ACTSV chapter 41

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Soohyuk set down his empty glass and watched Jingyeom at work.

When customers came in, Jingyeom greeted them with a friendly smile and took their orders.

With a variety of drip coffee options available, he would recommend one to suit their taste if they asked.

Although he had only been working at the café for a week, it seemed he had adapted quite well.

Even when chatting with colleagues, he maintained a cheerful demeanor.

‘Doesn’t his face cramp up from smiling like that?’

Soohyuk lifted the corners of his mouth briefly before letting them fall.

Faking a smile was easy enough; just raise the corners of your mouth.

The same went for his eyes.

Making his eyes crinkle when he smiled was possible, but it was clearly different from a genuine smile.

From Soohyuk’s perspective, Jingyeom seemed to enjoy his job at the café.

‘Looks good on him.’

The problem was that he smiled at everyone indiscriminately, but watching that face from afar made the reason for his visit increasingly clear.

He hated waiting, but strangely, it wasn’t boring this time.

He felt he could keep watching without getting tired of it.

As soon as Jingyeom finished his shift, he said goodbye to his colleagues and approached Soohyuk.

“I’m done now! You must have waited a long time, right?”

“No, it was fun.”

“Fun? What was?”

While working, Jingyeom had glanced at Soohyuk several times, and each time their eyes had met.

In other words, Soohyuk had just been looking around without doing anything.

‘Does he like sightseeing? That doesn’t seem right…’

Jingyeom reconsidered what he knew about Soohyuk.

He was someone who always liked interesting things, disliked boredom, and sought excitement.

He looked around the store to see if there was anything that might interest Soohyuk but found nothing special.

He concluded there must be something that suited Soohyuk’s taste that he wasn’t aware of.

Jingyeom sat across from him.

“How did you know to come here?”

“I have my sources.”

To be precise, it was Wonbeom’s source.

Soohyuk had visited Lee Cheongoh’s office partly for company business but also because Wonbeom had suddenly kicked him out of the house.

After returning from a trip abroad, he was told to leave without any explanation.

Soohyuk had followed his parents abroad when he was young and only visited Korea occasionally.

He moved back permanently at Wonbeom’s request.

Since he was still living abroad, finding a place in Korea was a hassle, and he didn’t like hotels.

So, despite Wonbeom’s displeasure, he was staying with him under the condition of occasionally acting as his driver.

However, a separate driver handled his commuting needs.

‘I came all the way back just to be kicked out.’

Soohyuk and Wonbeom had met in high school. Wonbeom had attracted Soohyuk’s attention at a school with few Koreans.

It took a long time for them to become close.

Soohyuk always drew attention wherever he went, which Wonbeom found bothersome.

However, Soohyuk’s relentless persistence had brought them together until now.

Wonbeom had called Soohyuk to Korea because he was one of the few trustworthy friends he had.

Thus, two years had passed.

Around the one-year mark, Soohyuk had considered finding his own place but stayed longer due to an interesting person named Baek Jinwoo.

Eventually, his interest waned, and just as he no longer felt the need to live with Wonbeom, Baek Jingyeom appeared.

He wanted to stay longer, but he was suddenly kicked out.

He visited Lee Cheongoh’s office to check on company finances and learned about a pyramid scheme.

It was an absurd revelation.

[Director Tak, did you acquire an electronics company too?]

[No.]

[Then what is this?]

Soohyuk held up a black business card placed neatly on the office desk.

[HAM Electronics Sales Manager Tak Wonbeom]

[This was made temporarily for the current situation.]

[Director Tak, who hates hassle, made a temporary business card for this?]

Soohyuk found it unbelievable. Then he remembered that Wonbeom wouldn’t mind hassle if it involved certain people and smiled.

[Did something happen with Secretary Baek?]

[Not Secretary Baek, but his brother.]

[…Baek Jingyeom?]

Why is he involved?

Soohyuk laughed incredulously.

Lee Cheongoh was someone who couldn’t keep secrets unless explicitly told to.

Of course, he didn’t talk to just anyone. He had some discretion. But due to his friendship with Soohyuk, he provided more details.

Thus, Soohyuk heard the whole story from Lee Cheongoh’s mouth.

Soohyuk wanted to explain to Jingyeom, who was smiling at him, just how ridiculous and absurd it all was.

It was absurd enough that he had fallen for a scam, but buying 300,000 won worth of toothpaste?

Losing his memory had changed him too much.

Yet, seeing this new, interesting, and cute side of Jingyeom made Soohyuk feel he had changed too.

