Chapter 1 (Part 3)

Arriving at the officetel, Sang-wook struggled to help Jinwon out of the taxi.

Feeling guilty watching Sang-wook, In-ah hesitated but couldn’t bring herself to help support Jinwon.

“I’m fine alone. It’s not hard at all.”

In-ah pretended not to notice the sweat dripping from Sang-wook’s forehead and running down the side of his face.

“Let’s sit here for a bit… Huff, huff…”

After practically dropping Jinwon onto the bench in front of the officetel, Sang-wook let out a heavy breath. He waved his hand at In-ah as he sat down next to Jinwon.

“It’s not because I’m tired. Really.”

In-ah was about to lose her mind with irritation at Jinwon, who had created this situation.

“I’m sorry, Sang-wook.”

“No, why should you be sorry, In-ah? You’re saying all sorts of things. Haha.”

“Just a moment.”

In-ah quickly ran to the convenience store in front and bought a bottle of water, handing it over.

“Oh, I’m touched. You bought this for me, right?”

Sang-wook, with a grateful expression, took the bottle and drank it as if he were going to down it all in one go.

“When I first met you, you also gave me water. Do you remember?”

“What?”

“You might not remember. It was hot that day too, just like today. You apologized because the water wasn’t cold…”

In-ah shifted her eyes as if she couldn’t quite remember.

“Was it about a year ago? When we first worked on a project together in the design team…”

“Oh, yes.”

“You haven’t changed at all, In-ah.”

At that moment, Jinwon’s closed eyelids slightly twitched.

‘How can you say someone hasn’t changed after just one year?’

Jinwon felt the effects of the alcohol wearing off. Although he had the habit of falling asleep quickly due to his low alcohol tolerance, he also had the habit of waking up soon after.

In-ah, who knew Jinwon’s drinking habits well, was glancing at Jinwon’s face. However, she hadn’t noticed that Jinwon was already awake.

Only Sang-wook, oblivious to the atmosphere between the two, looked dreamily at In-ah. He took another sip of the water she had given him

“This water tastes great. It’s refreshing, just like you, In-ah.”

“Ah… haha…”

In-ah forced an awkward laugh, too focused on wanting to escape the situation to notice Jinwon’s clenched white knuckles.

“Did the address have the apartment number too?”

“Oh, right!”

Sang-wook checked the address again on Jinwon’s phone and helped Jinwon up. In-ah followed behind, carrying Sang-wook’s bag and water bottle.

When they got on the elevator, In-ah unconsciously pressed the button for the 13th floor. It was a habit that just came out.

“Did I tell you which floor it was?”

“Yes, earlier… haha…”

In-ah gave an awkward smile to the puzzled Sang-wook.

“How can you smile so prettily, In-ah?”

“…”

Surprised by Sang-wook’s unexpected comment, In-ah’s face froze. Jinwon, leaning against Sang-wook with his eyes closed, furrowed his brow.

“Sorry. I meant to keep that to myself, but it slipped out. Haha.”

Not knowing how to respond, In-ah barely managed to curl her lips into a smile.

“Where do you live, In-ah? I’ll take you home.”

“It’s okay. It’s close from here.”

“Oh? In-ah, wait a moment. Stay still.”

At Sang-wook’s sudden words, In-ah froze. Then Sang-wook slowly leaned closer to In-ah’s face.

“Ah!”

The next moment, Sang-wook let out a scream. As Jinwon let out a sound and got up, he elbowed Sang-wook in the back of the head.

Caught off guard by the unexpected blow, Sang-wook turned his head sharply towards Jinwon, who was still leaning against the elevator wall with his eyes closed, looking very much like he was drunk.

Sang-wook rubbed his aching head and glared at Jinwon futilely.

In the meantime, the elevator doors opened, and the three of them arrived in front of Jinwon’s apartment. In-ah and Sang-wook exchanged awkward glances. Now the problem was the password.

“What should we do? There’s no way he wrote down the password somewhere.”

Sang-wook, struggling under Jinwon’s weight, looked at In-ah with dark circles under his eyes. In-ah sighed and glanced at her wristwatch.

‘Enough time has passed…’

In-ah knew Jinwon’s drinking habits well. He would wake up as if nothing had happened about four hours after passing out.

She looked at Jinwon, who was slumped against the wall by the door. But that was seven years ago; his drinking habits might have changed by now. She couldn’t be certain.

There was only one way to confirm it.

In-ah suddenly widened her eyes. She intended to make herself cry by irritating her eyes. Jinwon was incredibly weak to tears.

“In-ah, what’s wrong?”

