Chapter 116
“David. That must be a joke.”
“No, it’s true. You don’t know how detailed you were about aprons that day? It had to be a solid color, no pictures, and what else? Anyway, you were so serious then.”
“I can say anything when I’m drunk.”
Mitchell laughed happily at his old preference that even he had forgotten. It was even funnier because he remembered Geon-woo’s apron.
David, laughing along, finally talked about Mitchell’s real ideal type.
“You said it was someone who you’re certain won’t abandon you, right?”
“Ah. As expected. I knew you’d remember.”
“But why are you asking? Has someone appeared who you’re certain won’t abandon you?”
“Yeah.”
David’s expression changed instantly at Mitchell’s words. It sounded like he wanted to try dating since his ideal type had appeared. David had no intention of preventing his agency’s actor from dating, but as Mitchell’s long-time friend, manager, and agency director, it wasn’t something he could easily overlook.
“Are you sure they won’t abandon you?”
David asked, spitting a little in his surprise. He then gulped down the drink he had in the console box and looked serious.
“I don’t think they’ll abandon me first.”
His face, staring straight ahead without blinking, seemed full of worries, but he soon nodded and repeated his certainty.
“They’re not that kind of person.”
“Are you dating now? Who is it?”
“Not dating yet. Who it is is a secret.”
Although he was very curious, David didn’t press Mitchell further.
“They don’t love me, you know.”
“……”
This time, David was truly at a loss for words. A relationship where they don’t abandon you but don’t love you?
“They don’t love you? I thought it was because they loved you that they wouldn’t abandon you? That wasn’t it?”
“Now I have to make it that way. For life.”
It was a calm declaration. David unconsciously swallowed and glanced at Mitchell. The car’s speed decreased.
Emotions are inherently difficult to understand, even for oneself. Isn’t the human heart and emotions different from day to day? How could one obtain it as desired and even set an expiration date?
Especially when it’s not the person themselves, but someone else.
David couldn’t understand Mitchell, who seemed so certain. But it was also possible when blinded by love.
If one’s belief in their own heart is deep, they might want to use the term “lifetime” recklessly.
That’s probably because they hope the emotion called love will last forever. He didn’t expect Mitchell to say such things though.
David couldn’t understand how this unusual situation was unfolding. Still, he was able to glimpse into Mitchell’s heart to some extent.
Maybe Mitchell’s sudden vacation request was for the same reason. Mitchell was indirectly talking about his current state of mind.
“Okay, Mitchell. Hmm. There’s probably no one who doesn’t like your advances, so you can comfortably pursue them.”
David clenched his fist and shook it, striking a comical pose to show support. But Mitchell immediately shook his head.
“No. It’s not comfortable at all. It’s like a broken lock. That’s why I’m nervous.”
The car stopped at a signal. David turned his head to look at Mitchell. The face that said it was nervous showed no signs of anxiety or worry. With an expression you’d only see at a bungee jumping platform, he was quietly excited and flushed. It was a face enjoying a thrilling situation.
“But I’m the kind of person who hates closed doors the most. I’ll unlock something like a broken lock. It will open eventually.”
The more Mitchell talked, the more he thought that the only person who could sit beside him was Geon-woo. The process of fully possessing him might not be easy, but strangely, he didn’t think he would fail.
He believed that Geon-woo would give him what he wanted. Because Geon-woo had always done so.
As Mitchell thought about his other half, he rolled down the window. The cool breeze rushed in endlessly, just like Geon-woo. The season was quietly changing.
***
Walker, who was carefully wiping the steering wheel with a wet wipe, straightened the crooked air freshener. He picked up a hair that had fallen on the console box and thoroughly checked for any other foreign objects.
After getting out of the car, he brought a duster from the trunk and neatly cleaned the driver’s seat. Only after taking out the car mat and shaking it did he close the door.
Walker looked over the whole car with satisfied eyes. The shiny new car never got old, no matter how much he looked at it.
He got the new car thanks to his own mistake. It was when he was tailing Geon-woo and got caught by him. In fact, he didn’t even know he had been caught until he heard about it from Mitchell.
Walker, who had messed up the job, thought he would be hated by Mitchell or labeled as incompetent and fired on the spot.
