CH 2

There was the unique smell of disinfectant from the inside of the hospital ward. Kim Dongshik, who had discovered his father sitting in the quiet space, purposefully approached him with louder footsteps. He placed a heavy shopping bag next to the hospital ward’s bed and spoke. 

“Here. The things you requested, Dad.”

“Aigoo.1 It must have been heavy.”

“What’s the occasion? You’ve never looked at manhwas2 like this before in your life.”

“Ah, it’s not for me; it’s for the person using the bed next to me…”

At his father’s words, Dongshik turned to look at the bed next to him. Because it was a double occupancy ward, there were only two beds, and the inside of the ward was fairly big. If only the person using the other bed was normal, his father’s hospitalization wouldn’t be that bad.

As he briefly glanced over, the name tag hanging next to the bed came into view. Although it was someone else’s private information, he couldn’t endure the curiosity and stole a peek. 

<Park Haeun>3

“Huh?”

Dongshik was surprised and turned to look towards his father. 

“Dad, is this a co-gender ward? There wasn’t anything about that! Do we have to move hospitals?”

“What, punk?”

The one who replied was not Dongshik’s father. The voice came from the direction of the ward’s entrance. Surprised, Dongshik turned his head. Dongshik didn’t know if he hadn’t closed the door all the way or if the other person had opened the door silently and appeared, but either way, there was someone standing at the door. 

He had ears full of rowdy-looking piercings on bright yellow dyed hair. It was a man that looked so much like a ruffian despite wearing a hospital gown and holding crutches. Because he looked towards him with a crumpled expression when he already had fierce eyes, Dongshik could only automatically flinch. 

“What did you just say? You were talking about me, right?”

Speaking unreservedly to someone he’d just met wouldn’t be because he was sociable. While Dongshik was unable to open his mouth and stuttered, he approached considerably quickly while holding onto crutches. There was a sound of a slipper being dragged from one foot. The quiet atmosphere of the ward changed dramatically in an instant. 

Looking at Dongshik, who was sitting awkwardly on a stool next to the bed, he said, “Move, you bastard. You’re in the way.” 

Dongshik raised his butt in a squat and made room. There was enough space even if he didn’t move over, but it seemed that he just wanted to nitpick. As he moved towards the other bed, he glared at Dongshik with fierce eyes full of distrust and discontent. 

Dongshik’s father lightly hit his back and criticized him. “Punk, you shouldn’t thoughtlessly judge after only seeing a name.”

He had wondered after seeing him sit on the other bed, but it seemed that this man was really the person using the ward with his father. How could that face’s name be Park Haeun… Had there been an error of some kind? He knew that he should be reflecting on his prejudice, but as he had to face his delinquent-like gaze, he kept on wanting to reject reality. 

“What? Is this ahjussi’s4 son?” Park Haeun, who had scanned Dongshik from head to toe, asked in a flat, but much calmer voice.

“Yup. I made him run some errands.”

Dongshik didn’t know where to begin being disturbed from. The attitude of the yellow-haired delinquent referring to him as ‘this?’ The delinquent that used formal language that didn’t seem formal, and his father replying amiably?

“You don’t look alike at all… Anyway, you should’ve said that sooner. What’s your name?”

Before he could reach a conclusion, the man threw a question at him. At the attitude that had gotten much friendlier than just before, he could finally take a look at his face properly. 

Truthfully, although he looked like he’d misbehave, his looks were not threatening. Although he had long arms and legs and looked around 180cm tall, maybe because he had a lanky body type, he didn’t look like the type to use his fists. Weren’t there occasionally some idols nowadays that exuded delinquent vibes like that? Technically, he gave off that kind of vibe…

But why did he keep ending up licking his boots?

“I’m Ha…Han Dongshik.” 

He even stuttered as he replied. Shame washed over him, but when he made eye contact with Park Haeun, he bowed his head naturally. His eyes weren’t small, but the pupils that seemed small enough to bring out the whites of his eyes were oddly frightening.

What kind of guy was he? Was he a student? As he wondered, Park Haeun asked another question. 

“Ha-Han Dongshik? Your mother’s surname is Ha?”

He couldn’t tell at all if this guy was… awake, teasing him, or just an idiot. 

As he shook his head and revealed that his name was not Ha-Han Dongshik, but just Han Dongshik, and his mother’s surname was Oh, Park Haeun easily accepted it and moved on. Fortunately, it seemed that he had gotten fairly close with his father while being hospitalized together. Seeing that he had moved on without a fuss, thanks to being his son, when he mistakenly pointed out his name.

…Wait, why was correcting him, when he had called my name incorrectly, a mistake?

Dongshik, who had been nervously peeling an apple, hesitated. As he stealthily looked around, Dongshik saw Park Haeun reading the manhwa he had brought with a serious expression. The one Park Haeun had grabbed was not the first book, but the fourth. The first book was in his father’s hands. His father, who had been reading while holding it far away, judged it with a calm voice.

