By Zephyria ■
Part 4
“You moved out of the Nonhyeon-dong Officetel and came here?”
The first words Park Dong-ha uttered as soon as he stepped into Choi Hong-seo’s officetel were.
He seemed so surprised that he hadn’t even thought to take off his shoes, glancing around the interior of the house.
“I thought for sure you’d moved to Yongsan…”
“You thought it was some expensive place with a Han River view, didn’t you?”
Yong-jae slung an arm over Park Dong-ha’s shoulder and grinned. Park Dong-ha responded by staring blankly at him.
“That’s why I told you. Hye-an hyung has become a completely different person.”
“No… he just signed a new contract for a movie lead… I naturally assumed he’d moved somewhere better.”
Muttering as if still in disbelief, Park Dong-ha took off his shoes.
“Aren’t you saying he paid back the advance the company used from his movie contract? He hasn’t just become a different person, he’s been reborn!”
Yong-jae said proudly, placing the plastic bag with canned beer on the counter. His face was like that of parents looking at a son who had completely reformed after leaving behind a dissolute past.
While taking off his bag, Park Dong-ha continued to look around the small, unremarkable house.
“Yoon Hye-an lives here? No way… Did he rent a few more units inside this officetel? This one is the clothes room, this one is the bedroom, this one is the living room… Am I right, hyung?”
Choi Hong-seo, who was putting the beer they bought into the refrigerator, turned to look at Park Dong-ha. He chuckled, seeing the confident, youthful face.
“What happened to all those luxury goods? Don’t tell me… you actually sold them on Carrot?”
“Hyung, you do transactions on Carrot? That’s too dangerous! If you’re going to do it, you should have asked me!”
Yong-jae jumped at the mention of Carrot. As Choi Hong-seo brought the chicken they had ordered to the sofa table, he said to reassure him.
“They don’t know I’m Yoon Hye-an when they’re dealing with me… everyone was just a polite and nice person.”
Yong-jae insisted that just because it was okay until now didn’t guarantee it would be okay in the future. Only after he promised that he would ask Yong-jae or have him accompany him if there were any future transactions did the Carrot commotion subside.
“It’s a house where what you see is all there is, so… there’s nothing to show you around. Please sit.”
As Choi Hong-seo invited them, Yong-jae and Park Dong-ha hesitantly took their seats in front of the sofa table. Since both the sofa and the folding dining table attached to the counter were for two people, they had no choice but to sit on the floor.
Park Dong-ha, who was watching Choi Hong-seo, or rather Yoon Hye-an, busily moving around in the small kitchen to host his guests, despite Yong-jae offering to help, shook his head.
“I really don’t know what I’m looking at right now.”
He then gulped down the canned beer they had brought out to drink first.
“What are you looking at? You’re looking at Hye-an hyung living a new life,” Yong-jae replied simply, taking a large bite of the warm chicken they had ordered.
“Aren’t you strange, hyung? How are you so quick to adapt? I feel like I’ve been possessed by a ghost.”
“If it was a change for the worse, I’d understand. But if it’s for the better, what’s there not to adapt to?”
“True. You were the one who suffered the most from Hye-an hyung. This must be a real relief for you.”
Yong-jae gave Park Dong-ha a look, as if to say ‘Don’t say that,’ and Park Dong-ha silently protested back, ‘What did I do wrong?’ Since the house was too small to hide anything anyway, Choi Hong-seo was watching everything.
“I’m sorry everything is delivery food.”
“You were never good at cooking,” Park Dong-ha added, glancing at Choi Hong-seo in a tone that suggested he didn’t care.
“You’re still not good at cooking.”
“Of course. How can you suddenly be good at something you weren’t good at before?” Yong-jae said with a cheerful laugh, and Park Dong-ha retorted in a still sullen voice.
“But you suddenly became good at acting.”
Yong-jae’s hand, which was tearing into the chicken, stopped. Looking like he realized it was true, Yong-jae rolled his eyes for a moment, then confidently lifted his chin and explained.
“That’s because hyung always had talent, but he was lazy about practicing before. Now that he’s taking lessons and working hard, his hidden talent has finally emerged! You worked so hard, hyung.”
“So you admit that Hye-an hyung was lazy about practicing in the past?”
“Well, yes… hyung was like that, but… what matters is now…”
“The food will get cold. Let’s eat and talk.”
Choi Hong-seo intervened, as the two men’s bickering seemed endless, like a battle between a shield and a sword.
“Right, we gathered to celebrate hyung’s new start. Let’s not bring up the past. Cheers!”
Under Yong-jae’s enthusiastic lead, the drinking session officially began.
This gathering was arranged at Park Dong-ha’s insistence that he be invited to the new house. Since he seemed to be one of the few people Yoon Hye-an had been close to, Choi Hong-seo had wanted to keep his distance, but he couldn’t be heartless to someone who had been close to Yoon Hye-an.
“Hyung, where’s Tiffany? I want to see her face after a long time.”
