ushernet Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Episode 29
Jae-young blinked at Seung-hyun’s question and tried to recall why he came all the way here. A reason. He hadn’t come thinking of such a thing.
***
When he asked like that, Tae-sung had a somewhat flustered expression. He let out a small sigh and tried to change the subject.
“Never mind. It was just me talking to myself.”
“If you say it loud enough for others to hear, is that talking to yourself?”
Jae-young spoke with a slightly anxious feeling. He had an uneasy feeling that the face of “someone” might be the face of someone he knows.
“...Then let me ask one thing. Is that “someone” Han Seung-hyun?”
The words didn’t come back, but even a brief flinch was enough of an answer. Jae-young reflexively grabbed Tae-sung’s shoulder.
“What’s with his face? Did something happen?”
“Let go and talk.”
Tae-sung, lightly brushing off that hand, frowned and looked at Jae-young. He had heard that Jae-young and Seung-hyun had gone around together in Busan as if they were sightseeing. Before that, they had even met in a private room.
He thought there must be some ulterior motive since neither of them were the type to take a liking to him, but Jae-young’s attitude now was slightly different from treating a colleague.
“Former Chairman Han wouldn’t just sit back and watch former Director Han quit the company, right?”
“Then...”
“I don’t know the details either.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“...It was Tuesday.”
If it was Tuesday, it was still when he could contact Seung-hyun. But even when he contacted him before and after that, there was nothing unusual.
He just talked casually and said that when he returns to Seoul, he would finally take him on a department store tour this time.
“...Have you been able to contact him since then?”
“Former Director Han and I aren’t on terms to contact each other for personal matters.”
Jae-young tapped the phone in his pocket with his finger. Seung-hyun who couldn’t be contacted, Seung-hyun whose face was a mess on Tuesday.
“Do you know where Han Seung-hyun lives?”
“Even if I do, why should I tell that to you, Ju Jae-young?”
It was a reasonable answer. But Jae-young was always a person who acted as he was drawn rather than reason.
“You know what kind of relationship those two have.”@@@@
“...They have that sort of relationship.”
“...Pardon?”
At Jae-young’s words, Tae-sung’s mouth opened slightly. Did he mishear it, no. He must have misheard it.
“I think I misheard. Could you say it again?”
“I said they have that sort of relationship.”
Ambiguous but suspicious-looking relationship. It must be a joke, must be a joke. Tae-sung thought so and spoke again.
“If someone hears it... they might think you two are in some grand relationship.”
Seung-hyun blinked at Jae-young’s words. What nonsense is this crazy guy spouting now?
‘No, I said let’s be friends, did I ever say let’s date?’
“...Did I perhaps drunkenly ask you to date me?”
“No. That’s... um, I was in a hurry. I’m sorry. To Director Han Tae-sung, I’ll...”
“No, wait a minute. Let me think.”
Seung-hyun stopped Jae-young’s words and was lost in thought for a moment. He thought it might be better to let Tae-sung, who doubted him at every turn, think that way.
There was no need to lie either. Anyway, he had just kept quiet without adding a word, so he could ignore it as if he knew nothing, as he had done until now.
“Just let him think that way.”
“Pardon?”
“I said just leave him to think that way. He won’t contact me to confirm the truth anyway. Ah, now he has no way to contact me either.”
Rather, Jae-young was taken aback by Seung-hyun’s casual words. He thought he would definitely be angry, but he looked calm as if it had nothing to do with him.
“...You don’t mind being known like that?”
“It’s bothersome to correct it, and if Director Han Tae-sung thinks I’m dating an alpha, he’ll feel a bit relieved too, right? Like his father, he must have been thinking about the possibility of his child being born as a dominant alpha.”
Of course, such a thing would never happen. If he thought the reason for suddenly quitting work and enjoying daily life was a love escapade, it seemed fine.
“Well, I’m not happy that someone who wasn’t even told the address suddenly barged in.”
“......”
“It’s good you didn’t file a missing person report first. It would have become more bothersome for nothing. And... it’s a bit absurd, but it seems like a good method too.”
Seung-hyun nodded as he said that. Seeing that, Jae-young felt a slight discomfort from Seung-hyun.
‘No matter how tired he is of the succession competition in a chaebol family, does he need to be this indifferent to his own affairs?’
It was an attitude that anything was fine except for the bothersome things. Jae-young stared blankly at such Seung-hyun for a long time.
“Ah, I completely changed my phone since it got submerged. All the contacts were lost at once since there was no backup. I’m going to set all the messenger apps to the new number, so don’t find it strange if I disappear.”
“Ah...”
Seung-hyun left Jae-young like that and picked up the phone that was charging. The phone, which hadn’t changed from the default settings yet, opened without needing to unlock it.
“Here.”
“Yes?”
“Phone number.”
Seung-hyun held out his phone to Jae-young. Jae-young looked down at the phone for a moment, then belatedly grasped the situation and picked up the phone.
Ring- ring-.
Jae-young entered his number and immediately pressed the call button. The phone in Jae-young’s pocket vibrated a couple of times and then stopped.
“Then, what about the other phone book?”
“I have no intention of filling the phone book. Especially with the numbers of people I knew before.”
I should throw away all the business cards and contacts in the study when I move. Seung-hyun thought so and saved Jae-young’s phone number.
“Then... am I the only one in your phone book?”
Jae-young asked, watching Seung-hyun tap on the phone screen. Seung-hyun, who pressed the save button, raised his head and looked at Jae-young.