Midday Guest Chapter 52

I wanted to kick the table over and flip everything, but I endured it. With my limbs having been bound, I couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity that came while I had no idea when Park Junseo might go on a rampage again.

When Yiwon nodded quietly, Park Junseo curled only his lips into a smile.

The gag that had been pressing hard against his head was removed, and the cable ties bound around his wrists were cut away. However, the shackles fastened to his ankles remained.

“If you promise to behave from now on, I’ll keep your mouth and hands free.”

“…”

He was talking nonsense as if he were being generous. It was appalling. Yiwon swore inwardly as he grabbed the chopsticks. At any rate, he had to keep up appearances to create an opportunity.

“How is it? Is it okay?”

“Yes.”

Yiwon adjusted his seat and picked up the ramen with his chopsticks. When he pretended to eat by placing some on his front plate, Park Junseo used a spoon to place an egg on top for him.

I didn’t realize my appetite could drop even further.

Yiwon squeezed his eyes shut. To think that the result of his clumsy pity and sense of camaraderie would turn out like this. The misery of it was beyond words.

But on the other hand, it was a mystery.

This man hadn’t been this much of a worst-case scenario. He had simply thought the man lacked the knack for dealing with people and expressing his feelings, but he had never considered him to be someone mentally unstable…

Had he misjudged him from the very beginning?

It was impossible to know.

Now that he thought about it, he had no memory of ever having a deep conversation with Park Junseo.

“Tell me if you want more.”

Right now, Park Junseo seemed to view Yiwon as some kind of abandoned animal he had picked up off the street. Seeing how he kept hovering nearby, giving him food and making a place for him to sleep.

A sigh escaped involuntarily. He lowered his head and pulled his legs tight toward his body. He had moved in advance to avoid his knees touching Park Junseo, who was sitting next to him, but Park Junseo misunderstood the gesture and made a tearful face.

“It must be uncomfortable.”

“…”

It wasn’t as if he were giving the disease and then the medicine. Yiwon quietly put down his spoon. Then, the man asked.

“Are you done already?”

“I’m sorry. It’s delicious, but I don’t have an appetite because the setting is uncomfortable.”

“…Ah.”

“Honestly, I’m just so flustered…”

Yiwon lowered his head. Like a person who had been hurt.

“I’m going to sleep for a bit.”

“…Uh, what?”

This was the pattern at every meal. Yiwon acted as if he were letting his guard down, but he never truly gave in at the crucial moments. He didn’t scream or demand anything.

By enduring like that, the opportunity finally arrived.

“Then I’ll only unlock you when you’re eating.”

“…Really?”

“I want to get along with you too. From now on, forever.”

“…Thank you, sunbae.”

Park Junseo took a key out of his pocket. Just before the key entered the hole at his ankle, his phone wailed.

“Hello.”

Park Junseo stood up while answering the call. He went straight outside the vinyl greenhouse, so Yiwon couldn’t hear the contents of the conversation.

“…Haa.”

Yiwon brushed his hair back irritably. I want to get out of here. I feel like I could do anything if I could just get out. It was just as he was turning his head with that thought.

“…!”

Park Junseo had unconsciously left the key behind when he went out to answer the phone. And on a table only a few steps away from Yiwon.

If I can just get my hands on that.

Clank, the shackles on his ankles held Yiwon back. A quick glance showed Park Junseo continuing the call with his back to the vinyl greenhouse. His voice was rising, as if something wasn’t going well.

Yiwon stretched out his arm. Just one span. He was short by barely 20 centimeters. Looking around, Yiwon pushed away the pot containing the ramen and grabbed the tray. Holding the edge with his fingertips, he pulled the key toward him.

Success.

Soon after, the shackles that had been tightening around his ankles were released all at once. Yiwon lowered his posture and carefully checked the outside.

A night with a waning moon.

Now was the perfect time to escape.

Yiwon lowered his body and walked quickly between the vinyl greenhouses.

Since there were no streetlights or shops nearby, it was good for moving stealthily, but it was a situation where that was both a pro and a con. There was nowhere to ask for help. He had to escape alone. In a place where he had no phone or anything else.

As he walked silently like that, he heard Park Junseo’s freakish scream from not far away.

“Jung Yiwon!”

Yiwon lowered his body as much as possible.

At that movement, the grass insects that had been chirping creak-creak in the vicinity stopped their singing all at once.

It wasn’t a good signal. The stopping of the insect sounds was the same as advertising that Yiwon was hiding here, and if so, he was bound to be caught soon.

“I… I treated you so well! Why!”

“…”

“Come out right now. Where are you? I said, where are you!”

