PAHO 40

“Excuse me, sorry to come by so late.”

Through the crack of the front door, pushed open by a wary hand, a face with an awkward smile slowly revealed itself.

“It’s Jongdae hyung.”

At the name Haejin, who was clinging to his arm, exclaimed happily, Nam Gyeonhwa finally eased the tension that had been gripping his body. However, he couldn’t completely let down his guard. He had thought Gwon Jongdae had come alone, but there was another person standing behind him. Nam Gyeonhwa gently pushed Haejin, who was quite curious about the unfamiliar visitor, behind him, while extending his arm a little more to open the door wider.

“What can I do for you?”

His voice was low and cool. His sharp gaze, which seemed more like an interrogation than a welcome, made Gwon Jongdae flinch for a moment before he hastily held up the bag he was holding in his arms to reassure him.

“Ah, well, I heard Haejin came over here while I was away on business. I figured you’d need some soap and other things for the house, so I bought a few.”

“……”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been intently examining the two visitors, finally lowered the arm that was blocking the doorway. As he had just been thinking about groceries and daily necessities, there was no need to refuse.

“Ah, no, no. It’s heavy, so I’ll just, put it inside for you.”

Gwon Jongdae, refusing the gesture to take it with both hands, passed through the entrance. The woman who followed him in suddenly glanced back at Nam Gyeonhwa. Her face, which was staring at him openly, not subtly, showed a hint of trying to recall a past acquaintance. Is there something she wants to say? Just as he was about to ask her business, the sound of a heavy load being set down came from the kitchen sink area.

“Aish, shoot, the bag ripped.”

Gwon Jongdae, his lips crumpled in a troubled expression, bent down and began to pick up the scattered items. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had hurried over to his side, first checked his sock-clad feet.

“Are you okay? You didn’t hurt your feet?”

“Yes, ah, I’m not hurt. It’s a relief there were no glass items.”

Nam Gyeonhwa looked at the bag messily draped over the sink. The area around the plastic garbage bag, torn wide in all directions like a blooming flower, was full of all sorts of daily necessities. From basic cleaning supplies like toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, and soap, to canned fruit and instant food. It was easier to find what wasn’t there.

“…Did Director Na send all of this too?”

It was too much in quantity and variety to have been bought as a simple favor. Gwon Jongdae, who was gathering the canned goods, hesitated.

“Yes.”

Perhaps deciding there was no use in beating around the bush, the answer was compliant. I knew it. Nam Gyeonhwa inwardly suppressed a groan. They had only seen each other once or twice coming and going. So, the reason Gwon Jongdae would bring daily necessities must have been compelled by Na Taebeom.

Starting with the cupboards, they tidied up neatly, and the mess in the kitchen was quickly organized. Nam Gyeonhwa opened a bottle of water from the supplies he had brought and offered it to him. He, who seemed to be thirsty, hesitated before downing half of it in one go and sheepishly handed it back. Haejin, who had been hopping around next to them saying he would help too, was sitting on the sofa with the woman who had come with Gwon Jongdae, watching television. At the sight of him watching the unfamiliar person, Gwon Jongdae lightly tapped his forehead.

“Ah, I forgot. Uh, that person over there is Ms. Choi Jiyu, and I brought her along to train her since she was newly assigned to the aide team. Ah, and from now on, Ms. Choi Jiyu will be looking after Haejin whenever Mr. Nam Gyeonhwa is away for a long time.”

As soon as her name was called, Choi Jiyu stood up and gave Nam Gyeonhwa a slight nod. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had also responded with a silent nod, stared at Choi Jiyu. Unlike a moment ago when she had been looking at him with a strange gaze, her lowered eyes were calm, as if that had never happened. Gwon Jongdae, who was rubbing his palms together, checked his watch.

“We’ll be going now then.”

Clearing his throat, he gestured with his head toward Choi Jiyu, who was sitting on the sofa. Choi Jiyu waved to Haejin, who was beside her, and stood up.

The two of them exited the front door as hastily as a receding tide. Bang, with the sound of the door closing behind them, Gwon Jongdae, who had come out to the gate, patted his back. Choi Jiyu, who followed him out, was still looking at the gate with a complicated expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, Chief, I, I don’t know if I should say this.”

Judging by the way she was beating around the bush, it didn’t seem to be a minor matter. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and flicked his hand. At the signal to continue, Choi Jiyu, who had been cautiously observing him, opened her mouth.

“I think he’s the person I saw, back then, during the trespassing incident.”

“Trespassing?”

“You know, was it two months ago, when some suspicious person, a thief or something, broke into the director’s room and there was a huge fuss all day. Actually, that day, I was on the morning shift in the operations department, and I saw someone limping and loitering around, so I checked out of curiosity.”

Choi Jiyu quickly recounted the past day. The face she had coincidentally encountered was an impression that was impossible to forget. A pale face wet with sweat, neatly shaped eyebrows, and a handsome nose bridge. Even without adjectives like handsome or flashy, he had a look that strangely caught the eye.

