The tone was so menacing that it seemed like he’d deal with whoever it was the moment he found out.
Song Hyunsoo felt something close to being touched by Yoon Jooho’s reaction, as if he was getting angry on his behalf.
It was an unfamiliar feeling.
He looked away, feeling both embarrassed and awkward.
As he stroked the Cat in his arms, Song Hyunsoo shook his head.
“I was the one who messed up. I had thirty NGs, you know.”
“So you got scolded for thirty NGs? That’s it?”
“No, that’s not it. Why can’t you ever trust what I say?”
Yoon Jooho gripped both of Song Hyunsoo’s shoulders tightly, still looking suspicious.
But as if he had no choice, he finally let go.
There were no traces of tears left on Song Hyunsoo’s face anyway.
Turning his back, Yoon Jooho lit a cigarette and grumbled.
“They told you to wait outside because you were nervous. Did you really need to be out here?”
“If you’d been there, I would’ve messed up fifty times.”
“……”
“Maybe it’s thanks to you that I stopped at thirty.”
“Listen to yourself.”
Yoon Jooho brought the cigarette to his lips, glanced back over his shoulder, and gave a dry laugh.
“It’s true I was upset about all those NGs, but is that really something to cry over? If I bawled over every little thing like that, I’d have cried my whole life away by now.”
Right, isn’t that so, little one?
As he gently petted the Cat in his arms, Song Hyunsoo stole a glance at Yoon Jooho’s back.
Just like before, Yoon Jooho kept enough distance that the smoke wouldn’t reach him.
Probably for the Cat’s sake.
Song Hyunsoo smiled silently and stroked the Cat’s nose.
“Didn’t you say two of them were adopted?”
After a few puffs, Yoon Jooho looked over and asked.
“That’s right.”
“Then why is there only one left?”
He said he didn’t care, but he remembered everything.
“The Siblings became independent, and the Mother passed on her territory to this one and left.”
“Don’t tell me that’s why you cried?”
Yoon Jooho looked exasperated.
“How many times do I have to say I didn’t cry? Can’t you believe me for once!”
“Even if you didn’t cry, you… definitely had that about-to-cry face.”
After saying that, Yoon Jooho turned his head back toward the open lot.
From a spot about six or seven steps away, Song Hyunsoo watched the smoke curling from the end of Yoon Jooho’s lips, scattering among the falling snow.
The reason he’d almost been driven to tears was completely misunderstood, but just hearing those words from Yoon Jooho made something tightly wound inside him start to unravel.
He wondered if anyone else knew this side of Yoon Jooho.
For example, did the person who rejected Yoon Jooho ever see him like this?
He probably treated that person with even more care and devotion.
More than he ever did with Song Hyunsoo.
He’d call often, make time to meet no matter how busy he was, have an ordinary relationship like that—Song Hyunsoo could never imagine Yoon Jooho in that kind of love before.
But now, he could almost picture it.
Maybe Yoon Jooho really did put in that kind of effort for that person.
But it didn’t matter.
He was curious, and thinking about it did make him gloomy, but only for a moment.
Song Hyunsoo gently took the little one from inside his jacket and carefully lifted it by placing his hands under its armpits.
“Senior, you said you don’t like sleeping alone. How about sleeping with this little guy?”
“Even if I can’t sleep for a month, I’m not going to hug a Cat while I sleep.”
“Are you scared of Cats? Is that it?”
“Do you really think I’d get provoked by that and take it home?”
“That’s not it? Didn’t work?”
“Now I know just how much of a fool you think I am.”
Yoon Jooho snorted and shook his head as he flicked the ash from his cigarette.
But Song Hyunsoo could tell from Yoon Jooho’s gaze at the Cat.
He knew what kind of face and eyes Yoon Jooho made when he really didn’t care about something.
Yoon Jooho and this Cat, who watched with curiosity but couldn’t approach easily, were alike.
In that moment, Song Hyunsoo realized.
『So timid and guarded, but still loves being petted by people—there’s another one just like that.』
Ah, so the one Auntie was talking about was Senior…
“Mother and Siblings have all left now.”
“Life is always solitary. I live alone too.”
“In the Cheongdam-dong Han River View Penthouse.”
“Living there doesn’t make life any softer.”
“He was waiting for his Mother and Siblings, sitting on the wall in the snow earlier.”
“If you’re so worried, you take him.”
“Going to my drafty Ok-tapbang in this cold would be worse than living in your Penthouse. Wouldn’t it be better for him, too? He’d be a gold-spoon Cat. Wow, lucky him.”
“Ok-tapbang?”
Yoon Jooho frowned and looked over at him. This was his chance.
