I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 51
“Ugh.”
Jaewoo felt like someone was smashing a cymbal inside his head. He grabbed his aching skull and lifted it with difficulty, a familiar scene coming into view. There were blackout curtains over the windows and neutral-colored furniture, with the only source of light in the darkness being the single bedside lamp.
‘This is Mujin’s bedroom.’
Jaewoo didn’t know why he was here. He tried to sit up, but it wasn’t easy.
‘My whole body hurts.’
When he rolled up his sleeves, he saw clear, finger-shaped bruises wrapped around his wrist. It looked like someone had grabbed him, hard.
What had happened? Jaewoo rolled his stiff neck and tried to recall what happened before he passed out. He’d gone out because Mujin had called for him, and he’d met… someone else there. Jaewoo thought his family name might have been Yoon?
‘Oh, right. Yoon Jiheon.’
Jaewoo had no idea what role that man played in the novel. What had happened after that? He still couldn’t remember. What on earth had he drunk that had caused him to completely blackout? Jaewoo groaned and then let out a sigh. He was lucky that Mujin hadn’t abandoned him. If he’d left him at that club, something bad might have happened.
Mujin was Hyunjin’s future partner, so he probably wouldn’t do anything too terrible to Jaewoo. When you looked at it that way, Mujin was almost harmless. Jaewoo was thankful for that.
First, he needed to know what time it was, but there weren’t any clocks in Mujin’s room. Jaewoo knew that because he’d once had to enter his room in order to handle his suits, and had looked around then. In order to tell the time, he’d either need to go to the living room, or get out his cell phone.
Jaewoo first checked his pockets. Nope. There was nothing there. He felt like he had no choice but to get up. Wobbling, he sat up, looked around the room, and saw a cell phone lying on the nightstand next to the bed.
It was his. Jaewoo reached for his cell phone and tried to turn it on, but pressing the button did nothing. It looked as if the battery had run out. He needed to find a charger. Jaewoo slowly slid to the edge of the bed.
“Ugh!”
His head had started ringing again. He felt so tired that he wanted to cry. How! How was this body so weak to alcohol! Jaewoo let out a sob as he pushed himself to his feet and staggered towards the door like a zombie. When he opened the door to the living room, the bright sunlight was pouring in through the windows. It seemed like it was already morning.
Jaewoo’s heart sank. He hadn’t told Hyunjin that he’d be out all night when he left. What if he was worried? Jaewoo hurried to the kitchen for his charger and plugged in his phone. Luckily he had one stored in a kitchen drawer, since he couldn’t be bothered to carry it around with him. Now that the crisis was over, his legs felt weak again. He collapsed down on the floor against the cabinets, numb.
Meanwhile, the cell phone’s battery number was steadily increasing.
1%, 2%…
As soon as the bar hit 2%, Jaewoo turned on his phone.
Immediately, numerous messages poured in. The phone was on silent, so it didn’t ring, but the sheer number was enough to scare him. 125 missed calls, and the number of messages… the number of messages wasn’t small either. KakaoTalk as well. Could this number even get this high? Jaewoo was shocked for a moment.
All of them were from the same person – Hyunjin.
[Hyung, will you be back late today?]
[What time will you be back? It’s getting late.]
[It’s already midnight. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.]
Jaewoo swapped over to KakaoTalk.
[Who was the person who answered your phone earlier? Are you friends?]
Oh no. Jaewoo’s face turned bone white. Hyunjin had called, and someone else had answered his phone. The question was, who was it? Was it Mujin? If it was, then that was a big deal. He tapped through the messages nervously.
[Who is Yoon Jiheon?]
Thank goodness, it looked like Mujin wasn’t the one who answered, although the situation still wasn’t good. Jaewoo’s heart sank as he imagined how Hyunjin would react to a complete stranger picking up his phone. It wasn’t like he’d met Yoon Jiheon under good circumstances, either. Jaewoo reached the very last message.
[Answer your phone.]
It was just one sentence, but Jaewoo felt like he could feel countless emotions contained within it.
Just then, a name appeared on the background of his phone. The name on the screen was Hyunjin. Jaewoo hesitated for a moment before answering the call.
─ Hyung.
Hyunjin’s voice was lower and hoarser than usual.
“Hyunjin.”
─ Where are you now?
“Uh, I’m at my friend’s house.”
For a moment, silence fell on the other side. Jaewoo hesitated, then opened his mouth again.
“You must have been really worried, huh?”
Hyunjin stayed quiet.
“Sorry. I’m really sorry. I accidentally drank too much and got really drunk. That’s why I couldn’t contact you.”
─ You know you’re weak to alcohol. Why did you drink?
Hyunjin’s voice was calm, in a way that made it seem like he was suppressing his emotions. It made Jaewoo feel even more guilty.
“I didn’t know it was alcohol. I swear I didn’t know.”
─ I was worried.
When Jaewoo heard those words, his heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. It’s true, Hyunjin had been so worried that he’d called his phone countless times that night. It was all his fault for staying out without saying anything.
“I’m sorry.”
Jaewoo felt even worse because that was all he could say.
─ Just come back. Come back and we’ll talk.
“Okay. I’ll hurry there!”
