Knowing Brother-Chapter 42

July

End of Month Report:

3 malfunction incidents, 3 early departures, no abnormalities found in the medical exam.

1st semester final exam: National, English, Math, and Science average 91.2 / 92.4 excluding Math.

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<경> Hyeongil High (1) Won Daeyoung, 3rd place in the National Junior Athletics Championship in the High School division <축>

After being officially registered as an elite athlete, training fees were regularly deposited into his bank account. The weight room fees were covered by the school, and he attended a sports academy on the condition that he would receive a full scholarship if he won a gold medal at a national competition, meaning that his training expenses were covered by personal funds.

Won Daeyoung secretly handed over that money to Mrs. Choi, saying:

“I’ll just waste this money hanging out with girls. Use it for academy fees without Seolwoo knowing, and if you open a second branch and make a killing, give it back slowly, sister.”

With the change in the national exam format, where multiple-choice questions were significantly reduced and descriptive questions now made up more than 70% of the test, scoring high became difficult. Seolwoo often swore at the educational policy, saying it was impossible to score well without private tutoring.

“Do you know Seolwoo hates math? It’s hilarious. Whenever he talks about average scores, he makes sure to say, ‘excluding math,’ like it matters.”

There were many things about Seolwoo that Daeyoung found funny. Recently, Seolwoo had said several times, “I hate guys even more.” It was because of the secretive gift campaigns from male upperclassmen. While Daeyoung often received confessions and gifts from girls both inside and outside of school, he had never been bothered by the affection of the same sex. Perhaps it was because he feared receiving scathing criticism for wrongly expressing his feelings. For reasons that were unclear, he had always been relatively free from such troubles.

However, Seolwoo had suffered from this. Despite his seemingly composed image—though that was purely public—his unexpectedly manly personality had made him attractive in ways Daeyoung didn’t quite understand. He had never had a public relationship, which seemed to heighten curiosity. Daeyoung knew only two guys who were involved with him. One was from the same school, and the other was from a different one. The fact that someone not from Hyeongil Middle School had gotten involved was strange. When asked, the response was that they had become interested after accidentally passing by the academy.

Even before such an event, Seolwoo had been sensitive to physical contact.

It was a huge shock to Daeyoung when Seolwoo frowned at a casual touch. ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) The strange curiosity Daeyoung had briefly felt back then had to be stamped out.

— Seolwoo. That was all a mistake. I was half out of my mind back then. It won’t happen again. You’re the friend I trust most. Don’t think anything uncomfortable.

Knowing Seolwoo was aware of his father’s situation, Daeyoung didn’t want to think about growing distant from him. He couldn’t fathom what kind of mistake he had made, especially to someone who trusted and followed him.

Daeyoung had always been someone who ran. When faced with confusion or problems, he believed in breaking through them head-on. He immediately began dating a girl who had given him a gift at the athletics competition. They broke up in less than 50 days, but somehow, Daeyoung felt relieved.

“See, it wasn’t like that. I was just lonely back then and lost my mind.”

When he succeeded in censoring his own feelings, it felt refreshing. Afterward, Daeyoung never harbored any feelings or emotions that would make Seolwoo push him away. That was, and should be, a given.

Daeyoung and Seolwoo had no problems. They were, and would continue to be, a team.

Seolwoo. He’s still the most reliable guy in my life.

April

End of Month Report:

2 malfunction incidents, 1 early departure, no abnormalities found in the medical exam.

Received a scholarship for academic excellence from Mapo Hope Sharing.

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<경> Hyeongil High (2) Won Daeyoung, 1st place in the National Athletics Championship <축>

That year, Seolwoo’s family moved again because they had made many acquaintances in the neighborhood. According to Mrs. Choi, the debt they had borrowed from a karaoke owner to pay for surgery had eventually been passed on to loan sharks, growing bigger and harder to manage. They moved again to a multi-family house in the uphill area of Bukahyeon.

Even though it was far from the subway station, and they had to either take a village bus or walk a long way uphill, Seolwoo said he liked this house more. The view from the window was what made it better—he could see the sky closer.

“Hey, in this house, I can see the moment the sunset turns purple first. That’s the best feature.”

The sun shone brightly early in the morning but set quickly, and the narrow stairs and alleys between the tightly packed houses would darken early in the evening. Daeyoung gave Seolwoo a whistle he used during track training.

