When Yoon Kihyun nodded slightly, Jung Sijun let out an empty laugh.
“I’ll admit that I normally spoke to you rudely. I can’t lie and say I didn’t call you public resource either. When guys are together, they curse with all kinds of ‘fuck this’ and ‘fuck that,’ so I got influenced—anyway, I’ll apologize for that too. I’m sorry. For having a rag in my mouth.”
This isn’t even a case of bowing and receiving bows.
At Jung Sijun’s apology, Yoon Kihyun’s expression became sour.
He thought he’d never admit his fault even if he died, but since he admitted it so easily, trying to get angry made him feel like the petty one.
Besides, it seemed Jung Sijun couldn’t say empty words even if he died, so that apology, which seemed to lack sincerity, looked like the best apology he could currently give.
Honestly, how many people at the Center had received an apology from Jung Sijun?
“I’m not asking you to apologize.”
“I can roughly tell how Yoon Kihyun-ssi sees me, but I had no thoughts like frequently calling out a sick person to lay them down and fuck them. I just need Team Leader Yoon who will guide me when needed. I’m not talking about sponsoring you.”
For saying he has no such thoughts, isn’t the position rather detailed?
Raising an objection inwardly, Yoon Kihyun slightly raised his eyes and looked up at Jung Sijun. Then, as if reading Yoon Kihyun’s inner thoughts, Jung Sijun refuted.
“I said no, really?”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“Your expression is a face that fucking doesn’t believe me.”
“This is just how my face normally is.”
Yoon Kihyun ended up chuckling after getting swept up in a childish argument and making trivial responses.
Living life, things can flow this way too.
By the way, if he accepted that proposal, there were too many things to consider, so he needed time to organize his thoughts.
“For now, I’ll think about the proposal.”
Yoon Kihyun answered with a nuance of putting it on hold. Jung Sijun smiled handsomely, casually placed his arm on Yoon Kihyun’s shoulder, and murmured in his ear.
“If anything, think positively. Positively.”
Is acting friendly sneakily a habit?
Yoon Kihyun shrugged his shoulders and brushed off Jung Sijun’s arm that was cockily placed on his shoulder. Then he swept his eyes over Jung Sijun and responded.
“Well… I’ll see how Team Leader Jung does.”
At the incredibly haughty appearance, Jung Sijun exhaled shortly and grumbled.
“Wow. You’re driving me crazy again, again.”
The voice casually spat out was strangely less unpleasant to hear than before. That was probably because of the money that bastard was offering.
What the hell is that thing called money? Yoon Kihyun smiled bitterly and lowered his eyes.
‘No, fuck. Right. People can have sex while drunk in life.’
Yoon Kihyun decided to bury last night’s events. Even if he tried to remember, nothing came up, and he couldn’t reverse what had already happened.
Then there was no choice but to let it pass. The fact that the other party was Jung Sijun now seemed to have no effect on him.
‘Honestly, I’d be crazy not to do this.’
The eye-rolling salary seemed to grab Yoon Kihyun’s hair as he wanted to be buried in shabby self-pity and pull him up.
Even if the sky fell, there was surely a hole to emerge from. Though that hole was drilled by Jung Sijun, there were many things more important than pride in the world.
The reason Yoon Kihyun continued working at the Center even while knowing what espers called him was because he wanted to live somehow.
Because circumstances made that impossible, he tried to escape through the extreme means of death, but now it was different.
“My stomach hurts, want to go cure this hangover?”
Jung Sijun suddenly spoke. It was a tone with a much closer sense of distance.
I’m more drawn to hair of the dog than hangover soup. After pondering briefly, Yoon Kihyun decided to give up on the idea of hair of the dog.
Since an option that seemed okay without necessarily dying had appeared, it wouldn’t be bad to postpone the heavy drinking that was like self-harm for a while.
“I’m buying. I thought it might help Team Leader Yoon’s positive review even a little.”
Perhaps Yoon Kihyun’s short silence felt like rejection, Jung Sijun added unnecessary words.
Combining the considerably softened tone with non-verbal gestures, he looked much better than before. Because at least there was no feeling of looking down on or ignoring people.
He thought that if Jung Sijun had consistently acted with the attitude he was showing now, his status at the Center might have been impressive in a slightly different direction.
“Okay, then.”
Yoon Kihyun didn’t bother refusing Jung Sijun’s meal proposal. His stomach felt equally upset, and he wondered when he’d get to eat a meal bought by Jung Sijun again.
