# Chapter 27
“We’ve arrived. Get out.”
On the way back from the café to the house, Seo Hanryul and I didn’t say a single word to each other.
I couldn’t understand why Hanryul would suddenly appear in front of my house and insist on coming inside the home of someone he hated enough to kill, and I didn’t want to understand it either. I figured I should just write it off as the protagonist’s whim; the more I tried to make sense of it, the more my head felt strange.
“Hey, open the door already.”
Hanryul brazenly walked up to the front door and ordered me to open it.
“What an interesting situation.”
Resigned to his outrageous behavior, I opened the door. I decided to endure it for the time being, since he’d said he would state his demands in two days and three nights, and then we’d never have to face each other again.
“You’ll leave after two days and three nights as promised. I can’t tolerate anything beyond that.”
“Who says I don’t have a schedule too? I don’t plan on looking at your face for long either.”
Right, I feel the same way. His face must be just as unpleasant for me to see, so why is he acting so bizarrely? And how did he find this place? I had many questions, but I gave up asking since it was obvious he would just get irritated and not answer.
“As you can see, this is the inside of the house, and you can use whatever space you want. Whether you watch TV or grab something to eat, I won’t pay any attention to it.”
The house is very spacious anyway, so we just need to avoid running into each other. Not wanting to keep looking at Hanryul’s face, I tried to head to my room right after entering, leaving him behind.
“When a guest arrives, isn’t it impolite to leave without giving a house tour?”
Now he’s referring to himself as a guest. I wonder if Hanryul doesn’t know the meaning of the word “guest.”
“I don’t recall calling you a guest. Who barged in without notice on a lovely Saturday morning?”
“If you continue to be uncooperative, it won’t be good for you either. Do you know what demands I’ll make in two days and three nights?”
This crazy bastard. What kind of demands is he making such a fuss about? I didn’t know what kind of person Hanryul really was, but I could clearly see that he had some eccentric and strange aspects.
“Fine. If that’s what you want so badly, I’ll give you the grand tour. This is the living room, that’s the kitchen, and up there is the second floor. There are five bathrooms in total, so there won’t be any shortage of toilets.”
I gave a perfunctory explanation of things that were obvious to anyone with eyes in response to Hanryul’s ridiculous request.
“Lastly, stick to what you said. You’ll state all your demands over these two days and three nights. I’ll hear them on your final day before leaving.”
“Fine.”
Hanryul answered rudely while staring at me in a way that made me uncomfortable.
“Young Master, are you back?”
While I was having a mild battle of nerves with Hanryul in the living room, Han Woojin came in. He also seemed puzzled to see Hanryul in the house.
‘Talk about perfect timing.’
When the three of us, who didn’t belong together at all, gathered in one place, an uncomfortable atmosphere instantly formed, and silence fell. Hanryul, who had been running his mouth when it was just the two of us, closed it when Woojin entered.
‘I wish both of them would just get out of my house.’
“Ah, Secretary Han. I happened to run into Hanryul today, and he said he didn’t have a place to stay, so we decided he’d stay at our house for two days and three nights as a quick solution. Hanryul, don’t mind Secretary Han either, just make yourself at home. That’s all I have to say, so everyone just do what you need to do today.”
But since neither of them was likely to leave my house voluntarily, I ended up speaking first.
‘Hah… Just endure it for exactly two days and three nights.’
I retreated straight to my room. I decided that for these two days and three nights, I would leave very early in the morning and come back very late at night. All to completely avoid any situation where I might run into Hanryul.
‘Right. I thought it was too clean an exit compared to what I went through.’
To be honest, I had felt a bit uneasy after our meeting at the café. After all, Hanryul had glared at me like he wanted to kill me. This might actually be for the better. I just need to meet his demands and make a clean break.
I’m not sure what demands Hanryul will make of me, but whatever they are, I’ll accommodate them as much as possible. I need to end things cleanly with him so I can maintain my happy study abroad life smoothly.
* * *
Hanryul handed Jaehyun a crude sheet of paper.
Of course, there was never any hotel cancellation. To be precise, it wasn’t his hotel that was overbooked, but his manager’s. But seeing Jaehyun’s normal-person charade made his blood boil, and he wanted to see how long that precious act would last.
After all, that guy didn’t have the patience to keep up such an act for long. He was planning to verify that guy’s true nature again and think of demands for revenge.
He had just tried to forget everything. But after facing that guy in America, he thought that clearing the past without giving him any punishment would be like proving himself to be a pushover.
