#110

Shin Ho-jae lifted his head and looked at him. His words were so unexpected that for a moment, Ho-jae thought he had misheard.

Jung-hyun’s expression seemed calm at a glance. However, his quiet eyes were telling everything. Those eyes, which reflected nothing and looked somewhat clouded.

Ho-jae’s own eyes wavered as he gazed into them. Simultaneously, his heart gave a sudden thud and tightened.

He felt a surge of self-reproach for not noticing sooner. The cheek that had clearly been struck by someone, the terrible state of the backs of his hands, and the fact that he had come to find him out of the blue. He shouldn’t have just let any of it slide.

“Okay. Let’s run away together.”

Shin Ho-jae answered without a second thought.

He felt he had to hurry, fearing that if he hesitated even for a moment, something like ‘I was just saying’ would come out of Jung-hyun’s mouth.

In this moment, he couldn’t think of anything—not the finals in two days, nor the family waiting for him at home.

“Did you bring your car? Where is it parked?”

At the question, Jung-hyun gave a small shake of his head.

Ho-jae opened the duffel bag he was carrying and pulled out a black cap. Fortunately, it was in the bag since he always carried it with him. He then placed it on Jung-hyun’s head.

Perhaps because his head was small, the brim of the cap covered down to his nose. Feeling Jung-hyun looking at him, Ho-jae quickly added,

“I thought it would be troublesome if people recognized you.”

It didn’t matter for him, but Jung-hyun’s face, which had been all over the news until recently, might be recognized by someone. He judged that it would be problematic for Jung-hyun. Jung-hyun simply stared at Ho-jae in silence.

Ignoring his gaze, Shin Ho-jae looked up at the apartment. The small window at the end of the 8th-floor hallway was dark, unlike before. He’s asleep. A sense of relief brushed past him.

“Can you stay here for a little bit? The car keys are in the room. It’s a car my father used to drive…”

After saying that much, Shin Ho-jae corrected himself.

“No, come with me. That would be better.”

He felt as though Jung-hyun might vanish the moment he took his eyes off him.

Shin Ho-jae gripped his hand tightly and walked toward the apartment. He thought he would be rejected, but Jung-hyun followed Ho-jae obediently.

He pressed the button for the elevator, which he usually didn’t use, and waited for a moment. Fearing that someone in the descending elevator might recognize his face, he pushed the cap he was wearing a bit further down.

Jung-hyun just watched what Shin Ho-jae was doing without a word. Fortunately, there was no one in the elevator.

After getting off on the 8th floor, Shin Ho-jae had Jung-hyun wait in front of the dark emergency stairs where few people passed.

Then, he quickly ran into the house. The car keys were on the shelf in the master bedroom.

As expected, his mother was fast asleep, and there was no sign of life from Yeon-jae’s room. It was a relief. He would have been at a loss for what excuse to make if he had run into them. Ho-jae grabbed a first-aid kit, put it in his duffel bag, and hurried out of the house.

The sound of his footsteps walking down the long hallway gradually quickened, eventually turning into a run.

Jung-hyun was standing exactly where he had been. With a somewhat vacant expression, he was staring blankly over the hallway railing.

For a moment, Ho-jae felt as if his heart would stop.

Ho-jae pressed his hand firmly against his chest. His startled heart was beating rapidly.

Why did it feel as if he might throw himself from there? Ho-jae quickly moistened his dry lips and approached him.

“I’m back.”

When he spoke softly, Jung-hyun finally lifted his head. Without saying another word, Ho-jae carefully took his hand and used the elevator to go outside again.

The car his father used to drive was an old mid-size sedan, well over ten years old. Ho-jae sat him in the passenger seat, inserted the key-style car key, and started the engine.

Vroom, the sound of the engine starting was loud. Since it hadn’t been used in a while, he worried the battery might have died, but fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Ho-jae turned on the heater weakly and first took out the first-aid kit he had brought. Placing the kit on his lap, he reached out his hand.

“Let me just disinfect this once.”

Jung-hyun stared at Ho-jae’s hand for a moment before obediently extending his own.

Seen under the interior light, the back of his hand was more disastrous than it had looked at a glance. Ho-jae couldn’t stop his brow from furrowing.

He carefully poured disinfectant on the wound and wiped it with gauze. Jung-hyun’s fingers twitched, perhaps from the sting, but he didn’t pull his hand away.

After the disinfection was finished, Ho-jae spread a thin layer of ointment and meticulously applied a dressing. Then, he gently pressed a cold bottle of ion drink, which he had brought along with the kit, against Jung-hyun’s swollen cheek.

“Keep it there.”

