"Are you sure it's okay if we keep sitting on your father's grave?" June asked as the three of them settled on the grassy area.
"It's alright," Haruto said. "My dad loved getting sat on!"
"Ay-yo?" June asked, genuinely traumatized.
"I think we should stop talking about our dad. He's probably partying in heaven now," Haruto said. "Rest in peace to him."
"As I said, we need to talk about what I have kept from the two of you for so long."
June shook off the feeling of guilt from sitting on their dead dad's grave and focused on Haruto's story instead.
Maybe this would finally bring him the answers he thought he could get from Haruki.
As much as June was enraged that Haruki made him believe he was a murderer, he also felt relieved that Haruto was still alive and well.
Even though he never really interacted with him in this life, he could feel that Haruto was a good person who deserved a long life.
"I think a big reason for your hostile relationship is because of me," Haruto sighed.
"However, I hope that the two of you understand. My mind wasn't in a good place that time, and I felt like I would ruin everything by speaking even one sentence."
"Now that time has passed, I believe my mind is slowly getting healed. Although I'm afraid that it's a bit too late to tell the truth," he muttered the last statement, causing June to frown.
"It's alright," Haruki sighed. "You should take your time."
Haruto nodded. "I'm ready now. I'm ready to tell the truth."
"I'm sure my brother has already filled you in about his story," Haruto said to June.
June nodded.
"But my brother still doesn't know a lot of things," Haruto added. "There are things that I only told Joon-ho, and there are also things that I kept to myself."
"Do you remember everything that happened?" he asked June.
June pursed his lips before shaking his head.
"I figured," Haruto chuckled. "It must have been such a traumatizing time that you blocked it all off. I'm glad that you forgot. I'm still living with the trauma of remembering until now."
Haruto sighed and looked down at his hands before continuing.
"That time—after Hana left, I thought we were finally going to debut. That's what Phoenix told us—it was a promise," Haruto started off.
"We became so desperate to the point that we stayed longer hours, we practiced until our bones cracked, and we did favors for the company without any compensation."
"Favors," June repeated.
Haruki mentioned the favors a while back, which made June even more curious.
"These favors were?" he asked.
"At first, it wasn't too bad. They'd get us to buy coffee for the administration team. They'd have us drive them to important meetings. It was the usual "intern" chores—something that I couldn't comprehend because we weren't there to be interns at all."
"And then," he said, his voice becoming darker. "They started becoming bigger and bigger."
"They'd tell us to deliver papers to their subsidiary companies. They'd make us go to meetings with old men and women so we could be their 'entertainment.' At one point, the two of us even went to China with the promise of meeting other trainees. However, we became their 'entertainment' again," he whispered.
Haruki turned to his brother, remembering the memory vaguely.
"Entertainment?" Haruki frowned in confusion. "What kind of entertainment are you talking about? I thought you went to China to practice."
"It's not as bad as you are thinking," Haruto sighed. "But it was still bad. The worst thing June experienced was being kissed on the lips by an old investor. It got Phoenix the deal that they wanted, but it was also a traumatizing time."
June's frown deepened, finding all of this unbelievable.
"That's human trafficking," June remarked. "How were they not penalized for doing this?"
"I didn't know at that time," Haruki said. "All I knew was that we were getting closer and closer to our debut. I inferred that hard work wouldn't help us reach our dreams and that doing favors would do so instead."
"Alex and Hyunwoo—those bastards did everything they were told—and they were quickly promised a debut. So, I also thought that our time was near. If we endured a bit more, then we could finally reach our dreams."
"How come you never told me?" Haruki softly asked.
"Because I knew you would take matters into your own hands…and you did," Haruto chuckled.
"You entered the company while we were in the midst of doing those favors. So, I stayed far away from you.I was ashamed."
"At one point, I saw how the company started valuing you more, and I guess I got pretty jealous. You were always naturally talented, and you picked up things well."
"That's when I realized that hard work will never beat natural talent…and that's when I started getting more desperate," he recalled.
"It was the first time I desperately went to the CEO's office to ask—no, to beg for an opportunity. He rejected me plenty of times, but then, one day, he finally agreed. He had a mission for me—and the prize was to debut."
"It was simple. I just had to retrieve something from someone
—a man I didn't know. It was due when we had to go to China for another one of their meetings. It was really…really simple," Haruto muttered.
June felt himself palpitate. This dark conversation was bringing him back to the past, and with the mention of his home country, he couldn't help but feel even more strange.
"However, you found out," Haruto shakily said. "And you tried to stop me at all costs. You felt that it was enough—that it wasn't worth it. But I didn't listen. The two of us went to China, and I was determined to fulfill the task that the CEO had given me."
"But then, you stepped in," Haruto sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. "You had a bad feeling about this particular favor, so you did it yourself—without telling me."
"That night, I lost the opportunity to debut, but I felt like I also lost my friend," Haruto sighed.
"Because that very night, the unknown man that was involved was killed—and we had both witnessed it."
"In an old, creepy warehouse, where the two of us merely conversed—we saw a man die."
Haruki frowned. "So, June didn't kill anyone?" he asked.
"No," Haruto shook his head. "But I feel like we contributed to it—because we took the supposed treasure of that man."
June's breath became labored as vague scenes of his death flashed in his mind.
"Perhaps…what is this item we are talking about?" June asked, trying to calm himself down.
"A briefcase," Haruto whispered.
"We had to steal a briefcase and bring it back here."
