HLC 133

Before Jung Ji-in moved out, Song Hyun-soo had cooked for him and made him cocktails. That was probably the most polite favor Song Hyun-soo could express to another person at the time.

Jung Ji-in gifted Song Hyun-soo a Louis Vuitton suit that Song Hyun-soo had coveted, saying it was too flashy for him. After the meal, he taught Song Hyun-soo how to tie shoelaces properly.

Sitting side-by-side in the cramped dorm entryway, Song Hyun-soo slipped his foot into one of his Converse sneakers.

“Here, tie it like this.”

He carefully followed Jung Ji-in’s instructions.

Up until then, Song Hyun-soo had never learned how to tie shoelaces properly. The laces he tied haphazardly would often come undone. Young Song Hyun-soo would re-tie them, and when he got tired of it, he would just step on the laces and walk around. Because of that, the edges of his shoelaces were always grubby.

His elderly grandparents, who were barely managing to run their basic lives, never thought to sit their grandson down and teach him how to tie shoelaces. At seven, he knew how to cook ramen by himself, and around nine, he knew how to wash rice and press the button on the rice cooker, but he grew up without knowing how to tie shoelaces properly.

For over 20 years, he walked around with shoelaces that frequently came undone. So, he thought it wouldn’t change. This was just who he was. But when he followed someone’s instructions, step by step, a perfectly sturdy bow was made.

That moment felt magical. It was like a hopeful message that even someone like him might become a slightly more decent human being.

“Now you can tie the bow without doing it backward, right? This method also makes it hard to come undone.”

The first shoelaces he had ever tied properly.

“Come visit when you move.”

Jung Ji-in had said that, ruffling Song Hyun-soo’s hair, leaving him speechless.

“Don’t be jealous when I move to a nicer place after becoming successful.”

“I won’t be jealous of you, hyung. I was annoyed at that bastard Kim Young-joo. He doesn’t even know who helped him escape this place and thinks he’s so great…”

Without knowing Choi Hong-seo’s situation. He disliked his team members who only benefited from Choi Hong-seo. But Jung Ji-in was different from them. Even in a time when he thought seeing others succeed only made him envious, he wished Jung Ji-in well.

“Hyung… you don’t have any ‘maiking’ at the company, right? You’re not moving by taking out loans?”

“Uh, no. You know I haven’t been spending money.”

“As long as you’re not moving by taking out loans, then it’s fine.”

“…”

“Don’t ever come back to this dump and live well.”

Choi Hong-seo and Jung Ji-in. They were the people for whom Song Hyun-soo, back then, could genuinely wish happiness.

Jung Ji-in was the one who came to find Song Hyun-soo, who was floundering alone in shock, grief, and suffocating fear, after Choi Hong-seo died in Bangkok, Thailand, a place Song Hyun-soo could never visit.

The ‘X-list scandal’ was engulfing the world like bright red lava.

Some of the public blamed the victim, X. The truth that these victims, who had grown up without basic protection from their families and society, were vulnerable adults caught by their perpetrators as soon as they became adults, didn’t seem to matter to them.

They fiercely criticized, saying those children should have made wiser decisions and dealt with it better, as if the victims’ reactions were more problematic than the perpetrators’ cunning.

It was because of a world like this that Hong-seo left. A world like this pushed Hong-seo away.

With no place to vent his anger and resentment, his heart burning black, he was still in a fucked-up situation where he had to think about his own safety.

Sitting across from Jung Ji-in at the dining table after he came to the dorm, Song Hyun-soo poured out a long story.

“If President Myung gets exposed and fucked… I’ll go to jail too, right? I’m not as famous as Hong-seo… but if you think about it, I’m also an X. Or, since I’m not famous… maybe it’ll blow over quietly?”

Even at that time, Song Hyun-soo himself, despite being a victim, thought he would be punished. However, naturally, Song Hyun-soo, who had only been used by Myung Do-hoon like Choi Hong-seo, was recognized as a victim during the trial.

“I think… even if it’s not the President Myung case, because of Hong-seo… both of us will probably be investigated as witnesses.”

Jung Ji-in, who was always gentle to the point of seeming indecisive, calmly organized the situation and prepared rationally. Even though he must have felt as devastated as Song Hyun-soo.

“Even for a witness investigation, it’s best to have a lawyer present. I’ll prepare that, so if you get any calls from the police or the company, you must tell me first. Never act alone, okay?”

Wiping the tears on his cheek haphazardly, Song Hyun-soo nodded. And he asked in a frightened voice,

“Hyung, a lawyer… how much does that cost?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Still… the money…”

“You told me not to forget you after becoming a superstar. I’m not a superstar yet, but I have enough to afford that for you.”

