Vol. 2 Chapter 76: Chapter 76
Translated by Chef
Edited by Chef
Knock knock knock.
Inseop woke up at the sound of a knock on the door. He ran before turning on the light in the room and hit his toe on a box, but Inseop ran straight ahead and opened the front door.
“…!”
The man who had been knocking on the door suddenly opened and threw his shoulder back in surprise.
“…CEO. Ah…Hello.”
Inseop greeted him in an awkward voice.
“I think the doorbell is broken.”
“…Yes. I think so.”
“What were you doing?”
“Wait a minute, I’ll just…,, I’ll pack my bags right away.”
Embarrassed, Inseop turned away, muttering gibberish. CEO Kim held Inseop’s arm. At that moment, CEO Kim was quite surprised.
“It’s almost all packed up. Just needs to tidy up a bit. So…”
With a face that almost looked like he was crying, Inseop made an excuse. CEO Kim looked down at Inseop’s arm that he was holding on to. Although he was originally skinny, Inseop had lost a surprising amount of weight in just a few days.
“I have prepared everything to go to America. I will definitely go, so you don’t have to worry.”
The moment he met Inseop’s very intimidated eyes, CEO Kim remembered what Manager Cha had said to him.
‘The CEO is on Lee Wooyeon’s side at the crucial moment. I know you have no choice but to do that because you have to think about your company, but don’t hate Inseop too much. What did he do wrong?’
Inseop did nothing wrong. However, it was clear that he had unconsciously drawn a line against Inseop.
Even while Inseop was in the hospital, he only visited him once on the day he was discharged, except when he accidentally asked for it. Manager Cha nagged him saying that people shouldn’t do that, but he said he couldn’t help it because he was busy taking care of Lee Wooyeon.
He did the same when he met Inseop at Lee Wooyeon’s request. Although he thought he was no different from the chairman’s wife who handed him an envelope telling him to break up with her son, he deliberately handed him the envelope in a cold manner.
Inseop opened the envelope, checked his ticket, and asked.
‘… Did Lee Wooyeon send you this?’
‘Yes. Manager Cha said that what he gave was economy. I’m not feeling well, so I have to go first.’
Inseop returned his ticket.
‘I will take care of it. The landlord was overseas, so he was planning to move as soon as he could get in touch.’
Inseop answered with a smile.
‘If there is anything I can help you with organizing, let me know. I’ll help you.’
Inseop shook his head.
‘You don’t have to worry.’
Inseop’s attitude was calm and resolute. CEO Kim pushed his ticket back to Inseop.
‘Okay. Then take this so you don’t have to worry. I can’t get a refund even if I return it anyway.’
Inseop looked at the departure date stamped on his ticket with a strange expression. CEO Kim deliberately bought a ticket for a short date and gave it to him.
He thought it would be better for Lee Wooyeon to sort out Inseop as soon as possible. However, it is true that consideration for Inseop was postponed in the process.
“I have almost all of my belongings organized, and all I have to do is contact the landlord… ”
Inseop was embarrassed and lowered his head. He felt guilty, as if he shouldn’t be here.
Choi Inseop must have had a hard time as well. Thinking about Inseop suffering alone without being able to tell anyone, CEO Kim had an extremely bad appetite.
“I didn’t come to check if you moved or not. I wanted to ask you something, but I couldn’t contact you, so I came here.”
Only then did Inseop raise his head.
“Sorry. I hardly ever look at my phone these days… so I didn’t know you called.”
CEO Kim looked down at Inseop’s thin, thin arms with mixed feelings. Inseop was wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt that day, so he didn’t notice. He was in a bad state. CEO Kim let out a long sigh.
“Have you received any contact from Lee Wooyeon? A phone call, a text message, a letter or something?”
“Lee Wooyeon? Why? What’s going on?”
Inseop asked back in surprise. Immediately, his big eyes became filled with anxiety.
“It wasn’t an accident, so you don’t have to worry.”
CEO Kim first comforted Choi Inseop.
… It wasn’t an accident, but he was worried.
