Before Jung Jin moved out, Song Hyunsoo personally cooked for him and made cocktails.
That was probably the most polite gesture Hyunsoo could show to someone at the time.
And on that day, Jung Jin gifted him the Louis Vuitton Suit that Hyunsoo had been eyeing. It was too flashy a style for himself, so he never wore it.
After the meal, Jin taught him how to properly tie shoelaces.
Sitting side by side in the cramped entrance of their lodging, Song Hyunsoo slipped one foot into a Converse sneaker.
“Here, wrap it around like this.”
He carefully followed Jin’s instructions step by step.
Until then, Hyunsoo had never been taught how to tie shoelaces properly. The laces he had carelessly tied on his own often came undone.
The young Hyunsoo would keep fixing them, but when he grew tired, he’d just step on the laces and walk around like that. Because of that, the ends of his shoelaces were always grimy.
His elderly grandparents, struggling just to get by, never thought to sit him down and teach him how to tie his shoes properly.
By the age of seven, he could cook ramen on his own, and by nine, he knew how to wash rice, put it in the cooker, and press the start button—but he grew up without knowing how to tie shoelaces properly.
For more than twenty years, he wandered around with laces that always came undone. He thought that would never change. That was just who he was.
But when someone beside him patiently showed him how to do it, he tied a neat, sturdy bow as if by magic.
That moment felt like magic. Like a hopeful sign that even someone like him could become a somewhat decent person.
“You won’t tie the bow backward anymore, right? This way, it won’t come undone easily.”
His shoelaces, tied properly for the first time in his life.
“When you move, come visit.”
Jung Jin ruffled the hair of the stunned Song Hyunsoo and said so.
“Don’t be jealous just because I’m moving to a better place after succeeding.”
“I’m not like that with you. Kim Young-joo was annoying, so I said that. He didn’t even know who helped him escape here, but he thinks he’s all that…”
Without knowing what kind of situation Choi Hongseo was in. He hated his team members who thrived because of Hongseo.
But Jin was different from those guys. Even when he used to think seeing others succeed just made his stomach hurt, only Jung Jin genuinely wished for his success.
“You don’t have Myking at your company, right? You’re not moving because of Myking?”
“Uh, no. You know I’ve been living without spending money all this time.”
“As long as you’re not moving with debt, it’s fine.”
“……”
“Don’t ever come back to this dump and live well.”
Choi Hongseo and Jung Jin were the only people in those days who could truly wish for Song Hyunsoo’s happiness.
In a distant foreign land he couldn’t even visit, in Bangkok, where Choi Hongseo lost his life, it was Jung Jin who found the frantic, sorrowful, suffocatingly terrified Song Hyunsoo struggling alone.
The ‘X-gun Scandal’ was sweeping the world like blazing lava.
Some of the public blamed the victim, X-gun. It seemed they didn’t care about the truth that the victims had grown up neglected, receiving no basic protection from their families or society, and were social underdogs caught by their abusers as soon as they became adults.
They fiercely criticized that those kids should have been wiser and handled things better—as if the victims’ attitudes were a bigger problem than the perpetrators’ cunning.
That’s why Hongseo left this world. This cruel world pushed him away.
His chest burned black from anger and frustration with nowhere to vent. Yet, the fact that he had to think about his own safety in that moment made everything feel miserable.
Sitting at the dining table with Jung Jin, who had come to visit the lodging, Song Hyunsoo poured out his long story.
“If President Myung’s involvement gets exposed and it all blows up… I’ll go to prison too, right? I’m less famous than Hongseo, but… technically, I’m an X-gun too. Or since I’m not famous, maybe I can quietly get away with it?”
At that time, Song Hyunsoo himself thought he’d be punished even though he was also a victim. But, like Choi Hongseo, who was only used by Myung Dohoon, Hyunsoo was recognized as a victim during the trial.
“In my opinion… even if it’s not the Myung incident, because of Hongseo… we’ll probably both be questioned as witnesses.”
Jung Jin, who always seemed so gentle as if indecisive, calmly sorted out the situation and prepared logically. He must have felt as miserable as Hyunsoo did.
“Even for just a witness investigation, it’s best to have a lawyer with you. I’ll prepare that, so if you get contacted by the police or the company, tell me first no matter what. Don’t ever act alone, okay?”
Wiping the tear stains off his cheek carelessly, Song Hyunsoo nodded. Then, in a scared voice, he asked.
“Hyung, a lawyer… how much does that kind of thing cost?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“But… the money…”
“You said you’d stop wasting money after becoming a superstar. You’re not a superstar yet, but I have enough to do that for you.”
With tear stains still on his face, Song Hyunsoo gave a weak smile.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Just… ‘wasting’ sounds so unlike you.”
