Jaegyeom stared blankly at the scenery rushing past outside the bus window.
[The next stop is Jongno 3-ga, Jongmyo. The following stop is...]
Sitting by the window, he pressed the stop button with a familiar motion.
It was a sunny afternoon, his first day back at work in three days.
Last night, Jaegyeom had a long conversation over bibimbap with Yoo Namsaeng. Though he couldn't confide his struggles about lacking a reason to live to Jeongju and Mesani, whom he'd known for years, he was able to open up and share his honest thoughts with Yoo Namsaeng, whom he'd only recently met.
And so, Jaegyeom had done a lot of thinking last night.
Yoo Namsaeng had said that what's needed to live on isn't a reason, but simply the desire to live. However, Jaegyeom still couldn't sort out his feelings. The only unchanging fact in his current situation was that Yoon Taehee was the only one who could kill him, one way or another.
So he felt he couldn't end things like this.
He needed to meet with Yoon Taehee properly and have it out. Arriving at headquarters, Jaegyeom hesitated for a moment in front of the office door. He felt slightly nervous about entering after two days of unexcused absence. As soon as he swiped his access
card and stepped inside, Kang Yibin jumped up from her seat.
"Jaegyeom!"
Kang Yibin stormed over with an angry face.
"What on earth happened?!"
Jaegyeom wilted under her fierce expression. Kang
Yibin grabbed him and began scolding him harshly, demanding to know why he hadn't been in contact for two days and what had happened. She was furious - or rather, she was so worried about Jaegyeom that she appeared angry.
She had been planning to go to Jaegyeom's house if he didn't show up at headquarters today. Intimidated by her intensity, Jaegyeom mumbled an excuse about not feeling well.
"Then you should have at least called! Do you know how worried I was?"
"Yeahh..."
"Jaegyeom, you know what our job is like! When we can't reach someone, our hearts drop! We start thinking all sorts of terrible things might have happened, like maybe a ghost got you!"
"Yeahh..."
Jaegyeom stood with his hands clasped politely, enduring the scolding for quite a while.
"Anyway Jaegyeom, I'm just so relieved nothing bad happened to you."
As the lecture continued, Pyo Jiho, who had been quietly observing, smoothly intervened to wrap things up. The team members affectionately advised Jaegyeom to let them know in advance next time if he was sick or had an issue.
Jaegyeom awkwardly nodded his head.
Finally released after a long while, he staggered to his desk. Though he'd been severely scolded, he felt oddly unsettled rather than upset. Scratching his forehead, he glanced toward the Chief's office. Seeing it empty, it seemed Yoon Taehee hadn't arrived yet or had stepped out. Jaegyeom decided to focus on his work while waiting for him to return.
Time passed, and soon it was evening.
It was already past 8 PM. Yoon Taehee still hadn't shown up at the office. Finally losing patience,
Jaegyeom turned to Manager Go sitting next to him.
"Manager Go, where's the Chief?"
He replied, "Ah, the Chief?" glancing briefly at the
Chief's office.
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know, Jaegyeom. The Chief took a week off."
What? Jaegyeom's face stiffened.
"Why did he... wh-when did this happen?"
"The first day you were out. He came in that morning, said something urgent came up, and took a fe of leave. He won't be in this week.If you need to submit any documents or reports, talk to Senior Pyo."
So Yoon Taehee also hadn't been coming to work for the past two days.
Jaegyeom felt dismayed.
Did that mean Yoon Taehee was at home now?
Jaegyeom frowned. He hadn't considered the possibility that Yoon Taehee would take time off. He wasn't sure of the exact reason, but wondered if it was because of their intense argument that day. He wished he had asked about it earlier.
What should I do? I need to meet him and settle things...
If he's not coming in all week, how was he supposed to meet him? Should he go to Yoon Taehee's house?
Where did he say he lived again? Or should I try contacting him first? As Jaegyeom was lost in thought,
"..Huh?"
At that moment, Kim Semin, who had been looking at his phone, let out an exclamation from across the room.
"What's wrong?"
The other team members poked their heads over their partitions, showing interest.
"Isn't this the Chief?"
Kim Semin said, peering at his phone. Wondering what he meant, the team members flocked to Kim Semin's desk. Of course, Jaegyeom was among them.
"Let me see."
As Kim Semin held out his phone, the team members' eyes widened.
"It really is! That looks like the Chief!"
Kim Semin enjoyed browsing social media regularly.
As usual, while exploring various SNS accounts, he came across a photo that contained a very familiar face.
The location appeared to be a cafe. In the center, a woman was smiling and making a V sign. But the photo's subject wasn't alone. Next to her sat Yoon Taehee, with his bangs down and dressed casually, looking at his phone with his legs crossed.
