Where are you?
Sorry, but it takes about 2 hours by bus?
Um, how about I pick you up even now?
Rejected.
How about getting off the bus and taking a taxi even now?
It’ll probably be 50,000 won in taxi fare?
I’ll send it to you.
Riding the bus is too fun.
I sent a half-hearted text and grabbed the rattling bus handle. After going for a while, I felt someone tapping me from the side.
“Lee Hyun?”
…Who is this?
A man about half a span shorter than me was looking at me. No, to be precise, at ‘Lee Hyun.’
“Do you… do you remember me?”
I’m really sorry. But I don’t know everyone Lee Hyun went through, not just you, so I hope you understand. I was fumbling for an answer when the man handed me his business card and got off the bus.
“Make sure to contact me later! I’m so glad to see you like this.”
…Who was that really? At this point, I was curious if there was content from the book the author intentionally omitted. Of course, even considering Lee Hyun’s various circumstances. No, but that’s not the problem—I need to get off now too?
“Driver! I’m getting off too! I’m sorry!”
I hurriedly got off the bus through the crowd, but the man was nowhere to be found. I briefly thought about looking for the man, then checked the time and just put the business card in my wallet and headed to the address Jung Yoonseo sent.
“…So you’re saying I have to walk 30 more minutes from here?”
I can’t believe there are still houses this car-friendly. I grumbled but obediently walked to the house. The villa was bigger than it looked in the photo image. Usually most houses look bigger when photographed, but it seemed once you exceeded that standard, it was a whole different story.
On the first floor, an employee who seemed to be a security guard protecting the villa was standing. When I told them which unit I was going to, the employee smiled kindly and asked me to wait a moment before making a call. After a moment, the transparent automatic door leading to the elevator opened.
“Yes, I’ll hold the elevator for you.”
A villa where the staff holds the elevator for you. Not knowing what to do with this first-time experience, I awkwardly got on the elevator alone. You’re working hard… When I bowed my waist awkwardly to greet them, the employee gave me a subtle smile and bowed their head.
When I arrived on the elevator, a large door immediately appeared. It seemed to be a structure with only one house per floor. Before I could even press the doorbell, the front door automatically opened.
“You’re here?”
Jung Yoonseo, wearing a dark-colored robe, greeted me with a smile.
***
I had no idea why I was being punished by Jung Yoonseo for teasing Eun Haejin. Jung Yoonseo didn’t even seem to have any intention of properly closing his robe—he’d just loosely tied the string at his waist once, really nominally.
“What are you doing when someone might see?”
“Who’s seeing? Lee Hyun-ssi who’s in front of me right now?”
“Yes…. You’re going to stay like this when I’m here?”
“Well…. Aren’t you more curious about whether I’m wearing underwear or not than that?”
Honestly, I was a bit curious. I deliberately turned my eyes upward from going down and met Jung Yoonseo’s eyes.
“Wouldn’t it be better to tie the string properly?”
“Why? You said you’re straight?”
Jung Yoonseo spoke nonchalantly and took a sip of the coffee in his hand. So leisurely. Anyway, is this revenge?
“Then just be naked….”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m going to do though?”
Jung Yoonseo definitely seemed twisted somewhere right now. But I couldn’t even guess where his mood got twisted. It couldn’t be that he’s like this because I didn’t take a taxi, right?
“Hyung, are you protesting right now?”
“I’m peacefully drinking coffee.”
“Why are you sulking? Tell me the reason.”
“Do I look like that to you?”
Yes…. very much. Jung Yoonseo seemed to be acting childishly today, and it was ridiculous that it looked kind of cute. I obediently put down my bag in a corner of the house and approached Jung Yoonseo closely.
“Why?”
I politely grabbed the mug in his hand and placed it on the table to block the possibility of Jung Yoonseo pouring coffee on me. One of Jung Yoonseo’s eyebrows went up, revealing his displeasure. Before Jung Yoonseo could say anything, I quickly tied Jung Yoonseo’s robe strings tightly.
