TLR 05
by Daily MeowChapter 5 ….
‘This is way more entertaining than a mobile game.’
Sure, it was—but even so, lying down at home after a warm shower and playing a mobile game was still better. Anything was better than sitting in front of a low-grade cup of coffee he didn’t even intend to drink.
Once he stripped away the flimsy excuses he had offered himself, the bare truth stood revealed.
There was no purpose. For nearly two months, he had been going to see that woman with zero objective in mind.
Bored by the silence, Hyemi abruptly whipped her head around and leaned back into the sofa cushion. Between her messy blonde locks, a black mole about the size of a pinky nail peeked out.
“You have a mole on your neck.”
Junhyuk offered the observation with pure indifference.
Hyemi turned back to look at him, her face filled with sheer disbelief.
“You’re only noticing that now?”
“It’s big. Very big.”
“Mom made sure I didn’t get it removed because she said it was a good luck mole. She said some child shaman or whoever mentioned it.”
Junhyuk’s face distorted for a brief second before snapping back to an emotionless blank.
His late stepmother, Kang Seung-ok, had been utterly obsessed with shamanism.
The money she spent on exorcisms and talismans to curb Moon Pilyong’s womanizing could have bought a whole building in Gangnam. Naturally, as today clearly proved, none of it had worked in the slightest.
She should’ve just had him castrated. That would’ve been much cheaper, Junhyuk thought quite seriously.
“Since I’m up early anyway, I might as well go get this mole removed. Are we done talking?”
“We’ll be done once you answer my question.”
“Fine. I’ll handle Han Seol myself.”
“If you step out of line, I’m shaving your head and sending you to a Buddhist temple.”
“Aaaargh!”
Unable to contain her rage, Hyemi let out a wild, animalistic shriek before storming toward the door.
Junhyuk’s head slowly tracked his sister’s profile as she walked past.
Looking at someone else’s profile required this much conscious effort.
So then, how many times over the past two months had he stared at that woman’s side profile?
“Too many to count.”
When he muttered the dry words to himself, an eerie quiet settled over the office.
“What a absolute joke…”
Annoyed by the silence, he tossed out the words casually to brush it off, but it was no use. Once emotions came rushing in, they were like spilled water—impossible to gather back up.
He pressed a long finger against his temple.
The wheel of the disposable lighter clicked roughly under his thumb.
He took a long drag and exhaled the smoke, but since this was his third cigarette in a row, he barely felt anything.
Lifting his wrist to check his watch, he saw it was already past 9:00 PM.
He had been killing time for over half an hour in a quiet alley behind the shopping complex where Seol worked.
“Unbelievable. Fuck.”
Was he actually a total idiot? If he was going to be like this, he shouldn’t have driven all the way here in the first place.
He had deleted Han Seol’s folder. He had even resolved never to go see her again.
Yet, after leaving the office, getting into his car, driving, and stepping out onto the street, he had somehow ended up right here.
They say a famous general over a thousand years ago chopped off his horse’s head because it carried him while he was asleep straight to a woman’s house—so what was he supposed to do? Smash his own car to pieces?
“Have I completely lost my mind?”
A dry laugh escaped him at the sheer absurdity of it all. It’d be a miracle if he didn’t just buy a brand-new car tomorrow and pull the exact same stunt all over again.
Flick. With a swift flick of his fingers, he snapped the glowing ember off his cigarette and tossed the butt into a tin can placed nearby for ashes.
He was fully aware that things were spiraling in a strange direction, but he could hardly chop his own head off.
Since I’m already here anyway, I might as well catch a glimpse of her face before I go. Rationalizing the thought, Junhyuk finally stepped forward.
“Ah, welcome!”
‘Ah.’
Perhaps yesterday’s incident had left quite an impression on her, as a brief exclamation preceded her usual greeting.
Junhyuk walked up and stood in front of Seol, who wore a slightly tense expression.
“Are you ready to order?”
“An Americano.”
“Would you like that hot or iced?”
“Hot. I’ll have it here.”
Seol lowered her eyes as she tapped the screen to process the order. Seeing her brow slightly furrowed, she seemed displeased about something.
Wondering if it was because of the smell of cigarette smoke, he took a step back—only to be struck by the sudden feeling that it was far too late for that.
“That will be 4,900 won. Do you have a loyalty stamp card?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Would you like me to make one for you?”
“Yes.”
Seol snapped her head up. Her rounded eyes looked as if they were silently asking, ‘Did I just hear you correctly?’
“Yes. Please make one for me.”
Junhyuk expressed his intention with absolute firmness.
“…Okay.”
Seol rustled around for a second before handing over a card with a single stamp pressed onto it.
“Um, excuse me, sir.”
Seol whispered in a quiet voice.
Junhyuk stared down at his hand holding the card before raising his eyes to meet hers.
“If you don’t mind me asking, did your sister make it home safely yesterday?”
“She made it back safely.”
“Ah, I see.”
Seol’s expression brightened instantly, and a broad smile spread across her face.
“I’ll have your coffee ready in just a moment!”
Even her voice grew lively. Unaware of what a disaster might have unfolded if Moon Hyemi had been even slightly less drunk, she was smiling sweetly without a care in the world.
Instead of taking a seat to wait, Junhyuk stood there watching Seol make the coffee.
Watching her profile as she worked diligently with her lips pressed tightly together, a sense of deep peace settled over him, as if his mind had reached the tranquil state of a clear mirror.
He felt as though he could stare at that single view for the rest of his life without ever getting bored.
