Work Text:
1.
Her phone rings.
The screenager in her reaches for the vibrating device before her brain can even catch up to her action. Though the fog of sleep still clouds her brain, she immediately regrets picking it as soon as she sees the contact name and subsequent profile picture.
“What?” Saebyeok snaps as soon as she hits the little green button.
“Are you asleep?”
“No, I was doing fucking somersaults in my room in the middle of the night. What do you think?”
“Are you at home?”
“Where else would I be?” She feels a twinge of worry. “Junho, what’s going on? Why are you calling me?”
“Can you come pick me up?”
“Can’t you drive? Wait, where the hell are you?”
“…I didn’t bring my car.”
“What the—? Where the hell are you?”
“Can you come or not? Look, I’m sending you the address. If you don’t come here I’ll just walk home. I’m not that far.”
Something came up. Junho wouldn’t be calling her otherwise, her of all people. Saebyeok has had her drivers license for all of 3 days, Gihun hasn’t let her drive by herself down the neighborhood in broad daylight much less in the dead of night, he’ll kill her if he finds out she’s already taking liberties.
But Gihun is snoring in the room next door. Saebyeok knows from experience that nothing less than god’s second coming can wake him now.
She grabs a sweatshirt on her way out.
-
The drive is 5 minutes away, Junho wasn’t lying about that. Saebyeok tries not to look as pissed as she feels because it’s bound to be serious if Junho is calling HER of all people. Albeit all his usual rides are gone, Jiyeong on a visit to the states for the rest of June, Daeho gone for good with his new shiny job in the city as a medic in training.
And his brother is probably asleep.
When she pulls up to the dim-lighted house the address brings her to, warning bells start to go off in her bed. She generally avoids this side of the neighborhood on the account of the crackhouse rumors and obnoxiously loud yard dogs. What the hell is Hwang Junho doing here? Without a car much less?
The front door opens and Junho walks out, checking his phone. There’s a man next to him, just a bit taller. He looks anxious, talking to him one-sidedly. They seem to argue before Junho slumps slightly. The man reached out a hesitant hand…
Junho kisses him.
Saebyeok jerks, affronted. It’s a quick gesture of affection, not lasting more than three seconds, before Junho’s scurrying down to Saebyeok’s car, ears a shade of red even noticeable in the darkness of the night. The man sees her and waves. She gives a halfhearted nod. She’s not even wearing a bra.
“What the—”
“Let’s just go.” Junho wilts in his seat. Saebyeok hits the gas pedal.
It’s a slow, quiet drive. The Seong residence only has one working vehicle and if Saebyeok fucks it up, any possible chance of her having a car all to herself immediately goes out the windows. As it is she’s already on thin ice. She’s a good kid. She never sneaks out.
So what the hell is she doing here?
“What was that all about?” She asks after allowing a gracious two minutes of Junho sulk time.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“The hell you don’t want to talk about it. I didn’t sneak out at the dead of night to get your ass just for you to be emo.” She sputters furiously. “Was that your…boyfriend?”
“Kind of. I don’t know.” He sighs. “It’s complicated.”
“Well it was about time. I was getting tired of you third wheeling Jiyeong and I.”
“It’s not like that. I don’t know.”
“Why couldn’t you ask Inho to get you?”
“He doesn’t know. And I don’t want to bother him.”
“But you were ok with bothering me?”
Saebyeok knows the implications of this. Somehow, Junho trusted her to come get him over his own brother. She's touched. Really she is. But she's also tired as hell, and her hair’s a mess, and she’s wearing hot dog boxers, and she has work tomorrow at the cafe so she thinks she deserves to be a little snappish.
“He’s Inho’s assistant. Down at the agency. I met him about a month ago.”
“Ohh that guy? You told us about him. Kim, right?” A hesitant pause as she plays around with the best way to approach this question. “Is he…um…relatively in the same age range as us?”
“He’s 22.”
Saebyeok chokes.
“He’s really sweet,” Junho says defensively. “And I’ll be 19 soon so don’t be weird about it. We’re not.”
“Ok, ok, whatever. So what happened tonight?”
Junho shrugs, playing with a thread on his sleeves. Saebyeok has seen the grand total of all the three items in his wardrobe, and this sweatshirt is unfamiliar to her. She wonders if it’s Kim’s. “We met up. He wanted to…you know. And I couldn’t.”
