“Huh? Uh?”
Manager Kim, who had been pacing around outside the car, went wide-eyed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Seojin, trotting along at Yoon Haegang’s heels, gave an awkward smile and waved.
“No, I mean, that part’s fine, but...”
Manager Kim answered on reflex, but he couldn’t pull his eyes off Yoon Haegang, who had turned up out of nowhere. No — off the person hanging in Yoon Haegang’s arms, to be exact.
“President, who is that...?”
The face was turned down, so there was no telling who it was. But the fact that Yoon Haegang, of all people, had brought someone along was more than enough to hook Manager Kim’s curiosity.
“Open the door.”
At the frosty order, Manager Kim let out a whipped-puppy whine and scrambled to open the passenger door. As he did, he threw Seojin a look, since Yoon Haegang clearly wasn’t going to answer: Who is that?
“I’ll explain later.”
Seojin smiled awkwardly and dove straight into the back seat, leaving Manager Kim to laugh sheepishly and let his eyes dart around for an answer.
He’d thought this was a simple drop-off-the-documents job. How on earth had it turned into this?
Sadly, there didn’t seem to be a single person willing to satisfy his curiosity right now.
“Manager Kim.”
Yoon Haegang said his name and jerked his chin toward the driver’s seat. Manager Kim, who read get moving out of that perfectly, opened the car door.
Seojin had already buckled Euni into her car seat and was climbing back in himself when he noticed Yoon Haegang standing there with his arms folded.
He’s not coming with us?
That was certainly what it looked like.
“We’ll be off, then, President. Have a good weekend.”
He said it on the off chance, and Yoon Haegang twitched an eyebrow. No answer, but Seojin took it to mean no, and got into the back seat.
Knock, knock.
At the tap on the glass, Seojin pressed the button.
“Hmm...”
Yoon Haegang swept a glance over the interior — and locked eyes with Euni, who was swinging her legs in her car seat.
“Byeeee...”
The child flapped one little hand at him in farewell, and his eyebrows hitched again.
“Yeah. Noh Seojin’s daughter. Take care.”
Then he pulled out his wallet, peeled off a few bills, and held them out.
“Here. Pocket money.”
That long arm came cutting across in front of him, and Seojin nearly jumped out of his skin trying to stop it.
“Wait, wait a second! President! Stop!”
The wad in Yoon Haegang’s hand looked like a good ten fifty-thousand-won notes.
“It’s fine, really. You don’t need to give her anything like that.”
Who in the world hands that kind of money to a five-year-old?
“When you meet a kid, you give them pocket money. That’s how it works.”
And who exactly told you that? Yoon Haegang must have caught the look in Seojin’s eyes, because he twirled the fistful of cash in a slow circle.
“The man who said it is as good as a father to me, so it’s not just something I made up.”
“As good as a father? You mean the one with the orch...”
Seojin had been about to ask whether he meant the man who ran the orchard, and just barely shut his mouth in time. It was in the book, sure, but it wasn’t his place to bring it up first.
“Yeah, there’s someone. An old man who’s dead set on leaving me his orchard. Ever since he found out what I do for a living, he’s been nagging me about when I’m coming down until my ears fall off.”
Yoon Haegang clicked his tongue as if the whole thing displeased him.
“He’s fit as a fiddle, and still you should hear him milk it.”
“Ah...”
“Anyway. Here, Euni. Take it.”
Before Seojin could get another word out, Yoon Haegang went ahead and wedged the stack of bills into the side of Euni’s car seat. Then he pulled back without a trace of hesitation, like a man whose job was done. Euni just gaped at him, mouth hanging open.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
“Well, I don’t know. Probably sleep in a bit, have breakfast with Euni...”
Halfway through answering, the question of why on earth is he asking me this crept quietly into Seojin’s head.
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason?”
What is he on about. Yoon Haegang must have read Seojin’s expression, because he grinned, wicked and pleased with himself.
“Get home safe, Noh Seojin. You too, Euni.”
“Yesss! Byeee!”
Euni waved happily before Seojin could even answer. Who knew pocket money packed that kind of power.
The car pulled away, leaving Yoon Haegang behind. Seojin sank deep into the seat, drained, like a man who’d just come stumbling out of a storm.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star! Shining down so pretty! In the eastern sky! And in the western sky too!”
