By Zephyria 
“I can’t even stay angry at Chi-young. Not when he looks at me with those frightened calf-like eyes.”
Calves again. Do I look like a cow? Seo Chi-young rubbed his face awkwardly and looked at Jang Ui-geon with anxiety.
“Are you… angry? I’m sorry.”
“No, I didn’t mean I was angry… no, it’s nothing.”
Jang Ui-geon seemed to give a subtle, bitter smile and waved his hand. Then, as if he didn’t want to dwell on the topic any longer, he took a large mouthful of the remaining few pieces of gopchang and spoke.
“It’s late, so let’s head back. I’m tired, and I’m sure you are too, Chi-young. …My place is a mess right now, so would it be alright if I slept over at your place tonight?”
Jang Ui-geon spoke casually, though he stole a glance at Seo Chi-young’s expression. Seo Chi-young froze. He was happy at the thought of Jang Ui-geon visiting his home, but the regret that he couldn’t make it happen overshadowed that joy. Jang Ui-geon seemed to read the troubled look on Seo Chi-young’s face immediately.
“The thing is… I have to go to work…”
“Work?”
Jang Ui-geon’s brow furrowed slightly.
“When? Today? Right after closing the shop?”
Seo Chi-young nodded. Because the frown looked like he was scolding him, he unconsciously returned to that frightened calf-like expression. Jang Ui-geon looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead, he let out a sigh.
“You close the shop so late at night… when do you even sleep? You’ll ruin your health, Chi-young.”
“I sleep late into the morning… and I don’t actually sleep that much anyway. I’ve gotten used to it.”
Seo Chi-young spoke while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. Watching him, Jang Ui-geon clicked his tongue softly.
“Just do it to the extent that you don’t ruin your health. …So, what kind of work do you do?”
“Uh… just… something like designated driving.”
Seo Chi-young trailed off vaguely. It would have been fine to be honest, but for some reason, he felt that if he told him, Jang Ui-geon wouldn’t look very pleased. Then again, not many people would be happy to hear about working for adult entertainment establishments.
Jang Ui-geon nodded, seemingly understanding the gist of it. Then, he suddenly frowned.
“If that’s the case, you’ll be too busy working to have time to see each other slowly. I was hoping we could go to your place, talk for a bit, and then sleep.”
Seeing Jang Ui-geon speak with such regret, Seo Chi-young murmured a regretful, “I know, right.”
After one occasion when Jang Ui-geon had stopped by Seo Chi-young’s house at night and slept over, he had come to sleep over once or twice more. To be precise, it wasn’t so much that he “came to sleep,” but rather that he stopped by on his way back from the shop, just like that first time, and ended up staying the night.
Nothing special happened, and they didn’t share any profound conversations, but exchanging a few words of mundane chatter until they fell asleep lying side-by-side in bed was something that was not mundane for Seo Chi-young. It made him feel as if he had received a gift, like on a birthday or some other special day.
Is that it? Jang Ui-geon enjoyed those moments too.
Hearing Jang Ui-geon’s regretful words, Seo Chi-young smiled shyly to himself.
It really felt like they had become friends. No, it felt like it was okay to call them friends. Even at this age, the idea of “becoming friends” felt incredibly awkward, but still, Seo Chi-young was happy.
He couldn’t afford much free time right now, but he hoped that later, after some time had passed and he was living a more relaxed life, Jang Ui-geon would still visit him in the middle of the night like that.
“Once the shop opens soon, it’ll be harder for me to come, and if you’re out working at night… we really won’t have time to see each other…”
Jang Ui-geon murmured as if talking to himself, lost in thought.
Just for a few months. I’ll quit once I earn enough to move the shop, Seo Chi-young wanted to say, but he swallowed the words out of shyness.
So we can see each other often again in a few months—if he said that, it might seem like he was trying to be too close.
A brief silence followed.
The one to break that silence was Jang Ui-geon, who glanced at Seo Chi-young.
“How much is your debt?”
“Huh? …About 4… over 400 million won…”
Only after the words had escaped did Seo Chi-young lower his reddened face. “Over 400 million,” Jang Ui-geon murmured, stroking his chin while staring blankly at Seo Chi-young before slowly speaking.
“Shall I pay it off for you?”