Saebyeok almost crashes the car into a mailbox. “Oh. He didn’t…”
“No! God no, he would never. I wanted to too, at least I thought I did. But then he whipped it out and I just started having a fucking nervous breakdown.”
Saebyeok recognizes the tone in his voice all too well. “Fuck.” Junho swipes at his eyes furiously. “I thought I’d be better by now. I really wanted to. I really like him. But now he probably thinks I’m some sort of prude freak.”
“Come on. Don’t say that.”
“What if he thinks I’m leading him on? Why can’t I just be normal about this kind of stuff? It’s been years, I don’t understand why I can’t just—”
Junho breaks off with a sigh.
“Does he know? What happened to you?”
“Of course not.”
“Well if you’re going to be together maybe you should tell him.” Is that the right thing to say? Saebyeok flails. Comforting people had never been her strong suit. “Relationships are built on trust. And if he really does like you he’ll understand. I’m sure he will.”
“It’s just really hard. One minute I was there, and the next minute so was…he. It was like that place all over again. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.”
This is a level of vulnerability Saebyeok rarely sees from him. She doesn’t know how to handle it.
She parks them right outside Junho’s house and lets them sit in silence, no sounds except the occasional car driving past or animal romping through the yard.
“Thanks for picking me up,” Junho says finally.
Saebyeok gently punches his shoulder. “Fine. Whatever.”
“I don’t want Inho to know. He’s super weird about this stuff, he doesn’t trust me around other men. And I still think he thinks you and I are, like, madly in love or something.”
“Thats gross.”
“Hey, whatever gets him off my back.” He unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’ll see you later I guess.”
“Get some sleep.”
It’s a little something Saebyeok learned from Gihun. When the words wouldn’t come and the days dragged and hugs were too much, little reminders like this were the truest form of affection. Remember to drink water. Have some fruit. They all translated to I care. Stay safe. I want you to feel a little less shitty.
Junho seems to get it. He smacks the top of the car and then he’s gone, hopping in from the open kitchen window. Saebyeok waits until she sees him fully in the house to drive off.
2.
“Who’s calling you?”
Junho picks up his phone to see the name Ugly, the hideous .5 picture of Saebyeok vibrating. He ends the call. “Nobody.”
Inho raises his eyebrow, but turns back to the client all the same. “And you were saying, ma’am? 136 centimeters tall and what colored hair?”
The woman sniffs. “Bright purple. One of those delinquents from that school downtown I think. He just shoved my trash can right over and if that wasn’t bad enough, blew a whole thing of vape smoke in my chihuahua’s face. He was coughing for hours—”
His phone vibrates again. Junho curses softly. Inho’s glance sharpens, and Junho stands up. “Sorry, I should take this.”
“What about the reports?”
“I’ll finish them later. Deadline’s at 12, right?”
“On the dot. Don’t be late, kiddo.”
Junho nods. Ducks into the janitor’s closet, letting his smile fall as soon as he answers. “What do you want?”
“What the fuck took you so long?”
“I’m at work you unemployed fuck. Some of us have lives.”
“Well sorry for having a beautiful girlfriend to take out and adore. Not all of us can enjoy the simple.”
“Jiyeong is there? Tell her I said hi.”
“So that’s the thing.” Saebyeok takes a deep breath. “I lowkey need 50,000 won.”
“What the fuck.”
“You know after buying that piece of shit car my wallet is crickets—”
“So you're straight up robbing me now?”
“I promised Jiyeong I’d get her that cute cover for her game console, you know the pink one? With stickers? Well turns out it’s way more expensive than I thought. And I’m already buying her lunch.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’ll pay you back, ok? As soon as I get back on the job. Promise.”
Junho groans out loud.
“Come on, she’ll be here any minute!”
“You know I don’t have any apps or anything, I only carry cash.”
“That’s okay.”
Junho hears the front door of the building open, then a voice that he personally believes belongs to the hottest pits of hell.
He throws the closet door open. “You’re fucking joking me.”
“Junho, language!” Inho chides as Saebyeok blinks innocently.
“You have some nerve—”
Saebyeok’s already picking his pocket, flashing his wallet in triumph. She pilfers out the required cash. “I knew I kept you around for a reason.”
“Have you been waiting outside?”
“No!” Junho raises his eyebrows. “Well yes. But not long.”
“How do you even have the nerve, Saebyeok? Did your parents never beat you as a child?”
Inho glares at Junho over Saebyeok’s turned back. What’s she doing here? He mouths.
