Chapter 48

“…What do I have to explain to you?”

“This bastard sitting right next to you. This bastard shamelessly holding your hand in his damn one in front of me! Everything! All of it!”

“Why should I explain it to you… you’re so noisy…! Stop shouting already!”

“You’re louder!”

“First of all, the both of you are noisy.”

Despite still clawing Na-Yool’s hand like his precious thing, Si-Jin’s “both of you” had tossed her aside together with Sang-Hoon. If being too objective could make one thoughtless, it would be exactly it.

“So when did you meet this bastard? Huh?”

“Around two years ago, I think?” Just as Na-Yool was about to open her mouth, Si-Jin butted in and answered brightly, stroking his pleasant face. Na-Yool furrowed her eyebrows in disapproval.

“How can you say it like this? He will misunderst—”

“I am just faithfully stating the truth. For that bastard to misunderstand.”

It was indeed the truth. Because as he said, they had literally first met two years ago.

But what was his intention for so boldly twisting the reality?

“…What? Two years ago? Fuck, what?”

It was without surprise that Sang-Hoon got triggered by the unabashed statement. Na-Yool pressed her temples, barely supporting her head from falling to the table. She was gradually feeling dispirited and apathetic.

“What did this bastard say to me now? Kim Na-Yool, you, raise your head and explain.”

“That bastard said to explain it, Ms. Kim Na-Yool.”

What else was that glow on Si-Jin’s perverted face but the amusement of watching everything spiraling out of control like in a third-rate daily soap opera?

“I don’t have anything to explain. Because we are nothing to each other. Like I said, he is from the company. Someone from work with whom I had no relationship with.”

She was not lying. Because until breaking up with Sang-Hoon there was nothing between them.

Besides, she could not even tell what kind of relationship they were currently in…

“Someone from work, you say? This bastard?”

“Ms. Kim Na-Yool, with someone whom you have no relationship with, do you really so easily—”

“Keep, quiet.”

Na-Yool clenched her teeth and warned Si-Jin, tearing his hand off from hers.

Of course, it did not work.

“You cheeky little thing.”

“Keep—”

“Truly, no one gives as much as you do, Ms. Kim Na-Yool.”

“—quiet.” Just as she turned her head to glare at him, she saw another head slowly rising up and shoulders full of anger shrugging as if its owner finally realized something. Suddenly, a threatening and trembling voice came once again from in front of her.

“What did you two do ‘so easily’?”

“……”

“What ‘cheeky’ things did you do? And what the heck did you ‘give’? What did you freaking do!” shouted Sang-Hoon, shuddering as all sorts of dirty scenes flashed in his imagination. “Is it true that you were meeting this bastard even when we were dating?”

“Every day, at that.”

“…Keep…”

“Oh, you have to take out the weekends there.” Si-Jin rectified, as if it was the reason for Na-Yool’s intervention. Of course it had to be taken out, since she did not work on weekends. Na-Yool clenched her jaw and called him between her tight teeth.

“Mr. Pwejident.”

It did not sound like “President” at all. Just then, the almost brazen smirk on Si-Jin’s face daring her to say it was not true suddenly was replaced by a fake regretful expression. It pissed both Na-Yool and Sang-Hoon off even more.

“Every day… While I pondered in the week whether to meet with you, you and this bastard, you… So what, you couldn’t see him on the weekends because you had to meet with me? Is that your last piece of consideration? To be so kind as to meet with me on weekends?”

“…I go to work every day. He is from work, so it would be hard not to see him on a daily basis.”

“If it’s two years, then that’s not after breaking up with me… you were two-timing. I see, you really were cheating on me! You were, right?”

Meanwhile, Si-Jin slightly tilted his head on the side and quietly criticized how very little Sang-Hoon understood anything, only for Na-Yool’s ears to hear.

As if Si-Jin himself did not ignore people’s words on purpose…

“……I changed jobs 2 years ago which is why we’ve known each other for 2 years. Come on, look at that guy’s face and please realize that he is making a joke of you.”

