*
“Jurim……. Did I do something wrong?”
On Ijo clung to Jurim like a slime, his face stricken.
“……I guess you might have.”
Jurim was just as flustered.
He couldn’t say he hadn’t felt relieved when Gru called him Uncle. It had even lifted his spirits a little.
But he had also been shocked.
It had sounded as though the child did not acknowledge On Ijo as his real father.
The brothers, flustered, shrank back before Gru and stammered.
“Gru, it’s Dad. Dad.”
Ijo pointed to himself as he spoke.
“He’s your real dad. I told you that before, remember?”
Jurim chimed in with an explanation.
With the brothers stammering before him, Gru clamped his mouth shut and rolled his eyes around.
On Ijo pointed at himself once more, and Jurim emphasized it by pointing at On Ijo with both hands.
They spoke at the same time.
“I’m Dad.”
“Dad.”
Gru only raised his large eyes to look at Ijo, then nodded once as if he understood.
“Yeees…….”
A thin reply rang out, and a quiet silence fell over the hospital room.
The brothers exchanged glances, signaling to each other to do something, anything.
On Ijo whispered in a tiny voice, as if practicing ventriloquism.
“W-what do we do? Did we scare him too much?”
“That’s what you get for coming back to life.”
“Hey, isn’t that a little harsh?!”
“You’re the one who crossed the line.”
As the two silently mouthed their argument, Gru looked up at them with his mouth hanging open.
When their eyes met Gru’s, it was the brothers who began rolling their eyes this time.
After a brief silence, On Ijo scratched his brow, looking troubled.
“……Jurim, what exactly did you tell Gru?”
Jurim furrowed his brow at the question.
“You’re worried I badmouthed you?”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m just suggesting we go over it again.”
“Of course you are.”
“Jurim, we’re talking about something important here. Are you going to keep acting so difficult?”
“Are we? Shall we really go over it again? Starting with what you did on your own?”
“Starting with what I chose to do?”
On Ijo gave a small laugh and continued.
“Jurim, don’t overstep your bounds. That wasn’t something you had any say in.”
Overstep his bounds? Had any say in?
On Jurim suddenly felt his anger rise all the way to the crown of his head.
“Overstep my bounds? Weren’t we brothers, beyond being just comrades? But you’re really going to talk to me like that, fuck?”
As their increasingly emotional exchange continued, Gru’s shoulders stiffened with a flinch.
A third voice intervened to stop the two, who had grown so heated.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing in front of the child!”
On Suhyeong’s thunderous roar crashed down like a bolt of lightning, and Ijo and Jurim both flinched to a stop.
On Suhyeong picked Gru up in his arms.
“Father, when did you get here?”
“……Father, well, that is—”
As On Ijo and On Jurim spoke one after the other, On Suhyeong forced down his anger and opened his mouth.
“I saw everything from the beginning. Don’t make excuses. You pathetic boys.”
The brothers were suddenly rendered speechless, as if glue had sealed their mouths shut.
“You both know your own faults better than anyone.”
On Ijo lowered his head with a sigh, and Jurim ran a hand back through his hair.
“I’ll take Gru out for a short walk, so you two cool your heads.”
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
“…….”
“…….”
Jurim was the first to move in the silence.
Still reeling from the shock, he sat down weakly on the sofa.
He had never imagined that these old emotions would erupt so unexpectedly.
He had thought he was doing a good job keeping them buried, simply by refraining from beating On Ijo to a pulp from the moment they first met.
On Jurim clasped his hands together like a tower and rested his face against them.
Why had he let his temper show so plainly in front of the child? Gru must have been terribly startled.
His stomach ached with deep regret.
Just then, On Ijo, who had dropped into the seat across from him, spoke.
“Jurim.”
“……Yeah.”
“Do you hate me?”
“Ah, seriously. You’re so damn annoying.”
“Ahaha! So, do you hate me?”
Jurim twisted his mouth in displeasure.
Hate him? Could this feeling really be defined by such a cute word as hate?
He hated him.
Was that all? He despised his brother.
But he also knew that most of that emotion stemmed from guilt.
“It’s not that I hate you.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s just that whenever I see you, I get pissed off.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
On Ijo looked puzzled, and Jurim let out a hollow laugh.
“Yeah. It’s the same thing, you idiot.”
For a moment, the two of them smiled.
At last, On Ijo brought out the words he had truly wanted to ask.
“Do you think Gru hates me too?”
That was a difficult question.
After hesitating, Jurim answered.
“He’s probably just still awkward around you. Not only Gru. Me too.”
“What? You’re awkward around your brother too?”
As if he found Jurim adorable, On Ijo squeezed Jurim’s cheeks with both hands.
“You’re acting shy around me just because it’s been a while?”
Jurim’s face puffed up as he protested, and On Ijo burst out laughing.
“Ahaha!”
Even as On Jurim, his one and only brother and the person who had spent the longest time with him—
On Ijo was so very much On Ijo.
He was no different from the On Ijo of the past.
The moment he realized that, the words slipped out before he could stop them.
“……I’m sorry. I overstepped.”
On Jurim was apologizing first? On Ijo’s eyes widened.
“On Jurim has grown up, hasn’t he?”
Jurim narrowed his eyes.
“Even when I bow my head first, you still have to say something?”
“Look at you, talking all cute.”
On Ijo beamed.
On Ijo was On Ijo.
Jurim stared intently at him, then suddenly lowered his head and said,
“I’m sorry about Chloe Han too.”
That was something they absolutely had to talk about as well.
“It wasn’t your fault. I was just too late.”
On Ijo had moved beside him without Jurim noticing and put an arm around his shoulder, patting it.
“I’m sorry I came back so late.”
“……Yeah.”
After hesitating, Jurim gave a short reply, then drew in a deep breath and let it out.
*
“Our Gru, you were very startled, weren’t you?”
Sitting in the hospital’s rooftop garden, Gru accepted the orange juice On Suhyeong held out to him and shook his head.
“I’m okay now.”
It had been a little scary, though.
Gru pouted.
On Suhyeong sat beside him and gently patted his small body.
“You’re confused, aren’t you?”
“…….”
“It’s all right. That’s only natural. It’s okay to feel that way.”
“Was everybody angry…… because Gru called Dad Uncle?”
“That can’t be it. The two of them were angry because they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. It had nothing to do with you. So don’t think that way, all right?”
Gru nodded repeatedly.
“That’s why I gave them some space. They have feelings they need to work out between themselves.”
“Yeees…….”
“Is there something our Gru wants to ask his grandfather?”
Gru hesitated, then carefully asked On Suhyeong, who waited patiently for him.
“What should Gru and Dad do?”
“You mean Jurim?”
“Yeees…….”
Gru fidgeted with both hands.
“Because……. Dad might not be Dad anymore…….”
If Dad became Uncle…….
The thought suddenly occurred to him that with their relationship being redefined, all the affection they had built up until now might disappear.
That was why, even though he knew it troubled On Ijo, he couldn’t easily bring himself to say the word Dad.
“That won’t happen. You know how much Jurim loves you. He’ll always be your dad.”
“Even though Gru’s real dad has appeared?”
“Both Jurim-Dad and Ijo-Dad will be good fathers to Gru. So you don’t have to choose.”
“If Gru calls Dad Uncle, will he still be Dad?”
“You may call him whatever you feel like calling him. That won’t change the fact that we’re all your family.”
Gru nodded, lost in thought.
“Shall we finish your drink and go back inside?”
“Yeeah.”
“How did such a beautiful child become my granddaughter? I must be a very fortunate man too.”
He kissed the embarrassed Gru on the cheek, waited a little while, and then returned to the hospital room.