Chapter 16: A Voice at the Door

‘PD Jeong said he just had his third child and has a lot of expenses these days, and Taekyung sunbae is probably in the States right now, so it’d be awkward to bring it up…….’

Over the past few years, those two were the only people she could honestly say she was close to.

Her school friends had drifted away long ago as their lives went in different directions, and the people she’d met through part-time jobs were all fleeting connections.

She hadn’t stayed at any workplace long, either.

The face of Lee Hong-ik, whom she’d grown close to while working at a Chinese restaurant, briefly crossed her mind, but they were the kind of acquaintances who would obviously grow distant the moment she asked to borrow money.

Seonyul scrolled through her contacts and let out a hollow sigh.

Just then, a message notification popped up at the top of the screen.
It was Yeon Seung-ju again.

[Yeon Seung-ju: If you don’t want me to get sued]

[Yeon Seung-ju: Please live at my place…]

[Yeon Seung-ju: Would that not be okay…??]

“Seriously, this is driving me crazy.”

As if he’d been watching her situation unfold, Seung-ju was picking exactly the words she didn’t have the heart to ignore.
Whether it was a threat or a plea, she couldn’t help feeling tempted by the message.
Seonyul looked around the chaotic interior of her rooftop room and let out a deep sigh.

********

There are people in this world who find it difficult to face others for a variety of reasons.
Yeon Seung-ju, who invited her to live together yet never showed his face even once, was one of them.

“If you include the money I owe you and the rent…… it won’t be much, but I think I can pay around seven hundred thousand won a month.”

– N-no! I don’t like that! Why would you take money from a voice actor……?

“Then are you telling me to live here for free?”

– Yes!

After returning to Seung-ju’s house, Seonyul sat on the living room sofa and discussed the conditions of their cohabitation over the phone with him, who was presumably upstairs on the second floor.

No matter how rich he was, letting a complete stranger move in without taking any money?
Seung-ju seemed far more naïve about the ways of the world than she’d expected.

“Mr. Yeon Seung-ju, I can’t live here if you don’t take money. I’d feel too uncomfortable.”

– I really don’t need money…… I-isn’t there something e-else?

“Something else?”

– V-voice, maybe…….

“Voice?”

– R-r-reading b-books to me!

Seung-ju answered while stuttering seriously.

He was someone who barely left his room and struggled to express himself properly, yet when she said she was quitting voice acting, he was the first to call her and even offered up his home without hesitation.

Knowing how much courage that must have taken, Seonyul couldn’t bring herself to refuse outright.

“……My mic’s broken, so I can’t record properly right now. Should I read to you over the phone?”

– I w-want to hear it…… in person.

“In person how? You said you couldn’t meet me.”

– I’ll o-open…… the d-door to my room, and you c-can read from outside.

In short, he would leave his door open and wanted her to read to him from the hallway.
Seonyul recalled that he suffered from severe insomnia.

In the first place, the reason he’d requested recordings was because of his sleep issues.
If she came back from her part-time job, showered, and read to him for about thirty minutes before midnight, before he went to sleep, that seemed manageable.

‘Is my voice really that good at putting people to sleep?’

She did read scripts gently on purpose since they were meant to be listened to while sleeping, but she’d never thought her voice was especially soothing.

When he’d first contacted her, he’d said it was his first time using the platform, so maybe he hadn’t really heard other voice actors and was relying on her by default.

“Let’s try it for just one month for now.”

– J-just one month? Are you leaving after that?

“That depends on how things go.”

– I d-don’t like that…… but okay.

Seung-ju showed clear reluctance every time Seonyul added another condition, yet he always ended up agreeing.
It seemed he’d figured out that she was proud and disliked kindness that came with no compensation.

Every night before bed, thirty minutes of reading, for one month.

Seung-ju would choose the books he wanted, and Seonyul would buy them.
There would be no rent, and five hundred thousand won would be deducted from the money she owed him.

“It’s late, so let’s discuss the rest tomorrow.”

– Y-yes, yes!

“And…… thank you. For everything.”

– Hehe…….

Seung-ju laughed shyly at her thanks.

Seonyul followed with a quiet chuckle of her own.

Then, suddenly, the call cut off.

Did he hang up by accident?

She stared at the disconnected screen for a moment, but the phone didn’t ring again.

Seonyul headed into the room at the end of the right hallway, the one Seung-ju had told her to use freely.

