GGAS 7

“That is….”

“Yes. Go ahead and say it.”

“So, that is….”

Hurry up and arrive, hurry up and arrive….

Eun Sanho chanted inwardly like a prayer and checked the floor number again.

Just then, the red numbers that had been climbing one by one stopped.

“We arrived!”

Before the arrival sound even rang, Eun Sanho shouted and, the moment the doors opened, ran outside.

“…Well.”

Looking in the direction Eun Sanho had vanished, Kim Gwanggong muttered. Anyone could see that was running away.

‘He escaped.’

He pointlessly clenched and opened his empty hand, then laughed. And then he slowly began walking after Eun Sanho. There was no need to rush. Thanks to a certain someone, he was quite practiced at chasing people.

***

While Kim Gwanggong was walking leisurely, Kim Abang was running. To be exact, he was jogging along the riverside trail.

“Ah~ Lettuce, hello! Cabbage, hello too!”

Lettuce and Cabbage were not the names of dogs out on a walk, but actual lettuce and cabbage. There was a vegetable shop by the riverside, and every time Kim Abang passed in front of it, he would stop for a moment to greet some of the vegetables kindly.

“Haha, looks like you’re not buying Lettuce or Cabbage today?”

The shop owner said with a laugh. She already knew well that regular customer Kim Abang never greeted the vegetables that would become his side dishes for that evening’s meal. (Kim Abang thought that was far too cruel.)

“Yes…. I forgot to bring money out with me.”

“Oh dear. But today your younger sibling didn’t come along?”

“He left home….”

Kim Abang answered gloomily.

“Oh no, how did that happen?”

“I don’t know….”

“Did you at least try talking?”

“I tried~. But he just said what he wanted to say and then hung up!”

“Sounds like puberty came late~”

Of course, at twenty-seven in human years, it was closer to menopause than puberty, but it was not the age for either. But Kim Abang, who was unusually susceptible to parenting tips, pricked up his ears at the vegetable shop owner’s words.

“Really?”

“Of course~. Anyway, don’t just stand there. Sit down here and have some melon before you go. It’s sweet.”

“Ah, thank you.”

And so, Kim Abang ended up eating delicious melon and listening to the shop owner’s story about her son who had hit puberty, for about thirty minutes. He threw in responses and immersed himself deeply in the conversation.

“My goodness… That must have hurt so much!”

Kim Abang said, holding the shop owner’s hand tightly. She let out a deep sigh.

“It did hurt. But what can I do. I just live thinking, ‘This too shall pass~’. Well, when you live, you get some strength chatting with good people like you, Abang-ssi…. Hm?”

The shop owner stopped mid-sentence and blinked.

“……? What is it?”

“There, over there by the river. Isn’t that your runaway younger sibling?”

The shop owner said urgently.

“What? You mean Gonggong?”

Startled, Kim Abang turned his head in the direction of her gaze. A tall man in a suit, pulling a suitcase, was walking along the riverside. Kim Abang jumped up from his seat.

“I’ll be going now!”

“Alright~. Come again next time!”

The shop owner waved her hand.

“Yes!”

Kim Abang gave a spirited greeting and then started running after the tall man. His shoelaces had come completely undone, but Kim Abang paid no real attention and kept running excitedly. And this was exactly what brought misfortune. When the distance between them had closed to just the length of an arm, Kim Abang stepped on his own shoelace and fell.

“Ah!”

Kim Abang screamed, crashed down flat and rolled sideways down the slope.

“Ugh….”

Kim Abang lay sprawled on the ground, groaning. The stinging pain on his palms and knees brought tears to his eyes. But he was not the only one suffering this pain.

“Urgh….”

The man in the suit, pulling a suitcase, had also fallen to the ground and was pressing his forehead. When Kim Abang fell, he had unconsciously grabbed the man’s hem.

“Oh!”

Seeing the man who had fallen, Kim Abang shouted in surprise. Forgetting his pain, he jumped up and ran over to him.

“Are you okay, Gonggong?”

