CI 1.6

“Hmm, did I misunderstand? I thought you meant for me to keep it, so I used it efficiently even yesterday. How about it? Should I return it now? Or at least try to get rid of the smell…”

“T-That topic is finished now.  Right now, I want to go over the conversation we had after our lunch yesterday. Do you remember? Or did you forget?”

Despite trembling with irritation and embarrassment, Son Yeo-il brought up the main point. He should have understood immediately, but Boss Won pretended to search his thoughts suspiciously.

“After the meal…Oh, that? What was it? Something about it being burdensome.”

Boss Won nodded vigorously, just as he had when he immediately exclaimed “Alright!” to Son Yeo-il’s statement about it being burdensome yesterday.

“How could I forget our Attorney Son’s request? Of course, I remember! That’s why I prepared a light menu today that won’t cause drowsiness after eating.”

“What?”

“It works out well actually. I was thinking that eating meat every day was making me feel greasy. Let’s go with carbs today. Attorney Son, you like kalguksu, right?”

Son Yeo-il’s eye corners twitched at the absurd response. Could it be that he had misinterpreted his words yesterday and thought that what he meant was that the heavy menu was too burdensome?

Judging by his feigned innocent tone, he genuinely seemed not to have understood, but seeing the hint of amusement in his eyes, it also seemed like he knew perfectly well but was pretending not to. Either way, it meant that Son Yeo-il was the only one getting irritated at the moment.

While he hesitated, not knowing how to respond, the car turned onto an outer road. With a median strip right in the middle of the road, it now seemed difficult even to turn the car around.

“Don’t misunderstand. Won Hee-yeon has his pride, and I’m not going to treat you poorly just because it’s flour-based food. The place we’re going to serves the absolute best noodles in this area.”

With Boss Won’s nonchalant explanation, the last of his fighting spirit disappeared without a trace. There was no way to win when communication was impossible. Son Yeo-il nodded his head with a resigned face.

This uncle, perhaps being a lawyer would be his true calling rather than a gangster?

Distorting the other person’s claims as he pleased and muddying the waters whenever a point was unfavorable to him—these were quite useful skills for a lawyer.

While learning professional techniques from an unexpected person, the car left even the outer road, crossed a hill, and headed toward a secluded lakeside path.

“Attorney Son. Take a good look outside the window. Today, this scenery is the appetizer.”

It was indeed the road perfect for a drive, as Boss Won had subtly mentioned. Beneath the blue sky, gentle, rolling hills stretched endlessly, and around the wide-open lake, willows and wildflowers were a part of this harmonious scenery.

Despite his discomfort, the scene before him was beautiful, and that made him even more uncomfortable. To think the scenery was this beautiful—he wondered when was the last time he had such a thought about a landscape.

To have a moment of emotional softening after so long, and to have it happen while next to Boss Won of all people. “Jang-ja-ga-jang jang-jang~.” Boss Won’s hearty humming was irritating, so Son Yeo-il deliberately thought more defiantly.

How far are we going just to eat kalguksu? What kind of amazing restaurant could it be?

But when they arrived at the restaurant and he tasted the knife-cut noodles, it was indeed a flavor worth traveling a great distance for. The mild yet slightly spicy broth harmonized with the chewy noodles, and before he knew it, Son Yeo-il had already emptied one bowl.

Putting down his chopsticks and looking across the table, Boss Won was smiling contentedly as if to say, ‘Yes, yes. It’s good, isn’t it?’ Son Yeo-il was bewildered by how his appetite kept improving despite his feelings toward the other man before him.

What’s wrong with me? Have I been possessed by a hungry ghost?

Embarrassed, Son Yeo-il cleared his throat repeatedly, and Boss Won began to speak languidly as if he needed to fill his quota of flirtation for the day.

“Did you enjoy it? By the way, what does our Attorney Son do on weekends?”

He knew he would ask that question before the day was over, but even though he had anticipated it, it was a question that still rendered Son Yeo-il speechless.

Son Yeo-il had no particular plans. He had no one to meet, and he wasn’t handling cases important enough to require working on weekends. Above all, Son Yeo-il had nowhere to return to. That was why he didn’t look forward to the weekends. He usually didn’t want to think about it because he might become sad if he wasn’t careful.

“…If you’re done eating, let’s go.”

Son Yeo-il’s complexion, which had become rosy while eating the kalguksu, turned cold again. As Son Yeo-il stood up and walked out of the restaurant, Boss Won seemed flustered and hurriedly followed him.

“Hmm? Leaving already? After coming all this way, it’s a shame to just go back. There’s a café right in front that makes good coffee. The view there is really amazing. The scenery we saw on the way here is nothing compared to it.

“How about it? What do you think?” 

At Boss Won’s eager questions, Son Yeo-il hesitated momentarily. Honestly, he didn’t want to go straight back. He was concerned about having to finish the brief he didn’t want to write when he returned to the office, and he was also curious about a place said to be even more beautiful than the already lovely scenery they had seen on the way.

Am I crazy? What would I do at a scenic café with that gangster uncle?

Son Yeo-il quickly gathered his momentarily wavering heart and responded firmly.

“I don’t have time. I’m busy.”

Boss Won smacked his lips regretfully as he started the car, and he thought the matter was settled, but for some reason, his car, which should have been heading back to the office, started in a direction they hadn’t come from.

Son Yeo-il watched outside the window with heightened vigilance. Sure enough, Hong-sik drove for a few minutes and stopped in front of a building that clearly looked like a suburban café. Believing that Boss Won had ignored his words, Son Yeo-il deeply furrowed his nose bridge.

“What is this? Why do you always do whatever you want? I told you I’m busy. Are you saying my work isn’t as important as this?”

