Crazy, he actually came.
I sat back down in the chair with a bewildered expression and greeted him first.
“Hello. It’s been a while.”
“Right, it’s been a while. Have you been well?”
Don’t you already know whether I’ve been well or not? I wanted to ask that, but there was nothing more foolish than trying to have a power struggle with your superior.
“Yes, I’ve been well. Have you been well, hyungnim?”
“I’ve been well too. I was worried because I couldn’t contact you in case we got caught, but it looks like you’re doing well fortunately.”
How can he lie with such a straight face? Worried? What worry? I was truly dumbfounded.
“I was worried too, but it seems like we haven’t been caught fortunately. But is it okay for you to come meet me like this? I haven’t been in contact with Lee Jiwoo for quite a while…”
At my words, hyungnim asked.
“Want to drink more?”
“Ah, I’ll go order. What would you like?”
“Just anything. You get more too, I’ll buy it.”
“Anything” isn’t on the menu, fuck. Ah, I don’t even know your preferences, so what am I supposed to do?
“Yes, then I’ll have milk tea. Do you put syrup in your coffee?”
“No, I don’t like sweet things.”
If it were me, I’d say a menu name in the time it takes to say I don’t like sweet things.
Having already sipped poison for hours, my stomach felt cold and empty, which stressed me out even more. I took the card hyungnim gave me, got up from my seat, and went to the counter.
I looked up at the menu for a while before ordering the most standard thing.
“One hot milk tea and one iced Americano, please.”
The owner gave me a buzzer, but I didn’t leave and kept waiting at the front. Then I sneakily turned my head to glance at where hyungnim was. Hyungnim was propping up his chin and staring blankly at me. Our eyes met and I almost bit my tongue.
I smiled stupidly like an idiot and bobbed my head before quickly looking forward again. The coolness on my back suggested I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Should I be the one to bring up that he went to Seogong’s hospital? Seeing as he didn’t tell Seogong to keep their meeting a secret, it seems like he did it on purpose for me to see.
I need to bring up the drugs too. And about the photos in Jiwoo’s phone gallery…
I received the drinks and returned to where hyungnim was waiting. I placed the milk tea cup in front of me and the iced Americano in front of hyungnim.
“You haven’t heard from Jiwoo, right?”
“No, it’s been a week since we last contacted each other. He won’t answer calls and doesn’t reply to texts either.”
As I sat down and answered, hyungnim nodded.
“That makes sense. He’s in Chile right now.”
“…Chile?”
“I told him to meet me there.”
“……”
Where is Chile? I obviously know it’s a foreign country, but I don’t know the location. Anyway, since he has to take a plane, just the round trip would take quite a while. Did he deliberately send Jiwoo far away to meet me?
“So it’s okay to meet now. So relax.”
I tried to act as calm as possible, but my nervousness must have been visible. I took a sip of the warm milk tea. The sweet, warm energy seemed to spread through my entire body down my esophagus. It was worlds apart from the poison.
This place is really good.
“Is there any chance Lee Jiwoo is surveilling me? Because something happened recently…”
When I muttered worriedly, hyungnim tilted his head.
“What happened?”
“The package you sent to my house, hyungnim. That…”
I stopped talking mid-sentence and closed my mouth. Then, just in case, I looked around and spoke in a low, quiet whisper.
“Lee Jiwoo took it.”
“He took it?”
“Yes, he said it was drugs. Is that true?”
“Yeah, didn’t you dispose of it right away?”
You son of a bitch, at least pretend to be surprised. You sent illegal drugs by package to someone who knows nothing, yet why are you so calm? This is really fucking annoying.
“I was going to dispose of it, but that night Lee Jiwoo came to my house without saying anything. So somehow I forgot… If I’d known what it was, I would’ve been more careful, but I didn’t know so I just left it by the front door.”
“And then?”
“Lee Jiwoo kept asking me about the source… I said I didn’t know.”
