Irresponsibility Chapter 2.3

But the problem was that whenever he stood in front of the man, he found it strangely difficult to speak. It wasn’t that the fear once ingrained would disappear so easily, but he truly stuttered to a degree that frustrated even himself.

Get a grip. Whether it’s true or not, I’ve suffered great harm because of their fault, so I shouldn’t be subservient. I need to show a more confident attitude.

“Ah….”

But when the man let out a sigh, he flinched and trembled his shoulders without realizing it.

“If things had gone according to plan, we would have caught those bastards last month, and you would have been home long ago.”

Yeoun bit his lip firmly. It was an uncomfortable thing to hear, but conversely, it made him think that it probably wasn’t a lie.

“But I can’t keep you held here for long either.”

You’re the victim, after all. At the added words, Joo Yeoun quickly nodded his head. It was such a big gesture that his wet hair fluttered. Baek Geonhyuk, who made a peculiar expression for a fleeting moment, opened his mouth again.

“Just stay under my protection until the end of this year.”

“……”

“After that, I’ll send you back, no matter what it takes.”

“…H-how? Pl-please tell me, ex-exactly.”

It was a dawn of continuous unexpected situations. When Baek Geonhyuk raised his eyebrows, Joo Yeoun’s gaze wandered in the air. A glance. At the gaze that briefly touched his face and moved away, he gave an answer.

“I’m thinking of catching those bastards and negotiating with the higher-ups.”

“Wh-what if you can’t catch them?”

“Then it’ll be a threat.”

Looking at the man’s face, which seemed to be thinking about something, Joo Yeoun’s fingertips trembled with a flinch. For an instant, the strange gleam that flashed in the man’s eyes was frightening.

In any case, it meant he would use any means necessary.

Joo Yeoun slowly blinked his eyes. As he pictured the time that had passed and the time to come, a surge of emotion welled up. The rims of his eyes tingled.

“Th-then, ca-can I make just one call, t-to my family….”

“No.”

Baek Geonhyuk said firmly.

“There’s a possibility that your family could be in danger too. For them, wiping out an entire family is nothing.”

“……”

Watching the tears welling up in his large eyes, Baek Geonhyuk opened his mouth again.

“I’ll compensate for everything.”

“……”

“I’ll do everything I can for you.”

At the voice, so devoid of emotion that it felt indifferent, Joo Yeoun clenched his lips shut. He opened his eyes wide and stared at a point in the air, as if glaring. He let some time pass with reddened eyes.

And when he slowly closed and opened his eyes, the orbs that had seemed ready to overflow with tears were dry.

“I d-don’t need anything like that….”

Joo Yeoun lifted his head. Their eyes met. The pupils that had only been glancing and running away now stared straight at Baek Geonhyuk.

“Keep your promise.”

His hoarse voice was firm.

Baek Geonhyuk looked at Joo Yeoun with a sense of unfamiliarity. The snow-white skin illuminated by the dawn light, the wet hair, and the black pupils visible through it. His gaze darted distractedly over the unfamiliar face.

“Not lying, a-and next year….”

It was only when Joo Yeoun opened his mouth again that he came to his senses.

“Yeah. The end.”

Letting out a concise answer, he read the faint sense of relief that appeared on the small face. He was relieved as well. He had successfully managed to have a conversation with Joo Yeoun. It was as if he had overcome a major hurdle.

However, as if to mock them, things did not flow so easily.

“Th-then, he-he-here….”

Joo Yeoun, who had been speaking haltingly, suddenly clamped his mouth shut. He blinked for a moment, swallowed, and opened his mouth again.

“He-here, the t-two, two of us…… Huh?”

Joo Yeoun’s eyes widened, and he wore a slightly bewildered expression.

“Right now, I-I-I keep st-stuttering… uh uh….”

The sense of unease he had felt before grew in an instant. Even when he tried to open his mouth again, only stuttering words came out.

Yeoun’s face gradually contorted. His complexion changed from moment to moment, his face scrunched up as if he couldn’t understand it himself.

“…You’re stuttering.”

Baek Geonhyuk said quietly. For the first time, emotion was mixed into his face, which had been feigning indifference. He looked at the terrified face with a troubled gaze.

*

“You’ll be fine. Don’t worry, Mr. Joo Yeoun.”

Lee Hyungyu, sitting in the driver’s seat, said as he looked back.

They were now in the underground parking lot of Lee Hyungyu’s hospital. It was to check if Joo Yeoun, who was showing a speech impediment, had any problems like brain damage.

“It is confirmed that there is no one currently in the building, but you must be careful.”

Baek Geonhyuk nodded and took a mask out of his pocket.

“Don’t take off the mask….”

The hand that was about to hand over the mask paused. It was because the face, only the chin of which was visible under the large hat that was too big for him, was a complete mess of tears.

The face from dawn came to mind, the one that had held back tears with red-rimmed eyes. Baek Geonhyuk looked at the tears glistening on the small chin with沉沉_沉澱_下沉沉 (chénchén_chéndiàn_xiàchén chén) eyes.

“Gi-gi….”

Joo Yeoun, who was trying to say, ‘give me,’ bit his lip hard when it didn’t come out as intended. He was frustrated with himself. It felt like the man’s gaze fell on his lip, which he had bitten so hard it might bleed, but he had no time to worry about such things.

