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“Ugh… My stomach hurts. I feel like my head’s going to split…”
It feels like I’ve experienced this similar sensation recently… Han Jaekyung opened his eyes with a strange sense of déjà vu. His throat was parched as if on fire, while simultaneously feeling like his stomach was completely turned upside down. He couldn’t sleep any longer due to the fierce headache that felt like someone was hammering at his temples.
“Hm…? What the. How did I get home…”
The soft texture of the blanket wrapped around his limbs and the nice silk pajamas were what he always used. Judging by the identical wallpaper pattern on the ceiling, he had somehow made it home, but his memory was blank. The last thing he remembered was getting a call from Moon Yeonu, who called him out without reason and they headed to some nearby barbecue restaurant.
“Haaah. I don’t know… Maybe I took a taxi or something…”
Since his body was tired, even thinking was bothersome. Han Jaekyung yawned languidly and was about to just sprawl on the bed and close his eyes again.
“Wait. What time is it now?”
He really would have, if he hadn’t suddenly realized he needed to go to work.
“Ah, fuck… I’m screwed, really.”
Checking his phone, the time was already closer to lunch than morning. No matter how little work there was to do on this assignment, he couldn’t slack off to this extent.
Han Jaekyung immediately sent a message to the legal team leader saying he wasn’t feeling well and had stopped by the hospital, apologizing for not contacting in advance, then hurriedly washed his face and threw on clothes. On the way out, if he got acupuncture at a nearby oriental medicine clinic and got a treatment confirmation issued with today’s date, he figured he could somehow muddle through. Now that things with Jang Yeonhu had become irreversible, he couldn’t afford to get a reputation for slacking off because he trusted in Yeonhu.
“……”
At that thought, his hands that were busily tying his necktie stiffened.
“Ha, fuck… Just quit. Quit everything.”
Han Jaekyung carelessly ripped off the half-tied necktie and threw it away, then flopped back down on the bed.
His desire to finish this assignment well was also because he was thinking of building his career a bit more so that when Jang Yeonhu took on important responsibilities later, he could officially secure a position in the legal team too. But given how things had turned out, he wondered if there was any point in doing so.
[Apologize to Eunseong first. Until then, I won’t see you.]
“Crazy bastard… So what if you don’t see me, like anyone would be sorry.”
Jaekyung gritted his teeth and muttered. Even thinking about it again made him feel indignant and furious beyond endurance. His burning stomach was probably all because of that too. How dare Jang Yeonhu.
“What did I do so wrong? If you don’t see me, it’s your loss, not mine, right?”
His grumbling words were full of anger, but even so, his fingers were quick as they thoroughly searched through his phone’s message box and call records. He was looking to see if Jang Yeonhu had left any contact. But the only new messages on Han Jaekyung’s phone were a reply from the legal team leader saying not to push yourself if you’re sick, rest well today, and a message Moon Yeonu had sent early in the morning asking if he was alive. Just those two.
“Ah, so annoying…”
Surrounded by the deeply sinking mattress, he wanted to disappear without a trace just like this. When he clenched his fists, the fingertips he had gnawed at thoroughly over the past few days stung.
After lying face down like that for a long while, letting out silent screams, Han Jaekyung finally got up again only when the thirst he’d been feeling could no longer be endured. Wearing the bizarre combination of pajama pants and a dress shirt, he limped out of the bedroom to find a hangover remedy and neatly packaged but completely cold hangover soup sitting on the dining table. Han Jaekyung knew better than anyone that if he hadn’t exceeded his drinking limit, a drunk version of himself wouldn’t have had the presence of mind to bring home such things.
Jaekyung took out a water bottle cold enough to snap him awake from the refrigerator and gulped it down while thinking. …That bastard Moon Yeonu. He has some admirable qualities.
Just as he had that thought, with ghostly timing, Moon Yeonu called. He wasn’t in a position to be a gentleman either.
-Did you wake up? I called since you finally checked your message.
“Yeah.”
-How’s your stomach, feeling okay?
“Yeah.”
-Wow, making the person who thoughtfully called feel awkward… Can’t you speak nicely?
“Fuck… You used to say since my face was pretty, my words could be a bit rude.”
-Wow, I acknowledge Lawyer Han’s memory. How do you still remember something I said in passing when we were twenty?
Moon Yeonu chuckled, adding that if he wanted to seduce someone, there was nothing he couldn’t say. Han Jaekyung, who had downed the remaining half of the water bottle in one go, opened his mouth mercilessly toward such Moon Yeonu.
“Stop bullshitting and hang up if there’s no business. My head is ringing.”
-If you get ready and come out, what time can you be here by? Let’s go cure your hangover.
“…? What? Weren’t the hangover soup and remedy at my place bought by you? Why are you trying to make me cure my hangover twice?”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. Han Jaekyung urged the other party several times, saying “Hello? Hello, Moon Yeonu, hey.”
-Uh, yeah. Sorry. Someone came to ask me something for a moment. Then is dinner later okay? I suffered so much because of you yesterday. If you have any conscience, at least buy me a meal. You look skinny but why are you so heavy?
