By Zephyria 
【I’ll pick up the painting. And put the furniture back where it was.】
Choi Won-joon didn’t reply to Lee-eum’s message even after a day. Did he block him in the meantime? Lee-eum thought about calling but decided against it and turned on the TV. His favorite current affairs program was airing.
Lee-eum sat down and took out the soju he had bought from the convenience store. All he had for snacks were crackers, but he didn’t care. He poured soju into a water glass and sipped it while listening to the TV, but unlike usual, he couldn’t concentrate.
After finishing a whole bottle, he grabbed several cans of beer from the refrigerator. Then he looked around the house. It felt especially empty today. He didn’t notice when he lived alone, but it was obvious when one person was gone.
“Ah—it’s so nice and quiet!”
He said it loudly on purpose, even though no one was listening, and changed the channel. After skipping through dramas, movies, and entertainment shows, there wasn’t much to watch. He ended up finding a crime-related program where a familiar criminal psychologist analyzed famous cases.
【Aren’t you tired of seeing bad guys day and night? Why don’t we watch a porno instead?】
Lee-eum looked to his side without realizing it. Was he drunk? He felt like he could hear Choi Won-joon’s silly jokes. In the meantime, the doorbell rang, and Lee-eum hurriedly stood up, hitting his knee on the table.
“Ugh!”
He limped to the intercom, where a stranger’s face appeared on the screen.
“Who is it?”
【Hello, I’m moving into the apartment downstairs.】
He went to the front door and opened it, and a young man bowed politely. He said he was preparing to move in and asked for a signature on a consent form for the interior work. Lee-eum received the paper and scribbled his signature in the blank next to his apartment number.
“We’ll finish as quickly as possible, so please understand if it’s noisy.”
Then he handed over a roll cake. Lee-eum refused several times, but the man insisted on giving it to him.
“By the way, does no one live in the apartment across the hall? I haven’t seen anyone, even during the day.”
Lee-eum stared at the apartment across the hall. Choi Won-joon had bought it, but no one lived there, so it was as good as having no owner. Should he just ask for the password to put the painting there?
The man from downstairs said he hoped they could become friends and went down the stairs. After closing the door and coming inside, Lee-eum felt a pain in his knee. He bent down to look at it and saw that the area hit by the corner was red.
“Damn it, I’m going to get a bruise…”
Lee-eum put the roll cake on the table and suddenly wondered why he had rushed out like a fool. Soon, someone’s face came to mind, but he shook his head violently to get rid of it. Then he went back to the TV and sat down.
【Sociopaths, you see, often lie as easily as they breathe. They don’t feel any remorse.】
Lee-eum nodded as he drank his beer, listening to the psychologist.
“That’s right. I know someone like that very well.”
【They like to manipulate others and are likely to be Narcissists.】
“Sounds like Choi Won-joon to me.”
【On the other hand, many Sociopaths are attractive. So people feel a twisted attraction to them and may even feel sexually attracted to them. There are people who know they are bad people but can’t escape and wander around. Sociopaths know exactly who their prey is.】
Lee-eum narrowed his eyes with a displeased expression. As the psychologist continued to speak, he changed the channel and grumbled. Attractive my ass. All nonsense. Lee-eum crumpled the beer can and pushed it aside. Before he knew it, the number of empty cans had increased, and he began to feel sleepy.
He got up and went to the bathroom, where he saw two toothbrushes neatly placed. He took out Choi Won-joon’s toothbrush and threw it away, brushed his teeth, and then collapsed on the bed. He liked the widened bed and waved his arms and legs up and down, hee hee, and laughed.
He tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep, but he couldn’t easily get a good night’s sleep. Should he have drunk more alcohol…? He picked up the phone he had placed on his bedside table to play some quiet classical music, but the message he had sent to Choi Won-joon caught his eye.
It still hadn’t been read. Lee-eum was about to send another message but stopped and wrapped the blanket around himself. Perhaps because of the alcohol, his body temperature rose, so he lowered the air conditioner temperature and eventually threw off his top. But he still couldn’t fall asleep, and his mind was becoming clearer and clearer.
❖ ❖ ❖
Lee-eum headed straight to the kitchen, trying to soothe his aching stomach. He had been waking up and falling asleep all night, so his head was foggy and his eyelids were sinking endlessly. He poured a glass of water and drank it to wake up, and then the doorbell rang.
He slowly went to the intercom, where his Noona’s face appeared. Unlike his Hyung, who pressed the password and came in as he pleased, his Noona was still polite. He opened the door, and his Noona, dressed in sportswear, shook a paper bag in her hand.
“I bought this from your favorite sandwich shop. Eat it.”
“What’s going on from this early in the morning?”
