Gasp. White breath burst from Yeonrok’s mouth. After kissing so affectionately, Moon Gyeonwoo pulled his partner into an embrace and whispered something. The lovers’ breaths mingled with each other. The two stayed in an embrace for a while like that, then walked arm-in-arm together. They seemed to want to take a walk around the neighborhood at least, reluctant to part.
It was because something hot flowed streaming down from his nose that Yeonrok, who’d been staring intently at the direction the two had disappeared, came to his senses. When he reflexively spread his hand to catch it, red blood drops dripped onto his sleeve. Whether blood got on his clothes or not, Yeonrok only tried to keep it from touching his comfort doll. This time the nosebleed didn’t stop easily.
“Ah, so that’s why he hated me from the start.”
Only then did Yeonrok realize the reason Moon Gyeonwoo had shown him hostility even from their first meeting. He already had a lover.
Name Partners are a well-matched pair for each other. However, that’s only the story after they meet. Since Names mostly manifest in the late teens to early twenties, quite a number of them were already dating at the time of Name Manifestation. Naturally, both the existing lover and the Name Partner found this fact extremely unpleasant. Or even the person in whom the Name manifested.
No wonder he was particularly disgusted every time I talked to him. I really shouldn’t talk to him anymore from now on. I feel a bit sorry.
Suddenly his vision turned whitish. Yeonrok, who wiped the continuously flowing nosebleed with his sleeve, looked up at the sky and exclaimed in admiration. White snow was falling. It was a white Christmas. Cool snowflakes settled on his neat forehead exposed by the pin.
“Merry White Christmas!”
Yeonrok tried throwing an empty Christmas greeting into the air for no reason. It was lonely. So for no reason he mumbled to the comfort doll he was holding, “I was talking to you.” Like that, he finished preparing to greet the new year lonely despite having three Name Partners.
2.
“What? How did a fire break out?”
Kim Jeongseong asked back in confusion. Yeonrok, not only soaking wet but also covered in soot, answered sullenly.
“A decoration dropped right on top of an outlet from the Christmas tree and suddenly a fire started…”
One of the places Yeonrok spent the longest time in this house was the indoor garden. Unlike the rooftop garden which was cold because it was winter, it was indoors and the sunlight came in moderately warm, and working people frequently came and went.
So today too, when he was comfortably lying sprawled on the sofa wrapped snugly in a blanket basking in the warm sun. A Santa Claus-shaped ornament suddenly dropped from the Christmas tree that hadn’t been taken down yet. While Yeonrok watched with widened eyes, the Santa Claus settled on top of the outlet.
Then suddenly smoke began to rise with an ominous sizzling sound. Then it caught fire.
‘Huh? Huh huh?’
Yeonrok, who sprang up in surprise, was about to scoop water from the waterfall to pour on it but hesitated. Is it okay to pour water on an electrical fire? Won’t I get electrocuted? In the meantime, flames spread to the Christmas tree. Thinking it was a big problem, the moment he ran over and grabbed the flames with his hands to put them out, water poured from the sprinklers along with a loud fire alarm sound.
And Kim Jeongseong and Mrs. Park, who happened to be home, came running and discovered Yeonrok standing helplessly with burns on his hands.
“Yes, well…”
Kim Jeongseong, who took out a handkerchief and wiped the soot on Yeonrok’s eyes, said in a stiff voice.
“I’ll call the manager and come back, so please wait a moment.”
“Oh my, what is this? There’s never been anything like this in this house before, the Young Master must have been startled.”
The words that there had never been anything like this in this house before pierced Yeonrok’s ears. Mrs. Park thoroughly wiped off the remaining soot with the handkerchief she received from Kim Jeongseong. Then, discovering the minor burn on his hand, she was surprised and quickly took him to the kitchen to wash it with cold water. When she was carefully applying ointment, Kim Jeongseong, who had returned, said gloomily.
“I’m truly sorry, Lee Yeonrok-nim. You must have been very startled by the fire due to negligent management… I have no words to say. I will reprimand and replace the manager.”
“What? N-no, that’s not necessary. No, maybe? Perhaps…? It might be my fault…”
At Yeonrok’s words, Kim Jeongseong’s face became serious as he shook his head.
“I checked the CCTV and facilities. You didn’t lay a finger on anything, Lee Yeonrok-nim. You did nothing wrong at all.”
