Chapter 8: Unexpected Guests and Unspoken Plans

Spring break had officially begun. I had planned a quiet morning, intending to relax until lunch, but an unexpected visit quickly altered my plans.

[John, is pizza alright for lunch?]

[That sounds perfect.]

[What about drinks? Shall I bring them up now?]

[We’ll help ourselves to them later.]

[Alright. Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything else.]

[Yes, thank you.]

The moment the host mother descended the stairs, my friends, who had been standing silently behind me until the conversation ended, erupted.

“Wow, this is amazing! Your room is incredible!”

“No way… You actually have a game console and a TV.”

Park Jun-sung and Jang Gi-jae, visiting my room—or rather, my home—for the first time, gaped in astonishment. Most families didn’t keep TVs or game consoles in their children’s rooms at our age, so they looked as if they’d stumbled into paradise. It reminded me of Seo Gi-hyeon’s first visit.

“Just sit down. I’ve laid out a rug, so you can sit on the floor.”

Despite my words, the two were too preoccupied, wandering around and examining everything. After discovering the game cartridges inside a box, they showered me with a series of exclamations.

“Huh? Seo Gi-hyeon bragged about playing this one before.”

“Oh, you’re right! This is truly my dream home.”

“Wow, I’m so jealous of Seo Gi-hyeon. He gets to come here all the time!”

“Seriously? I want to move here too!”

Though I was clearly the owner of these things, for some reason, Seo Gi-hyeon became the object of their envy. It was absurd, but I couldn’t be bothered to correct them, so I decided to let it pass. Just then, the door burst open.

“Who said anyone would take you in?”

The owner of the grumpy voice was Seo Gi-hyeon.

“Look at this, look at this. They’ve gone and messed everything up again, just because I wasn’t here.”

Seo Gi-hyeon, entering as if he owned the place, frowned at the items scattered on the floor. While the two had indeed touched a few things, it wasn’t particularly messy. Yet, he nagged them as if they had committed a great offense.

“How can you just pull out game cartridges like this? I purposely organized them in order.”

I was the one who had organized them in the first place, the one who lived in this room, and the owner of the game cartridges.

I watched, curious to see how far his ridiculous posturing would go.

“Anyway, you said you wanted to come here earlier, right? If you really want to come so badly, then ask me properly.”

There was Seo Gi-hyeon, making an unreasonable demand the moment he arrived.

“Please accept us, Dr. Seo Gi-hyeon.”

Then there was Park Jun-sung, actually going along with it.

“Hey, you need to be more desperate.”

And Jang Gi-jae, chiming in from the side.

What exactly were these three doing, with the room’s actual owner right in front of them?

“Why are you only just arriving?”

Putting everything else aside, I questioned him. It was true that our plans had been made abruptly two hours ago, but I had expected Seo Gi-hyeon to arrive before anyone else. In fact, he had been the most excited about Park Jun-sung’s suggestion to meet.

‘I was bored to death anyway.’

Seo Gi-hyeon, who had said as much, had been the most proactive in arranging the get-together. Of course, he had complained about my room being the meeting place.

‘We could just meet outside. It’s an imposition on your host family.’

Yet, he himself wore out the doorstep coming here. After being scolded by my uncle, he’d promised to rein it in, but his slightly reduced visit frequency only meant he went from seven days a week to five.

“Yeah. You said you live in the same neighborhood, so why are you the latest?”

Park Jun-sung, who had been pleading with Seo Gi-hyeon just moments ago, now sided with me.

“The protagonist always makes the latest entrance.”

That was hardly an answer.

To quiet the boisterous boys, I put on the game they most wanted to play. Park Jun-sung and Jang Gi-jae, seated on the rug over the carpet, focused with frightening intensity. Seo Gi-hyeon, whom I’d expected to offer unsolicited advice, simply sat on the bed while I set up the console.

“Let’s go get drinks.”

Truthfully, I could have managed alone, but I deliberately invited him along.

With each step down the stairs, the dark beige carpet caught my eye. It had been four years since I started living with this foreign family; now, such things were commonplace, and everything felt natural. Yet, walking around the house with shoes on was something I could never quite get used to.

Upon reaching the kitchen, I retrieved the drinks and disposable plastic cups the host mother had prepared. Meanwhile, Seo Gi-hyeon stood silently beside me, watching.

“Seriously, why were you late?”

A slightly curt tone slipped out before I could stop it.

“Huh?”

“Earlier, why were you late? You said you were leaving, but then you arrived much later.”

“Ah…”

He scratched the back of his neck, seemingly embarrassed.

“Something just came up.”

“What came up?”

“Just… family matters?”

“What kind of family matters, specifically?”

