NHL 38

What was even more surprising was the amount he notified him of at the end. Joeon’s eyes widened as he saw the figure.

The landlord, who had been charging a rent slightly lower than the market rate in exchange for not filing taxes, had suggested an amount that perfectly reflected the recent market, which was 30% higher than the current price. At this rate, he would end up handing over more than half of his salary in rent alone.

Flustered, he hurriedly sent a reply protesting to the landlord, but the reply that returned shortly after contained not the slightest intention to compromise.

//「If you cannot match the increased amount, you will have to move out. We are planning on moving in and living there ourselves. You know it’s a two-month notice, right? Please meet the deadline.」

If a landlord says they are moving in to live there, a tenant has no choice but to vacate the house. However, that was merely a pretext to drive the tenant out, and it was obvious that the claim about moving in was a lie.

Joeon pondered for a moment. It wasn’t as if there was no way to find his rights without yielding to the unfair proposal, but it would require time and effort. That is why many people choose to give up and compromise rather than take a troublesome and cumbersome path. Joeon, who was very accustomed to that, let out a sigh as he put down his phone.

I wondered why everything had been so quiet lately. For bad news to land right after the year turned, as if to ward off misfortune, of all things. If he were to pay the rent suggested by the landlord, there wouldn’t be a single penny left in Joeon’s hands after deducting living expenses. It meant he would have to scrape by and live frugally even on his living expenses. If he had no savings at all, he would have nowhere to lean on when an emergency situation occurred. That was an excessively heavy burden.

Buying his own home is something he could never even dream of for the rest of his life. It wasn’t just the landlord who was suffocated by the insane cost of living, but anyone living in this city was the same.

After a long deliberation, the hand that swept down his stiff face tapped on the keypad. As long as he was in the position of the weaker party, he could only say that he would think about it a little more. This was at most a level of buying just one more day of time to look for a house to move to.

The horn signaling the end of the second period without any goals sounded. The strength drained out of the hand holding the phone. The phone, its screen darkened to black, was placed quietly beside the box of Moroccan tangerines. The casino site commercial music repeated once again.

‘If I hit the jackpot with that, couldn’t I buy at least one house?’

Thinking that he would not be the only one falling asleep with a heavy heart tonight, at the end of the away game that ultimately led to defeat, Joeon closed his eyes.

🏒🥅

As the year-end holiday season ended and the calendar turned to January, people who had gone on vacation began to return one after another. The leisurely commute to work became crowded once again. The subway cars were filled with the warmth created by people brushing against each other, and Union Station was as chaotic as ever with people carving out their own paths.

Joeon pushed through the crowd in the disorder and managed to arrive at the office. Like a school after the semester break, his colleagues, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, were busy exchanging New Year’s greetings. Being mixed in the hustle and bustle, he felt a sense of stability in the office, which felt like it had finally found its place. For Joeon, who preferred to blend in rather than stand out to others, this atmosphere suited him. The work that began to pour in before he could even fall into stray thoughts was a bonus.

Peter, the team leader, laughed with a refreshing and light voice, saying, “It’s going to get busy for a while. You all know, right?” As if it was something worth mentioning anew, the thing they experience every month. However, his eyes were not smiling in the slightest. Instead, there was a sense of crisis that if things went wrong, they might have to work even on weekends.

Perhaps because he was the head of a household raising two children in their prime, it must be unpleasant for him to work overtime, let alone emergency duty on the weekends. Even if he was a team leader, this was no different from the team members.

The faces of the team members, including Joeon, darkened rapidly. It was the start of the hellish closing report season.

In the afternoon, Peter was the first to pack his bag and stand up.

“Everyone, try not to overdo it and head home. I have to go pick up the kids, so I’ll be off. Call me if anything comes up.”

Despite it being a busy period, it was an early time to leave work. Since he was someone who would finish up overtime work even at home during busy periods, an early departure like today could be poison to the team members. This was because a situation could arise where they might have to turn their computers back on after receiving a message from him working at home late at night.

“Goodbye.”

“Good night.”

Dark shadows flickered under the eyes of the team members greeting him with listless voices. Joeon was the same.

As it neared dinner time, people disappeared one by one. They had left in search of a space that suited them, wanting to handle their work quietly in comfortable chairs and tables like in a lounge, or in meeting rooms. Seeing that their status on the messenger was active, it seemed they were all enduring the grueling overtime in their own ways.

Joeon took his computer and moved to the pantry area where he could make lemon tea. Running low on sugar, he opened two packets, poured them in, and sat in a seat where he could look out the window. Sitting alone in an independent space where he didn’t have to be conscious of others, the tension that had been keeping his body rigid drained away.

His gaze rested on the blue sign shining brightly through the window. A home game for Dylan was scheduled to be held at the arena today. Checking the time, it happened to be game time. Around this time, the first puck drop would have taken place inside. Or, they might be singing “O Canada” before that.

If it weren’t for work, Joeon would have gone to watch it, too. He had received a message from Dylan saying he could get him a ticket, but he had no choice but to refuse because he was busy with work.

In the meantime, time had passed enough for him to go on an away game one more time. It had been nearly ten days since he had last seen Dylan.

“Ah, I was planning on going to see the game today.”

Turning his head at the voice coming from the side, Tyler muttered while staring at the stadium Joeon had been looking at until just a moment ago. It was the expression of a sage who had reached the state of enlightenment while looking at the distant mountains.

“Oh, Tyler. Did you happen to buy a ticket, too?”

“No. Actually, I didn’t buy one because I thought it was unlikely since it’s a busy period. I would have rather sold it to someone else if I had bought it. If it’s today’s game, it might have sold for an even higher price.”

“Ah….”

“Still, since there aren’t many home games this month, I was hoping that if I were lucky, there might be a chance, but it seems that was my mistake. Instead, I’m planning on going to watch basketball next time.”

“It seems you like any kind of sport?”

“I suppose so.”

Tyler shrugged his shoulders. Only then did Tyler, who turned his gaze from the arena to Joeon, take the seat next to him and sit down, then whispered while observing his surroundings.

“John, I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

Under Tyler’s gaze, which was staring straight at him, his heart, which had suddenly sunk, pounded rapidly.

‘What… did he see?’

If he had done nothing wrong, he shouldn’t have had a guilty conscience. It was because the sense of crisis that what he might have seen was perhaps himself and Dylan hit him belatedly. Not only was he interested in sports, but wasn’t it also Tyler who recognized Dylan when he was in plain clothes before?

‘The stadium? The parking lot? Or maybe…. The mart?’

If it was him, he might have recognized Dylan and Joeon grocery shopping as if they were on a date at a glance. Even the subtle current flowing between the two. Tyler had a considerably good eye for people. Whether it was their appearance or their inner self.

Joeon’s eyes, which had lost their composure, moved back and forth. It was an effort to get even the slightest hint from Tyler’s face. However, Tyler took out his cell phone and pointed at the screen with his finger. Wondering if maybe a photo of them had been taken, he suppressed his agitation and thought of excuses, but unlike Joeon’s guess, the cell phone screen was just full of characters listed one after another.

“I saw that a recruitment notice for a new senior-level hire for your team was posted. Who is leaving?”

“…What?”

Snatching the cell phone from Tyler’s hand, Joeon quickly read down the job posting. Just as he said, the tasks listed in the notice posted this time looked like the work that Joeon and Joeon’s superior, Daniel, had been splitting between them.

“Was there no mention of a promotion when you had your interview with Peter?”

“…No, there wasn’t. I didn’t even have time for an interview. It’s scheduled for next week.”