Chapter 75: The Persistent Shadow

“Why is there a foreign car outside… It’s so intimidating.”

The manager murmured to herself as she walked into the break room.

“Is it parked illegally?”

Breaking away from his miserable thoughts, Chaewoo picked up the rest of the sandwich he had been eating.

The manager shook her head and shrugged.

“Not that, but it’s a car I’ve never seen before.”

“It doesn’t seem to belong to the landlord’s son, either.”

“It’s probably a customer visiting another store.”

“Hmm.”

“I suppose so… Why are there so many people in the world driving expensive cars?”

“Can I help you with anything?”

“No, rest some more.”

“There’s still ten minutes left before your break ends, right?”

“Just come out when your time’s up.”

Taking out the 120-ounce refill cups stacked on one side, the manager opened the packaging and left the break room.

There was still quite a lot of noise outside, likely because there were still many customers.

He had another hour left before finishing his break and wrapping up his shift.

After finishing the sandwich that served as dinner and brushing his teeth, Chaewoo went outside to start closing.

In those few minutes, the number of customers had dwindled considerably, leaving empty seats throughout the store.

As he took orders, made sandwiches, and swept the floor from time to time for closing, an hour flew by in no time.

Only after finishing the sterilization of the utensils was Chaewoo finally able to change clothes to head home to his studio apartment.

“I’m leaving now.”

“Good work today, Manager.”

“Yeah.”

“Get home safe.”

“Ah, that’s right, Chaewoo.”

“Yes?”

“Is that car still outside?”

“Which car… Ah.”

“The foreign car you mentioned earlier?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never seen it before, so it’s really bothering me.”

“Could you take a quick look?”

“One moment.”

Chaewoo quickly peered outside through the glass door near the exit.

The unfamiliar car the manager mentioned was parked directly in front of the store.

Because it was so dark outside and the tint was so heavy, it was hard to tell if someone was inside.

“The car is still there.”

When he returned to the break room to let her know, the manager rubbed her arms and shuddered.

“Ugh, things like that scare me for no reason.”

“Should I wait a bit longer and walk out with you when you finish, Manager?”

“No.”

“That would be an overreaction.”

“There’s a CCTV in front of the store, so what could possibly happen?”

“That was how we caught you passing out after drinking and wandering into the store, too.”

“Gasp… Right.”

Chaewoo froze as his hand touched the doorknob.

“Come to think of it, that car looks similar to the one that dropped you off back then.”

“I’m truly sorry about what happened back then, Manager… You must have been so shocked.”

‘I was very shocked, too.’

Suppressing the urge to say that, Chaewoo apologized once more.

“I didn’t bring it up to get an apology.”

“It’s still funny whenever I think back on it, you know.”

“Hurry on home.”

After saying goodbye to the manager, who was sitting in front of the computer checking sales figures, Chaewoo stepped out of the store.

His body stiffened against the chilly night air.

The moment he opened the door, he immediately saw the foreign car the manager had spoken of.

Usually at this hour, most stores closed and passersby were scarce, leaving parking spots empty.

Just as she had said, it was a little strange.

“Huh?”

Wait a minute.

Chaewoo, who had been about to pass it by casually, stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the foreign car.

Looking at it again, it wasn’t unfamiliar; in fact, it looked recognizable.

Even the license plate….

“Let’s talk.”

Euigeon suddenly emerged from the driver’s seat.

Chaewoo recoiled in pure horror.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting here the entire time?”

‘Seriously, what is his problem?’

‘He came all the way to my workplace?’

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Why didn’t you pick up your phone?”

Did he come all this way just because he was curious about something so trivial?

Or did he have other business?

Whatever it was, Chaewoo had no desire to bring up the events of the afternoon any further.

On top of showing an embarrassing side of himself to those around him, he had endured an earful of nonsense from Euigeon; that alone was more than enough.

He was wearing the exact same clothes from the afternoon.

Whether he had taken a nap or not, unlike the exhausted Chaewoo, he looked in completely fine shape.

Even that was irritating.

While he had been so overcome with rage in the parking lot that he didn’t know what to do with himself, the current Beom Euigeon looked down at him with calm, emotionless eyes as usual.

Accompanied by that characteristic expression of his, making it impossible to read what he was thinking.

“I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to.”

Although he was flustered that the man had come all this way and waited hours for him, he acted as composed as possible so as not to show it.

“I don’t understand.”

“Was asking if you liked that bastard really such an offensive thing to say?”

“Offensive enough to ignore all my calls?”

There was barely any inflection in the interrogating voice.

“Not ‘that bastard,’ Senior Oh Minseong.”

“…Phew.”

After correcting the title, Chaewoo walked past Euigeon toward the bus stop.

He could hear footsteps following behind him.

Euigeon seemed to be fundamentally mistaken.

The reason he was sick of him was because of all the selfish behavior he had displayed at the recital, not simply because he assumed Chaewoo had a crush on Oh Minseong.

Even after explaining it like that, his focus was still entirely off the mark.

‘Let him think whatever he wants.’

He no longer had the energy to correct him.

“Do you like Oh Minseong that much?”

“What are you even doing with someone who already has a lover?”

“He even went abroad to study and left you behind, Senior Seol.”

‘Look at this.’

‘He’s spouting nonsense again.’

Standing before the bus stop, Chaewoo sighed.

