By Zephyria 
Even while digging the pit with the shovel Eden had handed him, Ha-jin felt like he was dying to ask.
‘Why did Jeong Tae-geon choose me?’
Just thinking about it made him feel like he was suffocating from an excess of self-consciousness. Ha-jin shuddered and carefully thought of another sentence.
‘Jeong Tae-geon usually avoids finding companions, right? But what did you see in me and Mi-so that made you choose us?’
Was that too detailed? This question seemed to hint at a bit of gratitude.
The more he pondered a suitable question, the more Ha-jin couldn’t help but be engulfed in another doubt. Was the reason for asking this really just simple curiosity? Was there a specific answer he was hoping for? But if there was a particular answer he wanted to hear, other questions wouldn’t have sprung up along with it.
For example, whether the survival knowledge about rocks and smoke dispersion was learned in Delta Force. The circumstances of enlisting in the special forces, the process of becoming an executive at Blue Works, and the difference between a CTO and a CEO, among other various questions.
The end of the chain of questions that kept multiplying eventually led back to his childhood. The night before, when they were talking about Byeol, he had only heard that he had an older Hyung and the process of that Hyung’s immigration to the United States, but he hadn’t heard any stories about Jeong Tae-geon himself.
The curiosity that poured out hastily, like the stream of water gushing out from the river over there, felt quite awkward. Before he could even open his mouth, a pointless cough burst out.
Ha-jin put the shovel down to the side at Eden’s objection that he didn’t need to dig the hole anymore.
“Is there a specific criteria for choosing companions?”
Then he naturally let out the sentence he thought was the most innocuous. Eden, who was examining the dryness of the vines, raised his eyebrows as if puzzled.
“Are you asking me?”
“Yes. There’s only the two of us here.”
He skillfully distinguished between usable dry grass and branches and then shifted his gaze back to Ha-jin.
“What’s the intention behind the question?”
His eyes narrowed as if trying to grasp the other person’s intentions.
The sound of the stream flowing, the chirping of birds, and the voices of people gathered together discussing food faintly filled the silence. Ha-jin consciously inhaled the phytoncide scent of the leaves that had been heated up during the day, beyond the fishy smell of the water that stung his nose.
“Well… do you have to have an intention to ask a question? I just asked it as it came to mind.”
As if squinting to adjust to the darkness, Eden was watching Ha-jin with a careful gaze. Soon, he let out a dry laugh.
“Do you want to criticize me because of those women from earlier?”
“Excuse me?”
“I think I’ve said it before. I don’t plan on making any more companions here.”
Ha-jin waved his hands in a flustered manner and hastily retorted.
“That’s not what I was asking. Why are you thinking whatever you want like some twisted breadstick?”
“Then what are you curious about?”
Eden asked as he threw the gathered dry branches and thin vines that hadn’t been splashed with water into the pit.
“I just wondered why Jeong Tae-geon was taking me with him, so I asked.”
While conveying his simple and pure intention, his Adam’s apple trembled somehow. He had been so curious, but he felt embarrassed once he actually said it. Jeong Tae-geon, who had heard the question, opened his mouth with a serious face, devoid of any laughter.
“Hmm, the reason is….”
As if dismantling a forgotten memory, he stared intently at the dry firewood piled up in the pit with a persistent gaze.
“Well, I guess he thought he could save you this time.”
Ha-jin’s eyebrows narrowed at the cryptic answer. Eden was acting in a subtle way, as if death was a matter that could be chosen.
“What kind of answer is that?”
Eden, who had taken out a lighter from his pocket, raised the corners of his lips and smiled. He corrected his words.
“I brought you along because it didn’t seem like there would be anything to lose.”
Ha-jin rolled his eyes back and forth, unable to clearly decide whether he should be happy, grateful, or have his pride hurt. His answer was somewhat difficult to fully understand, but in any case, it seemed that Jeong Tae-geon had thoroughly judged the situation from his own perspective and made a choice after assessing the usefulness of this side.
He felt strangely drained.
Eden, who had turned his back to the direction of the wind and ignited the fire, blew on it. Crackle, crackle…. They had to light a fire and settle down for dinner before the sun completely set. Ha-jin sweated under his sideburns from the heat rising close to his face.
As he blankly stared at the burning flames, his body itched. As he slowly got up to avoid the spot, a sudden question flew at him.
“Do Ha-jin, how old are you this year?”
Ha-jin turned to look at Eden in an awkward posture. After hesitating for a moment, he squatted back down on the dirt floor.
“How old do you think I am?”
Ha-jin’s tone in asking back was somehow a little higher than usual. Even with the wasteful conversation pattern that he would normally hate, Eden didn’t frown. Feeling a strange sense of relief that he had finished the day safely, he decided to indulge Ha-jin’s meaningless banter for a moment.
