“…….”
“And here you are, keeping some freeloader of a guy around too.”
Was he talking about Shin Juho? Munyeong couldn’t begin to understand why that was coming up now. The words were strained and far-fetched, but that didn’t mean being talked about like that didn’t sting. Still, unlike Haejeong who was visibly worked up, Munyeong opened his mouth calmly.
“…Juho is a friend.”
“Friend, my ass. Some guy who sleeps with men, and he’s just friends with another man?”
“……I haven’t slept with——”
He stopped mid-sentence, because the living proof was standing right in front of him. But whether Haejeong had caught those trailing words properly or not, he let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Haven’t? You?”
“…….”
“You haven’t. Slept. With a man?”
Haejeong’s eyes went wide as he repeated the question.
“…Ah…….”
That night wasn’t something Munyeong could simply write off as sex. From his perspective, it had been his way of comforting Haejeong when Haejeong was deeply hurting. It hadn’t been a night spent for simple physical desire, or with purely sexual intent. On top of that, it was something that had happened a very long time ago.
“…It, it was a long time ago. It has nothing to do with……now.”
“Ah―. So because it was a long time ago, it doesn’t even count?”
“Senior……Managing Director.”
“I guess you don’t remember at all how you were all over me back then, begging for it?”
“What——!”
At the blunt, explicit words, Munyeong quickly looked around them. His eyes went wide as he pushed back against what was clearly fabricated.
“Th, that never happened.”
“Never happened? Fuck, who was it that came running like they’d been waiting for it?”
“……It was so long ago I don’t even remember it anymore.”
“Is that so?”
A fierce, biting look rose in Haejeong’s eyes. Then, with a slight smirk, he began to move closer, slowly narrowing the distance between them.
“Then. Want me to make you remember?”
He asked with cool confidence, close enough now that their bodies were nearly touching. The moment Munyeong registered exactly what those words meant, heat flooded his face all at once. What on earth is he saying.
“Wh, what……?”
“Want me to make you remember how you were pinned under me, loving every second of it, leaking all over yourself?”
“……I— I―― I don’t want that.”
Munyeong shook his head in small, rapid motions, his expression dazed. The language was so crude that even hearing it, he couldn’t quite believe what had entered his ears — Munyeong pressed a hand over his racing heart. At the rather firm refusal, Haejeong’s sneer only sharpened.
“Oh, right — you said you don’t like me anymore, didn’t you?”
He clapped his hands together in an exaggerated show and even snapped his fingers.
“So what, if that guy from earlier asks, you’ll just give it up for him?”
At the vile words, Munyeong let out a stunned, disbelieving sound and couldn’t close his mouth. Sentences that were impossible to believe even as he heard them.
“What on earth……why, would you say……”
“Why, isn’t that how it works — if you like someone, you just put out for anyone?”
At the increasingly ugly words, Munyeong looked up at him with eyes on the verge of tears, full of hurt. The absurd misunderstanding was one thing, but the way he was speaking — talking down about him like that — was cutting into him. Did he see me that way this whole time? Or does he think that because I have nothing and no pride, it’s natural for me to hear things like this? No matter how out of line he’d been, the feelings he’d had for Haejeong had been genuine. That night, the reason he’d taken in Haejeong — who’d shown up drenched in rain, wounded and broken — was because he’d truly, sincerely cared for him.
“……Don’t.”
“…….”
“…Don’t talk about me like that…….”
He barely managed to get the words out through tightly pressed lips, his eyes glistening — and Haejeong faltered. The cruel, scrunched expression on his face blurred, then went hazy for a brief moment. The lower lip that had been spitting confident words trembled faintly, just for a second.
With eyes that had been glaring at Munyeong — some hesitation flickering through them — Haejeong suddenly grabbed Munyeong’s wrist. The moment his grip closed around it like iron, Munyeong’s body went limp and was pulled along effortlessly. He tried shaking it off here and there, a silent plea to let go, but Haejeong’s hand was solid as stone.
“Ngh.”
The grip was tight enough to leave marks on his wrist — and the place Haejeong dragged him to was the highest floor of the building. He already knew what that floor was, having had it loosely explained to him by Chu Dowon. Munyeong scrambled to pull his arm free with a panicked expression, but Haejeong’s stride toward the bedroom was faster.
“Fuck……”
As he shoved Munyeong into the bedroom, Haejeong finally let go of his hand. Then, blocking the doorway, he slammed the door shut behind him. Munyeong stared at him, dumbstruck.
“…Why are you……”
“…….”
The gaze looking down at him was heavy. Munyeong sensed the danger creeping up his spine and hurriedly grabbed the door handle again, stumbling over his words in a frightened voice.
“I, I, I want to leave……”
But the hand on the handle was stopped in one swift motion. Haejeong seized Munyeong’s arm and spun him around roughly.
“Why, why……”
He couldn’t understand why Haejeong had dragged him here. What mattered was that simply being in a different room had been enough to start something shifting — a subtle, delicate tension beginning to coil in the air. Unlike when they’d been pretending not to know each other, now they both shared the same memory. A single time, years ago… but because it had happened, the strange tension was an inevitable current neither of them could escape.
“Why did you change your cleaning section?”
His voice was low, his eyes quieted — nothing like the agitation from moments ago. At the question so out of place with the situation and the room, Munyeong — who had been edging toward the door — stopped and met his gaze with a puzzled look.
“That’s……”
“Is it because you’re self-conscious about me remembering you?”
It wasn’t his usual sulking or spite, which made it all the more unsettling. An expressionless face, a question asked as if it were nothing — and yet a tingling crept up the back of Munyeong’s neck.
“…It’s not like that.”
“Then. Why.”
“…….”
“What is it.”
He pressed, asking again in quick succession. Munyeong hesitated, then slowly began to speak.
“It’s not that, it’s just……”
He looked at Haejeong — standing rigid and unmoving — with helpless unease. He didn’t want to say it, but Haejeong was making it very clear he had no intention of budging until he got an answer.
“…Just…… I thought you’d be uncomfortable.”
“…What?”
“……You didn’t like me.”
Munyeong’s lips moved with effort as he forced the words out. When Haejeong had discovered his feelings, he’d shown open disgust. The fact that someone like Munyeong — someone who amounted to nothing — could have feelings for him had repulsed Haejeong. And on top of that, back then Haejeong had only ever dated women. He’d been a straight man who had never once entertained the thought of being with another man.
“…That’s the reason?”
“……Neither of us has anything but uncomfortable memories of it… there’s nothing good about running into each other all the time.”
“……Ha. Fuck.”
Haejeong exhaled a hollow, defeated breath and looked down at Munyeong with an expression that said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“…I was going to tell you I wanted today to be my last day on this job too.”
Munyeong lowered his head and continued quietly.
“Does whatever the hell he wants, this guy.”
