MTLNOVEL Chapter 31
Chapter 31
The bustling kitchen suddenly fell silent. What now? Even though Seo-jung isn’t here today, why is he like this… The contestants looked at the visibly angry Cha Yoon, trying to read the situation.
“Um… Cha Yoon, what’s wrong?”
“Don’t you know Ki Seo-jung hasn’t come back yet?”
“…Pardon?”
“Someone hasn’t come home yet, and you’re saying we should have dinner without Ki Seo-jung just because he’s a bit late? Does that make sense?”
As he spoke, he felt his temper rising. Cha Yoon brushed his bangs up and spat out his last words.
“This is how you make someone look like a fool.”
His emotions intensified as if it were something he had experienced himself. After finishing his words, Cha Yoon looked over the inconsiderate people sitting in front of him.
“…”
Soon after, sounds of “Uh, um…” erupted from various corners. The contestants looked at each other as if on cue. Ha. Cha Yoon let out a bitter laugh at the sight. The atmosphere was a bit strange, but he didn’t think much of it. I guess they do feel some shame.
Just as he was about to say the most important thing – to wait until Ki Seo-jung arrives if they understood – Soo-ho, who had taken the lead, opened his mouth.
“Ah, that, Cha Yoon, you didn’t hear? Seo-jung isn’t coming home today…”
Ki Seo-jung not coming home today? It was an absurd excuse. He was Seo-jung’s roommate who slept with him every night. There was no way he would stay out overnight without telling him anything. Cha Yoon, who had a firm belief in this strange area, couldn’t accept the contestants’ words at face value.
“Instead of lying, you should just admit you were wrong.”
“It’s true. Right?”
Isn’t that right? Soo-ho looked to the other contestants for help. One by one, they chimed in to agree.
“Yes! I heard it from Seo-jung during breakfast.”
“That’s right. He said when he has night shifts, his start time is later, so he was eating breakfast and leaving today.”
Seo Min-ha and Gong Min-wook were the ones who had breakfast with Seo-jung this morning. At the same time, the morning situation came to mind. Specifically, Ki Seo-jung sitting in the kitchen when he should have already left for work.
His belief that it was a lie began to waver slightly. But how could he have left without telling only me? He told everyone else, but not me? Even if we argued yesterday, I’m still his roommate? As uneasiness began to creep in,
Joo-ah, who had been quietly observing the situation, spoke up.
“Everything Soo-ho said is true.”
“…”
“I guess Cha Yoon was the only one who didn’t know.”
Even we who use separate rooms from Seo-jung all knew… Joo-ah trailed off, as if feeling sorry for him. Of course, contrary to her tone, her face wore an expression that said, ‘Serves you right.’
“Wow… I didn’t know, but Cha Yoon, you really look after Seo-jung a lot.”
“That’s right. I was so touched earlier…!”
“I guess it’s true that fighting brings people closer.”
Hahaha. The contestants tried their best to smooth over the current situation. But their efforts didn’t reach Cha Yoon.
His wavering belief completely crumbled. The story he thought was a lie was all true.
Ki Seo-jung was staying out overnight.
And everyone knew about it.
Except for him.
***
The sunset that had colored the sky disappeared, and pitch-black darkness arrived. Even as the sun set, the control tower remained busy. After communicating with planes that kept flying in without rest, it was finally break time.
“HL1257, left turn approved, report leaving control zone.”
Seo-jung, who had finished his last communication before the break, took off the headset he had been wearing. As he stood up from his chair, the senior colleague who had been watching his back patted his shoulder and said,
“It’s tough, isn’t it? The kids bought sandwiches. Go eat and rest.”
“I’ll come back right after eating.”
“No need, take your full break time. You can even take a nap if you’re tired.”
Seo-jung smiled at his senior colleague pretending to sleep and left the control room. While massaging his neck, stiff from tension, he took out his phone.
! You can now send your Day 4 message
Who made your heart flutter today? Express your feelings to that person through a message.
* Messages will be delivered anonymously.
“Ah, I need to send a message…”
Seo-jung muttered to himself. Coincidentally, his break time coincided with the message sending time.
Who should I send it to today? Thinking about it every day felt like a homework assignment. Hoping that Da-bin would move into the X House soon, he scrolled through his phone.
As his finger moved, the record of messages Seo-jung had sent appeared in order. As he was absent-mindedly scanning the messages, his gaze suddenly stopped. His eyes fell on the Day 2 message.
To: Song Joo-ah
Let’s have a fun date. (Day 2 22:03)
As soon as he saw Song Joo-ah’s name, he recalled the conversation he had with Cha Yoon the day before and this morning’s situation. Cha Yoon’s words still guarding against him, Cha Yoon’s expression not wanting to face him.
