The sun is high.
The dry, dark green leaves of a persimmon tree are waving lifelessly to the subtle yet scorching autumn breeze. Each of them is barely hanging on, showing no promise if they can continue providing shade to the chickens and chicks freely hanging out on its roots.
The 50 or so chickens were spending their leisure time scratching the ground and foraging for worms—that is until someone disturbed their peaceful country life.
"Hey, all you chooks fellow! It's getting too dangerously hot. All of you should go back to the coop!" A boy of about six years of age came running and behind them was a furry dog, notorious among this group of chickens as the bullies.
The child waved his hands around, causing the chickens to run and fly away without any success. In the end, after a few barks and frightened clucks, the chickens finally entered a big, expansive roofed coop.
The space was too much for 50 chickens. Once they got inside, the panic immediately died down.
All of them continued pecking the ground for spilt chicken feed, and some went straight to the water.
The child, seeing that everything was finally in place, locked the only exit of the coop and left with great self-satisfaction.
"We did a great job again today, Sangchu. Now, none of our chickens will die due to heat. Let's quickly go back. Hyung must be home by now," Byeong-ho brightly told his brown Jindo dog.
"Arf!" Sangchu, the dog barked happily and followed the child with its tail wagging.
The chicken coop is still within their homestead. It didn't take long until the boy reached their country house.
Byeong-ho carefully crept through the shades of their house. He bypassed the locked side door of their house and finally went for the widely opened entrance.
A familiar white van was parked in front of their door. He beamed, knowing the person he was waiting for was finally home.
The boy quickly formed a plan to surprise his brother. However, as he successfully hid on one side of the door, he heard his brother's stressed voice.
"No, Mr. Kim. You can't do this to me. You can't just cancel an order a day before I'm supposed to deliver it to you. We signed a contract — Yes, 100 trays of eggs and 20 sacks of rice every week for 1 month. You're the one who quoted that amount. And now, you wanted to cancel our agreement because you deemed this amount too little. That doesn't make sense!"
Silence followed from Byeong-ho's brother while a faint electronic sound from his phone reigned over that silence.
Little Byeong-ho retreated further away from the side of the door. His brother is having problems again… Is he allowed to hear this?
"You know, what? This is getting ridiculous. If you continue being like this, that is fine. Cancel the contract and pay the cancellation fee. I turned down a regular client just to make way for your order, Mr. Kim. It caused me financial loss just making this deal with you."
The voice from the phone became more intense.
"No. No. I know what you're doing. You wanted to get more from your money's worth. You can't lowball me like this— No! I will never lower the Farmgate price for you! Either you purchase the goods based on the original price stated in our agreement or we will continue this talk to small claims court. You pick."
A brief silence followed, and then Byeong-ho's brother's hulk-like scream sounded.
"Arghh! That stupid balding old bones! Does he really think that just because I am young and orphaned, he can bully me?! Screw him! He's not my only client!"
"Blag!" The loud noise of the couch falling startled the hiding Byeung-ho and Sangchu.
The dog, probably thinking something bad had happened, immediately scampered into the house.
Byeong-ho watched helplessly at his dog. It was not in his plan to barge in before his big brother finally calmed down but now that Sangchu had already beaten him to it, he had no choice but to enter.
"Hyung…" Byeung-ho carefully called his stressed brother.
His brother, who was only 23 years old this year, was hunching on the couch like a 48-year-old divorcee.
Little Byeong-ho felt sad. Their sales of their farm and poultry are not doing well these days and it shows on his brother.
"Where did you go? Did you drink enough water before going out?" Su-ho, Byeung-ho's elder brother, asked softly.
His tone and soft gaze through his tired eyes seemed to be a far cry for someone who could make that angry hulk roar.
Actually, nothing about Su-ho's looks indicates a short-tempered person. His facial features are soft and kind. The kind that's very easy on the eyes.
Byeong-ho's classmates in kindergarten love looking at him whenever he's present to pick Byeong-ho up at school.
They say that he's too handsome to be working on a farm, and Byeung-ho can't help but agree more!
His brother is not only the most handsome in the world but also the best elder brother one could ever ask.