The impression lingered, and for a while, she had wandered around several departments looking for a similar person, but she couldn’t find him no matter how hard she looked. She had buried it as a memory of a phantom, thinking she must have been hallucinating from not wanting to work in the morning, but she had never imagined she would encounter him in a place like this.

“Shouldn’t I report this to the director separately?”

Gwon Jongdae, who had listened to the long story, lit the end of his cigarette. His face, which seemed to have aged a good 10 years in that short time, glanced back at Choi Jiyu.

“Pretend you don’t know.”

“Pardon?”

“The director isn’t doing this because he doesn’t know, so just pretend you don’t know. Act like it’s the first time you’ve seen him even if you’ve seen him before, and don’t add any unnecessary words or approach him.”

It was a sharp answer, uncharacteristic of Gwon Jongdae, who was known for being a pushover due to his easygoing personality that rarely got angry. He let out a long puff of smoke and smacked his lips.

“In the three years I’ve been an aide, I’ve seen countless guys and gals get fucked over for getting on the director’s nerves. Whether they’re pretty or handsome, if they fall out of the director’s favor, they’re out of sight, but very rarely, there’s an exception. Do you know what that exception is?”

He bit the end of his cigarette hard and swallowed a heavy breath. Then, Gwon Jongdae raised his finger and shook it from side to side.

“It means the director is, you know. This.”

Despite the timid gesture, Choi Jiyu immediately understood the meaning. To put it nicely, a sex partner; to put it badly, a bed warmer.

“The director was gay?”

Gwon Jongdae let out a hollow laugh at the bombshell and sucked in a breath.

“You think he’s gay? It was just a year ago that he banned homosexuals working under Chief Jo from coming within a five-kilometer radius of Wiryeonggwan because he hated the sight of them fawning over him.”

The fact that Wiryeonggwan owner Na Taebeom was an extreme homophobe was a well-known fact, even to the stray dogs wandering Nakdo. Choi Jiyu herself had heard about it through rumors on a community site back when she was in college, so it must have been quite something.

The inner workings of how such a Na Taebeom had come to bring a lawless intruder and even set him up in a new house was something they couldn’t easily fathom.

The sex partners who had acted as Na Taebeom’s lovers until now had lasted at most three months. Whether Nam Gyeonhwa would last three months, or even shorter, was unknown.

“Anyway, Ms. Choi Jiyu, since it’s only been a year since you came down to Nakdo, you probably don’t have a good grasp of things, so I’m telling you this as someone with experience. If you show unnecessary interest like you did earlier and get caught in the crossfire, you’ll lose your job, so just do as you’re told. Keep a good watch on the kid with him, and keep in contact in a timely manner.”

“…In short, you mean I shouldn’t show any personal interest at all, right?”

“When I glanced at you earlier, you kept stealing glances, so it looked like you had some interest in him, Ms. Choi Jiyu. That’s why I drew the line for you. No matter how lenient the director is with women, he doesn’t turn a blind eye every time.”

At those words, Choi Jiyu silently picked at a hangnail. It was true that she was a bit curious because his face was her type, but after hearing the long backstory, her feelings of interest were overshadowed by the feeling that she had been wrongly assigned.

The dinner, prepared with instant rice, seaweed, and instant dried pollack soup, was simple compared to the meals served at the hospital, yet Haejin seemed more excited than usual.

“Hyung, I want more rice.”

“You finished it all?”

“Yeah.”

In response to the question, Haejin held up the cleanly emptied instant rice container as if to say, “look at this.”

“Can you really eat more?”

“Yeah. I can.”

At Haejin’s sudden hearty appetite, Nam Gyeonhwa was worried but quickly took out another instant rice and heated it in the microwave. After diligently cooling it with his hand so it wouldn’t be too hot, he put half a portion of the rice, which was at a perfect temperature to eat, on his plate. Haejin, holding his spoon tightly, wrapped the rice in seaweed and stuffed it into his mouth.

“Eat slowly.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, sitting across from him, opened a new individually packaged seaweed and pushed it forward. He’s eating well. Haejin, who was not in good health, was also a very picky eater, and because of that, Nam Gyeonhwa always struggled to solve his underweight and nutritional balance issues. Even pizza and ice cream, which he always craved because he couldn’t afford them often, he would put down after a few bites, but seeing his happy face with just a piece of seasoned seaweed somehow made him feel good.

“Haejin, do you like living in this house?”

“Yeah. It’s like the houses in the dramas I watched at the hospital, so it’s cool. It has curtains, and the bathroom is as clean as the one at the hospital.”

Haejin, who had been chattering away, blinked his eyes.

“You don’t like it, hyung?”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been staring blankly with his chin in his hand, shook his head a beat too late.

“Ah, I do like it. That’s why I suggested we live in this house, hyung.”

Looking at the house alone, it wasn’t that he didn’t like it. He had never lived in such a nice house either. The orphanage facilities weren’t poor, but a detached house with its own entrance was more than he could ask for. So, he should have been able to fully enjoy this good fortune, but he couldn’t feel entirely happy.