By Zephyria 
“My work, you mean?”
[Even with just Mr. Lee Do-hyun’s works, the retrospective would be a sufficiently large and meaningful exhibition. But it’s like a bloodline, I suppose… Hmm, I think it would be better to discuss this face-to-face.]
For years, the value of that name, which many people had clung to and haggled over, was finally about to be bundled into the form of a single exhibition.
“I’ll make time to come to the gallery.”
[Alright. I’ll send over a few candidate dates. Choose a convenient day and come.]
The call ended, and the call-ended notification disappeared from the screen.
The phone in his hand suddenly felt heavy.
Cha Jeong-won let out a short breath and rolled his neck and shoulders once.
The stagnant matter had resolved itself almost too perfectly. It was so unexpected that he wondered if his life could even have moments like this.
— ‘If you’re with me, luck might start to overflow.’
Could Yoon Haon really be to me…
“Myeong-tae, was it?”
Yoon Myeong-tae.
＊ ＊ ＊
Haon, who was almost home, rolled his shoulders once with a large motion.
He had left the hotel, taken the subway, stopped by a flower shop, and even bought a potted plant.
His body was tired, but his mind was strangely clear. After the unrealistically intense emotions of the day had somewhat subsided, his everyday senses were returning.
“Well, whatever. Life can’t always be a sweet room.”
Muttering to himself, he pressed the passcode.
As the door opened, the familiar scent of the interior rushed out first.
Two pairs of slippers neatly placed side by side next to the entrance mat, the unlit living room revealing only its dark outline.
The thought that he had to pack his suitcase and leave here made him feel a bit sour inside, as if they were really breaking up.
He entered the room, gathered the belongings he had laid out, and packed them into the suitcase. Then, after going to the bathroom to pack his toothbrush and other items, only one thing remained.
‘The box.’
After taking a deep breath for a moment, Haon picked up the potted plant and entered the bedroom.
He placed the pot next to the small ceramic objet d’art he had bought some time ago and took two steps back.
Perhaps because they were similar in size, the two looked well-matched, like a pair.
Well, he had deliberately chosen it to place in the empty spot next the objet d’art, so it was only natural.
“Lucky Bamboo, you have a lot of work to do.”
The plant in the pot he had bought was none other than Lucky Bamboo.
It’s a plant whose role you can guess just from its name.
The ceramic objet d’art was also said to be a symbol of luck.
“The more, the better.”
Especially for Cha Jeong-won.
After finishing that setup, he immediately headed for his next target.
Kneeling on one knee, he reached under the bed and felt a solid corner.
It was that box, which he had hastily shoved back under the bed when Cha Jeong-won suddenly came in.
After pulling the box out again, he felt a complicated mix of emotions.
“Should I have asked him earlier after all?”
Whether misfortune disappears when it touches me.
It was already too late for regrets.
“This might be why you can’t sleep.”
Even if he made the excuse that he was taking it for that reason, there was no one to hear it.
Haon turned to leave the bedroom but couldn’t actually step beyond the doorway.
“Aah.”
No matter how much it was a box that brought misfortune to Cha Jeong-won, taking it away without a word weighed too heavily on his conscience.
But he couldn’t leave it there either.
After pondering what to do, Haon finally took out his phone.
He called Cha Jeong-won and, while waiting for him to answer, alternated his gaze between the box and the Lucky Bamboo.
‘You protect him well.’
[Hello.]
“Ah, sunbae.”
Come to think of it, they were lovers now, but there had been no change in how they addressed each other. That was a bit disappointing.
“That time you slept with me before. You said you could only sleep well if you slept in this room, right? That if it was bright, you couldn’t sleep.”
Back then, he had even told him to search the room, so he thought that excuse would work.
“……I left a gift in the room, so when you come, look for it.”
He couldn’t bring himself to say the next words.
After ending the call, he pushed the box back under the bed.
“This is the thing that hurts him.”
He needed to take it, but he was frustrated with himself for neither taking it outright nor being able to tell him about it.
“Ugh.”
As he covered his head and let out a pained groan, he didn’t hear the sound of the front door opening and closing, nor the sound of the bedroom door opening.
“I should have just come with you.”
At the voice that suddenly reached his ears, Haon jumped in surprise and looked up. However, he couldn’t fully straighten his crouched posture.
‘Thank goodness.’
That was his first thought. If he had messed up, he might have been caught holding the box.
Cha Jeong-won, perhaps because he had come in a hurry, took a few short, quick breaths. Then he approached Haon and knelt on one knee.