But Hanryul realized things were going strangely. Jaehyun didn’t cause any of his usual disturbances and wasn’t even at home. As if avoiding him, Jaehyun left before sunrise and came back late in the evening.
It was really strange. Was this mouse-like person, avoiding people, really the Jaehyun he knew? So on the second day, he deliberately got up early to confront Jaehyun.
“Oh, you’re up?”
Jaehyun threw a brief remark at him and rushed past him to go somewhere, as if in a hurry.
His relationship with the person called Secretary Han also seemed strange. Hanryul had occasionally encountered Secretary Han before. A pitiful man who was always stuck to Jaehyun, tending to his every need.
But in America, the situation seemed strangely twisted. Jaehyun seemed to be avoiding Secretary Han as well. When morning came, Secretary Han prepared a meal that would tempt anyone, but Jaehyun didn’t eat and immediately left the house. The two of them even had a minor dispute about whether to eat or not. Hanryul couldn’t help but snicker at the sight.
“Hanryul, at least you eat.”
Jaehyun refused the meal, and in the end, Hanryul, who happened to be passing through the kitchen, was caught and made to eat breakfast. This resulted in a very awkward situation where only Secretary Han and himself ate at the table after Jaehyun had left.
On the final night of his stay at Jaehyun’s house, Cha Jaehyun finally appeared in front of his room first.
“Tomorrow’s the day you leave, right? After tomorrow, it’s really over. Tomorrow is the last day for you to state your demands, so think carefully. Sleep well.”
He spoke to Hanryul with a cold voice devoid of any emotion, saying only what he needed to say before leaving.
There was no trace of his previously disgustingly clingy behavior. Seeing him act as if they were complete strangers with no relationship whatsoever, Hanryul felt his anger rising again. After giving him a terrible experience, Jaehyun was now acting shamelessly as if nothing had happened.
He wanted to inflict even a small scratch on that guy’s immaculate face. To make him experience even one ten-thousandth of the pain he had received.
Hanryul knew well that demanding money would have no effect on him whatsoever. Because that rogue had nothing but money. He had absolutely no intention of making demands that would cause no harm to him.
‘You crazy bastard, will you still be so carefree after hearing this demand?’
That night, Hanryul finally came up with a way to give Jaehyun a good dose of trouble.
* * *
Thank goodness. The two days and three nights passed quickly without any major commotion. By leaving at dawn and coming back close to midnight, I hardly had to see Hanryul.
Of course, on the second day’s dawn, he also got up early, so I had to face the uncomfortable situation of meeting him. Plus, Han Woojin nagged me to eat in the kitchen, which temporarily trapped me there.
‘This kitchen must be cursed.’
“Hanryul, at least you eat.”
It was an incredibly irritating situation from the crack of dawn. In the end, I substituted Hanryul. Since coming to America, Woojin seems to have contracted a disease where he’ll die if he can’t feed someone. “At least you eat, Hanryul.” I didn’t care anymore if the two of them talked about me.
“Tomorrow’s the day you leave, right? After tomorrow, it’s really over. Tomorrow is the last day for you to state your demands, so think carefully. Sleep well.”
On the last night, I spoke confidently to Hanryul. Telling him that tomorrow was the last day. I couldn’t read Hanryul’s expression, but seeing him, it seemed like he would really leave me alone after I met his demands, which made me feel much more at ease. Yes, you go your way now. And I’ll live my life. Please, let’s never see each other again.
And finally, the day of Hanryul’s departure dawned. When I got up in the morning and went to the living room, Hanryul had already prepared everything and was sitting on the sofa.
“What are you looking at? Hurry up and come here.”
Hanryul called me over with a gesture like someone calling a dog, sitting in an arrogant posture. Watching his behavior, I wondered how he had managed to tolerate Cha Jaehyun so graciously with that strange personality of his.
“Have you thought carefully during these two days and three nights?”
“Yes, I’ve thought about it really~ well.”
Hanryul looked at me, drawing out the end of his words, whatever he was thinking.
“Good. I’ll hear you out. This is the end for us.”
“Same here.”
Hanryul slid a piece of paper toward me. Another paper? What kind of nonsense would be written on it this time?
‘What?’
The paper contained absurd things I couldn’t have imagined.
“Are you insane?”
There were indeed demands written on the paper. But they weren’t the kind that could be resolved with money. Why was he making such ridiculous demands?
“I don’t have time to giggle with the likes of you.”
“This isn’t even funny. Do you really think I’ll agree to such demands? You’re surprisingly naive.”
“You’d better think carefully before running your mouth.”
Looking at the paper, I was convinced. Hanryul must be crazy too.
