IPSTDS Chapter 54

Chapter 54

“Noah Yoon, are you really ignoring Seo Dowoong? Guess you weren’t lying when you said you’d hang out with me instead. Hehe.”

Park Sangcheol let out an unpleasant laugh. Yoon Noah fought the urge to slap him across the face and forced a stiff smile.

“Hey, I wasn’t spouting nonsense.”

Just don’t mess with Seo Dowoong, Noah thought to himself.

Nahyuk could clearly read the thoughts of Noah from that time.

‘But how long am I supposed to keep doing this crap…? Seo Dowoong won’t even reply to my messages.’

Yoon Noah’s eyes drifted to Seo Dowoong, who was spending time with other people.

Especially with a junior named Kim Daon, whom he seemed to be meeting fairly often.

Of course, it wasn’t that Seo Dowoong had sought Daon out first. It just so happened that Daon had stepped in to stop Park Sangcheol from falling off a railing, and through that, he approached Seo Dowoong.

With his meddlesome nature, Daon worried about him. And since Seo Dowoong didn’t seem to dislike the concern, the two had met a few times and grown closer.

Yoon Noah pretended otherwise, but he watched it all.

A strange sense of unease settled in his chest.

Could it be that Seo Dowoong actually thought he had chosen to hang around with Park Sangcheol? That was a ridiculous misunderstanding.

Yoon Noah thought of Seo Dowoong as more than a friend.

It wasn’t love, but he couldn’t imagine a future without Dowoong by his side.

Avoiding Sangcheol’s gaze, Noah sent a message to Seo Dowoong.

Hey, let’s meet later.

But even after school ended, and even the next day, there was no reply. In the end, late at night, Noah went directly to Dowoong’s house.

Only then did Dowoong meet him.

“What?”

Rather than welcoming him, Dowoong’s face was filled with irritation. He didn’t bother to hide his bad mood.

That hurt Noah deeply.

“Dowoong, don’t you think you’re being too much? Ignoring all my messages…! I was only hanging around Park Sangcheol because of you.”

“…Because of me?”

“Huh?”

“You mean you’re acting like that because you don’t trust me either?”

“What? Why would I not trust you?”

“Same reason as my parents. You think I can’t handle things alone, so you went and did something useless.”

“…Useless? How can you say that?”

Noah looked ready to grab him by the collar.

“You don’t need to do that crap anymore. Leave before I say something worse.”

With that, Seo Dowoong turned away without hesitation. Noah shouted his name at the top of his lungs, but Dowoong never once looked back.

That was where the dream ended.

Nahyuk woke up with a bitter feeling.

Even awake, the vividness of the dream lingered, as if it were his own memory. It soured his mood.

‘So even in high school, Seo Dowoong looked down on Yoon Noah…’

The claim that they had been friends rang hollow. Dowoong must have always thought of Noah as beneath him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have responded like that.

Why take out his frustration on Noah just because he hadn’t earned his parents’ trust? Nahyuk couldn’t understand.

He had never blamed others for his own misfortune. He always thought it was because he was inadequate, or because he misunderstood things.

‘If readers of Flowers in the Cage knew this story, they’d probably pity Yoon Noah…’

Shaking his head, Nahyuk climbed out of bed.

* * *

Some time later, Nahyuk stood in front of Hansan Group’s headquarters with a dumbfounded expression.

‘I swore I’d never get involved with Seo Dowoong again… so how did it come to this?’

The reason he was here was because of Yoon Taesik, who had contacted him early that morning.

‘Noah, even if it’s just for a few days, why don’t you try going to Hansan Group?’

Taesik had also told him that Seo Dowoong himself had suggested Noah act as a bridge between the two companies during this collaboration.

A bridge? It was ridiculous.

Nahyuk knew nothing about corporate affairs. Even before possessing Yoon Noah’s body, his work had only been in a design department. He had no knowledge of management, let alone hotels.

He had cautiously tried to decline the suggestion, but Yoon Taesik’s stern voice rang in his ears.

‘Just for a few days. Can’t you even do that? I don’t expect you to do well—I want you to see if the work suits you. If it doesn’t, you can quit then.’

What was more, he was told that Seo Dowoong would personally teach him. The absurdity of it left Nahyuk at a loss.

But with Taesik speaking so firmly, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse outright. And so, he had come all the way to Hansan Group’s main building.