“I heard there’s a famous hangover soup place nearby, should we go there?”
Jung Sijun held out his phone as if he’d been waiting.
When did he look that up?
Yoon Kihyun checked the restaurant name that appeared on the map app and slowly nodded.
The hangover soup restaurant wasn’t far from the hotel. After passing the sign saying it was open 24 hours and sitting at a table, his stomach churned.
He didn’t want to sit long in the stuffy air mixed with various food smells.
After the ordered menu came out, it was when Yoon Kihyun was stirring the earthenware pot with soup still bubbling with a spoon.
“Don’t you have anything more you want to ask me?”
Jung Sijun asked while transferring cubed radish kimchi to a side plate.
Yoon Kihyun blinked slowly. The only thing he wanted to ask that came to mind immediately was one thing.
“Team Leader Jung… you must have a lot of money?”
He didn’t have the courage to ask if he could steadily give that money every month. Because it seemed somewhat pathetic and he felt shabby.
“I inherited a lot of this and that since I was young.”
It was an answer a typical wealthy family’s young master would give.
Just how much did he inherit to propose such an amount as monthly salary?
Curious but mulling over a question he couldn’t ask, the expression on Jung Sijun’s face that he suddenly encountered was unexpectedly calm. He thought he’d be pompous or smile annoyingly, but it was unexpected.
“But why do you go to the Center?”
Though he didn’t know well, the monthly salary Jung Sijun proposed was certainly an amount that would be somewhat burdensome even for the salary of one of the few S-rank espers in the country.
If he inherited wealth from childhood, he must be a young master quite cherished by his family, so what on earth was the reason for engaging in dangerous work with enormous hazard pay attached?
At pure curiosity, Yoon Kihyun’s eyes briefly came alive with vitality. Jung Sijun’s cheek, watching that moment, twitched slightly.
‘Does he only come alive when talking about money?’
It was quite an interesting change. Yoon Kihyun, whom he met again in this place, always had withered eyes. It was the same when they met by chance at the bar.
Separate from the atmosphere that made people hot and his distinct features, only his eyes were dead. But what about that brief moment when he proposed the salary and now?
His jet-black pupils sparkled like jewels, showing a face more interested in his words than ever.
“Well, that…”
Jung Sijun paused briefly, then smiled brightly and twitched his eyebrow.
It wouldn’t be fun if I told him easily.
Since he was the one desperate for a guide, he had to somehow make Yoon Kihyun accept the proposal. Then he had no choice but to package and use even his own trivial family history plausibly.
“If you agree to be my personal guide, I might tell you…”
Checking Yoon Kihyun’s face sneakily while playing coy, his face turned cold again.
Ah, was this a bit of a stretch?
Since he’d rarely made regretful sounds to anyone in his life, he still lacked the knack for it.
Still, he was quite good at learning, so if given time, he was confident he’d do well. Of course, he didn’t know how much time the beauty sitting in front of him would give.
“It’s fine. I just asked once.”
Yoon Kihyun responded indifferently and ate the hangover soup. Though he wanted to ask more questions, the more he spoke, the more he seemed to lose the initiative.
It was a childish sentiment, but it couldn’t be helped. If he accepted the proposal, Jung Sijun would become his employer, and he didn’t want to be swayed by trivial things.
Jung Sijun, who glanced sideways while pretending to pour water, looked strangely deflated.
Probably he threw it out expecting he might ask more questions, but felt disappointed when there was no reaction. Anyway, it was a peculiar personality.
‘Looking at things like this, it seems like he’s interested in me. It’s kind of ambiguous.’
Jung Sijun was the type whose thoughts were hard to guess. Still, since he’d be the employer, it seemed like it would be convenient to know him a bit, but he still lacked the energy for that.
Even eating hot and spicy food, the headache showed no signs of subsiding. His stomach still churned faintly.
Still, it felt good since it had been a while since he’d had a meal like rice. It was when Yoon Kihyun was glancing at the half-emptied earthenware pot.
“…Huh.”
Jung Sijun, sitting across from him, made a sound of inhaling.
Suddenly why is he acting like that while eating well? Did he receive contact that a Gate opened somewhere?
Thinking that and blinking his eyes, he belatedly felt the sensation of lukewarm liquid flowing from his philtrum.
When he reflexively raised his hand to wipe it, bright red liquid seeped between his fingerprints.