The man he had broken up with today was wearing a very sweet smile.
A face like that is cheating.
“Even giving a gift to your ex. How nice.”
On top of that, he even stroked Haon’s hair.
“Sunbae, why are you being so affectionate? Why are you being so nice to me? You didn’t treat me like this when we were dating. You weren’t this kind to me from the moment we first met.”
The feeling of his hand stroking his hair was so nice that only words of regret came out.
But Cha Jeong-won didn’t seem regretful in the slightest.
Just as Haon was thinking he didn’t know what the other was thinking, Cha Jeong-won suddenly lowered his body further.
“Want to see something interesting?”
“Suddenly?”
No, he had just told him to look for the gift left in this room.
Ignoring Haon’s reaction, Cha Jeong-won reached under the bed.
“Huh?”
What Cha Jeong-won pulled out was the very box Haon had just pushed under the bed.
If you’re too surprised, you can’t react at all. That was Haon right now.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
Cha Jeong-won asked with an expression that looked excited, like a child holding a fun toy.
He was surprised about the box, but he also had no idea why Cha Jeong-won was being so gentle.
“W-what is this? Wow, it’s really interesting. So there was something like this under the bed.”
Haon did his best to react.
How awkward his own voice sounded to his own ears.
But it seemed quite satisfying to Cha Jeong-won.
Perhaps thinking he had properly surprised him, Cha Jeong-won sat right down on the floor and showed him the box, turning it this way and that.
“This. My maternal grandfather gave it to me.”
At those words, Haon was genuinely startled.
“This? No, this…… Why?”
Wasn’t this the thing that was drawn in by Cha Jeong-won’s misfortune?
“He really gave this to you?”
When Haon asked again, Cha Jeong-won nodded and stroked the surface of the box.
Haon found himself looking at the box, following his touch. Only then did something new catch his eye.
Because the talisman gave such a strong impression, he hadn’t properly noticed the box’s curved shape.
“To be precise, he made this box for me.”
“Ah……”
So it wasn’t the thing inside, at least.
“Then what about this talisman?”
As far as Haon knew, the maternal grandfather in the original work wasn’t someone who sought out talismans.
Rather, if it was talismans…
‘Maternal grandmother and mother.’
Those two were the ones obsessed with them.
“This is from my maternal grandmother.”
As expected.
Having said that much, Cha Jeong-won didn’t elaborate further about the talisman.
“Want to see what’s inside?”
It seemed like if Haon said yes, he would really show him.
‘Honestly, I want to see.’
He wanted to know what kind of object had given him a wound that never faded his whole life.
“But to open this, you have to break the box. Still, if you ask me to show you, it’s not like I can’t.”
“……Why break it?”
Usually, the lid opens, doesn’t it?
If it was about removing the talisman, maybe, but the idea of actually breaking the box was something he’d never considered.
“Because that’s how it was made to be opened.”
This time too, it was a breezily light statement.
Haon looked at Cha Jeong-won holding the box and then stood up.
“I enjoyed the show. Well, I’ll be going now.”
It seemed like he shouldn’t continue the conversation.
As Haon tried to leave, he looked back at Cha Jeong-won again. From Cha Jeong-won, who was looking at the box, he couldn’t feel the usual thorns he always put up.
— ‘And because I’m only in that room.’
So that box was what allowed him to sleep comfortably. In that case, he absolutely couldn’t take it away without permission.
“I’ll come back later to see it again.”
With that, he left the bedroom, leaving Cha Jeong-won behind. He deliberately didn’t look back at Cha Jeong-won again.
Cha Jeong-won watched Haon’s retreating back as he pulled his suitcase out.
As the sound of the front door closing echoed, Cha Jeong-won, who had softened so gently, hardened his face as if it were a lie.
Placing the box on the nightstand, Cha Jeong-won stroked his chin.
“Was this much not enough?”
He thought he had been quite affectionate…
He had gone to some trouble to draw his ex-lover back in, but it seemed a bit weak.
Or perhaps he was just unused to it.
His head was filled entirely with thoughts of Haon. Cha Jeong-won let out a soft chuckle.
Being so accustomed to pushing people away, the sight of himself determined to draw someone in looked very awkward.
It was like wearing clothes he never usually wore.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Could it be Haon? Without realizing it, Cha Jeong-won smiled.
“We broke up, so did you forget the passcode…”
As the face visible through the crack of the door came into view, Cha Jeong-won’s expression stiffened rigidly.
53 – NOT 53