YHP 30

Ho-jin, who had said he would pick up the dishes, glanced at the sink and then fearlessly pushed his hand past the clogged drain. Then, he took out the strainer, which was full of unidentifiable things, and emptied it into a trash bag.

“…Ugh.”

Jeong-in had to try hard to suppress the urge to gag.

It was nothing to Ho-jin, who had nearly 10 years of living on his own, but to Jeong-in, who had never even done the dishes properly, it was a raw shock that he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

He broke out in goosebumps all over his body when he thought that he had been living with such things without even realizing it. It was so disgusting that his head throbbed with pain.

What exactly were those foreign substances made of? How long had they been rotting inside there? The more he thought about it, the more he felt like his stomach was turning inside out, so Jeong-in turned his head away completely.

Meanwhile, Ho-jin finished cleaning the strainer and neatly stacked the dishes that had been floating around after washing them clean. After wiping the entire sink with the wet wipes he always carried around, he began to sweep the floor.

After sweeping up every last bit of glass and accumulated dust, the dustpan was soon full. After scrubbing the bloodstained linoleum, he did not forget to roll up the glass shards that had been rolling around on the frying pan in newspaper and gather them in one place.

“Hyung.”

At the sound of his voice, Jeong-in finally turned to look at Ho-jin.

“Do you have anything to wash?”

“……”

“They said it’s going to rain this week. I have a dryer at home, so I can dry everything and return it to you by tomorrow morning.”

“Please… You said you were just picking up the dishes.”

His head hurt too much to even argue. Ho-jin began to spout nonsense cheerfully.

“Bringing just the rice or doing the laundry too, it’s the same 20 kilometers either way, isn’t it better to do several things at once while you’re at it?”

“So you just… wait, 20 kilometers, you said?”

Yoo Ho-jin nodded.

“Where do you live?”

“Near Songpa IC.”

“What?”

At those words, Jeong-in shot up from his seat like a spring.

“You mean you came all the way here from there just to drop off food?”

“It’s not that far. When there’s no traffic, it only takes 30 minutes.”

Thirty minutes my ass. Even if Ho-jin dropped it off right before Hyo-jun and Jeong-in entered the building, that time would have coincided perfectly with the evening rush hour.

In other words, this idiot crossed Seoul during rush hour, which was like a war zone, just to bring Jeong-in a meal. Speechless, Jeong-in strode past Ho-jin and began to pack the neatly stacked dishes into a bag.

“Don’t ever do this again.”

“I can’t, I promised.”

Ho-jin said, grabbing Jeong-in’s quickly moving hand.

“Ah….”

“I’m sorry.”

Startled by the hot heat on his bare skin, Jeong-in flinched, and he immediately apologized and let go.

“Still, there’s no going back on my promise.”

“Yoo Ho-jin.”

“And I’m going to find a room near here within this week anyway. So don’t worry too much about it.”

His attitude was impenetrable. Jeong-in sighed and waved his hand, feeling a headache coming on.

“Ha…. Fine, just go.”

“Then I’ll come again tomorrow morning.”

Ho-jin, who stubbornly drove the nail in with a smiling face until the end, slipped out the door.

“That guy, really.”

He collapsed onto the bed, thinking he would have no regrets if he could just punch him once, hard. He was about to turn off the light by pressing the switch, but suddenly the bandage on his fingertip caught his eye.

‘He must have been very surprised and hurt.’

Sometimes he seemed like a bear, sometimes like a fox. And then, when he looked again, he was like a bear again.

He examined the neatly wrapped bandage this way and that before turning off the light with a flick. The light seeping in through the window flickered on the wallpaper.

He closed his eyes, hoping that his headache would be gone by tomorrow morning.

“…I wasn’t.”

He wasn’t surprised or hurt. Despite the concern, that much was really nothing.

He was confident that he wouldn’t even bat an eye if he had to go through it a thousand times again.

---

Jeong-in suddenly looked up. A very familiar scene unfolded before his eyes.

It was his family home’s room, which he hadn’t seen in a long time. He was happy to see the reference books and notebooks scattered haphazardly on the desk where the cozy sunlight had crept in. Among them, the Post-it notes sticking out were full of trivial scribbles, such as who was going to do what at whose house after class. As he slowly turned his gaze away from them, he saw a hand stopped in mid-air.

The owner of the hand was Won-kyung, wearing a clean, wrinkle-free shirt. Jeong-hoon was standing over his shoulder. Jeong-in quietly looked back and forth between his fathers’ faces. He tried to read the surging emotions, but unfortunately, Jeong-in’s gaze lingered on their faces for only a few seconds that day.

‘That’s enough.’

His mouth slowly opened. Even though he knew all of this was a dream, there was no way to stop it.

‘I just have to get out.’

His vision changed. Passing them at a fast pace, Jeong-in went out the front door and slammed the large door shut with all his might. But as the door closed, he heard a tearing sound, like something was being ripped apart, from beyond the door.

He didn’t remember this. Surprised by the unexpected development, he turned around. It was the moment a large hole opened up under his feet, and his whole body was sucked into it.

“…Huh.”

His eyes flashed open. Jeong-in took a ragged breath and checked the time. He clearly didn’t remember hearing or turning off the alarm, but there were only 30 minutes left until class started.

He quickly got up from his seat. He felt dizzy for some reason, so he grabbed the wall and crawled into the bathroom.

After showering and rushing out of the house, sure enough, there was a bag that Mr. Yoo Ho-jin, who lived near Songpa IC, had stubbornly left in front of the door.

“…He must be crazy.”

