CH 42

As he got off the subway and waited for the bus, Inseop pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. He checked his watch and it was time to prepare breakfast at home in America. Today wasn’t the day he promised to call, but he did anyway. After the phone rang a few times, the voice of his mother came from over the phone.

“Peter?”

“… ”

The moment he heard his mother’s voice, something hot came up his throat.

“Peter? Peter? Baby, can’t you hear me?”

“I can hear you.”

He barely answered.

“Are you okay? How is it there? Isn’t it night time there now? Is work hard? Are you eating well?”

Inseop remembered that in a magazine he subscribed to study Korean culture, the question that Korean mothers always ask when talking to their children on the phone was: Did you eat? The question was not only at mealtimes, but also late at night or early in the morning, as if handed over as a greeting.

Choi Inseop thought that it was not necessarily a culture unique to Korea. His mother would always be anxious to check what he was eating these days and whether he skipped meals whenever he called.

Inseop answered yes, of course, and sat down on a chair at the bus stop.

By the way, what’s going on at this hour? Is something wrong with you?

No. I’m doing well. I just called because I wanted to hear your voice.

Since coming to Korea, Inseop only calls once every three days and never more. He made a promise to his father that he would do that, but it was also a rule he set for himself because he thought it would weaken his resolve if they talked on the phone too often.

“Isn’t there something wrong?”

His mother asked worryingly when she noticed that her son’s voice had subsided.

“There is nothing wrong. How are you all doing?”

“Yeah, I’m sleeping next to your father, would you like to talk to him?”

“No. I’ll call him again tomorrow, so I’ll talk then. Just… I called because I wanted to hear my mother’s voice.”

Although not of blood, Inseop never thought that his mother was not his real mother. She loved and treated Inseop equally, just like her own kids.

The very existence of his mother was a comfort to the present Inseop.

“Mom, listen.”

Inseop paused for a moment before speaking.

“Shall I go back to America?”

“Of course. Your home is here If you want to come, you can come. Whenever.”

Inseop’s tears, which he was barely holding back, dripped down at the sound of his mother’s warm voice. The place where he was hit was throbbing and it was painful. It hurt so much he couldn’t stand it. He wanted to run to Incheon International Airport right now to buy a ticket and fly to the United States.

The people who were waiting for the bus next to him glanced at Inseop. It was natural for the man who was talking fluently in english on the phone and crying to draw attention.

“If you are having a hard time, come now. Don’t worry about anything. Okay?”

“I have to go now. I’ll call you back tomorrow. Love you.”

Inseop saidr and hung up the phone quickly. It was because he thought that if they had talked a little more, he would cry and confide in everything that had happened so far.

No. He had to make up his mind. For now, he decided to go home, take a warm shower, water Kate and read his favorite book. Then he will feel much better.

“Great. It will be fine.”

Wiping the tears with his palm, Inseop put his phone in his pocket.

“Uh…”

He realized he had brought the van’s keys. Tomorrow Manager Cha would need the key to bring the van. He should have left it at the parking lot, but he just brought it with him because he wasn’t in his right mind.

Choi Inseop got up from his seat and walked towards the entrance again. Looking back the way he had come, he thought about what to do next.

According to the plan, after about a month and a half, he would be fired and he would have to go to the United States with Lee Wooyeon’s corruption, and there he had to write a letter to a newspaper. It started with the intention of ending everything within that time frame, even buying the plane ticket to the United States.

However, if he stayed like this, he may have to sign a three-year contract with Lee Wooyeon. He absolutely wanted to avoid that. He didn’t have the confidence to stand by Lee Wooyeon’s side for such a long time.

But maybe that was a good thing? If he went back home like this, he didn’t have to face Jennie. He didn’t even have the confidence to be by Lee Wooyeon’s side. He missed his family, he wanted to lean on someone, and his heart was getting weaker.

“Shall I just go… ”

Passing through the train ticket gates, Inseop tried to mumble a little.

