My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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1.

Her brother died in a sudden accident.
A hit-and-run caused by drunk driving. It happened on the day she’d submitted her resignation from the Law Firm to prepare for opening her own practice—after the farewell dinner, on her way home late that night.
“No! Lee Hwan! My son, my precious son!”
Listening to her mother’s anguished screams, Lee Jin forced herself to swallow her tears. The whole sequence of events felt dreamlike, unreal.
She kept praying it would vanish like a nightmare when she woke, but she knew better than to hope.
“This way, please. Yes, just set that over there.”
For twenty-three years after her father’s death, it had been just the three of them, clinging to one another. There were no respectable relatives to consult about family matters.
So she—as Chief Mourner—had to keep her wits about her.
“Thank you for coming. Please, take care on your way home.”
She moved through the motions mechanically, greeting and seeing off visitors. Friends and members from her university clubs had come by, but since they couldn’t carry out the Chief Mourner’s duties for her, she’d dismissed them early.
“Lee Hwan… my son….”
Honestly, the main reason she didn’t want them to keep seeing her mother like this was her own pride.
She laughed bitterly at herself for clinging to such petty dignity in the face of this.
Even as she mocked herself, her mother’s weeping continued. What if she fainted?
She knew all too well what her brother meant to their mother—she couldn’t tell her to stop crying. For her mother, he was her entire life, the light of her existence.
Lee Jin gazed blankly at the Portrait of the Deceased.
A photograph taken the day he’d passed the bar exam. His face was radiant, unmarred by shadow, which made it all the more heartbreaking.
She was lost in that portrait when a heavy presence suddenly filled the Mortuary.
A man whose height and build dominated the space instantly—so different from the visitors who’d come before—called her name in a low, measured voice.
“Lee Jin.”
Startled, she pulled herself from her thoughts and turned toward the man who’d spoken.
“Moon Kang Hyun….”
His name slipped from her lips like a whisper.
Moon Kang Hyun, her brother’s friend who’d practically worn a path into their home throughout their school years.
It had been five years since contact between them abruptly ceased.
“It’s been a while.”
The greeting was delivered with characteristic indifference, but the brother who used to playfully pat his shoulder and tease him was no longer in this world.
The realization crashed down like catastrophe. Lee Jin bit her lip and returned the greeting a beat too late.
“You heard, then. I didn’t think you’d come. But I’m glad you did. Lee Hwan would’ve been happy to see you.”
As she offered the greeting with practiced composure, Moon Kang Hyun’s gaze lingered on her face.
Then, without a word, he turned his eyes to the Portrait of the Deceased.
The sorrow he couldn’t fully conceal pooled deep in his eyes. After studying the photograph for a long moment, he offered a single Chrysanthemum Flower and said a prayer for the deceased’s peace.
“Lee Hwan… my son….”
Go Myung Sun, her strength for wailing now spent, murmured her son’s name like a whimper, her voice hoarse. Moon Kang Hyun took her hand.
The firm grip felt so much like a son’s that Go Myung Sun suddenly stopped crying and looked up.
“Mother, it’s me—Kang Hyun.”
“K-Kang Hyun?”
Focus gradually returned to Go Myung Sun’s eyes. She clutched his hand as if he were her own son.
“Kang Hyun, Lee Hwan… he wasn’t supposed to leave like this….”
A fresh wave of grief broke over Go Myung Sun, and she sobbed uncontrollably. Moon Kang Hyun remained silent, patting her shoulder.
After weeping for a long time, Go Myung Sun finally fell asleep, exhausted. Lee Jin, having settled her mother in a room off the Mortuary, let out a long breath.
Her eyes met Moon Kang Hyun’s.
He hadn’t left immediately after paying his respects; he’d stayed the whole time, helping with everything. As if he were family.
She’d sent everyone else away, yet she accepted his help—and found it absurd. But through it, she understood something.
She couldn’t bear this alone.
It was late night, when no more visitors came. The Mortuary was empty and quiet.
“Sit for a bit.”
Moon Kang Hyun gestured with his chin. The two of them sat down side by side on the floor, their backs against the wall.
“Thank you for helping.”
“Of course I should. Lee Hwan isn’t a stranger to me.”
Not a stranger, yet why had he cut off contact for five years? The question flashed through Lee Jin’s mind, but she didn’t ask.
