Though his father knew about Haewon’s lifestyle, he did not point it out. Artists were thought to be different from everyone else. He was a person who thought that it was normal to be different if one practiced the arts.
Haewon’s biological mother was also very different from others. She was more sensitive than him. She was a woman who could not compromise with the dirty world.
There was a pattern of living in loneliness, but he wasn’t that lonely. This boredom wasn’t a big deal once he got used to it, and the irregularities that broke his daily routine sometimes felt annoying and bothersome. Among them, the thing that bothered Haewon the most was Taeshin’s phone calls. Just like right now.
He left his phone ringing continuously. However, this annoyance wasn’t enough to make him want to change his phone number and cut off ties with him. The problem was that his laziness had reached such an extreme level that even changing his number seemed like a chore to him. Apparently, isolation was only for the diligent.
If he didn’t answer his phone, the text messages piled up. Haewon understood most of what he wanted to convey by looking at the last text. These days, he deleted all the text messages he sent, including spam messages about loans and credit services, without even looking at them. It was obvious that it would be a story about the man he had a crush on, but he didn’t really want to see him express his unrequited love through messages since he didn’t receive enough calls.
Taeshin’s crush changed every few years, but it had never been as intense and as long as it was now. How did I end up counseling a high school senior I wasn’t even close to about homosexual relationships? This was a thought that always came to mind when he checked the piled up text messages and missed calls.
Haewon and Taeshin attended the same arts high school. He majored in sculpture. Haewon majored in violin. They couldn’t become friends because their fields were different. It was a tragedy that Taeshin found out what was going on in the empty classroom after everyone had left school.
In the piano practice room, only the piano instructor, who helped students practice their skills, and Haewon remained. The piano major’s fingers were as long as his. The instructor’s hands were busy stroking Haewon’s neck and earlobes. The man’s lips pressed against Haewon’s, clashing aggressively. The piano instructor and Haewon passionately rubbed their lips, exchanged saliva, and sucked on each other as if they were about to take off their clothes at any moment.
Like all timid people, Taeshin did not hastily disclose to anyone what he had witnessed through the small window. Haewon, who didn’t have many friends back then either, sat alone in an empty classroom where all the children had left. He looked back at Taeshin, who came to visit him, a guy he barely knew.
Taeshin called Haewon to the school’s backyard. And then, in the middle of nowhere, without any explanation, this is what he said:
「 I thought I was the only one. I thought something was weird about me. 」
「…… 」
Haewon had no prior connection with him. That was the first time he knew his name, his face, and even the fact that a student named Lee Taeshin was at the school. However, as soon as he heard his first words, Haewon realized that he had been caught in the act with the instructor in the practice room.
As Haewon looked at him without saying a word, Taeshin added with the characteristic smile of an ordinary person.
「 I’m in the year above you, but let’s just be friends. There’s no need for you to use honorifics with me. 」
「…… 」
「 Actually, I have a crush on someone, should I tell them? Or should I not? What do you do when you have a crush? 」
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Haewon looked at him silently, and Taeshin misunderstood it as listening to what he had to say, not as ignoring him. The misunderstanding built up like a mountain, and a decade had passed since then.
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Once or twice out of ten. That was the number of times Haewon answered his calls. Out of those ten times, it was to tell him to stop calling him because he was annoyed by the continuous ringing, not to greet him.
Taeshin knew that Haewon didn’t like it and that it bothered him, but he kept calling him anyway. It was because he couldn’t tell anyone else.
He didn’t have any friends of the same orientation, and like Haewon, he didn’t have many friends as a whole. Every time he encountered his superficial inner self, Haewon, who did not understand how he exposed himself to others, felt disgusted with Taeshin, who was his complete opposite.
The phone stopped ringing. When the unpleasant irritating sound disappeared, somehow he felt a little sorry. He glanced at his phone, which had been disconnected for no reason, and looked at the name of the caller of the missed call on the screen.
“……”
He wondered if this would happen to him too if he had no one to lean on, despite saying that they weren’t close. However, he doesn’t call him out of momentary sympathy.
Haewon can’t be of any help to his life anyway. In life, especially a life like theirs, no one could be of help. Only you could help yourself.
Haewon wasn’t that lonely anyway. Whenever he felt lonely, he headed to a bar he knew. There were a lot of guys there who were looking for a one-night stand like him. Although he didn’t meet anyone on a regular basis, once he took care of his lust there, he didn’t feel as lonely for a while.
