NOVEL NEXT #053
#053
We handed over the pickpocket to the police who arrived quickly, and I left the follow-up to the photographer who had thrown himself to stop him. I told the bewildered photographer that I’m counting on him and not to worry about the camera.
I immediately picked up the box that was left standing alone on the street and safely delivered it to the address. And then I ran into Sun Woo in front of the truck that had returned, as if our timing matched.
Sun Woo is really working hard. If there was a hardworking award for volunteer work, I wanted to give it to him right away. Happy to see him, I lightly bounced as I walked over to Sun Woo and he smiled at me.
“Sun Woo, how many places have you been to?”
“About seven places? Oh right, Ha Jin. I heard police sirens nearby. Did anything happen?”
“Huh?”
When I didn’t answer right away, Sun Woo’s eyebrows twitched. His smiling expression hardened in an instant, and he came close, looked me over here and there, then strongly pulled my arm.
“You got hurt.”
“No wonder it stings.”
“It’s a scratch. What is this, Ha Jin?”
“I must have gotten scratched on the wall because the alley was narrow.”
When I answered brazenly, Sun Woo stared at me intently as if he couldn’t believe it. As if I would retract my words just because he does that? No way.
“Is there a first-aid kit here?”
Sun Woo hurriedly grabbed a passerby and looked for a first-aid kit. When the person shook his head saying he didn’t know, Sun Woo gently bit his lower lip.
“Ha Jin, stay still until I come back. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Yes, teacher.”
I answered obediently like a kindergartener. Even if I grumbled, Sun Woo’s force was so fierce that it was obvious I would get scolded more for nothing. Sun Woo ran off quickly without even telling me where he was going. His running speed looked even faster than that thief earlier.
“If I had run at that speed, I wouldn’t have caught him.”
As soon as Sun Woo disappeared in the blink of an eye, I took out my cell phone and left a message for Secretary Kim.
[Secretary Kim. I came to volunteer and broke the photographer’s camera. Please buy him a new one.]
Then a reply came in less than 10 seconds.
[Who are you rebelling against by breaking a camera while volunteering? I understand for now.]
“It’s not a rebellion…”
Now that he said he understood, I took out an ion drink from the ice box in the truck with a much more comfortable mind and drank it. Even before I finished that one bottle, Sun Woo appeared from afar and approached in an instant. He was panting heavily in front of me. Sun Woo’s face, which suffers from the heat a lot, was flushed red and sweat was running down his neck. His t-shirt was also completely soaked with sweat. How hard did he run at full strength?
“You’re completely drenched in sweat. Drink this.”
I held out the ion drink I was drinking to him. Instead of taking it, Sun Woo grabbed my arm, took something out of the plastic bag he was holding, tore the packaging, and started wiping the wound. The bag clearly had the word “pharmacy” written on it.
“It hurts. Be gentle.”
“I’m being as gentle as I can. Who told you to get hurt?”
After wiping the wound, he even applied ointment. It would have been nice if it ended there. Sun Woo even put on a blue-based Bus character band-aid, which he must have bought to tease me.
“Take off the band-aid. Just applying ointment is enough.”
“You stay still here now. Don’t move.”
Sun Woo didn’t even listen to me at all. I tried to slowly peel off the band-aid with one hand, but Sun Woo’s large hand covered my hand trying to do that. Telling me not to take it off.
“Don’t move, you say? I came here to volunteer, you know.”
“What are you going to do after getting hurt?”
“I have to do this and get my stamp of approval.”
“They’ll give it to you. You’re the Eunha Group’s successor.”
“…That’s not how it should be.”
“Just stay still. I warned you.”
What, am I supposed to get scared because he warns me? Even if I left the band-aid on, I couldn’t give up on the volunteer work. If I stay still just because I got my arm slightly scratched, people will really like that. They’re probably all watching while pretending not to care if that guy is doing anything properly or not anyway.
When I got up from where I was sitting, Sun Woo blocked my way with his body. Is he the only one who’s big? I’m big too.
After gently pushing him aside, I wrote down the addresses and took a box. Then Sun Woo snatched my box.
“Ha Jin is hurt so I’ll go with him.”
The employee who stayed in the truck to distribute the supplies and addresses to the volunteers looked at me in surprise.
“You’re hurt? Where?”
“…I got scratched.”
“Oh my god. What? Go to the hospital. Hospital. Ha Jin, quickly go to the hospital.”
The employee was even worse than Sun Woo.
“I just got slightly scratched.”
“Huh? If you got scratched, you need to quickly get a tetanus shot.”
“I really just got slightly scratched.”
I held out my arm with the band-aid Sun Woo had put on to him. Even with the cute blue character band-aid attached to my arm, he didn’t stop worrying. Sun Woo stepped in to the employee who kept telling me to go to the hospital.
“I’ll go with him. He’s stubborn, saying he’ll finish the volunteer work even if he dies soon.”
“Will you do that? If anything seems wrong while going together, you have to go to the hospital right away.”
At the employee’s ardent request, I glared at Sun Woo, but he even snatched the address I was holding and walked ahead.
“Why? What happened?”
An employee who came late hurriedly asked as we moved away from the spot, which could be heard behind my back.
“Oh my god. Our prince. He says he’ll continue volunteering even though he’s hurt?”
“Hurt? How?”
“I don’t know. I think he’s badly hurt. His friend was extremely worried and said he’ll go with him. He said he got scratched somewhere but it seems severe.”
“Should we call 119?”
“No, the prince says it’s no big deal. His friend seemed to have treated the wound.”
“The prince is different from what I heard. I thought he just came to show his face for volunteer work but he’s working hard.”
