「It seems like we’ve roughly finished talking, so shall we eat properly now? You need to eat a lot.」
Rashanin, who had cleanly finished his sherbet, asked why I wasn’t eating.
「I have no appetite.」
「Still, won’t you have a little?」
「If I force myself to eat, I’ll get indigestion.」
「What a sensitive body.」
Rashanin clicked his tongue lightly. An expression I had never seen before flashed across his face that had been all smiles.
I smiled bitterly inwardly and brought my glass to my lips, but there was no alcohol. Rashanin noticed this and poured wine into my glass.
With that, one bottle of wine was emptied.
「You drink well. Will you drink more?」
「No. I’m fine.」
「You only refuse. Accept goodwill. Since Château Pétrus suited your taste, you’ll like Château Margaux too.」
I couldn’t even properly catch the name Château Pe-something. However, I clearly heard Château Margaux. I didn’t know much about wine, but because of the veteran agents who liked wine, I knew that Château Margaux was expensive. They said it varies by vintage, but still, if it was Rashanin, he didn’t seem like he’d drink cheap stuff.
「I’m done with wine now.」
I quickly stopped Rashanin from calling the waiter.
「I’m telling you you’ll like it.」
While saying that, Rashanin ordered Château Margaux from the waiter. I asked the middle-aged waiter how much the wine we just drank cost. The waiter answered 4.2 million won. It was a price that could cause stomach cramps.
Wine that costs millions of won per bottle.
「Your face is pale. Is something wrong?」
「No. More than that, the wine…」
「The wine?」
「It’s expensive.」
「Expensive?」
Rashanin showed a reaction as if he’d heard a dog eating grass. Although everything from one bottle of wine would come out of Rashanin’s wallet, what wasn’t right still wasn’t right.
When I nodded saying it was expensive, Rashanin clicked his tongue.
「Even when I tell you to accept goodwill as goodwill, you don’t understand.」
「Goodwill depends on the goodwill. This is…」
「Don’t be sensitive over just one bottle of wine.」
Just one bottle of wine, he says. I was flabbergasted. They say they’ll eat anything free except lye water, but still, I have common sense. One bottle of wine is more expensive than a monthly salary. It could never be ‘just.’
Such a difference in concepts. The story of Middle Eastern rich people who acquire soccer clubs for their hobbies suddenly came to mind.
I held back the sigh that was about to come out.
「It’s not ‘just’ to me.」
「Then get used to it. Because it’s ‘just’ to me.」
「I’m speaking seriously. How about finding someone else?」
I asked really seriously. In this state, we’d clash at every turn, and I’d rot inside alone.
「I’m telling you I like you.」
I barely held back from asking what was so good about me to Rashanin, who lightly snorted saying not a chance.
I really got caught, and caught badly wrong.
It’s not even samsae.
I resentfully blamed fate while irritably cutting the innocent lamb steak.
*
—You met again?
—You’re being a guide?
—You had dinner alone together?
—Are you rubbing salt in my wounds right now?
To Seong-jin’s questions, I answered yes, yes, yes, and only said no to the last one. Then Seong-jin cursed saying I was a bad guy. That’s rubbing salt in wounds, what do you mean what is. How can you call yourself my friend. Seong-jin’s voice was loud to the depth of his envy.
“Don’t be envious. His personality is really bad. I’m dying thinking about going around with him.”
—Does personality matter?
“Then you do it.”
Sincerity popped out without me realizing. If it were up to me, I really wanted to leave it to Seong-jin. Thinking about going around with Rashanin really gave me a headache, so I pressed my forehead with my hand. Actually, I was a bit dizzy. Because while eating dinner, I drank quite a lot of wine to calm the heat rising from inside, and because Rashanin was hateful for ordering two bottles while calling something worth millions of won ‘just.’ Actually, the wine was also delicious. Maybe because I drank more than my usual capacity, I got quite drunk.
