The person calling was Kyeonghun. Though he wanted to ignore it and continue the conversation they were having, he couldn’t do that now that he’d left work in Kyeonghun’s hands and rushed out.
“……Just a moment.”
Seongjo, who had no choice but to ask for understanding, answered the phone. Yujeong watched quietly without showing any sign of disappointment.
“Hello. ……Yes, right now?”
Seongjo, who had been listening to the other person, let out a small sigh before answering.
“……I understand. I’ll go right away.”
Having ended the call with concise words, Seongjo looked back at Yujeong with an apologetic face.
“It’s a call from the company…… I think I need to go now. Actually, I came out urgently in the middle of work.”
He’d kept his mouth shut thinking Yujeong would feel troubled if he said such things, but now he was in a position where he had to explain.
“It seems I won’t be able to have dinner together today. I’m sorry, tomorrow for sure…….”
The more he spoke, it seemed to be Seongjo rather than Yujeong who felt regretful. Due to his regretful feelings, he unconsciously reached out his hand. When he lightly touched Yujeong’s hand that had been naturally placed on the sofa, a ticklish static electricity sparked at his fingertips.
Only then did Seongjo, startled, pull back his hand and smile awkwardly. Yujeong, who smiled slightly along with him seeing that, soon spoke in a calm and mature tone.
“You should go back. It’s not like I’m a child who can’t eat dinner alone, so you don’t need to worry.”
Then he added a word with an unconcerned air.
“Did you come out because of me?”
It seemed meaningless to say no. Seongjo said “Well……” in an embarrassed voice and trailed off. He’d worried that Yujeong might feel troubled or sorry, but fortunately he didn’t show such signs. Rather, his face looked pleased.
Yujeong, over Seongjo’s hand that had touched his earlier, this time overlapped his own hand first.
At the careful touch, Seongjo felt a bit ticklish and looked down at the overlapped fingertips.
“……Then I’ll be going.”
It wasn’t morning and it was a situation where he’d just stepped out briefly, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t going to work. However, it felt exactly like receiving a send-off before going to work. It was quite ticklish. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t happy about it.
Seongjo left like that, leaving Yujeong behind.
* * *
“I’m truly sorry, Executive Director. We should have handled it at our level…… I’m ashamed to have made you come back again.”
“It’s fine. It’s my job originally.”
To Seongjo who returned to the company, Kyeonghun bowed apologizing more than necessary. When Seongjo lightly waved his hand in refusal, he hesitated a bit before throwing out a question.
“That…… how did things go? Nothing happened, right? He didn’t really come to do something foolish, that ba…… I mean, that person…….”
Though he didn’t mention the name, it was a situation where it was clearly Yeongbeom. Seongjo, who had been about to open the office door, paused for a moment in that position.
He had no intention of telling Kyeonghun the specific situation in detail. But he also had even less intention of leaving Yeongbeom alone without any measures. Seongjo turned his head slightly toward Kyeonghun and said.
“Let’s cut off some of the deals going in.”
“Pardon?”
At the words that came straight to the point, Kyeonghun answered seeming flustered for a moment, but soon seemed to roughly catch Seongjo’s meaning.
“Then perhaps…….”
Seongjo nodded and replied.
“Something did happen.”
“……It’s not my place to say, but I wonder if he’s really in his right mind…… I don’t know what he’s thinking to cause such trouble.”
Seongjo felt the same. The reason he’d left Yeongbeom alone was because he didn’t want to see a dirty and terrible sight toward an old lover, but now he couldn’t feel the meaning of that either. It seemed he needed to leave a clear warning to Yeongbeom, who couldn’t come to his senses as if he couldn’t see anything.
“It seems he doesn’t really know why I’m staying still, so I think I need to show him something. Even if I have to accept some losses. Are there any projects currently in progress under his name?”
