GBH 113

Sensing danger from the ghost with grotesquely twisted joints, Yi-heon clenched his fist, ready to use force if it came any closer. Rather than feeling embarrassed about clinging to a younger guy like a cicada, his sense of justice to protect the younger one surged. Of course, the “younger one” here was Choi Se-kyung.

“…!”

Although his legs trembled when he made eye contact with the ghost that suddenly raised its head, Yi-heon wasn’t just putting on a brave front. He unwrapped his arms from Se-kyung’s waist.

“Phew, quickly get behind me.”

“What are you saying? You follow me.”

“How can I let you go first!”

When Se-kyung didn’t readily step back, Yi-heon shouted, and Se-kyung’s raised eyebrows drew a slanted line between his brows.

“Wow, people’s true nature really doesn’t change.”

Seeing Yi-heon trying to protect him despite being scared to death, Se-kyung reaffirmed what he already knew.

He understood that Yi-heon had a personality full of righteousness bordering on meddling. In reality, Yi-heon was uninhibited in daily life because he had the ability and resolve to back it up. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in the haunted house. Se-kyung grabbed Yi-heon’s arms as he tried to suppress his fear, wrapped them around his own waist, and then twisted Yi-heon’s arm behind his back, pressing the back of his head down with the padding hood.

“Hey…!”

“Just follow quietly.” Ignoring the resistance, Se-kyung grabbed the arms around his waist and started moving. 

Yi-heon, who had been resisting by sticking out his butt, was pulled along by the force. Until then, Yi-heon had been stubbornly insisting on taking the lead, but he froze when he sensed something falling as a cover opened in the ceiling. Even with his head buried under Se-kyung’s padded hood, his keen senses picked up the heavy texture cutting through the air.

Se-kyung pulled Yi-heon along while making indifferent eye contact with a mannequin head bouncing up and down at his eye level.

“Start with your right foot. Then left.”

As he called out the steps, Yi-heon’s feet, which had been stepping on the back of Se-kyung’s sneakers, gradually matched the pace. They seemed to be marching smoothly, in good sync.

“Aah!”

When a sharp scream from another team rang out from behind, the arms around Se-kyung’s waist tensed. Se-kyung realized that the horror tracks he had passed through quietly were effective for other people.

“A mannequin head fell from the ceiling earlier. It looked shabby.”

Choi Se-kyung explained calmly to prevent Yi-heon from being startled, acting as a skilled guide. The eerie background wind sounds and laughter weren’t scary because they were artificial, but the unidentified vibration sounds made his pounding heart shiver.

“It sounds like a ventilation fan. But looking at all the dust, I don’t think it’s functional. I wonder if this violates fire safety regulations?”

The haunted house staff, who had been fidgeting in anticipation of scaring visitors with their special effects makeup, ended up just letting the brightly smiling Se-kyung pass by, as he seemed too cheerful for the place. Se-kyung’s face was radiant with excitement at being able to openly embrace Yi-heon, who never clung to others first.

As Se-kyung walked along, bored, he suddenly felt mischievous. He cleared his throat, and just as a deep, eerie voice was about to flow out, he started singing a children’s song often inserted in horror movie scenes featuring children.

“When mom goes to pick oysters in the island’s shade…”

The unnecessarily good baritone voice sounded like the opening of a horror movie, making Yi-heon recoil and kick.

“Stop it. I swear I’ll kill you.”:

As he hit his thigh with his knee, the vibration of his body resonated through the back where his forehead rested. Se-kyung, suppressing a chuckle, gently pulled on Yi-heon’s arms. The arms that had been squeezing him as if to burst his internal organs were now relaxed enough to be pulled.

“I wasn’t planning to come today, but I’m glad I did.”

“Why weren’t you going to come?” The voice muffled by the padding mumbled.

“I had a fight with my father.”

Ever since summer vacation, Yi-heon had subtly taken his father’s side whenever Choi Myun was mentioned. Se-kyung intercepted, worried that Yi-heon might defend his father again.

“It’s good. Being here with you.”

“What’s good about this situation?”

“It’s good to be with someone you like.”

‘What you liked wasn’t worthless, was it?’

Suddenly, Kim Yeon-ji’s words from the festival overlapped in Yi-heon’s mind. As his head cleared, he properly grasped the meaning of Se-kyung’s confession.

Yi-heon had worried about Se-kyung getting hurt in the future. But Se-kyung found meaning in being together in the present. Yi-heon was afraid of causing hurt, while Se-kyung wasn’t afraid of being hurt.

All this time, Yi-heon had interpreted Se-kyung’s confession of “I like you” as a “responsibility.”

Just as he had tried to protect Yi-heon’s life when he attempted to jump from the pedestrian overpass, just as he had taken in subordinates from the streets and taken responsibility for their food, clothing, and shelter, Yi-heon had mistakenly thought that accepting Se-kyung’s confession meant he had to keep Se-kyung under his shadow and protect him.

But Se-kyung wasn’t someone who needed protection. Like now, embracing his back, like when he hugged him the night before the college entrance exam, he was someone Yi-heon could rely on. Someone who could overcome his own wounds.

“Aaaah!”

A scream from someone nearby was heard. But Yi-heon wasn’t startled. The ghost makeup and shoddy traps seemed trivial compared to his realization, allowing Yi-heon to loosen his arms from around the waist and step back.

He closely examined the shoulders and the waist narrowing down that caught his raised gaze. Although he had seen and even touched them often, they seemed new as if seeing them for the first time.

Yi-heon finally realized that the back he had been embracing was broader than his own.