Nothing, he mouths back, scowling as Saebyeok sorts through the wad of bills. “Saebyeok, please get out of here.”
“Just a second, it’s hot as hell outside can’t I just wait here until Jiyeong’s here?”
“You barged in 3 hours into my shift, groped me, and stole my money. Do you have any idea what this looks like?”
That gets Saebyeok off him. “Dude!”
“This is why Inho thinks we’re together, because you only ever come around to take my stuff—he saw you with my letterman the other day and I swear to god he wouldn’t stop nudging me—”
“What are you kids whispering about back there?” Inho calls.
Saebyeok’s entire mood changes. Her already indignant face falls even further and the moody, scowling expression Junho is personally most accustomed to takes its place. She doesn’t even look at him as she's turning and leaving them both behind. The door slams on her way out.
“That one sure is moody,” Inho remarks coolly, nudging his glasses up his face.
“Maybe it was all the child labor you put her through.”
It’s a low blow and they both know it. Junho focuses on stacking his papers, not looking at his brother. “Sorry.”
“What did she want with you?”
“Money. She’s dirt fucking broke, I’m her bank.”
“You can say no, you know.”
Junho knows. And though he has many times before, never has that stopped Saebyeok. He doesn’t know why he lets her. Maybe it’s a twisted sense of guilt for what happened to her, or even “owing her one” for being his…whatever she is. It’s funny because they’re not close like that. If they’re in a room together for more than 10 minutes hair starts getting pulled out.
It’s like the world‘s more fucked up friends with benefits situation except they’re not friends and there’s absolutely nothing beneficial about Saebyeok.
“Don’t be weird about her. She’s not who you think she is.” He finishes his pile for the day. He even color coordinated them this time. A pause. “I’m going out tonight.”
“When? With who?”
“A friend.” That's all he offers. Inho knows better at this point than to push. He seems to resent it, sighing.
“It’s not with her, is it?”
Junho rolls his eyes. Inho rubs his forehead. “You know the drill, be back before 10.”
“Okay.”
Inho ruffles his hair. Junho lets him, taking out his wallet to check the damage.
Saebyeok took 100,000.
-
3.
“Jiyeong,” Saebyeok says, uncaring that she hasn’t whined like this since her age was only one digit.
“Saebyeok,” Jiyeong returns, popping one cat-eared headphone off her ear.
“You promised just one more game.”
“This is just one. It’s taking a while because this stupid American doesn’t know how to collaborate.”
Saebyeok lets her head fall back down against Jiyeong’s strawberry-scented pillow. Is this what the mud-coated soldiers felt like while dying in the trenches, denied so cruelly of food and water, only lockets of their lovers in their breastpockets to keep themselves warm at night?
Jiyeong says something quite rude-sounding to her incompetent online partner before shutting down the game. “You’re so overdramatic.”
Her relenting tone is one Saebyeok knows all too well. She grins so hard her cheeks bunch up, catching her girlfriend as Jiyeong launches herself into her arms with an oomf!
“How long is your aunt gonna be gone?” Saebyeok asks between kisses.
“She’s on—mm!—a business trip. Not for two days at least.”
She pulls away to laugh loudly. “Kang Saebyeok, you’re red as an apple. Do I make you nervous?”
“Shut up.”
“You know, when you blush every single one of your freckles on your face. It’s the cutest thing.” She kisses said freckles, eliciting a downright humiliating noise from Saebyeok. “You adorable thing. Like a puppy.”
“I’m not a puppy!”
“No but you act like one.” She smushes Saebyeok’s face between her hands like a sandwich. “Ugh! You are such boyfriend material, Saebyeok. You make me want to bite you.”
“Boyfriend?”
Her phone rings.
Saebyeok curses the caller, then curses the caller again when she sees who it is. “I’m gonna kill him.”
“Who, Gihun?”
She flashes Jiyeong the username. She squints. “What’s he calling you for?”
“Hell if I know.” She picks up, putting him on speaker. “You have five seconds to explain yourself before I hang up. I’m in the middle of something.”
“You have no right to be dickish to me after taking my money.”
“I payed you back! Didn’t you get the envelope? I threw it through your window.”
“Saebyeok I’m stuck.”
“Good for you.”
“Have you ever been down to Choiseok warehouse? Beyond the fence?”
