It wasn’t like there were no options at all. While Seongjun was being loaded onto the stretcher, Yuhyeon had grabbed his phone and followed along outside. Seongjun’s contacts would have the manager’s number — if he used that, he could get word about the situation at Glock.
It feels a little wrong to go through it without permission, but… there’s no other way.
It bothered him that he had to use it without asking, but given the circumstances, there was nothing to be done. Fortunately, there was no lock set on the phone.
It’s barely responding.
The man’s phone was badly cracked as well, making the touch screen nearly unresponsive. Even just getting into the contacts app took an unreasonably long time. What on earth had happened to him? The weight of unease growing in his chest brought back the moment he’d first found Seongjun.
It wasn’t the kind of injury you’d get from a fistfight — the visible parts of his face were fine. The only area affected was his abdomen. The wound itself was hidden beneath the bandaging wrapped around it, but with that much blood loss, it had to have been deep.
A car accident?
Yuhyeon shook his head. The car in the parking lot had been in one piece, and a car accident wouldn’t result in only abdominal injuries. As his mind kept turning, the word knife flashed across it.
But if he’d actually been stabbed, there was a part that didn’t add up. In his place, Yuhyeon would have called for help instead of taking medicine and drinking. Not seeking help despite injuries that severe — that wasn’t normal behavior.
Is there something that would make calling the police a problem for him?
It was just a passing thought, but even he could tell it was a stretch. Yuhyeon shook his head to sweep the useless speculation away. Seongjun’s face was intimidating, sure, but he was just the owner of a bar.
Of course, Yuhyeon didn’t know everything about Seongjun. But he at least didn’t seem like the type to get wrapped up in knife fights. Just as Yuhyeon was concluding that he was a decent person and trying to set his suspicions aside, his head tilted again.
But his behavior was strange.
The question circled back to where it started. Seongjun had been the one who’d knocked Yuhyeon’s phone out of his hand while he was calling for an ambulance. There was no good reason that came to mind for why he would stop someone from reaching emergency services. Until he heard an answer directly from Seongjun, his imagination was bound to keep running wild.
The only person who could answer his questions was currently unconscious. Even if the surgery went well, there was no telling when he’d wake up. Yuhyeon decided to wish him luck and pushed his curiosity aside. Just as his train of thought came to an end, the contacts finally opened.
There were over three hundred numbers saved. Scrolling through to find the manager didn’t seem like a realistic option.
He probably saved it by title…
Since he didn’t know the manager’s name, this approach had to work. Yuhyeon typed 실장 into the search bar, desperately hoping something would come up on the first try. Fortunately, the results narrowed considerably — but it was hard to say whether the person he was looking for was among them.
[ Search: Manager
3 results found.
- Manager A (010-3920-****)
- Manager B (010-4929-****)
- Manager C (010-7738-****) ]
A, B, C. The labels seemed to carry some specific meaning, but it wasn’t something anyone other than the person who set them could decode. And with three results instead of one, calling any of them on a whim felt risky. Then a faint memory surfaced — the manager’s number ended in 3, didn’t it? — but none of them matched.
If Seongjun owned multiple businesses, he might have sorted his contacts by venue name to keep track of his staff. Yuhyeon quickly revised his approach and searched again. But the result was a disappointing zero. Getting in touch with the manager right now wasn’t going to work. After going back and forth anxiously, Yuhyeon made up his mind. He couldn’t just sit on his hands because he didn’t have the number — he would head back to Glock.
There was a staff directory with everyone’s contact information in the break room that also served as a changing room. He could use it to reach the manager, then tidy up the place. It bothered him that Seongjun’s surgery wasn’t over yet, but there was no guarantee he’d regain consciousness anytime soon either. Sitting and camping out in the waiting area was making him anxious as Glock’s opening time drew closer. Decision made, Yuhyeon turned on his heel.
I’ll just leave this here before I go.
Just before leaving the hospital, Yuhyeon left Seongjun’s phone at the reception desk. He explained that he was only a temporary guardian and had somewhere he needed to be — they accepted it without any trouble. After asking them to pass it along to Seongjun once he was out of surgery, Yuhyeon made a run for the bus stop.
