GGAS 15

***

“Is he your friend?”

When he entered the kitchen, Lee Jaein approached Kim Abang and asked. Kim Abang stopped opening the container marked thickly with a marker as “Strawberry Chip Cookies” and lifted his head.

“Yes?”

“The person who just went up to your room. His name… I didn’t hear it clearly, but Seo…, I think it was something like that.”

“That’s right, it’s Seo Taerim.”

Kim Abang answered with a smile and then popped the lid open with a snap. Then he sniffed.

“Huh? But this smells like strawberry? That’s strange. These are supposed to be Choco Gel Cookies.”

Kim Abang’s expression changed as if he had come face to face with one of the seven great mysteries. Fortunately, Lee Jaein was one of the few people used to Kim Abang’s constant missteps. He found a container on the shelf boldly labeled “Choco Gel Cookies,” opened the lid, and took out one cookie. Then he pushed it into Kim Abang’s mouth.

“Mm!”

When the sweet chocolate flavor filled his mouth, Kim Abang opened his eyes wide.

“Does that taste like chocolate?”

Lee Jaein asked with a benevolent smile.

“Yes. It’s one hundred percent chocolate! Thank you, Dad!”

“Good. But that friend who just came, I’ve never seen his face before. Where is he a friend from? High school? Or university?”

“Taerim-ssi? Hmm… he’s not a school friend… If I explain, it’ll take a bit…”

Kim Abang rolled his head around, trying to compress the long story between himself and Seo Taerim. After putting in quite some effort, he came up with the perfect answer.

“Ah, that’s it! Taerim-ssi and I are people who first met just a few days ago at a hotel!”

When Kim Abang shouted with a bright smile, Lee Jaein, who had been putting the cookie container back on the shelf, froze.

“…A few days ago, at a hotel?”

“Yes!”

Kim Abang answered brightly while arranging the cookies into a heart shape on a plate. Of course, for someone who had lived with Kim Abang for twenty-seven years like Lee Jaein, it was recognizable as a heart, but to an average person it would have looked like some lopsided circle. But Kim Abang was the type to take pride in his own dexterity.

“Dad, don’t you think I made the heart really well?”

Kim Abang showed off his excellent plating skills to his father.

“I see. That’s a really pretty heart.”

Lee Jaein praised the lopsided circle with a gentle smile. But unlike his calm expression, he was screaming inwardly. Roughly speaking, his thoughts went like this.

‘A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie… A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie… A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie… A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie… A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie… A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie… A few days ago, met at a hotel, rated-19 movie…’

He had heard stories that young people these days used phone apps to continue free relationships, but he had never imagined it would be his own son. That was because, when it came to Kim Abang’s free-spiritedness, it was less about staying out all night for a one-night stand and more about longing for a southern-hemisphere style Christmas and prancing around in a Hawaiian shirt in the middle of winter until he caught a bad cold.

‘But, but Abang is an adult too…’

He tried to calm his troubled mind. Then he stared blankly at his eldest son who was concentrating on pouring orange juice without spilling it.

‘Right… that’s true. Abang is an adult too, so he should be able to do as he wants. Nagging about something like this to a grown-up kid is wrong… Besides, he’s already twenty-seven, how could he not know how to tell good people from bad and just meet anyone recklessly? Of course he must have handled it well. Everything will be fine.’

But when he saw Kim Abang once again making a flood on the table by pouring the orange juice wrong, Lee Jaein became anxious again.

‘No… it doesn’t look fine…’

Looking at the round back of his son’s busy head, Lee Jaein secretly sighed. He was always worried about his eldest son. The younger son was skilled at treating the affairs of the world in terms of numbers and money, but the eldest son thought that just exchanging names with someone meant they were friends. And on top of that, with a face that looked just right for swindlers to take advantage of, he was now saying he had watched a rated-19 movie with someone he first met at a hotel just a few days ago. It seemed clear to him that Kim Abang had been taken advantage of again, and at this point the only comfort left for Lee Jaein was the fact that right after becoming an adult, Kim Abang had gotten a Gardasil shot¹.

Meanwhile, Seo Taerim, who had arrived in Kim Abang’s room, was troubled as he looked at the table and mugs covered in spilled hot chocolate.

‘What… am I supposed to do with this? I thought it was given for me to wash, but in Kim Abang-ssi’s room… there’s no sink.’

Of course, most people did not have sinks in their rooms. But Kim Abang was a bit unusual, and since he was a third-generation chaebol, Seo Taerim thought, if he wanted, he could very well have a room equipped like that.

