Cases where you start something you can't finish, this is exactly one of them.
...Damn it... I should've held back. What if Seo Chaheun suddenly comes back later?
Chaheun tapped his forehead. Even if he could take it, if Seo Chaheun popped back into place at this moment, wouldn't the kid have to bear the full brunt of that mean-tempered Seo Jaeheon's wrath?
...Fine. Just until I'm an adult, or until he graduates and can leave the house, since he was held back a year... anyway, until then, I'll grit my teeth and hold on here somehow.
After graduation, he'd survive out in society somehow.
For now, going home in this situation wasn't quite an option, and with only one friend to his name, Chaheun had exactly one option.
Kang Ihyeon, upon receiving the call, seemed a bit surprised but quickly told him his address and let him inside.
"You must be Ihyeon's friend?"
Despite the late hour, Ihyeon's mother welcomed him warmly without any hint of surprise. Chaheun bowed politely.
"Ihyeon's mother, hello. My name is Seo Chaheun."
"Oh my, how does our Ihyeon have such a handsome friend? Or should I say, the fact that he has a friend at all is the surprising part?"
"Ah, Mom."
"You've never brought a friend home. Chaheun, thank you for hanging out with our Ihyeon."
Ihyeon tried to stop his mother, but she laughed hohoho and pushed her own son back. She seemed genuinely delighted that Ihyeon had brought a friend over. Chaheun watched the two of them squabble, then bowed his head with a faint smile.
"Not at all. I'm the one indebted to Ihyeon. More importantly, I don't know why he never bragged about how beautiful his mother is."
"Yah, Seo Chaheun!"
"Oh my... hohoho. What would you like to eat, dear?"
"I'll eat anything."
Reaching the second floor where Ihyeon's room was, Chaheun looked around and thought that for a guy, he kept things surprisingly neat.
"Yah, isn't your lip service completely insane?"
"Hm? I meant it though."
"...?"
At this moment, Kang Ihyeon should've realized something had gone wrong.
"Yah, my dad is still alive."
"It's a good thing when both parents are healthy."
That his friend wasn't after his mother, but that his taste was significantly off.
Bring-bring.
A short ringtone kept spilling from his phone.
...Seo Chaheun's father.
Chaheun picked up the phone and briefly debated whether to answer, then finally excused himself to Ihyeon, stepped out of the room, and pressed the accept button, holding it to his ear.
"Chaheun, where are you?"
"Ah, I was going to tell you... I was planning to sleep over at a friend's house tonight--"
"You'd better come back immediately."
The chilly words cut off Chaheun's sentence.
He hadn't had much conversation with Seo Chaeil, but this was the first time he'd interjected like this, and Chaheun was a bit taken aback. He collected himself for a moment before answering.
"...I already agreed to sleep over."
"It's not good for a high schooler to sleep out casually. Tell me the location and I'll come get you."
"..."
He wasn't wrong, exactly, but obeying like that felt a bit resentful. Honestly, it didn't seem plausible that Seo Chaeil didn't know about the way he was treated at home, and wasn't that just neglect?
...Still, tattling to a father that Seo Jaeheon was bullying him was a bit,
"But Jaeheon-hyung won't leave me alone, you know."
He probably should.
Talking however he pleases.
Chaheun decided to relay every last detail to the parent. If nothing else, for Seo Chaheun who'd return later.
"What?"
"On the way home earlier, hyung told me to keep my eyes down and we got into it. I already took a hit, and if I go home he's obviously going to hit me more, so I'm too scared to go."
Having tattled thoroughly, not missing a single small detail, Chaheun quietly switched his phone to silent and shoved it into his pocket.
"...What was that?"
The moment he came back into the room, Kang Ihyeon asked with feigned indifference but seriously. He was staring at Chaheun with a somewhat grave expression.
"Hm?"
"...Your busted lip, did your hyung do that?"
"Ah, siblings normally get into fistfights. I was being cocky and got hit."
Since Kang Ihyeon seemed a little seriously concerned about domestic violence, Chaheun tacked on an explanation like an excuse. Kang Ihyeon, from what he'd seen, had clearly been raised with proper home education.
"...Is that so? I thought--"
"Thought what?"
"That you look scrawny enough to be a punching bag."
"...I'm actually better at fighting than I look, you know?"
"Sure, uh-huh."
Kang Ihyeon smirked and shrugged. The attitude of "I know that's not true but let's go with it" wounded Chaheun's pride.
Well... with that size.
Kang Ihyeon hadn't been named kendo team captain for nothing. His frame easily topped 180 with decent muscle to boot. Refreshingly broad-shouldered, the very picture of an athlete-type boy.
"Fucking hell, Seo Chaheun, right there, right there, aaah! Yah, why are you grabbing me?"
Without even deciding what to do together, Kang Ihyeon brought two game controllers and proposed something interesting, a co-op game. It seemed to be a game where two odd clay-lump characters cooperated on quests and advanced to the next stage, but Chaheun precisely grabbed Ihyeon's character and rolled them both off a ledge. Watching them tumble together down into a ravine, Chaheun let out an impressed sound.
"Wow, this is hard..."
"You know being this bad is a talent, right?"
"Hmm... we didn't have a game console at home so I never played."
