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“I’m sorry.”
“At this point in time?”
“For saving you when your human mother abandoned you back then. If I hadn’t, then we wouldn’t have become brothers.”
With just that, Yeon turned around to leave. Rang had to stop himself from leaning forward and pull his brother back into the room.
That was it. Yeon was gone. Rang now stood alone in the room, fists clenching and unclenching, teeth grinding, and breathing unstable.
Rang’s eyes gleamed as tears started to form. He kept his hands clenched and allowed his nails to cut deep into his skin – distracting himself from his own thoughts. He then took a deep breath to try to calm himself down but his exhale was unwillingly composed of whimpers.
The door slid open making Rang swiftly turn around – his hands searching his face to remove any possibly unwanted tears lingering around.
“Oh, were you about to leave? I saw your brother leave just now.” It was the Snail Bride.
With a more composed state, Rang turned around. “No. I would like you to give me the wine I ordered earlier.” He smirked at her – his usual trademark – before sitting back down on the ground.
The Snail Bride stared at Rang for a good ten seconds before sighing and leaving the room to get what was ordered.
With the Snail Bride gone, there was no other distraction. Rang took his phone out to play a random game… But he wasn’t feeling it. He just kept fidgeting with his phone – looking at his contacts (immediately exiting it when he saw his brother’s name), scanning through his pictures (all contained Yu Ri in it as he loved to take picture of her), checking his calendar (to see what day it is), opening his notes (to find that he had never used the application yet…)
Tears dropped down on his phone.
Rang’s shocked expression made it clear that he didn’t realize that he had been crying.
The Snail Bride walked into the room to find a gumiho aggressively wiping his tears away. Feeling somewhat guilty of witnessing such a sensitive situation, she slowly retraced her steps backwards before walking forward once more — footsteps loud enough to be heard.
Rang turned his head to the other side and pretended he was doing something else aside from wiping his tears away. The Snail Bride cleared her throat before setting down a bottle of wine and a wine glass on the table.
Rang went straight to open the bottle and proceeded to drink it directly – not even bothering to pour it on the glass.
The Snail Bride hesitated, feeling a bit worried. “Did something happen?”
“With what?” Rang set the bottle down, smiling at it with his natural grin. “As I’ve known, this is one of the best I’ve tasted!”
“Just say sorry.”
Rang’s eyebrows furrowed. His smile disappeared as he slowly looked at the Snail Bride. “What?”
“To your brother. It’s been centuries with the two of you bickering with each other. Aren’t you tired of it?”
Rang looked at the restaurant owner with a glint of disapproval. “And why should I say sorry? He’s the one who killed me – almost. ” He got a hold of the wine bottle only for it to be taken away.
The Snail Bride placed the wine bottle out of Rang’s reach and sat down in front of him. “Yeon never did anything wrong! It’s you who goes around and kills whenever you like! Can’t you just apologize to him and stop making his life harder?” Even the Snail Bride herself was surprised at the aggressiveness of her tone. She initially wanted to comfort the poor gumiho, not reprimand him…
But she has always been on Yeon’s side so it should have been expected.
The glare Rang was giving the Snail Bride would have been very convincing if only his eyes didn’t twitch in pain from time to time. “You’re annoying. Leave.” He leaned forward to retrieve the bottle of wine and continued to drink it.
He finished one bottle then he asked for another one.
He also finished that bottle…
and finished one more…
and another…
Rang’s eyelids started to feel heavy.
The door slid open once more and —
“You’re wasted! You should go home!” It was the Snail Bride once again.
Rang clicked his tongue. “I’m not ye–” His surroundings suddenly swirled when he moved to face the Snail Bride. He had to press a hand on the floor to prevent himself from plopping down. “Maybe I am.” He chuckled shortly.
“All right!” Rang declared as he confidently forced himself up — only to fall back on the ground with his head painfully hitting the ground. He let out a sharp yelp — his hands going to his head.
The Snail Bride tried to help him but she was pushed away.
Rang slowly, and clumsily, got back on his feet. He leaned heavily on the wall as he got out of the room. Physical and mental coherence on the lowest levels due to intoxication.
