The Meaning of Family (1)

Caught in the middle of farming, Sang-Ho turned to us with a puzzled expression. Although he was covered in soil, it just made him look hardy rather than dirty. Unable to believe his eyes, he grabbed Sang-Beom’s face between his hands and then pulled the boy’s cheeks with his fingers.

“Oh my god. What on earth are you doing here…”

“Hyuuung-”

Sang-Beom bit his lip as he tried to choke back a sob, but the more he tried to keep them in, the more tears ran down his cheeks. Sang-Beom started beating his brother’s chest with his fists.

“Why! Why didn’t you call me! Idiot!”

“Ow ow! Just hang on one second.”

The way that Sang-Beom was berating his brother looked just like a mother scolding her child. All his pent-up anger and frustration was pouring out like a dam inside him had burst open.

Even with his younger brother appearing so enraged, Sang-Ho seemed happy to see him as he couldn’t restrain his laughter.

“I’m sorry. Even though I couldn’t call you, I really did want to see you, but I have my reasons for not doing so. But wow, what a surprise. It looks like our father has answered my prayers.”

Ugh. Fuck.

I grabbed my aching head. Of all things, to think that Sang-Beom’s hyung would be in a place like this. If I recall correctly, this island was…

“What are you talking about? Anyway, if it wasn’t for hyung’s friend, searching for you could have been a disaster. How else would I be able to come all the way here to Jeju by myself?”

“A friend? Who?”

As one, the two brothers turned to look at me. While wiping away his sweat with a towel, Sang-Ho examined me closely. However the look in his eyes showed that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t recognize me.

That was obvious. After all, this was also my first time meeting him. We exchanged awkward glances with each other.

Sang-Beom broke the silence and almost spilled the beans, “But he said that he was hyung’s friend. A po-”

I quickly slapped my hand over his mouth. Then putting some strength into this grip, I pulled Sang-Beom over towards me.

“Mph! Mph!”

“A po-?” Sang-Ho asked in confusion, but Sang-Beom’s muffled cries covered up the question.

I smiled cheerfully and shook my head.

“Ha-ha. A poor student who also went to the same high school in Gyeonggi Province. That’s what he was trying to say. I transferred to Seoul soon after I got in, but I used to be in the class next to yours.”

“Ah… is that so? I’m sorry. I can’t remember you. Even though I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone as handsome as you.”

“That’s because it was all a long time ago. My name is Go Ji-Hun. Somehow I just ended up helping your brother and that led us here.”

We exchanged polite greetings.

Chief Kim had a puzzled expression, but I sent him a signal to just ignore it. Sang-Beom’s face was flushed red and it looked like he couldn’t breathe, so I finally dropped my hand from his face.

“Gasp! Hey really! What was that for?”

“Enough. Now what? Since you’ve met your hyung, decide what you want to do,” diverting Sang-Beom’s attention away from my actions, I urged him.

Now that we’ve confirmed that his brother is alive, should we just return to Seoul, or would he rather stay with his brother? I was pushing him to make the choice.

The boy clung to his brother’s arm affectionately and asked, “Hyung. Are you living here now? Do you intend on never going back home?”

When you see him like this, you can’t help but feel that he’s too mature for his age. Instead of blindly asking him to go home together, Sang-Beom was trying to understand his brother’s position.

Sang-Ho’s expression darkened slightly at his little brother’s words.

Picking up the hoe and the shovel that he’d been using to dig, he said, “I will never return to that house.”

“But…”

“This has worked out well. I also wanted to visit and ask you to come here and live with me, but since I’m still in training, I’m not allowed to leave the island. Another reason for delaying it was that there isn’t a school here.”

His words kept on revealing some subtle incongruities. Noticing these, Sang-Beom frowned.

“Hyung. Starting from a while ago, you’ve been saying a lot of things that I can’t understand.”

It was at that moment. A few other people appeared at the entrance to the village. They looked like they’d been about to come and work the fields alongside Sang-Ho, as they were carrying farming implements and a few snacks. Upon seeing all the strangers, they halted in their tracks and hesitated. But soon, they walked over towards us.

“Who are they?”

“Does Sang-Ho know these people?”

With their rough skin and lined faces, they looked like plain and rustic folk, but something in their expressions revealed a deep compassion.They were the common sort of elderly people that you could often meet upon visiting any country village. Though they were showing both curiosity and a sense of vigilance. Since outsiders were so rare, it was a normal reaction.

Sang-Ho introduced us with a smile, “This boy is my younger brother. Then there’s my classmate from high school and these are…”

Sang-Ho looked embarrassed upon failing to introduce Chief Kim and Ji-Hye.

Ji-Hye helped him out by warmly greeting the villagers, “I’m his younger brother’s friend. And this is his friend’s friend.”

“N-nice to meet you,” Chief Kim greeted them with a nervous smile.

Previously he had been so nervous that it was like he was expecting ghosts to appear, but now that he saw that the villagers were only ordinary people, it looked like he had finally stopped holding his breath.

“How did you all end up here?”

“It was very difficult to find our way here. We had to ask a few people from the neighbourhood where Sang-Ho used to work.”

When one of the men asked a question, I answered on behalf of my companions. Our group consisted of a secretary from a conglomerate, a future con-artist, and an intelligent student. Since all of them had quite sharp wits, they kept quiet as I spoke. It looked like they had noticed something strange was going on from my behavior.