DFLT 38

“Oh, sunbae?”

“I’m really sorry about what happened earlier.”

Even without Dojin adding anything, I could guess what he meant by ‘what happened earlier.’ But it wasn’t something to apologize for. To Dojin, who had steadily walked an elite course, it would have been natural to consider a Beta as an existence from another world.

“I had no intention of looking down on you at all.”

“Yes, I know.”

Dojin, looking somewhat anxious, swept his hair back.

“…You’re disappointed in me, aren’t you?”

“No, sunbae. I actually feel sorry, thinking maybe I didn’t talk about myself enough.”

“Yeonoh…”

As if suddenly moved, his voice choked up, and Dojin’s sudden action of pulling him into a hug made Yeonoh’s eyes widen.

“Su, sunbae, wait a minute!”

Being hugged in the middle of the street, I could feel everyone’s gaze turning towards us. Yeonoh, who was taken aback, pushed against Dojin’s chest, and he readily stepped back.

“Why? Was I overreacting?”

“Pe, people are all staring!”

“Is, is it a little much?”

While Dojin had a large question mark floating above his head, the bus Yeonoh needed to take was approaching in the distance. It was perfect timing.

“Sunbae, I have to take that bus. I’ll call you.”

“Huh? Yeonoh, wait a minute!”

Yeonoh didn’t give Dojin a chance to say anything and quickly ran to get on the bus. My heart was pounding strangely, maybe because I had run. As I took a few shallow breaths, the phone in my hand vibrated, brrr. I only checked the preview of the message from Dojin, telling me to get home safe, and shoved it deep into my pocket.

As I stared blankly out the car window, a sigh escaped on its own. Starting with Kwon Jonghyuk, I had more than one worry weighing on me, but after finding out that Dojin was Heonyoung’s friend, my heart became uncontrollably restless.

I wanted to cut it off completely, but now I wouldn’t be able to if I heard news of him from the side. But what could I do. I’d have to force myself to close my ears and shut my eyes. Because if I just sort it out myself, it becomes a feeling that doesn’t exist in the world.

I got off the bus and dragged my heavy steps. I could see my house in the distance. The lights are on. Seowon is probably watching TV. I’m not in a great mood, so should I suggest we order some chicken, I thought, as I moved my gaze from my shoes to the front.

“Uh…”

Yeonoh’s steps came to a halt as he recognized the person who had come into his line of sight. Why is Seo Heonyoung over there. I was sure I had left the venue first, so is it even physically possible for him to have arrived before me.

But the question was quickly resolved the moment I saw the car parked behind him. Since I had come by public transportation, it had taken me twice as long.

Moreover, in this dilapidated multi-family housing complex, he alone looked out of place, creating a sense of incongruity. Seo Heonyoung, leaning against the fence, looked down at Yeonoh for a long time before finally opening his mouth.

“I remember now.”

That was the first thing he said out of the blue. Yeonoh, who had no idea what he remembered so abruptly, just stared up at Seo Heonyoung, and he kindly answered.

“That the junior of Kang Dojin, who made all sorts of a scene in the back seat of my car that day, was you.”

I was sure Seo Heonyoung was with Do Sehyun right before I left, so when did he get here. Yeonoh’s rapidly working calculations came to an abrupt halt.

“What?”

When was the day Seo Heonyoung was talking about, had the three of us ever met separately besides today, and what kind of scene did he mean by scene, my head was full of question marks.

“Do you even remember what happened on the day of your freshman welcoming party?”

Freshman welcoming party? That’s a story from over eight years ago…. Yeonoh, who was slowly retracing his memories, his face turned white as a sheet. There is a half-day in Ji Yeonoh’s life that he can’t remember at all, no matter how hard he tries, as if there’s a hole. The night of the freshman welcoming party. Even when I asked my classmates or sunbaes, they all just said I got home fine, so I lived my life believing that.

“Kang Dojin got completely drunk and called me to pick him up, so I went myself, thinking of killing him, and he came out carrying some snowman-like guy on his back and put him in the back seat.”

“……”

“From his face, pale from being drunk, to the clothes he was wearing, everything was completely white.”

Yes, I had worn a white padded jacket that day. So the snowman-like guy Seo Heonyoung was talking about was undoubtedly Ji Yeonoh himself.