“No, no that’s not it. It’s not that you cheated with him. Wow, you cheated with me. Right?”

“…Realistically speaking, do you think it makes sense? That she would date you after getting tired of me?”

Going on about common sense, Si-Jin did not miss his timing to slide back into the conversation to rightly set the order. On top of that with a serious displeased expression, as if he had no idea who instigated this mess in the first place.

But so at loss he could not even hear what had been said, Sang-Hoon mumbled:

“I can’t believe I was second…”

“If you objectively look at who is more charming between the two of us, you should know. How ridiculous it would be for you to come next.”

As she listened to Si-Jin’s low and sweet voice’s nonsensical theory that since he was more charming he was technically more fitted to come second, Na-Yool felt a sense of crisis sucking out the last bit of energy she still had in her.

Pricked, Sang-Hoon could no longer disregard the insult. His lips trembling with anger, he retorted:

“Do you think men live by swindling people with their looks?”

“Why, do you plan to?”

Si-Jin’s tone was clearly hinting that no one would give in to Sang-Hoon’s looks. Resolved not to fall any longer for Si-Jin’s provocation, Sang-Hoon composed himself and spoke in a seemingly calm voice.

“For men, their abilities will always come first, second and third. A lowly scum like you who barely survives in a tiny advertising company, just because you’re handso‒… no, just because you look like a pimp it seems your sole joy in life is to, what, strut around with that face to sweet-talk any ladies, but until when do you think that handso‒…, that pimp-like face of yours will last?” muttered Sang-Hoon, resolute to die rather than admit with his own mouth that Si-Jin was handsome.

At any rate, Sang-Hoon was the person Na-Yool had dated, so ultimately she had to share the shame. Though Sang-Hoon now felt no shame at all, so even that too.

“Probably for a while?” Si-Jin casually took a sip from Na-Yool’s coffee without asking, and once again threw in a simple answer emotionally draining for his interlocutor.

“I can tell you have absolutely no thoughts or life plan, none. Only relying on your looks to earn just enough to live in the moment. You’ve got nothing to worry about life huh, you fucking bastard.”

“I don’t know about that… What is certain is that when I see you, I think I should not have any.” (T/N: Interestingly, Si-Jin was mostly speaking in formal speech – despite the insults lol – but from here on he radically drops it for casual speech).

“You young bastard, how dare you talk down to me!”

“You old bastard, because you’re a nutcase.”

“What about you! How long do you think you’ll be handsome! How long!”

“Who knows. Still, the future looks brighter, aging with my face rather than with that ugly one of yours… So, no worries on my side.”

At each word sharply uttered without a break by Si-Jin, Sang-Hoon expelled at once a suffocating breath. Then he regained his lame composure.

“You look younger than me, so let me tell you one thing as an older brother. A man’s beauty will fade soon enough. Sure, it’s important for a woman to have a pretty face, but when women see a man, what matters most is his abilit‒…”

“That’s over ‘one thing’.” Si-Jin interrupted Sang-Hoon with an aloof expression.

“…his abilities. That’s what matters. Do you get it, huh? So be smart about it. If you call yourself a man, I’m telling you you ought to plan your life.”

“I can’t hear you.”

“Don’t get caught up in these things because of women. Do you think that Kim Na-Yool or any other woman says they like you because they really do? They are just after your looks. Then how about when you get old, huh? If you don’t have any abilities, then…”

“You’re so ugly I can’t hear you.”

“You fucking bastard!” Sang-Hoon sprung up from his chair and slammed the table as if about to jump at Si-Jin. Si-Jin chuckled.

“Seems like you yourself are well aware of your unattractiveness.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You, let’s get out. Let’s take it outside, just you and me‒”

“‒Where do you think you’re going?” Na-Yool cut Sang-Hoon off in an extremely weary voice. “As I said, this person is just someone from work. There’s nothing between me and him, and I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of while meeting with you.”

“And you expect me to believe it?”

