TGMND 99

A few hours later, Yeo-woon sat slumped against the sofa, blinking slowly. He wasn’t sure how it had come to this. Now, he was at Yoon Ji-gu’s house, watching a horror movie on TV. On the screen, a pale-faced man was running away, only to be sawed in half by a chainsaw.

His alcohol-dulled mind slowly recalled what had happened a couple of hours ago.

“A screwdriver? I probably have one… but I don’t remember where I put it.”

“…”

“Is it urgent?”

When Yeo-woon slightly frowned as if troubled, Yoon Ji-gu blinked and nodded.

“A-Are you going out now?”

“Yeah, I’m just going out to get some fresh air.”

“Really… Then I’ll come with you.”

“With me? Why?”

“I really need that screwdriver, but there’s no one else I can borrow it from….”

It seemed Yoon Ji-gu wanted to go out and buy a screwdriver. Yeo-woon didn’t have a reason to refuse, so he ended up leaving with Ji-gu. As they walked across the park in front of the house to the supermarket visible ahead, Yoon Ji-gu kept glancing at Yeo-woon. There was no way Yeo-woon couldn’t notice that Ji-gu was concerned about his mood.

He was talking more than usual and kept glancing at him every now and then. More than anything, whenever Yeo-woon gave a nonchalant reply, Yoon Ji-gu would mix in exaggerated gestures and reactions. Today, Yoon Ji-gu seemed like a slightly more excited version of himself. It was a bit odd to see him acting differently than usual, but in a way, Yeo-woon found his childish side cute.

‘Was I like that when I was in college?’

In fact, a four-year age difference isn’t that big, but lately, Yeo-woon found Yoon Ji-gu’s behavior quite adorable. When Yeo-woon silently chuckled to himself, Yoon Ji-gu, as if reassured, smiled faintly as well.

Yeo-woon naturally grabbed all the alcohol in sight as soon as they entered the mart. Seeing this, Yoon Ji-gu muttered in disbelief, ‘Are you really going to drink all that by yourself?’ After they left the store, they stopped at a food stall in front of the park to eat some fish cakes before starting to walk back home.

“Hyung.
“
“Yeah?”

“…Did something happen today?”

Yoon Ji-gu asked as they walked side by side. Yeo-woon was a bit surprised by the spot-on question but smiled without showing any agitation.

“Nothing special.”

“Really?”

“Why do you ask?”

“…It’s just that today, you seem….”

What did I do? Did I let it show unconsciously? Since it had nothing to do with Yoon Ji-gu, Yeo-woon tried to act as normal as possible, making sure his emotions didn’t affect his behavior. But it seemed he couldn’t hide from Yoon Ji-gu’s sensitive eyes. No wonder he had been subtly observing him since earlier.

“What about me?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that you look uglier today.”

“Wow. Picking a fight all of a sudden?”

Yeo-woon playfully punched Yoon Ji-gu, making sure it didn’t hurt. Yoon Ji-gu exaggeratedly exclaimed, “Ow!”

“It didn’t even hurt that much…”

“It did hurt.”

The early winter evening was quite cold. The warmth from the paper cup containing the fish cake broth seeped into his palms. As they walked back, the streetlights flickered on, signaling the end of the day. Yeo-woon had felt gloomy just before opening the door earlier, but now, he realized his mood wasn’t as bad as he had expected.

“Hyung.”

While they waited for the elevator on the first floor, Yoon Ji-gu, who had seemed like he had something to say for a while, finally spoke up. Fidgeting with his hands, he asked,

“Um, that… Would you like to watch a movie at my place before you go?”

“Why would I watch a movie with you…?”

Moreover, Yoon Ji-gu, who had been acting strange all day, suddenly invited Yeo-woon to his place. It seemed like he had mustered up the courage to ask, but was now worried about being turned down.

“I just… there’s this movie I wanted to watch, but I don’t really want to watch it alone.”

A horror movie, perhaps?

“But if you don’t want to, it’s okay. I’ll just watch it alone, I guess…”

“Can you really watch it alone?”

“No!”

The quick response made Yeo-woon laugh out loud.

“I figured as much. Let me think about it for a bit.”

“Okay.”

“…”

“Have you finished thinking?”

“What’s the rush? It hasn’t even been 10 seconds.”

“So what? It’s not like you have anything to do when you go back anyway.”

