“Hey.”

Howon turns, hair blowing off his forehead. Jang Dongwoo stands there, hands awkwardly shoved in pockets. He shrugs, pretending not to care. “If it gets too hard, you can always come back.”

Howon smiles, reaching out a hand to clasp his friend on the shoulder. “Yeah,” he says simply. “Yeah, I know.”

Dongwoo turns away, looking towards the crowds of people milling by the boat floating in the harbor. At the foot of the hill, children tussle in the dirt as their parents gossip. Howon knows that their conversations are about him, about how stupid he is, about how he’s carelessly throwing his life away, but he really doesn’t care anymore.

“You really don’t have to do this,” Dongwoo says again, quietly. He crosses his arms across his chest and sighs through his nose. Howon smiles, ducking his head, and starts down the hill.

“I know,” he throws back over his shoulder. “I want to. Need to. I owe him too much.”

Dongwoo doesn’t follow him, but Howon is fine with that.