I thought it was good I took a taxi. Normally, feeling it was a waste of taxi fare, I would get off on the main road and walk, but in this state, I would obviously stagger disgracefully. I consoled myself that such luxury was okay since I would receive overtime pay. Someone had been drinking wine worth millions of won per bottle as if it were nothing. Gritting my teeth with stubbornness not wanting to tremble over taxi fare, Seong-jin’s lively voice full of anticipation echoed from beyond the receiver.
—Really? Shall we do that? Say you’re sick. I’ll get you a hospital room. A single room. I can even get you a medical certificate. Okay?
“Hey, Choi Seong-jin. Are you stupid?”
—Why?
“Don’t you know how our calls work?”
—Ah, aah. Oh no…
It seemed to be a truth across all ages and countries that sticky personal interests cloud judgment. I clicked my tongue. The life of a secret agent belonging to the Management Bureau wasn’t that easy. For security, all call contents being stored and monitored was basic. Even drunk me was choosing my words carefully in case the taxi driver thought it was strange, but the guy in his right mind had forgotten the most basic thing.
Seong-jin’s idea was good, but if the fabrication was discovered through monitoring, both he and I would have to write lots of written apologies and receive demerit points. In fact, even the current conversation was a bit dangerous. Hearing Seong-jin groan in agony, I laughed inwardly.
—Then from now on, visit me every day. I’ll buy you everything you want to eat. I’m getting discharged soon, so stay at my place. I have 3 rooms, so come sleep there. It’ll be better than the goshiwon, right? Okay?
“Didn’t I say I decided to stay at the hotel?”
—Huh? You’re staying at a hotel? What are you talking about?
“Ah, wait a moment. I’ve arrived.”
Right on time, the taxi arrived in front of the goshiwon. While paying the taxi driver and getting out of the car, Seong-jin shouted asking what I meant.
“I ended up using a guest room with the VIP. At the VIP’s strong request.”
It was a fact without a shred of lie. It was Rashanin who proposed sharing the same room, and it was also Rashanin who made it impossible to refuse. I wanted to complain about how unfair it was. But the other party was wrong.
Unable to give up, Seong-jin tried this and that and finally got angry.
—Y-you terrible bastard. Are you bragging?
“Do you think this is something to brag about?”
—Just wait. Just you wait! I’ll get revenge!!
Like a tragic female lead appearing in a drama, Seong-jin screamed “Ahhh!” and hung up the phone unilaterally.
What revenge.
I smiled bitterly and looked down at my phone. I know that Seong-jin, a vampire maniac, is insanely envious of me. But what’s there to be envious about when I have to play guide, a role not in my fate, and attend to a haughty and difficult vampire?
Actually, there was something I wanted to ask Seong-jin. That it was strange when Rashanin said he needed a breathing, moving conversation partner while looking at me, and I was going to ask for agreement that doesn’t it seem like he’s lonely. But the guy who got his feelings hurt hung up first, so I couldn’t call back and ask how about it.
Cheering up Seong-jin wasn’t difficult, but the problem was that if I missed what I wanted to say, it was tricky to bring it up again.
This damn maniac. Cursing inwardly, I was about to enter the goshiwon when I felt something strange and stopped in place. The area around the goshiwon, located in a place with little foot traffic, looked the same as usual. But somehow the feeling was odd.
However, no matter how much I looked around, nothing strange was visible. I turned around thinking it was because of the alcohol.
**Chapter 2. Inevitability Disguised as Coincidence**
In the noonday sunlight, the man was sparkling. It was a strange sight. Rashanin was as handsome as a Renaissance sculpture, and in the golden sunlight, his skin and beauty, white to the point of pallor, stood out even more. Just as Park Jeongho sunbae said, it was like a halo shone from behind his head. But his true identity was a vampire.
No matter what anyone said, the biggest weakness of vampires was sunlight. In the case of VSs in Korea, when the sun hung overhead, it was difficult to go outside. Even if they armed themselves with sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, gloves, and masks, it was dangerous. Unless it was raining or a cloudy day with thick clouds, they couldn’t go out during the day. Yet Rashanin’s white face, far from swelling up bright red in the noonday sunlight, was just magnificent like a scene from a masterpiece.
A vampire confident under the sun. This was a scam.
Moreover, this vampire didn’t know manners either.
“Small.”