The bright lights of the public dining area were substantially blinding as compared to the dim lights in the private dining areas.
Rang hissed as he used an arm to cover his eyes. He blindly searched for a chair as he stumbled his way around the restaurant until he finally found one and collapsed on it. He slumped his body on the table and just stayed there. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for his rest to get interrupted.
“Hey… That’s our table. We already set our things here, see?”
Rang ignored it as he was heavily focused on massaging his head for his headache to subside.
There was a light tap on his shoulder. “Hey…”
“Find another table,” Rang barely managed to say as he ignored the world once more.
The hand tapping his shoulder persisted. “But…”
As alcohol has the tendency to worsen aggression, Rang immediately felt agitated. He gritted his teeth and yelled out loud, “I said find another table you dimwit!”
It turned out to be a young girl, a fox, who gasped and flinched back.
“Hey! How dare you talk to my sister like that!”
Rang registered the angry footsteps a little bit too late until a fist collided against his cheek sending both him and the table crashing down on the ground.
Rang let out a pained cry from the double impact — when his face hit the table and when he harshly fell down on the ground. He heard gasps from all around him, probably from the other customers. But more importantly, he still felt the thug who punched him glaring at him. Slowly, he stood up – his hands on his head.
Rang felt something wet — blood. His head was bleeding. He was barely able to maintain his balance but he still let out a smirk as he turned around to face the thug. His sister, the young girl earlier, was by his side trying to stop him.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want a fight?” Rang carelessly took a step forward, his legs threatening to give out.
The thug turned out to be a fox, too, as he set his claws free. It turned out that he was not alone and that he was in a group when five more foxes walked closer — claws out — and prepared for a fight.
Rang let out a chuckle as his eye turned amber. “This will be fun.”
Yeon stood outside Ji Ah’s house. There was no doubt that Ji Ah was crying right now, unable to handle the piece of truth she uncovered. He sighed as he continued to cast a forlorn gaze at the house, unable to go in and tell Ji Ah the truth.
His heart felt too heavy. After six centuries of waiting, everything will just end like this. But it is for the better isn’t it?
Ji Ah would end up doing the same as Ah Eum the moment she finds out the truth. She will sacrifice her life again so Yeon could live. And that’s something his conscience refuses to deal with.
Then he thought of Rang.
What had caused him to be this twisted?
Did Yeon make a mistake in handling matters with him?
Yes, he obviously did. But that was for his, Rang’s, sake.
Yeon’s thoughts were interrupted when his phone vibrated. He took his phone out to see that the Snail Bride was calling him. His creased eyebrows widened and immediately thought of Rang.
Did something happen to him?
Yeon answered the phone call. “Yeon! Come back here. Hurry up!” The Snail Bride was panicking.
Yeon stood straight from leaning against a post. “What happened?”
“It’s your brother! He just annoyed a group of foxes and he’s fighting them right now all by himself!”
Yeon’s eyebrows furrowed.
What’s that brat doing?
“Fighting?” Yeon managed to maintain his composure. He was more annoyed than worried about what Rang was doing. “Is he winning?” He just had to make sure.
“Well…” There was a pause allowing Yeon to easily figure out the situation in the restaurant through his sensitive ears. “Yes, he is…”
Yeon’s huff was with a smirk, proud of his little brother.
“But that’s not the point! He’s scaring the customers! He's also very drunk and he might end up killing these young foxes!”
With a deep and tired sigh, Yeon said, “all right.” He placed his phone back into his pocket; and disappeared back into the restaurant.
Rang clawed at the last fox who dared to stand in his way. However, due to the impact and his unsteady gait, he also tumbled down on the floor.
All the other foxes were also down on the floor — some were groaning in pain, some were unconscious, some were afraid and unwilling to stand back up. However, there was this one guy (the one who defended his sister earlier) who seized Rang’s collar and forced him to lie on his back.
Rang felt a weight on top of him and hands gripping his collar to the point of strangling him. He tugged at the arms and tried to pull them away but he suddenly felt weak. Their current position was giving him a disadvantage.
