ISS 17

Chapter 17

“Why are you so surprised?”

Without permission, he stepped into the doorway.

“Who’s here?”

“Mommy!”

Startled by Dong-jun’s voice, Ha-yeon screamed. At the sound, Dong-jun strode further inside. Then he saw Ha-yeon lying there and shouted,

“Who’s this kid? Did you start a family behind my back?”

“What are you doing right now?!”

Flustered, Se-ah grabbed his arm, but she couldn’t overpower him. Yeon-sil stood up, holding Ha-yeon in her arms.

“Oh my, hello. We meet here of all places?”

Yeon-sil greeted him with a frown, but Dong-jun ignored her. Se-ah spoke in a harsh voice.

“Why are you coming into someone else’s house without permission?”

“Someone else’s house? I’m entering my girlfriend’s house. What’s wrong with that?”

Dong-jun frowned.

“If your friend was here, you should’ve told me. I got surprised because there’s a kid.”

Se-ah was dumbfounded.

She stood there speechless when Yeon-sil stepped in front of her. She had seen Se-ah’s hands trembling.

“Wow, this guy is seriously trash. Can’t you see she has a friend visiting?”

“Oh, yeah. Long time no see, dumb friend.”

“What? Dumb?”

“Move. I have something to say to my girlfriend.”

Dong-jun reached out as if to push her. At that moment, Ha-yeon, still in her mother’s arms, burst into tears.

Thinking she had to protect Ha-yeon, Se-ah moved Yeon-sil aside and stepped forward herself.

“Fine. If you have something to say, let’s go outside. Not here.”

“Go outside? Why? We’ll talk here.”

Yeon-sil tried to stop Se-ah, but it was difficult while holding the child. Ha-yeon clung to her, crying because of the sudden appearance of a strange man.

“Let’s go. We’ll talk outside.”

Se-ah pulled Dong-jun out of the apartment. She didn’t want Yeon-sil—or Ha-yeon—to see them fighting.

Standing near the flower beds, Se-ah looked straight at him.

“What is this about all of a sudden?”

“You look perfectly fine. What sick leave? Did you take sick leave just to sit around and play?”

At his first words, Se-ah felt her chest collapse.

She had almost been slapped by a parent unfairly—and the one person she never wanted to see that side of her had witnessed it.

Her panic disorder had relapsed, and she had even gone back to the psychiatrist. Yet he didn’t ask about any of that. He only said she looked fine.

She had calmed down a little now, but she still couldn’t sleep at night and was planning to get sleeping pills prescribed again.

“Do you even know why I took sick leave?”

“I thought you were sick, but looks like you just wanted to slack off. Calling your friend over and hanging out—figures.”

Se-ah bit her lip hard.

She had been disappointed in Dong-jun lately, but she hadn’t realized it was this bad.

“I guess you didn’t even try to find out. You didn’t contact me either.”

“I was busy too! The chairman’s been riding me nonstop since before his inauguration. I’ve been working overtime every day!”

Dong-jun spat on the ground by the flower bed. Seeing the thick spit stick to the pale green grass made Se-ah feel like the jjambbong she had eaten earlier would rise back up her throat.

“Fine. Even so, you had time to make one phone call. Your girlfriend suddenly stops coming to work without a word.”

“That’s why I came all the way here!”

Dong-jun shouted and stomped his foot.

“I’m busy as hell and I still came here. Huh? You don’t even answer your phone, fuck.”

The sudden sharp curse froze Se-ah’s body. She had felt him growing rough with her for a while now, but why had his attitude changed this much?

“You… called?”

“When you didn’t come in again today, I thought maybe something really happened, so I called.”

“I didn’t know.”

After Yeon-sil arrived, she had been so absorbed in conversation that she hadn’t checked her phone.

“If I’d known you were just fooling around with a friend, I wouldn’t have come. I came thinking what if you collapsed or something.”

His words irritated her—but was that really true?

Would Dong-jun really worry about her that much?

When he was going around fooling around with Jin Mok-yeon.

“What about Jin Mok-yeon?”

