# Chapter 22
When there was no move to take the card, Dohyun brought his card to the entrance keypad first. With a soft electronic sound, the door opened.
“We still need to go in, though.”
Dohyun gestured politely as if asking if Seowoo wanted to go first. Seowoo stomped his foot and walked toward the elevator. Dohyun followed behind with a relaxed smile. When the button was pressed, the elevator doors opened with a smooth sliding sound.
“I didn’t expect you to be so surprised. We’ve already held hands, haven’t we?”
“Let’s speak correctly even if your mouth and mind are twisted. We didn’t hold hands—I was grabbed. By you. One-sidedly.”
“Either way, it’s skin touching skin, so what’s the difference? 8th floor, when we get off the elevator, our place is on the left. 801. Don’t get confused.”
Along with Dohyun’s playful guidance, the button with the number 8 lit up. Even though Dohyun had only moved his belongings in a day or two before Seowoo, he already seemed as familiar with the place as if he’d lived there for years.
With a cheerful signal tone, the elevator stopped. It was the 8th floor. Dohyun walked ahead with light steps.
“It’s best to use something familiar for passwords, right? So I just set it to match a certain star. I’m particularly considerate, you know.”
“You matched the password to me?”
First of all, Seo Dohyun was one of the people Seowoo knew who was furthest from the word “considerate,” and to begin with, he couldn’t understand what “matching” even meant in this context.
“Of course. Or would you rather match yourself to me?”
Dohyun tapped the keypad a few times and unlocked the door. Seowoo, who had been carefully watching the moving fingers on the keypad, immediately furrowed his brow.
Just as Dohyun said, it was a four-digit number that could only be familiar to Seowoo. Although he had changed his password recently because of Dohyun’s mischief, it completely matched the four digits of Seowoo’s phone password that he had used for a long time before that.
Simultaneously, Seowoo’s eyes widened in shock. So this is what he meant by matching?
“What the hell are you doing? Are you bragging about secretly stealing someone else’s phone password?”
“If we’re speaking correctly despite your twisted mouth, I didn’t steal it—I figured it out.”
His plain voice was excessively calm. It wasn’t even teasing, but Seowoo felt his blood pressure rising and the back of his neck getting hot.
“That’s illegal!”
“In my neighborhood, there’s nothing left when you work legally. Don’t you like my consideration?”
“I changed my password because of you ages ago, and now you’re bringing it up again?”
It wasn’t that long ago. He changed it immediately after realizing his password had been leaked to Dohyun. But there was no guarantee that Dohyun didn’t know the new password either.
Moreover, if they were going to live in the same house, he would have even easier access to Seowoo’s information. It was worrying no matter how he thought about it.
Dohyun rolled his eyes as if trying to recall when that happened, just as Seowoo had mentioned, and stepped into the entrance.
“You seemed to have used it for a long time. Why don’t you just keep using it?”
“My password was leaked and you’re telling me to keep using it? What are you, a thief at heart?”
Even tyranny has its limits; it was unbelievable that a company CEO could be this shameless.
Every time he opened his mouth, Seowoo felt like not only Dohyun’s personal image but also T&C’s image was being tarnished. Seowoo’s gaze noticeably narrowed. As if he could read that expression without looking back, Dohyun burst into laughter.
“I’ll be the only one who knows it.”
“I’d rather trust a con artist than you.”
“It’ll be fun living with a CEO who’s worse than a con artist.”
Funny joke. Far from being fun, Seowoo just wanted to run away right now.
When Dohyun opened the inner door, yellow lighting illuminated the well-extended corridor. The interior was modern in black and white, with appropriately placed decorative frames and vases.
“Haah…”
Seowoo felt instantly tired even though he hadn’t seen the living room yet. Just eyeballing it, it seemed about twice the size of the apartment Seowoo had left behind. Maybe even more.
Even though he had left it as “It’s your money, do whatever you want,” this was too much. At this rate, it seemed spacious enough not just for the two of them but also to invite all of Seowoo’s acquaintances to live together. He had already faced two doors.
Was this deliberately done to annoy him with an extravagant display of wealth? Seowoo glanced sideways at Dohyun. He turned on the indoor lights with an expression like the most comfortable homeowner ever.
“Take your time looking around. I’ve already checked every corner.”
Lights came on simultaneously throughout the house. Seowoo stepped into the living room with quick steps. One side wall was completely open with floor-to-ceiling windows, providing a full view of the outside scenery.
Even looking down from above, there weren’t many people walking around. He could vaguely see the heads of a few people walking in the park next to the apartment. Tall buildings stood far away. It wasn’t shining because it was daytime, but it was a rather harmonious scene to look at.
Of course, just because the view was good didn’t mean Seowoo would accept this situation. What would improve by getting one plus after a bunch of minuses? It would be difficult to even get back to zero.
Dohyun took off his jacket, draped it over his left arm, and looked at Seowoo.
“Do you like it?”
“Like what? This house?”
“What else could it be? How about your roommate, do you like him?”
“If I don’t like it, will you change it?”
Seowoo folded his arms across his chest and stood crookedly. It wasn’t a question asked with hope. As if he would change it.
Even if he threw a tantrum, nothing would change now that he had moved in, and he was planning to just keep annoying Seo Dohyun. Even a person would get upset at least once if they heard complaints a hundred times.
Whatever plan Seowoo was making, Dohyun’s expression remained unchangingly fresh.
“Want me to change it?”
“…?”
“Since you chose the person to live with yourself, A/S might be difficult, but if you want, moving isn’t hard. Does it not meet your standards in my eyes?”
Not even five minutes after coming in, moving out? The shameless way he spoke was ridiculous, but there was something even more ridiculous.