“Young master, I’ll tie the string for you.”
Even I thought it happened in an instant. I tied the string firmly and closed the robe so Jung Yoonseo’s white chest wouldn’t show. Jung Yoonseo seemed quite flustered and stood frozen like a pause button until I pulled away.
“What was that?”
“Why? You didn’t seem to want to tie it, so I just tied it for you?”
Jung Yoonseo crossed his arms and glared at me without hiding his displeasure at all.
“…I’m sorry.”
I handed the mug right back to Jung Yoonseo’s hands. I had a difficult favor to ask today, so it wasn’t right to make myself disliked before even begging.
Jung Yoonseo sighed shortly and accepted the mug from my hand. He loosened the string I’d tied tightly a bit, then asked me.
“What’s the reason you wanted to meet today?”
I felt guilty about jumping straight to the main point. I looked at Jung Yoonseo with an awkward expression, then slowly stated my purpose.
“…Do you also work with publishing companies?”
“Why? Are you going to publish a book?”
“No? It’s not that, but there’s a writer I absolutely have to meet, and I can only contact that writer through the publishing company. So I sent an email to the publishing company, but they haven’t replied…. So maybe….”
When I trailed off because I felt self-conscious, a question came back.
“How long has it been since you sent it? The email?”
“I sent it on Tuesday.”
“The day you asked to meet me?”
“Yes.”
“Have patience. Rejected.”
Jung Yoonseo flatly refused. Honestly, since I’d come prepared to be rejected, I had nothing to say. It was a favor I would’ve rejected too if I were Jung Yoonseo. But the problem was that it was quite an important issue to just let it go like this.
I sat on the sofa that looked to cost about three times my studio deposit at a glance and looked at Jung Yoonseo as humbly as possible.
“Is there really no way you could help me no matter how I ask?”
Jung Yoonseo looked at me for a long time, then sat next to me. And with a face close to expressionless with just the corners of his mouth slightly raised, he calmly explained.
“First of all, we don’t have any publishing companies we contact separately. We’re not related to that industry.”
“I see….”
“And I don’t know what you specifically want, but personally, when someone at my level contacts a private company, the matter gets bigger. You know what I mean by my level, right?”
…Listening to Jung Yoonseo, I really felt like I’d come too recklessly. I might have just vaguely thought Jung Yoonseo would grant my request. Jung Yoonseo quietly looked at me with downcast eyes, then propped his chin and said.
“And honestly speaking, when you contacted me first saying you wanted to meet, but then came leisurely, that didn’t feel good either. Lee Hyun-ssi asked to meet, but it seems like only I want to see you.”
When I looked at Jung Yoonseo’s face at his words, Jung Yoonseo spoke indifferently with an expression similar to before.
“So I acted a bit petulant. Though I didn’t expect you to tie the string…. And then you tie the string and this is the favor you have, so I’m a bit hurt.”
“I’m sorry.”
After listening to Jung Yoonseo’s words to the end, I realized anew that I really hadn’t done a single thing right. After hearing my apology, Jung Yoonseo thought for a while, then asked.
“Tell me. Why do you need that writer?”
“That’s….”
“You know I can’t help if you don’t talk about it, right?”
Since Jung Yoonseo kept saying only correct things, it was hard for me to find an appropriate answer. And Jung Yoonseo was a person with a stronger realistic side than I thought, so I wasn’t confident he’d believe my words. And most importantly, to tell this story, I’d eventually have to talk about the original work where Jung Yoonseo appears, and how Jung Yoonseo would take that was also unknown.
I hesitated for a long time, then started.
For reference, I was the worst at talking.
“Do you believe in fate?”
Ah… fuck. Even I sound like a cult member. But this was the only appropriate word to express the original work.
“…Suddenly?”
Jung Yoonseo was flustered by my words, then tried to answer within the bounds of common sense.
“If that fate means entering into a certain range of life through one’s innate disposition or experienced environment… I believe in it to some extent.”
“Uh…. Not that kind, what about love?”
