GGAS 30

Eun Sanho’s eyes trembled with self-reproach when suddenly a large hand appeared in his sight and wrapped around his fingers that were reddened with scratches.

“Eun Sanho-ssi, could you please say it one more time?”

Eun Sanho flinched his shoulders but slowly lifted his head. Kim Gwanggong’s eyes, which he met again, were still calm for someone who had said frightening words. His gaze was still cold, but the warmth surrounding his hand was too direct. It was a warmth that could not be mistaken for anything else, a plain warmth so clear that nothing else could be seen.

“I want to hear it.”

Kim Gwanggong spoke slowly and precisely in a pleasant mid-low tone, and he rubbed the inside of Eun Sanho’s wrist with his thumb. Eun Sanho’s fingertips twitched reflexively. It felt like a tingling sensation spread from the inside of his wrist. His whole attention was drawn into his wrist.

“What did you say earlier?”

“So…”

Eun Sanho muttered blankly.

“Yes.”

“So… in any case, violence should not be allowed.”

Eun Sanho, his mind distracted elsewhere, answered as if he was entranced. Kim Gwanggong, who finally got an answer, furrowed his brows.

“Violence?”

Kim Gwanggong asked back.

“……!”

Eun Sanho suddenly came to his senses and pulled his hand away in shock. Kim Gwanggong glanced briefly at the small hand that slipped out of his grasp in an instant, then shifted his gaze to Eun Sanho’s face, which was now filled with embarrassment.

“Did you want to use violence?”

Kim Gwanggong asked as if he was surprised. Eun Sanho blinked with a confused expression.

“Hit… hit him… make them crawl on all fours… that’s not what you meant?”

Eun Sanho asked stammering.

“I hadn’t thought of that, but if that’s what Mr. Eun Sanho wants, I will put that down as number 4.”

Kim Gwanggong spoke slowly and wrote “4” on the paper, and only then did Eun Sanho grasp the situation. He quickly crossed his arms into an X.

“Ah, no! I don’t want that! Never! Never!”

At Eun Sanho’s vehement rejection, Kim Gwanggong drew a thick line over “4” with his pen.

“Then let’s leave it at three.”

“Yes…”

Eun Sanho leaned his forehead against his crossed arms with a sigh of relief, then raised his head and lowered his arms again at a sudden thought.

“But… then what does it mean to make someone walk on all fours in number three?”

Eun Sanho asked. Instead of answering, Kim Gwanggong pulled out a glossy leaflet from inside his jacket and held it out.

“‘Safari Play Volunteer with Bang Bang…?’”

Eun Sanho received the colorful leaflet, read aloud the round letters written at the top, then looked at Kim Gwanggong with eyes asking for an explanation.

“Even people who go to the gym every day collapse for a week after going here just once. You can’t help but crawl around on the floor. Of course, during the volunteer work you also have to imitate a lion and carry the children, which means you must practice quadrupedal walking diligently.”

Kim Gwanggong pointed at the lion character in the middle of the leaflet as he spoke.

“Ah…”

Eun Sanho sighed after realizing the hidden circumstances behind the overly cute lion character.

“Um… so this is really tough work, then.”

“This time, other than the organizer and myself, there wasn’t a single volunteer. There’s a limit to tricking different sports students every quarter by telling them it’s an easy service. There are no students left to trick. One student even said that if he ever makes an enemy in the future, he’ll write them a recommendation for this place. Unfortunately, it seems he’s still maintaining good relationships with everyone.”

“…I see.”

Eun Sanho muttered softly, then looked at the leaflet again. In the bottom right corner, the details were written. ‘Volunteers very welcome’, ‘Unlimited refills of strawberry chocolate as snacks, but since eating too many sweets is bad for you, if you eat one chocolate you must also eat a bowl of native bellflower root salad…’

Eun Sanho looked at Kim Gwanggong. He didn’t look like the kind of person who would eat a whole bowl of native bellflower salad just to eat one strawberry chocolate.

‘So that means he starves throughout the volunteer work…’

Eun Sanho suddenly felt a lump in his throat. How could a person go around always starving? He needed to eat something, whether it was rose pasta or strawberry chocolate. What was the point of being handsome like someone out of a painting if he couldn’t even eat properly and instead threw himself into the sea to save others? Why on earth was a person so foolish? He bit his lips tightly, he was about to start nagging.

‘Nagging? Who am I to…’

Eun Sanho bit his lips harder, and thanks to the blood flow he offered up from them, he barely managed to hold his words back. But he still couldn’t help feeling upset. Kim Gwanggong seemed far too kind. And he felt so sorry for having misunderstood him, even for a moment.

