“What are you doing?”
I sent the text and lay sprawled on my side again. Perhaps because I slept for a long time, I was hungry despite eating a lot last night. Since Eun Haejin still hadn’t replied, I called without much thought. The call went to voicemail. Is he busy?
“Are you busy?”
A reply came shortly after.
“Something suddenly came up today.”
Is it because of the graduation thesis? That guy really lives busily… I thought nothing of it and went outside to buy something simple to eat. I’d lived alone since high school, but my cooking skills were terrible. But it seemed Lee Hyun was the same, as there weren’t even proper cooking utensils at home. Why is it that even when I follow recipes exactly, the results don’t come out?
I didn’t feel drawn to any restaurant, so I just headed to a convenience store. At the convenience store, I grabbed two cup ramens, two triangle kimbaps, one hot bar, and two snacks and paid. I came home with the plastic bag dangling from my wrist when a message came.
“Hyun-ah. Did you eat lunch?”
It was Cha Hyunwoo, who as of yesterday we’d decided to speak informally. I thought he’d be awkward dropping honorifics, but Cha Hyunwoo quickly used informal speech. I was used to Cha Hyunwoo’s honorifics, so I thought it would take me some time to adapt to informal speech too, but unexpectedly, even when he used informal speech, it wasn’t strange. Rather, it even sounded more gentle. Especially because Lee Hyun’s name was a single character, just calling the name had that subtle stance of calling a nickname, which made it even more so.
I checked the text, arrived home, boiled water in the coffee pot, and sent a reply.
“No. I’m about to eat now.”
“Really? What are you eating?”
“I just bought something from the convenience store.”
“Ramen and stuff like that?”
It’s not like I only bought ramen. I looked at the pile of food stacked up and tore open a triangle kimbap to take a bite. These days, convenience store food comes out really well.
“Yes. Ramen and triangle kimbap and stuff like that…”
“That’s bad for you.”
“It’ll be healthier than what I cook. I really can’t cook, so I can’t make anything to eat.”
I sent the text and just then the water in the coffee pot finished boiling, so I poured water into two cup ramens side by side. I firmly closed the cup ramen lids and turned the hot bar when several texts came.
“Should I make it for you?”
“Cooking.”
“No, I’m not saying this to make you feel burdened, but since I live alone too, I cook often and there’s leftovers. If you’re okay with it…”
I bit into the hot bar while thinking about how to reply to Cha Hyunwoo’s text. Is Cha Hyunwoo the type without friends too? After declaring he wanted to get closer yesterday, he acted noticeably friendly. So he’s the type who treats close people well like this…
“But for you to go back and forth just to give me something seems too troublesome for you, boss…”
“I’m fine with it. I go back and forth by car anyway.”
“To do this much for me. Boss, if you do this elsewhere, you could really cause a big misunderstanding.”
And after thinking for a moment, I sent one more text.
“But I’m really okay. I eat so well as it is. And you know I eat a lot. I can’t become that kind of bastard who takes too much advantage of the food at your house.”
Right, no matter what, if I accept even this, wouldn’t I be a bastard with no conscience? I was eating the freshly boiled ramen when one more text came.
“Do you want to come over to my place next time?”
“I’ll cook for you.”
This much should be okay, right? And it’s been really… really long since I’ve had home-cooked food, so I was a bit drawn to it. Except for when I mooched food at a friend’s house during my school days, I’d never had home-cooked food. So I had a bit of a fantasy about eating home-cooked food itself. After thinking for a moment, I sent a text.
“Then when you go grocery shopping, you’ll let me pay at least half, right?”
“No.”
“Then how can I be there without feeling sorry…”
“You’re coming as a guest, so what does it matter? Let’s check our schedules next time and match them.”
I gave an affirmative answer to Cha Hyunwoo’s text and finished eating. There was still no contact from Eun Haejin. I was bothered by how Eun Haejin kept acting strangely yesterday.
After finishing eating, I leaned against the wall and played with my phone for a bit, then felt like I was getting too lazy, so I showered, changed clothes, and left the house. I was thinking of taking a little walk.
While walking, a bookstore caught my eye, so I headed there. In the past, I tried to read at least one book a week. Soaked in strange nostalgia, I looked around the bookstore corners.