He had admitted his interest far too late. Because of that, he had missed the window to tell himself, ‘There’s a limit to being stupid. Are you really that desperate for a woman?’
What should he do now? Should he give up anyway and firmly resolve to ‘stop caring from now on’?
Or…
“Oh my gosh, what should I do?!”
Out of nowhere, a woman shrieked.
“It’s fine! Just leave it as it is!”
Seol hurried out to the front of the counter to assess the situation before returning to the coffee machine.
Only then did Junhyuk turn his head.
A tray and two glass cups were rolling around on the floor. The cups hadn’t shattered, but the spilled liquid had made an utter mess of the ground.
“I’m so sorry…”
The woman’s voice trailed off as she scurried frantically toward the door.
Watching the woman actually walk away just because she was told to leave it, Junhyuk frowned and bent his waist.
The moment he set the cups back onto the tray and went to pick it up, Seol called out:
“Just leave that! Your coffee is ready over here!”
Seol stepped out from behind the counter holding a towel. Without a moment’s hesitation, she dropped down on her knees right on an unsoiled patch of floor.
“Please pass the tray to me.”
Junhyuk handed over the tray he was holding.
Setting the tray down beside her, Seol began wiping the floor with the towel.
Her pale, slender neck—exposed beneath her pinned-up black hair—swayed in rhythm with her hands.
At her suggestive posture, Junhyuk instinctively raised his hand. After hovering aimlessly in midair for a brief second, his hand gripped the edge of the counter tightly.
It wasn’t just her neck that was swaying. Her narrow waist emphasized by the apron strings, her rounded hips wrapped in light-wash jeans…
Clear mirror, my ass. His mind instantly flooded with red-hot lava. He was so hard it actually ached. A burning thirst surged through his throat as if his insides were turning to ash.
“Did any of it splash onto your clothes?”
Seol raised her head abruptly and asked.
Her soft, lily-white skin was flushed with a soft pink hue. A few more stray hairs had fallen across her forehead than before.
He wanted to touch her. He wanted to get tangled up with her—preferably in the dirtiest way possible.
He wanted to commit every foul, filthy act in existence with the woman standing right in front of him. If he could just have that, he felt he would willingly chop off his own head and hand it over to anyone who asked for it.
“Did it splash? Here, let me get you a wet wipe.”
Junhyuk’s relentless gaze tracked her hips as she stepped back behind the counter.
A sentiment he had written off as mere curiosity was now wrapped in a completely different name.
For now, it was far more comfortable to call it lust rather than affection. After all, a body that couldn’t lie was much easier to understand than the heart.
Chime— At the sound of the door bell, Seol raised her head.
There were no new customers inside, and the intimidating man who had been standing there with a severe look on his face had vanished into thin air.
“…Did it splash on him that badly?”
Seol muttered awkwardly to herself.
Should she have apologized to him? But strictly speaking, even if something had splashed on his clothes, it wasn’t actually her fault.
“Service jobs are really tough.”
Seol piled a generous stack of wet wipes onto the tray holding the man’s coffee.
She expected him to return shortly, but even after an hour had passed, he was nowhere to be seen. At this point, was it safe to assume he had just left for good?
Just as she was debating whether or not to clear the tray, the door bell chimed.
“Welcome!”
Seol delivered the automatic greeting as she turned her head.
The man walked in with wide strides and stopped right in front of the counter.
She had wondered if he had taken time to hand-wash his clothes in the restroom, but his attire looked just as pristine and spotless as before.
Was it because his suit was a dark color that wet spots didn’t show? Seol found herself staring blankly at his torso.
“What are you staring so intently at?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry. I was just wondering if your clothes got wet.”
“Wet?”
One of his dark eyebrows arched upward into a high curve.
“Well, I thought you were in the restroom hand-washing…”
Faced with the sharp reaction from a man who was already toweringly large and icy-looking, Seol’s voice trailed off.
“The restroom? No. In my car.”
The man corrected her, his face returning to its usual blank mask.
“Your car? What were you doing in your car…?”
“I took a phone call.”
“Ah, I see!”
Seol replied in a much brighter voice.
She had been anxious that the café might have to compensate him if his expensive suit had been ruined, so hearing that he had simply stepped away for another matter was a huge relief.
“Your coffee has gone completely cold. If you take a seat, I’ll make you a fresh one.”
“I don’t drink it anyway, so it’s fine.”
“Ah, right.”
So he really didn’t drink it after all. Seol gave a slow nod.
The man picked up the mug and headed toward his usual table.
She wondered why he even bothered taking the cup with him, but considering the possibility that watching coffee might just be a personal hobby of his, there was no need to fuss over it.
10:59 PM. The man, who was the very last customer, returned his cup.
“Thank you. Have a good night!”
Seol flipped the sign on the glass door to read ‘CLOSED’.
Following her usual routine, she cleaned the coffee machine first, then thoroughly ran the vacuum. As she was rinsing the rag to hang it up and untying her apron, a soft bzzzt vibrated through the air.
Assuming it was her own phone, she checked the counter, but her screen was completely dark. Come to think of it, the sound had come from further away.
Stepping out from behind the counter, she spotted a smartphone glowing between a chair and its cushion. Seol cleared her throat and pressed the call button.
“Hello?”
She waited a few seconds, but no sound came through. Just as she pulled the phone away from her ear to check the screen:
— Hello.
Following a low, quiet breath, the voice that came through immediately brought a specific person to mind. Perhaps because of the dim, quiet space, his tone sounded even deeper than she remembered.
“Ah, hello!”
— I’m the owner of that phone…
His words dragged out in a slow, languid trail.
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