He thought he had been through a lot of strange things, but he had no immunity to something like this. He was just scared.

Among them, the feeling of injustice was also great. Resentment momentarily surpassed his fear of the man. Joo Yeoun snatched the mask from the man’s hand. Then he roughly wiped his face with his sleeve and put on the mask. The sleeve, which was much too long as it was the man’s, became soaked.

“Wait a moment.”

While he was staring, as if glaring, at the sleeve that was left with a mark, a low voice pierced his ear. And a large hand that hung at the edge of his vision suddenly approached.

“Heueup…!”

After flinching and closing his eyes, by the time he opened them again, the hand had already moved away.

“Yeah, that’s better.”

It seemed he had lightly touched the part of the mask that was inside out. The man said, let’s go, and got out first. Then, gripping the car door, he stared at Yeoun intently. It seemed like a watchful gaze.

He felt sorrowful. Yeoun sniffled quietly as he stepped outside.

A short while later, when he got into the car again, Yeoun was still sniffling. He had just resolved not to show a weak side anymore, but he was helpless against this misfortune that had been suddenly thrust upon him.

“It’s probably a temporary symptom. If you eat well and rest well, you’ll get better soon.”

A lie. Joo Yeoun judged the doctor’s words. The doctor, who specialized in trauma, didn’t seem to know much about this kind of problem. His tone of trying to reassure him was too strong.

So Joo Yeoun turned his head slightly to the side.

“Soon….”

After saying ‘soon’ about three times, he was able to ask the man. If he would really get better soon.

“I don’t think it’ll be soon.”

An ordinary answer came back. At that honesty, Joo Yeoun’s face crumpled, and Lee Hyungyu, sitting in the driver’s seat, let out a sigh.

“Team leader-nim….”

“What?”

Baek Geonhyuk glanced at Lee Hyungyu and then opened his mouth again.

“There was a kid in high school who stuttered, and I ran into him by chance about five years ago. He became a teacher.”

Joo Yeoun quietly stared at the man’s sturdy-looking profile. Sniffle. When his nose ran and he sniffled, he looked at him.

The man, who seemed to be looking at the tear-soaked mask, tilted his head slightly.

“Is that all snot?”

“……”

He scowled without realizing it. Then, surprised, he cautiously observed the man, but the man stared at his face for a moment before turning his head away. Yeoun, who had been about to habitually sniffle, consciously lowered his slightly raised shoulders.

Could I really get better? Next year’s events seemed only blurry. Whether I could really go back to my family, whether my stuttering would be fixed by then. He couldn’t be sure of anything.

Yeoun glanced to the side. An indifferent face was reflected in the window. He endured the tickling under his nose and just readjusted his mask for no reason.

Once his heart had calmed down a bit, he saw his surroundings. He was outside the house right now. A chance like this wouldn’t be common….

Joo Yeoun rolled his eyes slightly. A large build, big enough to be seen even with a sidelong glance, was visible.

…Let’s drop it. It would be impossible to escape from the man who was sitting alone, occupying about half of the back seat that could fit three people.

Glancing sideways, he moved closer to the car door. He kept moving until he couldn’t get any closer, and then he stopped only when his body became wedged between the car door and the seat.

Yeoun curled up and lowered his head deeply. In the dawn, he had concluded that it was right to hide out as the man said for now. He didn’t believe his words 100 percent, but if his own life and his family’s lives were at stake, he couldn’t just blindly not believe him.

But as soon as he had reached a conclusion, another thing like this had to happen.

Lately, only things that are too sudden and scary have been happening and tormenting me. Unreal and illogical, those kinds of things.

“We confirmed from the X-ray that the fracture has completely healed, so you don’t have to worry about that part.”

The doctor, who had brought up the X-ray they had taken while at the hospital, glanced in the rearview mirror. But Joo Yeoun just blinked slowly while looking out the window. His eyelids felt heavy because his eyelashes were soaked.

“Oh, Mr. Joo Yeoun must be hungry. We’re almost there. Let’s hurry up and have breakfast.”

At those words, Yeoun belatedly recognized the familiar scenery. He slightly regretted not having memorized the route on his way there and back. Even if he wasn’t going to run away, it would be good to at least know the way.

He racked his brain for a bit, then soon let his shoulders slump. He didn’t want to think deeply right now. He was too tired for that.

Joo Yeoun obediently followed the two men into the house. On the way, they passed other floors and the doctor’s house, but he didn’t pay any special attention and just followed behind the man.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

Only when he suddenly turned around and asked, did he flinch and step back. He had pulled his hat down low, so even when he looked up, he couldn’t see the man’s face. The man probably couldn’t see his face well either. That wasn’t a bad thing, but he had to take off the mask. It was because the cloth, soaked with tears, would stick to his nose every time he breathed in, bringing back terrible memories.

Yeoun, holding the mask in his hand, took a step to the side. But wasn’t the man bending his knees and looking into his face?

He had come to almost believe that he wouldn’t hit him, but when the man came close, he would be terrified. Making a strange sound like hic, Joo Yeoun hunched his body and leaned his upper body back.

The man stared intently at Yeoun’s face for a moment, then spoke.

“You’ve gotten grimy again.”

“…I’m, I’m go-going in.”