.  The moment I was waiting for Eun Hyung’s following words, Yeo Ryung, whose shoulders heaved as she boiled with anger, suddenly stretched out her hands and grabbed Eun Hyung’s. He turned to look in her direction with widened eyes.

  “Yeo Ryung?” asked Eun Hyung.

  She blurted out, “You don’t have to cry.”


  “.……”


  Eun Hyung’s eyes slightly widened even more. I also strained mine. What Yeo Ryung just said while huffing with a reddened face was different from the usual words of comfort.

  ‘I mean, when consoling a person like Eun Hyung, don’t we usually say, ‘It’s okay to cry?’ something like that?’ I wondered while tilting my head. At that moment, our shoulders began to flour with snowflakes out of the blue.

  Raising Eun Hyung’s hands, Yeo Ryung brought them toward her forehead and whispered, “You don’t have to cry. It isn’t weird at all.”


  “.……”


  Eun Hyung’s eyes subsided into the dark. Biting her lips, Yeo Ryung suddenly raised her voice.

  “What do they know about you?! They aren’t directly involved in any of your situations!”


  “.…… Yeo Ryung……”


  “Of course, you’re the saddest person because it’s your thing! Just that you aren’t crying, how can they talk like they’re more upset than you while they have humanity, but you don’t?”


  Not only Eun Hyung but I also held my breath. Meanwhile, Yeo Ryung grabbed Eun Hyung’s hands more tightly. She then struck a retort with rage.

  “I don’t care if they want to act like good people or they actually have a lot of empathy! However, if they’re sincerely good people, they won’t talk bullshit in front of a person directly involved!”


  “.……”


  “How can they use someone’s tragedy as an opportunity to prove that they are good people? How horrible can people behave like that?” shouted Yeo Ryung. Her cheeks were trembling with either cold or anger.

  When Eun Hyung quietly stretched out his hand and put it on her cheek, Yeo Ryung quickly raised her head again and continued to speak.

  “So, you don’t have to cry, Eun Hyung.”


  While Eun Hyung stood still wordlessly, Yeo Ryung concluded her words clearly.

  “You don’t have to prove your sorrow to us. Regardless of what you do, we already know who you are.”


  “.……”


  “You’ve been steadily proving who you are to all of us, so don’t believe what they say. Just trust our words.”


  Yeo Ryung’s determined remark resembled the words that someone told me once before. However, Eun Hyung wasn’t at ease or became delighted even at those words; instead, his face looked like a kid who lost his way.

  Having noticed the strange look on his face, I called, “Eun Hyung?”


  That was when he shook his head as if he was dragged from a dream.

  “No……” said Eun Hyung. He opened his mouth still in confusion. “.…… The reason why I didn’t tell you guys about my sister is that……” With a pause, Eun Hyung concluded, “.…… It’s because I’ve thought you’ll say to me I can cry.”


  Yeo Ryung and I looked at each other in wonder for a moment. Watching us reacting that way, Eun Hyung waved his hand in the air and covered his face with the other hand. Thus, we couldn’t see the look on his face anymore.

  “No, don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean that I hate that attitude. If you guys are suffering from any pressure or sorrow and seem to look like you’re suppressing the pain, even I would have said the same thing.”


  He paused for a second. Dropping his gaze on the floor in hesitation, Eun Hyung soon directed his eyes on us. His words continued with difficulty.

  “But, as you know…… I’ve been living a life surrounded by people waiting for me to cry.”


  “.……”


  “There are people everywhere who’ll accept me if I cry…… but who’ll look at me like a weirdo if I don’t……” Pressing his eyes with his trembling hand, Eun Hyung kept on speaking slowly. “But…… I’m…… so…… sick of it……”


  Yeo Ryung and I exchanged eye contact. We then stretched out our hands toward Eun Hyung and firmly grasped his other hand.

  At that moment, teardrops fell through his fingers covering his face. Quickly lifting my head in surprise, I met his reddened eyes visible through his fingers. It felt like I had seen something I shouldn’t such as an opened diary on the desk. I heard his continuing words in a daze as if I was hit with a hammer behind my head.

  “But as I got to hear that I don’t have to cry, unexpectedly……”


  His teardrops flowing down his elbow were now dropped to the ground. There were round traces on the frozen soil.

  “I don’t know…… what to do……”


  Speaking that way, Eun Hyung began to cry in the end, and that was when Yeo Ryung and I fell in a state of panic.

  ‘What should we do?’ While some blackbird chirped loudly above us, Yeo Ryung and I were just flustered looking at each other.

  I wished Eun Hyung to become a little more honest toward his feelings; however, I didn’t expect it to happen all of a sudden. Being lost for quite a while, we finally decided to just pat Eun Hyung’s arms and his back.

  ‘What should we do next?’ ‘I don’t know.’ While we shared those words in a low voice, suddenly, there was a giggle.

  Eun Hyung raised his head before we even knew, and his eyes had curved into a smile. Although they were still red, his delightful face made him look like he had cried due to the cold weather. With a bright smile, Eun Hyung spoke to us, who were vacant for a second.

  “Hey, why are you guys so bewildered? I’m not a kid you know.”


  That was when we barely escaped from the state of panic. ‘Didn’t he actually cry to surprise us?’ As soon as we had that thought in our heads, a teardrop fell from Eun Hyung’s eyes again that we became startled.

  Gently wiping his tears, Eun Hyung continued, “Anyway, it’s weird. Why am I crying when I don’t feel sad?”


  Yeo Ryung and I shouted one after another in perplexity.

  “No, that ain’t weird at all, so just cry! Don’t even think about us.”


  “R…… ight! Should I get you some tissues?”


  After we made a fuss for a while, we suddenly turned around while feeling someone’s gaze from behind our backs.

  The rest of the Four Heavenly Kings were there looking at us as if they had found a UFO. The look on Yoo Chun Young and Eun Jiho’s faces were, especially, remarkable. Yoo Shin, who popped out from behind them, flung a question out of the blue while swinging his car key.

  “Eun Hyung, we’re gonna go back to the hospital. If you also wanna……”


  As soon as he found Eun Hyung having teary eyes, Yoo Shin paused his words. The look on his face also turned strange just like those of the Four Heavenly Kings.

  ‘What the……’ murmuring in a low voice, Yoo Shin stopped his footsteps then began to stare at Yeo Ryung with a piercing gaze.

  Wondering, ‘What’s going on all of a sudden?’ I paid attention to Yoo Shin’s response.

  “I didn’t believe at all when Chun Young told me how scary his pretty little friend was……”


  Eh? While I squinted my eyes, Yoo Shin concluded his words seriously, “But…… I never knew she could even make Eun Hyung cry……”