Knowing Brother-Chapter 23

I was always worried that I would be caught.

The story about the letter Ha Young-seo mentioned was from last year. At that time when Won Dae-young was engrossed in rehabilitation with no end in sight and Ha Young-seo was having difficulties with her solo debut, Won Dae-young did not respond to any of his friends’ calls except for Choi Seol-woo and did not attend drinking parties.

At a gathering of only four people, Ha Young-seo asked Seol-woo to deliver a letter. It was a letter with lyrics she had written herself.

Choi Seol-woo said she would. Then, when she returned home, she threw away the letter.

She tore up five pieces of paper with lyrics about missing her lover and flushed them down the toilet.

After that, she secretly deleted a message she had sent to Won Dae-young by pressing the exit button.

‘I split them up.’

That was Choi Seol-woo’s sin. The first bad thing she had done. A momentary evil deed. An impulse she could not hold back... ... . From that day on, Choi Seol-woo was tormented by guilt whenever she saw Ha Young-seo. The fear of being caught was always there.

However, after Won Dae-young's successful comeback, rumors of their relationship arose, and they got together. No matter how much they interfered, their relationship would continue... That thought made the things she had done all the more miserable.

Yes, Won Dae-young, he's a guy who goes all the way when he's into something.

But the ending of the foodie! It was shocking.

The day would come when he'd be caught, and I was mentally preparing myself to cut ties with both of them, but this happened.

Is it better to have a passionate love ending despite Choi Seol-woo's interference, or an immoral foodie ending? They were both beggars!

On the other hand, Ha Young-seo's determination was firm.

"I'm going to leave this group now."

"No! Why are you leaving, Young-seo? It'll be resolved if just one person leaves. Won Dae-young didn't come to the group anyway."

Everyone was on Ha Young-seo's side. Choi Seol -woo's stuff was stuck in a taxi, and he was drunk. I didn't know that the words were so bad that they were not so bad. The ringing man closed the taxi door with a mockery, leaving a mockery in a trick that he could not forgive for any reason. “I hope you always laugh when you break up with your girlfriend next time. Even if it’s the other way around, you’ll laugh and break up with her. Goodbye.”

It’s almost 1 a.m. It looks like I’ll be sucking my thumb next week because of the taxi fare today. However, I felt uncomfortable taking Yoon Ji-hwan’s car, so I lied and said that my friend was giving me a ride.

Tomorrow was the first day of filming for <Knowing My Sister>, so I had a few messages from Won Dae-young. After much thought, I called him.

It’s too late, but if he’s sleeping, he won’t pick up anyway.

No matter how much I’m going to cut him off, I had to check this and move on. The Won Dae-young that Choi Seol-woo knows is a self-centered, perverted, and annoying brat, that’s right. But he’s not the kind of person who would do something so vulgar and immoral.

He’s not the kind of guy who would be unilaterally cursed at by people... ... .

As expected, it was the time when he should be sleeping, so the phone ringtone kept ringing. The lights of the stores and signs outside the window shone on the wide street. Choi Seol-woo, who had given up on the call, leaned his head against the car window.

A few seconds later, Won Dae-young called.

- What? Why? What’s going on?

He asked me in a voice that sounded like he was awake. He seemed to think it was an emergency. Seol-woo, who had hesitated to talk because he felt sorry, opened his mouth in a faint voice.

“...I’m on my way home after drinking with Yeong-seo. Is it okay to talk?”

- But. Tell me.

“Hyung...Why did you do that to her?”

- ... ... .

“Didn’t you love her?”

Actually, I threw away Yeong-seo’s letter back then. I broke you up.

But I didn’t know you’d just satisfy your desires and end it like this. Please tell me that it wasn’t true, that there was another reason, that there was a misunderstanding. Even if everyone points fingers at you, let me take your side. If you just make one ridiculous excuse, I’ll stay on your side until the end.

“Did something happen that I don’t know about?”

- If he wasn’t lying, then what you saw, what you heard, that’s all.

There was no hesitation or calculation in Won Dae-young’s answer. Choi Seol-woo stuttered at the answer that came out so simply and clearly.

“No, you, once you get hooked on someone, you go all the way. So you were thinking of ending it like this... like this, like this?”

- Huh.

Choi Seol-woo was troubled. Should he confess his past sins even now?

What would be the point of that now? Would it change the ending of the meal? No, it doesn’t matter? At that moment when he couldn’t make up his mind, Won Dae-young took the words away.

- Whoever I love. No matter how it ends. No matter how bad a bastard I become.

The words he continued to speak were mixed with cynicism.

- You shouldn’t care, Choi Seol-woo. If you want to cut ties with me.

“.......”

- What are you going to do with all these reactions, questions, and resentments? What are you going to do in the middle of the night when you should be calling your precious lover?

It sounded like he was joking, but it was a serious statement. The cold tone made his hair stand on end, but Seol-woo finished answering in a small voice.

“...It’s not something that can be considered trivial, in my values. It’s not like it’s completely unrelated.”

Won Dae-young let out a long sigh without answering. It was a sigh filled with complicated feelings rather than annoyance. His stern face glared ahead, and his hair was brushed back in his eyes.

I was about to hang up, but he asked me a question after a long silence.

- Seol-woo. I have a question for you.

“What.”

- Is Yoon Ji-hwan here right now?

“...No, he’s alone.”

