By Zephyria Even after the interpreter stood up to leave, and even after I awkwardly stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder, Choi Hong-seo couldn’t seem to turn his feet away and lingered. The weight of just one tie felt like a boulder, making my mouth dry and my palms sweat.
When I returned to the living room after seeing off the interpreter, facing Manager Kang’s expressionless face, my insides burned as if I had committed a crime, and the courage I had left dwindled.
Perhaps because of Lee Hae-sung’s instructions, Manager Kang had treated me more comfortably in the past when I was Choi Hong-seo. He had softened his expression and tone, and even smiled awkwardly often. But the current Manager Kang was as difficult as when we first met.
I felt like he would stride towards me at any moment, glare at me with a terrifying face like one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and ask, ‘What’s your purpose lurking around the Vice President, you little rat?’
Choi Hong-seo, twisting the shopping bag strap with his fingertips, said, glancing around,
“Well, I should be going too, then.”
“I will escort you.”
“No, it’s alright. My home is very close by.”
“The Vice President instructed me to escort you.”
“The Vice President…?”
The incident of separating the business groups seemed like a far too complicated matter for Choi Hong-seo. Even after diligently reading the detailed news reports, I couldn’t understand about half of it. All the news outlets were excitedly reporting that it would be a historical treasure trove for both groups, especially for the ARA Group that was being spun off. Thinking of him, who cared about Yoon Hye-an’s return home even with such an important event looming, my grip on the shopping bag tightened.
I knew it might be mere politeness, just a sense of duty. I also knew that the object of his interest was only ‘Choi Hong-seo’ seen in ‘Yoon Hye-an,’ not that he particularly wanted to be kind to the person named ‘Yoon Hye-an.’
Choi Hong-seo looked down at the shopping bag.
That’s precisely why I had to convey this to him. I am Choi Hong-seo, not Yoon Hye-an, and I had been receiving his excessive attention and affection.
“Then, I’m sorry, but could you please deliver this to the Vice President for me?”
Manager Kang’s rough but neatly maintained hand accepted the deep crimson shopping bag.
“How should I convey your message?”
Choi Hong-seo’s now empty hands tightly gripped the bag strap.
“It’s nothing much, but I’m grateful for all the thought you’ve put into things. The Vice President also gave me a birthday present last time, and then…”
“……”
“I’m sorry for causing so much… trouble…”
My nose stung, and my voice trailed off. My gaze, which had already been wandering around the shopping bag instead of meeting Manager Kang’s eyes, finally fell to his feet.
“Understood. I will deliver it properly.”
With Manager Kang’s voice as the last sound, I left the room without properly seeing his face.
I looked around the hotel lobby floor for something to buy, bought a few bottles of wine, and got into a taxi. Pulling down the brim of my bucket hat repeatedly, I tried to focus my consciousness on the dazzling night cityscape outside the car window. But it wasn’t easy.
This situation, where the outside and inside didn’t match, was sometimes unbearably unsettling, unfair, and terrifyingly overwhelming, yet I was enduring it because he was there. I didn’t want to think about anything else.
Whether I was hated or suspected, I was, in any case, within his attention. Distracted by that, the shock of being resurrected in someone else’s body was somehow being overcome.
It was thanks to Lee Hae-sung that I could survive without going mad. He was saving me, even by being hated.
“What? Why is the Olympic Expressway so jammed at this hour? Sir, if we take the Olympic Expressway, it’ll take 40 minutes. Should I turn onto Hakdong-ro from Nonhyeon Station?”
Choi Hong-seo nodded at the driver’s words, and tears streamed down from under the brim of his hat. Before they could even fall onto his lap, Choi Hong-seo’s hand coldly wiped them away.
■
Park Dong-ha’s house, located near Bongeunsa Temple, was a luxurious officetel that looked impressive from the outside. Although smaller in scale than the Nonhyeon-dong Officetel of the major corporation Yoon Hye-an lived in, it was more stylish and luxurious.
Security was so thorough that one could only proceed to the elevator hall after registering visitors at the lobby. When I rang the doorbell, Yong-jae, who had arrived earlier, opened the door in place of the host.
“You told me to come empty-handed, so why did you bring all this?”
To Yong-jae’s welcome, which felt like seeing him after a long time despite having seen him just a few days ago, Choi Hong-seo smiled faintly and stepped inside.
“I don’t know much about wine, so I bought what was recommended. I don’t know how it will taste.”
The scent of various foods, somehow out of place with the minimalist interior that even exuded a cold impression, stimulated my sense of smell.
“Smells good, right? Dong-ha is a good cook. He’s making a few side dishes.”
“Wine? Yoon Hye-an is coming over, and you brought wine?”
As I followed Yong-jae, who took the wine bag, down the white marble-tiled hallway, Park Dong-ha’s voice could be heard. Park Dong-ha was bustling around in the long, vertical kitchen that appeared at the end of the hallway.
