# Chapter 66
After finishing that purposeless meal, Director Ahn even neatly pocketed some mint candies from the counter.
(She even made Joo Yeomin pay, claiming she’d left her card behind. Talk about squeezing blood from a stone.)
Director Ahn said as they parted in front of the restaurant:
“I’m on your side, Yeomin. Although I came here like this because I couldn’t resist Seol Jiho’s pressure…”
“…I don’t believe you. You and Seol Jiho deceived me together.”
“Ahem. That’s true! But anyway, deep down, I hope you never take Jiho back.”
“Why?”
Yeomin questioned. Director Ahn shrugged and said:
“He should have at least one thing in his life that he wants but can’t have.”
Yeomin thought that statement was too cold.
‘What about me? What about me who has never had anything I wanted in my life?’
He swallowed those words.
“But as an older person who’s lived longer, let me just say one thing.”
“…”
“Isn’t one person being punished enough? Seol Jiho was the one who did wrong, so why is Yeomin being punished too? It doesn’t feel right.”
“…”
Yeomin wanted to deny it, but Director Ahn’s gaze shifted to his scraped palm.
Yeomin stopped talking. She was right. He looked so pathetic today. He couldn’t deny it.
Looking back, he didn’t think there had been a single day since leaving that house when he felt unburdened. Not a single day when he was free from thoughts of Jiho.
Yeomin admitted it. The days he thought he was punishing Jiho were punishment for himself as well.
“If Jiho ever bothers you, tell me. I’ll even buy you a plane ticket then.”
Director Ahn spoke seriously as if she would really do it, then disappeared while humming a tune.
And once again, Yeomin was alone. Again. Once more. Alone.
“…”
He was immersed in the same feeling as when he endlessly waited for his sister in the empty school corridor.
He thought he had abandoned Seol Jiho… but he ended up being the abandoned one.
Come to think of it, being “alone” seemed like a homework assignment that one could never get used to, no matter how often it was done throughout life.
After parting with Director Ahn, Yeomin returned to school. He opened the locker he had used last semester to take out his liberal arts textbooks.
In the locker that had been full of messy trash and books just this morning, he saw unfamiliar items. They were bandages and ointment.
“…”
It was obvious who had done this without even looking.
‘Must be Seol Jiho.’
Yeomin looked at the red wound remaining on his palm and then glanced around.
In the quiet corridor, there were only a few passing students. None of them were familiar.
Seol Jiho’s handsome face was nowhere to be seen.
“Who does he think he is…”
Yeomin muttered a curse. He couldn’t contain the surge of emotion. He shoved his books into the locker and took the ointment.
“BANG!” Yeomin closed the locker with an angry sound that echoed through the corridor and walked away, fuming.
Then he threw the ointment and bandages into the trash can in the hallway.
‘Who asked for this?’
He didn’t need it. This kind of thing. This wasn’t what he wanted.
Yeomin’s angry steps suddenly halted.
“…”
It was the familiar name in the conversation leaking through the gap of the open department office door that caught his attention.
“I’m telling you. The rumor about Seol Jiho dating a man is already taken as fact in those circles.”
“How do you know that?”
“My uncle works in the financial district in Yeouido. He says these insider tips are always ahead of the curve.”
“So? You’re saying these rumors are true?”
To think these idiots openly discussing such things were his juniors and seniors. Yeomin felt embarrassed on their behalf.
The foolish conversation showed no sign of ending.
“I heard he’s not gay but bisexual? They say Ian Group will soon announce a marriage with Y Corporation.”
“So, like a show-window couple? That’s something. Marrying a woman, but keeping a male lover on the side?”
“I wonder who Seol Jiho’s male lover is. A celebrity? A model? A foreigner?”
I’m even more pathetic for listening to this. As Yeomin turned away mercilessly, his vision darkened.
Surprised, he looked up to find his field of vision filled with a white profile. It was Jiho’s face—perfectly sculpted yet always emanating a cool impression.
With Jiho’s body overlapping and enveloping his, Jiho pushed open the department office door without hesitation.
“Why are you having such an interesting conversation without me? I’m hurt.”
‘…This lunatic.’
The first thought that came to Yeomin upon seeing Seol Jiho after quite some time was that nothing had changed.
Director Ahn was right when she said people don’t really change.
“Oh?”
In an instant, the atmosphere in the department office turned ice-cold.
“Ah… haha. Jiho, you’re here?”
Belated nonsense followed as they tried to salvage the situation.
“We were just saying that’s what the rumors say~ We don’t believe it, really!”
“Jiho, you’re not upset, right? Don’t misunderstand. Okay?”
Throughout all this, Yeomin’s body remained helplessly trapped. It was fortunate that the height difference meant he didn’t have to make eye contact. His heart felt like it was pounding near his throat.
