ADTDK — Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Mr. Hyun, you’re really good at speaking. You didn’t even flinch when a slide was missing.”

At the intern’s comment, Kim Soo-kyung let out a small chuckle.

“That kind of thing’s happened more than once or twice. Until last year, he was handling everything in the Daejeon area.”

“Oh, right—Mr. Hyun’s from the Daejeon branch. Is it true there’s not much work over there?”

“Not a chance. They just dumped it on someone competent.”

“Wow, and he’s such a nice person too. If it were me, I’d have run away.”

“He is nice. That’s exactly the problem—he’s too nice.”

There was something ambiguous in her tone. When the intern blinked in confusion, Kim Soo-kyung shrugged.

“Mr. Hyun’s a total playboy. Be careful not to fall for him.”

“He’s a playboy? He seemed like he had a really nice personality.”

“Exactly. He does have a nice personality, that’s why he’s a playboy. He can’t say no, so he ends up dating everyone who confesses to him. And he’s good-looking, tall too. You think only one or two people have confessed to him?”

“Ah…”

Even now, Yoon-jo was stuck talking to a stranger. The person’s vibe was odd. He could’ve just said he needed to leave for his next schedule, but he didn’t—he was clearly floundering.

Watching that, Kim Soo-kyung quietly clicked her tongue.

“I heard he’s been divorced once too.”

“Seriously? Isn’t he really young? He’s not even thirty, right?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“How’d he already get divorced? Getting married that early is already surprising…”

“It’s obvious. Getting married doesn’t change your personality.”

Kim Soo-kyung didn’t go into detail, but the intern could easily fill in the blanks.

“That’s kind of a letdown…”

“Anyway, let’s wrap things up. We should go find Mr. Hyun.”

The two stopped chatting and began packing up. They still had two more appointments ahead.

Even though Yoon-jo could tell they were talking about him, he couldn’t run over to explain. Not that he had much to say in his defense—and more urgently, he had to deal with the man in front of him.

“Um, I really enjoyed your lecture today.”

It was the same man who’d asked that sudden question during the seminar. Back then he’d been a bit standoffish, but now he was strangely polite.

But Yoon-jo wasn’t fooled. There was no way his attitude had changed just because he was moved by the lecture.

‘Who would be moved by something like that?’

Since last year, all educational institutions and businesses with five or more employees were required to hold one safety session a year related to ability-user incidents. In Yoon-jo’s experience, no one—regardless of age or profession—was ever thrilled about attending.

He could guess what the man wanted. There were always one or two like this at every event.

“I feel like I was a little rude earlier, and if it’s alright with you, I’d like to make it up to you with a meal.”

An apology thinly disguised as flirting. Yoon-jo smiled politely and declined.

“No, not at all. How could a question be rude?”

“I just felt so bad about it.”

“I promise it’s fine. I’m technically still working right now, so…”

As Yoon-jo turned to head back to his team, the man casually followed and stepped into his path. He wasn’t blocking him outright, but it was just enough that Yoon-jo had to stop.

“I’m still on the clock too. Of course, I meant after work.”

“Ah, well—”

“What time do you finish? I’ll come pick you up. What kind of food do you like?”

“I really am fine, honestly.”

“But I’m not fine. You see?”

If this dragged on any longer, it might interfere with the next schedule. Yoon-jo could feel the stares from Kim Soo-kyung and the intern waiting on him.

“In that case… maybe we can talk again after work.”

“Here’s my business card.”

Caught off guard, Yoon-jo accepted it. Despite the guy’s young-looking face, his title was quite high. Well, that explained why he had the time to flirt around while everyone else went back to work. Yoon-jo clicked his tongue silently and pulled out his own card.

“Mr. Hyun Yoon-jo. I thought this earlier too, but your name is really pretty.”

“Thank you…”

“Then I’ll contact you later. How about six o’clock?”

“Sure…”

Yoon-jo nodded reluctantly. Unaware of how he really felt, the man grinned happily and walked away.

In the meantime, Kim Soo-kyung and the intern had finished getting ready to leave and were waiting. Yoon-jo hurried to join them.

“Sorry.”

As Yoon-jo bowed his head, Kim Soo-kyung waved it off, saying it was fine. She didn’t scold him, but Yoon-jo felt too embarrassed to say anything else. Wanting to make up for the lost time, he instinctively grabbed the intern’s bag from her hands.

“Let me carry that.”

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s not even heavy.”

“You just moved the other day, didn’t you? You must still be sore.”

“Wait, how did you know?”

“You smell like muscle patches.”

When Yoon-jo answered casually, the intern let out a shy laugh. Her cheeks turned slightly red. Just as Yoon-jo realized his slip, Kim Soo-kyung stepped in with a pointed remark.

