Chapter 135
“Fuck, no. I don’t know who it is, but don’t like them. We agreed to live independently together when we go to college. Did you forget our promise?”
“Promise? Who promised? You just rambled on by yourself. Say something that makes sense.”
“I’m seriously not giving up.”
“Just wait and see once time passes. You won’t even contact me. Later, you’ll be the one ignoring my calls.”
Eunseong, who had been scolding Choi Jung-eon for still talking nonsense, paused. Yoo Siwoon had said something similar to him. He said that after entering university and seeing pretty friends, getting used to new life, his feelings of liking him, his misunderstanding of the desire to depend on someone as affection, would disappear naturally. That he wouldn’t even remember when he had such feelings.
“That’s not true, it won’t happen! I only have you! We’re married!”
“You crazy bastard. Don’t project your delusional dreams onto me.”
“It’s not a delusion. Dreams come true!”
“Shut up. Everyone will hear.”
“I don’t want to!”
After meeting Choi Jung-eon for the first time in months, Eunseong enjoyed spending time with him and then said goodbye. Jung-eon looked back and forth between the black sedan parked on the street and Director Nam who stood waiting for Eunseong.
“Aha, is that him?”
“Huh?”
“The old-fashioned guy you mentioned. The ahjussi who looks old-fashioned. The old-fashioned ahjussi who says old-fashioned things very politely. That’s him, right?”
“Are you talking about me right now?”
Director Nam unpleasantly looked down at Choi Jung-eon who was chattering right beside him and frowned one eyebrow.
“Wow, fuck. The NPC is talking.”
Choi Jung-eon made a dramatic gesture of genuine surprise and hid behind Eunseong’s back.
The executioner, who had gotten out of the driver’s seat to open the car door for Eunseong, smirked when he saw Director Nam’s displeased expression.
The executioner politely opened the back door and gestured for Eunseong to get in. Eunseong looked at him uncomfortably. He had seen him reverently placing his hand on his collar a few days ago. He had looked like someone praying with his hands on Jesus’s relics, and when he told Yoo Siwoon about it, he had only given the contextless response to be kind to the working people.
“I’ll go now. I’d like to take you home, but he says I can’t.”
“Who, the old-fashioned ahjussi?”
“…”
At Jung-eon’s question, Eunseong turned to look at Director Nam. Director Nam shook his head.
“It’s not possible. It’s already very late.”
“It’s fine. I can take the bus. He says it’s dirty and won’t ride it.”
Choi Jung-eon waved his hand to tell Eunseong to go.
“Call me. Oh, and I put something in your bag earlier, so check it.”
“What is it? When did you put it?”
“Earlier when we were eating.”
“What is it, a present?”
“Yeah, something I extorted from you before. I’m giving it back now.”
“…”
Not only did Eunseong not have anything worth coveting, but Choi Jung-eon had only verbally extorted him and never actually taken anything. Eunseong tried to recall if such a thing had happened, but couldn’t think of anything, so he looked at Jung-eon curiously.
“You like hot fried chicken, right?”
“What? What’s with the random comment? Hot fried chicken?”
“Yeah, hot fried chicken. Later, tell me if you want to eat hot fried chicken. Anyway, take care. Call me! Don’t ignore me.”
“Alright. Don’t you ignore me either. I’m going now. Go home safely.”
“Yeah, yeah, hurry up and go.”
After such a chaotic and loud farewell, Eunseong got into the car. The executioner closed the car door for him. He got into the driver’s seat, and Director Nam got in beside him. Eunseong lowered the car window and waved until Choi Jung-eon disappeared from sight, and Jung-eon also stood on the roadside waving continuously.
“How did you survive feeling so suffocated all this time?”
“Not being allowed to go out wasn’t that suffocating, but honestly, not being able to curse in front of you, ahjussi, was a bit stifling.”
Director Nam, who had been watching their farewell through the side mirror, made a comment. Eunseong finally pulled his head and hands back in from the car window, sat properly in his seat, and replied.
Director Nam thought, was that so? and reflected on Eunseong’s usual speech habits. Come to think of it, he had frowned just now when all sorts of swear words and vulgar terms kept pouring out of their mouths while they were together. He had no memory of hearing Eunseong use such low-class language.
