# Chapter 45
“……”
It was literally silence. A brief moment of quiet felt extremely long. Despite the awkwardness that should come with no words being exchanged, Woojae didn’t remove his hands from under his chin.
Seowoo let out a deep sigh and pushed Woojae’s forehead with his fingertip.
“Is talking nonsense a disease? Is it contagious?”
“No, why? I’m totally serious!”
“Alright, just put away that flower-stand pose first.”
Woojae visibly pouted and folded his arms on the table.
“But hyung, I’ve told you before. If you want to find Jinhyuk, I can help you.”
At Woojae’s voice full of indignation, Seowoo suddenly recalled past events. Come to think of it, Woojae had mentioned something like that before.
‘Hyung, should I try to find him?’
‘…Find what?’
‘If something really happened to him, that would be bad. If you’re okay with it, I can look into it.’
The conversation had fizzled out because Seo Dohyun suddenly appeared, but Woojae had clearly expressed his willingness.
But even thinking about it now, it wasn’t something he could readily agree to. When Seowoo’s expression stiffened ambiguously, Woojae pulled his upper body closer and sat near him.
“I’m not trying to find him through dangerous methods like you’re worried about… Jinhyuk has been in the entertainment industry for a long time. If he’s just avoiding you, he must be in contact with other people, right?”
“…I suppose so.”
“So if I poke around a bit, someone must be in contact with Jinhyuk. What do you think of my idea?”
Woojae, with his eyes sparkling, seemed genuinely enthusiastic and determined as if he were actually working on something.
Come to think of it, Woojae was different from Dohyun. He wasn’t the type to resort to thuggish behavior just to find someone. If he really only meant to “look for” him, maybe it would be okay to ask…
After contemplating for a while, Seowoo nodded as if he’d made up his mind.
“I’ll ask for your help. But if you look for a while and feel like you’re not getting anywhere, just stop. It’s not like we ran into him by chance; I feel a bit sorry about deliberately searching for him.”
It’s not like he borrowed money and ran off—it seems a bit much to have someone look for a person just because they cut off contact. Seeing Seowoo’s expression still showing subtle unease, Woojae tilted his chin and propped it up.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Please take care of your own feelings first. I saw your expression earlier, and it was no joke.”
When Woojae had run out of the café and faced Seowoo, he still remembered Seowoo’s expression at that moment. Though he didn’t say anything or show it, he had looked so troubled.
No matter how he thought about it, Jinhyuk was to blame. Woojae put down his cup on the table with displeasure.
Seowoo just stared at Woojae with wide eyes as if to say, “What are you talking about?”
“What was wrong with my expression?”
“You were pretending to be super calm, but your eyeballs were rolling all over the place. If you had just openly shown your anger, I wouldn’t have said anything…”
Woojae waved his index finger in front of him. His voice was filled with discontent.
Was it that bad? Honestly, I was a bit surprised, but I didn’t think my expression looked that strange. Somehow, it was embarrassing. Being an actor but unable to control facial expressions skillfully. It’s easy to pretend to have emotions that aren’t there, but it’s always difficult to hide emotions that are present.
There was nothing particular to say to Woojae’s clearly concerned words. Seowoo awkwardly smiled and changed the subject, pretending not to know.
“By the way, what was that phone call about? Your company?”
“What other place would regularly torment people like this?”
“Why? Were you summoned? Do you need to go to work?”
“No, just nagging. You’re bringing up T&C so randomly.”
Although he hadn’t said it directly, he had indirectly expressed not to touch on T&C. Why did such instructions have to come from above at a time like this? Woojae rolled his eyes while chewing on another ice cube.
Seowoo’s eyes doubled in size at the name T&C. It was like a reflexive action—whenever he heard T&C, his heart seemed to beat faster.
“What about T&C? What did they say?”
“They said not to create problems where there are none. I’ve already been scolded even though I haven’t really done anything yet.”
Woojae pouted his lips like a child throwing a tantrum.
“How do they know to scold you?”
“They’ve been around long enough to sense where I’m looking with just a slight roll of my eyes. Even before collaborating with you, I was keeping an eye out while digging for rumors about Seo Dohyun.”
Well, it’s not like someone would come and tell stories while he was just sitting there. If he was poking around here and there trying to find rumors, he would certainly stand out.
Moreover, Dohyun had mentioned his connection to KNY during his first meeting with Woojae. Whether that connection was good or bad wasn’t clear, but from Woojae’s account, they didn’t seem to be on such bad terms now.
“But my department head doesn’t particularly like T&C itself? Back when seniors were subtly digging around, he pretended not to know. But I don’t know why he’s so actively nagging just me.”
“Did you get marked?”
