VDN Ch 72

“Ah, I thought so.”

Nam-woon responded swiftly, like water gushing from a faucet. Seo-oh, whose ears had turned red, curled his lips and said firmly.

“Don’t ask me about the other people. From now on.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s annoying.”

After saying that, Seo-oh headed toward the bathroom. Nam-woon slapped his forehead a few times, regretting his accidental comment about Seo-oh being pretty. He then stood in front of the sink to finish cutting the cucumbers. He had already cut the two of them wrong. To avoid angering Seo-oh again, he picked up the wrongly sliced cucumbers and ate them.

***

“Gasp, gasp.“

In a dark, narrow alley without a single streetlight, a man was hiding among the filthy piles of trash.

“Hey, did you find him?”

The sound of fast-running footsteps echoed through the silent alley, sounding like they were searching for someone. As the sound gradually faded away, the man cautiously stood up and peeked outside the alley building.

After confirming no one was there, he quickly moved in the opposite direction of his escape. He slipped into an old public phone booth he had noticed earlier and frantically looked around. Fortunately, there were no suspicious signs yet. He picked up the receiver and dialed eleven digits without hesitation, hearing a click as the call connected.

“Detective Jang, this is Kwon Sang-moon.”

The man nodded with an anxious face as he replied.

“Yes, yes, I understand. What? The password…?”

Hesitating for a moment, the image of Se-han drinking a beverage flashed through the man’s mind. He then spoke.

“Dal-kong.”

He continued.

“No, it’s someone who used to work here, but they’re trustworthy. Yes. They’re not directly under Chairman Seok. All the people watching me here are hired people….Yes. I understood.”

After a brief conversation, he hung up the phone but hesitated before picking up the receiver again. Then he quickly dialed a number. A different kind of tension filled his chest, and his heart pounded wildly.

– Hello?

“Seo-oh, it’s Dad.”

The man swallowed the tears welling up and barely managed to speak. Longing washed over him like a wave at the sound of his son’s voice, which he hadn’t heard in a long time. From the other end of the phone, there was a rustling noise, followed by the sound of a door opening.

After a moment, the other party asked quietly in disbelief.

– Dad?

“Yes, Seo-oh.”

After a moment of silence, Seo-oh called out “Dad!” again and then shouted urgently.

– Where are you right now! What have you been doing all this time!

In response to Seo-oh’s desperate cry, Kwon Sang-moon took a deep breath and said,

“Listen carefully, Seo-oh.”

“I’m going to the club this Saturday.”

– What?

***

Nam-woon glanced at Seo-oh. He had been folding a single towel with a blank expression for twenty minutes now.

It must be because of the phone call that he got earlier.

A call from an unknown number. As soon as he answered the call, his face noticeably hardened. Then he got up silently and went outside. Nam-woon plugged earphones into Se-han’s ears, who was playing games on his phone, and then slightly opened the door.

“Where are you now!”

It was a desperate voice he had never heard before. Nam-woon was certain it was Kwon Sang-moon. Finally, he had contacted Seo-oh. As he listened to Seo-oh’s anxious and excited voice, there was a sudden silence. It seemed the call had been abruptly cut off.

Nam-woon quietly closed the door and waited for Seo-oh to come in. After a while, he entered the room and had been in a daze ever since. Nam-woon fixed his gaze on the phone that Seo-oh had put down next to him and said,

“Se-han, let me see the phone for a second.”

Nam-woon took his own phone from Se-han’s hand, pretending to type a message as if he had an important contact. He placed Seo-oh’s phone in Se-han’s empty hand. Seeing this, Seo-oh reached out to Se-han.

“Se-han, give me my phone.”

“Uh? Then what do I play with?”

Se-han pouted his lips and looked at his Hyungs. At that earnest gaze, Nam-woon said to Seo-oh from the side,

“Kwon Seo-oh, lend your phone to Se-han for a moment. I’ll use it for five minutes and give it back.”

Then Seo-oh told Se-han that if a call comes, he must give it to him right away, and then he started folding towels again. Se-han nodded and quickly entered the six-digit password. He couldn’t forget his brother’s phone password because it was his own birthday.