But the generous Mitchell actually covered for Walker.
“It’s good. Since it’s come to this, let’s change your car. I was thinking we should change your car anyway.”
Walker’s car looked fine on the outside, but it was old and had over 300,000 miles on it. The used car he had bought cheaply was already an old clunker that had been overused.
At twenty-six, he didn’t have enough savings to change his car, but this time Mitchell suddenly gifted him a new car.
He got a car because of his mistake.
When Mitchell handed him the car keys, thanking him for taking on the difficult tasks, Walker almost embarrassed himself as his legs went weak.
He hugged Mitchell tightly and thanked him profusely. He barely held back the tears that were about to form.
A car from his idol. How could he not be moved?
When he saw something dirty on the side mirror, Walker wiped it clean with his clothes without hesitation. Only after carefully inspecting the car all around did he slowly back away.
“My lovely steed. I’ll be back.”
He turned back a couple of times on his way to check if the car was still there.
Walker treated the car almost like a god. Of course, the real god was Mitchell.
Walker arrived at the single road and took his usual position. The middle point of the straight road was the best location.
With Mitchell’s help, Walker’s equipment was getting better and better. All the equipment Walker currently had, including the camera, was bought by Mitchell. He spent money very generously.
“Shall we have another day of wise surveillance?”
He had even created a space for a person to enter in the thick bushes, where he could hide his body like a camouflaged tent. He could rest or even sleep there, and had prepared simple snacks. It was perfect for quietly operating in one place for a long time.
Thanks to his painstaking efforts, everyone who visited this place was bound to be caught by Walker’s eyes and ears, not to mention his camera lens. The high-performance camera Mitchell had bought for him ran 24 hours a day, even when Walker wasn’t there or was asleep.
Walker had become a human CCTV for Mitchell’s mansion, which had no CCTV.
***
“Eat slowly. There’s plenty of food,” Inbeom Yoon said to the man who was eating. The man, focused on his meal, just nodded roughly.
“How did you not eat a single meal until this hour?”
Junman, who had been eating with his head down at the table, slowly raised his face. He filled a glass with water and drank it all at once.
“Did Geon-woo talk about me?”
“No. I only found out today that you came to LA.”
It was a lie. Although it was Mitchell who had told him that Junman was staying in LA’s Koreatown, Inbeom Yoon had known for a while that he was in LA. He naturally found out as he frequently roamed around Geon-woo’s house.
Moreover, the man who had approached Junman and offered money for a relationship was actually sent by Inbeom Yoon. The devious Inbeom Yoon, who liked to plot behind the scenes, had tried to use Junman to find Geon-woo’s weakness.
He thought that if he could film Junman’s prostitution scene, it could be a weapon to control Geon-woo. He had sunk Geon-woo with a similar method in Korea.
But because Junman reacted more violently than expected, the man was injured and taken to the hospital. Since he didn’t have very high expectations, he immediately lost interest.
Although he had messed up then, now Junman was right in front of him. Inbeom Yoon intended to use Junman somehow.
Mitchell had been a great help. He knew a lot. That Geon-woo’s sponsor was Jeff, and that Jeff was the owner of the Saint Hotel in New York. He even told him things that Geon-woo didn’t know.
“The important thing is, that sponsor is very greedy. For example… he’s after both Geon-woo and Junman at the same time? He seems to be very interested in Junman Bae as well. Jeff must like faces that look like those two. Wouldn’t it be a big deal if Geon-woo knew this?”
Even though it wasn’t a funny story, Mitchell laughed a lot by himself and then left. That was all Inbeom Yoon heard from Mitchell.
He didn’t tell him what to do or how to do it, he just subtly revealed various facts and left.
Anyway, the plan to drive a wedge between Geon-woo and Mitchell and separate them had fallen through. Still, he hoped he could use Junman and Jeff to catch Geon-woo.
In fact, Inbeom Yoon had tried to give up on Geon-woo at times.
But he couldn’t give up on Bae Geon-woo, a unique person he might never meet again. He didn’t have the courage to give up.
Who else would accept his problematic self so casually? Inbeom Yoon had sexual dysfunction.
He couldn’t get it up in bed.
