When I got home after finishing my part-time job and stopping by the library, it was past 9 PM.

Naturally thinking that mom would be working overtime and coming home late, I went in swinging a plastic bag with dumplings packaged inside, intending to make do with dumplings for dinner.

But unexpectedly, Young Soon was sitting in a chair at the dining table.

“Why are you coming home so late?”

As Young Soon asked while looking at her daughter, Soo Young in turn asked while looking at her mom.

“Mom, why are you home so early? No overtime today?”

“Today, I took a half-half day off.”

“If it’s half a day, it’s half a day, but what’s a half-half day?”

“The timing was awkward to take a half day off, so I took a half-half day.”

“What timing?”

Then Young Soon said with a light sigh.

“There was a memorial event at Daeheon Mall today.”

“Ah… Eh, why did you go? Even if you go, people don’t like it.”

“I didn’t go inside, just watched from afar. The people there didn’t see me.”

Soo Young went to her room, ignoring her mom’s words, put down her bag and outer clothes next to the desk, and came back to the kitchen.

“Don’t go there anymore. It’s not even your fault, mom.”

“Still, he’s your father.”

“Anyway.”

She couldn’t understand why her mom was bearing the responsibility that her dad should bear. Cowardly running away. She understood her dad’s feelings, but still felt resentful.

“Is your studying going well?”

“Huh? Oh. Well…”

Every time her mom asked this question, Soo Young wondered whether she should talk about her part-time job or not.

But with less than two weeks left, she decided to just stay quiet, thinking it would only upset her mom if she said anything now.

Young Soon looked at her daughter’s clean face and said quietly.

“Soo Young. Even if it’s a bit hard now while studying, find a job you can steadily go to. Women need to be independent too. That way you can cope with any situation. Whether you get married or not.”

“Can’t I just do what I was doing before?”

Soo Young, who had been quietly listening to Young Soon’s words, asked while watching her mom’s reaction.

“What were you doing before?”

“Just teaching kids at the neighborhood academy, writing when I have time.”

“That’s why it’s not stable, you know.”

She understood the meaning of her mom’s words about finding a stable job, but what she felt while preparing for TOEIC, resumes, and self-introductions was that working in an office at a company really didn’t suit her aptitude.

If it was like mom’s architectural design, that might be different. But Soo Young wasn’t even majoring in design.

She was trying hard to look into it, knowing her mom wanted to see her daughter working properly, but it was true that she felt disappointed in her mom for not understanding what she wanted.

Soo Young unconsciously rubbed her chest area, feeling like there was a stone rolling around in a corner of her heart.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I’ve corrected the typos on page 23, so check it out. And the characters’ dialogues seem to keep overlapping, did you write it that way on purpose?”

At Ji Hyun’s words, Woo Jin activated the notebook reader and the computer began to read aloud what Woo Jin had written.

The speed was too fast for ordinary people to understand, but Ji Hyun, who was trained, immediately found the part he had pointed out.

“Here, here.”

“Hmm…”

Woo Jin, who had been lost in thought for a moment, said simply.

“I’ll revise it.”

“Take your time, don’t worry about the publication date.”

“How can I not worry? Every day it’s delayed, that’s all money.”

“It’s okay since the Braille translation is all getting delayed anyway.”

“Are you going to say it’s my responsibility if the publishing company goes bankrupt?”

Woo Jin grumbled needlessly, but Ji Hyun sat down in the single-seater sofa with a good-natured smile.

“When have I ever blamed you?”

“There was nothing to blame me for. I always met the deadlines accurately.”

“That’s why you can’t sleep properly. Do it while thinking about your health.”

“I sleep even less if I don’t write. But I get sleepy while working, so I can sleep then.”

Just then, Ji Hyun suddenly rustled through his bag, took out a white box, and deliberately placed it on Woo Jin’s desk with a sound.

“I’ve put the nebulizer medicine here. It’s almost out, right?”

“Yeah.”

The words ‘thank you’ lingered on the tip of his tongue, but Woo Jin just swallowed them.

Honestly, he was grateful for everything. For allowing him to do what he wanted to his heart’s content. For always taking care of him in these small ways.

But after their big fight the day before the accident, Woo Jin couldn’t say thank you to him, and Ji Hyun didn’t expect it. No, it was more than not expecting, he took it for granted.

Instead, Woo Jin expressed his gratitude by never missing a deadline and editing and publishing according to Ji Hyun’s direction, and Ji Hyun in turn expressed his apology by fully supporting whatever his brother wanted to do.

