Seo Nakil really came in 30 minutes. Having ridden once was an experience too, so that black SUV was somehow welcome. Slipping inside and sitting down, I leaned slightly against the warm seat and ended up dozing off.
The car, which rolled a bit slower than when it came, stopped in front of a hotel. Those standing by the door approached to open the car door, then bowed their waists and greeted politely.
“Welcome to Hotel Ritten Korea. We’ll escort you inside.”
It was the five-star hotel I’d only heard about. A scene that seemed a bit intimidating just to look at. Luxuriously spacious, grand, and even splendid.
“Shall we eat first? I doubt you ate anything proper there.”
Seo Nakil wrapped his arm around my shoulder and led me. Unlike me, for whom everything felt new, he acted as if this place were his own home.
“Let’s go up to the restaurant on the 30th floor. The seafood dishes there are clean.”
I took a deep breath just before getting on the elevator. Fortunately it was wider than I thought, but that space that could fit fifteen people and more felt like a prison rising toward the sky to me.
The devoted treatment continued even after going up to the 30th floor. As soon as we arrived, a neatly dressed man came out and greeted us by almost folding his waist in half.
“You’ve arrived.”
“How did what I requested go?”
“It’s being procured. It will probably be sent up around when you finish your meal. We’ll prepare it without deficiency.”
“Please do so.”
“Um, General Manager Seo Jeongwoo happens to be here today. What would you like to do?”
“Unfortunately, it’s difficult to meet today.”
Seo Nakil glanced at the window seat and smiled faintly at me.
“Just tell him I’m with an important companion.”
“Understood.”
However, the man didn’t leave right away. Nor was he having any conversation with Seo Nakil. Rather, his position one step back was closer to me than to Seo Nakil, and seeing him look at me with a beaming face, he seemed to be waiting for something.
‘…Ah, the coat.’
Catching on a beat late, I took off my coat and handed it over. Fortunately, it was the right answer. He greeted with perfect posture then stepped aside.
On the round table came foods I’d never seen anywhere. An appetizer of scallops with citrus sauce topped with caviar. Soup flavored with corn and peas. Wine sorbet meant to briefly stimulate the pre-meal appetite. Then came tenderloin steak scented with charcoal with porcini sauce, and after tasting lobster gently cooked in butter, a cerise cake decorated with edible flowers came out last.
At first I stiffened, not even knowing how to eat, but Seo Nakil slowly demonstrated for me. I focused all my nerves only on his fingertips as I tasted the caviar and scallops together, then carefully chewed the peas in the soup.
Then the hunger I hadn’t felt all day raised its head. The sweetness of corn tickled my palate and saliva pooled at the fragrance of wine sorbet. Thanks to Seo Nakil who changed my plate while I ate the soup, I only needed to stab and eat the steak without even needing to cut it, and the lobster melted smoothly in my mouth before I could chew it a few times.
By the time I was scooping the fluffy pale pink cream piled on the rectangular cake, my mood had improved considerably.
“The cream smells like cherries.”
“Because it’s cerise cake. It means cherry in French.”
“Aha…”
“Is it to your taste?”
I wasn’t sure if this could be called taste. Before food approaching art, preference seemed to pale a bit too.
“There’s a penthouse one floor above this lounge.”
What was this topic for? I just stared blankly at Seo Nakil.
“It’s a usable hotel, but still I’m not confident I can take care of you as meticulously as at home. So I was getting a new one… What should I do? You said you don’t want to live as I please.”
“…”
“If it’s really uncomfortable, I’ll arrange another room. I’m not saying this just because my family owns it, but it’s quite a nice place. Whichever room you stay in, there won’t be any inconvenience.”
Of course it would be so. Sleeping in the hallway here would be better than staying at that dilapidated cheap motel.
I traced the cherry scent remaining in my mouth with the tip of my tongue then swallowed my saliva.
The food was surprisingly delicious, the atmosphere was elegant like something drawn in a picture, and there was nothing that wasn’t wonderful from the decorations to the color of the lighting.
And I was in such a place. I felt like a mismatched puzzle piece, dropped like an isolated island.
“No.”
The cake I forcibly pushed in one more bite no longer felt sweet at all.
“I’ll go up to the penthouse.”
When asked if I needed something to drink, I requested wine. When they said they’d bring out sparkling wine to accompany dessert, I quickly shook my head. No, please give me something without sweetness. It’s fine if it’s bitter or strong. What I wanted wasn’t fine dining anyway.
When I emptied the large glass in one gulp, Seo Nakil frowned.
“Are you good with alcohol?”
Even in this situation, that seemed more important than my lack of manners. When he himself sat there like a portrait.
“Well. I’m not very bad at it nor very good at it.”
Wine filled my glass again. I drank it in one gulp. The wine that was obviously tremendously expensive was bitter, sour, and astringent, making its price meaningless. Perhaps the aesthetics contained within it were permitted only to leisurely and elegant people, people who didn’t drown in life.
“If I drink diligently, at some point… the day just ends.”
Like turning off the TV with a click, the brain falls asleep like that. It wasn’t long ago relatively speaking when I learned that my memory blanks out if I exceed my drinking capacity. According to Kwon Seonho, the me I didn’t remember wasn’t much different from usual.
“Are you going to end today like that too?”
I pondered for a moment while fiddling with my third glass.
“Well. Which would be better…”
“…”
“Do you dislike drunkards?”
Was it my imagination? It seemed like a very faint smile appeared on Seo Nakil’s face.
“Generally yes, but there are exceptions.”
It was a strange thing. When I pushed myself to drink alcohol, it was mostly because of Kwon Seonho. So he wouldn’t have seen me drunk.
Yet it felt like that exception Seo Nakil spoke of was precisely me.
Because his gaze felt inexplicably affectionate.
So I somehow wanted to remember this night a little.
Going up to the room, I looked around the interior.
With a living room in the center, there were two bedrooms on either side, and a separate dressing room and dining room. Seeing that a very slight sense of living was felt from the large bedroom on the right, that room seemed to be the one Seo Nakil mainly used.
So I too headed in that direction. However, without entering, I turned my body in front of it and looked at Seo Nakil. Perhaps thinking I’d naturally go to the smaller room, he tilted his head slightly with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Why? Do you covet that room more?”
“…”
“You can use it if you want.”
“It doesn’t matter where.”
I was indifferent enough to sleep on the floor without complaint if asked. I didn’t complain well about things where I wasn’t given a choice, things I couldn’t do anything about. Because once I started, the grief would continue endlessly.
I looked straight at Seo Nakil and brought my hand to the nape of my neck. The hand that had become slightly loose from the alcohol buzz wandered a bit, but still moved according to my will reasonably well.
Click. When I undid the first button, the very thin smile that had been on Seo Nakil’s face disappeared.
“Unfortunately, I caught on to the lie, and now all that’s left is a plausible justification.”
Click. I undid the second button. A slightly darker shadow fell on his ink-painting-like face. I couldn’t distinguish whether it was anxiety, disappointment, bewilderment, or anger.
“Since you brought it up anyway, I think I should pay a price.”
“Han Ijae-ssi.”
“Sleep with me, Actor-nim.”
“Han Ijae.”
The hand that slid down undid the third, fourth, and fifth buttons.
“Why?”
I asked indifferently.
“You bought it for 500 million won, but men aren’t acceptable?”
