Sa Gong-hyun smiled, seemingly satisfied as he ran his finger across his own lower lip. Even seeing this, Jae-young couldn’t bring himself to think he was detestable. He could only follow with a hollow laugh.
“It hurts.”
“That’s why I bit you.”
He opened the front door. As he got in without hesitation, as if he had already shed any lingering attachments, Jae-young hurriedly grabbed the car door.
He bent down and sucked Sa Gong-hyun’s glistening lips one more time. The lips that had touched lightly and separated somehow felt inadequate.
“Know that I’ll pay you back exactly the same way next time.”
Sa Gong-hyun snickered as if it were laughable.
“Do that. If you can.”
Jae-young stepped back and closed the car door. He smoothly turned the car and disappeared from sight.
Unlike moments before, the streetlights, with no intruders to interfere, emitted their light fully, yet somehow he felt melancholic.
Not wanting to dwell on that feeling for long, he dispelled it with a sigh. As he called a taxi, his thoughts were endlessly of Sa Gong-hyun.
For the first time, he thought he might regret parting with him.
To the extent that he inadvertently thought: What if I just hand over the ledger to my group and pretend I don’t know anything while staying by his side?
# A Mouse Trapped in a Jar
Jae-young took a deep breath. When he pressed the doorbell, a clear chime rang twice. There was no sound from inside. With suddenly widened eyes, Jae-young placed his hand on the doorknob.
He unlocked the door password and stepped inside. The emotion he felt as soon as he entered Seung-kwon’s officetel was bewilderment.
After taking off his shoes, he carefully surveyed the inside of the house. Though he had never felt the place was particularly clean, today it seemed unusually disorganized.
The reason he had come to Seung-kwon’s officetel after sending Sa Gong-hyun away with persuasion was singular, so he immediately called Seung-kwon. To receive the completed ledger. Today was the day he had promised four days ago.
As the ringing continued, there was no response on the other end. The unsettling feeling became increasingly clear. Jae-young quietly ended the call after hearing the voicemail guidance.
Today was definitely the promised day, yet there had been no contact from Seung-kwon. Jae-young searched through bookshelves and drawers, thinking he might have left the ledger somewhere in the house.
However, the ledger he had requested earlier was nowhere to be found in Seung-kwon’s house.
“…What is this? What’s going on here, seriously?”
Annoyance crept up to the top of his head. The lack of communication, something he had never experienced while working with him until now, made Jae-young even more anxious.
He tightly closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, and opened his eyes slowly. There was still time left until the D-day he had indicated, so it might be okay to wait a little longer. The work might have been delayed because the situation wasn’t favorable.
Trying to comfort himself, he connected a call to Ju-yeon. As Jae-young was about to return to the shoe rack, he noticed a USB that had fallen under the dining table.
“Uh…”
He noticed it was a different USB from the one where Seung-kwon had collected information on Sa Gong-hyun’s activities, but by the time he came to his senses, he had already hidden it in his hand.
Jae-young put the USB in his pocket and hastily put on his shoes. The call he had been connecting to Ju-yeon, just like when he had called Seung-kwon, led to the voicemail tone.
“…Shibal, really.”
Jae-young cursed under his breath. He felt more urgent because it was uncertain when he would have time again if not today. But he couldn’t just stay here all night waiting.
Trying to suppress his rising irritation, he lowered the doorknob.
***
“Haah…”
A deep breath escaped naturally. His eyes opened heavily. Jae-young, blinking his eyelids languidly, raised his hand to cover his eyes.
Suddenly feeling thirsty, he got up and headed to the refrigerator. After quenching his thirst with a 500mL bottle of water, his drowsiness somewhat subsided.
Brushing back his bangs, he belatedly rubbed his eyes. By now, the sunset was spread all over.
He had dreamed. It was so vivid that until just before opening his eyes, he couldn’t distinguish whether what he was experiencing was a dream or reality. To the extent that he remained dazed even after waking up.
Jae-young couldn’t suppress the emotion welling up inside him and ruminated on the dream he had just had.
Sa Gong-hyun appeared in his dream. In the dream, Sa Gong-hyun looked at Jae-young with a smiling face the entire time. Meeting his gaze, Jae-young smiled even more brightly and chattered endlessly.
