By Zephyria 
As Yi-ho stood up to calm his racing heart, the gazes of the Cha siblings followed him. Though they looked different, they shared the same deep, pitch-black eyelashes and sharp eye shapes.
“U-um, I should probably be heading home now…”
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang with perfect timing. The intercom showed the siblings’ parents. Anyone could tell they had just returned from an enjoyable trip.
Min-gyu, it’s us. Open the door.
“Your parents don’t know the passcode?”
“Why the hell would I tell them? Don’t you leak it either.”
Min-gyu replied as if he truly couldn’t understand the question and opened the front door.
“Mom, Dad, we’re home! Daughter, did you have fun?”
“Hi, Min-gyu too!”
“Mom! Dad!”
Min-jung scurried toward the entrance.
Considering Yi-ho’s own mother, who was over sixty, the couple looked incredibly young for a friend’s parents. The couple’s gaze soon shifted to Yi-ho.
“Oh my, Yi-ho has grown so much!”
It was the first time in a long while since he turned thirty that he’d received such a compliment.
“You used to be like a baby; when did you become such an adult? Did you graduate from grad school? Is it about that time?”
“Ah… haha… Yes, I graduated…”
“Dad, he’s a team leader just like me. He’s thirty-three.”
“Oh, right. Yi-ho and Min-gyu work at the same company.”
“Our son is handsome, but this Yi-ho boy doesn’t age at all, really. Is it because he takes after Suk-kyung Unni?”
The ‘Suk-kyung Unni’ mentioned here was Yi-ho’s mother’s name. Since their friendship had lasted so long, the parents had become well-acquainted. There was also the case of Min-jung, who viewed Yi-ho as part of the family, like her own brother.
“Actually, we thought of our Yi-ho, so we bought a gift. Thank you so much for picking up the kid today.”
What was handed to Yi-ho was a box of Jeju Omegi-tteok… Min-gyu snatched the box away with a sigh.
“Why give rice cakes as a gift to a kid whose parents spent their whole lives selling rice cakes?”
“Huh? Isn’t that why he likes them?”
“Forget it, just take it back. Don’t give him things that just take up space.”
“Then I don’t have anything to give. Yi-ho, do you want some tangerine chocolates instead?”
“Ah, no. I’m fine.”
“Mommm, what about mine?”
“Min-jung has way more gifts. Ta-da. Ta-da.”
Tangerine-shaped sunglasses were placed on Min-jung’s face, and an orange straw hat with a tangerine stem on top was perched on her head. Min-gyu brushed a hand over half his face and muttered, “More useless things taking up space…” Regardless, Min-jung was thrilled by the onslaught of gifts. Her happiness peaked when a Jelly Jelly Roll doll wearing a tangerine costume appeared.
“Min-jung, what did you do for fun today?”
“Uh, Uncle Song-i Song-i came to pick me up…”
“You’re late. Ask her on the way. Both she and I have to work tomorrow.”
“Mom and Dad just got back from a trip, why are you young people so tired? Alright, alright. Daughter, let’s go home.”
“Huh? I want to play more with Uncle.”
Min-gyu firmly cut off Min-jung’s whining.
“No. Even if you go now, it’ll be bedtime by the time you get home. You have to sleep to go to school tomorrow. Say goodbye to Uncle and go. That way, you can play with him again next time.”
“Hmph…”
After stalling for a moment, Min-jung finally said her goodbyes and stood at the entrance holding her parents’ hands.
“Yi-ho, come visit next time. I’ll buy you something delicious.”
“Yes. Please head inside. Bye, Min-jung.”
“Bye, Uncle…”
“Our son, take care too!”
“I can take care of myself, so just look after Min-jung.”
The family left, and the door closed. Although only one person had left, it felt as if a massive presence had suddenly vanished from the house. The phantom sound of a child’s voice seemed to linger in his ears.
“Sigh…”
Min-gyu let out a deep sigh at the entrance and shrugged at Yi-ho.
“…Still, this is better than when it was me. You both seem much more like guardians.”
“…….”
“Now that the family is gone, let’s get some rest.”
Min-gyu occasionally tries to keep his distance from his family. Yi-ho knew the reason.
A nineteen-year age gap with his parents, and a twenty-five-year age gap with his younger sister.
Except for Cha Min-gyu himself, who possessed an age gap that felt awkward with either side, the other three looked like a fairly ordinary family. These days, with marriage being delayed, it wasn’t an uncommon sight for children to be born after forty. The biggest influence was that the parent-child relationship hadn’t been typical during Min-gyu’s upbringing.