“Ah, why isn’t the Wi-Fi working? Se-han, I’ll only use it for a minute.”

Nam-woon took Seo-oh’s phone from Se-han’s hand. Then he quickly accessed the map app. Let’s see, the last place Seo-oh searched for was…

[Pera]

Is Kwon Seo-oh also going to Pera? Then he went to the list of missed calls. It was clearly a public phone number. It must be Kwon Sang-moon. That’s when it happened.

“Hyung, are you going anywhere tomorrow night?”

Surprised by Seo-oh’s sudden question, Nam-woon returned the phone to Se-han and answered.

“I have a place to go tomorrow.”

“Really? Where are you going?”

“I have something to do. I’m going out with Deok-chil for a bit.”

He gave a vague answer, but for some reason, Seo-oh didn’t ask for more details. Seo-oh looked at Se-han this time.

“Se-han, are you going to Min-chan’s house tomorrow?”

“I’m not going tomorrow.”

Kwon Seo-oh made a troubled face at that remark. It was clear that he was worried about leaving Se-han alone at home while he had to go find Kwon Sang-moon. Nam-woon spoke up in place of the dark-faced Seo-oh.

“Se-han, I’m sorry, but could you sleep over at Min-chan’s house just for tomorrow?”

Se-han’s eyes widened at that.

“Didn’t you tell me not to sleep over at Min-chan’s house the other day?”

Ah, that’s right. Se-han has a good memory. Then, Se-han, looking at them both, suddenly asked meaningfully.

“Are you two going somewhere together tomorrow?”

“No.”

“No.”

Seo-oh and Nam-woon answered at the same time. However, Se-han looked at Nam-woon with wide eyes and went, “Hmmm.” Why does he keep looking at me? Nam-woon wondered if something was on his face and stroked his cheek. Then, an unexpected question came.

“Wooni, do you like my brother a lot?”

“What?”

At that, Seo-oh also turned his head in surprise.…It must mean nothing, right? There’s no need to be startled by a question thrown thoughtlessly by a child. Nam-woon soon smiled and playfully responded.

“I like you more, Se-han.”

“Really?”

Seo-oh asked, looking at Nam-woon like something didn’t sit right with him.

“No, Wooni, that’s not what I meant.”

Se-han shook his head, then glanced at Nam-woon and sighed softly. He pressed his lips together and seemed to be thinking about something and then nodded.

“Okay. I’ll sleep over at Mrs. Soon-i’s house tomorrow.”

Something felt off. What’s going on in that little head of his?

“Are you sure, Se-han?”

When Seo-oh asked, Se-han nodded.

“Yeah! I’m going to ask Mrs. Soon-i if we can watch “Passionate Love” together. It ended right at the moment the secret was revealed!”

“Passionate Love” was a recent melodramatic drama that Mrs. Soon-i was hooked on. It was about the protagonist who falls in love with the son of her enemy, and it had been the most popular drama with the highest viewership ratings since its broadcast. Suddenly, Se-han got up, picked up his small pillow from the blanket, and put it down next to the window.

“I’ll sleep here tonight!”

“Why aren’t you sleeping in the middle?”

When it was just Seo-oh and him, Se-han’s spot was next to the window. But after Nam-woon came, he moved to the middle. Se-han said in a grown-up tone, mimicking Min-chan.

“I’ll give up my spot to Wooni. I’ll already be in the third grade next year, after all.”

“…….”

Why do I have such an uneasy feeling about this?

Seo-oh said that the spot by the window was colder and that bugs might come out, so Se-han had to sleep in the middle. Faced with Seo-oh’s firm stance, Se-han had no choice but to nod and then got lost in his game on the phone again. Nam-woon casually asked Seo-oh a question while looking at him.

“So, what’s going on tomorrow? Who was on the phone earlier?”

All his attention was on Seo-oh’s lips. If Seo-oh said that it was a call from his dad, he would also go with him to the club tomorrow to look for Kwon Sang-moon first and then…

“A friend”

“Huh?”

At the unexpected words, Nam-woon looked at Seo-oh. Seo-oh, who had just finished folding the towel, wore a stiff expression as he spoke again.

“It was a friend calling.”