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I’m currently out for work
Kang Inheon looked down at the text message from Lee Juwon and rubbed the back of his neck.
Lee Juwon had been unreachable for two days now.
Maybe unreachable wasn’t the right word. He didn’t answer his phone, but his texts came long afterward, and his work-related emails arrived on time with feedback.
“Still, something’s weird…”
Rather than weird, it was more disappointing. Lee Juwon was often out for work, but he was always at the company from dawn to dusk, so he could always meet him when he returned from a dungeon. People often asked him his secret to clearing dungeons so quickly, but Kang Inheon couldn’t tell anyone the truth, as it was a reason that belonged only to him.
However, hadn’t it already been two days since he last saw him? He hadn’t come to the company for three days. Even though the size of the company was quite large now, Lee Juwon still didn’t have a secretary, so there was no one to ask about his schedule.
The other employees didn’t seem to care that he hadn’t shown up for work for a few days, as he had always been known for being the epitome of incommunicado and was still getting everything that needed to be done completed. No… they rather liked it.
Sitting in the driver’s seat of his car in an underground parking lot, Kang Inheon tapped the steering wheel with his wrist and, a little impulsively, shifted gears and stepped on the accelerator.
“It should be around here.”
Kang Inheon arrived by a riverside. A crisp autumn breeze blew along the riverside path just outside the city centre. An elderly couple sat on a bench, palms outstretched on their laps, photosynthesizing. A middle-aged woman, pressing her sun cap down like a welder, passed in front of them like she was going to die if she touched sunlight.
Outside the walkway was an apartment complex. Freshly fallen leaves rustled underfoot. He liked the orderly streets with no broken sidewalk blocks or trash left behind.
It was the middle of the day on a weekday, but the streets were alive with activity. A middle-aged woman wearing yellow placed a portable fridge of the same colour on the table and put yakult in a plastic bag. In front of her, a young child, holding their grandmother’s hand, sucked on the yakult with a straw before even paying. A young couple pushing twin strollers lined up behind them.
A simple arrangement of <Für Elise> rang out over the noise of life on the street. It was the music coming from a yellow van backing up with the words “Goryeo Taekwondo” written in large letters on it.
When the van stopped in front of the apartment building’s front gate, the door opened with a clack. Elementary school students in white taekwondo uniforms and colourful sashes poured out. Most of them, regardless of age and gender, had their faces buried in their phones since they got off. They scattered in groups of twos and threes.
“…It’s nice.”
Not too long ago, Lee Juwon finally bought a house through an auction. Kang Inheon parked his car a little further away and took a good look at the surroundings of the home. In fact, he had wanted to go see it since before, but… he wasn’t the type of person to do a housewarming party, so he couldn’t even dream of it.
Anyhow, it made him feel relieved that he moved out of the one-room apartment that looked like it was going to collapse soon and into a decent home. It was worth it to go through all sorts of dungeons, day and night.
Hope wriggled in a corner of his heart again. Wouldn’t Lee Juwon be able to relax now, too? Just like the people here, just like when he was young, just like before. If he took things one at a time like this, wouldn’t he return to how he was back then?
“…Hm?”
He had originally planned to just look around and then leave. He just wanted to use the excuse of not being able to contact him to come and take a look. But as he looked up at the apartment where Lee Juwon was living, he tilted his head.
The light was on in room 2502 of building 207, Lee Juwon’s home.
“There’s no way he left with the lights still on…”
Was he really home? Kang Inheon tried calling him again, but he still didn’t answer. After a moment’s hesitation, Kang Inheon pressed his building’s number on the apartment’s front gate intercom.
Dalalalalan, dalalalalan…
There was only music and no connection. He didn’t really expect him to pick up. He said he was out for work, so there was no way he was home.
Maybe he forgot to turn off the lights. Yeah, that was possible. It was a good change.
He pressed the intercom’s end button, but a sound came from the speaker.
– Who is it?
It was the voice of a young woman.
For some reason, his heart dropped, but Kang Inheon spoke politely, “Hello, is this perhaps CEO Lee’s home?”
– …What? I think you’ve got the wrong number?
Kang Inheon checked the intercom screen again. The red digital number #2072502 was clearly visible. River City Paradise, Building 207, Room 2502. It was clearly Lee Juwon’s house, though?
“…Is this not CEO Lee Juwon’s home?”
– No…
At that moment, a male voice interrupted.