There was a time when I was immersed in books and read like crazy. It would be more accurate to say I was immersed in stories like dramas and movies, not just books, but anyway, there were those days. Then when I entered this profession, at first it was really fucking hard, but later I was proud of the three characters written in the credits.
While looking around the novel corner, it seemed quite a few web novel books had come in too. The trend definitely changed fast. Until recently, I was reading web novels like crazy because of web novel adaptations.
Then suddenly, a web novel with a familiar name caught my eye.
It was a name so familiar I thought I might have seen it wrong. The book wasn’t displayed, but they’d printed the cover and attached it to the bookshelf to show it was coming in soon.
‘Until the Day I Confess Again.’ The novel I’d been holding onto right before entering this place. And the novel in which Jung Yoonseo, Eun Haejin, and Cha Hyunwoo appeared.
In a dazed state, I asked the staff when this novel would come in, but the answer came back that the staff didn’t know exactly either. They seemed to think it was strange for a man to be shining his eyes earnestly in the romance corner. At the staff’s recommendation, I obediently left my contact information and added a request to definitely contact me when it came in stock.
My head was dazed the whole way home. After coming to this place, I’d searched in the search bar several times wondering if there might be a novel called Until the Day I Confess Again. But there was no novel with that name. So I naturally gave up, but that novel is here? It was a situation I couldn’t understand at all.
…Right. There’s no way anything would make sense after coming here. For now, what was important was not getting more absorbed in that place with a complicated head. For now, a person still had to live in the present.
I did some stretching at home and did some simple bodyweight exercises to organize my complicated head. Even if you despair, if you despair in plank position, the despair is shorter.
***
After working out and showering again, evening had already arrived. Since Jung Yoonseo said he’d pick me up by 7, I figured I should get dressed ahead of time. Since Jung Yoonseo had taken me to such a ridiculously fancy restaurant last time, I was planning to beg and plead for us to go somewhere cheap today.
I put on a clean-looking white shirt and dark gray slacks, roughly ran my hands through my hair to make it presentable. Lee Hyun, this bastard’s clothes are useful at times like this. When you’re going to meet a guy whose daily life is a dating course.
“I think I’ll arrive soon.”
“Don’t text while driving.”
After sending a firm reply, I walked to the alley where Jung Yoonseo had dropped me off before. I was looking at my phone for a moment when a familiar sedan smoothly came to a stop in front of me. The passenger window rolled down and a handsome man grinned cheekily and said:
“Wanna ride?”
Jung Yoonseo’s shamelessness might actually come in handy today.
Things That Have Changed and Things That Haven’t
“Wanna ride?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at Jung Yoonseo’s words. Jung Yoonseo was someone skilled at both playing around and going along with jokes. Because of that, I felt comfortable being a bit more natural and playful myself.
I got into Jung Yoonseo’s car and fastened my seatbelt. Jung Yoonseo turned his body slightly toward me and asked:
“Anything you want to eat?”
“Something that costs less than 100,000 won for the two of us sounds appealing.”
“I’ll take care of guiding us.”
Despite my somewhat desperate words, Jung Yoonseo paid no attention and started the car. Of course, I knew that even if Jung Yoonseo spent ten million won on dinner tonight, it wouldn’t put a scratch in his wealth, but still, I was a person with a conscience that wouldn’t let me comfortably accept such things.
“Don’t make me want to go Dutch.”
“Got it. Is Korean set menu okay? It’s less expensive than last time.”
“I think the price of the Korean set menu place I’m imagining is different from yours.”
“I can’t give you a definite answer since I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“I can’t give you a definite answer either since I don’t know what hyung is thinking.”
Jung Yoonseo laughed out loud pleasantly at my answer. Jung Yoonseo drove without even using the navigation. Seeing how he found his way so naturally, it seemed to be a restaurant he visited often.
After driving for about 30 minutes, we arrived at an elegant single-story restaurant with a traditional Korean house aesthetic incorporated into its interior design. Seeing how even the garden was properly landscaped, I figured this place wouldn’t be cheap either. Jung Yoonseo parked with practiced ease and led me inside the restaurant.
