Not Just a Favor

When he returned home, stood in front of the entrance door, and checked Choi Jong-ik’s threatening message that had arrived without warning, his mind jolted awake as if cold water had been dumped on him.

[I hear you’re going to auditions? How fearless]

That’s why, even at this moment right before going to bed, while looking at the newspaper headline, he was still meticulously replaying the conversation from earlier in the day.
With a sense of regret, thinking he didn’t have to be so cold, he wished he hadn’t been.

Yoo Hyun neatly folded the newspaper in half so the headline wasn’t visible.

—If it were possible for me to make someone’s death disappear as if it never happened, as you think… Wouldn’t you, Yoo Hyun, be wrong to treat me like this?
“Choi Jong-ik.”

—It’s not necessarily my intervention that will ruin you, Goo Yoo Hyun-ssi.
“—A better option.”

With the alcohol not yet worn off, Yoo Hyun impulsively picked up his phone and quickly typed a message.

[I’d like to hear more details about the proposal you made earlier today.]

Sent time: 02:05 AM.

“What, why is the time like this…”

Because he stubbornly sent it via text, not wanting to add him as a friend on a messenger, cancellation was impossible.

“Ahh! Goo Yoo Hyun, ahh…!”

How ridiculously would he be viewed if he knew he had been agonizing over it until late at night? He was done for.

Yoo Hyun, sinking into self-reproach, roughly washed his face, then calmed down like a monk who had realized some truth, quietly got off the sofa.

“He’s probably sleeping at this hour anyway. So what.”

He went in, thinking he should dry his still-damp hair and sleep, marking the end of that day.

****

“You said it didn’t work out? You said you thought you failed!”

He opened his eyes with difficulty to Sang-jin, who was making a fuss.

“Ugh… Hyung, you don’t know how strong your hand is….”

Rubbing his stinging rear as he sat up, Sang-jin was all smiles.
Getting off the bed and opening the curtains revealed it was still very early morning.

“What time is it? The sun doesn’t seem to have been up long.”
“That the sun is up isn’t important!”
“What’s important? I fell asleep late last night…”
“No nagging, just look at this!”

Sang-jin’s tablet came right up to his nose.
Pulling his head back, Yoo Hyun blinked his stiff eyes and focused on the content on the screen.

[Exclusive] MA:IN’s Yoo, Cast as Lead in Drama ‘Catcher’

Yoo Hyun read it over and over in a daze.

“What is this?”
“You said yesterday you failed for sure!”

Yoo Hyun bolted upright and snatched the phone.
Having been fooled once or twice on April Fool’s Day, Yoo Hyun suspected it might be a fake site made to trick him.
He pressed the back button, then the forward button, but it was still a valid page.

He hurriedly typed ‘Goo Yoo Hyun’ into the search bar.
Numerous internet articles, no different from the one he just saw, lined up.
Articles stating his casting as the drama’s lead had been confirmed.

…How is this possible?

Yoo Hyun blinked, then remembered what he had done in the early morning.
He pushed Sang-jin aside and went to find his phone.
Only after nearly overturning the bed did he remember he had left it on the sofa and ran out.
He pulled the phone wedged in the sofa cushions and turned on the screen.

Unlocking it revealed the screen exactly as it was just before he threw the phone down yesterday.

[What are you curious about?]
[So you want to hear in person]

Two messages that arrived in quick succession, less than five minutes after sending his text, and one missed call that seemed to have come right after.

Blocking Sang-jin, who was trying to peek, he quickly made a call and put it to his ear.
He pushed away the large figure trying to listen in and went into the room.

Only after making the call did Yoo Hyun check the clock again.
It occurred to him that it was still morning, not even 9 AM, and the man who might not have slept until late last night could still be sleeping now.

Yesterday he acted like he’d never do it, then sent a text in the early morning; now, as soon as he opens his eyes, he excitedly calls…

About to hang up in another bout of belated regret, a clear voice came through as if he’d been awake for a long time.

–”Is the advance payment to your liking?”
“Huh?”
–”You haven’t seen the article yet?”
“Ah, I saw the article, but…”
–”You called as soon as you woke up, I see.”

I should have hung up earlier.
I should have had some water before calling.
Yoo Hyun regretted his earlier impatience.
Clearing his tight throat, he continued.

“Ahem, yes, I saw the article. I contacted you after seeing I was cast. But what did you mean by ‘advance payment’ just now…”
–”I said I’d restore everything you lost due to bad luck, didn’t I? A single role—I thought it could be counted as an advance payment level.”

Though he had decided to do it, hearing it called an ‘advance payment’ before even hearing the details made him unnecessarily nervous, and Yoo Hyun cautiously asked.

“…Then, is there also a penalty fee?”
The man let out a light laugh.
Holding his breath and waiting, the answer came after a pause.
–”We should meet and talk. I’ll let you know the time and place via text.”

What, that’s it?
Feeling somewhat entranced, Yoo Hyun stared blankly at the ended call, then belatedly saved the number.

“What’s this about a penalty fee?”
“Ah, you startled me! Hyung, do you walk around someone else’s house without making a sound?”
“Other times you complain I stomp around.”
“Make some presence! Stop hitting a sleeping person’s rear. My rear is really bruised, isn’t it?”

Yoo Hyun, feigning pain from his smacked rear, subtly changed the subject and left the room.

