Come Back

Even after the interpreter excused herself and left, and even after he stood up and put on his bag, Choi Hong-seo couldn’t seem to walk away. The weight of a single tie felt like a heavy stone, making his mouth dry and his palms sweat.

When Chief Kang returned to the living room after seeing off the interpreter, his expressionless face met Hong-seo’s, and any remaining courage he had vanished, leaving him feeling like a guilty child.

Perhaps due to Lee Hae-sung’s instructions, Chief Kang had been kinder to him back when he was Choi Hong-seo. His tone and expressions had softened, and he had even awkwardly smiled from time to time. But now, Chief Kang felt as intimidating as he had been when they first met.

It seemed as if he might stride over at any moment, glaring down at him with a fearsome look, like one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and demand, *”What is this little rat doing, hanging around the vice president?”*

Fiddling with the string of the shopping bag, Hong-seo hesitantly said, “Then, I’ll be going now.”

“I’ll escort you.”

“No, it’s fine. I live just nearby.”

“The vice president asked me to escort you.”

“The vice president…?”

The company division was an overwhelmingly complex event to Hong-seo. Even after reading all the detailed news articles, he understood only half of it. Every outlet was buzzing excitedly, proclaiming that this event would be historic for both groups, especially for the newly separated ARA Group. Remembering that Hae-sung had still taken the time to care about Yun Hye-an’s trip home, even with such an important event looming, Hong-seo gripped the shopping bag a little tighter.

He knew that to Hae-sung, this might be a simple courtesy, just an obligation. It was clear that the only thing Hae-sung cared about was the “Choi Hong-seo” he glimpsed in “Yun Hye-an,” not “Yun Hye-an” himself.

Hong-seo looked down at the shopping bag.

Which was all the more reason he had to give this to him. He was not Yun Hye-an but Choi Hong-seo, and he had been the recipient of Hae-sung’s excessive care and affection.

“Then, if you don’t mind, could you give this to the vice president?”

Chief Kang’s rough but well-groomed hand took the deep purple shopping bag from him.

“What would you like me to say?”

With both hands empty now, Hong-seo held his bag straps tightly.

“It’s nothing much… but I just wanted to thank him for being so thoughtful. And he gave me a birthday present last time, too, so…”

“…”

“I… caused so much trouble… and I’m sorry…”

His voice trailed off, his nose stinging. He hadn’t been able to look at Chief Kang directly, so his gaze had been lingering around the shopping bag until it finally fell to the floor at his feet.

“I understand. I’ll make sure he receives it,” said Chief Kang.

Without looking back, and with only those words from Chief Kang, Hong-seo hurried out of the suite.

He lingered on the hotel lobby floor, searching for anything he could buy, and ended up purchasing a few bottles of wine before getting into a taxi. Pulling his bucket hat down low, he tried to focus on the bright city nightscape outside the window. But it wasn’t easy.

Sometimes this mismatch between his outward appearance and inner self was unbearably unsettling, unfair, and overwhelmingly frightening. Still, he was able to endure because of him. He didn’t want to think about anything else.

Whether he was hated or doubted, he was still within his sight. Absorbed by that thought, the shock of living in another person’s body was somehow bearable.

So, it was all thanks to Lee Hae-sung that he hadn’t gone mad. Even through hatred, he was being saved by him.

“Hey, the Olympic Expressway is packed at this hour. If we take it, it’ll be another 40 minutes. Do you want me to take the Hakdong Road through Nonhyeon Station instead?”

Nodding at the driver’s question, a tear slid down Hong-seo’s face from under the brim of his hat. Before it could fall to his lap, he quickly wiped it away with a cold hand.

■

Park Dong-ha’s place near Bongeunsa Temple was an impressive, high-end officetel. Although smaller in scale than the brand-name officetel in Nonhyeon-dong where Yun Hye-an had lived, it was more elegant and sophisticated.

After completing visitor registration in the lobby, he moved to the elevator hall. When he rang the doorbell, Yong-jae, who had arrived earlier, opened the door for him.

“Didn’t I tell you to come empty-handed? What’s all this?”

Though they’d seen each other just a few days ago, Yong-jae welcomed him as if it had been ages, and Hong-seo managed a faint smile as he stepped inside.

“I’m not too familiar with wine, so I just bought what was recommended. Not sure if it’s any good.”

The lack of warmth in the meticulously styled interior clashed oddly with the inviting smell of various foods.

“Smells good, right? Dong-ha’s good at cooking. He’s making some snacks for us.”

“Wine? Yun Hye-an brought wine over to our place?”

Walking along the white marble corridor behind Yong-jae, who was carrying the wine bundle, he heard Park Dong-ha’s voice.