The moment those calm yet cautious words were spoken, Seo Chi-young’s expression froze.
“What? …Uh… no… no.”
Normally, Jang Ui-geon would have laughed shortly and withdrawn the offer after one or two refusals, saying, “I figured you’d say that, given your personality,” but this time he clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“I’m not saying this to pressure you. I’m saying it because I want to.”
“Uh… thank you for the offer. But I can’t… I don’t think we’re in a relationship where I could do that… Um, thank you for the thought alone.”
“……….”
Jang Ui-geon remained silent. However, since he didn’t look like he had simply accepted the answer, a flustered Seo Chi-young continued to stammer.
“Also, it’s not an amount I could comfortably owe someone…”
“It’s an amount I can afford.”
A blunt answer came back from Jang Ui-geon. For some reason, his tone sounded slightly sharp.
“…There’s no reason to… the establishment…”
“What reason do I need when I want to help? You said we’re friends. Or do you not actually feel like we’re friends? That we’re not close, or comfortable with each other?”
Somehow, Jang Ui-geon seemed to have soured. Though he didn’t know when or where it had gone wrong, he looked at Seo Chi-young with an unpleasant expression and rubbed his furrowed brow.
“It’s not that I don’t know your personality; in fact, it might seem ridiculous to ask you to let me help you, but still, I want to help you. It’s not as much of a burden as you think.”
“No… it’s just, I can just earn it slowly…”
Jang Ui-geon’s expression darkened instantly. Looking as if he were talking to a brick wall that wouldn’t understand, he looked momentarily enraged and spoke in a low voice, as if letting out suppressed frustration.
“So, you’re just going to keep working day and night without proper rest? Refusing even when someone offers to help because there’s no reason to accept? Because we’re not in that kind of relationship? …Then, do you want to sleep with me? Right, you said you’ve never slept with anyone else. If it’s your first time, you can sell it high. I don’t mind if you sell it high; I’ll buy it. Does that give you a reason?”
Seo Chi-young froze, his eyes wide. And facing Seo Chi-young, Jang Ui-geon’s expression also stiffened the moment he realized he had made a slip of the tongue after pouring out his emotions.
For a moment, he couldn’t understand what he had heard. I must have misheard. He looked at Jang Ui-geon with that thought, but seeing Jang Ui-geon’s frozen expression, Seo Chi-young realized that what he had heard was not an auditory hallucination.
Like a child who had been slapped hard and was so shocked they forgot to cry, Seo Chi-young just stared at Jang Ui-geon with wide eyes. Only after some time had passed, when Jang Ui-geon whispered a stiff “I’m sorry,” did he finally manage to part his lips. It took a bit longer for words to stumble out from lips that had only been twitching without sound.
“I… I’ve never thought… about that. …About needing a reason, or things like that…”
“I’m sorry, Chi-young. I made a mistake. I…”
Silence fell. Seo Chi-young blinked, facing the frozen expression that looked somewhat anxious. He looked at Jang Ui-geon—who wanted to apologize but didn’t know how, and who was likely the most embarrassed because he had never once let his emotions get the better of him to the point of a slip of the tongue—and then lowered his head.
“I…”
The words wouldn’t come easily. He didn’t know how to convey it properly, but he pieced together the words as they came.
“I’m grateful that you want to help. Truly. …I do accept help. I don’t just blindly refuse everything. If good people hadn’t helped me until now, I wouldn’t have been able to live like this… and, as I get to know them over a long time, I’m sure there will be a day when I can help them too… But with you, Ui-geon, it’s different. I can’t do that.”
What the other was offering was not something that could be exchanged simply with a heart of joy and gratitude. He could not accept help that might distort his feelings. Even if the other person didn’t feel it, he couldn’t bear the thought of his own heart being distorted.
Not knowing what else to say, Seo Chi-young hesitated and then gave a small bow. After remaining silent, Jang Ui-geon finally spoke.
“Is it because it’s me that you can’t accept the help? Or is it that you can’t accept that kind of help in general?”
“Huh? …Uh… that kind of help…”
As Seo Chi-young murmured, Jang Ui-geon let out a quiet sigh.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I said something I shouldn’t have… Truly, I didn’t say it because I look down on you. I really didn’t. I’m sorry.”
