“So Yoan, what did you think after seeing him up close?”
I don’t know. Actually, I’d forgotten. I was too busy rolling around in bed.
But…
“I thought something seemed off.”
Son Yowan spoke indifferently while rolling up his coat sleeves. This coat looks just right, but when actually worn the sleeves are somewhat bothersome. Tsk, it’s not a knockoff, is it? He has bad memories when it comes to knockoffs.
“Huh? Why do you think that?”
“The reason…”
Because that fellow plays the Detective role? obviously won’t work.
“…there isn’t one. Just a feeling.”
He only responded like that because he couldn’t think of a proper reason, but having said it, Son Yowan went ‘Hmm?’ He realized it was very close to his true feelings. It was certain. For some reason, Son Yowan didn’t feel the Detective was a dangerous person to him.
“Just a feeling means there’s no basis… Ah, Yoan.”
“Why are you grabbing someone’s arm? What is it?”
Because of the Actor who opened his mouth wide in shock at whatever he saw, Son Yowan looked around, then a beat late also turned his eyes following the Actor’s gaze. The place his gaze fixed on was none other than.
“What is it?”
What is it, why are you looking at my wrist?
“Yoan, what’s wrong with your wrist!”
“Ow ow ow, Uya, how can you suddenly roll that up!”
“Yoan, what’s wrong with your arm!”
“What about my wrist and forearm?”
“What do you mean what? It’s all bruised! Were you tied up? Were you hit? By, by that person?”
Only then did Son Yowan realize why the Actor was so shocked.
“Tsk, over such a trivial thing.”
So Son Yowan pulled his arm away from the Actor and lowered his sleeve to hide the skin marked with mottled bruises and handprints.
“I wasn’t hit, wasn’t tied up either.”
“Re-really?”
“Of course really. What would I gain by lying to you?”
“Ah…”
Son Yowan’s eyes narrowed slyly. Why is that guy acting shy? Did he abbreviate ‘It’s not like I get money for lying to you, so why would I go to the trouble of racking my brain to lie?’ too cost-effectively?
Oh.
Then Son Yowan spotted another person near the 2nd floor corridor. It seemed there wouldn’t be time to explain in detail to his companion so far.
“That from earlier just happened from fucking around a bit, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Uh, uhuh? What? What did you say? Wait, Yoan?”
“Ah, sex, sex. I slept with Captain-nim.”
“Slept, slept with him? With that person?”
“You have to bump flesh to soften wariness and such. That bastard was pretty starved too. And fortunately I don’t have a lover these days.”
Only after speaking did Son Yowan remember.
Come to think of it, does that Detective fellow not have a lover either?
Probably not, right? Well, that fellow didn’t seem to have the energy to diligently date anyone.
“Yo, Yoan, talk with me for a bit…!”
The Actor stood frozen in a daze, then belatedly followed and requested after Son Yowan left first, but unfortunately, before he could even finish his sentence, the Director’s voice cut his words clean off.
“Yohan-gun, over here!”
“Yep, Director hyungnim!”
Son Yowan raised his hand to wave in return and quickly went before him.
***
The Director had come in to find Son Yowan and the Actor.
“You must have been worried after all, hyungnim. I was actually surprised too, you know? That guy came all by himself to find me. Tsk, obviously that guy left without listening to everything, right? That Uya guy is good in every way but sometimes he does stuff like that.”
“Hahaha. All young people are like that. When I was young, I was exactly like that too. Enthusiasm takes over, and the body moves before the head. Thanks to that, I got scolded quite a lot by the elders.”
“By elders, do you mean, that Teacher-nim? You seem to have known each other for quite a long time.”
“Oh my, don’t even mention it. Now I’m a bit used to it, but back then I couldn’t even go near that elder for fear lightning would strike. Yohan-gun, be careful too. What that elder absolutely detests is exactly…”
“Someone like me, a punk?”
“Punk? You’re just a young person who’s a bit more spirited than average.”
“Wow, as expected of Director Hyungnim. That’s a good expression.”
“Hahaha, I knew you’d like it! You resemble me. You’re just like me when I was young.”
“It’s an honor, Hyungnim.”
“Hahaha!”
