Clicks mean money. The click count is bound to flock to the first breaking news that goes up. That man knew this.
“Do as I say. Then I’ll let you get an exclusive scoop on that bastard Gi Siyoung, reporter-nim.”
“What should I do according to what you say?”
“Let Gi Siyoung drive.”
“What does that mean out of the blue?”
“……”
“Either explain so I can understand, or I’m getting up now!”
Min Jihyeon went hard. She folded her notebook and put it in her bag. There was nothing more to say with a guy who only spouts strange nonsense all over the place. Then the man grabbed Min Jihyeon’s hand. The back of the man’s hand was very beautiful. As much as the skin of his eyelids.
Only then did Min Jihyeon finish matching the man’s almond-shaped eyes with the faces of people in her data. The name attached like a label came to mind a bit later. Min Jihyeon hesitated, then gently brought out that name.
“By any chance, Kim Hojun-ssi?”
Then Kim Hojun slightly lowered his mask and put it back on. His courage lasted only about 1 second. Min Jihyeon sat back down. The man’s face was as good as a stamp. Her mind changed in an instant since such a person gave a tip.
Soon Kim Hojun bent his upper body and whispered. Min Jihyeon also had to relax the strength in her upper body and bend toward the table to hear that voice. The cafe located in a busy district had many people coming and going. Thanks to the people coming and going ceaselessly, the sound of their conversation became even fainter. There was no one paying attention to the suspicious meeting.
“……”
After finishing their secret conversation, Kim Hojun stood up from his seat first. Min Jihyeon, who was deeply lost in thought at the spot left behind after he disappeared like lightning, took out her phone. Beyond the window, the crosswalk signal changed. Countless crowds immediately crossed the road.
She wouldn’t be the only one struggling to survive in that gap. Min Jihyeon put the phone to her ear. Only after the ringtone continued several times did the other party answer the phone.
– Hello.
A lukewarm voice that didn’t welcome her at all.
“Im Seungun-ssi, something to do has come up.”
– What?
Min Jihyeon smiled faintly. Whatever the process, people only remember the results. The results of her work were even more so.
“I gave you photos last time. Why are you calling again?”
Seungun wasn’t in a very good mood about the phone call that came out of the blue. Recently, under President Gu and Min Jihyeon’s nagging, Seungun had handed over a few photos of Gi Siyoung’s private life. Of course, within the bounds of not being able to track who took them. When he lowered his voice and demanded an explanation, an unexpected story came back.
– Don’t drive today.
“What did you say?”
He got sharply annoyed. It was an instruction without rhyme or reason.
Telling a road manager not to drive. Seungun furrowed his eyebrows at the nonsensical words.
“Say something that makes sense… My job is driving, and you’re telling me not to do it?”
– That’s why it’s something to do. Let Gi Siyoung drive, no, make it so, Im Seungun-ssi.
“Look, Min Jihyeon-ssi. What on earth are you thinking with such-.”
– Im Seungun. You seem to have forgotten your situation, but you’re not that person’s manager, you’re someone working under President Gu. It’s right that you went to be that person’s manager, but don’t be stupidly confused about who’s the guest and who’s the host.
“……”
He had forgotten. Min Jihyeon occasionally grabbed the collar of the facts Seungun had forgotten and dragged them up. He couldn’t even use Myeongwoo as an excuse. This was because as Seungun got used to manager work, he was handling light schedules alone.
“I understand.”
He cut to the chase and hung up the phone. His temples throbbed. His mind wasn’t at ease. He heard footsteps behind him. Gi Siyoung, who had been to the bathroom, was coming while shaking water off his hands. Seungun automatically applied hand cream to the back of his hands.
“……”
While he closed the hand cream cap and put it in his bag, Gi Siyoung started walking ahead. Seungun followed behind while constantly reading the mood. He had to execute the plan before arriving at the parking lot. He held the wall and hunched his waist while scattering moans.
“Argh.”
Gi Siyoung turned around.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah… Suddenly my intestines feel like they’re twisting, I can’t straighten my body. Ugh!”
It started as a lie, but as he exaggerated, it really felt like his intestines were twisting like pretzels in real time.