"..."
The moment he saw Yoon Taehee in the photo, Jaegyeom's face hardened.
"Hey, wait! Whose photo is this?"
"I know her. She's a celebrity, right?"
As the team members buzzed with excitement, Kim Semin explained.
"It's Shin Jihye, a former model who's quite famous now."
Shin Jihye was an influencer with high engagement on social media.
"Oh my gosh. How do they know each other?"
No one had ever imagined they'd see Chief Yoon sitting in a cafe with a famous person through a celebrity's SNS, rather than witnessing it in person.
As the team members marveled at the photo, Go Junhyung tilted his head and spoke up.
"Huh, so the person I saw earlier really was the Chief."
"What? What do you mean?"
went to Garosu-gil earlier today, and I saw a man who looked similar to the Chief walking arm in arm with a woman. I thought it was just someone who resembled the Chief, but looking at this photo, I think it really was him. The woman looks like this person too."
Go Junhyung added that the description matched as well.
"What? Really?"
The team members' reaction was explosive.
"Damn! The cafe location is in Garosu-gil too."
"If they were arm in arm, it's definitely them, right?"
"Incredible, they must be dating."
Jaegyeom stood still with a stiff face, then,
"I-I don't think that's the case..."
He blurted out without thinking. The team members, who had been debating whether they were dating or not, suddenly turned their attention to Jaegyeom.
Flustered by the sudden focus, Jaegyeom stammered.
"W-well... umm..."
Because Yoon Taehee is gay. And that bastard said he liked me...
As Jaegyeom trailed off awkwardly, Pyo Jiho shrugged and added:
"Well, we can't know for sure from just one photo.
Even if they're not dating, really close friends might walk arm in arm. And if they were dating, wouldn't the photo be more intimate? They could just be acquaintances."
Everyone nodded in agreement at those words. Just then,
"Oh? Another photo just got uploaded!"
Kim Semin exclaimed with a surprised look, still holding his phone.
The cafe photo had been uploaded earlier that day. It seemed they had moved to a new location in the late evening, as a new photo appeared to be taken at a bar. The large table was covered with all sorts of expensive alcohol, and Yoon Taehee's side pro captured as he rested his chin on his hand, looking somewhere off-camera.
But this time, it wasn't just a photo - there was a line of text below:
[My sweetheart has such a handsome side profile]
My sweetheart!
At those definitive words, the team members exchanged glances.
"..."
"..."
After a moment of silence, they nodded.
"They're dating."
Jaegyeom felt his heart sink. He knew the term
"sweetheart" too. In dramas, couples often called each other "sweetheart."
Finally, Kang Yibin frowned and slumped her shoulders.
"Ugh. How annoying. I didn't want to know this. I wish i hadn't seen it"
"What's with you, Kang Yibin? Why are you getting upset?"
When Pyo Jiho asked teasingly, Kang Yibin grumbled in frustration.
"Ah, it's just one of those things! You wouldn't understand even if I explained it."
"I know, right? I'm annoyed too."
Kim Semin nodded in understanding.
"Semin, what's with you too? You have a partner."
"It's like, you know, that feeling of losing everyone's sweetheart?"
"Exactly, Semin! That's spot on."
Kang Yibin agreed enthusiastically and added:
"It's like feeling something was taken from you, even though it was never yours."
At that moment, for some reason, her expression resonated deeply with jaegyeom.
"..."
While the team members gossiped about Yoon Taehee's private life, which had been shrouded in mystery despite knowing him for years, Jaegyeom stood silently with an expressionless face.
At this moment, the emotion filling Jaegyeom's heart was 'betrayal.' But this sense of betrayal felt strangely different from what he'd felt when Yoon Taehee had changed his words.
It was somehow stickier, darker, and more unpleasant.
For the past two days, Jaegyeom had been holed up thinking about reasons to live. He had been agonizing over why he should continue this life, how to keep this promise without breaking it. Since Yoon Taehee also hadn't been coming to work for days, Jaegyeom wondered if he might be struggling like himself. But that had been his own delusion. Far from struggling, Yoon Taehee had been having tea and spending time with someone else. Realizing this made Jaegyeom furious to the core.
didn't want to like you either.'
Just as jaegyeom had thought about distancing himself from Yoon Taehee, perhaps Yoon Taehee had also decided to sort out his own feelings. Thinking this made Jaegyeom's stomach churn and his heart suddenly raced.
Amidst the commotion, Jaegyeom approached Kim Semin and politely asked:
"The bar in this photo... where is it located?"