Saehyeon looked over the child with fresh eyes. And he was slightly surprised to realize that the child had grown quite a bit. No wonder the arm that rested on his shoulder felt a bit longer. He seemed to have grown taller again without him noticing.
‘They say kids grow in the blink of an eye.’
Even in their lacking circumstances, he’d thought he was feeding and clothing him fairly well. But seeing him in this environment now, the insufficiency of that time stood out as expected. As if to take revenge for the hardships experienced before, the child was growing day by day.
The body that had been divided into short sections like a character in a children’s cartoon had become slightly elongated. Below the chubby cheeks, a delicate jawline peeked through. The same went for his deer-like long neck and the eyes that curved softly whenever he smiled. He was still cute, but if you looked carefully, there was a clear difference. Even now, of course, he was still an undeniably baby angel. But now there was a feeling of seeing dazzling sprouts that would assault people’s hearts if he grew just a little more.
Gil Taeseo’s childhood appearance was probably like this too. Though in terms of personality, the contrast would be clear at the level of angel and demon. The demon side was obviously clear without saying who. Saehyeon, who had smirked briefly, bowed his head toward the child again.
“That… is really good. You did well.”
“Me? Dad, I did well?”
Saehyeon narrowed his eyes in front of the brightly smiling face. It was a reaction like someone who looked directly at the brightly shining morning sun. The child, who stomped his feet as if excited, added in a lively voice.
“Then, I’ll help more!”
When thinking rationally, it was an absurd combination. A completely green adult with ruined aesthetic sense and a young child who didn’t even know what landscaping was. All the flowers the child picked out were pretty, and the arrangements he designated were quite excellent. But this sparkling selection and arrangement were coincidences, and there was a high possibility it would become more of a mess if they actually did it. That was a choice that deviated from Saehyeon’s expectations and plans.
Somehow, he had to produce a result that was passable. Enough not to be ignored by anyone, enough not to invite ridicule…
“…Then shall we do that?”
After a brief hesitation, the lips that opened uttered words different from reason. Eyes sparkling with joy had power much stronger than knives or guns. He hadn’t even gone outside the window yet, but somehow he felt a bit hot. Saehyeon lightly flapped the hem of his clothes at his chest and walked out to the garden with the hopping child.
Just because one decision-maker had increased, the work speed doubled. The child and Saehyeon, as if enchanted, began filling the garden really quickly. To the extent that all the previous laborious concerns felt like illusions.
From left to right, from the edges to the center. They mixed varieties so they wouldn’t be seasonal, and arranged everything from flowers that bloom low to trees that grow tall.
“Whew…”
Wiping the streaming sweat with his sleeve, Saehyeon stepped inside the window. Standing under the cool breeze, he had the leisure to look around at the scenery. Even though other people did all the digging, standing under the scorching sun made him feel slightly dizzy quickly.
‘It’s because it’s summer, well.’
It was instantaneous to go from early summer to midsummer. It was also proof of how focused Saehyeon and the child had been on this task. Saehyeon looked out at the garden with fresh feelings.
The child was much more talented than Saehyeon. Thanks to that, the garden had changed close to remarkable progress compared to when Saehyeon had touched it alone. Though it would be an insufficient form in an expert’s eyes.
“Phewww…”
At the suddenly heard sound, he lowered his head and saw the child. Still with plump cheeks covered in dirt, even imitating the motion of wiping sweat. On such a child’s face floated proud achievement.
Saehyeon, who had been quietly looking down at that, moved his gaze to the garden again. Sometimes he wondered if this child was casting some kind of magic. It was the same this time too. Looking again, this garden seemed to look a little bit more splendid.
Objectively, it was a garden with a fresh taste, being quaint and colorful. Except for the jet-black strapping men standing here and there.
The jet-black men mobilized out of nowhere, in midsummer at that, silently dug and covered the soil. Thanks to the hot weather, they’d already taken off their suit jackets long ago. The single layer of shirt was soaked with sweat and stuck tightly to their bodies, and when the fabric was white, various patterns showed through underneath. The colors were diverse too. Black, red, blue, and so on. It was in full Technicolor.
‘Those are definitely tattoos… right.’
As if anyone would say they weren’t gangsters. Even wearing proper suits, it showed. If a stranger saw, they could easily mistake the subject to be buried as a living person rather than a sapling.
‘Does Gil Taeseo have tattoos like that too?’
His thoughts naturally jumped in that direction. Seeing the subordinates and thinking of their boss was perhaps natural. Saehyeon hurriedly added excuses.
Wasn’t it also strange? To have played so messily on the bed, biting and sucking, yet he still hadn’t seen a naked body even once.
“…Hah.”
Saehyeon, who had been blankly spreading the wings of thought, suddenly trembled. It was because a chilling awareness fell like a hammer from above his head.
‘Wha, what was I just thinking?’
It wasn’t like Gil Taeseo’s naked body was gilded or anything. Whether he had tattoos or not, what did that have to do with him? It was the same no matter how messily they’d played, whether on the bed or on the office chair. A male bastard’s naked body, he had not the slightest interest.
