GB 33

The first time he saw those, he was with Yoon Moo-hwa too.

Yoon Moo-hwa originally never attended social events like parties. He said he started going to such places after bringing Haero.

The drone show began as midnight passed and the year changed. Looking at the dazzling spectacle decorating the sky, Haero understood why Yoon Moo-hwa had brought him.

Back then, it was at the base and smaller than shows on land. Still, it was enough to completely mesmerize and enchant him.

“Haero, do you like it?”

For Yoon Moo-hwa, who must have seen this sight every year since childhood and at every Allied Navy inauguration, it was probably obvious and boring. As expected, he asked while pulling back Haero, who was hanging over the railing as if about to fall, while leaning indifferently with a champagne glass.

“Haero, is it fun?”

Haero nodded repeatedly. “It’s so pretty! It’s like bioluminescent plankton and glowing coral blooming in the sky. It’s so beautiful!”

The night sea could only be viewed from afar, as they couldn’t enter it. But now, it felt like he could touch it if he reached out.

Yoon Moo-hwa held back Haero, who was reaching out as he wished, and promised, “Then let’s watch it every year. Until you get tired of it and don’t want to see it anymore, I’ll watch it with you every year.”

And that promise has been kept until now.

Every year, Yoon Moo-hwa asked if he wasn’t bored yet, but Haero always shook his head. Adding that it was too beautiful and asking to be brought again next time.

The drone shows were planned differently each year, becoming increasingly elaborate. But at some point, even for Haero, it became a routine annual event.

The only thing that didn’t change was the person beside him.

Yoon Moo-hwa attends parties solely for him. With the purpose of showing him this show he’s seen to the point of boredom throughout his life. That seat beside him has always been mine, and this was our promise.

So how could he ever get tired of this scenery?

* * *

When the new year dawns, fireworks are set off. At the party held where the naval port with warships lined up could be seen, various people gathered. One common point was that those invited were either military officers or figures from political and financial circles.

Since they were all quite respected in their respective fields, they all had an air of self-importance.

Even as glaciers melt, vast lands become islands, and large islands become archipelagos, this unfairness doesn’t disappear.

Haero, leaning against a pillar, sipped non-alcoholic champagne while observing the faces.

After coming steadily for several years, there were faces that seemed familiar and unfamiliar too. And in the center where people were most crowded, even though he couldn’t see due to the bustling heads, he was sure Yoon Moo-hwa was there.

“I went to get my cake.” Haero muttered, “He told me to wait quietly while he got the cake, but he’s the one who got caught.”

Haero started giggling, imagining turning off the lights in the party hall and kidnapping Yoon Moo-hwa from the crowd, but stopped. If he did such a thing here, where everyone knows he’s from a pirate background, he’d only hear comments like ‘You can’t hide your origins.’

He wished the year would pass quickly.

When he becomes an adult, he can drink alcohol too. As soon as the drone show starts, Haero will raise his glass. He’ll toast with Yoon Moo-hwa and share the first drink. They’ll get drunk, talk about the new year that’s more special than usual with Yoon Moo-hwa, and walk back home. Just for today, he wanted to walk back.

But most of all, what he was most curious about was Yoon Moo-hwa’s eyes when he faced him as an adult.

The world outside the island was very picky, unlike the island where people weren’t treated as adults if they couldn’t fulfill their roles regardless of age, here one had to be of age to be treated as an adult.

It was both simple and annoying. He was confident he could board a ship right now and could swim better than anyone, but he couldn’t be an adult just because he wasn’t twenty yet. And that he could become an adult even though he couldn’t board a ship yet. That he’d be given the chance to be equal with Yoon Moo-hwa even though he couldn’t board the same ship as him yet.

Just as Haero was lost in these overwhelming thoughts, Yoon Moo-hwa emerged from the crowd. His polite smile turned natural when his eyes met Haero’s. A smile that seemed slightly tired.

Haero held out the glass Yoon Moo-hwa had left with him.

“The carbonation must be gone.”

“I drank a lot inside.” Yoon Moo-hwa stood next to Haero and muttered with a sigh.

True to his words about drinking a lot, he smelled of fragrant flowers and fruit.

“Let’s get some air for a moment before getting caught again.”

Yoon Moo-hwa wrapped his arm around Haero’s shoulder and headed to the terrace. As he turned, Haero spotted more people approaching Yoon Moo-hwa over his shoulder.

As soon as they stepped onto the terrace with slightly hurried steps, Yoon Moo-hwa closed the door.

Finally, it was a bit quieter.

“Don’t you hate coming to parties every time? You don’t have to come.” Haero asked with a grin, leaning against the terrace railing. 

