RACA 70

Meow.

After finishing his meal, Pyo Jaebeom stepped out of the living room to find a large fur ball running from somewhere and clinging to Eunsol’s leg. Eunsol looked apologetic at the sight of it, its pitiful cries filling half of his lower body.

“Jongjong, I’m sorry. You must’ve been lonely all day alone. I didn’t have time to tell you before rushing out…”

His excuse trailed off naturally when the weight he’d felt on his leg suddenly vanished, replaced by the sight of the massive creature being lifted effortlessly.

“Why are you saying that? He wouldn’t understand anyway.”

“The kid’s lonely, right?”

“You can actually talk to this thing? Are you some kind of animal tamer or something?”

Watching the head tilt side to side, Pyo Jaebeom said with a tone of disbelief.

“Animal tamer?”

Does he think that suits me? Eunsol looked at him with a distinctly skeptical gaze. Misinterpreting his expression as confusion, Jaebeom added an explanation.

“Animal trainer.”

“Ah…”

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the word. Eunsol’s gaze, fixed on Jaebeom, shifted to the cat wagging its tail. It was true that animals usually followed him well.

When he lived with his grandmother, Eunsol’s house didn’t keep any pets, but stray cats, wandering dogs, birds with broken wings, a limping raccoon, and so on. 

All sorts of wild creatures would come find food and shelter.

“I suppose it’s because I took in stray animals at home.”

Saying that, Eunsol took his collar and sniffed it. Aside from a faint scent of fabric softener, he couldn’t really detect anything.

Instead, only the faint scent of Pyo Jaebeom’s pheromones lingered. Eunsol rolled his eyes.

Sniffing it made his body feel strangely warm.

‘What the hell? Seriously, why am I like this?’

He couldn’t understand his own state and clicked his tongue. Seeing this, Pyo Jaebeom frowned instead.

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Did something I say upset you?”

“Huh? No… It’s not that.”

“Don’t misunderstand. It’s just that I find it really fascinating. Something like this happened before, remember? When you, Lee Eunsol, also appeared as an extra in the movie I was filming. Three dogs followed you around so much, everyone thought you were a trainer.”

“Huh? You know about that?”

Eunsol looked at him with amazement. That incident had indeed happened. At the time, his role was a part-timer bringing animals from a pet hotel.

So naturally, he ended up greeting three puppies, and they followed him around like shadows. Everyone, from the staff to the actors, assumed Eunsol had brought them.

“With that much commotion, anyone would know.”

But honestly, he hadn’t expected Pyo Jaebeom to have witnessed that scene. He always showed up right around when filming started, exchanged brief greetings, and then dove straight into shooting.

When filming wrapped, he did walk around the set, bowing politely before leaving, but Eunsol, who was just a minor extra, never had a chance to meet him directly.

Even then, he was too busy tending to the puppies to greet Jaebeom. He thought he was the only one who remembered that moment, so it was surprising to learn Pyo Jaebeom knew about it too.

“I have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“You know how Lee Daebak found me, right?”

Such a direct question was only possible because the person before him was the drama’s protagonist. But seeing Pyo Jaebeom’s expression freeze instantly, he knew he’d made a huge mistake.

“You don’t seriously think I deliberately sent Lee Daebak to you?”

“Uh, ah, no. I didn’t mean that…”

“I know we’re not close enough to have built that kind of trust. But I never imagined you’d harbor such a misunderstanding.”

Eunsol couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the look of disappointment on his face.

“No! I just thought, since you’re the lead actor and know the story’s flow well, you might know why Lee Daebak appeared. That’s all I meant.”

Even his desperate excuse didn’t soften his expression. Pyo Jaebeom stroked the fluffy cat’s fur as he looked at Eunsol.

“I was just a minor character. That’s why I didn’t know the drama’s plot well, so I asked to understand what to do next. I absolutely didn’t doubt you, sir.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I swear!”