And these feelings also became a motivation for the two of them to live.

[This is the timeline separator]

Ji Hyun, who had warmed up the lunchbox and prepared a late dinner, asked as he watched his brother putting down his spoon.

“Why is your lunchbox always untouched when you eat lunch with Soo Young?”

“Soo Young buys it.”

“Every day?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s quite dedicated.”

“Yeah. So give her a lot of money.”

When his brother unexpectedly admitted it readily and even said to give her a high salary, instead of sarcastically saying what’s so great about it as he had expected, Ji Hyun asked with a smile.

“Is it okay?”

“What?”

“I mean, is Soo Young okay?”

“What do you mean, what?”

As Woo Jin’s eyes sharpened, Ji Hyun lowered his voice and said.

“No, I mean is it okay living together?”

Then Woo Jin started scooping rice silently. The action of scooping with one hand and supporting underneath with the other was impeccably neat.

It wasn’t so much about maintaining manners as it was because he detested anything like side dishes falling on his clothes.

“I told you before. It bothers me.”

He threw out this curt remark and put rice in his mouth, implying that he wanted to stop talking now, but Ji Hyun continued regardless.

“But you still let her keep coming.”

“…It’s not much time left anyway, so.”

Saying this somehow felt like rice grains were getting stuck in his throat. He cleared his throat and tried to drink water, but ended up knocking over the cup.

“Ah.”

As he got up from his seat in surprise, Ji Hyun quickly brought a dishcloth and wiped the table. Woo Jin shouted irritably.

“That’s why you shouldn’t say unnecessary things!”

“No, I just asked purely out of curiosity. If it’s okay for Soo Young to work. Wondering if Jo Young Mi could come back.”

After wiping up all the spilled water, Ji Hyun poured water into Woo Jin’s cup again. This time, Woo Jin carefully held the cup with both hands and gulped it down.

Soon, he put the water cup on the table and said with a frightening expression.

“Stop asking unnecessary questions. It’s not like she’ll keep working just because I want her to.”

“No, if you ask…”

“What’s there to ask? She’s still a child. A kid with a bright future ahead. You want her to rot here as a housekeeper?”

“Hey. If someone hears, they’ll think I’m some evil employer. What do you mean rot? She can work here part-time and quit when she gets a job somewhere else. Seems like she hasn’t found a job yet.”

“…If she stays here, she won’t be able to prepare for employment.”

Then Ji Hyun said quietly.

“You help her prepare for employment.”

“Help with what? How would I know what she wants to do?”

“Didn’t you say her dream was to be a writer? You can help with that.”

“Do you think writing is that easy? Anyone can do it?”

“That’s why. Because not just anyone can do it, you should try helping her.”

It was the first time he had seen Seol Ji Hyun, who was usually indecisive beyond compare, advocate so actively.

However, Woo Jin just kept eating without answering. Just rice, not touching the side dishes, just rice stubbornly.

After chewing only plain rice for a while, Woo Jin said softly.

“…What about the housekeeper who used to come if that child keeps coming? What do I say to someone who’s desperately coming to keep their family from getting fired?”

Ji Hyun’s eyes widened at Woo Jin’s words. He wants her to come!

When Hyung Min told him to find a way to keep Soo Young coming, Ji Hyun was worried about what to do if Woo Jin didn’t want that.

Because working short-term and continuing to work are different.

But hearing Woo Jin’s words, it was clear that he also wanted Soo Young to keep coming.

Moreover, he was even concerned about Jo Young Mi’s situation in case Soo Young might worry. For Woo Jin, who usually didn’t care much about people around him, this was astounding.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll look into it.”

When Ji Hyun said nicely, Woo Jin looked at him with his characteristic golden pupils. No, he matched his gaze as if he could see.

Ji Hyun met his brother’s eyes and said calmly.

“I’ll find a place for Jo Young Mi to work, so you don’t need to worry about it. Okay?”

“Seol Ji Hyun.”

Woo Jin called his brother’s name so boldly, but Ji Hyun just looked at him as if it was nothing. Then unexpected words came out of Woo Jin’s mouth.

“How long are you going to do this?”

“Do what?”

“How long are you going to keep doing things for me without thinking twice? Are you going to do this for the rest of your life?”

“Woo Jin.”

“I know grandfather wants to hand over the hotel. You were only supposed to run the publishing company for 3 years at first, right? To gain management skills. But how many years has it been now? How long are you going to keep doing this?”