“…I’m sorry for misunderstanding strangely. Gwanggong-ssi isn’t that kind of person.”

Eun Sanho handed the leaflet back politely with both hands. Looking at Eun Sanho’s face that openly showed how sorry he felt, Kim Gwanggong wondered if a person could really be that transparent. Of course, he wasn’t tactless enough to say, “You’re amazing” in front of someone who was apologizing.

“No. It was good that you had such imagination.”

Kim Gwanggong received the leaflet, folded it neatly, and placed it on the nightstand, speaking in an even, flat tone.

“Mm, maybe I should really cut down on movies…”

Eun Sanho muttered awkwardly.

“It’s fine. Hobbies are important.”

Kim Gwanggong answered briefly, then stretched out three fingers, his middle, ring, and little finger.

“Then, which one do you want among number 1, 2, and 3?”

When Kim Gwanggong asked, Eun Sanho opened his eyes a little wider, then soon chuckled.

“You said hobbies are important, but you’re not taking out number 1.”

“The one who said the more options the better was you, Eun Sanho-ssi.”

Kim Gwanggong, who liked the sight of Eun Sanho’s face smiling softly like down feathers, did not bother to withdraw number 1 and acted firmly.

“That’s true.”

Eun Sanho nodded and began to think it over carefully.

‘Honestly, I just want to do number 3… but since it’s people who cheated, sending them to a daycare would probably be bad for the kids’ emotional development… but if I choose number 1, then I can’t ever watch movies again…’

It truly wasn’t something he could decide easily.

“Mm…”

After nearly five minutes of serious thought, Eun Sanho squeezed his eyes shut, then carefully grabbed the tip of Kim Gwanggong’s little finger.

“I’ll… choose this one.”

Eun Sanho said.

‘If I ask him to give them a hard job that I can do away from the kids, that should work, right?’

He came up with that little trick and peeked one eye open. And in that moment, he forgot to breathe for a while at the sight before him. Kim Gwanggong’s gaze was fixed on the little finger that Eun Sanho held, and the side of his neck below his ear was flushed red.

“…I didn’t mean for you to choose one of my fingers.”

Kim Gwanggong spoke stiffly, his cheek also reddening along with his neck.

“……”

Since it was the first time he had seen Kim Gwanggong properly blushing, Eun Sanho looked blank, his lips slightly parted.

‘That person can make that kind of expression…?’

He wanted to see that expression a little more, Eun Sanho unconsciously fiddled with Kim Gwanggong’s little finger. Because of that, Kim Gwanggong turned red all the way to his ears.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Kim Gwanggong furrowed his brow at the heat that surged up.

“…Eun Sanho-ssi, let go of this before we talk.”

He couldn’t bring himself to snatch his hand away, so he voiced his demand instead. But Eun Sanho didn’t let go of the finger, and instead, in a dazed voice, muttered nonsense like, “Gwanggong-ssi, pink looks good on you…”

‘It’s driving me crazy.’

Kim Gwanggong was debating whether he should pull his hand away even if it seemed rude, when a noisy clamor of footsteps came from the entrance of the emergency room.

“……?”

Since they were in the emergency room, he thought maybe something serious had happened, and quickly turned his head. Then, someone rushed in, sobbing and panting. A round face, round eyes, round nose… it was someone Kim Gwanggong could never mistake, Kim Abang. Instinctively, Kim Gwanggong stood up from his chair and blocked Eun Sanho’s line of sight. He had no exact basis for it, but he was sure that if Eun Sanho and Kim Abang met, things would get complicated.

“Gonggong-ah, hyung-ah came! Gonggong-ah, where are you! My Gonggong who fell into the water, the hyung-ah you wanted to see has come!”

Kim Abang cried out desperately. His voice was so desperate and lively that even Eun Sanho, who had been dazed for a while, quickly came back to his senses.

“Ah, that person’s younger brother must have fallen into the water too…”

Eun Sanho said with pity and tried to peer past Kim Gwanggong’s back.

“It seems so.”

Kim Gwanggong answered calmly and blocked him again. Then Eun Sanho looked up at him with worry.

“What do we do? Even if we’re like this, it looks like their child fell in…”

“…The medical staff will take good care of him.”

Kim Gwanggong thought to himself that once he got home, he would absolutely forbid that “hyung-ah” business. Even his head, which had stayed fine after falling into seawater, was now pounding.

‘But that’s for when I get home. Right now I must not let it be known that I’m Gonggong.’

Kim Gwanggong clenched his teeth desperately and stood up, subtly blocking Eun Sanho’s view.

“Eun Sanho-ssi, I’ll go get some air outside.”