Just as when he’d pondered whether to attach people to Yeongbeom before, interfering with the work Yeongbeom did at the company was an action with risk factors. However, even Kyeonghun, who had dissuaded Seongjo previously, didn’t seem to have any intention of doing so this time.
Kyeonghun, who had been hesitating, nodded with a determined face and said.
“Yes, I don’t know specifically every project he’s working on, but I’m certain there is work in progress. Should I take action right away? I think I can look into business partners or affiliates that can be handled.”
Seongjo nodded as if satisfied. He’d wanted to avoid a situation of pressuring with power and wealth, but…….
What flashed through Seongjo’s mind was Yujeong’s face with a wound from being hit by Yeongbeom.
Yujeong had said just before kissing Seongjo that there was a need to be a bit more careful, but in reality, the one who needed to be careful was Seongjo himself. To face Yujeong openly, he needed to deal with Yeongbeom definitively.
“Yes, as quickly as possible.”
He said so in a definite tone.
After finishing all the work that day, Seongjo left one message to Yujeong.
[I’ll make sure this never happens again next time]
Though Yujeong wouldn’t know, it was content containing Seongjo’s resolution.
* * *
<Jeon Yujeong>
[Are you busy today too?]
The person who made contact first the next day was Yujeong. It was a time shortly before dinner. This meant it was a bit earlier than the time Yujeong usually sent messages to Seongjo to come home for dinner.
It was just that an unexpected situation had occurred yesterday; Seongjo wasn’t always suffering from such heavy work that he couldn’t even leave the office. Today he could readily make time for him.
Seongjo immediately sent a reply.
[No, I finished all the urgent work yesterday]
[Did I do well?]
After pondering for a few dozen seconds, he added a playful remark. The read receipt appeared right away. However, a reply didn’t come immediately. Seongjo waited for his answer without leaving the message window.
And the message that soon arrived was quite surprising.
[Can you come pick me up in front of the school today?]
Seongjo doubted his eyes for a moment and stared at the message screen. Is this really a message from Yujeong and not Yeongeun? Had someone hacked his phone? It was such an unexpected message that such questions arose.
However, Seongjo prided himself on being perceptive and good at seizing opportunities. He couldn’t show a startled reaction here and make Yujeong retract what he’d said. So without any other additional comment,
[I can go]
he sent that reply.
* * *
It seemed Yujeong’s attitude had changed somewhere.
On the way to Yujeong’s school, once again taking the wheel himself, Seongjo reached that conclusion.
It might be too early to talk about a change in attitude from just one message. But he just had that feeling. It was a message with that much impact.
Was it the influence of yesterday’s incident? Was he deeply moved by Seongjo’s words that he would deal with Yeongbeom so such a thing would never happen again? Rather than that…… it seemed he’d had some important conversation with Yeongbeom.
The problem was that he had no idea what the content of that conversation was. He couldn’t even guess.
Though he thought that Yeongbeom might have threatened Yujeong, he couldn’t at all recall what Yujeong’s reaction after that would have been.
While driving with all sorts of thoughts, he arrived in front of the school. Glancing at the parking lot, Yujeong’s car wasn’t visible. It couldn’t be that the car he’d had properly repaired had suddenly broken down again.
Did he deliberately not bring his car? If so, did it mean Yujeong had been making plans since commuting to work? Was today’s contact telling Seongjo to come pick him up not an impulsive action but something planned from the start?
The more he thought about it, rather than becoming clear, Yujeong’s inner thoughts only became more curious.
Seongjo parked the car and waited for Yujeong to come out.
When Yujeong finally appeared, he looked more tired than usual somewhere. Seongjo, who spotted Yujeong from a distance and noticed his tired gait, got out of the car first before he got close. Then he personally opened the passenger seat door.
Yujeong, who approached and saw Seongjo like that, smiled and said.
“The service is good.”
However, even that smile had a somewhat powerless feeling somewhere.
“It seems something happened to Teacher Jeon today.”
