VDN Ch 124

While he was clutching his head with a depressed expression on his face, his phone rang. It was Jin Hae-geon.

– Where are you?

“I’m in front of the elevator. I went to the bathroom and wanted to get some fresh air for a bit.”

– The ceremony has started. Hurry up.

With that rude tone, the call ended. Nam-woon walked slowly towards the ceremony, with his head down. Cautiously looking around, he spotted Jin Hae-geon staring intently at his phone screen. He plopped down next to him and let out a deep sigh. Then Hae-geon, who had checked Nam-woon’s expression, asked unusually.

“Why is your expression so rotten?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Nam-woon shook his head. Hey Hae-geon, it seems you and I ended up being fucking gay kinky bastards. I’m sorry… He let out another sigh mixed with regret. Hae-geon continued talking next to him, whether he knew Nam-woon’s feelings or not.

“We are going to be having dinner later with my uncle and aunt.”

“What?”

“Why are you so surprised? Didn’t you know there’s a meal after the wedding?”

“Come on, I’m not mentally prepared yet. Can’t we just eat among ourselves today?”

When Nam-woon frowned and spoke, Hae-geon looked at him with a blank expression before bursting into a laugh. Placing his palm on the back of Nam-woon’s head, he gently brushed back his messy hair. Then, leaning close, he whispered in his ear.

“Babe, why are you whining again? You’re making my d*ck hard.”

The mention of ‘d*ck’ reminded Nam-woon of the lyrics he had seen earlier. Ah, my head hurts. Nam-woon tightly squeezed his eyes shut.

“Stop saying d*ck! Please shut up!”

At Nam-woon’s loud voice, an elderly couple sitting at the next table looked up in surprise. It was only then that Nam-woon immediately looked around, scanning the room. Just as his face was turning red from embarrassment, the host shouted loudly.

“Attention! The groom is entering!”

At the far end of the ceremony hall, a smiling groom walked in. Perhaps because he had been told in advance by Hae-geon that he was a drug addict. He seemed to be able to see his dead eyes that were not hidden by the bright lighting and makeup. Did the bride know that her husband was a drug addict? Nam-woon wondered if what he had just done to the prosecutor was something he should have done to the bride who was marrying today.

Then he locked eyes with the groom, who was waving at the guests. The groom paused for a moment, his eyes widening. The broad smile on his face quickly disappeared.

What’s going on, why is he acting like that?

Nam-woon looked at the man with a sullen expression. The man soon smiled again as if nothing had happened and waved his hand. However, after that, he didn’t look in Nam-woon’s direction again.

The wedding was a bit boring at times, but overall it was interesting. Nam-woon listened attentively to the host’s words and clapped enthusiastically as instructed. Hae-geon, on the other hand, had one arm draped over the back of Nam-woon’s chair, his long legs crossed, wearing an indifferent expression.

“Hey? Isn’t that song that Jang-mi and Deok-chil sing all the time!”

When a famous celebrity grabbed the microphone and started singing a congratulatory song, Nam-woon shouted loudly. Hae-geon let out a small laugh and patted Nam-woon’s cheek with his hand. The cheek visible from the side were flushed with excitement.

“I should record this and show it to the kids.” 

“You’re really excited, huh?”

Hae-geon muttered as he watched Nam-woon turn on the video on his phone. He raised the corners of his mouth and fixed his gaze on Nam-woon. However, Nam-woon was too absorbed in the scene in front of him to notice.

After the ceremony, Nam-woon read the small menu placed on the table. However, it was all written in English, and he couldn’t make sense of it. He tried to find words he recognized, but Hae-geon spoke up next to him. 

“One piece of meat isn’t enough for you, right? Why don’t you order three more?” 

“I have some sense, you know. How could I do that here?”

Nam-woon replied, frowning, which made Hae-geon chuckle joyfully. Just then, someone approached the table.

“Hae-geon-ah.” 

“Oh, you’re here.” 

When Hae-geon stood up, Nam-woon followed suit and got up from his seat as well. 

“Yeah, it’s been a while.” 

As Hae-geon exchanged light greetings with the man, the man’s gaze turned to Nam-woon, who was standing awkwardly behind Hae-geon. Hae-geon naturally placed a hand on Nam-woon’s shoulder and introduced him. 

“Nam-woon, say hello. This is my uncle and aunt.” 

“Oh, hello.” 

Nam-woon nervously bowed his head slightly. Hae-geon’s uncle and aunt looked at him with puzzled eyes at the appearance of a stranger. Hae-geon explained simply. 

“He is the one I’ve been seeing recently.”

“What? Hae-geon, you?”

Hae-geon’s uncle exclaimed with a loud voice, his eyes wide with surprise. Hae-geon’s aunt next to him was equally shocked. For a while, they stared at each other in silence. Nam-woon awkwardly moved his eyes at their intense reaction.

“Please, have a seat.” 

At Hae-geon’s gesture, his uncle and aunt hesitated but then sat down at the table. Hae-geon and Nam-woon took seats across from them. An uncomfortable meal began for the four of them.

