Chapter 2.7

For Won, the weekend was a day of laziness.

During the leave of absence, he worked all day, so the weekends during his school days were the only rest Won allowed me.

But this time, I had no choice but to give up that weekend.

I had to leave school as soon as possible.

If I couldn't choose a leave of absence anymore, wouldn't there be a temporary measure called getting a job?

I didn't think Woo-jae would follow me to my workplace.

But he was the son of Representative Kwon, so I thought he would naturally step into the company operated by Representative Kwon.

It was more of a hope than a certainty.

Won clenched his lips with his tongue and clicked the mouse.

He moved his eyes quickly, wearing a loose training suit and a baseball cap pulled down low.

The PC room on the weekend was quite noisy.

Despite being impressed by the unabashed swearing, the cursor on the screen continued to move without pause.

I checked all the notices on the Business School website.

I quickly wrote down the documents I needed to prepare on a note and roughly stuffed it into my pocket.

I wiped my forehead with the brim of my hat.

Annoyed by the ceiling that seemed to be coming into my eyes, a frustrated groan burst out.

Won, who was sitting, got up and went to the smoking room to smoke a cigarette.

He bit the match and lit the lighter.

A column of smoke spewed out heavily.

After sucking on the cigarette filter for a while, Won suddenly looked down at his vibrating phone.

"..Isn't this bastard tired of it?"

As soon as he saw the eleven-digit number on the screen, he burst into swearing.

The man who was smoking with him glanced at Won.

Won clearly felt that gaze, but took a long breath.

Won knew that he couldn't avoid Woo-jae in the current situation.

He answered the phone without any delay.

"Why?"

"-Where are you?"

"Where, fuck. Do whatever you want."

The rough curse mingled with the tip of my tongue and crumpled.

In the end, the sound Won vomited was the opposite of his true intentions.

"Outside."

"-Let's meet."

"I'm busy."

"-Even if you're busy, make time."

"I don't have time to chat with you."

"-You'll have time to be watched. Come. I won't wait long."

The call time was very short and ended without warning.

As the call ended, a sense of fatigue seeped in.

Won extinguished the cigarette that had burned down to the filter on the ashtray.

He took out another fresh cigarette.

After smoking three cigarettes in a row, he walked out of the smoking room.

After finishing the PC game, Won looked up at the darkening sky.

The damn beast kid always tells me to come and go.

He chewed on the rising irritation.

At the time of the call with Woo-jae, I didn't hear any mention of the location.

However, Won stretched out his footsteps without hesitation.

Woo-jae clearly knew the geography of this neighborhood.

Sitting comfortably in a hidden bar in a narrow alley, Woo-jae seemed to have visited the bar several times.

However, the place that Won was heading towards was the neighborhood where he lived.

It was the place where Woo-jae first brought Won and waited for him to come again.

Woo-jae vaguely felt that the place was the promised meeting place he had been waiting for alone.

And Won's intuition was spot on without any deviation.

In front, there was a familiar car parked.

There was no need to ponder the identity of the driver.

Woo-jae was already leaning against the car, smoking a cigarette.

Standing far away, watching Woo-jae's back, he took a step again.

At the sound of that faint footstep, Woo-jae turned around.

Except for when he was smoking a cigarette, his body had been motionless.

In the gap where Won stopped walking and started moving, an indeterminate number of people passed by Woo-jae.

Why did Woo-jae happen to turn around, looking scared as they approached?

Woo-jae, who was staring at Won with a monotonous face, dropped his cigarette on the ground.

He neatly groomed his hair and was wearing a suit.

Woo-jae's body moved lightly as if he was fanning the sparks with his shoe.

"Let's go."

Woo-jae's gaze quickly avoided Won.

Before getting into the car, Woo-jae discovered Won standing still with a blunt face and tilted his head slightly.

"Why are you standing there, asking me to open the door?"

No way.

He just hesitated because he was in a bad mood.

Won, who fixed his hat with a stern face, opened the passenger door.

He got into the car and fastened his seatbelt.

The car smoothly glided on the road.

