Prologue
When it comes to reeling in a person, what’s needed isn’t all that impressive.
That day, Hae-won took the bait, and the one who hooked him was Gong Se-hyeok, a classmate he’d been very close with in college.
Close enough that he knew exactly how to lure out Hae-won, who holed himself up at home and rarely showed his face.
Hey
Seo-an hyung is coming today too
That one text message was all it took.
“You saw that, right? Hey, hurry up and hand over ten thousand won each.”
Gong Se-hyeok wiggled his fingers somewhat cheekily, urging the classmates sitting around the table to pay up. Hae-won looked at him with an unimpressed expression.
It seemed everyone had bet ten thousand won while he was absent, as green bills were plucked out one by one from their wallets. Regretful sighs came along with them.
Taking a light breath, he looked around the interior of the beer hall.
He’d hoped, but it was as expected. Since he’d come out because Gong Se-hyeok’s earnest effort in mentioning Kwon Seo-an specifically was admirable, Hae-won hadn’t expected to actually see Seo-an in the first place.
“If you just asked me to come out nicely, I would’ve come. Why did you have to send that kind of text?”
“Hey, if you were the type to come out when told to come nicely, I wouldn’t have sent that text.”
He had no retort.
Hae-won pressed his lips shut at another classmate’s immediate comeback.
Upon graduating from college, he’d practically cut off contact with his classmates. It wasn’t for any particular reason—his personality just couldn’t maintain relationships for very long.
In a way, it was like building connections tied to specific periods of time. He thought that when your environment changed, the people around you changed too, so he simply didn’t reach out first.
On top of that…
“Who here didn’t go to Seo-an hyung’s wedding?”
“Just that bastard.”
“Of all things, you didn’t even go to the wedding of a hyung you were so close with, and you think you’d come just because we called?”
Right after graduation, he’d even heard news of the hyung he’d liked throughout college getting married. While someone couldn’t even dare to confess because they were the same gender, how miserable was it to have to hear marriage news—through others, no less? Perhaps that had played a big part in him cutting off contact with his classmates.
Hae-won downed the soju in front of him in one gulp.
“He didn’t even send me a wedding invitation anyway. Why would I go?”
“Huh, really?”
This time, the classmates’ gazes followed with a “no way.”
His mood worsened even more. As his classmates said, it had been a hyung he was close with. Close enough that even just not receiving an invitation prompted “really?” questions—there was no dispute about the fact that they were close.
Yet the fact that he hadn’t given him an invitation—wasn’t that a silent message to not approach anymore?
Ah, I shouldn’t have come.
Hae-won sighed with a frown of discomfort.
Noticing this, Gong Se-hyeok tapped the table lightly. When Hae-won looked at him, he gestured as if to say let’s go smoke. After calling him out for fun, claiming it was a bet with the classmates, now that he’d actually come, Se-hyeok seemed to feel awkward.
Well, of course he would. Gong Se-hyeok was, after all, the only classmate who knew that Hae-won had liked Seo-an.
As they left the establishment and Hae-won shot him a look, Gong Se-hyeok first raised both palms as if he truly hadn’t expected this.
“Everyone’s just excited because they’re seeing you after so long.”
“Did you go? To the wedding.”
“I didn’t go either. Why would I go when you weren’t there? I wasn’t even that close with that hyung anyway.”
“True, if you’d gone, you wouldn’t have just let it slide.”
Hae-won put a cigarette in his mouth and patted his pockets.
Ah, no lighter either.
Though he’d barely had a few drinks, he didn’t know why he was craving a cigarette so much—his mood was really terrible.
Just as he was thinking he should hang around appropriately and then head home, Gong Se-hyeok took the initiative to light the end of his cigarette for him.
“Just stay for a bit and then leave. Let’s meet up next time, just us two.”
“Yeah. Ah, where did you say you went for work?”
Twenty-seven. After graduating from college, appropriately testing the waters with internships or graduate school, this seemed to be exactly the time when people started getting jobs. Gong Se-hyeok, who had a well-off family and had said he wanted to travel the world once before it got too late, had unexpectedly gotten employed and was adapting to the company fairly well.
As they chatted away, rather than wanting to go back inside, Hae-won felt more like going home. Since he’d come out just to see his face out of appreciation for Gong Se-hyeok’s earnestness anyway, it seemed fine to leave now.
