PHUW 100

“Studying is something you can still do now. You’re smart, aren’t you.”

“Right? If you think about it, there are plenty of successful idols who only graduated middle school. I’ll just think of myself as a trainee whose debut fell through.”

Haeri quickly regained his cheer, and his idea of comparing himself to an idol was so cute that Jeong Mok laughed. This was why he liked Haeri.

Jeong Mok nodded. Watching Haeri, whose face was flushed with excitement, he felt both fondness and a touch of sadness.

“But that Lee Sangjin I mentioned earlier, he seems strange.”

“What about him?”

“They say he disappeared together with his girlfriend. Around the same time as my accident. According to a friend who last spoke with him, he said he was going to meet me. I think I need to find him if I want to know what I was doing before. And also why I was at your construction site that day. The area I used to live in is pretty far from there. Maybe we went camping together and something happened?”

Jeong Mok suddenly felt pity for Lee Sangjin, whom he had never even met. Surely he hadn’t swindled a friend and then disappeared. He not only died unjustly, but his best friend also misunderstood him as a scammer by.

But Jeong Mok could not reveal everything he knew. If Haeri asked him on why he had kept quiet despite already knowing, he would have no answer. And he worried about how much it would hurt Haeri.

Which would wound him less: learning that his friend was killed by gangsters, or believing his friend had just run a small scam and vanished?

“But does it really matter what you were doing before? You’re going to live with me from now on anyway. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know.”

“Of course I’m curious. And I want to find my things too.”

“I’ll buy you anything you want. Except a motorcycle.”

Haeri, who had not mentioned a word about the call with the motorcycle dealership, flinched like someone pricked with a needle.

“Why not a motorcycle?”

“Because obviously it’s dangerous. Do you know how high the accident rate is for motorcycles?”

“But what if I drive safely?”

No matter how expensive or how much they advertised safety, a motorcycle was still a motorcycle. Even if not a truck, a mid-sized car bumping into one meant death on the spot. Compared to that, a large sedan was better, since you could survive unless hit by a dump truck.

“Even if you drive safely, if someone else crashes into you, it’s over.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Anyway, no motorcycles. Absolutely not. Instead, let’s get a car. A big, stylish one. How about it? Even if it costs two or three billion, that’s fine.”

Jeong Mok smiled, but his voice was firm as he drew the line.

“I don’t even know if I have a license… Wait. But did I ever say I could ride a motorcycle?”

“Hm?”

“How did you know I was interested in motorcycles? I’ve never once brought it up.”

“…Huh?”

Jeong Mok’s smile froze. The only thought in his mind had been that he must block Haeri from riding a motorcycle at all costs. Because of that, he had overlooked such a basic hole.

Haeri stared at him with a suspicious look. At that moment, their eyes met.

The one who was supposedly so careless had, in fact, forgotten everything Jeong Mok had already told him, and proudly boasted about finding his classmates and even his old neighborhood all by himself through SNS.

There was no doubt he would be hated if it were revealed that Jeong Mok had already completed Haeri’s background check, and was even tracking the whereabouts of the mother who had cut off contact since childhood. He did not know exactly what reason

His brain raced at the speed of light. Fortunately, a plausible excuse came to him just at the right moment.

“You said you were a runaway punk, didn’t you? Wouldn’t you have ridden a motorcycle once or twice then?”

“Ah. That’s true.”

Surprisingly, Haeri could not refute it. But that did not mean he fully agreed either. His expression was sour.

“No motorcycles. Got it?”

“But among the contacts I got from the others, there was a motorcycle dealership. When I called, they said I had something left there. Shouldn’t I at least pick that up? I even transferred money just now.”

Only then did Haeri confess about the motorcycle shop. If Jeong Mok tried to stop him from retrieving even that, he really looked ready to sulk.

“Then should we go together to get it?”

“Really?”

“Yes. How about tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good.”

Seeing how quickly his face brightened again, Jeong Mok could not tell if Haeri had truly been sulking or only pretending. What was certain was that he was swayed by Haeri far too often.

“But is there a particular reason you need to find the house?”

“Don’t you think it’s natural to be curious about how I lived? And if there’s anything important, I should bring it.”

“What kind of important things?”

“Like a birthday present from a friend? A graduation album, or maybe even family photos.”

Family photos.

“You want to find your family?”

“First I have to know if they even exist.”

“And if they do?”

“Then, well, I’d want to know what they’re doing, if they’re living well. Just that much.”

“Should I find them for you?”

“Hm?”

Haeri’s head snapped around. He looked interested.

“How would you… ah.”

He realized Jeong Mok must have already sent someone to investigate. Haeri turned his face back to the phone, though he was not actually looking at the screen. In the dark reflection, his expression was neither happy nor sad, something in between.

