By Zephyria 
Yi-ho’s consciousness ended the moment his backside hit the airplane seat. Before he could even finish thinking that the spacious seat felt as cozy as a blanket fresh out of the dryer, his mind went black. When he opened his eyes again, he was lying back in the reclined seat.
“How long was I out?”
Min-gyu, in the seat next to him, tapped the monitor in front of Yi-ho. The flight time had reached 4 hours and 50 minutes.
“4 hours and 50 minutes.”
“…….”
“I tried waking you up about three times, but you were in a coma, so I declined the in-flight meal for you.”
“Uh… good call.”
“Do you want to wake up and eat something, or sleep a bit more?”
“Hmm….”
“Right, sleep. Go coco.”
Does he think I’m Min-jung… what the hell is ‘coco’?
As he tried to awkwardly push himself up, a finger pressed firmly against his forehead. Defeated by two fingers, the weakest link, Song Yi-ho, sank back into his seat. Now that he looked, an unfamiliar blanket was draped over him. Min-gyu must have taken care of everything. His kindness was no longer a novelty. Yi-ho only struggled to hide his own constantly fluttering heart.
The deep, oblivious sleep had managed to whisk away some of his fatigue. When he was checking his luggage at Incheon Airport, he felt as if his body and soul were operating separately, but now he was coherent enough to perceive his surroundings.
After keeping his eyes closed for another 30 minutes, he was fully awake. Right on cue, an announcement came on saying they were preparing for landing. Following the flight attendant’s instructions, Yi-ho straightened his reclined seat. He then had a light snack provided to him. He wasn’t particularly hungry since he had just woken up, but he remembered reading an article somewhere that it looked suspicious if you didn’t eat anything on a plane.
Munching on the crackers, he stared blankly out the window at the sight of the aircraft burying itself in the clouds.
The humidity and heat were palpable from the moment he went through immigration at the airport. By the time he finished the procedures and stepped outside, it was around 2 PM Thailand time. Weather nearing 36 degrees Celsius greeted the two of them. With sweat already beading on the back of his neck, he glanced at the person beside him. Min-gyu had already changed into the suit he brought in his carry-on. This was because he had to go straight into a meeting and had a dinner scheduled with the client company. Despite wearing clothes that looked twice as hot as Yi-ho’s, he showed no sign of struggling.
“Song-i, do you have a schedule today?”
“A video call tonight with my session presentation partner for tomorrow. Before that, I have to stop by the conference venue, put on the Taejang Electronics lanyard, and do some networking….”
“That’s exactly what a Shy Mushroom hates most.”
“A Corporate Slave Mushroom has to do it even if he hates it.”
“If I knew you were going to work, maybe I should have woken you up for the in-flight meal.”
“It’s fine. I can stop by the hotel for a bit, so I’ll have time to eat then.”
“Then let me leave my suitcase in your room.”
“Sure.”
“If there’s anything you need, feel free to use it. I’ve got first-aid meds and a hairdryer.”
Cha Min-gyu, this bastard. He says things like that without knowing how scary a one-sided love interest can be. How does he know I might steal something….
“The password is that one. My locker.”
“…….”
“Just take whatever you want, like how you used to diligently borrow my gym clothes and textbooks.”
The number he mentioned was more familiar to Yi-ho than his own phone number. Those digits, which had been engraved into his hand down to the direction of turning the lock, had become the door lock code for his current neighbor’s house.
And now, on this business trip together, it had become the lock code for Min-gyu’s suitcase.
At Min-gyu’s casual remark, the airport they had arrived at as adults over thirty suddenly felt like their high school playground.
For fifteen years, Cha Min-gyu had been the master of Yi-ho’s undulating emotions. For that same amount of time, Yi-ho had hidden his crush and treated him as a friend. Just as the other party had consistently viewed Song Yi-ho as a special friend. Perhaps it was because only their surroundings changed over time, while their relationship and the way they looked at each other never did, that he could still recall the sweat-soaked eighteen-year-old version of himself at the age of thirty-three.
Truly, how sturdy and convenient a relationship ‘friendship’ is. Among human relationships, friendship is likely the closest thing to eternity. Provided that one side doesn’t corrupt it.
Soon, the two met a man holding a sign that read [Taejang Electronics]. Two suitcases were rolled side by side. The man, a local employee of Taejang Electronics, shook hands with the two team leaders in turn. Min-gyu conveyed in English that he would be dropped off at the branch office and Yi-ho would go to the hotel. After the employee gave about three ‘okay’ signs, he led the way, with Yi-ho and Min-gyu following closely behind. The mischievous and kind smile that had been on Min-gyu’s face earlier vanished, leaving only a professional expression.
Their long-standing friendship easily crossed the boundary between those old days and their lives as corporate employees.
Once in the car, Yi-ho felt a bit of motion sickness. When Min-gyu asked if he was feeling sick, Yi-ho replied that it was because his stomach was empty. Of course, Min-gyu seemed to only believe him halfway.