As they exited the haunted house, Yi-heon was knocked out. There were benches near the exit, presumably for people like Yi-heon whose legs had given out. Sitting on the edge of the bench like melted taffy, Yi-heon wiped his forehead, damp with cold sweat.

In contrast, the unaffected Se-kyung was relaying the notice Jung Eun-chae had posted in the class group chat on his phone.

“The homeroom teacher says to gather at the amusement park entrance by 5 PM. We should go now.”

“Choi Se-kyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s make one thing clear.”

Despite being exhausted, his tone was unusually serious, causing Se-kyung to turn off his phone screen.

“When Song Yi-heon comes, I’m leaving.”

If a stranger had heard someone with Song Yi-heon’s face saying he would leave when Song Yi-heon comes, they might have recommended a psychiatric hospital and kept their distance. But Choi Se-kyung wasn’t a stranger. Instead of distancing himself from such a statement, he drew closer.

With the setting winter sun at his back, Se-kyung looked as bitter as Yi-heon.

“I can’t hold onto you. I really can’t take the place of the real Song Yi-heon.”

Choi Se-kyung was the only one who had been searching for the real Song Yi-heon. Since losing sight of Yi-heon fleeing in the heavy rain about a year ago, looking as if he might crumble, Se-kyung had been plagued by guilt, which still remained.

Even though he wanted to be with the person he loved, Se-kyung couldn’t prevent the real Song Yi-heon from returning. He couldn’t let that poor boy continue to be unhappy.

“When you go, I’ll look after the real Song Yi-heon.”

That was the best Se-kyung, who could distinguish between the two souls, could do. He had to maintain a balance between the Yi-heon who would leave someday and the Yi-heon who would return. He had to help the future returning Yi-heon adapt well while not searching for traces of the loved one in the current Yi-heon.

The sensitive and intelligent Se-kyung realized this fact as soon as he recognized his love.

“……”

Yi-heon, who had been staring blankly, stretched out his arm. When Se-kyung reached out to help him up, Yi-heon pulled his hand back. To Se-kyung’s puzzled look, Yi-heon rubbed his palm on his uniform pants to clean it before extending it again.

Se-kyung tried to let go after helping Yi-heon up, but Yi-heon didn’t release his hand. Instead, after checking if there were any other students in uniform around, he interlaced their fingers.

“Don’t you like it?”

The gruff question sounded like something a thug asking for money might say, but Se-kyung could feel the palm holding his becoming damp. Since Se-kyung didn’t sweat much, it must have been coming from the other side.

“No, I just wondered if today was some special day.”

To Se-kyung’s strange mutterings about hidden cameras, Yi-heon squeezed their interlaced hands to get his attention. His eyes burned with determination.

“Let’s date.”

“Huh?”

“I said, let’s date.”

Unlike the half-joking suggestion to run away together before, this time there was no mistaking it. That’s why Se-kyung was even more confused about whether it was sincere.

“No matter how long it takes, no matter what happens, let’s try dating.”

Now, as if there was nothing holding him back, he charged forward aggressively. It seemed unnecessarily solemn, as if he was prepared for death, but…

“Okay, let’s date.”

In the end, Choi Se-kyung too became as solemn as a love-blind fool. Just like the shy smiles that followed, infecting each other.

* * *

The neighborhood where Song Yi-heon and Se-kyung lived was affluent. Despite wondering how suburban houses could exist in the heart of expensive Seoul, it maintained a quiet and pleasant living environment. The alleys, constantly monitored by CCTV cameras, were so strict that lost outsiders would feel intimidated and leave on their own.

And past these alleys, which seemed like the boundary of wealth, was a café street that was becoming a hot spot.

The street, lined with individual cafés exuding social network aesthetics, had been newly decorated for the upcoming Christmas season. In a café adorned with sparkling lights and tree ornaments, Yi-heon and Se-kyung spent time in the one with the latest closing time.

Seated in a secluded corner of the café, Se-kyung pressured Yi-heon, who was feigning indifference, “Are you really not going to tell me?”

Yi-heon needlessly stirred the settled misugaru (roasted grain powder drink) with his straw.

“This place makes good misugaru. You should try it too.”

Yi-heon persistently focused on the misugaru. To Se-kyung, who was resting his chin on his hand, it seemed like the afterimage of a displeased cat tapping its tail on the floor.

Even when they met and hung out from morning, Yi-heon would disappear somewhere in the afternoon. After about three hours, when it was time for dinner, he would saunter back, smelling of shampoo and with clear, fair skin as if he had just showered, asking to eat.

“I’m embarrassed, that’s why. I’ll tell you first when I get accepted.”

Se-kyung had told him about applying to business schools at top domestic universities, but Yi-heon wouldn’t even reveal which universities he had applied to. Se-kyung bit his lip, itching to argue about the unfairness of information.

“Why that expression?”

“What do you mean by ‘that expression,’ sir?”

Se-kyung, who only used formal speech when he was displeased, smiled brightly. The problem was that the overly artificial smile looked pretty rather than just annoying enough to ignore.

Yi-heon casually gestured to Se-kyung’s face. “You’ve got something on your mouth.”

“Here?” Se-kyung touched around his mouth. 

But no matter where he touched, Yi-heon’s dry gaze pointed to the side, and the side of that side. As Se-kyung kept touching the wrong places, Yi-heon patted the seat next to him as if exasperated.

“Come here. I’ll wipe it for you.”

However, when Se-kyung moved over, it wasn’t his mouth that was grabbed, but his chin. The relaxed lower jaw opened to the touch on his chin, and Yi-heon slipped his tongue inside, cleanly sweeping through Se-kyung’s mouth before withdrawing.

“You’re cute.”

As their lips parted, Se-kyung’s mouth, which had been clean to begin with, curved into a smile.