“Does it hurt so much you can’t even stand?”
Gi Siyoung bent his upper body and checked on Seungun. Seungun casually turned away the gaze that was about to meet.
“I don’t know. It just hurts too much.”
“It might be appendicitis. Can you do a bunny hop by any chance?”
“Ah, I don’t know…”
Seungun just shook his head vigorously. Gi Siyoung put his warm hand on his back and supported him. Seungun wanted to bury his head and burrow into the ground like this. He couldn’t raise his head at all because he despised himself for moving according to Min Jihyeon’s words. Even at the first feigned illness in his life, the other party was fooled well. His nails supporting the wall ground together.
“This won’t do. Give me the car keys.”
“The car keys?”
Seungun rather hoped he would call an ambulance. Then wouldn’t there be an excuse to tell Min Jihyeon. However, Gi Siyoung held out his palm asking for the car keys.
“Are you going to drive in that condition and go to the hospital?”
“How about contacting the hospital instead?”
“There’s an emergency room on the way. It’ll be faster if I drive there. As long as traffic isn’t jammed.”
“……”
Seungun reluctantly took out the car keys from his pocket. Gi Siyoung snatched them. Then he immediately put Seungun’s arm over his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around Seungun’s side to support him stably.
“Lean on me. Relax your body.”
“……”
Seungun leaned on his body. On his white t-shirt, juice stains he’d briefly drunk during break time were dotted here and there. Perhaps he failed to erase them, the water marks were dark.
After seating Seungun in the passenger seat of the car parked in the underground parking lot, he personally wrapped the seatbelt around his body. Seungun leaned his cheek against the window and didn’t miss Gi Siyoung going around the bonnet toward the driver’s seat. He was anxious. His heartbeat quickened like someone facing unease.
“Bear with it a little. I’ll drive as fast as possible.”
“No. Follow the traffic signals while driving.”
“I guess it’s not to the point of being taken away yet.”
Gi Siyoung grabbed the steering wheel with relief. Screeech. The huge van left skid marks as it exited the underground parking lot. As Gi Siyoung worried, the road was completely jammed. It happened to be rush hour. Seungun intermittently groaned in pain and leaned his forehead against the cold window. As he grabbed his stomach and curled up bringing his upper and lower body together, he could feel Gi Siyoung, who was driving, glancing at him.
“Just a little more to go.”
It was somehow a voice that made him want to believe everything would be okay. He felt like crying for no reason. Since the moment he hung up Min Jihyeon’s call, his throbbing head now felt like it was being crushed with a hammer. Rather than his intestines twisting, pressure was being applied to his already twisted brain.
“Why is traffic so jammed.”
Usually even during rush hour the road didn’t jam this much, but the car crawled along at a level where one lane was blocked due to an accident ahead. Only after a few more minutes passed like that could they know the reason why traffic was backed up so much.
Gi Siyoung, who realized the reason, sighed lightly and leaned back against the backrest. Next to the slowly moving cars, police in fluorescent vests were conducting a drunk driving crackdown. Seungun rolled down the window and looked around. It wasn’t strange to have a surprise drunk driving crackdown in a neighborhood with many companies on a day likely to have company dinners.
Soon it became the turn of the vehicle they were riding in. The large van that exceeded normal size was a spectacle for people on the slow road. When Gi Siyoung was sitting right there inside the heavily tinted window, even the police conducting the crackdown showed slightly surprised expressions. The surrounding cars also rolled down their windows all at once and stuck out their heads to start watching.
“My companion is sick and we need to get to the hospital quickly, so please finish this promptly.”
“Understood.”
The police officer saw the hunched shadow in the passenger seat and hurriedly held out the breathalyzer.
“Please blow- into this.”
Gi Siyoung blew his breath into the detector without hesitation.
“Is the passenger okay? We can help…”
The face of the police officer who was trying to converse with Siyoung before the alcohol level appeared became quite serious. He stared intently at the box where the alcohol level number appeared.
“May we depart?”
When Gi Siyoung tried to raise the window, a white glove suddenly came in and blocked it. It was a stiff movement unlike before.
