By Zephyria 
In the past, Min-ho had a better build and a stronger, rougher aura. His gaze was so fierce that most people had no choice but to walk on eggshells around him.
‘Here we go again. Do you guys have nothing better to do?’
‘It’s not that, Hyung-nim. This brat keeps acting up.’
No matter how much he searched his memory, he hadn’t really done anything wrong. He admitted to acting up, but that was only because they kept picking fights, so he just teased them back. Even in front of those who proudly claimed they were simply giving him some “mental discipline,” Cha Min-ho stood in front of him until the end.
No matter how much better his build was compared to now, he was still smaller than Gyu-oh, so it’s a mystery why he felt so reliable. Thinking about it now, it’s simply amazing.
‘I think you guys are the ones who need some mental discipline.’
‘……Excuse me?’
At the time, Cha Min-ho was just one of the Hyungs he served. A cold man who wasn’t particularly picky or affectionate, and who gave no warmth to his subordinates. A person who made the air feel awkward when they were alone, making one want to leave the spot.
After an accident where a friend died, it seemed he wandered for a while. Then, suddenly, he stopped fighting, kicked away his desk, and became a peculiar Hyung who dove headfirst into studying. Even when he saw him getting chewed out in the office, Min-ho would act as if he didn’t notice, so Gyu-oh thought he had no interest at all.
‘Seeing as you do this three or four times a day, you guys must be living a very comfortable life.’
‘……What?’
‘You’ve got way too much time on your hands, right?’
Min-ho, having rolled up his sleeves, threw a rapid punch. He rarely used violence, so while Gyu-oh was puzzled that he stepped up for him, he think he was secretly touched. After beating the guy at the front, Min-ho beckoned the others behind him with his index finger.
‘Because your mental state is this rotten, everything you do is fucking terrible. Huh?’
Because Min-ho spent more and more time sitting at a desk, there were some looks of subtle contempt. His punches were fast and powerful, as if crushing all of that.
‘Still got time?’
‘N-no, sir!’
The group that had bullied him was beaten for a long time and couldn’t utter a single word. With blood and bruises on their faces, they scrambled out of the office, completely disciplined. After everyone had left, Min-ho pulled down his sleeves and headed toward a small sink in the corner.
‘Ugh, damn. My hand tingles.’
Muttering that, he scrubbed his hands with rose-scented soap and returned to his seat to apply hand cream. The thought that a man was being overly fussy by using hand cream was instantly overturned. The sight of him calmly squeezing cream onto the back of his hand after dealing with those villainous bastards was so cool. Gyu-oh could only stare blankly, entranced.
‘What. You want some too?’
Normally, he would have read the room and answered that he was fine. Even if he remained a sociable younger brother, he had no intention of getting close to anyone. But why did he do it then?
‘I’ll go wash my hands. I wanted to try it too.’
He glanced at Min-ho, wondering if he had been too forward. However, the indifferent gaze only flickered between a few hand creams lined up on one side. As if contemplating which one would be best to apply.
‘Wash them thoroughly.’
‘Yes!’
He stole a glance at Min-ho’s face as he squeezed a hand cream with a subtle scent of grass onto the back of his hand. Min-ho didn’t brag about having saved him, nor did he make a show of telling him to let him know if he was bullied again.
In that moment, he thinks he made up his mind. That he absolutely wanted to get close to this fucking cool Hyung.
The result of following him doggedly for ten years is this. Ending up crossing every line drawn around Cha Min-ho and hovering by his side.
“……Maybe it started from then.”
He had heard that friendship and love are only a thin line apart. Perhaps, blinded by familiarity and prejudice, he failed to face the emotions that were flowing deeply.
“Hyung. Wake up quickly.”
I’m waiting for you anxiously.
“I miss you.”
I mean it. This time, I really do miss you like crazy.
Leaning his forehead against the tightly held hand, he closed his trembling eyelids. The scent of hand cream, which always seemed to scatter blurrily, no longer reached the tip of his nose.
* * *
‘Can’t you tell just by looking? Cha Min-ho? Those guys are terrified.’
At the sudden voice from beside him, Min-ho snapped his head up.
This was an abandoned warehouse where musty dust rolled around and cobwebs stretched across the ceiling. Unfashionable Bulky Guys were surrounding them, and in the center, they were sitting on their knees. Their hands, tied tightly to the point where their shoulders felt stiff, were bound, and beside him was Jae-hyeok in the same state.
‘I don’t know how they can act like gangsters with such small guts.’
He locked eyes with Jae-hyeok, who was chuckling. It was a gaze he had seen in every nightmare, but today, strangely, emotions gushed up within him.
‘Hey, hey. If anyone’s terrified, it’s us. We don’t have to do a—nything.’
The Bulky Guys, who had been giggling while kicking Min-ho’s knees—whose face was flushed from holding back tears—suddenly turned their backs. Once they had moved five or six steps away, Jae-hyeok leaned in and asked in a low voice.
‘Are you crazy? Why are you suddenly crying?’
‘……I don’t know. I’m just happy to see you today.’
‘What? That we got caught together like this?’