“I was going home after jogging when I suddenly became curious about something.”
Before he could ask what it was, she passed Lee-eum and headed to the living room. She put the packaged sandwiches on the table and turned on her phone to check something. She was standing in front of the painting Choi Won-joon had brought, and he couldn’t understand what was going on.
“Crazy…”
Lee-eum approached his Noona, who was talking to herself.
“What are you doing?”
Then his Noona showed him her phone. To be exact, it was the seal under a painter’s painting. The atmosphere of the painting Lee-eum had was similar, and the seal was the same.
“There’s a very famous painter named Lee Sang-jo.”
Lee-eum asked with a nonchalant expression.
“Who’s Lee Sang-jo?”
“Choi Won-joon’s Maternal Grandfather.”
Choi Won-joon had explained before that some of the paintings were left to him by his Maternal Grandfather. He wasn’t surprised because he knew that his Maternal Grandfather was a painter, but judging from his Noona’s reaction, there must be something more.
“So what?”
“So what? This guy’s painting was sold at auction in Japan last year for 6 billion won.”
Lee-eum couldn’t close his mouth. 6 billion…? For a painting with only a bird on it? His Noona was more knowledgeable about art than he was, so it couldn’t be a joke.
“No way, it can’t be a fake…”
“Do you think your Grandfather would leave a fake to his grandson?”
Lee-eum’s face hardened at his Noona’s words. If it was real, this was no ordinary matter. Lee-eum was a civil servant, and if he kept it as it was, there could be problems later. He hurriedly took out his phone and contacted Choi Won-joon. The signal went through, and after a while, a voice was heard from the receiver.
【Hello…?】
Lee-eum was flustered by the sudden woman’s voice. He couldn’t speak, so he hung up the phone as it was, and his Noona, who was in front of him, asked him what was wrong.
“He didn’t answer?”
“No… someone else answered…”
“Who else?”
Lee-eum lied that it was Director Lee because his Noona’s tone was somewhat sharp. There was no need to, but he couldn’t understand why he was making excuses. His Noona told him to get rid of the painting as soon as possible before any problems arose, and Lee-eum nodded, saying he understood.
After his Noona left, Lee-eum, who was left alone, went to the sofa and slumped down. The languid woman’s voice, as if she had just woken up, was enough to make him imagine various things.
He scoffed in disbelief. It wasn’t exactly a situation where he felt betrayed. He wasn’t dating Choi Won-joon, it was just a contractual relationship. Lee-eum was the one who suggested ending it first.
Lee-eum took a breath and wrote a message to send to Choi Won-joon.
【Take the painting away quickly. Or I’ll burn it all.】
After writing it, he thought it looked too emotional, so he removed the part about burning it. Then he pressed the send button and went into the bedroom. He was about to take off his clothes to shower when he saw Choi Won-joon’s neatly folded bear shirt on one side. After hesitating, Lee-eum threw it in the trash can and muttered.
“You fucking whore…”
❖ ❖ ❖
Choi Won-joon, who was looking in the mirror and tying his tie, found Lee-eum’s phone number on his phone and picked up another phone on the table. After pressing the call button, he played the recording, and a woman’s voice flowed out. Hello?
Kim Yi-eum was silent, and after a while, the phone hung up. Won-joon smiled mischievously, and Director Lee was watching it all from behind.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I’m pathetic?”
“Is your plan to switch to make him jealous?”
“Isn’t it childish?”
Director Lee didn’t answer, and Won-joon untied his tie and tied the next one.
“Love is originally a childish emotion. I realized that after 34 years.”
“I didn’t know you were serious.”
“That’s right. I was just going to use him, but it turned out like this. Ah, I don’t like the tie today.”
“I’ll contact the department store.”
“It’s okay. Not having one is fine too. It looks freer.”
“But Chairman Choi…”
Won-joon gestured for him not to nag anymore. Chairman Choi insisted on ties unconditionally and the same went for his sons. He had repeatedly told them not to come to work in just a shirt without a tie like a gangster. Won-joon finally took off his tie and smiled, looking in the mirror with a satisfied expression.
“I wonder what kind of expression he’s making now. Did he call me a fucking whore? Even if he’s not jealous, he’ll be annoyed, right? He’ll be bothered, right?”
“……”
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Can I be honest with you…?”
“As much as you want.”
“Kim Yi-eum won’t care much. There’s a possibility that he won’t be interested at all.”
Director Lee made eye contact with Choi Won-joon in the mirror and closed his mouth. It was because he was glaring with his brows furrowed. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, and Choi Won-joon only smiled.
“Where are you going for vacation this time? Mountains or the sea?”
Then Director Lee answered firmly.
“I like hotels.”