"I just hope you will be very careful." Doyun nodded to what his friend said.
The faint tension in his shoulders reflected both the weight of responsibility and the urgency of the moment. Just then, his phone rang. His hand twitched slightly as he reached for it, anticipation mixing with a dull ache in his chest.
Rring! Rring!
He answered the call on the second ring, his voice steady but laced with curiosity.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Please, am I speaking with Mister Lee Do Yun? Do you happen to know the owner of this number?" A female voice asked from the other end of the line. It carried a gentle urgency, calm yet professional.
"Yes. She is my mother. Is anything wrong? Has she left her phone somewhere? Give me the directions, and I'll be there right away." His voice tightened, a knot of worry forming in his stomach. He could feel his heart begin to race.
"Ok, good. She has been admitted to our hospital and has yet to gain consciousness, so we have no information on her.
I was able to call you because her phone was not locked. I'll send you the address after the call so you can come and help us fill out her forms and chart. Please bring along some clothes and toiletries."
The words hung in the air, each syllable pressing on Doyun like a weight he couldn't ignore.
"The results are in, and I'm sorry to tell you that she has end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Meaning her kidney is failing. And the only way out right now is for her to get dialysis until she gets a kidney transplant.
If not, then she would have only some weeks, or if lucky, just a few months, to live." The doctor told the three siblings. His tone was firm but empathetic, the reality settling over them like a cold shadow.
Do Yun had called his sisters and told them about their mother's admission to the hospital after helping the nurse fill out the forms. He could hear their faint sobs through the line, a mixture of fear and disbelief.
"Hye-Won, Hye-Ri, you two shouldn't worry about this. I'll find the money for her treatment. Go home and rest. You still have school tomorrow."
Do Yun said to his two younger siblings. They looked very worried, which was quite understandable. His eyes flicked to the window, catching the last rays of the afternoon sun, but he didn't feel their warmth. His mind raced with ways to manage the impossible.
"But, oppa, where can you find the money? Per what the doctor said, oemma would have to be on treatment all throughout her life; how can you afford that?" The 19-year-old Lee Hye-Won asked, her voice trembling, a mixture of frustration and fear lacing every word.
"I said I would find the money. Take Hyeri and leave. We will all take turns visiting her tomorrow." Doyun said it in a raised voice, though his hands were slightly shaking. The anger wasn't for his sisters—it was directed at the helplessness clawing at his chest.
"Oppa, how will you get that kind of money? We have been harassed by those loan sharks ever since appa died. If you could come up with such a huge amount of money, wouldn't you have paid them off by now?
How do you expect Hye-Ri and me to believe that you can come up with the money? By what means are you going to get that? Are you into some gang of sorts?" Her voice cracked, worry threading through each word.
"Hyewon! Stop before I get angry." Doyun shouted at his sister, trying to steady his breathing. His jaw clenched tightly as he struggled to keep his voice firm, not wanting to show fear.
"What? Do you think we are not aware of your suspicious behaviours? You make a lot of strange calls, come in late, and even sleep outside at others homes since appa died.
Do you know how oemma has been worrying about you, not knowing where you go or what you've been doing outside?" Her eyes glistened, tears threatening to spill over as her voice rose with a mix of fear and accusation.
"Unnie! How can you say that to oppa? And oppa, please calm down. Both of you should calm down. Let's talk about this at home, please. You're both drawing attention to us.
Oppa, we'll be leaving. See you at home." The quiet 15-year-old middle schooler, Lee Hye-Ri, said and pulled her stubborn older sister out of the hospital. Hye-Ri's small hand gripped Hye-Won's arm tightly, a silent plea for calm amid the storm.
Doyun sighed and tried to calm down before going to talk to the doctor about the treatments and the costs. His mind was already calculating, turning over strategies and possibilities with rapid precision, masking the tension with forced composure.
*****
Ding!
A notification popped up on 23-year-old Kim Byeong Ho's phone. He raised an eyebrow, puzzled and slightly irritated.
"I know you still want me. Be here in under thirty minutes. If you come, then our deal is on. Otherwise, it's off the table, for good."
The message was read along with a GPS address and a winking emoji. His pulse quickened involuntarily.
"Who is this?"
Kim Byeong Ho thought out loud and put down his phone. It's obviously a wrong line because this is his private number, which only a few of his close relatives and friends know. His eyes flicked nervously around the room as though someone might be watching.
None of his flings or sex partners have this number.
Not even his coursemates.
And another fact is that the few people who have it all know that he will never answer an unknown number. So he doubts it's anyone he knows.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Came in an influx of messages, annoying Byeong Ho. So he takes the phone to block the number on the Messenger app, but...
Byeong Ho felt his eyes were playing tricks on him. He rubbed them several times, but still, the images on his phone remained the same. He could feel the heat creeping up his neck, a flush spreading across his face.
The person has sent a number of different suggestive pictures of a beautiful boy. The only way he was able to tell that this was a boy was because all of them were nude pictures of him!
He is lying on a bed completely naked, but with a thin, transparent organza fabric on his midsection. Which did nothing better at covering that part up, but rather, it made Byeong Ho's eyes stay glued to what was underneath it. His fingers twitched, a faint tension running through them as his mind struggled to process what he was seeing.
If anything, it made him look so alluring, and him seductively looking at the camera didn't help things at all. It feels more like he is seducing this poor heir apparent of Knet Entertainment.
Kim Byeong Ho gulped.
His little Byeong Ho has started to misbehave, making his owner feel so hot and tight. So he loosened his tie, the knot giving a small, relieving release as he exhaled shakily.
He has just returned from work. Since school was on break, his father and grandpa both had him working during the vacation. He felt the lingering fatigue from the day pressing on his shoulders, but the images on the phone held his attention hostage.
He is the one to oversee everything after his dad, so this short working period during the first half of his vacation is to serve as a training period.
He is allowed to enjoy the later part of his holidays as he wants.
'Ah, could it be because I haven't gotten laid in a while? That may be it.' Byeong Ho thought, still surprised at himself.
The flush on his cheeks burned hotter. If it were not happening right now, he might have questioned his reaction more.
How could just the pictures of another guy's body arouse him this much? If the person had an effeminate body type, then at least he would've understood. His mind raced, confused and unsettled by the intensity of his own reactions.
Sighed. He closed the Messenger app, texted his latest sex partner to come over, and closed the phone to go to the bathroom—to take care of his little man.
The tension in his chest eased slightly as he moved, his body responding instinctively to the task ahead.