Two days ago, CEO Kim hospitalized Lee Wooyeon using his connections at a university hospital. In case something unexpected happened, CEO Kim monitored Lee Wooyeon while lying on the guardian bed, but fortunately, Lee Wooyeon faithfully fulfilled his role as a patient. Lee Wooyeon spent his time sitting on the bed, reading books, listening to music, or lying down with his eyes closed.
Although it bothered him a little to see him sometimes alone and looking down at his hands, he wasn’t too worried. On the contrary, he was so peaceful that he was starting to feel a bit suspicious.
In the end, CEO Kim left the hospital room this morning to go get a back massage. Sleeping in an extra bed for three days was definitely too much for him at his age.
‘You can be alone, right?’
‘If you’re really worried, why don’t you tie me up and leave?’
Lee Wooyeon, who was reading a book, replied and he was caught off guard by the sarcastic remarks he made without even raising his head. That was a mistake.
When he returned to the hospital room, he found that Lee Wooyeon had disappeared. He called Lee Wooyeon right away, but his ringtone rang next to his bed. When he checked the cabinet, he saw that the clothes he had been wearing were the same. The thought of Lee Wooyeon walking around in his patient gown made him dizzy. After CEO Kim confirmed that he was not at Lee Wooyeon’s house, he immediately drove to Inseop’s house.
“Hee was in the hospital and then he suddenly disappeared.”
“Hospitalization?”
Inseop’s eyes widened.
“He wasn’t hospitalized because he was really sick, it was just for show. He did not show up at the damn awards ceremony, and we said he was sick, so he should at least be hospitalized.”
“He’s not really sick, is he?”
“Well, there’s no pain anywhere.”
It wasn’t exactly wrong. When he was hospitalized and underwent a full examination, no abnormalities were found in his body.
“He always has software problems. But since I’m the head of the agency, I have to worry.”
Even as he spoke, CEO Kim’s eyes scanned the house. It was a look of anticipation that Lee Wooyeon might be in here.
“There was no contact.”
A look of disappointment flashed in CEO Kim’s eyes.
“Then, if you contact Lee Wooyeon or meet him, can you contact me?
“I don’t want you to hold him, so as quickly as possible.”
Inseop nodded his head. Then, a thought crossed his mind and he called CEO Kim over.
“Hey, CEO”
“Why? Do you know anything?”
“Have you tried contacting Chae Yeonseo?”
With an expression that said CEO Kim heard something strange, asked back “Chae Yeonseo?”
Inseop carefully nodded his head.
“Why her?”
Inseop was a little embarrassed. It was rare to see CEO Kim openly display uncomfortable feelings like this.
“Oh, it must still be difficult to meet her because of the reporters. My thoughts were short.”
“No, so why is Lee Wooyeon meeting Chae Yeonseo? Even if she begs to meet him there, he has no intention of meeting her. Even if she makes fools of people, he is not very generous. They’re doing this by signing a contract with each other, and we’re not amateurs. It’s real,”
Inseop blinked a couple of times while looking at CEO Kim grumbling.
“… Did anything else happen after that?”
“After that?”
“After the article came out.”
CEO Kim’s expression hardened again.
“If Chae Yeonseo causes another accident after that, is she human?”
The two met by agreement, but Inseop could not understand why CEO Kim was only criticizing Chae Yeonseo.
“Only Lee Wooyeon left in the middle. Ugh, I’m so sorry for being greedy.”
Inseop tried to understand what CEO Kim meant when he said ‘left in the middle.’
“…what do you mean by that?”
“He flaked out in the middle of the agreement.”
As Inseop still blinked, CEO Kim explained it to him.
“Things were progressing but fizzled out along the way. If I were to use a metaphor, it would be like a duck egg from the Nakdong River (to express someone’s miserable situation after being cast out). Well, there aren’t any duck eggs that look that good.”
“Is Director Lee Cheolhwan very angry with Lee Wooyeon?”
“Why would he be angry at Wooyeon? Did you read the article?”
Inseop was embarrassed. He didn’t exactly read the article, but he knew its content.