“Mr. Hyun, this is exactly why people flock to you.”

“I’ll be more careful…”

As Yoon-jo drooped his head, Kim Soo-kyung sighed.

“I’m not scolding you. I’m just worried. One of these days something might really happen.”

∞ ∞ ∞

By the time they returned to the office after the last appointment, it was just about quitting time. Kim Soo-kyung and the intern left first, and then Yoon-jo stepped out of the office as well.

‘Do I have some kind of natural charm or something?’

He pulled out his ringing phone, then caught a glimpse of his reflection in the hallway window.

‘Charm, my ass…’

To his eyes, his face looked only slightly better than average. Feeling embarrassed by his own thoughts, Yoon-jo rubbed his face roughly.

He’d been strangely popular ever since he was little. If you looked at photos from kindergarten, the other kids were always swarming around him. He barely had any solo shots.

Things didn’t change after he entered elementary school. Pretty much every girl in his class had confessed to him at some point. It wasn’t even a sport, but they’d take turns and confess one by one.

In middle school, things calmed down a bit. The number of girls rushing to confess dropped significantly—probably because they were more focused on high school and college entrance exams. Even so, he was still the most popular student in school.

He went to an all-boys high school. The main reason was that it was close to home, but he also thought it might be easier without girls around. After all, when someone confessed they liked you, it made you more self-conscious about how you acted.

When his friends heard he was going to a boys’ school, they joked that it was the end of Hyun Yoon-jo’s reign. He thought so too.

But even in high school, nothing changed. The only difference was that the confessions became more discreet. Male classmates—wearing the same uniform as him—would tell him, with a mix of self-reflection and hesitation, that they weren’t into guys but for some reason couldn’t stop thinking about him.

They were all good kids. Still, it wasn’t easy to seriously consider dating a guy, so he turned most of them down. But eventually, he did date one of them.

‘I really shouldn’t have.’

As with anything, the first time is the hardest. After that, Yoon-jo came to identify as bisexual. His friends teased that he was just on his way to becoming a total free-lover, but that wasn’t it.

‘Divorced at this age, though…’

His ex-girlfriend, anxious that he’d dated both men and women, pressured him into getting married. He didn’t have a reason not to, so he went along with it—but the marriage didn’t last long. He hadn’t expected to stay together until their hair turned gray, but six months? That felt unfairly short.

‘What’s the problem, really?’

People approached Yoon-jo easily—and left just as easily. They’d say they didn’t feel loved, or that they couldn’t take it anymore. The reasons were all variations of the same thing.

Yoon-jo felt wronged. He wanted to tell them the same thing—did they ever really love him? Did they ever think that maybe he was the one being patient?

It wasn’t just Kim Soo-kyung. Everyone who knew Yoon-jo called him a playboy. And honestly, Kim was one of the more gentle ones. Some people outright said that blind acceptance was worse than rejection.

‘This time, I’m seriously going to say no.’

With that firm resolve, Yoon-jo answered the call. The number wasn’t saved in his contacts, but he already had a good idea who it was. The man who had handed him a business card at that morning’s lecture.

“This is Hyun Yoon-jo.”

—Mr. Yoon-jo? It’s me.

“Yes, have you finished work?”

—Just now. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.

“No, that’s really not necessary.”

Yoon-jo kept his tone as professional as possible. It didn’t work.

—Ah, did you bring your car?

“No, nothing like that…”

—Great. Is there anything you can’t eat?

“Not really, but, uh…”

—Where are you right now?

“I’m at the office, but about dinner…”

—I’ve already made a reservation. I promise you’ll like it. It’s a really fun place.

He already booked a restaurant? If Yoon-jo canceled now, the guy would probably be disappointed. That made him feel guilty. And guilt has a way of weakening the heart.

‘It’s just dinner. That should be fine… right?’

As Yoon-jo hesitated in silence, the voice on the other end chimed cheerfully.

—Then I’ll head over and contact you again once I’m nearby.

“Alright…”

So much for his resolution to say no—before he knew it, the dinner was happening.

It was only after hanging up that Yoon-jo sighed.

No use regretting something that had already happened. He decided to think positively.

‘He might turn out to be a decent guy.’

Kim Soo-kyung had said that Yoon-jo was a playboy because he never turned anyone away. But that wasn’t really true. From his point of view, they all just seemed like decent people, so he said yes.

Of course, there were a few whose reputations weren’t great. But when he sat down and talked to them seriously, none of them had turned out to be bad people. Most were kind. Even the ones who weren’t exactly kind weren’t outright cruel.

There wasn’t a single person he genuinely regretted dating. It was just the breakups that always felt hard to make sense of.

But now, he was used to it.

‘Breaking up isn’t the end of the world.’

Who knows? Maybe this time he’d finally meet someone he could stay with for a long time.