F7

Sitting in front of his laptop with a cup of coffee, Siwoo checked the contents of Yeonho’s car dashcam file that he had copied earlier. He had transferred only the file to his phone and reinserted the memory card back into the dashcam. Of course, he had deleted any footage that showed himself.

As he fast-forwarded through the unimportant sections, Siwoo’s expression twisted the moment Seong Junyoung appeared in the video. The day before Yeonho came to Platte Resort, he had picked Junyoung up in his car and gone to dinner together. Afterward, instead of heading to their family home where their parents lived, they had gone to a different apartment and spent the night there.

During the drive, Junyoung constantly poured out lines like “I love you,” “I missed you all day,” “All I could think about was being alone with you,” and “You look beautiful today too,” without hesitation. Yeonho didn’t reject any of those affections.

Eyes glazed over, Siwoo stared at the footage on the screen with a deranged expression and muttered darkly.

“Why does he keep having sex with his family like some rutting animal?”

Even before confirming the card Junyoung had sent Yeonho, Siwoo had already known his face and that he was Yeonho’s stepbrother. But he had never imagined they might actually be in a romantic relationship.

He only realized it after visiting Room 315 and seeing the bouquet from that man sitting in Yeonho’s arms. Sitting with his legs crossed, Siwoo tapped the wooden table with his fingertips.

“Would he stop if I just killed him?”

***

With his gray and sky-blue suitcases loaded into the trunk, Yeonho tried to flee from the underground parking lot. He knew that wherever he went, the broadcasting staff and actors running this experiment would follow him, but right now, he just wanted to get away from Siwoo.

The sensory stimulation that the man named Kim Siwoo brought to his sight, smell, touch, and hearing felt like too much of a variable in this experiment. Yeonho just hoped the broadcast would never show him pursuing even gustatory stimulation from Siwoo. He had no desire for the world to witness him acting like some lust-crazed beast.

He was sure that once he changed locations, a new actor would be brought in, and Siwoo would not appear again. He got into the driver’s seat, ready to escape, but the tire pressure warning light on the dashboard held him back. Getting out to inspect the tire, he found several puncture marks from something sharp.

“Why now of all times? I need to run.”

Yeonho was not the type to get angry or impatient about things like this. He was the kind of person who calmly thought of the next step no matter what happened. But this was a special situation. For the first time, he had almost let a dirty word slip from his mouth, one that had never spoken anything but elegance and grace.

Just then, as if planned in advance, he heard perfectly aligned footsteps behind him at the most unbelievable timing. He already knew who had come to watch him struggle. Turning slowly, he found Siwoo tilting his head innocently as he asked,

“ Joo Yeonho-ssi, is something wrong?”

Yeonho looked over the man collecting information about him through stalking and deceiving him with overflowing suspicion. Siwoo ignored the look and spoke with sickening sweetness.

“Did your tire blow out? Then just ride with me. What’s your schedule today?”

He smiled. That smile told Yeonho everything he needed to know. The tire hadn’t just gone flat. Someone had deliberately slashed it. Those thick, firm fingers had definitely gripped a sharp object and jabbed at his tire again and again. Even appearing now to offer him a ride was probably part of the script.

In that moment, Yeonho realized he couldn’t escape Siwoo. His plan for the day was ruined, and he would have to create a new one from scratch.

Siwoo knelt on one knee and extended his hand to help him up. In that moment, his beauty was so flawless that he looked like a god sent to control and manipulate Yeonho’s worthless life. Standing with Siwoo’s help, Yeonho grabbed the wicked fingers that had surely punctured his tire and said,

“I was going to take photos. I’m here to work on a piece for my graduation exhibition.”

The real problem was that this man, who had illegally invaded his life, did not feel entirely unpleasant to Yeonho. He had no desire to interrogate him and no desire to let go of his hand. As Yeonho slowly released his grip, Siwoo clutched his hand even tighter. Then, he calmly led Yeonho to the neighboring block where his car was parked.

“Kim Siwoo-ssi, hold on. I need to grab my camera.”

