Seo Seung-hyun casually tossed french fries into his mouth and asked.
“Twenty…”
“Twenty?”
“Seven…”
Lee Young-jin looked at him for a while and raised it up by two years. Then he quickly looked at Seo Seung-hyun’s face. There was no movement of any kind on the man’s face.
“Twenty-seven?”
He asked again as if he was having fun, and Lee Young-jin stiffly nodded. Seo Seung-hyun smiled. Whether it’s ridiculing or laughing, or just meaningless. Lee Young-jin couldn’t figure out the intention of that laugh, so he just looked at it.
After a while, Seo Seung-hyun pushed the floor with his foot and stood up. Giik, the sound of the chair’s legs scratching the tiles echoed through the dining room. He took out his smartphone from his bosom, looked at it and gave a brief command to Lee Young-jin.
“If you’re not going to eat more, get up.”
Lee Young-jin hurriedly got up and followed him.
Seo Seung-hyun paid no attention to Lee Young-jin behind him and focused only on his smartphone the entire time he was walking. As if he was communicating with someone, he heard the sound of his fingertips tapping the screen several times.
He took Lee Young-jin back to the bedroom (a room too big to call it that).
Then he closed the door, answering a call from somewhere.
Lee Young-jin stared blankly at the closed door and the back that was visible through the gap. Soon, the door completely closed and the glimpse of light disappeared.
Left alone in the bedroom, there was nothing to do.
Lee Young-jin went into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and came out again.
He walked slowly across the room and crouched down in the corner of a sofa. The sofa seemed overly large and expensive, so he was cautious. He sat there for a while, and absentmindedly counted the number of beads on the chandelier, and when he had counted them all, he began counting each thread on the carpet. Since spending time alone was Lee Young-jin’s specialty, he must have counted pretty much everything in the room, including the beadwork on the chandelier, the wool on the carpet, the knots on the floor, the lamps hanging from the walls and ceiling, the furniture such as tables and shelves and so on. By this time, the angle of the sunlight’s shadow entering the room had tilted in the opposite direction for a long time.
Lee Young-jin got up from his seat and approached the window. He pulled back the curtains a bit. The river was visible through the elaborate glass-like reinforced plastic windows. The river, which seemed to be about fifteen meters wide, shimmered a milky white in the dim sunlight.
Perhaps one of Huangpu River’s categories?
Thinking so, he put the curtain back in place and stepped back.
He suddenly wanted to sleep.
He wasn’t the type to nap very much, but it seemed like he was constantly nervous, and the hard work (on the bed) had started two nights before.
He glanced at the imposing bed in the middle of the bedroom. Several pillows, cushions, and sheets were neatly arranged like the bed in interior photos.
There was a strong sense of resistance to go up there, but there’s no way to stop the drowsiness that grew stronger with time. At first, Lee Young-jin crouched down on the sofa, but couldn’t overcome the throbbing muscle pain and eventually got up again.
He cautiously climbed onto the bed.
The mattress crumpled down and wrapped around his body softly. All sorts of thoughts that he had been trying to cram into a corner of his head suddenly popped up at the moment of his carelessness.
Did Jung Ji-hoon and Park Eun-young get out of Shanghai safely? Did they go back to Seoul? How are things going?
‘No, more than that…’
There are only a few days left to pay the rent.
What about his part-time job at the chicken restaurant?
What could he do if he was fired from that high-paying part-time job he had earned?
It would be nice if he could contact Choi Yun-seok.
Now that this happened, it means that all the salaries of his part-time job at the chicken restaurant have been blown away, let alone the commission payment.
He felt frustrated.
Lee Young-jin struggled to suppress his thoughts and leaned his body against the edge of the wide bed. Then, to appease his cramped feelings, he began to follow the embroidered pattern on the bed cover with his eyes. Almost at the same time, fatigue pressed against his eyelids. As soon as he completely lowered his eyes, he fell unconscious, as if someone had plucked his soul from the top of his head.
It was a short, restless sleep.
Lee Young-jin was awakened by the sound of a harsh knock.
As if he had been asleep for years, his limbs were limp and his whole body was covered with sweat. The knocking sound, which seemed to be cut off, stopped at some point. Rattle. There was the sound of a heavy door being pushed open. Lee Young-jin barely got up. Even the feather blanket that seemed to float in the air felt like it was covered in several piles of leather. After struggling under the covers for a long time, he was able to get out of bed.
The room was gloomy.
He fumbled across the dimly lit room, reaching for the lamp that he passed by. A few lamps were lit, and dim light illuminated the mottled darkness.
He saw a long shadow standing in the doorway.
Lee Young-jin thought it would be Seo Seung-hyun, but it wasn’t.
An alpha, whom he calls an inflated balloon for convenience, stood there.
The inflated balloon man came in and set the square tray on the table in front of the sofa. Several plastic containers with lids were placed on the tray.
Lee Young-jin slowly walked towards it and sat down on the sofa.
His back and armpits were still damp from the sweat he had shed throughout his sleep. It felt strange to wake up after eating as much as he could and go to bed again.
The store’s logo was embedded in the plastic bowl on the tray. It seemed to have been bought from somewhere. Lee Young-jin glanced up at the inflated balloon man. At first glance, his face was expressionless, but if you look closely, you could see that his eyebrows were slightly narrow and raised. It seemed that he did not like the situation in which he suddenly had to take care of the prisoner of war.
“Eat quietly.”
The inflated balloon man suddenly opened his mouth.
Lee Young-jin involuntarily raised his head and looked up at him. Inflated balloon man stood holding out a 500mm water bottle. Lee Young-jin received it reluctantly. The inflated balloon man’s eyebrows twitched once. His lips were straight and firmly shut, but the corners of his mouth were bent in a strange direction, barely visible.