It seemed that as the world’s awareness of Min-jung grew, he tended to distance himself further from his family. While Min-jung was still young, in a few years, she would be old enough to notice the awkwardness in the family composition.
He understood the feeling, but the fact that it resulted in Min-gyu distancing himself alone…
Yi-ho pondered for a moment and thought of something to say to Min-gyu. It was something Yi-ho truly hated. Truly, very much.
Even if he hated it enough to make his fingertips tingle, he could do it. It was because Min-gyu looked exhausted.
“That’s not true.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not that your whole family is gone. I’m still here.”
Min-gyu’s eyes widened, and then his cheeks twitched. Soon, a hand landed on Yi-ho’s head, vigorously messing up his hair. Normally, he would have swatted it away immediately, but because of the crumbling smile on Min-gyu’s face, he had no choice but to stay still.
“You’re right. It was so obvious that I forgot for a second…”
“…….”
“I guess it’s because we’re really family, Song-i.”
As if giving medicine after the poison, the messed-up hair was smoothed back down by his hand. Then, Min-gyu, managing the smile that filled his face, looked around.
“Min-jung didn’t leave anything behind, right?”
He headed toward the study. Ah, right. Recalling the memory from earlier, Yi-ho shouted impulsively.
“Cha Min-gyu, how could you leave condoms in a house where your younger sister comes and goes? You crazy bastard!”
“…What?”
Min-gyu frowned and looked back.
“Where are there condoms? What are you talking about?”
“There, in that desk drawer! Just sitting there without even being wrapped…!”
“Why would I put condoms here? I’ve never brought anyone to this house. You live in the house next door, so how could I do anything here? What on earth are you talking about?”
Min-gyu opened the drawer. The problematic XXXS-sized condom was still there. No, but… no matter how he looked at it, the size did seem different from what had touched his back earlier.
…What, then could it be someone else’s? If it’s someone else’s…
“HEY!!”
At that moment, Min-gyu let out a scream that seemed to boil up from his gut.
“How could mine be this small? How could you mistake this for a condom! Aaaagh! Even when I’m flaccid, I’m bigger than this!”
“Eh…?”
The mature appearance he had in front of Min-jung was gone; Min-gyu glared at Yi-ho with a face full of genuine indignation, huffing and puffing.
“Should I take them off? Want me to show you? No, I’ll take them off! Just take one look. Huh?”
Min-gyu yanked the drawstring of his training pants. Both hands hooked around his waist.
“Cra-crazy! What are you doing!”
“Ha… damn it… Song Yi-ho, this is a latex finger cot I wore when I cut my finger! Finger. It goes on the finger!”
Unable to suppress his anger, Min-gyu waved the problematic piece of rubber in front of Yi-ho. In other words, the process of unwinding it and putting it on was the same as a condom. …The problem was that it had a much more wholesome purpose.
“…I-I’m really sorry. I misunderstood…”
“Wow, I’m so pissed. Ha, this is a condom, huh? Song Yi-ho. Seriously, just take a look. I won’t be able to sleep tonight because I’m so wronged.”
Min-gyu protested again, grabbing his waistband. The waistband of his underwear actually began to show at his hips. Yi-ho scrambled backward. Min-gyu pursued Yi-ho with long strides.
“We’re family. We’re family, so what’s the big deal? Just look. Ah, Song-i is the Hyung, right? Hyung-ah, I haven’t lived many days, but my development wasn’t bad. You might not have known, but I’m well-endowed.”
“You crazy bastard, stop it!”
“Ah, Hyung really doesn’t believe me.”
“Hieek!”
Of course, he wanted to see the ‘well-endowed’ part… but no. If it goes that far, you’ll actually be pounced on! Yi-ho covered his eyes with both hands and escaped to the entrance to avoid Min-gyu. Min-gyu, still with both hands on his waist, chased him while huffing like an exhibitionist pervert.
“I-I’m sorry… and don’t worry about it. Be well-endowed. I’m leaving!”
“Hey!”
Yi-ho opened the door and quickly fled to the house next door. Since no misunderstandings of that kind remained, Cha Min-gyu didn’t need to worry.
