Chapter 62: Sketch
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: Sketch
Hae-young had been pacing aimlessly, like a robot vacuum dreaming of a life of freedom. When the waiting room door finally opened, she whipped around.
Should I use the party popper I prepared as a weapon? she briefly contemplated, imagining firing it straight into Im Eun-seong's face. She shoved it back into her pocket. Ruining that face, she reminded herself, would ruin her own life, too.
Hae-young stepped into the waiting room. Her eyes immediately landed on Yeon-ju, who looked as if her soul had just been violently shaken from her body, and Eun-seong, who was the very picture of composure.
"I can't believe you prepared a cake when you're so busy. Thank you for the congratulations, Director."
"Wait… Huh? Why are your lips the exact same color? Why? What's going on here?"
Hae-young's gaze darted between Eun-seong's face and Yeon-ju's, her expression turning deeply suspicious. Still clutching the cake, Yeon-ju scrambled to speak.
"Oh, Director! Well, you see… the actor had something urgent to discuss with me, so…"
"Something to discuss? What kind of discussion requires mouth-to-mouth transmission?"
"No, Director, it's not like that! Uh, Han-byeol! Yes! He wanted to talk about Han-byeol… just for a second…"
Eun-seong casually dabbed his lips with the back of his hand, revealing a clear smudge of Yeon-ju's lipstick. Seeing this, Yeon-ju's voice trailed off into absolute silence.
Taking the cake from her hands, Eun-seong set it on the table and gently nudged Yeon-ju's back, propelling her toward Hae-young.
"Why don't you explain to Director Jin yourself, Yeon-ju?"
"Well… Director, it's really not what you think…"
Pushed toward Hae-young against her will, Yeon-ju looked like she was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.
A moment later, the three of them were seated on the sofa.
*
Hae-young, who usually maintained a perfectly poised and sophisticated demeanor, was scowling. She crossed her arms, crossed her legs, and tilted her chin up as she stared down Yeon-ju, silently demanding an explanation.
"Yeon-ju. You explain."
The interrogation had officially begun.
Yeon-ju couldn't bring herself to speak, nervously chewing on her lower lip. She felt such a surge of resentment toward Eun-seong for causing this disaster that she couldn't even bear to look at him.
"What is going on here? Explain. Now."
"Well… you see…"
She couldn't get a single word out. Hae-young's eyes, which had possessed a subtle hint of madness this morning, now looked completely unhinged. Utterly terrified, Yeon-ju could only hunch her shoulders.
"Director… um… it's really not a big deal…" she offered as a weak, vague defense.
"If this isn't a big deal, does a full-scale war have to break out for you to consider it one?"
Her excuse didn't stand a chance.
Cold sweat trickled down Yeon-ju's spine, and her mouth went completely dry. When she continued to hesitate, unable to find her words, Hae-young turned her piercing gaze to Eun-seong.
"Since my girl seems to be having trouble speaking for herself, why don't you explain, Im Eun-seong? I saw everything, after all."
She had always addressed him politely as "Eun-seong-ssi," but now she had dropped the honorific entirely. Eun-seong simply tilted his head.
"I wonder what you saw, Director. A kiss? Or did you catch my hands wandering? Or…"
Or what?
Hae-young swallowed hard.
"It's hard for me to say anything without knowing exactly when you started watching, and how much you saw."
"Unbelievable. Seriously."
Hae-young pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a hollow, exasperated laugh. She looked back and forth between Yeon-ju and Eun-seong, then tilted her chin up again.
"But why did you let me catch you on purpose?"
"Because I need an ally."
"An ally?"
Hae-young raised a hand to cut him off.
"I think you chose the wrong person, Eun-seong. Right now, I'm transitioning from an Im Eun-seong fan to an Im Eun-seong hater."
They said Eun-seong had a knack for driving both his fans and his haters absolutely mad. It was true.
Hae-young stood up.
"Yeon-ju, pack up your things and go home. Eun-seong, you're coming outside with me for a little chat."
"Director…"
"Go, Yeon-ju. What are you doing? Are you ignoring your Unni?"
Speaking firmly, Hae-young shifted her gaze to Eun-seong.
"Hurry up and pack your things and go home," she told Yeon-ju again. "It seems our dear Actor Im has some things he wants to say to me."
*
The moment Hae-young stepped out, Yeon-ju sprang to her feet. Knowing better than to disobey Hae-young's order to pack up and leave immediately, she hurriedly threw on her coat and grabbed her bag.
Yeon-ju knew all too well that failing to comply right now would only invite a far greater disaster.
Gritting her teeth, she buttoned up her coat. She snatched her bag with irritated, jerky movements, then spun around to face Eun-seong.
"So this is how you're going to play it?"
At her furious tone, Eun-seong merely shrugged.
"We were bound to get caught anyway. With your terrible acting skills, you couldn't have fooled Director Jin for long."
"How can you even say that…!"
As Yeon-ju's breathing grew heavy with rage, Eun-seong stood up and sauntered over to her. When she glared up at him, her eyes narrowed to slits in sheer irritation, he tilted his head.
