TGMND 52

“Is something wrong?”

Yeo-woon muttered as he left the front door of the swimming pool. As he trudged home, he thought about a million things. What if he went into the bathroom without his phone and the door wouldn’t open? Or what if he caught a severe cold, leaving him unable to move? Or worse, what if he collapsed overnight and was rushed to the emergency room?

The more Yeo-woon imagined, the more he realized that the man next door might be suffering endlessly in extreme situations.

“What to do…”

Somehow, he had already become a patient with a terminal illness in Yeo-woon’s mind. It’s most painful to be alone when you’re sick. So when Yeo-woon got sick, he would call any nearby friend and tell them to bring him porridge.

But… For some reason, the man next door didn’t seem to have any friends. Yeo-woon didn’t know much about him, but it somehow seemed like that. His heart felt heavy. Perhaps that’s why his steps started to quicken involuntarily. If Yeo-woon could, he wanted to ring his doorbell right away to check if he was safe. Of course, he wouldn’t actually do that, but…

‘It’s the 9th floor.’

An elevator sound announced the floor. With his heart pounding, Yeo-woon stepped out of the elevator and stopped in his tracks at the sight of the unfamiliar man’s back. He glanced at Yeo-woon briefly, then turned his head back, ignoring Yeo-woon’s presence.

Who is he? He was a considerably large man. His exposed arms were full of bulging muscles, and he had long hair tied back in a ponytail. He stood in front of the neighbor’s door and made a call on his cell phone. After a short while, the person on the other end seemed to have picked up as the man spoke.

“Hey. Yoon Ji-gu, it’s me. Where are you?”

“…?”

If it’s Yoon Ji-gu… isn’t that the neighbor’s name?

“I’m in front of your house right now. Why did you change your password? …Why. What’s the problem if a brother comes to his younger brother’s house?”

Ah, it’s his brother! They looked somewhat similar.

“You’re inside, aren’t you? You’re not refusing to open the door because the house is messy again, are you? … Are you going to make your brother wait outside? Do you want to die?”

Despite his menacing tone, the corners of the man’s mouth were slightly turned up. The “you wanna die” didn’t seem to be serious.

“Oh, mom’s cafe? Okay, I’ll head down. I have something to say.”

He hung up the phone immediately and turned around. Perhaps because the day had gotten so hot, he lifted his hand and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. As his gaze met the man turning around, Yeo-woon politely gave him a bright smile. The man stared piercingly at the smiling Yeo-woon before asking.

“Who are you?”

“Hello, I live here.”

“Ah, I see…”

It seemed like the words ‘What is this, why are you acting friendly?’ were written right on top of the awkward face. Now the brother comment made sense. The guy next door also tended to show his emotions right away on his face. To be honest, Yoon Ji-gu’s appearance was a bit more delicate and cold-hearted than the older brother in front of him.

The man looked at Yeo-woon, who was about to go down the elevator with him as if he was dumbfounded by the topic that had just come up. When Yeo-woon told him that he had something to ask his younger brother, his expression changed to a puzzled look.

“Huh? You have something to ask Ji-gu?”

“Yes.”

Who knows when he’d get another chance to meet him if not today. He couldn’t understand why it was so hard to see Yoon Ji-gu’s face when he wasn’t some endangered species.

“Are you close with my younger brother?”

That can’t be possible. The man muttered.

“We’re not close, but we go to the same swimming pool.”

“Ah…”

When Yeo-woon showed him the swimsuit bag in his hand, he nodded in understanding and asked.

“But what did you want to ask? Did my brother do something wrong?”

“Huh?”

“…I’m serious.”

The man’s expression distorted. Did he do something wrong…? Yeo-woon looked at him with wide eyes and shook his head vigorously.

“Ah, no, it’s nothing like that! He hasn’t been coming to the pool much this week, so I was wondering if he was sick or something…”

“He’s been skipping swimming?”

“Yes. I’m worried.”

“…”

The man looked at Yeo-woon with a strange expression. The man who had been looking at him as if observing him the entire time he was going down the elevator lifted the corners of his mouth and smiled.