“Hahaha!”
As Son Yowan and the Director walked shoulder to shoulder, exchanging words, the Actor following a couple steps behind them clearly looked uncomfortable.
Of course, that wasn’t Son Yowan’s concern.
“Yohan-gun.”
Then, suddenly bringing his face close, the Director whispered to Son Yowan.
“Yes. Why, Hyungnim?”
When the other person raises their volume, you raise yours together; when they lower it, you lower yours together—that’s the basics of social life. So Son Yowan also answered in a voice barely audible to the Director alone.
Could he be telling me a secret?
Or maybe some high-grade information.
“What’s with Actor-gun?”
Not at all.
“He keeps glancing at you? Doesn’t he have something to say to you?”
“Is that so? I have no idea, Hyungnim.”
Son Yowan smiled and pointed behind him with just his thumb toward where the Actor would be.
“In the first place, before Hyungnim came to pick us up, it was just the two of us. If he had something to say to me, he would’ve said it a while ago, right?”
“Well, that’s true.”
It would have been nice if this topic ended there, but as with all things in the world, other people don’t move according to one’s wishes. Unless they move in the opposite direction. This time was the same.
“Yohan-gun, did you notice by any chance? Of course you noticed, since Yohan-gun resembles me!”
A voice whispering as if handling a secret topic. An expression smirking while glancing sideways. Finally, a gesture poking with his elbow.
Son Yowan almost made a “Tsk” sound showing his displeasure. Fortunately, he didn’t.
Noona should’ve seen this to know how I’ve grown into such a self-controlled member of society.
Unfortunately, the person with Son Yowan wasn’t that person who had been reborn as the ruler of his soul by frequently kicking his shins and back, but a pot-bellied ahjussi sending all kinds of unseemly signals while winking.
“Actually, I’ve been watching for a while, and it seems Actor-gun is… to you. Hahaha.”
“Nooo way. Hyungnim, surely not. Who would do that in this situation?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. In precarious situations, it’s easier for love to blossom. Why, isn’t there even research on that?”
“The suspension bridge effect?”
“That’s right, that. Actually, I’m a living witness to that phenomenon. I once witnessed with my own eyes a couple that could never have gotten together in normal circumstances becoming bound together more tightly than any normal married couple in the midst of crisis!”
Son Yowan wondered what that had to do with anything. If you lived long, well, you’d see all sorts of things.
Judging by how he specifically compared it to a normal married couple, was it an affair couple?
Given that he mentioned normal circumstances beforehand, it might have been a relationship that was hard to form due to social views, something different from an affair.
But what does that have to do with anything right now?
Son Yowan thought that Hyungnim was quite a nice person for a VIP but had no sense. Why was he bringing up that story now? It seemed like he just wanted to talk about it…
“Actually, that’s about that Noona.”
“That Noona? If it’s someone Director Hyungnim would call Noona… Assistant Noona?”
…But he couldn’t let this pass. Makjang Next door. It suddenly got very interesting.
“That’s right, that’s right. Why, that guy. The Magician calls Noona little grandmother, doesn’t she?”
“Yep, I heard. That Noona said she came in place of her grandmother, so are Magician Noona’s grandmother and Assistant Noona sisters?”
“That’s right.”
“Aha, so that’s why little grandmother.”
Out of habit, Son Yowan first responded in agreement, then went “Hm?” Weren’t they in the middle of talking about Assistant Noona’s amazing love story?
The answer came right away.
“Right, so that’s why little grandmother. Though she’s a little grandmother in another sense too. Yohan-gun, you know too, right? How people with some wealth in the central area practice polygyny or polyandry.”
“I know. I know well.”
Son Yowan struggled hard not to grimace. Damn it, of course he knew well. Wasn’t that the shit that goddamn Chairman Son tried to pull?
“In such households, they call each other older sister, younger sister, older brother, younger brother among themselves, right? Other people call them first, second, third when addressing them.”
“Uh, but wait a moment, Director Hyungnim? Didn’t you just say Assistant Noona and Magician Noona’s grandmother were blood relatives?”
“Yes, I certainly did. That’s why I said it, didn’t I? A couple that couldn’t have happened in normal circumstances.”