“And then?”
Isn’t this a pretty serious situation if Jiwoo caught on? Hyungnim had eyes full of interest like a neighborhood kid listening to an old story from an elder.
It was uncomfortable, but I told hyungnim everything that had happened without leaving anything out. I naturally told him everything, starting from when he came to Pig Dream with some grandfather, to recognizing Choi Gunho there.
“So Lee Jiwoo immediately guessed that the source of those drugs was you, hyungnim. He seems to think I just got caught up in it… but I’m not sure.”
“The situation matched up perfectly in a strange way.”
“Right, so I thought it was fortunate too. And there’s something a bit strange—when talking about Choi Gunho… Um, how should I say this. He knows too much even down to personal details…”
Jiwoo even knew that Choi Gunho got slapped five times in a row by his wife and his molars were loose. This wasn’t simple information, but extremely personal information that would be hard to obtain even with 24-hour close surveillance.
“When he investigates someone, he’s the type who finds out that the person’s in-law’s distant cousin is getting married a week later. And even that the marriage partner has severe hair loss and secretly wears a wig.”
“Oh…”
Since this wasn’t the first time, hyungnim wasn’t very surprised. Well, seeing as all those people like me he sent got caught…
I said what I’d been feeling.
“In my opinion, rather than being perceptive, it seems like he’s just planted people everywhere like you do, hyungnim. I didn’t really notice him being particularly perceptive…”
At my words, hyungnim tilted his head.
“Isn’t he extremely perceptive? Almost at ghost level.”
“Well, I’m not so sure…”
I’d never felt that Jiwoo was perceptive while being with him so far. If anything, the opposite.
“Could he have done it on purpose with me? He acted pretty oblivious quite often, so I can’t tell if it was deliberate or if he was genuinely oblivious. He’s such a unique person.”
“He probably did it on purpose. He’s a bit twisted.”
I didn’t really notice him being twisted either… Though he does seem to lie well.
“Oh, and the grandfather who came with Lee Jiwoo gave me pocket money too. Five million won.”
At my words, hyungnim’s expression changed for the first time. He looked displeased somehow, and in the brief moment I was flustered, that look disappeared like a lie.
“Money is all that old man has.”
Hyungnim chuckled and muttered as if to himself. I quickly added.
“There were no other special points besides that. Lee Jiwoo just told his grandfather that he and I were in a flirting stage… He ate the meat well and left.”
“How devoted.”
The already uncomfortable atmosphere became even colder. I took a big sip of the milk tea that had cooled down to the perfect temperature and continued.
“And I saw photos of people I’d never seen before on Lee Jiwoo’s phone. Your photo was there too, hyungnim. He asked if I knew anyone there, so I pretended not to know.”
“……”
Hyungnim hadn’t touched the iced Americano at all from earlier. Just a moment ago he seemed amused like he was listening to an old story, but now he was expressionless.
Why is it so hard to please him when it’s not even a typhoon in midsummer? I had no way of knowing what made him so upset. It seems like things got rapidly strange after the grandfather topic came up.
“You pretended not to know?”
“Yes. I shouldn’t say I know, right?”
“He shouldn’t have shown you my photo in the first place.”
“……”
In the first place, you shouldn’t have sent me drugs! No, at least say something before sending it! Then I wouldn’t have left it so carelessly on the front door floor!
“If he showed you the photos, he knows. Without a doubt.”
Hyungnim sighed. I’d thought that might be the case too, but actually hearing it stated definitively felt strange. Jiwoo didn’t show any sign of that…
Then was even his crying and making a fuss while drunk at my house possibly an act? Seeing the agonizing drunk reminded me of my past self and made me feel bad, but there was no need for that.
“Then…”
Why does my stomach feel so cold? Is it the lingering effects of the ice-cold poison? I hesitated before asking carefully.
“Then, am I fired now?”
Since Jiwoo knew everything, there was no longer any reason to continue this charade.