He put the kit back in the bag and placed it in the backseat. Jung-hyun leaned his head against the headrest in silence, gazing out the front windshield, quietly holding the blue ion drink bottle against his cheek.

Instead of asking where to go, Shin Ho-jae leaned over and fastened the seatbelt for him. For some reason, he felt that even if he asked, a proper answer wouldn’t come back.

“I know a place. It’s in Namhae; it should be safe there.”

Ho-jae quietly started the car.

The car carrying the two of them drove for a long time over a road shrouded in darkness.

Since it was a weekday and late at night, the road was empty. Perhaps because of that, it felt as if they were the only two people left in the world.

Whether it was because the situation of running far away in a car with Jung-hyun didn’t feel real, or because he was delighted that something he had only imagined was actually happening, his heart kept floating.

Suddenly, he felt a chilly breeze. Ho-jae glanced at the passenger seat. Jung-hyun had taken off his cap and lowered the window halfway. The ion drink bottle, which must have already cooled down, was resting quietly on his lap.

The wind shook his hair mercilessly. Ho-jae intentionally slowed down. His hair, which had been fluttering frantically, eventually became calm and gentle.

The lights of the road bleeding through the window touched his face and fell away, then touched it and fell away again. Ho-jae’s gaze slowly dropped.

There were many things he wanted to ask—what had happened, who had hit him, what on earth he was running away from—but Ho-jae swallowed all the questions.

Hadn’t he constantly thought that he wanted to be someone Jung-hyun could lean on when things were hard? Therefore, the mere fact that Jung-hyun had told him to run away together was enough.

The sudden surge of exhilaration felt unfamiliar.

Was he delighted that this man, who rarely showed signs of struggling, had shown his weak side only to him? No, the reason didn’t matter.

If he could be someone Jung-hyun could come to and lean on whenever he wanted in the future, he felt he would want for nothing.

If that happened, he felt he could endure it even if Jung-hyun got married in a few weeks.

Yes, that was enough.

Shin Ho-jae tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

They drove like that for nearly three hours. At some point, Jung-hyun rolled the window back up and began to doze off. Wanting him to sleep comfortably, Ho-jae drove with the utmost care.

A short while later, he pulled over at a nearby rest area to refuel.

It was a small rest area. Since it was the early morning hours, the restaurants and convenience stores were all closed, and only a few vending machines were shining brightly.

After filling up the gas, he parked the car in the parking lot. After getting water and warm green tea from the vending machine, Ho-jae, who had roughly tucked the drinks into his pockets, made a phone call. The monotonous ringing tone stopped after a long while.

—Uh… what’s up, Ho Jae-shin?

Ji Min-chul’s voice was thick with sleep.

“Sorry for waking you.”

Shin Ho-jae glanced at Jung-hyun’s sleeping face in the car and continued.

“The Namhae pension your family used to run. Could I possibly use it for a bit right now?”

The safest place among those far from Seoul. The Namhae pension was the first place that came to mind at the word ‘escape.’

It was a place Min-chul’s parents used to operate; it was isolated and overlooked the sea, so there were so few people passing by that it was almost eerie. He remembered hearing that they had recently put it up for sale, but it wasn’t selling easily, perhaps because of the location.

—What…? No one’s been there in a while, so it’ll probably be dirty.

A hint of slight bewilderment was mixed into the sleep-deprived voice.

“It’s okay. I’m asking for a favor.”

—Who’s going? Are you on your way right now?

“Yeah.”

Ho-jae paused after his answer before continuing.

“I’m the one going.”

—You…? At this hour? What’s going on?

“I don’t have time to explain in detail. I’ll explain later, so please give me the address and the door passcode.”

A long sigh was heard from the other end of the phone. Then, a small voice followed, saying, ‘Uh, it’s nothing. Go back to sleep.’ It seemed he had woken up Du-min, who was sleeping next to him. After a moment, as if he had moved locations, Min-chul’s voice grew a bit louder.

—Alright, for now. If you need it, there must be a reason.

“Thanks.”

—I’ll send it to you via KakaoTalk. But Ho Jae-shin, you…

Min-chul’s voice dropped significantly.

—You know our finals are the day after tomorrow, right?

“…….”

Ho-jae clenched his teeth.

With a single word from Ji Min-chul, the things he had been trying to ignore came rushing back like a flood.

The faces of his teammates, the trophy, Coach Peter and Advisor Park Nam-woong, his mother and brother…

At that moment, Ho-jae saw the passenger door opening in his field of vision.

Simultaneously, the things that had been about to overflow the breakwater vanished without a trace.

“I’m hanging up. Please send it right away.”

—Huh? Hey, Ho Jae-shin…

111 – PUCK DROP