By Zephyria 
“You want to fight right now, is that it?”
A brief silence followed, and then a composed voice drifted through.
— Is that how it sounded? It’s not.
“Just know when to stop while I’m still being nice.”
— Stop what?
“Calling me every ten minutes wasn’t enough, so now you’re calling Im Hyo-mun? Why on earth are you doing this?”
— Didn’t you say you might want to quit at any moment? That’s why I keep checking. Is there a problem?
A childish squabble ensued.
“…….”
Jae-gyeom closed his eyes tight, suppressing the anger surging within him.
— So, how about now? Or should I wait another ten minutes?
“Are you doing this on purpose just to piss me off?”
— Since you’ve figured it out, stop it now and come home.
“Hey. I told you clearly that I’ll go when I want to go.”
Finally losing his temper, Jae-gyeom snapped.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Is it your hobby to suffocate people? Do I have to do everything exactly as you say just because you uttered a word? Stop telling me what to do. Who do you think you are?”
— …….
Having unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of words in a fit of rage, Jae-gyeom panted, catching his breath. He gripped the phone, expecting Yoon Tae-hee to fire back, but no response came from the other end.
“…….”
— …….
The silence stretched on.
Thinking the call might have dropped, he checked his phone, but the line was still connected. The strength in his hand, which had been gripping the phone tightly in readiness to counterattack, slackened slightly. He had lashed out with everything that came to mind in the heat of the moment, but as his adrenaline faded, a belated sense of regret washed over him.
…Was I a bit too harsh just now?
“…Hey, Yoon Tae-hee.”
It was just as Jae-gyeom spoke up after a moment of hesitation.
— Fine, do whatever you want.
With those words, the call cut off abruptly.
“…….”
Confirming the call had ended, Jae-gyeom scratched his head irritably. He felt stifled and uneasy. Returning to his seat, he handed the phone back to Im Hyo-mun and sat back down in front of the computer with a ‘whatever happens, happens’ attitude. However, after the outburst, he found he couldn’t immerse himself in the game like he had before.
Did I do something wrong? But that bastard started it…!
…So, how did his voice sound at the end?
He tried his best to shake it off, but he couldn’t stop worrying, and he couldn’t concentrate. Slumping in his chair with a sullen expression, clicking the mouse aimlessly, Jae-gyeom finally let out a deep sigh and stood up.
“Hey. I’m gonna head out.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Something came up at home.”
“What is it? What happened? Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s nothing major….”
Trailing off, Jae-gyeom made up an excuse on the fly.
“At home… uh… I think my younger sibling is worried. Anyway, I’m heading back first. See you tomorrow.”
Im Hyo-mun watched Jae-gyeom’s retreating back as he left the PC cafe, scratching the back of his head. Come to think of it, he recalled hearing that Jae-gyeom had a younger sibling. Ah, then maybe the person who called earlier was Chil-chil’s uncle? He must have called me because he couldn’t get a hold of Chil-chil. Wait, how did he get my number? …Well, sometimes people collect friends’ numbers as emergency contacts.
“I guess the sibling is really clingy to their Hyung.”
Yawn. Having no way of knowing the truth, Im Hyo-mun stretched his arms wide.
After leaving the PC cafe, Jae-gyeom immediately hailed a taxi and headed home. Stomping his way up to the second floor, he saw the light on in the study. Without knocking, he flung the study door open.
Yoon Tae-hee was sitting in his chair reading a book, ignoring Jae-gyeom’s presence.
“Hey, let’s talk.”
Keeping his eyes fixed on the book, Yoon Tae-hee turned a page and spoke.
“Talk about what?”
“You’re the one who messed up first.”
At that, Yoon Tae-hee looked up, his brow furrowing slightly.
“What did I do wrong?”
With those words, round two began.
“You told me to live freely as I pleased! And then you harass me by calling every ten minutes asking when I’m coming home, and why the hell did you call Im Hyo-mun? He doesn’t know anything, and he doesn’t know about us. It’s a good thing he didn’t notice, but what would have happened if he found out?”
“Because you didn’t answer your phone. So I simply called the person next to you instead. If you hated that situation, you should have just answered your phone from the start.”
“Make some sense. Is calling every ten minutes normal?”
“Then is it normal to stay out until this hour and not come home? While making someone worry?”
“Am I a child? I’ve lived longer than you, and I’m older.”
“…….”
Yoon Tae-hee paused for a moment at the sudden, out-of-context attack based on seniority. Taking advantage of the gap, Jae-gyeom continued with an even more menacing aura.
“And when I worked night shifts, there were plenty of days I worked until dawn, so what’s with the worry? Don’t make excuses. You just don’t like that I’m hanging out with Im Hyo-mun until that hour.”
