15
“Don’t do that next time. By the way, weren’t you upset about being stopped when you tried to go out?”
From this question, Jo Junghyun could guess that Ji Seunghyeok had received a report from the man. Surely, he hadn’t been told exactly how Jo Junghyun had reacted to the man. That couldn’t be. How ridiculous would that be?
“What? Oh, that… Yes. It’s fine. It’s just his job.”
Despite his complicated thoughts, his voice came out surprisingly calm, even to himself.
“Jo Junghyun-ssi is very understanding.”
Hearing this unexpected compliment, Jo Junghyun became flustered. While he was fumbling for words, he heard someone calling for Ji Seunghyeok from the other end of the phone.
“Don’t you need to go…?”
“Are you doing something interesting?”
At this unexpected question, Jo Junghyun asked back in confusion. Just as he finished saying “No, I’m not,” Ji Seunghyeok continued from the other end of the receiver.
“Really? You seem to be in a hurry to end the call.”
“What? Oh, no. That’s not it… I’d like to keep talking, but you seem busy.”
As Jo Junghyun was blurting out whatever came to mind in his confusion, he heard Ji Seunghyeok’s low laughter and realized that he was just joking. Before Jo Junghyun could finish speaking, he heard someone calling for Ji Seunghyeok again. Ji Seunghyeok clicked his tongue softly.
“Alright then. See you later.”
“Yes.”
After hearing Jo Junghyun’s response, Ji Seunghyeok ended the call first.
It wasn’t a particularly long conversation. Yet, it left him feeling slightly dazed.
Even though he had only heard his voice for a brief moment—less than five minutes—it had cheered him up a bit.
* * *
Ji Seunghyeok looked up at the employee who had called for him without rising from his seat. The employee’s expression stiffened.
“What is it?”
“There’s something you need to check.”
Instead of answering, Ji Seunghyeok tapped his desk with his finger. It meant to leave it and go. The employee, perceptive as ever, placed several documents on the desk with careful but precise movements.
After briefly saying that he understood and to leave, he turned his attention to the documents.
As Ji Seunghyeok skimmed through a few sentences, the report he had received a few hours earlier came to mind.
The employee stationed in front of the door had submitted the report.
[After you left for work, he said he was going to the mart and stepped outside briefly. I told him nicely to go back inside, and he asked if he was imprisoned here, then said he didn’t realize because it was too comfortable before going back in.]
He wanted to know exactly how Jo Junghyun had said it. It was a pity he hadn’t seen it directly. He imagined various ways Jo Junghyun might have spoken in his mind. When he asked during the phone call just now, Jo Junghyun had answered nonchalantly without getting flustered, saying it was just the man’s job.
Had he spoken to the employee stationed by the door the same way he had spoken to him?
A small laugh escaped Ji Seunghyeok’s mouth as he imagined it. Shaking his head, he decided he would ask again when he got home and redirected his attention.
As the surroundings quieted down, he looked up and met the eyes of employees who were staring at him.
“Have you all finished your work?”
“Ah, no, sir.”
At his quiet question, they all flinched and hurriedly went back to their respective tasks.
Come to think of it, Jo Junghyun had no money. It was unclear why he had set out to buy things. He probably didn’t have any money on him.
Having thought that far, Ji Seunghyeok picked up his phone and called somewhere.
* * *
Ding-dong—
Jo Junghyun left his room and quickly ran to the intercom at the sound of someone pressing the doorbell.
It was from the front door. Checking the screen, he saw that the person who had pressed the bell was the man who had been standing at the front door. He pressed the door open button and walked quickly. Even though he was just moving within the house, it took quite some time because the house was so large.
The man who entered through the open door put down two boxes.
He said to Jo Junghyun, who was standing there bewildered, not knowing what was going on.
“The CEO ordered this. And please take this.”
Jo Junghyun accepted what the man handed to him directly. Inside a plastic bag with a large logo was a rectangular lunchbox.
“I forgot to give this to you earlier. I bought another one, so please eat it.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The man, who had bowed in response to Jo Junghyun who had lowered his head with a slight bow, picked up the boxes he had put down and came inside. The man’s steps were quite quick. Jo Junghyun, who had come into the house with the man carrying the light lunchbox, saw him place the boxes on the countertop.
Having completed his task, the man left a polite goodbye, in a manner different from before, and went back out through the front door.
Jo Junghyun tilted his head as he heard the automatic door lock engage. He carefully reconsidered what the man had said earlier and put down the lunchbox he was holding on the table. Through the transparent lid, he could see eel.
It was a lunchbox he didn’t eat often because he didn’t particularly like it.
