Chapter 34: Someone Else

The meal had gone completely cold.

Hae-su hesitated for a moment with his hand on the lunchbox lid as he looked at the rice that had lost its stickiness and the side dishes that looked equally lifeless.

In the end, he had failed to eat the meal Do-yoon had repeatedly reminded him not to skip.

The moment he saw the expensive lunch bag, a sigh escaped him.

He had completely forgotten about it while making his way here.

Still, at least he had come straight to Do-yoon’s house.

That counted for something.

Carefully lowering the lid without making a sound, Hae-su opened the disposable chopsticks.

“Looks good…”

The square lunchbox was packed with what looked like at least ten different side dishes.

The sight made him laugh a little as he remembered Do-yoon saying it was fine even if he only took a bite and threw the rest away.

The man really had no sense of how precious food was.

Though admittedly, that judgment was only half serious.

His hand moved faster than his chewing.

He kept stuffing food into his mouth until it was completely full, setting down the chopsticks only long enough to swallow before picking them up again.

Watching the rice and side dishes gradually disappear brought him a strange sense of satisfaction.

Even cold, the food tasted good.

The flavors had all blended together from the way he shoveled everything in at once, yet each dish still retained its own character.

It was obvious that Do-yoon had put considerable thought into choosing them.

Then suddenly, he choked.

Jumping to his feet, he searched frantically for water.

He had crammed food down so recklessly that nausea quickly followed.

Instinctively, he braced himself against the kitchen sink.

“Cough… cough…!”

But he didn’t throw up.

He didn’t want to.

Instead, he forced the lump of food down his throat and into his esophagus.

What am I even doing?

The absurdity of his actions made him laugh.

Yet when he finally managed to swallow everything, he felt oddly proud.

Opening the refrigerator, he took out one of the neatly arranged water bottles.

If he could drink this without any trouble and finish the lunch completely…

Perhaps Choi Hae-su would actually feel happy.

It took him an entire hour to finish eating.

Everything except the things he genuinely couldn’t manage was gone.

After neatly placing the utensils together, he pulled out his phone.

The gesture felt unfamiliar.

Awkwardly raising it, he focused the camera.

Click.

A picture was taken.

He intended to send it to Do-yoon.

Three minutes after sending both the photo and a thank-you message, a reply arrived.

[Good job.]

[(Sticker)]

…A rabbit sticker.

Giving a thumbs-up.

Was it really that impressive?

If Do-yoon said so, then maybe it was.

Before he could sink into unnecessary thoughts, Hae-su began cleaning up.

He threw away the trash and rinsed the empty containers.

Do-yoon couldn’t stop himself from smiling after reading Hae-su’s message.

The attached photo was so endearing that he found himself staring at it longer than necessary.

He hadn’t been lying when he said it was fine if most of the food went uneaten.

The fact that Hae-su had forced himself to finish almost all of it worried him a little.

Still, the feeling that rose inside him was closer to happiness than concern.

Someone spoke to him while he sat there smiling at his phone.

It was Gyu-jin, an old colleague and former lab mate.

The moment Gyu-jin noticed Do-yoon grinning to himself, he nearly recoiled in horror.

Crushing out his cigarette, he immediately snapped at him.

“Why are you suddenly smiling like that? You look insane.”

“Why do you always make everything sound so scary? Try being nice for once.”

Gyu-jin had survived years of graduate school with Do-yoon.

At minimum, they had spent nearly a decade together.

That was more than enough time to recognize when Do-yoon was in a good mood.

The real issue was that the smile currently on his face looked completely out of place on an ordinary weekday employee.

Even from another man’s perspective, Do-yoon’s smile was unfairly attractive.

Which made the past few weeks all the stranger.

Recently, he’d looked miserable.

Gyu-jin had quietly wondered whether he’d lost money in stocks or something.

Then suddenly, without warning, he was smiling like a man who owned the entire world.

Of course Gyu-jin was curious.

“Ah, that’s what it was. I thought your investments had tanked.”

“I don’t do that.”

“God, I hate rich people.”

Not long after, Do-yoon finally stopped staring at his screen.

He put away his phone and resumed the conversation they had been having.

A cool breeze drifted through the air.

The weather was pleasant enough to make him smile again.

Hae-su was probably sitting blankly in the living room somewhere, feeling the same breeze.

“Then I thought maybe things went bad between you and Kwon Se-ha.”

“…Out of nowhere? Did I ever say something like that?”

“You didn’t have to. Ever since you came back from overseeing that project, you’ve looked awful. Good thing someone else took over midway through. Otherwise I’d have been walking on eggshells around you.”

“……”

Gyu-jin was Do-yoon’s friend.

But he knew Se-ha too.

They had all attended graduate school around the same time.

They weren’t particularly close, but thanks to Do-yoon they had crossed paths often enough.

Despite working in different fields, they ran into each other more than expected.

And Do-yoon had been absent from work for much of the previous week.

Gyu-jin assumed he had been spending plenty of time around Se-ha.

Every meeting during that period had left Do-yoon looking visibly tense.

Naturally, Gyu-jin connected the dots.

“Did you two have a fight? At your age?”

“It’s not like that. Seriously… don’t ever buy a lottery ticket. There’s a reason you never win.”

“And this is how you talk to someone who’s worried about you?”

Was Gyu-jin perceptive or completely clueless?

Do-yoon had no intention of explaining every little detail, but he still found himself surprised by how close Gyu-jin’s guesses came.

Still, could this really be described as having a problem with Se-ha?

He wasn’t sure.

Things weren’t the same as before.

That much was true.

But after Se-ha’s accident and memory loss, Do-yoon had spent years feeling sorry for him.

As both a friend and a decent human being, that was natural.