“Don’t lie. Yeon…”
Yeonhu never once said I was heavy. Such words almost slipped out habitually. Ingrained habits were this scary. Han Jaekyung sucked in a breath and blinked his eyes several times.
“Moon Yeonu, I have something to ask you.”
-Speak.
“Did I perhaps yesterday…”
-If you’re asking whether you cried again, yes.
“……”
-It’s not like it’s been a day or two. Seeing it after a long time was somewhat refreshing.
“Don’t you… ask what happened?”
-I don’t know. I don’t want to know either. More than that, so are you buying dinner later or not?”
“… Come to my place by seven. If you brought me home yesterday, you know the location.”
-Okay. I’ll park around the shopping area at the complex entrance and call. See you later.
While he didn’t know how Jang Yeonhu, who had to handle all of Han Jaekyung’s difficult temperament, felt about it, the past few years had been quite peaceful and enjoyable for Han Jaekyung. Perhaps reassured by seeing Jang Yeonhu approach company work with considerable enthusiasm, Chairman Noh didn’t particularly bring up talk of engagement, and as long as they wore the nameplate of ‘friends,’ everyone pretended not to see Yeonhu actively stepping up for Jaekyung’s affairs.
So Han Jaekyung had dared to be happy without knowing his place. Perhaps in this state… vain hopes had grown luxuriantly that he might be able to let time flow by steadily and calmly without any major changes. If Jang Yeonhu really got engaged, and then married, the story might be different, but he had blindly believed that the one fact that Yeonhu’s first priority was Han Jaekyung would remain an unchanging truth for all time. Now it was all just illusions proven to be mirages.
Han Jaekyung, who had been staring at the disconnected phone for a while, soon made up his mind firmly and rummaged through his contacts again.
“Hello, office manager. This is Han Jaekyung.”
-Oh my, Lawyer Han. It’s been a while. How’s the assignment going? Are you returning next week?
“Yes. Thanks to your concern, it’s wrapping up safely.”
-Time really flies. Oh, when you return, you’ll be promoted right away, won’t you? Congratulations in advance.
“Thank you. Um… I called because I have something to ask.”
-Please go ahead.
Han Jaekyung’s personality wasn’t mild enough to meekly bow his head and comply with words to apologize to someone since they’d never see each other again.
“…Company housing application. Is it still possible?”
-Oh, of course. After all, you’re our law firm’s youngest partner. I’ll check through the person in charge and contact you again. Do you happen to have a specific date you need it by?
“There’s no set date, but the sooner the better.”
It would be somewhat unfortunate for Jang Yeonhu, who still didn’t know his number was blocked and continued leaving messages.
With the feeling of steadily solving overdue homework, Jaekyung chose his next call recipient. He had absolutely no intention of bowing his head to Choi Eunseong first, even if it killed him. For whose benefit?
Ring ring, ring ring… As the dial tone went on for a long time, he felt like hanging up right then and there, but Jaekyung forced himself to look away from such impulses. It was a problem he had to address at least once anyway. When he had finally steeled his resolve, wouldn’t it be better to take the beating first?
-Mmm, Jaekyung. Sorry, sorry. I was getting a facial.
The person who answered with a languid voice was Madam Yu, who could be said to be the main culprit who had made Jang Yeonhu and Han Jaekyung’s relationship into this state. Madam Yu seemed confident that everything would have been resolved just by Jaekyung stepping up, and without even hearing a progress report, she first put premature pleasantries in her mouth, saying “Did things go well? You worked hard.”
Jaekyung just chewed his lips while quietly listening to Madam Yu chatter, then quickly spat out the words he had prepared.
-So you see, one of our tea party members knows that family’s daughter-in-law. We should meet once next week and subtly observe the family atmosphere-
“Young madam. Yeonhu and that friend haven’t broken up yet.”
-Hm? What do you mean? Did you perhaps not deliver the message yet, Jaekyung?
“No. I proposed the exact amount you gave me, but they flatly rejected it. Yeonhu found out about it too, so things ended very badly.”
-That can’t be. Even though you stepped up, Jaekyung, Yeonhu didn’t bend his stubbornness?
“…Right. Anyway, I’ll return the money you gave me. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask me to do this kind of thing again.”
Even as he spoke, his heart was pounding. It was because this was the first time he had spoken to Madam Yu in such a strong tone. Whenever facing Madam Yu, Jaekyung had always been anxious about potentially earning her dislike if he made a mistake.
He had maintained such a firm attitude toward that Madam Yu. This meant that the incident of being caught offering an envelope of money to Yeonhu’s lover in front of Yeonhu had been an unbearably terrible and humiliating experience for Han Jaekyung.
-Can’t be helped, I understand for now. Let’s hang up.
With a voice tinged with disappointment, Madam Yu hastily hung up. Since the card she had trusted had no effect, she seemed ready to look into other means. Though he had long since etched into his mind the fact that Madam Yu only regarded him as an easy tool to handle Jang Yeonhu, strangely his heart felt unsettled.
Jaekyung stood there blankly for a long while, holding the disconnected phone. He felt like he had become completely useless waste.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
