It was exactly the fifteenth day since coming to the new house. For fifteen days, all I’d done was stupidly space out alone or mingle flesh with Lee Hyeonseok, so after fifteen days I finally got out of bed and decided to go out. I had so little to do that even my memory was hazy. Though I hadn’t completely pulled myself together yet, after spending fifteen days stupidly like that, my heart had lightened somewhat, so I thought I should move around a bit now.
Unlike me, who was idly lazing around in leisure, Lee Hyeonseok was busy. He was busier than when he was busy supporting and cooperating on research related to trait manifested individuals and creating affiliates. Last time, I at least had time to see his face and talk, but now, except at night, I’d barely properly spoken with him. It was amazing enough that despite being so busy, he unfailingly slept at home every single night.
The reality check that one guy was properly doing social life while one guy was living like trash at home was quite significant, but I had to slowly pull myself together.
Now I should retrieve my cell phone that Lee Hyeonseok had taken instead of the CSAT phone that could only text and call, find out how the world was turning, and properly establish the future plans I’d been thinking about half-heartedly. As a way to clear my head for that, I first decided to go for a walk.
I couldn’t easily reach for the expensive-looking clothes hanging in the wardrobe, but since there were no other clothes suitable for the season, I had no choice but to take them out. I chose and wore clothes that looked as inexpensive as possible. The outerwear I wore after so long felt incredibly awkward. Still, feeling my mood lift slightly, I left the room.
“Where are you going?”
Until I was stopped by the guards at the entrance, I thought I’d have a decent day.
Unlike when I was at the officetel, the two guards were waiting by the front door inside the house. It was an unbearably burdensome arrangement, but it wasn’t like I could tell them what to do in Lee Hyeonseok’s house. I hadn’t paid attention to it until now, but to receive this kind of pressure when trying to go out.
“…I’m just trying to go out for a bit.”
The guard gave a look toward the area behind me as if telling me to just stay inside the house, but even while reading their mood, I didn’t bend my opinion about going out. Then one of them sighed.
“Did you receive permission?”
“Permission? From Lee Hyeonseok?”
“Yes.”
At the question of whether I’d received permission, I furrowed my brow and asked back. I never dreamed that Lee Hyeonseok still hadn’t permitted me to go out. Unlike me, the guards had no change in expression whatsoever.
“Uh…”
“If you need anything done, please tell us.”
“No, it’s fine. Never mind.”
The guards asked as if to placate me in my bewilderment. Well, even if I made a fuss here, the guards would just treat me like a difficult customer. Moreover, I wasn’t confident I could beat the guards as just an ordinary person, and there was no reason I absolutely had to go out, so I declined and returned to my room.
“……”
Since it came to this, I thought about just lying on the soft bed and resting today too as I closed my eyes. But no matter how much I thought about it, it felt unsettling. In the end, I took out the CSAT phone, and having received his contact information but never once contacted Lee Hyeonseok, I sent him a text.
—Hello, this is Seo Jiwoo|
“No, this is a bit stiff.”
—Lee Hyeonseok. It’s me|
“Huh…? I’ve seen this somewhere… Ah.”
Just because I had Lee Hyeonseok’s number didn’t mean Lee Hyeonseok necessarily had mine. Thinking I should identify myself first, the opening I wrote down resembled the opening of voice phishing texts I’d occasionally received. It would be perfect if I just added that my phone broke after “It’s me.”
—What are you doing? Busy?|
Thinking it was better to write ambiguously when uncertain, when I tried writing as if we were close, this time it became a message for a relationship that would call at 2 AM. If instead of “Busy?” I put “Sleeping?”… My god, I who had never even dated felt like I was instantly transforming into someone missing their lover right before or after a breakup. The order being wrong was one thing, but this was too much. With a reluctant face, I quickly erased the text content.
—Hyeonseok-ah, I’m about to go out right now|
“…Hyeonseok-ah, crazy. I can get goosebumps just from text.”
This time I tried writing as if we were friends, but before I even finished writing, I got goosebumps and failed. At this point, I couldn’t tell if I was the problem or if Lee Hyeonseok’s very existence was the problem.
“……”
—Hey. I’m about to go out right now|
After pondering for a while and trying to write moderately, my fingers stopped again thinking that if I wrote like this, Lee Hyeonseok would act like a contrarian. It seemed the problem really was Lee Hyeonseok’s very existence after all.
Just from my current situation alone, stress was accumulating as naturally as breathing, but recalling the newly realized fact that I had to handle Lee Hyeonseok carefully too made me feel even more stressed. The fact that our relationship looked peaceful on the surface was thanks to my concessions. Though it’s funny to call my current relationship with Lee Hyeonseok ‘relatively peaceful.’
