“Just… I could at least run small errands.”
—So did you go to the Prosecutor’s Office?
“…You knew about that.”
Jae-young scratched his cheek as he bobbed his head like it was broken.
—What about the press pass and clothes?
“Cut them up and flushed them down the toilet, just in case. The clothes are still in the storage locker.”
—Don’t go retrieve them. They’ve probably been confiscated by now.
He was glad he’d worn a hat when changing clothes, just in case. He remembered there was a CCTV near the storage locker and even bought new clothes. He had bought a new umbrella three times on his way back.
The fact that no one had come looking for him even though they had collected his clothes was evidence that their tracking was lost in a maze. Jae-young let out a long sigh of relief.
“Got it.”
—Anything else to say?
“Uh…?”
Anything else to say? Well, there was. Investigating the components of the drugs found in Sa Gong-hyun’s house.
After a moment of contemplation, Jae-young closed his eyes briefly and then opened them. There was no need to add another task when Seung-kwon was already too busy to sleep. He could request the drug component analysis himself.
“No, nothing else.”
—Alright. Hey, Jae-young…
“Ah, just a moment.”
Jae-young suddenly cut off Seung-kwon’s voice as they were having half meaningless, half important conversation. His work phone, which had been showing only a black screen as if the battery was dead, started vibrating.
The number wasn’t saved, but it looked familiar. It was Sa Gong-hyun’s number. A call coming about 4 hours after they’d parted.
“I think Sa Gong-hyun is calling. Hold on.”
He couldn’t remember how long he had waited for the day he would save this number on his phone. Jae-young reported the situation to Seung-kwon while inwardly rejoicing. There was no response from the receiver. He immediately connected the call on his work phone.
“Hello?”
—What are you doing this evening?
He was a funny guy. Making his first call and getting straight to the point was quite amusing.
Jae-young silently clicked his tongue and shook his head. Then 1 second, 2 seconds. He allowed just about 2 seconds of silence.
“Who… could this be Hyun-ssi? Oh, I… I’m not doing anything this evening.”
Jae-young spoke with an excited voice. The emotion of receiving a first call from a lover, or someone who might become a lover, was ‘joy impossible to hide.’
—Come out in front of your house around 9 o’clock.
“9 o’clock? Sure. I’ll be waiting.”
—Okay.
“I can’t wait to see you, Hyun-ssi.”
Sa Gong-hyun continued with a dry response, but Jae-young didn’t mind at all. After Jae-young expressed his eagerness to see him, Sa Gong-hyun added nothing more and abruptly hung up.
“Look at those manners. Doesn’t even respond.”
Right, what could I possibly expect from you? I’m so grateful just for your call that I don’t know what to do with myself, you jerk.
Jae-young kept cursing at the phone after the call had ended. Belatedly, he picked up his personal phone and held it to his ear.
“Oh, hyung, what were you saying earlier?”
—Nothing. Just take care of yourself.
“What’s that? So bland. Okay…”
Before he could finish, the call was disconnected. Beep, beep, beep. Jae-young scowled fiercely at the succession of end tones.
“What day is it today? Why is everyone hanging up without saying goodbye?”
He glared alternately at the two phones in his hands. Sa Gong-hyun was one thing, but Seung-kwon had never hung up on his call before.
After staring blankly at his personal phone for about 30 seconds, Jae-young shook his head. He figured Seung-kwon must be extremely tired.
Jae-young clicked his tongue and dialed a number saved as “Yun-hyung.” He needed to call Jung-yun, the delivery service employee, before sending the ziplock bag by quick service.
***
Jae-young had a smile all over his face. He glanced several times at Sa Gong-hyun, who was staring straight ahead expressionlessly.
Sa Gong-hyun’s eyes turned toward Jae-young. His gaze quickly moved forward again, but his lips slowly parted.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Because I’m happy.”
“You’re good at saying things that make me cringe.”
“Aren’t we close enough for that now?”
Sa Gong-hyun was silent for a moment at the innocent question. Jae-young tilted his head slightly.
“I didn’t tell you not to do it.”
The smile covering his face grew a bit more mischievous. Jae-young curved his eyes into a smile and eagerly moved his lips.
“Why didn’t you put anything in your hair? You always seem to use something. You did even this morning. Did you wash it before coming out?”
“Someone gets excited and grabs my hair, so there’s no point in styling it.”
Ah, that’s right. I did that other times too, but especially today I entangled my hands in his hair more chaotically to collect samples.
Feeling quite embarrassed, he let out an awkward laugh. Jae-young tried to make up for his misdeed a little.
“You know what? When your hair is messy, Hyun-ssi, it’s really sexy.”
Sa Gong-hyun, who had been driving with an unimpressed face, now laughed as if he found it absurd.
“This isn’t something that can be easily overlooked with such a poor excuse. Thanks to that, I had to go to work looking like this.”
“I promise I’ll be careful next time Hyun-ssi comes to work, so please let it slide today. I was also embarrassed all day because of Hyun-ssi. My butt hurt every time I sat down!”
“When did you ask me to spank you first, and now you’re complaining?”
“No matter what, how could you spank me until I was about to burst? Even in high school, I never got beaten like that.”
He shot a resentful glance. His thin lower lip protruded enough to look plump. At that, Sa Gong-hyun’s gaze briefly fell on him.
“Seems like you caused quite a bit of trouble.”
“I was late quite often.”
It wasn’t a lie, just omitting several facts. He was chronically late and absent, and on the days he did go to school, he often got called in for hanging around with troublemakers.
“What about you? What kind of student were you in school, Hyun-ssi?”
Well, considering he said he’d been doing manual labor since seventeen, Jae-young could guess. He must have been quite built even then, and with that temperament and larger-than-average build, he probably wasn’t a model student.
“Let’s see. I was probably just a student who was often absent.”
“You were absent that often?”
“I couldn’t go.”
“…Why?”
“Because I had to make a living.”
“…”
Only then did Jae-young, who had been firing questions non-stop, fall silent. It wasn’t surprising. He already knew that Gong-hyun was a self-made man, so he was merely pretending to be surprised.
“I’m impressed.”
It was when his kind words filled the empty space that Sa Gong-hyun looked directly at Jae-young.
“You grew up well despite such hardships. You have great survival skills. Even if you married without a penny to your name, at least your spouse wouldn’t starve to death.”
With this much praise, it should be time to feel embarrassed now. Jae-young’s lips curved up affectionately. While waiting for a reaction from him, Sa Gong-hyun laughed self-deprecatingly, contrary to expectations.
“That’s something hard to achieve in South Korea.”
Jae-young, who had opened his mouth for a moment, closed it again. He turned his gaze from Sa Gong-hyun to the window. He inhaled calmly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
