“Hah.”
Chaehun took a long breath to calm his pounding heart, then started walking. With 160 million won stuck in his bank account, he decided he’d luxuriously call a premium taxi.
* * *
It was late Sunday evening. The pork belly restaurant, famous as a local gem, was packed with people. Occupying one seat at the completely full tables, Chaehun busily moved his hands.
Chaehun, who loved eating, had the principle that if you’re going to eat anyway, you should eat something that tastes good and looks good if possible. When he had the time and money, going around to famous restaurants was a small hobby. Of course, he also enjoyed personally cooking dishes that suited his taste during the week and on weekends.
However, there were several things he missed about living alone, and one of them was grilling meat on a grill. It was an era where eating and drinking alone was no big deal, but still, meat was tastiest when eaten with others.
In that sense, Chaehun was on the lucky side. He had Seo Jumyeong as his dining-out mate.
Seo Jumyeong, who lived 10 minutes away from Chaehun’s studio, was someone he met about once a month to grill meat with. Having a friend with similar eating habits living nearby was a blessing.
“It’s all cooked. Eat now.”
Chaehun, who had been busily grilling meat with tongs and scissors, confirmed the nicely browned cross-section and told Seo Jumyeong. Since they were eating instead of dinner, the meat disappeared in an instant. It was when they were grilling the second batch.
“Hey. Are you dating someone these days?”
At Seo Jumyeong’s out-of-the-blue question, Chaehun, who had been drinking soju, choked. Fortunately, he didn’t spray the soju, but the reflux made his nose and throat sting so he had to cough several times. Only after barely calming down could Chaehun ask back.
“What?”
“Are you dating someone?”
“Dating? Me?”
“It’s like this lately. You’re hard to see on weekends, when I ask to meet you say you have prior plans, and this time too you made plans then suddenly said you couldn’t make it—there’s only one thing it could be.”
“That was because something suddenly came up at the hospital.”
“Don’t change the subject. Are you dating? If not, why is it so hard to see your face?”
Chaehun hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t dating, but he couldn’t very well say he’d gotten a sex partner because of a contract. Chaehun, who reflexively thought of Seunggeon, barely held back from frowning. The misfortune was that his sex partner had a terrible personality.
“I’ve been busy lately. Busy. And does one date alone? I don’t have time for dating or anything.”
Chaehun deliberately sighed and acted. He hoped it would sound like he wanted to date but was lamenting not having time. Seo Jumyeong was the type to persistently dig into things he was curious about. But Seo Jumyeong let out a snort of laughter.
“Sure, let’s say that.”
“That sounds weird? What do you mean ‘let’s say that’?”
At the attitude of knowing everything but letting it slide, Chaehun grumbled. However, he had no intention of fighting. It was good if things passed like this.
“You’re way too obviously suspicious.”
“I’m not.”
“Fine. I said I believe you. That’s not what I wanted to ask about. I went to get side dishes yesterday and heard about your family’s situation. If something like that happened, you should have told me. I was completely in the dark.”
Because Seo Jumyeong brought up an even more difficult topic than whether he had a girlfriend, Chaehun stiffened slightly. He hadn’t told his friends that his hyung had been scammed and ended up with a huge debt. It was also resolved quickly thanks to Seunggeon, but more than that, he hadn’t wanted to burden his friends since it was a matter requiring money.
“It just wasn’t good news. But how did you find out?”
“How did I find out? Our mothers are in the gye together.”
“Ah.”
Chaehun roughly guessed how it happened. He and Seo Jumyeong had lived in the same neighborhood since childhood. And their mothers met once every two months while doing a neighborhood gye. It seemed the story had been passed along there.
“I’m really hurt. Because it’s not good news, you should have told me even more, right? I think I said this before, but I know a lot of police officers and lawyers. I could have put our heads together and worried with you. And even if you keep it secret from the other guys, you should have told me.”
Chaehun had nothing to say to Seo Jumyeong, who was blatantly showing he was hurt. Seo Jumyeong was a longtime friend. Living in the same alley, they’d attended the same schools from kindergarten through elementary, middle, and high school. Now as adults, they lived 10 minutes apart. He was also one of the few friends who knew Chaehun was gay. He definitely had reason to be hurt. If it had been the other way around, Chaehun would have been hurt too.
“I was too stunned at the time. The amount was too large too.”
“Even so, still.”
“But it’s fine. It’s all resolved now.”
“Ah, right. That. Even if he’s a really rich chairman, is it really true that he paid back all that money with absolutely no conditions?”
“Yeah.”
