The Exclusive Possession

“But, Senior.”

“Yes…….”

“Why do you always pay for everything?”

Yoon Dae-eon and Seon Ji-ha were amicably tearing into the whole chicken. However, perhaps because they had started with Dae-eon feeding him, Yoon Dae-eon had unconsciously fallen into a rhythm of shredding small pieces of meat and popping them into Seon Ji-ha’s mouth. Seon Ji-ha accepted them so naturally that it felt like the most obvious thing in the world.

“I have money too. I mean, obviously not as much as you, but I’m actually quite well-off.”

“……Well-off?”

Muttering the word softly, Seon Ji-ha’s gaze swept across Yoon Dae-eon’s home. The two-bedroom villa, with its wood-toned interior, bore traces of age in every corner. The furniture was the same.

What Seon Ji-ha overlooked, however, was that in the heart of Seoul, acquiring a villa this spacious—including a full living room—was no easy feat for the middle class. Yoon Dae-eon had enough to eat whatever he wanted for the rest of his life, provided he didn’t live extravagantly.

“So stop buying things for me all the time. This chicken, too.”

From the restaurant last time to the café and today’s chicken shop. Whenever Yoon Dae-eon placed an order at the counter, Seon Ji-ha—who knows how long he’d been holding it out—would slide his card forward. Before Yoon Dae-eon could even blink, the payment would be done.

“Can’t I……?”

“No, you can’t. No matter how much money you have, Senior.”

“Why?”

“Because sometimes I want to buy things for you too. Give me a turn, won’t you?”

Instead of saying he didn’t want to be in debt or that things should be equal, Yoon Dae-eon phrased it so as not to hurt Seon Ji-ha’s feelings. At the word “turn,” Seon Ji-ha blinked several times.

Then he replied.

“……I don’t want to…….”

“Pardon?”

Yoon Dae-eon blinked, wondering for a second if he had misheard. The piece of leg meat he had shredded fell onto the open paper bag with a soft thump.

“Yielding my turn…… I hate it…….”

“You hate it? Why?”

Instead of answering Yoon Dae-eon’s question, Seon Ji-ha firmly pressed his lips together. He seemed as though he didn’t even want to answer. Had something happened in his childhood?

As if hearing his thoughts, Seon Ji-ha spoke after a long silence.

“Yielding, taking, stealing…… I hate all of it.”

“Ah.”

From that brief explanation, Yoon Dae-eon suddenly realized that this might be related to the ‘attachment disorder’ Seon Ji-ha suffered from. Seon Ji-ha’s face was rarely scrunched into a frown, as if he hated even the mere thought of those words.

“Because it’s mine.”

“Hmm, then how about an exchange?”

“……Exchange?”

“If you buy once, Senior, then I buy once. That would be an exchange.”

At Yoon Dae-eon’s explanation, Seon Ji-ha pouted, clearly not entirely fond of the terms. Still, he soon found himself agreeing.

Seon Ji-ha, who hated having something taken from him, someone stealing what was his, or being forced to yield, accepted the proposal. Even an exchange with someone wasn’t particularly to his liking, but if it was Yoon Dae-eon.

If it was Yoon Dae-eon, he could do that much.

Looking back, Seon Ji-ha hadn’t exactly been a ‘good child’ since he was young.

He was simply the quietest among the three siblings. He didn’t act mature like the eldest, Seon Ji-ho, to impress adults, nor was he loudly greedy like the second, Seon Yeon-jeong.

No one knew until then that it was a quiet form of madness.

The youngest of the Seon family rarely showed greed for any item given by his parents or grandparents. It was mostly Seon Yeon-jeong, who had been greedy since childhood, who coveted things.

Then one day, Seon Ji-ha happened to go to the playground and returned with a ‘Truth Ring’ he’d received from an unknown child. Seon Yeon-jeong, who had never been to the stationary store in front of a school, had never seen a ‘Truth Ring’ before.

To a child born with greed, the first ‘possession’ her normally indifferent younger brother had ever brought home seemed like an incredibly precious treasure. That was why it happened.

“Seon Ji-ha. Give me that.”

“…….”

“Give it to me! I said give it to me! Give it to meeee!”

“…….”

Seon Ji-ha, who would normally have handed an item over to Seon Yeon-jeong as if tossing away trash, did not hand over the ring on his ring finger. Instead, he even took a defensive posture, covering his ring finger with his other hand. In that moment, fire sparked in Seon Yeon-jeong’s eyes.

“Give it here!”

Seon Yeon-jeong lunged at her younger brother, who was rebelling for the first time. And she was immediately thrown back.

Seon Ji-ha, whose age gap with his sister wasn’t that large, had been small and slender as a child. However, the moment Seon Yeon-jeong lunged for his Truth Ring, he somehow found the strength to give a powerful shove to his sister, who was much larger than him.

Having been shoved away while trying to steal the ring, Seon Yeon-jeong began to get angry. She wouldn’t listen even when one of the housekeepers watching nearby said she would go and buy the exact same thing right away.

In that moment, it wasn’t just any ring she wanted; she desperately wanted ‘Seon Ji-ha’s’ Truth Ring. Finally, just as she reached out her hand to snatch the ring—

Seon Ji-ha shoved his sister down. Then he immediately climbed on top of Seon Yeon-jeong. The hair his mother had neatly braided for Seon Ji-ha swayed violently.