Yoon Ji-gu grumbled. Yeo-woon wanted to argue, but Yoon Ji-gu was right. He really didn’t have anything to do when he got home. He would probably just drink by himself until he went to bed, so having someone to talk to might not be so bad. And it wasn’t like Yoon Ji-gu was an uncomfortable person to be around. Following Yoon Ji-gu into his apartment, Yeo-woon noticed that the place felt a bit different than it had a few months ago. A lot of new things had appeared.

A tuxedo cat with only its belly and muzzle white was sprawled on a cat tower by the living room window, blinking slowly. The cat glanced at Yoon Ji-gu and Yeo-woon before quickly turning its head to gaze out the window, seemingly uninterested in both the stranger and its own owner.

“It’s not even pretending to see you.”

“It’s always like that—no manners at all. But it’s cute, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll come over when it’s hungry or bored. It’s really cute then.”

“Does it have a name?”

“Yoon Pposong.”

“Huh?”

What did he just hear…? Yeo-woon was stunned for a moment, feeling a bit of dissonance as the cute name came out of Yoon Ji-gu’s mouth.

“Oh… That’s cute. Hi, Pposong.”

One of the cat’s ears twitched. It was unclear whether it heard or not. Yoon Ji-gu smiled proudly at the compliment as if he himself had been praised.

“Do you want a cup?”

“No, I’ll just drink it like this.”

“Suit yourself.”

He sat Yeo-woon down in the living room and turned on the TV after finding the remote. It was so formal that Yeo-woon awkwardly took out beer cans from the bag and stacked them on the table. Yoon Ji-gu seemed to really want to watch the movie together. He immediately played a movie with a poster showing a close-up of a scarily made-up actor’s face.

‘This isn’t even that scary.’

Yeo-woon thought to himself, recognizing the movie. The ominous sound of a piano played as the film began. He had watched it once last summer but decided not to tell Yoon Ji-gu. He had enjoyed it enough back then that he didn’t mind seeing it again, and he had forgotten most of the plot anyway. The only thing he remembered was that people started dying every ten minutes from the middle of the movie onward.

Yoon Ji-gu sat down on the floor, leaning against the sofa like Yeo-woon.

“Here, have a drink.”
Yoon Ji-gu looked down at the can Yeo-woon handed him and nodded. It would get lukewarm and taste bad if he held it like that, but Yoon Ji-gu just sat there stiffly without opening it for a while.
Even though he hadn’t done much that day, Yeo-woon felt mentally exhausted. Now that the tension was easing, fatigue started to set in. The alcohol slightly felt hot as it went down his throat. With only a dim side lamp on, it was an environment very conducive to focusing on the movie.

“…”

“…”

But despite the movie’s loud sound, he was more aware of Yoon Ji-gu sitting next to him than the TV. Maybe because Ji-gu’s hands resting lightly on his knees were trembling faintly.

“Are you scared?”

Yoon Ji-gu glanced at him as Yeo-woon whispered.

“I asked if you’re scared.”

“What are you talking about? There hasn’t even been a scary scene yet.”

“Your hands are trembling.”

“…”

At those words, Yoon Ji-gu glanced down at his hand.

“They’re not trembling.”

Yoon Ji-gu snorted and frowned. He clenched his fists on his knees to hide the trembling. He was pretending to be calm, but he was clearly trembling. He’d already been caught, so what difference did it make to clench his fists now?

“You actually can’t watch horror movies, can you?”

“Ah, don’t stick so close.”

“Always getting annoyed at everything. Yoon Grumpy.”

Yeo-woon’s teasing tone made the tips of Yoon Ji-gu’s ears turn red. He scooted away, trying to avoid Yeo-woon as he moved closer.

“Ji-gu, just be honest.”

“When have I ever lied…”

“Is this really the movie you wanted to watch? You didn’t put on the wrong one?”

“Why are you pressuring me? I don’t hate horror movies! Stop being ridiculous. You don’t know anything… Ah, I said don’t come closer!”

The more he freaked out, the more Yeo-woon wanted to tease him. Yeo-woon grabbed his wrist, and the trembling seemed to get worse. Yeo-woon was surrounded by people who casually watched gory movies while eating lunch, so Yoon Ji-gu’s reaction felt not only refreshing but almost thrilling.

“Then do you like them?”

“…What?”

“Horror movies. Do you like them?”

“…”

Yoon Ji-gu stared blankly for a moment, then shook off Yeo-woon’s hand and muttered.

“Stop pretending like you know me… I’m not scared at all.”

Liar.

“This is so annoying, seriously….”

