CI 4.4

Regardless of Son Yeo-il’s disgruntled feelings, the studio apartment move was completed in no time at all. With five strong men—or more accurately, four strong men and Son Yeo-il—working together, and Won Hee-yeon’s house already fully set up to welcome Son Yeo-il—the work was done very quickly

After finishing the cleaning as well, it was just about lunchtime. Son Yeo-il invited the three helpers to stay for lunch, but they adamantly refused, as if not wanting to be in the way, and left.

“Enjoy your time together!”

“We’ll see you again, Attorney!”

Judging by the respectful looks they gave Son Yeo-il even during their final greetings, it seemed that in their minds, Son Yeo-il had been definitively established as a “man among men.” Feeling deflated, Son Yeo-il touched his forehead, while Won Hee-yeon, unbothered, moved closer to his side.

“My husband needs to have lunch. On moving day, it’s jajangmyeon, right? There’s an amazing hand-pulled noodle place nearby, would you like to try it?”

“Ah…it sounds delicious, but if we’re having Chinese food, should we just order in?”

In response to Son Yeo-il’s already tired reply, Won Hee-yeon grinned to himself, apparently having given this some thought on his own.

“Oh my. My baby is actually quite eager.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s still broad daylight, but you find even the time to go out wasteful, hmm?”

“What? What does that even…”

Having merely suggested ordering jajangmyeon, Son Yeo-il opened and closed his mouth indignantly at being treated like someone with ulterior motives, while Won Hee-yeon, with an even more suggestive expression, took Son Yeo-il’s hand and whispered seductively.

“I also think that on a day like today, it’s better to stay firmly in the room rather than thinking of going out. No, I should stay firmly attached to my baby. Right?”

“I just meant I was tired.”

“Hmm? That won’t do. It’s our first night of marriage, you can’t be tired already. Come, sit here. Your wife’s lap is the softest. Let’s see, which place delivers jajangmyeon, the fastest?”

Won Hee-yeon pulled Son Yeo-il’s arm, sat on the sofa, and then, as if it were the most natural thing, seated Son Yeo-il on his lap. Then, while caressing Son Yeo-il’s thigh with one hand, he began searching for the fastest-delivering Chinese restaurant with the other.

Son Yeo-il pouted at the absurdity of the situation, but at the same time, he pondered Won Hee-yeon’s words about their “first night of marriage.”

He’s really so clingy. What first night of marriage…? Hmm. But wait…it is true, it is our first night of marriage.

Suddenly, the hand caressing his thigh felt distinctly sticky. No, not subtly, but overtly sticky. Not only that, but he could also feel something wriggling beneath the buttocks he was sitting on.

Why is he like this already? Can we even eat lunch properly at this rate? If I keep sitting here, will I end up being dragged to bed without even getting the chance to pick up a spoon?

Given that it was their first night of marriage, such a development wouldn’t be unreasonable. Imagining being lifted up by Won Hee-yeon and carried into the bedroom, Son Yeo-il’s nape began to flush red as his imagination grew wild.

Thinking that not only Won Hee-yeon, but also that he, himself, was problematic for being enticed by Won Hee-yeon’s advances in broad daylight, Son Yeo-il began to put his rationalizing skills to the test.

Well, it is our first night of marriage. I’ve already been treated as someone eager. Is there really a problem?

In the end, by the time Won Hee-yeon found the fastest-delivering Chinese restaurant, Son Yeo-il had reached the logical conclusion that ‘there’s indeed no problem.’

“This place looks to be the fastest. What would you like to eat, husband? Deluxe jajangmyeon? Or maybe spicy jajangmyeon would be better?”

“Are you hungry, Hee-yeon?”

Startled by the unexpected counter-question, Won Hee-yeon looked down at Son Yeo-il and immediately caught on when he saw his flushed face.

“Oh my, as for being hungry. I think I could go without food until dinnertime.”

“I’m still fine too…should we order food later, then?”

Having progressed the conversation thus far, Son Yeo-il pondered how best to suggest going to the bedroom. However, his perceptive boyfriend didn’t need any further prodding—he simply lifted Son Yeo-il in a princess carry, befitting their first night of marriage, and strode toward the bedroom.

As a somewhat lewd smile threatened to appear on his lips, Son Yeo-il quickly buried his face in Won Hee-yeon’s embrace. It really is ‘just like that,’ we don’t even need to check our compatibility, he thought to himself, repeating the thought that had somehow come to resemble his boyfriend’s thinking.

***

“I wonder if Manager Kim is already here? It’s 9:03? No way. Why today of all days?”

Son Yeo-il tiptoed quietly toward the office entrance. Being naturally diligent, he had never been late, whether during his school days or after employment, but arriving even three minutes late was a first in his life.

