Come to think of it, that department store employee from earlier had the kind of neat, clean-cut looks that Juni would probably like. It was exactly the same feeling I’d had when I first saw Namgung Bin. Well, if he’d lived around here for a long time, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have one or two connections like that nearby. The only difference would be the gender.
I was about to leave the shopping bag in front of the seventh-floor door, but then I figured someone might take it again, so I carried it into the office instead. On the way back, I ran into a nearby real estate owner and ended up chatting about studio apartments. I even heard some gossip about how “some celebrity bought a building somewhere around here.”
“Alright then, President Yoo, I’ll see you at the next realtor meeting.”
“Yes, get home safe.”
After seeing him off and returning to the office, it was already close to noon. I stepped out to use the restroom for a moment when a black car smoothly pulled up and stopped in front of the office. The pitch-black door opened, and I saw Seomun Jun rise gracefully from the driver’s seat, dressed in monochrome clothing.
“Good timing. There’s a shopping bag for you on the desk, Mr. Seomun Jun. Take it.”
After saying that, I headed toward the building restroom. Even while washing my hands afterward, I had no idea how I was supposed to explain the small box inside the shopping bag. In the end, I decided I’d just tell him the truth. I dried my hands with a paper towel and walked back out.
When I returned to the office, Jun wasn’t looking inside the shopping bag—he was staring into the delivery box I’d left on the desk.
“That’s mine. Yours is the shopping bag over there—”
“I know.”
“If you know, why are you going through someone else’s package?”
Jun sat down on the sofa, turning the box this way and that before frowning. Curious, I took a step closer and stood beside him—then a cold sweat ran down my spine.
“Pan… ties?”
And not just any—there was a pair of cheetah-print underwear I used to wear often, stained with a watery liquid. Wow… When the box tilted, the liquid was still moist enough to drip somewhere inside.
Since when was this sitting in front of the office? Did that Panty Stalker follow me all the way here? Who the hell is it?
My stomach churned. Just then, Jun snapped his fingers right in front of my unfocused eyes.
“What are you spacing out for? What kind of bastard sent this?”
“I don’t know. I mean, why is that even… there…?”
“Judging by your face, this isn’t the first time you’ve gotten something like this. You’ve got to have some idea who it might be.”
“No. I really don’t….”
“You expect me to believe some faceless asshole just sent this out of nowhere? There’s got to be something between you and—”
Jun kept pressing, but I didn’t have the strength to answer anymore. I collapsed onto the sofa. A sigh slipped through my teeth as I buried my head in my hands.
I’d barely managed to escape and start over somewhere new, and now that stalker had followed me here. Why? Out of all the clumsy idiots out there, why me?
Jun set the box down on the coffee table and stopped pressing the issue. He just silently watched me.
“Mr. Seomun Jun, take your shopping bag and go. I’m not in the mood for lunch right now.”
Without lifting my head, I pointed toward the desk. I really didn’t want to stay in this office today.
“You’re going to eat lunch alone over just this pair of underwear?”
“It’s not ‘just.’ This is—haah….”
“An ex-boyfriend, maybe?”
“No. I’m saying, out of all the men in South Korea, why would someone do this to an average guy like me?”
I roughly ran a hand through my hair. Meanwhile, Jun started looking through his shopping bag. He pulled out the clothes, glanced at them, then picked up the box rolling around inside. Tearing open the wrapping, he asked in disbelief,
“What is this?”
“I don’t know. The manager told me to pass it along.”
“Ah! Why would you even accept something like this?”
In his hand was an expensive luxury watch. Just one glance told you it cost a fortune, yet he shook it carelessly, irritation clear on his face.
“Take this back!”
“You do it! I don’t know anything! At least you got a watch. Do you want to send someone who just received cum-stained underwear to go return that? Wow, seriously—I’d thank the pervert if I got a watch instead!”
“Just handle it.”
Thud.
Jun tossed the box onto my thigh. Good thing my legs were closed instinctively—if they’d been apart, it would’ve dropped straight to the floor. I snapped at him for throwing things around like that.
“As long as you caught it, what’s the problem?”
“Don’t throw stuff like this!”
