Baek Iseon no longer tried to hide his anger. It was a cruel thing to say, clearly meant to hurt.
“That’s right. There is.”
“Who?”
“What are you going to do knowing?”
“Kill them.”
In the end, Jang Juwon had no choice but to raise his head and look at him. The face he was seeing for the first time today wasn’t the expression Jang Juwon had missed. His tightly closed lips and sharply raised eyebrows showed just how angry he was. This was the first time he’d seen him so angry. His chest throbbed. It was his own doing.
“Don’t do this……. Just leave me alone!”
Jang Juwon raised his voice and jerked his head up. Baek Iseon’s eyes widened as they met Jang Juwon’s. There was moisture in Jang Juwon’s eyes.
“Jang Juwon. Something happened to you.”
“…….”
“Tell me.”
“……Nothing happened.”
“You’re lying.”
Jang Juwon lowered his eyes to avoid his gaze. It felt like he was reading his entire expression. So he shouldn’t show his face as much as possible. Because he couldn’t let him figure out that what he was about to say was a lie.
“……You’re making things hard for me, sunbae.”
“What……?”
Baek Iseon’s voice shook slightly.
“I said you’re making things hard for me. Can’t you just leave me alone? Just leave me be……!”
“I…… made things hard for you?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
“…….”
“I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
“…….”
“I’ll go.”
“…….”
Baek Iseon stood up from his seat. Jang Juwon watched his retreating figure. He didn’t look back. Soon his form disappeared from view as he turned around the wall.
He wanted to hold him back. He wanted to say thank you for coming. If given the chance, he wanted to say he’d actually missed him too. But he knew all too well that he couldn’t do that.
Tears fell onto the stiff sheet.
“Jang Juwon? Why are you crying?”
Shin Jisu and Choi Yeonho, who had entered the hospital room after seeing Baek Iseon leave, asked in surprise. Jang Juwon just shook his head to indicate it was nothing. He wanted to answer, but his voice wouldn’t come out properly.
“Did that sunbae say something to you……?”
Choi Yeonho asked carefully.
“No, it’s not like that. Just, I don’t feel well, that’s why.”
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Choi Yeonho supported Jang Juwon and laid him down on the bed. Shin Jisu, who had been silently watching the scene with a displeased expression, suddenly ran out of the hospital room.
“Hey, Baek Iseon!”
Her voice rang loudly through the hospital corridor. Baek Iseon turned around. Shin Jisu was approaching him huffily. She had reached right in front of him before he knew it, craning her head up to glare at Baek Iseon.
“Hey?”
Baek Iseon wrinkled his eyebrows in bewilderment, revealing his displeasure.
“What did you say to Jang Juwon?”
Shin Jisu shouted. Baek Iseon was dumbfounded. He didn’t say anything. Rather, he was the one who had heard something. Baek Iseon retorted sarcastically.
“Why don’t you ask your friend?”
“Fuck, how am I supposed to ask someone who’s bawling their eyes out?”
“What?”
Jang Juwon was crying? Why? Shin Jisu was pressing him as if he was crying because of Baek Iseon. But Baek Iseon didn’t understand. Jang Juwon wasn’t the one who should be crying. Jang Juwon wasn’t the one who should be hurt. Shouldn’t he be relieved instead? He was asked to fuck off, and he obligingly fucked off. The veins in Baek Iseon’s neck stood out. He was angry.
“Why are you surprised? When you’re the one who made him cry?”
“I’m just fucking off like he asked me to.”
Baek Iseon answered, gritting his teeth and barely suppressing his anger.
“Did you hurt Jang Juwon?”
“Who knows. Why don’t you stop butting in? Hoobae-nim.”
This girl was way too brazen. Baek Iseon warned her for constantly trying to cross the line. Don’t butt in, when you don’t know anything.
“I’m the one who brought you here. So I have responsibility too.”
“You’re a hoobae-nim with an unnecessarily strong sense of responsibility.”
“…….”
Shin Jisu glared fiercely at Baek Iseon without a word. Baek Iseon could no longer hold back his anger. He hadn’t done anything to deserve this treatment from this girl. At least not today.
“Well, I don’t know how much you know to be acting so brazenly……. But I didn’t do anything, didn’t say anything!”
In the end, Baek Iseon raised his voice. Then Shin Jisu’s eyes widened in surprise. Baek Iseon thought she would immediately start shouting and cursing again. But unexpectedly, she said nothing. She was just still looking at him with those large eyes.
And then what came out of her mouth next was something Baek Iseon hadn’t expected at all—absolutely absurd.
“If what you said is true… you’ll owe me big time.”
“What kind of bullshit is that now?”
Baek Iseon asked with a crumpled expression.
“You better keep it attached properly, sunbae-nim.”
It was only for a brief moment, but Baek Iseon felt that she had smiled. What kind of mindset did she have? He couldn’t understand at all what she was thinking. She was really annoying. He didn’t like her.
* * *
They did an ECG and blood tests, but it was just a vasovagal syncope from simple stress—nothing else was wrong. Jang Juwon said he wanted to be discharged, but Choi Yeonho kept insisting otherwise, so he decided to spend that night at the hospital. Because he had made such an obviously excessive fuss, even though it was a bit embarrassing, Jang Juwon decided to follow his words out of gratitude.
Night fell and Choi Yeonho and Shin Jisu went home. When most of the guardians of the patients sharing the hospital room also left, the room became quiet, and only then could Jang Juwon get time to catch his breath. He drew the curtain around his bed and lay still, and his mind calmed down quite a bit.
‘It’ll be okay now.’
As Hyun Youngjae wanted, he would never encounter Baek Iseon again. So now everything would be okay. Jang Juwon slowly closed his eyes. Tonight seemed like it would be very long, so he didn’t want to stay awake for too long.
Buzz. Just then, his phone vibrated briefly. Jang Juwon’s eyes snapped open. To get a message at this hour. Recently, the only people he’d been in contact with were Choi Yeonho, Shin Jisu, and… Even though he knew it wasn’t, his heart pounded. No way, it couldn’t be. It won’t be. Jang Juwon picked up his phone. However, Jang Juwon’s expression gradually rotted as he read the message.
“Ah…”
Juwon-ah, where are you? Why aren’t you coming home?
“Shit…”
Buzz. Another text arrived in succession.
Don’t tell me you’re with Baek Iseon right now? You’re not, right?
Goosebumps rose. It was Hyun Youngjae. What kind of shamelessness did he have to even send texts like this—his brazenness was nauseating. He was now even spying on his house. No, maybe he’d been spying from the beginning. Ah, disgusting bastard…
Don’t worry, we’ll absolutely never see each other again
Then why aren’t you home right now?
I came to do slut things like you said
Why?
Juwon-ah, don’t do this, please…
You’re interrupting my fucking, so I’m going to block you
Jang Juwon blocked Hyun Youngjae’s number. He should have blocked him sooner. He never imagined that after causing all that chaos, he would even contact him directly like this. Was he always this creepy? Just then, his phone vibrated again. When Jang Juwon checked his phone, his heart sank heavily. He had received a message from someone he never imagined. Tintin’s characteristic rainbow-colored pop-up window flashed on his phone screen.
Chat partner: #000000
* * *
Juwon-ah, please…
Fuck, what the hell are you!
Jang Juwon’s fingers trembled as he sent his reply.
Chat partner: #000000
* * *
I’m worried. I’m going crazy with worry…
Disgusting bastard
Just die
Jang Juwon immediately deleted the app. Fuck, thinking about it, all of this had happened because of this damn app.
