B-521
The owner of O’Bar, Pujo—Jo Seonggyu—actually disliked Cha Gyujin when they first met.
“I don’t really know, but he’s supposedly famous. A popular Korean pianist is performing too, so it should be worth watching.”
“Thanks. You could’ve given me something crappier.”
Pujo received the ticket from his boyfriend and skimmed over it half-heartedly.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but it’s obviously because of a new boyfriend.”
“Is he that good?”
“Just from the outside, at least. I hope this one lasts a while without any drama, but who knows.”
A sigh escaped. Even after seeing him for years, Cha Gyujin was the kind of guy where you couldn’t tell if he was transparent or inscrutable, whether he was generous or indifferent toward his lovers. He fell fast and gave up fast, but when he set his sights on someone, nine times out of ten it was a hit. Men clung to this charming bastard endlessly, like iron filings to a magnet. And roughly half of them either cheated on Cha Gyujin or cheated with him.
“What’s the point of being popular? His love life is so cursed.”
“He’s like a magnet that attracts psychos, right?”
“I don’t know if he has no eye for people or if he’s the problem.”
“That bastard is the problem.”
At the blunt voice that cut in, Pujo shot a cold glance.
“Pervert. After what happened to you, you still want to come here and drink?”
“Don’t call me that. And don’t discriminate against customers.”
Unless I don’t take your money, fuck. Byun Taeuk, with a gauze bandage plastered conspicuously large on his forehead, slumped heavily into a chair.
“He really has a talent for driving people crazy.”
“Hey. You bastard… if you have any conscience, take it out and look at it once in a while. You’re the one who caused trouble trying to switch boyfriends.”
“What, did I cheat? I was just a little slow to wrap things up.”
“That’s exactly what two-timing is. Just break up completely with your boyfriend first, then date him. What was the rush?”
Thanks to you, Cha Gyujin got dragged into someone else’s love triangle, got fired from his job, and was publicly humiliated for nothing.
Pujo sighed and looked across at Byun Taeuk, who remained utterly shameless despite throwing Cha Gyujin into the middle of a love triangle. Looking at that cheerful, coy face, it seemed like a talent in itself to pick out only these good-looking bastards with rotten, shameless personalities.
“He was the one who seduced me first, you know?”
Byun Taeuk argued without a shred of remorse.
“Do you know how heartbreaking it is to be dumped after one little mistake when he was all flirty with me?”
“Hey, he seduced you thinking you didn’t have a boyfriend. And two-timing isn’t a little mistake.”
“He can’t overlook that one thing? After acting like he was completely smitten with me. He melted me down like he’d do anything for me, but it was all bullshit.”
Pujo gaped as tears of indignation even began to well up in his eyes. To anyone watching, it would look like Cha Gyujin had his fun and then ditched him without a care.
“That bastard is worse than me.”
Byun Taeuk stood up abruptly.
“Flirting with someone who’s taken until they fall for you, then acting all innocent?”
“Jesus, are you insane?”
“And then he acts all wishy-washy so the people he’s actually dating get anxious and cheat.”
“Hey, stop talking nonsense and don’t come back here.”
Pujo waved his hands dismissively.
“I won’t take your money anymore. What kind of bastard is like that?”
“I won’t come to this shitty place again either. Fuck, what kind of name is O’Bar anyway?”
“It’s Jo-Bar!”
“O’Bar or Jot-Bar, whatever.”
Byun Taeuk slammed the door shut like he was venting his anger and left. Pujo’s face boiled with rage.
“Anyway, this is all that bastard Cha Gyujin’s fault.”
“Ah, why are you like this?”
“It’s a rude thing to say, but it hit the mark, didn’t it?”
Brushing off his boyfriend’s hand trying to soothe him, Pujo furiously scrubbed the chair where Byun Taeuk had been sitting. That’s it, no more dating for Cha Gyujin in my bar. Banned.
When it’s not mine, I’d even cheat to have it, but when it’s mine, I’m anxious…
This wasn’t the first person to spout such twisted logic and curses after breaking up with Cha Gyujin, but it was newly shocking every time he heard it. Pujo irritably threw down the rag. If you have no eye for people, at least manage them well.
Pujo met Cha Gyujin back when he was running a business with a friend in Jongro. Long before opening O’Bar, so they went back a fair ways. Pujo found Cha Gyujin, always grinning at the center of attention, inexplicably irksome. The way he laughed leisurely and casually reeled in any man he wanted seemed like the luxury of someone who had it all, which annoyed him.
This is a non-smoking area.