“Go back in. I’m just going to head straight home from here.”
“You’re going straight home? From here?”
“Yeah. And hey, if you want to see my face, just come to my place. It’s not like you don’t know where I live, so why do you have to be annoying like this every time?”
Only after strongly leaving the words that if he bothered him one more time, he really wouldn’t answer his calls anymore, did Hae-won give him a smile and wave his hand.
The signal changed just in time, so there was no need to kill time. Hae-won left the front of the beer hall without lingering and looked around. It seemed like it would be nice to buy some ice cream to eat for a hangover cure tomorrow morning.
***
“Ji-yu-ya, don’t go far. You don’t know what this complex looks like yet.”
“I’ll figure it out myself!”
The young child’s spirited voice rang loudly throughout the complex. Though she was only four years old at most, he didn’t know how her self-assertion could be so strong.
Seo-an shook his head and let out a deep sigh. His gaze sweeping over the grand apartment complex was full of burden.
He’d forced the move. If not for work, he would’ve somehow made it work at the place he’d lived before, but trying to live while raising a child, he needed to shorten his commute time somehow.
Fortunately, there was an opening at the daycare inside the apartment complex. There had been advice from those around him that it would be fine to hire someone for drop-off and pick-up, but Seo-an wanted to personally care for Ji-yu as much as possible. Since she was a child he had to raise alone anyway, he worried that constantly relying on others’ help might create some deficiency.
“Dad—! The playground here is really big too!”
Well, at least she’s still cheerful for now.
“Ji-yu-ya, you’ll get hurt. Don’t run too much.”
Or wait, should kids run around at that age?
He couldn’t remember well since that age was now too distant a memory for him. Tsk, clicking his tongue as he muttered to himself, Seo-an soon smiled pleasantly upon hearing the child’s kkeureureuk, giggling laughter.
“Ji-yu-ya, I’m going to the supermarket, don’t you want to come with me?”
“Supermarket?”
“Yeah, we’ll buy Ji-yu’s jellies and things for dad to eat too.”
“What are you going to eat, dad?”
“Dad’s going to eat something cool…”
Just as Seo-an was about to say he was going to eat ice cream, his mouth suddenly snapped shut.
From over there, he could hear the light patter of a young child running dododo, and though he should have been watching that way in case she fell, before he could even do that, Seo-an froze solid where he stood.
“…I heard you got married.”
The man before his eyes said so.
Seo-an unconsciously tilted his head, then let out an “ah” of realization.
“Ah… Hae-won-ah, it’s really… been a long time.”
Along with his greeting, Ji-yu tightly hugged Seo-an’s thigh. Peok, Seo-an swayed briefly from the force of the child bumping into him. Even so, he smiled awkwardly while gently stroking the child’s soft back.
Yeon Hae-won.
A junior he remembered because his face was as pretty as his name. It seemed they’d been fairly close when he was in school, but for some reason, from a certain point on, he’d stopped accepting his calls—a junior whose inner thoughts he couldn’t fathom at all.
But to meet him here of all places… From his appearance, it didn’t seem like he was just passing by or had briefly stopped in because he knew someone.
Seo-an smiled awkwardly, recalling a time that was only a few years ago but still noticeably younger. He said he’d heard news that he got married…
“Dad, who is it?”
“Ah, ah… Ah, Ji-yu-ya. Say hello, it’s a younger brother dad knows.”
“Hello.”
Ji-yu greeted him with a bow as told, even while looking up to check his face with her eyes wide open.
Disturbance settled in Hae-won’s eyes as he looked at her.
Last night, after meeting with his classmates and hearing news about him, he’d been so disturbed he couldn’t even sleep properly. But to even see a child like this.
The child who clearly called him ‘dad’ was even hiding herself slightly behind Seo-an while hugging his thigh tightly.
“Kwon Ji-yu… is it?”
“Ah, yeah. Yes, that’s right. Ji-yu.”
Seo-an, answering haltingly, found this situation awkward for some reason. Trying to explain the circumstances felt unnecessarily pathetic… Judging by his expression, it seemed there wouldn’t be any interaction going forward, so was there really a need to explain everything one by one?
“I guess you live here too.”
So for now, he tried to exchange light pleasantries and part ways appropriately, but…
