Living Together
After that, Seo Sihan quickly finished his company work. It was because he had to hurry and bring that athlete who was sitting there blankly, reading the room, home.
Seo Sihan stood up from his seat and said let’s depart now, and Jeong Minha was flustered while looking at his phone. It’s 3 PM now? He wanted to ask if this was leaving work or leaving the company entirely, but he didn’t think they were close enough for that yet, so he held back.
At the same time Seo Sihan finished his work, the secretary brought out the car from the parking lot. The secretary first tried to briefly get out of the driver’s seat to escort the director, but Seo Sihan said it was fine. Then he immediately opened the back seat door, cleared away the documents placed around, and said kindly,
“You can get in here.”
With the tablet placed in front and even the documents he’d just cleared away, since he was being told to sit in what was obviously his own seat, Jeong Minha hesitated for a moment.
“What about you, hyung?”
“I get a bit carsick. I think I should sit in front.”
“Ah…”
Then it must be a seat he doesn’t usually use, so luggage had piled up there. Jeong Minha said he understood and immediately got in. Seo Sihan smiled, closed the car door for him, and got in the front seat.
Seeing this, the secretary looked at Seo Sihan with bewildered eyes. What motion sickness for someone who works looking at a laptop in the back seat every day? However, the secretary was quick-witted, so he just kept his mouth shut and started the car.
In the smoothly moving car, Jeong Minha was spacing out looking at the window when he suddenly realized something.
‘Wait… At this rate, am I really being kidnapped?! What if the entire company was actually a cult, and I fell for it and even got in the car now…!’
With an expressionless face looking at the window, he was breaking out in cold sweat inside. While imagining what to say to his mom in a final call, before he knew it, the scenery had changed to the tall apartment complexes near the Han River.
‘Wow, isn’t this where celebrities live? I think I saw it on TV?’
After getting out of the car, only Seo Sihan and Jeong Minha entered inside. Jeong Minha, putting the cult stuff aside for now, walked following Seo Sihan while being amazed by the luxurious building where he couldn’t tell if it was an apartment or a hotel.
The way of entering from the entrance was definitely different. It was surprising that as soon as they got off the elevator, it was immediately the front door of the house.
If this is the case, wouldn’t pressing another floor in the elevator mean entering the wrong house? Ah, it would be locked, right? Then do I have to do something when going back down too? Can I not go down alone? How do I escape?
“It’s Minha-ssi’s birthday.”
“…What?”
“You kept looking at where you scanned the card earlier… I’ll give you a card later too, but for now you can press it as the password.”
“That’s just the house password?”
“Yes.”
“My birthday?”
“April 3rd, right? 0403.”
“…That’s right.”
Why on earth? Jeong Minha was flustered with a slightly creeped-out face, but Seo Sihan just giggled instead. It was quite a talent to keep choosing only things to make people freak out with such a pretty face.
Jeong Minha wanted to say then let me test if it’s real, enter the password as is, and go back down to the first floor, but as soon as he entered the house entrance, he naturally kept following Seo Sihan while admiring the spacious living room that came into view.
Okay, let’s say it’s not a cult. But still, wouldn’t living together in someone else’s house be uncomfortable? Jeong Minha, who had been worrying, gradually changed his mind while receiving Seo Sihan’s guidance.
To worry about discomfort… the house was far too spacious!
Seeing Jeong Minha’s face change from ‘this is still a bit…’ to ‘huh? This seems okay?’, Seo Sihan stopped trying to give a house tour and first suggested getting back on the elevator.
While Jeong Minha’s face filled with question marks at this, the elevator went up a few more floors before the door soon opened.
“…!!”
As soon as the door opened, this time Jeong Minha moved his feet first on his own. And for good reason, because here…
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, yes… Is this real…?”
“Of course.”
The entire floor was a huge indoor shooting range.
When he said at the company earlier that he had a shooting range at his house and he could come practice, honestly he thought it was a joke. Or that there were just simple targets or toy guns inside the house.
But when he looked around the living room just now, he didn’t see anything like that, so he thought it was a joke after all, but now before his eyes was a properly made shooting range taking up space.
“Is it normal for apartments to have shooting ranges? Are there other things too?”
“There were things like a swimming pool or gym, but the shooting range was newly built.”
“Why on earth… Then don’t other people use this too? Would it be okay for me to just come and use it anytime?”
“I built it and gave it to Minha-ssi, so now it’s Minha-ssi’s. You can use it alone as you please.”
“You built it…? Can you just build whatever you want in an apartment?”
“Since this whole place is mine, wouldn’t it be fine? Ah, of course I got all the proper permits… It’s not shoddy construction or anything…”
“Ah, yes. …What?!”
To that extent, the money he gave earlier was definitely nothing. The gap in wealth was so great that he wasn’t even jealous. Pure admiration came out.
Actually, whatever it was, he was so excited that he could suddenly use such a good shooting range. Suppressing the desire to shoot here right away, he got back on the elevator.