Kim Abang pressed both the man’s cheeks with his hands and asked. But the man was not Kim Abang’s Gonggong.

“Huh? Taerim-ssi?”

That was right. The man was not Gonggong, but Seo Taerim, the number one candidate for Gonggong’s friend.

“…You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

Seo Taerim said, averting his gaze.

“But you are.”

“I’m not.”

“But you are.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You are. Huh, wait, Taerim-ssi, you’re bleeding from your forehead!”

Seo Taerim wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He must have scraped it somewhere when he fell, because blood had come off on his skin.

“Ah….”

As Seo Taerim quietly looked at the blood on his hand, Kim Abang’s eyes suddenly widened like lanterns.

“Ta-Taerim-ssi, did you perhaps lose your memory?”

“Excuse me?”

When Seo Taerim asked back, Kim Abang grabbed both his shoulders. Seo Taerim flinched at Kim Abang’s solemn expression.

“I’ll only say it three times, so listen well. You are Seo Taerim, president of H Hotel! No siblings, and your number starts with 010…”

Seo Taerim hastily clamped his hand over Kim Abang’s mouth. He had no intention of letting his personal phone number get exposed to the passersby glancing at them. And certainly not three times over.

“I know. I know it all.”

Seo Taerim spoke.

“…Kim Abang-ssi, it’s good to see you again.”

Since most of Kim Abang’s face was covered by Seo Taerim’s hand, only his eyes peeked out, and he answered with smiling eyes instead. Then he blinked his round eyes rapidly, as if to say, ‘Taerim-ssi, you didn’t lose your memory! What a relief!’ When faced with Kim Abang’s innocent and bright look, Seo Taerim felt like maybe he had gone too far. He awkwardly removed the hand covering Kim Abang’s mouth.

“Sorry for covering your mouth.”

“It’s fine! By the way, Taerim-ssi, what brings you to this neighborhood?”

Kim Abang asked.

“I’m going to be living here for a while. And you, Abang-ssi, what brings you here?”

“Haa, no way! I live here too. You remember dropping me off at that house this morning, right? From there to here by the river, it’s a liiittle far, but it’s still the same neighborhood! And I didn’t move here, I’m a complete native! Do you want me to tell you some good restaurants?”

Before Seo Taerim could even answer, Kim Abang pulled out his phone and opened his map app. His map was crammed with bookmarks. Seo Taerim wondered if Kim Abang was maybe working a side job as a guide.

“I also know a lot of macaron places. Do you like macarons?”

Kim Abang asked, his eyes sparkling. Seo Taerim did like macarons, but he had no desire to sit on the ground and talk about them.

“Abang-ssi, first get up…ugh….”

Seo Taerim stopped speaking and held his head.

“Taerim-ssi? Are you alright?”

He was not alright. It felt like his head would split.

“I see… two Abang-ssis.”

Seo Taerim spoke while barely enduring the pain.

“What? But there’s only one of me.”

Kim Abang tilted his head. Seo Taerim wanted to say, That’s not what I mean. Shouldn’t you call 119? But because of the intense headache, what actually came out of his mouth was,

“I see… two….”

“Two…?”

“Yes, two….”

“Two…?”

Kim Abang kept tilting his head. Being naturally healthy, he was unfamiliar with the very concept of seeing double. Then, when blood began to trickle down Seo Taerim’s head, he finally understood what Seo Taerim meant and was startled.

“Ah, Taerim-ssi, stay with me! You must not see me as two!”

Kim Abang shouted as he shook Seo Taerim. It already hurt without moving, but being shaken on top of it made Seo Taerim feel like he might just die right there.

“Do you still see two?!”

“No….?”

“So now you’re fine? Just one of me?”

“No…. now… three….”

Leaving those words behind, Seo Taerim felt his vision go black and fell backward. He heard Kim Abang shouting something more, but this time he could not answer. It was blackout.

***

When he regained consciousness, Seo Taerim slowly opened his eyes. Judging by the white ceiling and the curtain half-drawn around the bed, it seemed Kim Abang had safely called 119.