Yoon Tae-hee’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Jae-gyeom.
“So you do realize.”
“……What?”
“Since you know, why do you keep doing it? Should I understand this as you acting like I don’t even exist, knowing full well that I don’t like it? I’m quite hurt by that.”
“…….”
This time, it was Jae-gyeom who paused. Nevertheless, he fought back without backing down.
“You… you… you’re just jealous of everyone. You’ve always been like that. You’re jealous of Jeong-ju, jealous of Kang Yi-bin, and now you’re jealous of Im Hyo-mun. I just think the game Hyo-mun told me about is fun and I want to keep playing.”
Though they were raising their voices to explain their respective positions, they were just going in circles.
“…….”
After a moment of silence, Yoon Tae-hee finally sighed and spoke.
“If you want to play the game that badly, play it at home.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“If you play at a PC cafe, they give you special items and there are events, so you level up faster. But at home, you don’t get those and the experience points are lower. That would mean I’d have to spend more time playing, and it’s way less efficient.”
“Then play alone. Why do you always play with Im Hyo-mun?”
“Hyo-mun invited me to his guild, and you get more experience when guild members party up, plus his level is high so he’s great at power-leveling me.”
“……What is ‘power-leveling’?”
“…….”
“…….”
“……It’s a thing.”
“So, the conclusion is that you did nothing wrong and it’s all my fault?”
“…….”
Saying that made his conscience prickle slightly. It was true that he hadn’t been coming home much lately because of the game, and that he had been neglecting Yoon Tae-hee while sticking to Im Hyo-mun’s side… But that’s just how life goes sometimes. He figured this phase would only last a week or two at most.
Because compared to the first and second days, the game felt a little less fun today. Of course, that was partly because he had grown accustomed to it. However, the truth was that he felt stubborn about admitting his faults so easily.
After all that talk about living however I want!
“Do you think I just stay quiet because I like every single thing about you from one to ten? I have complaints too. You’re a picky eater, you leave food on your plate, you keep touching things outside—I’ve told you several times not to, but you don’t listen to a word I say. You think you’re not like that? Why don’t you do what I tell you?”
Yoon Tae-hee listened in silence, meeting Jae-gyeom’s eyes without any significant change in expression. Then, at some point, he murmured while stroking one eyebrow with a cold expression.
“I didn’t realize you had so many complaints about me.”
With those words, Yoon Tae-hee snapped the book shut and silently turned his back to enter the bedroom.
It was the start of a cold war.
After that day, the two did not speak for two days.
Living under one roof while ignoring each other for over two days was stifling and difficult. In this silent war, where both lived on edge waiting for the other to cave, there were no winners or losers.
He felt like they used to fight whenever they crossed paths in the past; he wondered how they had resolved things back then. There had been many twists and turns to build the relationship they had now, and because they had faced so many hardships, he had just accepted it at the time. There are bound to be problems that cannot be solved by love alone.
The biggest problem was that, fundamentally, their personalities were too different.
When a fight broke out, the cause usually lay with Jae-gyeom. Jae-gyeom had a tactless side and tended to let most things slide, often thinking lightly, ‘I don’t get angry about this, so others probably don’t either.’ While being easygoing and broad-minded was a strength, the problem was that Yoon Tae-hee had a delicate personality.
It wasn’t a matter of which personality was better or worse. Jae-gyeom was the type of person who would see a protruding rock on the road and just pass by, thinking ‘Oh, there’s a rock.’ On the other hand, Yoon Tae-hee was the type of person who would glance at the protruding rock, contemplate its intention once, and then leisurely move his steps.
In that sense, Yoon Tae-hee’s thoughts were unpredictable. To put it nicely, he was delicate; to put it bluntly, he was a bit twisted. Furthermore, if something went wrong or didn’t please him, he would seize a part of the conversation and dig into it obsessively, and it was common for him to speak cuttingly even while wearing a gentle smile.
Therefore, while Jae-gyeom provided the initial spark for the fight, it was Yoon Tae-hee who didn’t miss a beat and poked at his nerves. Then, the fight would escalate as Jae-gyeom, irritated by Yoon Tae-hee’s typical attitude, couldn’t contain his temper and fired back. Even if the start was trivial, both sides took turns pouring gasoline on the fire, and by that point, the original topic had faded, but the emotional hurt turned it into a massive brawl.
Thus, after the cold war, the two decided to set some rules.
The core of the rules was as follows:
- Even if a fight occurs, it must be resolved within one day.
- If one person reaches out first, the other must accept it without refusal.
- If they fight, each must write down what they want from the other, what they did wrong, what needs to be fixed, and their demands. After exchanging and reading them, they must accept the contents and reach an unconditional agreement.