36
As soon as Ojun arrived at work, he discovered coffee and a note sitting on his desk. The coffee was obviously from Wooseok. Doesn’t he ever get tired? Ojun sighed.
After ending their conversation so awkwardly that day, Wooseok hadn’t said another word during the drive back. Only a terrible silence had filled the car.
So he thought that would be the end, but the next morning, there was coffee waiting again.
Ojun typed and deleted messages to Wooseok several times. There had been no special contact from Wooseok either.
What could be written on the note? Ojun was afraid. It might contain a request to finish the conversation they hadn’t concluded that day.
Though he didn’t like continuing this frustrating situation, the thought of it ending also felt abrupt in its own way.
Should I just throw it away without looking? After contemplating, Ojun unfolded the paper.
-Please tell Director Choi Wooseok that I need to see him today.
That was close. I almost threw away something important. Ojun felt relieved.
But why? Usually, the Center Director begs to meet, and Wooseok refuses. Why summon him at a time like this? Ojun felt troubled.
-To Director Choi Wooseok
-I’m emailing because the Center Director has requested to see you today. Please let me know what time works for you, and I’ll schedule the appointment.
Ojun sent the email and took a sip of the cold coffee.
After spending quite a while organizing documents that needed to be sorted in the morning, Ojun checked his email and cursed.
Wooseok had been ignoring the email for two hours.
Is he doing this on purpose? Ojun banged his head on the desk. Since his position wasn’t one that stays cooped up in an office even when working in the guiding department… Ojun called the Guide Department through the internal line.
[Yes, Guiding Department.]
“Hello, this is Secretary Yoon Ojun from the Center Director’s office. Is Director Choi Wooseok there?”
[Oh. Yes. One moment!]
There was some noise. Then Ojun overheard a low male voice saying, ‘Just tell them I’m not here.’ When the person returned to the phone, they sounded uncomfortable.
[Ah, I… was mistaken. I’m told the Director is on a business trip today.]
What bullshit. He’s on a business trip but delivered coffee this morning? How romantic. Ojun gritted his teeth.
“I see. It’s quite urgent. Since it’s a directive from the Center Director, please tell him to check his email immediately upon his return.”
[Ah. Yes, yes!]
Ojun emphasized the words “urgent” and “Center Director.” Shortly after the call ended, Wooseok read the email. But instead of replying to the email, a text message arrived on Ojun’s phone.
-I’m not going. So please tell him I can’t make it.
Is he joking? When the Center Director says he wants to see you today, it means TODAY! You’re a department director, but saying you’ll come or not while putting me in a difficult position! Ojun suppressed the urge to throw his phone by thinking about his remaining installment payments.
What should I say to make this bastard come quietly? While Ojun was contemplating, the Center Director, who had just returned from stepping out, called him.
“Did you contact Director Choi Wooseok?”
“Ah, yes. I think he’ll let us know his availability soon.”
Ojun smiled awkwardly. The Center Director seemed to think about something, then nodded and went into his office. Ojun immediately headed to the Guiding Department.
Wooseok was sitting on one of the cots, exchanging jokes with other guides. Haha, sounds of cheerful laughter could be heard.
Unlike when he visited the Center Director’s office, he was wearing a white coat as if on duty, which looked quite unfamiliar to Ojun.
Wooseok noticed Ojun approaching and his expression hardened. His eyebrows seemed to furrow slightly. He emanated a cold aura, contrasting with his laughing face from moments ago. The guide next to him read the atmosphere and quickly moved away.
“You seem to have a lot of free time.”
Wooseok’s eyebrows twitched.
“I think that comment is a bit inappropriate. Here, being busy means there’s an emergency.”
Ojun felt disgusted.
“The Center Director requested to see you, but you didn’t reply to the email.”
“I texted…”
Wooseok started to answer reflexively but stopped mid-sentence. He seemed to realize he was advertising his own foolishness by responding to an official email with a private text after just lecturing about inappropriate comments.
