YHP 17

It was an uneventful weekend. Jeong-in lay still all morning, doing nothing but staring at the dust particles floating in the air. He finally got up around noon when he received an unexpected phone call.

The caller was Cho Hyo-jun. With an excited voice, he delivered surprising news to Jeong-in. Before Hyo-jun could even finish speaking, Jeong-in shot up from his bed and rushed out of the house.

As expected for a weekend, traffic clogged the roads. Drivers had long since abandoned common sense traffic rules, and even pedestrians occasionally darted out, jaywalking recklessly. However, instead of feeling frustrated, Jeong-in felt strangely refreshed. Driving through the chaos, he finally arrived at Chairman Choi Hyun-wook’s mansion.

“You want to buy that island?” Ju-young asked.

Jeong-in nodded, his face flushed red.

“There’s nothing there though… Even the vacation home hasn’t been maintained for years since you went abroad.”

“That’s fine.”

What made Jeong-in so excited was the island that Ju-young had put out just two hours earlier.

Although it was a gift Hyun-wook had received for an anniversary, Ju-young had always been busy since his debut and he was not in a position to leisurely visit the island. Instead, Jeong-in was the one who occasionally stayed on that island­­­—since he dropped out of middle school and spent his days idly—in place of the busy actor.

Jeong-in had long set his sights on it, but he couldn’t bring himself to suggest selling an anniversary gift. So, when it finally went on the market, he couldn’t help but feel overjoyed.

“First, ask your uncle. He’ll probably have something to say if I sell this to you for money.”

At that moment, Hyun-wook had just returned from a walk with Taffy. 

“Ask about what?” Hyun-wook asked.

“I put Jami-do up for sale earlier, and it seems like the kid saw it. He says he wants to buy it,” Ju-young answered.

“So you’re going to sell it after all.”

Hyun-wook’s disapproval was clear, but Taffy didn’t care. Still excited from his walk, he energetically dashed over to Jeong-in, barking loudly as if demanding to know where he had been all this time.

While petting Taffy, Jeong-in looked at Hyun-wook with sparkling eyes.

“Uncle…”

“Alright, let’s have Jeong-in have it.”

Hyun-wook made his decision without hesitation. He had put considerable thought into choosing the island, but giving it to his cherished nephew was far better than letting it fall into a stranger’s hands.

“Really?” Jeong-in asked.

“But there’s a condition.”

“What is it?”

Hyun-wook motioned for Jeong-in to follow and stepped out into the front yard.

Jeong-in trailed behind him obediently as they walked to a vacant patch of land at the edge of the garden. Hyun-wook then pointed at the ground where rocks and gravel had been mixed haphazardly.

“Let’s plant something here.”

“…What?”

The spot had once held a magnolia tree that froze to death last winter. While the rest of the garden had been carefully tended to by either the gardener or Ju-young, this area had remained untouched and abandoned.

“Until this semester ends, you’ll spend two hours a week during daylight in this garden. You can plant anything you want, but you have to grow it, harvest it, and bring it back.”

“Uh… Wouldn’t it be better for an expert to handle this? Like Ju-young hyung?”

However, Hyun-wook firmly shook his head.

“You must do it yourself. You can’t hire anyone either.”

Of course, there was no way Jeong-in would back down from that

“I’ll do it. I can do it.”

After all, plants just grow on their own once you sow the seeds and leave them be,  right?

Even if the taxes were handled separately, exchanging a bit of land labor for the land value and villa construction seemed like a pretty good deal. A rough calculation told Jeong-in that he’d be earning over 40 million won per hour.

His heart was already racing as he imagined the scent of the sea breeze wafting through the air. The sunset stretching across the sea beyond the wide windows, the crisp, clean air at dawn—spending a few months working to claim all that was nothing. Jeong-in clutched his fists with determination.

“Then I’ll plant carrots. Chili peppers and onions too… Hm, and blueberries. too”

Jeong-in revealed his ambitious plans as he gazed over the spacious plot of land.

Ju-young suddenly burst out laughing from behind. “Chili peppers and blueberries? You’re gonna meet your end here—”

“That’s a great idea.”

Something felt off, but Hyun-wook smiled with a gentle curve in his eyes after he sharply cut off Ju-young’s remark.

“Make sure you keep your promise. I’ll transfer the deed once you successfully complete the harvest.”

“Alright.”

Soon after Jeong-in gave his answer, Hyun-wook wrapped an arm around Ju-young’s shoulders and turned away. Jeong-in thought he heard Jun-young whisper, “He’s going to drop dead doing this,” but he wasn’t sure.