The voice asking if Yoon Ji-hwan was there was so low that my ears twitched.

- You, at the villa yesterday... .

No, Won Dae-young interrupted and changed the question and asked again.

- You by any chance.

The sigh he let out while speaking was filled with a complicated expression. The even more subdued tone instantly pierced his mind.

- That bastard, are you meeting him instead of me?

“.......”

Choi Seol-woo realized in an instant. It was a mistake. It was stupid to think that Won Dae-young would just give him a nice answer. Just like Won Dae-young said, he should have left them alone no matter how they ended up or how bad they were.

I didn’t know I would get hurt like this.

I clicked my tongue while watching dramas and webtoons where people break up and then do all sorts of incomprehensible things, but Choi Seol-woo had just done something like that.

“Your axe disease is serious.”

It was easy to calculate what to say as if he was indifferent. It was just hard to look at his heart that was deeply stabbed.

“What are you going to do then? You’re not going to film or anything, and you’re going to cut ties right away without a cooling-off period?”

It was just so painful to have to say this now.

“Then let’s just say so.”

A cold wind blew into the thin blue jacket. He felt like he was being unreasonable and worthless for trying to forget Won Dae-young by having another relationship, making all sorts of mistakes, and even lying.

Won Dae-young only let out a faint laugh. The lack of response was even colder.

“I’m sorry for waking you up. I heard your answer, and this will never happen again.”

He spoke firmly as if he was making a promise to himself. Won Dae-young muttered faintly to himself at the end of the silence.

- Choi Seol-woo, you’re like a man. Where did the tic-tac-toe I knew go?

Strangely, very strangely, his mind was tickling. Won Dae-young ended the call in a clear voice.

- No. Anyway, I have to do what I have to do.

“......?”

You have to do what you have to do. Why are you talking about that program as if it were a duty...? As soon as I began to question it, a one-sided closing greeting came.

- See you tomorrow. Be strong and come back.

“......?”

The moment my eyebrows furrowed, the phone call ended. Be strong and come back?

Choi Seol-woo, who had been wandering around alone, climbed the stairs of the villa.

He muttered as if reciting a spell while taking a shower. It’s a good thing. It was actually a good thing that Won Dae-young won a medal and showed his true colors like a breeding stallion. How good it is to let go of your feelings. It’s a good thing in many ways. The sympathy he felt for Seol-woo as a burden on his heart will gradually change, and their lives will each go their separate ways. The time when they were closer than anyone else and the commute home on Line 2 will all remain as memories of the past.

— You. That bastard, are you meeting me instead?

When he recalled Won Dae-young's voice asking him with a serious expression, he felt creepy again. Damn, damn, I shouldn't have called! Choi Seol-woo, lying face down on the mattress, kicked the blanket away violently.

Anyway, it was better. How to break up with his high school friends was the most worrying thing, but since Won Dae-young broke away because of this, it was all good. Choi Seol-woo was greatly disappointed in Won Dae-young, and there were awkward moments. Everything was going as he wanted.

Should I ask Director Yoon Ji-hwan to pick him up tomorrow? I'll see Won Dae-young... .

But something uneasy kept holding onto his heart.

He felt like he was doing something he shouldn't have done to Yoon Ji-hwan, and Won Dae-young felt like he was betraying him, and the sin he committed against Ha Young-seo was getting heavier as time went by.

When would be the best time to confess his sins?

... ... If he talked about this, would the two of them ever reunite?

He was so scared that his mouth was dry. When he confessed his sin, how would the two of them think of Choi Seol-woo and how would Won Dae-young react? It might have been the most effective way to cut ties, but just thinking about it made me scared.

Choi Seol-woo is an unlikable sidekick in their dramas. A villainous, sly character that no one wants to play. In <Kongjwi Patjwi>, she's Patjwi, in <Cinderella>, she's the older sister. A spoiled brat who adds flavor to their dramatic love story. She's a stalker and clumsy.

It doesn't work.

If you list all the energy and pain you pour into Won Dae-young as loss and gain and calculate it, your net income for the period will naturally be a deficit. But it doesn't work. Just like the calculation results, it's better to cut him off coldly.

I saw the memory of the past.

In the deep-seated trauma, there was always Won Dae-young.

‘Seol-woo, go. I’ll do it, so stay inside!’ Won Dae-young shouted with blood in his throat. The darkness that had fallen in the crooked alley, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the back door of the store that seemed like it would break if he kicked it, the hammer in his hand. The rough cement of the street that was eventually pushed out by Won Dae-young’s hand. ‘Hyung, you’re hurt! Hyung! Please!’ The red whistle that shook around Seol-woo’s neck as he ran down the stairs.

And Choi Seol-woo’s promise. ‘Hyung, I’ll protect you.’, ‘I’ll feed you.’, ‘I’ll become a high-income professional who earns more than 50 million a year and take responsibility for you.’

Seol-woo suddenly opened his eyes. He had been awake for a long time trying to control his trembling breathing. Phew, I have to keep my sleep regular. I shouldn’t keep pushing myself like this.

In the end, I took the whistle that was hanging on the window latch and hung it around my neck before falling asleep. The room looked empty without Won Dae-young’s body hair and a few things.

“Dae-young, I still like you the best in human society. Even if you’re a horny rag stallion.”

“I’m not disappointed.”

“I like you.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t let you go properly.......”

“I’ll do it right from tomorrow.”