Chapter 59: The Uninvited Guest and a Lingering Debt

Seo Yeon-ho was ready to kick Han Tae-young’s shin if he dared ask him to roll up his pants.

Tae-young, who was unusually sharp-witted only in such situations, rolled up his pants himself. However, old habits die hard; at the very end, he found a strange fault.

“Do we have to check here?”

Seo Yeon-ho was bewildered, unable to grasp what Tae-young was getting at.

“Here? What’s wrong with ‘here’?”

“It’s dark,” Tae-young retorted, casting a sidelong glance at the rooftop room.

Seo Yeon-ho, not perceiving any hidden meaning in his gesture, illuminated Tae-young’s leg with his phone’s flashlight.

“There. Satisfied?”

“Hah, you’re truly clueless.”

Tae-young let out an exasperated sigh. Seo Yeon-ho, thinking ‘Who is he to talk about being clueless?’, proceeded to examine Tae-young’s leg.

“It looks fine.”

“Aren’t you being too perfunctory? Look closer.”

“There’s no blood, no bruise. What more do you want me to scrutinize?”

“Do you think bruises appear that quickly? Bruises only surface after some time.”

“So what do you want me to do? Get you a pain relief patch?”

“Yes.”

Tae-young nodded arrogantly, as if demanding his rightful due.

“You utterly shameless brat.”

Seo Yeon-ho rose from his spot with a reluctant expression. As he opened the rooftop room door and took off his shoes, he heard the distinct click of a light switch behind him.

“Turn on the light before you search.”

The culprit who had flipped the switch was Tae-young. Up to this point, Seo Yeon-ho found it understandable, as it would indeed be easier to find the patch with the lights on.

However, Tae-young didn’t just turn on the light and step back; he actually entered the rooftop room.

“Don’t trespass.”

Seo Yeon-ho tried to block him, but Tae-young was insistent.

“If it’s trespassing, call the police. You’ll be at a greater disadvantage if they come, won’t you? My leg was injured because of your stuff.”

Having entered the rooftop room before Seo Yeon-ho, Tae-young stretched out his legs and sat down as if it were his own home. His legs were so long they seemed poised to touch the opposite wall.

“There isn’t even a scratch on your skin. What injury are you talking about?”

“How can you assert I’m not hurt just by looking at the surface? Internal injuries are always more insidious than external ones, you know?”

Tae-young smirked annoyingly, wiggling his foot. He was clearly trying to see if his toes would reach the wall.

“The item you knocked over belongs to the landlord. It’s not mine.”

“Whether it’s your item or not isn’t what’s important. You’re the one living here, so you bear responsibility too.”

Tae-young argued illogically, crossing his arms. It seemed to be a gesture indicating he wouldn’t leave the rooftop room until he was good and ready.

Seo Yeon-ho felt a migraine beginning to throb, then tossed a liquid pain relief patch at Tae-young.

“What brings you here? Surely you didn’t come because you missed me.”

“What a ridiculous thing to say.”

Tae-young shoved both hands into his pants pockets. He didn’t even make a show of applying the pain relief patch Seo Yeon-ho had just found for him.

Seo Yeon-ho briefly considered applying it for him, then caught himself, wondering why he should offer such servile assistance, and instead gripped the corner of the sink.

“Then why did you come?”

“To repay the cigarettes. I can’t live in debt.”

“Cigarettes?”

Seo Yeon-ho frowned, his memory hazy.

“…Ah.”

He recalled that on the last day he saw Tae-young, he had thrown him his pack of cigarettes. As it had been a decoy and a means of escape, he hadn’t even thought about getting money for them.

‘If he wants to repay a cigarette debt, wouldn’t it be easiest to just transfer the money?’

Seo Yeon-ho carefully kept the thought he’d just had to himself. He worried that if Tae-young heard it, he might simply say, ‘Oh, right?’ and leave.

‘How contradictory.’

Just moments ago, he had tried to prevent Tae-young from entering his home. Now, to be worried about him leaving—his actions lacked consistency.

‘It’s not contradictory. It’s because there’s something I need to ask him. I have to find Hyojun’s sample.’

He had, in fact, been debating whether or not to contact Tae-young. The current situation was like a windfall for Seo Yeon-ho. He tightened his grip on the sink’s edge and asked,

“Where did you park your car?”

“In front of the building. You must not have seen it?”

“No. …Well. Can I look inside your car? I left something in it.”

“Fine by me.”

Tae-young granted permission coolly. Seo Yeon-ho had been worried about what he would do if Tae-young refused, so this was an immense relief.

Tae-young strode down the stairs first, with Seo Yeon-ho following close behind him.

Seo Yeon-ho’s mind was so consumed with finding the suit sample that he failed to notice Tae-young was walking perfectly fine.

*Beep.*

“Check it.”

Tae-young, having unlocked the car, gestured with his head. Seo Yeon-ho leaned his head and hands into the car from outside, searching under the seats. However, there was a limit to what he could see by craning his neck from outside.

Ultimately, when checking the back seat, Seo Yeon-ho climbed into the car.

‘I don’t see it. Where did it go? …Could he have thrown it away?’