Yeon-ju's lips parted.
"I seriously don't understand you. Why are you blowing this so out of proportion? What does this even change?"
"It changes things. A lot, actually."
"What… what do you mean?"
"If you run away again later, I'll be the only one left feeling miserable. So shouldn't we have at least one witness to what's between us?"
Yeon-ju's brow furrowed deeply. For someone whose emotional stability usually rivaled that of a saint, a scowl like this was a rare sight.
It meant she was genuinely, thoroughly pissed off.
"You're insane…"
"Yeah, I am. What are you going to do about it?"
"Being insane isn't something to be proud of!"
"You're the one who drove me crazy, so why are you blaming me? Who told you to keep plotting your escape?"
Yeon-ju's jaw dropped. Look at this guy, being so utterly shameless when he was the one who started it!
"This is an absolute mess. How can someone like you even exist?"
"Exactly. You've never met anyone like me, have you?"
Eun-seong took a sudden step closer. As a startled Yeon-ju flinched, he formed a 'V' with his fingers and pointed them right at her eyes.
"There's no one else like me in the world. So keep your eyes glued to me and watch. Watch just how desperately clingy a man can get."
"..."
"Because you won't find a show like this anywhere else."
"Ugh…"
Yeon-ju looked like she was about to cry.
*
Her footsteps heavy with worry, Yeon-ju headed home. Meanwhile, Hae-young and Eun-seong drove their separate cars to a quiet bar in Sinsadong.
The bar was one of Hae-young's regular spots, featuring private rooms that made it ideal for a discreet conversation away from prying eyes.
`[Don't worry. I won't say a word to anyone.]`
Knowing Yeon-ju would be sick with worry over what they might discuss, Hae-young sent her a quick text before ordering the drinks. Having called ahead, the table was set almost immediately. Hae-young grabbed a bottle of soju and gave it a vigorous shake.
Without a word, she poured soju into a beer glass. Eun-seong thought she was going to split it, but she merely topped off the nearly full glass of soju with a splash of beer.
She filled two glasses, set one in front of each of them, and downed half of hers without even offering a toast. The rumors of her legendary tolerance were clearly true; her expression didn't so much as flicker as she set the glass down.
She elegantly dabbed her lips and looked up. Eun-seong, who had been watching her quietly, raised his own glass and took a polite sip.
Neither of them spoke, the silence between them heavy and tense. The neatly arranged platter of fresh sashimi remained completely untouched.
…How much time had passed?
"I know you two dated briefly back in college," Hae-young finally began.
Eun-seong silently drained his glass.
"Yeon-ju was… what, twenty-five? Twenty-six? When I first met her, I mean."
The shock of their first meeting was still vivid in her mind. A girl who looked like a doll herself was raising a son who looked even more like a doll.
"From the very beginning, Yeon-ju has always been an adult. There was never a moment she didn't strike me that way. She's calm, intelligent, thoughtful, and incredibly responsible."
"..."
"She's a master of self-restraint and control, completely immune to acting on impulse. To someone like me, who boils over and cools down in the blink of an eye, Yeon-ju always seemed like a girl who quietly and humbly bore whatever weight was placed on her."
A girl who never caused a single speck of trouble. A girl as solid and resilient as well-ripened autumn grain.
"For a girl like that to get involved with you to this extent, I have to believe she had a good reason. It wasn't just some fleeting whim, like being struck by lightning."
Hae-young refilled her glass.
"So, setting my girl aside for a moment…"
"..."
"Shouldn't you know better than to do this, Im Eun-seong?"
Hae-young stared at Eun-seong as she downed the glass. As she quietly set it back down, Eun-seong finally spoke.
"Yeon-ju told me about you recently. She said you two are like family."
"Yes. We are."
"She said she loves and respects you, and that she relies on you a lot. That she's incredibly grateful to have you."
Eun-seong took a drink.
"As you know, Yeon-ju doesn't have any friends."
"…I know."
"She was popular in college. She had plenty of friends and got along well with both her seniors and juniors. I never met them, but I remember she kept in touch with her middle and high school friends, too."
"..."
"I've known for a long time that all of her relationships were severed because of me. She wanted to vanish completely. To do that, she probably felt she had no choice but to cut everyone out of her life."
It wasn't a case of friendships naturally drifting apart and fading over time as life got busy.
In her early twenties, she had severed ties with friends who had meant more to her than family, choosing absolute isolation.
In doing so, Yeon-ju had stepped into a completely different life, as if living as another person entirely. It was the beginning of her loneliness. She endured a profound isolation, her contact list whittled down to barely ten numbers. Her only joy was talking to her babbling baby. She lived like that, eventually forgetting how to even cry out loud—until…
…she met Hae-young.
Eun-seong paused, gathering his thoughts in the brief silence before slowly continuing.
"Hearing that she relies on you brought me a sense of relief. It made me glad to know she isn't completely alone."
"..."
"Please… keep looking after her."
Hae-young's brow furrowed as she stared at him. This conversation was taking a turn she had never anticipated.