#40
“What?”
“Director?”
The one who appeared through the open door was Manager Cha. Just as expected. Mun Heeseong realized his guess had been right, and without letting it show, he gave a slight nod as he finished picking up the ruined cup and the carrier. Im Munyeong immediately stepped over and bent down to help, but Mun Heeseong quietly shook his head. It meant don't. The man understood at once and hesitated.
“What on earth... Are you all right?!”
Manager Cha made an exaggerated gesture as he hurried over. Glancing back and forth between Mun Heeseong and the other man, he sized up the situation and quickly began wiping down the man's wet clothes with brisk motions. Only the very hem of his coat was slightly damp, but Manager Cha carried on as if something catastrophic had happened.
“It seems one of our staff made a mistake. I'm terribly sorry.”
Watching from behind as Manager Cha abruptly bent at a full ninety-degree bow made it even clearer that the other party was a person of considerable influence.
“He isn't the type of employee to make a mistake like this...”
Manager Cha shot a glance at Mun Heeseong, who was just standing there. His face said, why aren't you bowing already? Of course the party at fault was the other man, but Mun Heeseong knew well that arguing that point in this situation was useless, so with an expressionless face he followed Manager Cha's lead and bent at the waist.
“...I'm very sorry.”
The only one flustered was the man from the café who'd been trying to help him. By his nature, he was clearly the type who found situations like this hard to bear. Even a brief look made it plain what kind of person he was. A man of conscience, overflowing with goodwill. The kind of man rarely ever seen in Mun Heeseong's life.
“We, we're the ones who made the mistake...”
“Anyone can see it. The fault's on that side.”
A voice cutting clean through the flustered one pierced across the corridor. Turning toward the sound, Mun Heeseong saw someone leaning against the conference room door, arms crossed, sweeping an insolent gaze over the scene. In that instant the source of his sense of déjà vu became clear.
“This one's soaked.”
Yoo Shinju went on, giving a careless jerk of his chin toward Mun Heeseong. Then he tipped his head toward the other side.
“And that one's not so much as touched.”
The tone he tossed out had zero formality either. The startled Manager Cha creased his brow at Yoo Shinju, signaling him to stop, but he paid it no mind.
“Shouldn't the apology be going to this side?”
Yoo Shinju looked askance at the man who'd been so rude. The two men were similar in build and height, so their eyes met at the same level. Their features weren't alike, but they were alike in being handsome enough to draw attention. And in their arrogant, haughty gazes and posture and manner of speaking, too, they resembled each other enough to spark that déjà vu.
“Putting on airs. I'll just pay for it. Tell me how much.”
At Yoo Shinju's momentum, the other man let out a snort and answered as though it were a bother. Mun Heeseong's eyebrows twitched, as if the repetition were becoming unbearable.
“...I said it's fi-”
“You're persistent.”
Toward Mun Heeseong, who kept refusing, the man pulled a wallet from the inner pocket of his suit, grabbed the bills inside without much care, and shoved them against his chest as if slapping them down.
“This much should do it, right?”
Then he turned his head once toward the flustered, good-natured man, and with somewhat lowered momentum, asked again.
“That's fine, isn't it?”
As if seeking permission. At that, the good-natured man let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead. In the meantime, when Mun Heeseong didn't take the money, the man didn't wait and simply let it go. The fifty-thousand-won bills fluttered to the floor as if caught on the wind. Several of them soaked up the coffee like dye. Mun Heeseong looked down at them quietly.
“Still got no manners.”
At that, Yoo Shinju's voice cut in again, and the man's eyebrows twitched.
“What?”
“I said, same as ever.”
At Yoo Shinju's tone, as though he knew him, the other man knit his brows for a moment, his face working over it. Before long, as if it came to him, he pointed at Yoo Shinju and tossed out, without any formality:
“Ah, you. Those guys. Dowon Trading. That junkie. One of the junkie's younger siblings, was it?”
The man closed his eyes as if dredging up the memory, then pointed at Yoo Shinju. The two seemed to have some acquaintance and recognized each other. The man seemed to have barely remembered, but Yoo Shinju had apparently known from the start.
“That bastard's got a hell of a lot of siblings, though... which one were you again?”
The handsome man scrunched his brow openly, as if he really couldn't recall. It was said with no malice, offhandedly, but the corner of Yoo Shinju's mouth stiffened somewhat. Of course, the only one who noticed was Mun Heeseong. Mun Heeseong quietly ran his gaze over Yoo Shinju. He was trying not to show it, but a low-pressure air could be felt, and it was clear that Yoo Shinju wasn't all that glad to see the smug man before him.
“Right. About five of them? Second of those.”
