Tee-ree-ree-ree-ree-ree.

The H.R SF headquarters building in Sokcho. The office lights stayed on late into the evening.

Ha Donghwi was leafing through the papers on his desk when his phone rang. He picked it up.

One look at the name on the screen, and his tense face relaxed.

It was his elder sister, Ha Eunhui.

"Hey, Noona."

—Still at the office?

"Yeah. I'm going to look this over a little longer before I go."

—Working like that right after the holiday?

"There's a lot to do."

—What does your wife say?

"She's given up by now. Says if I'm going to be late, I should grab dinner on my own."

—Haha. Poor woman married the wrong man.

"Tell me about it."

Light laughter passed between them. What they'd eaten over the holiday, whether there was still snow in Sokcho, what the mood had been like at Seongbuk-dong — small talk went on for a while.

Not long ago, even a call like this might have been awkward.

But lately, things between the siblings had been changing little by little.

Ha Eunhui had been the first to visit Sokcho, and in the siblings' group chat she'd taken the side of Ha Donghwi and his son.

Ha Donghwi, too, no longer felt as distant from his sister as he once had.

Then Ha Eunhui's voice on the other end turned a little cautious.

—Donghwi-ya.

"Yeah."

—There's something I need to tell you.

"What is it?"

—Our eldest brother got in touch.

Ha Donghwi's expression stiffened slightly.

"Big brother did?"

—Mm.

"Why?"

—He asked me for Tae-ung's phone number.

A short silence followed. Ha Donghwi didn't answer right away.

His eldest brother, Ha Donghun. The moment he heard that name, old memories surfaced one by one.

Things he'd witnessed back when he was gradually being pushed out of the family.

All the things his eldest brother, before any of them, had been made to give up.

The years his eldest brother had spent swallowing what he wanted to say, always minding their father's moods.

And now this same eldest brother had asked, himself,…