“No because there’s a fence there for a reason.” Jiyeong attaches herself to Saebyeok’s bare back like a starfish, sinking her teeth into her neck. She supresses her yelp. “Believe it or not I’ve left my outlaw days behind me.”
“So you don’t happen to know the password.”
“Why would you even think I would? You’re down there more often then I am.”
“I’ve never had a reason before.” A scuffle, then what sounds like the clinking of chains. “It’s not budging. Damn.”
“Have you been fucking kidnapped or something?”
“I’m trying to get in. Kim left something at my house and I know he works there tomorrow—”
“Kim?” Jiyeong questions the same time Saebyeok asks, “What did he leave behind?”
“—and I want to be discreet about it because his mom does NOT approve of what we’re doing and she’s already suspicious of him sneaking around all day.”
Saebyeok says to Jiyeong, “Yeah, Kim. He’s Inho’s assistant, remember? He and Junho are together.”
Jiyeong lets go of her mouthful of Saebyeok’s neck. “WHAT?”
Junho drops something heavy and metal on the ground over the phone. “SAEBYEOK!”
“Ow, Jiyeong! Junho I’m sorry, I thought you told her already—”
“I told you no one else knows, didn’t I?”
“How could you keep this from me?” Jiyeong snatches the phone from Saebyeok. “Hwang Junho you sly, sly dog!”
“Jiyeong I didn’t know you were there too. I’m—Hold on.” His voice gets clearer as he moves closer to the phone conspiratorially. “Were you two fucking?”
“God!” Saebyeok screams, searching for a shirt to throw on as if that won’t change the fact she’s been lying in Jiyeong’s bed utterly shirtless for the last hour as Jiyeong herself splutters like a rusty engine. “I—we were—”
“No matter, ugh. Saebyeok I know Gihun used to work at the warehouse—”
“Well he doesn’t anymore. I don’t know what to tell you.”
Junho curses. “I had a whole plan. Inho realized I didn’t drive to meet up with my ‘friend’ and he’s coming to pick me up within the next 10 minutes, the warehouse is really close to the chicken shop where I lied and said that’s where we were meeting up—”
“Junho it’s nothing.” Saebyeok snatches the phone back. “You don’t need the password. I’ll teach you how to pick a lock.”
“Thought you said your outlaw days are behind you.”
“Get a bobby pin. Or a toothpick, something small and thin you can jiggle around. Get two of them.” Jiyeong joins her back on the bed.
“Junho, tell me about Kim! Is he nice to you?”
“He is. Saebyeok what do I do next?”
“Stick it in. Ew, I know what you’re thinking. You know what I mean.”
Jiyeong pokes in. “Is he tall? Is he handsome?”
“Yeah, taller than me. He has the best cheekbones I’ve ever seen and all these cool tattoos all over his back. Saebyeok now what?”
“Prop one of them underneath the other. Feel for the click—be patient, if you’re too harsh you’ll break something and not even a key will help you,” Saebyeok says over Jiyeong’s squeal.
“Ok.” There’s the faint sound of clicking along with an exhaled laugh. “I can’t believe I’m breaking the law again. Inho’s going to beat my ass.”
“What did Kim forget?”
“Just a sweatshirt. But I’m paranoid as hell and so is Inho and I’m pretty sure he’ll notice right away if I randomly have a brand new sweater in my room.”
Saebyeok wonders briefly what kind of sicko wears a sweatshirt in the summer heat. Jiyeong’s playing with her hair. It feels nice.
“We hooked up,” Junho states shortly as the clicking continues. Jiyeong looks delighted.
“Really! Good for you!” Saebyeok winces at her enthusiasm but Junho chuckles along with her. “How was it? If I may ask.”
“It was nice. He was super sweet, took things really slow. We didn’t do much. He sucked me off and that was it.”
“Cute,” Jiyeong chirps. “I want to meet this guy. Tell him to shoot me a text, I need more gay friends.”
Saebyeok pushes her head away. “Happy it went well.”
“Me too.” One last click, then he shouts in triumph. “Hell yeah! I got it! Ok, I’m in. Haha, Saebyeok you should not have taught me how to do this.”
“If you get in trouble I’m not bailing you out.”
“Junho bring Kim around! I want to meet him!” Jiyeong calls. “Have fun with your man! Don’t get caught.”
“I won’t,” Junho says amusedly. Something in his tone shifts as he says to Saebyeok, “Thanks for the advice.” She can’t see his face (thank god). Can’t see the stupid door she helped him pick, can’t even see the state he’s in after apparently getting laid in a first ever experience, presumably enjoyable for all parties.
