Episode 132
Junman was really enjoying life these days. He was comfortably staying in a beachfront mansion that would make others envious, and using credit cards freely without worrying about money.
Could there be better days than this?
His attempt to mooch off Geon-woo by flying to America had somewhat succeeded. To be precise, he was mooching off Geon-woo’s friend, but since he was using them like a sucker all the same, there was no need to distinguish.
Junman, eating wine and snacks he had bought himself, picked up his phone. He searched for where to go out tonight. If it was Koreatown, there would be many places to hang out even if he didn’t know English.
“LA… Koreatown… Good restaurants. No, popular bars…”
He entered search terms and looked up various places. While chewing on salty beef jerky in his mouth, he chose a suitable place. It seemed he could lounge around until evening and then leave.
Junman downed the remaining wine in his glass, then went out to the terrace with beef jerky in his mouth like candy. While watching trending videos and surfing the web, his phone rang.
The caller was Geon-woo.
Junman, glaring at the screen, pressed the call button while chewing on the beef jerky.
“Hey, damn it. Bae Geon-woo, what’s the occasion? You never answered when I was calling like crazy!”
He thought Yoon Inbeom might have tipped off Geon-woo, but a pleasant baritone voice came through. Surprisingly, the caller was Mitchell Cronenwirth.
As Junman stammered at the sudden contact, Mitchell briefly told him to check his messages and hung up. It seemed he intended to communicate via messages since they couldn’t speak directly. But why was Mitchell contacting him from Geon-woo’s phone?
Having no idea, he waited quietly, and soon a message arrived.
[Don’t you want to go back to Korea? I’ll book the plane ticket for you.]
Interestingly, it was a message in Korean. Though it was a bit awkward, perhaps directly translated, there was no problem understanding the meaning.
“What’s this?”
Junman, glaring at the screen, took a deep breath as if excited and then headed back to the living room. After drinking a full glass of wine, he composed a message. He figured it would be automatically translated if he sent it in Korean. He didn’t have the thoughtfulness to translate it himself.
[I’ll go when I want to go.]
Junman was slowly but surely trying to rectify his situation of being completely left out from his friends. Instead of contacting his friends directly, he occasionally posted updates about himself on social media.
He thought that if he thoroughly showed off the wealthy life he was currently enjoying, his friends would eventually contact him. Since they were already following each other, it would naturally be exposed on their feeds even without them deliberately looking.
There was one reason he was trying to restore relationships that had already ended. For Junman, his friends were his entire world. He could only satisfy his vanity if he had friends who would praise him.
He couldn’t leave America right away because he was busy signaling that he had a lot of money to spend on them while diligently showing off his wealth. Besides, even if he went back to Korea, he had nothing to do there, and it was better to enjoy himself here while waiting for his friends to contact him.
The offer to book a plane ticket was tempting, but he was determined to keep holding out here no matter what.
[I understand.]
“…What? Is that it?”
Though his resolve was firm, when Mitchell replied simply without any other response, Junman started to have many thoughts. He expected Mitchell to insist on sending him back to Korea somehow, but it felt unsettling when he backed off so easily. In fact, he was more disappointed about missing out on the free plane ticket.
When there was no further contact, Junman sent a message first. He had a lot to say to both Geon-woo and Mitchell anyway.
[Let me be honest. You’re the one who set fire to Geon-woo’s house, right?]
The reply came quickly, but the content fell short of Junman’s expectations.
[I don’t know what you’re talking about.]
Being a message, no emotion from Mitchell could be felt.
Junman, staring quietly at the screen, recalled that the caller ID had been Geon-woo’s. It occurred to him that Geon-woo might be with Mitchell. Maybe Geon-woo was trying to drive him back to Korea by using Mitchell?
While writing ‘I know Geon-woo is with you,’ another message arrived from Mitchell.
[It turns out Geon-woo wasn’t the one who stole the landlord’s grandfather’s money. I confirmed that Geon-woo was serving in the military at that time.]
Junman gulped down wine straight from the bottle. After wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he quickly typed a response.
