Midday Guest Chapter 42

Cha Seokjoo was staring intently at Park Junseo.

Park Junseo’s gaze also shifted toward Cha Seokjoo. The speed and direction of his steps forward remained the same, but his eyes were fixed on one spot.

They were clearly people wearing the same kind of clothes, but why?

Starting from the shoes, his eyes traveled up the hem of the trousers and the jacket in turn. The moment his gaze, which had lingered on the broad shoulders, reached Cha Seokjoo’s solid thighs, Park Junseo’s shoulders curled inward slightly. The man, who looked nearly perfect, bore a resemblance to the imaginary being Park Junseo had envied and longed for.

Park Junseo’s lips parted slightly as he lowered his head unconsciously. He tried to act as if nothing were wrong, but he couldn’t hide the trembling in his eyes as he looked down at the ground. His small frame in a shabby, cheap suit, and the messy wax stains from a clumsy attempt to look stylish, were a total disaster.

Before long, Park Junseo, having crossed the street, was passing by Cha Seokjoo’s side.

The two looked at each other as if scouting one another.

When he forced his shoulders back and raised his head, Park Junseo had no choice but to clench his fists. He had realized that the man’s gaze was no longer lingering on him. And perhaps Jung Yiwon, too…. The thought that the gazes of those two might be intertwining made his mind burn black. An unknown flame rose within his chest.

Park Junseo withdrew his gaze from Cha Seokjoo and turned his back to look at Yiwon. As he mouthed his farewell to Yiwon once more, Yiwon’s gaze, which had been looking elsewhere, landed on him again. Only then did Park Junseo smile with satisfaction.

Yiwon didn’t understand a single thing he was saying. It was partly because of the distance, but mostly because he was preoccupied with looking at Cha Seokjoo, who was standing expressionlessly beside Park Junseo.

Park Junseo moved away after giving his own affectionate farewell.

“……”

Enveloped in a strange sensation, Yiwon swallowed hard.

What is this bizarre tension?

Seeing Cha Seokjoo approaching with long strides across the road, he couldn’t help but flinch in surprise. Why is he making such a scary face?

Just as he was wondering why the man was suddenly radiating such a brutal atmosphere, Cha Seokjoo, who had reached him in an instant, spoke bluntly.

“Look at you, going around smiling sweetly like that.”

“…What do you.”

“And right in front of me, at that.”

The first thing he said upon arriving was very strange. Surely not. Yiwon tried his best to cover up the subtle tension flowing between Cha Seokjoo and himself. However, Cha Seokjoo drove the point home.

“You eat a meal with another guy in the brief moment I let you loose?”

“I met him by chance. I came to have a meal and suddenly ran into him.”

Cha Seokjoo’s gaze glared piercingly at the back of Park Junseo’s head.

“By chance?”

“Yes.”

“Your expression looked far too distracted for that.”

“When did I ever.”

“Not you.”

Cha Seokjoo clicked his tongue. Park Junseo, who had moved far away, had now disappeared around the corner.

“Don’t go smiling for just anyone.”

“Smiling…. I was just being social.”

“What do you mean, being social, baby?”

“It’s not like I can just turn cold and push him away right in front of my face.”

“I’m telling you not to even give him anything to chew on. Can’t you see him walking away all excited right now?”

He still wore a terrifying expression. It was a difficult situation. No matter what, one couldn’t control someone else’s feelings, could they? In hopes that there would be no further misunderstanding, Yiwon added more words.

“We’re just like a hyung and dongsaeng. Anyway, he’s a hyung studying abroad in America, so he’s someone who will be going back soon….”

Babble, babble. Yiwon, who was laying out a long explanation, thought to himself. Instead of listing these useless things…,

“He’s really nobody to me, truly.”

“I know.”

“……”

“Still, don’t do it.”

“…Yes.”

He had only answered obediently because he wouldn’t have any reason to meet him in the future and even less reason to build a friendship. However, the submissive “Yes” seemed to reach Cha Seokjoo more than the long explanation. Cha Seokjoo, whose expression had softened before he knew it, jerked his head toward the office.

“Follow me.”

“To the office?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do?”

“If you’ve eaten, you should have coffee.”

Ah, coffee. Did Cha Seokjoo hear the conversation with Park Junseo? Since it was only about a two-lane road, it was a perfectly possible story. Yiwon walked after Cha Seokjoo.

He seemed to have no hesitation about calling Yiwon to the office, but Yiwon, just in case, kept a step’s distance and asked.

“Is it okay for me to go in?”

“The office?”

“Yes. It’s a company office, so I wondered if an outsider is allowed to enter.”

