Actually, It’s a Messy Melodrama Chapter 102

“Mr. President, did something happen?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Maybe you’re regretting spending too much money on me today?”

Taejun burst into laughter at Haeshin’s following joke. He had tried not to show it, but Haeshin had likely sensed his subtly sinking emotions.

Taejun could feel once again that he and Haeshin were bonded deep within their souls. Even without speaking, the two resonated with each other’s emotions, and he could feel the other’s feelings as if they were his own.

“Hardly. I’m not that petty of a person.”

Simultaneously with Taejun’s answer, Haeshin turned his body. Haeshin, who had been leaning his back against Taejun’s chest, was now facing Taejun directly.

“Then what are you anxious about?”

As expected, Haeshin accurately picked up on the emotion Taejun was feeling now. Han Taejun was ready to protect Cha Haeshin, and he had the conviction that they would surely achieve victory.

However, as long as he was human, it would be a lie to say he didn’t have even a little bit of fear. Taejun was scared that he might make a wrong choice and cause Haeshin to get hurt, even if just a little.

“It’s not so much anxiety as… just…”

When Taejun couldn’t easily organize his words and hesitated, Haeshin raised his hand to cup Taejun’s cheek and carefully rubbed around his eyes, which were tinged with fatigue. Taejun took that hand and quietly kissed the tips of his fingers.

“I was just thinking that I want to keep you even safer.”

“Even more than this?”

“Yes. Even more than this.”

“Is that even possible…”

Haeshin murmured, rolling his eyes playfully. It was Haeshin’s effort to soothe Taejun’s heart, and it actually worked.

Taejun’s subtly hardened eyes softened, and a faint smile played on his face. Haeshin continued with a satisfied feeling.

“Mr. President, don’t struggle to do everything perfectly by yourself.”

Taejun thought those words were wrong. He had to do it. Instead of Cha Haeshin, who had already suffered enough, he had to be the one to do it. He wanted to.

“We’re a team, aren’t we?”

“…”

“I like that we aren’t alone anymore. What gives me the most strength isn’t Mr. President’s money or power, but just the very existence of the person named Han Taejun himself.”

It was truly a strange thing. Even while thinking those words were wrong, Taejun was being comforted by Haeshin’s words.

“Because whether we succeed or fail, we’re still a team. Because I won’t lose Mr. President and Mr. President won’t lose me. So, I hope Mr. President won’t try to take on all of my burdens alone, either.”

“That’s a nice thing to say. That we’re a team.”

“Right?”

Taejun nodded. The fact that even if they were swept away by a fierce storm or tsunami, Han Taejun and Cha Haeshin would be connected anywhere, made Taejun’s heart firm again.

Whether it was the past or the future didn’t matter. If Taejun and Haeshin were together, that place would soon become a new present.

Taejun pulled Haeshin tightly into his arms just like that, and feeling his heartbeat and warm body temperature with his whole body, he spoke.

“But why are you so thin? No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think you could carry me.”

“Get up right now and get on my back.”

Minor banter was, as always, the way the two of them shook off their heavy hearts.

☂️

“Oh my, Manager. It’s been a long time. Have you been healthy and well in the meantime?”

Jin Youngmin, sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, stared blankly at the face of the man who was bowing to him to a servile degree. He was the boss of the bar where Cha Haeshin used to work.

He had gone easy on him because of Cha Haeshin, and it was pathetic to see him acting so arrogantly without knowing his place.

“Don’t act like we’re close and only answer what I ask.”

Youngmin dropped the act and spat out the words coldly. Only then did the boss catch onto the atmosphere and bowed with a face stripped of its smile.

“Yes, Manager. I’m sorry.”

“Are you in contact with Cha Haeshin lately?”

“Cha Haeshin?”

At that moment, Jin Youngmin felt a subtle sense of incongruity. This was the guy who had hovered around Cha Haeshin as if he were his guardian. Because of that, there had been more than one or two times when he had been an eyesore.

He hadn’t said anything special since Haeshin seemed to trust and follow him so much, but he was a guy he wanted to cut off long ago if he’d had his way. Even when Haeshin quit the bar without a word to him, he hadn’t shown his disappointment because he liked that Haeshin wouldn’t be entangled with these vulgar people anymore.

The boss in front of him was a guy who had openly cherished Cha Haeshin to that extent. But just now, when he asked about Cha Haeshin, Youngmin read an unfamiliar emotion in his expression.