Looking down at the plot of land which was roughly seven to eight meters in length and width, Jeong-in began to envision a bright future.

Buying seeds wouldn’t take long, and planting them would be easy. Considering the occasional rainfall, he wouldn’t even need to water them himself that much. In his free time, he could just laze around in the shade somewhere.

If he could just hold out for half a year, he could finally get his hands on that beautiful island he had always dreamed of.

This was probably the best thing to happen to him this year. Taking a deep breath filled with anticipation, he turned around.

***

The moment Ho-jin stepped out of the gym, the air that touched his skin felt surprisingly soft.

Seeing how exceptionally clear and warm the sunlight was, it seemed that spring had truly arrived. New buds were sprouting on every branch of the large, towering trees. Carefully stepping through the fluttering shadows they cast, Ho-jin entered a payphone booth.

Although no one used this space anymore, the traces of human touch in every corner felt nostalgic. Names carved with something sharp, stickers faded beyond recognition of their original form—Ho-jin carefully examined these traces that must have once been brand new. Then, he opened his notebook. He planned to find his manager’s phone number to report that he had finished morning training.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, his fingertips stopped flipping through the pages. He didn’t even need to check as one number had already surfaced in his mind. A faint smile crept onto his lips as he recalled the sight of someone disappearing down the alley, wrapped in an oversized coat and walking with perfectly even strides.

After hesitating for a while, he made the call. Even though he thought there was no way they would fall for such a ridiculous excuse, he actually just wanted to talk to them one more time. And that turned out to be a really good decision. Though he had sprinted at full speed for ten minutes only to spend barely five minutes together before parting, he had no regrets whatsoever. Ho-jin felt he could do it again and again if asked.

‘Wear it. You’ll get cold once your sweat dries.’

They had a face as cold as winter stars, but they were someone who couldn’t help but care.

“…”

Ho-jin abandoned his call to the manager, grinning as he dialed a new number instead. The other person picked up almost immediately.

“Min-jun? Ah… Yes, it’s me. How have you been?”

Min-jun was one of the friends Ho-jin had met through Hye-na, someone he occasionally kept in touch with.

“Something happened, so I’m using a payphone. I have something to ask—do you have a moment?”

He leaned against the glass wall, fiddling with a coin. After rolling it in his hand a few times, the cold coin quickly warmed up with his body heat, just like someone he had met last night.

“Most of the freshmen living on the back road near the TH Building are business majors, right? I thought you’d know since you’re in business too.”

Min-jun agreed that it was likely, but he asked why Ho-jin was suddenly curious. Ho-jin brushed the question aside and changed the topic.

“Anyway, what general education courses did you take as a freshman?”

Min-jun listed several classes. Among them, he pointed out the most popular one, which happened to be the psychology course Ho-jin was already taking as his non-major course—the very class he shared with Jeong-in.

Considering that many freshmen chose their courses based on upperclassmen’s recommendations, there were likely other courses Jeong-in was taking among the ones Min-jun listed. The plan was simple: Ho-jin would register for them, check the class roster, and drop any that didn’t include Jeong-in. He quickly pulled out a pen and wrote down each course name.

“Ah, it’s nothing serious. I just thought I’d add one or two more electives since there’s still some time left for course adjustments.”

Min-jun hesitated and asked if Ho-jin could handle the extra workload. It was a valid concern—adding more classes meant having even less free time.

Ho-jin said, “I think I’ll be fine.”

And he truly believed that.

“Thanks for worrying. Yeah. See you next time.”

Ho-jin quietly hung up the phone. In the warm silence, he continued fiddling with the coin in his hand.

Once again, Jeong-in came to mind. For some reason, all the memories of the moments they had shared were filled with warmth—the light spring rain, the shimmering water below, and even the night air cloaked in darkness.

“…”

Jeong-in was someone who made Ho-jin cross boundaries he had never dared to before. Someone who without so much as a word, could upend everything he had ever known and believed in without even making a single gesture.

Ho-jin knew that his feelings toward Jeong-in were clearly affectionate. However, it wasn’t quite the same as any emotion he had experienced before.

“Manager, this is Ho-jin. I just finished morning training.”

So, he was curious. He wanted to get to know them a little more.

“Yesterday, my phone was broken, so I couldn’t tell you,  but I made some progress in the evening underwater training at school. So…”

He didn’t want to let go of this somewhat sharp and uncomfortable feeling.

“I’d like to spend a little more time at school this semester.”