By Zephyria “Yes! That guy also became a star after filming that with the Crown Prince. Though he’s disappeared now, I guess he messed up something.”
“Auntie, that’s not it.”
First of all, Eternal Night was a vampire drama, not a Dracula drama. But that wasn’t the important issue right now. Jung Ji-in disappearing because he messed up something?
Song Hyun-soo closed and opened his eyes, trying to remain as calm as possible.
“Hyung… no, actor Jung Ji-in became famous because he’s talented and a good actor. And he’s not ruined now, he retired and isn’t appearing.”
“Someone like me wouldn’t know all that. If they’re not appearing, I just assume they messed up.”
“He absolutely, positively did not mess up. He’s the kind of person who would live without breaking the law!”
“Really? How do you know?”
Song Hyun-soo waved his free arm, the one not holding the striped tail, and denied it vehemently, while the auntie glanced at him from under her narrowed eyelids. Song Hyun-soo puffed out his chest and shoulders and cocked his eyebrows, saying proudly,
“Hyung and I are very close.”
“…”
“Really close!”
“Who said you weren’t?”
“You looked at me with a very suspicious expression just now.”
“…”
She did not deny that she was suspicious.
“Look at me. I forgot to prepare more meat.”
And then, in a way that was obviously unnatural, she used the meat as an excuse to change the subject.
“Aren’t you going in?”
“Ah, I, I’m going to smoke another cigarette.”
He didn’t want to say he couldn’t go in because Yoon Joo-ho told him to wait. Pointing at the tricolor, who was still diligently eating, the auntie said,
“Alright, then. Bring the empty bowl when you come in.”
“Yes. Please go in.”
“And put your butts in the ashtray!”
“Of course, of course.”
On the way back to the restaurant, the auntie discovered cigarette butts on the ground and became enraged.
“Even with an ashtray right there, anyone who throws butts on the ground will be severely punished the moment they’re caught!”
“Auntie, Joo-ho Sunbae put his in the ashtray!”
Song Hyun-soo shouted loudly towards the auntie’s retreating back.
Strictly speaking, I was the one who picked it up and put it in the ashtray, but the result, that Yoon Joo-ho’s cigarette butt was in the ashtray, was the same.
“Why am I making excuses for him? Right, Juli?”
He stroked the creature in his arms and looked down. It was dozing off, curled up in his arms. Even a cheap coat with a low wool content seemed quite warm and cozy for it. Seeing its eyelids slowly droop made him smile.
So that’s it. Next time I come for the company dinner, this one won’t be here.
Gently scratching under its small chin, he said calmly,
“You’ll be living in luxury from now on. Live well, buddy.”
It closed its eyes with a pleased expression.
Did I even get attached enough to feel sad?
I didn’t have the environment or the means to raise it. My life had taught me to detach rather than get attached. Even if my chest ached with sadness and regret, I could just smile and walk away. In situations where I had to do that, how I felt didn’t matter. I had never lived a life where I took care of such things.
The mother tricolor was still eating, and the other kittens had already slipped through the plastic curtain and gone inside one by one.
Song Hyun-soo crouched down in front of the tricolor family’s home. Then, he carefully placed the striped tail from his arms inside the house. The mother cat paused her meal and glanced towards Song Hyun-soo, but then resumed eating.
Just from holding and then putting down that tiny creature. Strangely, it felt much colder than before.
“But when is this guy supposed to show up? I’m going to freeze to death…”
He was about to turn around, taking out his cigarette pack from his jumper pocket, when Yoon Joo-ho appeared from the opposite corner. It was a relief. The distance was just enough that he hadn’t heard his recent muttering.
Song Hyun-soo nodded in greeting. Then he tried to put one of the cigarettes back into the pack.
“Just smoke it.”
“Still…”
“You couldn’t even smoke because you were holding the cat.”
Yoon Joo-ho walked closer, chuckling. Annoyed, Song Hyun-soo immediately became serious and denied it.
