OTC Chapter 4

No one had ever cursed at her to her face.

To begin with, Jung Eunkyo’s life had been remarkably uneventful. Her personality wasn’t particularly striking enough to displease anyone, nor was she particularly sociable enough to have a wide circle of friends.

Eunkyo thought of herself as as a person of neutral colors, or like a photograph with a blurry filter applied.

So naturally, she had never had a heated argument with anyone, nor had she ever been cursed at for being disliked.

At least, not until now.

Eunkyo, who nearly collapsed from shock, let out a hollow laugh as she looked at the man gripping her shoulders.

“I apologize.”

Then, the man’s large, long fingertips touched the back of her hand as she rubbed her bruised throat.

“I-It’s okay.”

“If I’d known you were my sunbae, I wouldn’t have…”

Did he mean he mistook her for someone else? The man, who just moments ago had spewed vulgar curses at her, now looked flustered, his perfectly shaped eyebrows even drooping.

“I’m really fine.”

Eventually, Lee Jaeheon took her wrist and anxiously examined the area below her chin where he had pressed.

The proper response would have been to step back, but she was quite startled, and his approaching face and scent were so much to her liking that she couldn’t. No, she chose not to.

“You’re not fine. It looks a little red.”

“I’m truly okay. But… you’re Mr. Lee Jaeheon, right?”

Subtly pulling her wrist free from Lee Jaeheon’s grasp, she pulled down her half-removed cap.

At her brazen look that insisted, I don’t know you well, a chuckle escaped the man’s lips.

“I recognized you as soon as the lights came on.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m not good at remembering faces.”

Eunkyo lied, pretending not to be flustered.

They had only exchanged glances a few times and awkwardly introduced themselves. In a relationship where it was difficult to even refer to each other as acquaintances, let alone sunbae-hoobae (seniors and juniors), this level of distance felt just right.

“But why are you here?”

As she took a step back, he politely moved aside and gave an embarrassed laugh.

“This is my studio. I signed the lease.” 

“Here…?”

“Yes. Moving in tomorrow morning.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She felt dazed, as if she had been hit in the back of the head with a blunt club. She tried not to show her surprise, but her light brown pupils trembled in confusion. She thought she might have even muttered, “No way.”

“What about you, sunbae?”

“I… I came to clean up the things piled up here….”

“Ah.”

At that moment, Kim Haeda came downstairs. Calling Eunkyo’s name as he opened the door, Kim Haeda’s eyes widened in surprise as he spotted Lee Jaeheon. But he quickly grasped the situation. And then, he smoothly lightened the mood by saying, “What brings the tenant here at this hour?”

“So these were yours, sunbae.”

Lee Jaeheon’s muttering, as if to himself, brought Eunkyo back to her senses. She stammered, hesitantly glancing at the piled-up belongings.

“It’s not mine. I mean, I piled it up, but… I meant it doesn’t belong to me.”

He understood her lousy excuse perfectly.

“Then just leave them. I’ll take care of it tomorrow when I move my things in.”

“No, I can’t inconvenience you. I’ll clean them up.”

“You said it wasn’t yours.”

“To be precise… well, these things are mine. I appreciate the offer, but I’ll do it.”

“I wasn’t doing it for you, sunbae.”

What…?

A strange amusement flickered in Lee Jaeheon’s eyes as he looked down at her bewildered face. His narrowing, deep, dark eyes seemed to gleam with an unusual light.

“Honestly… I don’t like other people rummaging through my space.”

For a fleeting moment, she saw the man’s true face.

The irritability and annoyance hidden beneath his polite tone. The kindness he had shown the people at the recording studio was gone, and this cynical side seemed to be Lee Jaeheon’s true self.

“But still…”

“Yeah, whoever cleans it up, it’s all the same, right? If the tenant takes care of it, it’s convenient and good for us. Please do it for us. In exchange, drinks are free for a week.”