After returning home, Seo Sihan continued showing Jeong Minha around the rooms, then said he was sorry but work wasn’t finished yet and returned to the room at the end of the hallway.
If that’s the case, why not just tell him to wait at the company? Why rush out? Left alone, Jeong Minha entered the central room he was told was his room.
“Wow…”
Even among the several rooms he was shown earlier, this seemed the largest. This room was much bigger than the studio apartment he’d been using. Since the room had all the basics like a bed, desk, and bathroom, it seemed like he could live only in here.
After looking around every corner of the room for a while, Jeong Minha flopped onto the bed. It was so soft that he felt sorry comparing it to the creaky bed in his studio apartment.
Since it still didn’t feel real that this was his room, he just kept turning his phone off and on for no reason. The bed was so cozy that drowsiness came over him, but the thought that this still wasn’t right kept circling around.
Before he knew it, as it was getting to be dinner time, a message arrived from an unknown number.
Is there anything you want to eat? 17:36
Jeong Minha, who didn’t even have the energy to be surprised anymore, roughly replied that anything was fine.
“…?”
Then when he came to his senses, he had arrived at some upscale restaurant.
He really meant that even convenience store triangle kimbap would be okay, but Seo Sihan said then let’s go out and personally drove him there.
For Jeong Minha who was a big eater, the portions were quite small, but they were incredibly delicious to make up for it. He naturally filled his cheeks full of food with a happy face and chewed thoroughly. Seeing this, Seo Sihan was slightly surprised. Looking at his face, he seemed to be eating slowly and well, but looking at the plate, it was quickly emptied.
Since Jeong Minha kept eating, Seo Sihan kept ordering. Before they knew it, the table was piled full with plates Jeong Minha had emptied.
“Mm, this is really delicious. But how much is it?”
“…Do you want to eat something else?”
“I asked how much it is.”
“…”
When Seo Sihan avoided answering, Jeong Minha found and picked up the order slip pushed to the end of the table. Since it was all written in English, the numbers were too visible instead.
“Ones, tens, hundreds… Uh…?”
“You don’t need to worry about it…”
“…”
That day, Jeong Minha experienced his appetite dropping slightly for the first time in his life. He quietly put down his fork right after.
After returning home, they went back to their respective rooms again. It seemed Seo Sihan was continuing to work.
Jeong Minha washed up, lay on the bed, and turned on his phone. Perhaps because Seo Sihan’s room was on the complete opposite side and the house was so spacious and quiet, only Jeong Minha’s typing sounds echoed in the room.
After worrying for about 10 minutes, he finally pressed the send button with a determined expression at 11:35 PM.
Hello hyung, I’ve been thinking about it continuously, but mooching off you for a whole month doesn’t seem right… I’m so grateful for the money you gave me and I really want to repay your kindness, but since I don’t have money right now… I should still move out and live elsewhere and somehow pay you back with part-time work ㅠㅠ If you tell me your account number, I’ll return at least 10 million won first. It’s too much. 23:35
The “1” indicator disappeared in 10 seconds. Gasp, he inhaled.
Actually, since they were in the same house, he could say it in person, but it was too scary to say face-to-face. However, actually doing it this way, waiting for a reply was scarier.
Ah, I should have just said it directly earlier…! As he rolled around alone on the bed going “kyaaah,” a notification soon rang. He immediately picked up his phone to check.
Minha-ssi, is egg rice bowl okay for breakfast tomorrow? 23:38
Huh?? Yes… 23:38
Let’s eat together 23:38
Yep 23:39
“…”
Once again beautifully shut down by the other person, Jeong Minha just stared at the message window for a long time before turning on MiTube. It seemed better to talk about it again tomorrow morning after all.
Therefore, to prepare for any possible danger, he searched for self-defense techniques, tried following along briefly in the room, and ended up hitting the wall with a thud.
As soon as a message came asking if the sound that just came from Minha-ssi’s room was okay, he sent a reply saying he dropped his phone, then obediently lay back down and just slept.
And the next morning, Jeong Minha ultimately couldn’t bring up the topic. It was because the rice bowl was too delicious.
This time he didn’t go to an expensive restaurant, he just ate food prepared in the living room, so why was it so delicious? Jeong Minha asked with a question in mind.
“Did you make this, hyung?”
“There’s someone who cooks for us.”
Seo Sihan answered with a smile. Jeong Minha took a big bite while looking around the kitchen. No one was there.
“Where are they?”
“They make it and leave before we wake up. They live on the floor below, so you can call them if you need.”
“Wow…”
Jeong Minha, who woke up late, was impressed by the magically prepared table. Break up? The food is incredibly delicious right now?
He erased the words he’d decided on the day before from his head. He didn’t care anymore. He just had to eat delicious food, train hard, win a gold medal at this year’s Olympics, and pay everything back.
As long as it wasn’t a sudden situation like last time, it was a thought only someone like Jeong Minha could have, who was confident he could smoothly win a gold medal with a perfect score.