Rang could only rarely breathe due to his drunken state but the addition of the weight on top of him and the hands strangling his neck made it impossible to breathe. He started to choke when he tried to speak up.
“You think you’re so strong?” The fox (who had bruises all over his face) growled but Rang only heard slurred noises that mixed with the background.
Rang felt like he was drowning. He felt as if he was submerged in deep water and that the tide had already filled his senses. His eyes full of tears were blurring as his breath continued to get knocked out of his chest.
Is this how he was going to die?
“Take this!” The enraged fox raised his arm with claws outstretched and was ready to put the conceited gumiho in his place. But suddenly, someone grasped his wrist midair and rendered him unable to move. He looked up in annoyance only to see a pair of raging amber eyes.
The fox’s hold on Rang’s neck loosened when Yeon’s grip on his wrist tightened – almost crushing it. Yeon pulled the fox up — away from Rang — and tossed him away to the direction of his friends who all trembled at the sight of him.
Rang could finally breathe again. He felt so free as he took in all the air he could get. Now that there was no more force against him, his headache became prominent again so he turned to his side with a groan. He was completely unaware of what was happening around him since all his senses became numb.
The young group of foxes anxiously looked at each other, completely terrified of the new presence in the room. This was Yi Yeon. Everyone knew who he was. He was the most ruthless among the four mountain deities back in the day. No one dared to plunder his forest as they will be met with unimaginable consequences.
Yeon helped Rang sit up and tenderly caressed his dark and messy locks when he was nestled comfortably against his chest. Seeing Yeon’s loving actions toward the other gumiho made the young group of foxes visibly gulp as they realized what they just did.
Of all the foxes in the world they could have fought with, it had to be the most ruthless mountain deity’s younger brother.
“Hey, should we get going? I don’t think he’s going to do anything to us…”
Yeon’s eyes immediately shot up making all of them flinch back, some even stumbled.
There was a few minutes of deafening silence as Yeon was busy sending death threats through his glare.
As Yeon found no proper place to set his brother down, he rearranged his position to sit comfortably with Rang still resting in his arms. “Are you aware,” he started. “That you just tried to kill my brother?” He took out a white handkerchief and wiped away the blood from Rang’s head, frowning when he winced in his sleep. Yeon hated seeing his brother in pain.
“So, no one will talk?” Yeon looked back at the foxes who started to point fingers at each other.
A young girl ran and bowed in front of Yeon. “Forgive me! It’s all my fault! I asked him to move to a different table but I think he was too drunk to even comprehend what I said. But I insisted for him to move since it was my favorite seat… And my brother just got mad at him when he yelled at me. It’s all my fault! Forgive me!” The girl’s head remained down.
Yeon kept his neutral expression as he raised an eyebrow. “ I appreciate your confidence. You have more guts as compared to your male friends, I give you that. But you weren’t the one who tried to pierce his claw through my brother’s skull.”
The girl worriedly glanced at Yeon and at her brother who was behind her. He finally stepped forward to go beside his sister.
“Jin Seong-ah…” His sister called out tugging his arm.
The lad, Jin Seong, turned to his sister and muttered, “I’m fine.” He then confidently looked at the waiting eyes of the (former) mountain deity. “I apologize! I wasn’t thinking clearly! My head just got filled with rage when he shouted at my sister like that…”
Yeon raised an eyebrow. “So you know how it feels. To have your younger sibling be treated poorly. So tell me how would you feel if you saw someone strangling and squeezing your sister’s life out of her?”
Jin Seong averted his gaze, unable to maintain eye contact.
“How would you feel if a group of six engaged in a fight with your sister who’s all alone?”
With this, Jin Seong was quick to retort, “that’s unfair! Your brother is a gumiho! He’s your blood! He has your power! He can easily overpowe–”
“Exactly. Don’t engage in fights you know you can’t win. Much better if you don’t engage in any fight at all.” Yeon placed an arm under Rang’s knees and lifted him up. He was now properly looking down at the young and foolish foxes. “My brother was drunk. He can’t even properly make out his surroundings. And you all decided to fight him when he’s in this state. No matter what I think of it, that was unfair.”