“Does that make sense? Isn’t he another scammer?”
“It makes sense. Those drama-like things really do happen.”
With a bit of embellishment, it was true that Seunggeon had offered 2 billion won in exchange for sex. That was as unrealistic as a rich old man repaying a debt, but it actually happened.
“Make sense when you talk. You’re not hiding something, are you? You’re good at hiding things like that.”
At Seo Jumyeong’s question about whether he was hiding something, Chaehun inwardly flinched but calmly chewed and swallowed his meat, then also took a sip of soju. As Seo Jumyeong said, he was good at hiding things like this.
“1.8 billion is a lot of money to us, but it’s nothing to really rich people. Think about it. You have 10 million won. And your lifesaver doesn’t have 180,000 won and is being harassed by loan sharks. Then can you give 180,000 won? Or can’t you?”
“Of course I could give that much. But the money units are different. It’s not ten-thousands but hundred-millions. Hundred-millions.”
“That grandfather is really rich. So rich that 1.8 billion is like 180,000 won.”
Chaehun didn’t know how rich Seunggeon was. Still, if he could say 2 billion was about 2 billion, he thought he must have at least 100 billion. If he was Taehwa Group’s CEO, maybe even more.
Anyway, he emphasized that there are many rich people and many eccentrics in the world. However, instead of being convinced, Seo Jumyeong narrowed his eyes and didn’t withdraw his suspicious gaze.
“This won’t do. You have that grandfather’s phone number, right? You said you got his business card? Just tell me that.”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to dig into his background. These days you can find everything if you search a number.”
“Don’t. Things like that. What if something happens? Last weekend I paid back all the money and decided not to contact him anymore. I deleted the number too. I don’t want problems to arise from doing something wrong. That grandfather didn’t want to reveal his identity so a representative came forward—why would you dig into it? Just leave it.”
Making various excuses, the lies kept piling up, but he had no choice. Seo Jumyeong, who worked at an IT company, was skilled with computers. It was dizzying to think of the guy who said with his own mouth that he could become a world-class hacker if he made one wrong move deciding to dig into the background.
When Chaehun firmly refused, Seo Jumyeong frowned as if displeased.
“Ah, I really don’t get it. Even if there are many eccentrics in the world. I don’t know. Still, I’m glad you paid it all back. He’s not demanding anything else, right? You didn’t sign a contract or guarantee, did you? Check to make sure Ahjumma didn’t sign something without you knowing. Right now. Hurry.”
“I’m telling you it’s fine.”
“I need to check. Or let’s go see Ahjumma.”
Even though he said he’d already confirmed everything, Seo Jumyeong, who was meticulous about money matters, urged him to check once more. In the end, Chaehun called his mother and let Seo Jumyeong hear that nothing had happened since then.
In the meantime, the grill had been emptied. It was time to decide whether to add more meat and order rice and soybean paste stew, or go to a second round. Chaehun received a message from Seunggeon.
[Today. 9 o’clock.]
As soon as he confirmed the message, Chaehun cursed at Seunggeon inwardly.
After clashing like that on Wednesday, there had been no contact from Seunggeon. Since weekend schedules were usually set on Wednesday or Thursday, he’d thought maybe they’d skip this time. But to get a message saying to meet in two hours—what rotten luck.
The contract said one day during the weekend, so he should go. But he couldn’t help being irritated.
“Sorry, but I need to leave first.”
“You said you can’t do it alone, so you’re going to do it together?”
Chaehun felt wronged that he couldn’t tell the truth to Seo Jumyeong, who was showing off his ghostly intuition. Looking at his phone then saying he had to go—it was natural to find it strange. But that wasn’t the truth.
“It’s not like that.”
“Right. It’s a secret, huh. Got it.”
Chaehun let Seo Jumyeong, who winked saying he’d keep the secret, misunderstand. Denying it here obviously wouldn’t work anyway.
Just as he was about to get up, his younger brother Kang Yeonghwan called. He asked when hyung was coming since he was at the studio. To Kang Yeonghwan, who said he wanted to eat chicken, Chaehun replied that he’d be late.
Not only did the round trip take considerable time, but when he met Seunggeon, things never ended simply. When he said it would be past midnight, Kang Yeonghwan grumbled that chicken wasn’t tasty when eaten alone and hung up.
Somehow at Kang Yeonghwan’s sulky voice, Chaehun was seized by an uneasy feeling. It had been four years since Chaehun became independent and started living alone. There had been several times when Kang Yeonghwan visited his studio and caused trouble. At least lately he seemed to have matured a bit, so he had no choice but to trust him.