His hand holding the phone tensed. After contemplating for a moment, Seo-jung wrote a message.
To: Song Joo-ah
See you at our date tomorrow.
It was an impulsive message, but he had no regrets. The brief message with a period at the end flew into Joo-ah’s mailbox.
***
And, back at the X House.
The paused dinner resumed. Everyone was chewing on the swollen udon noodles, but no one voiced any complaints. It was because of Cha Yoon, who had been wearing a fierce expression ever since learning the truth.
It was nearing the end of the quietest dinner since moving in. ‘Zing,’ ‘Ding’ sounds rang out consecutively. It was the notification from the NXEXPU application, like a salvation in the quiet dinner table.
Soo-ho, who had been itching to speak, seized the opportunity and opened his mouth.
“Looks like it’s time to send the Day 4 messages already.”
“Don’t you feel nervous every time you send a message?”
“Yes. I think it’ll be like this until we leave.”
After some light small talk, the contestants carefully moved their hands. Cha Yoon also joined in with an even grumpier expression than usual. Unlike the others, Cha Yoon moved his fingers without hesitation.
To: Ki Seo-jung
No matter how much we fought, this isn’t right. How can everyone who doesn’t even share a room know, but I, your roommate, am the only one who doesn’t? This is really too much. When you come home in the morning, let’s talk.22.gif
“…Damn, why won’t this input?”
Cha Yoon muttered quietly. Thinking it might be an error, he kept deleting and rewriting, but nothing changed. That’s right. The message function provided by the NXEXPU application only allowed a maximum of 80 characters, including spaces. It was far from enough capacity to contain Cha Yoon’s true feelings.
Cha Yoon realized the reality. Messing up his hair, he had no choice but to delete spaces one by one from the end to finish the sentence.
To: Ki Seo-jung
No matter how much we fought, this isn’t right. How can everyone who doesn’t even share a room know, but I, your roommate, am the only one who doesn’t? This is really too disappointing. When you come home in the morning, let’s talk.22.gif
After much struggle, a message containing only the minimum necessary was completed. Cha Yoon pressed the send button without hesitation.
Haah, Cha Yoon let out a breath like a sigh and put down the phone that had fulfilled its role.
The gloomy dinner finally ended, and the residents worked together to clean up the kitchen. Cha Yoon went to the dining table with a wet cloth. Although he still felt terrible, he couldn’t be the only one not helping after eating together.
As he was wiping the table with a sullen expression, he naturally overheard a conversation between the female contestants nearby. Of course, he didn’t pay much attention. Cha Yoon didn’t have a habit of eavesdropping on others’ conversations.
“But isn’t Seo-jung really meticulous?”
“Huh? Why suddenly about Seo-jung?”
As soon as Ki Seo-jung’s name appeared, Cha Yoon reflexively looked up. A non-existent habit was born in an instant.
The person who brought up Ki Seo-jung was Song Joo-ah. Feeling the intense gaze, Joo-ah met Cha Yoon’s eyes as if she had been waiting.
“Just because. Even though he might have forgotten to send a message since he left for work, he remembered and sent it, which seems really meticulous.”
“Wow, really?”
“Yes. I tend to be clumsy, so when I see people like that, they look cool to me.”
It seemed like she was praising Ki Seo-jung, but in reality, she had a different intention. And Cha Yoon immediately grasped its meaning. It was a kind of boast that Ki Seo-jung’s message had flown to her.
Joo-ah finished speaking and grinned. At the smile that seemed even hateful, Cha Yoon clenched his fist tightly.
Shit, he cursed out of anger. Cha Yoon threw the cloth in his hand with a loud noise.
Afterwards, there was talk of having a drinking party to refresh the mood. However, Cha Yoon pretended not to hear and went into his room. The door closed with a bang.
As he entered the room, Seo-jung’s empty bed caught his eye.
Seeing it, all the emotions that had built up during the short dinner time rushed in at once. After clearing away the minor emotions like anger and irritation, what remained was hurt feelings.
That’s right. Cha Yoon was hurt right now. Really fucking hurt.
How could he not tell only me? We’re roommates, after all. We even made cohabitation rules together. And how could he never send a message to me? It’s already Day 4, and after we had such a big fight yesterday, couldn’t he at least send one to me today?
The more he thought about it, the more hurt he felt, and these feelings made Cha Yoon even more sulky.
“Fuck…”
After standing there for a while, Cha Yoon just lay down on his bed. And so, the night of Day 4 without Seo-jung faded away.