“Lee Wooyeon was photographed with Chae Yeonseo…”
As soon as he said that, CEO Kim’s expression became crumpled.
“What kind of picture of Lee Wooyeon was taken? Have you been in a remote mountainous area with no internet all this time? Why do you keep saying different things since earlier?”
“… ”
Inseop did not even turn on the TV, let alone connect to the Internet. He thought he would look up Wooyeon’s articles when he looked at his phone, so he deliberately turned off his phone. All he did was turn it on once a day and check for messages.
Inseop’s expression hardened as he felt something was wrong.
“Ha…”
CEO Kim, seeing Inseop’s expression, touched his forehead. What Wooyeon said was starting to come together in his head.
CEO Kim called his name softly, “Inseop.”
“Yes”
Inseop answered with a very frightened expression.
“I know Wooyeon thinks you’re special.”
“…I know.”
At CEO Kim’s words, Inseop’s complexion turned pale, as if he had become a criminal again.
He doesn’t know what to do because he’s afraid that something that might harm Lee Wooyeon might come out.
“Others might not know it, but he was good to you.”
“I am always grateful to Mr. Lee Wooyeon for his consideration.”
Inseop tried not to show his emotions as much as possible.
“Wooyeon, he was worried a lot before you came to Korea. If you look like you have a cold, he’ll make a fuss and ask me to cancel his schedule for the next day… Anyway, I wasn’t going to tell you this much, but your health checkup wasn’t done by the company, but was personally scheduled by Wooyeon. I heard he told you this nonsense, that the company had a partnership with a hospital and that it would be free indefinitely?”
“… yes”
Inseop answered with a puzzled expression.
“Where in the world can you find such a crazy hospital?”
“Sorry. I didn’t even know that… ”
Inseop quickly became discouraged and apologized.
CEO Kim remembered Lee Wooyeon’s answer when asked if he had to deceive Inseop that much.
‘Choi Inseop cannot do that. He doesn’t want to spend my money even if it kills him. I want to lock him in a corner of the room and make him spend his whole life spending my money, but this pretty little guy is so unnecessarily stubborn.’
“In addition to health issues, you have family in the U.S. anyway, so it would be right for you to go there. It would be good for him too…”
Lee Wooyeon looked stable when Choi Inseop was next to him. At the same time, Inseop was also the biggest risk factor for Lee Wooyeon. The cleanest ending would have been for Inseop to go to the United States. The value of the name of the actor Lee Wooyeon was so great that the current company would not be able to run without Lee Wooyeon.
“But you know, Inseop.”
CEO Kim happened to pass by Lee Wooyeon’s house one day and saw two people sitting in front of the convenience store.
Lee Wooyeon was wearing a deep black hooded jumper and a hat, but his unique wide back made it easy to recognize who he was at once. CEO Kim stopped the car. Inseop, who was sitting in front of Lee Wooyeon, could be seen struggling as if he was in some trouble. He thought he was harassing Inseop again, so he thought he would say something.
As he got closer, he saw the script in Inseop’s hand. It seemed like he was filling in for Lee Wooyeon’s counterpart. Lee Wooyeon was laughing out loud in front of Inseop, who was stuttering his lines like a robot with his face red.
CEO Kim couldn’t believe his eyes. It was his first time seeing him smile like a boy, with his eyes shining slightly mischievously.
After taking a sip of beer, Lee Wooyeon tapped Inseop’s leg and begged him to read the next line. As Inseop read an insignificant line with his bright red face, Lee Wooyeon burst into laughter again.
He wasn’t just laughing. The moment he saw Lee Wooyeon smiling with a genuinely cheerful expression, he felt like he was in a real relationship. Feeling strange and itchy for some reason, CEO Kim went back and drove away.
“I just want you to know that what I say from now on does not contain any personal opinions.”
“… yes.”
Inseop answered with a very nervous look.
When one worked in this, you would meet all kinds of people. However, CEO Kim could confidently say that Lee Wooyeon was the kind of person he had never seen before.
