TGMND 120

At 8 AM, the doorbell rang.

“Who could it be at this hour…?”

Yeo-woon had just finished washing his face and opened the front door without even fully drying off.

“Yoon Ji-gu?”

“Yes.”

Looking slightly confused, Yeo-woon stared at him blankly before his gaze dropped to the small carry-on Ji-gu was towing behind him.

“Why do you have so much luggage?”

“Just clothes, laptop, this and that… It looks like a lot because it’s a carrier, but there’s not really much in it.”

Yeo-woon looked up at the clock and tilted his head.

“I’m not fully ready yet. Weren’t we supposed to meet at 9?”

“My second brother is supposed to watch Bbosong, but if he sees me leaving with luggage in the morning, he’d definitely ask where I was going… So, I made a quick escape.”

Just as he finished saying that, they heard the elevator arrive outside. Yoon Ji-gu held his breath and was on edge. Soon after, a never-before-seen eleven-digit number, not even a name, appeared on his phone. Yoon Ji-gu immediately rejected the call and sent the password via text message. He looked extremely annoyed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

“Why do you keep looking at my face? Do you have something to say?”

“Oh, no…”

Yeo-woon trailed off and shook his head. Somehow, he felt strange. There was a time when that indifferent expression was directed at him, but at some point, Yoon Ji-gu stopped finding him bothersome or burdensome. The process had been so natural that he had completely forgotten until now that he too had once been someone Yoon Ji-gu avoided.

It suddenly hit home that he had become a special person to Yoon Ji-gu. He still couldn’t understand why Yoon Ji-gu had suddenly come to like him. The only thing certain was that Yoon Ji-gu, who blindly craved affection, had also become quite a special person to him. Realizing this fact again made him feel like the air was suddenly getting warm.

“For now, come in and sit down. I’ll get ready quickly.”

Yeo-woon said this while picking off cat hairs one by one from Yoon Ji-gu’s shirt. Yoon Ji-gu, who followed him into the house, sat obediently at the dining table and followed Yeo-woon’s every movement with his eyes. Yoon Ji-gu’s appearance looked just like his cat concentrating on catching sunlight, which made Yeo-woon laugh. When he burst out laughing and made eye contact, Yoon Ji-gu hurriedly avoided his gaze and turned his head slightly. And not long after, he felt Yoon Ji-gu’s gaze on his cheek again.

“Do you have something to say?”

“What?”

“You keep looking at me.”

Yoon Ji-gu widened his eyes like a startled cat, then spoke with a determined expression as if he had made a big decision.

“…It’s fascinating.”

“What’s so fascinating?”

“It just feels like a dream…”

“What dream?”

“Ever since the day you suggested we go on a trip, I’ve been having similar dreams every single day. Even now, it feels a bit like that. This isn’t a dream, right?”

“…”

Yeo-woon had suggested the trip two weeks ago. Yeo-woon let out a laugh of disbelief without realizing it. He wondered how much Yoon Ji-gu must have been looking forward to this trip to even dream about it. He knew Yoon Ji-gu was very excited, but he really hadn’t imagined it would be to the extent of dreaming about it.

“Did you dream about it yesterday too?”

“Yes.”

“Did you actually sleep?”

“…Actually, I couldn’t sleep much because I was too excited.”

How did you know? Yoon Ji-gu mumbled, avoiding eye contact as if embarrassed. Yeo-woon’s childhood image of not being able to sleep the night before a field trip due to excitement overlapped with Yoon Ji-gu’s face. Yeo-woon threw the spare clothes he was holding into his bag without even looking at them. Then he sat down in front of Yoon Ji-gu and asked.

“What do you want to do today?”

“Didn’t you say we’re going to some buckwheat noodle restaurant?”

“I heard their buckwheat noodles are famous.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“What else should we do?”

At his words, Yoon Ji-gu tilted his head slightly with a wry face. It was a face that seemed to wonder why he was asking him this.

“Well, we can swim in the sea and stuff.”

“And?”

“…Let’s just eat whatever’s nearby for dinner. I looked up a few reviews, and they say all the sashimi restaurants are pretty much the same no matter where you go.”

“Is there anything else you want to do?”

Since it was Ji-gu first trip after becoming an adult, Yeo-woon wanted to give him good memories. There was even a bit of guilt mixed in. He felt like he had taken too many of Yoon Ji-gu’s firsts, even though he hadn’t intended to. Of course, it wouldn’t change that they were firsts, so he had just one hope. He hoped that Ji-gu would enjoy this trip as much as possible.

