Knowing Brother-Chapter 38

Choi Seol-woo’s eyes hardened for a moment. He thought the hotness in his eyes was because the wound he had received had worsened. Choi Seol-woo turned his gaze to the floor button and didn’t look at him anymore.

Hey! I have something to do, so you guys go in first! Won Dae-young shouted at the group of men and women wearing short school uniform skirts under their sports academy uniforms. Until Won Dae-young strode into the elevator and stood next to him, Seol-woo acted as if he hadn’t seen him.

Seol-woo pressed the button with a blank expression. 5th floor. 00 math.

The elevator, covered in stickers and graffiti, began to move. Won Dae-young twisted his shoulders excessively, blocking Choi Seol-woo’s view.

“Hey. Wait a minute.”

He pointed at Seol-woo with the finger that had been sweeping his chin and said sarcastically.

“You look like that kid who ignored me and disappeared a few months ago.”

“You’ve seen me wrong.”

“Oh, really? Got it.”

He still smelled faintly of the cigarettes he had smoked in front of the magnolia tree. He also smelled like an adult, thicker than before, when he was truant and dragging his slippers around. When Won Dae-young straightened his shoulders, his solid chest bulged out from his top.

“Are you a first-year student?”

“Yes.”

“I know a kid who is also in the first year of middle school and whose name is Choi Seol-woo. Are you a different person?”

“Yes.”

“The kid I know also went to Andromeda and looks like a white furry doll. Are you a different person?”

“Yes.”

“If you meet him, tell him. Dae-young is looking for you like crazy.”

Choi Seol-woo frowned at the contradictory words. He didn’t say anything about moving, didn’t answer the phone, and kindly returned the doll and note saying he couldn’t play with her because of rumors among his friends. Looking for you like crazy?

You know my family situation, so you wouldn’t be trying to rip me off, right... No. Is this kid trying to make me a bully? Or is he trying to use me as a sandbag, no way?

I know how vicious school violence targeting the weak without proper protection is because I spent the whole weekend researching at the PC room before entering school. That’s why I prepared more systematically. Choi Seol-woo was suddenly scared by the number of things Won Dae-young was saying.

As soon as the elevator reached the 5th floor, he ran away. He ran away without looking back and opened the academy door. However, his escape was only successful that day.

The next day, and the day after that, Choi Seol-woo was caught by Won Dae-young at the entrance to the shopping mall. How could he possibly beat the best middle school student in Seoul!

“Hello? Same name. Did you talk to him? What did you say?”

Won Dae-young apologized for taking up his time and handed him a strawberry smoothie. Choi Seol-woo turned away from him, who was twitching like a snake, and replied.

“I don’t know that kind of person.”

“Again?”

“I erased it from my memory.”

“That’s all?”

“I told you not to come near me and get out of here because I don’t want to see you again.”

When he spoke and looked up, that bastard had a face full of joy! He couldn’t help but feel angry. Won Dae-young was enjoying this situation. Just like when the neighborhood people brought the police to corner him in the past, he was enjoying this problematic situation. He wondered if there was another such idiot in the world.

“She used to live in my house, and she lured me into a hundred-year-old contract, but when she was about to enter school, she ran away overnight. She was afraid that I would make her a bad name. I can’t just ignore this kind of problem. Faith and friendship....”

“What did you say? Hey, you punk.”

In the end, he threw away the excuse of having the same name and started swearing at Choi Seol-woo as the person involved.

“What the hell... Why do you keep telling me to run away? You’re the one who’s blatantly swearing, you piece of shit!”

Won Dae-young finally seemed to welcome Choi Seol-woo’s true colors, but he had doubts about ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) what she was saying. He kept saying harsh words because he hated the way she tilted her head.

“What do you mean, I even collected the notes and returned them to you? Smoothie King and Nabal, if you don’t like strawberries, take them and get out. You’re on the same level as your friend who spread strange rumors about the fact that I was waiting for you at the hospital. If you’re going to screw me and Mrs. Choi, I won’t let you off either. You know I know your secret, right?”

Won Dae-young, who had been staring at Choi Seol-woo as she threatened him, wiped the smile from his lips.

“I gave you back the stuff I got?”

“Yeah. That day, the day I promised not to go again, even the note I gave you!”

“That’s strange. I lost it, so I smoked a cigarette.”

“......?”

“It disappeared while I was at my maternal grandparents’ house for a few days.”

Won Dae-young, who found out late that the move was decided, didn’t know that Seol-woo had run away to avoid a debt collector, and thought that the two had gone out. He was supposed to stay at his maternal relatives’ house for a few days while they were preparing to move, but thanks to the maternal grandparent’s scheme, he ended up leaving that very day. Instead of saying hello, he put a note on the door of Seol-woo’s room saying that he would come back and finish moving, but then he suddenly got a reply that Seol-woo had moved out.

He had turned off his cell phone for the past two or three days to distance himself from his old friends, so he didn’t even receive calls from Choi Seol-woo.

He hurriedly called Mrs. Choi, but her cell phone number had changed and there was no way to know where she had gone. In the end, he found out that Mrs. Choi and her smoking mate had gone to Ahyeon-dong by asking the neighborhood grandmother.