That annoying attitude of acting like Seowoo had voluntarily chosen to live together after forcibly dragging him in!
“When did I ever choose you? Why do you keep saying such strange things?”
“You said I was better than Manager Gu.”
“You call that giving me a choice? How is that different from asking ‘Do you want to die or faint?'”
“Then I guess I’m the one who’d faint? Since you avoided the worst choice, isn’t that enough?”
If Seowoo’s choice at that time had determined the fate of humanity, the Earth would probably have been destroyed. Seowoo clearly realized his choice had been the worst and clenched his fist. He just wanted to punch him once. Even though he couldn’t.
Anyway, although the roommate was a thorn in his side, Seowoo wasn’t dissatisfied enough with the house to move twice. The house was good enough. If anything, it was so good that it was rather burdensome.
No matter which house he lived in, Seo Dohyun would be beside him, so whether it was a bigger or smaller house, it was predetermined that he would feel terrible.
Seowoo deliberately turned his gaze away from Dohyun to gain what little comfort he could from the pretty house, and instead stared at a beautifully crafted glass piece.
“Where’s the room?”
“Do you want to move to another house?”
“I don’t want to see you wasting a lot of money just to play around, and I think it would be similar wherever I go, so no thanks. Just show me my room.”
Dohyun silently pointed alternately at two doors. Seowoo looked slowly back and forth between Dohyun and the two rooms with narrowed eyes.
“Are you telling me to choose?”
“No. One is a bedroom, and one is…”
Dohyun stretched out the end of his sentence and seemed to be choosing his words for a moment, then uttered briefly.
“A room.”
They’re both rooms, what is he talking about? Seowoo’s expression naturally became sullen.
“It’s ambiguous because I haven’t defined its purpose. Well, let’s just call it a study.”
Can you just casually dismiss it like that? Seowoo looked over the multiple room doors that seemed like a waste of space with jaded eyes, but soon gave up arguing and closed his mouth.
Dohyun stared at Seowoo as if finding him amusing, then with an exclamation of “ah,” looked at his wristwatch.
“Do you have plans today?”
“…Why are you asking?”
His voice was openly guarded like thorns. He suspected there must be some ulterior motive again. Regardless, Dohyun tapped his wristwatch with his fingertip to show it. The hour hand had just passed 12.
“Let’s have a meal.”
Seowoo frowned. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t get used to this person’s strange attitude. Just when he thought he was acting friendly, he would suddenly turn cold, and then when he thought that was the case, he would suddenly approach lazily.
It was definitely mealtime at 12 o’clock. Given the situation, he just hadn’t thought about being hungry.
“Did you eat breakfast?”
“How could I? When someone’s employee personally called to wake me up and I came over. We weren’t close enough to sit side by side and eat meals together.”
“So you’re starving, then. Koreans run on rice power.”
The question, accompanied by a light click of the tongue as if asking why Seowoo had done that, was frustrating to hear. Seowoo normally ate three meals a day well, and wasn’t the unexpected movement right after waking up clearly due to the unexpected contact?
“…Who do you think is to blame?”
“Manager Gu?”
“Are you trying to shift the blame and escape now? A boss should have a conscience…”
Even though he was trying to subtly shift responsibility, Manager Gu’s only crime was being faithful to orders. Dohyun’s eyes lit up as if finding Seowoo’s consecutive nagging interesting.
“Good. Then I’ll say it’s my fault, and I’ll take responsibility by taking you to eat.”
“Why does the conversation keep turning like this?”
“You said you’re starving because of me. Are you going to starve again?”
“I’ll take care of my own meals, so you take care of yours too.”
He wasn’t a child, so he wouldn’t complain about eating alone. Having lived alone for a long time, Seowoo was more accustomed to eating by himself.
Dohyun pointed to the kitchen with his chin. Decorative lighting beautifully illuminated the dining table. It was uselessly fancy. They would rarely sit at that table together.
After staring at the too-wide and fancy table with unkind eyes, Seowoo slowly withdrew his gaze.
“Are you going to order delivery?”
“We have a refrigerator, so there must be something in it.”
If he had brought all kinds of decorative items, it didn’t make sense that he hadn’t stocked the refrigerator with even one food item yet. At the very least, there should be some simple snacks.
However, Dohyun calmly shook his head from side to side and pointed to the refrigerator with a gesture.
“There’s only water. And ice.”
“Water?”
Unable to tell if this was a serious statement, Seowoo glanced at Dohyun’s face, but no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like he was trying to joke.
Seowoo strode over and pulled open both sides of the refrigerator door. Cold air rushed out, but that was all. The inside was surprisingly empty and therefore felt even colder.
He said there was water, but no matter how carefully he looked, there wasn’t even a water bottle to be seen, let alone ice.
“Where exactly is the water? It’s completely empty.”
“It’s right there.”
“Where exactly is ‘there’…”
In response to the irritated question, Dohyun approached saying, “here,” and pointed to a fancy water purifier on the right side of the refrigerator with a bright smile.
As soon as he heard that, he couldn’t help but freeze his expression in disbelief.
“Don’t tell me… the ice comes from here too?”
Dohyun just shrugged as if it was obvious. There really wasn’t anything edible except for that water purifier.
Seowoo’s gaze, which had been blankly looking back and forth between the water purifier and the refrigerator as if not understanding the situation, turned to Dohyun. He was standing with his arm resting on the back of an elegantly carved chair, watching Seowoo’s actions.
“Do you only live on water?”
Dohyun rested his chin on his hand and smirked.
“Do I seem like a fairy?”
“You crazy bastard…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