Though Pujo was lenient about smoking with regulars, he showed no mercy to people he disliked. Cha Gyujin, who’d been puffing on his cigarette, blinked and looked at him. His eyes weren’t particularly large, but there was something strangely captivating about them.
Can’t I just hold it in my mouth, boss?
Instead of protesting the unfairness, Cha Gyujin asked sweetly.
I won’t actually smoke it.
Then why?
Sometimes my mouth gets too bored.
Then suck on candy instead.
Aw.
Cha Gyujin smiled with his eyes. His cheeky expression instantly twisted into something provocative.
I came here to suck on something else.
Twenty-year-old Cha Gyujin, who still had traces of youthful cuteness, was even more popular than he is now. Even Pujo, who disliked him back then, had to acknowledge why. He learned through Cha Gyujin what it meant to have a talent for enchanting people. Along with just how many psychos there were in the world. In fact, there were so many shameless people like Byun Taeuk in Cha Gyujin’s dating history that it was hard to tell them apart. Perhaps because of that, Cha Gyujin easily forgot whatever happened to him. That forgetfulness became the driving force that kept pulling him into the same pattern of relationships.
“At this point, wouldn’t you just hate dating? But he never gets tired. For someone with a dating constitution, he has too little attachment to people.”
“Isn’t that why the guys go crazy over him?”
“He makes them suffer emotionally even without doing anything wrong. Honestly, even if their behavior is despicable, I can’t say I don’t understand their feelings.”
Pujo said sharply.
“He seems like he’ll indulge everything, but the moment you cross the line, you’re out without mercy. And when he turns around, there’s no lingering attachment. In a way, they feel deceived. It drives them insane.”
When in love, he’s sweet, accepting their whining with a smiling face. That’s how Cha Gyujin’s partners kept getting more and more arrogant until, like a cat that stares directly at its owner while dropping a cup, they’d cause trouble as if checking, Even if I do this? When Cha Gyujin, who absolutely never tried to fix people, cheerfully said goodbye, only then would they not think about what they’d done and lose sleep over the sense of betrayal. Lingering feelings, obsession, and resentment dripped down, building his bad reputation. Thanks to that, he even had to change his number every time he broke up with a guy.
Pujo leaned against the bar and sighed. The power of time was frightening. A guy he used to hate became as dear as a younger brother, and lovers he once cherished became people who fought by throwing napkin holders. But even time’s power didn’t seem to work on Cha Gyujin’s love life. This isn’t Inception—what is this endless loop?
That perverted concept of “New Year Hunting” was also an annual event he declared after getting brutally dumped by a two-timing boyfriend and having drunken sex with a man he couldn’t even remember. He’d never told Cha Gyujin because he’d laugh like crazy, but Pujo often thought on his own that even that kind of transgression might be a defense mechanism. At Pujo’s depressed expression as if it were his own problem, his boyfriend, Nam Juwung, narrowed his eyes.
“I’m jealous. You’ve never actually dated him, right?”
“Are you crazy? I’d never date him even drunk! You’re the only one for me.”
Pujo jumped up and was being all lovey-dovey with his boyfriend when—whee-whew—a short, cheerful whistle sound cut in like a knock. The hand putting the ticket in the envelope and the chatter both stopped. A tall man wearing his hat pulled low stood in front of the bar.
“Excuse me. I’m looking for someone.”
It was a distinctive pronunciation. The man spoke with a slightly awkward accent like a foreigner but with rich vocalization.
“A man named Jin.”
“I don’t know anyone with just that.”
“Gyu, Jin.”
Wariness rose in Pujo’s eyes.
“I said I don’t know. And even if I did, I have no reason to tell you.”
“I don’t know his full name, but I’ll describe his face. Eyes like a puppy, lips like a kitty…”
Pujo made a disgusted face and this time genuinely denied it.
“I absolutely, positively don’t know anyone like that. And kitties don’t have mouths. Are you crazy?”
“Honey. Not Hello Kitty… a baby cat.”
His boyfriend whispered with a slightly embarrassed face from the side.
“I’m not a weird person. I’ve been here with him a long time ago.”
The man slightly lifted and lowered his cap brim. Friendly-looking brown eyes and clean skin were briefly revealed then instantly disappeared. Pujo shook his head more confidently.
“I don’t speak English and I don’t remember.”
“Oh, but you understood.”
The man waved his hand reproachfully. Even that had something leisurely and innocent about it, like a child. Except for being suspicious, he was a man with a very likable impression. He frowned and rolled his tongue.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to Korea, so my tongue is still stiff.”
For that, his use of idioms is annoyingly skillful.
“I want to contact Jin, but his number seems to have changed.”
“If I said I don’t know, I don’t know.”
“Hmm…”