With heavy steps, Nahyuk walked inside. As soon as he gave his name at the front desk, employees guided him straight to the executive vice president’s office.

It was a reaction that felt oddly familiar. Most likely not because Noah had ever caused trouble here, but because Seo Dowoong must have informed them in advance.

At last, he arrived before the office. Letting out a sigh, Nahyuk spoke.

“It’s me. Can I come in?”

Instead of a reply, the office door opened.

“You really came.”

Seo Dowoong himself had opened it, smiling faintly. His smile was like a painting, dazzling in its beauty, but Nahyuk felt no thrill.

He walked past him and dropped carelessly onto the sofa.

“I heard you made some strange suggestion to Grandfather.”

“Why strange? I just proposed something regarding the collaboration between our companies.”

“Let me say this now. I don’t care about company affairs, and I know nothing about hotels.”

“That’s fine. I know enough. And it’s not like I want to strain someone who’s sick. Besides, I might actually need your help.”

“…”

Answering shamelessly, Seo Dowoong sat down at his desk, resting his chin on his hand as he stared at Nahyuk.

Nahyuk couldn’t understand why Dowoong kept trying to get entangled with him. It couldn’t possibly be because he liked him.

“I already told you. I don’t like you. So I wish you’d stop trying to tie me to you like this.”

“You’re playing hard to get.”

“…”

The baseless misunderstanding made Nahyuk feel impulsive.

Should he just call Yoon Taesik right now and say he was giving up?

He didn’t want to disappoint Taesik, who felt like a real grandfather to him, but he wasn’t sure he could bear seeing Seo Dowoong’s face.

Still, there were things he needed to ask first.

“I’m not playing hard to get. And you—don’t you hate my help? I don’t understand why you’re acting like this now.”

“…Your help?”

Seo Dowoong seemed to think deeply, then gave a small nod, as though recalling something.

His expression suggested he was remembering the events Nahyuk had seen in his dream.

“If you’re talking about what happened with Park Sangcheol, I did treat you harshly then.”

“…”

“My parents were pressuring me a lot. They wanted a flawless son, and they didn’t like all the unnecessary things interfering in my life. So maybe I took it out on you.”

“…”

“But in the end, that matter was resolved. It wasn’t what really broke things between us… No. What’s the point of bringing up something from more than ten years ago now?”

Wait—so the real reason Yoon Noah and Seo Dowoong had fallen apart wasn’t because Noah had gotten close to Park Sangcheol?

Dowoong’s tone made it sound like there had been something much more serious.

Nahyuk was about to ask, but noticing the intention, Dowoong spoke first.

“Don’t bring that up. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’d rather bring it up and get thrown out by you.”

Too bad he didn’t know what it was. Otherwise, he really might have done just that.

Nahyuk pursed his lips in frustration.

Then Dowoong spoke again, his voice tinged with self-mockery.

“…But looking back now, I think maybe I overreacted. At the time, I didn’t really understand what it meant to like someone.”

“What do you mean?”

“After realizing how much I like Kim Daon, I understood. If feelings are strong enough, maybe someone could act the way you did.”

In other words, Yoon Noah had done “something” because of how strongly he felt for Seo Dowoong, and that incident had been what truly broke them apart.

But Nahyuk wasn’t especially curious. It might be nice to know, but it didn’t really matter.

After all, there was no reason for him to grow closer to Seo Dowoong. No reason to mend their relationship.

So he changed the subject.

“Are you not going to see Daon again?”

If Daon had made him feel such powerful emotions, why hadn’t Dowoong cleared things up with him completely?

“Do you sincerely wish for me to do well with Kim Daon?”

“…”

Nahyuk couldn’t answer immediately. Daon’s words suddenly echoed in his mind.

‘Can you handle it? I tend to take really good care of people.’

‘You’ll probably think of me every time it rains.’

‘I’d like it if you thought of me too.’

The memories made his heart tremble. He almost felt as if Daon’s sweet presence was lingering in the air.

It wasn’t Dowoong who made him hesitate—it was Daon.

A warmhearted person who treated others with sincerity like Daon didn’t deserve someone self-centered and delusional like Seo Dowoong.

Nahyuk thought Daon deserved someone warmer, steadier, with a clear head.

It was the first time since he had possessed Yoon Noah in Flowers in the Cage that such a thought had come to him.