Yoon Moo-hwa chuckled. “You ask that while knowing full well who I come for?”

At that response, Haero stretched his toes, precariously swaying his body, and laughed. A cheeky laugh.

“I told you not to do that. It’s dangerous.”

“If it gets dangerous, you can catch me, right?”

“You don’t do such dangerous things when I’m not around, do you?”

“No. I only do it because I trust you.”

Though he spoke cheekily, Haero wasn’t sure what dangerous things Yoon Moo-hwa meant. If he meant riding a motorcycle, he’d never ride one except occasionally on the back of Seon Ikhyeon’s. But if he meant just hanging on the terrace railing like this, isn’t this not really dangerous?

Haero moistened his lips, looking down at the darkness that seemed dizzyingly high. “In just a few minutes, hyung, how old I’ll be–”

“Haero, just a moment.” Yoon Moo-hwa interrupted Haero and excused himself. 

Someone was knocking on the terrace door from inside, acting overly familiar with him. Haero wrinkled his nose briefly but generously let Yoon Moo-hwa go after seeing the elderly person.

Left alone for a moment, Haero looked at the wristwatch Yoon Moo-hwa had given him and placed a hand on his chest. He could feel his heart beating rapidly under his palm.

There really were just a few minutes left.

Waiting for Yoon Moo-hwa to return, he leaned back with his waist and head while holding onto the railing.

Looking up at the wide open sky, hardly any stars were visible due to the lit-up naval port. They were usually more visible from the base.

As Haero was trying to determine whether the noticeable lights were stars or satellites, he realized Yoon Moo-hwa was taking longer to return than expected.

It was really almost midnight now.

Just then, all the lights in the building beyond the terrace went out. 

“Ten … nine … eight.…”

As Haero tried to move forward, stumbling along with the joyful and hopeful voices counting down, he couldn’t see well. Then he heard the door open with a clatter. Could it be Yoon Moo-hwa? He had eyes that could see well even in darkness. But if he hadn’t taken off his eye patch.

“Three … two … one!”

The countdown ended, and the year changed.

Before the echo of “one” faded, the drones that had already risen lit up all at once.

The drones, lower-end versions of those developed for military use, painted the world in colorful lights, and the warships fired blank shots instead of fireworks.

Bang, bang…

Amidst the brilliant lights and cannon sounds celebrating the new year, Haero, who had been looking around the sky, turned to the front with a bright expression.

Yoon Moo-hwa was beyond the half-open terrace door. He was in uniform and still wearing his eye patch.

If so, he too would have had difficulty finding Haero in the darkness like others, but he was making eye contact as if he knew where Haero had been from the start.

The smile slowly faded from Haero’s face. He belatedly noticed the elderly-looking man standing next to Yoon Moo-hwa.

Yoon Moo-hwa began to slowly walk towards him, now an adult. His expression was frighteningly stiff, and his visible eye, though not the one that had undergone surgery, was very cold.

Haero’s smile slowly faded… Just as it completely disappeared, 

Yoon Moo-hwa, who had been approaching with wide and hurried strides like at the port, suddenly stopped, keeping his distance.

Two steps apart, Haero and Yoon Moo-hwa entered their own cave.

The party inside the terrace, the drones in the sky, and the confetti bursting from the warship after the fireworks all seemed irrelevant to them.

Haero looked up at Yoon Moo-hwa’s face, tinged with colorful lights, and Yoon Moo-hwa looked down at Haero in return.

“Haero.” Yoon Moo-hwa’s metallic voice called out to him.

Haero clenched his fist, trembling for some unknown reason.

He had become an adult. He had finally become an adult just like him, but why did Yoon Moo-hwa’s eyes seem even… more distant now that he was an adult?

“Do you know what I just heard?”

Haero felt paralyzed, unable to move.

“They said congratulations on your admission.”

Haero wanted to avert his gaze but couldn’t.

The distance between Yoon Moo-hwa and Haero narrowed to barely enough space to fit a very thin book. He lowered his head and asked in a very low voice, his face close to him.

“Did you submit an application to the Naval Academy?” Yoon Moo-hwa asked, “Without my permission?”

Behind Haero, holographic fake fireworks fell in little dots. As the fake sparks faded behind him, Haero felt something breaking inside her.

Yoon Moo-hwa was still not smiling, and on his first day as an adult, Haero, far from raising a glass of celebratory champagne, stumbled backward and knocked over the glass of non-alcoholic champagne he had placed on the railing.

There was no sound of breaking. But even without hearing or seeing it, everyone knew that the delicate glass had shattered into pieces.