They were all illegitimate children of the Dowon Trading chairman. Yoo Shinju included. Yoo Shinju was the second of the five illegitimate children the Chairman Do had fathered with several women. Counting the legitimate wife's children too, he was exactly the fourth. But it was meaningless. Those brothers, the legitimate wife's children who'd already secured their places in the company, never treated the illegitimate ones as siblings anyway. And the same went for Yoo Shinju.
“Damn... that old man's got some stamina.”
The other man spat out the uncomfortable remark ever so lightly, letting a sneer slip. Everyone around flinched at the private topic, but the two actually in the conversation showed no particular reaction, as though such subjects were familiar to them. Letting slip a laugh that wasn't a laugh, the man raised chilly eyes.
“But.”
“......”
“That family's bastard shouldn't be close enough to me to talk down like that, should he?”
The dismissive tone was unmistakable, but Yoo Shinju replied composed, without so much as a flinch.
“That's true too.”
“Then you must know I'm getting pretty pissed off.”
“That's the point.”
And not content with that, he smiled charmingly, as if to provoke him further.
“If you've come to someone else's company, you should mind your manners.”
“Manners are for the ones beneath.”
“That's why I'm saying you're the same as ever. How is it you're throwing your weight around at people every time I see you.”
“From what I hear, you don't exactly live like a saint yourself.”
“You're awfully open about having dug into my background.”
“Digging into your foreground turns up plenty too.”
Yoo Shinju, apparently feeling weary at the drawn-out conversation, let his irritation show plainly and waved his hand arrogantly through the air.
“Enough.”
The instant the other man faltered at the gesture, waved like brushing off a gnat, Yoo Shinju continued at once.
“Pick up the money.”
“What?”
At the unexpected words, the man's face contorted in a way that was almost pleasing to watch. At the provocative command, Manager Cha, who'd been reading the mood, grabbed Yoo Shinju's arm, but he shook it off immediately and added again.
“I said pick it up.”
As the other man's face grew more and more menacing, the flustered good-natured man hurriedly moved.
“I-I'll pick it up.”
“Just try picking it up.”
When the man tried to bend down to gather them, the handsome man blocked him with his arm. Manager Cha, gauging the mood in the vicious atmosphere, spoke up ever so carefully so as not to rub the other man the wrong way.
“Haha... So the two of you were acquainted... For now, why don't you both come insi-”
But no one seemed the least bit inclined to listen to Manager Cha. Yoo Shinju, standing there haughtily, tossed out a word.
“Hey.”
“Hey?”
It was a call that breathed even more cold into an already thin-ice atmosphere.
“I said pick it up.”
In that instant, just as the other man ground his molars and clenched his fist, the good-natured man, who was still fidgeting on the spot, calmly wrapped his hand around that fist. Mun Heeseong's still gaze turned there. The good-natured man was flustered, yet at some point he was calmly, soundlessly settling the other man down. He'd wrapped his hand around the man's fist and was smoothing down his rigid back where no one could see. Sensing the strange mood, Mun Heeseong quietly watched the two men again, then presently moved.
Mun Heeseong picked up the bills that had fallen into the coffee puddle, matter-of-factly, as though it were nothing. Then, between the two men who were as vicious as a knife's edge of wind, he spoke in a bored voice.
“I picked them up.”
At the same time, everyone's gaze turned to Mun Heeseong. He stuffed the bills carelessly into his pocket and gave a nod to the owner who'd handed over the money.
“Thank you. I'll put it to good use.”
At the even voice, the handsome, smug face twitched, but Mun Heeseong cast his eyes to the side, as though conveying his real thanks to another person. When he looked at the good-natured man who was struggling alone to somehow smooth things over, the clear eyes that had been briefly bewildered by Mun Heeseong's action were trembling. And, barely perceptibly, he gave the good-natured man another nod. At that, as if understanding, the good-natured man's face softened tenderly. It was a face one could read as, if anything, apologetic and grateful. He'd incurred a debt at the café, so repaying it was only natural.
Brushing off his thoroughly soaked coat with a few careless pats, Mun Heeseong turned his head toward Manager Cha.
“Should I go buy the coffee again?”
When he asked calmly, Manager Cha was briefly flustered, then smiled awkwardly and nodded.
“...Haha, would you?”
Manager Cha smiled awkwardly, as though saved by Mun Heeseong's attitude of gliding smoothly over the situation. Just as they were about to carry on calmly as if nothing had happened, bang! A tremendous crash rang through the corridor. Turning toward the sound, Mun Heeseong saw Yoo Shinju, brimming with displeasure, having struck the door he'd been leaning against with the edge of his fist hard enough to make it shudder. And in that moment, that sharp, fierce gaze, honed to an edge, collided with Mun Heeseong's in midair.
