Vol 6 Chapter 22

And as for Jin Je-hwan... Kapros would need to apologize face-to-face for his mistakes. He would tell him there had been a misunderstanding, that there were things he hadn't considered... And then... And then...

As Kapros tried to continue his thoughts, he suddenly realized why he couldn't execute this plan.

'Wait. Did I even have Jin Je-hwan's contact information...?'

"Ah..."

At that moment, a cold shock like ice cracking froze all his thoughts. That's right. Not only did he not have the home address to go and apologize in person, Kapros couldn't even remember clearly if he had saved the contact information.

Je-hwan had called him once after Kapros had given him his number in the game, but had he properly saved the caller's number at that time? If he hadn't saved it, it would be impossible to find it now, several weeks later.

Kapros was at a loss for words, feeling ridiculous for having been talking about apologizing without realizing this obvious fact until now.

While he sat stupidly on the sofa, shocked, Min-hoo returned from the bathroom and grabbed his shoulder worriedly.

"What's wrong? Are you in pain? You already have such dark circles under your eyes..."

"I..."

"Huh?"

Min-hoo's eyes widened as he sensitively picked up on Kapros's self-loathing mutter.

"I... don't think I deserve to have friends."

Even the people who had said they liked him would probably run a thousand miles away if they knew what he was really like.

For the first time, Kapros felt a serious awareness of the problem with his personality. A hollow laugh, not born of amusement, echoed emptily in his mouth.

"What are you saying... There's no such thing as deserving friends."

Although confused, Min-hoo, being perceptive, wore a troubled expression. The hand patting Kapros's back was sufficiently warm and appreciated, but Kapros didn't want to show any more foolishness to Min-hoo.

After letting out a burst of empty laughter, Kapros's mind strangely calmed down. Although he hadn't realized anything particularly good, the clash of shocks seemed to have greatly loosened the taut nerves in his mind. As he probed his mind, now clear as a mirror, he glanced at the clock and noticed that the date was about to change.

It was quite far from his house to the bus stop, and even further to the station. It was already too late for Min-hoo to go home.

"The time..."

"Ah. When did it get so late?"

As Kapros muttered while looking at the clock, Min-hoo turned his head to look at the same place and scratched his head awkwardly. Looking at him, Kapros hesitated whether to say this or not, but finally opened his mouth slowly.

"You can stay over at my place if you want."

It was the first time he had made such an offer to someone since moving into this house. Min-hoo pondered for a moment, looking back and forth between the clock and Kapros, but soon shook his head firmly.

"No, it's okay. You'd be uncomfortable."

"It's fine."

"Uh... Haha. Actually, you know, my sisters are pretty scary. If I stay out overnight without saying anything, they'll try to kill me, asking who I've been hanging out with. Do I look like such an untrustworthy playboy? Those witches..."

Surprised for a moment by Kapros's unhesitating answer, Min-hoo's eyes widened slightly before he quickly put on an exaggerated expression of disgust while chattering away and standing up. Because of this timing, Kapros couldn't tell Min-hoo that he did indeed look a bit like a playboy. Surely he hadn't timed it that way on purpose.

"I barged in suddenly, so it's enough if you're feeling better. Did my coming make you feel worse?"

"No."

When Kapros strongly denied it, shaking his head, a genuinely happy smile returned to Min-hoo's face.

"Okay. That's good then. I'll call a taxi, so you don't need to see me off."

But as long as Kapros had a conscience, it was unthinkable not to at least see him off.

"Then I'll at least go with you to the main street."

"You really don't have to..."

Min-hoo scratched his head but eventually nodded with a broad smile. Kapros put on his parka and went down to the entrance, habitually reaching out to grab the cane leaning against the wall. Just as he grasped it, he suddenly remembered Jeong Seung-jo, who had come to return it to him, and the touch of their fingertips. He let go as if burned, and the cane clattered to the floor of the entrance. After staring at it for a long time, Kapros finally went out without the cane.

"You're out? What about the cane you were holding before? Can you manage without it?"

As Kapros locked the door and came out after Min-hoo, who had gone out first, Min-hoo, who was doing a few jumping jacks due to the cold, glanced at Kapros's empty hands and asked.