With tear tracks still on his face, Song Hyun-soo let out a weak laugh.

“Why are you laughing.”

“It’s just… the word ‘forgetting’ doesn’t suit you, hyung.”

He felt secure. The fact that someone was protecting him, and that someone was like Jung Ji-in, gave him the strength to support himself even in the deepest darkness.

He was not alone.

A strong person like hyung was holding onto him.

Therefore, this darkness would not be the end of his journey.

He received that light of hope from Jung Ji-in.

Despite all that, the world was still worth living in. Even if he had met dozens of trash and lived as one of them, there were still people somewhere who were beautiful, or who were brave enough to be beautiful. He decided to stop ignoring that fact and cursing the world as if it were only filled with trash. He decided to loosen his fists.

Song Hyun-soo, who had lived a life with nothing to be proud of, had even envied brothers. The senior from his hometown, who was bad at academics and had a bad temper, and who only bossed his younger brother around and hit him, would find the person who beat up his own brother and get revenge twice over.

But Song Hyun-soo, who didn’t have parents to accompany him to sports days or picnics, and who didn’t have Nike sneakers or a change of uniform, didn’t even have brothers.

To such a Song Hyun-soo, Jung Ji-in was a hyung he wanted to boast about to anyone. Not out of ostentation, but a hyung he wanted to be proud of. Not because of the money, house, car, education, or job that hyung had, but because he wanted to be proud of hyung himself. Even if he wasn’t his biological brother.

Light was contagious.

To Song Hyun-soo, Jung Ji-in was a propagator who transmitted light.

That’s why he didn’t want to lie to him.

■■■

Ah, why is it so hot… Did I turn the electric mat temperature up too high?

Feeling the heat in his sleep, Song Hyun-soo kicked off the blanket. Or rather, he tried to. But he couldn’t move his legs because of some weight pressing down on his body.

What is it, sleep paralysis?

His eyes opened lightly, so it didn’t seem like it.

Instead of the window covered with air cap and the TV playing, his vision was filled with calm-colored, long blackout curtains that reached the floor. Song Hyun-soo then understood the reason for the heat. Ah, right, I came into Yoon Joo-ho’s house…

Hmm, Yoon Joo-ho?

He lowered his chin and looked down. An arm was draped over Song Hyun-soo’s body, who was lying on his side. Long legs pressed down on Song Hyun-soo’s thighs. Wrapped by those limbs, Song Hyun-soo was serving as a human bolster.

He casually turned his face and looked back.

“…”

Yoon Joo-ho’s face was close, his eyes closed, pressed against his back as if his lips were about to touch his nape. Why was he sleeping here?

After receiving his confession in the car last night, he had gone straight to the rooftop room in Bogwang-dong and packed his things. When he came to his senses, he was organizing his clothes in the second-floor guest room of Yoon Joo-ho’s house. He felt like he had been bewitched by a legendary fox and found himself digging a hole and burying a chicken in the deep mountains when he came to his senses. It wasn’t a fox, but he was definitely bewitched…

He was so hungry that they ordered hot dogs together, took showers, played with Monroe in his room, and kissed in between… then he got so sleepy that he went up to this room, turned on the TV, and fell asleep without even turning it off. He remembered all that. When did this person get here?

“The alarm hasn’t gone off yet.”

Yoon Joo-ho mumbled, his lips moving, without opening his eyes. His voice didn’t sound very sleepy, so he didn’t know how long he had been awake.

He tightened the arms and legs wrapped around Song Hyun-soo and shifted his body to find a comfortable position.

“I’m going to sleep more, so don’t fidget and stay still.”

His breath, buried in the back of Song Hyun-soo’s neck, tickled. He slid his hand across his chest, then picked up his phone from the bedside table.

“There are only 10 minutes left until the alarm. If I fall asleep again now, it’ll be harder to wake up.”

“10 minutes can be a very long time, depending on the situation.”

Yoon Joo-ho’s hand, which had been stroking his lower abdomen, slipped under Song Hyun-soo’s t-shirt and slid up to his chest muscles. Yoon Joo-ho’s hand, holding him from behind, massaged his chest, making Song Hyun-soo’s waist squirm.

“You must have been tired too, yesterday.”

“I came up thinking you’d be waiting, but you were really asleep? You didn’t even know when I came up to the bed and took off your pants.”

“Really??”

He tried to turn around, but he couldn’t due to the force of the embrace as he was pulled into a tight hug. He knew it was a joke from the sound of giggling as lips were pressed against the back of his neck. The vibrations from Yoon Joo-ho’s bare shoulders and chest were transmitted directly to Song Hyun-soo.

It was the start of an unbelievable day.