Midday Guest Chapter 68

Detailed explanations followed after that, but Yiwon tuned them out. It didn’t seem like breaking a bed was a common occurrence… no, somehow a thought flashed through his mind that this might actually be the first time.

Yiwon completed the payment with Cha Seokjoo’s pitch-black card. Since it was the first time in his life paying such a large sum, his hands trembled slightly.

“Thank you. We will contact you again once the delivery date is confirmed.”

The card and receipt were returned together. So, a payment this large actually goes through. Yiwon left the store feeling dazed.

Still, he felt he should report it, so he took a photo of the receipt and sent it to Cha Seokjoo.

Yiwon: I bought it just as you said.

Surprisingly, Cha Seokjoo checked the message immediately.

Cha Seokjoo: Well done.

Yiwon: But they say delivery will take a while.

Cha Seokjoo: It’s fine.

The message made him happy. It was even more so because he hadn’t expected a reply. He was just about to ask what they should do for dinner.

Cha Seokjoo: Baby, when does your semester start?

Yiwon: Since it starts in March…

Yiwon: There are two weeks left.

The message was read immediately, but the conversation cut off. Why was he asking about the start of the semester? As he waited for a moment, a reply flew back instantly.

Cha Seokjoo: Do you have a passport?

Yiwon: No.

He had a memory of going on a family trip when he was very young, but that was a story from well over ten years ago.

Cha Seokjoo: Then go get a passport photo taken.

Yiwon: Why the passport?

Cha Seokjoo: I’m going on an overseas business trip.

An overseas business trip. Does that mean I won’t see him for a few days? Yiwon, whose first thought was that, forgot that Cha Seokjoo had mentioned the passport photo and asked:

Yiwon: How many days are you going for?

Cha Seokjoo: A week should be enough.

Yiwon: Ah.

Cha Seokjoo: We can be back before your semester starts, so don’t worry and go take the photo.

After checking the final message, he stood blankly in the department store hallway, staring intensely at his phone. We can be back before the semester starts?

Yiwon: Am I going too, by any chance?

Cha Seokjoo: Yesyouaregoingtoo.

Seeing that the spaces had gone missing, it seemed he had become busy again. Yiwon sent a short reply for Cha Seokjoo to check later.

Yiwon: Then I’ll take the photo, pick it up, and head home.

As expected, it remained in an unread state. However, he didn’t mind much.

Approaching a kiosk, Yiwon’s fingers moved busily. I wonder if there’s a photo studio. His fingers, which had been flipping through pages for a while, stopped at one place. After exiting the department store and moving to the shopping center….

As Yiwon turned toward his destination, the corners of his mouth were slightly turned up.

That day, Yiwon thought: You really never know what life will bring. He never imagined that a trip, which was at the very bottom of his to-do list for this year, would suddenly jump to number one.

Yiwon borrowed a suitcase from Cha Seokjoo and packed his things. As he moved back and forth between the dressing room and the bathroom, packing daily necessities and clothes, Cha Seokjoo knocked on the door to get his attention.

“What are you picking up and packing so much of?”

“It’s a week-long schedule, so there’s a lot to take care of.”

“And here I thought the baby was trying to run away from home.”

“…….”

He must have been too excited about a trip abroad. In reality, he was just tagging along on an overseas business trip under the pretense of being an executive assistant. He quietly zipped the suitcase, engaged the lock, and stood it by the front door.

While he sat on the sofa and waited for a moment, Cha Seokjoo came down from the second floor. In his hand, he held a bag much smaller than a carry-on suitcase.

“Is that all your luggage?”

“Yeah.”

Yiwon suddenly thought the suitcase sitting alone at the entrance looked like an immigration trunk. Since Cha Seokjoo was the one going to work, he felt embarrassed that he seemed to be the one making a fuss.

Come to think of it, it was the same when he came to Yonggung-ri. He remembered the man entering almost empty-handed and using only a few pieces of clothing that Oh Taesik and Ma Haeyoung brought him.

“Why?”

“You said it was a business trip, but your attire is quite simple.”

“It’s a place I travel to frequently. Most of what I need is already there.”

“…Ah.”

Moving toward the entrance, Cha Seokjoo began pulling Yiwon’s suitcase. Outside the door, Oh Taesik and Ma Haeyoung were on standby.

Oh Taesik offered a greeting in his coarse voice.

“Director, good morning. Little Boss, did you sleep well too?”

“Yes, did you have a good night’s rest?”

“Eeyup, sure did. For us, we sleep well anywhere as long as our heads touch something.”

Then he took over the suitcase from Cha Seokjoo. Watching this, Yiwon approached Oh Taesik. Since he held the title of executive assistant anyway, Yiwon intended to handle the simple tasks.