With a truly apologetic air, he apologized several times with a troubled face. Seeing Jang Ui-geon bow his head deeply, Seo Chi-young became the one who was flustered.
“Oh, ah, no. Everyone makes slips of the tongue, I do too… and besides… I know you didn’t mean it like that at all, Ui-geon.”
There was no reason for him to say such a thing unless it was a momentary slip. Seo Chi-young smiled a bit awkwardly.
Jang Ui-geon had a subtle expression. After appearing lost in thought for a moment, he nodded, looking somewhat unconvinced but as if trying to persuade himself. “Right, that’s true,” he murmured.
In the brief silence that followed, Seo Chi-young, who had been scratching his head, glanced at him and asked.
“Does your shop… not have any holidays?”
“Huh? No, I set certain days and take every other week… ah.”
Mid-sentence, Jang Ui-geon blinked as if something had suddenly occurred to him.
“I see. My shop can close on Sundays then. That way, we can meet on Sunday afternoons.”
Since he had never had a friend with whom he set a time to meet in advance without a specific reason, Seo Chi-young felt a bit strange, but seeing Jang Ui-geon smile brightly, as if he hadn’t put much thought into it, his heart softened and he nodded.
Of course, it probably didn’t mean they would meet every Sunday, but rather that if they had a reason to meet, they could do so on Sunday. Even so, Seo Chi-young smiled happily.
Jang Ui-geon stared at the soft curve of Seo Chi-young’s lips for a moment and then suddenly stood up.
“Alright, let’s close up then. I’ll handle the cleaning inside the shop, so you organize the cooking station, Chi-young.”
“Huh? Oh, no, I can do that…”
“You said you’re good at accepting help from others.”
Seo Chi-young shut his mouth. As he entered the shop and began putting up the chairs, Jang Ui-geon smiled at Seo Chi-young, who was bowing shyly and saying, “Thank you.”
Vrrr. With a small sound, a thin vibration was felt through the fabric.
Only after regaining his senses did Seo Chi-young realize he had lost consciousness, perhaps having dozed off. He must have fallen asleep for a moment while waiting for the ladies to come out, having set the car temperature to be cool.
Still, looking at the clock and seeing that only two or three minutes had passed, Seo Chi-young looked back at the shop door, where no one showed signs of leaving, and took out his phone. The message that had arrived just after 3 AM was spam. Oppa, contact me on this lonely night…
I wonder if the ladies waiting for contact in places like this are like the ones Seo Chi-young is waiting for now.
Seo Chi-young deleted the message. Then, he happened to see the message at the top of his inbox, received yesterday evening.
‘I don’t think I can make it today. Sorry. —Yoon Jun-young’
Looking at the text that seemed to reflect a blunt expression, Seo Chi-young ended up laughing. The day before, Yoon Jun-young had contacted him saying he might be late but would stop by at night, so he shouldn’t close the shop early. Since moving, he rarely had the chance to stop by Seo Chi-young’s shop, so they hadn’t seen each other easily. When Yoon Jun-young had contacted him saying he would come for once, he had replied, ‘Yes, I’ll be waiting.’ And this was the reply that came a day later. I don’t think I can make it. Sorry.
Since Jun-young was the one who brought it up, he usually would have come, so the fact that he couldn’t meant he had probably been caught by a professor or something had happened. Thinking of him with a bit of longing since they hadn’t seen each other for a while, Seo Chi-young put his phone away.
Occasionally—though much less frequently than before—Jang Ui-geon seemed to meet Yoon Jun-young. Along with Kwon Kang-hee. It seemed the three of them still met, just as they had in the beginning.
Is it okay? When he looks at them, does he still have that regretful and bitter face? …I hope not.
Seo Chi-young let out a quiet sigh. And then he thought, What should I do?
He felt troubled. Just thinking about it seemed to make his feelings for him swell further. It was likely because they had been meeting far too often lately. He shouldn’t start liking him; if his feelings grew larger than they were now, he shouldn’t let a heart that only watched without expectation become greedy.
Perhaps Jang Ui-geon was the person Seo Chi-young met most often these days.
“…No, I see the side-dish shop lady and CEO Kim who brings the gopchang every day, so I definitely see them more…”
Seo Chi-young counted on his fingers before letting out an absurd sigh at himself. What am I doing…
But when he placed his hand over his heart, he felt the thumping, thumping beat at his fingertips. What should I do, he sighed in distress once more.