It wasn’t a particularly special dream, as it could have been something that happened just yesterday. In the dream, Jae-young and Sa Gong-hyun were just a bit more affectionate than usual.
The emotion he could feel throughout was joy. It was comfortable and happy.
While Jae-young with closed eyes was overwhelmed with happiness in that moment, Jae-young right after opening his eyes felt achingly lonely.
It wasn’t a very welcome dream. It just made his head hurt. While drinking water, Jae-young once again looked at the map he had spread out on the table before falling asleep. It was a map marking the escape route.
He fell into thought. Though his gaze on the map was infinitely expressionless, his inner feelings were not. Something was heavily weighing down on his chest.
Starting from the day he had visited Seung-kwon’s officetel to find the forged ledger, communication with the group was completely cut off. No, in fact, it might have been from even earlier.
Anxiety rose without showing any signs of subsiding. The promised D-day was approaching, but in the end, nothing had been completed for the finale.
He had planned to refrain from meeting Sa Gong-hyun for a while due to the inevitably postponed D-day. If he hadn’t dreamed of him today, his heart might have been a little less complicated.
He missed him. Sa Gong-hyun. Even while clearly knowing that he shouldn’t reveal such an absurd feeling on the surface, he couldn’t help but think that way.
This was all because he had appeared in his dream.
***
Dressed neatly for the first time in a long while, Jae-young stood in front of a grand building. He leaned against the building wall, waiting for the revolving door to turn.
He tilted his head to peek inside from time to time. He stared straight ahead at the road, tapping the granite tile with the toe of his sneaker.
Whenever he sensed movement, he raised his head to scan the surroundings. Yet, the face he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.
It was only after he had been chewing on boredom for quite some time that he finally spotted Sa Gong-hyun passing through the revolving door.
“Hyun-ssi.”
Jae-young smiled brightly and moved his body, which had been stationary for a while. He approached Sa Gong-hyun and grabbed his arm.
He welcomed Jae-young with a smile, not showing any signs of being taken aback.
“You came early.”
Though it seemed twisted, his words were lighter than expected. Jae-young’s lips, which had formed a parabola, were about to slowly part.
“Then please enter safely, Executive Director.”
When someone’s voice abruptly interjected from behind, Jae-young’s gaze darted over. Judging by his appearance and behavior, he seemed to be a secretary.
“…”
He was the complete opposite of Manager Jo whom he always saw. He looked like someone who would smile brightly and had a small build. He was neat, calm, and a man with a gentle smiling face.
He seemed similar to the type of men Sa Gong-hyun said he usually met… maybe… No, not just similar, but as if he carried the exact same uniqueness.
Unconsciously, he pulled Sa Gong-hyun’s arm toward himself. As he just stared blankly at the man presumed to be the secretary, their eyes met. The man smiled faintly and gave a nod of greeting.
“Have you become friendly with my secretary without my knowledge?”
“What?”
His startled gaze jumped upward.
“Of course not.”
Trying to smile, he shook his head. Jae-young lowered his head toward the secretary and linked his arm with Sa Gong-hyun’s.
After doing so, he realized his mistake. Linking arms intimately with a man? He had never linked arms with anyone before, so he himself was taken aback.
As Jae-young immediately withdrew his arm, this time Sa Gong-hyun caught his hand. Jae-young glanced at that hand and then turned slightly to look behind. The secretary had already left.
Sa Gong-hyun stood in front of the car that had rolled up to the front of the building just in time for his descent. Jae-young, who had stopped behind him, belatedly faced forward.
“Get in.”
Since he personally opened the passenger door, Jae-young quickly got in. Sa Gong-hyun, who then got into the driver’s seat, changed the gear.
“Did you ignore my words to come back before the wound healed?”
“There’s still a small mark left. Here, can you see this?”
“I can’t see it.”
“You’re lying. Why did you leave work so late today? Were you very busy?”
“I had to go on a business trip. I just came down after signing off on things as soon as I returned.”
The car smoothly sped down the paved road. His gaze, aimlessly stretched outside the window, fully captured the revolving door.
“Aren’t you pushing too hard?”
“Now it’s Do Jae-young’s turn to run around.”
“Me?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