But,
He could pretend not to have seen Lee Wooyeon, who laughed like a mischievous boy while playing a prank on Inseop in front of a convenience store on a summer night; Lee Wooyeon, who sat in Inseop’s hospital room with an expression like a child who lost a parent; and Lee Wooyeon, who said he didn’t know what to do because he had such a bad personality. There was none.
“He wouldn’t have done anything that bad to you.”
“……”
Inseop couldn’t say anything. He had a complex expression, as if he was about to cry at any moment. CEO Kim let out a long sigh. He reopened the umbrella he had folded.
“Then I’ll just go first. If you ever get contacted by Lee Wooyeon, be sure to let me know.”
“All right.”
Inseop leaned out the front door as if to see him off. CEO Kim pushed him inside.
“It’s? cold. Go in.”
“CEO!”
Inseop called CEO Kim who was about to turn around and stopped him.
“Yes?”
“If you get contacted by Lee Wooyeon, can you please let me know? It’s not because I have any other intention, it’s just because I’m worried.”
“I can contact you directly later.”
“…I don’t think I should bother him for no reason.”
Inseop hastily lowers his head. It was a natural reaction. CEO Kim was also standing next to Lee Wooyeon, who coldly hung up the phone and told him not to contact him in the future.
“Is Lee Wooyeon that scary?”
“Oh, no.”
“When you first collapsed and was hospitalized, you didn’t even tell Lee Wooyeon because you were scared.”
“…I did it because I didn’t want to be a bother.”
CEO Kim seemed to know why Lee Wooyeon was upset with Inseop.
“When Manager Cha was hospitalized with a broken leg, he made me take care of him for three days and nights. He even made me empty the urine bucket. Why don’t you bother Lee Wooyeon? No, why are you both so scared of each other? Lee Wooyeon was there all night long. I waited and couldn’t say anything. Why are you doing this?”
“Really? He waited all night?”
In response to Inseop’s question, CEO Kim thought it was a mistake. He pretended to know too much. If he talked any further, he would have to confess that he knew about their relationship.
“No, I heard you were in the hospital all night when you collapsed this time. Oh, anyway, don’t think too hard about it. It’s good to be polite in moderation in human relationships. If you are too polite, you will look unfriendly.”
CEO Kim concluded his speech without hesitation.
“…All right.”
“I’m going to leave now, so go in.”
CEO Kim quickly waved his hand. Inseop could no longer hold on to him and bowed his head. CEO Kim went down the stairs holding a black long umbrella.
As soon as Inseop entered the house, he found his cell phone and turned it on. He opened the Internet window and searched for Lee Wooyeon’s name. Dozens of articles related to him started popping up. These were all articles posted today. He was able to get a rough idea of the situation just by reading the headlines.
Inseop clicked on one of them.
“… ”
He couldn’t even breathe and read the article with concentration. He also read the following article: The next article and the next article were the same. In none of the articles were there any photos of Lee Wooyeon with Chae Yeonseo or any information related to them.
The only article was about the insincerity of Lee Wooyeon, who left the awards ceremony due to health issues, and the issue with Chae Yeonseo, who was photographed with another man.
Inseop searched for Chae Yeonseo’s name. Photos of her wearing sunglasses and a hat hugging and kissing a man, photos of her entering a hotel side by side, and photos of her leaving the hotel and getting into a car together were searched. Anyone could see that the man in the photo was not Lee Wooyeon. He was a person you couldn’t confuse with someone else if you had eyes.
“… ”
He didn’t understand it at all. He couldn’t figure out what was going on. If Lee Wooyeon didn’t meet Chae Yeonseo, why didn’t he deny that fact himself?
Was he mad because he asked him to break up with him? Or does it mean that there is a woman other than Chae Yeonseo?
As if he couldn’t remember anything, his thoughts became tangled up.
Where did it go astray?
Inseop tried to organize his thoughts.
For some time now, Lee Wooyeon has clearly been angry with him. His unusually cold demeanor made him ask why he was angry. Each time, he would just stare blankly without answering and then ask himself a question.
‘Don’t you have anything to say?’
Since when did that happen?
