* * *

“I don’t have any money. You took some just recently.”

“You have a deposit, don’t you? I’ll pay it back quickly. It won’t take long.”

“Don’t even think about touching the deposit. I barely managed to find this place to live…”

“Who said anything about taking it? I’m just asking to borrow it. You owe me for raising you.”

Baek Myungjun, a man who seemed to have no sense of fatherhood, continued to demand money from his son.

He had no interest in how his children were living and even spoke hurtful words to Jinwoo without a second thought.

“If you won’t give it to me, I’ll ask Jingyeom. He’s an adult now; he must have some money stashed away. Maybe even something he’s kept hidden from you.”

At the mention of Baek Jingyeom, Jinwoo’s eyes darkened instantly.

Seeing this, Baek Myungjun began laughing like a madman.

“You should be grateful to me. I gave you a family, didn’t I? So give me the money. This time it’s really the last. I’m done after this.”

“You said that last time, too.”

“This time I mean it. I’ve found a good gambling house.”

As expected, it was another request for gambling money.

Jinwoo’s vision went black as the weight of the situation pressed down on him.

“Please… Jingyeom has to go through another surgery soon. I need to save up for that…”

“Then you’ve already saved up some money, haven’t you?”

“Dad!”

Baek Myungjun shamelessly put on a pitiful expression, his aggressive tone softening.

“Of course I know Jingyeom needs another surgery. I’m trying to gather money for that too… How can you possibly cover the surgery and hospital bills all by yourself?”

Baek Myungjun’s gentle, coaxing tone made Jinwoo’s labored breathing gradually return to normal.

“I want Jingyeom to live, too. What father would just watch their child die? …Jinwoo, this is really the last time. You can get everything back in one go. Then we can all live together again. Just like before, the three of us.”

[…]

“We’ll get a new house, and you can finally live a normal life. Right, Jinwoo?”

Jinwoo knew it was a lie, yet he found himself wanting to believe Baek Myungjun, his father, one more time.

Before gambling, he had been a good man.

That memory still lingered, making it hard for Jinwoo to cut ties completely.

“…Is this really the last time?”

“I’m telling you, it is.”

Jinwoo’s eyes trembled with anxiety, but Baek Myungjun, reflected in them, wore a greedy smile, looking utterly satisfied.

Though Jinwoo didn’t fully believe his father’s words, he clung to even the tiniest shred of hope.

Maybe things could go back to the way they were.

But that hope was soon torn to pieces, scattered like confetti.

The loan shark debt he had been struggling to pay off suddenly ballooned. The culprit was Baek Myungjun.

When Jinwoo confronted the loan sharks, asking how they could have lent him more money, they answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Of course, you’re his son. Just keep paying monthly, like you’ve been doing. Eventually, you’ll pay it all off, right?”

Jinwoo clenched his fist, barely holding back his rising anger. Grinding his teeth, he told them,

“Don’t lend him any more money. I won’t repay it. If you want it back so badly, collect it from him directly.”

“Huh? Look at this guy, acting all tough now that he’s grown a little.”

Jinwoo wanted to punch the smug face of the man laughing in his face, but he held back.

If he acted on impulse, he’d end up in the hospital himself, and that would mean he couldn’t work to pay for Baek Jingyeom’s surgery.

He didn’t mind the pain, but if he couldn’t work, he wouldn’t be able to afford his brother’s operation.

“I’ve only been paying off the money my father borrowed. If this debt grows any larger, I won’t be able to repay it. You’ll just be throwing money away.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. Even if you can’t pay, there’s still one more. Baek Myungjun’s other son.”

“…If you touch my brother, I won’t let it slide.”

“We know, that’s why we haven’t touched him. If we used your brother, we’d have the debt repaid much faster than what you send us monthly. See how kind we’re being?”

Jinwoo couldn’t hold back anymore.

He attacked, focusing all his rage on the one guy who had mentioned Baek Jingyeom’s name.

From then on, the loan sharks knew Jinwoo as the crazy one.

Though he got beaten up badly by the rest of the group and ended up in the hospital, Jinwoo didn’t regret it. If anything, he regretted not hitting harder.

When Baek Jingyeom heard that Jinwoo was hospitalized, he rushed over.

Seeing Jinwoo’s broken arm and the cast on his strained leg ligaments, Jingyeom seemed to be in shock.

Once Jinwoo explained the whole situation, Baek Jingyeom yelled like a madman.

The anger he had shown before seemed like nothing in comparison.

