RCKS 31

In the end, Lee Yoonsan had to go to the emergency room and have his foot bandaged. It wasn’t a bone injury, so he didn’t need a cast, but the wound, when properly examined at the hospital, was quite deep. Deep enough to make it difficult to play in the sea anymore.

Lee Yoonsan was very disappointed, but since they were planning to leave the Hamdeok campsite today anyway, he quickly accepted the reality of the situation. Today was the day they were invited to Hwang Haekyung’s family’s second house in Naedo-dong, Jeju City.

Hwang Haekyung’s parents had purchased a second house, not a vacation villa, in Jeju and had been living between Seoul and Jeju for over a year. They had invited Lee Yoonsan’s parents long ago, but it was only now that the two families’ schedules aligned. The plan was for Lee Yoonsan’s family to visit today, have a simple dinner, then park the camper and have both families head out together early in the morning to camp on nearby islands and various spots around Jeju.

It was in this situation that Lee Yoonsan had injured his foot.

“Oh my, Yoonsan! What happened to our baby’s foot?!”

“It’s been a while, Aunt.”

As soon as Lee Yoonsan got out of the camper, limping after parking it in the townhouse’s parking lot, Hwang Haekyung’s mother, Ahn Sunmi, shouted and ran over. She forgot she had been smiling and welcoming her guests and, along with her husband, rushed to Lee Yoonsan, crouching in front of him to examine his foot. As soon as she learned how he got hurt, she flew into a rage, saying that everyone who litters at tourist spots and doesn’t clean up properly should be caught and punished.

Lee Yoonsan gave Ahn Sunmi and Hwang Joonwon an embarrassed, bashful smile and greeted them, and the couple showed him the kindness of personally supporting him by his arms and shoulders all the way to the house. Behind them, Lee Gaeun and Lee Jungwon shook their heads as if wondering whose son he was, but soon they too were smiling, seemingly grateful to the couple for worrying about their son.

The two families had dinner right away. The meal was already prepared, and since the injured Lee Yoonsan was in no condition to help, dinner began as soon as he passed through the living room and sat down directly at the dining table. Lee Yoonsan listened to the adults’ conversation, sometimes laughing, sometimes nodding in agreement, and occasionally checking his phone. Shin Soohyun and Kim Jihoo had been contacting him continuously since the first day. When he replied sporadically, saying he was having fun, they pretended to be jealous, saying how much they envied him. Both of them had said they wouldn’t get part-time jobs during their first vacation of freshman year and would just have fun, but it seemed they were quite bored.

“Who are you texting so much, Yoonsan? A friend?”

“Oh, yes.”

As he was checking his phone under the table, Hwang Joonwon looked at Lee Yoonsan and asked. With the same affectionate expression he had seen when he was a child. Even though it had been 10 years since they’d last seen each other, Hwang Joonwon’s attitude toward Lee Yoonsan was the same as it was 10 years ago. Not only his affectionate expression and gentle tone of voice, but also his behavior, as if treating his own youngest son, made Lee Yoonsan feel a little shy without realizing it. Moreover, since he had just been caught looking at his phone during a meal, Lee Yoonsan quickly offered his apologies to Hwang Joonwon.

“I’m sorry for keep looking at my phone during dinner.”

“What? No, no. It’s a family meal, so be comfortable. You must be bored being the only one here while the adults are talking.”

“That’s not it… It’s just that my friends know I’m in Jeju, so they’re really envious.”

“Friends? Then you should tell them to come. You can invite them and hang out together. Your uncle will give you some spending money.”

“No, it’s alright.”

“Oh my, would you like that, Yoonsan? Do you want to ask your friends to come?”

Ahn Sunmi, who was picking at a side dish across the table, chimed in on Hwang Joonwon and Lee Yoonsan’s conversation in a high-pitched voice. At that, Lee Yoonsan became flustered and waved both his hands to refuse, because he thought it was ridiculous to invite his friends on a family trip when he wasn’t even staying in a separate room he’d booked himself.

“Won’t it be inconvenient to go camping with that foot?”

But it seemed Ahn Sunmi and Hwang Joonwon were being sincere. As happy as they were to see Lee Yoonsan after so long, they seemed worried about his foot, which he had injured today, and they prevented Lee Yoonsan from even getting up from his seat the entire time the dinner table was being set. They insisted that since the sole of his foot was injured, he had to be careful even about it touching the floor.

“Yes, Yoonsan. Then do you want to tell your friends to come? Your mom will book a hotel for you. If you think it’ll be inconvenient to follow us camping, you can hang out with your friends there.”

“Uh….”

“No need to get a hotel, you can just tell them to come here. We have an empty room in our house.”

“Right, right. Tell them to hang out here instead of spending unnecessary money. We’re going to be out camping with Yoonsan’s family anyway.”

“Hey, still, how can we do that? It’s not our house.”

Then a debate began among the adults. Even to Lee Yoonsan, it seemed difficult to travel around the islands and various campsites in Jeju with his injured foot. The adults might not be able to enjoy themselves properly because they’d be taking care of him. So, he was willing to try inviting his friends to hang out separately, but the problem was lodging.

