# Chapter 151
Sano had said he wouldn’t leave Iyeon, but he couldn’t guarantee it would always be in the current form. The two lived in the same city, so even if they returned to their original places, they could meet anytime if they wanted.
The temporary cohabitation was essentially just Sano slipping into Iyeon’s home to live, and as if to prove this fact, there was almost nothing of Sano’s belongings in the house. Literally, if he walked out with just his body, that would be the end of it.
Of course, Iyeon didn’t want Sano to leave immediately. …Though he would have to go someday, but who would want to be separated from the person they like? Iyeon also wanted to stay with Sano as long as possible. So he didn’t dare bring it up, fearing Sano might leave as if he’d been waiting for the question.
Liking someone but not wanting to confess, wanting to remain friends while continuing to live together for a long time—Hyegang would have been aghast if he heard this, wondering what nonsense it was. I know, it’s selfish. But what can I do about my real feelings? Iyeon drooped his eyebrows helplessly.
For this reason, he kept postponing the topic of Sano’s living arrangements, merely watching for cues. He didn’t know how long this would work… It was a one-sided battle that would end as soon as Sano noticed the unnatural state of his continued stay at Iyeon’s home. Iyeon sighed as he got out of the elevator. With a clunk, he followed Hyegang, who was opening the rooftop door, and saw the familiar, modest office. Come to think of it, he’d mentioned there was a visitor.
The visitor Sano mentioned was someone both Iyeon and Hyegang knew well.
“Jaekyung-ssi?”
Jaekyung, who had been sitting blankly with piles of unidentified plastic bags on the table, jumped up with a bright face.
“Iyeon-ssi, welcome! Why are you so late?”
Jaekyung’s face, which lightly scolded him, looked almost on the verge of tears. His time alone with Sano must have been quite suffocating. Iyeon understood. Sano wasn’t the type to be polite enough to hide the fact that he wasn’t very favorable toward Jaekyung… It must have been like walking on thin ice.
After the Nightmare Elephant incident, Jaekyung hadn’t contacted Iyeon. It was completely different from before, when he occasionally sent minor questions—mostly related to Mungchi—or trivial chats. Is he very busy these days? Iyeon had simply thought and moved on.
‘Maybe he’s embarrassed to contact you?’
It seemed that others didn’t think it was for such a simple reason. Iyeon opened his eyes wide at Hyegang’s words.
‘Why would he be embarrassed?’
‘Well, the hotel incident was pretty big. And you even got hurt going out in the rain.’
‘No, well. The injury was just an accidental coincidence… Jaekyung-ssi probably didn’t intend for that to happen?’
‘Still. Normally, people don’t think of using someone they want to keep seeing in that way. Don’t you think?’
‘…That’s true.’
Was it really because of that? As Iyeon tilted his head, Hyegang casually added.
‘If he cut contact, don’t worry about it. He’s always prioritized mutants anyway. What good would come from you continuing to contact him?’
At those words, even Sano, who was next to them, nodded slightly as if it was obvious. Though Hyegang wasn’t wrong… While Iyeon thought this, he still felt a bit uncomfortable and briefly fidgeted with his phone before stopping.
And then a few days later, he met Jaekyung hiding in an alley next to the office building.
‘…Jaekyung-ssi? What brings you here?’
Chageum’s office and Jaekyung’s home were quite far apart. It wasn’t a place one would come by chance. When Iyeon asked with a puzzled face, Jaekyung hesitated for a while before almost shouting:
‘I-I-I came to make a request!’
‘A request?’
‘Yes.’
His face was so solemn that Iyeon thought he was going to entrust him with an enormous task, but after hearing the story, that wasn’t the case. He had to go on a business trip for a few days and wanted Iyeon to check on his mutants once a day—a simple and easy request.
‘Since you’re the only one who knows about the mutants in my house, I thought it would be good to entrust this to you. I-I’ll pay properly! The compensation for this job is good, so I can pay it all.’
