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n

n.

n“Of course, not. Feel free to ask me.”

nYoo Gun replied with a tender smile. Moving his lips in silence for a second, Eun Jiho soon opened his mouth. His voice echoed in the quiet hallway and reached this side.

n“So… there is this person… who has been very strict with himself.”

nIt was certainly not Eun Jiho’s way of speaking to bring up a subject after a pause. As if he thought the same, Yoo Gun’s eyes directed on Eun Jiho’s face was stained into an enigmatic tint.

nFlaunting an ambiguous smile, he asked, “And?” Eun Jiho then continued to speak yet with a subsided voice like a wet rock.

n“He’s always been thinking about the future. That being said, he’s the kind of person who can endure the pain of the present for a better future.”

n“Hmm.”

n“The pain of the moment isn’t something substantial to change his mind, and therefore, ruining the big picture with the greed of the moment is unthinkable for him. Whenever the moment of choice came, he always had to choose the ‘better future’ instead of his current desires.”

n“Uh-huh, so?”

n“And let’s say that the person has taught his son the same virtues.”

nWhen Eun Jiho said those, at last, I realized what he was talking about. It was the story about the two, chairman Eun Han Soo and Eun Jiho.

nThe look on Yoo Gun’s face turned more inexplicable. Leaning against the wall languorously, he repeated what Eun Jiho just said.

n“Okay, so the person has taught the same virtues to his son. Then?”

n“His son respects his father the most in the world. He indeed followed his father without a doubt because everything he had learned was said from the person he wanted to become for the whole time.”

n“I see.”

n“But one day, the person then says, ‘Take care of those that disappear quickly. Be in the moment. The most important time is now.’ He said those one day out of the blue when he never had done that until now.”

n‘Hmm,’ uttered Yoo Gun, twisting his head. Meanwhile, Eun Jiho clenched his fist. Under the light in the hallway, I saw Eun Jiho’s face tingeing pale. I quietly held my breath.

nDropping his gaze at the floor with a grimace, Eun Jiho detached his lips in silence.

n“Gun hyeong, until now, there was just one thing… one thing that I died to have.”

nYoo Gun didn’t respond. Like a scientist confronting a new sample, he was just staring at Eun Jiho with a look of unfamiliarity.

nHeaving a sigh, Eun Jiho continued, “I never laid a hand on something for the sake of momentary greed. Never ever, but… I repeatedly said to myself, ‘It’s just the moment of greed; this too shall pass as it always has been…’ However, there is this one thing that doesn’t go away.”

n‘This one thing,’ he added with a seething voice.

nLooking down at the floor with a subdued gaze, Eun Jiho kept on his remark.

n“If I can dedicate this moment to get just one thing… there is something––the only one thing––that I feel fine to risk everything I have…”

n“Uh-huh.”

n“Do you think it’s insane?”

nEun Jiho lifted his head. His voice sounded unusually bewildered. Facing Yoo Gun, Eun Jiho smiled with a pale face.

nHe repeated, “Do you think it’s insane if I still die to have that?”

nA heavy silence hung in the air that even the sound of breathing seemed to resonate around the space. Now I had forgotten the existence of Yi Ruda standing beside me.

nWhen I looked at my side, I found Yi Ruda’s eyes on Eun Jiho were slightly covered with a veil of sympathy. There wasn’t any sign of sarcasm at all; therefore, Ruda’s gaze was also an empathic look at a person in the same boat.

nWe waited for Yoo Gun’s response in the moment of silence. When Yoo Gun’s voice finally rang along the hallway, I burst out my breath, which I was holding until now quietly.

n“When you, who have had no options, are gonna choose something for the first time…”

nGiving a pause, Yoo Gun soon dropped the following words.

n“Do you think you can really confront how the choice will change your life? Are you able to handle the chaos derived from your decision? Until now, you have just been walking on the same path that your father has paved, haven’t you?”

nYoo Gun’s last words then got deep-rooted in the air.

