Chapter 80
It was Cha Yoon who rejected the suggestion to wait for Seo-jung. The other cast members looked perplexed. Hadn’t he just been making a fuss about not eating without Ki Seo-jung? They knew he was fickle, but to change like this in just a week? The cast members exchanged glances.
Of course, they couldn’t come to any conclusion. Who could understand what was going on in his mind? They gave up trying to understand, but they weren’t going to let it end there.
“Even if dinner is a bit delayed, we should eat together when Seo-jung oppa arrives. How can we eat without him?”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“I’m a bit hungry, but it doesn’t feel right to eat without Seo-jung. Let’s rest in the living room for a bit and eat together when he arrives.”
“Sounds good.”
As the cast members started agreeing with Sae-young, who had taken the lead, a vein popped on Cha Yoon’s forehead. Why were they looking out for Ki Seo-jung? Who did they think they were? But he couldn’t say such things out loud. Cha Yoon cut through the murmuring atmosphere with an irritated voice.
“Ki Seo-jung and I already made plans to have dinner together.”
“Plans?”
“Yes, we agreed to eat just the two of us, so stop worrying and eat your meals.”
Cha Yoon effortlessly lied in response to their question. Weren’t they not getting along well lately? The idea of them eating together seemed a bit strange, but the cast members didn’t think too deeply about it.
“Alright then, let’s eat first without them.”
The cast members clapped a couple of times and hurried to prepare dinner. There was a flurry of activity as they scooped rice, portioned out food, and moved chopsticks and spoons.
As Cha Yoon naturally slipped away from the busy group towards the living room, he saw Soo-ho coming down, blinking his eyes as if he had just woken up from a nap. Cha Yoon ignored Soo-ho and sat on the sofa. It was the spot with the best view of the hallway leading to the entrance.
“Yoon hyung, where are you going? Aren’t you eating?”
“I’ll eat later.”
“How can you skip out after preparing all the food yourself! Come on, let’s eat togeth—”
“Stop talking nonsense and go eat.”
“Okay…”
At the cold response, Soo-ho closed his mouth with a dejected expression.
“Go tell the others too. I’ll eat separately later, so don’t bother calling me.”
Cha Yoon stressed again and turned his head without waiting for a reply. Who’s trying to interfere with someone’s date? He shook his head slightly and muttered to himself.
He had rushed to the supermarket to shop and prepared the meal following recipes on YouTube for a cozy dinner with Ki Seo-jung. He couldn’t stand the thought of anyone interfering with the dinner date he had put so much effort into.
Settled in one corner of the living room, Cha Yoon kept his eyes fixed on the entrance. Since he couldn’t see Seo-jung off in the morning, he wanted to be the first to welcome him back. Then, after Seo-jung freshened up, they could have dinner together, enjoy some light beer or wine, and clarify their relationship once again. It wouldn’t be bad to sort out how they address each other and suggest speaking more casually too.
As Cha Yoon was imagining a romantic scene of clinking wine glasses with Ki Seo-jung and smiling at each other, he glanced at the clock on the living room wall.
“…I hope he comes soon.”
Cha Yoon’s soft voice dispersed into the air.
An hour passed. During that time, boisterous sounds continued to come from the kitchen, and soon after, the cast members who had been sitting around the dining table came out to the living room one by one. Each held a bottle of alcohol and glasses to drink from.
“Cha Yoon, won’t you have a drink?”
“I’m not drinking.”
Ji-yoon approached Cha Yoon and offered, swirling her glass, but he firmly declined. He already had a tight date schedule planned. He couldn’t risk the mishap of drinking with someone else. Seeing Cha Yoon’s resolute refusal, Yeo Ji-yoon coolly turned away, as if she had no intention of insisting.
A small drinking party formed in front of Cha Yoon. Everyone except him and Seo-jung participated. As time passed, the sounds of clinking glasses and conversation mingled, and the atmosphere of the drinking party ripened. The faces of the cast members were full of laughter. Cha Yoon was the only one with a serious expression in this space.
