Chapter 127

The atmosphere had already settled into a cold silence. Park Chan-wook’s face, which had maintained a blank expression, now showed irritation, anger, and a sneer directed at someone since the moment he challenged me.

If this guy had at least read my work, maybe I wouldn’t be so angry, but the fact that he hadn’t read it at all blew the fuse in my head.

“You’re 25?”

“Why are you speaking informally?”

“Aren’t you speaking informally too?”

“I’m older than you!”

Park Chan-wook briefly glanced over me. What the hell, this guy. It’s unsettling.

“Heh.”

That was a sound of disbelief. If he didn’t realize what that meant, he was a complete fool. Just not long ago, I was afraid he was chasing me, and now I couldn’t even remember that feeling.

If I don’t take him down now, I won’t be myself.

“Want to die?”

“You don’t have anything to say even when you think about it, do you?”

“Umm, you both should calm down…”

Hey, Han-bom. If you were going to stop this, you should have done it sooner. Didn’t the spoon just fly out of my hand?

So this is the noise a spoon makes when it hits someone’s head.

I was momentarily startled by what I had done. I couldn’t hold myself back without taking that guy down. So, I grabbed whatever was within reach and swung it; the spoon I had just used to eat flew and hit Park Chan-wook on the forehead.

Park Chan-wook didn’t scream, but he frowned and stared at the spoon that had dropped to the ground.

…As my momentary anger faded, I started to regret my foolishness. No, it’s true that he started it, and I believe he deserved to be hit with a spoon, but still, it was inappropriate to act like this in front of others.

At least I was fortunate that, looking around, it was a vague time of day and there were no other customers besides us. The owner, an older lady, was observing us with great interest.

Park Chan-wook was glaring at me with a terrifying expression.

…Should I apologize now? No, but it’s not really my fault, honestly. Of course, I can’t justify using violence, but…

Honestly, didn’t he deserve it?

No, this is something he truly deserved. No matter how I think about it, I did nothing wrong. I stared back into Park Chan-wook’s eyes, refusing to avert my gaze. Han-bom was anxiously trying to mediate from the side, but I didn’t care.

In the staring contest that began, surprisingly, it was Park Chan-wook who surrendered. He sighed and closed his eyes, and I waited for him to say something, but unexpectedly he spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“…What?”

“I’m sorry. I just reacted sensitively because it reminded me of a messed-up situation. I know it’s not right to take it out on you, and I realize that, but I couldn’t help myself and lashed out.”

…Why is he apologizing so readily all of a sudden? Through this brief conversation, he had already lost all trust from me. It was hard for me to accept his apology so easily when I was already quite heated.

And he got hit with a spoon. It’s one thing to have someone acknowledge their mistakes and apologize, but nobody could exist in reality who would apologize while having just been hit on the head with a spoon, unless they were seriously out of their mind.

“Okay, I admit my mistake, but you did throw the spoon first, so let’s just stop here. I started it, and since you threw the spoon, let’s call it even. You don’t have to apologize to me.”

Am I out of my mind?

I had already cooled down when I realized I threw the spoon. While thinking it over again in that state made me heat up again—I still couldn’t find my mistake, given how the other person was acting, I began to run low on fuel for the fire.

Moreover, since I had already stated that I was older, it would have been a bit embarrassing to keep pushing when the other person was being this conciliatory, and I didn’t want it to escalate any further. There was only one witness, after all, and the restaurant owner was watching.

Feeling uneasy, I ultimately had no choice but to accept his apology.

“…Okay. I got heated too. I’m sorry for throwing the spoon.”

“Ah, so both of you reconciled? I can relax now, right?”

Please be quiet, Han-bom.

“I’m sorry too. I got unnecessarily worked up.”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

You’d better be fine. You kept eating your soup even while we were fighting.

Amidst the chaos, he had managed to finish his food. The kimchi was entirely gone. On the other hand, I still had quite a bit of my soup left.

In the end, after this situation settled down, we naturally resumed our meals, but the atmosphere had already turned icy. Just because we had apologized didn’t mean all the bad feelings would suddenly vanish.