“I did that because I thought you wouldn’t wake up! Did it hurt? Let me see. See if it’s really bruised.”
“See what?”

Avoiding Sang-jin’s eyes as he followed out, playfully asking if it hurt a lot, he let out a sigh.

****

His head was throbbing.
He was waiting for Ji-ho to bring his medication.
If more time passed here, his head would probably start splitting in pain.
He should come quickly.
Taehwa closed his eyes resignedly and leaned the back of his head against the sofa.

Se-jun usually protested in this way.
Like today, when he vaguely refused his offer to visit in the morning, Se-jun defiantly rushed to Taehwa’s family home and left the medication there—using family to apply psychological pressure.
As if he didn’t know that such medicine only increased aversion to his actions.

♬—

Taehwa lifted his tilted-back head and opened his eyes.
Everything, from the electronic beep to the footsteps, was unfamiliar.

“I didn’t wake you if you were sleeping, did I?”
It was his older brother, Tae-in.

“How did you get in…”
Among the people who knew this house’s passcode, there was only one person who would have given it to Tae-in.
He could clearly read Ji-ho’s talkative nature, who must have reported every little detail.

“Did Yoon Ji-ho tell you?”
“Hmm, I wonder who it was.”
At Tae-in’s sly answer, Taehwa narrowed his eyes.

“That guy isn’t lacking in anything, so why does he keep…”
“You only have that one friend, Yoon. What good does it do to badmouth your only friend?”
“I didn’t say ‘Yoon Ji-ho.'”
“Ji-ho has no sin other than answering yes or no as I told him to, so go easy on him, is what I’m saying.”

Tae-in walked boldly inside without even asking for permission.

Taehwa let out a short sigh.
Even when the family was in an uproar after first witnessing the danger of the rampage Taehwa held, Tae-in alone had remained calm.
While Ji-ho might be scared off, this one was a person who could only be driven out by direct force.

“If you came to deliver the medicine, just give it and go. Don’t spout useless talk.”
“Not even an empty ‘sit for a bit’ to your brother you haven’t seen in a while.”
“I don’t make empty offers to someone who doesn’t accept empty offers anyway.”
“How can a guy like you be my brother? Not Yoon Ji-ho, who loves calling me ‘hyung-nim’ to death.”
Unperturbed by his younger brother’s cold treatment, Tae-in boldly planted himself on a corner of the sofa, carelessly threw the paper bag he brought instead of Ji-ho onto the table, and slowly looked around inside.

Even if he counted all his visits over five years, it wouldn’t fill a week, so it was still an unfamiliar place to Tae-in.
Tae-in, busily exploring the sparsely furnished house that felt like a new home, subtly brought up a topic.

“I hear you decided not to get married?”
Taehwa, who had reached for the paper bag, suddenly stopped, squinted one eye, and turned his head.

“Did Yoon Ji-ho say that?”
“Ah, for your information, Joo Tae-young doesn’t know, so rest easy.”
The front of Taehwa’s eyebrows narrowed slightly.

“You said Yoon Ji-ho only answered yes or no. How did you find out, hyung?”
“Our youngest, trying to raise funds urgently for something…? Thinking about such things made me naturally curious.”

It seemed he had been quietly receiving reports during their period of no contact.
It was his own mistake for letting his guard down.
Taehwa clicked his tongue and pulled the paper bag closer.

“So, it’s true you’re not getting married?”
“That’s not why you came all the way here to confirm, is it?”
“It’s true, though?”
Taking a syringe from the paper bag, he removed the cap with one hand, then unwrapped a pill with the other, put it in his mouth, and looked at him.
Tae-in’s eyes gleamed meaningfully as he spoke.

“Mother, Father, Joo Tae-young, even Yoon Ji-ho are on his side, but I’m on your side.”
“…….”
“Think about it. It’s really not a bad marriage at all. Yoo-sang Pharmaceuticals promised to provide you with whatever you need indefinitely, and since you won’t have to see someone who gets taken away every couple of months no matter who they live with, how good is that? Even judging purely by conditions, he’s not a bad marriage partner. He’s the son of the Center Director, no less.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“The fact that your marriage is actually only not a bad marriage from our perspective. We all treat your marriage like a game of hot potato, and they know that very well too.”

Taehwa put the cap back on and stared at his brother.

“And yet, they’re acting favorably as if they’re already in-laws, talking about annulment and whatnot. The one anxiously fearing the marriage will fall through isn’t you—it’s Yeon Se-jun. Isn’t that a bit strange?”

Tae-in, with a fierce smile, leaned in and continued in a sharp tone.

“My thoughts differ from Joo Tae-young’s. I never thought Yeon Se-jun saved your life from the start, and I don’t think he can save your life in the future either.”

It was an interesting opinion.
He knew he didn’t care much for Se-jun, but concluding by denying all his contributions was truly unexpected.

“I disliked Yeon Se-jun from the start. You know that?”
“…….”
“Compared to me, you started disliking him relatively recently. Since he saved you. Is saving you even correct? You wouldn’t hate someone who saved you.”

Tae-in’s question, not knowing the circumstances, was valid.
In a normal case, one would not only not reject a life-saver but even develop affection, leading the relationship to progress.

However, cases that are not normal also clearly exist.

“He did save me.”
“…….”
“It’s just that saving me wasn’t everything.”