— Tap tap clack
A room with nothing in it but a desktop computer, a neatly laid mattress, and an air purifier set off in one corner.
A space without even a bed, something beloved by most modern people, seemed to speak for its owner’s bleak tastes: black, gray, white...
It was filled entirely with achromatic colors.
— Click
“Haa...”
Even the light of the mouse moving this way and that, even the glow leaking out from between the keyboard keys, was not the red, blue, and green triad even people with little interest in computers would have heard of, but pure white.
And the thing that always broke the silence of this cramped space was...
— Clack!
“Ah, shit... Hey!”
Exactly twelve minutes after turning on the computer, the first string of curses burst out.
When playing games, I Hoeseo’s words and behavior were far removed from courtesy or kindness.
However, his opponent was no pushover either.
—“Why?”
Ha Gangin asked back, though he obviously knew the answer.
“Why? Whyyy? How many times today are you gonna fall into the damn lava?”
As if they were used to it, their fingers moved toward the game, their eyes toward the screen, and their mouths toward each other.
—“Oh, that. You saw it again already?”
—“Sorry. Still, I wasn’t holding anything this time, so isn’t that better than before?”
As Ha Gangin saw it, the series of accidents he had caused this time wasn’t that big a deal.
It happened often, and he hadn’t done anything especially worthy of being cursed at.
But apparently, that wasn’t how it looked to I Hoeseo.
“You’re seriously saying that...? You died in that exact spot three times today.”
—“Ah.”
Only then did Ha Gangin understand exactly why he was being cursed at.
A sandbox game.
It was one of I Hoeseo’s favorite games, and since it was one of the few genres Ha Gangin was relatively good at, it was the co-op game the two of them played the most.
“Haa... Forget it. If I say any more, I’ll be the only one losing out again.”
Whether he was doing it on purpose or it was his actual skill, I Hoeseo had no way of knowing, but Ha Gangin’s gaming ability was about on par with an elementary schooler who had been playing for less than a month.
“Ssseup, sssseup.”
— Sluuurp
I Hoeseo sucked through a straw at the conifer-scented drink he was always drinking, then brought the microphone close again.
It was a habit he’d developed after spilling a drink on his mic once before.
— Gulp
“Hey— Cough, cough, sssseup... Huaa...”
—“Have you finally chosen your cause of death? Drowning in your room? See, you should’ve drunk it more slowly.”
Ha Gangin seized the opportunity to needle him right away.
“Bullshit. I’m going to the bathroom, so if you get cocky like last time and drop all the items again, you’re dead.”
—“You worry too much. I’ll stay right here, perfectly still, so go on.”
“......”
—“You already left, huh.”
— Creeeeak
‘Ah, damn it. I really need to replace this thing sometime.’
The hinges, which hadn’t been touched even once since he moved here, screamed.
A few months ago, after oiling them a little the way Ha Gangin had told him to, the frequency of the squeaking had definitely gone down, but it hadn’t been completely fixed.
After lowering the yellowed toilet seat cover again and even flushing, I Hoeseo washed his hands thoroughly and returned to his room.
‘As if anything would’ve happened in that time.’
— Thump
“Hey, I’m back......”
‘I’m screwed.’
During that brief pause in speech, Ha Gangin, as if used to it, turned the volume dial.
“Hey, you bastard!”
— Bang!
“You said you’d stay still, so you just sat there and let the thing coming to self-destruct hit you?”
After turning the dial back to where it had been, Ha Gangin continued speaking.
—“Did you hear what I said earlier? Mm... How was I supposed to know that would happen? I kept my word, didn’t I?”
“You son of a—”
— Bang!
Rendered speechless by the sight of his opponent maintaining such a shameless attitude, I Hoeseo only slammed the innocent desk again.
—“Ahem. Is getting angry now going to bring back the items that already burned? Let’s go recover.”
“No, hah, you’re saying that now, wow...”
—“...I-I’ll replenish the sticks again.”
“Haa... Fine.”
— Whoosh, bang, ba-bang
“Somehow... we did beat it this time.”
The long ending credits that appeared after a whopping two hours and eighteen minutes marked the end of their routine.
—“Yeah? I guess I’ve grown a bit too?”
Since the new year began, they had been creating a new map every day and clearing it through to the ending, but not once had they managed to clear it within two hours.
“Growth, my ass... You should learn how to shoot a bow properly first. How is it that even after six years of doing this, more than half your shots still fly off into empty air?”
—“......”
“See? Nothing to say, right?”
—“Ahem.”
—“Uh... So, you said you took the GED, and college?”
At the sight of him changing the subject as soon as he was at a disadvantage, I Hoeseo tensed his throat again, then, after two long seconds of rumination, relaxed it.
“Yeah... Art school seems like it’ll be impossible... Well, somehow it’ll work out.”
A sentence he tossed out carelessly because he had neither interest nor thought about it.
Even philosophy, art, and law, the things he had at least once shown some interest in, had all been set aside for various reasons.
“What about you?”
—“Me? Well, I... might just barely make it into a national university, I guess... I did well on Korean and English, so if I meet the minimum requirements, somehow?”
“Fuck, says the bastard who played games with me every day. That’s so damn unfair.”