Whether he sensed this or not, Yoon Ji-gu blinked his sharp eyes and furrowed his brow.

“No. Why are you only asking me? Just do what you want to do, hyung. I’m really fine with anything.”

“Then can I bury you in the sand?”

“…”

“I’m asking if it’s okay? I’ll make you really muscular and pretty. …Ah, I need to bring the camera. I’ll take pictures and make them into framed photos for you.”

“…Why would you take pictures of that!”

“When you look back, all photos become memories.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Huh? Where is it? Where did I put it?”

“Come to think of it, I want to ride a banana boat. …Hyung? Hyung, are you listening to me?”

Yoon Ji-gu seemed to dislike the idea of being buried in the sand and having it captured on camera even more, so he tried his best to change the subject.In the end, Yeo-woon managed to locate the camera with a dead battery after searching the house and packed it into his bag with the charger. Ji-gu kept glancing at the bag, clearly waiting for a chance to sneak the camera out, but there was one thing he hadn’t considered.

These days, phones come with high-quality cameras built right in.

***

Yoon Ji-gu was sitting crammed in the passenger seat that hadn’t been adjusted. Before starting the car, Yeo-woon saw this sight and burst out laughing again, finding it absurd.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Ah, stay still. I’ll make it comfortable for you.”

It was cute how he had fastened his seatbelt tightly despite being obviously uncomfortably crumpled. Yeo-woon unbuckled the seatbelt and leaned his waist towards Yoon Ji-gu’s side. He placed his hand on Yoon Ji-gu’s body and reached for the adjustment mechanism on the side of the seat.

‘Can’t… quite reach…’

Yeo-woon reached further while firmly holding onto Yoon Ji-gu’s body. As he fumbled in the dark gap, his fingers suddenly caught on something.

‘Ah, found it.’

When Yeo-woon’s fingers pressed the lever, enough space was created for Yoon Ji-gu to comfortably stretch his long legs. This should be enough for him to adjust the rest as he likes, right? Thinking this, Yeo-woon raised his body and met eyes with Yoon Ji-gu, who was frozen, holding his breath.

In the short time he’d looked away, Ji-gu had turned bright red again. Just as Yeo-woon was about to ask him why, he felt something beneath his hand.

“…”

“…”

Yeo-woon froze on the spot. And the moment he realized what was under his hand, he quickly withdrew it and sat back in his seat.

His face felt hot. What was under his hand was very hard and thick. Yeo-woon knew better than anyone what that shape felt like in his palm. It wasn’t a thigh or anything like that.

‘…Wait, why is he getting hard?’

It was strange that it became hard so quickly just from lightly, very lightly placing his hand on it. Although he was a bit surprised, Yeo-woon pretended to be calm and started the car first. After that, Yoon Ji-gu remained frozen like a stone, not even blinking. He certainly looked more comfortable sitting than before, but in reality, it had made him more uncomfortable in a different sense.

“…Um, sorry?”

“…”

Yeo-woon apologized, but Yoon Ji-gu’s face just turned redder and no response came. Yeo-woon’s ears heated up too, feeling like he could clearly see what Yoon Ji-gu had been thinking during that short time. If he had just told Ji-gu that the seat adjustment was on the side and to do it himself, they wouldn’t have been so awkward from the very start of the trip. Yeo-woon sighed quietly, regretting it belatedly.

The white car smoothly left the parking lot and entered the main road. After a while of silently staring out the window, Yoon Ji-gu seemed to have calmed down and sighed with a somewhat composed face.

“Please be more careful…”

At those words, Yeo-woon’s face heated up for no reason. Instead of answering, he gripped the steering wheel tighter.

‘I should be careful…’

There certainly seemed to be a need for that. Yoon Ji-gu got hard just from a touch, and at this rate, a catastrophe could happen in an instant.

This wasn’t even his car, so Yeo-woon couldn’t afford to cause any trouble.

***

Though their start was a bit bumpy, the first day went incredibly smoothly. There wasn’t a bit of traffic on the highway, and the sky was perfectly clear. Yoon Ji-gu connected his phone to the car and took charge of selecting the music. After driving for a while listening to music he liked, they made the entire three-hour drive to their destination without a hitch.

“Wow! It’s the sea!”

“Don’t run, you might hurt yourself.”

“Wow! Chicken skewers!”

“I said don’t run! You’ll fall!”

As soon as they got out of the car, Yeo-woon was excited to see the sea after a long time and tried to run towards it, while Yoon Ji-gu held him back. Although he was pretending to be quite calm, Yoon Ji-gu also looked quite excited.

