PAO 65

“The main character who says everything on his mind.”

“Wow, this shameless…”

Sung Hangyeol couldn’t finish his sentence, but Seowon acted as if there was nothing wrong with that.

“Instead of arguing about that, how about you get up and leave?”

Junghoo is coming over there.

At Seowon’s words as he pointed to the side, Sung Hangyeol obediently raised his head and looked at Junghoo. Seeing Junghoo making an utterly displeased expression, Seowon rose from his seat.

“Or I’ll leave. Since it’s come to this, you two have a nice, cozy chat.”

Seowon, who had started walking away with the intention of completely leaving them, belatedly remembered something he had forgotten and approached Junghoo.

“There’s nothing to have a cozy chat about.”

“No, there is. There’s a lot. There must be.”

Seowon, who had arbitrarily cut off Junghoo’s complaint about not wanting to be with Sung Hangyeol, just snatched the coffee and walked away.

After considering a distance from which Junghoo would be visible, he found the perfect spot. Seowon sat on a swing in the playground, watching Junghoo and drinking his Americano.

Sung Hangyeol continued to speak, looking at Junghoo with a complicated gaze. In between, he would occasionally run a hand over his face in frustration or clamp a hand over his mouth, but his gaze remained fixed on Junghoo.

In contrast, Junghoo didn’t give Sung Hangyeol a single glance, and from the way his lips only moved occasionally, it seemed he was mostly giving short answers.

“Anyone would think there’s more of a story over there than with me.”

It looks like Sung Hangyeol has a deeper narrative.

“I have a strange feeling of being pushed aside.”

Perhaps because of that, even drinking an iced Americano didn’t cool his heated insides.

“It feels weirdly unpleasant.”

He said this after seeing the tangled emotions of the two tall, handsome men. Seeing them sitting side by side like that in a single glance, it seemed they suited each other, too.

“I’m getting jealous.”

He resisted the urge to jump in between the two of them and interfere right now by forcefully chewing on his straw.

“If you’re jealous, you should steal him away.”

At the words that came with the creaking of a swing, Seowon turned his head. Was he about six or seven years old? A little boy with bright, clear eyes was on the swing.

“Were you talking to me just now?”

“You said you felt unpleasant, didn’t you? You said you were jealous, didn’t you?”

“I was talking to myself.”

So you heard me.

He had been muttering to himself, unaware that a child had come next to him, so he had nothing to say.

As Seowon chewed on the innocent straw, the little boy clicked his tongue. Tsk tsk.

“They say that’s a sign of affection deprivation.”

It was astounding enough that a kid was clicking his tongue, but when he mentioned affection deprivation after seeing him chew on the straw, Seowon was so dumbfounded his jaw dropped.

“Instead of biting it like that, just go and talk to him.”

“Do you know something?”

“I’m Han Jihun.”

“Alright, Jihun. Jihun, do you know a lot about this stuff?”

Seowon quickly started calling him Jihun by name and asked.

“Of course I do. I know everything. When the person I like plays better with someone else, I get jealous, you know?”

“Ah, that’s right, isn’t it?”

“See? I told you I know a lot.”

As the situation seemed to fit strangely well, Seowon turned his body completely towards Han Jihun.

“So did you go and ask to play together?”

“If I had, would I be sitting here alone? I would have been playing with them already.”

“…But you’re telling me to go and talk to him?”

He couldn’t even do it himself, so why was he so confidently telling him to go. The more they talked, the dizzier he felt, but Han Jihun spoke with an unconcerned face.

“I regret not doing it. So I’m telling you to go and talk to him, hyung.”

“Regret?”

Han Jihun nodded his head.

“Go on. They might be waiting for you to come, hyung.”

As if mesmerized, Seowon looked at Junghoo and got up from the swing.

“Why are you so confident.”

As the distance closed, he could hear what Sung Hangyeol was saying.

“You were scared and hiding too, yet you blame everything on me…”

“Yoo Junghoo.”

Unlike Junghoo, who knew he was approaching, Sung Hangyeol flinched in surprise and turned around. Seowon ignored Sung Hangyeol’s gaze, which looked at him like an intruder, and held out his hand to Junghoo.

“I think I’ve waited long enough. Let’s play together now.”

There’s a swing over there, want to ride it together?

Junghoo took Seowon’s hand as if he had been waiting. Before leading Junghoo away, Seowon glanced at Sung Hangyeol.

“As for Mr. Sung Hangyeol… I gave you time, so that should be enough, right?”

“I’m not done talking yet.”

As Sung Hangyeol got up from his seat and approached, Junghoo turned his back as if to protect Seowon and stared at Sung Hangyeol.

“That’s far enough. Don’t come any closer.”

“Yoo Junghoo!”