For no reason, he felt a little choked up at the ordinary grades spoken of so casually, and curses came out first.
—“Everyone around me did better than me. Well, I guess that’s not something I should say in front of you.”
—“These days there’s something called a free major... or something. Maybe look into that. If you still haven’t decided.”
“I’ve thought about it. Thought about it...”
That’s the same as just putting it off, isn’t it? The words lingered in I Hoeseo’s mouth.
—“Anyway, sleep well. Don’t stay up until dawn reading web novels just because tomorrow’s Sunday and then wake up in the middle of the day.”
“Says you... Yeah.”
—“Oh, right—”
— Ding
Thanks to him turning off the main computer power before the messenger program’s voice chat had even ended, Ha Gangin’s final words did not reach I Hoeseo.
After the screen went dark, in the now-dim room, I Hoeseo pointlessly stretched his body.
“Ughhh!”
As relaxation and contraction alternated through his body, the edges of his vision darkened, then brightened again.
“Haa... I should just sleep. It’s winter anyway.”
— Pat, pat
Once he laid a mattress in a room barely more than two pyeong, there was, quite literally, only enough space left to set down two feet.
It wasn’t as if I Hoeseo had any real hobbies besides gaming, nor did he have a habit of hoarding things, and yet the room was unbearably cramped.
“Tomorrow I’ll tell that bastard to try it alone... After that... Ah, shit, there I go talking to myself again.”
The mattress wasn’t particularly small, but because I Hoeseo was tall, the unfortunate situation of his feet always sticking out inevitably occurred.
‘My feet again... I should just hurry up and sleep.’
“Haa...”
— Rustle
Only after barely pulling the blanket all the way over his head was I Hoeseo able to fall asleep.
*
— Step, step
“Ah, finally!”
A crosswalk with a small discount mart in the background.
— Clunk
The moment the unlit green signal turned on, a young boy, looking like he had only just entered elementary school, hurried across.
The brakes of a parked car, which had been perfectly engaged, came loose due to a mechanical defect.
The boy stopped for a moment to pick up something that had slipped from his hand...
— Bang!
— Ding
— Ding
— Ding
“Hhhk, haa, haah—”
At the sound of messenger notifications ringing in his ears, I Hoeseo woke up.
Since there was normally no one who would contact him at this hour, he might have found it strange, but given the contents of the dream, he was too disoriented and sat there blankly for several minutes.
‘Of all dreams to have...’
— Slide
Only then did he check his phone.
“Who the hell is it from this early...”
The time displayed on the phone screen was 1:02 p.m., far from morning. The piled-up notifications were from a messenger app, and there were a whopping six of them.
—Are you sleeping?
—I asked if you’re asleep.
—The sun’s high in the sky right now.
—You remember what we were supposed to do today, right?
—You asked me to go to the pop-up with you.
—You called me out to meet after a year, and now you’re the one no-showing?
And what that meant was clear.
‘I’m screwed.’
— Ding
No sooner had I Hoeseo reflexively looked toward the wall than another notification rang.
—You read them?
—Hey, I... just woke up
Flustered, I Hoeseo had clicked the notification, leaving him no time to even think of an excuse.
—Wow... How impressive.
—It opens at 2:30, and it’s 1 now.
—You said it takes 30 minutes to get here.
—Get ready and come out. I’ll wait until 1:30.
—In front of ■■ Station, got it?
—Don’t stall like last year and make me come out for nothing again.
Belated regret washed over I Hoeseo for no reason.
‘I’m the one who asked to go, so I can’t back out, damn it...’
—Yeah, I’m coming
“Fuck...”
The basic preparation time I Hoeseo needed to go out was at least ten minutes, and that was when he was fully awake.
‘As fast as possible...!’
He applied sunscreen to his skin.
He was even more thorough with the areas that were relatively difficult to cover with clothing, like his hands and face.
After that, he layered four pieces of clothing including his outerwear, put gloves on his hands and a mask over his face, then stood in front of the mirror.
The only mirror in the house was an awkwardly sized one with a little girls’ character drawn on it, which Ha Gangin had once given him as a birthday present or something.
After checking only whether his hat was crooked and whether he had put his clothes on inside out like last time, I Hoeseo came out of the bathroom.
‘Shoes... I’ll just wear sneakers.’
To begin with, the only shoes in I Hoeseo’s house were sneakers and slippers. Of course, those were black too.
‘Winter’s better than summer, at least. I can layer up without getting hot.’
—I’m heading out now
—Took a while to get ready since it’s been a long time, sry
As soon as he confirmed the “1” indicator had disappeared, I Hoeseo turned off the screen and put his phone in his pocket.
‘Looks like they saw the message, and it’s five minutes to the station if I run... Good.’
“It’s been a while since I went out, too.”
And just as he grabbed the front door handle and was about to turn it.
“Urk—”
Suddenly, the edges of I Hoeseo’s vision were dyed black.
‘Orthostatic hypotension, fuck.’
It was a symptom he sometimes felt even normally when he stood up after sitting.
Since it was a chronic condition that couldn’t even be counted as a disease, he tried to ignore it and go out, but he couldn’t find his balance.
— Sway
‘Huh?’
‘This feels kind of wrong...’
— Flop
......
I Hoeseo lost consciousness just like that.
— Ding