‘I answered everything anyway. What’s the problem?’
It was right after Hae-il, who scanned his face, turned his eyes to the sky and took another deep drag of the cigarette.
Moon Woo-shin, who suddenly reached out his hand, easily snatched away the cigarette in Hae-il’s mouth.
“What?”
Moon Woo-shin, lightly ignoring the sharp reaction, brought the cigarette Hae-il had been holding to his own mouth. He took a deep breath with the cigarette casually in his mouth.
Both cheeks hollowed, the cigarette end glowed red and gradually burned down.
His gaze was fixed on Hae-il’s eyes. The thick gaze strangely felt like he was angry.
‘Why is he angry?’
He felt dirty. When he glared back without avoiding it, Moon Woo-shin exhaled smoke without even turning his head. Because of that, acrid cigarette smoke spread thick in front of his face.
“Ah!”
While he let out an annoyed sound and waved his hand, the distance suddenly narrowed.
Moon Woo-shin, who abruptly approached forward taking advantage of the gap when his vision became slightly blurred, bent his waist slightly to match eye level. The cigarette end approached so close it seemed like it would touch his lips.
Startled, Hae-il flinched and stiffened.
Leaving only a distance of a few centimeters and stopping, Moon Woo-shin just stood there meeting eyes quietly.
The movement of the black pupils sweeping down inside his eyes was visible as is.
When he couldn’t gauge how many seconds of time were passing, Moon Woo-shin raised his hand, took out the cigarette he was holding, and gripped it with his fingers.
And he reached his hand toward Hae-il.
Passing as if grazing the side of Hae-il who’d frozen still, the hand that extended backward reached the ashtray placed on the railing.
The small presence of rubbing out the cigarette, the arm encircling the side as if in an embrace, the distance that grew closer as he bent his waist, and the breath settling right next to his ear.
Very small traces were felt sensitively.
Slowly pulling back his arm and stepping back once more, he looked down at Hae-il crookedly.
“I’m getting off work, so come down to the parking lot. Don’t deviate elsewhere.”
It was a cold warning. The sound of Moon Woo-shin turning around without lingering regret and walking leisurely, the sound of the rooftop door opening, and the door closing with a bang were heard in sequence.
At the last sound, Hae-il, who finally came to his senses, bit his lip.
When he turned around, on the empty ashtray, one cigarette with more than half remaining was crushed forlornly.
“Fuck, he’s messing with me.”
Hae-il, who finally cursed, roughly shook out his hair.
***
Hae-il deliberately walked down very slowly from the rooftop to the underground parking lot.
He intended to make Moon Woo-shin, who would be waiting below, get pissed off a bit, cool down his own heated head, and sort out his thoughts while at it.
However, it didn’t go well because what had just happened kept circling in his head.
‘He was so fastidious about cleanliness, but why would he put in his mouth a cigarette someone else had?’
The fact that they’d shared the same cigarette was annoying, but what made him angriest was the ruthless action of taking just one drag and throwing it away. If you’re going to snatch the cigarette, at least smoke it to the end. When you’re not even going to give me time to go buy cigarettes.
Hae-il, who let out a long breath, made a firm resolution.
‘From now on, really, let’s just treat him as an enemy.’
He didn’t want to be swayed anymore. Getting worked up alone, caring about pointless things, consuming emotions that wouldn’t even reach—he’d already finished that years ago. Now Moon Woo-shin was nothing more than one of the criminals he had to arrest.
While trying hard to cut away past memories and the sense of betrayal that inevitably followed, Hae-il firmly stepped on the stairs instead of Moon Woo-shin.
After stepping on the last stair and arriving at the basement level. After taking another deep breath in and out, he opened the door leading to the parking lot.
When the silent and chilly air touched him, it seemed to calm him down considerably.
While following the parked spot with his eyes, a familiar back of a head caught his sight first.
Hae-il’s expressionless face brightened automatically like a reflex.
“Hyung!”
It was one of the organization members he met during meal times. When he approached with a pleased face, he too amiably reached out his hand and gripped Hae-il’s arm.
“Oh, youngest, running an errand?”
“No, getting off work.”
“What’s the occasion, this early? Going on outside work?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Thinking about how he usually got off work only late at night and just slept at home, it was unusually early.
