At Seungyeon’s honest statement, Yoon Taerim froze with his smiling face. However, thinking he shouldn’t miss this moment, Seungyeon blurted out his thoughts as they came.
“Actually, I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but it felt awkward to say something to someone who helped me, so I wasn’t saying anything. But…… no matter what, you’re being too greasy. I don’t even understand why you’re looking at me with those eyes.”
Helping his mom was one thing, but the fact that Yoon Taerim was a pervert hadn’t changed. He’d been a bit of a pervert and an ahjussi before too, but he hadn’t been this clingy.
“I think you could just go back to how you were before……”
Seungyeon cautiously suggested. Though he’d softened his words considerably, Yoon Taerim was already shocked enough that he remained silent for a long while. After staying frozen for some time, he straightened his posture. Yoon Taerim, holding his forehead, asked again with a serious expression.
“Did I just seem like an ahjussi?”
Seungyeon looked at him silently. Yoon Taerim also seemed to read the silent affirmation and soon waved his hand. He kept muttering the same words.
“A greasy ahjussi…… me…… me?”
Did I speak too harshly to someone who helped me? But what could he do when it was the truth? Today’s Yoon Taerim was somehow different from usual, even setting aside personal feelings. He’d been sending uniquely clingy looks and acting friendly, calling him “Seungyeon” at the end of every sentence. Change was fine in moderation, but it was too sudden and very burdensome.
Still, this guy did treat my mom as a VIP, so was I too harsh? With his heart softening, Seungyeon tried his best to phrase it indirectly and nicely.
“I just mean you’re a bit different from usual, not that you’re completely weird or anything. Before, you just seemed kind of like a pervert……”
“Just kind of a pervert……?”
At Yoon Taerim’s wounded face once again, Seungyeon pressed his lips shut. Let’s just stop talking. As he solemnly stared at the empty cup, he rolled his eyes at the sound of a snicker. Yoon Taerim laughed, sweeping his hair back.
“You’re really not easy, Seungyeon. I was trying to be a bit kind. Who knew you’d turn it around on me like this.”
“Kind……? I see.”
Seungyeon nodded awkwardly as if understanding. I guess excessive kindness turned into greasiness. Why would he do something worse than not doing it at all? Before getting more uncomfortable with this topic he wasn’t particularly curious about, Seungyeon reached for Yoon Taerim’s coffee cup.
“Shall we get up if you’re done? I’ll clean this up.”
At Seungyeon’s kindness, Yoon Taerim also stood up without much comment. While cleaning up the empty cups and leaving the cafe, Seungyeon kept timing when to say goodbye to him.
Even after sending Yoon Taerim off, he had a lot to do. He had to go up and look after his mom, and he needed to show his face to Auntie Misuk on the way. Given his mom’s personality, she wouldn’t have contacted his sister first, so he was pressed for time if he wanted to get in touch with her too.
‘First, I need to buy a charger.’
At least it was fortunate he’d gotten his phone back. Seungyeon bowed his head to Yoon Taerim with sincerity.
“Thank you for finding my phone. And for taking care of my mom. Well then, go on in.”
Meaning don’t follow me, he just bowed his head and quickly turned around. Seungyeon hurried his steps, thinking it should be enough now, and stopped in place. And the next moment, he felt body heat touching his back.
“I didn’t know you’d stop suddenly, sorry.”
Yoon Taerim stepped back and scratched his head. Why isn’t this guy going his own way and following me instead?
“Aren’t you busy? Shouldn’t you go to the company—no, the oriental medicine clinic?”
Isn’t today Monday? At Seungyeon’s question, Yoon Taerim nodded. At his bright smile, Seungyeon swallowed the question that had risen to his chin. He was dying to know why someone with a proper job was following him around with nothing to do on a Monday afternoon, but since he’d benefited from him, he held back as much as possible.
“Temporary holiday. The privilege of being self-employed.”
What can I say when he’s closing his own hospital himself? Seungyeon turned his head, meaning do what you want.
Though a goldfish turd was stuck behind him, Seungyeon first stopped by Auntie Misuk’s hospital room as planned. He was able to greet her, ask after her well-being, and hear about the traffic accident. Both Auntie Misuk’s Carnival and the other car were traveling slowly, so it wasn’t a major accident, but the other party’s vehicle was heavily damaged compared to the impact. It didn’t seem like it had flipped over like the beauty salon auntie said.
Since all the aunties who were in the car together didn’t have major injuries, Seungyeon left the room relieved. As he headed to his mom’s room with a lighter heart, Yoon Taerim chattered endlessly from behind.