As the cat they expected to show up by now hadn’t appeared, Yong-jae looked around the cat tower and then lowered himself to scan the floor.
“She’s probably hiding under the bed. She’ll come out after a while. If you try to force her out, she might get stressed…”
“You studied hard, and now you’re a cat expert, hyung? When you first brought Tiffany home, you gave her human milk, and I almost had a heart attack.”
Yong-jae looked at Choi Hong-seo with a proud expression again. No, this time it was almost a look of deep emotion.
“He was someone who brought a cat home without even having the basic preparation.”
“Hey, Park Dong-ha! Why are you digging up the past and making the atmosphere awkward? If you’re going to do that, leave! Stop eating!”
Yong-jae yelled, snatching a lamb skewer from Park Dong-ha’s hand. The lamb skewers were food he had specifically ordered because Park Dong-ha liked them.
“I’m not saying anything bad about Hye-an hyung, it’s just that’s the Yoon Hye-an I knew! It’s bound to be strange! I need time to adapt too!”
Watching the two men start arguing again, Choi Hong-seo retrieved the lamb skewer from Yong-jae and handed it back to Park Dong-ha.
“Dong-ha’s words are right. I’m very grateful that Yong-jae sees me as I am now… but I can’t adapt to myself yet either.”
After getting the lamb skewer back from Choi Hong-seo, Park Dong-ha stuck his tongue out at Yong-jae across from him.
“That’s what I’m saying. I’m normal, and Yong-jae hyung is the abnormal one. This situation, where the two of us are fighting and Hye-an hyung steps in to mediate. Did you ever imagine this situation?”
“Don’t think of Hye-an hyung as changed. Just think of Hye-an hyung from now on as a different person. That’s all.”
With Yong-jae’s suddenly serious voice and expression, unlike his usual demeanor, Park Dong-ha also fell silent and just stared.
“Besides, Hye-an hyung doesn’t remember his past self either. You can just think of him as a different person with the same name and face. You’re confused because you keep trying to fit him into the old Hye-an hyung you knew.”
Choi Hong-seo had only ever seen Yong-jae’s usual good-natured smile; he had never seen this side of him before. As an awkward silence hung in the air, a buzzing vibration sound came from somewhere. It was Choi Hong-seo’s phone on the counter.
“Please eat. I’ll take this call.”
The caller was Director Kang Woo-hyun.
“Yes, Director. This is Yoon Hye-an.”
At the mention of Director, Yong-jae and Park Dong-ha simultaneously looked over, mid-chew. What’s going on? their faces seemed to ask.
[Oh, Hye-an-ssi. You must be surprised that the director is calling suddenly.]
The director’s cheerful, laughter-filled voice put him at ease for the moment.
“No, not at all. Please feel free to call anytime you have something to say.”
[Yes, the reason I’m calling is that Vice President Lee Hae-sung is inviting some actors to his home.]
The name Lee Hae-sung, heard at such an unexpected moment, felt like encountering a thug around a street corner. His heart pounded, and his mouth instantly went dry. All the pores on his body felt like they were shrinking. Choi Hong-seo licked his lips, which had been slightly parted, and swallowed dryly.
[I thought I should tell you this myself. Are you free this Saturday?]
“Some actors…?”
[Ah, well… they can’t invite all the cast members, of course. It seems they’ve selected a few from the main actors. It’s not easy for someone in that position, even if they’re an investor in our film, to invite people to their home. He’s more down-to-earth than the chaebol you see in dramas. So don’t feel burdened. Honestly, ARA’s CEO’s residence, it’s something people like us are curious about, isn’t it?]
Kang Woo-hyun laughed heartily. But Choi Hong-seo wasn’t curious about that. He slowly turned away from Yong-jae and Park Dong-ha, gripping the edge of the counter tightly.
“I… received an invitation too?”
[Yes, about five or six people including Hye-an-ssi. Why? Are you not free on Saturday? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.]
“No, that’s not it. Am I really invited?”
[I told you so. In fact, it seems Hye-an-ssi is someone he particularly wants to come?]
That can’t be…
[The Vice President was a bit mischievous with Hye-an-ssi since the audition, wasn’t he? Now that he knows how diligent you are, isn’t this his way of extending an olive branch?]
Is that really true?
He hadn’t flinched at the tear stains and cold sweat of ‘Yoon Hye-an’ in Director Kang’s second-floor drawing room. That was just a few days ago, and his feelings couldn’t have changed so quickly…
[What? Are you scared of Vice President Lee? Then should I tell him you can’t make it? I’ll convey it politely.]
Listening to Director Kang’s voice, Choi Hong-seo slowly shook his head. Behind him, Yong-jae and Park Dong-ha were fighting over the last chicken leg.
“No… I will go. I will definitely go.”
He couldn’t refuse his invitation, for fear of hurting him. Even if he knew he might be walking into an obvious trap, there was no way to avoid stepping into it.
He had a premonition that perhaps he, too, was confident that ‘Yoon Hye-an’ would definitely come when he extended the invitation.
■