DP Side Story 2, Episode 24

Deep Pivot Side Story 2, Episode 24

“The greatest danger during an urban earthquake comes from secondary accidents caused by building collapses. Once the power goes out and gas leaks occur, evacuation itself becomes extremely difficult.”

The man spoke as he pointed to the presentation screen. The ID card around his neck swung lightly.

【Ji Seo-joon – Public Relations Officer, Disaster Response Center】

“Especially when an earthquake strikes while you’re inside a building, more people than you’d think tend to take the elevator…”

“Sir! Are you married?”

“Tell us about your first love!”

The students in the classroom tossed out the typical questions. They likely weren’t genuinely curious about his marital status or first love—it was just a ploy to kill time and stretch the lecture out a little longer. This was a mandatory disaster evacuation training session that had to be completed in place of regular class.

“My first love died while trying to evacuate during an earthquake in an elevator. You, too, could become someone’s first love.”
With that kind of pointless remark, Seo-joon resumed his lecture. The students groaned in disappointment but laughed in the way kids their age usually do.

After the two-hour session ended, the students filed out of the auditorium in a loud wave. Near the exit stood a life-sized promotional banner with the slogan: “Three minutes a day! Learn disaster evacuation tips for your family!” It featured a full-body photo of Seo-joon smiling kindly. Someone had doodled cat ears—or maybe horns—on the top of the head.

As he left the auditorium, Seo-joon quietly bent the standee in half, folding his own grinning face in the middle. At least now, the school probably wouldn’t reuse this ridiculous thing. He could tolerate a lot, but those life-size banners were unbearable.

The domestic Gate Research Center had recently been integrated into the Disaster Response Center and renamed accordingly. Since last year, Seo-joon had been working there in a temporary position as a public relations officer.

Since he wasn’t a permanent employee, he didn’t have much office work. His job mostly consisted of filming campaign videos and, occasionally, giving disaster response lectures like today’s.

After getting into his car, Seo-joon took off his ID card and tapped on his phone. A ringtone played through the vehicle’s Bluetooth connection, and soon someone picked up.

“Yeon-woo.”

— Yes, hyung.

That soft, drawn-out “hyeooong” in Yeon-woo’s unique tone made the corners of Seo-joon’s lips lift slightly.

“I just finished. Should I come pick you up?”

— Hurry up and come.

Yeon-woo’s reply came with adorable urgency, as if it were only natural.

“Where are you?”

— At a café near school. I’m on the phone with Captain.

A familiar voice could be heard faintly in the background—“Hey, Seo-joon!”

Smiling as he started the engine, Seo-joon replied sweetly that he’d be there soon and ended the call. Of course, that sweetness wasn’t for Cheong-oh—it was for Yeon-woo.

---

— 30 seconds to safety, starting with me. Protecting everyone.

A calm and composed voice, like that of a news anchor, echoed through the office inside the center. Song-hee lowered the volume on the screen playing the disaster management campaign video starring Seo-joon and looked at the person across from her.

“Sun-ae, this is totally the question we solved together last time.”

Sun-ae, with a hair roller curled into her bangs, turned her head slightly to avoid Song-hee’s gaze.

“You really need to get into college next year. Are you going to keep slacking off?”

“Are you going to keep slacking off?”

Jeong-woo mimicked Song-hee from the side, tapping the table with his pen. Sun-ae glared at him with dagger eyes.

Because of an acute case of appendicitis, Sun-ae had missed the college entrance exam and ended up repeating a year. Through her mother Choi Jeong-sook’s past tenant, Yeon-woo, she had been introduced to Song-hee for tutoring.

Sun-ae replied with a smug voice.

“Even if I pull myself together, it’s useless if my appendix bursts on exam day, right?”

“You don’t even have an appendix anymore…”

Song-hee figured the outcome would’ve been the same even if Sun-ae had taken the exam. Sun-ae just wasn’t cut out for studying. She had seen her game once—she was seriously good. Maybe she should pursue gaming. The unfortunate truth was, even to become a professional gamer, you still had to study.

Song-hee tapped her pen on the table and motioned with her hand.

“Alright, focus. What did I say happens when the quadratic coefficient of f(x) is positive?”

“Convex…”

“It curves upward, remember?”

At that moment, Seo-joon and Yeon-woo entered the office. Jeong-woo gathered his bag and got ready to leave. Sun-ae quickly uncurled her bangs and bowed politely to the two of them.

“Hello…”

“Long time no see, Sun-ae.”

Yeon-woo smiled and waved. Sun-ae smoothed her curled bangs with her hand.

“Oppa, don’t you notice anything different about me?”

