YHP 54

Meanwhile, Jeong-in was turning up the volume of the car’s internal speaker to answer a call that had just come in.

“Yes?! What did you say?”

He almost swerved the steering wheel involuntarily at the words he heard as soon as he answered the phone. He barely regained his composure and listened to the voice in the speaker. Soon, the tax accountant’s voice echoed loudly in the car.

– Jeong-in, you need to come to the office too. This…. It seems like your signature is required?

The person on the phone was the tax accountant who had been managing some of Jeong-in’s assets since he was young. He said that Choi Hyun-wook had officially documented the ‘Sungwon Medical Tower collateral setting’ through his personal lawyer around this afternoon. Since it was a building in trust, it seemed to have automatically been passed on to the tax accountant who was delegated the authority.

“No, did Uncle really get it notarized?”

-Yes. I left it as is, just in case. The eldest young master said that it was already agreed upon with you, but what exactly is going on?

“Ha…. I know, right. I’ll tell you the details when I see you in person.”

His head throbbed.

“And I’m sorry for making you worry about this.”

-What do you have to be sorry about? Take care of yourself.

“Yes.”

Jeong-in finished the call as calmly as possible until the end, and as soon as the call ended, he slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

“Ah, damn…. What’s going on with this?”

It seemed like the scale of the matter had grown larger than he had thought. He knew that the contract would be fulfilled as promised anyway, but the weight of the burden was different from when they were privately exchanging memos. He bit his lip and immediately called the research company. Meanwhile, the car exited the tunnel and began to enter an alley near the school.

“General manager, the Athlete Yoo Ho-jin report that I requested yesterday. Is there any chance I could receive it a little faster?”

-Um, then I’ll send you the data from the top three portals first. Athlete Yoo Ho-jin’s data is quite extensive, and although it’s not official, it seems like he’ll be signing a contract with Allied soon. There will probably be slight changes, whether positive or negative.

“Pardon?”

He almost slammed on the brakes again.

Allied was the name of a sports apparel brand belonging to the TH Service Group. Jeong-in was startled and asked back.

“Wait a minute, the contract talks have already come out? Where did you hear that?”

-I have someone I know on the Allied side. You can consider it about 70% likely to be true.

“Ha….”

He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t speak.

The power of TH Group lies in energy, electronics, and heavy industry in that order. Of course, there are plenty of other ‘profitable’ affiliates, from biotechnology to finance. However, ‘Allied’, which was mentioned earlier, was the lowest in the fashion affiliates.

Looking at the market pie alone, it wasn’t doing terribly, but still, he was putting up his grandfather’s building, and all he was getting in return was a clothing model position. The moment the assumption that he had been making since talking to the tax accountant became a reality. It seemed that Choi Hyun-wook was deliberately trying to pressure Jeong-in now.

If TH Corporation became Yoo Ho-jin’s sponsor as originally expected, the story would be different, but if he really signed a contract with Allied, the total incidental expenses would not exceed 10 billion won, no matter how much he put in. Even if he undervalued the building’s market price, it would not be even 1/10th of the sale price.

However, the fact that he had attached the condition of ‘sale’ to an amount that could be paid in cash meant that it was an implicit punishment for daring to negotiate in front of him, and at the same time, an order to complete this project at all costs without even thinking about looking back. In other words, Choi Jeong-in had been firmly targeted by Choi Hyun-wook.

He said he loved me so much, he said he adored me so much. This was really too much.

He felt wronged, wondering why he was being driven so harshly, but on the other hand, his competitive spirit was ignited.

“I’ll show you I can’t do it? If Yoo Ho-jin just goes to one competition, the game is over…. Gasp.”

He was so surprised at his own words that he covered his mouth. He had been reading Ho-jin’s articles for research purposes whenever he had the chance, and his mental state was gradually becoming similar to that of the extreme fans of Yoo Ho-jin who lived in the comments section of internet articles.

With a troubled heart, Jeong-in entered the building and habitually bent down as soon as he stood in front of the front door. However, the spot where the warm food bag was always placed was empty.

“…Ah, right.”

Ahead of the competition, Ho-jin would be training longer at the training center.

Jeong-in had coldly replied to his apology that he wouldn’t be able to help with the part-time job or prepare meals until the competition was over, telling him to go exercise. But now that he didn’t have the meals he used to receive every day, he felt a little empty.

“It’s not like I’m going to die from missing one meal.”

No one said anything, but he grumbled for no reason and opened the door.

He roughly threw the car keys on the desk and collapsed on the bed. He immediately took out his phone and searched for Ho-jin’s articles. As expected, today was also full of advertorials released by other sponsor companies. He quickly skimmed through the comments,

[lol these idiots, why do you keep sucking up to this ugly has-been lol]

A cute malicious comment caught his eye.

“Huh.”

Jeong-in chuckled and immediately logged into the portal site. Then, with a calm mind, he began to type.

[This is a space that the athletes themselves might see, so isn’t it a bit rude to leave such low-class comments to active players? And what’s the reason for ‘sucking up’ to them?]

He was only planning to defend him lightly, but as he wrote, he suddenly felt a surge of anger. Jeong-in straightened his posture and sat up straight.