“Fifty-nine years old.”
“Ah, that’s no fun.”
“I’m not having fun either.”
Ha-jin scratched his nose awkwardly.
“I’m twenty-nine.”
It was within the expected range, but Eden couldn’t help but be surprised to hear the number, which was still the last possible number, directly.
“You certainly don’t seem like that age.”
“I hear that often.”
Eden snorted as if he was dumbfounded at Ha-jin’s brazen retort.
“I thought you were about thirty-nine.”
“Liar. I know you thought I looked younger.”
Ha-jin, finding his own brazen confidence funny, giggled like a child and asked in return.
“Then how old is Jeong Tae-geon?”
“Five years older than Do Ha-jin.”
Five years? Ha-jin’s eyes widened so much that the muscles in his eyebrows pushed his forehead up.
“…Thirty-four years old? Is Jeffrey too?”
“Yes. The same age.”
The expectation that they would be at least one or two years older than him was shattered. It was a considerably young age for someone holding an executive position in a global company, but Ha-jin somehow felt like he was experiencing cognitive dissonance. It was an age difference that, if he had encountered them in society, he wouldn’t have been able to say a word and would have obediently acted subservient, saying, “Yes, Hyung.”
Come to think of it, he had become quite close to Jeffrey these days and was subtly mixing in informal language when talking to him. He felt a sense of dismay for some reason. It was a matter that he could have ignored if it were the United States, where there is no distinction between informal and formal language, but the place they were standing now was South Korea.
“Your age is more than I thought….”
“You don’t have to be that surprised. It’s embarrassing.”
Unlike his words, Eden didn’t look embarrassed at all. Ha-jin, who was quietly retracing the insubordination he had committed, quickly shut his mouth. He decided to put aside the other questions he was actually curious about for a while.
Eden was nonchalantly observing Ha-jin’s reaction, who was scratching his earlobe in a somewhat bewildered manner. Do Ha-jin seemed to pride himself on being a good socializer, but he was by no means good at hiding his emotions and feelings, except when he was doing his job.
Even now, his confusion was easily read from his expression and restless gestures. At this point, he even had the silly thought of whether he should bring up his age and establish a hierarchy to meet expectations. Do Ha-jin’s defenseless honesty, which even extinguished the will to tease, made Eden feel not only absurdity but even pity.
Ha-jin, perhaps feeling a bit burdened by Eden’s gaze that was staring intently at him, awkwardly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled. Then, after hesitating and looking around, he plopped down on the floor, abandoning his squatting posture.
“By the way, where did you learn all this stuff? That… Delta Force, did you learn it there?”
Eden shook the dirt off his hands.
“How did you know I was from Delta Force? Did Jeffrey tell you?”
“…I saw it on a current affairs channel.”
“They broadcast everything these days.”
Ha-jin scratched his cheek, feeling embarrassed for no reason.
“Then is Jeong Tae-geon American? A citizen?”
“Yes.”
“Judging by how well he speaks Korean, I don’t think he was born in the United States.”
“I was born in Korea, and I went to the United States around the age of fifteen.”
“How did you end up going?”
Ha-jin poured out the things he had been secretly curious about and threw out a barrage of questions. Eden, who had been rummaging through the kindling, suddenly raised his head and looked at Ha-jin.
“You’re asking a lot of questions today. Do Ha-jin, are you interested in me?”
Contrary to expectations that he would be flustered, Do Ha-jin rather confidently raised his eyes.
“Is there anyone here who isn’t interested in each other?”
Heh, after letting out a small laugh, he added with a brazen face.
“It’s just camaraderie. Camaraderie.”
“Ah, camaraderie.”
“What’s with that reaction?”
“I thought Do Ha-jin was throwing himself at me, so I was worried.”
“Throw… what?”
Ha-jin grabbed the end of Eden’s words, which were stretching out arrogantly, and wrinkled his nose. Throwing himself? Worried? These were strangely familiar words.
‘It’s not that I’m particularly doing that, but it seems like Jeong Tae-geon keeps throwing himself at me, so I’m telling you out of concern.’
Ha-jin rubbed his forehead. The words he had spat out when pointing out Eden’s sexual joke last time had come back like a boomerang. Seriously, the ways people tease others are so varied….
As he stood there silently with his face reddened, Eden’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“There’s no special story. When I was in middle school, my parents divorced, and I went to the United States with my father, and my Hyung stayed in Korea with my mother. Are your questions answered now?”
Eden looked very pleased. Ha-jin didn’t say anything in particular because he looked so annoying. He himself didn’t know why he was curious about Eden’s past, which wasn’t even a big deal.