Chapter 26: The Man who won’t let Him go….

Anyway, Yoon Sayoung must have agonized over sending this text.

Thinking of Yoojun the entire time. Trying to figure out the reason why Kim Yoojun acted that way.

Just as he hadn’t been able to escape thoughts of Sayoung all day, he too must have spent a complicated time thinking of Kim Yoojun.

Thinking of that kept making him laugh.

The certainty that he wasn’t the only one who had spent such a pathetic day made the uncomfortable emotions melt away like snow, almost like a lie.

Whether he liked the content of the message or not was a secondary issue.

Yoojun sat back on the bed with the expression of a satisfied puppy and pressed the call button.

Imagining Sayoung’s face, likely flustered because he was calling immediately after receiving a message, made his mood even better.

Anything was fine as long as he could crack that mask-like expressionless face of his.

“…Hello?”

Before long, Sayoung’s voice came through the phone, clearly containing the surprise of the sudden contact. Yoojun spoke bluntly without a greeting.

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

Silence followed. Even that wasn’t bad. Yoojun liked every moment where Sayoung wasn’t calm or indifferent.

“Can’t you hear me?”

Feeling a bit ridiculous himself for feeling so much better over a single message, Yoojun added the question in a prickly tone for no reason. Only then did an answer come from the other side.

“Ah, I hear you. I’m sorry.”

“I asked what you are doing tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow….”

“…….”

“I’m not doing anything tomorrow….”

Sayoung answered in a very small voice. As if not doing anything was something to be very ashamed of.

Sayoung likely had his own reasons for feeling ashamed of that answer, but Yoojun was satisfied even with that.

The fact that Sayoung had no one in particular to meet if not for him seemed to indicate who held the upper hand in this relationship, which pleased him.

“Let’s have lunch together.”

“Pardon?”

“…Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Ah… yes. I’m sorry.”

The habitually flowing apology still grated on his ears, but he didn’t want to nitpick every single one right now.

Instead, Yoojun focused on having figured out how to draw even a slightly human reaction from Sayoung.

He became flustered when Yoojun approached him unexpectedly and pushily.

When he cursed, denied, or ignored him, he acted calm, but when he offered trivial kindness or approached him without a strict necessity like now, he flustered about, trying to find an appropriate reason.

Yoojun continued.

“I’ll be in front of your house by one o’clock, so get ready.”

“…Yes. Understood.”

“I’m hanging up.”

And without waiting for Sayoung’s reply, Yoojun ended the call right there.

Imagining what kind of face Sayoung was making right now was quite enjoyable. It didn’t matter if he thought Yoojun was a crazy lunatic.

Anything was fine, as long as it wasn’t that shitty attitude of implying it didn’t matter whether he was there or not.

“…….”

Then, suddenly, Yoojun recalled where—or to be precise, from whom—all of Sayoung’s reactions originated.

Taking insults and being ignored as a matter of course was likely because he was already accustomed to such treatment, and the person who could treat Sayoung like that was naturally Han Jaewoo.

Conversely, finding it difficult and feeling estranged when someone treated him familiarly or offered kindness without reason was likely because he had rarely received such treatment before.

And that, too, must have started from Han Jaewoo’s attitude toward Yoon Sayoung.

Once his thoughts reached that point, his mood soured instantly, as if he had never been excited.

The shadow of Han Jaewoo cast over the person named Yoon Sayoung was slowly beginning to have an unpleasant effect on Yoojun as well.

In the end, it meant that the only way to completely strip away the mask Sayoung currently wore was to completely drive Han Jaewoo out of him.

“…….”

Before he knew it, the smile had vanished from Yoojun’s face, and his gaze deepened.

If the revenge succeeds, can he really remove all the shadows currently encroaching upon Sayoung? Just because they exact revenge, will the things that have stuck to Sayoung for so long fall off all at once?

The deeper his thoughts went, the heavier his emotions sank back down. Yoojun sat there for a long time, once again soaked in thoughts about Yoon Sayoung.

His mind was dizzy with the fear that his voice telling him he was detestable might not have been hurtful to him, but rather natural words that were nothing special.

It was a night where sleep would not come easily.

****

“What is this bastard doing?”

At Jaewoo’s neurotic reaction, Eunseong, who was driving, hunched his shoulders while gripping the steering wheel.

Eunseong, who had seen the news first in the morning, had anticipated this reaction, but he couldn’t help being nervous.

“Did Kim Yoojun really have to help with the discharge personally?”

Jaewoo raised his voice as if this incident were somehow Eunseong’s fault.

