PHUW 97

“I want to find a friend. Though I don’t know if we’re still friends.”

“Friend?”

“Wait a second.”

Even while limping, Haeri hurried to find his phone and pulled up a photo he had downloaded from the community.

“Look at this.”

“Let’s go to the sofa.”

Leaving the dining table, he sat beside Jeong Mok on the living room sofa and held out the phone. After checking the screen, Jeong Mok’s expression turned serious again. In some ways it was worse than before, cold like when he had beaten up Mr. Jang. Haeri’s heart sank for no reason.

“Um. I told you I found that Grace Orphanage community. I discovered this there.”

He apologetically added the words.

“Is this the friend you want to know about?”

Even with his voice weighed down in seriousness, Jeong Mok’s tone stayed gentle. That made it even stranger and scarier, though he seemed unaware of it himself.

“Yes. We look close. And even if we’re not close anymore, since we were high school classmates, if I reach out here and there I might be able to get in touch with someone I knew. And I also want to know the name of the high school.”

Haeri added more carefully, and Jeong Mok gave a quiet nod. Then he swiped the photo forward a couple of times, back a couple of times, checking if there were any others. All of them were pictures of Gom-i or photos taken with Gom-i.

Without a word, Jeong Mok went back to the top of the album and selected every picture with Haeri’s face in it, then sent them all to the message thread they shared. He did the same with the videos.

Haeri could not bring himself to protest about sharing his photos without permission. The other man was too serious, and besides, the pictures were not strange. It did not matter much. Instead, he thought he would ask to see Jeong Mok’s photo album later. Right now was not the kind of atmosphere to say that.

While dozens of photos and over ten videos were sent in a rush, Jeong Mok returned to the first picture.

“His name is Lee Sangjin? Probably.”

“Even without asking Chief Ahn for help, I think you can find your classmate. If you search for high schools near Gyeongjin, shouldn’t something come up? There should be uniform photos on the school websites. If you match the uniform, you’ll know.”

“Ah.”

That possibility had not crossed Haeri’s mind at all.

“I’m an idiot. Wow, there was a way like that and I really was an idiot.”

“And if you want to know the name of the school, there’s also a way to check online. You can get a final academic certificate from the Office of Education website or the civil service portal.”

“What?”

He had not known such a thing existed. When his eyes widened, Jeong Mok smiled.

“You didn’t know?”

“No.”

“Actually, a lot of people don’t.”

Saying that, Jeong Mok searched Gyeongjin high schools on a portal site. Since the city’s population was small, there were only five high schools total, including those in nearby towns. Then he looked up the school websites and quickly found the name. Ridiculously enough, it was Gyeongjin High School.

“This uniform, right?”

“Yes, it looks like it.”

“You’re twenty-four now. So you would have entered high school around this year.”

While Haeri had agonized for days without an answer and even considered going to a detective agency, Jeong Mok had easily found his entrance year and graduation year with a simple search.

“Wow, I didn’t think it would be this easy. I thought it would be hard since the orphanage disappeared. Being a stalker really isn’t something just anyone can do.”

Unable to contain his joy, Haeri grinned wide. While Jeong Mok was searching Gyeongjin High School on the Outstagram app he had installed earlier, he lifted his head and looked at Haeri. Thinking it meant he wanted more praise, Haeri blurted out a second round.

“A chaebol vice chairman turned stalker? It just like a drama main character. You’re like a cool villain straight out of a crime story! Amazing!”

He even threw in a cheerful thumbs-up. At that, Jeong Mok reluctantly smiled. But his stiff expression eased, which was a relief to Haeri. Deep down, he felt reassured.

“Uh… well, if I look cool to you, that’s enough.”

“You really do look cool.”

When they cross-searched the school name with the entrance year or graduation year, a list of peers came up. There were many active public accounts.

“Here, you can send private messages to these kids and see if they know anyone you know.”

“Thank you, hyung! Why didn’t I know something this simple before?”

“That’s right. Our Haeri is smart, after all.”

Jeong Mok smiled and took his side.

“They say people who are really smart sometimes miss the simplest things. Or maybe it’s because you hit your head.”

Grinning, Haeri opened the first public account he saw, looked through the photos, and began sending private messages. He introduced himself as Ahn Haeri from the same high school and asked if they remembered him. He explained that he was trying to find classmates for certain reasons, so he was leaving a message and asked for a reply. While he sent this short message, a heavy arm wrapped around his shoulder.