He seemed to have managed his expression somewhat since he was in front of Youngmin, but the emotion that appeared for a split second was definitely close to anger and contempt.

“That brat…! Ah, I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve been in touch with Cha Haeshin. I called him a few times to check in after he quit, but from a certain day, the contact suddenly cut off, so, yes, well…”

As the boss’s answer continued, suspicion turned into certainty. The boss’s attitude toward Cha Haeshin had definitely changed. Youngmin softened his sharp momentum a bit and asked.

“Did something happen with Cha Haeshin?”

“Well, it’s not like something particular happened, but…”

“But why did he cut off contact? After you’ve lived like family all this time.”

At the voice intentionally softened, the boss, whose tension had eased somewhat, let out a deep sigh and answered as if it were unfair.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. As you know, Manager, how well did I treat that kid? Taking all sorts of his circumstances into account.”

“And?”

“When there was something to gain from here, he would flatter me and pull all kinds of stunts, but I don’t know what got into him—one day he suddenly quit, and then, would you believe it, he completely turned his back on me.”

“Cha Haeshin did…?”

“Yes! Even when I call, he answers very unpleasantly, and later he told me not to contact him at all. Man, it’s just absurd.”

Youngmin’s eyes wavered as he looked at the boss huffing with a resentful voice. It was a completely unexpected answer.

The Cha Haeshin that Youngmin had seen all this time was not a person who easily made enemies with someone. It might be his nature, but Youngmin saw it as the servility unique to a person living at the bottom.

It must have been his own way of living as an underclass person, and that servility, which was completely internalized like his personality, was absolutely not a mask that could be easily stripped away.

That Cha Haeshin had explicitly changed his attitude toward the boss he used to be so grateful to? It was something that wouldn’t easily happen without significant circumstances.

“There’s no way Cha Haeshin would do that without a reason.”

When Youngmin, frowning, muttered as if he didn’t understand, the boss immediately chimed in.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I really doubted my own ears when I heard it too. Why else would I have asked him if he was being blackmailed somewhere?”

“And?”

“He said there was nothing like that. Well, he said something like there’s no reason for him to suffer like a dog in a place like this bar anymore. Man, really. After all that time he clung to my pant legs begging me to let him work… Manager, no matter how much his situation has improved, how can someone be this ungrateful?”

“Hmm…”

“I don’t know if there’s a reason he can’t talk about, or if he really caught some great money line somewhere.”

The word “money line” irritated Youngmin’s ears unpleasantly.

“They say you shouldn’t take in a black-haired beast, and it’s just so ridiculous…”

The boss’s face, lamenting like a father who had been betrayed by his son, looked sincerely upset. Then the boss, wearing a somewhat puzzled expression, tilted his head and asked.

“But by any chance… are you also unable to get in touch with Cha Haeshin, Manager?”

Youngmin didn’t answer. The fact that he came here to ask about Cha Haeshin was an answer in itself, but it hurt his pride to admit it.

In the end, he and the boss had been treated similarly by Cha Haeshin. To suddenly say don’t contact him without a reason—for the person on the receiving end, it was no different from being struck by a bolt from the blue. Youngmin had even heard some bullshit about how he’d been scary all this time.

Of course, Youngmin knew Haeshin’s house, and he knew the convenience store where he appeared to still be working. Even if contact was cut off, he just had to go find him.

However, the reason he came here first was because he wanted to get various pieces of information before confronting Cha Haeshin. That way, it would be easier to pressure Cha Haeshin.

He had come this far thinking that those closer to Cha Haeshin would know more, but he didn’t know he would have cut off contact with the boss too after quitting the job.

Biting his teeth at the thought that he was treated similarly to this kind of brat, Youngmin signaled to the secretary waiting to the side. The secretary approached silently and held out his business card and a white envelope in front of the boss.

The boss’s eyes flashed with greed as he recognized the money envelope. Youngmin let out a chuckle. This is the nature of those who have nothing. They are guys who lose their minds and can’t help themselves if it’s money, in any situation.

So Cha Haeshin should have been like that too. He should have eventually given in to the temptation Youngmin held out. It was a situation that inevitably had to turn out that way. But to cut off his only hope overnight like this?

It was something that couldn’t happen unless he had another hill to lean on. Youngmin’s eyes began to flicker with rage.