“I didn’t receive any reply.”
Ojun answered firmly. He tried to maintain a calm, expressionless face. It didn’t matter anyway since the mistake was on Wooseok’s side.
Wooseok looked at Ojun for a moment, then stood up.
“Let’s go.”
They got on the elevator without exchanging a single word until then.
After pressing the button for the floor with the Center Director’s office and as the doors closed, Ojun spoke.
“Since you didn’t notify me of your availability in advance, you might have to wait.”
“Did I make things difficult for you?”
Wooseok’s voice was quite gentle. Instead of answering, Ojun chose to stare straight ahead. A soft sigh was heard. Why is HE sighing? Ojun turned to look at Wooseok.
“Director, please separate personal and professional matters from now on.”
Wooseok blinked with a slightly surprised expression. But. He began to say something.
“Please.”
Ojun added.
Huh. Wooseok gave a hollow laugh. The elevator doors opened. Ojun quickly stepped out and picked up the phone connected to the Center Director’s office.
***
Jihwan spotted someone who looked like Minjae walking toward the Center’s main entrance. Since his collapse, it seemed Minjae had been cleverly avoiding Jihwan, so they hadn’t met often.
Although Wooseok had told him Minjae was awake—which made Jihwan even more worried—afterward, Minjae had been popping up here and there like Hong Gil-dong and rarely responded to communications.
Is he feeling better now? Jihwan quickly flew over, landed nearby, and observed the person presumed to be Minjae.
He was wearing a black hoodie and black pants, and Jihwan could confirm it was indeed Minjae from his profile when he occasionally looked back.
But why is Sunbae carrying a guitar? Jihwan wondered if Minjae had taken up a new hobby. Minjae looked around briefly, then left the Center. Are you headed outside? Why? Jihwan followed, pondering.
Following Minjae, Jihwan headed to a university district. There were definitely many people wearing university jackets. Why a university area? Jihwan was perplexed.
Moreover, Minjae wasn’t entering anywhere or meeting anyone; he was just wandering the streets and collecting flyers. What exactly are you doing? As Jihwan was thinking, he quickly hid behind a utility pole when Minjae turned in his direction.
Then Jihwan got a proper look at the clothes Minjae was wearing for the first time. It was a hoodie with a strange skull design.
What is that? Jihwan twisted his head this way and that to get a better look. He even rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t a mistake; he really was wearing a weird shirt.
What’s going on? A change of heart? Jihwan’s feelings became complicated. Fortunately, Minjae either didn’t notice Jihwan or looked away again.
Someone approached Minjae. He had flyers in his hand. There was only one reason someone would approach a strangely dressed wandering man with flyers.
Jihwan expected to see how coolly Senior Minjae would deal with this pseudo-religious group.
Surprisingly, however, Minjae responded positively to the nonsense from the man standing in front of him. He seemed to consider it and even nodded.
Come on, can’t you tell just by looking? Jihwan suddenly remembered that Minjae had mentioned not having visited many places. He wondered if Minjae didn’t know much about the world because he’d lived in the Center for a long time.
He’s going to get dragged off at this rate. Becoming urgent, Jihwan stepped out from behind the utility pole and quickly approached Minjae.
The person standing in front of Minjae was making a strange proposal, suggesting they go to a nearby café. As expected, Minjae wasn’t explicitly refusing and was responding ambiguously.
When the tall Jihwan approached, the man standing in front of Minjae stepped back slightly.
“Sunbae?”
Minjae looked at Jihwan with a surprised expression. Then he quickly averted his eyes.
“Y-you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
What? Jihwan examined Minjae’s face. Looking closely, his hair was blonde.
Jihwan was momentarily confused. Did he dye his hair so quickly? Or does he have a hidden twin brother?
“Min…”
Just as Jihwan was about to ask, “Aren’t you Senior Minjae?” he couldn’t continue after uttering the first syllable. Minjae glared at him and stepped hard on his foot.