At Yiwon’s cautious words, Cha Seokjoo glanced sideways. He placed a hand on Yiwon’s back and guided him up the stairs leading to the second floor. As the two entered the building to escape the midday sun, the cool air came and clung to them.

“Come often.”

“……”

“I should at least pay back the price of the barley tea I got from you, baby.”

“Yes.”

Yiwon laughed as he answered, thinking of the barley tea Cha Seokjoo had drunk all this time. It seemed it wouldn’t matter if he came and went as he pleased for a while.

Does that mean I can come again tomorrow? Just as Cha Seokjoo pushed open the swinging door, a nameplate hanging at eye level caught Yiwon’s attention.

Cheongun Construction—Yonggung-ri Redevelopment Project Promotion TF Temporary Office

The sound of the door closing behind his back felt exceptionally loud. Rattling, an untimely wind pushed in, brushed past the nape of Yiwon’s neck, and drifted away.

Temporary office—as that word became lodged in his head, a problem he had never considered before sprang to mind.

Once the purpose for which Cha Seokjoo had come to Haeundang—the reason he was staying in Yonggung-ri—was resolved, and the project ended, then what…. Would he still be able to meet Cha Seokjoo then?

Worries about an opaque future made Yiwon tense. It was because it seemed it wouldn’t be easy to meet Cha Seokjoo whether Yonggung-ri was redeveloped or not.

“……”

Cha Seokjoo, who had already moved some distance away, filled a cup to the brim with ice. He also poured in a double shot of espresso. Approaching Yiwon, he held out the glass cup in front of Yiwon’s eyes.

Droplets of water were forming on the surface of the cold cup. Yiwon took the cup and looked up at Cha Seokjoo.

I wish I could keep seeing him.

Even if it isn’t a relationship tied together by some business.

For the first time, Yiwon came to have such a thought.

[5]

“…Ah, it’s hot.”

After the rainy season ended, the full-blown heat arrived. Yiwon, who had returned from tidying up the outside of Haeundang since the morning hours, let out a long sigh and entered the bathroom. Cool water poured over him from head to toe.

Yiwon spent quite some time in the bathroom. In the winter, the weather was so cold he tended to shower in ten minutes and rush out, but in the summer, he was the type to spend time like this to escape the heat.

After doing that for a long while, he took a towel from the bathroom shelf. Wiping his face in front of the mirror with unfocused eyes, Yiwon blinked a few times.

Having just finished washing, his white body was covered in mottled marks. Even from a distance, dark red clusters of marks covered his thin skin to the point where one might wonder if something was stuck on it.

He moved closer to the mirror and pushed the skin with his finger. He even tried rubbing it with his hand for no reason. Not that they were marks that would be erased by doing so.

The beginning happened in broad daylight, just like any other day.

Around the time when he was spending time at Haeundang because the sun was hot. It was when the wounds left by Kim Sunwoo were fading into faint traces. Cha Seokjoo, approaching Yiwon, flipped up his T-shirt and clicked his tongue.

‘Why is it still like this?’

Perhaps a period of stagnation had hit the recovery that had been progressing rapidly for a while. Seeing the wounds that looked as if they were disappearing but weren’t, Cha Seokjoo had once shown a look of displeasure.

‘You mark easily and recover slowly.’

‘……’

‘I don’t like it. It feels like you’re walking around with another guy’s traces on you.’

Cha Seokjoo, who had muttered that, suddenly laid Yiwon down on the wooden veranda. Then, he rolled the T-shirt up to the shoulders and buried his lips in the nape of Yiwon’s neck. He set his teeth, bit the collarbone, and sucked thoroughly all the way down to the nipples.

Bright red marks were layered over his entire body. Cha Seokjoo, who had been out of his mind for a while, only pulled his body away with satisfaction after overwriting Yiwon’s entire body with red marks.

‘This is better now.’

He was still a scary person. The only difference was that the reason for that fear originated from a different place. Once the walls were down, Cha Seokjoo was frequently in heat while dealing with Yiwon, and Yiwon sometimes felt a truly chilling sensation.

Is this person really okay? He had even thought this far, but the suspicion vanished quickly. Whether it was a construction company or a criminal organization, to work with people and carry out business, there were many things one couldn’t do with a mind that wasn’t sane.

He finished wiping the moisture off his body with the towel and looked in the mirror. He thought the marks Cha Seokjoo had left back then were finally disappearing, but last night, new marks were engraved over them.

“…Ah, I told him not to do it where it’s visible….”

Yiwon, who was rubbing around his neck, let out a deep sigh. Somehow, it felt like more and more marks were being left on his body.

Until only a short while ago, he had just thought, ‘I can just cover them up’….