From Divorce to Dusk Chapter 2.5

Anyone who saw them would have thought it was a reunion of separated families; Jaekyung and his colleagues all hugged each other tightly, overjoyed. It had been five years. Five years since he had met people who accepted him for who he was…

“Alright, let’s stop with the greetings and sit down to talk.” 

“Yes!”

Jaekyung quickly had them sit and ordered the most expensive course meal at the sushi restaurant. Everyone’s face turned pale looking at the menu, but Jaekyung told them not to worry about it. He wanted to treat them to the most delicious and valuable thing he could. After the order was placed and the employee left, everyone wiped their hands with wet towels and looked at Jaekyung in unison.

“What is it? Can you see my age now?”

When Jaekyung joked with a smile, everyone shook their heads. “We were just thinking that you haven’t changed. You’re still as cool as ever.”

“Thank you for saying that. You all haven’t changed either. Ms. Yeongeun, Ms. Haseong, and Ms. Minji, Mr. Haeshin too.”

When his eyes met Gwak Haeshin’s, he looked slightly startled and quickly averted his gaze. Jaekyung remembered him crying on the day he resigned. He had coincidentally heard about his feelings through another colleague but couldn’t give any answer, and it was the same now. Of course, it might have just become a dark part of his past by now.

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t contact you.”

“Not at all. I’m the one who’s sorry. In the end, you all couldn’t even come to my wedding…”

He couldn’t invite anyone who hadn’t been approved and vetted. That was why his failure to keep his promise to invite them to the wedding had been weighing on his mind.

“We just figured you had your reasons, Team Leader.”

“That’s why I couldn’t contact you either. It felt like we had somehow grown distant.” “…Does that mean you contacted us again because you’re divorced?”

The news of Jaekyung’s divorce had already been in the articles and had even trended as a search term. Just as the wedding had been extravagant, the divorce was also unintentionally sensational. Reporters wrote all sorts of speculations, and NI Company had highlighted Park Jaekyung’s name more than Han Taesuk’s, distributing articles as if the divorce were Jaekyung’s fault. So there was no way these people wouldn’t know he was divorced.

Perhaps because the question hit too close to home, a sudden silence fell. “Ah, sorry. I was just kidding.”

“Team Leader… actually, I can’t say that’s not it. We wanted to contact you right after we heard the news of your divorce… but it felt too presumptuous and like we had ulterior motives… But we really wanted to get in touch. Today, we just couldn’t hold it in any longer… and contacted you. I’m sorry if your feelings were hurt.”

“No, no! Absolutely not. You have no idea how happy I am that you all reached out.”

It had been a while since he’d spoken to anyone besides the convenience store customers and the manager. Of course, he talked to his mother, but that was over the phone, wasn’t it? Besides, his mother would get choked up whenever they talked about anything, so they couldn’t have long conversations.

When Jaekyung said it was okay, everyone let out a sigh of relief, their eyes showing it. Soon, the door opened and a lavish spread of food was placed on the table one by one. Everyone raised their glasses high for a welcome toast after a long time.

“What?”

Jaekyung’s chopsticks paused mid-air at Ms. Yeongeun’s answer as they ate, asking how everyone was doing and if work was going well.

“You started a company?”

“Yes, two months ago. Our whole team quit, and we set up an office in Hongdae now. It’s an advertising planning office.”

“Ah…”

“The four of us are co-CEOs.”

“Ah… congratulations! If I had known earlier, I would’ve sent flowers or something…. Can I come visit sometime?”

“Of course! Please come and give us some advice on this and that.”

“We need a leader like you, Team Leader, but we feel we’re still lacking a lot. We keep fighting because we can’t agree on things. Hehe”

Ms. Minji said, looking embarrassed. The others nodded their heads as if in agreement. It was true, all four of them were quite stubborn. Jaekyung laughed out loud, suddenly remembering how every meeting used to be a bloodbath. “Where did you get a job, Team Leader?”

“Ah… a convenience store?”

“What?”

Everyone stared at Jaekyung with bewildered eyes. For a moment, they thought they had misheard and asked again, but there was only one answer he could give.

“Uh… a company that runs convenience stores? Like Sejin or…”

“No. I’m just working the night shift part-time at a small neighborhood convenience store.” “Ah, but why? With your skills, Team Leader, there must be many places that would want you… If anything, you could get a job at Jaewang again…”

Jaekyung smiled, idly stirring the soy sauce with his chopsticks. Things he couldn’t tell them rose up, constricting his chest, but he couldn’t let them out of his mouth. No matter how grateful he was to them, no matter how much he knew they were good people, you never knew where or how words could leak.

