Episode 28

“I had a good time.”

“Yes. Please drive safely. About your phone… will you really be okay?”

“I need to get a new one as soon as I arrive in Seoul. Thank you for your concern.”

Seung-hyun greeted the caretaker and got into the car. The plan was to get a new phone first, then go home and rest for a day before searching for a new house again.

Seung-hyun, who returned to Seoul while playing music on his tablet and driving, went straight into a phone store that caught his eye. 

‘Originally he wouldn’t let me buy from just anywhere, but…’

Once you die, penalties and whatnot all disappear. Plus, the penalties were trivial compared to his current account balance anyway.

It should be fine as long as he goes to an official store. Seung-hyun entered the store with that thought.

“Yes. Welcome. Are you looking for a particular model?”

An employee who was eating something put down the bowl and spoke to Seung-hyun. Seung-hyun took out his phone that had become a decoration from his pocket.

‘This seems to be the latest model too.’

“Do you have the same model as this?”

“Oh, is that the phone you were using?”

The employee took the phone and tried pressing the power button. Seung-hyun looked down at the phone that wouldn’t turn on and said,

“It’s completely submerged, so I want to buy a new one.”

“Ah… this is the latest model, have you been to the service center?”

“No. I’m planning to change my number anyway, so I just want to buy a new one. There’s no important data in it.”

 If someone who knew how amazing the data contained in that phone heard that, they would be dumbfounded. But to Seung-hyun, they were just useless documents and photos taking up data.

“Ah… then did you originally use our carrier?”

“Yes. Probably.”

Seung-hyun said, recalling the carrier logo that had been on the top bar of the phone. The employee obtained some personal information such as Seung-hyun’s name and number he used for verification.

“Ah. You changed your phone not long ago.”

“I want to keep the model and plan the same as before, and only change the number. Is that possible?”

“Yes. Then I’ll process it that way. Please wait a moment. Should I bring you something to drink?”

“It’s okay.”

The employee looked a bit excited at Seung-hyun’s refreshing attitude and tapped on the keyboard. Before long, the employee peeped his head out from the monitor and asked,

“Should I set the number similar to the one you used before? There’s a number available with the same last digits and only the middle two digits are different…”

“No. Just change it completely.”

Seung-hyun shook his head. He had to change it to a number that couldn’t be predicted. He couldn’t get used to the previous number anyway.

“Can I use this number?”

“Let’s see… ah, yes. It’s available.”

Fortunately, when he presented the number he used in his original body, the answer came back that it was an available number. The employee who was changing the number asked one more thing.

“Should I set it so that a text is sent notifying the number change when contacting the existing number?”

“No. It’s not necessary.”

“You’ll be inconvenienced since your existing contacts aren’t backed up, are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yes.”

At the firm answer, the employee soon nodded. It seemed it would be inconvenient, but it was someone else’s business anyway. As long as the work is handled well. The employee, quickly erasing his curiosity, handed over the phone after finishing the work.

“It’s done. The number has been set as you requested. We don’t have any backed up data, so it’s a completely new phone. It’s activated and ready to use right away.”

“Thank you.”

Seung-hyun, who got a new phone faster than expected, immediately turned on the phone screen. The battery wasn’t at one hundred percent, but it was enough to not be a problem on the way home.

“If there are any issues, please call the number on the business card inside. Thank you-.”

Seung-hyun got back into the car while being seen off by the employee. He quite liked the phone that was cleanly emptied with only the default apps installed.

‘Now at least I won’t get any annoying calls.’

He had also looked around the study at home while playing. He remembered the first drawer being packed with all sorts of business cards. He didn’t know in detail because he didn’t go into the study often, but there must be various information on the desktop in that room too.

 If he searched well, could Jae-young’s phone number be among them? Seung-hyun thought like that and stepped on the accelerator towards home.

After parking in the garage, Seung-hyun passed through the garden that was well-maintained even while he was away and started moving the luggage piled up in the trunk.

“Ah, I moved everything.”

It wasn’t that much, but it was enough to require a couple of trips.  If he roughly left it here, the madam would organize it. Seung-hyun, who had become accustomed to a life with a housekeeper, connected his phone to the charger and sprawled on the sofa.

