By Zephyria 
Gyu-oh, with his head lowered deep, only moved the hands gathered in front of him rhythmically. Tak, tak—small sounds followed the gestures. At a sound he had heard somewhere before, Min-ho narrowed his eyes and leaned his upper body forward. He could immediately see what was in Gyu-oh’s hand.
“……What are you doing playing Hanafuda in the middle of the night.”
Where did those Hanafuda cards suddenly come from, and why did he break into someone else’s house in the middle of the night to shuffle them? He was even still in his outdoor clothes, as if he had been doing that since he entered. Since he had brought a suitcase and moved a bunch of luggage last time, he should have plenty of clothes to change into.
“Just because.”
It was a voice no different from usual. Tak, tak—the hand shuffling the cards was deft.
“Why. Does it remind you of the days you played Hanafuda?”
He joked while pretending to be indifferent, but there was no response. His gaze was unconsciously drawn to the concise yet fast hand movements. With his upper body bent and elbows on his knees, he watched the cards being quickly mixed. The sound echoing through the silence continued a few more times, and then the Hanafuda cards spilled out from his hand.
“Hyung, why are you sleeping here when you have a room.”
At the sudden question directed at him, his heart raced as if he had been caught doing something bad.
Although he had turned back from the hotel room, for some reason, he felt uncomfortable, as if he had trampled on Won Gyu-oh’s efforts. He awkwardly straightened his upper body and fidgeted with the nape of his neck.
“……I’m just, a bit tired.”
“I guess you left work late?”
The Hanafuda cards scattered on the floor were a dizzying mix of bright red backs and colorful pictures. Gyu-oh gathered the scattered cards with slow movements. Ssh, ssh—only the small noise of plastic rubbing and clashing echoed. After choosing an answer for a long time, Min-ho finally parted his lips.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Ah. You said you left work late……”
Gyu-oh nodded, dragging out the end of his sentence. Before he knew it, the gathered Hanafuda cards were held firmly in his large hand. Gyu-oh, gripping the cards with such force that his knuckles bent and nails turned white, suddenly bolted upright.
“I should play a few games before I sleep. Are you going to wash up, Hyung?”
“Ah, yeah. You use that one.”
He answered that he would to the guy’s question. He had already washed up, but it wouldn’t be obvious from the outside. He even acted out unbuttoning his shirt so as not to seem awkward.
Then suddenly, he worried if Gyu-oh would be uncomfortable if he walked around naked. Brakes were applied to every single action that should have flowed naturally. And in most cases, the cause was Won Gyu-oh. The hand that had undone a couple of buttons could go no further.
“…….”
As he pretended to be preoccupied, messing with his slightly damp hair, Gyu-oh, who had been standing with his back turned, sent a slanted gaze his way. The gaze scanning him up and down seemed persistent yet confused. The black pupils seemed to waver for a moment.
“I get it.”
A short and calm answer, unlike Won Gyu-oh, returned. Watching the broad back as he took a stride, another question mark floated in his head. He couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but he was just puzzled by this heavy atmosphere.
“……I didn’t even do anything guilty, so why am I so nervous.”
After loudly telling him not to interfere in his private life. No matter how many sighs he let out, the suffocating feeling inside wouldn’t lighten. He watched the bathroom from which the sound of water leaked, and then entered the bedroom.
He washed up quickly in the bathroom attached to the bedroom and came out, but Gyu-oh was nowhere to be seen. For a while, they had continued to sleep in the same bed; would it be the same today? Should he pretend to sleep? Or should he say he’ll do more work? After hesitating in front of the light, Min-ho finally climbed into bed with one light left on.
However, even as his eyelids grew heavy, Gyu-oh’s figure entering the room did not appear. Not even until Min-ho finally fell asleep.
* * *
“He hasn’t come yet.”
Gyu-oh, with a damp towel draped over his shoulder, chewed on his fingertips. He had the messenger window open without even blinking. Since he checked it as soon as he washed up, he was naked, but such things didn’t matter. Without realizing it, his legs were trembling, and whenever the screen started to turn black, he hurriedly tapped it awake.
Zzzzt—a short vibration rang. The sender was The Youngest. He was the one he had been in contact with most frequently lately, and 99 percent of their conversations were about Min-ho’s whereabouts.
“What. Back to the office?”
If there was one thing different from before, it was that he now received photos. Min-ho, having been in this line of work for quite a while, was also quite sensitive. That’s why he tried not to do things that risked being discovered.
After hearing that he had come out about two hours after heading to the hotel last time, he had finally come to receive photos. Since he had never been given the qualification in the first place, he was in a position where he couldn’t step forward actively, and he felt suffocated by the thought that he had failed to stop his Hyung’s deviation despite his interference.
“…….”
