At the End of That Memory Chapter 34

“…What are you…?”

“Who are you watching?”

The sound of whispering words rang in my ears. I could feel Minjae opening his eyes wide and looking at me and Kwon Yido alternately. My mother and Seoyoung’s faces turned pale, and I let out a shallow breath and looked away from them.

“…”

My heart felt like it was pounding. The back of my neck was hot, and my chest was hot as if I had swallowed a fireball.

Maybe he wasn’t smiling at me. Maybe I just had a funny thought, or maybe I discovered someone other than myself. But was it because I became overly shameless during my time with him that I feel excited?

He soon sat down as if nothing had happened. Belatedly, his older sister, Kwon Yikyung, turned to look at me, but she too quickly lost interest. I swallowed dry saliva and lowered my head, and my heart, which had started pounding, could not easily calm down.

The founding ceremony was held according to a pre-announced order. The emcee told the history of Seonho Group, and Vice Chairman Kwon Sangmi gave a brief greeting (She apologized for Chairman’s absence and thanked the guests) and presented an employee award ceremony. After all the processes were completed, there was a cutting ceremony for a huge three-layered cake.

My father returned after the first part of the ceremony and when we took a short break. I looked up at the smell of cigarettes passing through my nose, and couldn’t hide my embarrassment when I saw his emaciated face. Not only did his eyelids become sunken, but he also seemed to have lost a lot of weight.

“…”

What on earth happened in just 15 days? There is no reason for my father, who attached great importance to social prestige, to appear at an event like this with such a distraught face.

However, my mother and younger siblings did not mind seeing my father like that at all. My mother frowned at him for a moment, but even that was short lived. Well, unlike me, who was seeing my father for the first time in a long time, they would have always seen each other in the same house.

“…”

So I just kept my mouth shut without saying anything. I was in a situation where I needed to ask how well he was, but we weren’t in the mood to talk warmly. It felt like walking on a frozen lake, if I made a mistake, everything would break apart.

Throughout the second leg of the ceremony, I calmed down my complicated feelings and watched my father. My father didn’t even look at me, and that actually made me more nervous. Are you angry or are you just ignoring me? Or maybe it was something else, I couldn’t figure out.

“I hope you enjoy the food we prepared and have a comfortable time.”

Finally, after all the ceremonies were over, thunderous applause broke out. In a separate, empty banquet hall, chefs invited from Seonho Group prepared food in a buffet style. There were glasses of champagne and finger foods lined up, but most people started to gather in groups without even paying attention.

“Sejin, follow me.”

It was only then that my father spoke to me for the first time. His voice was calm, but fortunately he didn’t sound angry. I neatly adjusted my jacket and followed him as if nothing had happened. What are you trying to tell me, or what business do you have? I didn’t know how much I thought about it in that short period of time.

“Chairman, it’s been a while since I saw you.”

However, the moment my father spoke to someone with a business smile, the whole situation surprisingly made sense. The three or four people gathered together were faces I knew well.

“No, who is this? Isn’t this Chairman Jung Cheolho?”

I felt like my heart had completely relaxed. All the things I was worried about disappeared, and instead, only helplessness and emptiness remained. I had to secretly clench my fists because I was trying to laugh unconsciously.

“We can all see all of the crowd here. He must be the Omega son you raised with affection, right?”

As always, it was time to play the good son. The reason my father, who didn’t even say hello to greet me, brought me was because he needed my presence. It wasn’t because he had something to say to me, or to mention the events of that day.

“Your name…What was it, again?”

“…Jung Sejin.”

I smiled politely and gave a slight bow. Although my mind turned completely blank, my body moved naturally as if he was outputting the inputted information. I rehearsed my actions from childhood until now, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

“You’ve grown so tall. How old are you this year?”

“I just turned 29.”

It was enough to be a great child under a kind father. Even though I was adopted, all I had to do was show him no wrinkles and act gently as if I had been raised with lots of love. When someone gave me a compliment, I was humble and didn’t forget to take myself down a level.

“You should find a great woman to marry soon. Oh, since you’re an Omega, dare I say you should find a man?”

Haha, my father guffawed and such expressions looked really happy. My father patted me on the back in a friendly way, asking them jokingly about who he could send his beloved to. When he implied that I was a beloved son, it was more heartbreaking and I had to cover up the ring mark left on my ring finger.

“I heard Chairman Jung is a really nice person.”

“Oh, no, Chairman.”

The emptiness that flooded in remained a hole so large that nothing could fill it. I felt like I had already run out of energy just by responding gratefully to the polite greetings coming from people around me and saying a few empty words on my part.