– Lee Juwon? Isn’t that the name of the house owner?
– Ah… is that so? Come to think of it, it seems like that was his name, right?
Kang Inheon understood the situation from the conversation over the intercom.
The autumn sky was still clear and blue, and the apartment complex was peaceful.
Kang Inheon drove back to the house where Lee Juwon originally lived. His mood while driving was distinctly different from earlier. Like his mood, the streets slowly grew narrower, dirtier, and less populated.
The alleys lined with old motels were at their darkest in the middle of the day. It was as quiet as if he were alone in a ruined city rampaged by zombies.
It wasn’t easy to find the way, as many of the one-room apartments didn’t have a proper name or any proper signs, but if you were to say the oldest area among them all, anyone would be able to find it without even needing an address.
There was an adult shop on the first floor and multi-unit one-room housing on the second to fourth floors, but it looked more like a lump of grey concrete than a building. A company car was parked behind it, driven by Lee Juwon. He had a hunch before he came, but it was just as he had expected.
Kwaang!
Pushing past a dented blue drum can with “No Parking” written on it in yellow paint, Kang Inheon stopped the car.
Splash, his white sneakers were soaked in water as soon as he got down. The pavement was bumpy, and he stepped in puddles of water from the previous day’s rain. Muddy puddles with cigarette butts and rotting leaves floating in them reflected the grey buildings. ‘Paradiseville’. The words carved into the building in Myungjo font were worn and grimy, barely legible.
In front of the entrance, a red bin collecting food waste overflowed and reeked of decay. The front gate, leaning at an angle because it wasn’t level with the door frame, was left open. He went up the stairs, which only had traces of the non-slip rubber being ripped off.
Standing in front of room 403, Kang Inheon steadied his breathing. Even before he saw his face, his anger was rising, and he felt hopeless.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Barely being able to calm down his feelings, he pressed the doorbell only after a while had passed. But the discoloured, rectangular doorbell he had pressed only rattled and made no sound.
“……”
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Ktfgf kjr cb jcrkfg mbwlcu ogbw atf lcrlvf. Lbkfnfg, Bjcu Pctfbc tjv jigfjvs rfcrfv atja atfgf kjr rbwfbcf lcrlvf.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
“Rb, ktlmt mgjhs yjrajgv lr…!”
The one who slammed the door open was the neighbour. It was a middle-aged man with a pot-bellied stomach dressed in an undershirt, his arms and shoulders covered in black tattoos. The man made an intimidating expression and looked around the hallway.
“In the middle of the day…”
After making eye contact with Kang Inheon, the man carefully closed the door again.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
After banging on the door for a while, he heard slow footsteps coming from the inside.
With a click, the doorknob turned. However, due to the rusted safety hook, the front door opened only about 10cm. Lee Juwon appeared through the gap.
His appearance was a sight to see.
He usually stuck to a suit anyway, but now he was wearing a white T-shirt with a stretched neck and baggy pants. The brick-red pants looked like they belonged to a high school gym uniform, as they were emblazoned with the logo ‘Haewoon’.
The pants were baggy but short in length, showing off his prominent white ankles. His bare white feet were tucked into old, three-lined slippers.
“…Hunter Kang?”
He could barely hear his voice, hoarse as if he’d been using his throat for days. As if he himself were embarrassed, ahem, Lee Juwon cleared his throat. But his raspy voice didn’t change much as he continued speaking, “How’d you get here…?”
“Are you going to open this?”
Lee Juwon’s dazed face, half hidden by the rusted iron door, revealed the question “Why?”. Kang Inheon knocked on the safety hook and continued, “If this breaks, you’ll have to pay the repair fees.”
It was effective. Lee Juwon quickly undid the safety hook. As soon as he unlocked it, Kang Inheon flung the door open and entered.
As he entered the narrow entrance, he could see the interior all at once, as there was no inner gate.
The interior was simple. It was a single room that was not separated from the kitchen. In front of the mattress was a box of ramen, and on top of that was a laptop. Even though that was all, the room was packed.
“Is this where you’re out of work for?”
“……”
“It seems right to say that it’s your home, though?”
It was still October, but the floor of the north-facing room was cold. The wind was blowing so hard that the palm-sized window rattled incessantly.
Despite this, Lee Juwon’s bangs were soaked with sweat and stuck frantically to his forehead, and his T-shirt was damp and clinging to his back in a triangle shape. His face was not only pale but sickeningly white, and his usually sharp eyes and tone of voice seemed to have disappeared as they became somewhat dazed.
