, seemed to think Hongdan was hesitating because he suspected it was a forgery. The fluttering of the paper stopped, and behind it, Seonha’s face peeked out.
“It’s real though. If you’re really suspicious, I can even let you check my bank account balance.”
Only then did focus return to Hongdan’s pupils, which had been blankly unfocused.
“No, of course you’d have a million won!”
“Then? Why aren’t you taking it?”
“Who would pay money to buy something like this! If I sold it, it’d be grounds for consumer protection complaints, damn it.”
Hongdan handed over the shoddy rose to Seonha while breathing heavily. No, it was closer to roughly shoving it into that large palm.
Even in the midst of that, he could clearly feel the unevenly sized petals. Looking at it again, it truly was a shabby sight. Why would he want to buy something like this while breaking actual cash? Hongdan couldn’t understand Seonha. Was this also part of what rich bastards called throwing money around?
“Hey, forget it. Just take it. I don’t need it anyway.”
Honestly, he did have some desire to keep it for himself. But if he showed even a hint of that, he’d end up facing a piece of paper with seven zeros. Hongdan waved his hands dismissively, pretending he had no regrets. Then he tried to return to his room for the Monday that had come around again.
Riiip—
If only he hadn’t heard that somehow anxious sound of something thin tearing.
“Hey, what are you doing!”
Hongdan, who had been halfway to standing, hurriedly sat back down. Sure enough, a 38th parallel was about to form between ‘one’ and ‘million’ on the check. Hongdan cried out. The very person who was dividing this harmonious family remained nonchalant.
“Why? I don’t need this either.”
Instead, as if to show off, he began tearing the paper even more boldly than before.
In the end, Hongdan had no choice but to snatch the check. To avoid increasing the number of tragic separated families, he had to step in.
“Fine, I’ll take it. That’s what you want, right!”
As soon as Hongdan snatched the check, he spread it on the floor and checked its condition first. Fortunately, the close bond between the ‘ㄱ’ consonant and ‘ㄴ’ consonant could be preserved. A deep sigh flowed from Hongdan’s mouth.
“Seriously, what kind of money-throwing… damn.”
“Money-throwing? It was a whole 67% discount. You said so yourself, Hongdan.”
Seonha just giggled innocently while echoing Hongdan’s joke. That sight was strangely not entirely irritating. Hongdan didn’t bother adding a rebuke either, just quietly rolled his eyes.
“Now this is worth three million won. The one I made is just a paper scrap not even worth a hundred won.”
To that idiot, the crude paper flower must look like a 100-carat diamond. Just look at him caressing it with such sweet eyes.
Come to think of it, it was practically the same as being scammed out of money by some con artist, really. What was there to be so happy and pleased about?
Seonha kept bursting into laughter like when he’d run away after stealing a kiss earlier.
“Hmm, where should I put it—”
He even hummed an indecipherable tune while turning an elegant pirouette. Before long, the corners of Hongdan’s mouth were also twitching upward.
Soon, Seonha’s toes stopped at a certain spot.
“Ah, here would be good!”
It was the spot where the moonlight had shone brightest earlier. Hongdan, who had been bickering with Seonha in the darkness for a while, also remembered that place.
“Hongdan, how about here? It’s the spot in this room that gets the best sunlight. I can see it as soon as I wake up too.”
Seonha placed the rose there. His movements were as if he were touching the most precious being in the world. In that moment, a worn-out memory raised its head from somewhere within Hongdan.
‘Your other dad’s name is Yeon Seonha. You absolutely have to be born healthy just like Seonha. While we’re at it, it’d be even better if you had his fortune too. …No wait, personality-wise, it’d be better if you took after me.’
The spot that gets the best sunlight following the moon’s path. The careful touch, worried it might get damaged even slightly. Eyes brimming with affection. It was all exactly as he’d once pictured every day.
‘I’m going to make this your room, what do you think? It gets the best sunlight in this house. The moon is prettiest when seen from here too. So at first, I wanted to make the study here, you know? Well, I was going to give it up anyway once you came along, so maybe it was good that I made it that room instead.’
Well yeah. He’d always been one to cherish his belongings dearly. So naturally, his child too…
“Maybe because you made it, but it really seems to have a scent. It’s fragrant.”
His child too…
Hongdan’s lips, which had been calmly soaring upward, slowly descended.
“Ah.”