Hwang Haekyung’s parents insisted he use their empty house instead of wasting money, while Lee Yoonsan’s parents argued that they couldn’t possibly do that in someone else’s home, and thus a conflict of opinion began. The debate that started like that escalated to ‘Are we strangers?’ and ‘That’s not what I mean,’ and before the atmosphere could get any more heated, Lee Yoonsan finally made a decision.

“I’ll ask my friends to come. They said they want to try staying at a hotel in Jeju.”

Lee Yoonsan quickly asked for his friends’ opinions in their story chat room and relayed the result. However, Hwang Haekyung’s parents showed a somewhat firm attitude.

“Yoonsan, your foot is hurt, so don’t think about wandering around. Just hang out here. There are good restaurants nearby. Your friends can stay wherever, but you should sleep here.”

“That’s right, Yoonsan. This is a private house, so security is good, and we’ll leave a car here, so you can use it if you need to.”

“Oh my, Yoonsan already has his license? The baby?”

It seemed they were quite displeased with the idea of Lee Yoonsan, who was only twenty, staying at a lodging establishment like a hotel. So, Lee Yoonsan and his parents decided to accept their kindness to some extent. Lee Yoonsan’s friends would stay at a hotel as they wished, while Lee Yoonsan would stay at this house. Both families provided all the necessary funds for his fun. Lee Jungwon gave him a separate credit card to use for his expenses, and Hwang Joonwon secretly pressed a wad of cash into Lee Yoonsan’s hand without his parents knowing. This happened because Lee Yoonsan had politely refused with a smile until the end, even when they asked for his bank account to send him an allowance.

“We’re leaving at dawn, so just go to sleep, sweetie. There’s a guest room on the first floor, you can use that. The fridge is stocked too, so have a simple breakfast here in the morning, and then go eat something delicious with your friends for lunch and dinner.”

“When you’re done brushing your teeth, your uncle will take you to your room. It’s okay to make a mess anywhere except the master bedroom, so you can bring your friends here too. You said they’re all omegas, right?”

“No, that’s a bit much… And, I can go to the room by myself.”

“How are you going to go? You’ll put pressure on your wound. Are you going to hop on one foot?”

“No, I’ll just….”

“Go wash up and come out, sweetie.”

Their attitude was completely unchanged from how they had treated the 10-year-old Lee Yoonsan. As Hwang Joonwon and Ahn Sunmi had said, Lee Yoonsan first washed his body in the bathroom, avoiding the injured area, and dried himself. His reflection in the bathroom mirror showed his arms and legs deeply tanned by the sun, the line between the tanned parts and the parts covered by clothes clearly visible.

If he had played completely naked, he would have tanned evenly, but because he had played wearing a short-sleeved shirt rolled up to his shoulders or a tank top and short pants, his skin tone was a bit awkward. Perhaps the culprit was lying on top of the floating tube, because even though he had worn shorts that came down to mid-thigh, his skin was tanned all the way to just below his buttocks. The parts that had been covered by clothes were a milky-pale wheat color, making it look as if he were wearing short, tight-fitting clothes even when he was naked. The chocolate-brown tanned arms and legs, compared to the pale torso and upper buttocks, looked a bit ridiculous to his own eyes.

Lee Yoonsan looked in the mirror, made a displeased face at his body with its distinct tan lines, then changed into the clothes he had brought and went outside. At that, Hwang Joonwon, as if he had been waiting, took Lee Yoonsan, applied medicine to the wound on the sole of his foot, and changed the bandage. Ahn Sunmi sat next to Lee Yoonsan and applied lotion to his healthily tanned arms and legs. She seemed quite worried that his tanned skin might hurt. It was probably because Hwang Haekyung used to suffer from sunburns every summer.

“If anything happens, call us right away.”

“Okay.”

“Sleep well, Yoonsan.”

The couple tucked Lee Yoonsan in like that before leaving the room. Following that, Lee Yoonsan’s parents peeked their heads in through the slightly open door and smiled. It seemed they found it funny how the younger Lee Yoonsan, who used to act spoiled whenever his aunt and uncle doted on him, was now acting all awkward just because he had grown up a little.

And at dawn that day, while Lee Yoonsan was asleep, the two couples left the house. They left Lee Yoonsan’s camper parked where it was and took off in Ahn Sunmi’s car, packed to the brim with camping gear. His parents, seemingly worried about leaving Lee Yoonsan alone until the very end, left a message saying that if he wanted to join the camping trip, they would come pick him up anytime, so he just had to let them know. It was their first long vacation in a while and a rare opportunity to enjoy their hobby of camping in the wild, but it seemed they were ultimately disappointed that their son couldn’t be with them on the trip.

And so, Lee Yoonsan greeted the early morning alone in a house he was seeing for the first time. Lying blankly on the bed, he wondered what to do. The weather was hot, so he considered turning on the air conditioner, but in the end, he decided to change into lighter clothes. Since he was alone anyway.

