Chapter 34: The One who shouldn’t care still does….

“That… uh….”
This time, Sayoung was flustered and couldn’t continue his words properly.

He had indeed agonized over whether he should inform Yoojun about what happened today.
If he considered it just a personal matter, there was no need to tell Yoojun, but thinking that Jaewoo’s reaction might influence their future plans, it was right to inform Yoojun as well.

Whatever the motive, Yoojun was in the same boat as Sayoung.

So Sayoung had thought that when he met Yoojun again, he might have to summarize and tell him about today’s events appropriately.

However, that definitely didn’t mean he would blurt it out abruptly like this, unexpectedly and without any preparation.

“What is it, Yoon Sayoung?”

“…….”

“Did he come to find you himself? Is that it?”

Yoojun’s voice rose every time a question was added. He sounded as if he was angry.
Because of that, Sayoung also became anxious and didn’t have the mind to organize the situation properly.

Sayoung answered. “…He didn’t come himself, he sent his manager.”

“To your house?”

“Yes….”

“Did he come inside the house?”

Whether Eunseong entered the house or not wasn’t a very important issue for Sayoung.
So it was a little fascinating that Yoojun asked that first.

“No. Just… since there didn’t seem to be a need to face him, I didn’t open the door.”

“…You did well. You did well, Yoon Sayoung.”

The voice over the phone sounded subtly relieved.
Sayoung thought that because he didn’t know Yoojun well, he couldn’t properly grasp his emotions through a phone call.

Yoojun kept asking.

“So… what did he say he came for?”

“Umm….”

“You know you shouldn’t hide anything from me, right?”

“Yes.” Sayoung nodded.

Yoojun was right.
As long as he was helping him, he did need to provide him with all information properly.
That was why he had judged that he should inform him about today’s events even roughly for now. Sayoung continued.

“He made the excuse that Han Jaewoo sent a gift that’s good for the body after hearing the news that I was injured.”

“Bullshit.”

Sayoung flinched his shoulders momentarily at the profanity that flowed out immediately.
Revenge is Sayoung’s business.

Yoojun is helping with the revenge because Sayoung clung to him, not because it involves Yoojun’s personal feelings toward Han Jaewoo. From Yoojun’s perspective, although he might not like Han Jaewoo, there was no particular reason for him to harbor ill feelings.

But right now, Yoojun reacted as if he personally hated Han Jaewoo very much.

‘Was there perhaps something between the two that I don’t know about?’ Sayoung continued speaking while harboring doubts.

“Of course, since there’s no way that was the real purpose, I asked. If Han Jaewoo… had separate words for him to convey.”

“And then?”

“…….”

“Speak, Yoon Sayoung-ssi.”

“He must have seen the article.”

Once he brought it up to there, the words Eunseong said came to mind again. What was fascinating was that although Sayoung clearly heard those words through Eunseong, they were playing in Han Jaewoo’s voice in his head.

There was no need to try hard to recall his voice.

In Sayoung’s memory, voices of Han Jaewoo saying similar content were already stored countless times.

Sayoung tried to breathe.

Having already died once, what feelings could there be that he couldn’t let go of? Yet, the broken heart that had been hurt for a long time sometimes shook regardless of his will.

Sayoung pinched his thigh, struggling to keep his wits about him, and continued speaking to Yoojun who was waiting for the next words.

“He… told me to conduct myself well….”

“Conduct yourself?”

“He told me not to shame his face by flirting with just any man when it hasn’t been long since the divorce….”

Originally, he hadn’t intended to convey it this explicitly. Explaining in more organized words so that he could just understand the general meaning would have been sufficient.

But because Yoojun asked too suddenly and impatiently, he didn’t have the leisure to refine his words. Only after spitting it all out did the thought occur that he had chattered too uselessly.

Sayoung waited for Yoojun’s answer while feeling a little tense. After a short silence passed, Yoojun’s voice was heard.

“He’s a real crazy bastard, that one.”

Sayoung’s mind went blank for a moment. He was so surprised his mouth fell open on its own.

While Sayoung was just moving his lips without knowing what to say, Yoojun spoke again.

“Did you just listen to that?”

Sayoung answered quickly like a person suddenly instilled with military discipline.

“No. I told him that person has no right to say such things to me, and told him to leave.”

“You did well.”

He couldn’t understand why he was conveying every single detail as if reporting to him, but at his ensuing praise, the tension in his stiffly hardened body relaxed.

“Next time, curse at him.”

“Ah….”