“And what rumors did you hear from your friends? I’ve never had trouble with rumors.”

“What?”

“Who saw you leaning against the hospital? None of my friends came the day I was discharged.”

What did the lady say...? In confusion, Choi Seol-woo tried to recall his memories of that day.

“At that moment... I saw someone running away outside the hospital room...”

“A mismatch.”

“A slightly dark khaki backpack... Black sneakers. School uniform.”

Won Dae-young muttered, lost in thought with sharp eyes.

“Fuck... Won Dae-hyun.”

Life was a theater full of fakes. He had no idea that the lady’s calm grumbling was a deliberate lie.

The lady in the two-story house probably didn’t know either.

After hearing the story from Won Dae-hyun, who witnessed their brief embrace, he decided to separate them, and cut off contact. He probably thought that if they lost contact, he would forget about them and live on. He probably never imagined that he would search the entire school for Choi Seol-woo again.

Won Dae-young’s face, which had regained his smile, tilted slightly. Sand fell from the spikes hanging next to his sports bag.

“You thought I had cut ties with you. I thought I had abandoned you.”

“.......”

“I’ll apologize instead.”

At those words, his heart, which had been covered in blood until that afternoon, instantly felt refreshed. This was truly a fairy tale.

“You said I’d kill you if you went back? I don’t want to die, hyung. Please spare me. When I think of all the things you did, I get scared and have nightmares sometimes. There were holes all over my body made with markers.”

Choi Seol-woo ended up laughing as he brought up his dark past with a ridiculous dream.

Won Dae-young let out a cool sigh and stretched out both arms high.

“Haa- It’s hard to see you smile even once. You used to smile a lot, didn’t you? When we were homeschooling together.”

After the misunderstanding was resolved, the first thing Choi Seol-woo asked was how Won Dae-young was doing.

“......That old man, he doesn’t come to your house anymore?”

It was Won Dae-young’s secret that only Seol-woo knew. Since he didn’t call his father “father,” Seol-woo used a different term for him. Won Dae-young answered with a smile. Oh, he doesn’t come.

Even though he didn’t know if what he said was true, sometimes just asking him was comforting. He asked one more thing.

“Are you feeling better now?”

Won Dae-young’s lips trembled for a moment before his original smile returned. He pulled Choi Seol-woo’s shoulder.

“What are you doing after school?”

“Go home, wash up, and sleep. Why?”

“Let’s go to my brother’s house. I’ll show you the trophy for the Seoul City National Sports Festival.”

What did his suggestion mean? Why did he insist on going to a house in such a distant neighborhood? Choi Seol-woo, who had been trained through homeschooling, had a good grasp of his temperament.

So he went to Won Dae-young’s house. Proudly.

His house was the high-rise apartment he had originally lived in before his father issued a restraining order. Before entering the apartment complex, a door that authenticated his fingerprints and prevented outsiders from entering surrounded the area like a fortress wall.

The smell of food filled the house. Won Dae-hyun, who was attending a private high school, was eating dinner in the kitchen before going to the academy. Choi Seol-woo entered the house alongside Won Dae-young. The faces of the woman and Won Dae-hyun, who had come into the front door without any notice, turned pale and hard.

Sometimes, there are conversations that don’t require words. The few seconds of silence that evening were like that.

“Eat first. I’m going out to eat with Seol-woo.”

“.......”

The backpack I saw at the hospital was next to the table. Won Dae-young added a word while giggling.

“Judging by your expression, you can’t do the same thing twice.”

It’s unclear what happened in that apartment after Seol-woo returned home. I didn’t ask. One thing for sure is that, as Won Dae-young said, they never did the same thing again.

And from the next day, Choi Seol-woo’s transfer was pushed forward as quickly as a flash.

“No one can mess with you when you come to our school. Choi Seol-woo. It’s not something to worry about.”

That was all. Won Dae-young didn’t try to persuade me in detail. ‘No one can trample on you or dirty your face at my school.’ That was the end of it. Even if you malfunction, you’ll be safe. That was the end of it. I decided whether to worry or not.

It was a pleasant remark for Choi Seol-woo, who was feeling the limits of proving her family environment with just images and words.

Won Dae-young opened his eyes wide and made a face, as if he didn’t want to hear any more complaints.

“Oh, you shouldn’t be squealing at other schools. You should just come. Come here.”

“Who would squeal? You’ve managed your image so well.”

“‘Transferring to a school for environmental change.’ You’re going to do it.”

He suddenly showed the search screen on his smartphone and walked briskly, dragging Choi Seol-woo along. Sweat was soaking on the nape of his neck. To Choi Seol-woo, Won Dae-young was always a hot person, like someone coming out of a cauldron. His body temperature, scent, body odor, and presence that came over him like a blazing flame.

He looked back at Choi Seol-woo with a languid smile.

“Follow me when I say something nice. Even if you jump, I’ll catch you in a few seconds.”

His heart pounded below his heart.

Just as Young was weak to Choi Seol-woo's wet eyes, Choi Seol-woo was weak to Won Dae-young's smile. His one-sided attitude must have been enough to provoke a backlash, but when Won Dae-young showed a smile that seemed to drop anchor, the fighting stance immediately collapsed.