The foxes remained tight-lipped, stepping back and feeling a lot smaller upon getting intimidated by Yeon’s height. They all looked embarrassed by their actions or just too terrified to speak back.
Yeon never really planned on scolding whoever Rang fought with. He figured that Rang would have the upper hand so he actually started to feel bad for the other party.
And it was true that Rang had the upper hand since he only had a few injuries while the foxes he fought with had claw marks all over their face.
But seeing his brother helpless while the fox on top of him was ready to aim for the kill made Yeon’s blood boil.
“Hye Ja-ssi!” Yeon called out.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the direction where the Snail Bride emerged. “Yeon! Thank goodness!”
“These foxes will help out in your restaurant for a month. They are to wash the dishes and make sure that the place is squeaky clean. They will do that all for free.”
The young foxes then whined in unison.
“Then,” Yeon turned to look at them. “Do you want to receive a different punishment for what you did to my brother?” His eyes then turned amber. “I’ll think about it then.”
“No! No! We’ll gladly help out!!”
The amber in Yeon’s eyes faded and his lips curved upwards into a deadpan smile. “I figured.” Looking back at the Snail Bride who seemed delighted, he bid his goodbye before leaving.
Rang immediately rolled on his side when he was placed down on the soft mattress. He mumbled something incoherently but he was still very much asleep.
Yeon scowled when he realized he wasn’t able to remove Rang’s shoes on their way in. “Tsk, that might stain.” He always minded about the cleanliness of his surroundings. He hated being untidy. “I’ll just call over Shin Joo tomorrow to mop the floors.” He then started to remove his brother’s shoes, scowl still fixed on his face. “Am I your nanny? You brat.”
After placing the shoes on the shoe rack, Yeon went back to his room to find Rang still in his position earlier. He sighed once before slowly sitting down on the bed and placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder to make him lie on his back so he could see his face.
Rang looked so peaceful. His smooth features not adorned by his usual devilish smile made him look so kind. Kind, as in the little brother that he raised. The little brother who once came to him crying while carrying an injured bird, asking if they could treat him. The little brother who insisted that they stay by an injured fox’s side to make sure it’d survive the night.
Yeon moved to brush Rang’s hair to the side to reveal the wound from earlier. He scowled when he realized that the shallow wound hadn't healed yet.
Yeon stood up and rummaged through his cabinet for some type of ointment that Shin Joo gave him some time ago during that one time his wounds took a whole day to heal. When he found it, he sat back down on the bed and applied some on his brother’s wound using his index finger.
Rang flinched before his eyes opened. He blinked a few times so his vision could focus. “What are you doing?”
“Treating your wound so it won’t get infected,” Yeon nonchalantly replied, eyes never leaving the wound.
Rang didn’t say anything afterward. He just looked at his brother through his glossy eyes and allowed him to do his work. He actually still felt sleepy but this moment was one of a kind. Yeon never showed him affection after abandoning him in the mountains. It felt really nice to be subjected under Yeon’s care once more
“Why isn’t your wound healing?” Yeon asked no one in particular as he placed more ointment on his finger and applied it on Rang’s wound. “It's not that deep so it should have healed by now.”
Rang didn’t bother replying as he realized that Yeon was just talking to himself, probably making assumptions in his own mind.
Rang just stared at his brother. He liked the scowl on his face as it indicated that he was worrying about him. He liked the soft sigh he made which meant that he was probably tired, but still insisted on treating his wound because he cared for him.
“Hyeong…”
Yeon’s actions halted. It’s as if something in him stopped functioning when he heard Rang utter that single word to him once more — with no disdain or any trace of rage in his tone.
Yeon then looked at Rang. “What?” He asked, pretending not to be affected at all.
“Do you hate me?”
Yeon’s eyes rolled before screwing the cap of the ointment and placing it on the bedside table. “Get some sleep, kid.”
“You hate me, don’t you?”
Yeon closed his eyes, sighing deeply.
Was this about what he told him earlier? Was he still hurt by that?
