I Cant Keep Up With My Brothers Feelings After He Regressed || MTL

4.

“Wow, seriously, stop making everything weird. What’s going on in that head of yours? You went out for a few days and came back with these bizarre ideas.”

Even as Jae-ha ruffled Jae-yoon’s hair, his brother didn’t respond. The fact that Jae-yoon had gone upstairs so determined to fix things, only to cause a mess, left Jae-ha feeling exasperated and frustrated.

When they got back home, even getting Jae-yoon to sit down on the couch to calmly talk things through proved difficult. Jae-yoon refused to let go, and they ended up sitting side by side, with Jae-yoon holding his hand. Only then did he finally speak.

“Hyung, don’t meet that bastard anymore.”

Wow.

The choice of words was so appalling that Jae-ha was momentarily speechless.

“Sigh. Just don’t cause any more trouble.”

“As long as you stay away from him, I won’t cause any trouble. If that bastard hadn’t provoked me...”

“Joo Do-joon. I don’t expect you to call him Do-joon hyung, but at least use his name.”

It was unsettling to hear his younger brother casually refer to his friend with such disrespectful terms.

“And how am I supposed to avoid him? We have the same classes.”

“Don’t go to school. Everything will be pointless by next year anyway.”

“Why? Is there going to be a nuclear bomb or something?”

“Something even worse is coming.”

By now, Jae-ha was starting to feel certain. His brother had clearly gone somewhere strange.

“Did you visit some shaman or meet a scam artist claiming to know the future?”

“No, hyung. I’m just not explaining everything because I know you wouldn’t believe me. When I think you can handle it, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

That day would probably never come, but given how tightly Jae-yoon was gripping his hand, Jae-ha didn’t want to say that out loud.

Holding hands like this with his brother only ever happened when they were forced to shake hands after a fight. Even then, Jae-ha knew his brother’s hands well. Like his own, they were soft from commuting to school and playing games—nothing special. If anything, they leaned toward being soft rather than rough.

But now, the hand gripping his was calloused and rough, like it had been working on construction sites for years. It didn’t make sense for his brother’s hands to have changed so drastically in just a few days. On top of that, when Jae-ha had ruffled his brother’s hair earlier, he’d felt a large scar on the back of his head.

The scar had been hidden by his hair, but every time Jae-ha had messed up his hair, the scar had briefly appeared. Like the long scar on his side, it seemed like it had healed long ago.

‘He’s still my brother...’

The firm grip on his hand and the affectionate gaze were too much for Jae-ha to push away, despite the goosebumps they caused. All the questions swirling in his mind made him hesitate.

“I’ll tell you what you absolutely need to know first, hyung.”

“What is it?”

“Lee Young-woo.”

“Lee Young-woo? How do you know Young-woo sunbae?”

Hearing the name of the upperclassman, known for being a smiley angel, come out of his brother’s mouth was surprising enough, but the next words were even more shocking.