‘If you don’t want to attend, feel free to say so.’

While I was laughing and talking, Kwon Yido’s words suddenly came to mind. It was already in the past, but it occurred to me later. If, at that time, I said I didn’t want to attend. If that were the case, I wonder if Kwon Yido would have set me free.

* * *

Usually, when people with a purpose gather together, they have conversations that involve beating around the bush to get what they want. They endlessly exchange updates and compliments with each other, and only when the story comes to a close does the real topic come out. If this meaningless conversation continued for about an hour, my mental strength would naturally increase.

“So this time I…”

He was the second son of a famous construction company chairman. The man, who seemed to be at most one or two years older than me, boasted an ability to rub elbows comparable to that of most presidents. Full of sinful and useless information, the number of gossip and scandals I have heard about him had already exceeded ten fingers.

“That’s amazing. Not everyone does it.”

“Right? As expected, you know something.”

My father had already disappeared a long time ago to go smoke a cigarette with the Chairman, which was his original purpose. He smoked a cigar he had imported from abroad, and he offered it to me as well, but I quickly turned it away and was talking to others.

“Oh, this is my business card…”

The man took out a business card from his inner pocket and casually held it out. Business cards are usually exchanged first, but I guess he was too busy chatting. Aside from the fact that I had received a lot of business cards, the problem was that I had no use of them.

“What should I do about this? I don’t have a business card with me right now.”

The first few times I said I left the company was enough. I said it enough times that I got tired of saying that the reason I quit my job was because of ‘other studies.’ However, I couldn’t refuse the business card itself, so I had no choice but to smile and answer like this.

“I will take good care of it and get back to you.”

In the first place, about nine times out of ten, it was a business card handed out as a courtesy. They probably didn’t expect anything from me, and wanted to make an impression through it clumsily. So, by remembering the affiliation and name, I had already done everything I could.

From there, two business cards from the construction industry, three business cards from the financial industry, and finally, one business card from each of the three broadcasting companies. With my inner pockets getting bigger, I secretly sighed and massaged my sore eyes. I didn’t sleep well for the past few days, and I was exhausted from talking to many people.

So I let out a small sigh and slowly took a step back. At that moment, the man I was talking to was exchanging greetings with another group. I thought it was time to catch my breath for a moment, so I turned around, but just then I bumped into someone who was passing by behind me.

“…Um.”

I felt a wet feeling around my stomach. It was because the person I bumped into spilled the wine he was holding. The pungent aroma of alcohol, along with the unique sweet smell of wine, passed my nose.

“Oh my, how could I…?”

The person speaking in a slurred tone was Kwon Yijung, whom I had met in the bathroom earlier. He was holding an empty wine glass in one hand, and the other hand was in his pocket. He looked at my hand and my stomach alternately, narrowed his eyes and made an apologetic face.

“Your clothes are all wet. Are you okay?”

Why is this person here?

“…Ah yes. it’s okay.”

I responded reflexively and looked around without making it obvious. Kwon Yido had not been seen since earlier, but Kwon Sangmi and Kwon Yikyung were chatting with a group of people in front. Kwon Yijung should have been over there, not here.

“It’s wine, the stains must be serious.”

As he said, dark purple marks spread across the light colored vest. Why drink wine when there is so much champagne? Even if it was unfortunate, it couldn’t be to this extent.

“I will reimburse you for the cost for dry-cleaning,”

“No, it’s a mistake. You don’t have to worry about it.”

I shook my head and smiled slightly to show that it was okay. It wasn’t the clothes I bought anyway, and there was no benefit in making things bigger. If my father saw him, he would swear at me, calling me a poor bastard, so I just planned to ease the situation.

Fortunately, except for a few people nearby, very few people paid attention to us. Each person was busy talking, and Kwon Yijung was not a person who had any merit because they were not that close. Most of the ambitious people were already wagging their tails near Kwon Sangmi over there.

“But how can I…? I ruined your clothes.”

However, Kwon Yijung seemed to have no intention of doing as I wanted. He put the wine glass down on the table and suddenly grabbed my arm. When I narrowed my eyes at the sudden contact, he spoke with a bright smile on his face.

“Let’s go to the washroom.”

“…”

He must have known that these were stains which couldn’t be washed away with water. Rather, if it got wet, it would be irreparably damaged.

“I really…”

“Jung Sejin, don’t be like this between acquaintances.”

My mouth was tightly shut. The name ‘Jung Sejin’ came out of his mouth. It was not surprising that he knew my name, but the moment he called me like that, a shiver ran down my spine.

“We can’t be rude to the guests who tried their best to attend. Let’s go together.”