“No problem,” she says. There’s a strange something curling up in her chest she can only describe as pride, curly and ribbony—in herself, in Junho, in Kim for not being a piece of shit situationship. He did it. And she helped him get there. “I’m glad everything turned out fine.”
There’s a brief moment of silence where Saebyeok can imagine him doing that stupid head nod thing he does when he’s feeling awkwardly polite, then he hangs up.
“He’s all grown up,” Jiyeong sighs.
“Guess so.”
“Do you think he’ll be as insufferable as us when he finally has a boyfriend to parade around?”
“Nothing can be more insufferable than you.”
Jiyeong smiles at Saebyeok until she remembers she has her own sex life to worry about. She fucks every remaining thought of Hwang Junho out of both of their minds.
-
4.
“What?”
“You don’t even sound tired, man.”
“I wasn’t sleeping.”
“Like for a good reason? Or a bad one.”
“Saebyeok, why are you calling me? It’s 3 in the morning.”
“I told Gihun about me and Jiyeong.”
Junho shoots up so fast the newest edition of the turtle encyclopedia goes flying out his lap. “Finally! Jesus, about damn time.”
“You were right, I had nothing to worry about. He started crying. He was afraid the only reason I didn’t have a boyfriend yet was because they all thought I was ugly and that I would get insecure from it.”
“Oof.”
“Then he told me he doesn’t care if I’m not pretty, I’ll always be his sweet princess.”
“That’s…nice?” Junho had a mother for all of five years and then nothing but an emotionally constipated older brother to raise him. He doesn’t know how compliments work.
Saebyeok hums. She makes a noise like she’s turning around in bed, sheets rustling. “Do you ever wonder if you’re not a boy?”
Junho chokes on his own spit. Saebyeok waits politely as he swallows and coughs, thumps his own chest. “Well.” He scratches the back of his head. “No. Not really.”
“I’m not sure if…” she sighs. “Never mind.”
“Are you like Hyunju? Are you trans or something?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t like being called pretty or girly or things like that. I don’t know. It’s weird. Ugh, but I can’t be a boy either because that would mean me and Jiyeong would be in a straight relationship. And that sounds like the most fucked up thing in the entire universe.”
Junho tries to imagine Jiyeong with a man. “I agree,” he says.
“I think I am a girl. But not like that, you know? It’s weird.”
“I guess that makes sense. There isn’t only one way to be a girl, you know.”
“I need more boxers.”
“Sure you do.”
“Should I cut my hair shorter? I think I’d look better but I like the way it feels when Jiyeong runs her hands through it, I don’t want to ruin it.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Wait!” Junho winces at the glitchy noise. “Not yet, man. I have so much more to say.”
Junho rubs his heavy, sleep deprived eyes. “Like what?”
Saebyeok makes a choked sort of noise. She sounds tired but not in the traditional sense of it, more like she’d tossed and turned around in her bed all night and was unable to fall asleep.
“You may feel like it’s not a big deal.” She says defensively. “But I’ve felt this way for a long time, at least since I got with Gihun and actually started living a normal life.” She gives a short chuckle. “I think I’ve been spoiled. I couldn’t even afford to think this way back in the North.”
“Think about what?”
“Stupid gender stuff. Girl stuff. I’ve never really been feminine or whatever but especially after getting with Jiyeong it’s been even worse.”
“Have you told her about this?”
“I don’t want to scare her off or make things difficult. And it’s not like I want to straight up switch sides, it’s just a stupid feeling that won’t go away.”
“She’s your girlfriend though.”
Saebyeok makes something astonishingly close to a giggle. Junho rolls his eyes, he knows she loves it when Jiyeong is referred to her as such.
“It’s not a big deal,” Saebyeok repeats. She does that a lot. “I guess I’m telling you because, well. You’re an actual dude. And you’re gay too, it’s just easier than telling Gihun. His 50 year old ass would probably just fucking explode at this kind of conversation.”
Inho would do the same. “I get it.” Junho rolls over on his side, laying his phone down on his pillow. It feels like she’s actually with him this way, filling his room with her annoyingly deep voice and scalding presence. “If it helps, I can’t for the life of me assign you to any labels whatsoever except annoying lesbian.”
“Oh?”