When Son Yeo-il gently pulled on the entrance door, he was greatly dismayed to find it open. Usually, Manager Kim would arrive much later after Son Yeo-il had opened the office door. She almost never arrived precisely at 9:00—at the earliest she’d come at 9:05, and on late days, around 9:10.

But on the one day Son Yeo-il was late, she had come to the office early. Not wanting to be caught coming in late, Son Yeo-il puffed out his lower lip.

This is all because of Hee-yeon.

This was the phrase Son Yeo-il used most frequently these days. He had never realized he was the type to blame others so readily. But then again, Won Hee-yeon simply didn’t know any moderation.

It had been two weeks since they started living together. Won Hee-yeon and Son Yeo-il were literally living like newlyweds. This meant they were having sex so persistently that it was disrupting their daily lives.

Last night, when they lay in bed, Won Hee-yeon had habitually tried to fondle him, so Son Yeo-il had slapped his hand away to calm him down and barely managed to get some sleep—since there wasn’t a spot on his body that wasn’t sore, three days in a row would have been impossible—but he hadn’t expected things to heat up between them this morning.

Before leaving for work, as he was about to put on his shoes at the entrance, Won Hee-yeon had said his tie was crooked and clung to him slightly, which was how it all got start. He didn’t understand why lips needed to meet while fixing a tie, but when he came to his senses, Won Hee-yeon’s tongue was rubbing against the roof of his mouth.

<Whew, hmm…I should go now, right?>

Even after thoroughly sucking on Son Yeo-il’s lips until they became mushy, Won Hee-yeon had stroked Son Yeo-il’s back gently as if still unsatisfied, and asked. If he had left then, he wouldn’t have been late, but Son Yeo-il, staring at Won Hee-yeon’s lips glistening with saliva, had murmured dreamily.

<Um, maybe about five minutes…would be okay…mmh?>

No sooner had those words left his mouth did the kissing resume, and coincidentally, Son Yeo-il ended up being about five minutes late.

Hmm…maybe it’s not entirely Hee-yeon’s fault.

It takes two hands to clap, so while Won Hee-yeon was just being Won Hee-yeon, Son Yeo-il was, in fact, no better. In any case, what mattered now wasn’t sorting out past fault ratios. Since he was going to be late anyway, he wanted to arrive in some seemingly purposeful manner.

I should have bought coffee. Is there anything I could bring in?

Looking around, Son Yeo-il collected the mail from the mailbox in front of the office. Since Manager Kim usually handled the mail, this was something he had never done before, and he entered the office awkwardly with a creaking sound. Just as he was about to quietly sit down, Manager Kim hastily addressed him.

“My goodness~! Did the sun rise in the west today? How come Attorney Son is late?!”

Son Yeo-il froze. Manager Kim had startled him. Originally, he had planned to pretend that he had arrived on time but was delayed looking at the mail in front of the door, but being so bad at lying, he had no other choice but to confess his tardiness. But he couldn’t say ‘I was late because morning kisses with my boyfriend got out of hand,’ so he made a suitable excuse.

“Ahaha. I’m sorry. I overslept.”

“Are you perhaps dating someone these days? Your complexion has brightened, but you’re yawning much more frequently.”

Already flustered about being late, Son Yeo-il felt cold sweat forming on his back. To hide his wavering pupils, he hastily placed the envelope he had brought on the table in the middle of the office.

“Ah…haha. What are you saying? Some mail arrived! There’s something from the Chamber of Commerce, an invitation to the CEO’s alumni meeting, and, uh, also…”

Son Yeo-il carefully examined the envelope from the Ministry of Justice. Manager Kim glanced over Son Yeo-il’s shoulder at the envelope marked “Request for Registration of Non-Dedicated Victim’s State-Appointed Attorney” and said regretfully.

“Ah, looks like they couldn’t find anyone last year either.”

Though he hadn’t looked into it in detail as he had aspired to be a law firm attorney, Son Yeo-il had heard about the role of state-appointed attorneys for sexual crime victims. He knew it was a well-established system in the metropolitan area, but it seemed that wasn’t the case in Yongju City.

“Are there no registered non-dedicated attorneys in Yongju City?”

“I guess not? I believe there are one or two at the main branch who come back and forth to this area. There are no dedicated ones there either.”

Come to think of it, the victim of the filming crime that Son Yeo-il had defended also seemed to have been assigned a victim’s attorney from the main prosecutor’s office. Being on the opposing party, he didn’t know the exact circumstances, but from what he had heard in court, communication didn’t seem to be flowing all that smoothly.

“Most attorneys in this town are elderly gentlemen, so they’re likely not interested in such cases. Our office or young attorneys who move here are the best options, but we have too many cases to spare the capacity. It might be faster to look for someone from the main branch.”

Manager Kim clicked her tongue disapprovingly, then returned to her desk to start with work. She frowned as if irritated by the additional schedules and documents that had accumulated in just one day.