After hearing his mother’s voice, his desire to go to America grew stronger. Inseop recalled the evidence he had about Lee Wooyeon’s complicated relationship with women. If he gave it to the newspaper, it would be noisy for a while. However, he will not be able to take Lee Wooyeon off the spot. Unlike female celebrities, the broadcasting industry is generous with male celebrities. If Lee Wooyeon held a press conference and announced that there was a misunderstanding and that they were just close friends, it would be noisy for a while, but in the end it would pass without any major problems. Lee Wooyeon was not only living on his image, but also because he was an actor with a name for his talent.

Choi Inseop let out a small sigh. Lee Wooyeon, who he watched from the side, was a perfect actor. It may hurt the image of the man named Lee Wooyeon, who was serious and gentle, but in the end, he had to admit that he would not be able to bring down the actor Lee Wooyeon.

In a month and a half, won’t something big happen to prove that Lee Wooyeon was an asshole in reality?

“Winning the lottery is more likely.”

Choi Inseop muttered and walked out. He remembered that CEO Kim said as if complaining that it would be difficult to find a person with such an image as Lee Wooyeon. Lee Wooyeon was also human, so he may make mistakes in life, but the probability that it will happen within a month and a half was close to zero, which was a problem.

“I should have gone home.”

Inseop took out his cell phone and checked the time. He heard that today’s dinner party would end early because there was a filming going on tomorrow morning. After eating and drinking in moderation, it was an atmosphere of destruction. In fact, that’s why he said he would stay until the end, but Lee Wooyeon asked him to return with a scary face, so he had no choice but to get out of the car.

He hoped everyone went back after it was over. Because he didn’t want to run into Kang Youngmo and his manager today. He would go to the filming set tomorrow and see his face, but he didn’t want to see him today.

Hoping that today’s meeting was over, Inseop walked down the street.

The place where they had an appointment today was in a quiet place far away from the downtown area, so the more he walked, the fewer people there were.

“It was like this.”

Choi Inseop looked around. It was dark and there were hardly any signs that were lit, so it was harder than he thought to find the way. Apparently there was a flower shop and a coffee shop side by side here …

As he looked back on the way he had just returned, he looked around eagerly. Then a silver Bentley came into his line of sight. He looked at the license plate to see if it was Kang Youngmo’s car.

“Uh…”

He frowned at the thought that Kang Youngmo could be nearby. It was the first time in his short life that he had such a bad feeling. Rather, if he were to uncover the bad things about Kang Youngmo and let the world know, he would be able to gather a lot of evidence in less than a week, let alone three months. 

Inseop wanted to see if Kang Youngmo was in the car, so he deliberately turned to the inside of the alley instead of that road. If he went this way, he would have to walk for a while, but he thought it would be better than meeting Kang Youngmo in a deserted place.

He was avoiding it because Kang Youngmo was a piece of shit, not because he was afraid.

“Kang Youngmo is a piece of shit.”

After getting that out of his mouth, he felt a little refreshed inside. Choi Inseop walked down the street, saying shit, shit, shit a few more times. It made him feel strangely better when he was pouring out such vulgar words alone in a street where no one was there. He realized this was why people cursed.

“A bad guy. Kang Youngmo is like shit…”

Inseop, who was pulling his lips together to say “Bastard”, heard a strange sound. It sounded like an animal’s cry, so Inseop stopped and listened. He thought that if there was an animal that was injured somewhere, he should save it and take it to the hospital. However, even after standing still for a long time, the cry of the animal was no longer heard.

“Did I hear wrong?”

When Inseop, who had tilted his head, tried to move again, he heard a dull sound of something breaking. Then, a shriek was heard.

It wasn’t the cry of an animal, it was the sound of a human moaning. Realizing this, he felt goosebumps rising up his spine.

What the hell was this? Was someone being robbed? Does he really need to call 119 saying someone was injured somewhere? Or 112? But where was the person? Should he call the police first?

Inseop looked for his cell phone. After finding the injured person, he took out his cell phone and looked around so he could call the police at any time. The first thing was to determine where the sound was coming from.

Then he saw someone coming out of the gap between the buildings. The man threw something he was holding to the floor. It was a wallet.

That was the robber. He was watching the robber now.

Inseop hid behind the car without realizing it. He thought he should take a picture of the criminal, so he picked up the phone with trembling hands. It is so helpful that when he took pictures with his phone to secretly take pictures of Lee Wooyeon, he modified it so that there is no flash and no sound…

“… ”

Inseop, who was taking a picture of the man with his cell phone, froze on the spot. The moment the man walked out of the shade of the building, his face was revealed under the moonlight.

