I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 36
It must be the excitement of visiting an amusement park again for the first time in a long time. That was what Jaewoo decided to believe.
“Then shall we hurry up and head home?”
“Yes.”
The four of them were caught in the crowd of people rushing out after the parade, making the trip home harder than it normally was. The tired chicks fell asleep halfway through, so Hyunjin and Jaewoo carried them on their backs up the slope towards the house. Hyunjin carried the larger Hyeonu, while Jaewoo carried Woohee.
“Are you tired?”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
“Because you’re so strong?”
“Yes!”
Jaewoo laughed softly. Maybe it was due to all the excitement of the day, but he didn’t feel tired. By the time they’d arrived home, woken the kids for their baths, and then put them to bed again, it was already 10 PM. The kids fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows.
“Would you like a can of beer?”
Jaewoo gave a big stretch and asked Hyunjin.
“Not a chance.”
He’d thought Hyunjin would turn him down, but that refusal was so absolute.
“You’re going to get drunk again.”
“Isn’t one can okay?”
Jaewoo really felt like drinking tonight.
“It’s not okay.”
“Then half a can.”
After hesitating for a moment, Hyunjin went into the kitchen and returned with a can of beer and a cup. Hyunjin opened the beer and carefully poured some into the cup. It was barely more than a sip, definitely not half a can.
“You can drink this.”
“Isn’t this too little?”
Jaewoo grumbled but accepted it. Fine, he needed to be careful because he got drunk so easily. With that in mind, he took a sip of the beer. It wasn’t his favorite drink, but cold beer really hit the spot just then.
“Mm, I really had fun today.”
“Same here.”
“When we have time, we should do something like this again.”
Hyunjin tilted the beer can without answering for a moment. Then, he finally asked a question that had been on his mind for a while.
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Am I not allowed to be nice to you?”
“It’s not that. It’s just, it makes me nervous.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know how long it will last.”
With those words, Hyunjin finished his can of beer and put it down. He didn’t know why he was so afraid of this ending. At the beginning, he’d known that it was hard to make relationships last, and that everyone had to part someday. But now, he was strangely terrified of that happening.
Jaewoo didn’t respond to Hyunjin’s words and just kept his mouth shut. The truth was, he didn’t know when this would end either. He wasn’t even from this world, and in the end, the person that would stay by Hyunjin’s side was Mujin. For some reason, that idea made his chest feel tight. Jaewoo drank the rest of his beer in one go.
“Drink slowly.”
“It’s only a little beer.”
However, Jaewoo’s alcohol tolerance really was terrible, and even that small amount seemed to be the limit for him. He started to feel drowsy.
“It was only a sip, I swear.”
He didn’t know why he was feeling so tired. Jaewoo closed his eyes as sleep overwhelmed him.
The director was acting strange these days. At first glance, it seemed like nothing had changed, but Dongsoo had worked for Mujin for long enough to tell.
Occasionally, a warm, soft scent would emanate from his suit. When he had to go to Mujin’s apartment for errands late at night, the apartment felt warmer. Even his face had started filling out, and no longer looked so gaunt. Mujin didn’t seem to have noticed it, but something was clearly changing.
‘Is this a good thing?’
It was as though the cold and distant Mujin was starting to warm up, little by little. It seemed like it should be a good thing, but somehow, Dongsoo felt a little uneasy. He knew the person causing the warmth wasn’t connected to anything good, and he also knew Mujin’s personality. Mujin enjoyed destroying people’s hopes and sending them down into hell. How many people had he ruined so far?
“Director. How’s the short guy doing these days?”
At those words, Mujin turned to Dongsoo with a cold face. ‘Why are you wondering about him?’ his face seemed to say.
“Didn’t you put me in charge of Yoo Hyunjin’s case?”
“I did.”
“So I was just curious how it was going.”
“You were curious, huh?”
Mujin smiled mirthlessly, and the atmosphere suddenly hardened. He’d made a mistake. Dongsoo bit his tongue and lowered his head deeply. This was a warning not to ask questions. Endless loyalty was useless if the boss didn’t reciprocate it.
Mujin looked at Dongsoo with his head bowed and then quickly turned around again.
“Get ready. There’s an important guest coming today.”
“Yes sir!”
Dongsoo answered loudly. He was better off worrying about the immediate problem now. The guest coming today was a very important person.
It was Director Yoon of Yoram Construction.
He was the fourth son of the owner of Yoram Construction. His personality was similar to Mujin’s, and he was disliked by most people because of it. But he took care to treat his parents well, and that gave him connections that made him difficult to touch. Dongsoo had met him several times.
He’d been meeting with Director Choi a lot recently. Director Choi catered to Director Yoon’s wishes, and by doing so, was slowly pulling him into his orbit. Without even realizing it, the stupid Director Yoon was becoming more and more entangled with Isak Finance.
The director had suddenly come to visit today. Since it was the weekend, were the two of them going to drink again? As Director Yoon was an important guest, Dongsoo didn’t think much of it. That was, until he saw him in person once more.
