Chapter 7.4

Jaeyoung had clearly warned Sangwoo not to appear before him again, but he had completely ignored him. At first, Jaeyoung had gotten so angry and irritated that his head was about to explode, but he had calmed down after standing and leaning his back against the wall in the kitchen of the restaurant for five minutes. If he had thought about it more calmly, Chu Sangwoo was highly unlikely to be having any thoughts about this whatsoever.. The reason is because he was the type of person to quickly delete unnecessary data, and he probably didn’t even remember that Jaeyoung worked at the restaurant.

No matter who looked at them, Sangwoo and Jihye looked like young and fresh students who went there on a date. They would probably hold hands next time they came. And the time after that, they would probably become intimate. And the time after that, they would probably hand out their wedding invitations. And then they would be welcoming their own little bundle of joy. Even if he didn’t watch them unfold himself, he could still imagine these scenes playing out in a drama.

Jaeyoung didn’t do anything he shouldn’t and just avoided their table. He told the manager that he would take a short break and went to smoke outside the building. He got a call from a friend at that time, but he wasn’t able to process what he was saying, so he just absentmindedly answered the phone. He smoked a lot of cigarettes that day.

That’s when he discovered that Sangwoo had followed him there. He wore a grim expression and there was an overall air of someone looking for a fight.

“Jaeyoung sunbae.”

Had Chu Sangwoo ever called him that? Jaeyoung slowly turned his head.

“Tell them that you’re busy and hang up. I have something important to tell you.”

It was said with such fierce confidence as if he had no choice but to answer with: ‘Yes! I understand!’

Stressed out by Sangwoo’s fierce determination, Jaeyoung told his friend he would call him back and ended the call. He didn’t have the slightest idea of what Chu Sangwoo was going to say. Was he trying to extort him for some kind of compensation for mental damage? He would probably do something like that.

“What?”

“I came to talk to you, hyung.”

“…what did you say?”

Jaeyoung thought that he had misheard him for a moment.

‘I only have noona.’

‘We don’t have a bastard bully in our family.’

‘And please stop adding family members to others.’

Sangwoo’s previous remarks went through his mind.

“Let’s create a game together. I need a skilled designer,” he calmly said.

If he said it that way, Jaeyoung would roll up his sleeves and answer ‘ok, good!’ with a ‘let’s try our best!’ sort of reply. Jaeyoung was all the more dumbfounded, because judging by the look in his eyes, Sangwoo didn’t seem to be expecting to be rejected at all. Chu Sangwoo didn’t seem to understand what went on with two people who had fought. It looked as if he had no idea how difficult it was to make up for the emotions of feeling wronged.

“I’ll make it so that you’ll get funds for studying abroad. It’s also an opportunity to create a strong portfolio. I’ll support any concept and design you want to try, so just leave it to me. I’m really confident that I can do well.”

It sounded like something a salesman for electric blankets would say. His frustration grew.

“Hold on.”

Jaeyoung raised his hand to prevent Sangwoo from getting ahead of himself. There was something he wanted to point out. For some reason, he clenched his fists and stared at Sangwoo who was boldly standing before him, just like a male cartoon character.

“What…did you say earlier?”

“I said that I need a skilled designer.”

“What did you call me?”

“Sunbae?”

“Didn’t you say hyung? Did I hear you wrong?”

Sangwoo closed his mouth.  A black brim cast a shadow over his eyes, partially covering his face.

“It was a slip of the tongue.”

There was silence. Jaeyoung couldn’t understand the situation at all. The person who had persistently stuck to calling him sunbae at the end of every sentence, had called him hyung. The person who had run away with a disgusted look on his face was urging him to work with him.