“Outside?”

Eun Sanho unconsciously looked out the window and froze. Outside, the trees were shaking violently like the hair of a rock singer headbanging.

“Right now…?”

Eun Sanho looked at the window frame that shook badly with an unpleasant squeaking noise and asked. Kim Gwanggong, who had been fine until just a moment ago, felt bewildered by the sudden weather acting like madness, but decided to exaggerate it.

“Nice weather.”

Kim Gwanggong said calmly. Eun Sanho, in order to hide his astonishment, tensed all the muscles in his face and ended up with an expression too strange to describe as he looked up at Kim Gwanggong.

“That…?”

“Doesn’t it seem perfect for drying a shirt?”

“Ah, a shirt…”

Eun Sanho muttered as his expression eased, as if he understood a little. Certainly, with wind like that, it did seem perfect for drying Kim Gwanggong’s shirt, which was still damp. But was drying a shirt worth risking someone’s life? Eun Sanho lightly held the sleeve of Kim Gwanggong’s clothes.

“Gwanggong-ssi, if you face the cold wind while wet, you’ll catch a cold. Wouldn’t it be better to ask the nurse if they have a hair dryer?”

Kim Gwanggong paused for a moment because he found Eun Sanho, who looked at him with worry, cute.

“…I prefer natural wind over a dryer.”

Kim Gwanggong added the explanation a beat late, a statement that seemed unreasonable but was, surprisingly, true. In fact, next to worrying about his meals, Kim Abang’s other constant concern about Kim Gwanggong was his post-shower habits. According to Kim Abang’s observations, Chairwoman Kim’s cute second son Gonggong had the habit of wandering around after washing up with only a shower gown loosely thrown on, just right for catching a cold. And his hands were so clumsy that he never even tied the gown properly, leaving his chest exposed. No matter how resistant he was to the cold, he would still drip water everywhere without drying his hair at all. So, unless he lived forever with Chairwoman Kim’s reliable first son Bang Bang, who tied his gown properly, wiped the floor properly, and could share a household peacefully, the wooden floors of any house he lived in would rot away.

“Ah, natural… you prefer natural wind…”

Eun Sanho repeated awkwardly after him, glancing at the window. The wind still raged too wildly to be brushed off as natural wind. But since Kim Gwanggong had lived that way until now, there was nothing he could say.

“Uh… well, natural wind is good. They say drying your hair naturally also reduces hair loss.”

Barely managing to hide his unease, Eun Sanho laughed awkwardly and let go of the sleeve.

“I see.”

Kim Gwanggong (a man, 27 years old, living in Shancho Boulevard, who abandoned style and once ordered boxes of ultra-powerful dryers that went whiiirrr just to avoid living with Kim Abang forever) agreed.

‘So Eun Sanho-ssi thinks positively of natural drying. I should return the dryers.’

After reaching that somehow wrong conclusion, he picked up the jacket that had been crumpled on the nightstand and drew the curtain around the bed with a sweep.

“It’s cold wind, so avoid walking as much as possible.”

When he gave that warning, the shadow beyond the curtain nodded. Kim Gwanggong felt a bit reassured and turned toward Kim Abang, who was still desperately searching for “our Gonggong who fell in the water.”

‘How on earth did he find this place again?’

It was certain there was no GPS attached. Kim Abang was hopeless with machines.

“Maybe the problem is the so-called twin’s intuition or whatever it is that Kim Abang uses every day to look for me…”

Kim Gwanggong deeply regretted once again that they hadn’t been born separately and tried to slip out through the back door of the emergency room. But just then,

“Kim Abang-ssi, isn’t that your younger brother?!”

Seo Taerim, who had come with Kim Abang, spotted Kim Gwanggong and shouted.

‘Damn it.’

Kim Gwanggong filled his head with thoughts that would ruin Seo Taerim’s sleep when Kim Abang, his face wet with tears and snot but smiling, came bounding over with his short arms spread and hugged him tight.

“You’re alive, our Gonggong is alive!”

Kim Abang clung to him and then pulled his head back, leaving tears and snot stretched like strings. Kim Gwanggong looked down at his shirt. Seawater, tears, snot… it was a complete mess.

“This is crazy.”

Kim Gwanggong muttered.

“Hm? What did you say?”

Kim Abang sniffled as he asked. Even a stranger would have pitied him, with snot dripping pathetically from his nose.

“…I said since I’m wet, it would be better if you let go.”

“Oh no, what was I thinking!”

Kim Abang exclaimed in alarm and hurriedly swung around the giant backpack that was strapped to his back.