Beside him, Euni was belting out a nursery rhyme, wide awake now and thrilled about it. Even he felt reassured by the sound of it, and his eyelids slid slowly shut.
“...Seojin.”
“Ah!”
A hand shook him lightly and Seojin’s eyes flew open. Still foggy with sleep, he looked up blankly at Manager Kim standing outside the car.
“So, uh, we’re here. What do we do now?”
Seojin blinked and looked around. Then he spotted the familiar multiplex house, and bit by bit the situation came back to him.
“Ah, right. One second.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, checked that Euni was asleep, and got out of the car. A glance at the passenger seat showed Shin Seyoung with his eyes still closed, apparently not conscious yet.
“I’ll help him inside, so could you get the gate open? Figured you’d have better luck with that than me...”
Seojin spent a moment working out what he meant, then caught on when Manager Kim nodded toward the front gate.
“Sure, I’ll try the landlord.”
Shin Seyoung was still in his uniform. Which meant there was a good chance his belongings had been left behind — and that he didn’t have his gate key either.
Seojin hurried over to the house and reached for the intercom, but a young voice piped up from inside before he could press it.
“Wow, ajusshi. Hello!”
Small footsteps came pattering up, and there was the little customer from the other day.
“Oh, hello. Is your mom or dad home, by any chance?”
“Nope! They come home late!”
The answer came out like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Seojin found himself checking the time on his phone. Already past ten.
Neither parent is home yet, and the kid’s here alone?
Seojin hurried to smooth out the frown creeping onto his face and looked down at the cheerful little guest. That bright, sunny expression said the kid had no idea anything was wrong with that.
“I see. Could you open the gate for me first? I brought the hyung from upstairs home.”
“Seyoung hyung? Okay!”
The little guest swung the gate open without a shred of suspicion. Seojin turned to look behind him, promising himself he’d check into all of this properly once he had Shin Seyoung lying down.
Manager Kim had been waiting with Shin Seyoung on his back, and the moment their eyes met he came striding over.
“Where’s Seyoung hyung’s place?”
Seojin asked once he’d confirmed Manager Kim was close. At that, the child went bounding up the stairs.
The kid was so quick that he reached the rooftop in no time and waved both hands wildly. Seojin followed him up.
In the meantime, the little guest had already fished a key out from under a half-dead potted plant and was unlocking the door.
“Thanks for the help.”
The little guest broke into a huge grin at that. Seojin patted the adorable kid’s shoulder and stepped inside.
The inside was spotless. The handful of belongings he owned were all squared away without exception. It said a lot about what kind of person Shin Seyoung was.
Seojin spread out the neatly folded bedding. The little guest, watching him, quickly caught on and set down the pillow.
Realizing the kid had clearly helped out like this plenty of times before, Seojin ruffled his hair and got to his feet.
Manager Kim was waiting when he came back out. Seojin took Shin Seyoung off his back, carried him into the rooftop room, and laid him carefully down on the bedding.
“But what’s wrong with Seyoung hyung?”
“Ah... he, um, he’s a little sick.”
Explaining an Omega’s heat cycle to a kid who was almost certainly a Beta felt like a bad idea.
“Ummm... is hyung gonna not come out of the house for days again?”
“He’s done that before?”
“Yeah...”
Seojin stroked the head of the nodding little guest. If the kid just went on thinking it was because he was sick, that would do fine.
“Mm. He’ll get better if he rests a few days. Should we head out quietly?”
“Okay! Mom said when hyung is sick I’m not supposed to tell anybody!”
“...Oh?”
“Yeah! Especially not Dad!”
“...Is that so?”
Every now and then, a child hands an adult a truth the adult never thought to look for. And thanks to those words, a plot point he’d forgotten came surfacing back up.
The decisive reason Shin Seyoung ended up unable to keep living in this place and moving in with Choi Munhyuk was precisely that the landlady’s husband had the wrong sort of feelings about him.
“That’s good to know. Thank you.”
“Heehee... okay!”
Seojin brushed the innocently smiling child’s cheek once more, then pulled the business card out of his pocket and set it down by the sleeping Shin Seyoung’s head.
This way he’ll think Choi Munhyuk was the one who helped him.
Job safely done, Seojin walked out of the rooftop room feeling lighter than he had all night.
