It was so late the sun barely lit the streets when Jihoon and Minjae climbed the hill toward home, past the forest bordering town. The woods were welcoming during the day, frequented by hikers and families seeking a bit of nature in the bustling metropolis. At night, however, the branches looked more crooked and the leaves shivered from invisible beasts passing.The Park brothers grew up beside this mountain forest, but none of them ever dared set foot inside after night fell. A by-product of fables their grandmother used to tell him of goblins and ghosts coming out at night to eat bad little boys.
As was their usual routine, Jihoon and Minjae kept on bickering about Jihoon's carelessness.
"You know mum, dad and grandma are extremely worried about you." Minjae broke the ice.
Jihoon kicked a random stone on the street, completely ignoring Minjae's words. To him, Minjae was a particular Tsundere, cold and cranky on the outside while soft and mellow on the inside. Even though Minjae and Jihoon were of the same age, Minjae always treated Jihoon like his little brother.
"Park Jihoon, I told you something." Minjae did nothing to hide the annoyance in his voice. It ticked him off to see his brother be so irresponsible and reckless.
Jihoon ignored him. He wasn't in the mood to listen to his brother's lectures today, knowing very well the amount of scolding he would receive at home.
"Park Jihoon will you fucking listen to me?"
"WHAT!" Jihoon's voice came harsher than he meant it to be. Minjae noticed the rage in his brother's eyes and looked away, kicking a stone at his feet.
"Nothing," he mumbled.
Jihoon sighed. Minjae's mumbling was something that Jihoon held a weakness to.
"I'm sorry Minjae-ah." he apologized, putting a hand around Minjae's neck, ruffing his hair.
"Yah, don't ruin my precious blue hair you asshole!" Minjae slapped his hand away trying to set his hair again.
"It's gonna be some other colour soon." Jihoon flashed his smile again.
"You-"
"Late again, both of you." Minjae's retort was interrupted by an old woman sitting outside the medicinal wine store. Everyone called her Rin Halmeoni. She was the oldest person in the neighborhood and claimed she'd stopped keeping track of her age years ago. Last she knew, she was eighty-three.
"It was a long day." Minjae gave her a wink.
"Studying or playing?" Rin Halmeoni's smile was knowing. She sat on a low wooden deck and peeled garlic into a bowl. The scent stung their nostrils.
"Playing." Jihoon grinned. "Always."
She clucked her tongue, popping a piece of raw garlic into her mouth. The boys hated eating it raw, though their own grandma said it was good for his health. Still, when Rin Halmeoni held out her hand, both of them dutifully accepted a peeled clove.
"When are you going to make me the happiest man on earth and agree to marry me?" Jihoon kneeled down in front of her, causing both Minjae and Halmeoni to smile.
Rin Halmeoni chuckled, her eyes sparkling. "Your silver tongue is going to get you in trouble one day."
"It already has." Minjae added, chuckling as well"Many times over."
"Stop stalling you two. You have to go home and answer your parents ."
Jihoon sighed because she was right. The boys bowed and crossed the dark street toward their family restaurant and slipped silently into the second-floor apartment.They took off their sneakers and placed them neatly beside everyone else's worn work shoes. A small form raced down the hall with a high-pitched yip.
"Lily! Shhh." Minjae tried to quiet the tiny ball of fur. She ignored him and jumped onto Jihoon's legs for the requisite petting.
Jihoon winced as a door opened.
"Park Minjae and Park Jihoon!" their grandmother's voice said, "I was about to send the police to search all of Korea."
The boys nodded in an apology.
Their grandmother had been pretty once. Proof lay in the old black-andwhite photos on her nightstand. Now worry and age lined her face. A small woman, she only reached Jihoon's, but he withered in the face of her anger.
"Grandma, you shouldn't get worked up. Your high blood pressure, remember?"
"Where were you?" she asked sternly. Minjae stayed silent.
On the other hand Jihoon didn't bother with empty excuses. "You know where."
Halmeoni clicked her tongue in disapproval. "You are such a smart boy and you waste your brain on those games. I'm not asking you to get into a top-three SKY university. I just want you to go to college.
Both of you are talented people. We are not going to be here forever, someone has to take over the shop as well."
Jihoon and Minjae exchanged glances. When their grandmother made sense, it meant shit was real.
"Freshen up you two, your parents made kimchi and tteokbokki."
After their grandmother was gone, Jihoon and Minjae went to their shared bedroom. Jihoon immediately threw himself on the bottom bunk in their bunk bed.
"I told you everyone will be worried." Minjae reminded him as he looked through his wardrobe for fresh clothes.
"I know, but it's too much of a hard work to worry about things" Jihoon sat up in his bed. "I just-"
"Don't care about stuff." Minjae finished his sentence for him, "I am not asking you to change yourself, I'm just asking you to think about mum, dad and grandma. They love you more than me."
Jihoon stayed silent for a long time as he lay on the bed. Minjae was right and he knew that as well. He just didn't wanna make the effort to care.
'The more you care, the more you hurt.' he told himself.
Life had proven itself enough times for him to believe that now.
***
Both the boys had now freshened up and sat down with their family at the largest table after the restaurant had been closed down.
Their parents ran a small family restaurant called the "Park Restaurant" downtown. It wasn't a five star hotel and neither was it some old tumbledown where people scarcely visited. It was sort of the homely diner where people could come all the time from the morning till the evening and spend their time freely, with a minimal purchase of a coffee.
Mrs. Park was a woman with a beautiful countenance, with long brown hair and blue eyes, uncommon in most Koreans. Her face seemed young but her eyes bore the evidence that she, in fact, was a woman of experience.
Mr Park was also a handsome man. Resembling Minjae in a number of ways, the only difference was that Mr Park seemed more mature and his hair was a natural shade of black, something Minjae once possessed.
"So Jihoon, do you want something you wanna tell us?" Mrs Park broke the silence.
Jihoon cursed under his breath while Minjae smirked at him receiving a glare in return.
"No mom." he tried to smile his killer smile.
"Are you sure? It doesn't seem like the school agrees with that statement of yours?" His mother didn't look up from the food.
Jihoon looked at his father for some help but he too, seemed to be too absorbed in his food.
"Miss Chae had called. She said you were late. Again."
Jihoon muttered unintelligible expletives from his mouth. Miss Chae always called his parents like that and he hated it.
"What are you doing with your life Jihoon? Spending all your time with those bloody rotten games? You're aware that you are just ruining your life right?"
Jihoon had heard this so many times that he wanted to punch a wall now.
"Listen Jihoon, we're getting old now, we need you two to start caring about your studies. Minjae has started working in the restaurant, when are you gonna work with us and take responsibility? We want to see both our sons standing on their own feet and not regret."
Jihoon stayed silent.
"Listen Jihoon," his father spoke now, "you're a bright kid, perhaps brighter than any of us in here. I don't want you to spend your future in regret, thinking 'I could have been this if I had studied'. I know what it feels like."
Not wanting to hear any more on this topic, Jihoon stood up.
"I'm done for today, thanks for the dinner. Come on Lily." and he walked out of the room with Lily hot on his heels.
Everyone in the room sighed. Only fate knew what Jihoon was going to do with his life.
Little did they know fate had planned a storm for Jihoon.
A storm called Oshane Larson Kensington.