“…There is also nothing between us anymore, so even if you don’t like what you’re hearing, just mind your own business. You and me, we are done, aren’t we.”

“……”

“Because you dumped me.” Her calmness, without a hint of irritation or sarcasm unlike before, had Sang-Hoon at loss for words for a while. “And I accepted it. Since you said that’s what you wanted.”

“……”

“To not see my fed-up face anymore. To put an end to our failing relationship. To stop hearing me apologize over and over for working late.”

“I, Na-Yool… Fuck, none of this make any sense. To just break up like this, just over something like this…”

“As for expecting me to cling to you, I did it all that day. I apologized as I felt sorry, I checked with you many times if you were not asking to break up on the spur of the moment. And when I asked you if we had to break up ‘just over something like this’, what did you say? That to you this little thing was everything. That it was that big of an issue to you!”

“……”

“But now what? Just over something like this? Are you kidding me?”

Si-Jin drank the coffee with no apparent sympathy for the truths revealed by the serious conversation he was suddenly not part of. He glanced at Na-Yool, who was licking her delicious-looking lips dried from her relentless verbal raging, then at Sang-Hoon’s pale complexion with eyes filled with amusement and disgust. As he was observing them back and forth, Na-Yool abruptly stood up.

Sang-Hoon hurriedly grabbed her hand. She tried to shake it off without success, so without a look at Si-Jin she ordered him, “Take this off me.”

Si-Jin diligently twisted Sang-Hoon’s wrist lightly to release Na-Yool’s. Sang-Hoon groaned pitifully and secretly glanced at Si-Jin, but then quickly changed his attitude.

“I will be good. I meant what I said earlier. It’s fine by me if you meet with that bastard… or any other man while dating me. Do as you like, if you want to try dating others before coming back to me, it’s okay too. I’m fine with everything, so—”

“That guy knew I was having a hard time because of my ex, and he just happened to see us while passing by, so he came to help. That’s it. Though as you can see, he wasn’t much help…”

“……”

“So please, stop writing novels. Stop seeking me out and stop contacting me.”

“— So I, I’m your ex-boyfriend. To you…”

“……”

“I see, I’m your ex-boyfriend now. I am.” slowly muttered Sang-Hoon under the rude awakening. Na-Yool looked at him with a sigh.

“Just have a good life. And like you said, forget about the not-so-good woman that I am.”

She pushed Si-Jin’s leg to urge him to stand up, as he blocked her way since he was sitting on the open side. So in the first place, she could not even leave first with a vague greeting.

Until the very end, he truly was not helpful at all. Si-Jin slowly got up, and Na-Yool promptly walked out of the coffee shop without a look back.

Both converging from Na-Yool’s back, Si-Jin’s and Sang-Hoon’s gazes crossed. Si-Jin handed his business card to Sang-Hoon, whose red eyes were holding back tears. Sang-Hoon gloomily looked down on the card.

“……”

“I should have given it to you as soon as we met.” Displaying a pleasant look, Si-Jin looked like someone else. He placidly smiled at Sang-Hoon. “Now that you have seen it, you should know who I am.”

“……”

“As it is a great bother to my employee, if I see your face again near the company, I will call the police.”

Chapter 12 – Saturday 0:11 a.m.

“Did he think I had nothing to complain about too? Did he? When he is the one who…”

Na-Yool heaved a sorrowful sigh and roughly poured soju in her half-full beer glass. Her movement had not the slightest hint of grace. It only had one clear purpose: mixing the two alcohols and nothing more.

The mixture was taken away by Si-Jin before it could reach Na-Yool’s lips.

“When he is the one who…?” calmly asked Si-Jin as he brought the drink up to his own lips, encouraging her to go on. He drank it down in one refreshing gulp like it was mineral water and handed her back the empty glass, then Na-Yool’s hand which was still paused mid-hair started moving again.

Putting her mouth onto the empty glass, she diligently drank its content as if it was visible only to her eyes. With a face that sincerely believed she had drunk it all, she then put her glass down.