Eunsol placed his hand over his heart at Pyo Jaebeom’s question, who seemed to soften as if he believed him. He met his eyes earnestly, pleading for him to understand his feelings.

Had his sincerity gotten through? Only then did his face relax.

“Alright. I’ll believe you. But in return, Lee Eunsol-ssi, you have to listen carefully to what I say from now on.”

Well, that was only natural if they were going to get along well, so Eunsol nodded vigorously.

“Alright. Let’s go then.”

“Huh? Where?”

Suddenly? Where? Regardless of Eunsol’s confusion, Pyo Jaebeom, having passed the cat off to Bulgom, started walking toward the front door. Still stunned by the abrupt situation, Eunsol only hurried after him once he’d passed through the inner door.

“Where are you going? Hey?”

He asked several times even while riding down in the elevator, but there was no reply. By the time they reached the underground parking lot and stood in front of the car Jaebeom was getting into, Eunsol had reached the point of thinking, ‘You do whatever you want.’

It was based on his belief that Jaebeom wouldn’t take him to some strange place. And that belief didn’t stray far from reality.

“Open it up.”

Eunsol opened the glove compartment as he gestured. It was filled with the snacks he’d been craving lately.

He turned his head around to glare at him. But Pyo Jaebeom wasn’t even looking his way.

“What is this?”

“If you’ve eaten, you need to digest it to sleep soundly. We’ll go in after an hour’s drive, so stop asking where we’re going.“

”A drive?”

The unexpected situation made him ask ‘Why?’ but then he saw the streetlights stretching out on both sides of the road, the dark blue sky beyond them, the sparkling city lights, and the calmly flowing river, and he shut his mouth.

What did it matter? If he could enjoy this leisure, he should just accept it quietly.

“I’ve been thinking too. How we can get back to reality.”

“Ah…”

Eunsol finally realized why Pyo Jaebeom had suddenly suggested a drive.

 He had deliberately come out because there was Bulgom at home. Inside the car, there was no chance anyone else would overhear their conversation, making it perfect for focusing on their private talk.

“I’ve been pondering why we entered the drama, and I’ve concluded it’s because of your grandmother, Eunsol.”

“That’s right.”

Eunsol also thought the cause of this phenomenon lay with his grandmother. She was the one who, wishing her grandson left alone in the world could live comfortably, had prepared for everything, even the unexpected.

“So the conditions for returning must also be related to Lee Eunsol-ssi’s grandmother’s intentions.”

“Intentions? What could those be?”

But Eunsol couldn’t think of any way to break out of this situation.

“Wouldn’t you know better than anyone what your grandmother was worried about?”

“Hmm…”

Solving problems is harder than finding answers. Especially when you don’t even know which formula to apply to which part, you have to start over from the beginning.

That was exactly the situation now. The answer was faintly visible, yet the problem remained unsolved.

“What do you think Grandma meant by calling us here?”

“Um… That she wanted me to live well?”

He trailed off uncertainly, a question mark hanging at the end. If that were truly the case, honestly, there would be no reason for this situation to unfold.

Eunsol was already living quite well in reality.

“Do you think you were living well?”

“Well, usually, yes. I lived comfortably.”

“Materially, there were no problems. What about relationships with people?”

“That, well…”

He found himself stumbling over his words unconsciously at that question. To be honest, his friendships weren’t exactly great.

After becoming an adult and moving to Seoul, Eunsol had no one to grab a drink with after work. Of course, he had people he was close to. But he didn’t have a friend he could call when he was struggling, happy, or lonely.

Strangely, he couldn’t bring himself to honestly tell Jaebeom about this situation. Wasn’t that how it was? Everyone had feelings they couldn’t reveal to someone they wanted to impress.

“Hmm, I think I get it.”

“You think you understand? Why did Grandma do this?”

How could he? Swallowing his bitter feelings, Eunsol looked at Pyo Jaebeom. Just then, the light turned red, the car stopped, and he turned his head toward the passenger seat.

In that instant, Eunsol read his gaze. It was the gaze of someone who knew loneliness.