Unable to watch any longer, Kim Haeda interrupted her, cutting her off mid-sentence. Then, uncharacteristically smooth-talking, he tugged on her shoulder. Eunkyo discreetly slipped the ring case into her pocket.

“Then, let’s just throw everything away.”

Lee Jaeheon, his hands in his pockets, glanced between Eunkyo and the belongings, then smiled brightly. It was a rather insincere smile, even at best.

“You’re really going to throw everything away, right? Dispose of it all at once as trash.”

“I won’t dump it illegally.”

Hesitating, she reluctantly agreed.

Well, it worked out well.

If it hadn’t been Lee Jaeheon, she probably wouldn’t have been able to get rid of the things today. In reality, she hadn’t wanted to dig up the grave of those memories she didn’t even want to touch.

“Then, can I go now?”

“Going up?”

Kim Haeda asked, turning his head after staring silently at Lee Jaeheon for a moment. Eunkyo took off her cap and wiped her sweat-drenched hair.

“Yeah, I want to wash up. I feel like I smell like sweat all over.”

“Good, you really should go wash up.”

“Shut up, you’re the one who needs a shower. Um… and good luck with the move, Mr. Lee Jaeheon. Thanks for taking care of the trash.”

She bowed politely and walked out without looking back. Then, footsteps, neither fast nor slow, followed behind her.

“By the way, sunbae, do you live here too?”

Lee Jaeheon, who had followed her out, asked. Even though she had climbed two steps, their heights were similar. 

Was he close to 190cm tall? 

“Yes. I live upstairs.”

“And you work at the cafe?”

Sweat beaded in her palms at his interrogative questions.

“Technically, I’m a co-owner.”

“I heard you’re a writer.” 

“…I write too. When I feel like it.”

“Ah.”

He wasn’t just tall. He was a man clad in an aura of presence like armor, emanating from his broad shoulders and sharp, smooth features. His low, gentle voice, which had awakened a new preference within her, was a bonus.

After nodding his head a few times, Lee Jaeheon returned to his studio without so much as a goodbye. Eunkyo craned her neck, imprinting his retreating figure in her memory.

Then, with a sudden sense of danger, she shook her head. She didn’t want to get involved with a man five years younger than her.

Returning home as if fleeing, Eunkyo immediately took a shower. Drying her wet hair with the hot air of the hairdryer, she turned on the OTT drama¹ she had been waiting for new episodes of.

Then she remembered the ring she had taken from the storage room.

“Why did I bring this?”

Eunkyo took out the mint-colored ring case from the laundry basket. Where a pair of rings should have been, a single, solitary ring sat forlornly.

She had thrown everything else away without a second thought, yet she had clung to this pathetic remnant, something she had carefully hidden away, thinking she might need it someday when times got tough.

She didn’t need to do that anymore.

Letting out a long sigh, she plopped down on the soft sofa.

She tried on the ring for the first time in a long time. Even after all these years, it still fit perfectly.

Eunkyo, who had been stretching out her left hand towards the dark ceiling, suddenly came to her senses and took the ring off, putting it back in the case.

“I’m crazy.”

Turning on the fan with her toe, she opened the large window on the left side of the living room. It was a window she rarely opened because it didn’t have a screen, but it was the only place in the building where she could look down at the basement window.

Eunkyo leaned out slightly.

A bright light spilled from the basement window, indicating the man hadn’t gone home yet. Although it was a view she saw every day, it felt different somehow.

Taking a deep breath, she closed the window. Perhaps a mosquito had bitten her in that short time, as the corner of her lip felt itchy and tingling.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

The shape of the box crumpled under his foot. Lee Jaeheon’s gaze, which he had been rubbing along his dark, straight eyebrows, darkened.

His eyes were fixed on a photograph of a man and a woman. To be precise, it was a photo of Jung Eunkyo and her ex-boyfriend, Lee Dohyun.

From the cell phone pressed to his ear came his mother’s sleepy, whining voice.

