Chapter 143
“The same goes for the plates that go on the young master’s table. Each plate has a designated type of food. Please pay special attention to the position and spacing of the plates.”
“Yes.”
“There’s not much difficulty besides serving meals. He spends most of the rest of his time in bed. As I mentioned this morning, he doesn’t like conversation much, so just be mindful of that. He’s not particularly difficult to serve, so it shouldn’t be hard.”
If it weren’t for Tae-geon’s question about whether a new person had arrived, Lily wouldn’t have had to open her mouth in front of Tae-geon even once today. There wasn’t even an exchange of greetings.
As Hyeon-woo wrote down “No conversation” in his notebook, he inwardly thought it was fortunate. He didn’t want to reveal his presence to Tae-geon yet. He wanted to approach the truth carefully, without being swept away by the situation or emotions.
“Does the young master always stay in his room?”
Lily nodded at Hyeon-woo’s question.
“That’s usually the case.”
“…And he always keeps the curtains and windows closed?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Hyeon-woo’s expression darkened as he fell silent.
*
The next day, and the day after that, Hyeon-woo continued to attend to Tae-geon with Lily. As Lily had said, there wasn’t much difficulty besides serving meals. Occasionally, he would replace the water jug by the bedside when it was empty, but otherwise, his daily routine consisted of standing idly in a corner, waiting for his shift to end.
Even in broad daylight, the room, thoroughly isolated from the outside by thick blackout curtains, felt devoid of any sense of season. Whenever Hyeon-woo faced Tae-geon, who was staring blankly into space, he felt an inexplicable anxiety. After watching Tae-geon in the same state for over five days, Hyeon-woo felt like his head was going to explode.
Why was he secluding himself in the mansion like this? The reason of just being blind didn’t seem quite convincing.
‘Someone is threatening Tae-geon hyung by using you-.’
Ju-on’s voice, cut off mid-sentence, kept lingering unpleasantly in his mind. He had thought it was nonsensical babble, but as the days with Tae-geon increased, Hyeon-woo began to understand why Ju-on might have had such suspicions.
He too couldn’t shake off the feeling that Tae-geon was bound hand and foot by something invisible, unable to move. As if someone had a fatal weakness on him. However, he still couldn’t agree with Ju-on’s foolish idea of linking himself to that threat.
A threat. Something threatening Choi Tae-geon. What could it possibly be?
He pondered deeply, but couldn’t fathom it at all. As Ju-on had said, what could possibly threaten Choi Tae-geon, who wouldn’t bat an eye even in life-threatening situations? The purpose of his seclusion was likely not for his own safety.
Hyeon-woo changed his question.
Then, something that Choi Tae-geon would perceive as a threat…
The more he delved into it, the more he felt like he was focusing on why Ju-on had come up with such a foolish hypothesis about him. Hyeon-woo stopped his train of thought. He felt like he was becoming a fool along with Ju-on.
It only made him feel bad for no reason.
He wished the weekend would come quickly. Hyeon-woo pushed away unnecessary thoughts, thinking of Jerome who would be eagerly waiting for him.
*
Heavy rain poured again from the morning. Along with the rain that had been falling all last week, the temperature had been dropping day by day, and before they knew it, autumn had fully set in. Starting from the top of Neungra Mountain, the autumn foliage had already turned a vibrant red.
“Dad, the mountain over there is red.”
Hyeon-woo and Jerome were looking at the falling rain through the open window and the hazy Neungra Mountain behind it. Perhaps because the scenery was blurred by the mist, the areas with autumn foliage seemed to glow redder than usual.
“It’s autumn foliage. Remember when we saw it together on the mountain before?”
“Uh-huh, the trees with lots of red stars on them!”
“That’s right, there are many of those trees gathered there, so it looks so red.”
“Wow. It’s like a fire that doesn’t go out even in the rain!”
The ‘Neungra’ in Neungra Mountain meant silk. It got its name because in autumn, the whole mountain turns red, creating a spectacular sight. The early autumn foliage looked mystical, like an unwetting fire as Jerome had said.