It was then.
Suddenly, the passenger door swung open.
“Who do you think you are, rubbing your chest when you don’t even have any?”
A voice giving a scoffing reprimand sat down in the seat next to him. Beside the blinking Seo Chi-young, a lady who had just come out of the shop sat down, tossed her handbag—which contained nothing but a cigarette case—carelessly into the back seat, and put a cigarette in her mouth. Her red eyes, soaked in alcohol, glanced at Seo Chi-young.
“Wait a sec. Let me smoke one before we go, okay?”
The woman, speaking in a haughty yet coquettish voice, lit the cigarette. When Seo Chi-young waited obediently, she let out a “Hmph” and laughed.
“You don’t open the window anymore? I was wondering if I should bite your cheek if you did something stupid again.”
She was the type to smoke the moment she got into the car after finishing work. When Seo Chi-young had first driven her, the moment he opened the window to let out the smoke, she had slapped his cheek.
‘What are you doing? Do you think I’ll look good to the customers coming out?’
Seeing her vicious expression on a face that looked too innocent to ever smoke, Seo Chi-young had held his cheek and blinked in surprise before obediently closing the window again. After that, even if one of them smoked in the car, he only opened the window a tiny bit, or never opened it at all when near the shop.
But this was unexpected. She was quite popular, so she rarely finished work this early. She had always been the last to leave, but today she was exceptionally early.
“By the way, how did you end up in this neighborhood, darling?”
The woman, who had been smoking in silence, suddenly asked. Seo Chi-young gave her a brief look and murmured hesitantly, “I had to earn money…” At that, she laughed, “Hmph, money.”
“You’ve got bad luck too, darling. How did you end up as a driver for bar girls?”
Every time she cackled, a mix of alcohol and cigarette smells wafted out. Then, she suddenly scanned the silently muted Seo Chi-young from head to toe with a suggestive gaze.
“If you want to make money, you should sell your body rather than be a driver. Don’t you think so? Hmm? Don’t you feel that way?”
Speaking with a beaming smile, she flicked her cigarette ash anywhere.
“The bastard who drove before said that if he were a woman, he would’ve sold his body to live comfortably. Hmph, but when I asked if he wanted me to introduce him to an old man who likes men, he shut up real quick.”
Seo Chi-young said nothing. He simply stared straight ahead with an awkward expression.
Soon, she crushed her cigarette—burnt right down to the filter—into the ashtray. But as Seo Chi-young tried to turn the ignition, she snapped, “Wait a second, why are you in such a rush?!” and grabbed his hand as he reached for the key. When Seo Chi-young flinched and instinctively brushed her hand away, she scoffed as if appalled and lit another cigarette.
“Why are you shaking so much? Am I going to eat you alive?”
As she stared at him with a mocking sneer, Seo Chi-young kept his mouth shut and remained silent.
Seo Chi-young had driven over a dozen young ladies home every night, but this particular lady was the most uncomfortable. Her emotional and impulsive behavior, never knowing where she might snap, was one thing, but her drunken antics were truly uncontrollable when she was severely intoxicated.
It had happened just a few days ago. When he drove her home while she was completely wasted, the moment he parked in the lot of her luxury mansion, she suddenly grabbed Seo Chi-young by the collar and kissed him. “What’s wrong? Everything with a thing hanging between its legs loves this,” she had shouted with a slurred tongue, leaving him utterly bewildered that day. It was also the first time he realized with desperate clarity that drunks possess surprising strength.
Fortunately, because she was too drunk to even steady herself and fell asleep almost immediately, he managed to lay her down in her home and practically fled the scene.
Even after that, whenever they met at night, she treated Seo Chi-young with a nonchalant face as if nothing had happened, but that didn’t mean she had forgotten. The very next day, just before closing the gate after Seo Chi-young had silently escorted her home, she twisted her lips into a smirk and spat out, “A pathetic loser who can’t even eat when the food is served.”
While nothing that extreme had happened since, because of the nature of the work, she often came out slightly intoxicated and would exhibit similar, albeit minor, drunken habits. Thus, Seo Chi-young couldn’t help but be tense whenever he drove her home.
