.  “Oh, that’s true. I remember that. Why did I think Eun Jiho was like this ever since he was born?”


  “Again, it sounds strange. What do you mean by I was like this?”


  “Well… it’s just like… Eun Jiho-ish?”


  Making that response, no signs of joke appeared on Ban Yeo Ryung’s face. When Eun Jiho asked back about what Eun Jiho-ish is, they both began to quarrel while something else was happening inside the TV screen.

  Eun Hyung, who was in the kitchen, voiced out to call his ‘son.’


  “Jooin! Won’t you go out and get me some soy sauce? There isn’t any.”


  “Yes, mama! Anything else you need?”


  Jooin, who was calling Eun Hyung mama casually, made Ban Yeo Ryung burst out a giggle. Compared to the two boys, Eun Jiho was less expressive of his feelings back then. These days, he would have laughed loudly while bending his waist; however, inside the screen, he just put a small grin on his face.

  A response came back from the kitchen.

  “Ask Donnie and Chun Young what they would like to eat.”


  “Yes, mama!”


  “And once you come back, test out the taste again.”


  “I’ll be back, Eun Hyung.”


  Jooin gave up on calling him mama after he heard about another test out. I giggled at his funny reaction. All those happened just a year ago, but I truly felt like it was from a distant past.

  The shaking screen moved along the house then stopped in front of my room for a moment.

  “Mama! Do you want to grab something?”


  “Me? Hershey’s chocolate!”


  “Me, too.”


  The short response after me was from Yoo Chun Young. I blinked my eyes while feeling befuddled then stuck out my neck to see Yoo Chun Young, who was sitting at the opposite end of the couch.

  “Did we ever study together?”


  “I can’t remember.”


  A short response returned but, fortunately, as the door opened, it soon solved my question. Yoo Chun Young and I were, for real, studying together inside my room.

  Inside a room filled with yellow sun lights through the large window, I was sitting in front of the desk against the door. Behind me, Yoo Chun Young sat on the floor while working on the questionnaire book placed on a low side table.

  With a clicking sound, the screen fast-forwarded. It looked like Jooin threw the camera on the bed. Inside the chaotically shaking screen, someone soon came into focus. When taking a closer look at it, I realized that it was Chun Young. The camera, that was thrown on the bed, focused on Chun Young coincidentally.

  Eun Jiho, who sat in front, murmured, “Whoa, is this Yoo Chun Young’s solo TV show?”


  Ban Yeo Ryung laughed out loud while hanging down her head. Along with Woo Jooin, Ban Yeo Ryung said, ‘We’ll be back soon,’ all the noise then disappeared from within the screen.

  There were only the sounds of scribbling with a pencil and flipping over the page. Yoo Chun Young, inside the screen, fixed his blue gaze silently at the book with no movements for quite a while.

  “…”


  All of us, who were watching the screen in the meantime, felt a strange ambiance surrounding us. I slowly detached myself from the couch and opened my mouth.

  “I should go study now. That’s really motivating. I should watch that whenever I don’t want to study.”


  “Dude, are you really leaving?”


  “Thanks for the inspirational video. I enjoyed it.”


  As I got up after saying that, someone grabbed my waist. When I turned back to see who it was, it turned out to be Jooin. When I was about to say that the video truly inspired me to go study, the screen kind of changed, displaying something else.

  At the edge, someone with a brown hair scuttled toward Yoo Chun Young and sat across. The person who looked polite like a student asking a question from a book was no one else but me. My hair was longer back then, which was waving around my chest.

  Eun Jiho said, “Dude, grow your hair again.”


  “I am.”


  Pointing something inside the questionnaire book, I, inside the screen, asked Yoo Chun Young.

  “Teach me how to solve this. I can’t help myself anymore. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Geez, I think I’m applying the right formula though.”


  “Which one?”


  I, inside the screen, handed over my notes to Yoo Chun Young. He then went back and forth between the questionnaire and my notes repeatedly. Looking at the scene made me continue the words I said before.