Deciding to eat the lunchbox a little later, Jo Junghyun examined what was in the boxes the man had brought. They were food ingredients from grocery shopping at the mart. They were full of all kinds of vegetables and meats. There was even a 5kg bag of rice. It must have been quite heavy, but the man hadn’t shown any sign of it.
Had he bought these directly from the mart?
After thinking that far, Jo Junghyun tightly closed his mouth. The word “gapjil” (power abuse) that he had seen in various media came to mind. Was this a case of him engaging in gapjil? Even if not directly, it would seem similar to the man standing in front of the door.
The man’s brusque attitude suddenly made sense.
He felt sorry, as the man probably hadn’t taken the job to do things like this.
Jo Junghyun quickly went to the front door and opened it. The man standing to one side looked at Jo Junghyun with wide eyes at his sudden appearance.
“About the groceries you brought. It must have been troublesome for you. Thank you. You worked hard.”
“…It’s nothing. Please go back inside.”
Perhaps because the man hadn’t expected Jo Junghyun to say such things, it took a moment for him to answer. Jo Junghyun silently bowed his head and went back into the house.
He picked up his phone and typed a message to Ji Seunghyeok.
He couldn’t call because Ji Seunghyeok had seemed very busy earlier.
[I received the food ingredients. Thank you for grocery shopping for me.]
There was no reply.
Well, even if there had been a reply, he didn’t have the presence of mind to check.
Jo Junghyun quickly separated the ingredients and began to put them neatly in the refrigerator. After figuring out what had been bought, Jo Junghyun started searching on his phone while thinking about what menu to cook.
The dinner menu Jo Junghyun decided on after his search was kimchi stew.
He wanted to make other dishes too, but the delivered ingredients were quite random.
Zucchini, onions, bell peppers, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and even melon.
While there were certainly plenty of ingredients, it was clear that they hadn’t been purchased with a specific dish in mind but rather grabbed at random. If this was the case, it would have been better to buy a convenient meal kit.
There were dumplings, but no ingredients to make broth. And it seemed inadequate to serve just dumplings for dinner. It might be different if Jo Junghyun was eating alone, but wasn’t this dinner to be shared with Ji Seunghyeok?
After thinking such resentful thoughts for a moment, Jo Junghyun shook his head. Since these were things purposely bought for him, he shouldn’t think that way. He should be grateful that there was anything at all.
Jo Junghyun wasn’t particularly confident in his cooking skills to the point of making a completely unfamiliar menu.
First, he opened the lunchbox the man had given him and took out about half of the food inside. Thinking this should be enough, he put the remaining lunchbox in the refrigerator and started eating what he had set aside. Although he wasn’t hungry, he couldn’t not eat at all. He couldn’t show Ji Seunghyeok an untouched lunchbox when he returned.
He felt sorry both to Ji Seunghyeok, who had specifically ordered the lunchbox, and to the employee who had gone to the trouble of buying it.
After eating everything cleanly, Jo Junghyun immediately washed the dishes he had used.
Judging that it would be better to prepare in advance, Jo Junghyun immediately started cooking.
He took out the store-bought kimchi, tofu for frying, and pork belly that he had just organized in the refrigerator. He picked up a cutting board and knife in the kitchen while looking at a recipe revealed by a famous broadcaster known for being a culinary researcher.
It was a bit contradictory that while the refrigerator was completely empty, kitchen equipment like pots and rice cookers were fully stocked. But this was fortunate for Jo Junghyun.
As Jo Junghyun was cooking while touching the screen that kept darkening, he looked up at the sound of the front door opening.
The sky wasn’t even dark yet.
“What are you making? The delicious smell is vibrating all the way outside.”
Ji Seunghyeok appeared.
Jo Junghyun was utterly bewildered. Since Ji Seunghyeok had gone to work so early in the morning, he could certainly return early, but Jo Junghyun hadn’t considered that. He had just vaguely assumed that Ji Seunghyeok would return late without checking with him directly.
“Oh, you’re back.”
“Yes, I’m back.”
Ji Seunghyeok approached Jo Junghyun, who was standing in front of the stove, not knowing what to do in his confusion. Ji Seunghyeok peered into the pot Jo Junghyun had been cooking in and smiled.
“Kimchi stew? Looks delicious.”
“Oh. Yes. If I had known you would come at this time, I would have hurried. I just thought you would come back late because you were busy.”
“I am busy. Just today I came home a bit earlier.”
Jo Junghyun quietly muttered, “I see,” to himself.
“The kimchi stew isn’t fully cooked yet. The rice isn’t ready either. You’ve just come back from work, so go wash up and come out.”
Ji Seunghyeok, who heard Jo Junghyun’s words, raised an eyebrow once and then smiled slightly.
“Alright. I’ll wash up quickly and come out.”
After giving that answer, Ji Seunghyeok went into the bedroom.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
