ANTITOXIN Chapter 29

“It should be easy to make progress.”

“…Progress?”

“Progress?” The man giggled, mimicking Seolwon’s tone.

“Are you asking because you genuinely don’t understand? Or is this a naive concept you’re playing?”

Since it was naturally the former, Seolwon answered with a bewildered expression instead. Just as the man opened his mouth to say something in response, a growl from Seolwon’s stomach beat him to the punch.

“Ah…”

Embarrassed by the sound, which was too loud to ignore, Seolwon quickly wrapped his arms around his stomach. But it was no use. Once more, his insides let out a resounding roar. At this point, it was practically a protest demanding food.

“Whoa,” the man exclaimed with an impressed look.

“That cry for food is pretty aggressive. I feel like I just got cursed out for starving you.”

To anyone watching, he didn’t look genuinely surprised at all; it was closer to teasing.

Seolwon’s cheeks flushed as he stammered.

“N-No, it’s not…”

It made sense for him to be hungry. He had been starving since yesterday evening. Although there had been plenty of food at the drinking party, the atmosphere hadn’t been relaxed enough to eat, nor did he have the appetite, so he had barely touched it. It was as good as starving.

Of course, he had no intention of asking the man for a meal. The problem was that the man didn’t give him a chance to refuse.

“Alright, I get it, so follow me.”

Springing to his feet, he walked toward the opposite side. To anyone looking, it was clear he intended to feed him. Seolwon didn’t follow immediately and hesitated. His burden felt far greater than any sense of gratitude.

Noticing that Seolwon wasn’t following, the man came to a halt halfway. Turning only his head, he urged Seolwon forward.

“Why are you just standing there? Does that mean you want me to carry you over, or something?”

It had to be a joke, but it didn’t sound like one. It felt like he would truly do it if Seolwon didn’t follow. Even if walking was uncomfortable, it was better than being carried by that man. Having made that judgment, Seolwon quickly took a step. Seeing this, the man smirked.

Following the man across the wide living room to the opposite side led to a short hallway. At the end of the hallway was a dining room equipped with a large dining table and various kitchen appliances. Just as expected, this place was also excessively neat, much like the bedroom. Did it feel less like a living space and more like a model home? Though he had never been to one, it gave a rough impression similar to such a place.

Entering first, the man sat down in a dining chair and pulled out his phone. Tap, tap, tap. Manipulating the screen with his fingers, he threw out the options.

“Western, Korean, Japanese. What do you want?”

It seemed he was planning to order delivery.

Since he wasn’t a picky eater, Seolwon was about to say anything was fine.

“For the record, ‘anything’ isn’t on the menu.”

The man beat him to the punch this time too. Left with no choice, Seolwon picked the one that appealed to him the most.

“I’ll have Korean food.”

“Okay.”

Nodding his head, he tapped the screen a few more times and placed his phone on the dining table. After that, he stood up again and approached the kitchen island.

“Do you need coffee too?”

The man took a coffee capsule out of a drawer and showed it to Seolwon. Seolwon shook his head. Because he was quite sensitive to caffeine, he usually didn’t drink it unless he was working.

Without asking a second time, he inserted the capsule in his hand into the slot of the coffee machine. Placing a cup beneath the spout and pressing the button, the machine preheated with a low hum. Soon, a brown liquid began to trickle down like a thin thread. Naturally, the aroma of coffee rapidly spread through the air. It was a scent where a subtle sweetness coexisted with bitterness. The man savored the coffee aroma, nodding his head as if he liked it. That series of movements was clean and without any waste, as if demonstrating it was an everyday routine.

Carrying the coffee cup, he returned to the dining table. Sitting down, he looked at Seolwon, who was still standing blankly, and asked.

“Are you planning to eat standing up?”

At the indirect suggestion to sit, Seolwon hesitated before sitting in a nearby chair. It was directly opposite the man.

Meanwhile, the man took a sip of his coffee and broke the ice.

“It’ll take some time for the food to be ready, so shall we finish the blind date in the meantime?”

Blind date. That word, overflowing with a sense of incompatibility, popped out again. Seolwon furrowed his brows. Was it because the location and situation were different? The word that had elicited a sense of terror yesterday felt like nothing more than a dull joke today.