Cha Yoon moved his head to look at the wall where the clock hung. 9 o’clock. It was well past the time Ki Seo-jung should have gotten off work, even twelve times over. Why isn’t he coming? He gnawed on his thick lower lip before picking up his phone.
Cha Yoon pressed the yellow speech bubble-shaped application instead of the “My X” app. It was the privilege of someone who knew Ki Seo-jung’s number. Among the list of names, he touched the name “Ki Seo-jung,” and an empty individual chat window popped up. He stared at the empty light blue space for a moment before moving his fingers.
“It’s past your work hours, why aren’t you home?”
1
Cha Yoon looked at the neatly typed message without a single typo and pressed the ‘Send’ button. At the same time, a yellow speech bubble appeared in the empty space along with a small ‘1’. He confirmed that the message was sent without any problem and shifted his body as if restless. Even at that moment, his eyes didn’t leave the clearly visible ‘1’.
Time passed mercilessly. Even after Jung Soo-ho had finished the can of beer he was drinking and opened a new one, there was no change in the chat room.
Why isn’t he reading it? What is he doing and where? Rather than being angry that Seo-jung wasn’t seeing his message, he was more worried. Finally, a small change had occurred in his thought process that had always revolved around himself. The teeth biting Cha Yoon’s lower lip applied more and more pressure.
Just as it seemed he might draw blood from how tense his jaw muscles were, Cha Yoon couldn’t stand it anymore and opened the “My X” application. His finger headed towards the ‘Real-time Admin Chat’ button.
Real-time Admin Chat
It’s past 9 o’clock now, but Ki Seo-jung still hasn’t come in.
Do you know anything about this?
Cha Yoon, who had quickly written just the essentials, shook his leg while waiting for a reply. The vibration traveled along his long legs to Soo-ho’s back. Soo-ho glanced back uncomfortably, but Cha Yoon, focused entirely on the chat window, didn’t notice. Instead, his leg shook faster as time passed. The leg that had been moving vigorously for a while stopped when a light came on in the chat room with the production team.
Real-time Admin Chat
It’s past 9 o’clock now, but Ki Seo-jung still hasn’t come in.
Do you know anything about this?
Admin
Ki Seo-jung said he would be absent due to night shift work.
Please don’t worry and continue with your activities.
“What is he doing?”
Night shift? Cha Yoon muttered to himself, straightening his back as he read the message from the production team. His voice was quite loud, drawing the attention of Yeo Ji-yoon and Jung Soo-ho sitting nearby, but he had no time to care about such things. Cha Yoon read it over several times, wondering if he had misread. But nothing changed.
A sound like air escaping came from between Cha Yoon’s lips. His furrowed face was full of bewilderment. Ki Seo-jung had already gone to work from early dawn according to his schedule. But now night shift work? In other words, this meant that not only had he gone to work in the early morning, but he was also staying at work to pull an all-nighter.
Of course, this choice wasn’t completely incomprehensible. Recalling Ki Seo-jung’s character of always thinking of others first, it wasn’t an unreasonable choice.
Why doesn’t he take care of himself? Cha Yoon ran his hand through his hair irritably. A feeling of frustration rose in his chest.
He started typing a message: “So you’re doing night shift work today too. I’ve told you before to take care of yourself. Why don’t you listen? You’re making me worry like this…”
But Cha Yoon soon stopped his fingers. He realized that Ki Seo-jung wouldn’t change just because of words like these.
If it was something that could be changed by words, it would have changed long ago. So there was only one way. Before Ki Seo-jung sacrificed himself and stepped up, Cha Yoon would have to take care of things and protect him. Having this realization, Cha Yoon erased all the messages he had been typing.
“It’s past your work hours, why aren’t you home?”
1
“I’m waiting, so come straight home when work is done.”
1
As he sent the newly composed message, another yellow speech bubble piled up in the chat window. Cha Yoon rubbed the top part of the chat window where Ki Seo-jung’s name was written with his finger.