He rubbed his wrist where Yeo-woon had grabbed him and glared at Yeo-woon. Not realizing at all how nervous he was. Even this was typical of Yoon Ji-gu.

***

Lee Yeo-woon was truly unbelievable.

“Hyung.”

“…”

“Hyung, are you sleeping?”

“…”

“Lee, Lee Yeo-woon.”

He mumbled the name softly and even tried gently shaking his shoulder, but Yeo-woon only twitched his eyebrows.

“Are you seriously sleeping?”

He was dumbfounded. Ji-gu picked up the remote to immediately lower the TV volume to 0 and turned to look at Yeo-woon in disbelief.

Is he a psychopath?

How could he fall asleep to this?

Ever since the killer appeared on screen, there had been blood splattered everywhere, and screams of agony could be heard intermittently. Yet Lee Yeo-woon had just watched a person get sliced by a chainsaw with an unfazed expression and didn’t flinch when the killer suddenly jumped out. Moreover, Yeo-woon, who had almost finished all the alcohol he’d bought by himself, had gone quiet at some point, and when Ji-gu looked over, he was dozing off with his head leaning on the sofa.

Whether he was insensitive or just really tired. Ji-gu turned his body to face Yeo-woon and looked closely at his face. As Yoon Ji-gu’s hand subconsciously moved closer to Yeo-woon’s long eyelashes, he suddenly pulled it back, startled. This was the third time he had let Yeo-woon into his house. The first time was unavoidable because of his nephew, the second time was when Yeo-woon had collapsed with a fever. And… today.

But the feeling was quite different from the previous two times.
At first, Yoon Ji-gu really hated Lee Yeo-woon. Even though it was due to a misunderstanding, Yeo-woon’s behavior was certainly different from that of an ordinary person. So, the misunderstanding was inevitable at the time.

But now…

“…I don’t really know.”

The time he looked forward to most during the day was 7 PM. On the rare occasions when Yeo-woon was too busy to come to the swimming pool, he didn’t understand why he felt so abandoned. Even on days when he didn’t need to go to the café, he would deliberately sit by the window and stare outside all day long. And at night, he would log into Illusion and laugh at Yeo-woon accumulating bad karma for neglecting Earth Star, unaware that he was Yoon Ji-gu.

He disliked Lee Yeo-woon going where his eyes couldn’t reach.

He disliked Lee Yeo-woon receiving harsh words from others.

He even disliked Lee Yeo-woon quitting the game.

He disliked his time with Lee Yeo-woon decreasing.

He had come to enjoy walking with Yeo-woon at night, and no longer disliked him.

Yeo-woon’s swimming skills were laughable, and he didn’t even mind that Yeo-woon waited for him outside the locker room.

No, actually…

He liked Lee Yeo-woon.

“Hyung, are you really asleep?”

Yeo-woon was truly a strange person. Even though Ji-gu had shown his dislike with his whole body, Yeo-woon never gave up and kept approaching him. Yeo-woon was always the one to initiate conversation, acted annoying, kept showing that he liked him, kept pestering him, and even always smiled prettily.

“…You’re really asleep, huh.”

Showing up at his house today had been impulsive. Yoon Ji-gu had no talent for comforting others, nor the courage to reveal that he was Earth Star. He had just been struck by a sudden fear that Yeo-woon might disappear somewhere.

“Then…”

Lee Yeo-woon had succeeded.

He had managed to seduce someone who had no interest in dating and wasn’t even gay.

“Just keep sleeping.”

And this was the final confirmation.

Ji-gu brought his hand close as if to grab Yeo-woon’s shoulder, but in the end, he couldn’t and his hand stopped in mid-air. His fingers trembled slightly. Slowly, he leaned forward, closed his eyes tightly, and gently pressed his lips against Yeo-woon’s.

As soon as the soft warmth touched his lips, Ji-gu was startled and stepped back. They say when you have your first kiss, you hear the bells of heaven ringing, but in reality, it wasn’t anything special. All he could hear was the pounding of his own heart, beating so fiercely that it took his breath away. It was all because of Lee Yeo-woon.

What to do?

Lee Yeo-woon just stole his first kiss…

“…Damn it.”

Yoon Ji-gu quickly got up and ran to the bathroom. He returned to the living room after splashing cold water on his face for a while, trying to calm his flushed face. When he returned to the living room, there was only the cat sitting where Yeo-woon had been, staring at him as if he was pitiful.

Lee Yeo-woon, who had been sleeping quietly until just now, was nowhere to be found.



To be continued in Volume 4~