“I was worried about my younger brother a lot, but I’m glad that such a nice person lives next door. I’m Yoon Ji-hyuk.”

“I’m Lee Yeo-woon.”

Yeo-woon gently shook the hand that was offered to him. Yoon Ji-hyuk’s hand was noticeably larger than Yoon Ji-gu’s, with knuckles protruding slightly. It seemed like his hand size might be genetic. As their hands briefly touched, Yeo-woon noticed a silver ring on the ring finger of the man’s left hand. Is he… married? Yeo-woon muttered to himself.

“I guess there’s quite an age gap between you and your younger brother…”

Yoon Ji-hyuk’s expression became vague at Yeo-woon’s question.

“Yes, Ji-gu is the youngest. There’s a nine-year gap between him and me and an eight-year gap with our second brother.”

So there were three brothers. No matter how you looked at it, that person being the youngest… Yeo-woon couldn’t have guessed based on his personality that he was the youngest.

“That’s nice. But with the age gaps, I’m guessing you didn’t fight much. I fought a lot growing up with my younger sister.”

“No, we fought quite a bit. It was like he was a fighting rooster in his past life with how he talked back from a young age.”

Yeo-woon chuckled. He could imagine the scene even though he hadn’t seen it. To quarrel with a brother who was nine years older… he must have been quite spirited from a young age. That personality of his hadn’t changed at all. Yeo-woon imagined his childhood as he and Yoon Ji-hyuk opened the door to Café Earth and stepped inside.

“Yoon Ji-gu!”

Immediately upon hearing Yoon Ji-hyuk’s voice, who was striding towards the counter, Yeo-woon saw someone walking out of the inner warehouse with his hair disheveled.

“Ah, why did hyung come here again…”

He made eye contact with Yoon Ji-gu, who raised his head while grumbling.

“…!”

He looked back and forth between Yoon Ji-hyuk and Yeo-woon with a puzzled expression, then walked up to Yoon Ji-hyuk and whispered to him. After listening to Ji-gu’s whisper, Yoon Ji-hyuk laughed and said in a half-amused, half-exasperated tone while flicking Ji-gu’s forehead:

“Don’t be rude. He’s the person next door. He said he has something to ask you.”

“Wh-what…?”

“Hello.”

“…H-how did you manage to bring him along again?”

Yoon Ji-gu muttered in a bewildered voice. He nodded, looking at Yeo-woon. Yeo-woon, who had taken a step back at the gesture that seemed to ask him to come over, slowly approached Yoon Ji-gu.

“Hey.”

Ji-gu let out a deep sigh as he looked down at Yeo-woon fiercely.

“What do you want from me this time?”

It was that piercing gaze he always gave Yeo-woon at the swimming pool. His sidelong glances seemed to bore right through Yeo-woon with intensity. It was a bit scary at first, but now Yeo-woon knew. This wasn’t him glaring – Yoon Ji-gu just looked at everyone with those eyes. Yeo-woon met his gaze unflinchingly before giving a faint smile.

“I’m Lee Yeo-woon.”

“… What?”

“It’s not hey, my name is Lee Yeo-woon.”

“…”

“I know Ji-gu-ssi’s name. I just thought you might be curious about my name.”

Yoon Ji-gu’s expression was filled with all sorts of storms as Yeo-woon smiled and said the words. His jet-black pupils shook wildly before his pale pink lips pressed tightly shut. He was flustered.

Yeo-woon was curious about what was going on in Yoon Ji-gu’s mind. In his over 20 years of living, this was the first time he had met someone who seemed so awkward around him. Normally, Yeo-woon also wouldn’t approach someone who made it clear they didn’t want to be approached. But for some reason, he kept finding his gaze drawn to the neighbor next door… no, Yoon Ji-gu. Why was that?

“Ah, why are you staring, seriously…”

“… Umm.”

Was it because he was at least twice as tall as most people? Probably, it was natural to stand out if you were that tall… Yeah, that must be it. He was tall, that’s why. Yeo-woon nodded his head.