“Uh… hmm, did you grow taller?”

“Nooo, look properly!”

“Hmm…”

From behind, Song-hee silently pointed to her own head as a hint. Seo-joon, who had been helping Jeong-woo with his bag, caught the hint and laughed.

“You dyed your hair.”

“Oh! As expected. Spot-the-difference champion!”

Sun-ae playfully made finger guns and pointed at Seo-joon. Yeon-woo blinked and nodded awkwardly.

“It suits you.”

Polite questions about her mother soon followed. A few years ago, Choi Jeong-sook had lost her home in a gate accident but had made a dramatic turnaround in life. The house she moved into with government compensation had multiplied in value after the gate crisis ended.

“Why are you doing tutoring here today?”

Seo-joon asked, and Song-hee answered on her behalf.

“I’m on duty today.”

Then she tapped her pen again at Sun-ae, scolding her to ignore the guests and focus on the problem at hand.

“Alright, I’m heading out. Sun-ae noona, study hard.”

Jeong-woo handed his backpack to Seo-joon and waved goodbye to Song-hee and Sun-ae. The two of them waved back. Once Jeong-woo, Yeon-woo, and Seo-joon had left, Song-hee resumed questioning.

“Okay, so when the quadratic coefficient of f(x) is positive?”

Sun-ae, rolling the hair roller back into her bangs, began to mumble.

“Positive means… positive means…”

“It curves upward! I told you that!”

Meanwhile, Jeong-woo dashed ahead down the center’s hallway, passing Seo-joon and Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo let out a quiet sigh. Lectures and scolding no longer worked on him.

At twelve, soon to be thirteen, Jeong-woo was preparing for the GED through a small group schooling program. He still had to go in for pulmonary rehabilitation therapy twice a week. He had already pressed the elevator button ahead of them and waited for the two.

“Hyung, can we get waffles on the way? The ones we had yesterday.”

Now that he was growing up, Jeong-woo didn’t call him “hyung-ah” in that cute way anymore.

“You had waffles instead of dinner yesterday.”

“Aw, hyung-ah… just today. Just for today, okay?”

Of course, exceptions were made when he wanted something.

“That’s why you’re not growing, Jeong-woo. You eat nothing but sweets.”

Yeon-woo replied firmly, and Jeong-woo clung to his hand.

“I’ll buy you waffles, but only if you eat your dinner first.”

Jeong-woo nodded quickly. But by the time he finishes dinner, there wouldn’t be any room left for waffles. He turned to Seo-joon, silently pleading for backup. Seo-joon smiled as he gently brushed the now-plump cheek of the boy.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“You want waffles too, right?”

Seo-joon didn’t say it, but he did. Still, he shook his head firmly.

“Listen to Yeon-woo hyung, Cha Jeong-woo. Dinner first, then waffles.”

With a pouty mouth, Jeong-woo climbed into the car. He added a condition—that he get to choose dinner. But when that choice turned out to be pizza, it was firmly rejected.

---

After quietly checking on Jeong-woo, who was asleep in his room on the second floor, Seo-joon came back down and entered the study next to the bedroom. It was exam season lately, so Cha Yeon-woo hadn’t been sleeping early. He hadn’t chosen his major with a specific job in mind, but since he picked it himself, he seemed to really enjoy studying sports rehabilitation.

Leaning on the desk, Seo-joon cupped Yeon-woo’s chin and gave him a soft kiss. Yeon-woo’s lips curved into a smile.

“Is Jeong-woo asleep?”

“Yeah.”

In that moment, Seo-joon’s body was suddenly lifted and set on the desk. He let out a short yelp and then laughed. Yeon-woo pushed aside his textbooks and tablet, tilted his head, and brought their lips together again. A large hand slipped under Seo-joon’s T-shirt.

“Haah…”

The hand, already familiar with his body, gently stroked the sensitive skin of his nipples, which had perked up in response. Seo-joon suddenly lifted his head and asked,

“Didn’t you say you have a major exam tomorrow?”

“It’s fine… just for a few hours.”

Soft sounds whispered between lips that met and parted. Even though they had finished soundproofing the room before moving in with Jeong-woo, they always found themselves whispering like this. Yeon-woo once said that whispering made it feel somehow even more arousing.

“Hyung…”

His hand slipped into the waistband of Seo-joon’s sweatpants, skillfully stroking his penis.

“Should we go on a trip when the semester ends?”

“Haah… where to?”

Smiling with eyes crinkled, Yeon-woo whispered, “Mukho Port. The one we went to before.” Seo-joon wrapped an arm around his neck and nodded without hesitation.