“Sure. You’re just Saebyeok to me. Girlfriend of Jiyeong, son of Seong Gihun. You steal my money and clothes and eat out the Starbucks trash cans.” He sighs into his mattress. “God I hate you so much.”
Saebyeok is quiet, contemplating his words. Junho for a second thinks she’s finally fallen asleep. Then she pipes up, “We should go to 7 Eleven.”
“Now? It’s night.”
“Are you honestly planning on sleeping tonight?”
“Probably not.”
“Then come on, I want a soju. And we can go to Jiyeong’s house and surprise her. She’s playing Animal Crossing right now, she told me.”
Junho looks longingly at his book. He won’t even get halfway through it tonight at this rate.
He sighs. “You’re paying.”
“Aww, come on.”
“You’re. Paying.” He pulls on a warm pair of sweatpants. “I’ll meet you there in 5.”
“Oh and bring your letterman! I love that thing.”
-
+1
Seong Gihun’s phone rings.
He’s watching Cheol do somersaults on the playground mulch with the rest of his soccer team and is too preoccupied to pay proper attention to the number as he absentmindedly picks up, lodging his device against his shoulder and ear as he motions for the boy to slow down his ministrations. “Hello? Seong Gihun.”
“Where is my brother?”
Gihun spits out his coffee. Cheol gives him a questioning look as his eyes water and he waterboards himself with his own spit. He waves the boy away, swallowing wet curses. “The hell, Inho,” he snaps as soon as he’s able. “What—why—”
“He’s not home right now. And I know he talks to that little devil of yours, I know it, and he can deny it all he wants—”
“I told you to lose my number!”
“—but he’s been acting weird all month and he won’t tell me why!” He exhales like someone lodged a kitchen knife in his larynx. “FUCK!”
“Hey. Hey, easy.” Gihun stands up quickly, head swimming. “Breathe, Inho. No need to spiral.”
“He’s missing again—”
“No he’s not. Let’s think rationally.” He clutches his throbbing forehead. “Ok, um. Saebyeok did go out a few hours ago.”
“Was she with anyone?”
“Just her g—” He pauses.
“Her what?”
Gihun shakes his head. He’s not ashamed of her. “Her girlfriend Jiyeong. They’re on a date.”
“Oh.” Gihun almost laughs at his tone, dumbstruck. Did the thought not even occur to him a little? He is old.
“But that crosses her off the list though, right? He’s probably with another friend.”
“Junho doesn’t have friends.” There’s the sound of a car door closing then the engine turning on. “Where’s Saebyeok right now?”
“You’re joking right? Jesus you’re a helicopter parent.”
“WHERE?”
“Calm down! Look if you wait up I’ll come to you and take you myself, I won’t just let you just storm my kid’s date.” He nods to Cheol’s coach and points to his phone. She nods and motions to Cheol, who waves goodbye.
“Hurry up.”
“I’m on my way already. You can hold out for 5 more minutes.”
Inho is tapping his boot and checking his watch by the time Gihun arrives.
He looks almost average this way, without the dirty worker’s jumpsuit Gihun first saw him in, or even his signature black three piece. Gihun’s hackles raise momentarily because he looks too much like innocent and kindhearted Youngil here, he almost expects the smell of smoke, the iron of the factory.
Then it occurs to him he isn’t pretending to be normal anymore. He’s actually trying.
His eyes snap onto his own. “Took you long enough.” And just like that, any remaining sympathy Gihun has for the man is whisked away. He rolls his eyes as Inho hops in. “Your car smells like cigarette smoke, no wonder Saebyeok is so moody all the time.”
“Sorry for the lack of champagne in my shitty SUV, your highness.” he snaps. “Wait. You don’t smoke anymore?”
“Thats your concern? And why is this seat so far back?”
“Saebyeok’s a tall girl and you’re the size of a garden gnome. So.”
He James the pedal before Inho can think about going back to his house and grabbing a gun. “All you do is complain. I guess some things never change.”
“And you’re just as much of a miserable fool as ever.” Inho slumps back in his seat and honest to god pouts. A wavy brown lock falls across his forehead. He’s stopped styling it the way he did back then, slicked back and artifically darkened.
It looks nice.
“I’m not miserable, you’re miserable,” Gihun grumbles.
It’s comically juvenile. Inho doesn’t rise to the bait. “Where’s the other one? Cheol?”
“With his soccer team. Theyre practicing at the park, he has a game tomorrow.”
“You watch the two of them full time? All by yourself?”
