When he searched for real estate near the Awakened Center, Yoon Kihyun gradually lost his energy. Jeonse fraud was still rampant, so finding a decent place wasn’t as easy as he’d thought.
Even when a rare decent property appeared, if miscellaneous explanations including mortgage rights slipped out of the real estate agent’s mouth, he didn’t even bother looking at it.
He’d tried to lavishly squander the fairly large sum of money that had come into his hands, but as they say, people who’ve spent money before spend it better—Yoon Kihyun’s extravagance was pathetically flimsy.
Thanks to that, there was still a fairly large sum of money left in his bank account. Rather than offering all of that straight into a scammer’s pocket, it was better to live in a goshiwon.
Every time he imagined losing the money he had left to jeonse fraud, he felt like his stomach would turn inside out, so he wanted to avoid risky variables as much as possible. The problem was that if he filtered out all those properties, there was nowhere to live.
“The one you posted is already gone? Other properties… Ah, yes. That’s fine. I’ll contact you again.”
Yoon Kihyun hung up the phone and let out a sigh. He’d parted ways with the real estate agent who had shown him several properties directly without much gain.
He’d settled into a corner of a cafe and tried contacting other real estate agencies, but there wasn’t much gain. He’d heard that adjacent real estate agencies share properties to some extent, but they only told him about things that were all the same anyway.
He knew that finding a place required legwork and time, but he lacked the energy for it. Just imagining going back and forth from the lodging he’d rented until the end of the month to here made his limbs feel like they were drooping.
‘Should I just go into a goshiwon?’
As he reluctantly sipped the tea he’d ordered, remembering he should avoid caffeine, that thought suddenly occurred to him. Now that a way to live was starting to appear, he wanted to pay off his debt as soon as possible.
Anyway, his luggage was just one suitcase, so a goshiwon wasn’t such a bad choice.
While he was at it, the goshiwons he looked around were cleaner than he’d thought. Even if the exterior was shabby, the interior seemed to have been newly remodeled.
Yoon Kihyun pretended to think for a moment before filling out the move-in contract. The most fascinating thing was that the deposit was exactly the same as the monthly rent, but that was all.
Because it was an impulsive decision, by the time all the contracts were finished, he was able to stop by the community center and even complete his move-in registration.
Things progressed smoothly, and with a much lighter heart, he’d stopped by a cafe and was booking a train ticket back to his lodging.
Jung Sijun
What are you doing?
Jung Sijun’s message popped up on his phone.
Since accepting the personal guide offer, he’d exchanged messages with Jung Sijun from time to time. He’d inwardly thought he might rush him for an answer about the offer, but surprisingly, Jung Sijun didn’t do that.
He just sent a few messages every day like this using trivial matters as an excuse, and that was it.
Generally, his replies were quick, but when he occasionally replied late, it was after he’d gone into a Gate and come out. There were times he’d sent grumbling messages saying Team Leader Seo Jintae’s guiding that the Center assigned him didn’t match him at all and was difficult.
I’m booking a train ticket
Yoon Kihyun was the type to send replies dutifully. He’d already decided in his heart to become Jung Sijun’s personal guide, so he didn’t want to openly antagonize his future employer.
The first button already seemed to have been fastened quite messily, but it wasn’t to the point where it couldn’t be salvaged at all. If possible, maintaining an amicable relationship was Yoon Kihyun’s goal.
Jung Sijun
Are you going somewhere to have fun?
It would be nice if he were going to have fun, but it was moving preparations. Though he didn’t know if this could be put in the category of moving.
No. I just have somewhere to stop by personally
He didn’t have the energy for detailed explanations. There was no reason he had to either, so as soon as he sent a rough reply, Jung Sijun’s reply arrived.
Jung Sijun
Did you get the wet wipes properly?
What’s with the sudden wet wipes talk out of nowhere? Yoon Kihyun was about to blink when he laughed.
‘Ah, those wet wipes. Anyway, he’s fucking making a big deal out of it. Just like that bastard.’
The phrase written on the pastel-toned packaging was still vivid in his memory. The baby wipes Jung Sijun had bought when his nosebleed burst at the hangover soup restaurant had been thrown away long ago.
I’ll buy them later. I don’t have any now.
He didn’t know why he had to inform Jung Sijun about his wet wipes ownership status, but he decided to answer roughly. Then Jung Sijun suddenly threw out a different question.
Jung Sijun
Can I call you now?
Yoon Kihyun snorted as he scanned Jung Sijun’s message with his eyes.
‘Would that work? What phone call is he suddenly trying to make?’
