# Chapter 64
A few days later. The officetel that senior Hyungsik had introduced to Yeomin was quite to his liking.
Though small in square footage, it was clean since it wasn’t built long ago, and being on the fifth floor with a southern exposure, it got plenty of sunlight.
The deposit and monthly rent were reasonable too. It was money he couldn’t have scraped together before, but now Joo Yeomin had some balance in his account.
Perhaps knowing he had been looking at other places, the landlord of his current place texted him with good timing.
[The repairs are all done, student~]
Yeomin, who was about to head back to Taeyang’s place where he’d been staying lately, fell into contemplation.
Since he was already near the school, he thought it would be good to check the condition of his place before going back. Yeomin turned toward his familiar semi-basement room.
‘This place was a complete mess the day I left…’
It was his first visit to the place since then.
Yeomin arrived at the villa. The landlord must have really put in effort because the front of the house was clean, and there was even a new CCTV at the common entrance.
Even the security bars, which the landlord had ignored despite being asked a hundred times to fix them, had been repaired.
With a strange feeling, Yeomin pressed the door lock code with trembling hands.
“…”
It couldn’t compare to President Ahn’s house or the place he just looked at… but a much cleaner room than before greeted Yeomin.
He’d definitely thrown away the flooded mattress before, but a new one was there, and even the bedding had been changed.
Most of Yeomin’s old belongings were still there too.
Plastic tableware with cartoon characters. Metal shelves. Even his wet books had been dried and shelved, and the clothes in the closet were all neatly hung, as if they’d been washed.
“Did a house elf come by?”
There’s no way the landlord would have done all this…
‘Perhaps Ian Group had a hand in this?’
After looking around the house, Yeomin plopped down on the mattress.
Then he immediately flopped backward.
‘It’s amazing we both managed to live in this tiny place.’
Looking back, it was almost unbelievable. All the times he and Jiho crammed together here now felt like scenes from a sitcom.
Grumble.
And the fact that he’s hungry in this situation—that’s hard to believe too.
He’d worked up an appetite looking at apartments all day.
“Is there anything left to eat…”
Yeomin sluggishly got up.
Hoping for at least some ramen, he opened the cupboard and found exactly one pack left.
“Yes!”
Yeomin immediately took out the aluminum pot and put water on to boil.
He started counting how many packs of ramen he and Seol Jiho had cooked here… then sank into self-loathing for thinking about Seol Jiho again.
While blankly waiting for the water to boil, Yeomin perked up his ears. He could sense someone outside the window.
“…”
It felt like someone was watching the inside of the house.
Yeomin deliberately quieted his breathing even more and turned down the gas. Soon, the presence outside disappeared too.
Trying not to make any footsteps, Yeomin carefully crept toward the window. Then he flung it open.
“Who are you?”
Through the semi-basement window, he could see black suit pants and dress shoes.
Yeomin shouted through the security bars.
“Are you from Ian Group?”
“What?”
He’d been told they would be watching his house, but to be this direct… Poking his head further through the security bars, Yeomin persisted.
“What did Seol Jiho tell you to do? Did he ask you to watch what I’m doing?”
“What are you talking about? I was just trying to find my way.”
The man in the suit explained as if baffled. But Yeomin just snorted.
“How can I believe that? You’re obviously sent by Seol Jiho—”
“No, why would I lie? What would I gain from looking at a place like this? And who’s Seol Jiho?!”
This was beyond flipping the situation. Why was he raising his voice?
Just as Yeomin was about to go out and confront him, suddenly a bell rang. It was coming from the man’s pocket.
The man answered the phone and pleaded in an aggrieved voice.
“Jigi, I’m sorry. Have you been waiting long? I’m lost, and some crazy person is picking a fight with me… Yeah, I’ll be there soon…”
Then he glared at Yeomin before walking away.
Yeomin followed the man with his gaze until he completely left the alley. Only then did he pull back from the window, huffing.
“Why is he hanging around in front of someone else’s house?”
Yeomin muttered in annoyance.
‘I thought he was an Ian Group employee. Like the one who was monitoring before. He could have been sent by Seol Jiho, or maybe President Ahn…’
Just then, with a hissing sound, the water in the pot boiled over.
Yeomin hurriedly turned down the heat, but the overflowed water had already dried up.
“Shit… my ramen…”
It was a simple matter of refilling and reboiling the water, but everything was irritating Yeomin.
It felt like nothing could be undone, like everything would keep going wrong, like the world was deceiving him…
As if even this ridiculous scene was being watched by Seol Jiho… and if he wasn’t watching, that would make him even angrier…
‘What a contradiction, Joo Yeomin. You left on your own.’
He didn’t realize it when things were boiling hard. Only after everything boiled over and spilled did he understand. That he would keep remembering Jiho, like a burn mark left on the floor. That this was what “lingering attachment” meant.
Yeomin had thought his occasional bad mood was obviously because of Jiho, but that wasn’t it.
‘I was irritated because I was embarrassed by these pathetic feelings.’
Looking at the exposed bottom of the pot, Yeomin confronted his own pitiful state.
At that moment, the phone in his pocket rang just as Yeomin was about to explode. Checking the screen, the name “Sunbae Hyungsik” appeared.
Yeomin answered in a subdued voice.
“Yes, sunbae.”
“I heard you went to see the place? The landlord said you seemed nice and he really likes you~”
“Ah… yes. He was very kind.”
“I told him you were an acquaintance and asked him to take good care of you, and he even said he’d lower the monthly rent by 50,000 won. Why don’t you sign the contract?”
