The Tiny(?) Island of Jeju

The Stars at Night

“Horyeong,” his mother yelled from the kitchen, purse in her hands. “Are all your boxes in the car?”

 

Horyeong looked at the now-empty room, the only two things occupying it being himself and the last box at his feet. “Yes, mother, I’m done.”

 

“Okay, remember we leave in five minutes, Daun is already waiting in the car.” She popped her head into the room, since Horyeong had left the door open. He saw no reason to close it, seeing how there wasn’t anything in the room anymore. “Remember to not forget anything.”

 

He shook his head, grabbing the semi-heavy box from the floor. “Nah, I’m ready to go, there isn’t anything here anyways.”

 

His mother entered the room, setting her arm on her son’s shoulder. “You’ll make great friends in Jeju, I promise you that.”

 

“Mom, I’m not worried about that.” He turned to leave the room, leaving his mother behind. “Let’s leave this tiny place all ready.”
 


***

 

To say that he had been shocked when his father was a, well, huge understatement. 

 

His father had worked in the company, some logistics department of a technology company, for over twenty years . Horyeong hadn’t even been born yet, much less his younger brother, Daun. His parents had just been married for merely three months when his dad got hired.

 

Sure, it may not have been the best position making them rich, but it still was enough to maintain a family of four in the bustling city of Seoul, South Korea. Their apartment was small, but Horyeong and Daun each had their own room, and they had no problems at the public schools they had gone to.   

 

And now his father’s job was gone. 

 

The company had been bought by a much larger one, and they had laid off a bunch of people in order to save costs, since the company had a reputation of giving much higher salaries to its people. Horyeong’s father had unfortunately been one of those workers suffering the layoff. 

 

His father had since tried to find a new job, but it was hard to find any open positions in Seoul. His mother had scoliosis so she wasn’t allowed to work, so when his dad found an open job in Jeju Island, he jumped at the first chance to have it, and now they were moving. 

 

Horyeong had surprisingly not been bothered by it; his father had to work somehow, and it’s not like Horyeong and Daun could do anything, they were just high schoolers. He would miss his friends, Seulchan and Zeth, but it’s not like he was leaving the country; heck, their country wasn’t even that big. Their lame Twitter group chat will be fine.

 

Right now, on the drive to Jeju (yes they were driving; Horyeong had never been on an airplane and he probably never will), his friends had been spamming the chat, asking Horyeong every five seconds if he was there yet. 

 

Zeth sent a message to the chat, showing a screenshot of his Minecraft game, where a horde of creepers had accidently destroyed parts of a house he had spent a week building. LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID TO ME

 

Shut ur dumb up, Seulchan responded back, spamming the chat with loser memes. Horyeong did the quiet thing and responded with an F, and he turned his phone off. Those two would be roasting each other for the next few minutes. 

 

He looked at his brother, Daun, who was watching a music video. He had been quiet about this whole moving to Jeju ordeal, but that was Daun for you; he was always quiet in general. Horyeong liked to say that they were close, but he still had problems figuring out what the latter was thinking at times. 

 

Usually, they told each other everything, even if the other had made them mad about something. They confess to each other if they feel upset, either because of the other, their parents, or anything else in general, and they also stay true to their word, defending the latter. Horyeong had taken the blame for his brother multiple times, and Daun had done the same as well. 

 

However, Daun had never given him his opinion on their father’s unemployment status or the move. They weren’t the type to pry each other, so if Daun was going to tell him, all Horyeong had to do was be patient. 

 

Since they were squished by each other in the car (multiple boxes taking up free space), it was easy for Horyeong to get Daun’s attention. “Daun?"

 

His brother must have had the volume pretty high, since he made no response to having heard Horyeong. “Daun,” he repeated. 

 

Still no answer. 

 

Horyeong tapped his younger brother’s shoulder. Daun finally responded, taking off his earbud. “Are you excited for Jeju?”

 

Daun shrugged, putting his earbud back in. “It’s just a place.”

 

“Do you think we’ll be able to make friends?” Horyeong continued, seeing as Daun hadn’t put play on his video. A Seventeen music video, he noticed. Don’t ask Horyeong why he knew that. “Or will we be outcasts?”

 

Daun shrugged again. “I mean, you’re a senior, you don’t have much to worry about, just college.”

 

“A year is still a lot though,” Horyeong admitted. “And plus, we don’t know if I can go to college, so I might be stuck there for a long time.”

 

“What happened to you trying to find a scholarship?” Daun whispered, knowing that Horyeong didn’t like his parents hearing into this type of conversation; money was still a sore spot for his parents, especially the worry of having enough to send Horyeong to a higher education institution. 

 

“You know that still isn’t certain,” Horyeong admitted. “Let’s just hope school goes well.”

 

Daun nodded, turning his attention back to his video. He didn’t put in his earbud, however, in case Horyeong still wanted to talk. “Let’s hope so.”

 

Horyeong grabbed his phone and turned the ringer back on, the latest notification being Zeth responding with a eat a thousand tomatoes and die, you pruny motherer . He didn’t miss much.

 

He turned off his phone again and stared out the window, wondering how life in Jeju would be like.


 

***

 

After a few hours in the car and a ferry ride to Jeju later, they finally pulled up in front of his grandparents house, his grandmother in the front lawn sitting on the porch. 