Seeing Woo Jin’s serious face, Ji Hyun smiled gently and said.

“Do you think I’d do well if I took over the hotel?”

“Seol Ji Hyun would do well with anything he’s given. You’ve already proven it with the publishing company. How many publishing companies are going bankrupt now? Everyone’s reading web novels and webtoons, who reads paper books? But you’re even printing Braille books that don’t make money. The fact that you’ve maintained it for this long shows you have management skills. Sufficiently.”

It was the first compliment he had heard from him. Somehow feeling like he might cry, Ji Hyun pressed his prominent nose bridge with his finger.

Woo Jin sneered slightly as if he could see his action.

“Are you touched?”

Then Ji Hyun quickly lowered his hand and retorted.

“Yeah, punk. Honestly, I’m touched. But there’s something you’re misunderstanding.”

“What.”

“I’m not running the publishing company just for you. I’m doing it because it’s fun. It suits me. And you know I like reading books too.”

“What does Seol Ji Hyun like?”

Woo Jin said as if in disbelief. But Ji Hyun pretended not to know and replied.

“You don’t know, but I’ve come to like books while running the publishing company. I used to think web novels were just childish, but as I worked on publishing them, I found quite a few with literary value. Do you know how fun it is to find and discover new writers?”

“…Do I need to know?”

“Anyway, I’m doing work I like. Regardless of you. So don’t worry about that. Hey, if I managed the hotel, wouldn’t people say anyone can do hotel management, like you said?”

Ji Hyun smiled and started eating rice mixed with cold soup. Woo Jin put plain rice in his mouth again and chewed without saying anything.

Seol Ji Hyun had been raised as the eldest grandson to inherit Sunghwa Corporation from long ago. But he always fell behind Woo Jin. In studies, in sports.

Compared to the prickly Woo Jin, he had more friends due to his eloquent personality, but honestly, friends paid more attention to Woo Jin than Ji Hyun.

Ji Hyun, who had been suffering from feelings of inferiority and comparison while not showing it, finally exploded when he failed the college entrance exam and couldn’t go to the university he wanted.

While retaking the exam for the second and third time, he started ignoring Woo Jin as if he didn’t exist in the family and openly criticized him like grandfather when they met.

When his cousin brother, the only one in the family who had given him affection, treated him like that, Woo Jin also gave up on studying.

He only played games and exercised every day. Even so, his grades came out well, which made no one criticize him, but this also infuriated Ji Hyun.

When the situation arose where they would end up taking the college entrance exam together, Ji Hyun threw harsh words at Woo Jin.

That he had never seen such an unlucky bastard. That he felt like vomiting just looking at his eyeballs. That he should go to his mother.

And lastly, he spat out unspeakable words disparaging mixed-race people.

When he said those words, Ji Hyun could never forget Woo Jin’s eyes. Why did he say such things? Was he crazy? He regretted it every day.

After his uncle passed away and Woo Jin lost his eyesight, Ji Hyun couldn’t speak for 3 months, feeling like all these events had happened because of what he had said.

He needed to tell his brother he was sorry, to ask for forgiveness, but the words wouldn’t come out.

It was only when he decided to live for Woo Jin, to help with whatever he did, that he finally found his voice again.

He got hit a lot while force-feeding his brother who wouldn’t eat or sleep, bathing him, cutting his hair.

Just because he couldn’t see didn’t mean he had no strength. The punches thrown blindly hurt even more. Ji Hyun stood by Woo Jin’s side, steadfastly taking all those punches.

People around praised him, saying where else could you find such a brother, but even that praise was burdensome to him.

He wanted to grab them and ask if they knew what he had done.

But since Woo Jin didn’t say a word about what he had said, he couldn’t go around blabbing about it himself.

“I’ll kill you! When I can see! You first! I’ll kill you first!”

Woo Jin screamed at Ji Hyun who was forcibly washing him. While forcibly soaping up the emaciated body with only bones left, Ji Hyun repeated the same words.

“I’ll be by your side. I’ll be by your side until you get married.”

“Aaargh! Seol Ji Hyun! You crazy bastard!”

“I’ll be there! I’ll be by your side! So you don’t have to be afraid!”

“Aaaaargh!”

Watching Woo Jin shouting and rolling on the bathroom floor for touching his body, Ji Hyun became tearful and kept repeating the same words.

“You don’t have to be afraid, Woo Jin.”

These words became a magic spell, and later even led to independence, but only Seol Ji Hyun was still unaware of this fact that even Woo Jin acknowledged.