Lee Wooyeon, who had a sober expression that he would not normally have, raised the tip of his lips and smiled with satisfaction. He looked so scary. Unlike his eyes, which did not contain any emotion, he was smiling to the fullest, and the appearance of his white teeth exposed in the dark seemed far beyond that of a human being.

Inseop’s whole body trembled. The man in front of him didn’t seem like the Lee Wooyeon he knew. Not knowing what just happened, Inseop hid behind the car and watched Lee Wooyeon nervously.

After looking around for a while, Lee Wooyeon walked to the end of the alley with a predator-like expression after a satisfying meal. Inseop was unable to move from his seat until the sound of the footsteps disappeared.

After confirming that Lee Wooyeon had completely disappeared, Inseop carefully walked out from behind the car. Also on the floor was a wallet. With his cuffs covering his fingers, Inseop slowly picked up his wallet.

He may have heard it wrong. It may be that Lee Wooyeon accidentally dropped his wallet… Of course, Lee Wooyeon used a black leather wallet instead of a brown wallet. He might have a wallet he didn’t know and threw it away when he got tired of it. All sorts of possibilities popped into his mind. Inseop did not know whose wallet he wanted this to be. He just opened the wallet with his trembling hands. It also contained an ID. He took out the ID.

It was a familiar face.

“Ughh…”

A painful moan echoed from the alley. Choi Inseop could tell who the man lying in the space where one person could barely pass between the buildings was without looking at his face.

“Kang Young…”

Before he could even call his name, Inseop realized what kind of scene he was getting into. He couldn’t believe it either. The bitter wind hitting his face brought him back to reality, but even exhaling felt unrealistic.

His fingertip touched the cold screen of his cell phone.

Choi Inseop held Lee Wooyeon’s weakness

The warm sunlight streamed through the window like honey. Peter, who was having a drowsy morning, laughed as he heard the sound of someone stomping up the stairs. Before the smile on his lips faded, Jennie swung the door open with excitement.

“Peter!”

“You won’t even knock?”

“What is a knock between us? Now that’s not the problem! There are some really cool things going on.”

“What’s going on?”

Peter asked, getting up from his bed. Yesterday, he had a fever at night and couldn’t sleep for a long time, but hearing Jennie’s pleasant voice made him feel better.

“Voila.”

She pulled a letter out of her pocket.

“What is that?”

“A reply from the prince.”

“What?!”

“Can’t you believe it? ha ha ha I really doubted my eyes when I saw this in my locker.”

Her eyes lit up as she waved the off-white envelope. Peter looked at the letter Jennie was holding with a blank expression.

“Really?”

“Well. Where should we read?”

As she sat down by the bed, she coughed in vain. Peter asked in amazement.

“Did you not open it?”

“Huh. I didn’t open it and waited to see it with you. I was going to come yesterday, but you said you were not feeling well, so I waited. I almost died! Me!”

“It’s bad, it’s bad.”

Peter pointed to the desk and continued.

“The envelope-opening knife is in the drawer over there…you ripped it off by hand.”

Jennie answered, tearing off the seam of the envelope with her hand.

“I used up all the patience I had right now as I climbed these stairs. Come on, let’s read it.”

Jennie opened it and read the letters on the paper.

“I read the letter you wrote carefully. It was the first time such a special letter had been written. You were the first person to think of me that way. I’ll wait for your next letter. Your Philip.”

The letter was very short. After reading the short letter, Jennie struggled with her whole body and liked it.

“How? How is it? Your phillip. Here’s my Philip! Our prince is mine!”

“Written by hand?”

“Huh. The writing is really pretty.”

Jennie handed Peter the letter. Peter narrowed his brow for a moment. Not long ago, in class for translating English poetry into Korean, Philip wrote a poem on the blackboard at the request of the teacher. It wasn’t intentional, but Peter saw Philip’s handwriting and memorized it with his own eyes.

It was a very elegant and beautiful typeface, so he thought it would be possible to distinguish it somehow if he looked at it again.