 

When she saw them, his grandmother stood up from her chair, waving excitedly to the car, which pulled up to the driveway. “You guys are here!! Welcome, welcome!!” 

 

Daun pulled out his earbuds, turning off his phone, Horyeong doing the same. 

 

His father got out of the car, running towards his mother. “Eomma, how’s life in Jeju?” he shouted, running to give his mother a hug.

 

She hugged him back tightly, the two murmuring the words that Horyeong couldn’t hear.

 

“Dude, get out of the car,” Daun whispered, kicking his older brother until Horyeong finally opened the car door to get out, Daun following after him. 

 

Horyeong’s mother also got out, running to give a hug to her mother-in-law. “It’s been so nice to finally see you! My, it’s been so long!”

 

Horyeong and Daun stood next to the car, looking at the scene quietly. They don’t remember the last time they saw their grandmother. 

 

Their grandmother, after exchanging greetings with their parents, finally noticed their presence. “Horyeong, Daun, it’s been so long!!”

 

They walked up to her slowly, Horyeong taking the initiative to hug her first. They may not know her well, but, well, it would be offensive to not greet her; she was giving them her home after all. “Halmeoni,” Horyeong sputtered out, being squeezed by his grandmother. “I don’t remember the last time I saw you-”

 

“Me neither, but thank god you guys are here, right?” She let go of him and pinched his cheeks. “And you’re so tall! The two of you!”

 

Horyeong grinned. One of the things that he had always been proud of was his height, a staggering six feet tall. Daun wasn’t a shortie either; he was five foot ten, but Horyeong liked being the taller, older brother. “We drank a lot of milk while we were young.”

 

“As you should be- oh, you must be Daun!” she said, turning her attention to Daun. She hugged him as tightly as she had with Horyeong, pinching his cheeks as well. 

 

Horyeong fought off the urge to smirk. His brother did not like skinship at all, but obviously, their grandmother wouldn’t know that. She would probably pick it up, though, very soon. 

 

When she finally let go of Daun, she led them towards her house. “Come in, come in guys! Make yourself at home.”
 

 


***

 

Their grandmother had made them pork bellies for dinner, asking them questions from any topic or variety. She asked about Seoul, about any friends, any interests, if they were excited for school (apparently, it was starting in one week, so they would have plenty of time to settle in.) Their grandfather was visiting some friends at a nursing home, so they had yet to meet him, but they were surely going to be asked the same questions over again when he came back,

 

After helping clean the kitchen and dining room, their grandmother showed them where they were going to stay. Since they only had one guest room, that’s where Horyeong’s parents were going to be staying, leaving Horyeong and Daun to share…

 

The basement. 

 

Yeah, the basement. Weren’t those things creepy as or something? Horyeong had never seen one, since he’s only visited Zeth or Seulchan’s apartments, but they weren’t exactly pleasant things, right?

 

The basement, it turned out, wasn’t that bad. Their grandparents apparently never used the basement, so it had been easy to clean it out and put the stuff in the garage. They laid some hardwood floorboards at one corner of the basement and added a curtain, plus some plaster wallpaper, so it didn’t look that creepy, especially since the curtain touched the floor, so they didn’t have to see the rest of the creepy basement. 

 

There were two mattresses for the brothers, a wardrobe and a set of drawers. The only light in the basement had been from the other side, so they had to connect a lamp to a power strip. Surely in the dark, it would feel like a room. 

 

Sort of. 

 

Daun had stacked his boxes outside of the bedroom corner before climbing onto one mattress, laying on top of the blue comforter. “God, I was so tired of being in that car for so long.”

 

“I don’t even remember the last time I was in a car,” Horyeong agreed, sitting down on the other mattress. He had left his boxes next to the wardrobe, not wanting to unbox yet. He couldn’t help but also lie down on the mattress, his back instantly relaxing. “What a weird way to end summer.”

 

“At least it wasn’t winter, though,” Daun admitted. “I’m going to miss having my own room.”

 

“Bro, I’m going to miss having a room,” Horyeong laughed. “Dad didn’t tell us that we were going to live in the freaking basement.”

 

“He certainly did not, but look.” Daun pulled out his phone and turned it on, showing Horyeong the screen. “We have signal down here.”

 

“I am instantly comforted knowing we have wireless internet.” Horyeong pulled out his own phone, eyes widening at the two hundred messages that Zeth and Seulchan had left him. “What is wrong with these two idiots?”

 

“You literally rethink your friendship with them everyday.” Daun put his phone on the floor and kicked off his shoes. “I’m going to sleep.”

 

“Daun, it’s like 6 pm,” Horyeong reminded him.

 

“Mind you, we just moved.” Thankfully they had pillows, so Daun grabbed the one on the mattress and laid it underneath his head, his eyes immediately closing. “You heard them, we still have a week left, and now I have to spend it unpacking.”

 

“That should take like an hour for you,” Horyeong said. “You barely didn’t bring anything. Actually, you didn’t even own much in the first place.”

 

“Not all of us are materialistic, now leave me alone, I’m trying to nap.”

 

Horyeong rolled his eyes, but he also took off his shoes and scooted closer to his own pillow. “Should we do some exploring tomorrow?”

 

“Fine, let’s go explore this Jeju Island.”

 

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