After locking the rooftop room door, Seojin stared at the key for a moment, thinking.
‘Leaving it under the flowerpot like that seems way too dangerous.’
It still bothered him.
Seojin looked around and found some miscellaneous items, along with a toy car that looked like something the little client had played with and discarded.
He put the key inside the toy car, arranged the clutter around the flowerpot to conceal the gap, then wedged the toy between them.
It was still only a half-assed attempt at hiding it, but at least it seemed better than leaving nothing there except a lone flowerpot.
“Can you come here for a second?”
Seojin beckoned to the little client.
“Later, when Seyoung hyung wakes up, tell him the key is right here inside the car. Got it?”
The boy’s eyes sparkled at being entrusted with such an important mission.
He pressed his lips tightly together and nodded with grave determination.
The sight was so adorable that Seojin grinned and stroked his round head.
“Shall we get going now?”
Seojin turned toward Manager Kim, who had quietly waited for them all this time.
“Are you finished now? All right, let’s go. Whew, maybe it’s because it’s so late, but my whole body feels stiff!”
Manager Kim joked as he started moving first, with Seojin and the little client following behind him.
The three had just carefully made their way down the narrow, steep stairs when—
Creak.
With the sound of metal scraping, the front gate opened from outside and a man who looked about five or six years older than Seojin came in.
“Dad!”
The little client lit up the moment he saw him and ran over.
Seojin examined the man as well.
A face full of exhaustion, deep dark circles under his eyes, shabby sweatpants, and messy hair.
‘So this is the landlord in question.’
The man ruffled the little client’s hair, then looked toward Seojin and Manager Kim.
“Yeah. But Jun, who are those people?”
Picking up on the wariness in his voice, Seojin immediately put on an amiable smile.
“Hello, I’m Seyoung’s friend.”
He deliberately raised his voice a little, pretending to be someone completely oblivious.
“I came home with Seyoung, and I was just about to leave.”
After finishing, Seojin gave the little client a wink.
Apparently understanding that he was being asked to keep it secret, the boy nodded fervently again.
“Friend?”
The landlord looked Seojin up and down, then glanced sideways at Manager Kim standing beside him.
Apparently Manager Kim did not look remotely like a friend, because the suspicion did not leave his face.
“I’m sorry for making a disturbance this late. We’ll be going now. Have a good night.”
Without giving the landlord a chance to ask anything more, Seojin smoothly said goodbye and gave Manager Kim a look.
Manager Kim immediately understood the signal and stepped through the gate first.
Seojin hurried outside after him.
“Goodbyeeee!”
Jun’s clear voice rang out from behind them, and Seojin reached one hand back and waved.
The two quickly returned to the parked car.
Seojin quietly opened the back door and checked on Euni in her car seat.
Thankfully, she was sleeping soundly without a care in the world, breathing evenly.
Only then did a sigh of relief escape him.
“Manager Kim, where do you live? Should I give you a ride?”
“No, no. It’s fine. I can just go out to the main road and catch a taxi. Seojin, you worked hard today. Thanks to you, everything got sorted out nicely. Get home safely, and I’ll see you Monday!”
Manager Kim waved both hands as he rattled the words off, then started walking down the alley.
“Get home safely!”
Seojin called after him.
He waited until Manager Kim had completely disappeared before quietly getting into the driver’s seat.
The car soon arrived at the familiar villa parking lot.
After turning off the engine, Seojin looked toward the back seat.
At some point, Euni had fallen deeply asleep with her mouth hanging open.
Seojin gently brushed his fingertips over her plump cheek, then got out of the car and opened the back door.
He carefully lifted her into his arms without waking her.
For some reason, she felt especially heavy today.
‘Good grief…….’
Apparently, getting dragged around here and there all day had drained every last bit of his energy.
‘I’ll go upstairs, have a beer, and sleep.’
He had not even gotten to drink the one Euni had portioned out for him earlier and had left it sitting on the table.
Thinking he should at least take a cold fresh one from the refrigerator and wet his throat, Seojin nudged the car door shut with his foot.
He adjusted Euni in his arms and had just turned toward the villa entrance when—
“Gasp!”
There was some huge, pitch-black shape standing in the darkness where the streetlight did not reach.
Goosebumps shot all the way up to Seojin’s scalp, and he instinctively sucked in a breath and stepped backward.