“You’re late.”
The man standing by the office window turned to look at them. He was a young, handsome man wearing light-colored, business casual attire that fit his body perfectly. This was the man himself, Yoon Jiheon.
“I’m right on time.”
As Mujin spoke, Jiheon smiled faintly.
“That’s something you should only say to someone of the same status.”
Dongsoo stiffened at the sudden aggressive tone. In contrast, Mujin continued speaking calmly.
“Excuse me. I was late.”
At those words, Jiheon raised his hands and clapped with a satisfied expression.
“This is why I like you, Director Choi.”
Like hell he liked him. Dongsoo suppressed the curse that was about to burst out of him. Jiheon had always been a bitch, but he’d treated Mujin well, since the other man always made sure to take his side. Dongsoo couldn’t figure out why he was acting like this today.
“What can we help you with?”
“Ah, well. Would you like to guess?”
Jiheon was trying to hurt Mujin’s pride the entire time he was talking. However, because the opponent was Mujin, his barbs and implications just bounced off of him.
“I couldn’t say.”
Jiheon clapped his hands slightly.
“It’s no big deal. I just wanted to have a drink together, so I came here. Director Choi, you’re good at making people happy, aren’t you?”
Why was this bastard still acting like this? Even Mujin was thinking that, although he didn’t let it show. He’d always been an easy-to-handle young man. Well, as the director of a construction company, he was a valuable contact. They should be able to accommodate him until he calmed down again.
After all, Mujin hadn’t been born into his position, he’d earned it.
“Then allow me to lead the way.”
“Great!”
Jiheon spoke in a cheerful tone. Dongsoo felt discomforted by his actions. Had he always been this kind of person? There was something strange about him today. Dongso tried to figure out what was bothering him.
As Jiheon was leaving with Mujin, he looked at Dongsoo out of the corner of his eye. Dongsoo was shocked at the coldness in Jiheon’s eyes. He didn’t look like someone about to go have a good time. His eyes looked just like Mujin’s.
Suddenly, Dongsoo got goosebumps. He felt afraid, like there were snakes crawling all over his body.
Until now, he’d thought that Jiheon was just a fool, but had he been hiding his true self all this time? If that was true, then this person wasn’t as easy to deal with as they’d thought. Dongsoo followed them, filled with fear.
Whether he loved it or hated it, the weekend had come to an end1.
Jaewoo woke up early in the morning and stretched, then looked over at the children, who were sleeping soundly, and finally at Hyunjin’s empty space.
“Hyeonu, Woohee. It’s time to get up.”
After waking the kids, feeding them, and sending them off to school, it was time for Jaewoo to leave as well.
‘I don’t want to go.’
But what could he do? He had to go. Jaewoo picked up a bag filled with several side dishes and made the long trip out to the apartment where Mujin lived. He said hello to the now familiar security guard and got into the elevator.
When he opened the door and entered, the inside of the apartment was cold. Mujin had turned off the heater again. Had this person been a snowman in a past life? Jaewoo didn’t understand why he liked the cold so much. He frowned and moved to turn on the heat first. Somehow, the atmosphere felt different than it normally did.
Something was strange. Jaewoo looked into the living room and saw bottles of liquor lined up on the table. It looked like Mujin had been drinking last night. Well, he was a crazy top. In the book, he practically lived off bottled water and alcohol. Although if he managed to drink that much by himself, it was incredible.
‘Let’s make some hangover soup to start.’
Jaewoo searched the refrigerator to see what ingredients he had.
‘Should I make bean sprout soup with kimchi2?’
Jaewoo cleared the table and started moving quickly. He boiled some water and made a broth with anchovies. Once he felt that the broth was ready, he removed the anchovies and skimmed off the foam, then added some salt and special seasonings. In addition, he added bean sprouts, sliced sour kimchi, and a little dried pollack. After boiling it vigorously, the simple hangover soup was completed. It was too easy.
Jaewoo then rinsed the empty liquor bottles and scraped off the labels. They needed to be clean before they could be put in the recycling bin. As he was peeling off the labels and wondering what he should use as a side dish, he heard a noise behind him.
“Why did you drink so much?”
He blurted it out before turning around. But when he looked behind him, he got a shock. Mujin was there, looking disheveled for some reason. His hair was wet, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Mujin sat down on the sofa without answering Jaewoo’s question. Water dripped from his head and landed on the sofa. It was a leather sofa!
Jaewoo put down the bottle of liquor and turned off the flame below the handover soup. Then he walked over with a towel and placed it on Mujin’s head.
Footnotes
길다면 길고, 짧다면 짧은 주말이 지나갔다. – “A weekend, long if it seemed long, short if it seemed short, has passed.” It means that whether the weekend felt long or short, it was over either way.
김치 콩나물국 – kimchi bean sprout soup. It’s a soup made with bean sprouts, salt, garlic, green onions, etc. It’s said to be good for curing colds and hangovers. Wikipedia, Namu wiki, Recipe