On the phone screen in Jaewoo’s hand, along with the article stating that Kim Yoojun himself had helped discharge Sayoung, who had saved him, there was a large photo of Yoojun personally helping Sayoung into his car, not a taxi.

Feeling the compulsion to say something, Eunseong hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Since it became known that the other party is Yoon Sayoung, there are many eyes watching, so wouldn’t Actor Kim Yoojun have no choice but to be mindful?”

“It’s not Kim Yoojun that’s the problem; it’s Yoon Sayoung acting suspicious!”

Jaewoo screamed, seemingly more annoyed by Eunseong’s answer that missed the point.

At first, when he learned that the person who saved Yoojun happened to be Sayoung, he felt somewhat iffy but let it pass as a coincidence. However, seeing a photo of the two together made his gut twist.

He wasn’t suspecting that Sayoung had hired someone to drive a bike at Yoojun. It just bothered him that Yoon Sayoung happened to be there at that exact moment.

Unless he had been intentionally following Yoojun and stalking him, it didn’t make sense for Sayoung to be there by chance that morning.

“Did he notice something….”

Realizing that whatever he said now would only grate on Jaewoo’s nerves, Eunseong drove carefully without answering. If he drove incorrectly at a time like this, he could end up taking the brunt of all Jaewoo’s irritation.

Every time he heard people around him say Han Jaewoo was gentle and took good care of everyone, Eunseong always felt nauseous inside.

“It’s definitely strange….”

Fortunately for Eunseong, Jaewoo stopped paying attention to him and delved into his own thoughts. There was no clear evidence, but something about this whole thing kept bothering him.

Jaewoo had never told Sayoung about his feelings for Kim Yoojun. Of course, he wasn’t worried about Sayoung getting hurt; he was just being cautious in case Sayoung clung to him even more in reverse.

But he couldn’t be relieved thinking Sayoung truly didn’t know. Since all of Sayoung’s attention was always fixed on Han Jaewoo to an abnormal degree, he might have noticed something without Jaewoo realizing it.

The fact that Sayoung relied on and obsessed only over Jaewoo was because Han Jaewoo had intentionally driven him in that direction, but regardless, that was the life Sayoung had chosen. Jaewoo felt he didn’t need to feel any responsibility for that.

As time passed, Jaewoo grew to hate Sayoung’s submissive nature to a creeping degree.

“…Is he trying to use a jealousy tactic now or what?”

Muttering, Jaewoo leaned deep back into his seat as if exhausted, still looking at the photo on his phone. Just how polite and considerate Yoojun’s attitude was in escorting Sayoung could be felt intact even through the photo.

Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that perhaps Sayoung agreeing to the divorce so meekly was actually a show started to hold onto his heart.

Goosebumps ran down his spine. Thinking that way, all the questionable parts fit together like a puzzle.

The divorce that was sudden and easy beyond understanding, the fact that the person who was so obsessed with Han Jaewoo cut off all ties without a single contact simultaneously with the divorce, and his sudden appearance near Kim Yoojun.

Dealing an unexpected blow to Jaewoo with the divorce, making him feel the emptiness of his absence, and approaching another man to provoke jealousy he hadn’t recognized before, making Jaewoo look back at him again. It was truly a story that could be called the cliché of clichés.

Jaewoo’s expression, which had been full of irritation, relaxed subtly.

To be honest, he had found it a bit strange that Sayoung, whom he assumed would keep contacting him pathetically even after the divorce, hadn’t contacted him once. But if that was the intention, it was understandable.

“Yoon Sayoung, I knew it….”

There’s no way you would let me go that easily.

A sneer formed on Jaewoo’s lips.

Sayoung’s inner thoughts, which were so transparently visible whether then or now, were tedious and laughable.

Whether it was a coincidence or whatever, it bothered him a bit that the target Sayoung used for his scheme happened to be Kim Yoojun, but he had not a speck of intention to play along.

Rather, what Jaewoo cared about right now was Kim Yoojun, not Sayoung.

Whether Jaewoo’s guess was right or wrong, whatever Sayoung’s true intention was, in the end, he wouldn’t be able to get a single fragment of what he wanted from Jaewoo.

He intended to make sure of that.

Jaewoo turned off his phone screen and closed his eyes just like that.

He would be starting a project with Kim Yoojun soon anyway, and once that happened, everything would flow as Jaewoo wanted, so there was no need to keep someone like Yoon Sayoung in mind at all.

Trying not to recall the touch of Kim Yoojun kindly supporting Yoon Sayoung that surfaced in his darkened vision, Han Jaewoo thought about the filming scheduled for today.