It was a voice he couldn’t forget even if he tried. Because it was the voice he heard in every nightmare. Unable to suppress the strangely surging emotions, Min-ho let out a hollow laugh. Tears dripped from his wet eyes before he could stop them.
‘Yeah. Let’s have a drink of soju when we get back later.’
‘You’re weak with alcohol. Do you know how much of a fucking struggle it was for me at every company dinner because of you?’
Back then, he was indeed bad at drinking. His tolerance was noticeably low even among the gangsters who lived on alcohol like water, but he didn’t try to act tough.
‘……That’s all become a memory too.’
Of course, that was a memory limited only to the survivor.
Normally, at this point, things should have moved exactly as they did in reality. He would break the ties tightening his wrists, Jae-hyeok would draw attention, and only when the other rose would a helping hand reach out. As always, the nightmare would end with Jae-hyeok dying.
This time, it didn’t happen. Enduring the stinging pain coming from his tightly bound wrists, he listened to the breath and voice of his friend close by. They continued their idle conversation. It was trivial, empty talk, just like when Jae-hyeok was alive. Despite being hostages, they giggled, wondering why they were so relaxed.
Then, with a loud crash, the back door of the abandoned factory was smashed open. Through the gap, large men rushed in. Seeing that they were all familiar faces, it seemed they had held out properly this time.
‘…….’
From then on, Min-ho didn’t take his eyes off Jae-hyeok for a single moment. Until someone ran over, untied his wrists, and helped him up.
‘Ah, what a relief.’
Jae-hyeok laughed as if he were free and rolled his shoulders. Thanks to the people pushing them inside as if to protect them, the situation was perfectly safe. Jae-hyeok didn’t die. Truly, by just staying still, they both survived. He should have done this that day too. Once again, a massive guilt weighed down his entire body, and simultaneously, tears poured out. His vision became blurred.
‘……I’m glad, I’m so glad.’
Every time he muttered, damp tears seeped through his lips. Jae-hyeok, who was quietly looking at him, let the corner of his mouth curl up.
‘Stop crying, man. It’s all over now.’
‘…….’
‘You did as much as you could.’
The touch tapping his shoulder was a body temperature he had never felt in all those nightmares. He bit his lower lip until it turned white and blinked rapidly. As the pooled tears flowed down, Jae-hyeok’s face became clear again.
‘I can go now.’
Jae-hyeok smiled brightly. He wasn’t stabbed in the side, nor was he spitting blood. He looked at him with a face that was completely refreshed, without a single speck of dust.
‘……What?’
After patting his shoulder a couple more times, Jae-hyeok turned around. Min-ho urgently grabbed the guy who was trying to leave the warehouse alone.
‘W-where? We have to go out together.’
Jae-hyeok paused as the hand gripping his wrist trembled noticeably. Then, he soon turned back and met his gaze.
‘You and I are different. Where we’re going.’
With a relieved smile once more, Jae-hyeok firmly shook off his hand. Then, before Min-ho could stop him, he ran out through the open warehouse door.
‘Hey! Jae-hyeok!’
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a proper conversation. I wish you wouldn’t go. I’ll do better in the next dream, so can’t you stay and finish the things we didn’t get to talk about? If that’s too hard, can’t you just let me see your face a bit more?
As Jae-hyeok’s figure disappeared, a streak of pure white light seeped through the gap of the broken warehouse door. Soon, the light poured in uncontrollably, filling the space, forcing him to shut his eyes tight.
Even so, the bright light kept piercing under his eyelids. He wanted to cover them with his hands, but he had no strength at all. It was probably the effect of being tied up the whole time.
“Ugh……”
As he tossed and turned, trying to put strength into his fingertips, a warm heat enveloped him with a cold hand.
“…Hyung. Cha Min…. Are you awake?”
The sound of someone calling his name faintly reached him from a distance. He concentrated all his attention following that presence.
“Can you open your eyes?”
A gentle touch fiddling with his forehead, the strength of a hand holding him firmly, and a familiar voice. As those things became conscious one by one, the traces of the abandoned warehouse filled with light gradually faded. The windows disappeared, the broken door blurred, the musty air subsided……
“Min-ho Hyung, Cha Min-ho.”
He slowly pushed open his stiff eyes. He repeated opening them halfway and closing them again, but hearing the voice calling him so anxiously, he couldn’t just keep them closed.
When he finally opened his eyes, Won Gyu-oh was looking down at him. It was a gaze overflowing with emotions so large and deep that he instantly forgot Jae-hyeok’s face from the dream. That emotion, which had such a clear name, eventually overflowed and soaked his nightmare.
“……Won, Gyu-oh.”
Suppressing the gushing emotions, he tightened his stinging throat. Contrary to his heart, his voice was faint, but as always, Gyu-oh reacted immediately.
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m here.”
Even though he had a nightmare about the moment he lost Jae-hyeok, he felt neither afraid nor sad. He had experienced this occasionally, and thinking about it, it seemed that whenever that happened, that gaze and voice were always by his side.
“I waited for you, Hyung.”
“…….”
Perhaps he had already admitted it.
That the only being who could pull him out of that abandoned warehouse was Won Gyu-oh.