Midday Guest Chapter 67

Oh Taesik was sincerely confused. Then, after getting scolded by Cha Seokjoo, he snapped out of it, saying, “Ah! The Little Boss was staying at the Director’s house, that’s right.”

“What’s going on.”

— Ah, yes! Actually, I was trying to call you, Director, but you weren’t picking up, so I was in the middle of calling around here and there—.

Cha Seokjoo pressed his fingers firmly against his eyelids and spoke briefly.

“Taesik, the main point.”

— It’s about Executive Director Kang Dohyun.

“What about him.”

— I heard an accident has happened.

“Is he getting into trouble something new?”

— This time, the trouble he caused is a bit frightening.

By then, Cha Seokjoo’s body was halfway sat up.

“What is it?”

— It seems there was an accident while he was trying to start a business domestically using items from a Hong Kong organization. They say he is currently being detained locally….

Cha Seokjoo let out a long sigh with a sincerely annoyed expression.

“How much.”

— Five hundred units.

Items from a Hong Kong organization, five hundred units. Yiwon’s ears perked up at the string of unknown words. As he watched Cha Seokjoo with sparkling eyes, the man spread his palm and stroked down Yiwon’s face.

“…Ah!”

And then, he also gave a loud slap to the round buttocks. Cha Seokjoo pointed to the side with a flick of his chin. Yiwon tried to roll away to escape the bed but was snatched up firmly.

Cha Seokjoo patted the spot next to him with his hand. Yiwon quietly lay flat on top of it.

“Does the old man know too?”

— Yes, he said that you must attend the breakfast meeting tomorrow, Director.

“Tell him I understand.”

Another business trip? For some reason, it felt like the homeowner had changed. Since coming up to Seoul, it felt like it wasn’t easy even to see his face, so he felt a bit of a sulky disappointment, and his feelings were complex and subtle.

— Yes, Director. I will relay that. Please rest. Ah!

Then, in a voice like a typhoon, he shouted, “Hey, Little Boss, you rest too!” Since it wasn’t even on speakerphone but the voice piercing through the phone was so booming, Yiwon also stuck his head out toward the phone and shouted, “Yes, you rest too, Mister!”

Having finished the call, Cha Seokjoo lay down with Yiwon tucked against his side. Yiwon looked up at him and asked.

“Do you have to go?”

“Not right this second.”

“Then?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

Cha Seokjoo pulled Yiwon into his embrace. Even though they had shared their bodies so much…. Despite being in contact with each other, for some reason, the man felt like someone far away.

“Then after tomorrow morning passes… ugh.”

Cha Seokjoo grabbed Yiwon’s chin with one hand to fix it in place. Then, he sucked on his lips as if swallowing them. His lips, already swollen thick, felt a stinging sensation at even a slight brush.

“You still have the strength to blabber.”

Cha Seokjoo asked as he bit Yiwon’s cheek with his teeth. Thinking it was a joke at first, Yiwon was startled when he felt the man putting his weight into it and pushed him away. The entire area where the teeth had touched felt numb. Yiwon rubbed his cheek with his palm and glared at Cha Seokjoo.

“Open your eyes prettily.”

“Then don’t bite me so painfully….”

“Come here, let’s sleep.”

What kind of matter was it that Oh Taesik contacted him at dawn, and even went so far as to find him through Yiwon? He was curious, but he couldn’t ask anything. Cha Seokjoo looked like someone who had already crossed over into another world a long time ago.

Yiwon, feeling that his side had become empty, slowly opened his eyes.

The sun had already risen, but the sleepiness would not subside. The aftereffects of being tormented until late at dawn felt quite heavy. He closed his eyes in a daze and ended up falling back to sleep.

When he woke up again, it was well past 3:00 PM. I guess I was someone who could sleep this late. While lying flat on the bed and quietly exhaling, Yiwon opened his eyes at a sudden passing thought.

The things that happened yesterday, in this same spot, came to mind. From the moment the body, hard as a stone, charged at him as if to crush him, to the moment he was trapped and unable to move by the hot and humid breath while sharing his body with him, until the very moment the bed broke and collapsed….

Reaching that point in his thoughts, Yiwon sat up abruptly. Why is the bed perfectly fine? Was it a dream? Looking around with a bewildered face, he realized he was in a strange place—the guest room.

“…….”

He didn’t expect to initiate the guest room in this manner.

Exiting the guest room with weary steps and opening the bedroom door, Yiwon lost his words in misery. It looked as if a bomb had dropped in the middle of the room.

“…….”

After composing himself and opening his phone, he saw that a few messages had arrived.

[Web Dispatch] Jung Yiwon’s application for reinstatement has been approved.