Who was the person he met then? Who on earth did he meet at the hotel and what did they do? He had received a rough explanation from The Youngest, but there was no way he could gauge it. Nor could he ask his Hyung directly.
I felt a sense of self-loathing, wondering what on earth I was doing, but I knew that if I didn’t do this, I’d be so preoccupied that I might actually do something insane. So, the compromise I barely managed to find was receiving reports on his every move, like a stalker.
The text that had just arrived said, ‘The Director is heading back to the office after changing clothes at home.’ Swiping to the next photo, I saw Min-ho standing askew in front of the elevator with his eyes closed.
“He should at least dry his hair properly.”
As Gyu-oh muttered, droplets of water dripped onto his own shoulders. Min-ho, dressed differently than yesterday, had hair that was disheveled and slightly damp. And why did his complexion look so poor? While chewing on a small curse, Gyu-oh’s hand was careful as he saved the photo. The youngest guy was big in stature, but he took quite good photos, so there wasn’t a single one to discard.
“Seriously, nothing ever goes right because of that bastard Son Pro.”
It seemed Son Pro had been entangled with T Corporation’s Executive Director for quite some time. Whenever there were projects, large or small, he seemed to act as a broker, taking bribes and connecting people to the Executive Director. If someone didn’t suit his liking or refused to bow down, he would trigger accidents to stifle them.
At first, it was blatant blackmail, but it shifted into a method of spreading articles that would tarnish a company’s image. Just as he had done to Woowon. There were plenty of guys like that, so he could just be dealt with appropriately. The real problem lay elsewhere.
‘…That Hyung blames everything on himself.’
The contents of the phone call he had with Mu-gyeong just a few hours ago came back vividly.
—Since I’m the only one still in contact, even if he says it’s unnecessary, I have to listen.
Rather than blaming Son Pro’s manipulations, Min-ho was blaming himself for the oversight of not firmly securing the T Corporation Executive Director on his side. He said he was pouring his heart and soul into this contract acquisition to make up for it somehow.
—He’s sensitive, so don’t touch him. You’ll just get cursed at for no reason.
‘…I get it.’
Far from hanging around him, it had been ages since he’d even looked Min-ho in the eye. He wondered if he should act frantically in front of him like he used to, but he also felt sorry for forcing himself upon someone who was trying so hard to avoid him.
Ever since he started interfering in Cha Min-ho’s life, there hadn’t been a single day without confusion. This was exactly why he had lived his life ignoring others. Why couldn’t he shake off Cha Min-ho?
“Ah, damn it.”
Come to think of it, wasn’t it also his fault for not finding out sooner, whether it was the reporters or the newspaper company? Gyu-oh began to shoulder Min-ho’s self-reproach. Irritated, Gyu-oh ruffled his hair and roughly pulled down the towel draped over his shoulders.
Even while staking out all night to catch the reporter, he went out to box or run whenever he had a spare moment. If you torture the body, it at least gets tired, but he didn’t know what to do when his mind was in agony.
He didn’t know how many hours he’d spent running wild like a madman at the boxing gym today. He had pushed himself to the point where the gym owner waved him away, telling him to just go home, but it had no effect.
He hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, but the image of Min-ho’s back as he entered the hotel, the photo of him heading toward the parking lot looking exceptionally disheveled, and the sight of him hesitating while taking off his shirt in front of him—none of it would easily fade.
“Haa.”
[The Youngest: He has entered the office]
Another text from the youngest lit up the screen.
“…How can he not contact me even once?”
Since they used to be so clingy and spent so much time together, couldn’t he just say he missed him for once? If he just crossed that drawn line by a single centimeter, Gyu-oh could handle the rest.
How much longer could he endure watching from one step behind? He felt like if he just poured out all the suppressed interest and worry he’d held back until now, he could easily stay up for several nights. But would Hyung appreciate that?
“…Cha Min-ho would probably love that.”
He prided himself on knowing him better than anyone, but in times like this, that wasn’t very helpful.
“…”
But maybe Hyung would know. What the right thing to do in a situation like this was. Biting his lip in contemplation, Gyu-oh moved his hands quickly.
[Go home for the day]
He decided he had to see Cha Min-ho’s face today, even if he didn’t get an answer. As soon as he sent the message telling him to go home, a reply flew back as if it had been waiting.
[The Youngest: I will do so, thank youuu]
“That brat, he’s way too happy about it.”
Gyu-oh let out a smirk as he checked the screen full of typos. A lean man who had just entered the locker room reacted to Gyu-oh’s monologue and asked, “Excuse me?” Gyu-oh didn’t give a proper answer, merely curling the corners of his mouth into a smile before quickening his pace.
“…”
It would be nice if Hyung welcomed me like that too. The last thing that crossed his mind was, as expected, a wish for Min-ho.