Before I manifested as an omega, Lee Hyeonseok’s existence didn’t register as stress. Seeing that, it seemed my condition was definitely different from usual. Fortunately, the current problem didn’t seem to completely get on my nerves.
“!”
Just when irritation was faintly rising, suddenly the phone in my hand rang. The name ‘Lee Hyeonseok’ appeared on the screen. Since we’d never once talked on the phone with each other, I hesitated over whether to press the call button.
I thought about ignoring it, but it was surprisingly strange and precisely timed. I thought the guards must have reported to him. Maybe because he’s a bastard with high self-esteem, he’s a bastard who hates being looked down on, so if I ignored him now, it was obvious he’d come home and be bothersome again.
“…Hello?”
In the end, my voice after pressing the call button and answering the phone sounded incredibly awkward even to my own ears. What was so great about talking on the phone with Lee Hyeonseok that I had to be this awkward and nervous? For me, Lee Hyeonseok’s existence was like an unexploded bomb that could go off at any time, so it couldn’t be helped.
—Fuck, you weren’t answering so much I thought you were dead, but you’re alive.
—Why don’t you try not answering once.
Lee Hyeonseok immediately cursed first and was sarcastic. He really was a bastard with no manners, no courtesy, and comprehensively lacking in character. I wondered if he’d die if he didn’t talk like this.
—Ignoring me?
“Just because you do that doesn’t mean I have to curse too.”
—Ha!
I’d just lost my words at Lee Hyeonseok’s sudden acceleration, but he tirelessly started another quarrel. When even I, who had been just letting it flow past, suddenly accelerated too, Lee Hyeonseok burst out with a hollow laugh. This was terrifying in its own way, so just as I was thinking about just hanging up, a mocking voice flowed out.
—You really have some nerve.
“What did I…”
—Otherwise you wouldn’t think of going out.
“?”
Fortunately, he didn’t seem offended, so Lee Hyeonseok cut off my words as I was about to roughly brush it off. From Lee Hyeonseok’s words, I could tell that the guards had indeed reported to him, but I couldn’t understand why he was treating me like someone acting rashly. I thought about asking what he meant, but worried about getting nagged for no reason, I quietly waited for Lee Hyeonseok’s words. Anyway, from the way he was talking, it was a tone that would speak on its own even if I didn’t ask.
—Are you empty-headed, or are you a masochist? Which one.
However, he seemed ready to rattle off plenty of worthless talk before getting to the point, so I had no choice but to abruptly hang up the phone. I don’t know where that courage came from. It seemed like Lee Hyeonseok said, my nerves were indeed swollen quite a bit.
But this was something Lee Hyeonseok did fucking wrong. A bastard whose mind and body were already struggling, just because he answered the phone a bit late, starts cursing and putting him down—where would there be a person who’d quietly listen to that? No, even if there were, it wasn’t me. Rather, I thought someone should praise my humanity for hanging up without cursing back. On top of that, this bastard even blocked my going out. Who the hell was he to interfere with my going out?
Bzzzz.
A call came from Lee Hyeonseok again. Unlike thinking it would come right after hanging up, seeing that he took a moment, he must have been quite flabbergasted that I hung up first. Or maybe he was dumbfounded and spacing out and only just came to his senses. Anyway, it didn’t look like he’d just let it slide.
“What to do with this… Answer, or not…”
I should have just not hung up and left the phone somewhere else until the useless talk ended. If I’d let him rattle on alone, it wouldn’t have gotten complicated. Regretting slightly belatedly, just as I was about to press the call button, the phone disconnected.
“Ah…”
Along with the disconnected call, ‘Missed Call (1)’ appeared on the screen. Whether I answered or didn’t answer, it seemed it would be a problem either way. Unable to grasp whether I should call him back or could just ignore it like this, I decided for now to wait a moment in case another call came, and if it didn’t come, I’d leave a text.
Knock knock.
But this time, instead of a ringtone, I heard a knocking sound. I thought ‘Who is it?’ then ‘No way?’ No matter how incomprehensible a bastard Lee Hyeonseok was, he wouldn’t have sent someone just because I didn’t answer the phone. I answered cautiously with a ‘no way, no way’ feeling.
“…Come in.”
“Excuse me.”
“Ah, yes. What is it…?”
The person was, as expected, the guard I’d seen by the front door. The guard who had been standing flawlessly in a black suit with a serious face by the front door now wore a slightly troubled expression. Because of that, only my tension rose as I asked anxiously, and he cleared his throat once and opened his mouth. In the time it took to open his mouth, the guard who had regained his composure delivered Lee Hyeonseok’s words to me in a voice that contained no emotion whatsoever.
“He says to choose whether you’ll answer the phone properly or cry all night.”