Jaekyung’s appearance, explaining even things that weren’t asked, seemed strangely desperate, so Iyeon nodded reflexively. And because of this, he received a lot of scolding from Sano, who said even a miser would cry at his behavior.
After that, Jaekyung visited a few more times with trivial errands under the name of “requests.” Since they weren’t difficult tasks, and there was no need to turn away requests that came rolling in, Iyeon accepted each time. As this continued, the strangely awkward atmosphere dissolved, and Jaekyung gradually returned to his original self as time passed.
At first, Hyegang looked him up and down with a “hmm,” as if to intimidate Jaekyung, but soon accepted it matter-of-factly like Iyeon. Sano seemed very displeased with this flow, but he only severely scrutinized Jaekyung without saying anything separately. From Iyeon’s perspective, friendship between Jaekyung and Sano seemed unlikely in this lifetime, so he made no effort to improve their relationship. Improvement? It would be fortunate if Jaekyung didn’t faint when he found out Sano’s identity.
Anyway, in that context, it seemed he had come with another errand today. Complaining why they were so late when it was almost closing time… Iyeon approached Jaekyung and asked.
“What’s the occasion? And what’s all this?”
The plastic bags that Jaekyung seemed to have brought emitted a delicious smell. Opening his eyes wide as he examined them, he found they were filled with all sorts of late-night snacks. Not only that, but another bag had a pile of beer cans.
Are they having a party? Looking back at him curiously, Jaekyung delivered the good news with a triumphant face.
“I got a job!”
After being fired from the club lab, Jaekyung had been scraping by with odd jobs. Although the per-job compensation wasn’t bad since it utilized his expertise, the income was still too unstable for a steady life, given the nature of work that easily bordered on illegality. So he had been job hunting in parallel, and coincidentally, a position he wanted had just opened up.
“What kind of place is it? It’s not another illegal place, right?”
“No, no! It even has government certification.”
Given his previous workplace and part-time job history, it was hard to congratulate him hastily. Iyeon immediately began verifying the workplace, and only after confirming with Hyegang’s help that Jaekyung’s new workplace was legal and decent did he set aside his suspicious gaze.
The place where Jaekyung started working was a research institute. It was small like Chageum, with only about three people, and its main purpose was to obtain information about various mutants and study their environments.
It was the rare mutant ecology research institute.
“Wow, isn’t that exactly what Jaekyung-ssi wanted?”
Even from the brief explanation, it sounded like a place Jaekyung would like, so Iyeon smiled and patted him on the shoulder, saying it was great. At the sincere congratulations, Jaekyung smiled proudly.
“So I brought some food to celebrate. I’ve been indebted to you in many ways, Iyeon-ssi. Also as a token of gratitude…”
“Come on. What if we had a mission today? Why did you prepare all this and come without checking?”
“Oh? You’re right. I didn’t think of that. Should I come another time?”
His blank face and tone seemed genuinely caught off guard, making Iyeon smile involuntarily. Jaekyung occasionally showed such signs of being awkward in social interactions. Should we say he doesn’t consider others’ positions well, or that he fails to recognize that everyone has their own daily lives…
Well, this wasn’t a problem unique to Jaekyung. Jaekyung was actually quite decent in comparison.
“It’s fine. We happened to have nothing to do.”
Since Sano would probably be here soon too, they could chat while eating delicious food and then leisurely go home. As Iyeon readily answered and started unpacking, Hyegang also quietly sat down and began rummaging through the bags. His sincerity was evident as he took out a few beer cans to drink right away, put the rest in the refrigerator, and brought out frozen beer mugs.
“Really? That’s a relief. I thought my arms would fall off carrying all this.”
“Right. Be careful of muscle pain tomorrow.”
While chatting with the animated Jaekyung, he set up the food on the sofa table. What Jaekyung had brought was diverse: chicken, pizza, grilled intestines, pig’s trotters… He must have come in a hurry, as all the food still felt warm despite the time he had waited for them at the office. And with cold beer? This was perfect…
It was just after work hours, so there was nothing to hold them back. And so, as the sun was setting in the evening, they began Jaekyung’s job celebration party at the office.
