Chapter 23: A House Without Warmth

Yoojun bit the inside of his lip slightly. He hadn’t intended to ask so blatantly, but the words slipped out before his mind could control them.

Flustered inwardly, Yoojun’s mouth began to spout words on its own.

“Well, whether you tell them or not isn’t my business, but if rumors spread that you’re crazy or if you get dragged off to a hospital, it puts me in a difficult spot too.”

“…….”

“Especially when I stepped into this unwillingly… out of mere pity….”

Stop. Please stop talking.

Yoojun shouted inwardly at himself, a rare occurrence. He couldn’t remember the last time he had lost his composure like this. He was so flustered that cold sweat seemed to trickle down his spine. He found it absurd that he was this agitated.

Sayoung, who had been listening quietly to Yoojun, turned his gaze back to the front and answered.

“No. The only person who knows that… is you, Yoojun.”

“…….”

“Because the person absolutely necessary for my revenge is you, Yoojun, that’s why I told you. I don’t intend to go around blabbering about it, so please rest assured.”

Sayoung’s voice sounded neither hurt nor blaming toward Yoojun. Consequently, Yoojun, whose heart also calmed down, was able to chew over Sayoung’s words.

Because the person absolutely necessary for my revenge is you, Yoojun.

Just as he thought the resonance of that sentence was truly peculiar, Sayoung’s house appeared.

****

“Can you go in alone?”

Having parked the car in front of the house, Yoojun didn’t add any other words and only said what was necessary.

There is no one but you, Yoojun.

He didn’t want to show that such sentences were circulating in his head as if they held special meaning. Fortunately or unfortunately, Sayoung also didn’t seem to expect a reaction from Yoojun regarding what he had said.

Sayoung was always indifferent to Yoojun. It was a contradictory attitude considering he had said Yoojun was an absolutely necessary person.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for driving me even though you must be busy.”

Sayoung bowed slightly to say goodbye and glanced at the back seat. It was where the crutches were. Sayoung opened the passenger door just like that. It seemed he intended to move on one foot to open the back door and take out the crutches.

Yoojun briefly watched Sayoung’s unstable back as he slowly got out of the car. It was annoying to see that slender body stumbling out. Yoojun furrowed his brow, tore his gaze away from Sayoung to look ahead, and chewed his lip for no reason.

Unaware of the emotional changes Yoojun was undergoing behind his back, Sayoung carefully got out of the car and closed the door. And the moment he tried to limp toward the back seat to get the crutches—

“Stay still.”

A blunt voice was heard. Yoojun, having gotten out of the car at some point, walked over in a breath, passed Sayoung, opened the back door, took out the crutches, and held them out to Sayoung.

Sayoung received the crutches with a somewhat bewildered face.

“…Thank you.”

Yoojun looked at Sayoung with a disapproving expression. He couldn’t understand why he could easily ask for ridiculous favors but wouldn’t say a word when he actually needed help.

If he really asked for help with every little thing, he would curse his shamelessness, but since he kept his distance even when help was truly needed, he didn’t feel particularly good either.

Yoojun quietly watched Sayoung, who was now using the crutches quite familiarly, and then spat out words quite impulsively.

“If you need help from the agency level later, tell me.”

“Pardon?”

“Once you audition and start in earnest, things will get noisy. And Han Jaewoo won’t just sit back and watch you participate in a movie, Yoon Sayoung-ssi.”

Sayoung, who looked momentarily flustered by Yoojun’s unexpected words, nodded quickly upon hearing Han Jaewoo’s name.

It wasn’t wrong. The moment he knew Sayoung intended to appear in a movie he was in, he would use any means necessary to drop Sayoung.

The reason Sayoung coveted the role of ‘Seo Danu’ was largely influenced by the interest he had in the work and the character itself, but a more primary reason was his judgment that the director and writer of the movie <Haji> were people who would look straight at his acting without being swayed by his personal story.

He needed people who wouldn’t judge him with prejudices caused by the filthy backstory entangled with Han Jaewoo. And the director of this movie was someone Sayoung could pin some hope on in that regard.

But that was merely Sayoung’s guess and wishful thinking.

If Jaewoo, who held a major role in the movie, was backed by strong public favor, and belonged to a somewhat influential agency, strongly opposed it, the situation could be reversed at any time.

The only corner Sayoung could trust was his acting skills and Kim Yoojun’s bystander attitude, who at least wouldn’t refuse his taking the role. It was a situation where even the word ‘pathetic’ was a waste.

In such a situation, the offer Yoojun made now was bound to draw Sayoung’s interest.

Instead of answering rashly, Sayoung stared straight at Yoojun. His pale eyes seemed to be trying to guess the intention of Yoojun, who suddenly made such an offer first.

