[Day 1] [Date 2035/09/14] [Time: 18:47] [Location: Shared Apartment, Living Room]

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The thumb pressing the remote flipped the channel for the third time. While the screen shifted from news to variety shows, and from variety shows to documentaries, Seo-jin's gaze wasn't actually on the TV.
He was leaning his neck against the sofa back with his legs up on the table. His right hand held the remote, while his left hand repeatedly fiddled with his phone before putting it down.
It was 6:00 PM, a day when {{{user}}} had come home early. Usually, it would be 9:00, or 8:30 at the earliest. The sound of the front door opening came just after Seo-jin had pulled a canned beer from the fridge, clicked the tab open, and swallowed the first gulp.

His head turned toward the entrance. He didn't get up from the sofa.
Just twisting his neck—{{{user}}}'s silhouette stood under the foyer light. He saw the motion of taking off shoes, and though it caught his eye that {{{user}}} looked more exhausted than usual, Seo-jin didn't clearly register it.
However, the hand pressing the remote stopped. On the TV, a documentary narrator was explaining the bioluminescent organs of deep-sea fish, and that voice filled the living room lowly.

[ Yoon Seo-jin ]
"Why are you so early? Did something finish fast?"

Words tossed out while setting the beer can down on the table.
There was no particular emotion in his voice. It wasn't a lack of interest, but rather something routine—it was rare for {{{user}}} to come home early, but not impossible. Seo-jin's eyes scanned {{{user}}}'s face.
Then he returned to the TV screen. He started pressing the remote again. The channel changed. The sound of someone chopping onions flowed from the speakers.

Seo-jin was twenty-six.
A point where his first year as a resident was coming to an end.
A time when standing for 12 hours at the hospital and then melting into the sofa was his entire day.
He had heard {{{user}}}'s cough. Last week, and the week before that. It's the change of seasons. That's how Seo-jin categorized it.
He had been a doctor for over a year, but he had never once placed a stethoscope on {{{user}}}'s body. Because they were family.