I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 39
“Then, please get in, Director.”
Mujin entered the car as the others saw him off. As soon as he got in, Dongsoo grabbed the steering wheel and immediately started the car. Mujin had thought that work would finish later than usual, but instead it ended early.
“Where can I take you?”
“The apartment.”
Mujin replied and leaned back. His life had been a roller coaster recently and he was tired. It didn’t take long for him to arrive home. He wanted to rest well for the first time in a long time, so he sent Dongsoo away and then got in the elevator.
He absentmindedly watched the numbers climb before getting off and walking the final steps to his apartment. As he opened the door and entered, he was hit by a rush of warmth. Mujin couldn’t help but smile a little at the familiar feeling. Next, Jaewoo would stick his head out from inside the kitchen and say hello. That was what Mujin expected, but instead he was greeted by silence.
When he looked in the kitchen, there was no one there. He checked the rest of the apartment, but the place felt empty. Had he gone grocery shopping because he was low on ingredients? Mujin sat down on the sofa and took off his tie.
Now the time was approaching twelve o’clock. As it was a fairly large and expensive apartment, there was a huge supermarket nearby. He didn’t know what Jaewoo needed, but it wouldn’t take long, Mujin thought. But then one o’clock rolled around with no sign of Jaewoo.
Mujin raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck. He realized now, he had been too lenient, relying on a simple contract to keep Jaewoo in line. Mujin told him that he’d be back late, and Jaewoo decided to cheat him like this. He really had no fear. Like a one-day old puppy that thinks it’s a tiger and hasn’t learned how to be scared.
Mujin sat more comfortably and slowly tapped his knee with his finger. One hour and ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes. An alert chimed softly from his phone. When he turned it on and checked, he saw a message saying that his card had been swiped at the nearby supermarket.
‘Only now, huh.’
The time passed like molasses1. Mujin was still waiting for Jaewoo. In another ten minutes, a full hour and fifty minutes after Mujin arrived home, he finally heard the sound of the door opening.
Beep-.
Jaewoo opened the door, stepped inside, and looked startled when he saw the shoes left at the entrance. After a moment, he asked in a calm voice.
“I thought you were going to be back late?”
Mujin looked at Jaewoo without answering. His deep, dark eyes were chillingly cold. Jaewoo rolled his eyes for a moment before continuing.
“I went to do some grocery shopping.”
Then he shrugged his shoulders. Mujin hadn’t asked anything yet. As the silence deepened, Jaewoo started fidgeting his fingers without realizing it. Mujin could see how nervous he was.
Only then did Mujin open his mouth.
“Jaewoo-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“Did you say you left to buy groceries?”
“I did? I did.”
“Then let’s see what you got.”
The card details should already have been sent to his phone, both of them knew that. Jaewoo also knew that Mujin’s intention was to judge if he had been lying. Still, Jaewoo had no choice but to continue his charade.
Jaewoo came closer and took the large bag off of his back and placed it on the table. Then he opened the zipper and took out the items inside. The first was a bright yellow banana.
“I thought you needed some fruit.”
Actually, he’d just bought a banana in a hurry because it’d caught his eye. Jaewoo’s heart was pounding. He wished Mujin would just let it go, but he didn’t know if he would.
“Did you buy anything else?”
“A couple of oranges.”
“Anything else?”
“No, nothing.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
Then, Mujin looked at the bag.
“Isn’t your bag still full?”
“Those are my personal belongings.”
“So you can’t show me?”
“No way.”
At those words, Mujin lifted the corners of his mouth and laughed. The overly cold laughter made Jaewoo’s heart freeze with fear.
“Jaewoo-ssi. No, just Jaewoo.”
Mujin called Jaewoo’s name.
“Do you know who I hate the most?”
“ … …I don’t know.”
“Liars.”
Terrifying. Goosebumps ran down his spine.
“I hate people who lie the most.”
The situation was becoming increasingly serious. Mujin usually treated others respectfully. This was partly to hide his deranged personality, and partly to catch his opponents off guard. However, there were a few instances where he loosened his restraint.
He didn’t speak highly of subordinates who had sworn him their loyalty, because he knew that it would be seen as weakness. It didn’t matter if he had the title of director on his business cards, they were a company made up of violent gangsters, who thought nothing of breaking the law. He needed to project an image of strength, so he used impolite language around them. And he did the same for people who had made him truly angry. That seemed to be what was happening now.
Jaewoo was so nervous that he was nearly tripping over his words.
“I didn’t lie.”
“Yeah, I guess maybe you did go grocery shopping. But Jaewoo, your time is running out…”
“I had a personal errand to run, but it only took a minute.”
“What was it?”
Jaewoo closed his mouth.
