His heart felt at ease. He had been wandering aimlessly through a maze, but it felt like someone had given him a revelation that if he walked while touching the wall with his right hand, he would eventually get out. And the being who gave him that revelation was Song Hanyeong.
It was all thanks to Song Hanyeong. He said being able to go to the restaurant called Everest was also thanks to Song Hanyeong’s connections, and it was Song Hanyeong who told him to try talking with his hyung. If Song Hanyeong hadn’t recommended it, saying that conversation helped at times like that, Surim wouldn’t have even thought to speak to his hyung’s urn.
After a moment of silence, Surim whispered toward the urn.
“…Absolutely not a crazy stalker. But, wouldn’t it be okay to be a slightly proactive stalker, hyung…?”
He wouldn’t steal anything other than the cup. He wouldn’t stealthily follow behind to find out where he lived. He absolutely had no intention of sending unnecessary messages to act friendly or recording Song Hanyeong’s every move to create a Song Hanyeong encyclopedia.
Surim just wanted to watch Song Hanyeong a little more. Like he did in university, he wanted to watch from afar and preciously protect the only person who made his heart beat right now.
It was something to be sorry about to Song Hanyeong, who wouldn’t want it, but he was currently the only thread keeping Surim enduring in this world, and the only net that could pull up Surim who sometimes fell into cruel thoughts. He had no intention of forcing that role in reality, but it didn’t matter to imagine it in his head, did it?
“Just a little. Just a little…”
Surim, muttering as if making excuses, hugged his knees together.
“Really just a little…”
* * *
Today was the contract fulfillment day.
Surim went for a light jog in the morning, substituted his meal with tasteless green juice, then stood in front of the mirror. His complexion was somewhat bad, but still, vitality had returned compared to a few days ago.
“Cheer up, Jin Surim.”
The encouragement he tried to relax his tension was quite effective. Surim changed into the best clothes he had. The reason was nothing special. Among the restaurants his hyung had bookmarked was a hotel dinner buffet. It seemed perfect to stop by and have a meal while he was there.
10th floor, Room 1023. Standing in front of the familiar door, Surim took a deep breath and knocked. When he opened the door with the card key he always carried, a man with an athlete-like large build was sitting on the sofa.
“Hello.”
Nasol nodded his head and gestured with his chin toward the opposite sofa. As always, he was an intimidating man even though he didn’t do much. He was terribly taciturn, so they’d hardly had a proper conversation since the day he signed the contract.
Surim took off his suit jacket and unbuttoned and rolled up his dress shirt sleeves. When he revealed his forearm and held it out toward Nasol, he skillfully wrapped a rubber band around it, disinfected it, then stuck a needle into his vein. The blood that flowed through the line connected to the needle began filling the blood pack.
Though he’d done this dozens of times already, the sight of the blood pack filling up never quite became familiar. Somehow he got goosebumps and felt short of breath. Surim tried hard to control his breathing so as not to show weakness.
“I’ll let it slide this time.”
Nasol continued with furrowed brows.
“But manage your health for next month. I told you. Pay attention to quality control.”
Quality control. Surim’s face contorted at the language treating a person like an object. But he soon ignored and dismissed the unpleasant demand with a suppressed sigh.
Did he sense something strange? One of Nasol’s eyebrows shot up. Doubt clouded his eyes as if he’d seen something absurd. Surim ignored that gaze and kept his eyes fixed on the blood pack, waiting only for this task to end.
It was finally when the blood pack was completely filled and today’s task was finished. Surim, who was pressing an alcohol swab over the needle mark, opened his mouth.
“I want to terminate the contract.”
“……”
Nasol, who had put the blood pack in the medical ice box, got up from his seat without a reply.
“I’m serious. I’ll pay the termination penalty.”
This was the conclusion he’d reached yesterday. His hyung had bookmarked many vegetarian restaurants for Surim, but there were also many restaurants he’d bookmarked before starting vegetarianism. That meant there were restaurants he couldn’t go to without eating meat. Among them were several steakhouses, and there didn’t seem to be much meaning in going to places like that, eating only salad, and then sharing his impressions.
So contract termination was inevitable.
With a determined face, Surim took out the contract termination request form he’d prepared from his bag. He thought this man who treated him like an object might refuse to accept the request. That’s why he’d deliberately written up the document.