A blind date is a term commonly used for a meeting with the purpose of dating or marriage. Yet he was a man and the opponent was a man too. What nonsense was a blind date between two men? If someone criticized him for having a conservative mindset, he had nothing to say, but by Seolwon’s standards, that was how it was. Furthermore, Seolwon had no reason to build an acquaintance with that man. Rather, his only wish was to never see him again.

Regrettably, he was not given the opportunity to state that feeling honestly.

“First, self-introductions. I am Cha Jaeyi. My age is forty this year.”

It was because the man kept driving the conversation forward as he pleased, like this.

By the way.

“Pardon?”

Forty? Forty years old?

Seolwon was genuinely shocked. Because he didn’t look like that at all.

“I know. I look admirably young for my age.”

Honestly, he couldn’t deny it. No matter how one looked at him, he absolutely did not look that age. Not just himself, but anyone else would probably have a similar reaction.

“It’s a joke meant to make you think that.”

“…Yes. …Pardon?”

Wait a minute…

A joke? So that means…

“I’m a long way away from turning forty.”

…It was a lie.

Seolwon’s gaze turned cold, driven perhaps by the deepest annoyance he had ever felt in his life.

The man, Cha Jaeyi, giggled. Despite the freezing reaction from his opponent, there wasn’t a trace of embarrassment on him. On the contrary, he just found it amusing.

“Look at that glare. Your expression says exactly, ‘What is this bastard saying?’ You’re so damn bad-mannered and cute. I like it. You’re exactly my taste.”

Seolwon thought to himself: no matter how one looked at it, his taste was definitely not normal.

“Anyway, we’ll reveal our ages once we get a bit closer. It’s no fun if we reveal everything from the start. There needs to be the thrill of getting to know each other, don’t you think?”

Seolwon answered in his mind: I don’t really want to get to know you.

“For your information, my hobby is interesting things. My specialty is making money. My taste is interesting things that make money worth spending.”

Information that couldn’t even be uncovered through shamanic illness poured smoothly out of Cha Jaeyi’s mouth… though he wasn’t sure if it was useful. Still, just in case, Seolwon listened quietly.

“My blood type is O. I don’t know my MBTI. There were too many questions, so it was a hassle to take the test. I also wonder if there’s any strict need to know it.”

If nothing else, it was clear he was an extrovert.

“What else is there? Ah, my job. My job is… well, let’s just go with businessman for now.”

To be precise, he was probably an arms broker, but the expression businessman was also correct in a broad sense.

Be that as it may, to think he would share information so easily. It was a moment where he felt pity for President Kim, who had exerted himself by planting people and bribing all sorts of places with money. Despite taking such pains, hadn’t he failed to find out even his real name? There was even an employee who died while digging into his background. Since only one person was explicitly confirmed, the rest of the people reported missing would likely be the same story. Perhaps because he knew the whole tale, Seolwon felt a sense of futility that went beyond feeling relieved.

“I think that’s enough for my introduction. Now, it’s Mr. Han Seolwon’s turn.”

Cha Jaeyi pointed at Seolwon with his hand.

Unprepared, Seolwon hesitated before opening his mouth with a reluctant expression.

“I am… Han Seolwon, and I turned twenty-six. And…”

What more should he say?

Seolwon couldn’t continue further and just puckered his lips. Long ago, when he interviewed for part-time jobs, the hardest part had always been the self-introduction. It was highly probable that failing most of them was due to that reason. If even an interview was like that, how much worse would a blind date be? Far from attempting one, he had never even possessed the desire to do so.

As if noticing Seolwon’s state of not knowing what more to say rather than purposely trying to hide it, Cha Jaeyi tossed out a question.

“Hobby?”

“…I don’t particularly have one.”

“Specialty?”

“…I’m not really sure.”

“Taste?”

“…I’ve never thought about it.”

“Wow, damn!”

Cha Jaeyi let out an exclamation.

“You’re mind-bogglingly difficult, aren’t you? This is the first time I’ve heard such a fresh response.”

It was language where it was confusing whether he meant it in a good way or a bad way.

“Well, fine. Then your job? Ah, right, did you say you were a shaman?”

“No, I’m not a shaman…”

“You said you were a shaman yesterday. Did you perhaps scam me?”