This was indeed a busy office. They often received reminders from the Bar Association for not fulfilling the mandatory volunteer hours each year. Moreover, it was obvious that if even just one office in Yongju City was registered as non-dedicated, all cases would be concentrated there.

Hmm.

Nevertheless, Son Yeo-il continued to stare at that envelope. He kept fidgeting with it like someone with lingering attachments, and was about to put it down when Manager Kim shouted, “Wow!” It was the exclamation of someonesuddenly shot with a rush of dopamine.

“Attorney! That broken engagement lawsuit!”

Koo Dae-hyun’s broken engagement lawsuit was Manager Kim’s favorite case these days. She said that in her 15 years of working at law offices, she had never seen such an interesting case and had read the complaint written by Son Yeo-il over and over.

“What is it? Did a response come in?”

“A mediation date has been set!”

Son Yeo-il quickly went to his desk to check the screen. As Manager Kim had said, a newly scheduled mediation date appeared in the case search.

The day of the final battle had finally been set.

***

“Should we take the expressway? Or not? Once the expressway gets congested, there’s no way out, right? The national highway has annoying traffic signals. Will it not be congested on a weekday? But it’s Friday, so we shouldn’t be complacent. Right?”

Won Hee-yeon, at the wheel, was rambling on and on in an unusually tense manner. Seated in the passenger seat, slurping an iced Americano, Son Yeo-il soothed him in a relaxed voice.

“Don’t worry, Hee-yeon. We left with plenty of time, so it’s fine even if there’s some traffic.”

Son Yeo-il put down his coffee cup and carefully aimed Won Hee-yeon’s coffee cup straw to his lips. Slurp! Despite gulping down the refreshing coffee, Won Hee-yeon still couldn’t seem to calm down.

“Right? Am I worrying unnecessarily? Oh my. I’m getting nervous for no good reason.”

“Why are you nervous, Hee-yeon? I’m fine.”

At the composed response, Won Hee-yeon turned to look at Son Yeo-il. While sending an affectionate gaze and smile, he playfully joked.

“As always, my baby is a man among men.”

Since moving day, Won Hee-yeon had been primarily using that phrase “man among men” to tease Son Yeo-il. Because he always whispered those words in Son Yeo-il’s ear after cornering him in bed at night, Son Yeo-il’s face would automatically turn red just hearing it.

“If you keep teasing me, I’m going to get out and take the bus.”

“Oh my. Who said I was teasing? Let’s see. I should play my husband’s favorite song.”

Won Hee-yeon quickly changed the subject and played some music. Won Hee-yeon’s proud “Yongju City DJ Playlist” consisted of songs far from what Son Yeo-il originally liked, but after listening to them so often, Son Yeo-il now felt disappointed if he didn’t hear those bouncy beats when riding in the car.

Hmm~ hmm hmm~ teedoreedoree~ Without realizing it, Son Yeo-il hummed along with Won Hee-yeon while looking at the bright blue sky outside the window. Weather’s goood, he added in his mind, mimicking an older man’s pattern of speech.

Won Hee-yeon’s excessive behavior was all out of concern for Son Yeo-il. Son Yeo-il was now on his way to the Seoul Family Court to attend the mediation date for Koo Dae-hyun and Oh Yu-na’s broken engagement lawsuit.

Normally, Won Hee-yeon never interfered with Son Yeo-il’s primary job and was even cooperative enough to follow him on an undercover investigation at a gay bar in a sort of disguise, but just once, after this mediation date was set, he had carefully asked:

<Um, for that mediation date, does Yeo-il absolutely have to go in person?>

Though surprised by the sudden question, Son Yeo-il immediately understood why Won Hee-yeon was asking this. After all, Son Yeo-il had shown a not so good face every time he met Koo Dae-hyun.

Whether when they accidentally met at the bookstore or when Koo Dae-hyun appeared as the attorney in charge of a case against Koo & Chang, Son Yeo-il had lost his composure each time. The last time he saw him at the gay bar, even though he was in disguise and barely exchanged words, he had honestly felt quite flustered.

Won Hee-yeon was only concerned about Son Yeo-il getting hurt again. Son Yeo-il now realized that the reason he had accompanied him to the gay bar last time was because his worry was as great as his jealousy or wariness.

<Well, it’s not absolutely necessary…>

Strictly speaking, since Son Yeo-il was just a probationary lawyer, Attorney Head Bae could attend the mediation date alone without any issue. If the proceedings dragged on, troublesome matters might have to be repeated several times. However, after thinking briefly, Son Yeo-il said with an unwavering voice:

<But I want to go.>

He didn’t want to miss an interesting event and wanted to witness Koo Dae-hyun’s downfall firsthand, but he also had a strong desire to avoid facing KooDae-hyun again. That was why he felt even more that he should confront this situation head-on rather than avoid it.