‘Tomorrow I should wash the clothes I brought…… and talk to Mr. Yeon Seung-ju about house rules or something.’

It was her first time living with someone who wasn’t family.
She searched for things to consider when choosing a roommate and carefully copied them into her notes.

Laundry, cleaning, food—there was a lot they’d need to coordinate.
Even if they handled meals separately, she figured she could take care of the laundry herself.
Since she was practically freeloading, she planned to accommodate the homeowner as much as possible.

But the moment the front door opened at exactly nine the next morning and a housekeeper walked in, her resolve to do chores herself shattered completely.

The housekeeper was a middle-aged woman, and she briskly began cleaning without paying Seonyul any mind.
Without a word, she gathered the armful of rain-soaked clothes Seonyul had brought and took them away to be washed.
Seonyul hovered around, wanting to help somehow, but the housekeeper seemed more uncomfortable with that.

“Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I leave meals ready, so just take them out of the fridge and eat.
Just stack the dishes; I’ll take care of them.
Leave laundry in front of your room door, and if you need anything else, write it on the whiteboard by the entrance.”

After relaying only the essential information, she excused herself.
Despite the sudden addition of a guest, she didn’t seem curious at all.
She must have been informed beforehand.

Scratching her head, Seonyul went back to her room.
Living here without paying a cent while all the housework was handled made her feel uneasy.
Feeling like she had to do something, she texted Seung-ju to ask if he’d chosen a book yet.

[Yeon Seung-ju: The book called <Trivial Radiance>…]

“Huh? I know this one.”

Back when she was under contract with the broadcasting station, she’d read it once when she filled in for a day on a radio program called <Today’s Book Passage>.
It wasn’t a particularly famous book, so it felt oddly specific that Seung-ju had chosen it.

[I’ll stop by the bookstore later and buy it.]

[Yeon Seung-ju: I already have the book. You don’t need to buy it…!!]

[Okay, got it.]

She’d planned to get up and do some chores, but she had time to spare until her afternoon part-time job.
Lying on the soft bed and browsing job listings, Seonyul ended up falling asleep without realizing it.

When she opened her eyes again, lunchtime had long passed.
She brushed past the housekeeper, who was still cleaning, and went into the kitchen to open the fridge.

Just as Seung-ju had said, it was packed with food.

Each container had the date it was prepared and its expiration written on it.
Seonyul picked up the ones closest to expiring first.

‘What the heck. None of this has been touched.’

For someone living alone, that was strange.
None of the other food showed any sign of being eaten either.

Then what did he live on?

Did he just throw all this away?

Seonyul glanced toward the housekeeper.

She deliberately avoided approaching or even looking at her.

Avoiding her to that extent felt odd……
Questions swirled in her head, but Seonyul quietly fixed herself a meal.

**********

The promised time approached.
Seonyul climbed the stairs toward the room at the far end where Seung-ju stayed.

The door was slightly ajar, and beside it sat a plush single-seater sofa, whether it had always been there or had been moved while she was out at work.
The room lights were off, so she couldn’t see inside well through the narrow opening.
Seonyul knocked to announce her arrival.

“Mr. Yeon Seung-ju.”

“Y-yes!”

“Please hand me the book.”

“H-here…….”

As she took the book through the crack in the door, Seonyul found herself staring at Seung-ju’s hand.
Reflecting the hallway light, it looked incredibly…… white and soft.

Long fingers with pronounced joints and oval-shaped nails at the tips were so perfectly formed they could’ve belonged to a hand model.
Judging by size alone, his hand was bigger than hers, yet perhaps because the fingertips were faintly flushed red, it felt strangely delicate.

‘His hands are really pretty…… No, what am I even looking at? I’m not some kind of creep…….’

In the blink of an eye, Seung-ju’s hand disappeared back into the darkness.
Feeling awkward, Seonyul averted her gaze and sat down on the sofa.

“Ahem…… should I start from the beginning?”

“From the part I marked…….”

Opening the bookmarked section, Seonyul tested the volume in a calm voice.
The house was so large and her projection so good that even speaking softly made her voice carry.

“It’s not pain that holds onto you, but you who are holding onto the pain.
An obsession with negative emotions destroys the self……. How’s this volume?”

“H-huh…… y-yes, it’s g-good…….”

Seung-ju replied, clearly overjoyed and at a loss for what to do.

Embarrassed by his intense reaction, Seonyul cleared her throat a few times and began reading in earnest.

It was a passage about how someone consumed by negative emotions could begin to overcome them.