“You’re here? It’ll be ready soon, so wait a little.”
Park Dong-ha, who was tasting the red broth of the bubbling fish cake soup, greeted Choi Hong-seo with a slightly subdued expression than usual.
“It smells good. And the house is nice too.”
As Yong-jae had said on the phone, Choi Hong-seo hadn’t spoken a word with Park Dong-ha at the last scenario study meeting. It wasn’t that I ignored him when he tried to talk to me. I felt awkward dealing with Park Dong-ha, so I arrived exactly on time and left in a hurry as soon as it ended.
On the day of the birthday party, after leaving the lounge where I was with Lee Hae-sung, I only sat at Director Kang’s table and left the club early. I couldn’t understand Park Dong-ha’s intentions in organizing such events, and I felt that if I spoke while my emotions were heightened, it wouldn’t come out well.
Although my emotions had calmed down considerably with time, Park Dong-ha remained an unpredictable person.
“Right, Hyung? Isn’t the house so cool? This is my first time here too, but doesn’t it look like the kind of house drama directors live in?”
Choi Hong-seo, smiling and nodding at Yong-jae, who seemed more excited than the homeowner, decided to look around the small living room instead of sitting on the sofa. The space, uniformly monochrome to the point of being bleak, seemed almost arrogant, but the furniture and accessories filling it were simple items commonly found in any household.
Choi Hong-seo slowly examined the inexpensive, assembled shelves. There were paintings gifted by fans, figures modeled after Park Dong-ha, and next to them, several framed photos that appeared to be family pictures. In a photo taken in the yard of a detached house with the whole family smiling brightly, Park Dong-ha was holding a dog.
“What are you looking at, Hyung? Huh? This… Dong-ha, is this the new house you bought?”
Yong-jae, who had approached unnoticed, peered over Choi Hong-seo’s shoulder at the photo and asked Park Dong-ha, who was behind them. Park Dong-ha, who was occasionally adding green onions to the fish cake soup, replied sheepishly.
“Ah, that photo? Yes, that’s the house.”
“Your father looks healthy too. Is he much better now?”
Yong-jae asked with a worried expression.
These were all things Choi Hong-seo didn’t know. Park Dong-ha, glancing at Choi Hong-seo’s curious expression, moved the fish cake soup to the table and said calmly,
“Hyung probably doesn’t remember. My dad was very sick, because of an accident.”
Yong-jae added that his father’s work wasn’t going well, and he ended up working as a mover for a moving company at a relatively late age, but he severely injured his back.
“It’s something that only someone who has used their strength can do, but my dad didn’t have the knack for it. His back was already bad to begin with.”
The company said they couldn’t process it as an industrial accident because he already had a bad back, so they settled it by giving him one month’s salary and washing their hands of it.
“He needed major surgery right away, but where would we get that kind of money with our family’s situation? Celebrities are at a disadvantage when it comes to loans. Since I wasn’t popular, I was rejected everywhere. Plus, the team disbanded vaguely… At that time, really…”
Park Dong-ha couldn’t finish his sentence and shut his mouth tightly. Yong-jae, his eyes already red even though he must have known all this, tried to comfort Park Dong-ha with an intentionally strong tone.
“Hey, why bring up old stories like that? Now you’ve established yourself as an actor, bought a house for your parents, and have no worries! What matters is now!”
“Even if it’s a house, it’s not in Seoul, and half of it is a loan, so…”
“Whether there’s a loan or not, is it easy to do something like that for your parents at your age? You’re amazing. Truly amazing, Park Dong-ha.”
“Yes. That is indeed something amazing.”
Choi Hong-seo, who had been listening silently, cautiously added his thoughts. Yong-jae and Park Dong-ha’s gazes turned to Choi Hong-seo simultaneously. Both Park Dong-ha and even Yong-jae looked intently, as if checking if it was a sarcastic remark. For them, the past Yoon Hye-an still strongly remained.
“Well… hearing that Yoon Hye-an thinks I’m amazing makes it seem like I’ve really done something great.”
Park Dong-ha, wiggling his nose, didn’t seem to have taken the previous words as sarcasm, thankfully.
“Sit down. Let’s eat and talk.”
“I was wondering when you’d say that. I’ve been dying from the smell since earlier. Hyung, come quickly.”
Yong-jae quickly took a seat at the table laden with food and drinks, beckoning Choi Hong-seo as well.
As I approached the table, Choi Hong-seo looked around the house once more. The modest detached house in Gyeonggi Province, purchased with a loan, the simple items displayed on inexpensive assembled furniture. And the luxurious Gangnam officetel surrounded by marble. They somehow didn’t match. A person who bought a small detached house in Gyeonggi Province with a loan for their family, why would they pay several million won in monthly rent to live in such an officetel? It seemed like a story that didn’t add up.