SATURDAY 52

“…What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

“It isn’t nonsense. It’s that we did something stupid.”

My uncle turned his head and stared at me intently. His eyes gradually narrowed, and then he let out a huff of disbelief.

“Do you think that makes any sense? Do you have any evidence?”

“In fact, there is only one thing we need to check.”

My uncle cast a glance at Mr. Taeseon as if asking what it was. His attitude was one of utter disbelief.

“There is a simple method.”

“Stop talking in circles and just say it.”

“Fingerprints.”

“….”

For a moment, my uncle looked as if he had been struck on the head by something. With his mouth hanging open dazed, he slowly turned his head back toward me.

“…Fingerprints?”

“No matter what you do, you cannot change your fingerprints. I have already confirmed Inyoung’s fingerprints.”

“But, on Inyoung’s body… there was no tattoo on the ankle….”

“That is a somewhat long story. Let’s meet again and talk in detail.”

Holding his head, my uncle staggered greatly.

“Uncle!”

Startled, I tried to support him, but Mr. Taeseon caught my uncle’s body and stood him up before pulling out a chair and placing it behind him. My uncle slumped into the chair, muttered something with a confused face, and then slowly lifted his head.

“…Are you Inyoung?”

“Yes….”

I answered in an insecure voice. After frowning for a moment, my uncle went, “Ah, then,” and clenched his teeth.

“So during that week, those cultist and quack bastards plotted this whole thing.”

“Exactly. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Ha, this is unbelievable…. Those crazy people, of all things, now they’ve even….”

My uncle, who had his hand on his forehead for a moment, suddenly snapped his head up. His trembling eyes were directed at me.

“Are you really Inyoung?”

It was already the second time he had asked. I answered without any other words.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…Ha.”

“….”

“Then, what you said back then was also….”

He was likely referring to when I said I was Inyoung at his studio. My uncle stared at me blankly, and then, letting out a long groan of “Ah,” he wrapped his hands around his head and curled his body inward.

“Ah, ah… damn it, ah….”

“Uncle… are you okay?”

“…Is this really the time to be worried about me, Inyoung….”

“Still….”

“Inyoung… I’m sorry.”

Why are there so many people apologizing to me? Feeling awkward, I stood there hesitantly, lightly pursing my lips. Then, Mr. Taeseon approached, wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and sent me slightly behind him as if to hide me.

At that time, my uncle was covering his face with both hands. It seemed he had applied light makeup, and I was worried it might get smudged.

“Pull yourself together. We’ll be going now, so go out and focus on the event. When do you have time?”

“…Even tomorrow.”

“Good, let’s meet at my house tomorrow. …Have you pulled yourself together?”

“No, I haven’t. Can’t I just go with you now?”

“You can’t.”

Mr. Taeseon cut off my uncle’s words as a matter of course. I also quickly chimed in.

“That’s right, Uncle is the protagonist…. Everyone came to see Uncle, so what if you leave your post.”

“…Right. Inyoung is right.”

My uncle stood up with a bitter smile, tidied his clothes, and after lightly placing his hand on my head, he opened the conference room door.

“Do you know the way from the back door to the parking lot?”

“Yes, because I have hosted an exhibition here before.”

“There is nothing the Director hasn’t done.”

Mr. Taeseon shrugged his shoulders at those words. After sending my uncle off first and confirming that he returned to the crowd with a bright smile, Mr. Taeseon and I also left the exhibition hall.

After helping me into the car and quickly getting into the driver’s seat, Mr. Taeseon lightly pulled and fastened the seatbelt that I had been struggling with.

“Thank you.”

Today of all days, the simple task of inserting the seatbelt into the locking mechanism kept going wrong, making it difficult to fasten. It was only after I thanked Mr. Taeseon that I realized my hands were shaking.

Well, even if my hands weren’t shaking, I’m not good at fastening the seatbelt. Is it because I’ve hardly ever sat in the front seat? Other than when I rode in my uncle’s car, it was practically the first time I had sat in the front seat since meeting Mr. Taeseon. I remember being quite flustered even then because the seatbelt wouldn’t fasten properly.

When moving with my family, I almost always sat in the back seat. Usually, my mother sat in the front seat, but there were many cases where she switched seats with me because Inha said his head ached if he sat with me. If I sat side-by-side with my mother, it was so uncomfortable that day that I couldn’t even change my posture properly.