Byeong-ho beamed, "Yes! I drank a lot! By the way, Hyung. I already put the chickens back in their coop. I planned to let them out again once the sunlight becomes gentler."
The six-year-old's smile was brighter than the sun, and for Su'ho, that was enough to cast away some negative feelings that the phone call caused him.
"Nice job." Su-ho praised his brother's initiative. "Thanks for your effort. I can rest easy at the thought that none of our chickens will die of heatstroke. And because of that…"
Su-ho stood up, finding himself quickly cheering up. "I brought something for you. Your favorite."
Byeong-ho's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. "Burger?!"
Su-ho laughed dotingly, "Yes, that's part of the treat but there's more. I'll go get them in the kitchen wait here."
Su-ho took the TV remote and turned on the TV to keep Byeong-ho occupied.
He didn't bother with the channel since it was only an advertisement. He fluidly ran to their kitchen.
Meanwhile, Byeong-ho excitedly sat on the couch with his short legs delightfully swinging.
His eyes were glued to the television when the strings of advertisements ceased, and the scheduled program continued.
As it turns out, it was a commentary program on a news network.
His brother loves watching late-night news, and by the looks of it, he didn't change the channel at all before he turned the TV off last night.
Since Byeong-ho was happy, he didn't mind watching the boring grown-up talk. He sat comfortably, listening to the rant of the guest.
Sangchu, being the most reliable sidekick of the child, remained lying down near his feet.
"I'm telling you, we are living in the worst year of the century because not only are we suffering from inflation, declining energy resources and poverty in our everyday lives, but we are also being driven sick by the unpredictable weather conditions."
"I am not referring to the recent depressing numbers of our agricultural produce. I am referring to a real sickness popping up as we speak. The number of people contracting severe influenza in the past few days has been on the rise. This is way different from seasonal flu! This is—"
"—I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! Yey!"
Byeong-ho jolted in his seat when the TV channel changed into a cartoon program.
Sangchu sensed the return of Su-ho, and upon smelling the delicious smell of the food, it wagged its tail like a helicopter.
He looked behind him and saw his brother holding the remote and a tray full of food.
"Let's not listen to depressing stuff as we eat some burgers, fries and ice cream," Su-ho said with a smile.
He changed the channel not because he didn't want his baby brother to listen to bad news. It was because of his minor dislike of commentary programs.
He liked to listen to news reports as is. Without other people's opinions. Without biases.
Not to mention, he is minutes away from committing violent crimes. His headspace isn't exactly in the right state to hear more bad news that is mixed with commentators' vitriol.
Especially if the news touches the problem he has on their farm.
He heard about the drought and the harvest; the channel will say goodbye. Enjoyment and healing are what he needs at the moment!
The news about the world ending is not helping him.
"Here, you go." Su-ho gives Byeong-ho his burger and gently places the plateful of fries on the table.
Byeong-ho made a shrill cry of excitement and quickly ate his burger.
Su-ho dotingly watched his baby brother scarf down the food.
This gluttonous way of eating was almost identical to someone he used to know. He couldn't help but smile.
"Arf!" The dog barked, asking for his share. Of course, their Sangchu has his treat for being a good boy.
However, a salted and spiced-up burger isn't exactly meant for dogs.
For the dog's treat: Su-ho scooped some plain vanilla ice cream from his tub.
"There you go. Just eat enough to beat the heat."
"Arf!"
"Hyung, you should eat too!" the kid said after chewing and swallowing a big chunk of burger.
"Yes. Yes. Don't mind me," Su-ho said with a smile.
Being orphaned, Byeong-ho only grew up eating with his only hyung. That is why it became his habit to make sure that every time he ate, Su-ho was there eating, too.
It was a behavior that Su-ho loved about Byeong-ho.
That is why even though they have been by themselves for six years (plus a dog), he never truly felt alone.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Su-ho is the reason why he kept going.
Su-ho can deal with all kinds of crap from other people if it means that he can give the good life that he deserves.
It was difficult and stressful, yes.
Assuming the role of a parent and big brother is taxing. But if you have a sweet and cooperative younger brother who is both cute and kind, all stress and bad energies from outside will definitely disappear like magic.