“I know, right. His eyes are clear and bright, and when I talked to him, his personality seemed good too…”
I couldn’t hear the rest because it was too far away.
“Ha Jin. Could you be the prince?”
Sun Woo must have heard it too.
“…”
“Prince? It suits you well.”
“Don’t tease me.”
“Is it a nickname the employees call you?”
“It’s not a nickname. …More importantly, are you okay? How much did you sweat?”
Sun Woo’s clothes were so wet with sweat that they were soaked.
“Your clothes are wet.”
“They’ll dry if I keep wearing them.”
“Give me your clothes?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s from running to get my medicine. You changed into my clothes before too when you got wet catching loaches at Grandmother’s house. I’m trying to do the same for you.”
“Ha Jin.”
Sometimes Sun Woo would call my name affectionately. At those times, my heart would melt along with it and I’d feel strange. Sometimes he acts like an uncontrollable wild beast, and other times he approaches me like a soft cloud.
That gap was so thrillingly nice. But I should hide this feeling because it seems a bit perverted.
“You don’t need to do that. I’ll do everything for you. So just receive it.”
A smile spread across my face at his words. Sun Woo makes this kind of word play too?
“At this rate, you’ll end up saying you’ll support me.”
“I will.”
The answer came without hesitation.
“You know I can’t live in a small house, right? Because of the environment I’ve lived in.”
I jokingly said to him. Sun Woo in the webtoon clearly has a globally wealthy father, so it would be possible. But the current Sun Woo is just a poor college student who has nothing. So naturally, an immediate answer like before doesn’t come out. After thinking for a moment, Sun Woo nodded his head.
“That… seems like it will take some time.”
“It won’t work then. Tell me again after you have it ready.”
“…”
He couldn’t answer, as if it was absolutely impossible for him. Sun Woo turned his body with a slightly hurt expression and walked ahead.
Ah, damn, what is this? It’s completely cute.
“It will cost a lot of money to take care of me.”
I tried teasing Sun Woo, but I couldn’t see his expression since he was walking ahead. But even just his back looked very angry. But he doesn’t want to admit that anger, so he’s keeping his mouth shut tight. What, he was good at joking around but why is he suddenly getting hurt now?
Looking at Sun Woo’s back walking ahead, I keep wanting to tease him.
“Ouch.”
As I made a pained sound with a grin spilling out, Sun Woo immediately turned back and approached me. His reaction speed is truly amazing.
“Does it hurt?”
Sun Woo examined me with a worried face, then saw me smiling and hardened his expression.
“Ha Jin. There are other things to joke about.”
Sun Woo warned me fiercely while clenching his teeth tightly. Seeing Sun Woo’s face getting seriously angry, I shrunk for no reason and smiled awkwardly.
“Sorry. Then why did you leave me behind and walk ahead. You said we’d go together.”
“Haa…”
Sun Woo eventually matched his pace with me. Wanting to be of some help by his side, I folded the paper with the addresses written on it into a fan shape and fanned him.
That’s how the volunteer work where Sun Woo and I unnecessarily stuck together came to an end. After completing the delivery of all the items to their respective addresses, it was almost dinner time.
After the volunteer work, the employees said they were going to have dinner together, so I was saying goodbye when Employee Ha came running up. He tried to grab my hand right away, but upon discovering Sun Woo, he naturally swung his arms back and forth.
“Ah, my shoulders hurt?”
He spoke awkwardly for no reason, making his naturally connected action awkward.
“Ha Jin. Let’s go eat dinner together.”
At Employee Ha’s words, everyone’s eyes turned to us for a moment. Looking at those filled with reproachful gazes towards Employee Ha, I felt sad as if I had become a clueless boss who tries to stay with the employees until the end of the dinner gathering.
I guess superiors have their own struggles too.
“I’m fine.”
“Let’s go. If you’re a college student, you can drink alcohol, right? If we eat and drink together, we’ll quickly become close. Hey, when will we ever eat with the Chairman’s son like this? He’ll be our boss later.”
Employee Ha, read the room… I thought Employee Ha might get scolded a lot at the dinner because of this.
“We’re good.”
When Sun Woo stepped in like a savior, the employees and I all sighed in relief. Employee Ha still seemed scared of Sun Woo, hesitating and checking his reaction.
“Ha Jin…”
“We have a separate dinner appointment.”
We have to go see Grandmother.
“Really? That’s too bad. Then let’s meet again next time.”
“Yes. Good work, everyone.”
“Yeah. Good work, Ha Jin.”
“Sun Woo, good job too.”
“You can go in.”
As the time for parting approached, everyone waved their hands at me and said goodbye with bright faces. Not close enough to have dinner together, but they seemed to have become a bit more comfortable, as no one was bowing their waist while saying goodbye.
* * *
On the way to the hospital, Sun Woo suddenly entered a store without a word and bought something before coming out. I wasn’t curious about what he bought, but one signboard attached to the front of the store particularly stimulated my curiosity.
[Lottery]
I glanced back to check the store sign and asked Sun Woo, could it be?
“Did you buy a lottery ticket?”
“…I did.”
“Why?”
“…”
Sun Woo ignored my words and walked quickly. I also walked quickly following him, but couldn’t hold back the laughter spilling out.
“To buy a house?”
“…”
“You know you can’t even dream of the house I live in with lottery prize money, right?”
“…”
“Huh? Are you going to live on monthly rent?”
At my words, Sun Woo started walking even faster. As I also sped up following him, we ended up running before we knew it. I don’t know if it’s because he suffers from the heat, but Sun Woo runs while trying hard to ignore me with flushed cheeks.
Sun Woo is really cute.