Since Lee Hwan hadn’t mentioned it, she assumed there was something between them she didn’t know about.
They sat in silence for a moment. The quiet didn’t feel awkward to her.
It meant that even after five years apart, Moon Kang Hyun was as easy to be around as her own brother.
As she sat still, exhaustion crept over her. She’d held back tears all day, pushing them down, and now her head throbbed with a dull ache.
Seeing Lee Jin press her temples with both hands, Moon Kang Hyun asked her something.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes… I’m fine. A bit tired, but rest will help…”
“I didn’t ask about your body. I’m asking about here.”
He tapped her chest lightly—a gesture so casual it might have meant nothing, but it didn’t.
He was asking if her heart was all right, not her body. Lee Jin’s pupils trembled at the weight of it.
“You haven’t cried once yet, have you?”
How could he know that? The question hit her like a sudden vertigo.
“I… well, I had to keep myself together. Someone has to…”
“Lee Jin, you haven’t changed a bit. Living the whole world alone.”
“What do you mean?”
She bristled, and then his large hand settled gently on her head.
“You’re not alone. So it’s all right to grieve.”
What was that voice. What was that massive, weathered hand.
The sorrow she’d been pressing down for so long broke free like a dam bursting.
Suddenly, tears poured out. She’d held them back so well, yet they spilled forth with a terrible ease.
“I can’t… Lee Hwan… my brother is dead. I won’t see him again. I can’t believe it, I don’t know what to do—”
“Neither do I.”
“He had his whole life ahead of him. He was so happy about opening his own office soon. And now…”
Why him. Why of all people.
Despair and devastation deepened her weeping. Moon Kang Hyun’s hand remained on her head.
With his broad hand shielding her face, she could cry without restraint.
How long did she cry? In all her life, she’d never wept like this.
She’d fallen into the habit of smiling and telling her struggling mother that everything was fine, and she’d never known herself to be capable of crying for so long.
When her senses returned, embarrassment flooded in.
“Thank you. I’m done now.”
She tried to take his wrist and lower his hand from her head.
But instead of pulling away at once, his hand swept gently across her wet cheek before drawing back.
Through eyes blurred with tears, his face took shape before her—Moon Kang Hyun’s face, and for a moment it looked different from the one she’d always known.
Lee Jin blinked, wondering if she’d misread something.
The tears spilled down and her vision cleared. Then she saw his face as it always was.
Right, of course. She must have imagined it. Lee Jin thought nothing of it and spoke.
“It’s getting late. You should go. You have work tomorrow, don’t you?”
“I have the day off. Besides, I’ll stay and keep watch. You should get some sleep.”
“Really?”
Lee Jin hesitated, caught off guard by the answer.
“I’m his closest friend. I think I can do at least that much.”
He wanted to keep vigil at the Mortuary as a friend, and she had no grounds to refuse. Honestly, she was in no position to refuse his kindness.
“Thank you. Then I’ll rest for a bit in the corner here. Wake me if anything happens.”
She was about to lie down on the bare floor when Moon Kang Hyun clicked his tongue.
“What am I going to do with you.”
“What?”
“Even if you’re just resting for a moment, sleep comfortably. Go get a pillow and blanket.”
Lee Jin pouted, her lips jutting out—the habit she always fell into when displeased.
“Fine.”
She returned from the room where Go Myung Sun slept with a pillow and a thin blanket.
“I’ll just sleep for a moment. If you get tired, wake me. Understood?”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
Moon Kang Hyun waved his hand, telling her to sleep already. Lee Jin murmured her thanks and closed her eyes.
After two days without sleep, buffeted by the sudden tragedy, she fell asleep almost at once.
Curled up in a tight ball with the blanket pulled up to her chin, her body looked so small it could fit in the palm of a hand.
Her eyes were red from the long cry. Moon Kang Hyun gently brushed away the loose strands of hair clinging to her cheek and tucked them behind her ear.
Then he let out a long sigh and murmured the name of his closest friend.
“Lee Hwan, you bastard. Who leaves this fast?”
You said you’d defend like iron. Not until dirt covered your eyes. You should have kept your word to the end.
He poured out reproach to the friend he would never see again, and then added softly:
“I’m better than that strict one anyway. So this time, you look out for her instead.”
His eyes, filled with conflicting emotions, darkened with sorrow.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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