Chapter 71: Unfamiliar Roads

“Thirty-seven years old. Isn’t that too old? And my job is being a s*ave—no, that won’t do…. Even a marriage agency wouldn’t accept a profile like that.”

“Can’t you just say you’re in a doctoral program? Besides, you’ve never even been to a marriage agency.”

“No. Then I’ll just sound like someone with no money who only studies.”

“A s*ave, a beggar….”

Quiet laughter mixed with the sound of water splashing.

Wherever Choi Young’s hand passed over the pale white foot, the water rippled.

Unable to tolerate being called a s*ave without reacting, Choi Young tickled the sole he was holding.

The person who trembled and struggled faintly was none other than Hae-su.

Hae-su frowned deeply and snapped at him.

“What are you doing!”

“You’re annoying. You live off me, after all.”

The beginning of their conversation had already been entirely about that issue, and Hae-su found it irritating that Choi Young, who had opposed him going out so fiercely until now, was suddenly calling him someone who lived off him.

He knew that more than half of Choi Young’s words were not sincere, but that was separate from the sting to his pride.

Had it been one year?

Or perhaps nearly two?

He had not been in the state of mind to count carefully, so he could not say for certain, but that was how long Hae-su had continued living while being nagged by his roommate.

As the main source of income in the household, Choi Young worked hard to support Hae-su.

After rescuing Hae-su from those distant days, Choi Young had to add many things to his list of priorities.

Hae-su, work, financial comfort, and the things Choi Young wanted.

As if it were not enough that Hae-su had entered that list, he had quickly become the most important thing on it.

That was why Hae-su could not shake the feeling that he was being supported by him.

“Exactly. Who told you to bring me here and make me live buried away in the countryside?”

“…….”

“Don’t ignore what I’m saying. I wasn’t joking earlier. There are plenty of people who like you, hyung, so why would you volunteer to take care of someone as sick as me….”

Hae-su’s problem was that even when he cared about the other person, his words came out harshly.

Of all things, these brothers resembled each other in that way.

Soon, Choi Young’s fist touched Hae-su’s round forehead.

It was not a hard hit, but when his wet hand passed right in front of Hae-su’s nose, Hae-su’s eyes widened on their own.

Even warm droplets of water felt cold once they fell away and met the air.

“Hae-su. You think I brought you here because I wanted to save you.”

Everything around them grew quiet.

Even though Hae-su had insulted himself, he watched Choi Young carefully as though he had touched one of his weak points.

He lowered his head and pulled his foot out of the water, which had begun to turn lukewarm.

But Choi Young did not let go of it easily.

He took out a soft, warm towel and wrapped Hae-su’s foot in it.

“I brought you here so I could feel at ease.”

“That’s a lie.”

Hae-su did not think that the years he had spent living away from home with Choi Young had isolated him in a place where no one knew him.

On the contrary, it had given him room to look back at the world around him.

“You leave every day before dawn, hyung.”

“You live exhausted all the time.”

That was why Hae-su had come to understand far too well how much Choi Young had given up for this body of his.

It suddenly occurred to him that Choi Young, too, had once been at an age where he could love someone as recklessly as Hae-su had.

“You can’t even meet people properly.”

“That’s how you live.”

“…….”

“I’m okay.”

“I’m actually starting to feel self-conscious.”

“Even your life…. It feels like I ruined it.”

“So why did you show up and choose to suffer like this?”

Hae-su had just begun to think that he wanted to spend a little time away from this rigid and overly nagging person.

He wanted to separate Choi Young’s daily life from Choi Hae-su, even if only a little.

If that meant Hae-su had to crawl out into a noisier place instead of living quietly and comfortably, then so be it.

If Choi Young wanted that, Hae-su felt he could leave without arguing at any time.

“What would you do if you happened to run into Kwon Se-ha on the street?”

“…….”

“You’d run without looking back.”

“Then you’d come straight home.”

“Why can’t you answer?”

When his mouth could be shut so easily like this, Hae-su sometimes wondered if he had been meddling for no reason.

He glanced at Choi Young, who had pinned him down with a sentence containing not a single curse.

For a moment, he thought that bringing up that person’s name at a time like this was bad manners.

“How am I supposed to do what you say after this?”

“Do you think a decision like that would be easy for me?”

He could not say that leaving the place where he had hidden himself and going back out into the world was something he welcomed.

If possible, he wanted to live forever among people who did not know him.

There were still countless memories Hae-su wanted to forget.

There were far more bad memories than good ones.

When he had first come here, Choi Hae-su had been filled with hatred and regret, so anything could make him think of Kwon Se-ha and Lee Do-yoon.

“I want to go home.”

“You can go after you finish everything.”

“There aren’t that many questions left.”

“There are more than five hundred….”

“And there are other things after this too.”

“Ah, seriously….”

He lived in a blur.

Too many things had come crashing down on Hae-su all at once.

As someone who had taken responsibility for saving Hae-su from Lee Do-yoon, Choi Young tried everything he could.

He did everything he could possibly do for Hae-su.

The first thing he did after bringing Hae-su with him was arrange psychological counseling.

Checking the state of a mind that had been rotting away for years was not easy from the start.

Hae-su had even shoved the test papers given to him away in shock.

Whenever he refused counseling and tried to escape, a nurse stood smiling kindly in front of the entrance.

At times like that, he truly felt as though he had been dragged into a psychiatric hospital.

