Be My Baby - Vol.1 Chapter 0 Part 6
At a single message that was close to a threat, dragging his feet like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse, Seonwoo peeked out the window and saw a car stopped right in front of the company housing.
It’shyung‘s all-too-familiar car. The one he had scribbled on again last night.
“He flew here…”
It hadn’t been long since he sent the text, but he came so quickly. Even if it’s urgent, couldn’t he give him some time to prepare mentally?
With a resentful heart, he pointlessly scratched at the door with his fingernails before inevitably opening it and stepping out. As he crossed the yard towards the car, the rear window rolled down as if it had been waiting.
Even in the darkness,hyung‘s expression, which was clear and unprecedentedly fierce, made him swallow hard.
It seemed like today he really wouldn’t let it go easily. Seonwoo had the urge to run back home and lock the door, but he gave up on that idea in less than a second. With hyung’s personality, if he locked the door and ran away, he might set the house on fire. So he wisely decided to stop here.
“You’ve arrived?”
As he greeted politely and obediently, as courteously as possible, a voice that sounded like it was coming from hell struck his ears.
“Get in.”
“…Yes.”
As he obediently got into the back seat like a criminal who had committed a mortal sin, as per hyung’s words, the secretary, whom he had seen a few times before, bowed slightly and got out of the driver’s seat.
Glancing at that sight, he looked forward again and saw the gleaming windshield. The glass he had scribbled on yesterday was now clean. Though there was no way he would have driven around with that scribble, anyway, thinking the car issue was resolved, he stuttered out words to try to lighten the mood.
“The scribble… you cleaned it off.”
“Did you think I’d drive around with that shameful sentence?”
Having absolutely nothing to say to that, he lowered his head while sticking as close to the car door as possible.
“…I’m sorry. I’ll pay for the car wash.”
“That’s a given. But now, you should have something else to say, right?”
For a moment, thinking ‘Did we have anything else to talk about?’, he rolled his eyes quickly. Since his memory had already fully returned, wasn’t prostrating himself in apology the only thing left between them? As he scratched his bird’s nest of hair, hyung glanced at him and asked as if exasperated.
“You’ve been sleeping until now?”
“Huh? Ah, yes…”
“…What an enviable set of nerves you have. To be able to sleep in this situation.”
“That’s the human healing system…”
Just as he was about to explain,hyung‘s sharp gaze flew at him. His eyes said, ‘Just try sounding like an engineer here,’ and Seonwoo quickly shut his mouth.
Even with his lack of tact, he knew this wasn’t the time to show off knowledge, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to think of what to say next. In fact, there was only one conversation he and hyung should have right now.
The moment he reached that conclusion, he turned fully towardshyungand bowed his waist.
“I’m sorry about yesterday. I truly, very much regret it and am reflecting on it. I’m really sorry! I won’t drink again. No, I won’t even call you or hang around you again.”
As he begged earnestly, saying he was wrong no matter what, just as Seyoon had told him to do (though he couldn’t kneel in the car), a low voice spread after a moment.
“…So now that you’ve gotten what you wanted, it’s over?”
“…Pardon?”
At those words that were incomprehensible, almost like a whisper to himself, Seonwoo raised his head, and hyung averted his gaze. Then soon, the next words followed.
“…So?”
“Yes?”
“So what? Is that all?”
At the somewhat irritable question, Seonwoo racked his brains again.
What else was there to say…
“Oh? Ah… that… I mean, I’m sorry for doing strange things as soon as we met… sorry for scribbling on your car, and also…”
“Also?”
Seonwoo stopped there and barely managed to bring up the most fatal topic that he didn’t want to mention if possible.
“Also… for ra… no, for sexually harassing you…”
As he stammered out the words, choosing them as carefully as possible and using a relatively mild term, suddenly hyung kicked the seat in front with a bang. Startled by the sound, Seonwoo shrank his neck like a turtle, and after a moment of silence, hyung continued speaking.
“Leave that out. Continue.”
Thinking that this must be the part that angered him the most, Seonwoo left it out and started talking again as best he could.
“So… yesterday I really, really did wrong. I’ll even write a blood oath saying I’ll never do it again. But, I’m really not like that usually, you know? I might be a bit lacking, but I’m usually a normal person… It’s just that when I drink, for some reason I lose my mind…”
As he rambled on, saying whatever came to mind since he hadn’t thought about what to say after that, the man who had been listening quietly looked at him again and suddenly spoke.
“Who says that?”
“…Pardon?”
“Who tells you that you’re normal usually?”
Come to think of it, who did say that… There was no one. Yes, it seems there wasn’t.