“Um… I’m telling you this so you don’t misunderstand, but I’m very satisfied and happy right now. I always wanted to try working a convenience store part-time job…”

“Still…”

“Don’t feel sorry for me. Don’t pity me, either. I’m really okay. This is what I chose.”

“Team Leader…”

“This is not the time to be gloomy at all… I didn’t say that to make the mood heavy.”

Jaekyung spoke spiritedly while picking the meat out of the lobster that had been served as the next course.

“Team Leader! Let’s go for a second round after this. It’s on me!”

Ms. Yeongeun suddenly shouted, holding up her lobster. Seeing her say that she could come in late tomorrow because she’d already closed up for the day, Jaekyung could clearly see how that company was run, but as expected, there was no reason to refuse. After a filling course meal at a high-end restaurant, the choice for the second round was a gopchang restaurant. As they sat around a circular steel table, watching Ms. Haseong stir-frying the gopchang, he thought that it had been a really long time since he’d been to a place like this. Gopchang? Hell… to think that even eating a bowl of gukbap had to be done in secret, in absolute secret…

“Here, Team Leader, have a drink!” “Okay.”

As he held up his glass, Ms. Yeongeun filled it to the brim with soju. Ah, it’s been a while since I had soju too. They toasted, and as he downed the shot, the sharp alcohol slid down his throat. Keu… this feeling… it’s great.

“So, after your divorce, you moved, and now you’re just working part-time at a convenience store?”

Once they were tipsy, everyone started asking Jaekyung all sorts of questions without holding back. Jaekyung chose his words carefully and answered each one. As long as it wasn’t a forbidden topic, he wanted to talk too.

“I guess that’s about it.”

“Hmm… didn’t you go traveling or… shopping or anything like that? My friend went on a trip right after her divorce. Around the world.”

“Ah… yeah, traveling isn’t something I’ve really… thought about.”

No. He had wanted to go on a trip. He thought a free-and-easy trip would be the ultimate way to enjoy freedom, but the moment he received the divorce settlement, that freedom was put on hold. Was it the third? Or the fourth… One of the conditions in that agreement, which he couldn’t even remember clearly, was that he would not travel abroad for a year. He had asked why this condition was included. Not being employed in a related industry or company for 5 years. Among them, the condition of not being employed by any company for 3 years was even more absurd. When Jaekyung had angrily said something, what did that man say back then? He couldn’t remember. All that came to mind right now were his heavy, sealed lips.

“Team Leader. Team Leader.”

Completely drunk, Ms. Yeongeun, Ms. Minji, and Ms. Haseong clung to Jaekyung the entire way out of the restaurant. He didn’t dislike them, who were like little chicks. Rather, he was grateful to these people who hadn’t forgotten him and had sought him out. After putting them into taxis one by one, Gwak Haeshin was the last one left. He hadn’t said a single word to Jaekyung all day, but his gaze had been on Jaekyung the entire time.

“Mr. Haeshin, aren’t you going?” “I’ll go after I see you off, Team Leader.”

Mr. Haeshin, who had been standing a short distance away, came closer and stood beside him.

“I apologize for the team members’ rude behavior.”

Still so diligent! And responsible too… Although they said earlier that they didn’t have a leader, this man was probably playing the role of the de facto leader on that team.

“It’s alright. I wanted to talk too. I wanted to talk about it casually, as if just sharing a passing story. If the team members regret it later, please tell them I’m fine with it.”

“…Yes. Thank you.”

He hailed a passing taxi and held the door open. Jaekyung said thank you and got into the taxi.

“Team Leader Park Jaekyung.” It’s been a while since I heard that.

“I’m not a team leader anymore…”

“To me, there has only ever been one person like you, Team Leader. Until now. May I… contact you again?”

“Of course. Thanks for inviting me. I’m a free man now, so let’s see each other often.”

Jaekyung smiled and closed the car door. He told the taxi driver his destination and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. He had a high tolerance for alcohol, but he must have drunk too much after such a long time, as a pleasant tipsiness began to creep in. It had been so much fun, for the first time in a very long time, and he had been able to laugh out loud to his heart’s content. This is living. This is how people live…

“The place where you are is no place for a human to live.”