“…Do you want to come in and sit down for a moment?”
Lee Juwon, who had been standing at the entrance, took off his slippers and staggered inside. He sat down on the floor, leaning against the mattress.
Come in and sit down? It was something that you wouldn’t expect to hear from Lee Juwon. Regardless of the state of the house, he was the type of person who would stop at the entrance no matter what place it was and only talk about the point.
It looked like he just didn’t have the strength to stand right now. Seeing him like that, the words didn’t come out nicely.
“There’s nowhere to sit, though?”
“……”
Lee Juwon looked around like he was in someone else’s house and nodded.
“…That’s true.” Checking his phone, he continued to say, “Did something happen at the company?”
“Why did you…”
Lee Juwon’s gaze landed on Kang Inheon. But what Kang Inheon said next was far from Lee Juwon’s scope of expectation.
“Leave the house behind and stay like this again?”
“…What?”
“Not too long ago, you… bought a house.”
Blinking slowly, Lee Juwon reacted a beat late.
“…How does Hunter Kang know about that…?”
“……”
“…What’s the point of letting an expensive house sit there…?”
“Did you rent it out?”
Lee Juwon nodded his head.
“Anyhow, all I was going to do was sleep… Money has to come around…”
“…Still, you should’ve just moved if you had already bought it. This place is too…” Letting out a deep sigh, Kang Inheon spoke only after a while had passed, “…It’s inadequate.”
Lee Juwon tilted his head vaguely and spoke as if mumbling, “It’s not that inadequate…?”
“……”
“It’s not a semi-basement room… It’s not a rooftop room… Rain doesn’t leak in… It’s bright at night… The bathroom is also…”
His slow speech was cut off. Lee Juwon, who was drooping like soaked cotton and mumbling, had closed his eyes at some point. The only sounds in the small room were the rattling of the windows and his soft breathing.
“…Mr. CEO?”
“Ah…”
Lee Juwon’s eyes snapped open. He couldn’t tell whether he had nodded off for a second or whether he had lost consciousness.
“…Are you sick?”
“No.”
Kang Inheon threw the aluminum silver packing that had been lying in the waterless sink onto Lee Juwon’s lap. The rectangular packaging, which should have contained ten antipyretic analgesic drugs, was empty; its silver foil and hard film were all bent and tattered.
He looked at the receipt that came with it and realized that he’d bought them two days ago and that the man who was always frugal with medicine had taken them all and acted carelessly, making something surge inside him.
Lee Juwon blankly stared at the aluminium packaging that had fallen onto his lap before saying, “…I just have a bit of fatigue.”
“Did you go to the hospital?”
“Who goes to the hospital for fatigue…?”
“Who’s incapable of going out for four days due to fatigue?”
Hesitating for a moment, Lee Juwon closed and opened his eyes slowly.
“…I’m sorry about that. Did something happen in the company?”
When Kang Inheon didn’t answer, Lee Juwon rubbed his eyes and turned on his laptop.
“If not, then why the hell…?”
“……”
“…Did I omit something?”
Lee Juwon opened his mail window and checked the message he’d sent this morning. He opened the attachment file and mumbled while looking at it, “There isn’t really a problem with the Blick strategy plan, though…”
“……”
“Is it because Hunter Seok Myungseok was excluded…?”
“……”
“There’s no other reason why Hunter Kang would come all the way here… According to the database, Hunter Seok Myungseok doesn’t have the best capabilities for bird-types… I know that Hunter Kang is close with him, but there’s no helping it.”
“……”
“Ah… and since you’re already here… I’m supposed to meet with the CEO of Hansung this evening, but could you go instead…?”
“……”
“I’ll adequately pitch in a word, so… Hunter Kang can just go there to eat the food…”
“…Why don’t we go to the hospital first?”
Lee Juwon said, checking his phone’s message box again, “Seongeun Hotel lobby, 7 p.m.”
“……”
“…Are you going to go?”
“I’m not going.”
Lee Juwon put his phone down on the floor and raised his gaze to look at Kang Inheon. His eyes, which had been cloudy without focus, became much clearer. Looking at Kang Inheon’s cold face, Lee Juwon said, “Alright, I’ll go then.”
“Where? To the hotel? Looking like that?”
“Ha… Didn’t you say you weren’t going?”