“You’ve lost your mind! Why would you go there and get beaten up? So what if the debt grows? You can just spend your life paying it off! Do you want to end up crippled? If that’s what you want, I’ll make it happen!”

Jinwoo knew that Baek Jingyeom wasn’t upset because he was worried about him being in the hospital.

It was because, while Jinwoo was unable to work, they wouldn’t have any money coming in.

Even when Jinwoo had collapsed from overwork, Baek Jingyeom had grumbled about how they’d make rent that month.

Jinwoo never expected him to worry about him.

“Sorry. But we’ve saved a little, so I can pay rent this month.”

“…You idiot! You didn’t get beaten enough, did you?”

It was the nurses who stopped Baek Jingyeom from grabbing Jinwoo by the collar after someone in the ward had complained about the noise.

“You can’t do this here!”

“Let me go!”

“Get him out of here!”

“You’re disturbing the other patients!”

The hospital ward was complete chaos.

It didn’t help that the room Jinwoo was staying in was an 8-person shared ward, already crowded with patients.

The situation only calmed down after Baek Jingyeom collapsed from the strain on his heart.

A few hours later, Baek Jingyeom woke up, pressing his reddened eyes with his hands.

He glanced at Jinwoo, still sitting beside him despite his cast, and forced himself up.

“…Idiot.”

For a while after that, Baek Jingyeom held back from spending money.

Despite his complaints, he brought Jinwoo things he needed for his hospital stay.

Jinwoo, although confused by this milder side of Jingyeom, was secretly pleased, even faking illness to prolong the peace.

For a few days, things were surprisingly calm.

Then, Baek Jingyeom brought it up again.

“…Do you have Dad’s number?”

“No. He never gave it to me. He always just showed up at the house.”

“I’ve never seen him.”

“I’ve only seen him a few times myself.”

For a while longer, Baek Jingyeom stayed by Jinwoo’s side.

But once Jinwoo’s cast came off, Jingyeom returned to his usual prickly self.

---

Jinwoo stretched out his arms and hugged Jingyeom.

He had been curious about how they had gotten back in contact with their father, and now it made sense.

“…So that’s why the debt grew.”

Jinwoo told Jingyeom about Baek Myungjun but left out the part about being beaten up by loan sharks and the filthy things they had said about Jingyeom.

Finally, letting out what he had kept to himself, he felt a bit relieved.

“Don’t answer if Dad calls you again. Promise me that. If he really needs money, he’ll call me.”

“…Actually, he contacted me a few days ago.”

“Dad?”

The day he had seen Jingyeom’s phone, he recognized the number in the messages.

That’s when he realized Baek Myungjun had been contacting both of them for money.

‘I told him not to contact Jingyeom, but of course, he went ahead and did it anyway.’

When Baek Jingyeom was hospitalized for a cold, Jinwoo had ignored a message from their father asking for money.

It turned out he had gone straight to Jingyeom afterward.

“What did he say?”

“Just… asked for money.”

“So, did you give it to him?”

“Yeah, I did. He said if I didn’t, he’d ask you. You’ve been so busy with work lately, barely getting any rest. I didn’t want to make you worry.”

Jinwoo hugged Jingyeom tighter, trying to comfort him as his voice grew smaller.

His mind raced with thoughts of how to deal with their shameless father, who had no qualms about reaching out to Jingyeom.

No matter how Jeong Sanho had tracked down their father, Jinwoo couldn’t allow them to keep in contact any longer.

“I won’t be able to take back what you sent. So let’s forget about it. But don’t send him anything from now on.”

“Okay. I won’t. But I didn’t send much.”

“How much did you send?”

“18… eighteen won.”

“…Huh?”

For a moment, Jinwoo thought he had misheard. Eighteen won? Not 1,818 won?

Then, he burst out laughing, hugging Jingyeom tightly, giggling uncontrollably.

“No wonder he didn’t contact you again!”

“I did get the message, but I deleted it right away.”

Jingyeom’s casual remark made Jinwoo laugh even harder.

Things had seemed pretty serious just a moment ago, but now he couldn’t stop giggling, as the amount of money they’d deposited kept swirling in his mind.

“Jingyeom.”

“There you go again! Why do you keep calling my name?”

“We’re the same age, aren’t we? Can’t I call you by your name?”

“Well, that’s true… but we’re family, you know.”

Jingyeom, who had been about to tell Jinwoo that they should sever ties with Baek Myungjun no matter how hard it might be, suddenly found himself thinking of something else.

‘He’s been acting a bit different lately… Is he struggling a lot? Or… does he need a friend?’

* * *