He wanted to pull on Jingyeom’s chubby cheeks and see if he would still smile.

But his bright, innocent smile made him want to watch him longer, so he left him alone.

“…Your sources. But why did you come?”

“I told you. Because you weren’t answering my calls. Did you block my number?”

“Of course not. I don’t even know your number.”

“…Are you going to keep calling me ‘ajusshi’?”

Soohyuk narrowed his eyes, propping his chin on his elbow on the table.

He had told Jingyeom to call him “hyung” the next time they met, but he kept calling him “ahjussi.” If he called him “Director” instead, it would be different, but why “ahjussi”?

“…Hyung.”

“Good.”

This time, Soohyuk gave a genuine smile.

How many times had he corrected him just to hear that one word?

Determined to hear “hyung” more often, Soohyuk made a small promise to himself.

“Give me your phone.”

“…Are you going to take it like last time?”

“No, I just want to check if you really blocked me.”

“I didn’t! I really didn’t!”

Jingyeom adamantly denied it.

While he had blocked many numbers, he had done so after verifying them.

He had also blocked numbers that called repeatedly without leaving messages.

Worried that Soohyuk’s number might have been blocked by mistake, Jingyeom nervously handed over his phone.

Last time, Soohyuk had just taken his phone without looking through it.

The unlocked phone’s wallpaper was set to default, and there weren’t many apps on the screen, just the essentials.

Soohyuk checked the blocked numbers list.

“Why do you have so many blocked numbers?”

There were more than on his own phone.

Soohyuk scrolled through the list with his thumb and found a familiar number.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s here. My number.”

“Really?”

Jingyeom, surprised, stood up and leaned forward to see.

Instead of taking his phone to check, he put his head next to Soohyuk’s to confirm.

Soohyuk, startled by Jingyeom’s sudden move, accidentally dropped the phone.

It hit the floor with a loud noise.

“Ah!”

Jingyeom quickly picked up the phone and, realizing he had shouted too loudly, looked around.

As expected, people were staring.

“I’m sorry…”

Even as a customer, he would feel apologetic, but it was worse because he worked there, so he bowed his head even lower, especially towards his colleagues who were watching.

After confirming that the phone was undamaged, Jingyeom adjusted his bag.

“Let’s get out of here first.”

Soohyuk silently followed Jingyeom without any particular destination in mind.

They stopped only after walking a fair distance from the cafe.

“I must have blocked your number by mistake… But when I checked for messages, there weren’t any.”

Jingyeom, feeling wronged, checked his phone for any missed calls or messages. There were none.

As if to prove his innocence, he shoved the phone screen in front of Soohyuk’s face.

His drooping eyebrows and wide eyes clearly conveyed his sincerity.

Soohyuk tilted his head and a small smile appeared on one side of his mouth. He understood the situation.

‘Secretary Baek, you did something clever.’

It seemed that the number had been blocked before he could even try to contact him.

‘…Could it be?’

Feeling unjustly treated, Soohyuk grabbed Jingyeom’s phone from his hand.

“Wow…”

Sure enough, Wonbeom’s number was also in the blocked list.

Jingyeom had blocked so many numbers that slipping in another one didn’t seem like a big deal.

Soohyuk’s smile grew broader at Jinwoo’s thoroughness.

When people are repeatedly told not to do something, they want to do it even more.

This was especially true for Soohyuk.

Soohyuk removed his own number from the blocked list but left Wonbeom’s as it was.

Even though he wouldn’t contact him directly, he was curious about what might happen if Jingyeom didn’t answer a call from Wonbeom.

“I unblocked my number.”

“I’m sorry… Why was it blocked?”

Jingyeom looked genuinely confused.

Soohyuk almost said, ‘Your brother did it,’ but stopped himself.

Though he was curious about Jingyeom’s reaction, he didn’t want to cause any trouble.

“Where are you going now?”

“Home.”

“And me?”

“Did you have other business with me?”

Jingyeom wondered if Soohyuk had come for a specific reason rather than just dropping by.

Standing on the hot asphalt after being in a cool, air-conditioned place made the heat feel even worse. He wanted to go home quickly.

Moreover, he was tired from working hard for four hours.

Although it wasn’t physically demanding work, sitting in one spot for so long was exhausting.

With the increasing number of customers, he had to smile and greet them without a break, which was more tiring than expected.

He wasn’t annoyed or unwilling to see Soohyuk

He just really wanted to stretch out and rest right now.

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