Rattle. The clattering of dishes filled the table. Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere was somewhat muffled by the surrounding noise. Even the sound of the tableware clattering was made solely by Nam-woon. Every time the sharp sound of a knife was heard, small wrinkles appeared on the uncle’s brow. As the tension persisted, Hae-geon’s aunt subtly nudged her husband’s thigh under the table.

“What’s wrong, dear?”

She asked without a hint of awareness, and she shot him a look, nodding toward Hae-geon and Nam-woon sitting across from them. It was a silent pressure for him to say something first. In response to that gaze, the uncle hesitated, mumbling his lips before finally speaking up.

“…Hae-geon, you’ve been worried a lot about Grandpa lately, haven’t you? He’ll get better soon. As you know, it’s not a serious illness. So don’t worry too much.”

“I’m not worried. I know Grandpa is a tough person. He even scolded Uncle for making an unnecessary trip because he’s so busy, didn’t he?”

“Oh dear, father…”

He looked at Hae-geon and continued,

“Maybe it’s because he’s not well, but your grandfather is very worried about you. Ever since you were a child, Hyung and sister-in-law have been…..Anyway, ever since then, he’s been thinking about you all the time. Even now, it seems like you have no interest in managing the company and are just wandering around…”

As the conversation took a sudden dark turn with nagging tones, his aunt quickly pinched her husband’s thigh. Ouch. Uncle’s lips snapped shut at that signal.

Nam-woon turned to look at Hae-geon. When he said Hyung and sister-in-law, he probably meant Hae-geon’s parents… Now that he thought about it, he had never heard anything about Hae-geon’s parents. In the original story, there was no mention of them as if they never existed. The focus was always on his grandfather.

Does he have a hidden story?”

As Nam-woon mechanically moved the knife and stared at Hae-geon, a cough sounded from the front. When he looked up, he found the aunt and uncle looking at him.

“Is your name Nam-woon?” 

“Ah, yes.” 

Suddenly feeling all eyes on him, he became flustered, gripping the knife too hard, causing it to slip. As a result, a piece of meat he was cutting flew off and landed right in front of the aunt’s plate. The aunt’s eyes widened. Oh dear, of all places to fall…

Nam-woon bit his lip in embarrassment, and suddenly a large hand reached out from the side. Hae-geon, who had pulled the plate, now messy with sauce and pieces of meat scattered everywhere, took the knife and fork that Nam-woon was holding and began to cut the meat with skilled movements. The uncle and aunt’s lips parted at the sight of Hae-geon helping his clumsy lover, who was not good at cutting meat.

Of course, the person horrified among them all was Nam-woon. What had this bastard eaten wrong? Why is he acting like this in front of everyone? He wanted to shout in frustration but bit his teeth tightly and said,

“Why are you doing something you don’t normally do? Give it here.”

He tried to snatch the knife away, but the other person didn’t budge, so he gave up after the attempt. The slow cutting continued. After skillfully cutting the steak on the plate into bite-sized pieces, Hae-geon turned to his elders.

“Nam-woon is a bit clumsy with cutting, so please understand.”

“Ah, I see. Of course, we understand.”

Nam-woon felt like he wanted to hide in a mousehole. It was shocking enough that someone would do something that a male lead in a drama or movie would do, but the fact that it was directed at him made goosebumps rise all over his body. It was clear that Hae-geon was too immersed in role-playing. Otherwise, he wouldn’t voluntarily engage in such embarrassing behavior.

The aunt, looking down at the steak that Hae-geon had cut, quietly said,

“…It’s fascinating. When Jung-hoon was young, he also had trouble cutting, and he asked Hae-geon to help him.”

The uncle also chimed in,

“Ah, that did happen.”

Then he turned to Hae-geon and said,

“Hae-geon, don’t you remember when you were in middle school? When Jung-hoon asked you to cut him some meat, you said, You have ten fingers, can’t you cut it yourself? Isn’t it better not to have such useless hands? The boy was so shocked that he cried.”

“Oh, I remember. At that time, Jung-hoon was just learning.”

“That’s right. It was when he was seven years old.”

After finishing his sentence, the uncle glanced at Nam-woon. Nam-woon read the unspoken words in that gaze. Wasn’t he an adult, not a six-year-old child? If he can’t even handle a knife properly, shouldn’t he had learned by now? Feeling ashamed of his and Hae-geon’s behavior, Nam-woon buried his nose in his plate and focused solely on eating.

However, unfortunately, their attention was already focused on Nam-woon. The questions that had been directed at Hae-geon now flew towards Nam-woon.

“So, what does your father do?”

“Oh, he runs a business.”

“Business?”

When Hae-geon’s uncle asked for additional answers and he couldn’t respond easily, Hae-geon answered on his behalf.

“He’s a gangster. That’s what his father is.”

“……”

A chilling silence fell over the table. After a moment, his uncle pulled out a luxurious handkerchief from his jacket pocket and began to dab the sweat from his forehead. He swallowed hard and continued with his questioning.

“Then what do you do?”

“He’s a gangster too.”

Once again, the answer was interrupted by Hae-geon. Nam-woon, denied his words with a serious face unlike before.

“Oh, not anymore.”

“……”

At Nam-woon’s words, the aunt and uncle’s mouths snapped shut like clams. Hae-geon, sitting next to them, burst into loud laughter. He was the only one at the table laughing.