“Darling, you’re taking off at the end of next month, right?”
Seo Chi-young, who had been waiting for her to finish her cigarette amidst the blurring smoke, looked at her in confusion at the sudden remark, before realizing, Ah, what she meant. He had told the manager that he wanted to take just one Monday off toward the end of next month, and it seemed she had heard.
That day was his mother’s 60th birthday. He planned to close the shop, travel down to see his mother on Monday morning, have lunch, and then visit his father, who lived about two hours away from there. In truth, if he hurried, he thought he could visit both and return by night, but just in case, he had requested the day off.
However, since it was the end of the month and a busy period, he had mentioned it in advance, but it was still far off. With more than a month to go, even Seo Chi-young had almost forgotten. Moreover, it was only one day, so he wondered why she was bringing it up. He looked at her curiously and spoke slowly.
“Yes… just for one day.”
She gave a small “Hmph” and glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
“And here I thought you were quitting because of me.”
“……?”
“You hate me, don’t you?”
Seo Chi-young looked at the woman, who spoke with such certainty, with a slightly surprised expression. Looking at her profile as she gazed out the window as if it were nothing, Seo Chi-young hesitated and said:
“….Ah, no, I don’t.”
While he found her uncomfortable and even slightly frightening when she openly displayed her sharp, jagged thorns while drunk, he didn’t hate her.
Hearing his answer, she glanced at him and scoffed. Turning her gaze back to the window, she seemed to be in a slightly better mood.
“But why are you taking off? Going on a trip with a lover?”
“Huh? No, I don’t have a lover… Um, it’s my mother’s 60th birthday, so I’m going to see her for a bit. She lives far away, so I haven’t seen her in a long time. Since I’m going down there, I want to see my father too, so I thought I might run out of time…”
“Do your father and mother live separately?”
“Yes… Um, a long time ago, the family situation got a bit bad…”
Seo Chi-young scratched his head. It was in his nature to answer questions honestly. Staring at Seo Chi-young’s reflection in the window, she murmured to herself, “Similar to my house.”
“But in my case, after that, my mom and dad lived separately… No, that’s a weird way to put it. Not ‘lived.’ My dad committed suicide back then. He hanged himself in the study.”
“I found him,” she said in a casual tone. In contrast to her indifferent voice, Seo Chi-young froze, his expression going blank.
“The man who was closest to my dad, who came over to the house so often that I called him ‘Uncle,’ was the one who introduced me to the bars. And guess who the first customer was? I was absolutely floored. I almost ruined the business that day. I bit that bastard’s ear off. Thinking back now, I should’ve waited a bit longer and bitten his dick off instead.”
In the meantime, her second cigarette had burnt down. As the car remained stationary for a long time, Gi-do peered in from the outside with a curious look. Looking at him through the tinted window, she scoffed, “Idiot,” and pulled out a third cigarette.
“Let’s finish this one and then go. I’m in a foul mood today. I saw that bastard’s face again. He’s persistent in tracking me down. So today, I just left early.”
Her voice grew faintly rough. Seo Chi-young couldn’t bring himself to look at her and dropped his gaze. Seeing this, she spoke mockingly.
“No need to make that face. It’s not like I grew up as some chaste, refined lady; I’ve been playing around since middle school, screaming at my mom and dad every night… Maybe I ended up like this because I threw my body around so recklessly back then.”
She laughed, “Hmph, whatever,” and put the cigarette in her mouth.
It was because of things like this. Even while seeing many unsightly things while driving these fierce and rough women home, he ultimately felt sorry for them.
He was in no position to pity anyone, and they likely wouldn’t want it, yet Seo Chi-young kept his mouth shut in gloom. Who would comfort a heart that had become so tattered?
“Still, there was a time when I was a young, pretty girl, pining for my first love and too shy to even speak to him.”
She narrowed her eyes as if reminiscing about a time long ago. As she exhaled smoke, her red lips twisted bitterly. Perhaps the days that weren’t that long ago were already too far away.
“….You’re still pretty.”
Seo Chi-young spoke softly. Her tired eyes and sharp lips were pretty. Though it was likely different from the ‘pretty’ she remembered.