However, there was one thing I wanted to ask.

“So, did you really not read my writing?”

He probably hadn’t. He said it himself. Just feeling irritated for no reason, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had deliberately said he hadn’t read it to make me angry.

I wasn’t sure which would be more infuriating, him saying he deliberately hadn’t read it to annoy me or him actually not reading it at all.

“I really didn’t read it. And even if I did, I would have said I didn’t.”

“Why?”

“To make you mad.”

…He’s doing both, and I don’t know which one is more infuriating. The fight was over, and even if I felt uncomfortable, it was still a finished matter.

Still, I couldn’t really criticize him for not having read my work. My novel wasn’t exactly mainstream, and simply not reading it wasn’t a fault. If I picked a fight over that, I’d look petty. It was just my feelings that were hurt.

“What kind of writing do you do?”

“You’ve been speaking very shortly since a while ago.”

“Because you were the one who messed up first, accept it.”

“I just write some ordinary web novels.”

I guess he didn’t want to share. I looked over at Han-bom.

“Ah, if the author doesn’t tell me, I can’t say anything.”

This isn’t fair. He knows what I’ve written, but I don’t know what he’s written. I glared at Park Chan-wook with a face full of irritation, and eventually, he spat it out.

“Seomseomoksoo.”

“Seomseom… what?”

“Seomseomoksoo. It’s my pen name. You can find it if you search.”

“You’re surprisingly open about it.”

“There’s nothing much to hide.”

His attitude was surprisingly straightforward. I wanted to search it immediately, but it felt somewhat awkward to do that in front of the author, so I decided to look it up later and finished my soup.

It didn’t take long for the two of us—well, to finish our soup. Park Chan-wook was a guy, so he ate more quickly, and I had left just under half of mine. Han-bom had, as she said, already finished her bowl and cleared out the broth.

As we were about to pay and leave, Park Chan-wook unexpectedly took the initiative and paid for everything. What the hell was this?

“Why are you paying?”

“For the spoon.”

“I threw it, though. Are you being sarcastic?”

“Why would I hate you so much?”

“Am I the only one?”

The argument started when you challenged me first. Anyway, being with this guy felt like we were about to fight again. So we naturally ended up parting ways in front of the soup restaurant. Specifically, Han-bom and I parted ways.

“I should get back to the company now. Um, I’m not your contact anymore, but I’ll continue to support you. Go for it, author! And now that I’m headed toward Seoul, you can contact me anytime if you want to meet. Let me know if you need anything!”

After today, it seems I shouldn’t be calling you anymore.

“Thank you for your hard work during this time, contact. Take care.”

“Yes!”

Park Chan-wook had greeted Han-bom politely, surprisingly, unlike how he treated me. If he had treated me half as politely, I wouldn’t have gotten hit with a spoon.

After Han-bom left, we were naturally left alone. We both had to go to the train station, but I likely didn’t want to accompany him, and he obviously didn’t either. Should I take a longer way, or should I call a taxi?

While I was contemplating, Park Chan-wook spoke first.

“I have something to attend to, so I’ll be leaving. Take care.”

“Ah, right.”

Fortunately, he was more perceptive than I expected. I didn’t know if he genuinely had somewhere to go, but in any case, we couldn’t walk together at this point, and he had handled the separation well.

After I had distanced myself from him, I sighed. Today felt pathetic for me. Of course, it was true that he messed up, but it wasn’t worth getting worked up over. In the past, I would have coldly ignored it, but I had overreacted emotionally today.

Before that, anxiously thinking someone was chasing me and acting paranoid made today a bad day.

Maybe he would give me some space, but just in case we bumped into each other again, perhaps I should loop back. I pulled out my smartphone to look up a different route. After aligning my steps accordingly, I figured I would arrive in about 40 minutes.

Since my body felt weak and my stamina was roughly low, I should at least walk to get some exercise. With how seldom I go outside, I had to make use of any time I could.

Should I search for the pen name that guy gave me? Oh, now that I think about it, I should have asked him what book he was reading on the train. I felt a strange curiosity rush back at the thought.