[Stop talking nonsense. Is this why you contacted me now?]
When the lie he had told to drive a wedge between Geon-woo and Mitchell was exposed, the slight tipsiness that had come over him disappeared all at once.
Geon-woo knows nothing about this incident. So Mitchell couldn’t have heard from Geon-woo that he was serving in the military at the time of the incident.
It meant Mitchell had investigated his background himself…
[^ㅁ^]
While all sorts of thoughts were running through his mind, Mitchell unexpectedly sent a strange emoticon as a reply. It was the smiling emoticon that Geon-woo often used. While Junman was dumbfounded, Mitchell’s messages continued to arrive.
[It’s a shame you don’t want to return to Korea. Contact me if you change your mind.]
Junman bit his lip at Mitchell’s message. It didn’t seem like he was going to press about the landlord’s grandfather incident. That was fortunate, but he was secretly disappointed about the plane ticket.
He currently had a place to stay and a card he could use freely, but eventually, he would have to leave this place and return the card.
Of course, he had no intention of paying off the card. Geon-woo would probably get cursed out by Yoon Inbeom, or maybe Geon-woo would pay it off. It wasn’t his concern.
Anyway, since it was a consumption with a set end, he couldn’t easily reject Mitchell’s outstretched hand. After much deliberation, Junman touched the screen.
[I’ll go to Korea. But I want to part with Geon-woo on good terms. Despite everything that’s happened, Geon-woo is still my only brother. I can’t leave because I’m worried about Geon-woo. Please let me meet with Geon-woo. Also, I have a lot going on here, so I can’t leave right away, but I’ll depart next month.]
“Only brother, my ass. Gives me the creeps.”
Muttering to himself, he composed the next message.
[I’ll come to the house to apologize after the weekend, so please put in a good word with Geon-woo. After that, I’ll really return to Korea.]
Junman sent the insincere content and waited for a reply. Geon-woo would have ignored it right away, but Mitchell might accept it.
The target wasn’t Geon-woo, but Mitchell. He planned to meet Mitchell and extort money from him.
Junman knew how tough Geon-woo was. He wasn’t the type to change his mind even if someone got on their knees, cried, begged, and clung to him.
So it made more sense to target Mitchell rather than Geon-woo. Even if he didn’t give money, he would at least book a plane ticket.
[There will be no one at home next week. If you must meet Geon-woo, it will only be possible a week later.]
“The house will be empty?”
Just as he was lost in thought, a beeping mechanical sound rang several times, and the front door opened. Yoon Inbeom barged in without any notice. Surprised, Junman greeted the homeowner with an awkward face while clearing away his clothes strewn across the living room floor.
“Oh, uh… You’re here?”
Traces of Junman were everywhere, from the table to the kitchen. Leftover food and its packaging, carelessly discarded socks, t-shirts, and so on. The place that had been as neat as a model home had turned into a pigsty. Junman glanced around the house he had dirtied and smiled embarrassedly.
“How come you’re here so suddenly without saying anything… Haha. I’ll clean all this up before I leave. Don’t worry.”
Despite Junman’s brazenness, Yoon Inbeom remained silent. Seeing his protruding eyebrows and tightly closed lips looking ominous, Junman started cleaning. Though all he did was put food packaging in the trash can.
“How long are you planning to stay?”
Yoon Inbeom didn’t express anger openly. His tone was moderate, and his expression was calm. But something had clearly changed. Junman sensed it from the atmosphere.
Junman watched the homeowner’s expression and cautiously opened his mouth.
“I was thinking of staying a few more weeks. I’m living comfortably thanks to our wonderful brother. I can’t tell you how grateful I am. Hey, you’ve really made it big.”
Having a bad feeling, he deliberately exaggerated his flattery. Though he tried to soothe the atmosphere, the response he got was like this:
“Hyung. I’m sorry, but I think you need to vacate this place now.”
Even after shamefully flattering him, he was about to be kicked out. For Junman, who had been deeply immersed in LA life until just now, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Then suddenly, he remembered the house that would be empty for a week.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