In truth, until the moment he left after viewing the place, that had been his intention. Before, he would have crawled on all fours to live in a place like that.
But Yeomin’s mind was quickly made up.
“Something came up, so I don’t think I can move. I’m sorry, sunbae, especially after you introduced me.”
“Did things not work out with your previous landlord?”
Yeomin didn’t give a long excuse to the disappointed senior.
“Yes.”
“Well, can’t be helped then. I’ll let the landlord know.”
“Yes… thank you.”
“Sure. See you at school~”
After hanging up, his mind became even clearer.
Exchange student program. Moving. Working holiday. Taking time off. Despite all those plans, Yeomin now envisioned what he would be doing in the near future.
He would probably go back to school when the new semester started and would still be living in this house.
The reason he was willing to endure a hundred, a thousand inconveniences and discomforts was…
Just one thing, of course. Seol Jiho.
“Why did I run away in the first place…”
Despite threatening to die if Jiho found him, here he was waiting for that guy.
It seemed his fate was to eventually return to his master, even if he broke his leash and ran away.
* * *
Yeomin returned from Taeyang’s house to his own rental room. After spending a few more days like that, when he came to his senses, it was the start of the new semester.
“Joo Yeomin! You’re alive!”
On the first day of classes, as soon as he arrived at school, Hyungsik greeted him.
‘What, did he think I was dead?’
When Yeomin showed a lukewarm response, Hyungsik explained that he was just saying that because Yeomin didn’t use social media and had been out of touch.
Just as he was caught in the hallway, a group of freshmen rushed by.
“Hello, oppa!”
Girls whose names Yeomin couldn’t even remember greeted him all at once, leaving him completely flustered.
“Should I treat you all to a meal? How about lunch today. Yeomin will join us too~”
“When did I say that?”
“They’re scared if it’s just me. Yeomin, you have a good impression, so they’re not afraid of you.”
Hyungsik whispered in Yeomin’s ear. This guy… since when were we this close!
Yeomin wanted to make an excuse about part-time work and escape, but unfortunately, he had quit his tutoring job himself, and the PC bang was currently closed.
Not because of building renovations, but because Manager Cha had put up a “On Vacation” sign and left, saying he wanted to rest for a while.
He should have just left it to Yeomin to manage.
“Is Yeomin oppa really coming too?”
“Yes. Yeomin said he’ll definitely come~ So let’s meet at the department office later.”
“I need to go to class too, hyung.”
“We must have lunch together later, okay? My treat!”
“…”
Why should I? Yeomin answered inwardly.
Yeomin arrived at the classroom for his first major class of the day.
He thought Taeyang would naturally be later than him, but he was already there, having saved a seat.
“Taking this class again and boldly sitting in the back row, I see.”
Of course, Yeomin was retaking the class too. Since work always took priority over studying, this was an expected fate.
“How’s my hair color? I dyed it yesterday. Is it too bright?”
“Who cares. You’re an attention seeker anyway.”
When he gave this jab, Taeyang immediately admitted, “That’s true.” Then suddenly exclaiming “Oh!” he touched Yeomin’s hair.
“What? Did you dye your hair too?”
“…I went brown.”
“What’s going on? Joo Yeomin spending money on his hair?”
“I went to get a haircut, and they recommended it, so I tried it.”
Yeomin awkwardly touched the back of his head. He’d done it because they said it was a natural brown that wouldn’t even be noticeable, but as expected, he couldn’t fool Taeyang’s eyes.
The classroom quickly filled with students. Since it was the first class, the professor said he wanted to see everyone’s faces and began calling roll from the class list.
Being higher-year students, Taeyang and Yeomin’s names were called first.
“Lee Taeyang. Are you taking this class again?”
“Yes!”
“If you don’t want to take it again next year, work hard.”
“Yes…”
“Joo Yeomin.”
“Present.”
Yeomin raised his hand. He could feel the professor looking at him and Taeyang as a pathetic set.
Gradually, the names of lower-year students were called.
“Park Hayoung.”
“Here.”
“Bae Jihoon.”
“…Here!”
“Seol Jiho.”
“…”
The classroom fell silent for a moment.
“Seol Jiho?”
Taeyang looked at Yeomin with surprised eyes. Yeomin’s heart began to beat faster.
After confirming that Jiho wasn’t present, the professor continued calling attendance.
‘So he at least registered for the class, Seol Jiho.’
To be honest, he didn’t think Jiho would return to school this semester. Maybe he just registered and would have someone else attend for him, or he might take a leave of absence right away.
He was never the type to attend school diligently anyway.
Taeyang’s notebook invaded Yeomin’s desk despite his poker face. There was a doodle in the corner.
[What will you do if you meet Seol Jiho at school?]
‘Why are you curious about that now?’
Yeomin pushed Taeyang’s notebook away as if annoyed. Then he focused on the professor’s words.
No, he pretended to focus while thinking about something else inside.
‘What should I do if I meet Seol Jiho?’
Pretend not to know him? Avoid him? Treat him like he’s invisible? Or get angry? Confront him? Brazenly ask how he’s been doing?
There were countless options. Even Yeomin couldn’t predict how he would react.
‘I’m curious about how I’ll react too, so I wish he would appear in front of me.’
Not even a shadow of Seol Jiho was visible. He never listened when it mattered, but now he was perfectly obeying Yeomin’s order not to appear in front of him.
He truly was still a self-centered guy.
