“I broke up with Gyeonwoo hyung.”
Yeonrok had been enjoying a movie in the home theater when Choi Hwan suddenly burst through the door and blurted this out. Yeonrok’s hand, which had been reaching for popcorn, hesitated for a moment, but he wasn’t surprised. No wonder Moon Gyeonwoo had been moping around alone at dawn a few days ago…
“Hey, could you close the door? The light’s making it hard to see the screen.”
He meant for Choi Hwan to close the door and leave, but somehow Choi Hwan understood it backwards—he closed the door, came inside, and plopped down next to him without permission.
“Why are you watching such a trashy movie? Watch one of mine instead.”
Then he snatched the popcorn and began rattling off details about his love life that Yeonrok hadn’t even asked about.
“I guess differences in preferences are unavoidable. No matter how much I thought about it, I just didn’t want to be the bottom. Gyeonwoo hyung said he’d be fine with a platonic relationship if that’s what it took, but I didn’t like that either. So I just dumped him. Wow, Lee Junseong was like this back then? Did you know he was two-timing between Lua and Kim Serim, got caught, got his ass beat, and ended up with a nosebleed?”
From start to finish, it was all TMI that Yeonrok really, really didn’t want to know…
“Sigh. What’s the point of having matching grades if you can’t even date? I guess I’m fated to live out this life alone and lonely as a bachelor.”
It was a statement that didn’t consider Yeonrok as a romantic prospect in the slightest, but that wasn’t surprising. Looking at how Choi Hwan was once again randomly groping whatever he could reach, he clearly had no awareness of being Name Partners—he practically treated Yeonrok like a battery or a heat pack. Yeonrok pushed away the hand that was sneaking under his clothes without permission and replied indifferently.
“Of course you keep breaking up when you date without any romantic feelings from the start.”
“We’re Name Partners—do we really need romantic feelings?”
“How the hell did you act in romantic roles?”
“Hmm,” Choi Hwan hummed as he sucked on a finger covered in salty seasoning. His eyes sparkled mischievously as he smiled and leaned toward Yeonrok. It was heavy, but Yeonrok felt he shouldn’t be pushed away, so he stiffened and held his ground. Choi Hwan’s handsome lips curved up wickedly.
“Yeonrok-ah, you don’t have to experience something firsthand to know about it.”
The relaxed atmosphere instantly became tense. Yeonrok’s eyes widened and unconsciously moved toward Choi Hwan’s lips. They looked particularly shapely and glossy today.
“Then do you have to commit murder to act in a murder scene?”
The fingers that had been touching his neck applied pressure, adding a firm sense of constriction. When Yeonrok tensed up, Choi Hwan showed his white teeth in a grin and suddenly bit his cheek hard. It didn’t hurt, but Yeonrok was startled.
“Ugh!”
Yeonrok recoiled in disgust and vigorously wiped his cheek. Choi Hwan, pushed away, pouted his lips.
“You don’t have to hate it so much that you hurt my feelings. Between us…”
“What are we to each other?”
“Uh…”
Choi Hwan made a dumb sound as he pondered, wrinkles forming on his smooth forehead. After brief contemplation, a thoughtless answer popped out.
“My errand boy?”
Instead of answering, Yeonrok swung a cushion from the sofa and thoroughly pummeled him. Even Choi Hwan seemed to know that “errand boy” was the wrong answer, so he just took the beating before quickly scurrying away. Yeonrok sighed and turned off the movie that had been playing silently through the chaos. He had an appointment soon anyway.
* * *
Yeonrok quickly finished preparing and headed to the meeting place. Today was the day of the knitting group’s dinner to celebrate the completion of Lee Seongmyeong’s first piece. Yeonrok greeted everyone brightly as he entered the galbi restaurant, but looked puzzled.
“The attendance rate is pretty low today?”
“Oh my. I guess we picked a bad day. I got calls earlier—Miyeong unnie’s family got food poisoning, and Hyejin’s water pipes burst at home so she’s got a headache. And Heekyeong said something came up at home so she can’t come.”
Lee Seongmyeong clicked his tongue as he heard about the string of misfortunes that had befallen the group members, then soon laughed good-naturedly with a pleasant face.
“Let’s just enjoy ourselves and have a good time.”
Though it became a small gathering, the dinner was quite enjoyable. When Yeonrok tried to pay, someone had already taken care of the bill. Everyone told the dumbfounded Yeonrok:
“Yeonrok-ah, adults pay for things like this.”
“But I’m an adult…”
“Oh my. With such fluffy peach fuzz on your face, what adult?”
Perhaps because the average age was in the fifties, the group members treated Yeonrok like a child. Most of them had children around Yeonrok’s age or even older. Yeonrok felt restless and apologetic about always getting treated, when Lee Seongmyeong suggested:
“We’re all full, so shall we get some exercise? There’s a screen golf place upstairs in this building.”
