Ways of Parting

ures to stop him also lost their purpose in the air and stopped.
Seo Youngwoo, who sloppily stole the fragments of such falling emotions, emptied the remaining glass at once and slowly raised himself to stand up.

“I’ll get going.”

“Come on, it’s fine, you… don’t seem to be doing well.”

Seo Youngwoo, out of concern for his close friend, waved his hand with a forced smile. 

“It’s okay.
I came here for nothing plus I’m just getting in the way of your work.”

Park Sungjae was well aware of why Seo Youngwoo had come to him.
He must have wanted to share with him a little bit of a secret he couldn’t tell anyone else.
He felt sorry for his friend who was standing on a road where the withdrawal route was blocked.

“It’s not like that, so just wait a bit.
If you stay a little longer, it’ll be party time soon, so everyone will go to the stage and let themselves loose, so we can….”

“No, I’ll just go.
I think it’ll be better if I go home straight.
I’ll probably end up making a mistake if I stay here longer.” 

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Seo Youngwoo took a staggering step, gently slapping away the restraining hand.
He then took out his phone from his bag and pressed the LCD screen to make a phone call but, Seo Youngwoo was drunk and had no idea that it was not going through after trying a few times, and soon let out an irritated groan and hurried back.
Park Sungjae’s eyes, looking at him, also darkened as he looked at his precarious back towards the door.

“Youngwoo-ya!”

“Sorry about today.
I’ll come with Taejung hyung next time.”

Without looking back despite the concerned call, Seo Youngwoo left the club again.
As he opened the door, the warm air touched his skin.
In the dark night sky, not even a single star could be seen.
It was a long night that seemed to fall into the abyss the more he struggled to protect his love. 

***

The second office he visited looked completely opposite as if the gloomy atmosphere of the previous day had been a dream.
This was the current case as the office was so crowded that people were rushing to and from the lobby, and adding to that were the cries that made the entire floor noisy.
Most of the voices of foreigners and Koreans, regardless of the difference between them, contained a sense of urgency, which indirectly informed him of the current situation.

 

“Are you leaving right now?”

“We have to leave right away!” 

“Lee arrived at the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office first.
I’ll stop by the government branch office of the eastern part.”

“Please throw me a notebook!”

All kinds of voices were mixed together to the point that it was impossible to even tell which one belonged to whom.
In the midst of the war for the parties involved, Ha Joyoon stood still and followed their tracks with the eyes of that perfect extra in the background.

Bump- 

“Ack….”

“Ugh!”

The impact of a strong shoulder bumping into him made his body stagger for a moment.
He was one of the employees who were busy roaming about.
His shoulder had started to tingle with pain.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve been so out of it lately… are you okay?” 

“No, it’s my fault for standing in the middle of this place.”

“Regardless, I apologize.
Oh, but what brings you here? Did you make a prior appointment?”

The man’s eyes were looking at the watch with a busy face as if he were on the way to go for coverage.
He could easily infer that the time allotted to him was running out.
Ha Joyoon, without thinking too much of it, immediately brought up the actual matter.

“I’m here to see Director Shin.” 

The man’s eyes widened at the mention of Shin Kwonjoo.

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“Yes… yes? Director, you say? Oh… what’s your name?”

“Ha Joyoon.
Starting today….”

“Oh! Journalist Ha Joyoon-nim! I heard about it from the Director.
Great timing, I was about to call you regarding the matter of when exactly you would be starting.
Someone so handsome came so I was wondering if you had come to the wrong place for an interview.” 

“Yes….”

When the name was revealed, the man’s face, which had been anxious about sorting out the schedule, had brightened up with joy.
The way he grabbed both his hands and shook them up and down was quite friendly.
Before Ha Joyoon could make sense of what was going on, his wrist was grabbed and pulled tightly by the man.

 

“We have to get out of here right now.
Either way, I’m late.”

“Sorry? But….” 

To Ha Joyoon’s hint of rejection, the man resolutely answered.

“The Director is also at the place of the scene.
You do have a camera with you, right?”

His gaze turned to the bag on his shoulder.
Ha Joyoon, unknowingly grabbed onto the strap of his bag and nodded as his body stiffened.

“Yes? Yes.” 

“Then that’s all you need.
Oh, put this one first.
You have to go and get your pass.”

The man handed over his employee ID as he let out a brief request.
There was an awkward print of a man with a sullen expression on his face on the small plastic card which was the size of the palm of his hand.
It was only after taking a few looks at the employee ID with his face printed on it did Ha Joyoon realize the offer of Shin Kwonjoo.
But even that was short-lived.
The employee who hastily packed up the other things said in an urgent tone.

“As for the transportation, we’ll be going in my car.”

Once again, Ha Joyoon stumbled due to the force of the man’s grip on his wrist.
The steps of the employee heading for the elevator, saying that they could not delay even for a moment, moved in a hurry.
Ha Joyoon’s steps following him were also hasty and clumsy. 

“We’re utterly late.
All that’s left is for us to be dealt with by the Director.
He’ll kill us.”

At the end of the man’s worn-out voice, a soft smile appeared on his stiff lips.

“Sunbae-nim is actually at the scene?”

“Yes, he’s not usually one to go out to the site, but he has a schedule there today, so… we have to go to the Blue House right now.
I truly apologize, but we’ll exchange our greetings as we go.
Let’s just leave now.” 

The intermittent conversation with him ended completely.
All that was left was to get to the scene on time.
Ha Joyoon walked out of the lobby he had walked in a while ago, leaving behind the keyboard noises and the murmuring of people.