Love for Love’s Sake - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

My weekdays became filled with part-time jobs. Lunchbox shop kitchen, lunchbox delivery, internet shopping mall studio, blog review writing, selling social media accounts, video advertising revenue, buying-and-selling used goods, cross-stitching, and so on.

I really did everything I could.

With the money saved, I invested in stocks, made a profit, and then bought real estate. I needed to let my money make money while I slept! I had to break free from the slavery for money!

As a result, I became Tae Myeongha, a rich man by the age of 19. This was the story of how I achieved the greatest wealth in Korea.

…Of course, it was all nonsense.

[ Sub-Mission: $2250 ($2,249.60) ]

Nevertheless, thanks to all the running around, I had managed to save some money. Though it might not be a fortune, I seemed to have made a small fortune.

“40 cents, 40 cents.”

What an ambiguous empty number.

Anyway, I had eased some burdens. The remaining 40 cents appeared to be an amount I could easily acquire by strolling through the streets.

I was proud. Now, I could say goodbye to the part-time jobs that had filled up my free time.

“It’s the liberation of a slave.”

I enjoyed my break with the feeling of watching a slave contract being set ablaze. Ahn Gyeonghun looked somewhat disappointed yesterday when I had told him I would be done with cross-stitching. He seemed to have a talent for it.

Since I was free after lunch, I went out to the schoolyard.

Despite the expectation that the track would be empty during lunch, only a few members of the track and field team were actually training at that time. These days, Cha Yeowoon could often be seen on the field during lunch.

But today, for some reason, he wasn’t there.

“Did you come to see Cha Yeowoon?”

Only Cheon Sangwon was here.

“You know well even if I don’t explain it. I’m glad you’re no longer asking if I’ve come to see you.”

No wonder my message window wasn’t popping up. Just in case, I had come down to check, and indeed, it was empty.

“Are you going to say something cruel again? Do you know that I can get hurt too? Why didn’t you do cross-stitching today and instead came to the field to look for Cha Yeowoon?”

“I’m now free from being a cross-stitching slave. Where’s Cha Yeowoon?”

“In the infirmary.”

“Why? Is he sick?”

“I don’t know. Seems like he hurt his knee.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Because I’m a bad guy.”

“Lunatic.”

I stood up, leaving the dazed Cheon Sangwon behind. Lunchtime was precious. If I hesitated and missed Cha Yeowoon, I wouldn’t be able to see even his nose and would have to go back to the classroom.

Fortunately, he was still in the infirmary. The nurse seemed to have gone somewhere else, and he was applying an ice pack to his knee by himself on the bed.

As I approached the bed, he gave me a surprised glance.

“Are you hurt? Where? Did you scrape it?”

“…No. I came in for an ice pack due to the heat and some painkillers.”

“Are you training too hard these days? Here, let me see.”

I took the ice pack from Cha Yeowoon and pressed it onto his taped knee. Moisture appeared on the towel-wrapped ice pack.

“I guess I ran too much yesterday.”

“Yeah. It’s good to practice, but be careful with your body. You’re an athlete.”

“…Yes.”

“Don’t get hurt.”

I changed the location of the ice pack to avoid applying it to one area for too long. The area near the knee, which had been in contact with the cold ice pack, was slightly red.

“Why?”

I didn’t immediately respond to Cha Yeowoon’s question because I was checking to see if there were any more injuries or if there were any cuts on his calves where his pants were rolled up.

“Does senior not want me to get hurt?”

It was only after listening to that point that I realized that it wasn’t a meaningless passing comment. Cha Yeowoon was sincerely asking.

“Uhm, I don’t want it.”

I deliberately focused solely on Cha Yeowoon’s legs. There were many wounds. Some had healed, and there were also recent bruises that hadn’t been there long. I wished they wouldn’t increase any further. Although I knew it couldn’t be helped.

“It would break your heart?”

“Yes.”

It seemed like we had a similar conversation before. It was when I had looked at his injured foot after the competition in Jebudo. Cha Yeowoon seemed to be recalling that time.

“I won’t get hurt.”

Cha Yeowoon’s feet were writhing inside his socks. As he smiled, he curled his toes and paused.

“After the final exam, I’ll go to the national championship.”

“Good for you. I’ll be there to cheer you on.”

“If I win there…”

The ends of Cha Yeowoon’s words came to a halt and he swallowed his saliva.

Perhaps it was because of the topic. For a moment, I wondered if he intended to ask me for a kiss.

The memory of him, who had embraced me painfully on the infirmary bed last time, came to mind. The lips that were so close that it felt like they had already touched…

“We should go on another trip.”

The delayed words that followed were enough to melt away the tension.

I laughed outwardly, but inside, there was still a tumult. What was there to be so tense about?

“Hey. We can go anytime without conditions.”

“Just the two of us.”

“…”

“I want to set a condition.”

I had no intention of inviting anyone else anyway, but when Cha Yeowoon insisted on going with just the two of us, the feeling changed quite a bit.

It was fortunate I still had the ice pack in my hand. If I hadn’t held it, my hands might have been sweaty.

“Which rank are you going to get?”

“1st.”

Although I asked jokingly, Cha Yeowoon didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Senior, I’ll give you the gold medal.”

Cha Yeowoon raised his head and said confidently.

He wasn’t bluffing. He was making a promise.

“You say it so confidently.”

“Are you teasing me?”