-I told you I’d get you a spot at the art center, why are you making me worry by moving into that kind of neighborhood, huh?

“This place is close to the university and it’s nice, Mom. You’ve had too much wine again today. Who were you drinking with? That man?” 

Contrary to his coldly set expression, his voice was gentle and affectionate.

-Of course. Your dad’s cooking is getting better and better, isn’t it? He even prepared the hoe (raw fish) himself instead of Secretary Bae.

“Wow, our No Yeosa-nim² must have been pleased. Anyway, don’t worry about me. I needed a comfortable space to work, not a fancy place.”

-Even so, you’re supposed to be the face of the foundation…

Jaeheon listened to his mother’s loving nagging with one ear and nudged Jung Eunkyo’s belongings with his foot. Opening a fairly usable metal drawer, he saw a few intact spiral notebooks.

The smiley face drawn on the cover of the ordinary office notebook indicated that it belonged to Jung Eunkyo.

He opened the notebook to find pages filled with round, unusually small handwriting. Flipping through the notebook page by page, he discovered a photograph tucked inside like a bookmark.

It was a picture of Jung Eunkyo from behind, tying up her hair at a bus stop on a summer day.

It must have been about five years ago.

Then and now, Jung Eunkyo was pale, slender, delicate, and soft. Like a newly sprouted bud, she was tender.

-Are you even listening to me? Son, if you keep doing this, Mom will be upset.

A smile slipped through his lips as he pocketed the photo along with the notebook.

“I’m moving tomorrow morning. I’m a little busy right now, Mom.”

-Oh, alright! Let’s have dinner together this month. I need to see my son who moved out as soon as he was discharged³. 

“Okay. Then go to sleep. I’ll call you.”

-Okay, son. Call more often. Okay? I’m hanging up now.

Jaeheon shoved his disconnected phone into his back pocket.

Then, casually opening the remaining drawers, he found a half-empty box of condoms. Fuck, he chuckled, unable to contain himself. But his eyes quickly turned cold as they scanned the scattered pile of belongings.

Checking the time on his wristwatch, Jaeheon turned off the lights and left the studio.

“You really didn’t know it was Jung Eunkyo?”

At the entrance to the stairs leading outside, Kim Haeda, who had a cigarette in his mouth, asked as he saw Jaeheon coming up.

Jaeheon smiled brightly and continued climbing the stairs.

“I didn’t. But, hyung, you smoke too?”

“Sometimes.”

“I quit. I thought it wasn’t good for my health. And I also don’t like the smell on my hands.”

Jaeheon stopped in front of Kim Haeda, whose expression was deeply serious. Then, as if avoiding the smoke, he took a step back, and Kim Haeda ran a hand through his hair irritably.

“Anyway… I’m playing along with you because I don’t want to upset Jung Eunkyo. Don’t bring up Lee Dohyun in front of her, and don’t act like you know anything.”

“Why? She still hasn’t forgotten our hyung?”

A flicker of coldness passed through Lee Jaeheon’s slightly upturned eyes.

Kim Haeda pressed his finger against Lee Jaeheon’s chest, warning him.

“It’s not that she hasn’t forgotten him, she’s disgusted by him. So don’t provoke her, just be quiet. You know how she broke up with Lee Dohyun. Don’t let her find out you’re Dohyun’s brother.”

“Ah… right.”

He replied casually, snatched the cigarette from Kim Haeda’s mouth, and dropped it to the floor. After grinding it out with his foot, he nudged the butt towards Kim Haeda’s feet.

“No smoking in the building. Even if you are the landlord, you have to follow the rules. See you tomorrow, Landlord hyung.”

Leaving Kim Haeda behind, who scoffed in disbelief, Lee Jaeheon got into his parked car. He tossed the notebook onto the passenger seat and started the engine. As he looked up, he saw the second-floor window shrouded in darkness.

Jung Eunkyo’s house. He rubbed his twitching lips, feeling as if she might open the window if he called her name.