[You live like this because you don’t know that, you dumb fuck. While you’re sitting in your room leaving comments like this, Yoo Ho-jin is training to death. Someone must have taught even trash like you how to use the Korean language and the internet, but I sincerely think the manpower and capital of Korea’s welfare/medical/educational system wasted on you is a waste, and the CO2 emitted by the data center to process your comment is a cosmic loss, you son of a bitch lol Anyway, it’s almost income tax season, so don’t waste any more taxes and just go die for the public good…]

It was in the midst of writing a crazy long comment, including some curses. Suddenly, the screen changed and a call came in. Coincidentally, the caller was Ho-jin.

“…Hello.”

-Hyung

Hearing his voice, the hatred for the commenter that had filled his chest just moments ago disappeared, and Jeong-in felt a little sad for some reason.

Even though he knew in his head that it was ridiculous, he felt like complaining to Ho-jin for no reason.

-Can I see you for a bit now?

“Why?”

He deliberately asked in a nonchalant tone. Ho-jin paused for a moment, then blurted out.

-…The weather’s nice

It was a really trivial reason.

Jeong-in was about to snap at Ho-jin for calling him for something so pointless.

“Where are you?”

His mouth spoke against his will.

Why am I like this these days? Jeong-in squeezed his eyes shut.

-I’m passing by Nuri-daero, I’ll be there in 5 minutes.

“Okay.”

Jeong-in answered coldly and put on Ho-jin’s tracksuit top that was hanging on the chair.

“…Come slowly.”

Jeong-in shuffled outside in his slippers. Leaning against the building’s outer wall, Jeong-in zipped the jacket up to his neck and inhaled.

On a spring night in April, when the refreshing scent of flowers was growing stronger, he suddenly looked up and saw three or four bright white stars twinkling in the black sky.

“…Is that a satellite?”

Whether it was or not, the weather was really great, just like Ho-jin said.

***

The headlights shone white on the dark asphalt floor. He looked up and saw a car, now quite familiar, entering the alley. Jeong-in, who had been standing with his back against the hard wall, finally put his full weight on his feet and stood up straight.

“Hyung.”

Ho-jin, who had finished parking neatly, ran to Jeong-in as soon as he got out of the car.

“Why are you out here? It’s chilly.”

“I just wanted to get some air.”

He looked like something really big had happened. Looking at him, Jeong-in mentally downgraded Ho-jin from a large dog to a medium-large dog.

Until now, Jeong-in thought he looked like a fluffy, round Great Pyrenees, but looking at him now, he seemed a little sleeker and more delicate. Is he a husky or a retriever? A Samoyed? Or a Jindo? Or maybe a Pungsan dog with a slightly fluffier feel?

Jeong-in was just about to come to a conclusion when Ho-jin asked.

“Have you had dinner?”

“…Yeah.”

Jeong-in glanced around and nodded. He didn’t want Ho-jin to get upset if he heard that he had skipped a meal as soon as he left.

“What did you eat?”

But Jeong-in didn’t expect a follow-up question.

While he was wondering what to say to make it sound natural, the silence grew longer and Ho-jin sighed.

“You didn’t eat, did you?”

“…I did.”

Jeong-in mumbled and lowered his gaze to his toes. Then he heard a low laugh from above.

Jeong-in didn’t raise his head and resisted, and Ho-jin soon folded his large body and squatted down on the floor. Then he looked up at Jeong-in.

“Hyung.”

Ho-jin asked again, making gentle eye contact.

“Are you doing this because you don’t want me to worry about you?”

He had nothing to say because he hit the nail on the head so cleanly. Jeong-in just looked into his eyes without doing anything. Then Ho-jin smiled.

His well-defined features, without any rough edges, were slowly captured in Jeong-in’s eyes.

It was the same face Jeong-in always saw. His surprisingly clear eyes, his breath that never seemed to falter, and the stability that came from his balanced posture were all the same as usual. But now he looked different somehow. The Ho-jin that Jeong-in knew was definitely a person who looked soft and gentle like tofu, but looking down at him like this, his nose was straight and his impression was quite distinct. His perfectly symmetrical eyebrows were pretty, and the straight line from his neck to his shoulders was pretty too….

“Is that really it?”

Was he always this handsome?

He was lost in thought for a moment. A large hand touched the end of Jeong-in’s sleeve.

“…I am worried.”

Ho-jin said, gently pulling on the fabric as if to soothe him.

“But I won’t worry or be sad forever.”

Looking at his smiling face, Jeong-in blinked blankly. Then Ho-jin, who had been sitting flat on the floor, stood up. Jeong-in also raised his head.

“It’s not the end of the world, we can go eat now.”

Jeong-in suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu at the simple answer. Where have I felt this before?

“Ah….”

Soon, the scene of a fast food restaurant faintly flashed through my mind. The day Jeong-in was furious at the words of a stranger who insulted Won-kyung, he saw this side of Ho-jin for the first time. He was making such a crying face, but he regained his composure as if nothing had happened. He regained his balance and returned to his place so easily.

“There’s a good Korean diner across the street, let’s go eat with me.”

Jeong-in took a step as if possessed, following the hand that was pulling him.

“…Okay.”

The words that he would never worry or be sad about him forever.

In fact, it was the words Jeong-in had most desperately wanted to hear while going through everything.