“J-just wait a second. There were beach towels and a dryer here somewhere…”

Kim Gwanggong grabbed Kim Abang’s fussy hand and stopped him.

“Enough. Don’t take it out.”

“But…”

“I said enough. If you take it out again, you’ll lose everything.”

“But… are you really okay? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

“Really? Really, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“What do you want me to do for you?”

“Nothing.”

“I can do anything! I can even get you a star!”

Kim Abang said eagerly. But Kim Gwanggong felt nothing. As far as he knew, Kim Abang was the type who would fetch a star only to pickle it into kimchi.

“Not necessary…”

Kim Gwanggong started to refuse out of habit but paused. Thinking it over again, there was indeed one thing he needed Kim Abang to do. But never once in his life had he imagined he would ever ask such a thing from Kim Abang, not even in a dream.

‘…Damn.’

He pressed his lips into a stiff line, then parted them, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times. Finally, he closed his eyes briefly and opened them again, speaking very, very quietly.

“…Say it.”

“Hm? What did you say?”

“…Call me.”

“Ah, call you what? What do you need? Snacks? Goditang¹?”

When Kim Abang tried to open his backpack zipper, Kim Gwanggong grabbed his wrist and let out a low sigh.

“Stop carrying Goditang around in your bag. You always burst the packets and ruin the bag. And I’m not asking you to give me something.”

“……?”

Kim Abang blinked as he shoved the half-pulled Goditang packet back into the bottom of his backpack. Kim Gwanggong heard the familiar sound of the packet popping under the weight of other things and moved his lips.

“So….”

“Yes, say it.”

“So… call me Gonggong.”

“……?”

Kim Abang’s eyes went wide. Kim Gwanggong turned his head slightly to avoid his surprised gaze. Asking to be called Gonggong was not a request he liked, but there was no other choice. If Kim Abang went on loudly singing “Kim Gwanggong, Kim Gwanggong” in that clear voice of his and Eun Sanho happened to hear it, he might wonder why the name of the man who had supposedly stepped out was being spoken here and draw the curtain. So Kim Gwanggong had no choice but to be called something Eun Sanho would never connect to him, like that wretched “Gonggong.”

“You…”

Kim Abang’s voice trembled slightly. And exactly three seconds later, Kim Gwanggong was hugged even tighter than before.

“Ugh…”

Kim Gwanggong groaned under the crushing grip that squeezed his ribs.

“I’m sorry…! I knew you felt hurt whenever I called you by your name instead of Gonggong…!”

“That never happened.”

Kim Gwanggong denied it. But judging by how his already damp chest was getting even wetter, his words didn’t seem to reach Kim Abang’s ears at all.

“And yet… hic, every time I treated you coldly, I kept… I kept calling you by your name! Hic, I’m… I’m… the most disqualified hyung-ah in the whole world…!”

Kim Abang cried out tearfully. Calling himself “hyung-ah” even in this situation instead of just “hyung” showed there was still a long way to go. Kim Gwanggong sighed inwardly and raised his hand, patting Kim Abang’s back with practiced skill.

“…Enough. From now on, just call me that.”

Kim Gwanggong said, then met eyes with Seo Taerim, who was standing awkwardly to the side.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Seo Taerim asked grudgingly. Kim Gwanggong raised an eyebrow at him. Seo Taerim looked puzzled for a moment, then opened his mouth in disbelief.

“…Don’t tell me I have to call you Gonggong too?”

“There are no exceptions.”

“But I’m not Gonggong-ssi’s hyung-ah.”

“You’re doing well.”

Kim Gwanggong dryly complimented him, then went on patting Kim Abang’s back a little longer. At last, Kim Abang calmed down, pulled away, and lifted his head slightly.

“Then… I still get to be your hyung-ah?”

“Do as you like.”

When Kim Gwanggong gave permission, Kim Abang grinned with both cheeks streaked with tear stains.

“Hyung-ah will really fetch you stars!”

“I told you it’s not necessary.”

“How is it not? Of course it’s necessary! Even today, for example. If you’d just told me you wanted to swim, you wouldn’t have had to jump into the sea. But because you didn’t say anything to me, it turned into something dangerous like this!”

Kim Abang scolded him without malice.

“Why would I tell you if I wanted to swim?”

Kim Gwanggong frowned, not understanding, and asked. Kim Abang winked.

“Because I just bought a pool on Oi Market~.”

He bought a pool. That was an interesting remark.

“Well, father, grandma, and mother all called me saying you brought home something like a punctured plastic sheet.”

“A hole, they said???”

Kim Abang’s eyes widened in shock, he looked troubled for a moment, then suddenly clapped as if he had been enlightened.