  “Hey, that really makes me want to go to study!”


  “Oh, mama. Stay here. Before you leave, just watch that.”


  When I tried to reply, ‘Okay,’ to Jooin, Yoo Chun Young, inside the screen, came up with the answer.

  “Oh, it’s here. It’s a square.”


  “Oh, really? Now I get it. That was why the formula didn’t work. The numbers came out in fractions and so on. Thanks.”


  Ham Donnie inside the TV got up with her book and notes then disappeared out of the screen. ‘I’m studying quite hard,’ I said within my head as I looked at myself in admiration and kept on watching the screen.

  The problem, however, came up next. The screen remained silent for quite a while, but something strange began to ring around. ‘Oh, hold on… is it…?’


  “Oh, my god. It really works. Donnie, you might be a genius. Wow!!”


  “…” The Ham Donnie, inside the screen, said nothing.

  “…” I did the same as I watched.

  Inside the screen, and also in reality, a cold silence prevailed the space. Yoo Chun Young, inside the screen, stopped working on his questionnaire book and stared at my direction. While looking at the scene, I slowly turned my head to avoid it.

  ‘Oh, it’s embarrassing,’ with that thought in mind, I hid my face in both my hands. ‘Yeah, that was what happened.’ Ever since I was young, I had friends who behave uncooperatively when studying; therefore, I had a habit of talking to myself when I study.

  In front, Eun Jiho was gazing at me with a sneer.

  ‘Why? What’s wrong?’


  I tried to brace myself. That was just a level of narcissism Eun Jiho had like every moment, a so-called daily narcissism. Wouldn’t it be okay for me to have the same level of self-love sometimes? It was at that moment when I tried to voice out these thoughts. After all, a song came out from the screen.

  “Can I square you~ Can we begin our love~”


  “…”


  The second round of silence soon took place. Jooin, who sat beside me, also fixed his gaze at me with a loss of words. That happened when he wasn’t at home, so the scene also didn’t exist in his memories.

  I covered my face with both hands then stood up saying, “I’ll go have some water.”


  I left the living room in a hurry then headed to the kitchen. When I was just about to pass the dining table, loud waves of laughter burst out behind me all at once.

  The laughter that took the lead was from Eun Jiho. Staring at my side, he said like a scream.

  “Hey, Ham Donnie! Bahaha! Can I… can I watch you studying? Hahaha, I’m dying.”


  The others didn’t make any loud noise. Jooin, however, might have felt difficult to keep a straight face. I soon heard him punching the couch. Eun Hyung, who seldom made loud sounds, burst out a cheerful giggle.

  At least Yoo Chun Young wouldn’t laugh since he already went through it that day. When I thought like that, the laughter from the living room subsided. ‘What’s going on?’ Escaping to the kitchen, I decided to have a cup of water. ‘Is there something weird on the screen?’ As the thought came across my mind, Yoo Chun Young suddenly stepped into the kitchen at a quick pace.

  I tried to go back to the living room, but he called to stop me.

  “Have another cup of water.”


  “What?”


  “Come on, here.”


  He then snatched the cup out of me and filled it with water. ‘What is he doing?’ While I became confused about what was happening at the moment, he handed out the cup as if forcing me to drink the water. I took it over eventually and gulped it out. It was just drinking another cup of water but it felt like taking poison.

  When I finished the cup and came back to the living room, the scene had already changed. Woo Jooin, who went outside to get soy sauce, came back and took the camera in his hands.

  Jooin, who was now sitting at the couch, asked me with a smile.

  “Mama, you came back?”


  “Yup. What was in the video earlier?”


  “Mmm… well…”


  ‘Was there really something going on?’ I waited for his clear response to clarify the situation, but Woo Jooin just smiled while narrowing his eyes.

  Not only Jooin but everyone had a weird glance. The one who looked the strangest was, by far, Yoo Chun Young. When our eyes met, he suddenly turned his head away from me in surprise.

  ‘What the…?’