Come to think of it, that was not exactly wrong.

“Even if I don’t know about the rest, the eating disorder is chronic, so that is concerning.”

“Is it serious?”

“They checked during the endoscopy a while ago.”

“If you don’t want people asking whether you eat everything yourself while starving Hae-su, then we should figure out how to approach this together first.”

“What kind of environment would be best around him?”

“Living as you are now is fine.”

“Didn’t you say you had removed all the things that could cause stress?”

This suffocating ward was also in league with Choi Young.

A large male nurse easily lifted Choi Hae-su and sat him back down in the chair.

Without blinking once, the doctor continued the opinion he had been giving before.

Thinking they might tie him down if he resisted any more, Hae-su finally relaxed his body.

The expression on Choi Young’s face as Hae-su looked up at him seemed to say that he should choose between receiving inpatient treatment or behaving quietly.

“If you force food into him just because you can’t stand watching him fail to eat, it will cause a serious problem.”

“Start with liquid food.”

“Liquid food first.”

“Ah, I’m warning you from the beginning because I thought a guardian with your personality might do something like that.”

“This, this is that thing, right?”

“If the doctor is your senior from school, hyung, then that makes it a dual relationship with me….”

“You worry about the strangest things.”

“Don’t worry.”

In the end, Hae-su sank into the chair and sprawled there while Choi Young nodded diligently.

He was so cunning that he acted with a plan designed to prevent any resistance.

At the time, Hae-su had looked at Choi Young as though wondering how someone like him even existed.

Only later did he realize that Choi Young must have thought about it for a long time before bringing Hae-su to someone he knew.

“You can take it slowly.”

“Your heart may keep wanting to rush, but….”

“Hae-su, it would be okay for you to be more generous with yourself.”

Creating distance, erasing things, and changing his mindset so that he would not depend on traces of the past had helped greatly.

But Hae-su himself did not realize it.

Only Choi Young truly felt the need for serious intervention.

That was why he sometimes looked sorrowful.

He would mutter that he could have made Hae-su more like a person sooner, but he always said it when Hae-su’s attention was elsewhere.

Counseling was different every time.

There were times when he cried miserably and loudly.

There were days when he did not want to say anything at all and kept his mouth firmly shut.

Still, it was fine because there were people around him who said it did not matter.

Hae-su did everything he wanted with a comfortable heart.

Hae-su had become just a little better, enough that he could no longer keep blocking Choi Young’s path.

Of course, that was Hae-su’s own claim.

That was how he evaluated his condition.

Hae-su now knew how to live through a proper full cycle of twenty-four hours.

That was why he had his shoulders squared so proudly now.

Seeing Hae-su’s sulky face after hearing his words, Choi Young was the first to back down.

“Enough.”

“Go out and contact Mr. Lee Do-yoon.”

“He said he was coming today, but now he says something urgent came up.”

“That doesn’t sound like him.”

“I’m worried.”

“Why?”

“Why can’t he come?”

“I don’t know, which is why I’m telling you to call him, Hae-su.”

Hae-su immediately left the bathroom and searched the living room for Choi Young’s phone.

At times like this, not having one of his own was a little frustrating.

He knew that Choi Hae-su had visibly improved after getting rid of his phone, but in urgent situations, that fact could feel unbearably resentful.

Today was the day he was supposed to see Do-yoon after a long time.

It had been months.

Lee Do-yoon and Choi Hae-su had become people who only met a few times a year.

Do-yoon had been the first to realize that this change was necessary for Hae-su, and they had naturally grown distant.

Only after gradually distancing himself from Lee Do-yoon had Hae-su finally been able to stop thinking about everything connected to him.

Unless someone brought it up first, neither Kwon Se-ha nor Lee Do-yoon came to mind when he was alone.

On the rare days he met Do-yoon, they did not talk about the past as though they had made a promise not to.

They simply talked about their lives, ate something delicious, and spent time together.

By the end of it, both of them had become people who no longer begged for love.

Hae-su did not know whether he was pretending not to notice Lee Do-yoon’s unchanged feelings.

He had no time to think that far as he pressed the call button repeatedly.

Before long, a small worry appeared on his face.

Instead of Do-yoon’s gentle voice, what came back was the cold and lifeless sound of an automated message.

“He’s not answering.”

“Then he must be busy.”

“You barely contact him normally, so why do you suddenly look like you’re dying to see him?”

“It’s because Mr. Do-yoon….”

“No, but you told me to call him, hyung.”

“This is annoying.”

Had Choi Young not heard?

Do-yoon had said that he recently brought home a cat.

He had promised Hae-su that he would definitely show him pictures the next time he came.

Hae-su did not like cats, but he was a little curious about what the living creature Do-yoon called his new family looked like.

And he was happy.

It seemed that Do-yoon, too, was gradually becoming a little better, not just Hae-su.

As if responding to Hae-su’s anticipation, a message notification appeared on Choi Young’s phone screen.

The sender’s name was Do-yoon.

Hae-su’s face brightened noticeably.

Stopping in the middle of speaking, he read the message without even thinking of handing the phone back to its owner.

Do-yoon’s message apologized for suddenly canceling their plans.

Hae-su’s gaze stopped on the next sentence.

He drew in a deep breath but could not let it out.

[Something came up, and I need to go to the hospital. Please keep this a secret from Mr. Hae-su. I will come see you before it gets too late.]

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