Chapter 44
“Let’s introduce each other. Jung Jiin-ssi, this is my work colleague and friend since university days who stopped by briefly for work.”
The man who had been looking this way glanced back at him and let out a short sigh. Seeing his profile with his head tilted sideways, the atmosphere seemed reproachful. He smiled and lightly patted the man’s shoulder.
“He’s not a problem. This is Korea, so relax a bit.”
The man in an impeccable suit with thin horn-rimmed glasses despite it being Sunday still had a face full of things he wanted to say, but perhaps because I was an outsider, he didn’t drag out his lecture any longer.
He squeezed the man’s shoulder firmly and smiled at me.
“Sorry about that. He tends to be a bit over the top when it comes to security and such things.”
I walked toward where they were standing, adjusting the front of my robe more securely, and offered my hand to the man.
“Hello. I’m Jung Jiin. I didn’t know who was here… I’m sorry for the intrusion. And my attire is also a bit… improper.”
“Not at all. This is a private space, so please don’t worry about it. I’m the one who’s being rude by intruding on your holiday. I’m Yujun, working with Han.”
The man’s hand I shook was dry and cool. His attitude was impeccably polite, but he was equally unreadable. I couldn’t tell whether he felt favorable toward me or was being wary of me.
Seeing him up close, there was a scar on his neck below his left ear. Though not dark, it was a fairly wide scar that looked like the remains of a removed tattoo. And he retained the strong pronunciation characteristics often seen in Korean-Americans.
“If you’re going to discuss work… should I step out for a moment?”
At my question, he held up a small envelope he had placed on the dining table and answered immediately.
“No, it’s fine. I just came to deliver this, so I’ll be leaving soon. Could you sit and wait just a moment?”
Where he gestured toward the middle of the dining table, a meal for two was prepared. Egg drop soup, bulgogi, and several small plates with appetizing small portions of side dishes were arranged on individual trays facing each other. A water bottle and a glass jug full of tomato juice also occupied the space. It looked as neat as hotel room service.
I sat facing the long window with the Han River view and drank the tomato juice. The juice seemed freshly squeezed. Tomatoes were one of the foods good for hangovers. Were lycopene and citric acid the components in tomatoes that help eliminate alcohol from the body…? I swallowed the crushed tomato pulp while thinking such things absentmindedly.
Further inside from where they had been standing, up two or three steps, a semicircular bar was set up. It was where I had drunk wine with him at dawn. They had moved there at some point and continued their conversation leaning against the counter without even sitting on the stools.
“Second quarter sales increased about 13% compared to the same period last year. The operating profit just can’t support that though.”
The guest seemed much more comfortable with English.
“It’s barely scraped together sales from overusing low-price promotions. There’s no point talking about operating profit. Even the 13% sales growth doesn’t meet expectations. It’s much more pessimistic when you consider the arcade business investment.”
“There might be some demand in the second half right after opening, but if our predictions are correct, next year’s financial statements will be disastrous. The directors who supported the approval of related businesses will have difficulty maintaining their positions.”
On one side of the bar counter, several types of whiskey were prepared in crystal decanters on a silver tray. He picked up the flat-shaped decanter among them and poured small amounts into two glasses while continuing the man’s words.
“Shanghai is already saturated with luxury shopping centers. Knox might be overwhelmingly superior in the Pudong area for duty-free business, but that scale is mediocre for attracting domestic customers. Moreover, the real big spenders in the luxury market don’t easily change their main shopping stores. They can receive much better service by purchasing from existing stores where they have dedicated sellers who know and manage their tastes well. Once they decide to settle somewhere, their loyalty tends to be high. It’s similar to the tendencies of the hotel’s VIP customers. And yet that person learns nothing from experience?”
His voice sounded quite pleased. The two of them each took a glass and slowly savored the whiskey without ice.
When I had just woken up, I was too flustered to notice, but today he was dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved t-shirt. Since it was clearly a high-end brand product using good materials, it didn’t give off a sloppy feeling.
It reminded me of the wealthy young masters who used to vacation at ‘Mio palazzo’ with their parents. Men in their early twenties with somewhat active dispositions and plenty of curiosity, floating on the boundary between boy and young man. Like they had just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren advertisement.
Perhaps because of his clothing, his appearance drinking whiskey while discussing work-related matters seemed somehow awkward. I silently laughed at the thought that he looked like a college student secretly sipping small amounts from the bar just enough not to get caught while his father was away, and drank more tomato juice.
“The president is also taking a wait-and-see approach until the results show up in numbers, but while next year might barely get by… hmm, the March shareholders’ meeting the year after will clearly determine the outcome.”
He, who had been listening to the man’s words while slowly swirling the glass in his hand, leaned his elbow on the counter.
“He’ll want to somehow make up for it and change the president’s mind. He must be grinding his teeth in frustration at being chased off to Shanghai. To think that the arcade business is what he came up with after being cornered like that. There should be limits to jumping into a dying market.”
