—I’m busy. Hanging up.
Around the time it became ‘Call Duration 15:02,’ Lee Hyeonseok’s voice flowed from the speaker. Perhaps things weren’t going as he wanted, as his voice was thickly coated with annoyance and irritation.
“Wait, just a moment!”
—Why, what.
At the sound of him hanging up, I urgently grabbed Lee Hyeonseok without realizing it. At my sudden action, Lee Hyeonseok asked in a voice full of questions. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I seemed to feel worry too. However, I didn’t particularly have anything to say in answer to the question of why. I really just grabbed him without realizing it. After I said nothing for a long while, Lee Hyeonseok pressed me once more to speak.
“Huh? Ah, uh, that’s… Uh, are, are you busy?”
—Yeah.
Only then did I come to my senses, but unable to hide my confusion and even stammering, I struggled to continue speaking. The words I barely squeezed out were the two syllables “Are you busy?” Lee Hyeonseok accepted my attitude, which could be called strange, as if it were nothing and affirmed. Right, you’re busy.
“What’s, no, what’s a student so busy with…?”
—I’ll talk later.
I asked incredulously, thinking how busy could someone who was just twenty years old be, but Lee Hyeonseok, truly busy, hung up as soon as he finished his words. To anyone listening, it was an action that could be called rather cold. I was grateful enough that he answered me this much given his disposition. Though I’m not sure who I should be grateful to or why I should be grateful.
“……”
I kept the disconnected phone to my ear, then suddenly, with feelings welling up, I threw the phone outright. Perhaps I threw it with quite some force, as the phone hit the door with a bang!
“Crazy!”
What the hell did I just do? Blaming myself belatedly, I went toward the door, but the phone, already miserably broken, was sprawled on the floor. I approached close, crouched down, and was looking at the phone shattered to pieces with a bewildered face when suddenly the door opened. Bang! Another sound was heard. It was the sound of my forehead greeting the door.
“Is there a problem?”
“Agh!”
“Gasp, Seo Jiwoo-nim! Are you alright?”
I, who had been crouching in front of the door, smashed my forehead directly into the opening door and fell backward. It hurt so much that a groan burst out. The one who entered was a guard. It seemed he’d entered without permission, startled by the loud sound from inside the room. As I unknowingly rubbed my forehead at the pain I felt there, the guards bent down and checked my condition.
“Are you badly hurt?”
“I’ll get medicine now!”
“Uhhh…”
When only groans came out instead of even empty words that I was okay, I felt anxiety from the guards. They seemed at a loss over the fact that they’d hurt me, whimpering helplessly—somehow it was quite funny. What was I that they were so flustered? Well, they’d be more afraid of Lee Hyeonseok than me.
“Kuk, I’m, okay…”
“No. If you’ve hurt your head, it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Do you feel nauseous? What about a headache? If anywhere hurts even a little, please tell us.”
When I said I was okay while struggling to hold back laughter that felt like it would burst, they denied it and interrogated me persistently. I thought what was so serious about bumping my forehead to make such a fuss, but given their employer’s personality, if I said the wrong thing, it would indeed be serious.
“It’s just tingly, that’s all. I’m really okay.”
“I brought an ice pack and ointment.”
“No, I’m really fine though…”
Recalling my days as an office worker, it was enough to understand the guards’ fear. I tried to just let it go, but the guard who said he’d get medicine brought an ice pack and ointment with a pale face. Only then did I feel the guards’ difficulty more precisely and was flustered, but I tried to calm them down.
“Should… should we not call the personal physician…?”
In the end, the guard who had brought the ice pack and ointment asked me with a resolved face. My office worker instincts were telling me. That in case they got caught, they’d do everything to reduce things they could be blamed for, but if possible, they hoped not to get caught.
“You bastard! Ah, I’m sorry. …Does it hurt a lot?”
The guard next to him seemed to feel it too and briefly scolded him while hitting his colleague’s back, but being of the same mind, he watched my mood and asked.
What on earth was this about? Before I knew it, the pain I’d felt in my forehead had disappeared, but the men who were a head and a half taller and twice my build were still flustered before me. At that sight, the laughter I’d been holding back felt like it would burst.
Only then did I realize I’d been somewhat gloomy. Though I still didn’t know what I’d been gloomy about, feeling grateful to the guards who had removed my gloom, I decided to tell them the words they most wanted to hear.
“There’s certainly no need to call him. It’s just a bumped forehead so I’m really fine. Keep it secret from Lee Hyeonseok. If he finds out, I’ll just say I bumped into it alone.”