When Yeo-woon took off his shoes first and quickly stepped onto the beach. Yoon Ji-gu, mumbling something about not getting wet yet, hesitated but eventually followed. They needed to leave their luggage at the resort before diving into the water, so for now, they were just taking a walk. As they walked, the white sand crunched under their feet, wrapping around their steps.

“It’s hot, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“There are so many people. What are they all doing here? Don’t they have work?”

There were people already swimming in the water, children building sandcastles, college students playing with balls, and families sitting on the beach eating food they had prepared.

Among those people, the two walked slowly along the beach, each holding their shoes in one hand. Their footprints were side by side on the water-soaked sand. Even though it was noisy all around, as they walked along the beach without saying anything to each other, Yeo-woon felt like they were trapped in a fragment of time, just the two of them.

Whoosh.

A particularly fierce wave suddenly covered the beach. The white spray of foam washed over their feet and returned to the blue waves.

“Ahhh!”

Suddenly, Yoon Ji-gu screamed beside him. Yeo-woon turned to look at him, startled.

“What’s wrong?”

“W-what is this!”

The wave had gifted Yoon Ji-gu’s ankle with a long piece of seaweed. As the wave receded, the seaweed was very firmly wrapped around his foot. Yoon Ji-gu, with a shocked face, shook his foot vigorously and struggled to remove the seaweed tightly wound around his ankle. Yeo-woon didn’t miss this opportunity and took out the phone he had kept in his pocket to capture the moment in a photo.

Click!

“…!”

Yoon Ji-gu, who had removed the seaweed and thrown it back into the water, looked up at Yeo-woon at the sound of the shutter. Yeo-woon stepped back and pressed the capture button once more, this time capturing Yoon Ji-gu looking at him with a dumbfounded face. Checking the taken photos, Yoon Ji-gu’s expression was quite a sight. Yeo-woon smiled at Yoon Ji-gu, who was looking for a chance to snatch his phone, and defined his identity.

“Idiot.”

At this teasing remark, Yoon Ji-gu jumped more than anyone and fidgeted nervously.

“D-did I look like an idiot? Let me see!”

“No. If I show you, you’ll delete it right away.”

“I won’t delete it! …If it turned out well, I won’t delete it.”

Yeo-woon chuckled at his sneaky conditions and held his phone behind his back, taking a step away.

“Try saying ‘Babe, please show me’. Then I’ll give it to you.”

“…Ah, why can’t I see my own photo!”

“No, it’s not. Since I took the photo, it’s technically my photo.”

Yeo-woon stubbornly insisted. At these words, Yoon Ji-gu, who had momentarily lost his words and was about to be slightly persuaded, soon shook his head and broke free from the daze.

“Then can I take a photo of you and not show it to you? Since I took it, it would be my photo, right?”

“Go ahead.”

As Yeo-woon gently teased him, Yoon Ji-gu followed the phone in Yeo-woon’s hand with his eyes, looking like he was about to die of frustration. And after a moment, Ji-gu mumbled something strange in a voice only Yeo-woon could hear.

“…If you don’t show me, I’m going to kiss you right here.”

“What?”

Thinking he might have misheard, Yeo-woon asked again, and Yoon Ji-gu glared at him with blazing eyes and blushed.

“I’m not joking, I’ll really do it. What do you think people will say if we suddenly kiss here?”

“Wow, those guys are gay. That’s what they’d say.”

“…Huh?”

“From others’ perspective, wouldn’t it be more interesting to see us kissing? And they could talk about us all day. Whether in a good way or bad.”

Yoon Ji-gu, not having expected this response, lost his words and his lips trembled. He looked even more foolish than in the photo.

“If you can do it, go ahead.”

“…”

“Why aren’t you doing it? Kiss me.”

“You… don’t you have any sense of shame?”

Yoon Ji-gu clenched his fist, feeling ashamed of the words he had just uttered. Finding his appearance both pitiful and amusing, Yeo-woon patted Yoon Ji-gu’s back with the hand holding the phone as if to encourage him.

“Oh, Yoon Ji-gu. You always talk big but can’t actually do it.”

“Ahh! Don’t pat my butt!”

As if recalling an unpleasant memory, Yoon Ji-gu ran away frantically with a red face, back the way they came. As he ran away screaming “Aaaaah!” people’s gazes all turned towards him.

“…”

Click.

Yeo-woon captured even his frantic escape in a photo, and walked following the footprints Yoon Ji-gu had left behind.