A ominous worry tickled Seo Yeon-ho’s nape. Had Tae-young perhaps discarded the suit sample? Seo Yeon-ho had been plagued by this concern ever since he realized he’d left the suit sample in Tae-young’s car.

“Um, excuse me, perhaps—”

“What are you looking for?”

Just as Seo Yeon-ho was about to ask about the suit, Tae-young climbed into the back seat. Tae-young waved his hand, as if telling Seo Yeon-ho to move further inside.

Seo Yeon-ho shuffled sideways, wondering why Tae-young was acting like that when there was plenty of space.

*Thump.*

Tae-young closed the back seat door. Seo Yeon-ho, who had been moving sideways on his knees on the seat, instinctively settled his hips onto the seat. With Tae-young joining him, the car suddenly felt cramped.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence filled the car. Seo Yeon-ho’s throat felt itchy, but the quiet was so profound that even clearing his throat felt conspicuous. His fingers, resting on the seat, silently played a piano.

They hadn’t been talking much with Tae-young earlier, yet he couldn’t understand why an uncomfortable atmosphere now permeated the space.

“What I’m looking for is—”

“What were you going to say?”

Seo Yeon-ho and Tae-young spoke simultaneously, as if on cue. If either of them had been looking at the other, their words wouldn’t have overlapped. Instead, like classmates scolded after a fight, they stiffened their shoulders and looked elsewhere.

“Do you have something to say?”

“You go first.”

Their words overlapped again. Tae-young, with an exasperated look, grabbed Seo Yeon-ho’s arm.

“…What, what’s wrong?”

Seo Yeon-ho, suddenly facing Tae-young, swallowed hard. Perhaps it was because the air conditioning wasn’t on, but the air felt unbearably thick. The scent of Tae-young’s perfume and cigarettes, clinging to his clothes, made Seo Yeon-ho’s head spin. In the confined space, Tae-young’s scent felt several times more potent than when they had met outside.

“I’ll ask my question first, then you can speak.”

“Okay.”

Seo Yeon-ho kept his reply as brief as possible, his heart pounding. Normally, he would have argued about why Tae-young got to go first. But at that moment, he needed time to calm his rapidly thrumming heart, so he had no choice but to concede the order.

“What happened to your hand?”

As Seo Yeon-ho was trying to steady his ragged breathing, Tae-young took his hand. A chilling tremor coursed down his neck to his heart. Seo Yeon-ho barely suppressed the urge to flinch.

But Tae-young seemed determined to dismantle Seo Yeon-ho’s efforts to hide his tension.

“I asked why your finger is injured.”

Tae-young’s long, thick fingers crept up Seo Yeon-ho’s palm, intertwining into his hand as if lacing their fingers together.

“…”

Seo Yeon-ho pressed his lips together, as if stifling a scream.

“Does it hurt when I touch it?”

He felt Tae-young’s gaze intently observing him. Seo Yeon-ho’s ears burned red as he lowered his head. He was incredibly relieved that Tae-young had mistaken his reaction for pain.

“Your finger is swollen. Did you go to the hospital?”

“It’s not swollen. My index finger is naturally thicker than my other fingers.”

Seo Yeon-ho deliberately shook Tae-young’s hand away roughly.

“It’s my turn now, isn’t it?”

“I haven’t asked my question yet.”

Tae-young’s eyebrows twitched, as if he’d been cut off.

“You just asked why my hand was hurt.”

“That doesn’t count. How is that a question?”

“Why isn’t it a question?” Seo Yeon-ho shot back.

At that, Tae-young leaned his head back against the seat, looking genuinely annoyed.

“If you saw me get hurt… no, even if I got hurt right in front of you, you’d just stare blankly, indifferent. So you wouldn’t care if I had a band-aid on my finger or a cast.”

Seo Yeon-ho scratched the innocent leather seat with his finger. Tae-young’s reaction made him feel as if he had been inflexible.

“Alright. You go first.”

“You say that as if you’re doing me a great favor.”

Tae-young sneered, then asked,

“Why is your hand injured?”

“I cut it.”

“On the screen?”

‘How did he know?’

Seo Yeon-ho’s eyes widened in surprise. Tae-young pulled out Seo Yeon-ho’s phone from his delivery vest.

“Who puts on a screen protector this crudely? Is it a rag?”

“I have to put it on thick so I don’t cut my hand.”

Seo Yeon-ho tried to take his phone back, but Tae-young held onto it stubbornly.

“Why haven’t you fixed the screen yet? What about the repair money you took from me?”

“…”

Seo Yeon-ho avoided Tae-young’s gaze. The money he’d received for repairs had been sent to his father, and it was gone. But he didn’t want to tell Tae-young that.

“Why can’t you speak? Did you blow it on alcohol?”

“I’ll get it repaired tomorrow.”

“Seeing you evade the answer, you definitely squandered it on alcohol.”

Tae-young looked at Seo Yeon-ho with contempt. Seo Yeon-ho felt unfairly accused, but he thought it was better to be treated like a pathetic delivery punk than to confess where he’d spent the money.

It was strange. Normally, true to his personality, he should have disliked being treated like a punk more than revealing his personal affairs. However, it seemed he had changed.