n“Live the way you lived, Jiho. That’s my answer.”

nHis response even suffocated me, a stranger who was just listening to their conversation. Yi Ruda, standing beside me, also gasped painfully with a pale face.

nSo was Eun Jiho, who looked sorely pale that it felt agonizing to just watch his face; however, Eun Jiho concealed his agitated feeling proficiently as always. Just by closing his eyes tightly and opening them back, he returned to his usual face. Eun Jiho then responded to Yoo Gun in a calm voice.

n“Thanks for your advice.”

n“You’re welcome,” replied Yoo Gun with a gentle smile. He then added, “Jiho, I particularly have a high expectation on you.”

nInstead of a response, Eun Jiho was looking down at the floor in silence. The two then bid farewell to each other. Their short conversation seemed to have finally ended.

nTaking my hand off the wall, I heaved a sigh at a slow pace. After their talk, Eun Jiho didn’t go back inside the room but was just leaning against the door.

nI suddenly wondered if Yoo Gun was about to come toward this side, but thankfully, he was receding in the opposite direction. Fetching a sigh of relief, I turned my head to the side.

nYi Ruda was staring at Eun Jiho, unexpectedly, with a serious face. As if watching a pitiable animal, she was directing her eyes on Eun Jiho sympathetically.

nYi Ruda wouldn’t know about the thing between chairman Eun Han Soo and Eun Jiho; however, since she had that look on her face toward him, did she find something in common from Eun Jiho’s story?

nWell, she also ran away from her parents in search of freedom anyway; therefore, in her perspective, Eun Jiho’s walk of life, leading to an utterly different direction from hers, could look pathetic.

n‘Anyway, that’s another story…’ rambling those thoughts, I let out a sigh in silence.

nFrom the conversation that just took place, I was able to grasp that if he could decide between the moment and the future, Eun Jiho would, again, choose the future at a fork in the road.

nBesides, I just felt like Eun Jiho had built another huge wall around him, who was already surrounded by a solid rampart to keep running his logical reasoning.

nWhen I furthered my thought to that point, Ruda turned around to look at me. When our eyes met, she showed a look of perplexity for some reason.

n‘Eh? Why?’ I lifted my hand to sweep down my cheek slowly.

nMoving her lips hesitantly, Ruda took out her phone and quickly typed something in, so I just waited blankly for her to finish what she was doing. She then held out her phone screen in front of me.

nTo: Ham Donnie

nWhat’s with that look?

nI opened my mouth but closed it again then shook my head without saying anything. I should tell her, thank you, for bringing me back to the room; however, I could hardly detach my lips to drop those out.

nThat was when Eun Jiho suddenly lifted his head to stare in this direction.

n‘Yikes,’ I hunched my shoulders and thought, ‘Is he coming to this side?’

nAs soon as I wondered, he began to stride toward in our direction. Yi Ruda, who looked disconcerted for a moment, quickly released my hand and turned around.

nShe then said, “Adios. Don’t get lost again.”

nOh lord… Forgetting the fact that she was depressed until just now, Yi Ruda dropped a delightful farewell with a beautiful voice. Her words resonated through the bright hallway so cheerfully that my jaw dropped to the floor.

nYi Ruda was true that she could make her voice sound like a woman. Her voice even sounded as sweet as that of Ban Yeo Ryung. Well, she would be faking her usual voice to sound like a boy though…

nAs I was unable to keep my mouth closed for a while, I suddenly gathered back my senses and responded to her.

n“Um, yes, th…anks!”

nI should answer back like this, right? As if replying, good job, to me, Yi Ruda’s blue eyes curved into a smile.

n“No problem,” she said elegantly.

nYi Ruda then turned around and began to walk across the hallway.

nJust after she receded from me, Eun Jiho turned the corner and appeared in front of me. With his eyes wide open, Eun Jiho flaunted a smiled while looking at me and Yi Ruda, who was getting far away from us, alternately.

n