“As much as I can. The shop gets pretty busy sometimes, but Saebyeok takes good care of the two of them.”
“You let her do that?”
“Shes 18 years old, Inho. The kid’s got to grow up.” He takes a right turn, not looking at Inho. “The same goes for Junho, by the way. You have to let him have his own life.”
“I know that.”
“Really? Because if I were you and Saebyeok randomly left the house my first thought wouldn’t be to call the number of the guy I psychologically tortured and yell at him for being a negligent parent.”
“I worry about him.”
Inho’s voice is dull. So are his eyes as he looks into the distance, thinking of things only he can.
Well not only him. “I know that look.” He smacks Inho’s knee. “Get it together. I have no patience for a self pity party right now.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“Oh don’t give me that. You always do this when you’re feeling sorry for yourself, you frown and you look off into the distance all dramatically. That big-eyed shit isnt going to work on me anymore, I hope you know that.”
Inho chuckles. “Defiant as ever too.”
Something falters in Gihun’s chest.
“So you’ve moved on? Officially?”
Moved on. Gihun can’t do that. He thinks of Sangwoo, of Ali and all the others he lost. “I’ve made a new life for myself.”
“Mm.”
“You haven’t. I hope you never do. Piece of shit.”
If the words affect Inho he doesn’t show it. He hums again. Gihun wishes not for the first time he could crack the man open like pottery, watch the thoughts and guts alike spill out of him.
He wishes he cried like he did the first few nights after the factory. Vulnerable and raw in a way he’d never felt before. Inho had done that to him. Stripped him of everything he once held dear, his closest friends, his ideals.
He wonders what if would take to bring him down to that kind of ground zero level. Probably his brother. Perhaps it did happen, behind closed doors as he is wont to do. He still doesn’t know exactly what went down to make him switch sides in the courtroom the way he did. All he knows is he’s not the same man who’d schemed against him in the factory.
Hwang Inho is no longer any of his business. He has his own life to worry about now, new lives besides his own to care for. He’d wished nothing but a semblance of the misery he himself suffered at his hands at the man on him for years, but now?
“How’s the detective agency?” He asks.
“I have recently helped a woman press charges against a young delinquent.” He slumps. “It’s nice. Quiet.”
“And Junho? Besides the running amok around town, worrying your ass off.”
“Believe it or not, it was a bigger thing back during the fall. We had so many fights about it. I thought we’d gotten better. He talks more to me now.”
“Maybe it’s not him being a rebellious teenager. Maybe he just doesn’t want you to worry.”
Inho laughs. “Nothing he could ever do would stop that.”
“Still. Take it from me and my grand 10 years of parenting. Sometimes instead of protection, they just need support.”
They’re at the lake. They found a nice shady latch under some trees and rocks. Jiyeong stands out first, her pink sundress and enormous sunhat standing out like a scarlet flag. She’s drawing on the arm of a slender young man Gihun vaguely recognizes as seeing around town once or twice. He looks amused at whatever mundane topic she’s jabbering full speed about, her sunglasses bobbing and shining on her face.
Saebyeok is knee deep in the lake, stripped down to a sports bra and boxers. Her arms are crossed and she stares, unimpressed, at Junho, who is soaked to the bone and explaining something to her she evidently does not care much about, cradling something dark and wet in his hands.
“See? Ok.” Gihun says. He smiles when Jiyeong says something ridiculous, making the whole party laugh.
“Why is Kim there?” Inho squints.
He must be talking about the stranger. “Maybe you should ask Junho when he gets back.”
Inho stares. His mouth twists in fondness when Junho waves the muck in his hand around exuberantly. “That’s a water toad.”
“Hm?”
“A Korean water road. He’s been obsessed with them lately. He ranted about them to me for an hour yesterday.”
He turns to Gihun. “We can go now.”
“You’re not going to chew him out?”
“He seems to be having a good time. I don’t want to interrupt.”
Saebyeok, bored of the lecture, shoves Junho’s head. He squawks dramatically then kicks her shin. She retaliated by pulling his hair and soon they’re both in the water, romping around like puppies.
“She’s a good kid,” Inho muses.
“The best I could ask for.”
“Thank you for taking me here.”
Gihun watches Saebyeok play, laughing in a way he hasn’t seen in years. He thinks of Cheol, of his job, the man in front of him who fucked up so bad by a cruel twist of fate, he managed to make it all possible.
“You’re welcome,” he replies.