"Ah, right... some households are strict, huh."
Ihyeon, who'd been angry a moment ago, suddenly went solemn and lowered his voice.
...Looks like he feels a bit sorry.
...In reality, it wasn't that his family was strict, but that he had no money to spend. Seo Chaheun's family was well-off, though. Either way, saying so would just embarrass Kang Ihyeon more.
Ihyeon, who had been giving him a bit of grief before, saw Chaheun marveling at each new thing and started focusing on helping him.
"Yah, press X on that."
"This?"
"That's a different one. This one."
Ihyeon eventually leaned in close beside the terrible-at-games Chaheun to press for him. He wrapped an arm around Chaheun's hand and even started explaining which key was which button as he pressed them.
When Chaheun turned his head slightly, Ihyeon raised an eyebrow.
The large frame befitting a kendo captain, the manly, refreshing features up close, made Chaheun blink.
...The more I look, he's a decent kid.
Rounded temperament, and nothing lacking in height or looks either. It was a silly thought, but if he'd been around a year later, he might've been a male lead candidate too.
Chaheun smiled fondly at Ihyeon.
"What, why, why are you looking at me like that."
"You're good at kendo, good at games too... you're good at everything, huh."
"...After that comes 'except studying,' right?"
Chaheun tilted his head at the sudden mention of studying.
"No. Grades would be nice too, but if you're focusing on something else, low grades are natural. Unless you're a genius."
"..."
"What?"
"...No, only someone like you would say it that way. You know. Our school's private, so if the teachers don't see grades, they look down on athletes. And my mom doesn't take my side on that either."
At Ihyeon's grumbling, Chaheun huffed a laugh. He'd probably heard that kind of thing a lot and was preemptively wincing, but from Chaheun's view, Ihyeon was really a good student.
"Don't mind it. Teachers have a rigid side... and your mother says it because as her son you're precious. She's hoping your life isn't hard, so from her experience, academics probably felt like the most important thing to fall back on. Not because she doesn't trust you."
"..."
"Unfortunately, in this country, no matter how good you are at sports, unless you're national team level, people just see you as a full-of-yourself dumb jock. Your mother's probably worried about that."
As Ihyeon listened silently, his brow furrowed. He seemed to be pondering something, then his eyes widened as if he'd figured something out.
"...Yah, you..."
"Huh?"
"You sound like our uncle."
"Really."
"...Weird guy."
Kang Ihyeon said that, then plopped down beside him and started diligently teaching Chaheun the game again.
They were deep into the game when the door swung open.
"Ack, Mom, I'm still playing one--"
"You, again, games! ...No, that's not it, Chaheun, your father's here to pick you up."
Ihyeon's mother started to snap at Ihyeon out of habit, then looked at Chaheun with a worried expression. At the mention of his father coming to pick him up, Chaheun blinked instead of answering, taken aback.
How did he even find out to come?
Wondering if she'd misunderstood something, he went downstairs to check, and sure enough, in front of a black sedan parked at the house, Seo Chaeil was standing at the door. Even at this late hour dressed in a clean suit, Seo Chaeil, thanks to his tall stature, looked like a middle-aged model from a magazine in front of the sedan.
"...Father?"
Seo Chaeil expressionlessly glanced at Kang Ihyeon, who had followed Chaheun, and then looked at Chaheun as he opened his mouth.
"Seo Chaheun."
"...Yes?"
"Get in."
"..."
Swallowing at the odd atmosphere, Chaheun looked toward the front passenger door. Seo Chaeil always had a driver with him, but he was alone now. Because of the late hour, the driver had probably gone home, and Seo Chaeil had driven himself.
...Seo Chaeil.
Seo Chaeil had paid attention to Seo Chaheun the first day, but after that there'd been no word. He'd been too busy to even come home, and the fact that he'd come looking personally just because of an overnight stay meant maybe he really had been unable to check in due to work.
What's this about?
After the first day, there'd been no more rides in the car, and even at home Chaheun ate alone and holed up alone in his room, so this was completely unexpected.
Since the housekeeper prepared Seo Chaheun's meals separately, this seemed to be the norm, and nobody had ever come looking for Chaheun.
...What's the reason for coming to get me?
Chaheun's eyes flickered briefly. Not just Ihyeon but Ihyeon's mother was also standing at the front door watching in visible confusion. Not wanting to inconvenience the family further, Chaheun decided to obediently follow Chaeil and moved his feet.
"Chaheun's going to stay at our house tonight--"
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Ihyeon's mother started to say something, but Chaheun quickly cut her off.
"Mother!"
"Chaheun."
"I've imposed on you. The snacks you made were really delicious. I'll come by again next time. Ihyeon, see you tomorrow at school."
...He couldn't impose further on someone who'd been ready to feed him and put him up.
Chaheun said this and bowed deeply. When he raised his head, Kang Ihyeon was watching this side with something serious in his expression and tried to step forward, but Chaheun shook his head.
Seo Chaeil put Chaheun in the passenger seat, gave a short nod to Kang Ihyeon's mother, and got in the driver's seat, and after that the silent drive began. Chaheun kept sneaking glances at Seo Chaeil, oppressed by the suffocating silence inside the car.