“Surely it’s not that you don’t know how to curse?”

“…I know how.”

“Then do it. ‘Crazy bastard, don’t spout bullshit and get lost.’ Like this.”

“Though if it were me, I would curse more severely.”

Sayoung quickly recited the words Yoojun just said in his head. Rather than the profanity itself, the image of himself spitting such words at Jaewoo didn’t come to mind easily.

It was something he had never even imagined. Surprisingly. But the person who would be more surprised by such words than Sayoung would probably be Han Jaewoo.

Suddenly, Sayoung became curious about his expression upon receiving a hearty cursing from him.
Then, he felt his mood improving a little.

Yoojun’s voice was heard again over the phone.

“Anyway. It’s practically a declaration of war.”

“…….”

“So we have to proceed with the work properly now. The core of Yoon Sayoung’s plan is appearing in the movie together. Right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Are you practicing acting?”

Yoojun’s voice asking that was sharp, unlike just a moment ago. Before Sayoung could answer anything, his words continued.

“This movie is a really important movie to me. Although I said I would help you, if you can’t properly handle the role of Seo Danwoo and fail to win the part, I can’t help it either.”

“Yes. I know. At least I will make sure not to cause trouble with my acting.”

Sayoung didn’t know, but at that time Yoojun was about to say, ‘Do it properly.’

But recalling the words Sayoung heard through Han Jaewoo’s manager today, he couldn’t bear to spit those words out of his mouth.

“Try your best.”

So Sayoung heard ‘try your best’ instead of ‘do it properly’.

Although it didn’t sound particularly warm to Sayoung, for Yoojun, he had chosen kind words in his own way.

That night after finishing the call, Sayoung looked at the audition script until falling asleep, and Yoojun fell asleep while pondering why he couldn’t bear to say the words ‘do it properly’.

****

Yoojun was on his way to Sayoung’s house in his car from early morning.

Today was the day Sayoung went to the hospital.

From what he heard, if the progress was good, he might be able to take off the cast. Yoojun was currently calling Sayoung almost every day with this or that excuse and receiving a sort of daily report from him.

The pretext was plausible.

It was a very valid reason that he needed to know how much Sayoung was prepared and how much Sayoung’s situation was improving so that he could prepare accordingly.

Honestly, Yoojun didn’t want to care about Sayoung to this extent if not for that damn revenge, but he rationalized to himself that since he decided to do it, shouldn’t he do it properly?

Even today, he stubbornly insisted on picking him up personally despite Sayoung saying he could just take a taxi, but anyway, Yoojun didn’t particularly want this situation.

Honestly, he didn’t even remember what excuse he gave to pick him up personally. It wasn’t particularly a logical sound.

Arriving in front of Sayoung’s house before he knew it, Yoojun checked his condition once again in the rearview mirror.

It was an action he had done several times when starting off and when caught at long traffic lights in between.

Although he didn’t realize it himself, Yoojun, who repeatedly swept back his hair and then naturally tousled it, called Sayoung after a long while.

“Come out.”

Considering he came all this way making a fuss, it was a cold voice.
So Yoojun thought that although he came to pick Sayoung up personally like this, he wasn’t particularly overprotecting him.

Wouldn’t it be impossible to speak so rudely to someone he truly cared about?

Not long after, he saw Sayoung coming out of the house over there. Sayoung walking across the cozy yard was still relying on crutches.

The question arose, ‘Didn’t he say he might take off the cast today, so does he still have pain?’

‘If he had to use crutches when walking, his condition couldn’t be said to have improved.’

Of course, the doctor is an expert and will make an accurate judgment through examination, but he still felt anxious.

Yoojun thought he must meet the doctor personally and inform him that Sayoung still had to use crutches. Yoon Sayoung didn’t cherish his body that much, so there was a high probability he would unconditionally follow whatever the doctor said to do.

Come to think of it, he seems to have lost even more weight than when they first met.

Even then he was already thin, so he wondered if there was any more weight to lose.

‘Doesn’t a person becoming that thin mean there is some other problem?’

‘Isn’t it that he should receive a full checkup entirely rather than just for the leg right now?’

Many diseases of modern people originate from stress. Perhaps the special situations Sayoung experienced in the meantime were ruining somewhere in his body without knowing.

“Hello, Yoojun.”

By the time Yoojun’s head was filled with plans to hospitalize Sayoung and make him receive a health checkup from head to toe, Sayoung, who had put his crutches in the back seat before he knew it, got into the passenger seat and greeted him.