A few seconds later, he put down the water bottle, and Lee Young-jin was finally able to grab it.
“This…did you buy it?”
“Eat.”
However, contrary to the strong answer, he did not leave and stood there looking down at Lee Young-jin. It was Lee Young-jin who became uncomfortable with the staring gaze.
Lee Young-jin glanced at the inflated balloon man standing there as if to watch him eat the food as he tore open the plastic wrap around the plastic spoon. Each time, the Alpha’s balloon like shoulders swelled up.
In the end, Lee Young-jin couldn’t overcome the awkwardness and asked again.
“That’s your boss. What should I call you?”
As if not expecting the question, the inflated balloon man narrowed his eyes and glared at Lee Young-jin. The gaze was tenacious. It started from his white forehead, where his hair started, and went to the middle of his eyebrows, the corners of his eyes and the tear-shaped mole beneath it, the philtrum falling down the tip of his sleek nose, and his thick, protruding lips. After a while, he turned his gaze away from Lee Young-jin and bluntly replied.
“…none of your business.”
“The level of what to call when something happens…”
“I don’t have anything to call.”
“A position or something like that…”
The inflated balloon man’s eyebrows twitched once more. The corners of his eyes seemed to narrow under those eyebrows, and then a blunt voice dropped.
“You can call me CEO, but I don’t think you will.”
Feeling down at the cold reaction, Lee Young-jin shrank his head and nodded slightly. A faint voice called out, “Thank you,” but of course, there was no reply.
The inflated balloon man looked down at Lee Young-jin then turned his head around. He hurried away from the living room with rather quick and louder footsteps than usual. The sound of the door closing rang out.
After he left, Lee Young-jin looked down at the food in front of him. The food was still warm. All of them were Chinese dishes, and the portions were enough for Lee Young-jin to eat alone.
Inside the concave bowl, there was steam rising from the heat of the porridge. A strong smell of spices stung his nostrils. Finely chopped chives and pine flower cut into quarters were placed on top of the porridge mixed with glutinous rice and pine nuts. A small plate of fried glutinous rice cakes with red bean paste and scallion pancake was served together. Lee Young-jin picked up the oily rice cake and ate it. It was oily but not salty. Then he lifted a spoon and scooped out the porridge shallowly. A spoonful of porridge left a dent in the smooth surface. Suddenly, someone’s advice to be careful about food and drink when captured crossed his mind. The spoon floated in the air and stopped. Lee Young-jin looked at the spoon for a while, then just brought it to his lips. The porridge was warm, and the taste was so intense that you would never recognize it, even if it contained poison, anesthetic, or truth serum.
The sun set while he ate his meal.
The golden sunset split the bedroom in half through a crack in the thinly layered curtains.
Lee Young-jin finished his meal and went into the bathroom to wash his body. The large jacuzzi tub kept tempting him, but he persevered. He put on the clothes he had graciously taken off and left the bathroom.
A shadow stood tall in the middle of the dim bedroom. Lee Young-jin was startled and stopped in place. It was the inflated balloon man from before. He was frowning as if annoyed and opened his mouth to Lee Young-jin.
“Come here.”
Lee Young-jin hesitated and then approached him.
His eyes fell after staring at Lee Young-jin’s dry hair and the shirt collar that was slightly wet and clinging to the nape of his neck. He turned and gestured to Lee Young-jin.
Then left the room.
It didn’t end there.
At the end of the corridors and stairs, a solid iron door that he had never seen since coming here appeared.
Seo Seung-hyun was there.
He turned his head, perhaps noticing Lee Young-jin approaching. His features were perfectly symmetrical from the center and his lips smiled brightly. Lee Young-jin stopped walking without realizing it. However, the very next moment, Seo Seung-hyun gestured toward him. Lee Young-jin’s feet creaked. As he approached, Seo Seung-hyun took off his coat and threw it over his shoulders. Their faces drew closer, and Lee Young-jin felt the stares around him were sharp and stabbing.
“Let’s go.”
Seo Seung-hyun pulled Lee Young-jin’s arm. Lee Young-jin was attracted to that power like an object without a will. The inside of the coat was hot. He just washed up and came out. But his neck and back were sticky again.
The iron door opened.
He stepped on two stone steps and came down. An imposing limousine stood a few steps ahead. The heavy eight-cylinder engine groaned softly. After three or four steps, the limousine door opened wide. Lee Young-jin was pushed into it as if possessed. Seo Seung-hyun followed behind him.
“Where are we going?”
Moistening his dry mouth with dry saliva, he barely asked a question. Seo Seung-hyun, who was lazily burying himself in the seat and crossing his legs, glanced at him. The answer did not come back immediately. Seo Seung-hyun’s hand opened the refrigerator and took out a glass bottle. Moisture rose to the surface of the glass in an instant. Tak. The sound of opening the lid echoed. Seo Seung-hyun casually brought the glass to his mouth and drank. The thick neck was wriggling and then stopped.
Lee Young-jin looked at his wet lips and then dropped his gaze to the floor.
He silently waited for an answer.
“For now, Ningbo.”
But the answer was completely unexpected.
Lee Young-jin raised his head again.
“Ningbo?”
“Yes.”
“Not Pudong?”
“Hm.”
Seo Seung-hyun’s eyebrow twitched briefly. It was a very brief moment. Soon, he shrugged his shoulders, returning to his usual cheerful and calm expression.
“It would be nice if it turned out that way, but unfortunately, things have become a bit more complicated.”
“We-weren’t you going to Seoul?”
“Yes, I am.”
The response came immediately.
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