But Yeonrok didn’t say this for no reason. All kinds of unlucky situations that others might experience once a year at most, or not at all, followed him around—that was his life.
Still, he’d spent some time without incident in this house, but suddenly seeing an ornament drop and it of all things shock the outlet causing a fire gave him a strange sense of guilt. Even though as Kim Jeongseong said it wasn’t his fault, somehow it felt like his mistake.
“You even got burned. You must have inhaled toxic smoke, so let’s go to the hospital right away and get examined.”
“No! I’m really fine! The burn is just at the level of being burned by candle wax!”
He thought inhaling some smoke and getting slightly burned wasn’t something to go to the hospital for, but apparently not for Kim Jeongseong. Yeonrok could barely dissuade him only after persuading him for a long time.
Since the two worried so much and told him to go to the hospital, he hid in his room for several hours before coming out for dinner, where he encountered Choi Hwan, who was picking at salad in full dress without removing his makeup. He’d had an expression like he’d bitten into a bug, but the moment he saw Yeonrok, his face brightened completely and he said.
“You started a fire in the garden, they say?”
“I didn’t though?”
“You’ve got guts. How did you think to start a fire in this house from the new year?”
“I told you I didn’t…!”
Throughout dinner, Yeonrok grumbled at being teased by Choi Hwan. Choi Hwan, who’d always been one-sidedly on the receiving end from Yeonrok and had caught something on him, persistently teased him. When he quickly ate dinner and left pretending not to hear, Choi Hwan followed.
“Did you take out fire insurance? You don’t even have money, you should at least get insurance.”
It was when Yeonrok was quickly moving his steps with a morose expression.
“Hwan-ah, your schedule changed, did you check…”
“…!”
Yeonrok unluckily bumped into the manager who was hurriedly entering the kitchen at an exquisite timing. Losing balance and falling unconsciously, he felt something solid support him from behind. Crash!
‘Wa… rm?’
An unfamiliar sensation was felt. After falling noisily and coming to his senses, someone was crushed beneath him. A groaning sound came from below.
“Wow shit, my expensive face almost got damaged.”
Choi Hwan, crushed below, glared with his face severely scrunched up. Since they were close enough for a shadow to fall on his handsome face, when the startled Yeonrok sprang up, he stood up ostentatiously brushing off his clothes. The surprised Jo Junho scolded Choi Hwan.
“Yeonrok-ssi, I’m sorry! I was too busy so I… You’re not hurt, are you? Hwan-ah, you should worry about people first!”
“Why would I worry about him? I even caught the guy who started a fire so his head wouldn’t crack, that’s enough. And hyung, you became a manager and what are you doing not worrying about me first? And what about the schedule?”
Choi Hwan grumbled and glanced at Yeonrok before turning his gaze to Jo Junho. Aaaagh! Embarrassed, Yeonrok fled the spot as if running away while tearing at his hair.
And the next morning, Moon Gyeonwoo, who encountered him while going to work, glanced at Lee Yeonrok, looked him up and down once, then muttered as he passed by coolly.
“Arsonist.”
Though Moon Gyeonwoo had spoken to him first for the first time, he wasn’t happy at all.
“…I’m not!”
When he went to the indoor garden in a huff, all the Christmas decorations had been removed. It was somewhat regrettable since it had been fun to look at while spacing out because it was colorful. Sighing, he was about to open the front door and go out when Moon Gyeonwoo opened the door wide and came back in. He seemed to have forgotten and left something behind. But…
“…!”
What is it? Why do I have a sense of déjà vu? This unluckiness is…!
The ominous premonition hit exactly right. Moon Gyeonwoo, who flinched and tried to step back but lost his balance tripping on the threshold, unconsciously stretched his hand forward. Strength went into Moon Gyeonwoo’s hand that grabbed Yeonrok’s collar. There was a ripping, tearing sound, and the 5-year-old worn short-sleeved pajamas that Yeonrok wore as indoor clothes ripped.
Yeonrok’s bare chest was completely exposed. The two looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions. Moon Gyeonwoo unreasonably got angry and brushed off his hands.
“What are you doing right now?”
“That’s my line, you know?!”
Since the other person looked at his bare chest intently with contempt, Yeonrok covered the torn area with both arms and shouted.
“How unlucky…”
“That’s my line! Why did you rip someone’s clothes!”
Moon Gyeonwoo clicked his tongue and left coolly, holding the muffler he’d briefly hung up while putting on his shoes.
