.  I, who remained still for a moment, then cried out suddenly.

  “Hey! What the hell is this!?”


  “What’s wrong? You drooled on it.”


  “It’s still disgusting! Yuck, what the hell.”


  Then Ban Yeo Ryung’s pale face came toward me inside the screen. She might have seen me covered with Eun Jiho’s shirt that he just took off. Blinking her eyes in a pale face, Ban Yeo Ryung then had her eyes on Eun Jiho and cast a question to him.

  “You…… threw the clothes that you just took off to Donnie?”


  “Uh-huh.”


  “Gosh…… so promiscuous…”


  “Koff, koff, khakk!”


  Leaning on the door, Eun Jiho coughed harshly while he stopped stepping off my room. ‘What is she saying?’ With that thought in mind, something also went down the wrong pipe inside me.

  I felt Jooin, who was beside me, grabbing my arm tight. He then said something like a whisper.

  “Mama, Yeo Ryung seems to use words strangely too.”


  “For sure.”


  “Maybe she also has a speech disorder.”


  “True. I was so surprised at the time when she said that. How can a middle school girl say a word like that?”


  “Pfft!”


  Eun Jiho’s remark made Ban Yeo Ryung turn her head in a sulk. Inside the screen, Eun Jiho started hitting the ceiling to reveal how victimized he felt. He spoke to Ban Yeo Ryung.

  “Dude, promiscuous……? Do we normally use such a word in this kind of situation? Aren’t you going too far?”


  “How could you throw your clothes that you just took off to a girl…… and you walked out of the room with Donnie just now…… Did you change your clothes in front of her?”


  Hiding her face in both her hands, Yeo Ryung led me out of my room, and that was the end of the screen as it soon showed a black screen. All of us: Ban Yeo Ryung, the Four Heavenly Kings, and I just watched it in perplexity.

  ‘Is that the end?’ As soon as I murmured to myself, Eun Jiho said, “I think the video is over……”


  As if he got awakened from dizziness, at last, Jooin, who buried his face on my side, mumbled in confusion.

  “That was intense.”


  “Are we just like that a year ago?” With that said, Yeo Ryung turned her head to see me with a sad face. It looked so funny that I laughed hard for a while before I turned my eyes on Eun Hyung to ask his review of the video.

  “What do you think, Eun Hyung?”


  “Hmm……”


  He had a complicated smile on his face, which displayed how he was feeling right now. He then folded his eyes tenderly and gave us a soft smile. Eun Jiho and Ban Yeo Ryung leaned their bodies toward Eun Hyung in wonder. Yoo Chun Young, who looked a little pale, also turned his head to see Eun Hyung.

  “The difference between a human and a beast is that humans evolve endlessly.”


  “Yeah.”


  “Huh……?”


  “Maybe we aren’t humans.”


  “Bahaha!” Eun Jiho, in front, laughed while tapping the couch. He soon got so excited that he pointed at me and said, “You’re making no progress.” As a response, I flipped off.

  I then said, “Dude, you also belong to the non-human category.”


  Listening to our quarrel with a few blinks, Ban Yeo Ryung opened her mouth.

  “But we truly didn’t change at all except for Eun Jiho. When I saw the scene of us watching TV in the living room, I thought a security camera was here.”


  “Oh, me too, me too.”


  It was then when Jooin replied like that while sticking his head out. Yoo Chun Young, who remained silent ever since he asked me to drink some water, suddenly threw out his remark.

  “But isn’t it good to stay unchanged…… like this? I like it though.”


  “.……”


  When he said that, the air giving off some noise within the living room changed into something a bit different. Then, what surrounded us next was a soft and comfortable silence.

  When I heard what Yoo Chun Young said, I truly felt it. The fact that things were unchanged seemed to turn into something good and cool. We would always remain the same and our connection from our former selves, which was a year ago, would never cease; we gathered in this place again as we did in the past.

  Suddenly, I felt so touched that I couldn’t say anything. Everyone might have shared the same feeling as I did. A small grin was on all of our lips. Eun Jiho soon glanced at my side and spoke in joy.

  “Yeah, it’s good but can’t you imagine that? We could still be like this after a few years too. You know, like people gathering in someone’s house……”


  I quickly replied to his words, “Wish that it’s not at my house.”


  “Why? Your house is my house.”


  “Shut up. Just say that after you build one for me.”