“This is pretty fun.”

“Right? I told you it’s fun. The fourth book is fucking touching.”

It seemed that Park Haeun had recommended a manhwa that he liked. He was relieved that his father didn’t seem bored, but it was a little worrying that he was hanging out with a young and misbehaving guy like that. As he was reading the room, Park Haeun half-heartedly put down the fourth book of <Divine Ambition of the East>. Then he shamelessly ate the apple that Dongshik had peeled. 

“Is this a bunny apple? But why is it so squashed?”

“Uh… I made a mistake as I was peeling it, so…”

“Hm…”

Park Haeun looked back and forth between the squashed apple and Dongshik’s face. What was he doing? Does that mean that that squashed bunny apple and I look similar?

“Well, it’s fine. You can start doing well next time.”

Although Haeun was giving encouragement, Dongshik didn’t feel that happy about it. Unlike Dongshik who was feeling sour, his father was laughing and looking at Park Haeun for some reason. Next to Dongshik who was stuttering again, Park Haeun had already finished eating the apple and turned on the TV this time. He flipped through the channels, stopped at a movie channel, half-heartedly watched the screen, and then spoke to his father. 

“Ahjussi, have you watched the movie, <Third Illegal Earth>?”

“I think I’ve heard of the title.”

“Ah, this is really a masterpiece.”

He tried to be still, but it was hard to endure because that had been a movie Dongshik had enjoyed.

“Isn’t that one fun? I saw it at the theater.”

“Oh, you did?”

For the first time, Park Haeun’s expression relaxed and became delighted. Dongshik was also excited, so he responded.

“Yes, of course. Didn’t the role of Geonjoo act very well?”

“Isn’t Geonjoo super cool? At first, I wondered why a guy that looks like a male gisaeng5 was rushing to film a noir, but as I watched, this bastard’s vibe wasn’t a joke. I watched that five times.”

The memory that the actor who played Geonjoo was a solidly handsome man that wouldn’t  be called a male gisaeng and the thought that Park Haeun, who was like a delinquent idol, looked too much like a male gisaeng to call someone else that passed through Dongshik’s head. However, he thought that if he let that fact out of his mouth, Park Haeun would say, ‘What, punk?’ as he glared, so he shut his mouth. 

Then, Park Haeun raved for a while about how Third Illegal Earth was such a great movie, how much Geonjoo’s greatness pierced the sky, and how solemn Geonjoo’s leadership was. 

“What was Geonjoo’s actor’s name?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. A Kim or Lee, I think he was one of those…”

Park Haeun, who thought about it for a moment, closed his lips on his own because he was either bored or had tired himself out. Dongshik, who had also been thinking of what the name of the actor of Geonjoo had been, stealthily turned his body towards his father.

From observing, if he described him negatively, Park Haeun was the type who was easily distracted; if he described him positively, he was the type who’d have fun by himself. In a short amount of time, he had briefly watched the movie on the TV, then had been busy picking up and dropping manhwas, and soon, he grabbed his phone and laid down comfortably. He must have had no thoughts of wearing earphones because the sound from his phone just flowed out. 

He must have been watching a Neotuber’s6 game broadcast for a while because the loud sound could be heard. Unlike Dongshik, who was restless with anxiety, his father had an expression that couldn’t be more peaceful. Park Haeun, who was lying down as if it were his room in his home, was the same. Dongshik, embarrassed at the feeling that he’d become a stranger, heard a sound that was welcoming to his ears. The ward’s door had been opened again.

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“Ah…!”

Had it been a mistake to be glad thinking that a nurse or doctor had come? About to stand up, Dongshik stiffened with half his butt off the chair in a squat. Four or five unruly-looking men piled into the ward.

“Parkha!”

“I heard your leg hasn’t stuck together yet?”

“Is it totally smashed? Then, can you not walk now?”

“Our Parkha is so pitiful… Should hyung piggy-back you around?”

The men threw questions first without any proper greeting. It seemed that only Dongshik was surprised as his father and Park Haeun were wearing calm expressions.

Park Haeun, who still had his phone draped between his fingers, replied indifferently to their words. “Be quiet at the hospital, you idiots.” 

Surprised, Dongshik scanned the reactions of the men. Although they seemed like Park Haeun’s friends, unlike Park Haeun who looked goofy somewhere, they felt like real thugs. They had a strong physique, and their solid fists looked like they could take Park Haeun, who was on his sickbed, down with one punch. Would it be alright for Park Haeun to act like that?

However, he was worried for nothing as they complied with Park Haeun’s words. Instead of rebutting, they rather laughed and innocently replied saying, ‘You’re right,’ and ‘We didn’t have any common sense.’ Did Park Haeun have a greater say in this crowd than he’d thought?