Seven-year-old Seon Ji-ha climbed on top of the girl who dared to try and steal what was his, and placed his hands on Seon Yeon-jeong’s neck. In that moment, Seon Yeon-jeong felt an inexplicable fear. It was as if he wasn’t her quiet younger brother at all.

“Oh my! Master Ji-ha! Miss Yeon-jeong!”

It took less than a minute for another housekeeper to witness them. Seon Ji-ha was forced off Seon Yeon-jeong by the hands of adults.

Having been rescued at last, Seon Yeon-jeong cried so hard her entire face was a mess. A small bruise remained on her body where she had been shoved and pinned by Seon Ji-ha.

Her parents’ hearts felt as if they were tearing at the sight of their only daughter’s tears. It was only natural that Seon Ji-ha was hauled before his furious parents.

“Ji-ha, why did you do that?”

“…….”

“You could have just given that silly ring to your sister and gotten a new one. Right? It’s not like we wouldn’t buy it for you.”

“……Why…….”

Seon Ji-ha’s mumbling was even worse back then. His attitude of refusing to speak to others was so severe that his parents even had to suspect if he had autism.

The first thing Seon Ji-ha said to the parents who were scolding him for the first time was this:

“……Why do I have to……?”

His frozen, startled parents realized the gravity of the situation. They made Seon Ji-ha kneel all day to reflect on his actions and even scheduled a hospital consultation.

However, until all those events had passed, Seon Ji-ha never uttered a word of apology or reflection like ‘I did wrong.’ No matter what punishment came his way.

Because it was his.

So, since he was young, Seon Ji-ha had suffered from severe symptoms of attachment and a possessive streak. Fortunately, it wasn’t to the point where it would be a problem in social life, because his greed was mostly limited to a very few ‘objects.’

Seon Yeon-jeong, who had once been taught a harsh lesson by Seon Ji-ha, never even looked at an object once Seon Ji-ha had marked it as ‘his.’ The eldest, Seon Ji-ho, was the same. He didn’t like creating conflict in the first place.

As long as no one touched what Seon Ji-ha had branded as his, he could remain the quiet, silent youngest of the Seon family.

Then, for the first time in his life, Seon Ji-ha had placed his ‘mine’ stamp on something that wasn’t an object.

After finishing the chicken, Seon Ji-ha and Yoon Dae-eon hung out for a while before beginning to prepare for sleep. Of course, this was both because Seon Ji-ha expressed his desire to sleep over and because Yoon Dae-eon accepted him willingly.

Today, too, Seon Ji-ha sat still, watching Yoon Dae-eon fall comfortably into sleep beside him. However, unlike yesterday, Yoon Dae-eon tossed and turned a little, but still fell asleep within a few minutes.

“……Mommy.”

Looking at Yoon Dae-eon calling for his mother even in sleep, Seon Ji-ha slowly reached out his hand. Rustle. The sound of movement echoed loudly in the silent room.

The finger that reached Yoon Dae-eon’s face pressed down firmly on his lips. Yoon Dae-eon’s lips, which had been repeatedly calling for his mother, were blocked as they tried to open, and then closed again.

“…….”

He didn’t want to see Yoon Dae-eon calling for his mother. It felt horrific to hear someone else’s name coming from his mouth.

Seon Ji-ha knew he was gradually going mad. After staring at Yoon Dae-eon without blinking once, Seon Ji-ha soon stood up. The old mattress bobbed, but Yoon Dae-eon still didn’t wake.

He soon closed the door, left Yoon Dae-eon’s room, and entered the room directly opposite.

Click. The unlocked bedroom door opened.

Unlike the rest of the house, this place had the faintest scent of Yoon Dae-eon. Seon Ji-ha shortened his deep breaths. Then his slow hand began to scan the desk.

Yoon Ju-myeong, who had informed Seon Ji-ha about Yoon Dae-eon’s imprinting, had said this:

“There’s a desk in his parents’ room at that house.”

“In that drawer, there’s an Imprint Certificate, you idiot.”

Clatter.

The movement of opening the drawer was rough. Seon Ji-ha quietly lowered his eyes to check the inside. Soon, a white piece of paper came into view.

An Imprint Certificate. That certificate, which a hospital diagnoses and submits to public institutions to prove an imprint, clearly had ‘Yoon Dae-eon’s’ name printed on it. The other person’s name was ‘Do Jeong-min.’

“……It really was true…….”

In the darkness, Seon Ji-ha looked down at the paper with an expressionless face. Then he raised a finger and scratched at his eyebrow.

That touch, which started as a scratch, soon spread to pressing his forehead and thumping his head. It felt like his head would explode and his eyes would pop out.

Seon Ji-ha knew this was the side effect of a one-sided imprint. A brain feeling pain tries to escape into another pain. Gradually, the hands thumping his head grew more violent.

Seon Ji-ha didn’t let a single expression show, even as he thumped his own head. He just stared down at the names ‘Yoon Dae-eon’ and ‘Do Jeong-min’ on the Imprint Certificate as if he were about to tear them apart with his gaze.