"It might be a bit slower, but I think it'll be okay..."

Wouldn't Min-hoo, who needed to get back quickly, dislike going slowly? Without the cane, Kapros would have to drag his leg, which might look funny. Worried about this, he trailed off, but Min-hoo just nodded without seeming to mind at all.

"Okay, let's go then."

Kapros moved carefully, trying not to show that he was dragging his foot. Min-hoo didn't specifically offer to help, but he walked leisurely beside Kapros, matching his pace, clearly being considerate.

As they walked through the cold wind, passing streetlights, they reached the main road where cars could be seen passing by not far away, making wind noises. Fortunately, there were quite a few taxis among them. Min-hoo, who had been examining the license plates of passing taxis, stopped walking and turned his head towards Kapros.

"I've come far enough, so I'll go alone from here."

"No, at least until you get in..."

Kapros meant that he should at least watch until Min-hoo got into a taxi, but Min-hoo shook his head firmly.

"No, no. It's cold, you don't need to do that much. I think I can catch one of those driverless taxis over there, so I'll run over."

"Still..."

As Kapros trailed off, looking at the car parked where Min-hoo was pointing, Min-hoo cutely wrinkled his nose and smiled.

"I'm going. Go home and rest well. How long did they say it would take for that cast to come off?"

Feeling Min-hoo's gaze on the cast covering two of his fingers, Kapros unconsciously tried to move the tips of his right hand. Of course, he stopped immediately due to the stinging pain.

"About a month."

It seemed like they had said around that time, give or take.

"Eat well and get better soon. Got it? Well, I'm really going now! Bye!"

The tips of Min-hoo's ears were red, perhaps from the cold, as he waved his hand widely and ran off. Kapros belatedly waved back and smiled.

"Yeah, you take care too."

After watching Min-hoo wave his hand to catch a taxi that was about to leave and get into the opened door, Kapros turned around. Just then, a biting wind blew, causing his unkempt hair to flutter wildly to the side and back.

'Well, now it's time to properly think about what to do next.'

Today, Min-hoo had pointed out Kapros's shortcomings and taught him.

Kapros now understood well that he had been living without particularly being conscious of other people's feelings towards him. At first, it had come as a shock that he was more insensitive in a bad way than he had thought, but thinking about it again, realizing this was actually something to be very grateful for.

During his school days, while interactions with other friends were good, he actually preferred doing kendo. If he had a really close friend, it was Jeong Seung-jo, so he felt reassured and focused more on kendo. But if those years had accumulated to make him someone who hurt others because of his personality that cared more about work than people, this wasn't an issue that could be dismissed as innate.

When he realized he had a shortcoming, Kapros thought about how he had dealt with such situations until now. The answer was simple. No matter how complex the problem, there was nothing that couldn't be solved if one made efforts starting from what they could do. After he became unable to do kendo, he had hit walls of countless incomprehensible problems when he belatedly started studying again, but he had solved them all in the end by doing just that.

Although he still couldn't fully understand or empathize with what Min-hoo had said, if he continued to think about it and try to feel it, he would improve a bit from when he knew nothing. And with more effort, a little more than that, and then a little more than that...

Perhaps even the things he had considered major problems in his life so far were extensions of these emotional and personality issues. Not just the matter with Jin Je-hwan, whom he wanted to meet now, but maybe even the issue with Jeong Seung-jo...

So the first thing he needed to do now was to go home and search through the list of incoming calls from the past few months to find Jin Je-hwan's phone number.

And after finding it...

'I need to... contact him.'

Throb.

The moment he had that thought, his chest suddenly felt tight and constricted. Surprised by the unfamiliar sensation, he rubbed his chest, but the feeling had already disappeared.

He blinked a few times and looked down at his chest, but nothing had changed.

'What was that?'

However, just at that moment, a cold wind swept through the street, feeling as if it would cut his cheeks, so Kapros had to give up thinking about that pain and move on with his hands thrust into his pockets.

Was it because of the bone-chilling wind? Today, his right leg felt unusually heavy, like a block of wood.