“Can I ask you something?”
Yeon then looked at Rang once more. “What is it?” He asked.
Rang bit his lip, he averted his eyes somewhere else for a second before he asked, “Am I expendable for you?”
Yeon didn’t know how to answer. He knew his brother very well that this was just the start of his many questions. Like a domino effect that won’t be satisfied until the very last wood falls down.
“You’re drunk. Get some sleep.”
“It’s why it was so easy for you to leave me behind… you loved your first love more than me so you didn’t even think twice before abandoning me. You didn’t even check on me… And we met only for you to kill me.” Rang started to cry. “You’re just like the others… like my mother. You never cared about me.”
“Rang—”
“It’s why you want me dead right? It’s why you said that you should have never saved me back then… because you want me dead.”
Oh, so this was about what he said earlier.
Yeon internally berated himself as he regretted his actions. He never should have said that. Underneath the sturdy covering that Rang was showing everyone, Yeon knew that his brother was actually very sensitive.
Yeon moved to wipe Rang’s tears away. He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t.
That time when Yeon failed to kill Rang, someone else was immediately assigned to do the task. It took all of Yeon’s willpower — and a lot of begging — that they let Rang be. His little brother was merely a hundred year old at that time. Still very young. He still remembered up to this day the gatekeeper’s words very clearly –
“The Mountain of Baekdudaegan was bountiful for 1,000 years all because of the former mountain deity, Yi Yeon. To show our gratitude, we shall fulfill this request. We will let Yi Rang live. However. As Yi Rang’s punishment, Yi Yeon has been forbidden to talk or be close to him again. The one family Yi Rang had and cared most for will be taken away from him. Until his death.”
Even now, Yeon worries. Is the gatekeeper seeing them right now? Will they send someone to execute Rang again?
“Why are you crying?” It was Rang who asked. With a trembling hand, he moved to wipe the tears away from Yeon’s face.
Rang’s hand felt so comforting against Yeon’s skin so much that Yeon had to suppress a whine when he lost contact.
“Because I don’t hate you,” Yeon finally said.
“Then… Do you love me?” Rang asked, his small voice full of curiosity and expectations. Tears had stopped streaming from his eyes.
Rang waited for an answer. His yearning eyes stared deeply at Yeon’s who just neutrally looked at him.
Rang’s breath hitched when he realized that Yeon had no plans on answering. His face contorted as he visibly showed pain and distress. Tears started to stream down his face much more aggressively than before.
Yeon just continued to wipe his tears away but Rang held his wrists in a tight grip. “Why?” His voice was shaky, insistent, and betrayed . “Why can’t you love me as much as you love that woman?!.. No, no… Just give me half of it. Even if you give me half the love you give that woman, I won’t complain. Please, hyeong… Please…”
“Aigoo, little brother.” Yeon pressed himself down — despite Rang’s protests — so he could give a firm kiss on his brother’s forehead. He then settled down beside him on the bed and buried Rang’s face against his chest.
Rang started to push him away. “If you can’t then just kill me!” When Yeon didn’t budge, Rang just satisfied himself by hitting his brother’s chest repeatedly. “Kill me!”
“I can’t.”
“Why?!”
“Because I do love you.”
Rang gasped, his eyes wide. His hands that were throwing punches on his brother’s chest went to clutch it tightly. “R-Really?”
“Yes. Really.” Yeon pulled his brother closer, one arm around his waist and the other under his head.
Rang sniffed, snuggling closer. “You’re not lying?”
“I’m not lying.” Yeon tightened his arms around Rang, attempting to pull him much closer. “I love you, Rang-ah.”
Rang smiled, closing his eyes at ease. He was reminded too much of the past. Rang would always cuddle with his brother even though he had his own futon. Yeon, in turn, would just roll his eyes but he would still welcome him in his arms.
Who would have thought? That it would take six centuries for the moment to be finally recreated.
At long last, Rang felt happy again. He didn’t know if tomorrow will be any different but he allowed his mind to live in the present.
“I love you too, hyeong.”
Rang then allowed himself to succumb to the world of slumber.