.

‘Is she trying to talk about my stepmother who scolded me back in the days such as how disturbing I was, how she hated the look in my eyes directed toward her, or how awful I was like a son of satan?’ Jooin thought.

The woman shouting in tears with disheveled hair lingered before his eyes. However, even that became a faded scene to Woo Jooin as if he had seen them in the movies.

Woo Jooin nodded apathetically, but he couldn’t help his heart feeling heavy as if a stone was inside. What was she trying to say? If she brought up this story just to talk about trivial things, it could slightly piss him off.

However, what came out of her mouth was just as he expected.

“That was ridiculous. Such nonsense.” The girl said.

In the end, she was just feeling some sympathy. That was when Woo Jooin removed the smile from his face, having that thought in his mind.

The girl continued, “Because you… you are, in fact, exceptionally kind and sweet for a person in the Woo family.”

“…?”

“Look back into your memories. Is there anyone who’s gentle and easygoing in the Woos? Woo San? Woo Rihon? Woo Rinara?”

Suddenly lifting her head, the girl uttered determinedly for the first time.

Jooin thought, ‘But geez, watch your mouth, girl… Our family should file a claim for damaging our reputations…’

Even though he rambled those thoughts in his mind, Woo Jooin nodded in an unguarded moment.

The girl being thoroughly aware of his family tree indeed surprised him, but her choice of words was so accurate that it just hit the spot. Just as she said, none of the Woos went along with the words ‘gentle and easygoing.’

The girl said, clapping her hands, “See? To talk about you, in that total disaster… no, in that chaos… anyway, you’ve grown as sweet and kind as possible. It’s almost a miracle.”

“…”

“Um, so, you did a good job.”

Be proud of yourself–the girl emphasized with a serious expression.

Woo Jooin stared at her, feeling dumbfounded. What was the girl talking about, for real?

Shortly after the girl left the cafe, someone kicked the door open and stepped inside. He headed straight toward Woo Jooin, then clicked his tongue at the empty seat across the table.

“Tsk, did I just miss it?” The guy grumbled.

That was when Woo Jooin showed his usual smile and tossed a question.

“Hyeong, what are you doing here on the weekend? Wait, are you here to see me?”

“No, way! I heard that you’re hanging out in the cafe WITH A GIRL. That’s what made me come here ASAP.”

Dropping that remark, the guy, Yi Ruda, swept his sweaty hair back and clicked his tongue again.

“Tsk, I was about to witness that sight on the spot. Geez…”

Ruda’s sweaty forehead––always dry and soft even after a hundred-meter race––showed how desperate he was to dash all the way here at full speed.

‘Why did he sprint to this place? Was he that much curious about us?’ Woo Jooin thought, revealing a slightly terrified look.

Yi Ruda suddenly asked a question, quite sarcastically, “So, at last, you’re stopping the absurd things like wandering around me in the name of a ‘son’ and attaching yourself to me?”

Woo Jooin didn’t step back. He replied, “Haha, hyeong, isn’t it rather less absurd than doing the same thing in the name of a ‘friend?’ Don’t you think so?”

With just a few words, Yi Ruda’s knees faltered. Shoving his face onto his palms, Yi Ruda groaned for a while. Woo Jooin felt a little sorry, wondering, ‘Was I too harsh?’

“Hyeong, do you want something to drink? It’s on me. Cool down yourself here.” Woo Jooin uttered warmheartedly after thinking for a second.

Surprisingly, Yi Ruda didn’t refuse his favor. He flopped into a chair across Woo Jooin. Soon, there was a tray in front of him with iced lemonade. Taking a sip, Yi Ruda quickly returned to his vibrant character just like a watered flower.

He asked, “So, who’s the girl you’re hanging out with? Of course, I know that you aren’t interested in any romantic relationships though.”

“Hyeong, do you have a crush on me?” asked Jooin nonchalantly.

He thought Yi Ruda would become annoyed and stop asking questions. However, he kept his seat and continued expressing his curiosity.

“A daughter of someone to whom you owe your life? A ‘human’ source of information?”

His questions seemed as if Yi Ruda was getting confused between real life and some spy movies, which felt ironic to Woo Jooin when Yi Ruda himself was actually the person more directly involved in those things. However, at some point, it made sense too.

Rubbing his chin, Woo Jooin blurted out, “A lizard?”

“Huh?”

“A goose? Something like that.”

“Geez, your mind is always a mystery. So, what does that mean?” Yi Ruda asked back, looking sick and tired.

Showing a swiveling smile, Woo Jooin continued speaking.

“If there’s a lizard, isn’t it better to cut its tail off a couple of times than to just catch it at once?”

“What?”

“When it comes to a goose that lays golden eggs, cutting it open must, of course, happen at the last minute,” explained Woo Jooin.

“I get it. You bastard is trying to use another person, huh?”

Such a badass. Murmuring those words, Yi Ruda took another sip of lemonade.

Did he say I was a badass? No idea whom he’s talking to. Woo Jooin said in his thoughts, then he suddenly dropped a remark.

“But I guess I should catch it a little later than it’s planned.”

“Now, what the heck is that?”

Regardless of Yi Ruda mumbling questions, Woo Jooin placed his chin on his palm and fell into thought.

* * *

As June was right around the corner, the evening streets were neither dark nor cold at all. However, I seemed to have felt some needle-sharp spines in the blowing wind disheveling my hair.

Although it was never a cold day today, I shoved my hands deep into my pockets and walked with my back almost rolled up into a ball. It caught some people’s attention walking past me.

Whenever I felt jammed up inside, I usually went to the mall, but the moment I tried to bend my steps toward it, I paused. Since it was the weekend, the mall and the streets in front of it would be crowded with students. Turning back, I began to walk again along the quiet boulevard.

After walking past under the elevated railway, I found that only two or three-story buildings and houses were around me. Except the group of kids shouting and quickly moving past me, the street was tranquil, therefore.

I suddenly stopped walking, then stared at the kids’ faces. They looked so bright, showing no signs of concerns. It made me deeply sigh again.

I thought about their parents who would be residing somewhere in this residential area. They would, one day, compliment them, scold, the other day, and sometimes argue, yell, or quarrel with their kids. Those children would then smile, cry, or sometimes dash out of their houses, feeling heavy with worries and anger. Just like me right now.

Thinking to that extent, I heaved another sigh. Sweeping my hair back, I murmured to myself, “What the hell am I doing here like a kid going through a stormy period of adolescence?”

Besides, I was now in my second year in high school, not a freshman. At home, my workbook was on my desk. I almost threw it there, telling my parents I was on a short trip today with Ban Yeo Ryung. The folded page would be left with questions still unsolved and not even opened up for a quick look today.

In the end, I decided to study alone at home, regarding cram schools weren’t for me. Thus, I was supposed to push myself harder and be more responsible for achieving academic success by myself. Unlike Ban Yeo Ryung, I was able to have better grades only when putting all my efforts into studying.

Those thoughts depressed me again. Gently hitting me on the head, I murmured, “This is self-torture too. SELF-TORTURE!”

But on the other hand, it felt inevitable. I’d been besties with Ban Yeo Ryung for such a long time; what she mostly did was what I did, and so was her.

I, who had known Ban Yeo Ryung for only four or five years, also compared myself with her habitually. Thus, the young Donnie in the past, who knew Ban Yeo Ryung since they were born, would have felt so frustrated beyond all description.

And my parents… When they came to my mind, my brows met in the middle.