Kang Youngmo came to the office, and his demeanor was not much different from usual until he left the building. He said he would take him home and they talked in the car, but then he suddenly got in a bad mood and the conversation stopped.
… Is it really because of the cat?
Inseop questioned himself. Those words may have upset Lee Wooyeon, but they would not have been an opportunity to shake up the relationship.
Then what on earth…?
“…!”
Inseop jumped up from his seat as a thought passed through his mind. He started tearing open the boxes at random. After he opened about ten books, he was able to find the box in which the books were packed. He took out all the books he had neatly organized. He managed to find a book at the bottom of the box.
<Travel to Mujin.>
Lee Wooyeon had a habit of folding the corners of the paper when he closed a book while reading. When he asked him why he did that every time he left the bookmark, he laughed and said,
‘It’s just a book anyway, so what does it matter?’
With trembling hands, Inseop found the last page of the novel and opened it. And he slowly turned the pages forward. One sheet, two sheets, and three sheets.
“.. …”
Exactly at the end, the corners of the first three pages of paper were folded.
The day CEO Kim said he waited all night was the first time he was hospitalized.
It was that day. Lee Wooyeon was in his room that day.
When he called him late at night, he immediately understood his quiet voice and his cold demeanor.
‘Even if Inseop leaves me, I will wait until he comes back with a box of cakes.’
‘If you don’t have anything to say, you should have brought a cake.’
Lee Wooyeon’s voice crossed his mind. Little by little, his words, which he did not understand at the time, settled into place. Only then did Inseop realize why he waited for Lee Wooyeon to tell him the truth instead of accusing him of lies.
He didn’t want to repeat what happened in Hawaii. So, Lee Wooyeon read the book all night long. Even though he knew he was lying.
“… ”
The book in his hand slipped and fell to the floor.
Lee Wooyeon struggled so hard to believe in himself, but it was as if he was only trying to doubt him. To give justification that he must have betrayed him.
His stomach turned. Inseop ran straight to the bathroom and sat down on the floor.
He had nothing to spit out. Only sour gastric juice mixed with saliva came up his throat.
It hurt like his stomach was being pricked with kindling.
His vision became blurred. It wasn’t just physiological pain. Wiping his tears with the hem of his sleeve didn’t help. Tears flowed as if trying to pour out all of his remaining moisture.
He thought it would end someday. He thought that of course he would be the one who was abandoned. Because he believed that his feelings for Lee Wooyeon were the same.
But what changed was himself. As time passed, his greed for him grew, and he was eventually crushed. He tried to keep his promise until the end. In the end, his poor heart abandoned Lee Wooyeon.
Inseop cupped his face with both hands.
Why on earth didn’t he deny something he didn’t do? No, he might not even have felt the need to deny it. It is natural for affection to decline. He tried his best to believe in him, but he was swayed by the words of others and gave up on Lee Wooyeon.
The falling tears soaked the floor. Regret and self-hatred flooded him. His chest became so tight that it was difficult to breathe. His whole body suddenly became cold, as if his blood was draining out from under his feet. A pounding sound rang out from the kit, as if his head and heart were connected.
Inseop managed to get up, find the medicine cabinet on the bathroom shelf, and swallow the medicine.
He sat in the bathtub and caught his breath until he felt better. As time passed, the feeling of blood flowing throughout his body returned. He was soaked with cold sweat running down his forehead and onto the backs of his hands.
He remembered the doctor’s advice not to take his stress lightly. He really thought that if he continued like this, he might die someday.
‘Is there a need to risk your life for a high-ranking job?’
“…”
His vision flashed as if he had been hit in the back of the head.
The words Lee Wooyeon said to him poured out through his memories.
Did you eat breakfast? Are you sleeping well these days? It seemed like you were eating less than usual. Eat well. Are you in pain somewhere? I don’t think you have a cold, but you’re in pain, right? How are you feeling?Food… Are you eating well?
It was not a normal greeting. Everything he said was filled with sincerity.
‘Can you stop being hurt?’
This was a request he made to him in a particularly serious and subdued voice.
That was the reason Lee Wooyeon abandoned him.
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