Looking at Seo Chi-young, who had gloomily murmured words that wouldn’t even serve as comfort, she burst into laughter the next moment. Laughing loudly as if she had heard the funniest thing in the world, she scoffed, “Hmph, so you’re a man too, huh?” and flicked the ash. However, her voice wasn’t as venomous as her tone.
Staring at Seo Chi-young with an intensity that felt burdensome, she suddenly whispered as if to herself.
“You’re a bit similar. Your face doesn’t really resemble him, but the atmosphere and the way you talk. To my first love. I had such tacky taste when I was young. I wonder what he’s doing now. …Hmph, he’s probably just become some mediocre middle-aged man.”
Tapping the ash away, she remained silent for a while. Then, as if suddenly overcome with emotion, a fierce frown creased her previously wistful expression. It was as if she were thinking of the boy who had become a mediocre man and her current self.
She turned her gaze toward Seo Chi-young. As he blinked awkwardly under her silent, smoking gaze, she narrowed her eyes.
“You don’t play around much, do you?”
“Huh?”
Looking at the bewildered Seo Chi-young, she said, “I mean…” with a look that was either mocking or amused. After crushing the cigarette in the ashtray, she suddenly pulled Seo Chi-young’s hand. There wasn’t even time for him to mutter a short “Uh.” The hand she pulled went inside her short skirt. And Seo Chi-young’s fingertips touched damp, soft bare skin.
“……..!!”
He hadn’t known that being struck by lightning felt like this.
Seo Chi-young froze, unable to move, his eyes wide with shock. Wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in, she kissed him as if she were going to devour him.
The thought suddenly flashed through his mind that he really might be eaten alive.
Reflexively, he tried to jump back and push her away, but unexpectedly, the arms hugging him clung stubbornly and would not let go. He barely managed to pull his hand out from under her skirt, but she relentlessly grabbed that hand again and shoved it inside her blouse. Once again, bare skin touched his palm directly, and Seo Chi-young’s mind went blank.
“Wa-wait, p-please don’t do this, ………!”
As she chased him, biting his lips as if to devour him, Seo Chi-young desperately avoided her, pleading in a voice that sounded almost like he was crying.
“Why, do you hate it? Hmph, is even touching me filthy? Just how clean are you?”
Her shrill voice flew at him. Though her upturned eyes were dry, her angry voice sounded somehow wet, making Seo Chi-young shake his head.
“It’s, it’s not that. I just…!”
It was while Seo Chi-young was struggling to pull his hand out from the nearly undone blouse and whispering.
The driver’s side door flew open. Without time to be surprised, a rough hand reached in, grabbed the back of Seo Chi-young’s neck, and mercilessly dragged him out, flinging him onto the ground. As he tumbled across the humid asphalt, he gasped as a kick flew toward his waist.
“This bastard, I hired you to drive diligently, and you’re doing this? Didn’t you hear when you came in that if you try any tricks with the women, you won’t leave in one piece?”
A thunderous voice struck his eardrums. It felt as if stars were exploding before his eyes.
The manager had come out with a couple of men, likely after receiving a call from Gi-do. However, he didn’t have the presence of mind to confirm the manager’s face. He only knew it was him by the voice. Before he could even open his eyes, a barrage of kicks rained down on his stomach, back, and limbs. He thought he heard the woman in the car scream in surprise.
“No, I, I really didn’t do such a thing, I, absolutely…”
The misunderstanding was more distressing than the kicks raining down on his body. Physical wounds heal quickly, but unresolved misunderstandings tend to tangle.
Seo Chi-young curled his body into a ball and pleaded urgently, but no one listened to his excuses, which were laced with occasional groans.
“I thought this bastard wouldn’t do such a thing because he looks so innocent, but I guess the quiet cat climbs the stove. You’ve barely been here and you’re already doing this?! I thought a diligent worker had finally joined us after so long—–.”
“Th-that’s not—.”
It was when Seo Chi-young was covering his face with his arms and muttering excuses that weren’t even audible to them. A low, cold voice drifted from a few steps away.
“What’s all this commotion in front of the shop?”
As if cold water had been poured over them, the kicking stopped like a lie the moment that voice was heard. The voices that had been shouting and intimidating aggressively vanished.
At the same time the kicks and shouts, which seemed like they would never end, disappeared, Seo Chi-young also thought, Uh. Perhaps because his ears were ringing from the thunderous shouting right in his ear, but that voice sounded like one he knew.
