DFLT 9

Still, he could not keep looking like death warmed over forever. Yeonoh forced the corners of his mouth to lift.

“Not at all. I just do not have much energy because it is morning. I apologize if I have caused you any concern.”

“Ji Yeonoh.”

“I will be on my way first.”

In the midst of it all, his heart pounded away, deluded into thinking that Seo Heonyoung was actually worried about him. Feeling like one more word would cause the small tower he had been building for a week to crumble down, Yeonoh quickly vacated his spot.

The day, damn it all, went by quickly, and just like that, it was time to leave work with Heonyoung. Heonyoung usually did not take Yeonoh with him when he had to go to his family home or had personal plans after work, so he had hoped today would be the same, but sadly, that did not happen.

“Ji Yeonoh.”

“Yes?”

His name was called several times a day, but whenever Seo Heonyoung called for him in the car, where a particularly heavy silence had settled, his heart always dropped. As if the gently lapping surface of water was disturbed, revealing everything at the bottom.

“You heard too. That I will be getting married to Do Sehyeon.”

“…Yes. I heard.”

“Things are going to get busy from now on. We will be collaborating with JM Medio.”

“Ye-es.”

He feigned ignorance of his own fluttering heart and answered as nonchalantly as possible.

“It will be good for your career, and if things go well, you will get a handsome bonus.”

“……”

“I am saying you will not get better treatment than this even if you switch jobs.”

“Switch jobs?”

“You are testing the waters to switch jobs, aren’t you? That is why your whole demeanor has changed.”

Well, giving up a one-sided love was, in a way, on a similar plane to switching jobs. The option of a one-sided love was nowhere to be found on Seo Heonyoung’s answer sheet, to the very end. When his thoughts reached that point, he felt a little bitter. It felt like a kill confirmation on the fact that this pathetic emotion was utterly unrealistic.

“Not at all. How much have I received from TG?”

Besides, TG was the best in the industry. Unless another company offered him double the salary, there was no reason for him to voluntarily switch jobs.

“Right. I hope you continue to remember the grace you have received, from now on.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Just as Yeonoh replied in a tone full of capitalism, Heonyoung’s phone vibrated. He took the phone out from his inner jacket pocket, checked the message, and then muttered very low and quietly with a frown.

“Noisy from the moment he is back.”

Pretending not to have heard the words spoken to himself, Yeonoh drove on and soon stopped the car in front of the residence’s elevator entrance.

“You can go in, Executive Director.”

“Alright. Good work.”

With a simple farewell, Heonyoung got out of the car and went inside the residence entrance. What followed was the same old routine. Park the car in the designated penthouse parking space and go home through the exit. It was when Yeonoh finished parking and was heading toward the exit.

“Ji Yeonoh?”

It surely could not be, but someone called his name. There was only one person in this luxury residence who knew him, and that was Seo Heonyoung. Since the voice that called him was not Heonyoung’s, Yeonoh turned his head to follow the source of the sound to check if he had misheard.

“You are Ji Yeonoh, right?”

A man in a neat and tidy outfit was walking toward Yeonoh.

If it were someone from the company, there was no way he would not remember, and if it were someone from a business partner, they would not call his name so familiarly. As Yeonoh furrowed his brow and tried hard to recall, a bright exclamation point popped up above his head.

“Ah, Dojin sunbae?”

Kang Dojin. When Yeonoh, then a high school student, was selected as a scholarship student for the TG Foundation, he was his mentor who had given him all sorts of advice on college entrance exams. Each scholarship student was assigned one mentor, and since Dojin had attended the TG Foundation’s private elementary to high school and knew the situation well, on top of being a student at the university Yeonoh was hoping to attend, he became his mentor.

Yeonoh diligently prepared for the entrance exams by applying Dojin’s advice and know-how, which came from his actual experience, and thanks to that, he was able to get into his first-choice school. Having thus become a junior to Dojin, Yeonoh followed him around at the university as well.

“How long has it been? Has it been 7 years?”

However, just a few months after Yeonoh entered the university, Dojin suddenly left for overseas, and they lost contact. There were rumors that he had gone to take business management classes, while others said he had gotten into trouble and had to leave in a hurry.

“Have you been well?”

“I have been busy. Do you live here?”

“No. The superior I serve lives here. When did you come back to Korea?”

“Ah, I heard through the grapevine that you became a secretary. I came last week.”