Sung Hangyeol raised his voice, then looked into Junghoo’s eyes and clenched his fists. He knew he had been pushed into a corner like this before, but he couldn’t believe it. Junghoo was serious.

Junghoo, without taking his eyes off Sung Hangyeol, picked up his phone. The series of actions, making a call somewhere and putting the phone to his ear, highlighted a strength that made one doubt if he was really a sick person.

“Yes, it’s me. Please forward all materials related to Sung Hangyeol to Attorney Park.”

He clearly showed that it wouldn’t end with a simple threat. At Junghoo’s decisiveness, Seowon was slightly surprised and also felt a little worried if it would be okay, but he didn’t intervene. It was enough that he had already expressed his resentment towards Sung Hangyeol once.

‘From now on, it’s something for Yoo Junghoo to handle.’

His job was to watch from the side.

Watching Sung Hangyeol walk away with his shoulders slumped, Seowon revealed his feelings as they were.

“He won’t come looking for us again after that, right?”

“I thought you would say you felt sorry for him…”

“Huh? Why would I feel sorry for that person.”

Seowon asked back as if he couldn’t understand at all.

“I’m busy enough feeling sorry for just you.”

He has to look at Junghoo’s face to see if he’s sick anywhere, and he has to feel his pheromones to check whether he’s in a dangerous state or not. There’s no room for emotions to be felt for Sung Hangyeol.

“Do you feel very sorry for me, Seowon?”

Seowon, who had been standing there until Sung Hangyeol was out of sight, turned around at the downcast question from beside him, thinking, ‘What’s this?’

“Do you like me because you feel sorry for me?”

“There’s no such thing.”

“I was wondering if maybe you’re helping me out of pity…”

Junghoo bit his lip for a moment, then let go.

“If that’s the case, I was going to try acting more pathetic.”

“…That’s just like you.”

Normally, people would say to ditch the pity, but Junghoo’s tone suggested that if he could even lean on that, he would gladly grab it, and Seowon threw up his hands in surrender.

“There have been many times I’ve felt sorry for you, but there has never been a single time I liked you out of pity. Unless it’s just that I like you.”

Seowon pointed it out precisely so that Junghoo wouldn’t misunderstand. Then Junghoo flinched, and as if he realized something, his eyes took on a look of disbelief.

“Just like me…”

“Let’s go play.”

Seowon cut Junghoo off and pulled him along. Just as he had told Junghoo they should play, there was a suitable place.

“I’m back.”

He waved his hand in greeting to Han Jihun, who was sitting on the swing, and introduced him to Junghoo.

“This is my new friend from today. Han Jihun.”

“Hello.”

Han Jihun greeted him by just opening his mouth while holding onto the swing. At the bright, clear eyes looking up at Junghoo, Junghoo was at a loss for words for a moment, then looked back at Seowon.

“So you really meant let’s play.”

The place he had brought him to was a playground, and the child he had introduced as a friend looked to be less than ten years old.

“Then did you think I was making an excuse to get you away?”

That’s not it at all.

Seowon grabbed Junghoo’s wrist and pulled him, seating him on the empty swing.

Junghoo’s butt wasn’t big, but when he pushed him onto the swing that had been a tight fit for him too, it did feel a little snug, but it seemed he could roughly sit on it, so.

“The swing is the best part of the playground.”

At Seowon’s words, Junghoo, who had been awkwardly bent over, straightened up and sat down completely on the swing. Along with that, a creaking sound rang out from the swing, and Seowon grabbed the swing chains and gently rocked it.

“Looks like the swing finds you burdensome too.”

“But I still like you.”

“I was talking about the swing, why are you retorting like that.”

Seowon, dumbfounded, grabbed only one of the swing chains and rocked it. He was supposed to push from both sides, but he only rocked one side, causing Junghoo’s body to move in a lurching manner, and Han Jihun laughed.

“Push him properly, Seowon.”

“I don’t think I can even push him because he’s so heavy.”

Even though Seowon was sizing it up from various angles and saying it didn’t seem possible, Junghoo showed no intention of rocking the swing himself with his own feet. Junghoo had even crossed his legs in an X-shape and planted them on the ground, not budging an inch.

In the end, Seowon went behind Junghoo and pushed his back. It creaked, but the swing carrying Junghoo moved forward.

In time with the back-and-forth movement of the swing, Junghoo’s back repeatedly moved farther away and then closer. As he was watching Junghoo like that, Han Jihun also started kicking his feet and riding his swing.

Seowon saw the completely relaxed look in Junghoo’s eyes. He wasn’t crazed like a madman somewhere, nor was he filled with pain. He was so ordinary that he was using his face properly for the first time in a long time.

Perhaps because of that, Seowon also, with an equally relaxed face, said to Junghoo.