He was typing a reply to ask what the matter was when an additional message arrived from Jung Sijun.
Jung Sijun
It’s important, that’s why.
But if it was important talk from his future employer, naturally the answer changed. Yoon Kihyun deleted what he’d typed and immediately sent a reply.
Yes
As soon as he sent the reply, a popup appeared on top of his phone indicating a call was coming.
[Jung Sijun]
Thinking about it, this was their first phone call, so he started to feel strangely tense.
“Hello?”
—Ah, you answered right away.
Jung Sijun’s voice beyond the phone was soft. It sounded even more so because of the laughter subtly mixed in his voice.
Was it because it was a voice filtered once through a device? He was having such idle thoughts when his vision suddenly became dark.
It wasn’t a precursor to fainting or anything like that. It was just because a large man in pitch-black clothes had stopped right near the cafe window where Yoon Kihyun was sitting.
Where he reflexively turned his head, he saw the face of someone he hadn’t expected. It was the man Yoon Kihyun had been thinking about just moments ago.
—What are you doing alone at a cafe?
Jung Sijun tilted the phone in his hand. His lip movements were clear, but his soft voice was flowing out from the phone.
Yoon Kihyun took the phone away from his cheek. It was to check the time. When he checked the time, it was a time when Jung Sijun should be at the Center or a Gate.
Why is this guy who should be at the Center wandering around outside?
As soon as he had that thought, his lips moved.
“What?”
—Hm?
“Why are you outside?”
As soon as Yoon Kihyun’s question ended, Jung Sijun started chuckling. He snickered until the area around his prominent Adam’s apple between his firm neck muscles felt stiff, then took a deep breath.
‘Shit, what kind of question is this? What does “why are you outside” mean? Anyway, he says such fucking cute things.’
Obviously, if it’s a situation where he can be outside, he’d be outside. As if he still didn’t understand even that simple thing, Yoon Kihyun was still sitting inside the cafe with a dumbfounded face.
‘Ah, is he asking like that because he doesn’t really take annual leave and stuff?’
If so, that made sense.
He was a workaholic who practically lived attached to the Center and didn’t refuse holiday work, so it would make sense that a Center person wandering around outside at this time would seem strange.
Even so, still. He didn’t know he was someone who could make such an openly cute expression.
The Yoon Kihyun he’d met again always went against predictions.
Even when he felt certain about what kind of reaction he’d get, Yoon Kihyun would casually say something that completely shattered that certainty. Jung Sijun found that immensely enjoyable.
—Can I come inside and tell you why I’m outside?
At the question he asked with the resolve that it couldn’t be helped even if he was rejected, Yoon Kihyun nodded instead of saying yes. Jung Sijun immediately hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket.
‘Ah, should I have just answered from there?’
Yoon Kihyun belatedly regretted it as he watched Jung Sijun enter the cafe. It wasn’t a topic they needed to talk about face-to-face, and unnecessary meetings were still psychologically burdensome.
He didn’t know to what extent the disgraceful behavior he’d shown Jung Sijun while drunk was, and his heart had wavered when offered big money after threatening not to see each other again, and he’d even shown everything in one day including dripping nosebleeds while eating hangover soup—it was awkward in various ways.
Still, since he’d told him to come in, he waited with the intention of having a mature conversation, but Jung Sijun, who he’d thought would come straight to his seat, bought a bottle of water from the counter.
It was a product he didn’t even know was on the menu. Come to think of it, it seemed like they were neatly lined up on the lower shelf of the showcase. He’d wondered if there were people who bought and drank that at cafes, but surprisingly, one was close by.
“You bought water?”
“Caffeine doesn’t agree with me well, so I don’t really drink coffee.”
Jung Sijun, who had naturally sat across from Yoon Kihyun, responded nonchalantly.
He didn’t immediately open the cap of the water bottle but docilely placed it on the table. From the looks of it, he hadn’t bought it because he was thirsty but bought one out of courtesy.
Seeing things like this, he was someone who knew basic manners and courtesy, so he couldn’t understand why he acted like that at the Center. They say people are multi-dimensional, and Jung Sijun was exactly that.
“So what’s this important talk?”
“Ah. That.”
Jung Sijun stalled for time as if buying it, stroking his chin before smirking. At that moment, Yoon Kihyun had a hunch. He might have been tricked by that bastard’s games.
“I just saw you while walking, Yoon Kihyun-ssi, so I took out my phone to try calling.”
This bastard, I’ve been watching him. Yoon Kihyun slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