But now there were only 10 minutes left. There wasn’t even time to put it inside. He quickly went to the next room to wake up Hyo-jun, whom he had put in yesterday, and knocked on the door.

“Cho Hyo-jun.”

There was no sound from inside.

“Ah, get up quickly!”

He knocked on the door a little harder. Only then did he hear a faint voice from inside, “Why.”

“It’s ten o’clock. Go to school on your own.”

“Uh….”

He was relieved to know he wasn’t dead. Jeong-in quickly hurried on his way.

He definitely felt heavier than usual. He wondered if his physical condition could have deteriorated this much just from looking at food waste, so he felt a little strange, but as he walked diligently, he was suddenly in the lecture room.

Because it was a small major subject, there were still some empty seats in the lecture room even after all the students had entered. Jeong-in swallowed a hot breath and took a seat in the corner. Before long, the class began.

“Er…. The weather is very nice….”

The professor was so slow that it was almost too much. He couldn’t concentrate on the stories he was telling as an introduction before starting the actual class. Jeong-in covered his throbbing head with both hands and began to count slowly in his head.

“There was a big issue this week, Daerim Distribution…. Er, what was it…. signed a technology sharing agreement with Ansong Industries…. Of course, our students already know that….”

Seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine.

“Hmm, actually, the major shareholders have been strongly protesting since before the announcement…. Especially Ansong Industries’ side has been strongly opposed….”

Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety.

“…Ha.”

Cold sweat poured down like rain. Jeong-in, who had been clenching his teeth so hard that they were making a grinding sound, finally realized after counting to one hundred. It seemed that the heat cycle was about to begin.

No sooner had he realized it in his head than his chest tightened and he became short of breath. He covered his mouth, afraid that his breathing would leak out, and got up from his seat.

Jeong-in quickly left the lecture room. As he exhaled the breath he had been holding in, the world suddenly turned upside down.

He barely regained his balance. It felt like he was going to die already, even before it had properly started. He tore at his stuffy neck and rushed into the bathroom. He went into the last stall, locked the door, and immediately started vomiting. With a “Ugh” sound, he vomited several times on an empty stomach.

It hurt so much. Trembling from the pain that felt like all the organs in his body were being squeezed, he grabbed his cell phone. The only place he could ask for help in this situation was Hyo-jun.

“…Please.”

His fingertips kept slipping on the screen. He barely found Hyo-jun’s name in the phone book, which didn’t have many saved people. At the same time, his stomach churned again. He grabbed the toilet and barely pressed the call button.

Even the short time it took for the signal to go through was hard to bear. His vision kept distorting and his head went back.

Almost lying on the cold floor, Jeong-in grabbed his cell phone as if seeking salvation. Before long, he heard a voice saying, “Hello.”

“Hyo-jun-ah….”

His terribly cracked voice was cut off.

“Help me… please, heuk….”

The intermittent pain cruelly intensified. As he gasped, the silent person suddenly asked.

-Where are you?

It wasn’t Hyo-jun’s voice. Jeong-in barely raised his eyes to check the screen. For some reason, Ho-jin’s name was on the screen. If things were going to go wrong, they could go wrong like this. It seemed that he had accidentally called Ho-jin, whose name was similar, instead of Hyo-jun.

-I’ll be right there. Where are you?

Just as he was about to say he had the wrong number, a tremendous pain struck. Every time he opened his mouth to breathe, it felt like a knife was being stabbed under his solar plexus. He was in no position to be picky about people now.

“Haa…. Here, heuk…. 3rd floor….”

Bathroom. With those words he barely managed to utter, the cell phone fell to the floor. Along with Jeong-in’s body.

-Is that TH Hall? Don’t hang up and keep holding it.

Jeong-in, who had collapsed on the floor as if crumpled, raised his dim, blurry eyes and looked at his cell phone. He could still hear Ho-jin’s voice intermittently over the still-connected phone.

-I’m going. I’ll be there in 5 minutes.

-…Hyung. Can you hear me?

He nodded with the last of his strength. Even though there was no way he could see it, Ho-jin’s voice continued without wavering.

-I just turned the corner. I’m going into the entrance.

Ho-jin constantly announced his location to Jeong-in, who didn’t respond at all. He thought he was doing something useless, but listening to his powerful voice made him feel a little relieved.

-I’m going up the stairs.

At least he wouldn’t die here. He even had the belief that if he could endure this moment, he could somehow get better.

-I’m all the way up to the 3rd floor. I’m going in now.

He stared blankly at his cell phone, just blinking his eyes. Rapid footsteps echoed through the silent bathroom.

“Hyung.”

He slowly opened his eyes at the sound of knocking.

“It’s me. Please open the door.”

He didn’t even have the strength to answer, so there was no way he could do that. When Jeong-in didn’t say anything, Ho-jin lowered his body and looked through the gap under the door. Feeling his breathing becoming fainter and fainter, Jeong-in made eye contact with Ho-jin through the small gap.

“If possible, could you move back a little?”

It was a random question.

“No, never mind, just stay there.”

His voice was still calm. With those words, Ho-jin pushed his arm through the narrow gap and pushed Jeong-in’s legs back. His limp body was pushed back without much resistance. And after confirming that he had secured some space, Ho-jin got up and took a couple of steps back.

“I’m going to break the door down.”

It was just once. With a tremendous cracking sound, the metal fell off.

He was holding the door tightly so that it wouldn’t go beyond a certain angle, worried that the door would hit Jeong-in as it broke. He immediately lowered his body and picked up Jeong-in. In the arms that were firmly supporting his body, Jeong-in simply lost consciousness.