Jaewoo answered urgently, standing up. He got to his feet so quickly his head started spinning, and he felt like he was about to vomit, but he forced it back down out of sheer will. He looked around for his suit jacket, and luckily found it on a nearby sofa. As he threw it on roughly and headed towards the entrance, two pairs of disorderly shoes caught his eye. One pair was his, and the other was Mujin’s.
‘But I didn’t see him anywhere?’
He must be in the bathroom. Should he really leave without saying anything? Jaewoo thought about it, but only for a moment. Then he put his shoes on and opened the front door. He’d work things out with Mujin later, somehow. More importantly, Jaewoo was really worried about Hyunjin just then.
Beep.
The open front door closed. Shortly afterwards, the bathroom door opened and Mujin came out. Water droplets flowed down his bare, muscular chest. As soon as he left the bathroom, he realized that Jaewoo’s suit jacket, which had been lying on the sofa, was missing.
He let out a short burst of laughter. Jaewoo had almost gotten dragged away by that human snake, only to run off without even bothering to thank his benefactor. He’d even left in such a hurry that he’d forgotten his cell phone. Mujin shook his head and sat down on the sofa, then he picked up Jaewoo’s cell phone and examined it. He didn’t even have a password on it, so it was easy to look through it.
Mujin raised his eyebrows when he saw the number of missed calls. It’s not normal for a young man to be that obsessed. Even if they were friends, did friends need to call so many times over the course of a single night out? No matter how naive Jaewoo was, he was still a grown man, wasn’t he?
Mujin had a rough idea of what was going on, but it felt strange confirming it in person.
“You little bastard.”
Mujin chucked the cell phone onto the sofa and lowered his head. He couldn’t help but remember what had happened the night before. When the phone had first rung, Director Yoon had been the one to answer it instead of Jaewoo.
“Hello?”
His words were polite, but his tone was anything but. Directory Yoon spoke as if he was threatening the other person.
“Who are you? Ah, you’re Hyunjin. My name is Yoon Jiheon. Who am I?”
Director Yoon looked at Jaewoo for a moment. Then he smiled and continued.
“I’m Jaewoo’s friend. Ah, where are we? I don’t really want to tell you. Even if I did, you wouldn’t know the place.”
Hyunjin definitely wouldn’t know it. This was a membership-based VIP club.
“I see. You must have been worried. No need, though. It’s been a while since we last met up, so we’re going to have some more fun. Ah, Jaewoo is calling. So long.”
Then, he calmly turned Jaewoo’s phone to silent and threw it somewhere. In his sleep, Jaewoo mumbled a name to himself without seeming to realize it.
“Hyunjin, Hyunjin.”
Mujin hated hearing that name come out of Jaewoo’s mouth. Director Yoon, who was supporting Jaewoo, seemed to feel the same way. He poked Jaewoo’s cheek and spoke in a dissatisfied tone.
“Hey, aren’t I the one right next to you now? Why are you calling out someone else’s name?”
“I don’t remember your name.”
Even though he seemed to be totally asleep, Jaewoo responded remarkably clearly.
“It’s Yoon Jiheon.”
“Oh, right. Yoon Jiheon.”
Jaewoo laughed with his eyes closed.
“Are you sure you’re asleep?”
“Yes.”
“You’re responding to me.”
“But I’m still asleep.”
Then he started snoring loudly.
“How cute.”
Director Yoon picked Jaewoo up and propped his head against his shoulder. Mujin looked at the scene, then took a deep breath and stood up. He reached out and grabbed Jaewoo’s wrist. It was thinner than he expected; he was able to wrap his large hand around it entirely.
“Wake up.”
Mujin was about to tug him awake, but Director Yoon stopped him.
“He’s sleeping so peacefully, why do you want to wake him up?”
“This isn’t the place to sleep.”
Director Yoon responded with a sly smile.
“Isn’t it?’
Then he hugged Jaewoo closer to his body and Mujin’s mood plummeted even further.
“I didn’t bring him here for that.”
He’d brought him here to try to correct some of Jaewoo’s bad habits. Mujin had gotten drinks with Director Yoon in the past, but he’d never gone past lightly harassing others. That’s why he’d called for Jaewoo, but seeing how much Director Yoon had taken a liking to him made his stomach turn. As if he sensed Mujin’s feelings, Director Yoon asked.
“Are you upset?”
Was he upset? He was. But Mujin had made a habit of not revealing his true feelings easily. He needed to keep up his facade. But now…
“Yes, I’m upset.”
Why couldn’t he do that right now?
“How honest of you. I don’t dislike that, but you still can’t have him. I’ll take good care of Jaewoo and give him back afterward.”
When did he start calling people by their first names after only seeing them once? Mujin tightened his grip around Jaewoo’s wrist. Jaewoo groaned, as if he could feel the pain even though he was still asleep, but Mujin didn’t let go of him.
“I insist. He’s my bitch, so I have to take care of him.”
As he spoke, Mujin pulled Jaewoo’s body towards him and picked him up in his arms. Seeing this, Director Yoon’s expression turned ugly. Although he controlled himself quickly, Mujin still caught it.
“I don’t like this.”
Director Yoon spoke briefly. It was the same sentiment that Mujin felt.
“We’ll be leaving now.”
Mujin left the room with Jaewoo cradled in his arms, leaving Director Yoon behind.
