# Chapter 99
“Talk to Igyeol about the apartment. I heard that in April this year, Yeonhwa gave Ritz Ville to Igyeol as a birthday gift, so now it’s Igyeol’s building.”
“What? She gave him that villa building? Wow, Aunt is really awesome. That’s so cool.”
“Cool… Son, you’re supposed to be a novelist, why are you using such language? Your everyday speech habits should be good so that you don’t make mistakes in formal settings—”
“I get it, I get it. I just won’t use it, okay? Mom, you’re unleashing your nagging potential for the first time in 10 years.”
“If your profession wasn’t a novelist, I wouldn’t say anything about your speech. But you’ve chosen literary language arts as your profession.”
“I understand, Your Majesty. I’ll only use pretty and elegant words, so end of lecture.”
If Han Seola were to enter a contest for non-nagging mothers, she would probably win the grand prize without a doubt. That’s how much Han Seola wasn’t the type to nag, but on those rare occasions when she saw something that, by her standards, she absolutely couldn’t overlook, she always made sure to point it out.
“Yesterday, when I was talking with Yeonhwa, I heard that the couple living together on the fourth floor won a pickup apartment.”
“What’s a pickup apartment?”
“An non-priority subscription apartment. She said they might move out before fulfilling their contract period. The management is done by Yeonhwa’s real estate company, so I wonder if Igyeol knows about it?”
“I haven’t heard about that.”
Even if Tae Igyeol had known about it, Mo Eunje hadn’t properly talked with him recently, so there was no way he could have had the opportunity to hear about it. Even if a vacancy opened up on the fourth floor, in his current state, it didn’t seem beneficial to live close to Tae Igyeol, but it was true that the fourth floor of Ritz Ville was tempting.
“Hah… My friend is a building owner at twenty-six. That’s insane. I’m genuinely envious. Mom, Dad, do you have anything to give me?”
“Isn’t raising you healthily enough? What more do you want?”
“Honestly, it was Grandmother Ila who raised me healthily. So really, there’s nothing you can give me?”
“Be grateful that you don’t owe your parents any debt.”
Mo Yeongwoo, who had been silent until now, delivered a sharp rebuke. Mo Eunje continued eating with a pouting expression. No matter how hard he tried not to think about Tae Igyeol, when he was with his parents, the topic of conversation inevitably turned to Tae Igyeol.
He worried whether Tae Igyeol was eating properly.
&&
On Friday, he slept all day, to the point where he wondered if it was okay to do so. At Tae Igyeol’s villa, he had barely managed to get two or three hours of sleep a day, so it felt like he was making up for all his accumulated sleep at once. Mo Eunje hoped that Tae Igyeol, like him, had comfortably filled his lack of sleep in a space without Mo Eunje.
On Saturday, he woke up late around noon, ordered a set of bossam and jokbal for delivery, ate alone, and then showered. When he arrived in Busan, on the way home after dinner at an Italian restaurant, he had urgently bought underwear at a convenience store, but unfortunately, only black underwear was left, which reminded him of Tae Igyeol. Because Tae Igyeol had about 30 pairs of identical black briefs.
It was a little before 3 PM when he headed out for a walk on Haeundae Beach. He carefully applied sunscreen from his parents’ vanity table and stole his dad’s sunglasses. And then, again, he thought of Tae Igyeol. Last time, when they walked on the sandy beach together, Tae Igyeol was squinting in the sunlight, and Mo Eunje had felt regretful that he hadn’t brought sunglasses.
Being alone without Tae Igyeol felt lonely and empty.
Today, he planned to go to a sauna with his parents after they finished their consultations at 4 PM, then get massages, and have a drink. They were supposed to meet at 4:30 PM in front of the hotel with the sauna, so he still had more than an hour to spare.
As he walked, gazing blankly at the sea in front of Haeundae, he couldn’t bear the blazing sun and entered a pretty café in Cheongsa-po. As soon as he opened the door and went in, the cool air conditioning breeze that poured out instantly washed away the heat. It was only mid-June, yet he couldn’t understand why it was so hot.
He received a peach iced tea with an added shot and went upstairs. Perhaps because it was Saturday, there were quite a few people. When he had seen the building from outside, there were tables on the third floor roof terrace, and while he would have liked to enjoy the beautiful scenery, he now didn’t have the confidence to overcome the heat even sitting in the shade under a parasol, so he sat in a corner by the window on the second floor.
For some reason, all the tables were occupied by couples, except for Mo Eunje. He found it irritating to see them so cheerful in their pointless love. They would act as if there was only each other in the world and devote everything to love when things were good, but when they broke up, everything would be over, and they would become strangers who never saw each other again for the rest of their lives. It seemed stupid, foolish, and pathetic to give up the safe relationship of friends who could be together for a lifetime for those brief moments of pleasure.
“Sigh…”
But then he remembered that Tae Igyeol was trying to do that stupid, foolish, and pathetic thing, and a heavy sigh escaped him. He felt frustrated that such a wise guy couldn’t see far ahead and lost his judgment, being consumed only by the excessive desires right in front of him. Even he, who lived life with the mindset that he just needed to have fun and be happy today, knew very well which choice was beneficial in the long run. From Mo Eunje’s perspective, he couldn’t understand why Tae Igyeol, who he considered the smartest and most capable person in the world, would try to make such a reckless choice.