I must’ve frowned firmly as I said it. If something this expensive broke, how was I supposed to return it? I kept grumbling that he didn’t think about the person who gave it to him at all.
But even as I complained, Jun was just looking at me with a faint smile. I ignored him and turned my attention to the watch resting on my thigh. If I was going to return it, I needed to pack it properly. I opened the box and carefully secured the watch back in place. Even then, the sighs wouldn’t stop coming.
That’s when Jun spoke casually.
“I could catch that pervert for you.”
“Huh?”
“If he left it at your door, he’ll come back again, right? I live in the building across the street. Who knows? Maybe I’ll just happen to see him. And I’m fast.”
It wasn’t impossible. Rather than suffering alone like this, maybe I should grab onto any help I could get. I wanted to put an end to this story that felt like it would never end.
“If it means I get to have a closer relationship with you, Yoo Du, I’d gladly do it.”
“No matter the method?”
“Yeah.”
I wasn’t sure if I could trust those words. But it seemed better than having nothing. So I pretended to deliberate.
My heart was already leaning toward him, telling me to swear brotherhood with him on the spot, but lately Jun’s behavior had been strange. He’d say things about getting hard without hesitation, and he’d even steal and eat the candy I was eating. Then again, our first meeting hadn’t exactly been normal either.
Still, his type was someone like the handsome Namgung Bin. I figured I was just an extension of an errand boy to him, so I considered his offer positively. Appearance-wise, I was in the safe zone. Running away that time had just been my intuition acting up, and his behavior since hadn’t been much different.
“Not bad. But what kind of relationship exactly?”
“For now, how about we go eat lunch? I’ll tell you there. I’m hungry.”
“Let’s just order something to the office.”
That unidentified box was still sitting on the coffee table. Jun pointed at it, reminding me.
“I don’t want to eat on top of wherever that thing was placed. Or we could order at my place.”
“No. Let’s just go out.”
I was about to pick up the box to throw it away, but Jun snatched it first. He went outside, crossed over to his building, and tossed it into the garbage collection area.
While he was gone, I put the watch box into a small shopping bag and tucked it into my desk drawer. I locked the office door, and just then I heard Hyesun’s voice.
“Hello. Going somewhere?”
“Ah, hello. I’m heading out for lunch.”
“Then shall we go together?”
“Well, I have plans.”
I smiled, trying to hide my regret, when suddenly the loud roar of a car engine filled the air. If the exhaust smoke matched the volume, the whole area would’ve been fogged over.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting in?”
We’d said we were going to eat lunch, not go for a drive. I awkwardly bent down and approached the open driver’s-side window. Jun tapped the steering wheel and looked at me.
“Weren’t we going somewhere nearby?”
“We are. Get in.”
Hyesun blinked at me in surprise, her eyes clearly asking when I’d gotten so close to Jun. I scratched the back of my head and answered with an awkward smile instead.
I bowed slightly to her in apology and got into the passenger seat. If that box hadn’t arrived today, I probably would’ve ignored Jun’s lunch invitation. But things kept getting tangled up.
As the car started moving, I looked at Hyesun through the rearview mirror. She stood there, watching the back of the car. As her figure grew smaller and eventually disappeared, I couldn’t help but think that my love life was fading away like that too.
Though, come to think of it, I didn’t even have her number. Usually, that’s not what you’d call something.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere. Anywhere.”
“Let’s go somewhere close.”
How many things in the world move in the opposite direction? Probably not that many. But I’d just discovered one.
Jun completely ignored my request to go somewhere nearby and instead got onto the national highway.
If the passenger door opened, I could’ve just gotten out at a red light—but since that wasn’t an option, I had no choice but to nag the driver.
“Juni, the more I watch you, the more I think you don’t really like me. You never do what I say.”
“It’s not that I don’t like you.”
Once we passed the tollgate, I gave up on arguing. The problem was, if I irritated him too much, he’d slam the gas pedal. Just because I’d thrown a slightly sharp remark, he started speeding. He somehow always knew exactly where the speed cameras were, pressing the brake hard and slowing down just in time—then flooring it again once we passed them.
“Hey! Slow down!”
It wasn’t until I practically tacked on a curse at the end that he finally matched the speed of the other cars.