He had been alone most of the time since he was young, and now he was so used to being alone that it was a habit difficult to get rid of. There were times when Haewon would not open his mouth for over a week if he didn’t have someone to talk to. Days like that will probably continue when Kim Jaemin returns to the United States.
∞ ∞ ∞
Haewon was not interested in his father’s business. He didn’t even know what exactly he did. His father was an arms dealer, and was a rather successful businessman who purchased weapons from the United States and delivered them to East Asia, including Korea.
Is there anything more illogical and irrational in this world than war? After learning that his father was an arms dealer, Haewon considered his father’s job dishonorable. When someone asked him what his father did, Haewon answered that he was an ordinary office worker as he was ashamed of him. Haewon rang the doorbell of his family house and pulled up the violin case on his shoulder.
―Oh my, it’s been a while, Student Haewon.
“Yes, hello.”
He visited his family house about once a month. Haewon’s stepmother did not deposit his living expenses into his bank account, but made sure to give it to him in person. It was only natural for a child to receive money from his father, who was obligated to provide for him, even if it was money he hadn’t earned with integrity. However, whenever Haewon received an envelope from his stepmother, he understood how the beggars felt.
The gate opened, and Haewon walked inside. The garden had been watered for the summer. His stepmother, who had nothing to do, had a hobby of gardening. She bought an old pine tree worth hundreds of millions of won without even thinking about it, and planted it in their yard. An old pine tree that would have been more beautiful if it had been located on a steep cliff stood crookedly in the way of the driveway. He followed the stone wall past the shade of the tree, where the strong scent of pine was spreading. As he opened the door to the modernly renovated house and entered, the cool, cold air raised goosebumps on his bare arms.
“It’s been exactly a month. Have you been well?”
“Yes, aunty, have you been well?”
“The same as usual, you know.”
The housekeeper who opened the front door greeted him. She has been taking care of this house since he was in high school, so whenever she saw him, she still called him a student even though it had been a while since he graduated from school.
She had been in this house longer than his stepmother. She was a long-term resident. She was able to humor his stepmother, who was like a nail that drove out another.
She often complained to Haewon, and it seemed like he was the only one in this house who would accept it anyway. She carefully took the violin case hanging from Haewon’s shoulder and placed it against the wall in the corner where she always put it down.
The stepmother was arranging flowers with fresh new lowers spread out across the reception table.
“If I didn’t give you an allowance, you wouldn’t come visit even once a month.”
She glanced over at Haewon and scolded him without even saying a hello or anything similar. She turned her gaze back to the flower with its stem cut off. His stepmother was skilled in flower arrangement.
Haewon sat down on the sofa. The leather sofa sank under Haewon’s weight. The housekeeper served him a drink. Haewon was thirsty, so he drank half of his iced tea. He then leaned back on the sofa, craned his neck, and took a deep breath.
“You’re not even going to say hello?”
“I just checked with my own eyes that you’re alive and well.”
“Look at you talk.”
“How are you doing?”
“Not good.”
“Where’s dad?”
His stepmother didn’t mistreat him. Since she had nothing to do and was bored, she used the tone of a wife complaining to her husband.
“He went on a business trip to America.”
“……”
Haewon’s father lived in the United States for half the month. Haewon and his stepmother knew about it, but they did not divulge it to each other. It was clear that his father had set up another home there. The duration and frequency of his visits increased, and once he returned, he was unnaturally nice to his stepmother.
Haewon’s stepmother was a woman as pretty as a flower when she married his father. She’d gotten used to being his wife, to the point where she didn’t feel quite the same as she had the first time he’d seen her, though her flower-like appearance had only lost a little of its vitality.
There was silence as they said nothing, knowing clearly what the other was thinking. Haewon drank the remaining iced tea and raised his head to see Haejeong walking down the stairs on this floor.
Haejeong followed quickly, squeezing her tiny body through his stepmother’s side of the sofa, and sat down, her eyes twinkling curiously at Haewon.
Wow never thought I’d feel so much pity for a very rich character like this…
Can’t wait for the other MC to be introduced in Haewon’s life. He desperately needs someone who really cares so he can learn too
Thank you for translating! This is one of the better translated works I’ve seen here. I hope this gets enough attention soon. You’re doing so well 🤩🤗