56
It was when Ojun had sat down in the pantry at the back of the secretarial office and taken out a convenience store sandwich. Suddenly, the pantry door opened with a loud noise.
Thinking it might be the Center Director, Ojun quickly stood up, but stopped in an awkward posture.
The one who entered the pantry was Wooseok.
“What the—”
“Why aren’t you answering my calls?”
At the abrupt accusatory question, Ojun was dumbfounded. Now that he thought about it, Wooseok had left a text this morning as usual, asking about lunch menu options.
Is he asking why I didn’t reply? Ojun felt a surge of emotion but tried not to show it.
“…Did you have something to ask me?”
At Ojun’s response, Wooseok tilted his head askew. After silently looking at Ojun for a moment, Wooseok put the shopping bag he was carrying on the table.
“Since you didn’t tell me your lunch choice, I bought something. Let’s eat together.”
Wooseok placed a sushi box in front of Ojun.
What’s he playing at? Does he think I don’t know about the rumors? Ojun looked at what Wooseok was doing and then spoke.
“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for me to have lunch with the Team Leader. We…”
“Is there any reason why we can’t eat together?”
Wooseok cut off Ojun’s words. Removing the packaging from the lunch box, Wooseok looked at Ojun as if challenging him to continue.
Is he seriously messing with me? Ojun was irritated, but he didn’t want to bring up the topic of Wooseok’s lover himself.
They weren’t even in that kind of relationship to begin with. If he pressed the issue, it would reveal the fact that he cared that much about Choi Wooseok as a person. Ojun wanted to avoid that at all costs.
“It’s not that there’s a specific reason… it’s just that we’re in a somewhat awkward relationship for this.”
“How are we awkward? Because we slept together but aren’t dating?”
Wooseok cleverly mocked while scratching at Ojun’s insides.
“I don’t think I should be hearing this.”
Ojun countered with the most indirect response he could muster. It meant, I know you’re a bastard, so I’d appreciate it if you’d shut up. At that, Wooseok let out a scornful laugh.
“Are you saying I should be hearing it?”
“Well, does it sound that way to you?”
“…Secretary Yoon.”
Wooseok called Ojun. Yes, Ojun answered calmly.
“If you heard the rumors, why didn’t you ask me about them?”
Because we’re not close enough. Ojun didn’t say anything.
“It’s just workplace colleague gossip, isn’t it?”
Wooseok added, as if he’d heard Ojun’s unspoken words.
“I’m not dating him. It’s true that I’m close friends with Team Leader Woo Minjae, but we’re not like that.”
“There’s no need for you to explain…”
“You’re angry right now, though.”
Fuck. Ojun swallowed the curse and lowered his head. He felt heat rising to his face.
“I’m not angry…”
“You seem interested enough in me to get angry about rumors.”
Wooseok was wearing the smile of a victor. Is this amusing to you? Ojun felt provoked. He suddenly felt like a fool being toyed with by Wooseok. He didn’t want to lose like this.
“Not at all. You seem particularly talented at delusions.”
Ojun tried to be sarcastic, but Wooseok didn’t seem to be affected. He separated the wooden chopsticks and placed them in front of Ojun.
“It’s more fun to get to know each other, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Well, I’ll consider that cleared up. I originally wanted to eat together, but I’m a bit scared now.”
“I’d rather not eat anyway…”
Just as Ojun was about to tell him to take it back, Wooseok picked up the convenience store sandwich that had been sitting in front of Ojun.
“I’ll enjoy this.”
“Wait a minute…”
Wooseok slightly waved the sandwich, then quickly left the pantry.
Left all alone, Ojun stared at the neatly arranged sushi for a moment before picking up the wooden chopsticks.
The food isn’t to blame. Making an excuse that nobody would hear, Ojun began his late lunch.
***
Jihwan entered the training room and turned on the training simulation. It was unfamiliar at first, but he got used to it with practice, and recently he’d been visiting the training room whenever his thoughts became complicated.
It was quite fun to knock down enemies one by one and clear the levels. Each time he saw the “Success!” message, Jihwan felt a small sense of comfort.
Footsteps were heard. Jihwan’s current mission was to infiltrate without being detected by the guarding enemy and retrieve the target. If his movements or sounds were detected, the enemy would follow and attack him.
Jihwan held his breath. The enemy’s silhouette slowly walked over and stood near Jihwan. Then, as if looking around, it remained still for a while.
In that silence, Jihwan suddenly recalled Minjae’s expression that had disappeared in an instant. A face that found the ordinary strange.
“No.”
The face that said he had no family was excessively calm. He also said he had never ridden a cable car.
Occasionally when Jihwan talked about his school days, Minjae would have an expression like he was listening to a radio story. As if it had nothing to do with him and never would.
The enemy’s silhouette walked away. Jihwan pressed his body against the wall and then flew straight to the target point. The word “Success!” flashed before his eyes and then disappeared.
Jihwan sat on a chair in the corner of the training room. He began to think about things he hadn’t done. Things he could no longer do. Things he had never thought about before.