Dojin’s features had become a little more defined than the last time he saw him as a university student. Though, not as much as Seo Heonyoung. Suddenly, he recalled Seo Heonyoung’s jab about him being stick-thin, and a burst of irritation shot through him. Ah, things were going so well, why did his thoughts have to jump to Seo Heonyoung again? Yeonoh sighed inwardly and quickly shook off the thought of Heonyoung.

“I live here, so it is quite a coincidence that we met like this. Want to stop by for a bit?”

“Ah, it is late, would you not be tired?”

“Actually, I still have not adjusted to the time difference, so I just woke up a little while ago. I am scheduled to be unable to sleep until dawn.”

And so, he headed to Dojin’s home to catch up on long-overdue stories with him after meeting him for the first time in a long while. He was secretly anxious about running into Heonyoung, but thankfully, that did not happen. As if to prove his words that he had arrived last week, unpacked moving boxes were still scattered around the house.

“I am a little embarrassed that I am not ready for guests.”

Dojin said sheepishly, pushing a box back with his foot to hide it.

“The house is so nice, though.”

The night view from here is amazing. He had only ever stopped by for a very brief moment when Heonyoung needed him, so he had never had a proper look around. As he was staring blankly at the nightscape of Seoul, shimmering with lights, Dojin, who was clattering dishes in the kitchen, asked.

“Did you eat dinner?”

“Not yet. I just got off work.”

“Perfect. Should I make some ramen?”

“Oh, yes! That sounds great!”

Yeonoh, who wanted to escape from the thoughts of Heonyoung that had been suffocating him all day and get some fresh air, nodded his head. It was for the best.

“It is ready. Let’s eat!”

Dojin called out to Yeonoh, who was busy looking around the house, as he placed the ramen bowls on the dining table. He thought he had eaten enough ramen to be sick of it, but as the pungent smell tickled the tip of his nose, his mouth started watering again.

“I will eat well.”

The noodles of the masterfully cooked ramen were perfectly chewy, their doneness was perfect. He portioned some into a small bowl, blew on it to cool it to the optimal temperature, then put it in his mouth and slurped it up. Slurp. No wonder he could not get sick of it. Yeonoh naturally tried the kimchi that Dojin had served alongside it, and his eyes widened.

“This kimchi is really delicious! Is it homemade winter kimchi?”

“No, they said it is some kimchi sold at a hotel.”

At Dojin’s firm reply, Yeonoh just laughed awkwardly.

“Ah, haha. Is that so? I guess expensive things do taste better.”

“Eat up.”

He quickly finished a bowl of ramen with the crunchy kimchi. After finishing his meal, Yeonoh gathered the empty dishes in the sink. Since he got a free meal, he intended to at least do the dishes.

“Just leave it. What kind of guest does the dishes?”

“Come on, if you prepared the meal, I should do this.”

“It is fine. I can just put it in the dishwasher.”

Dojin opened the door of the dishwasher next to the sink to show him. Ah… He had completely forgotten that this was a luxury residence equipped with all three of modern humanity’s essential home appliances: a robot vacuum, a clothes dryer, and a dishwasher.

“Then I will just put them in.”

Yeonoh rinsed the bowls and other things once with hot water and then stacked them neatly. To think that you just had to put in a tablet-form detergent and press a single button to start the dishwashing. How has the world become so convenient? He was having such bland thoughts.

“Eat this instead.”

Dojin took out some ice cream from the freezer and tossed one to Yeonoh. Yeonoh caught the cone ice cream flying toward him. When he unwrapped it and took a bite, a cool and sweet taste soon spread through his mouth, which had felt heavy from the ramen. With the sound of the dishwasher as background noise, he sat across from Dojin at the dining table to finish the ice cream.

“Hold on. Why have you lost so much weight, Yeonoh?”

“Pardon? Me?”

“Your face has become half its size. Is work life that hard?”

Yeonoh thought back to his old self. Back then, because of his baby fat, his cheeks were particularly chubby compared to his body, to the point where people would ask him what he was eating even when he was just sitting still. He remembered feeling more wronged than offended. What was he supposed to be eating when he did not even have the money to buy a triangle kimbap? It would not have been so unfair if he were actually eating something.

“It is just that my baby fat took a long time to go away.”

“You are a real adult now, Yeonoh. This hyung is about to cry.”

Dojin playfully sniffled and dabbed at his tears. His playful demeanor, unchanged from then to now, made him laugh.