“Anyhow, if I didn’t go, you would’ve gone even if you had to crawl, wouldn’t you?”
“Shit, then what am I supposed to do?! Put Hansung in a difficult situation?”
Lee Juwon shouted, and Kang Inheon gritted his teeth. As if the wind had stopped, the howling died down, and the rattling of the window frame disappeared, becoming silent.
The silence frankly revealed Lee Juwon’s rising and falling shoulders and panting. After forcing himself to catch his breath, Lee Juwon waved his hand.
“That’s enough, so you can go now.”
Kang Inheon, who had been staring down at Lee Juwon, spoke as if enduring something, “…Do you even know what your face looks like right now? Do you know that you look no different from a pale corpse?”
“Ahh…”
Lee Juwon lowered his head and wiped his face with a dry hand.
“…Was that why Hunter Kang’s in such a bad mood?”
Slap!
A sharp friction sound broke the silence in the small room and echoed. Kang Inheon’s eyes widened. Lee Juwon’s cheeks, which had been pale, reddened in the shape of a handprint. At first glance, it looked as if his complexion had returned.
Slap!
After slapping himself hard on both cheeks once more, Lee Juwon stared at Kang Inheon again.
“Is it a little less displeasing to look at me now?”
“……”
“I know you hate to look at me, but you’re picking more of a fight today.”
“……”
“I won’t evade anymore in the future…”
“Get up.”
He didn’t want to argue anymore. Kang Inheon grabbed Lee Juwon’s wrist and pulled him up.
But even as he remained limp, he didn’t follow his hand. Kang Inheon didn’t want to use any strength, so he gritted his teeth and said, “…I’ll pay the hospital bill…”
“Haha…”
Laughter spread as if it were ridiculous.
“Why’s Hunter Kang the one paying my hospital bill? Maybe if it were the other way around.”
Tak, Lee Juwon shook Kang Inheon’s hand off and scrolled down the mouse’s wheel while saying, “I’ll add Hunter Seok Myungseok to Blick, so you can leave now…”
Lee Juwon couldn’t speak any more. His eyes, which had briefly become clear, dully lost their light again and rolled back into white, and his quivering eyelids slid shut. Before his unsupported body could completely collapse, Kang Inheon grabbed him by the shoulders.
He had struck an acupuncture point at the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. He picked up Lee Juwon’s limp body and walked out the entrance.
As he placed Lee Juwon into the car and drove away, the tattooed man next door looked out the window and muttered, “His eyes looked like he was going to kill someone, but did he actually kill…?”
Kang Inheon forced Lee Juwon to be hospitalized at the hospital, but he couldn’t actually go see him throughout. He figured it wouldn’t be good for his recovery if they stayed together since they’d only fight, so he volunteered to go to a dungeon that had occurred on a remote island.
A week later, on a boat leaving shore, Kang Inheon received a deposit text.
「Lee Juwon 2,798,020 won」
The amount was vague, and the name was Lee Juwon’s, not the company’s, so he was puzzled for a moment but soon realized what the money was for. It was Lee Juwon’s hospital bill that he had paid in advance.
Crack, the phone shattered in Kang Inheon’s hand. The shattered plastic sank into the deep blue sea.
If he liked money so much, he’d rather he be blinded and crazy for it while leeching off others. If he gave it to him while pretending to have good intentions, he’d sharply raise his guard, and when he couldn’t avoid accepting it, he’d repay the exact amount. If he gave it to him while saying he didn’t want it and, like what everyone always said, picked it up on the way here, he’d sell it.
“It’s so difficult… really…”
In the middle of the night, Kang Inheon looked down at Lee Juwon, whose eyes were closed. It was after he had escaped from the Gnipahellir dungeon. Kang Inheon stayed by his side every night.
He carefully reached out and stroked Lee Juwon’s dishevelled hair. But his fingertips barely touched it. Too precious, he couldn’t touch it.
With his eyes closed, he looked so gentle. But he knew that his uncharacteristically gentle demeanor and docile eyes were only because he was dazed by painkillers.
“Haa…”
Looking at Lee Juwon made him angry. He thought he’d be happy forever if he could meet him again, but… he couldn’t accept that he had turned into the type of human being he despised the most, one who placed a price on someone’s life. Even while being disappointed, he felt regret, and even while anger surged up, he couldn’t let go.
You told me to live happily… and I tried so hard to make it look that way… At first, I was at a loss about how to do so. I had never once been happy, and no one around me was happy.
