Chapter 14: The Stranger in the Room

Every step along the quiet path was filled with excitement. Min-hyeon pressed his palm gently against his chest. Thump, thump, thump—a light, puppy-like rhythm resonated through him.

‘I hope hyung comes soon…’

Min-hyeon paused for a moment and checked the message Jun-ho had sent him once more.

Jun-ho hyung
Go in and wait. I’ll be there soon.

Jun-ho hyung
The password is 1214*
14:33

Even in the concise message that only conveyed the necessary information, he could almost hear Jun-ho’s gentle voice. He’d read it at least five times on the way here, but no matter how many times he reread it, it never got old.

Min-hyeon praised himself for having the courage to contact Jun-ho during his sudden free period just a few minutes ago. He’d thought it might not work out since he’d contacted him so abruptly—but Jun-ho had gladly invited him to his personal space and even given him the password, telling him to go in first. At this rate, he could probably consider himself a particularly cherished junior to Jun-ho.

His facial muscles loosened, almost melting into a puddle. Grinning from ear to ear, Min-hyeon almost ran toward Jun-ho’s space.

Pressing the password he’d already memorized from seeing it so many times, he entered—only to find someone already there. The person standing in front of the desk, looking at something, stiffened their expression upon seeing Min-hyeon enter. Flustered, Min-hyeon bowed.

“Oh! Hello!”

He recognized the person. It was the man who had been with Jun-ho on the bench behind the main building last time—Hae-soo. Today as well, dressed entirely in black from head to toe just like before, he scanned Min-hyeon up and down. Min-hyeon could sense displeasure in Hae-soo’s eyes as he looked at him. His shoulders instinctively hunched.

Hae-soo approached Min-hyeon, who was standing awkwardly by the door. He wanted to run away. He didn’t know why, but Min-hyeon felt the urge to turn around and flee from that spot. He wanted to get as far away from Hae-soo as possible.

“You’re that kid from before, right?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. Um, that, last time behind the main building…”

“Hmm…”

As Hae-soo crossed his arms and stared at him intently, Min-hyeon, feeling uncomfortable, subtly averted his gaze and looked down. The observation was so blatant that Min-hyeon felt as if he were being stripped bare by his gaze, dissected piece by piece. He felt like he had to say something. Min-hyeon stammered.

“I’m Choi Min-hyeon, a junior of Jun-ho hyung’s. Um… I was supposed to meet Jun-ho hyung here, and hyung told me to go in first, so…”

Hae-soo’s fingers, still crossed, tapped against his arm in a steady rhythm. For some reason, Min-hyeon didn’t feel like Hae-soo was actually listening to what he was saying. His voice grew smaller and smaller.

“Why go the long way when you could just go straight through comfortably…”

It was clearly just a mutter to himself, not directed at Min-hyeon. Unsure how to react, Min-hyeon kept his mouth shut.

A heavy silence fell. Unlike the tense yet exciting silence he shared with Jun-ho, this quiet was like sharp thorns poking at his nerves—it made his chest feel tight.

When he cautiously lifted his eyes to check Hae-soo, he was still looking at him. Min-hyeon felt that Hae-soo’s gaze, fixed on him, was somehow unsettling. The sharply honed light in his eyes pursued him with strange persistence. As if cornered in a dead-end alley, Min-hyeon felt suffocated by inexplicable anxiety.

After a standoff that could have been either short or long—he couldn’t tell—Hae-soo took a step closer to Min-hyeon. Min-hyeon instinctively stepped back. Hae-soo closed the distance by just that much. As Min-hyeon hesitated and stepped back again, Hae-soo followed.

There was nowhere left to run. The sensation of his backpack hitting something solid behind him made his heart drop. I have to run. His instincts whispered.

“I-I’ll come back later—!”

Hae-soo stretched out his arm and planted it on the wall right beside Min-hyeon’s face. Trapped between the wall and Hae-soo, Min-hyeon couldn’t finish his sentence and was forced to close his mouth.

Like a reptile’s, Hae-soo’s eyes looking down at him conveyed no warmth. Avoiding his gaze, Min-hyeon focused only on Hae-soo’s arm, which was braced against the wall beside him.

“It’s strange. What is it about you?”

It was utterly incomprehensible. Hae-soo lifted Min-hyeon’s chin slowly with just his fingers. The temperature was icy cold—not something that felt like a fellow human’s. Chills ran through his entire body from the spot where Hae-soo’s fingers touched.

Min-hyeon desperately averted his eyes. Looking at Hae-soo felt inexplicably terrifying. An unknown anxiety seized him.

Hae-soo’s face drew closer and closer. Just as Min-hyeon, clenching his fist hard, was about to push him away—Hae-soo suddenly clicked his tongue and stepped back. He retreated to near the desk, and the strange standoff finally ended.