‘Or could this hot chocolate… be a snack?’

But as Seo Taerim remembered it, Kim Abang had clearly said he would bring out juice and snacks to go with it as refreshments, not hot chocolate.

‘But if I look at it from another angle… Kim Abang-ssi always tends to focus not so much on the means but on achieving the goal…’

If Kim Abang had that tendency, Seo Taerim had a tendency to suddenly gain vocabulary after going through something difficult. That was because his exhausted brain, emptied out, could no longer form sentences on its own and would borrow phrases buried in his unconscious from textbooks. So whether Kim Abang brought out hot chocolate or snacks, Seo Taerim thought of the saying “as long as it tastes good, it’s fine” but in a needlessly difficult version involving means and ends, and nodded to himself as if he had understood Kim Abang’s behavioral pattern.

Then he picked up the mug sloshing with hot chocolate. It was quite messy, but if Kim Abang found out that he had not even touched the snack he had prepared with effort, he would feel hurt. Seo Taerim searched for the relatively clean-looking part, brought it to his lips, and tilted the cup to taste the hot chocolate.

“Mmm, it’s good.”

Seo Taerim muttered. Kim Abang definitely had skill in cooking. If he studied professionally, he might very well walk the path of a chef.

‘Of course, Kim Abang-ssi’s hands wouldn’t last though…’

Seo Taerim involuntarily frowned as he recalled Kim Abang’s fingers covered in character band-aids.

‘It would be better if he paid more attention when using knives and pots.’

Seo Taerim took another sip of hot chocolate while trying hard to recall the name of the ointment he used to use to get rid of scars.

‘Medi… Medi…’

He could not remember what came after Medi. He drank the hot chocolate as he carefully searched his memory.

‘Hmm… it definitely started with Medi.’

Just then, the door suddenly burst open. Seo Taerim lifted his head in surprise, thinking maybe it was Lee Jaein or another family member. But whether fortunately or unfortunately, this time it was only Kim Abang.

“Taerim-ssi!”

Kim Abang shouted brightly and then presented the tray with the plate of cookies with a ta-da.

“Let’s eat this together~.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Seo Taerim put down the mug he was holding and stood up to take the tray. But he could not. That was because Kim Abang suddenly exclaimed and leapt up like lightning.

“Why are you eating that!”

At the sudden scolding, Seo Taerim was flustered and his eyes went wide.

“…What? But, Kim Abang-ssi, you just… told me… to eat together…”

“No, I said it wrong. Not that, this! Not the cookies, the hot chocolate! The one Taerim-ssi is holding!”

“Uh… I can’t drink it?”

“Of course you can’t! That’s the one that needs to be washed!”

“…What?”

“While I was washing other things, food waste must have splashed into it and made it dirty…!”

Kim Abang quickly set the tray down on the table and snatched the mug from Seo Taerim’s hand. Then, after carefully checking the inside, his face went pale.

“Taerim-ssi, did you drink this whole thing without leaving a single drop?”

“……”

“Does your stomach feel okay?”

“……”

“Do you feel queasy or anything?”

“…So… you’re saying…”

“Yes.”

“…So, inside that hot chocolate, food waste splashed in and got mixed?”

Seo Taerim muttered in shock. Now that he thought about it, the taste had been a little strange.

“There must have been chunks floating in the hot chocolate like bok choy pieces… did you really not see them?”

“…What I was chewing wasn’t bok choy stalks though. It was more like chocolate lumps…”

Seo Taerim, denying reality, tried to raise another possibility. Then Kim Abang looked shocked and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Ca-carrot was what I ate earlier though…”

“……”

“What do I do… Taerim-ssi, do you want to throw up?”

Kim Abang asked in agitation. Seo Taerim, who had a mild case of mysophobia, immediately wanted to answer bluntly, ‘Haha, yes, throwing up will do. Actually, I feel like getting a full gastric lavage,’ but that seemed a little lacking in dignity. So he bit his lips, put on his usual calm and handsome smile, and carefully chose his words before opening his mouth slowly.

“Kim Abang-ssi, instead of a fancy patterned bag, I’d like a regular black bag, please.”

“What?”

“My stomach, it’s—bleg—.”

“Eeek! Taerim-ssi, nooo!”

Kim Abang’s scream-like cry rang throughout the entire house.

1. Gardasil is a vaccine that protects against human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a common virus that spreads through sexual contact and can cause cervical cancer, anal cancer, genital warts, and other cancers in both men and women. ↩︎