One was an extremely ordinary text about daily life. And the other was,

Cha Seokjoo: Go down and buy a bed.

Cha Seokjoo: A sturdy one.

Cha Seokjoo: Ah.

Cha Seokjoo: Don’t forget to take the card.

It was a message that had arrived from Cha Seokjoo.

If you took the elevator down from the penthouse, there was a department store. Next to it was also an amusement park. Truthfully, he wanted to go to the amusement park more than the department store, but right now, he had a specific task to do.

Passing through the department store lobby, which looked so flashy it made his head spin, he went to the front of the escalator. After doing an internal search at the kiosk, he went to the corner where home appliances and furniture were sold.

It was a place that would make even the eyes of a person with no greed for material possessions turn. Yiwon, whose hobby was daily cooking, approached upon seeing a hammered pot shining in a bronze hue, but after confirming that a single pot was well over 3 million won, he retreated just as he was. The price was very aggressive.

Moving his steps forward, Yiwon blinked once.

For some reason, it felt like he had seen a lot of similar-looking pots on Cha Seokjoo’s island counter….

“…….”

Instead of feeling envious, he felt a sense of fear. I must never cook at home. He had that thought as well. Imagining himself making fried rice and then scraping it out with a spoon made him have to rub away the goosebumps rising on his forearms.

After passing a few stores similar to that and passing a place where the latest home appliances were shining brilliantly, he finally arrived at the place where furniture was sold.

There were five brands alone that sold beds and mattresses. Two or three of them were familiar because Yiwon had seen them in TV commercials.

Yiwon entered the store that sat largest and widest next to them. It was the brand that manufactured the bed that had collapsed noisily yesterday.

Yiwon: Don’t I have to lie on it?

Cha Seokjoo: You lie on it.

Yiwon: The mattress firmness is all different and you’ll have to choose the design too.

Cha Seokjoo: Mattress from the same store.

Cha Seokjoo: Frame, you decide.

Yiwon: Then I’ll just order for now.

Yiwon: So make sure to check later.

Yiwon looked back at the conversation he had shared with Cha Seokjoo before coming to the department store. The last message he sent was still in an unread state.

Is he very busy?

If Oh Taesik called in the middle of the dawn like that and went so far as to look for him through Yiwon to find Cha Seokjoo, it seemed like it wouldn’t be an ordinary matter….

Yiwon put the phone in his pocket and looked at the store. He had merely given it a look, but a staff member came out to the entrance to attend to him.

The staff member gave various pieces of information about mattresses and sleep. However, Yiwon was interested in only one condition. It must be unconditionally sturdy.

While the staff member walked between the beds and mattresses displayed in the store and poured out explanations, Yiwon repeatedly grabbed the headboards of the beds and quietly tried shaking them.

Then he was introduced to the bed frame that he had broken yesterday, and he also got to see a new product that was said to have just come out. The sturdy frame looked like it wouldn’t budge even if one swung a crowbar at it.

As Yiwon showed interest, the staff member added an explanation.

“It’s the most popular item lately.”

“…Ah, yes.”

As Yiwon’s deliberation grew long, the staff member pointed to the bed right next to it.

“This product is a steady seller too. It’s an item with consistent reactions for several years.”

The frame introduced as a steady seller was the model that had failed to withstand Cha Seokjoo’s strength and collapsed yesterday. Since it didn’t seem right to buy the exact same thing, he looked back at the model that was said to be a new product.

Then, seeing the price written on the nightstand next to the bed, he swallowed hard. The price was 75 million won.

“You came at a good time. There is a department store gift certificate event going on now.”

He received information that there would be a 1 million won discount, but it didn’t really hit home.

“…I’ll, I’ll just take a look around once and come back.”

Receiving a polite farewell from the staff member, he looked through the other stores one by one. Then a stone bed caught his eye.

He even tried lying on it for a moment, but he stood up immediately. It would be sturdy for sure, but if they did it here…. Yiwon quietly placed his hand on his waist. At that time, it felt like his own body would break instead of the bed.

In the end, he went back to the first store. That was the brand Cha Seokjoo requested anyway. The staff member welcomed Yiwon, who had visited again, even more warmly. After ordering the frame as the new product, when asked what mattress firmness he would like, just in case, he asked if Cha Seokjoo was in the past customer records.

“Oh my, you were a customer who was already using our products.”

“…Yes.”

“It’s saved in the customer information. Then for the mattress, should I give you the same product as the model saved from before?”

While mulling over the staff member’s question, a curiosity popped into Yiwon’s head. It was a thought that occurred to him truly all of a sudden.

“By any chance… could I also know which models were used… in the past?”

“Ah, there is one case. The product has been upgraded so the model name has changed, but the functions are similar, so you won’t have to worry.”