HPK 94

“I am going to the restroom.”

Taejung, who had been holding and kneading Wooseung’s hand, simply lifted his eyes. Wooseung gently pulled his hand away from his grasp. It was numb from being touched so much.

“The restroom?”

Taejung, who had been leaning over the table, straightened up his upper body and paused before saying, “…Yeah. Well, go ahead.”

“Go out and it’s on the right.”

“Okay. I will be right back.”

After making one last eye contact with Taejung, who was staring intently at him, he left the room. The hallway was bustling. It was noisy with people rushing back and forth and music blaring from behind closed doors.

Wooseung turned not to the right where Taejung had said the restroom was, but to the left where the entrance was. Fortunately, at the counter was Manager Han, Jaewon, who had guided them to the room earlier.

“Um…”

He approached him tentatively and spoke. He flinched, startled by the sudden presence, and then was startled again when he recognized Wooseung’s face.

“Where is Section Chief Choi?”

“……”

“Section Chief Choi Hoonyeong…”

He remained silent with a face that said he did not know how to respond. He looked troubled, in a way. He scratched the area above his upper lip with his index finger, checked behind Wooseung, and then asked, “Why are you looking for Section Chief Choi?”

“Ah, that’s…”

“Is President looking for him?”

Wooseung thought for a moment before nodding. Jaewon put down his pen and stood up straight.

“Section Chief Choi is on the first floor right now, so I will tell him to go to you as soon as he comes up. Ah, I will tell him.”

Jaewon, who had been speaking informally without thinking, quickly corrected himself with a gasp, oops, and switched to formal speech. He looked like he could be taken down with a single punch, but the story was different if Taejung was behind him. Even if he looked that innocent, there was no telling what he might go and tattle to Taejung. Those who had been through the wringer on this side of things had a cunning streak even if they did not look it, so there was no harm in being cautious.

“Is there anything else, ahem. Do you have anything to say? If so, feel free to speak.”

Even after he said he would relay the message as soon as he came down, Wooseung did not leave, so Jaewon finally asked with a uncomfortable expression. He wanted to send him back quickly as he did not want to deal with him for long.

Wooseung’s hesitant lips slowly parted.

♡

While Wooseung was away, Taejung was having a boring time. Neither his phone nor the ledger Jaewon had left behind caught his eye. He stared solely at the closed door, his leg trembling. He thought he looked quite pathetic himself, but he could not seem to control it.

But at the same time, it was a huge blow to his pride to follow a kid who said he was going to the restroom. Enduring the tedious and dull time, he thought of the other phone he had left at home. The thought was immediately followed by a pang of regret, ah, I should have brought it.

[Hyojun-ah did you arrive in Thailand?]

[Yeah you can do it like thatㅎㅎ I’ll call dad]

[You’re on duty again? When are you going to Daejeon??]

The people Wooseung mainly texted were, in order, Hyojun, his younger sister, and a friend named Jaemin. Even then, he was not in good contact with anyone other than his sister at the moment, so ironically, Taejung occupied most of his text history.

When he got him a new phone, Taejung had completely cloned Wooseung’s phone. And he looked at it whenever he felt like it. There was not much to see, but strangely, he did not get tired of it. It was also much more comforting than before, when all he could do was track his location. It was easier to monitor whether he was secretly contacting or managing clients behind his back.

“He’s taking a long time…”

He rested his arm on his thigh and hung his head low. He stared blankly at the pattern on the dust-free marble floor and ran his tongue over the corner of his mouth. Being all alone, he felt like he would die of boredom. He naturally thought of the person who had left this room just a moment ago.

‘You didn’t leave.’

He did not hear any music. He did not look like the most beautiful person in the world either.

It was just that everything around him blurred like mist, leaving only a clear, smiling face.

‘President, do you like me?’

At the time, he had thought it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. To be honest, his heart had dropped as if it had fallen off a cliff, but he had just thought it was because it was so ludicrous.

But why did his mood swing back and forth over Wooseung’s trivial and insignificant actions? Facing emotions that were beyond his control was not a pleasant experience. When he was with Wooseung, he would get high without end, just like when he did drugs, and then suddenly, he would be slammed back down to the ground. The feeling of crashing was fucking terrible, and the pleasure of rising was incomparably good.

No way, really.

Do I… like him?

“Hah, what…”

Taejung buried his face in his hands and rubbed it dryly. Was it because he was so confused? Suddenly, he even felt nauseous. Unable to bear the churning in his stomach, he raised his head. He took the phone he had tossed aside and searched for ‘to like’ on a portal site.

[To like

1. To have a good feeling about a certain thing or object.
2. To particularly enjoy eating or drinking a specific food.
3. To enjoy doing or want to do a specific exercise, game, or action.]

Taejung liked cigarettes, and he liked smashing perfectly good faces with his fists. He liked Coke, which had a tangy taste and gave a kick, and junk food like pizza and hamburgers. He also liked running on the treadmill at an endless speed, console games, and occasionally betting money on soccer.

He had a lot of things he liked, and they were very clear, but the object of his affection had never once been a person until now.

“……”

Taejung pressed his palms together and rested his chin on his thumbs. The breath that poured out contained all the chaos and disorder he felt. His eyes could not focus on one place and wandered.

Areas that could not be learned from someone like studying or sports came to Taejung as an unknown territory. Was it because it was something he had never even anticipated? It felt like a bolt from the blue.

Born late and raised delicately, he had lived as he pleased with more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime. He did everything he wanted to do and never did anything he did not want to do.

It had been a world completely and solely filled with ‘me,’ but then someone had invaded it out of nowhere. A man with a blank face.

At first, he had only stayed for a short while. His stay had not been long. That was why he had not thought much of it, and in fact, had thought it was a good thing since he had been bored.

But before he knew it, there were traces of him everywhere. Like a single drop of paint that overwhelms the color of clear water, the world was dyed in his color. There was no romance. He was flustered, and even felt a strong sense of powerlessness.

And yet, the fact that he was not in sight was so irritating he felt like he would die. It was not a feeling that could be expressed simply with the words ‘I like you.’

“Fuck, why isn’t he coming.”

Taejung, unable to wait any longer, finally shot up from his seat. He strode across the sofa and immediately opened the door. Amidst the loud music that poured out with a whoosh, a familiar voice pierced his ears. Not from the right, where the restroom was, but from the left.

Taejung turned in that direction without hesitation. Not far away, he saw a small back. And even the pale white fingers resting on the counter.

♡

“Actually, it is not that President called for him. I have something to tell Section Chief Choi separately, so… would it be okay if I just went down to the first floor for a moment?”

In the end, Wooseung confessed the truth. It seemed better to resolve it here separately rather than lying to call Hoonyeong to the room.

Jaewon stared at Wooseung silently. His face looked as if he was trying to figure out how the situation was unfolding.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but.”

“……”

“If you have something to say to Section Chief Choi, just say it to President. I don’t understand why you would take the long way around when the final decision-maker is right there. Or is it something President shouldn’t know about?”

Jaewon asked in a clearly probing tone. He refused to get caught in the middle of their business and suffer for it. It was obvious from his hesitation that he was doing something behind Taejung’s back, and if he helped, he would be the one to get an earful. To him, who had been through it all under Taejung, Wooseung’s intentions were as clear as day.

“It is not really like that…”

“I don’t know what it is about, but whatever Section Chief Choi knows, President will know everything anyway.”

“……”

“Don’t make things complicated…”

“Don’t make what complicated?”

It was just as Jaewon was trying to soothe Wooseung like a child and send him back. A low voice cut in from behind.