Chapter 11

Unlike me, who was startled, Ji Geon-hyung was really nonchalant.

“I don’t know. When I woke up, I was in this room.”

“Did you drink too much again? Drink moderately.”

Clicking his tongue, Ji Seok grinned at me, who was half hidden behind Ji Geon-hyung.

“Woo Seo-ya, my rice.”

After hearing Ji Seok’s carefree words, the tension was lifted. Then Ji Geon-hyung spoke on my behalf.

“Did you leave your food with Woo Seo? You’ve never had breakfast before.”

“I thought I’d have breakfast too, you know? Then, hyung, you don’t eat.”

“I’m the one who made a reservation first.”

Ji Seok glared at Ji Geon-hyung with a sidelong glance and went into my room.

Sharply raising his eyes towards the door, Ji Seok approached me with a grin as if he had been there [the previous night].

“It’s been a while since hyung drank until he passed out, but he must’ve been drunk and mistaken the rooms.”

“It’s possible, well.”

Deliberately pretending it was no big deal, I combed through Ji Seok’s bird nest-like bedhead1 with my hands.

“How the hell do you sleep for your head to be like this? It’s totally a nest.”

“I dreamed of a puppy that looked like you sitting on my head, so obviously this is your fault—! Aiya!”

“You dream of a dog and so you make noise like a dog2 so dramatically, right?”

While combing through his hair, I pulled on Ji Seok’s hair because he was talking such nonsense. It didn’t hurt much, but Ji Seok exaggerated.

In the meantime, I made eye contact with Ji Geon-hyung, who left the room to change clothes, over Ji Seok’s shoulder. Ji Geon-hyung looked at us for a moment and soon after, went into the bathroom.

After the three of us sat together and had breakfast, I pulled out my laptop from my room and opened the internet browser window. As soon as I typed the word “ring” into the search box, the search terms I was looking for were revealed.

[ring insomnia]

[ring sleep]

[ring effect]

[ring removal]

As usual, I searched for “ring removal” among them. The familiar headlines and contents were shown, most of them I’d already checked, and have changed from dark blue to purple letters.

I sighed while my eyes scanned through the contents.

No matter what I read, the information was all the same.

When the ring is connected, one will have to live with it and their partner for the rest of their lives. Even so, if one really wanted to release the ring… Just kill the other person. If one side dies, then the ring will also disappear at that time.

Perhaps because of that, some of the searches included some very disturbing and scary content. In fact, internet articles of cases about killing a partner to release the ring were also seen from time to time.

Although I was familiar with the rumors, it was still frustrating to see the same content even if I searched the internet for the removal of the ring.

‘Is there really no way?’

It’s not that I was uncomfortable with or hated Ji Geon-hyung, rather, it was hard to accept that I was forced to live my whole life unexpectedly entwined with someone else. Others say it’s fate and wrap it up in good words, but in reality, it wasn’t that all people who were connected like this lived happily ever after and loved each other.

I sighed deeply, feeling frustrated in my heart, and the cell phone on my desk vibrated.

[Are you studying again? I’m going to the gym.]

It was Kang Ji Seok. That reminded me, he goes to the gym every morning.

As soon as I checked the message, I heard the sound of the front door lock opening. He probably thought I was studying, so he went out quietly to not disturb me, but I felt disappointed for some reason.

‘We’re living in the same house anyway, just tell me before you leave.’

Feeling regret, I looked down at the message and left a reply saying to have a safe trip. Then suddenly I lowered my eyes and scanned my body.

‘Maybe I should go to the gym with him.’

I remembered, the other day, Kang Ji Seok was showing off his six-pack abs with a proud face. Both flesh and muscles were in poor condition, but if I looked at it, I thought it would be effective if I continued going to the gym. If I’m not going around alone, but with Kang Ji Seok…

At that moment, I imagined Kang Ji Seok working out and felt my face heat up.

Uungh–

Startled by the sudden vibration, Kang Ji Seok was wiped from my mind. With a panicked heart, I swiped and checked my cell phone, this time it was Ji Geon-hyung.

[Studying?]

I replied, thinking that these two brothers were exactly the same.

[No, I’m not.]3

[Then open the door in ten seconds.]

I put down my cell phone on Ji Geon-hyung’s message and opened the door. At that moment, I saw Ji Geon-hyung coming to the door with two mugs. Maybe because he was wearing a comfortable round neck t-shirt and cotton trousers instead of a suit, [his appearance] felt softer than usual.

“Have a drink.”