Twenty minutes? Seriously?
Of all the times for the bus schedule to be unhelpful. Yuhyeon shifted his weight from foot to foot, glaring at the arrival board telling him he had a long wait ahead. It was looking like he’d have to grab a taxi.
Charging this to the boss would be fine, right…?
He wasn’t taking it for his own convenience, so he decided he’d bring it up when he mentioned the phone. A taxi happened to pull up at just the right moment — Yuhyeon flagged it down and asked to be dropped off at Seondae Intersection. As the cab sped along, he caught the driver repeatedly glancing at him in the rearview mirror. Wondering what the man kept staring at, Yuhyeon looked down at himself and quickly figured it out.
My clothes were a mess.
He hadn’t had a single moment to think about how he looked. When Seongjun had pulled him close, the blood had soaked into his clothes and dried there. To someone who didn’t know the story, it wasn’t a pretty sight. He looked convincing enough to be the one who’d been in an accident.
What was the boss trying to say back then…
Now that he had a moment to breathe, the words Seongjun had murmured came back to him. In the moment, the shock of being suddenly pulled into his arms had been too overwhelming for the question to register — but the more he thought about it, the more unsettled he felt. He’d have to ask about it later. Yuhyeon turned his gaze out the window.
❄ ❄ ❄
Skipping the bus and going straight for a taxi had been the right call. Yuhyeon arrived in no time and sprinted to Glock as though someone were chasing him, even though no one was. He’d been scared that someone might have broken in while the door was left unlocked.
Even if it wasn’t a break-in, if a customer had wandered in looking for the bar, they would have found the blood-soaked interior. If photos ended up on social media, there was a real chance it could blow up into a scandal. Daytime customers were rare, but he couldn’t afford to be careless.
Good thing it doesn’t look like anyone got in…
Yuhyeon caught his breath — it had risen all the way to his throat — and walked the hallway calmly. He searched carefully for any signs of intrusion, and fortunately, it didn’t appear that anyone had entered without permission. Relieved, he made his way to the staff break room. He needed to find the emergency contact directory.
“Let’s see…”
Rummaging through the drawers, Yuhyeon soon found a file. The label on the cover read Staff Directory — that was the one. He grabbed the file and headed to the counter, where he picked up the landline.
The manager’s number was listed neatly as number one on the very first page. He pressed the digits in order and waited as the dial tone began to ring. What if he doesn’t pick up — he’d barely begun to worry about something that hadn’t happened yet when the expression on his face lifted. The tone cut off, and a man’s voice came through, low and thick — clearly just woken up.
— Hello.
“It’s Yuhyeon, sir.”
— Yuhyeon? Hold on a second… This is the store number. Why are you still there and haven’t clocked out?
“Well… something came up.”
Keeping his tone steady while twisting the phone cord between his fingers, Yuhyeon relayed everything that had happened to the manager. When he explained that the boss had been injured, had come to the bar in that state, and that the interior was badly soiled as a result, the manager’s shock came through the line just as expected. He reacted with particular intensity to the fact that the injured person was the owner himself, and that he’d been found at Glock. Well — even Yuhyeon found it genuinely baffling that someone in that condition would come to the bar instead of going straight to a hospital.
“So I was going to clean up a bit… Could you possibly send a few more people? I don’t think I can manage it on my own.”
The restroom, the hallway, and the room all needed to be cleaned. Getting it done before opening time was impossible for one person alone. When Yuhyeon asked if there were any staff members available right now who could be called in, the manager’s response was noticeably awkward.
— Oh, well…
“Why? Is everyone busy in the mornings?”
— Y-yeah! Yeah, they are. Nobody’s free. I’ll call in a cleaning service, so go ahead and clock out, Yuhyeon.
His tone sounded like an excuse he’d just scrambled together on the spot. The manager’s response was more flustered than usual, which did make Yuhyeon tilt his head — but it wasn’t something worth dwelling on.
Then I guess I’ll get ready to head out.