Except for two people who had to head home early, everyone readily agreed. Yeonrok didn’t know how to play golf, but fortunately Lee Seongmyeong kindly taught him. Everyone praised him for having good athletic instincts, so it was more fun than he’d expected.
After about an hour had passed, Yeonrok realized that only he and Lee Seongmyeong remained from the group. He felt a bit disappointed since he’d enjoyed having lots of people around.
“Yeonrok-gun, would you like something to drink?”
Lee Seongmyeong, who had been watching Yeonrok play screen golf with satisfaction, casually suggested. Yeonrok had already received so much today that he offered to pay this time, but it was useless again.
“For things like this, you just say thank you and accept. So, what do you want to drink?”
“Then I’ll have an iced Americano, please. I really want to pay though…”
Yeonrok asked for a cold drink, feeling awkward. Soon a hot ginger tea and a cold Americano arrived. His throat was already parched, so Yeonrok glanced at them and then positioned himself to finish hitting the ball. The golf ball flew through the air and hit the screen with a thud. The result that appeared was quite disappointing, so he tilted his head.
“Like this? Or like this…?”
He tried to get a feel for it, then swung forcefully. But perhaps because he was too eager, or because goosebumps suddenly rose for some unknown reason, his shoes made an unpleasant squeaking sound as they slipped. His body swayed as he lost his balance. The golf club swung around more than it should have and hit the ball with a cheerful sound. Backward.
“Waaah!”
The man who had been quietly skulking around Yeonrok after delivering the drinks let out a shriek. He’d been watching out for the golf club but never imagined the golf ball would fly backward. The man threw himself to dodge the golf ball flying toward his face. In doing so, he fell onto Lee Seongmyeong, who had been sipping ginger tea while exchanging knowing glances with him.
“Aaaah!”
Lee Seongmyeong screamed as he spilled the hot ginger tea all over his hand. Yeonrok, witnessing the chain of accidents caused by his own bad luck, also screamed.
“Oh no! Are you okay?!”
He rushed over to give emergency first aid. Which meant he dumped the iced Americano right onto Lee Seongmyeong’s hand. He grabbed the palm to cool it down quickly while looking around for something to treat it with.
It was then that Lee Seongmyeong, who had been such a caring elder until now, roughly swatted Yeonrok’s hand away painfully. His face was twisted in a grimace, startling Yeonrok. His gaze then inadvertently moved to the bright red scalded palm.
“Uh, on your palm…”
He could glimpse a pattern catching his eye where something like an apricot-colored band had half peeled off. Was it a tattoo? Or, could it be…? It was an unusual design for a middle-aged person like Lee Seongmyeong to have, so Yeonrok asked uncertainly:
“Are you by any chance a Name Manifestor?”
Lee Seongmyeong, who had been hastily pulling his hand back with a grimace, froze. A contemplative look flashed across his face, then he quickly corrected his expression and nodded.
“Haha. That’s right. I’m a Name Manifestor.”
“Oh wow, really? I must not be very observant. I had no idea this whole time.”
“Ah… People are so bothersome when they recognize it, I usually keep it covered.”
Yeonrok naively nodded, thinking that made sense. The location was covered by clothes anyway, but he too knew how annoyingly people had acted when his Name first manifested while he was working with them.
“By the way, is your hand okay?”
“Oh my, it’s fine. Fortunately the ginger tea wasn’t that hot.”
But it wasn’t fine. His hand looked bright red. Lee Seongmyeong’s face also still looked strangely red… Yeonrok belatedly remembered the other person who had fallen while trying to dodge the ball and turned around. But there was no one there. He was sure someone had been hit by the golf ball he’d hit backward.
“Didn’t someone get hit by the golf ball I hit earlier?”
“Did they? It was so chaotic I’m not sure. And how could a golf ball fly backward? Hahaha.”
Yeonrok repeatedly asked if his hand was really okay, if he shouldn’t go to the hospital, but Lee Seongmyeong stubbornly refused. He even demonstratively kept hitting golf balls. Was it just his imagination that the hand looked even redder? It really looked painful…
‘Should I just go home now?’
Yeonrok worried that his bad luck, which had been quiet recently, was acting up again. It would be one thing if only he got hurt, but this time two people had been affected, so he felt guilty too. Fiddling with the golf ball, Yeonrok said:
“I should get going.”
“Hm? Why? You’re not going to play more?”
Lee Seongmyeong paused and encouraged him to play more before leaving. When Yeonrok glanced at the hand that looked burned, Lee Seongmyeong subtly turned his body at an angle to hide it.
“I’m worried about your hand, partner, and I feel like I caused a lot of trouble earlier.”
Yeonrok continued internally: And I might cause even more trouble going forward.