“Even if you don’t say anything, there are plenty of ways for me to figure it out. In fact, I think I understand now.”
Jaewoo couldn’t do it. If things went wrong, Mujin might get Hyunjin involved in something bad. It was true that the two of them needed to meet, but Jaewoo wanted it to be under better circumstances. He took a deep breath and gathered his courage.
“Do you need to know?”
“What?”
“Can’t you just pretend not to know?”
Jaewoo closed his eyes and screamed internally. Even as he was speaking, he knew it sounded like a ridiculous question. But he didn’t know what else to do. Mujin let out an amused laugh.
“So you’re asking me to turn a blind eye towards your actions?”
As soon as he said that, Mujin realized. Jaewoo was doing this to protect someone. And if that was the case, he knew who that someone was.
Yoo Hyunjin. The debtor that was currently renting a room in Jaewoo’s house. Jaewoo claimed he was just a landlord, but seeing how much care he took of him, it seemed like their relationship was more than that. Was it sympathy? Given Jaewoo’s personality, that seemed likely, but Mujin’s intuition was telling him that wasn’t the whole story. Who would protect someone from a gangster just out of sympathy?
When he’d seen cases like this before, the protector had deep feelings for the other person, whether it was love or friendship.
“Yes.”
Jaewoo bit his lip so hard that the normally light pink skin turned red.
Looking at him, Mujin became irritated. He’d seen quite a few people clinging to each other before, but this time it made him feel particularly disgusted.
“Fine.”
Mujin thought of a terrible scheme that he had kept hidden deep down. It was something that he’d used to ruin the lives of countless people so far. He asked Jaewoo.
“Then what will you do for me in exchange?”
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
What could he do for Mujin? Jaewoo wracked his brain, but the only thing that came to mind was household chores. Before he’d arrived here he’d made a living as a writer, but he doubted Mujin needed that. Still, just in case, he listed them off one by one.
“I can cook delicious food.”
“You’re already doing that now.”
“I can clean?”
“You’re doing that too.”
“I know how to write a little.”
“Why would I need that?”
What was left? Jaewoo bit his lip again.
‘What can I do, what can I do?’
“You were an aspiring idol, right?”
Mujin didn’t want him to dance or sing, did he? Jaewoo looked at him nervously. It was true that Jaewoo, the real Jaewoo, had been an aspiring idol, but the current Jaewoo had no talent. All that was left was his good looks.
“Alright then. When I call you, you need to come.”
“Anytime?”
“If you do, I’ll forget all about this.”
Jaewoo knew Mujin’s personality and had a rough idea of the sort of things he did. That’s why he couldn’t help but think this was a bad idea.
“If you don’t like it, you can refuse.”
He wanted to refuse. He wanted to do that so much. But when he thought about the Hyunjin he saw today, he couldn’t bring himself to speak. Hyunjin had been sweating even on this cold winter day, wearing clothes stained with dirt and grime.
There was a time in the past when Jaewoo had tried performing manual labor for a book he was writing, but he’d barely been able to handle it. Hyunjin was doing that everyday to make money. When he thought about that, Jaewoo felt sick.
‘Anyway, Hyunjin is the protagonist of this novel.’
Even though it was hard to think about, the hardships Mujin would inflict on him were something that Hyunjin couldn’t avoid forever. So there wasn’t any need for Jaewoo to try to protect him right now. He’s already done more than enough by reducing his debt and taking care of Hyunjin’s younger siblings.
‘But it’s such a hard life.’
This wasn’t even his original world. It’s different for Hyunjin; this world was all he’d ever known. Mentally, he was more mature than Jaewoo was. He was better equipped to withstand hardship.
Jaewoo was torn between those two thoughts again. His palms were sweaty and his head was aching.
Jaewoo paused for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“…I’ll do it.”
He thought of Hyunjin, who’d been so happy after eating his lunch box. He’d liked it so much. Jaewoo wanted to make things even better for him. He hadn’t intended to get involved so much, but before he knew it, he was already waist deep. He couldn’t understand why his heart was so desperate to help him.
“Great.”
Mujin erased his cold expression as quickly as he’d put it on, and returned to his usual routine.
“Then let’s move on from this matter.”
Mujin stood up, walked quickly across the apartment, and disappeared into his room. Only then did Jaewoo grab the sofa and sink down to the floor.
‘What did I just promise?’
Jaewoo blinked his eyes slowly. What he just did was driving him crazy, but he didn’t regret it. It was a strange feeling.
He placed his hand on his forehead and took a deep breath. It had been a short, but exceedingly eventful, day.
Footnotes
비는 시간이 너무 많다. – It rains too much time. Korean saying that basically means that time passes slowly when it’s raining (even if it’s not actually raining).