Like passing me a glass of wine, Ji Geon-hyung walked into the room and handed me the mug of hot Americano.

“While Ji Seok isn’t here, I thought I’d talk to you for a moment.”

Although he said that, he didn’t speak first, but slowly looked around the room with his eyes. Drinking the coffee like he was enjoying it, my laptop caught Ji Geon-hyung’s eyes as he looked around. Too late, I noticed that his gaze was on the laptop, the screen on where I was searching “remove ring”, and I quickly closed the internet window.

Still, I wondered why I felt like I was caught doing something bad. I was sure that Ji Geon-hyung has searched for a way to remove the ring, so he must’ve seen the content about how the other person has to die to remove the ring, but, for some reason,it felt like I was the only one who saw the shady content.

Maybe it’s because Ji Geon-hyung had never brought up a deep conversation about the ring.

But, in retrospect, I had never really talked about it properly. Since at the beginning, I hid my ring and avoided him, it was hard to say some things first. Rather, I should’ve gone to him as soon as the ring manifested to ask what to do while stamping my feet like dongdong, too.

After confirming each other’s rings, even when we met, we were too busy falling asleep. Meanwhile, the aftermath of not being able to sleep was that as soon as we held hands we’d fall asleep almost immediately, and when we’d wake up, it’d already be dawn and we would be busy going our own ways. It’s said that there are many people who live in this way among the people connected by rings, and so I just thought that we would stay that way for now.

Contrary to what I thought, Ji Geon-hyung seemed to be indifferent as he took his eyes off the laptop.

“It’s fine. I’ve searched a million times, too.”

It was natural to find out because it happened to him, and not anyone else. Since he was connected to his younger brother’s friend, he must’ve been actively looking for a way to remove the ring even if it wasn’t going well.

“You know, too, there’s no way to remove the ring.”

Hearing from Ji Geon-hyung’s mouth, I felt a heavy feeling.

No matter how many times I’ve looked up the same search term, the answer doesn’t change. Although I searched like a machine today without being convinced, as Ji Geon-hyung said, there was no special method to remove the ring.

Now, it felt a little more real.

The red band on the ring finger of Ji Geon-hyung’s left hand was more visible today.

I breathed a deep sigh without speaking the words of my confused thoughts and sat on the bed. In order calm down my mind full of thoughts about the ring, I drank a mouthful of the Americano and the hot bitterness filled my stomach as if burning my insides.

Ji Geon-hyung dragged a chair from the desk and put it down in front of me, sitting face to face, and I felt like he was too close to me. Between my open legs, Ji Geon-hyung’s strong thighs were barely touching me.

“If we ignore the effects of the ring, we might die, so shouldn’t we decide what we should do in the future?”

I had no choice but to agree with him. At first, I thought I’d endure it, but then I realized how hellish it was for a person to not be able to sleep at all.

So that’s probably why I’d choose to sleep with Ji Geon-hyung more. When lying hand in hand, the sleep I wanted so much falls like a pleasant drizzle. This kind of nice feeling can be described as pure ecstasy.

My mind became more confused. I’d rather despair if there were only bad things, but since I was able to experience the best sleep just by being together, I kept wanting to get rid of [the ring] somehow. But in the end, I thought that if I could get rid of it, then I should, but no matter how much I searched, there was no way to remove it so I gradually gave up.

In the first place, I had never imagined a future of dating or marrying anyone, whether before or after I liked Kang Ji Seok. It might be because of the influence of parents who are busy working, while conscious of maintaining the mold of a married couple.

Even if we don’t the same values, Ji Geon-hyung wouldn’t be thinking of about my future either. I’m sure he took me into this house all of a sudden.

I constantly kept going over my thoughts, then Ji Geon-hyung suddenly interrupted them with words.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do in the future?”

“To be honest…I don’t know.”

I thought it was best to live together for the time being, but what would we do afterwards? I couldn’t see a definitive answer, I felt like there was something inside.

“I heard you don’t have a girlfriend, right?”

As soon as I tried to answer ‘yes’ to the sudden question, Ji Geon-hyung went on to speak first.

“You like Ji Seok, so of course you wouldn’t.”

“Yes, that’s right…but…”

I could feel my face stiffen as I answered.

“How…did you know?”

I didn’t tell Ji Geon-hyung. No, I didn’t even tell anyone in the first place.

As he took a sip of the coffee, Ji Geon-hyung’s eyes were curved so gently that they reminded me of Ji Seok.

“I know. It was so obvious.”