“Yes, Ok-tapbang. And pets aren’t allowed there. I won’t even get my deposit back if we get kicked out, you know? Me and him, out in this freezing winter?”
Yoon Jooho flicked the butt to put it out and tossed it into the ashtray. He usually just threw them on the ground.
He looked wild, but maybe he was trainable after all.
Teach him ten things, and he might reluctantly do one. How endearing.
With the Cat’s cute face leading the way, Song Hyunsoo approached Yoon Jooho, who had just put out his cigarette.
He was ready to give up if Yoon Jooho really hated it, but it didn’t seem like that was the case.
“Just try holding him once.”
“No.”
“Ah, just once! Please!”
Reluctantly, Yoon Jooho accepted the Cat, setting it on his right arm and wrapping his left hand around its body so it wouldn’t fall.
He even stroked its small head and back.
For someone who’d refused so vehemently, his touch was surprisingly gentle.
Song Hyunsoo found himself almost envious of the Cat.
The Cat seemed pleased too, settling in Yoon Jooho’s arms and narrowing its eyes, enjoying the touch.
If the ‘Yoon Gyeolho’s saw this, they’d faint.
Watching this exclusive scene, Song Hyunsoo grew genuinely curious.
“Why don’t you like it?”
“I just don’t.”
“Afraid it’ll ruin your expensive furniture?”
“……”
“If you get a good scratcher and train it well, it won’t do that.”
“……”
“Or is it just too much trouble to take care of?”
“……”
“These days, there are automatic feeders, automatic waterers, even automatic litter boxes. It’s not that much work. You’ve got plenty of money, Senior. Just win with your gear.”
“For someone who says he can’t raise one, you sure know a lot.”
“Seriously, why don’t you want to?”
As he gently scratched the Cat’s forehead with his fingertip, Yoon Jooho answered in a calm voice.
“Because it’ll die before I do.”
“……”
Then, he carefully set the Cat down on the floor.
Just moments ago, he’d been looking at it so fondly and stroking it, but now, as if it had all been a lie, he let go without hesitation.
The Cat, suddenly set on the cold floor after being held in warm arms, looked around in confusion and circled the spot.
Watching it, Song Hyunsoo thought maybe Yoon Jooho was right.
Maybe he’d gotten too attached to something he couldn’t take responsibility for.
He didn’t want to dwell on such throbbing emotions.
Song Hyunsoo’s life wasn’t all that cozy, either, to keep tending to every feeling.
That’s why he always acted tough.
“Did you ever have one before?”
“……”
Yoon Jooho didn’t answer.
With both hands stuffed in his coat pockets, he looked down at the Cat at his feet and spoke.
“Wanna go for a second round?”
“…Right now?”
“Just grab your stuff quietly and slip out. I’ll be waiting in the car.”
“J-just the two of us?”
Yoon Jooho looked up and met Song Hyunsoo’s eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’ll just bring my bag.”
Song Hyunsoo picked up the Cat by the belly and put it back inside the house for now.
He headed inside the restaurant, while Yoon Jooho walked toward where the car was parked.
Not long after, when he glanced back, the Cat with the spot by its nose was standing at the doorway, looking his way.
“That little guy still won’t go inside.”
“If he gets cold, he’ll go in on his own.”
Yoon Jooho replied without even looking back.
Song Hyunsoo almost asked if he wasn’t worried, but decided not to.
He finally felt like he was starting to know the real Yoon Jooho, not the one from the media.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care, that made him turn away.
It wasn’t that he spoke coldly because he didn’t have feelings.
It was just that the thin shield this man wrapped around himself was only there to protect his own heart.
■
Cha Chief dropped them off at a building at the edge of a residential area, a little away from the busy downtown.
It was a seven-story building, mostly filled with offices, and on its side was a small entrance leading directly to the basement.
There wasn’t even a neon sign, let alone any kind of marker— just a sturdy glass door, firmly locked.
No light shone through from inside.
After pressing the bell and waiting a bit, the door lock clicked open, and the two of them pushed through the ordinary-looking glass door you’d see in any building.
Relying on the flashlight of Yoon Jooho’s phone, they went down the dim, narrow stairs as Song Hyunsoo looked around.
“There’s really a Bar in a place like this? It just looks like a storage room. You’re not planning to sell me off or anything, right?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not time for that yet.”
“……”
“Have to wait till you’re a Superstar Yoon Jooho before you’ll fetch a good price.”
Seriously, even when he jokes…
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Song Hyunsoo saw yellow cardboard boxes stacked everywhere.
He pressed the bell on a plain metal door plastered with Chinese restaurant and loan shark stickers.
This time, someone came out from inside and opened the door for them.
Inside the door was a whole different world.
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