  As I made that response, Ban Yeo Ryung burst into laughter. She then said to Eun Jiho triumphantly.

  “Well, Donnie and I are gonna live together, so I’ll especially let you step inside up to our shoe rack.”


  “Huh? Why are we living together?”


  “Why not?” Ban Yeo Ryung asked back with her eyes wide open.

  ‘Why is ‘Ban Yeo Ryung and Ham Donnie Living Together,’ which I never considered for my future, inside your plan?’ As soon as I felt ludicrous, Eun Jiho asked in wonder.

  “Aren’t you gonna get married?”


  “Oh, I don’t know. I just don’t have that planned yet.”


  “For real? Are you gonna live alone without a husband and children?” Jooin asked back in surprise.

  As if she read the seriousness of the question, Ban Yeo Ryung turned bewildered and responded while scratching the back of her head.

  “Isn’t it cool? I’m still living my life, anyway. I don’t know, it’s yet a distant future to me. I’m just gonna live with Donnie.”


  “I want to get married,” with that said, I gently pushed Ban Yeo Ryung’s face away from me.

  Anyway, Ban Yeo Ryung surely received many confessions from boys, which might have made her less interested in dating other guys. Before she even opened her heart, most of the boys would have already wanted to get closer to her. I would have even behaved the same as Ban Yeo Ryung if I had those experiences; however, how could she willingly turn herself into a voluntary celibate?

  However, it wasn’t that bad when she said she wanted to live with me even when we get older. It was fun to think about the future of me staying together with Ban Yeo Ryung. I blinked my eyes then smiled as something good came across my mind.

  I said, “Let’s also travel together again the same way we did when we were seniors in middle school. Let’s continue to hang out often like that even when we become older.”


  Unless I don’t disappear in this world…… I swallowed the words.

  Whenever I promise something about the future, my heart seemed to submerge gradually. Like a boat with a hole in the bottom, I felt my whole heart sinking into the dark deep sea. As I bit my lip, Yoo Chun Young replied from aside.

  “Let’s do that.”


  “Even when we get old.”


  Speaking those words softly, Eun Hyung stretched out his hand to pat my hair. His touch was warm-hearted than usual, which made me feel a little odd, so I became hesitant but soon grinned, eventually. I just wanted to smile. Eun Jiho then asked from the opposite side.

  “But if we all get married, then we should bring all our kids which would be at least twenty people…… would it be okay?”


  “Geez, that’s true.”


  When Ban Yeo Ryung responded in surprise, Eun Jiho continued with a nod.

  “Hey, if we’re there alone, people would get it wrong.”


  “Hmm…… well then we could be couples and get married.”


  Ban Yeo Ryung said those words too easily that I got dumbstruck. I almost choked on my words. ‘What did you say, girl?’


  Those who reacted more severely were Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young. Yoo Chun Young coughed harshly and Eun Jiho looked back and forth between me and Ban Yeo Ryung.

  Eun Jiho then murmured, “Gosh, there’s no one to choose……”


  “Do you want to die?”


  Shooting the words to Eun Jiho, Yeo Ryung smashed his back. She then raised her head to keep on her words. As if she was explaining something very easy and clear, she spoke like this while pointing at herself and me.

  “Donnie and I are gonna marry; you and Jooin will marry; Eun Hyung and Chun Young will marry. Cool? It’s done then. See? If we get married like that, then we have no problem hanging out altogether.”


  “Are you……”


  Eun Jiho paused his reply out of bewilderment. When he saw Ban Yeo Ryung, who was showing a face full of a rich smile, he then seemed to notice that she was just joking. Eun Jiho soon giggled. He then scowled at her and kept up his words.

  “Dude, do you know that you have a weird sense of humor? Sometimes, I’m confused if I should laugh. I think that you’re still doing these weird jokes because of the way I laugh……”


  “Oh, come on. What’s wrong with my joke?”


  “Who says a joke as seriously as you? I almost believed you,” Eun Hyung said in a voice filled with joy.

  As if she was asking for an answer, Ban Yeo Ryung looked at Yoo Chun Young with a sad face. He then just coughed in response to her request. It looked so funny that Jooin and I laughed while holding our hands.

  We can get married, give birth to a child, live next door, and hang out often; all our kids can even run around the front yard. Getting old together and traveling along together…… these words filled my heart with nothing but emotions.

  I dropped my gaze and came to a thought.

  I was still here.