“I can’t guarantee success. But I can track them down.”

“Uh… maybe later.”

“Later?”

“Yes. Right now I want to find my friend first.”

Haeri politely declined. Even Jeong Mok could not fully read how he was feeling, but it was clear he still needed more time.

“If he did something wrong to me, I’ll catch him and beat him down. I mean, I lost my memory because of him. I can’t just let that go.”

“But because of that, you met me.”

“That’s true. But I have to find Lee Sangjin. I’ll track down why my best friend disappeared without looking for me even though I was in an accident, and I’ll grab him by the collar.”

“He might have had unavoidable circumstances.”

“Hyung, are you taking Lee Sangjin’s side now?”

“That’s not it.”

Why did it turn that way. He was about to be hated for defending someone who had died unjustly while taking the side of the living. Haeri had said earlier he would forgive him even for strange behavior, but Jeong Mok could not accept it so easily. There was too much he felt guilty about. Instead, he came up with another approach.

“I’ll definitely find out where Lee Sangjin is.”

“Really?”

Haeri’s face brightened.

“You asked me earlier, didn’t you. If you want to find him, of course I’ll help. Chief Ahn will track him down quickly.”

As he said this, Jeong Mok pretended to send a text to Chief Ahn.

“Lee Sangjin. Dropped out of Gyeongjin High. Grace Orphanage. SNS account is…”

Quick on the uptake, Haeri sent him the link to Lee Sangjin’s account and then threw himself into Jeong Mok’s arms.

“Thank you, hyung! Really, thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

It had not been his intention, but thanks to this he could subtly shift the background check into looking like a search done on Haeri’s request. Unaware of his true thoughts, Haeri smiled back, looking delighted.

***

The next day, after finishing his morning work, Jeong Mok returned home at lunchtime. After a simple meal of sandwiches, he handed Haeri something he had prepared in advance. It was a sweatshirt and overfit pants, the kind Haeri usually wore, along with sneakers from a famous pop artist collaboration that had recently reached the resale price ceiling. Haeri’s face lit up and he eagerly changed into them.

“How is it, do you like it?”

“Yes. Do they look good on me?”

“Yes. You look great.”

When Jeong Mok ruffled his soft hair, Haeri laughed shyly.

It was their first outing in a while. Instead of making him strain on crutches, Jeong Mok suggested a wheelchair, and Haeri nodded. When it was time to leave, Gom-i insisted on going too.

“We’re going to find the motorcycle.”

Even when they said no, Gom-i would not listen. There was no stopping the stubborn giant dog, so they brought him along. The huge bundle of fur took the back seat, the excited boy sat in the passenger seat, and the one who had to handle the two unpredictable troublemakers took the wheel himself.

“Can you tell me the address?”

“I’ll send it by message.”

Haeri looked up Gwanrim Motors in the map app and sent the address to Jeong Mok.

The luxury sedan cut across the big city and arrived in a neighborhood hidden by rows of tall buildings lining the main road. It was a run-down area wedged between redeveloped districts, its alleys of old red-brick villas packed with small struggling businesses and poor families pushed out by rising rents.

Haeri, who had been chattering since before they even started the engine, grew quieter as they approached their destination. The joy faded from his face, replaced by tension. His uneasy eyes scanned the streets outside the window, as if searching for the memory he hoped to recover among the piles of garbage bags stacked at the foot of every utility pole.

“Does it feel familiar?”

“N, no.”

When spoken to, Haeri only gave an awkward smile.

The roads were narrow and the lights short, forcing them to crawl forward and stop again and again.

Haeri kept glancing around, including through the driver’s side window.

“I didn’t know there were neighborhoods this old in Seoul.”

He looked disappointed. It was true that it was not the sort of place a man in his twenties would be happy with.

“Because it’s Seoul, there are even more. Redevelopment costs a lot. But even if it looks like this, it’s still a decent neighborhood.”

Whether it was decent or not, Jeong Mok didn’t know either. Seoul was vast, and he had only ever lived in its wealthiest districts. As an adult, he had moved to Gyeonggi, so he did not know the city well.

Perhaps because his words were only half-hearted, Haeri didn’t seem to pay much attention. His expression only hardened further. Coming from Jeong Mok, born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, the compliment probably sounded hollow. Haeri wasn’t the type to take it that way, but others might twist it.

How could he lift his mood? Outwardly he kept his calm, but inwardly he was turning it over.

“Is this the right thing to do?”

Haeri spoke while staring out the window.

“What is?”

“…Trying to get my memories back.”

The words were so unexpected that Jeong Mok instinctively turned to look at him.