At the end of the corridor, Dong-ha was bustling around in a vertically elongated kitchen.

“You’re here? It’ll be ready soon, so just hang tight.”

Dong-ha, tasting the red broth of a bubbling fishcake soup, greeted him with a slightly more subdued expression than usual.

“Smells great. And the place is amazing.”

Just as Yong-jae had said over the phone, Choi Hong-seo hadn’t exchanged a word with Park Dong-ha during the last scenario study meeting. It wasn’t that he ignored him when he tried to start a conversation; it was just awkward to face him. He had arrived right on time and left the moment the meeting ended. Even on the night of the birthday party, he had only sat at Director Kang’s table after leaving the lounge with Lee Hae-sung, then exited the club early. He couldn’t understand Dong-ha’s reason for organizing the gathering, and with his emotions running high, he didn’t trust himself to say anything polite.

Now that some time had passed, his emotions had calmed, but he still found it hard to grasp the character of Park Dong-ha.

“Right, hyung? This place is amazing, isn’t it? It’s my first time here too, but doesn’t it look like the kind of place managers in dramas would live?”

Agreeing with the enthusiastic Yong-jae, who seemed even more excited than the homeowner himself, Hong-seo nodded with a smile and chose to take a look around the small living room instead of sitting down.

The monotone space, austere to the point of seeming haughty, was furnished with modest items that could be found in any ordinary home.

Hong-seo slowly examined the inexpensive, assembly-style shelves. There were fan-gifted artworks, figurines modeled after Dong-ha, and some framed photos that appeared to be family pictures.

In one picture, taken in the yard of a country house, a smiling Park Dong-ha held a dog in his arms as he stood with his family.

“What are you looking at, hyung? Oh, hey… Dong-ha, is this the new house you bought?”

Peering over Hong-seo’s shoulder at the photos, Yong-jae turned to Dong-ha, who was adding chopped green onions to the fish cake stew and answered bashfully.

“Oh, that picture? Yeah, that’s the house.”

“Your father looks healthy too. Has he gotten a lot better?”

Yong-jae asked with a look of concern.

These were all stories that Hong-seo didn’t know. Glancing at Hong-seo’s curious expression, Dong-ha moved the pot of fish cake stew to the dining table and spoke calmly.

“You probably don’t remember, hyung. My dad was really sick because of an accident.”

Adding to this, Yong-jae explained that after struggling in his previous job, Dong-ha’s father had to work as a mover at a relatively late age and severely injured his back.

“He tried hard, but he wasn’t experienced with physical labor. His back was already in bad shape.”

The company, claiming that his back condition predated the job, refused to cover it as a work injury and gave him just one month’s wages before cutting him loose.

“He needed an urgent surgery, but where could our family find that kind of money? Being in the entertainment industry, loans aren’t easy to get. And since I was nobody back then, I got turned down everywhere. Then our team disbanded too… back then, it was really…”

Unable to finish, Dong-ha pressed his lips together. Yong-jae, whose eyes had turned red even though he already knew the story, spoke in a cheerful tone to lift Dong-ha’s spirits.

“Come on, why bring up such old stuff? Look at you now. You’ve established yourself as an actor, bought a house for your parents—there’s nothing to worry about now! That’s what matters!”

“It’s a house, but not even in Seoul, and half of it is still under a loan.”

“Who cares if there’s a loan? Do you think it’s easy to provide a home for your parents at your age? You’ve done something admirable, Dong-ha.”

“Yeah. That’s definitely something to be proud of.”

Hong-seo, who had quietly listened, added his comment carefully. Both Yong-jae and Dong-ha turned their eyes toward him. They studied his expression, as if to check if he might be sarcastic. Clearly, the old image of Yun Hye-an still lingered strongly in their minds.

“Well… hearing Yun Hye-an say it’s impressive makes me think maybe I really did do something amazing.”

Dong-ha scrunched his nose, seemingly relieved, indicating that he didn’t take the comment as sarcasm.

“Come on, sit down. Let’s eat and chat.”

“I was waiting for that! I’ve been dying from the smell this whole time. Hyung, come on over.”

Taking a seat at the generously set dining table, Yong-jae gestured for Hong-seo to join.

As he approached the table, Hong-seo took another look around the house.

A modest country house in Gyeonggi-do, bought for his family with a loan; humble trinkets on budget shelving; and then, this luxurious marble-lined officetel in Gangnam—somehow, it didn’t quite add up.

A man who took out a loan to buy his family a modest house in Gyeonggi-do, yet paid hundreds of thousands in rent to live in an officetel like this? It seemed a bit contradictory.