I pressed him persistently, something I would usually let slide. It was because Seo Gi-hyeon had been acting strangely lately. Sometimes he’d suddenly show up in the evening, asking to go for a walk, or text me out of the blue before bed. But then, occasionally, he’d go silent for hours.

The reason I hadn’t asked why before was that whenever his behavior struck me as odd, he would quickly revert to acting completely normal, making me feel like I was being overly intrusive by prying.

Seo Gi-hyeon glanced at me, then lowered his voice as he spoke.

“Well, I was about to leave, but my aunt and uncle had a bit of a fight… Today was my uncle’s day off, you see.”

Although he’d said ‘family matters,’ I had expected it to be something related to him, so I was considerably taken aback. I hadn’t anticipated such a private family affair, and knowing it now, a wave of guilt washed over me for prying into someone else’s personal life.

“Are they okay now?”

“Yeah. They made up quickly.”

“Oh, good. That’s a relief.”

I forced myself to act as if I wasn’t flustered, feigning concern. Naturally, the line of questioning I had started to interrogate Seo Gi-hyeon ended abruptly.

“They’ve been doing that a lot lately. Because of Joseph.”

“Joseph? Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s going through a rebellious phase.”

Joseph was Seo Gi-hyeon’s only cousin. I’d seen him around at school since they attended the same one. As Seo Gi-hyeon mentioned, they seemed quite close, but not to the extent of hanging out outside of school.

Perhaps it was because their personalities were completely different. While I couldn’t say I was similar to Seo Gi-hyeon, I wasn’t as utterly distinct as Seo Gi-hyeon and his cousin. According to a friend who took the same arts and physical education classes as Joseph, he was quite severely introverted and quiet. Indeed, if he wasn’t, it made no sense that he, Seo Gi-hyeon’s cousin, their same age, and even living in the same house, had never once suggested we hang out together.

“That doesn’t quite fit.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, calling it ‘rebellious’ doesn’t suit his personality.”

Seo Gi-hyeon looked at me with a surprised expression, as if he’d heard something unexpected.

“Why, did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

“No, it’s not that… Do you know what Joseph’s personality is like?”

“Am I not supposed to?”

“No. It’s just strange that you know my cousin’s personality. You’ve never met him separately, have you?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know? I thought you weren’t interested at all, since you were so indifferent when I talked about Joseph.”

Seo Gi-hyeon was right. I wasn’t interested at all. Not even a tiny bit.

Knowing someone’s personality didn’t mean I was interested in them. While my understanding of Joseph’s personality was voluntary, if he hadn’t been Seo Gi-hyeon’s cousin, I wouldn’t have given him a second thought. The only reason I was slightly curious was that talkative Seo Gi-hyeon was unusually reserved when it came to his cousin.

“How could I not know? He’s your cousin.”

Unable to come up with a good excuse, I vaguely mumbled. But then, the corner of his firm mouth visibly twitched.

“Are you that happy that I know your cousin’s personality?”

“No. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t like it either.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“I wonder. I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. But whatever it is, I like it.”

I truly had no idea what he was talking about.

Swallowing my unspoken thoughts, I simply smiled. Perhaps I’d caught Seo Gi-hyeon’s ‘I like it anyway’ bug, as I strangely felt my own mood lifting.

Returning to my room with the drinks, I found the two boys already engrossed in a different game within that short span of time. It was a game Seo Gi-hyeon had already played to death.

“Hey. Are you two trying to exclude us or something?”

Wondering what he meant, I checked the clock and realized twenty minutes had passed. Unaware we had been downstairs for so long, I threw out another offer in apology.

“Should we order pizza?”

As soon as my question dropped, all three nodded simultaneously.

Two pizzas, ordered by the host mother, vanished in an instant. Considering Seo Gi-hyeon’s appetite and my own stomach, it was an expected outcome.

Watching us eat, the host mother brought up two more large pizzas and drinks in the middle of our feast. Everyone looked as if they were about to bow in gratitude to her.

As we diligently stuffed our faces with pizza, Jang Gi-jae, the first to feel full, set down his slice—about a third remaining—and asked,

“So, what are you all doing about school? We’re graduating soon, you know.”

“And?”

“What are you doing about high school? You’re all going to stay here, right?”

Seo Gi-hyeon and Park Jun-sung stared at Jang Gi-jae with dumbfounded expressions, as if on cue.

“Why would you ask something so obvious? Of course, we are. Otherwise, why would we all go to the same school?”

“Exactly, exactly.”

Everyone was convinced. More accurately, everyone except me.

“……”

“……”

In the suddenly chilling atmosphere, I regained my senses to find Seo Gi-hyeon frowning at me.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

My lips were sealed, and no words came out.