Jiho spoke clearly:
“It’s an incorrect rumor, financial district insider tip.”
They all seemed not to have expected him to clarify so directly, and everyone nodded in understanding at that one statement.
“I knew it would be just a rumor!”
People who change their attitude so quickly. Yeomin felt disgusted just listening.
But it didn’t end there. Jiho added:
“Not bi, but gay.”
“Huh?”
“Not bisexual, but gay. I only date men.”
While pretending to speak to the people in the department office, he was actually speaking right into Yeomin’s ear. Each syllable Jiho uttered tickled his ear.
Yeomin’s body stiffened, and he couldn’t push Jiho away.
“And the marriage with Y Corporation is not me but my uncle. The youngest daughter of Y Corporation is already in her mid-thirties, so how did a rumor about me get started? Everyone’s good at gossiping without knowing anything. Are you all idiots?”
“…”
“And my lover is not a celebrity, not a model, and definitely not a foreigner.”
“…”
“Do you have any other questions? I’ll answer them all.”
Not a peep was heard in the department office. Unless they were crazy, no one could answer in that situation.
Jiho laughed at everyone’s dumbfounded reactions, with a very bright smile.
“Call me next time you have another interesting conversation. Now, I’m busy—”
Just when it seemed he was about to leave like that. Jiho grabbed Yeomin’s arm. Yeomin was dragged along by the strong force.
The grip on his wrist was fierce. So stubborn that it felt like he would never let go again.
Yeomin, who was being dragged without knowing where they were going, finally got irritated. They’d likely stay within campus anyway.
“Hey… Seol Jiho! Slow down, I can’t breathe.”
Jiho remained silent. He had smiled so brightly in front of the department people earlier, but looking up at his face from the side now, there wasn’t a trace of a smile—just coldness.
I get it.
‘Seol Jiho is really angry right now.’
But why? Because he doesn’t like being misunderstood? Because it feels disgusting to be the subject of gossip?
‘Wasn’t that what he wanted? He deliberately dated like an attention-seeker in front of people. He acted like he didn’t care what others thought of him.’
Thinking this couldn’t go on, Yeomin planted his feet firmly.
“Hey, I said I can’t breathe…!”
Only then did Jiho stop walking. The place where the two stood was a bridge connecting two buildings.
“…”
Looking at Jiho in his long trench coat, Yeomin suddenly realized that all the summer he had spent with Jiho had passed.
Yeomin spoke first, before Jiho could. In a fight, the first strike is important.
“Why are you making that face? Feeling wronged? Are you resentful of those kids? Thinking, ‘Why are they saying these things about me?'”
It was a cold statement. Cold enough that even he felt his affection drop. Just words to corner Jiho.
While Yeomin pressed on, Jiho’s tightly closed lips chewed anxiously.
Jiho’s gaze fell. Then he flipped Yeomin’s wrist, examining the scraped palm as if displeased.
Yeomin’s rapid-fire words also stopped at that moment.
“…”
“Why did you throw away the medicine? It’ll scar. Let’s go to the hospital first.”
“What are you trying to do?”
That’s what you’re upset about? Is that important right now?
Yeomin was on the verge of exploding.
“Who goes to the hospital for something like this?”
“You’ve lost weight since before. What happened to your wrists? Let’s go get a health checkup while we’re at it. You’ve probably been eating ramen every day, working hard, not seeing the sun. Who knows what’s happened to your organs?”
Speaking as if he was genuinely concerned, but why did it feel so creepy? Jiho grabbed Yeomin’s stiffened body again.
He really seemed intent on taking him to a hospital.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now. Even if his body broke apart right here, Yeomin wanted to confront what needed confronting.
“I’ve been eating well and living well. Better than when I was with you.”
Of course, there were times when he’d kick in his sleep from frustration, times when anger would suddenly rise, times when he’d binge eat out of irritation…
Nevertheless, he had been doing well. Very well.
“So you never thought about me at all?”
Jiho made a sad face. Pretending to be the pitiful protagonist of a melodrama.
‘There it is again. He’s acting again.’
Yeomin had already resolved hundreds of times not to be fooled by that face. So he absolutely refused to look at Jiho’s eyes, staring only at his Adam’s apple instead.
Jiho’s voice, pitifully wretched to hear, continued:
“I thought about you every day…”
“…”
“Every single day, hovering around you, holding back from running to you even though I wanted to…”
Something dropped onto Yeomin’s scraped palm.
…It was a tear. A tear from none other than Seol Jiho.
“…”
The transparent tear was lukewarm, almost imperceptible in temperature, but it was just right to melt Yeomin’s frozen heart.