“Y-you’ve arrived! It’s nothing much, just the guy we put in charge of driving the girls tried to lay a hand on one, so we were just helping him wake up…”
“Don’t make a scene in front of the shop. Drag him somewhere else.”
A cold voice that wasn’t particularly rough or violent, but left absolutely no room for argument.
Uh… Seo Chi-young blankly looked toward where the voice had come from. He couldn’t see clearly because the manager was blocking the view, but it was definitely a familiar voice.
“…Kwon…”
Before Seo Chi-young could tilt his head and call out the name that matched that familiar voice, the man’s face appeared over the back of the manager, who was bowing deeply and saying, “Yes, I will do so!”
Their eyes met.
“…… Mr. Kwon Kang-hee.”
He murmured the name unconsciously and only belatedly added the honorific at the end. However, regardless of the honorific, the man, who had stopped dead with a strange expression from the moment his eyes met Seo Chi-young’s, seemed to wonder if he had seen wrong, then realized he hadn’t the moment Seo Chi-young called his name. He remained silent for a while. Then, he slowly spoke.
“Driving? You? …….You touched a woman?”
The words, muttered in disbelief, came before the name.
The manager, whose eyes had gone wide the moment the man’s name left Seo Chi-young’s mouth, looked back and forth between the two with a flustered face when Kwon Kang-hee spoke to Seo Chi-young. Kwon Kang-hee seemed to be lost in thought while silently staring at Seo Chi-young for a moment longer, but soon tossed a casual word to the manager.
“It’s not this man.”
But that was all. Kwon Kang-hee didn’t particularly speak to Seo Chi-young or acknowledge him; he simply turned around. That personality—not caring or interfering in matters that didn’t concern him—was exactly the man Seo Chi-young knew.
‘Come to think of it, I never knew what that man did for a living,’ Seo Chi-young thought as he stared blankly. Only as the man was about to enter the building did he speak.
“Uh… th-thank you for helping me. ……..Um, please give my regards to Jun-young. Tell him to come by often…”
Kwon Kang-hee’s steps stopped. Only after Seo Chi-young finished speaking did he slowly turn around. Even with an expressionless face, he looked at Seo Chi-young with somewhat displeased eyes and said:
“Like yesterday, Jun-young has been fussing lately about wanting to go there. He wants to eat gopchang and hang out with the CEO.”
“…….”
The thought that He eats the gopchang, but he doesn’t hang out with me and the realization that the title ‘CEO’ felt extremely awkward in this setting occurred to him simultaneously. Not knowing what to say or how to start, Seo Chi-young just gaped for a moment before scratching his head and mumbling.
“Yes… he hasn’t come since he moved, so it is a bit disappointing. But he seems busy lately… we just exchange messages occasionally…”
Kwon Kang-hee, who gave a cold gaze to the awkwardly mumbling Seo Chi-young, turned away as if he had no further business. However, he didn’t forget to toss one short remark.
“Mr. Seo Chi-young. You’d be better off touching a woman.”
And as Kwon Kang-hee entered the building, Seo Chi-young realized, looking at that chillingly black gaze, that those words were the kindest piece of advice the man had ever offered him.
Unexpectedly, however, it seemed Kwon Kang-hee had faithfully delivered Seo Chi-young’s regards to Yoon Jun-young. At the same time, he found out how far the rumor of the ordeal Seo Chi-young had suffered—or almost suffered—inside the car had spread.
“I heard you got hit on by Lee Sun-mi.”
When Yoon Jun-young, who was eating gopchang, said this abruptly with a nonchalant face and tone, Seo Chi-young almost dropped the spatula he was using to stir the grill. Barely regaining his grip on the spatula that almost plunged into the middle of the frying gopchang, Seo Chi-young, with a face clearly showing his fluster, could only mutter short syllables like, “Uh, yes? Uh, that…” a few times.
It had been a very long time since Yoon Jun-young had visited. Since they had exchanged messages a few times, it didn’t feel that long, but it had been nearly a month since they had seen each other in person. “Two plates, please.” Upon arriving, Yoon Jun-young, with a serious face, immediately ordered an amount he couldn’t even finish. He seemed to have truly missed the gopchang, as he didn’t open his mouth until half the plate was empty.