“Please terminate it.”
“…You bowed and scraped saying you were grateful when you needed it, and now you want to terminate the contract as soon as the collateral is gone?”
Surim glared at Nasol, surging with emotion at him referring to his hyung as collateral. Surim only came up to about the shoulders of this large man, but he couldn’t just let this insult pass.
“What did you just say?”
Nasol looked down at Surim with a contemptuous gaze as if looking at a small mouse, then snorted derisively. Surim couldn’t help but feel even more insulted.
However, before he could even question him again, Nasol snatched the contract termination request form and began moving.
“Wait. I’ll contact you again soon.”
“Wait, properly…”
“I said wait.”
Nasol, who had stopped, looked back and spoke lowly. His body felt strangely chilled, so Surim froze, unable to move.
In the meantime, the door Nasol went out through closed roughly.
“……”
Only then did Surim escape from the strange pressure that had been binding him and sat down on the floor.
It had been like this from when they first met. That man had a power to intimidate people to an eerie degree. His attitude itself was arrogant, as if not placing Surim on the same level as him, and Surim inevitably had to feel like he’d become a small beast in front of him.
In fact, demanding contract termination itself was quite a courageous act for Surim.
Since he didn’t know how things would turn out, it seemed he should cancel the plan to go to the buffet today. Nothing was going his way at all.
Sighing deeply as if exhausted, Surim roughly ruffled his hair.
“Haa…”
* * *
[Jin Surim] Manager Song, finished organizing the break room 🙂
After finishing tasks like filling the empty spaces in the break room snack section and checking the remaining numbers, Surim opened the messenger window and reported to Song Hanyeong.
In the messenger window, there were also continuous trivial reports like saying he was going to the break room or that he’d arrived at work. This was absolutely not sending unnecessary messages to act friendly. It was just acting according to his superior’s preferences.
Thinking about what happened at the company dinner, Song Hanyeong seemed like a superior who wanted to know the whereabouts of his subordinates one by one, so he was just matching that. It was absolutely not part of stalking.
Surim, who was making excuses hard in his mind, cautiously looked at Song Hanyeong beyond the partition. Song Hanyeong, who was talking about something with Lee Myeongho standing beside him, glanced at the monitor screen then looked back at Lee Myeongho. The conversation continued a bit more, and Lee Myeongho bowed his head with a delighted expression and withdrew.
What was that about? As if he’d received praise, Lee Myeongho’s expression was beaming with joy.
[Song Hanyeong] Understood.
This time Surim beamed. Even while he submitted several trivial reports today, Song Hanyeong had answered without showing annoyance once. As expected, Song Hanyeong’s work style had this kind of preference. The answers weren’t long, but that was just Song Hanyeong’s type originally, and seeing that he wasn’t annoyed asking what he was doing, it seemed like he was doing well.
Surim smiled slyly and closed the messenger window. If he spoke more here, that would really be personal desire, so he should stop right here.
“Hmm… now…”
Honestly, there was nothing more to do. Right now Surim was handling work similar to a team secretary, but aside from managing office furniture and supplies, there was nothing else the researchers required of him.
Of course, if he wanted to create work, he could make as much as he wanted, but there was a limit to how much a first-year rookie in society could try to work hard while acting reliable.
If Lee Myeongho hadn’t told him in advance on the first day that there had been quite a bit of progress in recent research and there would be collaboration with outside parties soon, he might have spread his wings of imagination alone, wondering if he’d been demoted for being hated by someone high up.
Surim cautiously looked around and decided to take care of some personal business for a moment. Specifically, loan research.
Last Sunday, Surim had notified Nasol that he would terminate the blood donation contract. But he didn’t think the process would be easy. Surely a tedious negotiation process awaited. As strange as the contract was, it wouldn’t go as far as legal proceedings though.
‘Should I just eat meat…’
If he just did that, the contract would be terminated even if Surim didn’t want it. He would simply become a free person.
‘…No. That’s still not right.’
Even though it was a suspicious contract, thanks to it, his hyung had been able to receive treatment from the best doctors for the past few years. He didn’t want to end it in such a reckless way.
However, no matter what method he used to end it, it was clear he would have to pay the penalty fee.