The shift had probably begun after learning about Se-ha’s marriage to Yoon Ji-woo.

Perhaps because he had never thought their relationship was that serious.

Maybe because simply looking at Se-ha’s face now brought someone else to mind.

If possible, he wanted to avoid Se-ha a little.

That was all.

Though there hadn’t been many opportunities to do so.

“Anyway, we didn’t fight. I’ve known Se-ha for years. What difference would a fight make?”

“Then is it because of that person?”

The question clearly referred to someone specific.

Do-yoon wasn’t oblivious enough to miss the implication.

He had never exactly tried to hide things.

Still, Gyu-jin knowing this much made him laugh helplessly.

That person.

The person Gyu-jin meant was obviously Choi Hae-su.

He had never shared Hae-su’s name.

Or face.

Or occupation.

Yet Gyu-jin knew enough.

He knew Hae-su had once been Kwon Se-ha’s lover.

“Did something happen with him?”

“……”

“Wow. So I was right. Why do you suddenly look like your entire world collapsed?”

Do-yoon had never even properly pursued his feelings.

Yet he had spent years quietly suffering because of them.

Watching him sit there thinking about Hae-su, Gyu-jin clicked his tongue.

There was pity mixed into the gesture.

Pity for a friend who couldn’t even allow himself the freedom of openly thinking about the person he liked.

Hae-su’s existence was something Gyu-jin had only learned after relentlessly pestering Do-yoon.

He had always known his friend carried some enormous burden regarding someone he loved.

Learning that the person in question had been Kwon Se-ha’s partner came as a genuine shock.

“Did he reject you?”

“That would’ve required me confessing first. How far ahead are you skipping?”

“So you’ve never even told him you like him. Then why do you look so miserable?”

At first, Gyu-jin had thought the whole thing was ridiculous.

No matter how much someone liked another person, falling for Kwon Se-ha’s boyfriend crossed a line.

Even so, everything changed after the news of Se-ha’s wedding.

Yoon Ji-woo?

That wasn’t the name Gyu-jin remembered.

He knew almost nothing about Se-ha’s partner, but if it had been that name, he would have heard it somewhere.

A man Do-yoon loved this much should have at least been mentioned once.

But it wasn’t Ji-woo.

That much was obvious.

What Gyu-jin eventually pieced together was simple.

The person Do-yoon loved was now alone.

And Se-ha was marrying someone else.

Even as a complete outsider, the realization felt strangely satisfying.

Now things would finally work out.

The feelings Do-yoon had hidden for so many years no longer needed to remain buried.

“He’s having a hard time.”

Do-yoon’s voice was quiet.

“So I don’t want to do anything selfish.”

“What are you, starring in a melodrama?”

Gyu-jin scoffed.

“If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Go look in a mirror and see what kind of face you’re making.”

Not explaining the full situation was entirely Do-yoon’s choice.

Which meant hearing comments like this was also his responsibility.

He could only offer a weak smile in return.

The saddest part was that none of it was wrong.

Gyu-jin simply didn’t know.

He didn’t know about Se-ha’s memory loss.

Or what exactly had been lost.

Five years.

That was how long Hae-su had spent curled up inside himself.

Do-yoon had only just managed to pull him back into the world.

Wanting to be a good person to him, no matter what—

That was something Gyu-jin couldn’t understand.

“I’m telling you, if you miss this chance, there won’t be another.”

“What do you know?”

“Sometimes people who know nothing hit the nail right on the head. You’ve got nothing to lose, so why are you acting like this?”

Easy words.

No one desired a place in Hae-su’s life more than Do-yoon did.

The reason he had never acted wasn’t because he didn’t want to.

It was because he felt as though he had already seen the ending of the story.

Maybe Do-yoon himself hadn’t completely let go of the possibility that Se-ha’s memories could return.

If that happened, everything he had carefully built would collapse.

So perhaps it had been safer not to build anything at all.

More than anything, he wanted Hae-su to obtain the happiness he desired.

And for a very long time, that happiness had been Kwon Se-ha.

Fortunately—or unfortunately—Do-yoon had always been good at enduring things.

“You should learn to pursue your own happiness too.”

Gyu-jin sighed.

“At this rate you’ll rot from the inside out.”

“You said you were worried about me. Sounds more like a curse.”

“It’s called concern, idiot. Think about yourself once in a while.”

Those words no longer irritated him.

Because he knew Gyu-jin meant well.

He knew exactly how frustrating he looked from the outside.

He understood all of it.

But Hae-su was still more important.

Even now, he was content enough.

Some people would probably call him hopeless.

The man sitting across from him certainly seemed to think so.

At this very moment, Do-yoon knew where Hae-su was.

They had exchanged messages only a short while ago.

Wanting anything more than that still felt frightening.

Even when he felt resentment toward Hae-su for not being able to let Se-ha go, that resentment was born from affection.

He would make sure Hae-su ate.

Slept.

Smiled again.

Even if those things felt difficult right now, he would help him recover them one at a time.

“After work, I’m going to see him.”

“So?”

“Can’t even confess, but okay.”

“I’m going to have dinner with him.”

“Didn’t ask.”

“And I’ll buy him ice cream.”

“I seriously didn’t ask.”

When he returned home, Hae-su would be there.

That alone was enough.

For now, Do-yoon wanted to believe he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Leaving Gyu-jin behind as he continued complaining, Do-yoon rose from his seat.

Four hours remained until the end of the workday.

Even though he had spent far more time at work than away from it, the hours ahead felt impossibly long.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I’m Not the Saintess! I’m a Good-for-Nothing Young Master!

Female ProtagonistGender BenderReverse Pursuit

Read Now →
Not interested