She was totally plastered. As he reached that conclusion, Si-Jin stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Na-Yool’s face. They had entered the bar less than an hour ago, but Na-Yool was already quite tipsy as if they had been sitting there for five hours.

Of course, ‘quite tipsy’ was an understatement…

“…Then what about all the dinner engagements with me he ditched until now? To go to his damn office dinner parties that were not planned? How about leaving me on my own in the movie theater at 1 am because he had to drive home his drunk department head?”

Na-Yool was nothing more than sadly muffling by herself in a very low volume. She buried her face in both hands as if suppressing something rising from inside.

“So he had no choice, is that it? Suuure, so he understands everything, and what? I, too, also had no choice, so what. What am I supposed to do?”

“Why bother asking yourself, did you not both already broke up anyway?”

“Breaking up is not everything—”

“It is. What more is there to it?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea…”

“Since you broke up, just let it be at that and keep moving forward.”

His outstretched hand covered the back of Na-Yool’s head and patted it awkwardly. She suddenly raised her bent head and exclaimed resolutely.

“How dare you, when you yourself work overtime when you’re bored!”

“Me? Or what, that bastard?”

“… Whenever you go to a dinner party, always going for a 2nd round, a 3rd round, and even a 4th one, how suspicious…”

“Indeed. How suspicious.”

“Right? It’s strange, right?”

“It does sound quite shady.”

Although he had no idea what was suspicious, Si-Jin was no longer willing to listen to Na-Yool’s rambling and just casually went along with it, while Na-Yool vigorously nodded to his word, persuaded they were in agreement on the matter.

“How could I have not felt sad at times too?”

“Of course, you probably were.”

“How could I have not doubted him sometimes?”

“You probably did many times.”

Si-Jin replied in a mechanical indulging tone. But as he was not of much help to Na-Yool, she once again ducked her head into her hands.

“Until now, to that oppa…”

“That loser.”

“…To that loser… I have not even once complained about any of this…” Drunk as she was, Na-Yool nonchalantly corrected the byword for Sang-Hoon as wished by Si-Jin while muttering as she buried her face further.

“Because I am not in a position where I can argue about these things anyway… except for his questionable dinner parties, our situations are kind of similar, so…”

“Is there such a thing as ‘a position’?”

“Sorry?”

“Ultimately you let him meet with you, did you not?”

“…Did I?”

“So if one of you should know their place, that would be him.”

“……”

“It has nothing to do with you, Ms. Na-Yool.”

“Mr. President…”

“Yes.”

“This is the warmest thing you have ever told me over the past two years…” Na-Yool’s sulky eyes glanced at Si-Jin over the hands that were covering her face, but emotionally froze at the expression he made.

His stiff demeanor indicated that he did not say that to comfort her but only to state the facts as they seemed to him, a frown on his face to please not look at him like that.

But Na-Yool was way too out of it to notice this chilly detail.

“You are right. Even from a third party’s point of view, I was on the losing end in this relationship. I was.”

“That is true but—”

“Then why did I feel sorry? Why?!”

Her face tightened with the frustration of not understanding her own self at all, she soon grabbed a newly filled glass of alcohol. Of course, this one also got snatched away before it reached her lips.

At this point Na-Yool could not even feel anymore the glass was gone, and she raised her hand that was holding it a second ago to chug down its imaginary content.

“… I do not understand. I think I was possessed. Why was I sorry? Why was it always me who felt like a sinner?”

“That, is it not because you are idiotic, in a different way than he is?”

“Why, how so?”

“Because you have a bad eye for men and are so uselessly kind, therefore idiotic.”

Si-Jin had quickly dropped his formal speech for a casual one. However, Na-Yool carefully pondered over his words as if she missed the underlying sarcasm.

For real, Sang-Hoon did not know his place. His own faults had died out at once, while Na-Yool’s kept piling up one after another. After all, he was the kind of man to shamelessly reproach her “again?!” if she was to cancel a date on the excuse of work, while it was natural for him to do so.