He was afraid that the friendship they had built for 26 years would crumble in an instant.
“…”
Even the sweet drink with a hint of bitterness couldn’t lift Mo Eunje’s downcast mood. There had been no contact from Tae Igyeol since the message on the train, and Mo Eunje hadn’t contacted him either. He thought he might have vaguely heard his mom talking on the phone with Tae Igyeol last night while half-asleep, but he wasn’t sure.
If there was one wish, it was that Tae Igyeol would eat well and sleep well. Just as he had been told that he looked gaunt, Tae Igyeol also looked quite haggard compared to ten days ago, which was worrying. As he was becoming anxious with worry, his phone, placed on the table, vibrated. Mo Eunje’s eyes widened as he checked the message sent by Ban Hajun in the group chat. There was a photo of Tae Igyeol with a cast on his right arm, lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip.
Ban Hajun [This blockhead broke his arm]
Ban Hajun [He was making a huge fuss but fell asleep after getting painkillers]
3:33 PM
3:33 PM [What happened? Is he badly hurt?]
As he was typing his reply, his thumbs kept making typos from fumbling, so he had to correct it several times before finally sending it.
Ban Hajun [We were playing basketball on a bet earlier, and when Tae Igyeol was trying to do a dunk shot, some idiot ran in to defend and Igyeol’s arm hit the goal post]
3:34 PM
Crazy…
He wanted to rush over and break that bastard’s arm in the same way, whoever he was. Why would that crazy son of a bitch dangerously rush in when someone was attempting a dunk shot? He hurt Tae Igyeol. His hands trembled with anger, and his heart pounded with worry.
Gye Minho [He looks like he’s in a lot of pain ㅠㅠ]
Gye Minho [And it had to be his right arm…]
Gye Minho [Did you get the hospital expenses?]
3:34 PM
Ban Hajun [That bastard kept fouling me with physical plays throughout the basketball game]
Ban Hajun [And he rushed in really viciously when Igyeol got hurt too]
Ban Hajun [So Tae Igyeol got pissed and threw a punch with his left hand…]
Ban Hajun [The guy got a bloody nose and lost a tooth]
3:35 PM
Gye Minho [Wow…]
3:35 PM
Mo Eunje returned his barely-touched drink to the counter while reading the messages on his phone. As he stepped outside the café, the hot air clung to his skin. He had planned to stay here for about a week or ten days, but he felt uncomfortable, anxious, and, in fact, insanely worried, so he couldn’t just sit still.
Ban Hajun [It’s a situation where they both have to pay for each other’s medical expenses]
Ban Hajun [But I have to go to a shoot in the evening, so one of you come and take care of him]
3:36 PM
Gye Minho [Around what time?]
3:36 PM
Ban Hajun [Our Minho is tone-deaf as always]
3:36 PM
Gye Minho [Huh? I don’t have a date today, so I can come in the evening]
Gye Minho [If the other side gets petty, let me know]
Gye Minho [You know my dad’s a lawyer, right? I’ll ask him to take the case for free]
3:36 PM
Ban Hajun [Yeah… Igyeol would be very grateful]
3:37 PM
Gye Minho [Friends should help each other in times like these]
3:37 PM
Mo Eunje ran to the main road, hailed a taxi, and begged the driver to take him to Busan Station as quickly as possible. It was fortunate that he didn’t have any luggage, so he didn’t need to stop by home.
He couldn’t catch his breath, and his heart was pounding so abnormally that he couldn’t stand it. Messages continued to come in during this time, but thanks to the taxi driver deliberately speeding, he got motion sickness and couldn’t read any more. After somewhat regulating his breathing and calming his mind, he called Ban Hajun.
“Oh. Aren’t you in Busan?”
“Is Igyeol badly hurt? What did the doctor say? Is it just fractured? Or completely broken?”
“It looks broken to me, but I don’t know the details.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Aren’t you at the hospital with him right now?”
He thought he was making the call in a calm state, but that was a misconception. Though he was talking with Ban Hajun, his voice was trembling unstably, and he couldn’t think straight.
“The patient talked with the doctor alone. But I think it’s broken. He was in so much pain that he got painkillers, and Tae Igyeol isn’t someone who would exaggerate, right?”
“Ha, really, what kind of crazy bastard…”
“He was as tall as me and had obscenely bulky muscles like he works out a lot. If Tae Igyeol got pushed aside by this guy, even though Igyeol was in mid-jump, then that says it all.”
“Huff… I’m on my way to Busan Station right now. Wait a moment, let me check the train schedule.”
While maintaining the call, he endured his queasy stomach and accessed the app to check the train schedule. He didn’t even have the luxury to calculate that his relationship with Tae Igyeol was currently awkward and distant. What use were such sentimental things when Tae Igyeol was injured and lying in a hospital? If he didn’t see Tae Igyeol with his own eyes immediately, he felt like he would die from anxiety.