Won glanced outside the window, shifting his fixed gaze.

Unlike his usual carefree laughter, Kwon Woo-jae's face was stiff and rigid.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll know when we get there."

"Yeah."

I wasn't really curious.

A pile of dissatisfaction built up.

Won felt his mouth twitching and turned his head to the side.

He didn't like it.

He didn't expect him to apologize, even if he acted like that.

But still, isn't it normal for someone who is mentally sound to show some signs of remorse?

Unfortunately, Woo-jae didn't seem to care at all about that day's incident.

Suddenly, I felt like my throat was blocked.

I forcefully swallowed my saliva and pierced through it.

While grumbling inwardly, the car stopped in front of a building.

Without even thinking about parking, Woo-jae got out of the car and handed the car keys to a man.

The circle followed Won late.

The place Won brought was a restaurant.

It was not a common restaurant that was commonly found on the streets of Seoul, but it felt like a fine dining establishment.

I wondered what he wanted to do.

I saw Won entering the restaurant with his head tilted.

Won, who was late to enter the building, entered the building with his teeth clenched.

He was wearing training clothes and a loosely worn baseball cap, which did not match the atmosphere of the restaurant at all, but Won didn't seem to care at all.

Although he lost sight of Won for a moment, a staff member approached and guided him to a seat.

"What do you want to do with me?"

Won asked as he sat across from Woo-jae.

"Let's eat."

Did he get possessed by a ghost because he couldn't eat?

Won suppressed his sudden irritation.

"Who said I'm going to eat with you?"

"Then why did you sit down?"

Woo-jae, who had been chewing on the sarcastic tone, smiled briefly.

There is no such extreme as this.

Even without saying a word to Kwon Woo-jae, just facing each other's faces would make him explode with anger.

"If I leave, will you let me go peacefully?"

"I wouldn't do that."

"Forget about eating. I'm not in the mood to eat with an unlucky bastard like you."

Won, who revealed his displeasure on his face, raised his hand and called a staff member.

I felt a staff member approaching from a distance.

"Please bring me the wine list...."

"Please bring the wine I ordered in advance."

"Yes."

He didn't even finish one sentence properly.

As always, Woo-jae, who cut off my words as he pleased, was very arrogant.

The waiter who took the order moved away with a small gesture.

"If you need a sommelier, let me know in advance."

"It's a place that hasn't been open for a year, so there's only one drink that's worth drinking. Today, the purpose is food rather than alcohol."

Woo-jae lightly smiled, rubbing the edge of his lower lip with his index finger.

"I already placed the order in advance. Maybe it's also to the taste of my senior...."

"Are you always this shameless?"

He laughed, not moving his lips, and even nodded lightly as if it wasn't a wrong word.

"That's what people say."

Before the awkward conversation was over, the waiter came with the wine.

After explaining the wine, setting the table, and opening the cork, the waiter finally filled the glass after checking the condition of the wine.

The glass gently rotated as the base of the wine glass was held.

The shimmering wine inside the glass swayed gracefully.

Woo-jae, who didn't pay any attention to the glass, stared at it quietly.

As Woo-jae took a sip of wine, the staff stepped back.

The distinct texture of the wine spread in his mouth.

Of course, there was no time to savor the wine.

It wasn't that comfortable of a place.

Without showing any regret, Won put down the glass.

Tap, tap.

His short nails lightly scratched the stem of the wine glass.

"I'm annoyed."

"I guess I'm the cause of that?"

Even in response to the outburst, Kwon Woo-jae retorted nonchalantly.

He didn't seem to be in a good mood, so I wondered if he wanted to vent, but it seemed like his mood had already improved.

That made me even more angry.

Just then, a staff member approached and set up the steak.

The irritation that couldn't be expressed escaped me.

Won took another sip of wine with an indifferent face.

Saying "I'm done" wasn't an empty phrase, but a plate was placed in front of me.

The smell of the food was appetizing, but I didn't have much of an appetite.

Woo-jae, sitting across from me, quietly sliced his steak.

Woo-jae glanced at me with his lowered eyes.