Ding dong-!

How long had it been? Seung-hyun, who had been spacing out for a while, raised his head at the sound of the doorbell. Thanks to lying on the sofa, too lazy to even move from the living room, he could immediately confirm the identity of the visitor through the intercom.

“…Ju Jae-young?”

He was going to rest for a bit and then find the contact information in the study. They say even a tiger comes when you talk about it, but did it come even just by thinking, not talking?

Seung-hyun cautiously walked towards the intercom, doubting his eyes. Perhaps because it was a nice house, the intercom image quality was very clear, so Seung-hyun could soon tell that the person shown through the screen was not a mistake.

‘Should I open it or not?’

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of meeting Jae-young, but this was a situation Seung-hyun hadn’t expected. He had never told him the address, so how did he find it without any contact?

‘Ah, it’s not that he didn’t contact me, but that he couldn’t.’

Seung-hyun glanced down at the charging phone and pressed the intercom call button.

“What is it? Not only no contact… no. I never even told you my address.”

―I heard it from Director Han Tae-sung.

No, why did that guy tell someone else’s address without permission? After pondering for a moment with his hand on his forehead, Seung-hyun said,

“…Come in for now.”

Only after unlocking the front door did the items scattered here and there catch his eye. Seung-hyun briefly thought about whether the house was a bit dirty to let a guest in, but soon turned his gaze away. He thought it didn’t matter if it was a bit dirty.

“Not only the person who told you, but why did you come all the way here…”

He was going to let him in and talk since the night air was chilly, but Jae-young, who entered the house, approached Seung-hyun with quick strides without a word.

Seung-hyun, who shut his mouth, overwhelmed by his momentum, soon had his face grabbed by Jae-young.

“What, what are you doing…?”

Seung-hyun blinked, startled by Jae-young who grabbed both cheeks with one hand and turned his face this way and that.

“Are you okay?”

“About what?” 

“This.”

Jae-young removed the hand holding his face and carefully stroked one side of Seung-hyun’s cheek. Only then did Seung-hyun realize what he was talking about and touched his face that Jae-young had stroked.

“You probably can’t see it well anyway.”

Now there was a faint bruise under there that was almost completely faded and hard to see unless you looked closely. Seung-hyun, who fiddled with his face for a moment, raised his head again.

“Did you come because of this?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know?” 

“…I attended the founding anniversary party and heard it from Director Han Tae-sung. You don’t answer contact, but the last person who saw you says such things.”

“What did he say?”

The last people who saw him were Seok-hyung and Hyeokjae, but it didn’t seem like Jae-young would have met those two, and judging from what he was saying, it seemed he heard something from Tae-sung.

Moreover, he had met Tae-sung before when the bruise hadn’t completely faded.

“He said former Chairman Han laid hands on you for quitting the company. When I asked what he meant, saying your face would be in no condition to go out, he answered like that.”

“Ah….”

 If he knew I was living as a shut-in because I didn’t want to show my bruised face, he should shut his mouth, why was he blabbering about it? Seung-hyun let out a small sigh.

“And why… didn’t you answer?”

“My phone broke. I told you in advance that I had the pool villa booked until today.”

“You did. But you didn’t go to the remote mountains with no signal, so no reply. When I tried calling just in case, it kept saying the phone was turned off. On the way here, it even said the number doesn’t exist…”

“I changed my number. Since the phone completely died anyway, I thought it would be good to get rid of annoying contacts all at once.”

Seung-hyun said nonchalantly. Was it his imagination that Jae-young’s shoulders seemed to slump a bit at the words “annoying contacts”? Seung-hyun looked at him for a moment.

He must have known that Seung-hyun was returning home today since he had mentioned the schedule before. But he didn’t understand why he had to go this far.

Of course he would be concerned after hearing he was hit. Even more so if contact couldn’t be made. But still, were we close enough for him to come all the way to my house?

“…Ju Jae-young.”

“Yes?”

“So why did you really come here?”

Seung-hyun asked, looking up at Jae-young. At Seung-hyun’s question, Jae-young, who made eye contact with him, froze as if a pause button had been pressed.

Translation Notes: 

1 More free chap today, Happy Father’s Day to all fathers!