Perhaps worked up by his own words, Euigeon’s voice grew even lower.

He couldn’t understand what on earth made him so certain.

Was it because they had hugged and cried?

Euigeon’s expression when he first entered the hall had certainly been bizarre.

Still, if that was the only reason for this misunderstanding, it was ridiculous.

Wasn’t it stranger to treat a friend you haven’t seen in years as if you just met them yesterday?

“I won’t tell you how to feel about Minseong, but don’t talk like that in front of me.”

“I really don’t want to hear it.”

Looking somewhere other than Euigeon, Chaewoo spoke coldly.

Just then, an announcement flashed on the digital board indicating the bus he needed to take would arrive shortly.

“Have you forgotten that you’re my partner, Senior Seol?”

Only then did Chaewoo turn his head to glare at Euigeon.

“So what, are we having s*x right this second?”

“What?”

“I’m asking if you’re going to f*ck your s*x partner right now.”

As if failing to understand what he was talking about, Euigeon’s brow furrowed deeply.

The people standing around also glanced back and forth between Euigeon and Chaewoo in surprise.

“Why are you bringing that up?”

“You asked if I forgot I’m your partner.”

“Didn’t you ask because you wanted to do it?”

“Do you really think I came looking for you just to f*ck right this second, Senior Seol?”

Even if Euigeon had done that, he wouldn’t have been surprised.

What was so new about it?

“So you’re saying we’re not doing it today, right?”

“Then I really have nothing to say to you.”

The bus arrived right on cue.

Regardless of whatever else Euigeon might say, Chaewoo boarded the bus and sat by the window in the back row.

‘He wouldn’t follow me all the way here.’

Resting his chin on the window frame, he tried to catch his breath when a loud noise of someone boarding echoed before the bus doors closed.

“Excuse me, you have to tap your card.”

At the bus driver’s shout, Chaewoo’s gaze naturally turned forward.

Shockingly, Euigeon was standing at the entrance of the bus, holding onto a handrail.

‘Wait, why did he follow me onto the bus!’

He was so dumbfounded that words failed him.

As if he hadn’t ridden public transit in ages, Euigeon’s belated retrieval of a credit card from his wallet to tap it looked somehow clumsy.

Staring blankly at his unpracticed movements, Chaewoo let out an exasperated scoff.

No, what did he plan to do after following him all the way here?

He wondered if ignoring his calls for half a day really warranted such relentless pursuit.

Since another passenger was sitting next to Chaewoo, Euigeon couldn’t sit beside him and irritably took a seat on the opposite side.

What was he planning to do about the car parked in front of the store?

‘Is he really going to follow me all the way to my studio at this rate?’

He couldn’t even begin to grasp why the man had come in the first place.

Every action he took unfolded in complete opposition to what Chaewoo predicted.

Glancing sideways, Euigeon, who was likewise sitting by the window, opened it wide and ruffled his hair, perhaps flushed with heat.

He wanted to demand what he was playing at.

He had assumed the man would lose interest if given the cold shoulder, but he possessed a streak of persistence far greater than expected.

‘That obsession goes way beyond normal. It’s maniacal.’

Oh Minseong’s analysis had been dead on.

Perhaps because he was glaring out the window with such lethal intensity, no one dared to sit beside Euigeon until they reached the stop near the studio apartment.

Though their eyes occasionally met when stealing glances at one another, neither spoke first, whether due to the surrounding passengers or the awkwardness of the setting.

At some point, Euigeon raised his eyebrows high, gritted his teeth, and glared blatantly at Chaewoo.

His hair whipped fiercely in the wind gusting through the crack in the window.

‘What do I do? He looks like a complete psycho acting like that.’

Chaewoo lamented in secret.

The passenger sitting next to Chaewoo seemed to notice that maniacal, dark gaze as well, as they hesitantly stood up and fled to the front seats near the bus driver.

When Chaewoo tapped his card and stepped off the bus at his destination, Euigeon followed right behind him.

“Are you going to follow me all the way inside my room?”

“I get that you didn’t like me going to the recital.”

“But what do you expect me to do about something that’s already happened?”

“I even apologized.”

“What is it that you want?”

It was late, and the surrounding area was desolate.

Standing beneath the faint light of a streetlamp, Chaewoo lifted tired eyes to ask Euigeon.

Wondering where all the momentum that drove him from the store had gone, Euigeon remained silent for a long time, as if his lips had been sewn shut.

It was strange.

“If you have nothing to say, I’m leaving.”

“…Don’t ignore my calls.”

Chaewoo, whose back was turned to Euigeon, slowly looked back.

For someone who had charged after him so recklessly, it was an utterly deflating demand.

Oddly unsuited to the dry expression revealed beneath the light, his voice almost sounded somewhat dejected.

Though that couldn’t possibly be the case.

Anyone seeing this would think he had been ghosting him for days.

He had only missed his calls for barely half a day.

Moreover, he was in the middle of working, a window of time when he usually couldn’t be reached anyway.

“What nonsense.”

“Was ‘don’t ignore my calls’ written in the contract, too?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll answer without fail during ruts and heats.”

After throwing such a tantrum at someone else’s recital, the only thing he had to say was not to ignore his calls.

Normally, his anger might have dissipated enough to let it slide here, but just as he had resolved during his shift, Chaewoo wanted to avoid getting entangled with him privately any further.

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