At Se-ah’s question, Dong-jun’s eyes widened as if asking what she meant, then he shouted again.

“What about Jin Mok-yeon? Why? Why are you asking me?”

“I know. I know everything.”

She had wondered if she had seen it right, if she had been mistaken. But now she knew. The two of them in that corner. She had known and still wanted to look away.

“You’re dating her.”

Dong-jun flinched.

Se-ah found it ridiculous that she had been so afraid to say those words all this time, and the corner of her lips lifted slightly.

“Hey, you—how did you find out? No, that’s not—it’s not like that. She just said we should sleep together once.”

“You slept together?”

That was new information.

“Hey, you know how she is. She flirts with guys everywhere. She probably slept with Manager Kim too. There’s hardly any guy she hasn’t slept with.”

He sounded certain, but there was no proof anywhere.

The man who once scolded Se-ah for spreading groundless rumors was now doing exactly that.

“That’s not the issue. I’m not dating Manager Kim. The one I care about is you. Did you really sleep with her?”

At Se-ah’s question, Dong-jun hesitated, then suddenly snapped.

“Hey! What does it matter whether we slept together or not? She’s just that kind of girl. We’re nothing. I’m here because I was worried about you!”

He stomped his foot again. Watching him, Se-ah wondered if he’d bruise the sole of his foot at that rate.

She had just heard that her boyfriend slept with another woman. But instead of feeling hurt, she felt angry.

Not at him—but at herself, for dating and caring about such trash.

“If you slept together, you’re not ‘nothing.’”

Feeling all desire to continue the conversation drain away, Se-ah said her final words.

“You took care of it, right? You never know. Maybe you left a seed with Jin Mok-yeon.”

“Hey! How can you say something like that?!”

“That’s enough. Go. I have nothing more to say to you. And we’re done too.”

She had hesitated over those words.

Wondering if what she saw was real. Wondering what if he denied it—or what if he admitted it.

But once she said it, it felt surprisingly easy.

“Hey, I came all the way here!”

“Exactly. So let’s end it.”

“Hey, even if we end it, let me say this one thing.”

Dong-jun hesitated, then spoke.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. The chairman is trying to overturn the whole school right now, and I swear I didn’t do anything shameful.”

I see.

That’s why he came all this way. Not because he was worried about her.

“You should be on my side. We dated. You can’t side with the chairman. People shouldn’t act like that.”

“Go! Can’t you hear me?”

Se-ah shouted angrily.

Dong-jun frowned. Instead of leaving, he stepped closer.

“You know. I really did my best. Working overtime like it was nothing, staying up all night preparing materials for the students’ debate competition.”

“I did that for you.”

Dong-jun, a social studies teacher, was in charge of the students, but he had said he wasn’t good with speeches and asked Se-ah to write the entire debate script.

Thanks to that, the team he supervised won first place in the Seoul competition. Of course, Dong-jun took all the credit.

“Anyway! Fuck! Just listen to me!”

Suddenly, Se-ah remembered the time she had a sudden panic attack and Seonghan had threatened Dong-jun.

“You don’t plan to stay at this school long, do you? You and your father have enjoyed plenty. If you don’t want me to say more, bring it.”

The words Seonghan had said while telling Dong-jun to bring a plastic bag.

At the time, everything had been so urgent and overwhelming that she had brushed it aside. But seeing Dong-jun act like this now, she remembered it again.

Was there really something dirty? Was that why he came all the way here to pressure her?

“You’ve got no loyalty? Just because the regime changed, you switch sides that fast? Do you know what they call people like you?”

Avoiding Dong-jun as he advanced threateningly, Se-ah stepped backward.

It was evening. There was no one around.

“Please just get lost.”

Despite her harsh words, her body was trembling.

“Huh? Get lost? Ha! A teacher—someone who calls herself a teacher—talks like that?”

Dong-jun’s fist thrust right in front of Se-ah’s nose.

As if almost being slapped by a parent wasn’t enough—was she now going to be assaulted by her boyfriend too?

Her body froze like stone from shock.

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

A loud voice rang out, along with the sound of someone running quickly.