Lee Yoonsan left on his loose, short-sleeved top and took off the long pants he was wearing, pulling on a pair of shorts from his luggage. He could feel the air circulating between his legs. The track pants he had been wearing were probably prepared for camping and weren’t very thin, which made him feel hotter. He had learned the hard way as a child, tagging along to campsites, that if you wear pants that are too thin, insects like mosquitoes will bite right through the fabric.

Lee Yoonsan glanced down at the shorts that came to mid-thigh and shook the hems to make sure it was cool enough inside. They were a little longer than his boxer briefs, but the legs were wide, so the air seemed to circulate well enough. In truth, he didn’t usually wear shorts because he had no hair on his legs, but these were new ones he had bought to wear at the beach on this camping trip.

After checking that his loose, airy clothes were comfortable, Lee Yoonsan headed for the door. Walking on his heel, careful to keep the injured part of his sole from touching the floor as much as possible, he couldn’t help but have a limping gait.

‘Ice water….’

Still, the shorter pants didn’t quench his thirst, so he finally opened the door and went out into the living room. The house wasn’t small, so it would be quite a walk to the kitchen, but since it was a townhouse with no lower floor, he figured this much thumping would be fine.

He was about halfway across the living room on his way to the kitchen when a strange sound echoed through the room, which was already somewhat bright from the early morning sun. It wasn’t like a doorbell; it was more like a short melody that played and then stopped. It sounded like a vehicle entry notification chime.

Startled by the sudden sound, Lee Yoonsan froze and looked around. Did his uncle or aunt come back? As he was thinking this and straightening his surprised, hunched shoulders, he heard another sound. This time, it came from the front door, and it was clearly the sound of a digital lock being unlocked. Did his aunt and uncle really come back? Did they forget something? With these thoughts, Lee Yoonsan’s eyes widened, and he took a step toward the front door. But before Lee Yoonsan could move further, the front door opened.

“…Huh…?”

Standing outside the open door was Hwang Haekyung. Tall, with a hard expression like an adult—Hwang Haekyung, the son of the owners of this house. The same Hwang Haekyung who had unilaterally cut off contact with Lee Yoonsan after the summer he turned 18.

Lee Yoonsan could not understand this sudden situation at all.

Of course, it seemed Hwang Haekyung couldn’t understand the situation either. As soon as his eyes met Lee Yoonsan’s, Hwang Haekyung frowned and then relaxed his expression, as if he had seen something unbelievable. It wasn’t a look of displeasure, but more of one wondering if he had seen something wrong. And then, he violently slammed the door he had just opened with a bang! and left.

“What the…?”

In the end, a bewildered word escaped Lee Yoonsan’s lips. And he limped toward the front door, abandoning his attempt to move toward the kitchen.

Meanwhile, expressions of bewilderment appeared on the faces of Ham Sejin and Lee Seokjae as they watched Hwang Haekyung, who had been about to enter the house, suddenly slam the door shut and turn around.

“What’s wrong? Why’d you suddenly shut the door? You’re not going in?”

“I’m not going in.”

“What?”

“Go sleep somewhere else.”

Lee Seokjae reacted with bewilderment at Hwang Haekyung’s sudden change of heart.

Lee Seokjae and Ham Sejin had flown straight here upon hearing that Hwang Haekyung’s second house in Jeju would be empty starting today. Hwang Haekyung’s reaction had been to question what they would even do at a second house he himself rarely visited, but Lee Seokjae, who had already conquered the hot spots of Yangyang, said he wanted to enjoy the hot spots of Jeju this time, and for some reason, Ham Sejin also wanted to go to Jeju. And so they came to Jeju. Hwang Haekyung had no particular plans for the vacation, so he was dragged along, unable to refuse his friends’ demands. In fact, his parents had recently suggested he go camping with them, but he had refused. There was only one reason. Hwang Haekyung wanted to be alone and quiet.

When he was a child, he was surrounded by people because he was a child model, and during his adolescence, he played volleyball, so he was almost always in a group setting except when he slept. So, from the age of twenty, he naturally began to want time to himself. No, actually, it was something he had wanted continuously since the late summer he turned nineteen, when he quit volleyball. To have time to himself, to be able to rest sufficiently on his own. His parents respected Hwang Haekyung’s wishes, which was why they hadn’t insisted multiple times about this camping trip.

It was in this situation that his friends had forcibly shown up and dragged him down to Jeju. His friends seemed to have pushed forward with the trip, assuming that since Hwang Haekyung’s mother was from Jeju and they even had a second house there, Hwang Haekyung must know Jeju well, but the reality was different. Hwang Haekyung had rarely been to Jeju, and even when he did come, he would hole up in his room on the second floor and do nothing. Therefore, Hwang Haekyung didn’t know much about Jeju either.

“Stop bullshitting and move. I’m seriously so damn tired….”

“What is it? Is someone inside?”

Hwang Haekyung’s face hardened coldly, not at Lee Seokjae, who was complaining of fatigue from the early morning flight, but at Ham Sejin, who was looking at him with a sharp gaze and asking if someone was inside. Hwang Haekyung looked at Ham Sejin and Lee Seokjae coldly and spoke in a firm voice.