“We hadn’t even gone 10 meters before he threw up magnificently in the back seat. I almost cut ties with Kang Dojin that day.”

Yeonoh’s face began to stiffen, as it was a flow of story where the protagonist was all too predictable.

Yeonoh avoided Seo Heonyoung’s eyes, his gaze fixed on the asphalt ground.

“I couldn’t see his face properly because I had my secretary finish things up, but I remember now. That was Ji Yeonoh.”

Gasp, I must be crazy. I threw up in Seo Heonyoung’s car that day? The tips of Yeonoh’s fingers and toes grew cold in real-time as he screamed inwardly.

“…I’m truly sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.”

“What?”

“You probably couldn’t refuse what the sunbaes gave you and drank everything. Even though you look like you’re about to die after just one drink.”

He never even showed up to company dinners, so how did he know I was weak to alcohol. No, I was missing the more important point. There was no way Seo Heonyoung, who valued time efficiency more than anyone, would just bring up a story from eight years ago for no reason.

“The car cleaning fee… I will definitely pay it. With eight years’ worth of interest. But, why today…”

Of course, I knew he hadn’t come all this way just to collect a car cleaning fee. What on earth did Seo Heonyoung want. That was the question that remained after the embarrassment had evaporated a little. I was just asking as euphemistically as possible why on earth he had come here.

“Haha.”

Even after I said it, I couldn’t erase the impression that it was a ridiculous thing to say, and as expected, laughter burst from between Seo Heonyoung’s teeth. It was closer to a scoff that clearly showed an intention of ridicule, so Yeonoh couldn’t laugh along.

“It’s so like Ji Yeonoh to try to solve everything with money.”

Seo Heonyoung, who had casually handed over a two-million-won check after crushing a person’s character, wasn’t much different. Seeing Seo Heonyoung’s lofty expression, as if he were discussing a different kind of human being from himself, a little annoyance welled up.

“The eight years’ worth of interest was quite refreshing. You always exceed my expectations, you do.”

“……”

“A rookie who I thought wouldn’t last a month filled up three whole years, and then harbors unasked-for dark feelings.”

Yeonoh, who flinched in front of Heonyoung, who was slowly approaching, inadvertently took a step back, but Seo Heonyoung’s stride was much wider. Thus, the distance between the two became a little closer.

“…Not anymore.”

It was stubbornness and childish petulance. The exact same kind of pettiness as when, as a child, after being thoroughly scolded by my parents, I would try to slam the door but, afraid of the repercussions, would close it so gently that not even the sound of the wind could be heard.

“Not anymore?”

“Yes, I’ve sorted it out. As I told you before.”

I want to erase from my memory the day when the sword Seo Heonyoung wielded with his mouth hurt so much that I ended up crying in front of him, but there is one reason why I shouldn’t. I must not forget the weariness that Seo Heonyoung held in his eyes.

After arbitrarily branding an unrequited love that was never asked for, Seo Heonyoung, who had tossed it into a pile of junk he would never look at again, placed the emotion on the same level as Ji Yeonoh as a mere personal matter. He, who regarded me, dripping with tears, as nothing more than insignificant air, acted as if it had nothing to do with him even after he had shot the arrow himself.

“Ah.”

He, who had been staring blankly at Yeonoh’s face for a moment, let out a short exclamation of ‘ah,’ as if he had realized something.

“So that’s why you tore up the check and then changed your mind again.”

I was almost properly caught in his pace for a moment, wondering how he knew that, but I was quickly able to understand the flow. Since Seo Heonyoung had said he had spoken to the bank manager directly, that kind of news would probably come to him on its own without him having to strain his ears.

Perhaps it was the price for braving the exception. Thinking that, I was able to maintain my expression somehow without hunching my shoulders.

“With such a good insurance policy in place, whatever I say must have sounded like nonsense.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You’re on terms to be in and out of Kang Dojin’s house, you are.”

What is this again. Ji Yeonoh, completely forgetting that the person in front of him was his boss, tensed his stomach and retorted.

“Dojin sunbae and I, we’re not in that kind of relationship…!”

As if he couldn’t even hear the shout filled with injustice, Seo Heonyoung lightly brushed the collar of Yeonoh’s suit jacket with his fingertips. In that moment, Yeonoh’s body stiffened.

“Clothes that cost over a million won are not usually just given as a gift. Usually.”