Perhaps understanding the implication that he was leaving because Moon Woo-shin told him to, a face full of sympathy returned.
That’s when it happened.
Beep! A noisy horn blared long through the silent underground parking lot.
The two startled people turned their gazes to find the source of the sound.
The noise continuing without even a brief break was clearly intentional.
Thanks to that, Hae-il noticed before even visually confirming the culprit.
“Ah, you fuck, what crazy bastard…!”
Hae-il, who grabbed the man trying to rush out in excitement, smiled brightly and whispered quietly.
“It’s the Director.”
“……”
The man’s eyes shook left and right. Since his eyes asked if it was really true, Hae-il nodded with a serious expression.
Watching him only move his mouth trying to manage the curse he’d just spat out, Hae-il politely bowed in greeting.
“I’ll hurry and go, hyung.”
“Oh, oh, yeah… Th-the Director… Why suddenly doing something he’s never done before… No, he must have his reasons…”
Leaving him behind smiling awkwardly, Hae-il walked quickly and approached the familiar car. His ears felt like they’d tear from the clamor continuing without rest.
When he forcefully opened the driver’s seat door with strength, only then did the noisy sound stop. The regained quietness made it feel like there was tinnitus in his ears.
Hae-il, who took a deep breath, bent his waist to match eye level with Moon Woo-shin sitting inside. Along with a formal smile, he let out a small voice in case others might hear.
“Director, have you gone crazy?”
“Are you sane?”
As if blaming him for being only a few minutes late, Moon Woo-shin flicked the watch strap wrapped around Hae-il’s wrist with his finger. Following that, he gestured with his eyes toward the parking lot entrance where Hae-il had been standing. It seemed he considered even the brief conversation as deviating elsewhere.
While he let out a deep breath in disbelief, Moon Woo-shin first put his feet out through the open door gap. Then he straightened his body in one motion.
Hae-il, who’d barely straightened only his upper body at the sudden movement, flinched. A face placed at an excessively close distance was looking straight down.
Because of the eyes staring down without even a word to move aside, tension crept in stealthily. Hae-il, who stepped back one step, naturally avoided his gaze.
However, as soon as their eye contact misaligned, Moon Woo-shin grabbed and lifted Hae-il’s chin.
“You only avoid my eyes.”
It became absurd why this was suddenly a point of contention too.
“Isn’t that natural?”
“What’s natural?”
The period of experiencing his body losing control and moving on its own whenever their eyes met was a full two semesters. Including vacations, it was almost worth calling a year.
After experiencing that much, even if he didn’t want to learn, his body remembered on its own. That making eye contact with Moon Woo-shin was no different from handing over control of his body to him.
Except for occasionally making eye contact deliberately to glare at him out of bravado, or when his gaze went unconsciously, it couldn’t help but become a habit to let his gaze flow away as much as possible normally.
“Try reflecting on your own past.”
“You know it’s possible now even without eye contact.”
“Knowing it in my head and actually wanting to make eye contact are different things.”
Hae-il, who smacked away the hand fixing his chin, stepped back boldly and gestured. It meant to hurry and get lost to the back seat.
Moon Woo-shin, who’d been watching quietly, circled around to the back of the car. While Hae-il, who climbed into the driver’s seat, fastened his seatbelt, the passenger seat door flung open.
“…Why are you getting in here?”
Moon Woo-shin, who fastened his seatbelt without answering, gave a brief nod. It meant to shut up and start.
‘Why is that guy really acting like that today?’
The routine was always sitting in the back seat, the superior position, and either working quietly throughout the travel time or picking fights about not driving properly.
Is he planning to pick fights more seriously from right beside me?
Hae-il frowned and started the engine for now. He recalled what he’d resolved while walking down the stairs one by one, and steeled his heart once more while operating the navigation.
Whatever he says, however he picks fights, I need to pass over it calmly. It’s a relationship where I just need to extract information. Just say what needs to be said businesslike, don’t attach feelings, and at the last moment, just cleanly arrest that bastard too and it’s done.
“Where to?”
“Home.”
“……”
Making a mockery of his thought to pass over things calmly, he immediately felt ominous at Moon Woo-shin’s one word.