The car arrived at the company first, and Min-gyu had to get out, laden with worry for the left-behind Yi-ho.
“Make sure to eat something once you get to the hotel.”
“I got it, so just go already.”
“Contact me.”
After Min-gyu left, Yi-ho practically clung to the car window. The damp breeze blowing from outside was the only hope for his motion sickness. Between the lack of sleep and the persistent nausea, the moving car felt like a living hell. He had also messed up his stomach a bit by pouring coffee into it for several days.
Until now, he had either driven himself or forgotten about motion sickness while sitting in the passenger seat of an SUV with Cha Min-gyu’s smooth driving… After enduring the time when his vision turned yellow, the car finally stopped in front of the hotel. The local employee gave Yi-ho a worried look and personally pulled the suitcase out of the trunk. Although there was still time before the 3 PM check-in, the local employee spoke with the information desk, and after the hotel staff saw Yi-ho’s withered face, they gave him his room early.
Tapping the card key to open the door, a room with a large bed and a desk appeared.
He opened the minibar and took out a small bottle of water. He could feel the cold water traveling down his empty stomach.
Opening the guidebook he received during check-in, he saw there was a food court on the second floor of the hotel. Yi-ho headed straight to that floor with only his wallet. He ordered fried rice, one of the more familiar menus. He thought he would be hungry once the motion sickness passed, but perhaps the aftereffects remained, as he didn’t have much of an appetite. He shoved the food in, not knowing where it was going, and returned to his room. Thanks to the early check-in, he had plenty of time to go to the conference venue.
Around the time he had lightly rinsed his sweat-soaked body and rubbed his hair dry with a towel, Yi-ho realized something. He had packed the charging cable, but forgot the adapter.
“…….”
Naturally, his gaze shifted to the other suitcase in the room. It belonged to the guy who had packed four days’ worth of luggage into a suitcase the size of a torso. He had thought the suitcase, looking like a neatly angled tin box, suited Min-gyu in his suit. There would definitely be an adapter in there. Therefore, there was sufficient justification to open the suitcase. Sufficient.
And he already knew the lock code all too well….
Vitality returned to his fading eyes. A thrill and tension, hundreds of times stronger than the feeling of uncovering a hidden code, washed over him.
Click. The sound of the metal lock releasing felt cold. The suitcase unfolded left and right, occupying almost all the empty space in front of the minibar.
“Where is the charger… where could it be….”
Amidst the mutterings disguising his true intentions, his eyes diligently scanned the interior of the suitcase.
One half of the suitcase contained suits and shirts encased in covers. In one corner of the business attire section, he found five ties. Among them, the dark green tie was one Yi-ho had bought as a birthday present the year before last. Seeing his own trace in a place organized so neatly in Min-gyu’s style, Yi-ho’s lips twitched. He subtly moved the dark green tie to the very front row.
The opposite section was neatly organized like a game of Tetris with travel compression bags. There were two places where a charger might be. One was a pouch containing sunscreen, cleansing foam, travel-sized body wash, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a razor. It was a starkly different approach from Yi-ho, who actively utilized hotel amenities. Then maybe the other side.
When he opened the zipper, what peeked out was the logo engraved on the waistband of some underwear. Yi-ho paused for a moment, then pushed it back in and closed the zipper.
This is probably not right… any further than this is a crime. Especially if it wasn’t the pure heart of a friend, but the tainted, dark heart of Song Yi-ho….
Even if he had corrupted the friendship on his own, he should have enough conscience left from having been friends. He shouldn’t even think about wanting to take one.
Still, he couldn’t help the embarrassment that remained in his mind, similar to the logo that lingered as an afterimage before his eyes…. And the sensation against his hand as he pushed the pouch back under the shirts was also a bit distracting.
At that moment, the phone he had placed on the desk rattled with a vibration. His shrunken conscience jumped as if it had heard a clap of thunder. Standing up to check, the caller was Cha Min-gyu.
Cha Min-gyu
[Song-song, did you get some rest?]
The pervert’s conscience was shredded. Yi-ho quickly and neatly closed the suitcase.
[Yeah, I’m fine now that I’ve eaten]
[I’m going to borrow a charger from your suitcase]
Cha Min-gyu
[You can just use it without telling me]
After confessing only half the truth, Yi-ho changed into neat clothes. The hotel was about a 20-minute walk from the conference venue. Believing it would be fine to walk since the hottest part of the day had passed, he set out, only to arrive at the conference venue feeling as if he had passed through a hot waterfall.
The inside of his short-sleeved knit and slacks were drenched with the heat and humidity of the walk back, and as soon as he hit the cold air inside the building, they chilled as if they had been frozen.
Yi-ho thought of the windbreaker Min-gyu had provided. Of course, as punishment for not thinking of it since leaving the hotel, he had to shiver for a while.