Listening to the sound of rain pouring outside the window, Hyeon-woo spent the whole day at home with Jerome. They baked frozen pancakes and decorated them with chocolate, whipped cream, and fruit. They finally succeeded in assembling the large spaceship block they had bought recently and displayed it impressively in a corner of Jerome’s room.
Lying in bed with Jerome, spending the last night of the weekend together, Hyeon-woo thought of Tae-geon in the mansion. The image of Tae-geon sitting blankly, neither alive nor dead, had been haunting Hyeon-woo all weekend.
Early in the morning, after sending Jerome to daycare, Hyeon-woo got into Driver Yoon’s car that had come to pick him up and headed to the mansion. After changing into his uniform and heading to the kitchen, he found duck meat neatly prepared in bite-sized pieces. Looking at the appetizing food, he felt hungry again even though he had just finished eating.
Scott, adjusting the white chef’s hat on his head, signaled to Hyeon-woo that the preparations were complete. Hyeon-woo grabbed the trolley and headed to Tae-geon’s room with Scott.
He had said goodbye to Lily, who had completed her retirement process, last week. From today, he had to take care of Tae-geon alone without Lily. Perhaps because of this, his heartbeat became strangely fast. After taking a short deep breath, Hyeon-woo knocked on the wooden door.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
After swallowing hard, he entered the room.
Following Lily’s advice, he carefully placed the plates in their designated positions. Small marks engraved on the table made it easy to gauge the positions. After finishing all the settings, Hyeon-woo stepped back, and only then did Tae-geon, who had been sitting on the bed, get down to the floor.
As the heavy footsteps of custom leather indoor shoes approaching on the wooden floor drew near, Hyeon-woo felt his hair stand on end with tension.
Tae-geon sat down in the chair with a familiar motion and picked up an empty glass. Hyeon-woo poured water as he had learned from Lily. After Scott finished explaining the food and left the room, Tae-geon began his meal. Hyeon-woo, who had stepped back, diligently refilled Tae-geon’s glass whenever it was empty, attending to him closely.
As the plates were nearly emptied, Tae-geon put down his chopsticks. After moving the empty plates to the trolley, Hyeon-woo placed a coffee cup and a plate with dessert on the cleared table. As he poured coffee from the pot, the rich aroma of coffee beans quickly filled the room.
Strangely, just smelling this fragrance calmed his nerves, which had been on edge with tension. He often found himself caught up in the feeling of those peaceful moments when he used to sit across from Tae-geon under the pouring sunlight.
Perhaps that’s why. Hyeon-woo, who had stepped back after finishing all his assigned tasks, suddenly began to move impulsively. The autumn sky, which had poured rain all weekend, was unusually clear and bright, and it seemed a waste to have it so tightly covered, not letting even a single ray of light in.
Tae-geon, who had been drinking coffee, paused at the sudden presence he felt behind him.
Hyeon-woo swiftly pulled back the blackout curtain he was holding.
Whoosh-
It wasn’t just once. The sound of curtains being drawn echoed from the next window, and the one after that.
Soon after, Tae-geon frowned at the unfamiliar sensation of something warm settling on his shoulders. It was the feel of warm sunlight he had forgotten for a long time.
Clank-
Tae-geon, his face contorted as if displeased, roughly put down his coffee cup on the table and spoke in an irritated voice.
“What are you doing right now?”
“…”
“Didn’t you hear about the rules of this place?”
However, the dim-witted employee went a step further,
Screech-
He even opened the large floor-to-ceiling window. As a cool, clear breeze swept through the room, Tae-geon’s dark hair scattered in all directions with the wind.
“…You’re really something.”
Just as Tae-geon, unable to tolerate the employee’s nerve-wracking behavior any longer, was about to rise from his seat, he felt an unfamiliar, no, somewhat familiar touch reaching out to his hair.
In an instant, an inexplicable chill ran through Tae-geon’s entire body. Frozen in place, he heard a rustling sound near his ear. It was a sound like that of dry leaves.
The touch that had been on his hair removed something and then quickly slipped into Tae-geon’s palm before withdrawing.
“What…”
Leaving the bewildered Tae-geon behind, the employee who had already cleared the table was pulling the trolley away into the corridor. Soon, the surroundings fell into a quiet stillness.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