“If the cleanup team shows up, blow this. I’ll be there in a flash. The whistle man who runs the 100 meters in 11 seconds.”

“The whistle man? That sounds so lame...”

When Daeyoung saw Seolwoo laugh, he thought to himself, it would be nice to post a picture with this guy on Facebook. But, considering the debt collectors might hear about it and come after them, it was better to keep Seolwoo’s photos private, stored only on Daeyoung’s phone.

Daeyoung liked the photos he took of Seolwoo, especially the ones from the coin karaoke. They were great to look at when he was bored.

One day, Seolwoo complained about an argument he had with the music teacher. He had never been confident in his singing, so during the music evaluation, he simply kept his mouth shut and didn’t sing. Naturally, he got the worst score and was called out by the teacher.

Daeyoung took him to the coin karaoke to check if he really was as bad as he said.

The song was “Namchon.” Seolwoo grabbed the microphone with a solemn look on his face. As soon as the song started, Daeyoung knew—Seolwoo was tone-deaf. But he nodded approvingly, pretending everything was fine. He wanted to hear all the high notes.

When Seolwoo finished singing, he looked at Daeyoung for a reaction. Daeyoung removed his hand from his face, his eyes shining with a mischievous light.

“God, that was terrible...”

Seolwoo exploded and hit Daeyoung with the songbook, using both hands. Daeyoung recorded the whole thing, even capturing the red-faced Seolwoo kicking him.

From then on, Daeyoung refused to join any karaoke outings if Seolwoo was part of the group. He didn’t want to show off Seolwoo’s incredible inability to sing.

Ah, Seolwoo. He’s still the funniest guy in my life.

September

End of Month Report:

1 malfunction incident, 1 early departure. No abnormalities in the EEG.

Received a scholarship for academic excellence from the academy.

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<경> Hyeongil High (2) Won Daeyoung, 3rd place in the Japan-China-Korea Junior Championship U20 & 1st place in the Seoul City Representative High School Division in the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Athletics Championship <축>

When Seolwoo accompanied him, Daeyoung performed better in the competition. Even though he sat in the stands with an indifferent expression, once the race was about to begin, Seolwoo lost his usual cynical demeanor. His enthusiasm in cheering, to the point of his throat almost bursting, was so passionate that Daeyoung couldn’t help but be impressed.

Strangely, athletes who had usually outperformed Daeyoung, even on that day, were nervous, made mistakes, or complained about muscle soreness.

Taking Seolwoo to important races had, over time, become something natural and inevitable.

The girlfriend Daeyoung had broken up with after dating for about two months said it was the reason for their breakup. She was upset because, during the race, Daeyoung had made eye contact with another friend and waved at them instead of her.

“I understand why you’d feel upset, but I can’t change it. It’s become part of my routine for winning.”

When he answered that, she asked him to hug her immediately after the race. Daeyoung refused even that cute request, and that’s how they broke up.

“She even skipped school and followed me all the way here just to make me win first place. It’s not proper. I could have hugged her after the race, but why does it have to be right before or after the race?”

Her final words were accusations directed at Daeyoung.

“You, you never break down the most important wall. You don’t break down the most crucial wall. Do you know how empty that makes a person feel?”

It was true, so Daeyoung reluctantly accepted it. As she had said, Daeyoung never had the intention or will to forcefully break down that wall for someone else.

After they broke up, Seolwoo gave Daeyoung some advice.

“If I’d broken down half of that wall for her, you would’ve already had your parents’ consent, gotten married, and had kids. If you wanted to hug her after the race, you should’ve covered it up better. Why’d you say everything with your usual bluntness? Get it together, idiot. What good is being good at flirting and getting numbers if it all ends in two months?”

When Daeyoung went home and thought about it, he couldn’t help but laugh. The absurdity of Seolwoo giving advice on how to speak nicely was funny, but what was even funnier was:

“Cover it up better?”

In the end, Seolwoo, as always, had no intention of making the girl believe that he would greet her before or after the race.

The more Daeyoung thought about it, the funnier Seolwoo seemed.

Not many people could bring out real laughter from Daeyoung. Seolwoo’s “funny” kind of consolation was exactly Daeyoung’s type. Seolwoo’s tone matched perfectly with how Daeyoung viewed the world. His words, spoken with a face devoid of any warmth, gave him more energy than warm, heartwarming phrases.