“Phew. Ah, no, this isn’t like that! No, we’re really sorry.”
“We’re truly sorry.”
Perhaps they were really afraid of getting scolded by their superior, as both of them immediately sighed with relief as soon as they heard my words. They noticed my presence and apologized again in a tightly disciplined manner. Indeed, earning someone else’s money wasn’t easy work. All working people were like that.
“It’s okay.”
I also know everything, being a working person. Though not now, of course.
“Are you really alright?”
“Yes.”
Since they were so restless, I drove them out saying I’d take a nap. Even though I said I wouldn’t tell, they kept asking about my well-being—they seemed quite anxious. They looked too anxious for me to just empathize while thinking of old times. Now I felt sorry for bumping my head.
In the end, having lost both things to do and motivation, after sending out the guards, I lay down on the bed again and really decided to take a nap. I should have taken off my outerwear but it was bothersome. I even closed my eyes without turning off the room light.
I realized I’d fallen asleep around the time I heard murmuring sounds from outside. Actually, even while deciding to take a nap, I didn’t think I’d really fall asleep. I wasn’t originally someone who slept this much, but after coming to this place, I slept so well it was fascinating even to myself. Thinking I’d sleep just a bit more like this, I closed my eyes that had opened slightly again.
“—Go… Ah—!”
“…What is it.”
I wanted to ignore the noise coming from outside, but it kept coming so I eventually opened my eyes. Perhaps because I woke up due to the noise, I started getting needlessly sensitive. Then, realizing that whether the owners of the noise were guards or whoever, there’d be no commotion unless something happened in the house, I tensed up.
It might be Cheon Jaekyung, whom Lee Hyeonseok had told me to be so careful of, breaking in. I looked around and started searching for something that could be a weapon. Rummaging through the drawer, what caught my eye was the red twine Lee Hyeonseok had bought last time. After making dessert, wanting to package it, I’d said “Please get some string.” What he bought was red twine.
Right, certainly twine was also used for packaging purposes, but if I had to say, it was more suited for box packaging. What kind of thought process would you have to go through to buy not regular packaging string but red twine? I felt a mental distance anew.
Anyway, it seemed taut enough to tie up a person well so I grabbed it first, but Cheon Jaekyung was better at fighting than he looked. Unless I subdued him first, there was a high possibility I’d be the one getting it, so I decided to keep looking for something that could be a weapon. Before I knew it, there was no sound outside, but it seemed I could only confirm safety after holding something.
“Ah.”
When I opened the drawer below, I saw a metal chain. It was for hanging the sandbag that Lee Hyeonseok had accidentally broken last time. Though various situations and coincidences had overlapped, the fact that Lee Hyeonseok had broken it remained unchanged. Just because I handled him gently didn’t mean he didn’t show his violence to me—he was a bastard who would use violence on me too if it came to it. I shook my head once more, feeling his dangerousness.
“…Well, I probably won’t die.”
When I carefully swung the chain in the air, a clear metallic sound and the sound of cutting through wind sounded quite crisp. Though it would hurt if I got hit, it didn’t seem like I’d die, so I decided to grab it for now. Strictly as self-defense.
“……”
I held red twine in my left hand and a metal chain in my right hand. Thinking this much was full preparation, I was so nervous I even broke out in cold sweat. The opponent was a dangerous pervert who’d broken into an expensive house, and I was just a weak ordinary person who’d never properly learned self-defense. Somewhat resolved, I carefully opened the door. At the scene I soon saw, for a moment I wondered if I was dreaming.
“Hey…!”
“Mmph!”
“Shh. The kid’s sleeping so don’t make noise, I said?”
Lee Hyeonseok was holding only a cup handle and stepping on a large man collapsed on the floor. It was the guards. Was Lee Hyeonseok not exercising violence on the guards and threatening them as is?
“Ah.”
Before even finishing assessing the situation, I closed the door. In that brief time of opening and immediately closing the door, my eyes met Lee Hyeonseok’s, but pretending not to know, I first closed the door and then locked it.
“?”
What? Déjà vu? Hilarious hidden camera? Was the scene I just saw reality? In that brief moment not even a second, I seemed to glimpse red too, but it was probably blood. What did I just see? Was what I just heard real? Of course, if it was Lee Hyeonseok, it was certainly something he’d say.
“What.”
“Eek!”
As I was trying to distinguish whether it was a dream or reality, the door opened and Lee Hyeonseok entered. I knew it, but it seemed it was reality after all.