While walking slowly and searching on my phone, I found out he was more extraordinary than I expected. He said he was 25, but he had already had two hit works. One of them was a title I had at least heard of. There’s a webtoon too, wow. The traffic… how much is all this worth? It’s hard to believe. With this much money…

I tried to shake off the sudden feeling of defeat. As long as I earn enough to get by, that’s all that matters. I can’t say I have no ambition, but still, I consider myself part of the successful crowd. Since we are in different fields, it’s foolish to feel this way in vain.

And what would it do to earn well if he has such a bad personality?

But where am I? As I was inwardly bashing him a bit, I realized I was lost. Well, since I have my smartphone, I can find my way quickly. I’ve somehow ended up coming to a quite isolated area. Maybe it’s because it’s out in the countryside; it was bustling just a moment ago, but now as I move off the main road, I find myself here.

Regardless, it seems I’ve taken quite a roundabout path, so I might have to walk a bit more. While I was checking my phone again to find a route, I sensed a presence behind me.

When I turned my head, I saw a middle-aged drunkard. His clothes were ordinary, but looking closely, they seemed a bit dirty; in any case, he wasn’t well-presented.

There was nothing good about getting involved with someone so drunk during the day. I quickened my pace. After acting like the fool just now, I was sure now that he wasn’t chasing me, but still, it’s better to err on the side of caution.

It was probably my imagination that our paths overlapped.

Just my imagination… right?

In a moment of anxiety, I glanced back again, but the drunken man was gone. It really was just my imagination. I shouldn’t act foolishly twice in one day. I felt relieved and started moving again.

However, I soon reached a dead end.

It seems I need to turn back up ahead. It wasn’t a big deal. I could just go back out and turn that way,

but—

“Hey!!!”

Someone outside the alley was looking at me.

It was the drunken man from before. He was blocking the alley and shouting. I looked around, but obviously, there was no one but me. The heavily intoxicated man started to slowly approach me.

Suddenly filled with fear, I couldn’t even properly respond and took a step back.

“Hey, you piece of shit. Are you ignoring me too? Damn, if someone calls you, you should respond!”

The man wasn’t wielding a weapon or anything. But to me at that moment, him being there was as dangerous as a weapon or even worse. I took another step back. In that time, the man had closed the distance by five paces.

I couldn’t even answer properly, half-frozen as I kept retreating, while he started to come toward me faster.

“Who the hell do you think I am, to be this ignored?”

The drunk man seemed to be extremely angry, muttering strange and incomprehensible nonsense. I had to escape. Even though it was an alleyway, it wasn’t that narrow, and I might be able to run away if I sprinted. However, my legs wouldn’t move as I wanted. I just kept backing away.

And eventually, my back hit a dead-end wall. There was nowhere left to run.

In a situation where my mind was about to go blank, the drunkard kept approaching me, muttering nonsensical and abusive words. Then he reached out his hand toward me.

Ah, memories from that time surfaced.

Memories I didn’t want to remember, of a man’s touch.

The man reeked. I felt like I was about to vomit.

I squinted my eyes shut. I couldn’t open my eyes out of fear. How could I be so foolish? How could I be so weak?

But that hand never reached me.

“You crazy bastard!!!”

Someone charged at the drunkard. As the shouting man got knocked over, before he could even get back up, someone else rushed in and began to kick him.

“Hey! You insane piece of shit! Damn!!”

That person was striking the drunkard as if he were avenging his parents, kicking him with wild fury. After having been forced to stand up multiple times, the drunkard seemed dazed, but then punches began to rain down.

“Die, you bastard. Scum like you deserves to die.”

He was clearly saving me, yet the merciless violence frightened me. The drunkard was terrifying, but so was that man.

However, if it weren’t for him…

But what if that guy ended up killing the drunken man? I didn’t want the situation to escalate to the level of someone dying, nor did I want the person who saved me to become a murderer. With a trembling voice, I spoke.

“Stop… please…”

The voice came out smaller than I expected, but the man seemed to hear me and indeed halted the assault on the drunkard. He turned around once to look at me. Then he threw the drunken man down to the ground and spat on him.

It was Park Chan-wook.