It seems like you’ve been marked, no matter how I look at it. Despite Seowoo’s narrowed gaze, there was no response. Woojae made a sound like “sseup” and then showed a bright smile.
“…Well, we’re not exactly on good terms, but I don’t think I’ve been marked?”
After responding cheerfully, he added a small tail to his statement.
“Probably.”
“You’ve been marked, that’s why.”
“Just spend one day with our department head. Did all the force from typing on a keyboard go to his tongue? Words just come out involuntarily.”
Woojae dropped his head on the table and groaned. He always had this slightly mischievous side to him. Seowoo clicked his tongue, making a “tsk” sound.
“If you’re not marked, maybe T&C slipped them some money.”
When he casually dropped this comment, Woojae, who had been face down, quickly lifted his head. His eyes suddenly sparkled with life.
“That’s right, maybe T&C worked on them? This is totally possible.”
Seowoo’s eyebrows furrowed into a mountain. Of course, considering T&C’s past actions, they could certainly engage in lobbying, but neither T&C nor KNY were new companies.
“If they were going to bribe them, they would have done it earlier. Why suddenly lobby at this time? Why?”
“Well, how would I know the reasons behind money changing hands? They might have their own circumstances?”
“So you don’t think your boss might be clean and not take money?”
It was astonishing how confidently Woojae was certain that money had changed hands, without a shred of doubt. Still, he was supposed to be a superior. Despite Seowoo’s words, which could be either admiration or sarcasm, Woojae simply nodded firmly.
“I trust our seniors. They definitely took it. If it wasn’t that kind of money, they couldn’t display car keys on their desks.”
His eyes truly showed strong trust. It was an impressive senior-junior relationship, in a different sense.
“Whatever the reason, if you’ve been scolded by your senior, shouldn’t you back off? Prosecutor Baek is helping you anyway.”
“What? How can I drop this case?”
Seowoo’s expression soured at Woojae’s response, which suggested his words were absurd. From Seowoo’s perspective, there was nothing wrong with what he’d said.
“Prosecutor Baek and Seo Dohyun are openly on bad terms. He’s a reliable supporter, but there are too many constraints for him to directly assist you.”
Certainly, he couldn’t even properly save Hyungil’s name in his phone. The relationship between Dohyun and Hyungil was antagonistic, to the extent that Seowoo could clearly imagine how Dohyun would react if he knew they were in contact.
But, separate from that. Seowoo’s subtle gaze fixed on Woojae.
“…It’s not like you and Seo Dohyun are on good terms either, are you?”
Just thinking about their previous meeting at the restaurant, Seowoo, who had been caught between them, thought he would suffocate. How could neither of them back down?
If they had been in the middle of a meal, he would have certainly choked on meat.
Woojae seemed to clearly remember that day too, as he just laughed awkwardly with an embarrassed expression.
“No, at that time… I had no intention of going all out, but when I saw you and Seo Dohyun together, I just got anxious.”
Woojae responded with an excuse while touching the back of his neck. Well, it was understandable to be anxious. Seo Dohyun wasn’t exactly the owner of a good impression. Although he looked decent, there was something threatening about him.
But it was hard to readily understand “I was worried you were with a strange person.” Hadn’t he stood by when Dohyun grabbed his hand and pulled him away at the bar?
“It wasn’t your first time seeing Seo Dohyun. Why were you anxious?”
“Because you and Seo Dohyun looked too close. I thought you had become really friendly with that guy without knowing anything.”
“……”
What exactly is this guy’s definition of being close? How could he think they were friendly after seeing that situation?
Facing Seowoo’s suddenly ice-cold gaze, Woojae hurriedly waved his hands.
“No, but listen, hyung. Of all places, we happened to meet at a restaurant. Like at the bar, Seo Dohyun is really protective of you, so I couldn’t help but think you were close.”
Certainly, just listening to what Seo Dohyun said, he seemed to really adore Seowoo. Even Seowoo often found himself questioning Dohyun’s intentions.
But even if Dohyun was flirting in that inscrutable way, it didn’t mean that Seowoo had the same attitude.
“Couldn’t you see that I disliked him?”
“You showed such extreme dislike that I thought you were even closer. You usually become more polite the less close you are to someone.”
Looking at Woojae, who was responding with a sulky voice as if genuinely wronged, Seowoo kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t entirely wrong. He was someone who clearly maintained boundaries in relationships. But friends are relationships where they can cross each other’s lines a bit.
That didn’t mean he thought of Seo Dohyun as a friend. He just didn’t feel the need to be polite.
Suddenly, Seowoo now seemed to understand why he hadn’t felt suffocating discomfort while living with Dohyun.
Ironically, he wasn’t a bad roommate at all.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