“Aha! Then while I cover the hole with my hand, you can swim~”

Kim Abang suggested a primitive solution. The civilized Kim Gwanggong was dumbfounded.

“You’re no different from a toad.”

“But even if it looks a little ridiculous, it’s better than throwing it away~”

“They said the hole is big. Your hand won’t block it.”

“Ah, then…”

Kim Abang pressed his forehead in thought for a moment, then suddenly lifted his head with wide eyes.

“T-then should I block it with my butt…?!”

“Why on earth would you come up with something so disgraceful?”

Kim Gwanggong was appalled.

“Well, that’s…”

When Kim Abang looked crestfallen, Seo Taerim suddenly became angry.

“It’s not disgraceful, it’s an ingenious and self-sacrificing idea. If Kim Abang-ssi doesn’t block it, then what will you do? Will you block it with Kim Gwanggong-ssi’s butt?”

“CEO Seo, what is your problem? And didn’t I just tell you to call me Gonggong?”

“Fine, then will you block it with Kim Gonggong-ssi’s butt?”

“What really is your problem?”

Kim Gwanggong raised his voice ever so slightly without realizing it. And at that moment, there was a sound of something dropping behind him. A shiver ran down his spine.

“Gwanggong-ssi… you were Gonggong…?”

No matter how he listened, it was Eun Sanho’s voice.

“…Eun Sanho-ssi, this is, well…”

Kim Gwanggong slowly turned his body, breaking out in cold sweat as he searched for words.

“Huh, do you know our Gonggong?”

Kim Abang poked only his head out from behind Kim Gwanggong and asked.

‘Ah…’

Kim Gwanggong felt that things had reached a point of no return and instinctively rubbed his face with dry hands, when an unexpected shout pierced his ears.

“Whaaa??? Illustrator Sanho???”

“Ah, Boss Abang…?”

“…?”

Kim Gwanggong lowered his hand from his face and furrowed his brow, looking back and forth between Kim Abang and Eun Sanho.

‘Do they… know each other?’

He thought, confused. And while he was still bewildered, Kim Abang cried “what do I do, what do I do” over and over as he bounced over to Eun Sanho. Then he grabbed Eun Sanho’s face in both hands with an expression like the world was collapsing.

“My god, what is this! Our illustrator’s face has become half a face…!”

Eun Sanho had only drunk a bit and been dunked in the sea, so it wasn’t as if his face had truly become half, but in Kim Abang’s eyes it was all the same.

“Oh no! Your cheek is half, your lips are half… hiiik!!!”

Kim Abang, speaking in worry, suddenly cried out in horror and with trembling fingers lifted a few strands of Eun Sanho’s hair.

“Why? Is there a bug in my hair…?”

Eun Sanho turned pale and asked.

“Y-your hair…”

“My… hair…?”

“Your hair is less pink…!”

Kim Abang said anxiously.

“…Ah…”

Eun Sanho blinked in confusion.

“Illustrator, are you alright???”

Kim Abang shook him lightly and asked urgently.

“Uh… the doctor said I was fine.”

Eun Sanho, even while being shaken, answered steadily. Of course, he did not forget to add a gentle smile to reassure Kim Abang.

“Really? Are you sure no one bullied you? Just say the word! I’ll teach them a lesson!”

Kim Abang clenched his tiny fists as he spoke.

‘Does hair dye fade because someone bullies you…?’

Seo Taerim, who had been borrowing wet wipes from another patient’s guardian to clean up the bag ruined by the burst Goditang, laughed.

“Ah, no, no one bullied me. On the contrary, I received a lot of help today.”

Eun Sanho looked at Kim Gwanggong, who stood behind Kim Abang.

“…Especially Gwanggong-ssi helped me a lot. Maybe Gwanggong-ssi is Gonggong, and… the boss’ younger brother…”

“Gonggong?”

Kim Abang tilted his head, then realized.

“Ah! I forgot to introduce you! This is my cute younger brother, Gonggong! Gonggong-ah, this is Sanho, the one who drew the illustration postcards we sell at our store!”

“…I see.”

Kim Gwanggong could not say anything more, hit by the realization that Kim Abang and Eun Sanho had known each other from the start and embarrassed that his identity as Gonggong had been exposed.

“Mm…”

Eun Sanho, thinking Kim Gwanggong seemed both deflated and embarrassed, held back his words and shifted his gaze to Kim Abang.

“Boss, your legs must hurt. Would you like to sit and talk?”

Eun Sanho asked kindly with a pretty smile.

“Whoa, I’d love that…!”

Kim Abang’s eyes sparkled as he nodded eagerly.

1. It’s a soup made with river snails  ↩︎