Son Yeo-il raised his voice without context. It was truly a sudden outburst. While he was snapping verbally, in his mind he could only worry, Wow, I think I just crossed a line. I keep getting nasty first because he’s so accommodating.

“No. Not at all. That’s not it. Just wait here a moment!”

Perhaps perplexed by Son Yeo-il’s reaction, Boss Won opened the car door and dashed outside. Left alone in the quiet car with Hong-sik, Son Yeo-il felt so embarrassed he wanted to hide in a mousehole.

Regret washed over him right then. He should have just said he didn’t want to go to the café. Why did he bring up whether his work was important or not? Even he realized it was due to his anxiety about his work not seeming important, and Boss Won probably noticed it too.

I look pathetic, so pathetic.

He had left everything behind and come to this place where he knew no one because he hated feeling shabby, but even here, Son Yeo-il was truly pitiful. With his long eyelashes drooping downward, Son Yeo-il bit his flower-like lips firmly.

Boss Won, who had run into the café building as if escaping, came back out almost immediately. Though it wasn’t clear when he had placed the order in advance, he held two cups of coffee in his hands. Running breathlessly across the garden to the car, he cheerfully said as he handed a cup of coffee to Son Yeo-il,”Here, this way you haven’t lost any time. Right? I got this through the drive-thru!”

At that moment, something welled up inside of him, but as there was no reason to cry, Son Yeo-il simply exhaled a short “Ha.” After letting it out, he realized it might have sounded like a sneer and felt slightly nervous, but Boss Won just kept right on smiling.

“Oh? You smiled. You just smiled. You know what? Once you smile, you can’t get angry again. That’s the rule.”

He wasn’t sure why someone well over thirty was saying such childish things, but since he was being brazenly shameless first, Son Yeo-il could respond just as shamelessly.

“I was never angry.”

“Oh, of course, of course. Our attorney is right. Attorney Son is doing extremely important work. The Bae Gi-dong Law Office wouldn’t function without our Attorney Son, that’s what I’m saying.”

He was about to reply that it wasn’t quite that significant, but thinking about it, it wasn’t incorrect. With only two lawyers in the office and one definitely not working, if Son Yeo-il stopped working, this law office certainly wouldn’t be able to function properly.

Feeling his already improved mood brighten a bit more, a gentle smile rose to Son Yeo-il’s eyes. As his previously prim, cat-like eyes curved slightly, Boss Won became even more excited and made a fuss.

“Hong-sik. We need to go now. We’ll end up taking all of the busy attorney’s time.”

“But, boss. The attorney’s time is always taken by you…”

‘Boss Won is always taking it.’ Hong-sik seemed to be thinking exactly the same thing as Yeo-il. However, while Boss Won was only yielding to Son Yeo-il, he was merciless to Hong-sik, so before Hong-sik could even begin his sentence, he made a cutting sound, “Ssup,” to interrupt his words.

“The light is green now. What are you doing? Hong-sik, has your presbyopia turned into color blindness?”

As Boss Won said, the traffic light at the intersection was green, and Hong-sik gently pressed the accelerator. Son Yeo-il drank his coffee and looked outside the window. Though he mostly talked nonsense, today Boss Won’s words seemed generally correct. The coffee was delicious, and the scenery was beautiful.

The sky, which had been partly cloudy before they started eating, was now shining blue, making him feel slightly disappointed when the drive ended and they arrived near the office.

“Attorney Son. Go in. Call if you miss me. Hmm?”

Boss Won greeted him with utterly groundless words. Although he had unblocked his number at his insistence the previous Monday, Son Yeo-il had never bothered to contact him.

As always, Son Yeo-il gave a half-hearted response, something like “Yeaaah~.” He was about to go straight up to the office, but in his good mood, he decided to properly say goodbye just for today.

“Thank you. Take care.”

At his prim and somewhat aloof farewell, Boss Won’s face visibly lit up. He stuck his hand out through the half-open car window and waved it vigorously. The other man seemed to be saying something, but he couldn’t hear it well.

What a strange person, really.

Son Yeo-il had his own work to do. Going up to the office and opening the sexual assault consultation memo, it was still unpleasant to look at, but not to the point of making him shudder.

Whether Attorney Bae would reject it or not, he couldn’t write nonsense like “touched the buttocks but it’s not sexual assault” in the opinion letter. However, even the worst person had the right to a defense, and helping with that was a lawyer’s job.

Right. Let me do as much as I can.

The afternoon turned out to be very productive. Son Yeo-il completed the opinion letter for the sexual assault case and then drafted the complaint for a rental deposit return case. Defending a sexual offender and then a newlywed couple at risk of losing their entire assets gave him a feeling of a split personality.

Nevertheless, when he finished his work, his mind felt quite refreshed. Maybe not as grand as ‘fulfillment,’ but a feeling that he had earned his day’s wages filled him.

Perhaps having to handle multiple small tasks in a day was an advantage of such a small office. In a large law firm, whether in litigation or consulting, one would likely only encounter cases in their assigned part, mainly in their specialized field.

I did a lot of work today. Time to go home now.

After soaking in the sense of utility that he hadn’t felt in a long time, Son Yeo-il headed home. Despite it being Friday night, the neighborhood was quiet. He didn’t mind the shabby but cozy atmosphere.

It was only possible for Son Yeo-il to arrange even the deposit for a studio apartment within his budget because of this neighborhood. Although the room was so small that there would be time left over even if he cleaned it three times a day, and the soundproofing was nonexistent, in Seoul, he would have had to make do with a gosiwon for the same amount of money.

Right. Tomorrow I’ll clean, go to the dry cleaner’s…What else should I do? It would probably be better not to drink.

At that moment, the image of Boss Won’s grinning face flickered in Son Yeo-il’s mind.

<What does our Attorney Son do on weekends?>