Even his mother and father, who love him the most, only called him a lacking fellow, never saying he was normal. And his grandmother and grandfather said he was a bit lacking but at least kind-hearted, while his brother and sister called him the not-so-easy neighborhood idiot…
“…Thinking about it… there’s no one.”
“Right?”
“…Yes.”
After saying that it seems he’s not normal even usually, based on the statistics, Seonwoo closed his mouth and silence began to flow again.
Sitting in an awkward position with his waist twisted, unable to think of anything more to say, he sweated coldly and carefully observed hyung’s expression. But it was still not good.
At that gaze that seemed to urge him to say more, Seonwoo boldly threw out his last card.
“If you really can’t stand the sight of me… I’ll go to Germany.”
Although he really didn’t want to go, thinking that if hyung wanted it, he had no choice, Seonwoo waited anxiously. After a brief silence, the sound of hyung sighing again echoed.
“You mean the guy who left to study abroad and came back crying after a week saying the food didn’t suit him? And that happened three times?”
At this eerily accurate information, Seonwoo quickly clamped his mouth shut.
Certainly once at fifteen, once at seventeen, and lastly once at twenty. He had tried to study abroad three times at his father’s alma mater’s invitation, but he had to give up each time because he just couldn’t get used to the food and water.
Come to think of it, the food there really tasted awful, he thought, recalling the not-so-distant past. Meanwhile, a voice that had softened a bit compared to earlier echoed.
“If you’re thinking of going all the way to Germany, it seems you’ve really come to your senses this time, so I’ll let it slide just this once, for the last time.”
Surprised by this unexpected leniency, Seonwoo quickly raised his head, and hyung, with his sculpture-like beauty, gave a slight eye-smile. Then he suddenly became serious.
“But, if something like this happens just one more time, I’ll tie you to a spaceship and send you flying, so be prepared.”
Thinking that this person might really tie him to a rocket, not just a spaceship, and send him flying, Seonwoo quickly nodded.
“Yes. I really, absolutely, will never do it again. If I drink again after doing something like this, I’m not human.”
“That’s fortunate. If you’re not human, I won’t have much hesitation in killing you.”
Those words meant that next time, he might really kill him.
Feeling a strange chill run down his spine, Seonwoo unknowingly dropped his head completely, and now, as if the anger had completely subsided, a softened voice continued.
“Have you eaten?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you’ve eaten.”
“Uh… not yet. I’ve been sleeping until now…”
Come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday’s drinking except for the coffee he drank in the morning. Suddenly realizing this, he felt hungry.
“Is there a restaurant nearby?”
“Uh… the cafeteria would be closed by now… There’s a commercial district outside the company housing area.”
Pointing in the direction of the passenger seat and saying it’s that way, hyung nodded and spoke.
“Let’s just go there and grab something.”
“Yes, you do that. Then, I’ll be going now.”
As he was about to open the car door, wondering if he had anything to eat at home, hyung stopped his hand that was trying to unlock the door. Startled by the sudden physical contact, Seonwoo flinched, and hyung asked.
“You haven’t eaten either, right?”
“…I haven’t, but…”
“So, let’s go eat.”
“…With me?”
“Is there anyone else here besides you?”
When Seonwoo asked like that, thinking they weren’t close enough to eat together, hyung’s expression turned grim again.
“When I say eat, just sit quietly and eat.”
“…Yes.”
With an attitude that said ‘Since my sins are as high as a mountain, if hyung wants to eat, I must absolutely eat,’ Seonwoo lowered his head obediently, and hyung soon tapped on the car window.
At that signal, Seonwoo saw the secretary who had been waiting outside get into the driver’s seat, and he straightened his posture and fastened his seatbelt. Then, as he glanced at hyung sitting next to him, hyung lightly hit his head.
“You disobedient beagle pup.”
As if his mood had completely improved, the touch and voice were incomparably more affectionate than usual, making Seonwoo feel shy and scratch his head while grinning. Hyung tapped his forehead once more and then looked forward again, speaking.
“Towards the commercial district.”
“Yes.”
As the car started moving slowly, Seonwoo’s mood improved again and he looked out the window, watching the scenery flow by quickly.
As it was after work hours, he saw lights coming from various parts of the company housing while the slowly moving car soon made a right turn towards the commercial district.
That day, there happened to be no waiting at the most famous restaurant in the commercial district, and thanks to that, he ate delicious home-style food for the first time in three years and safely returned home in hyung’s car.
Although he got scolded by Seyoon for forgetting to record, the situation was resolved much more easily than he had prepared for, even to the point of being ready to die. Feeling relieved about that for a moment, after returning home, showering, and just about to fall asleep, Seonwoo finally realized.
—That his first love, which had been so tumultuous, had come to an end.