So, thinking about the times I’ve sneaked a glance at your appearance, I copied you. I tried to be bright, warm, fun, and someone people would just be happy to be around.
At some point, it gradually became second nature. Even though you said I wasn’t, I definitely had a talent for stealing. Because I could fit into a stolen mask. Now I could pretend to be as good a person as I wanted in front of other people.
But it was impossible in front of you. I couldn’t imitate you then, just as an imitation loses its lustre in the presence of the real thing.
I lived every day thinking about you, but I was hurt that you remembered all those diagrams but couldn’t remember a thing about me. I was angry that you had changed my entire life, but I couldn’t change you at all.
What could I do? It pained me to see you, but it pained me even more when I couldn’t see you. I wanted to scream at you to understand my feelings, which even I didn’t understand. I kept getting angry, acting harshly, and making sarcastic remarks.
I don’t care if other people distance themselves from me, I don’t care about what they think or where they live, but I focus on and worry about your every move. From such a position, I was kind and nice to all but you. Like a moron who’s only rough with the person who’s most precious to me.
Is it arrogant to think you can change someone? Are people incapable of changing? Like how I was no different from the worthless me of that time…
So, I didn’t try to change you and waited for you to return again.
I was used to waiting, but it was a little lonely. There was only one day where I didn’t feel lonely, and I felt bitter that the rest of the days were more lonely because of that one day.
“…Hunter Kang?”
Having woken up at some point, Lee Juwon’s eyelids slowly lifted.
“……”
Kang Inheon swallowed dryly. He felt like he was being looked at with a questioning gaze, like he was wondering why he was here. Kang Inheon hated that look. He hated that wary look that told him it was something as natural as breathing to him but not to Lee Juwon.
But Lee Juwon wasn’t even surprised when their eyes met in the hospital room in the middle of the night. He looked at him as if it were natural that he was by his side.
Lee Juwon’s lips moved slightly.
“Happy Birthday.”
“……?”
The clock on the wall passed 12. Come to think of it, it was December 29th, his official birthday.
Kang Inheon didn’t know when he was born. It was the day he came to the orphanage, not his real birthday, so he didn’t attach any significance to it.
At some point, many people began wishing him a happy birthday, but this was his first time hearing it from Lee Juwon.
Unable to resist the flooding drowsiness induced by the sleeping pills, Lee Juwon’s eyes slid closed again. Soon, he was quietly asleep. It was as if he had never woken up, or as if he had woken up just to say that.
Lee Juwon slept quietly, like a dead person. For some reason, Kang Inheon’s blood ran cold, and he brought two fingers to his neck. He felt a faint breath, but far from letting loose, his heart pounded.
orcinus comments:
i admit, i giggled reading the comments about wanting fluffy and cute relationship side stories… there is no happiness in yess & yes! (jk, but the author loves blueballing the fluff anyways)
pre-dungeon juwon and inheon were such a mess… i love them
Love them too. And there is no happiness in Yes and Yes sounds such like a good catchphrase
Riiighhhhtttt
I love this story, thank you for the chapter!
Thank you so much for the update ❤️❤️❤️❤️😭
Once again it’s bittersweet. 🙈 I was full of expectations for the sweetness of the side story’s which would have rotten away my teeth. 🍭🍭But her we are again bitter oh so bittersweet with the light touch off fluffiness at the end. It feels like Kang Inheon bribed the author to only write the bittersweet moments since the sugar moments would have caused a lot of death due to high blood sugar. 🥹 But the sweetness is still there. It’s there even if it’s nearly hidden away. It’s frustrating but I still love it. 🥰
100% 😭 I want more sweet, we were destroyed for the entire main story excluding the illusion for like .2 seconds. I want to get dog food darn it
Thank u for the chapter
i wonder if lee juwon will ever tell kang inheon what happened in the dungeon in details and then they realize the past was actually not an illusion but the reality somehow
//smacks the air ..the sugar ain’t enough 😭 everything’s so bittersweet sksksks
This is so them… Their interaction so far fits their personalities. Still waiting for some fluff, though. Give us some dogfood!!!
Love them so much… Their love story is not what you can call sweet but the I like the most is the bittersweet phase of how their slowly showing their affection.. it kept me wanting and waiting for kore
Kang Inheon and I share the same birthday date – December 29. And reading this in December feels like an early birthday gift ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Thank you for such wonderful translation 💝