It was reassuring. Knowing someone was protecting him, and that person was someone like Jung Jin, gave him the strength to hold on even in the deepest darkness.
He wasn’t alone.
A strong person like his hyung was holding him up.
So this darkness would not be the end of his journey.
He inherited that hopeful light from Jung Jin.
Despite everything, the world was still worth living in. Even after meeting dozens of trash and living as one of them himself, there were still beautiful people—people brave enough to be beautiful—somewhere.
He decided to stop ignoring that fact and cursing the world as a wasteland filled only with scum. He would unclench his fists.
Having lived a life with nothing to boast about, Song Hyunsoo even envied siblings.
His hometown senior, who was bad at grades and had a bad temper, who bossed his younger brother around and beat him, was someone who, if his younger brother got hit by someone else, would go find that guy and repay him double.
But Hyunsoo, who had no parents to come to sports days or picnics, no Nike sneakers, no extra uniforms to change into, had no siblings.
To Song Hyunsoo, Jung Jin was the hyung he wanted to boast about to everyone. Not to show off, but to be proud of.
Not because of the money, house, car, education, or job Jin had, but because Jin himself was someone to be proud of. Even if not his biological brother.
The light was contagious.
To Song Hyunsoo, Jung Jin was the transmitter who passed on the light.
That’s why he didn’t want to lie to him.
■
Ah, why is it so hot… Did I set the electric mat temperature too high?
Half asleep, Song Hyunsoo kicked off the blanket. Or rather, he tried to kick it off. But he couldn’t move his legs because of some weight pressing down on his body.
What, is this sleep paralysis?
His eyes opened slightly, so probably not.
Instead of the window sealed with bubble wrap and the TV playing, what came into view was a long blackout curtain in calm colors stretching down to the floor.
Only then did Song Hyunsoo realize the reason for this heat. Oh right, he was at Yoon Jooho’s place…
Hmm, Yoon Jooho?
He lowered his chin to look down. A heavy arm was draped over his body lying on its side. Long legs pressed down on his thighs. Wrapped in those limbs, Song Hyunsoo was like a human rolling pin.
He turned his face slightly to look behind.
“……”
Jooho’s face, eyes closed, was pressed close right behind him, lips almost touching the nape of his neck. Why was he sleeping here?
After Jooho confessed to him in the car last night, they went straight to the rooftop room in Bogwang-dong to pack their things together.
Then, before he knew it, he was organizing clothes in the guest room on the second floor of Jooho’s house.
It felt like he had been enchanted by a legendary fox, and when he came to his senses, he found himself digging the ground in a deep mountain burying a chicken.
Not a fox, but he’d definitely been thoroughly bewitched…
They were so hungry they ordered hot dogs together, took showers, played together in the Munro Room, kissed a little here and there… Then sleepiness came and they came upstairs to this room and fell asleep without even turning on the TV.
He remembered all that, but when did this person come here?
“The alarm hasn’t gone off yet.”
Without opening his eyes, Jooho murmured, moving only his lips. He didn’t sound very sleepy, so it was unclear how long he’d been awake.
He tightened the limbs wrapped around Song Hyunsoo and shifted to find a more comfortable position.
“I’m going to sleep more, so don’t wiggle around and just stay still.”
His breath tickled as he buried his face completely into Hyunsoo’s nape.
Running his fingers over the skin of the arm hugging across his chest, Song Hyunsoo picked up his phone from the bedside table.
“There’s only 10 minutes left before the alarm goes off. If you fall back asleep now, it’ll be harder to wake up.”
“Sometimes, ten minutes can be a very long time.”
Jooho’s hand slipped under Hyunsoo’s T-shirt, subtly pressing the hardened penis against his butt.
“Why are you sleeping here?”
“Seems like BB-탄 is the type to lose interest once he catches the fish.”
“What are you talking about now?”
“It’s our first day dating and living together, but separate rooms? That’s disappointing.”
“I looked tired, so I told you to go upstairs and sleep.”
“I never thought you’d actually do that after I said it.”
The hand that had been stroking his lower abdomen spread wide over his chest muscles.
The touch of those hands massaging his chest while hugging from behind made Song Hyunsoo’s waist twitch.
“You had a right to be tired yesterday.”
“I thought you’d be waiting, so I came upstairs, but you were really asleep. You didn’t even know when I came up and took your pants off.”
“Really??”
He tried to look back, but curling up tightly in Jooho’s strong embrace, he couldn’t.
The sound of lips pressed to his nape chuckling told him it was a joke.
The trembling of Jooho’s bare shoulders and chest shook right against Hyunsoo, showing how close he was clinging.
It was the unbelievable start of the day.