Chapter 1: The Last Favour

Siyoon fiddled with the slender object in his pocket with his fingertips. Having touched and examined it so many times, he could tell which part he was feeling just from its texture.

‘This part used to be a little sharper…’

When he had first touched it, that particular part had pricked his fingertips. Now, however, it had become rounded and smooth.

As Siyoon continued running his fingers over the object, his gaze drifted towards the sky. The winter night, heavy with cold, showed no mercy.

Whenever he inhaled, his chest ached with the chill. When he exhaled, little clouds of white breath gathered before disappearing into the air without a trace. The round moon that had been visible beside him had now climbed considerably higher, almost directly above his head.

Without a mobile phone or even a watch, Siyoon stood in place, stamping his feet to keep warm. Yet, no matter how much he moved, the cold that seeped into his very bones refused to leave. The sleeves of his old winter school uniform were frayed, and its colour had faded with age.

It did little to protect him from the winter night’s cold.

Desperate to find even the slightest bit of warmth, he wrapped his thin arms around his upper body and rubbed his forearms with hands that had already grown so cold they could barely move.

It had already been several days.

Every day after school, Siyoon came here. He would stay until after sunset, waiting as the vivid blue moon appeared between the tall buildings, passed overhead, and eventually began to descend on the other side of the sky.

He looked up, but as his body instinctively curled in on itself against the cold, his gaze inevitably fell to the ground.

“Haa…”

His sneakers were just as worn out as his school uniform. No matter how many times he washed them, they never regained their original white colour, always retaining a yellowish tinge. Siyoon aimlessly tapped the ground with his toes.

When he spotted the headlights of an approaching car, he took a small step backwards.

The thought that he would have to return empty-handed again today filled him with anxiety.

How long could he keep doing this?

But he couldn’t think of any other way.

These were the only ideas his foolish mind could come up with. He was a useless existence whose very birth was a sin. That was what the man had always told him.

Although he had given him the name Siyoon, he never actually called him by it. Most of the time, he spoke to him without using any name or title at all.

When he was in a good mood, he might occasionally call out, “Hey!” Otherwise, he called him whatever he pleased: bastard, crazy bastard, good-for-nothing…

Regardless of what that man thought of him, what he called him, or how he treated him, Siyoon desperately wanted to accomplish this task.

It was the first and last favour he had ever asked of him…

Since there wasn’t a single thing he was good at, he wanted to at least do this one thing properly.

He hated Siyoon terribly, but Siyoon loved him.

He thought that if he could do this for him, perhaps the pain in his heart would lessen, even just a little.

If he managed to do this well, wouldn’t the man say, just once, from somewhere up above, ‘Siyoon, you did well.’?

Even though he wouldn’t be able to hear those words, he wanted the man to think of him, even if only for a moment. He wished that, in some way, he could cross the man’s mind, even if it was just for an instant.

His body continued to curl in on itself. At some point, he had even stopped stamping his feet to keep warm.

It was cold, but if he kept moving like this, he would only exhaust himself further. Today was colder than yesterday. He wanted to stay longer, but he thought it might be better to head home now.

The words I’m tired lingered on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t let them escape.

How could he consider something like this difficult…?

He slipped the hand that had been rubbing his forearm into his trouser pocket. Then he found the object inside and clutched it tightly.

Siyoon began walking down the slope with slow, weary steps. The road, illuminated only by scattered streetlights, seemed terribly long.

When he let out a small sigh, a cloud of white breath obscured his vision. At the same time, the headlights of a car coming up from below blurred into a hazy glow.

The light was dazzling, so he lowered his head and stepped aside.

He would wait for the car to pass before continuing downhill.

On the black asphalt, his shoes appeared orange beneath the streetlights. With their yellowish colour concealed, they actually looked rather nice.

Siyoon moved his feet slightly, gently tapping the tips of his shoes together. Then he separated them a little before bringing them together again.

It was a small, meaningless movement.

Depending on the angle of the light, the orange hue of his shoes grew darker and then lighter again.

“Hey. You.”

Siyoon, who had been absentmindedly tapping his toes together, raised his head at the sudden voice.

The moment he saw the person addressing him, he instinctively stumbled backwards. However, his schoolbag soon hit the wall behind him, forcing him to stop.

The driver’s window of a gleaming black sedan was rolled down. Through it, he could see a man sitting inside.

The moment Siyoon saw his face, he lowered his head in shock. He couldn’t bring himself to look at the man any longer.

He wanted to raise his head and look again, but he simply didn’t have the courage.

That man was always talking about this person.

From the moment he opened his eyes until he closed them again, the television was always on. And the same person appeared on the screen over and over again.