“Still, it’s fortunate that the other party’s fault is 100%. Ah, and since I made a promise with you about hospital bills, I’ll cover your friends’ bills too. You could even get health checkups while you’re at it.”
At the part about covering hospital bills, he almost blurted out “Please leave now” but quickly swallowed it. After all, hospital bills were important.
Listening to Yoon Taerim’s words in one ear and out the other, Seungyeon trudged along. Only after reaching the corridor where his mom’s room was did he remember he hadn’t bought a charger. Since it’s come to this anyway, let’s take a walk with mom and go together, he thought and headed straight to the room.
“Huh?”
Behind Seungyeon, who had stopped walking, Yoon Taerim asked, “Why?” Seungyeon’s expression darkened rapidly as he recognized the man standing in front of the hospital room door.
“……Father?”
Baek Seungyeon’s father gave an awkward smile. He waved his hand toward Seungyeon.
“It’s been a while, Seungyeon.”
***
As long as one is born human, everyone has biological parents. Though family structures may vary greatly, the parents who gave birth can only be mom and dad. Baek Seungyeon was the same. On the other side of his mother was his father.
Before the possession, that is, when he was the ‘real Kim Seungyeon’, this issue was a bit more complicated. His parents, who had been so close they had a late-born child, split up before Seungyeon was even born. It was because Seungyeon’s father had an affair, leaving behind his mother who was pregnant with their late-born child.
At that time, his mother, already known as an actress, was hurt by his father and everyone in the world. People gossiped about her endlessly. Cruelly so. The public was more interested in the wife’s misfortune than in the man who had the affair.
After that, instead of the title of lovebirds, the words “poor woman” were attached before his mother’s name. At that time, the remaining family members apparently endlessly urged his mother to abort the child. It was concern over whether she could bear and raise alone the child of the guilty spouse, especially through a late-age pregnancy.
However, Seungyeon was stubbornly born even amidst that chaos. It was entirely his mother’s decision. His mother, who gave birth to an unwanted child that no one welcomed, ultimately raised him as a beloved late-born child. The reason his older sister and brothers were head over heels for Seungyeon was partly due to guilt from that time.
Seungyeon saw his father a few times growing up, but that was all. He was someone who had betrayed his mother, and he didn’t need a father at this point. He had older brothers to fill the empty space left by his father. So even after possessing this body, he’d never thought of his father. Because that was originally an empty space.
This place’s Baek Seungyeon had a similar situation. His father divorced his mother because of money. Unable to bear the father consumed by business failure, bankruptcy, and frustration, his mother requested a divorce. His father silently accepted it. And he suddenly left the family.
The reason Baek Seungyeon in the original work was so obsessed with money and went around committing fraud was perhaps because of such family circumstances. Because they didn’t have money, the family fell apart because of that damned money. If his father hadn’t failed in business, or if he’d had just a bit more strength left to endure, many things would have changed.
“It seems your mom’s emergency contact is still set to me.”
The father’s face, smiling bitterly, was full of wrinkles. His darkly tanned skin and calloused hands made Seungyeon guess at his daily life. Seungyeon silently handed over the coffee he’d gotten from the vending machine.
Though they’d moved to the rest area next to the corridor, the awkwardness didn’t disappear. His father was gauging Seungyeon’s mood, and Seungyeon didn’t particularly have anything to say. This place’s father had a different face from the ‘real Kim Seungyeon’s father’. Though it was natural since he’d appeared in the original work, the awkwardness couldn’t be helped.
“Are you doing well?”
His father asked with his head bowed. Unable to properly meet his eyes even once, he seemed to regard himself as a sinner. Seungyeon didn’t know how to answer. The Baek Seungyeon who should answer those words wasn’t him.
“……Just, getting by.”
Seungyeon barely opened his mouth while looking down at the paper cup. An indescribable feeling squirmed. He couldn’t even grasp whether it was an emotion toward his father or toward himself.
“Well, I’ll get going. And this, add it to your mom’s hospital bills.”
A crisp, white envelope emerged from his worn coat. At the urging hand telling him to take it quickly, Seungyeon reluctantly approached. The father seen up close looked old and exhausted, but only his eyes looking at Seungyeon were affectionate and tender.
“You’ve grown a lot.”
The calloused hand stroked Seungyeon’s cheek. The rough but warm touch moved away without lingering. Seungyeon didn’t hold back the departing father.
Inside the envelope he left behind were five crumpled ten-thousand-won bills.
