A Night of Misty Rain (5)

"No, thank you. Cars driven by other people make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. And I'd feel guilty making an elder do a long-distance drive on my behalf. It's simply easier on my conscience to take the wheel myself."

After finally landing a chance like this, would I wedge a saboteur into the seat between us? And for all his looks, he wasn't thick-skinned enough to make his moves in front of an audience, either. Even knowing Gaon would surely demand an explanation if she ever overheard this, Ji-won smiled with the picture of innocence. He did feel a twinge of guilt toward her as she nodded without a shadow of doubt — but this was no time for a conscience.

"All right, understood. I'll see you tomorrow morning, then. I'll be off for today. I need to concentrate, but with you beside me, Director Cha, I keep getting distracted into chatter."

"Yes, ma'am. Then I'll see you tomorrow."

Ji-won answered without a hitch, bowed politely, and withdrew cleanly from the scene. Well, well. Look at me go. Turns out there's nothing a man in a hurry can't do. Still basking in his own brilliance as he rounded the corner, Ji-won came face to face with Do-gyeom — who stood there in silent, wide-eyed horror — and slowly let the triumphant grin drain off his lips. Oh no. Since when has he been standing there?

What the hell is wrong with this maniac? Hyung is putting the moves on the CEO? On the Jungcheonju of all beings — is he out of his mind? No, setting everything else aside, what happens if someone overhears? Why would he flirt out in the open like this, in a place where every Tom, Dick, and Harry wanders in and out? Has he completely lost his survival instincts? Not a word of it was spoken aloud, but Do-gyeom's staggering disbelief came through loud and clear in his ferocious glare.

"Come outside. We need to talk."

"Certainly. Let's talk."

Ducking out of sight of the staff, the two of them found a secluded corner and stood in silence for a while, each sorting through his thoughts. The sudden ambush had flustered them both equally, but when it came to salvaging a shattered state of mind, Ji-won — a full year the elder — recovered first.

"Weren't you here to look something up in the archives?"

"Ah... I start work on a drama tomorrow, you see. Somehow I got roped into it by an acquaintance. I figured I wouldn't be at headquarters much for a while, so I came to go over the long-unsolved cases.... No, that's not the point right now! Hyung, are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Seriously... really?"

"Really."

"Ha!"

At Ji-won's unhesitating admission, Do-gyeom's jaw dropped and he expelled a breath of pure incredulity. This man has actually lost it. I was sure he had zero interest in that department — the guy doesn't so much as blink when a half-dressed woman walks past. I've never once heard him talk about a woman in his life. And now, the one time his eye lands on someone, he goes all in, just like that. How does he even have the nerve to approach the CEO? I get uncomfortable just sharing a table with a person.

"How can you possibly look at the CEO and see a woman?"

"She is a woman. Why couldn't I?"

"That's not what I'm asking. She's not an ordinary person, and.... How on earth did things end up like this?"

"Is there ever a reason for falling for someone?"

At Ji-won's flat reply, Do-gyeom's mouth snapped shut all over again. Fine. Falling in love is like an accident — I know better than anyone that willpower can't stop it. I know effort can't fix it either. Still, this is going too far. How does he intend to clean up the aftermath?

"You've chosen a remarkably difficult road, sir."

"Tell me about it."

"When did you even get close to the CEO? I've barely seen the two of you cross paths.... How did a cold fish like you turn so attentive and tender? And what's with that soft-spoken way of talking? Do you normally speak to women like that? It was like watching a completely different person. Gave me chills."

"You heard all of that?"

"It carried. Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to not hear it, but I was afraid rustling my way out would break the mood, so I had no choice but to sit tight."

"Appreciate it. I'll buy you dinner one of these days."

"Buy me dinner... don't you always?"

Watching Ji-won snicker at that, Do-gyeom found himself thinking that a person's first impression was a truly unreliable thing. Ji-won had no idea yet, but half a year ago, on the day he had forcibly escorted a soul to Jungcheon, the place had been thrown into utter chaos.

The man who had drained the Determination Officers of their very life force from that morning onward was, incredibly, a High-Level Guide whom Zenith had failed to discover for twenty-two years. When Ji-won eventually strode in, chin held high and utterly without shame, he met the Jungcheonju's eyes squarely at their very first encounter and blithely disregarded the order she handed down. Never before or since had the ever-composed Director Kwon turned quite so deathly pale.

"I can't guarantee something like this will never happen again. Why not simply make it official instead? That's why you brought me in, isn't it?"

What a shameless, insolent bastard. And not a shred of fear in him, either. I'll have to stand before the Jungcheonju myself someday — doesn't that scare him at all? I will never, ever get close to a human being like that.

And yet barely days later, at a company dinner he'd attended with every ounce of reluctance he possessed, Do-gyeom found himself looking at Ji-won just a little differently.