“He’s reacting very sensitively to the president bringing you to his side.”
“He’s always been that kind of person. Even when he had two things in his hands, if I got one, he’d throw away both things he was holding and come running because he wanted to take mine.”
He finished speaking with a snort and poured the remaining alcohol into his mouth all at once, then glanced briefly in my direction. Our eyes met, but I didn’t particularly avoid his gaze. While maintaining eye contact with me, he said to the man:
“Anyway… let’s discuss the rest after checking the materials.”
The man nodded at his words and took out his phone from his jacket pocket to check something while walking toward the exit, toward me. He stopped briefly in front of me as I stood up awkwardly, slightly pulling up the corners of his mouth and nodding his head.
“It was nice meeting you, Jung Jiin-ssi.”
“Yes, me too.”
Before leaving the dining room, the man turned his head slightly to look this way once. It wasn’t a gaze that felt particularly meaningful, but his expression was so stern that I felt like I was being observed.
While I was fiddling with the white linen napkin neatly folded on the table mat, he returned. It didn’t seem like he had escorted him to the front door.
“Sorry about that. When I said my schedule changed and I’d be home today, he must have thought I was just resting.”
“Did work come up?”
“It would be good to do it, but it’s not something that must be done today. He brought it for me to look over in advance since I was going to be resting anyway.”
The contents of the square envelope slightly larger than a palm probably weren’t printed documents. It was likely a USB or something that served a similar function.
He hurried around the dining table to sit across from me and looked down at the tray with a displeased expression.
“The soup must have gotten cold because of that bastard.”
“It’s still warm though? It looks delicious.”
Just as I was bringing the soup to my lips with a spoon, one word clearly emerged through the thick clouds that had been clogging my mind.
“Ah! Brunch! What about our brunch appointment?”
He, who had been quietly spreading his napkin under the table, chuckled and looked this way.
“It’s already 1 o’clock.”
“Ah… sorry. Really, what’s wrong with me…”
I put down the spoon and rested my elbows on the dining table, roughly rubbing my face.
“It’s fine. Instead, I got to see something good last night.”
“……”
There was a lot I wanted to say about that masturbation show I had apparently put on myself, but now was the time to remain silent.
I moved my hands from rubbing my cheeks to the edges of my face and looked at him with the most apologetic expression possible.
“I’m really sorry. Usually, this kind of thing rarely happens… but I keep creating situations to apologize to Lee Han-ssi.”
“If you’re that sorry, then golden show…”
“I’ll consider it.”
“……”
As if he had naturally expected to be refused like last time, his eyes widened.
“I’m sorry enough this time.”
He hesitated for a moment with a thoughtful expression, then shook his head and picked up his chopsticks.
“Not really… I didn’t suggest meeting because I wanted to eat brunch… so I’ll save the golden shower for another opportunity.”
I thought he would eagerly jump at the bait if I dangled the fishing line. Unexpectedly, he refused the easy victory.
Brunch wasn’t the purpose…
The meaning implied by those words was the same as saying that spending time together itself was the purpose.
As I watched the elegant chopstick handling of his neatly arranged long fingers and sipped the soup, he suddenly proposed a different condition.
“Instead, stay in bed with me all afternoon. That’s enough.”
His words were sincere.
However, what he wanted to do together on the bed was different from what I expected.
When we returned to the bedroom, the bed that had definitely been messily disheveled was now neatly arranged. Like a hotel room after turndown service, there were no traces left.
“There’s someone who helps with housework.”
He explained casually to me as I stopped and looked puzzled, leading me by the hand to the bathroom. I hadn’t thought he would manage this large house by himself, but since I couldn’t sense any trace of another person, it felt mysterious as if a fairy had visited.
After brushing my teeth and coming out, I found that he had returned to the bedroom before me and was standing while operating the TV remote in various ways. He had removed his top and was wearing what looked like thin, comfortable indoor clothing on the bottom.
He gestured toward the bed with his eyes and said:
“You must be tired, so lie down.”
I was crawling onto the bed while hesitating slightly from awkwardness when I suddenly stopped and frowned. I had confirmed the title of the video he was trying to play on the large TV screen hanging on the wall directly facing the bed’s headboard.
“What are you doing?”
“I didn’t finish watching it yesterday. I’m going to continue watching ‘Tomorrow’s Diary’.”
I crawled on my knees across the mattress and lunged at him to snatch the remote.
“You said let’s stay in bed together all afternoon… so that’s what you meant… Ha, you know this is more perverted than just rolling around here all afternoon, right?”
He grabbed my arms and pushed and pulled as if wrestling, making an expression as if he couldn’t understand me.
“Then is sex better than this? I was being considerate because I thought Jung Jiin-ssi would still be having a hard time.”
“Why on earth would you want to watch this with the person involved right in front of you? You said you don’t have sadistic tendencies. How is this different from sadism?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