“I’ll do it.”

“Forget it. This looks bigger than your torso.”

Oh Taesik walked off excitedly, spinning the suitcases in both hands 360 degrees. Yiwon tried to chase after him to take the suitcase back, but Cha Seokjoo caught him by the scruff of the neck.

“Let’s go.”

“…Yes.”

Driving was Ma Haeyoung’s job again today. Yiwon made a resolution that once he returned from this trip, he would get his license and take turns with that man.

After driving for about an hour, they arrived at the airport terminal. Upon getting out and unloading the luggage from the trunk, he saw nearly ten cars that had arrived behind them, from which men like Oh Taesik and Ma Haeyoung poured out in a swarm.

“…….”

Yiwon felt the late winter wind brush against his neck and swallowed hard.

He felt a somewhat dangerous atmosphere coming from these hulks dressed in suit pants, shirts, and jackets. At the same time, the hulks lined up in a row saw Cha Seokjoo and simultaneously snapped into a formal posture.

It felt as though they might bow at the waist and shout “Hyung-nim!” at any moment. There were many ordinary people nearby who had come to use the airport. As Yiwon looked around anxiously, Cha Seokjoo waved his hand to dismiss them.

“Taesik.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Bring those guys along well.”

“Understood.”

Oh Taesik then quietly disappeared along with Ma Haeyoung.

Cha Seokjoo headed in the opposite direction from them. They each pulled a suitcase.

As soon as they entered the terminal, Yiwon’s eyes grew wide. On the large electronic board in front, flight information for arrivals and departures was pouring out constantly, and travelers were incessantly swarming toward the counters to go through departure procedures.

Everyone looked excited, energetic, and happy. Yiwon felt the same. Hong Kong. I’m actually going to Hong Kong.

He went to the ticketing counter with an excited heart, only to find a long line already formed. It looked like they would have to wait a long time. As Yiwon tried to quietly join the tail end, Cha Seokjoo grabbed him by the wrist and pulled.

“We are this way.”

Cha Seokjoo headed toward the first-class ticketing counter. Yiwon checked his luggage immediately and returned with a light heart. In his hand were two passports.

Rrrr—

Cha Seokjoo’s phone rang. After staring at the screen for a moment, he asked for Yiwon’s understanding, gesturing with his chin toward a long bench in front of the counter.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes.”

Cha Seokjoo waited until he confirmed Yiwon was seated before finding a quiet spot nearby. His expression as he continued the call seemed slightly serious.

Yiwon sat on the bench and stared blankly at Cha Seokjoo. He looked more like a person walking a runway than a person going on a business trip….

It wasn’t just Yiwon who felt that way; he kept seeing people passing by stealing glances at him before moving on.

“…….”

In any case, he was a person who attracted attention in many ways. After stealing secret glances at Cha Seokjoo for a while, his gaze became entangled with Cha Seokjoo’s, who had turned to look in Yiwon’s direction.

Cha Seokjoo’s expression changed. The corners of his mouth, which had been frozen somewhat coldly, rose minutely. Yiwon, receiving his gaze, tapped his toes and then turned his head, dropping his eyes.

The two passports in his hand were still unfamiliar. Everything, including the current situation where he was accompanying Cha Seokjoo on a business trip as an executive assistant.

It was only a few days ago that Yiwon had been offered the executive assistant position. It started when he heard that Cha Seokjoo’s actual executive assistant had suddenly come down with a bad cold and wouldn’t be able to go on the trip.

And from there, the passport issuance and ticket reservations followed in rapid succession.

Yiwon opened the front page of his passport and looked at the photo he had taken at the shopping center studio. 설렘, a sense of excitement, was contained in the face looking at the camera with hair tucked back to show the ears.

Then he fiddled with the other passport lying beneath his own. He was curious about what Cha Seokjoo’s photo would look like.

Stealing a glance to the side, he saw the man was still on the phone.

Yiwon subtly opened the cover. His passport had a ten-year validity period and was one year away from expiration. His photo, which would soon be a face from ten years ago, looked much younger than now, possessing a raw, unrefined atmosphere.

It was just as he was about to quietly close the passport.

“…Uh.”

Yiwon, having checked Cha Seokjoo’s date of birth, blinked his eyes open and closed. His mind, calculating the gap between the two, turned slowly. So this means right now…

Ten, eleven, twelve… sixteen.

Sixteen?

A creaking sound came from Yiwon’s neck joint as he turned his head to look at Cha Seokjoo.

Does that mean there’s a sixteen-year age difference between that person and me?

Suddenly, his sense of reality felt blurred. Even when he looked again to see if he had calculated wrong, nothing changed. Yiwon had entered Hanguk University with a math percentile in the top 3 percent. There was no way he was wrong.

“…….”