Yoojun answered while looking straight back without avoiding his gaze.

“Whatever the circumstances, Sayoung-ssi’s name and mine have become linked now.”

“…….”

“I’m saying that protecting your reputation has also become a matter of protecting my name.”

Yoojun continued speaking as if making excuses. It was Yoon Sayoung who was desperate, not him, but it bothered him that his voice strangely seemed to carry a hint of nervousness.

“Well, I won’t go out of my way to get involved first, but….”

So Yoojun kept adding unnecessary remarks. The one who should be on edge right now isn’t me, but you, Yoon Sayoung—in truth, he wanted to spit out such petty words.

“I’m saying if a moment comes where you really need help, try asking me.”

“…Yes. Thank you.”

Yoojun suddenly became curious about the fleeting silence before Sayoung answered. He wanted to know if that blank space stemmed from gratitude, misery, or wariness.

“Then I’ll go in. Drive safely.”

Sayoung turned his body. Yoojun’s fingertips twitched. He wanted to ask if the ‘thank you’ really came from gratitude toward him. He wanted to hear if it wasn’t just words spat out like a shield because he didn’t want to talk anymore. It was a mystery why he was so obsessed with such a trivial moment.

I shouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place. No matter what nonsense he spoke in that hospital room that day, I should have ignored it and passed by. If I had, I wouldn’t be barely swallowing this incomprehensible pettiness right here.

Amid emotions resembling a belated regret washing over him, Yoojun hurriedly turned to get in the car.

“Yoojun.”

At that moment, it was Sayoung who suddenly stopped Yoojun. Even at that single small voice, Yoojun stood frozen in place as if nailed down, and after a silence somewhat longer than before, Sayoung spoke.

“I only have a cup of coffee to offer, but would you like to come in for a moment?”

“…….”

“Since you came all the way here, it seems impolite to just let you go….”

Yoojun felt his whole body go cold as if doused with ice water. It felt like he was finally facing Sayoung’s true intentions that he had hidden so well until now; he felt satisfied yet his mood was foul.

An Omega luring an Alpha into the house saying to rest for a moment. It was a ridiculous cliché.

To think he reveals his true colors so quickly just because I gave him a little room.

“…Sure.”

Yoojun answered while barely swallowing the urge to openly sneer. Since it came to this, Yoojun wanted to thoroughly uncover Sayoung’s bare face even more.

****

“Please sit somewhere comfortable and wait a moment.”

Yoojun thought those words of Sayoung were very laughable. Because, in the space visible to Yoojun right now, there was absolutely nowhere that looked like a ‘comfortable place.’

When he first opened the entrance and stepped inside, Yoojun felt his breath catch in his throat.

It was ironic. Sayoung’s house wasn’t small at all, and since there was hardly any furniture, there wasn’t a single spot that looked stuffy. Rather, his house looked too desolate because there was nothing there.

The reason Yoojun felt the sensation of suffocation was precisely because of that ‘desolation.’

While Sayoung walked to the kitchen saying he would brew coffee, Yoojun headed to the living room sluggishly like someone scared of something.

Except for a sofa that looked brand new, as if no one had ever sat on it, and the table placed in front of it, there was nothing in the large living room.

It wasn’t just that there was no furniture; Sayoung’s house looked like a house where no one lived. There was no warmth. It was believable enough if one said Sayoung had tricked him into coming to an empty house calling it his to kill Yoojun without anyone knowing.

The cold house, which was entirely stark white, curiously reminded him of a dry desert.

“Would you like your coffee cold?”

What awakened Yoojun, who was feeling confused like a lost person not knowing where to go in someone else’s living room, was Sayoung’s voice coming from the kitchen.

Yoojun felt a momentary sense of relief. Enough to briefly forget that he considered him extremely displeasing.

Then, wariness raised its head again. In a sense, a home was the space that best represented its owner. A person who created a space like this was clearly broken somewhere.

“…Yes.”

Yoojun answered briefly without trying to hide his wariness and went to the kitchen to sit at the dining table. The kitchen, which at least had a refrigerator, dining table, and other basic necessary appliances, felt much more comfortable than the living room.

Sayoung, who was brewing coffee at the machine, seemed a bit surprised to see Yoojun sit in the kitchen instead of the living room, but quickly regained his composure. The scent of coffee began to spread softly in the space that didn’t even have a scent. Sayoung, who moved well even with a crutch under one arm, spoke in a monotone voice.

“I haven’t moved in that long ago, so there isn’t much in the house.”

“…….”

“And I don’t really need anything….”

From Sayoung saying that, he felt the same desolation felt from this house. It was the rasping of dried-up grains of sand.