“What are you talking about? I haven’t held any cats or anything.”
“Take off the fur and then talk, junior.”
Fur?
Yoon Joo-ho’s gaze, as he took out a cigarette, pointed to Song Hyun-soo’s chest. Instinctively, Song Hyun-soo’s gaze also dropped.
“…”
A few white hairs from the striped kitten were stuck to his black wool coat. Song Hyun-soo squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lower lip. Juli, you little rascal…
“What’s wrong with it? Some people might envy being popular with cats. Somewhere, at least.”
Chuckling, Yoon Joo-ho put the cigarette filter in his mouth and held out his palm to Song Hyun-soo. It was a gesture asking for a lighter. Song Hyun-soo, not bothering to hide his displeased expression, dropped the lighter onto Yoon Joo-ho’s palm as if hitting it, and Yoon Joo-ho kept giggling while looking at Song Hyun-soo’s face.
After lighting his cigarette and returning the lighter, Song Hyun-soo glanced at Yoon Joo-ho and deliberately spoke stiffly.
“Then I won’t refuse and will smoke as well.”
They stood a few steps apart, silently smoking their cigarettes. Occasionally, the sound of the Dissolve team laughing boisterously from inside the restaurant would drift out, but the residential street was quiet on a weekday night. The mother tricolor had also finished eating and returned home.
Song Hyun-soo kept glancing at Yoon Joo-ho.
In some ways, he seemed completely indifferent, and in others, he seemed merely accustomed to hiding his emotions.
He seemed to strictly adhere to seniority and career, yet he casually smoked with a junior he wasn’t even that close to. He seemed like an arrogant person who said whatever he wanted without regard for anyone, yet he also said quite sensible things.
However, one thing remained unchanged: he was a person who couldn’t be let his guard down. As far as Song Hyun-soo had figured out so far, Yoon Joo-ho was like a wild animal that could turn at any moment, in any way.
“You said you still work at that bar in Daehangno?”
The conversation, from the wild animal, or rather from Yoon Joo-ho, began without warning.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Three days on the weekend.”
“Your schedule will get tight once filming starts?”
“I have to do it on days when I’m not filming. My income is still unstable from acting alone.”
“That’s good.”
“Good?”
No, this guy had limits to his rudeness. Telling someone who’s struggling to make a living that it’s good…
“I have a good part-time job offer for you.”
“…”
Song Hyun-soo stared intently at Yoon Joo-ho. Yoon Joo-ho, who had brought the filter to his lips, looked back when he felt the gaze. Then, furrowing his brow, he scanned Song Hyun-soo.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Like I’m some suspicious con artist.”
“Because you look like a suspicious con artist.”
Yoon Joo-ho laughed in disbelief. Then, he shifted the cigarette to his left hand and reached into his coat pocket, pulling something out. It was a thin, simple case made of stainless steel, and a pen of the same material. The steel gleamed coldly in the darkness. Yoon Joo-ho wrote something on the back of a piece of paper he took from the case.
Then, he extended his arm towards Song Hyun-soo, who was about five steps away.
“Here.”
“What is this?”
“The con artist’s business card.”
As if urging him to take it quickly, Yoon Joo-ho shook the paper, and Song Hyun-soo, taken aback, took it into his hand.
It was Yoon Joo-ho’s business card.
The front only had the company’s official phone number; Yoon Joo-ho’s personal number was not printed. Flipping the card over, the numbers Yoon Joo-ho had just written down were listed there. Song Hyun-soo couldn’t take his eyes off those eleven digits.
“Tomorrow will be a day off from your part-time job, then.”
Without even looking at Yoon Joo-ho, his gaze fixed on the business card in his hand, Song Hyun-soo nodded like a machine.
“Around noon? Text me at the number written there. I’ll tell you where to come.”
This time too, he only nodded, as if possessed.
His handwriting is as beautiful as his face, unlike his personality.