“What is it? Why are you looking at me like I’m the Grim Reaper?”
At the familiar voice, Seojin recognized the other person.
“Why are you here, Boss?”
How could I not be startled? You’re standing there staring at me with those terrifying eyes!
More importantly, why was someone who was supposed to be at the gallery here?
“Just because?”
Yoon Haegang slowly approached.
With the faint streetlight falling diagonally across his face, he looked more eerie than beautiful.
Suppressing another shiver as the fine hairs on his body stood on end, Seojin asked,
“Since when have you been here?”
“Not long.”
Yoon Haegang answered carelessly, then looked first at Seojin’s face and then at Euni in his arms.
“Anyway, what happened to that friend you took earlier?”
“Ah, well… I got him home safely.”
The fact that he was calling him a friend meant he probably did not know that person had been Shin Seyoung.
‘But he’s still interested. I guess even if the plot twists, it doesn’t completely break away from the original flow.’
Still, this much was a relief.
At least Yoon Haegang had not followed Shin Seyoung all the way to the rooftop room because of what happened today.
“I’ll head inside now.”
Seojin deliberately adjusted Euni in his arms and slowly edged toward the villa entrance.
It felt like backing away one step at a time so he would not provoke the predator in front of him.
“Hmm. You really must know him, huh? Enough to take him all the way home.”
But at Yoon Haegang’s casual remark, Seojin’s feet hit the brakes again.
Yoon Haegang quietly watched the dismay spread across his face, then closed the distance between them once more.
“Shall we go in?”
“Huh? Go where?”
Seojin asked blankly.
“Your place.”
Why?
Seojin’s mouth fell open.
Yoon Haegang ignored that and shamelessly met his gaze without backing down.
“I carried Noh Seojin’s friend all the way to the car, didn’t I?”
“So?”
“Then I should get something in return.”
Who asked you to help!
The alpha standing in front of him was the one who had outright snatched Shin Seyoung away and carried him to the car.
Seojin let his shoulders droop and asked weakly, like flat soda that had lost all its fizz.
“Then… do you want to come up and have some ramen?”
At this hour, that was the only thing he could offer.
Otherwise, go home.
“Sure. I was getting hungry anyway. Perfect timing.”
Seojin had expected him to say he was joking and leave, but Yoon Haegang was far more formidable than expected.
‘You just came from a VVIP gallery event, and you’re hungry? There was a five-star hotel buffet there!’
Seojin was dumbfounded, but he smacked his lips anyway.
Maybe because he had mentioned ramen, the thought of spicy broth and chewy, springy noodles made his mouth water.
Come to think of it, he had been running around nonstop until nearly eleven at night.
“Let’s go up.”
Seojin adjusted Euni again and turned toward the villa.
Yoon Haegang matched his pace, opened the elevator for him, and even pressed the button, which made things easier.
The problem came when they reached the front door.
Seojin looked back and forth between Euni and the keypad.
In the end, he chose to tell Yoon Haegang the password.
“Um… just press the first six numbers in order, starting from one.”
For a moment, he thought of Shin Seyoung carelessly hiding his key under a flowerpot.
It was not because he could read the disbelief in Yoon Haegang’s steady gaze.
He simply had not had time to change the password yet.
That was all.
Making excuses to himself, Seojin slipped through the open door.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll put Euni to bed and come back.”
He hurried to Euni’s room and carefully laid her down.
After pulling the blanket over her, he went to the bathroom, washed only his hands, and headed to the kitchen.
Even though Seojin had not told him to, Yoon Haegang was already sitting at the dining table with his legs crossed.
Pretending not to notice his gaze, Seojin put the ramen into a pot.
While it boiled, he opened the refrigerator to take out some green onion kimchi and spotted the canned beer.
“Boss, do you want a beer?”
Even as he asked, he wondered whether Yoon Haegang only drank things like wine or whiskey.
“Sure.”
But Yoon Haegang answered casually.
Seojin placed two cans of beer and the green onion kimchi on the table, then carried over the ramen in the pot itself.
A simple meal was quickly set.
Seojin opened his beer, hesitated for a moment, then held the can out.
“Um… anyway, you worked hard today. Cheers!”
Yoon Haegang looked briefly at Seojin’s eyes, then at the beer in his hand.
With a faint laugh, he lightly tapped his can against Seojin’s.
“Yeah. Cheers.”