What are the things I can’t experience anymore now that I’ve become an esper? Jihwan wanted to do those things with Minjae.
***
“We’re done now, right? Go home.”
“What? We still have a schedule, sunbae.”
“There’s no schedule.”
“Yes, there is. You just forgot. There is!”
As they were leaving the guiding room, Minjae was trying to wrap up the day’s schedule with Jihwan. He needed to either cajole or threaten Dr. Jo to get information. But Jihwan insisted there was something they had to do today.
Minjae sighed.
“What is it? Tell me.”
“…It’s like a reconnaissance mission.”
Reconnaissance? What would this kid need to reconnoiter? Minjae didn’t remember assigning Jihwan any individual missions. However, Jihwan said he had looked into something and really wanted Minjae to come with him.
Although Minjae didn’t expect Jihwan to have found any extraordinary information, he followed him out.
But he didn’t expect that they would take a train.
“…Don’t you know how to fly?”
“I thought flying would be too conspicuous…”
What place are we going to that we can’t even fly there? When Minjae looked at him as if demanding an explanation, Jihwan held out a cap.
“I brought this.”
Jihwan placed a black baseball cap on Minjae’s head. Excited about going on reconnaissance, Jihwan kept grinning from ear to ear.
Jihwan muttered that this was his first time booking train tickets and he wasn’t sure which seats were good.
It was Minjae’s first time taking a train too. He thought that a train just follows the rails, so it shouldn’t matter where one sits, but it wasn’t bad listening to Jihwan’s chatter.
On the train, the two sat side by side with Minjae by the window and Jihwan on the aisle side.
“I brought this too.”
Jihwan suddenly fumbled in his pocket and took out a boiled egg. It was the kind sold at convenience stores. Just a moment. Jihwan suddenly left the train compartment and came back. He was holding two cans of cola, though it wasn’t clear where he got them from.
“I got them from a vending machine.”
Jihwan boasted as he sat down, though no one had asked. Then he unfolded the tray attached to the seat and began peeling the egg by himself.
“…What are you doing?”
“Just a moment. I’ll peel it for you.”
No. What are you doing? Minjae couldn’t follow Jihwan’s thoughts. He was getting increasingly anxious about where this reconnaissance was taking them.
When Minjae looked at Jihwan suspiciously, Jihwan smiled awkwardly.
“Actually, it’s not reconnaissance. It’s my graduation trip.”
“…What?”
Has this bastard gone crazy? Minjae was speechless at Jihwan’s audacity.
“I might not know about other things, but I really wanted to go on a graduation trip. In the end, I became a hero and got to work with you, which is really great, but…”
“…”
“I actually manifested on the day of my college entrance exam, you know? So sometimes I think about things I couldn’t experience. So many things changed suddenly… I couldn’t attend my graduation ceremony, of course.”
“…So.”
“I thought it would be harder to do in the future… I really wanted to go on a graduation trip with you, sunbae.”
Jihwan continued with his excuse, saying he had chosen a nearby location in case of an emergency so they could return quickly.
Graduation, huh. In Minjae’s life, there weren’t many standard steps that people typically go through. Being the only one of his rank in the country, nothing in his life could be called ordinary.
But from Jihwan’s perspective, it might feel like he had suddenly lost things he had taken for granted all his life.
Minjae took the unevenly peeled egg from Jihwan’s hand and put it in his mouth.
“Uh…”
“You peeled it for me, right?”
Jihwan blankly watched as Minjae chewed the egg. Minjae pointed to the window.
“Why are you looking at me? Since we’re going anyway, look at the scenery outside.”
Outside, the sun had already set, and it was completely dark. The fast-moving train couldn’t hold onto the scenery for long, making it feel like they were running through an endless tunnel.
Minjae leaned back comfortably in his seat and looked at the window. His face was reflected in the dark glass. And Jihwan’s face, staring intently at Minjae’s profile, was also reflected. Minjae felt somewhat embarrassed.
“…There’s nothing to see.”
“I still like it.”
Minjae took his eyes off the window and turned his head. His eyes met Jihwan’s.
Minjae tapped the remaining egg on the table to crack the shell. Once peeled, it was as uneven as the one Jihwan had peeled. After brushing off small shell fragments, Minjae grabbed Jihwan’s chin and stuffed the egg into his mouth.
“Happy now?”
Jihwan blinked his eyes a few times in a daze. Then he smiled, his eyes forming pretty crescent shapes. His brown irises were slightly hidden and then revealed again.
With his cheeks puffed out while chewing the egg, Jihwan opened a can of cola and handed it to Minjae. Minjae sipped the lukewarm cola.
After running for a bit over an hour, the train stopped. Getting off the train, they felt a salty and refreshing sea breeze. Minjae walked following Jihwan’s guidance.
After walking for some time, they arrived in front of a building with its lights off.
“Uh… this, why… why…”
-Thank you for your patronage.
The building with glass windows would have had a beautiful appearance if it had been in business. That is, if it had been in business.
Jihwan turned to Minjae with a tearful face.
“…What should we do?”
What do you mean, what should we do? Minjae opened his mouth.
“Do you have any money?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