Yeonho spoke while walking backward. He thought Siwoo would let go of his hand, just for a moment. But even as Yeonho reached into the passenger seat to get his camera bag, Siwoo never let go.

The power of a good night’s sleep was truly something. Sitting in the passenger seat of Siwoo’s car, Yeonho looked out the window and was moved by how the world looked sky-blue. Today’s weather was clear. No fine dust. For Yeonho, the simple fact that the world matched what the weather forecast said was an extraordinary joy.

And all of this was thanks to the stalker driving beside him. Without him, today would have been another day where the world looked like the ashy color of flicked cigarette ends. He would have been lost in despair, unable to distinguish between sky-blue and gray.

They picked up the conversation from where they had left off earlier. Yeonho assumed that Siwoo’s name, age, and any other information he offered would be lies. But he decided to speak sincerely about himself.

“I’m twenty-five.”

“Then I’m a year older.”

“Even if I get more comfortable, please don’t stop using formal speech. I like it this way.”

“Alright. I will.”

Siwoo smiled and nodded. Yeonho’s request came from a very basic and simple desire. Whether it was family, school, or longtime acquaintances, almost no one addressed him formally or called him Joo Yeonho-ssi anymore, since he was still a university student.

It was a relatively new experience in Yeonho’s life. Maybe that’s why Siwoo’s words sounded so much sweeter. It was one of the many reasons why Yeonho couldn’t bring himself to run away.

“Thank you for doing what I asked.”

Even if his name and age were all fake, if Siwoo really was twenty-six, then his spending habits were far from ordinary. The neat shirt he wore, the watch on his wrist, his shoes, his car, and even his cologne were all high-end brands. Yeonho hadn’t gone out of his way to notice. Their tastes just happened to be similar.

He wondered if it was all product placement. At this point, he started to wonder how many ads were attached to this documentary, how many viewers it had. It would have been better if he were more photogenic, but that was something one had to be born with. Since he couldn’t even control himself and had walked straight into this mess, he just hoped the audience was at least entertained by his pathetic descent.

They were about to talk about what to have for lunch when a call came in from Junyoung. Siwoo’s eyes turned cold when he saw the word “Second Brother” on Yeonho’s phone screen. Yeonho answered and spoke to Junyoung in a casual tone.

“Yeah, nothing special. I finally slept well for once. Thanks for checking on me. I’m on my way to shoot now.”

He didn’t mention the suspicious man who had stayed with him without permission. When Junyoung said “I love you,” Yeonho ended the call without returning the phrase.

He did love Junyoung as family, especially after he had supported Yeonho through his emotional breakdown following the ski resort accident. But Yeonho was not the type to casually say “I love you” even to his own brother.

Their eldest brother had also showered him with constant declarations of love, but ever since Yeonho had grown older, he had never said it back. Even now, after his death, Yeonho had no regrets about that.

Siwoo, eyes vacant again, asked in a low voice,

“Is he someone you’re dating?”

“No, he’s my brother. Not just someone I know. He’s family.”

Yeonho found himself with an opening to ask whether Siwoo had someone he was seeing. But there was no reason to ask. Whatever answer Siwoo gave, it wouldn’t be trustworthy, and whether he had a lover or not was none of Yeonho’s business. It wouldn’t change anything.

But then Siwoo answered without being asked.

“I’m not seeing anyone.”

“That’s surprising. I thought you definitely would be.”

Yeonho assumed this was just part of the script and remained calm. Then Siwoo continued speaking on his own.

“There was someone I loved very much. But they abandoned me completely. I think they moved on a long time ago, but even after five years, I still haven’t. I just can’t meet anyone else.”

Yeonho responded with a gentle smile, giving the suspicious liar the kind of reaction he wanted.

“That’s interesting. I’ve never liked anyone that much. My feelings always passed quickly. I don’t even remember most of the people I used to be interested in.”

Siwoo turned his head from the front windshield and looked at Yeonho. Meeting his eyes, Yeonho saw something for the first time.

Those were definitely the eyes of someone who wanted to murder him. This man might be even more dangerous than he had thought.