“If you felt suffocated, why didn’t you just do it? Why didn’t you curse?”
“Because I thought you might think I was poorly raised. You don’t curse, ahjussi.”
“The CEO… I see. I’ve never heard the CEO curse either.”
Instead, I’ve seen him kill many people.
He once burned a policeman’s mouth with a cigarette.
He even made a fuss about shooting someone to death.
Too many instances came to mind at once where it might have been better if that refined ruffian had just cursed instead, and Director Nam shook his head.
“Ah, right. The extorted item.”
Eunseong recalled Choi Jung-eon’s words and rummaged through his bag. Indeed, there was something in the front pocket of his bag, though he wasn’t sure when it had been put there. When he opened the zipper to check, he found a cell phone. It wasn’t something that had been taken from him, nor was it his property. There was a note attached to the phone.
[No one must find out. Hide the phone, throw away the note immediately.]
Eunseong looked down at the phone and note, then reflexively glanced at Director Nam sitting in the front seat. He wasn’t interested in what was happening in the back. Eunseong quietly put the phone back in the front pocket of his bag, crumpled the note and hid it in his fist, then opened the car window and secretly threw it away.
“Hot fried chicken…”
“If you’re in a situation where you can’t talk properly because someone is next to you, if that’s the case, say you want to eat chicken. Say you want hot fried. That will be our code from now on. Hot fried. If you say hot fried, I’ll ask my older acquaintances to kill them all for you, like last time.”
“…Is that what he meant?”
Eunseong tilted his head, not understanding Choi Jung-eon’s unexpected behavior.
“Jung-eon and I ate tteokbokki and made fried rice. I also bragged that I’ll be going to America soon.”
“What else did you talk about?”
“Umm, also, remember the mushrooms you sent to Jung-eon’s house before, ahjussi? He said they were extremely delicious. He said both his ahjussi and ajumma really enjoyed them.”
“I should send more then.”
“He said it was really expensive, is that true?”
“Well, I’m not sure. The staff sent it. I just remember asking them to send something good.”
Eunseong entered Yoo Siwoon’s study after having dinner with him and sat on the blanket where the telescope was placed, chattering about what had happened today. Though he had been constantly busy with work recently, Yoo Siwoon still diligently responded to Eunseong’s stories while sorting through his documents.
“Oh, and I also told him about greeting the family elders, and about my father’s passing.”
“You did?”
His eyes, which had been looking down at the desk, turned toward Eunseong. It was a concerned look, wondering if he was handling the great loss well. It was a past event, and he had already spent enough emotion on it, but Yoo Siwoon worried that sharing the sad news with a close friend might have freshly stimulated Eunseong’s grief.
Yoo Siwoon covered all his work and got up from his seat to approach Eunseong. Eunseong turned his head toward him with a thoughtful expression.
“Did you talk about it well? You didn’t cry while talking about it?”
“What? I’m not a child… I just talked about it calmly. Jung-eon got angry when I told him I had been really sad. He knows my father used to hit me. Well, everyone in that neighborhood knew about it…”
“He’s a good friend. I get angry too, even hearing about it now.”
Yoo Siwoon’s hand brushed back Eunseong’s hair. Eunseong’s cautious eyes looked up at him. He had never kept anything from him before, but somehow he couldn’t tell him about the phone in his bag and the note that said not to let anyone find out. This was because when he first came here, Director Nam had taken Eunseong’s phone, replacing it with a new one, and never returned the original.
“And I also talked about this.”
“What kind of talk?”
“How well you treat me, ahjussi… that you treat me extremely, extremely well, as if you’ll give me everything, as if you’ll do everything for me.”
“You talked about that?”
“But… I couldn’t tell him that I like you.”
“…”
“I thought he might find it strange. You and I are… relatives. It would seem strange to others if a cousin’s nephew liked his uncle. But, that’s not a crime, is it?”
Eunseong’s hand fidgeted meaninglessly with the hem of his shirt as he asked worriedly.
“A crime? It’s not like that.”
“…It might not be a crime, but it doesn’t seem like something to be proud of either.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