But because I never sat in that seat no matter what happened… embarrassingly, fastening the front seatbelt is still awkward. In fact, I didn’t have many reasons to go out by car anyway.

It has been nearly two years since meeting Mr. Taeseon, but because he usually fastened the seatbelt for me before I could even fumble, I haven’t been able to get used to it.

To be a person who can’t even do this at twenty-two years old….

“Is there anywhere you want to stop by? Should we go to a convenience store? You’ve looked thirsty for a while now.”

At Mr. Taeseon’s words, I reflexively touched my throat. Come to think of it, I do feel thirsty. I hadn’t even realized it myself, so how did he know?

Without waiting for my answer, Mr. Taeseon pulled over briefly in front of a convenience store.

“Aren’t you hungry? Should I buy you some milk?”

“Um…. Coffee with milk in it. I’m not really hungry.”

“Okay.”

Mr. Taeseon hopped out of the car and went into the convenience store. He tended to go to convenience stores, as well as local supermarkets and marts, quite often. He was subtly checking if his company’s products were displayed well.

Of course, he doesn’t interfere with every little thing. It’s more like observing. Through the car window, I could see Mr. Taeseon walking slowly inside the large glass front of the convenience store.

On his way to the counter after taking two coffees and two bottles of water from the refrigerator, he picked up a few items hanging on the display rack. I leaned forward to see what they were, but he had already gone to the counter and was no longer visible.

However, the checkout seemed to be taking a bit long. The counter was in a blind spot from inside the car, so it wasn’t visible. While I was waiting and wondering, a short while later, Mr. Taeseon came out of the convenience store holding a plastic bag and approached the car.

“Sorry, did you wait long?”

“Did something happen?”

“No, it’s just…. Someone asked for an autograph.”

Mr. Taeseon said in an embarrassed tone, lightly scratching his eyebrow. I ended up laughing. The number of autographs Mr. Taeseon has given to people he has met so far must be over several hundred.

It seemed he was embarrassed about telling me, rather than because he had given an autograph. I’ve seen him do it countless times in front of me, so why now.

It was no exaggeration to say that Mr. Taeseon was the most popular businessman in the country. His looks, his young age, his status as an Alpha, the ethical conduct of L&L’s headquarters and its Korean division—there was no reason for him not to be popular.

He poked a straw into a coffee and handed it to me. Naturally, it was a coffee from one of L&L’s lines. However, the next thing he pulled out of the bag was a large-capacity cup coffee from a different food company.

“That one is from another company.”

“I was curious. It was quite cheap for this size.”

“Mmm.”

The coffee cup held in his large hand looked small at first glance, but it said 500ml at the bottom. Even compared to the steering wheel, I could tell it was quite large. After taking a few sips of the coffee while driving, Mr. Taeseon frowned.

“Why?”

“Well…. Do you want to try it?”

“Yes.”

I took the coffee he handed me without much thought. It was 500ml, but the cup was so fat I had to hold it with both hands. After taking one sip, I also immediately frowned. It was too sweet, yet had a bitter taste, and was murky. It was a taste that felt like it was sticking to the throat.

“How is it?”

“It’s not good….”

“I thought so. Can you give me just one sip of that?”

I put the tasteless coffee into the cup holder and handed the coffee I was drinking to Mr. Taeseon. While keeping his gaze forward, Mr. Taeseon just tilted his head and took a sip of the coffee I offered.

“Hmm, I’m not saying this because it’s our product, but it’s definitely delicious.”

I let out a small laugh.

“…Why? You don’t think so? Is it bad? Should I change the entire factory production line?”

“No, no. That’s not it. It’s just because the way you talk is funny, Mr. Taeseon….”

“That’s a relief.”

“Pardon?”

“Because you said it’s funny.”

Mr. Taeseon was smiling gently while looking ahead. Only then did I realize that everything he did was to make me laugh.

He might be the Mr. Taeseon of the past now. That thought occurred to me. In my head, the two years are still unable to beat the two months. I glanced at Mr. Taeseon and our eyes met.

Seeing his eyes curving into a smile made me feel relieved, yet….

‘Why am I really like this….’

I couldn’t control the anxiety, which I couldn’t do anything about on my own, spreading through my body like a mist.