But the tears didn’t come easily, and only Sang-wook, who didn’t know her intentions, was panicking. Then!

“Who do we have here? Looks like someone I’ve seen before. Hey! You’re the one who sprayed the fire extinguisher, right?”

It was the menacing-looking man from the hallway incident yesterday.

In-ah’s face turned pale. Sang-wook looked back and forth between the man and In-ah, trying to grasp the situation.

“I knew it. You’re in cahoots with that guy, aren’t you?”

The man pointed at Jinwon, who was sprawled against the wall, and then at In-ah.

In-ah swallowed a tense breath down her throat. Her head bowed, her eyes were shaking violently.

“Are you ignoring me? You’ve got some nerve.”

In an instant, the man’s hand sliced through the air. Sang-wook’s eyes widened in shock, and In-ah reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.

But the man’s hand never reached In-ah. Jinwon had grabbed the man’s arm roughly.

“Let go! Aren’t you going to let go?”

“Talk to me first.”

“Who do you think you are, talking informally to me?”

“You started talking informally first.”

Jinwon, without letting go of the man’s arm, led him towards the emergency exit. The man continued his futile threats, “Hey, you punk! Let go?” as he was dragged by Jinwon.

“In-ah, are you okay?”

Sang-wook approached In-ah with a worried expression. She nodded without answering and looked towards the emergency exit where Jinwon and the man had disappeared.

“When did the Team Leader wake up? If he hadn’t stepped in, I would have taken care of it.”

Sang-wook scratched the back of his head awkwardly, trying to gauge In-ah’s reaction.

Surely he wouldn’t beat the guy up, would he? He wouldn’t get sued, right? 

In-ah wasn’t worried at all about Jinwon getting hurt.

In-ah snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of an ambulance siren. 

Had something happened after all?

***

In-ah’s face was calm as she left the police station after giving her statement. Sang-wook still looked bewildered.

“So, the Team Leader didn’t lay a finger on him, but that guy ended up in the emergency room, right?”

When In-ah nodded, Sang-wook let out a breath of disbelief.

“How is that possible? Did he hurt himself?”

Fortunately, the situation was captured on the emergency exit hallway CCTV. Otherwise, no one would have believed it.

The man was the one who had thrown the punches, while Jinwon simply dodged them with ease. The man had essentially fought with the wall and ended up in the ambulance—a one-man show.

Jinwon was still at the police station, giving his statement. Feeling that she was partly responsible for the start of this incident, In-ah felt heavy-hearted.

***

It was late afternoon when In-ah finally woke up that day. She had stayed up all night due to the early morning commotion.

As she got out of bed, her stomach churned as expected. It was strange that she hadn’t felt the effects of the alcohol or a hangover until she went to bed. Well, considering the situation, her body couldn’t have been functioning normally.

To soothe her parched throat, she opened the refrigerator door. To her shock, there was no water!

Dragging her heavy body, In-ah reluctantly left the house, shuffling in her slippers.

When In-ah finally reached the convenience store, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and turned around. At that moment, her eyes, which had hardly been open until then, suddenly widened.

She spotted Jinwon just entering the convenience store. In-ah quickly hid behind a display shelf. Her unwashed face with sleep in her eyes and her hair tied up messily suddenly came to mind.

‘Why am I worried about my appearance now?’

Annoyed with herself, she pretended to be confident and headed to the checkout. But that confidence didn’t last long. As she turned around after paying, she came face to face with Jinwon holding a hangover cure.

She tried to ignore him and leave, but Jinwon’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Did you wear them on purpose?”

Following Jinwon’s gaze, In-ah looked down at her feet. She was wearing mismatched slippers. One was a bright pink, and the other was a vivid yellow. Oh, she had told Hae-jeong that pink wasn’t her taste, but Hae-jeong had insisted on gifting the bright pink slippers.

What bad luck. And there he was, with his pale face wrapped in a dark grey hoodie, looking radiant. He drank himself into oblivion and didn’t sleep a wink, yet he looked like that? The world was too unfair.

“Mind your own business.”

She snapped sharply and was about to leave the convenience store when Jinwon’s low voice reached her ears.

“It’s been a while since I heard that.”

A gentle smile spread across Jinwon’s face, as if he were reminiscing about old memories. In contrast, flames of anger flickered in In-ah’s eyes. Suppressing her emotions, she said one thing.

“Team Leader, could you please not talk to me outside of work? This isn’t a request, it’s a notification.”

In-ah pushed the convenience store door open roughly and walked out.

Jinwon watched In-ah’s retreating figure with a bitter expression.