Though there wasn’t any sound, Jihwan felt a moment of dizziness. It hurt so much he couldn’t even scream. Ignoring Jihwan’s contorted expression, Minjae suddenly smiled and greeted him.
“Oh, looking closer, it’s Deokgu. Hi.”
Deokgu? Isn’t that a name usually given to dogs? Though he couldn’t understand exactly what was happening, Jihwan didn’t want to create another situation where he’d be scolded for acting rashly like before.
“Did you attend class well? This gentleman is introducing us to an extracurricular activity that offers volunteer hours.”
Minjae’s voice was slightly higher than usual. Jihwan watched Minjae carefully and was about to say something.
That’s when Minjae grabbed Jihwan’s arm and pulled him slightly.
“Shall we do it together?”
Minjae smiled. The clearly cult-like man, now thinking he had caught both of them, smiled kindly and handed a flyer to Jihwan as well.
“It’s good if your friend joins too. You can make memories together.”
In the end, Jihwan found himself sitting in a café with Minjae and that man. The cult man, excited about having caught two people, went on and on about some strange “mind training camp” aside from the pretense of offering “volunteer points.”
“But this isn’t something where we go and they try to make us believe in God, right?”
“Oh! No, not at all!”
The cult man shook his head vigorously and frowned.
“Then… is it Buddhist?”
Jihwan asked cautiously.
“No! Oh my, your junior is quite suspicious. Look here, we have a certificate proving we’re an institution that can provide volunteer hours. Would the government give something like this to just anyone?”
You could probably get this from a church after doing volunteer work too. Jihwan thought but kept his mouth shut. Fortunately, Senior Minjae seemed to be reconsidering the situation due to Jihwan’s questioning. This should be enough to warn him discreetly, right?
“Ah, I really said this with good intentions, but if you’re going to be so suspicious, I feel hurt. If you disliked it so much, you should have said you wouldn’t do it from the beginning. Do you think we have few people applying for this extracurricular activity?”
The cult man had now changed his approach. Wait, if you have many people who want to do it, why not just take applications? Why are you stopping people on the street, making a show, and dragging them to cafés? Jihwan was getting increasingly heated.
“Sunbae, let’s just…”
“Ah, I’ll do it. That’s fine, isn’t it?”
Jihwan’s assertive suggestion to just leave was cut off. No. What’s going on? Jihwan stared blankly at Minjae, dumbfounded.
“Sunbae?”
“Are you not going to do it? If not, that’s fine.”
The implication was that even if Jihwan didn’t participate, Minjae would. Sunbaenim??? Jihwan felt like crying.
They say once you enter a cult’s den, you can’t get out. While Jihwan was sinking into despair, the cult man asked them to fill out their personal information on an application form. Minjae began writing without hesitation.
-Kim Minseok.
Huh? Jihwan noticed from the corner of his eye that Minjae was writing a different name. At least Sunbae still has some caution! Jihwan felt somewhat reassured.
Jihwan began filling out the application form with the name Minjae had newly given him(?). That’s how Jihwan became Kang Deokgu.
“By the way, have we met before?”
The cult man asked Jihwan. What kind of outdated pickup line is this? Jihwan shook his head.
“You look familiar…”
The cult man muttered.
“He has a common face, so he often gets mistaken for others.”
When Minjae spoke, the cult man nodded repeatedly.
“If you have time, would you like to come and observe our regular mind training meeting that’s currently being held at our retreat center’s main building?”
The cult man asked. Despite mentioning a camp, it seemed they had a main building too. Even more suspicious.
“Shall we?”
Before Jihwan could stop him, Minjae fell for it completely. No!!! Jihwan wanted to scream.
“Do we have to go right now?”
“You can meet up with us later if you prefer.”
Minjae was resolute. Jihwan swallowed his tears and answered.
“I have time…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