His legs were shaking. Min-hyeon barely managed to steady his body, which felt like it would collapse at any moment. He’d been sweating so much without realizing it that the back of his shirt, pressed against his backpack, was damp.

Min-hyeon slowly released the tension from his clenched fist. Along with the tingling sensation, the blocked blood began to flow again. After opening and closing his fist several times, his cold, stiff hand gradually regained feeling.

‘What was that just now…’

As if his thought circuits had stopped, his mind wouldn’t flow properly. Min-hyeon took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Why had Hae-soo acted so strangely? Why had he suddenly backed off? It was all incomprehensible, but he didn’t try to find out. He made an effort not to pay any attention to Hae-soo’s direction at all.

Should he stay here and keep waiting for Jun-ho, or should he get out of this place for now? What decided Min-hyeon’s next move was a light knock.

Min-hyeon pushed himself away from the door he’d been leaning against. When he opened it, Jun-ho was standing there. Stepping inside, Jun-ho naturally wrapped an arm around Min-hyeon’s shoulder.

“You’re here?”

Hae-soo greeted Jun-ho casually.

“Why are you still here?”

“Ah. I was just about to leave.”

“I told you to leave as soon as you finished your work.”

“It just ended.”

Even though Jun-ho’s cold words weren’t directed at him, Min-hyeon felt a little intimidated. But Hae-soo, showing no sign of being cowed, answered obediently.

“Then I’ll be going now. I did what you asked, hyung, so don’t worry.”

“Stop the nonsense and leave.”

Hae-soo approached the door and leaned his face close to Jun-ho’s ear. Then he asked in a low voice.

“But hyung, by any chance, is that guy… that?”

Even though Hae-soo had lowered his voice, Min-hyeon—pressed close to Jun-ho—could hear him clearly. He didn’t understand what Hae-soo meant, but the tone of his words didn’t sound positive.

Jun-ho glared at Hae-soo without answering. Hae-soo shrugged and passed by both of them, exiting through the door. After a brief hesitation, Min-hyeon bowed his head to Hae-soo as he brushed past.

After Hae-soo left, an awkward silence lingered between them for a moment. Letting out a light sigh, Jun-ho gently guided Min-hyeon by the shoulder to the sofa. Min-hyeon had no way of guessing the meaning behind Jun-ho’s sigh. He tried to read Jun-ho’s mood, but his expression was hard to decipher.

Jun-ho’s tightly sealed lips soon relaxed. Back to his usual gentle expression, Jun-ho met Min-hyeon’s eyes.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“Not at all! I just got here myself.”

At the calming warm voice and kind expression, the tension completely drained from Min-hyeon’s shoulders. Feeling Min-hyeon’s shoulder relax comfortably in his embrace, Jun-ho stroked it gently.

After seating Min-hyeon on the sofa, Jun-ho took two cans of beer out of a plastic bag he’d brought and placed them on the table. He put the rest—bag and all—into the refrigerator and came back.

“What’s this?”

Min-hyeon tilted his head. Of course, Min-hyeon knew it was beer. He’d never tried it before, but it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it. Still, he couldn’t quite figure out why Jun-ho was bringing out beer in broad daylight.

“You said you’ve never had alcohol before and wanted to try it. One or two cans of beer won’t make you drunk, and the smell won’t linger much, so I thought it’d be fine. Just in case, I bought some hangover medicine too.”

“Wow, hyung. I think I’m falling for you right now.”

“You weren’t already? Hmm, I’ll have to try harder then.”

Jun-ho laughed playfully. Flushing, Min-hyeon quickly handed one beer can to Jun-ho to hide his shyness, and held the other himself. Jun-ho opened the can he’d received and handed it back to Min-hyeon, then took Min-hyeon’s can and opened that one too.

“Shall I grant you the honor of sharing your first drink with me?”

“What’s that, hyung? Ugh, so cheesy!”

Though he pretended to be cringing, his heart tingled. If anyone else had said that, he would have pretended to gag and shivered—but said with that face, it sounded like a movie line. Pouting at the thought that good looks really did make a difference, Min-hyeon reached out his can and lightly clinked it against Jun-ho’s. Then they both brought their cans to their lips at the same time.

The cool metal touching his lips made his heart flutter. Min-hyeon took a sip of beer into his mouth. The prickly carbonation and bitter barley taste made him scrunch up his face.

“What? Not as good as you expected?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure.”

Min-hyeon answered honestly. His expectations must have been too high. On TV, everyone seemed to drink it with such enjoyment, but it wasn’t particularly tasty.

“That’s because you’re not drinking it right.”

As if to demonstrate, Jun-ho—who had just been holding the can to his lips without drinking—drained the entire can in one go.

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