“……Hey, hyung.”
“Huh?”
“Hyung, well, I mean……”
Joo Tae-hyun didn’t know how to explain this fluttering feeling in his chest to him, so he hesitated several times.
He envied Seo Baek-han.
And he felt endlessly ashamed of himself compared to him.
Seo Baek-han was much older than him, but he was still a minor, not even twenty years old. But the fact that he could speak of his beliefs and his ambitions with such a firm face felt so cool. Seo Baek-han was too serious to be dismissed as the idealistic design of a naive child far removed from reality. He felt the solidity and strength unique to someone who had made up his mind hundreds, thousands of times, making it impossible to dismiss his impetuosity.
There are words that make your heart race just by looking at the letters, regardless of their actual meaning or usage. Like the equator, the Milky Way, or a fixed star.
It seemed that Seo Baek-han had become such an existence for Joo Tae-hyun. ……In this short amount of time, it had become that way.
Seo Baek-han.
Now, just muttering his name made Joo Tae-hyun’s heart pound.
As if he were standing on the suddenly burning equator, as if he had suddenly fallen into the endless Milky Way, as if he were suddenly hit by a shower of fixed stars.
It really happened in an instant.
“So, hyung, uh…… You want to be a politician?”
For a moment, he was so dizzy that he thought he might collapse, and Joo Tae-hyun wasn’t sure if he had even said the words properly. His heart was beating so loudly that he wondered if Seo Baek-han could hear it. He was worried.
“Well. First, I want to be the director of Jejungwon. I definitely want to be a minister, but I’m not sure about being a member of the National Assembly. I don’t want to inherit my father’s position.”
“A special member? Why?”
“Because I don’t like things that are obvious and easy.”
“……I see.”
Joo Tae-hyun was going to take over the position his parents had given him. He had always taken it for granted, like the sun rising in the east. But it could be seen as an obvious and easy path…….
“Why, do you think I’m cool?”
“I hear that a lot,” Seo Baek-han said, shrugging his shoulders.
A little while ago, Seo Baek-han had said that there were people who looked endlessly difficult even when they were smiling. He was exactly that type. He smiled easily, but he didn’t seem frivolous. Rather, he seemed serious and prudent.
His way of speaking was a little overbearing and somewhat cold, which sometimes made him tilt his head, but even that felt like an attractive factor.
Joo Tae-hyun suppressed the rising feelings of affection for Seo Baek-han as if a dam had burst, and replied sullenly.
“Don’t people usually not say things like that about themselves?”
“I’m trying to lighten the mood because I thought you’d be awkward after talking about serious things, hyung.”
That’s right. Certainly, unless he made himself look ridiculous, no one else could do that to Seo Baek-han.
Joo Tae-hyun respected his parents the most, and he liked his older brothers and sisters.
But if you asked him what kind of person he wanted to be…… He was sorry to his family, but from today on, he would think of this person. Joo Tae-hyun repeated Seo Baek-han’s unique way of speaking, the timing of his breaths, and the words he used often over and over again in his mind. He carefully picked up the words Seo Baek-han had thrown out, chewed them thoroughly, and swallowed them, so that they would never escape from him again.
“Hmm. Making policies…… Well, that’s politics in the end, right? It’s something I ultimately want to do. But I hate losing. I really, really hate it.”
That……. Of course, it seemed like he would. But Joo Tae-hyun didn’t want to add anything carelessly, so he remained silent.
He wanted to look good to this person, who seemed so cool because he had such a clear sense of self. He had even been praised for being good at managing his expressions, and he didn’t want to look like a careless and frivolous child now.
And actually…… He wanted to hear his voice a little more.
“It wouldn’t be easy to do with this face, but what if I lost an election? Wow. Just imagining it makes me feel really dirty. But broadly speaking, you can’t say you’ve lost just because you lost an election once……. Ah, but I really hate it. That’s why I’m still thinking about getting into politics full-time. Well, I have plenty of time.”
“Um, but if you lose an election…… Isn’t that losing?”
“That’s true if you’re just looking at ‘that election.’ But elections aren’t everything in politics. And if you think of it as a page in history that will last, then politics isn’t everything either.”
It was a little confusing and didn’t resonate with him right away, but Joo Tae-hyun nodded silently. After all, his biggest goal was to look good to Seo Baek-han.
But Seo Baek-han didn’t really want Joo Tae-hyun’s sincere agreement, so he just smiled a little awkwardly.
“Anyway, I’m going to get my doctorate, go to Jejungwon first, and then think about it. Maybe you-.”
“Oh, Seo Baek-han.”
His eldest brother, who had suddenly appeared from behind, greeted Seo Baek-han in a swaggering manner. It seemed that the task of making an impression on the imperial elders was finally over.
When he was alone, guarding the place like a ghost, he had been waiting endlessly for his brothers to come. But now, strangely, he felt a little disappointed.
Was it because his conversation with Seo Baek-han had been so impressive? Until just now, it felt like only he and Seo Baek-han were surrounded by a transparent film, but it was as if his eldest brother had popped that barrier and appeared.
“Hello.”
“Were you taking care of Tae-hyun by yourself? It must have been boring for a big hyung to deal with an elementary schooler.”
“Tae-hyun was playing with me. All the kids avoid me because I have a bad temper.”
“Haha, look at this guy talking. Oh, that’s right. Our youngest is also an Alpha. Baek-han, you’re also an Alpha, right?”
“Yes, I heard. I heard he was very sick when he manifested.”
Seo Baek-han naturally continued the conversation with his eldest brother. However, Joo Tae-hyun didn’t have time to feel left out. All the conversations they had eventually came back to Joo Tae-hyun.
“I didn’t want to arbitrarily judge whether they were good or bad kids, so I just had him briefly greet the kids that Kyung-han hyung and Yoon-woo noona were talking to comfortably last time.”
……Huh? But he had already subtly told him who he disliked and who he thought was ridiculous. Joo Tae-hyun was momentarily flustered, wondering if he was misremembering, but he nodded again as he recalled what he had added later. That’s right. He had said that these were his feelings, but to think about it from the perspective of our family.
“Oh, good job. Thank you.”
“Tae-hyun didn’t have a hard time either. It was just a brief introduction.”
From time to time, Seo Baek-han would look at Joo Tae-hyun. As if asking for his agreement.
Thanks to this, Joo Tae-hyun was able to stay in his seat comfortably without saying a word, and Joo Guk-won, who had been able to brag about his beloved youngest child to someone else for the first time in a long time, was very happy.
“Oh? Baby. Were you with Baek-han?”
The place became even more noisy when his second brother, who had returned from meeting with government officials, joined them.
Joo Tae-hyun was a little sad that he couldn’t have a trivial conversation with Seo Baek-han, but he was also happy that he felt like he had become an adult by slipping in among his brothers like this. He regretted not being able to participate in external activities with his brothers and sisters.
“That’s right. Baek-han, aren’t you a college student now? I heard you entered early…… Then you can have a drink, right?”
“I’m a college student, but I’m still a minor, so I can’t drink. And hyung, I’m graduating this year.”
“What? Graduating? You mean from college?”
“Yes. Now I have to go get my master’s and doctorate.”
“Wow, you can’t fool your bloodline. Well, your grandfather was amazing. So, where are you going to school?”
“Stanford. I’ve decided to study Trait/Phenotype more there.”
“Stanford? Wow, they’re going to hang up a banner in Pyongyang?”
“Hey, you know I can’t even show my face with my academic achievements because of my grandfather and great-grandfather.”
Wait a minute. So, that hyung is going to Stanford to study more? He didn’t tell me that earlier……