“No, I’m serious. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

This was the first time I had received a promise of winning a gold medal.

Maybe this was the first time I had ever heard someone promise to do something important for me. What mattered wasn’t whether the achievement was genuinely significant, but whether it was important to the person making the promise.

And perhaps, to Cha Yeowoon, winning the gold medal at the national championship was the most crucial goal in his life right now.

I couldn’t believe I had received something so great from someone else. I never could have imagined it.

“If you’re going to win the medal, you need to take care of yourself.”

Cha Yeowoon bit his lip as I carefully stroked his knee.

“I’ll start now.”

Cha Yeowoon’s ears turned red as he took the ice pack from me.

​[ Calculating Cha Yeowoon’s favorabilitiy. ]

[ Favorability: 39 ]

The number was clear, leaving no room for misunderstanding. Even if it wasn’t engraved on the window, Cha Yeowoon’s feelings for me were undeniable. Every moment with him was like this.

His feelings were very easy to see.

Clear, bright, and pure.

But to me, it was a waste.

The palm of my hand where the ice pack had left quickly became hot. As break ended and I finished school, the fever didn’t subside even during writing.

I couldn’t suddenly quit my weekday part-time jobs just because the mission was ending, so I decided to continue until the end of the month.

The lunchbox shop I rushed to after school didn’t have the atmosphere of preparing for business. The owner said that he had to close the store early today due to some circumstances and that he was sorry for not being able to tell me in advance.

As a result, I received lunchboxes. Two.

It seemed like it was meant for my grandmother and me, but I naturally thought of Cha Yeowoon. The lunchboxes from this place were delicious.

What should I do? Bringing a lunchbox to someone who had told me not to like them was too shameless.

The handle of the plastic bag in my hand shook. As I entered my house, I continued to ponder.

“Grandma, I got lunchboxes from the shop. If you’re hungry, have some. Did you go to the market? Don’t carry heavy things by yourself and bring me along.”

Since it hadn’t been long since the last grocery shopping, the refrigerator was more abundant than usual. Nevertheless, the composition was similar. Side dishes, eggs, green onions, and sujeonggwa.

“There’s one less sujeonggwa? You said you didn’t like it.”

In the middle of the neatly arranged cans, an empty spot caught my eyes. It was my recent small hobby. Putting the sujeonggwa Cha Yeowoon gave me and proudly laying it out.

“It wasn’t me; I gave it to someone else. Your junior. It was for carrying my bags all the way here.”

My grandmother answered as I opened the frontmost can and turned around.

If it was my junior, then there was only one person.

“Yeowoon came to our house? Why did he come?”

“He probably came to see you. Could there be any other reason?”

I thought the least my grandmother could have done was tell me. But not only was she not the type to keep track of matters, she had probably forgotten.

Anyway, it seemed Cha Yeowoon had come to see me and returned without saying anything. The sujeonggwa I was drinking deliciously got stuck in my throat.

He wanted to see me?

“I’ll go out for a bit.”

“Are you leaving as soon as you come home?!”

The worries were brief. I waved my hand to my nagging grandmother and went straight out with the bag containing the lunchbox.

As I walked toward the bus stop, my steps accelerated as if rolling. Before I knew it, I was running.

* * *

[ Current favorability: 39 ]

Cha Yeowoon was hopeful.

Tae Myeongha had said he would wait for the medal. Cha Yeowoon was maintaining good records. With this pace, he might even set a new record at the upcoming autumn national championship.

As he was about to quickly climb the stairs to the rooftop, he stopped and began to ascend one step at a time. The condition of his knees wasn’t severe, but his right knee had been swollen in the same spot before.

He didn’t want to aggravate it.

While contemplating this, he opened the door to his house.

The house was a mess.

“What are you doing?”

For a moment, it felt like his vision was spinning.

Furniture was scattered everywhere. The wardrobe was wide open, spilling out blankets.

Wrinkled winter quilts were unfurled on the floor. The wooden pillow used by his grandmother was thrown haphazardly in the living room, and even his workbooks were spread out on the floor.

His father’s back, rummaging through the drawer, looked pitch black. Almost like something inhuman.

He approached his father roughly and grabbed his shoulders.

The bulging eyes flickered towards him. It wasn’t the dazed face of someone intoxicated.

Cha Yeowoon shook his head inwardly when he saw that his father’s face, which had always been red, had turned swarthy. It seemed the money for alcohol had run out.

A sober father was much more violent.

“I definitely saw your grandmother saving up her pocket money to give to you. Is there really not a single penny left in the house?”

His father’s hoarse voice scratched the air like sandpaper. He stood up, shaking off Cha Yeowoon’s hand, and appeared taller and bigger than when he was curled up.

“Why is father looking for the money Grandma had saved for me?”

Cha Yeowoon suppressed the urge to scream, refraining from asking if his father knew how much the hospital bill had cost and saying that it was a miracle they were even left with the house.

He took a step back from his father. His heart pounded.

“What if I find it? If necessary, father can take that money and spend it.”

“That money?”

“Yes! Keep your eyes open because this is important.”

The shout struck Cha Yeowoon. He felt his blood flowing backwards.

He clenched his fists as he looked at the back of the man who was busy searching through the drawers again.

The times he hated his father the most were times like this.

When he was so angry that he felt like he might go crazy. When he thought about how much he resembled his father.

The moment when the terrible violence he had inherited bubbled up in his veins.