It was a similar feeling to the one I felt in the bathroom earlier. A sense of rejection rose from my toes and grabbed the back of my neck. It was slowly constricting my breathing, and when I ran out of oxygen, it felt like I was being stabbed in the area around my chest.

“… I want you to let go.”

“Oh, your hands?”

After barely saying anything, he let go of my arm as if wondering if it was something difficult. As I straightened my crumpled jacket, he chuckled and muttered.

“You’re very shy…”

Should I say it is an instinctive feeling? It didn’t feel good. It was one thing to keep trying to take me with you, and the other to forcefully push me when I say it’s okay. Maybe I was just being sensitive, but it all seemed like an attempt to create an excuse for something.

“Let’s go. We need to resolve this quickly before it gets stained.”

Still, I had no choice but to follow him. It wasn’t a good time to leave, but it would be much better if I didn’t cause a fuss here. The good news was that my father went out to smoke and hadn’t returned yet.

When leaving the banquet hall with Kwon Yijung, our eyes met Lee Taeseong, who was standing at the doorway. He looked at me with puzzled eyes and then frowned at the mess of clothes. It was as if his gaze was unsophisticated, but when he actually looked at my face, his eyes became serious.

“…”

“…”

The glance that passed by for a split second contained so many things that could not be expressed in words. I shrugged my shoulders, but Lee Taeseong looked at me and Kwon Yijung back and forth with sharp eyes. Perhaps not noticing Lee Taeseong, Kwon Yijung spoke in a light voice.

“Would you rather get a room? It would be better since it is a hotel anyway.”

“No, I don’t have to.”

Kwon Yijung walked ahead, and I followed behind him. The leisurely gait was similar to Kwon Yido’s, but subtly different.

Lee Taeseong quietly followed us a few steps behind.

* * *

The place Kwon Yijung headed to was a bathroom located far from the banquet hall. I wondered why he was going this far, but before I could ask, I heard that it would be troublesome if people saw me. The nuance was very subtle, but I pretended not to notice and ignored his words.

“Wouldn’t you really be better off going to a room?”

Kwon Yijung asked that question more than five times without any exaggeration. I didn’t know what kind of answer he expected from me, but all I could say was “It’s okay.” I didn’t want to get a hotel room only because my clothes were stained, and I didn’t want to do anything that might cause a rift with someone I was meeting for the first time.

“You’re more stubborn than you look. Actually, kids who look like Jung Sejin actually have a worse temper.”

There was a hint of excitement in him, as if there was something good about it. I suppressed the anxiety that was rising for no reason and widened the distance between me and him a little more. Of course, even if I lagged just a little bit, he urged me to come as quickly as a ghost.

“…I think we’ve already passed two bathrooms.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m going to go to the last bathroom over there.”

What he pointed to was the men’s restroom in the corner of the lobby. It was late at that time, there were only a few employees guarding the hall. Kwon Yijung lightly ignored the greetings of everyone he encountered, and as soon as he arrived in front of the bathroom, he spoke in a commanding tone.

“Go in.”

“…”

Without being noticed, I looked around. No matter how remote the place was, there wasn’t a single employee wandering around. There had already been a couple of people who had made eye contact with me. Moreover, he might now know it, but Lee Taeseong was probably not far away either.

As I reflected on that fact, I forced myself to calm my pounding heart. An unexplainable feeling of anxiety continued to flood me from the moment I first saw Kwon Yijung’s face. There was no reason to feel so afraid of someone I’d just met for the first time in my life. As a man against a man, there was nothing that could be harmed.

When I went into the bathroom with Kwon Yijung, I heard something strange outside. It was a clattering sound, like a hard object hitting the floor.

“Didn’t you hear something?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

He answered casually with a calm face. It was such a shameless reaction that I wondered if I had misheard. As I entered the bathroom with my entire body alert, Kwon Yijung, who stood against the entrance, tilted his chin.

“Take off that jacket first.”

As I said before, the nuance is strange. To be exact, those eyes were looking at me. The way my father looked at me up and down as if trying to evaluate the value which gave me a different and uncomfortable feeling.

“…Representative Kwon Yijung.”

So instead of taking off my jacket, I took a step behind him. I had no intention of washing my coat with water in the first place, and the reason I followed him was simply because I didn’t want to make a fuss.

“As I said before, I’m really fine. It’s not a mark that can be rubbed with water anyway.”

“Well … Of course I know that.”

Kwon Yijung smiled with a meek face and nodded. He slowly approached me. As I took a step back, he loosened his tie and chuckled.

“Why are you acting so innocent? You followed me knowingly, after all.”