∗ ∗ ∗
The air flowing from the seat right next to him was thick with tension. Most of the marketing team members had barely sat still since arriving at work today. While the team members bustled about, Team Leader Cha Min-gyu stood a step back from the team desks, silently observing the situation. Today, the conductor of the marketing team was Deputy Manager Kang.
The D-day for the Taejang Electronics official mall event, which he had overheard during the last joint dinner, was today.
Compared to the B2B marketing that Min-gyu’s team usually handled, this was a somewhat casual marketing campaign involving a first-come, first-served event for customers. That was why he had stepped back to give his subordinate an opportunity.
The development team members right next to them were also failing to make progress in their work due to the aftermath. In fact, everyone had the event page open next to their keyboards. After all, developers—whether they’ll use it or not—have a strong greed for hardware and will likely try to snag one just in case…
Even compared to the employee mall, it was such a great opportunity that many other employees were also aiming for it.
As a team leader, it was a situation where he should have told the development team, “Everyone, let’s get back to work,” but for now, Yi-ho overlooked the negligence of duty, feeling a sense of support for the neighboring team. While doing so, he chewed on the end of his Americano straw and glanced at the other team’s leader.
“Seong-ah, this part here, it’s been confirmed, right?”
“Uh, uh… one moment. I’ll check right away.”
“…….”
Min-gyu occasionally looked as if he wanted to add something to the busy marketing team, but he chose to remain still and patient.
In the unconventional promotion process that led him to become a team leader at thirty-three, Min-gyu had been thrown alone into a new division called the DL Business Department. He was the one who took a marketing team that was panicked and holding a blank slate and turned them into the core team of the division within a year. He said that in the process, just diving in and trying everything helped. Yi-ho guessed that he might want to give that experience to others. It was evident that he cared for his team members quite a bit, regardless of whether he was like a kindergarten teacher or not.
Yi-ho checked the traffic of the official mall. Not wanting to rain on the already thin-ice atmosphere, he had prepared the servers generously in advance. Even with ten minutes left, the number of visitors was more spectacular than any situation he had seen at the company.
As it approached 11 o’clock, the traffic soared further. Three minutes left, one minute left. He could hear the buzzing noise and knew the time had come without even looking at the clock.
“Wow, damn, I’m getting nervous just watching.”
“Me too…”
The development team members with weak stomachs complained of distress, rubbing their sweaty palms. Yi-ho’s head also moved a bit closer to the monitor.
3, 2, 1.
Finally, it was exactly on the hour. A slight delay occurred on the event page. That was how explosive the response was.
Yi-ho glanced at the neighboring team. The expressions of the marketing team members surrounding Deputy Manager Kang’s chair weren’t bad.
“At this rate, we might even aim for a 30-second sell-out?”
“Now, it’s not quite that… ha… but the first round of coupons will probably be gone within a minute. Kang Yoon-kyung, let’s go…”
Min-gyu, who was standing behind Deputy Manager Kang, who had her hands clasped in prayer, let out a chuckle upon hearing that. Then, as if relieved, he returned to his seat and sat down.
Even to Yi-ho, it looked like a quite successful conclusion.
‘Oh, then maybe the marketing team will have a dinner party today.’
He planned to eavesdrop and slip in, just as the marketing team had done before, if he saw any signs of that. For some reason, Cha Min-gyu seemed to be in a good mood today, so it seemed possible. And then, the two of them would go to a third round alone.
‘…Honestly, I want to see version two of Cha Min-gyu’s entertaining mode.’
He thought Min-gyu might show it if he got a bit drunk… and seeing the atmosphere of the marketing team today, it seemed likely they would drink a lot. Even now, it was a runaway success. Traffic continued to soar, perhaps fueled by rumors spreading somewhere.
…Continued?
That was when doubt crept into Yi-ho’s satisfaction. It couldn’t continue. Normally, people leave the site after buying an item, and the first-come, first-served coupons should be running out by now…
“Uh, but isn’t the first-come, first-served… over? Why is the number of issued coupons still going up…?”
In an instant, the atmosphere changed as if cold water had been poured over them.
“Huh? …Huh?”
Those were sounds that should never come from someone looking at a monitor. The color drained from Deputy Manager Kang’s face as she hurriedly grabbed the mouse.
“T-this, could it be that the quantity setting was….”
“Let’s see.”
Min-gyu bolted upright from his seat and strode toward Deputy Manager Kang with a hardened expression. His eyes widened as he saw the screen.
“Song Yi-ho, take the server down!”
Min-gyu’s shout echoed through the office.