The sound of Park Junseo running between the vinyl greenhouses grew louder and then softer repeatedly.

“Just wait until I catch you! I’m never letting you go again, you hear?!”

Listening to that crazy talk continuously made Yiwon feel like he was going to lose his mind too. He looked around. It was all weeds. If there were a fallen sign, he would have used it as a shield, but even that wasn’t to be seen.

The sound of footsteps grew distant.

Yiwon ran in the opposite direction of Park Junseo.

Even though it was a bit far, he could see a light in the distance that he expected to be a residence. He intended to get there somehow.

He was out of breath.

Park Junseo’s voice, which he thought had grown distant, was suddenly heard nearby. Yiwon crouched down. The insect sounds stopped all at once again.

“I know you’re nearby.”

“…”

“It’s hot and tiring, so let’s stop this now. I’ll boil you some new ramen. Okay?”

Yiwon forcibly swallowed his ragged, heaving breath. It was when he was hiding in a place thick with bushes and leaning his hand on the ground. His hand caught something.

It was a door frame from a vinyl greenhouse.

While continuously monitoring Park Junseo’s range of movement, he quietly disassembled the door. Picking up one door rod that looked relatively sturdy, Yiwon moved his steps again in the opposite direction of where Park Junseo’s voice was coming from.

While crossing the flower farm complex to get as far away as possible, he suddenly found himself at the vinyl greenhouse located on the very edge. There was a side road that a single car could barely fit through, but he couldn’t step out onto the road.

It was just as he was surveying the surroundings.

He felt a presence behind his back.

When did he get here?

I definitely moved after seeing him go the other way?

For a moment, he had the illusion that his body was sinking into the ground. He didn’t know what kind of treatment he would receive if he were captured again. He couldn’t just stand there and take it like an idiot. This is self-defense. Yiwon, having swallowed a dry gulp, adjusted his grip on the rod.

The sound of footsteps became increasingly heavy. He waited until a large shadow swallowed Yiwon’s entire body. After waiting and enduring, it was just as he turned around and raised the rod high.

“…Ugh!”

His wrist was suddenly seized. To be suppressed this easily? Was Park Junseo’s athletic ability this good? After a brief moment of shock, Yiwon swung his arm again. This time was also a failure.

“…Let go.”

“…”

“Let go of this, I said let go! I told you I hate you!”

Sunbae or whatever. He didn’t even want to respect him with a title. Yiwon, who was swinging his fists, felt something strange and lifted his head.

Park Junseo’s physique wasn’t this large. He wasn’t this heavy, and he didn’t smell this good… Listing the thoughts that came to mind haphazardly, Yiwon asked cautiously.

“…Director?”

“Look at this state you’re in.”

“…H-How…”

The hand that had been forcing his wrist was slowly released. Cha Seokjoo covered his lips with his index finger and emphasized, “Shh.” Yiwon nodded in a daze. His mind was a total mess, not knowing what was going on.

“As if to prove you’re a baby. You’ve come this far in the short time I looked away.”

“…”

“What are you going to do with that? Put it down. You almost died just now.”

“…Ah, I’m sorry. I did that because I didn’t know it was the Director.”

The hand of Yiwon, who was holding the rod, had turned white. Since when had he been holding it like this? Once he released his strength, the feeling of blood circulating returned.

“Even if you did know. You deserve to be hit once.”

“…”

He looked up at Cha Seokjoo at the words that followed belatedly. It seemed he was mentioning what happened at the office. In Cha Seokjoo’s own way. He asked with a face devoid of laughter.

“Shall I take a hit? You want to hit me once?”

“…Forget it.”

“I wanted to end it easily by taking a hit.”

“For whose benefit?”

“Mine.”

It was absurd.

Suddenly his head spun and the strength left his legs. A large hand came in and lifted Yiwon’s chin. Cha Seokjoo, who examined Yiwon, grumbled that he had barely managed to make him look pretty, and now he was in this state again.

Cha Seokjoo looked back and beckoned with his finger.

“Taesik.”

“Yes.”

“Bring him here.”

“Yes, Director. Please wait a moment.”

Lights came on in the dark flower farm. Pop, pop, pop. Starting from where Yiwon was standing, the lights that were spreading out gradually lit up the entire vicinity.

Oh Taesik’s back looked excited as he ran forward. The same went for Ma Haeyoung, who was running silently beside him.

It looked like they were conducting a drive-hunt. There was no need to search through several vinyl greenhouses. Park Junseo, who had been clumsily hiding his body, was quickly dragged over and forced to kneel in front of Yiwon.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“What is the meaning of this right now?”

“Not to me, you should say it to this side.”