However, the handwriting in the letter Jennie was carrying was not Philip’s handwriting he had seen then. Of course, this typeface was also pretty, but it was too delicate to say that it was written by a man.

After a moment’s hesitation, Peter asked Jennie.

“Hey. Is this a letter from Philip himself?”

“Then? Then who wrote it? Phillip’s name is written here. Philip Levin.”

“Um, but…  Why did he write in English?”

“Because this is America? Isn’t English more convenient?”

“Well… okay.”

When the reaction she had expected did not come from Peter, Jenniee hardened her face at once.

“Why? Do you think this is not a letter from the prince?”

“No, not that!”

“You think it’s impossible for someone like Philip to reply to me?”

“No. Jennie, I mean…”

“It’s fine. I thought only you would be happy.”

When Jennie turned her back and cried, Peter got up from the bed in a panic.

“No. So Philip…”

Peter thought he had to confide in everything. He tried to say that it because he saw Philip at a Korean student council meeting, and he saw his handwriting there. He tried to apologize for not saying that earlier.

However, when he thought that she was crying, Jennie spread her palms and showed her tongue.

“I was joking!”

“You…”

“I received such a precious letter from the prince, do you think this will make me feel bad? Hahaha.”

Jennie smiled wildly and waved the letter flutteringly. Peter sighed, and sat down on the edge of the bed. His body was still not completely healed, but he was feeling dizzy.

“Are you okay? You look bad.”

Jennie asked, looking down at Peter worriedly. Peter smiled weakly and shook his head.

“I’m on medication. I’m just a little sleepy.”

“How about a meal?”

“I ate. Earlier.”

“I’m worried. What did the hospital say?”

“I think I need surgery. It will probably be a major operation. If this surgery goes well, I can run around like everyone else. Of course, the success rate is less than 10%.”

“… Huh.”

Jennie looked at Peter with a gloomy look and clapped her hands as if thinking of something.

“That’s right. What happened to the novel you sent to the publisher? No news yet?”

“I totally forgot. Hahaha. Not yet I guess. I just sent it.”

After reading Peter’s novel in the notebook, Jennie ran barefoot the next day and shook Peter’s shoulder, saying, “You are a genius, you are definitely a genius.” Although Peter was pleased with her words, he objected to sending novels, saying, “How do I do it?”

However, Jennie typed Peter’s novel and handed it to him, and Peter got the courage to contribute to the publishing house.

“Don’t worry. They’ll be in touch soon. If the publisher is blind and doesn’t accept your novel, send it elsewhere. Do you know how many times the aunt who wrote Harry Potter was rejected by the publishing house?”

“How do I compare my novel to that?”

“I think yours is a lot more fun.”

The novel is about a boy who discovers a door that connects to another world in his dream and the dream affects reality, and the story continues in a dreamlike manner throughout. As soon as the next day dawned, Jennie finished reading the notebook she had been reading all night long and ran to Peter.

“Obviously it will be fine. Keep writing, keep writing.”

Peter laughed shyly. Jennie took his hand and said.

“It will definitely work. You are a special kid. I can tell.”

“Thanks. If I succeed, I will buy a castle and give you a special floor.”

“Really? Oh well, then I’ll have to call Aunt Spencer and tell her I can’t go to her house.”

“Okay. Be sure to do that.”

The two laughed heartily. The swear words of a hoarse woman looking for Jennie from the house next door resounded. Jennie sighed.

“I will go.”

Jennie waved to Peter. Peter waved his hand weakly.

“Take good care of yourself. See you next time.”

“Yea, I got it.”

After Jennie left, Peter went back to bed. The heat that hadn’t completely subsided yet made his closed eyes stiff. Reminding him of the love letter that came from Philip made him laugh.

Peter remembered writing Jennie’s letter for him. When he chose the orange stationery, Jennie was worried that it would stand out too much for a love letter. When he replied that orange is the color of the sun and so it was the color of the prince, Jennie immediately agreed. Peter wrote the letters on the stationery he had chosen by hand.

As if he was the one sending the love letter.

His face heated up at the thought that Philip had read the letter he had written as if he had transferred his heart, letter by letter.

His body got hot again. Peter thought of the boy who laid in bed for a while, holding an orange stationery.