‘But… where did Kim Abang-ssi go?’

Seo Taerim propped himself up on the bed and raised his upper body.

‘Did he just call 119 and leave….’

He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his phone. The screen was badly cracked, probably from the fall, and the power would not turn on at all.

‘Damn….’

He frowned. He tried pressing the power button a couple more times, but it was no use.

‘I’ll have to go to the desk and borrow a phone…’

Just then, the curtain was pulled open with a swish. Seo Taerim instinctively lifted his head, then doubted his own eyes. The one who pulled the curtain open was not a nurse or a doctor, which was one thing, but it wasn’t even a person at all. To describe it roughly, below it was human, but above it was made of fruits like strawberries, apples, bananas, grapes, and so on. Seo Taerim, dumbfounded, looked back and forth between the two legs in jeans and the mountain-like pile of fruit.

“A fruit monster…?”

He unconsciously said. But in truth, it was not a monster, only Kim Abang carrying an enormously large fruit basket.

“What? There’s a monster?!”

Hidden behind the fruit basket, half-human half-fruit, Kim Abang shouted. From Seo Taerim’s position, it looked like a bunch of shine muscats was talking.

“The fruit is talking….”

Seo Taerim muttered blankly.

“The fruit is talking?!”

Startled, Kim Abang poked his head out beside the fruit basket. When his face suddenly popped out, Seo Taerim flinched.

“Taerim-ssi, are you hearing things? That’s strange, the doctor definitely said you were fine.”

Kim Abang set the fruit basket down on the bed and pressed Seo Taerim’s forehead with his hand, then pressed his own forehead.

“No fever….”

He brought his face right up close to Seo Taerim’s.

“How many of me do you see? Two? Three?”

Seo Taerim thought he would rather have the fruit monster. When shine muscats came right up to his nose, the only thought that would come was that they looked delicious, not this suffocating feeling.

“…I see one.”

Seo Taerim said this and pushed Kim Abang’s forehead away with his palm. Even as he was pushed back, Kim Abang looked at him worriedly.

“Really? You’re not lying just because you want to leave the hospital, right?”

Seo Taerim was slightly dumbfounded.

“Do you take me for a five-year-old child.”

“What are you saying, age is just a number. My younger brother is twenty-seven and he still lies like that. He won’t admit it even when he’s sick.”

This was true. Kim Gwanggong often thought lying in the hospital was a waste of time and so frequently got scolded by Kim Abang. And perhaps because of this, Kim Abang did not easily believe handsome men over 190 cm tall when they said they were fine. He looked at Seo Taerim, who was by all measures tall and handsome, with eyes full of distrust.

“Hmmm, Taerim-ssi, you look like you’re lying too….”

“I am not. I said I’m fine because I truly am fine.”

“…Really really? I can trust you?”

“Didn’t the doctor also tell me I was fine?”

“Hm… that’s true. But, Taerim-ssi.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to keep taking my temperature anymore.”

Kim Abang pointed at Seo Taerim’s hand, which was still pushing his forehead away. Seo Taerim felt embarrassed when his gesture was misunderstood as a warm act.

“Kim Abang-ssi… does this look like I’m taking your temperature?”

“It isn’t?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what is it?”

Kim Abang asked with sparkling eyes. He seemed purely curious.

“This isn’t taking your temperature, it’s….”

Seo Taerim trailed off. He couldn’t think of the right words.

‘What if I say that I don’t like it and he gets hurt and cries?’

He absolutely hated dealing with people who cried. But if he spoke around it, Kim Abang probably wouldn’t understand. In the end, Seo Taerim steeled himself. An adult should at least know how to do the less unpleasant thing in order to avoid the more unpleasant one.

He first removed his hand from Kim Abang’s forehead and straightened his posture. Then, with a serious expression, he opened his mouth.

“Kim Abang-ssi, I’d like you to keep an appropriate distance from me.”

“Appropriate distance?”