Movies, dramas, commercials, music-show performances… All of them featured this man.

Because of that, Siyoon knew exactly who he was.

“What is it?”

At the man’s voice, thick with displeasure, Siyoon’s small body curled in on itself even further.

He clutched the object in his pocket tightly.

The voice sounded different from the one he had heard on television. He had imagined it to be deep yet warm and gentle, but hearing it in person made the sound lodge itself not in his head, but deep in his chest.

“A sasaeng?”

Siyoon didn’t understand what the word meant, but he hurriedly shook his head.

He had imagined and rehearsed this encounter countless times. Yet now that he was actually standing before the man, his foolish self couldn’t even manage to lift his head.

As expected, he really was an idiot, something even more worthless than trash.

He heard the car door open and close. Then, a pair of black dress shoes entered his lowered field of vision.

In front of Siyoon’s faded, worn-out yellowish sneakers stood a magnificent pair of shoes, polished so thoroughly that not even a speck of dust remained on them. They gleamed as they reflected the light.

Slowly, Siyoon pulled his hand out of his trouser pocket.

Clenched tightly inside his fist was the very reason he had come here.

“Look up.”

At the low, weighty command, Siyoon swallowed the saliva that had gathered in his mouth.

Then, unable to conceal his nervousness, he slowly raised his head.

After the black dress shoes came the black suit trousers. Then he could see the hem of the man’s suit jacket.

The higher Siyoon raised his head, the faster his heart began to beat.

By the time he finally saw the man’s face, his head was tilted back as far as it could go.

“What are you? I’ve seen you hanging around here for days. Should I report you to the police?”

His indifferent, cold tone was thick with annoyance.

The man was a top celebrity and the head of an entertainment agency. Although he had announced his retirement, he was still a star.

“If you’re not a sasaeng, then are you an aspiring celebrity? If that’s the case, don’t hang around here. Go audition properly. I’ll let it slide just this once. I hope I won’t have to see you again.”

Siyoon wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that he absolutely wasn’t either of those things.

But no voice came out.

After looking at the man’s face for a brief moment, Siyoon lowered his head again.

The man was right. He was far too impressive for someone like Siyoon to even dare look at.

He was even more handsome in person than he appeared on television. He was tall, well-built, and… he smelled wonderful.

Before the man could turn around and leave, Siyoon hurriedly held out his clenched fist.

Then, slowly, he opened his hand.

Resting in his palm was something that looked like a thin cord, oddly tangled into a little knot.

Was it not… right?

Siyoon swallowed the saliva in his mouth.

The man had always told him that if he showed this to him, he would understand. That there was no way he wouldn’t recognise it…

“Ah…”

A foolish sound escaped Siyoon’s lips.

He really was an idiot. A complete moron.

If it was tangled up like this, how could the man possibly recognise it?

He hurriedly tried to untangle it, but his fingers, stiffened by the cold, moved sluggishly.

In the end, he dropped it.

It fell to the ground.

There really wasn’t a single thing he was good at.

Feeling as though he might burst into tears, Siyoon bit down hard on the tender flesh inside his mouth before quickly bending down to pick up the bracelet.

Fortunately, the man hadn’t left. He had watched every bit of Siyoon’s foolish behaviour.

Worried that the bracelet might have become dirty after falling to the ground, Siyoon brushed it off several times with his hand and blew on it repeatedly.

If only he had a handkerchief or a tissue, he could have wiped it clean before handing it over. But he had nothing like that.

Fortunately, the tangled cord came undone in the process of falling and being picked up.

A silver bracelet, gleaming in the light, revealed its proper shape.

Siyoon held it out towards the man once more.

“This…”

He released the tender flesh inside his mouth that he had been biting until now and finally spoke.

Now he had to say the words he had practised so many times.

“Ha Jaehyun passed away. He told me to make sure I gave this to you. He said you’d understand once you saw it. He really, really wanted you to accept it.”

Just as the man had said.

Just as he had told him.

The person standing before him accepted his bracelet.

Siyoon brought both hands together in front of himself and bowed politely.

‘That’s a relief.’

Starting today, he could go home early.

He wouldn’t have to spend endless hours shivering in the cold, waiting for a man who might or might not show up.

The older brother he had finally met in person was truly wonderful.

But now, he would never have to see him again.

He felt strange, and as though he might cry.

His heart had been beating rapidly for some time now, making the left side of his chest ache.

Turning around, Siyoon began walking down the slope. He slipped his hand into his pocket.

The moment he realised that the object he had been able to feel with his fingertips while walking up the road was no longer there, a small sigh escaped him.

“…”

Siyoon had been walking down without any trouble when a hand suddenly seized his wrist.

His body staggered unsteadily.

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