A fact few people knew: Hae-soo, who operated on pure instinct like some wild animal, did not latch onto just anyone. Beneath his openly affectionate manner, he quietly picked and chose his people — and the fact that he treated Ji-won like a hyung reunited after a decade apart meant he had judged Ji-won to be, at the very least, neither profoundly wicked nor cruel.

Watching Ji-won since then with a deliberate effort at objectivity, Do-gyeom had concluded that he was, surprisingly, a man of fairly upright character and real loyalty. Call on him in an emergency, and while he might curse you out and smack the back of your head afterward, he never once refused to the very end.

Of course, he did possess a considerably prickly temperament beneath the easy surface. When the other party behaved shamefully, he would punish them without mercy, human or ghost alike. Do-gyeom had always known he was no ordinary man.... But he truly had not realized the size of the gall on him.

"What exactly do you plan to do going forward?"

"For now? Follow my heart."

"That heart of yours is nothing if not audacious. Do you have any idea how old the CEO is? Born in the eleventh century. A Goryeo-era woman."

"Is that so? Does age matter in love? We live in an era that crosses borders and gender alike. Besides, younger men are all the trend these days."

"Younger—! No, since when is this even a question of older and younger? How did a rational man like you lose his mind this badly? Hyung, you're not actually sick, are you?"

"My heart aches, Director Seo. She's just two doors away, and I have to wait until tomorrow morning to see her. It's heartbreaking, truly."

Ji-won delivered the quip with silken ease, then laughed out loud at the look of disgust curdling across Do-gyeom's face. Seo Do-gyeom — teasing him is quietly entertaining. Yeon Hae-soo filters everything I say down to only what he wants to hear, so he takes zero damage.

"You are sick. And not ordinarily sick, either. You're seriously ill, hyung. Hospital-grade. How do those words even come out of your mouth? Since when have you been like this?"

"Probably from the very beginning. You were in Jungcheon at the time, weren't you? In my entire life, I have never once chased after someone who pushed me away. But in that moment, I instinctively understood that if I didn't pull her in then, I would never see her again. I became aware of it last week in London. Decided I had to do something about it this afternoon."

"Haah. I don't know about this. Every instinct tells me I should stop you, but I don't imagine you'd listen if I did."

Shaking his head, Do-gyeom hesitantly reached out and — visibly shuddering at his own awkwardness — patted Ji-won on the shoulder a couple of times. Given who the man was, he couldn't bring himself to actively push him forward, but the timid gesture carried a small, quiet hope: that however this played out, Ji-won wouldn't end up gravely wounded.

"By the way, what's the name of that kalguksu place? How good can noodles possibly be that you'd drive all the way to Taebaek for a bowl?"

"Well, that's what I have to look up now. Kalguksu restaurants exist all over the country, and there are plenty of well-regarded ones. I'm planning to comb through the ratings and reviews when I get home tonight. If it turns out genuinely good, I'll let you know."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"The CEO likes noodles. Of the noodle dishes that are easy to get in Korea, it's either jajangmyeon or kalguksu, and she does better with the ones in broth. I can hardly have her eating ramyeon all the way out in Gangwon Province. Fine as an occasional treat, maybe, but it's not good for her either."

Do-gyeom's expression twisted in an instant, and he scanned Ji-won from head to toe with eyes brimming with reproach.

"So you were never an athlete — you were a con artist, hyung. What was all that business about the potato pancakes, then? You talked like you'd actually eaten them. 'So crispy,' you said."

"Lots of places in Gangwon serve potato pancakes on the side. And potato pancakes are generally crispy anyway."

When Ji-won looked back at him as if to say, you didn't know that?, Do-gyeom could only manage a hollow, disbelieving laugh. Right. There's no way I misjudged a person. I knew from the very start he was this shameless.

"Well, I'm off. Good luck with your business, and with the drama."

"I'll manage my own work just fine, so you worry about yours. And if you can help it, don't get caught by Hae-soo."

"Ah, Yeon Hae-soo! Now that you mention it, I'd completely forgotten about him. He'll be scouring the building for me by now. Haah, what a headache today's been."

"Be careful. That guy may have no situational awareness, but he's a beast with gut instincts. The moment something feels off, he notices. And you do know, right? Whatever Yeon Hae-soo knows, everyone knows. The boy has no filter in his brain — he doesn't have secrets, period."

Ji-won let out a soft chuckle at Do-gyeom's solemn warning and nodded slowly. His own assessment of Hae-soo matched Do-gyeom's to the letter. No guide living in the capital area was ignorant of Hae-soo's long, convoluted romantic history — a saga dating all the way back to kindergarten — and the source of every last one of those rumors was Hae-soo's own mouth.

"Ji-won hyung! Ji-won hyung! Are you in here? You said you'd wait for me — where'd you go?"

"Over here. I'm off, then. Later."

Do-gyeom raised a hand in a light farewell and watched Ji-won's retreating figure stride away down the corridor before letting out a long, slow sigh. The treacherous journey that lay ahead of the man was laid out plain before his eyes — but for fear that his words might take root and come true, he swallowed every one of them and said nothing at all.