This was all because of the foolish Lee Saehyeon in his memories and the current crazy bastard Gil Taeseo. Both of them were acting crazy in pairs, so he was developing in strange directions in his head too.
If it weren’t for the child, he would have already kowtowed against the wall or floor. Saehyeon, who glanced at the child stuck to the window, let out a small sigh.
“…I should shower. Yeah. Get hit with cold water and come to my senses.”
Saehyeon stood up abruptly. It felt like he couldn’t bear it without washing his sticky body and head clean.
Once decided, Saehyeon first poked the child’s cheek. A small pit formed in the soft cheek flesh as much as his fingertip sank in. The child, who had been looking outside with sparkling eyes, whipped his head around to look this way.
“Let’s go wash up.”
“Huh? Yeah!”
The slowly moving steps stopped without getting far. The toes that had been wriggling as if pondering stepped on the ground strongly as if decided. Opening the closed window was simultaneous.
“Excuse me.”
As soon as he opened the door, he was automatically breathless at the hot heat pouring in. Saehyeon opened his mouth toward the jet-black back closest to the door. While thinking that only black ink was used on this back.
“Excuse me.”
Putting strength in his throat to call, only then did the man whip his body around. His hair soaked with sweat was stuck to his forehead almost as if he’d applied wax. His face flushed bright red, drops of sweat dripping down below his chin were noticeable. It was the appearance of having entered a sauna.
“Yes, yes? Is there work you need done?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Saehyeon knew he wasn’t a very sociable person. It was hard to readily become close to someone, and he had no talent for acting sweetly either. But that was that, and conscience was a separate issue, wasn’t it?
Once those sweat-soaked backs entered his eyes, he couldn’t just pass by. It would be terrible if he accidentally earned resentment and got stabbed with a knife.
“That… when you finish work, come up and have something cool to drink.”
“Pardon?”
“Well then.”
Saehyeon, who left only what he had to say, closed the window again with a rattle. The slender back view moved away with tottering steps. The child, who had been secretly glancing this way with narrowly opened eyes, followed behind.
“…Uh…”
The man who had been quietly watching that scratched his head vigorously.
A moment later, Saehyeon, who came out after even changing clothes, could discover several glasses left by the window. Saehyeon’s lips twitched slightly.
***
“You really should go up and wait…”
Yoon Changwook, sitting in the driver’s seat, turned around and recommended again. Somehow, it seemed uncomfortable that the surveillance target his boss was obsessed with was killing time in a car outside the building. But Saehyeon’s answer was decided.
“No. I’ll just stay here.”
It was already the third refusal.
Saehyeon was currently near Gil Taeseo’s office. In other words, he was waiting for his employer’s departure from work inside a parked car. He leaned his head against the car window and fiddled with his phone. The text he’d received earlier briefly passed across the screen.
[Running a bit late.]
[Go in first or something.]
There wasn’t a particular reason for waiting like this. One side came a bit early, and the other side’s work was delayed, nothing more. Coming early was… right. Saehyeon decided to admit it after biting his lips several times. He seemed to be a bit triumphant because he’d done quite well on work that was clearly going to suck.
‘People would think I’m being stood up on a date or something.’
The waiting time was getting longer than expected, but it didn’t matter much. It wasn’t like he had other things to do anyway, and he was in an unemployed state, so what was the problem?
Honestly, it was more comfortable to go up to the office and wait. No matter how cool the car was and how soft the seats were, could they compare to indoors? Normally, Saehyeon would have preferred indoors too. If only they didn’t do this and that sort of thing there.
Seeing him rustle around from the driver’s seat to look back again, it seemed the 4th recommendation would fly over soon. He pressed his forehead against the car window and pretended to look outside when a cafe located a little distance away caught his eye.
“I’ll just go get some coffee there for a moment.”
He suddenly had a good idea. A perfect idea to avoid recommendations and kill boring time too.
“Ah, I’ll…”
“I’m going because I’m getting antsy, so it’s fine. Americano is okay, right?”
“Pardon?”
It seemed perfect for killing time without being too troublesome. If he came back and drank something, it would be less boring, and he was craving something cool. In passing, there was also the calculation that if he stuck something in that mouth, wouldn’t it buy some time until the 5th recommendation?
“Then I’ll assume that… ah, by the way, if you follow me, I’ll run away at full speed.”
“…Pardon?”
The thought of storming into a cafe with a jet-black gangster subordinate attached was horrific just to imagine. He hated drawing attention unnecessarily. Saehyeon, who had blocked in advance what would have happened with high probability, quickly closed the car door.
Then in an instant, the commotion of the street rushed over him. People busily coming and going, the occasional honking sound, a slight smell of exhaust. Even though he’d come out on his own, it felt like being suddenly thrown somewhere.
Saehyeon took a small deep breath. What he was experiencing every single day now was the real big deal. The process of treatment and memory recovery, every single one messy and confusing beyond compare. Thinking like that, everything else really felt like no big deal.
‘Nothing will happen.’
It was a thought he could have because he’d forgotten again that his life conspicuously deviated from normal expectations.