He was pulled in the direction he was tugged, but his mind and gaze stayed fixed on Outstagram. Because of that, he did not even notice when Jeong Mok kissed the side of his head.

“Let me know too if you find your friend.”

“Yes.”

While Haeri was busy sending messages, Jeong Mok, without any sense of timing, kept kissing him. First on his head, then on his forehead, and before long, on his cheek. It was clear he was asking for a kiss. This was a problem. Haeri wanted to kiss, but he also had to do this.

“Wait a moment. Let me just send this. Hold on a little.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Even Gom-i can wait, so why can’t you?”

“Because you keep calling me hyung. You’ve been saying it since earlier, and I like it too much.”

While pasting the copied message into another account’s inbox, Haeri suddenly lifted his head.

“Did I?”

“Yes. You just called me hyung again.”

“Ah, you’re right.”

He answered absentmindedly, not thinking it was a significant change. Honestly, being polite and calling him hyung-nim after kissing and doing everything else together would have felt stranger. On top of that, they were no longer in a boss-and-employee relationship. Strictly speaking, they were living together based on affection and goodwill.

For Haeri it carried little meaning, but Jeong Mok seemed to like it very much that hyung-nim had become just hyung. Before Haeri knew it, Jeong Mok had pulled him between his legs and was hugging him around the waist from behind. Then he pressed his lips to the back of his neck and kept smacking kisses against it.

Haeri ignored it and focused only on the private messages. Bzz. Since he had targeted the more active accounts, a reply really did come.

“I got a reply.”

Excited, he tapped the message notification. It was from the second account he had messaged, and the reply came the fastest. It was from Kim Isak, the one who had left a greeting post on the abandoned orphanage community.

–Oh, Ahn Haeri, long time no see. What’s up? Planning a reunion?

The friendly reply made Haeri light up instantly. His thumbs moved without pause.

“Who is it? Kim Isak?”

“Wait a second.”

Haeri was too busy replying to give Jeong Mok an answer. From what he was doing for a living to where he lived, to suggesting they meet soon for drinks, the conversation flowed quickly.

“Kim Isak says he’s in a provincial metropolitan city near Gyeongjin. He says there are a lot of other classmates too. He could come up here, but if we want to see everyone together, he says we should come down one weekend. He says this weekend would be fine.”

“You’re going to go down?”

“Of course.”

Haeri told him he would come down this weekend, so to gather as many friends as possible.

“With those legs?”

“If I use crutches, taking the train should be fine.”

“……”

Jeong Mok closed his mouth.

“They said to meet at the station at three o’clock this Saturday. They’ll come to greet me.”

“What about Gom-i?”

“He can be alone for a day.”

“You’re going to make him hold it in all day without a walk?”

Only then did Haeri look back at the man clinging to him like a snail shell. On the face that looked like something out of a magazine, there was a feigned displeasure. Haeri pulled his head back and gave a broad grin.

“Hyung-nim.”

“Hyung.”

“Hyung. Could I ask you just to take him out for a walk Saturday evening?”

“No.”

Haeri had expected the refusal. Of course, he did not take it as sincere. It was the kind of playful banter exchanged between close people.

“Ah, why are you like this.”

“It’s your first weekend since being discharged. I wanted us to go out together. But you’re leaving me alone.”

That struck him. Now that he thought about it, ever since he had moved into this house, the only thing they had done together was that kind of thing. They had not even gone out for a proper meal once.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Of course classmates are better than an older hyung like me.”

“Why are you saying it like that. I’m finding classmates to regain my memories, not because I like them.”

“For that, you look way too excited. Your expression is completely different from when you’re with me.”

“Hey. How can it be different. Being with you is obviously better, so that’s why.”

“So what you’re saying is you don’t want to do different things with me.”

Jeong Mok let out a heavy sigh.

“So in the end, it’s my body you’re after.”

“What?”

“You only like my body? And my card.”

“Why are you saying it like that.”

Of course, it was not entirely unfounded. Haeri was deeply, deeply, deeply in love with that Black VVVVIP Platinum card, with his sturdy body that made him feel full just by looking at it, their mere presence made squirm in excitement. But when the involved person himself asked “Is that so?”, he had enough sense to deny it.

“It’s just because I’m happy to find a friend.”

Then he pecked Jeong Mok with kisses. The simple kisses quickly turned into a real kiss. A kiss not on the bed, and not pretending from the start that it was meant to go that way, embarrassed him more than expected, and his face grew hot.

Thud.

The phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor.