Chapter 195

The car set off. Jaegyeom sat in the passenger seat.

The black sedan smoothly exited the alley and quickly reached the main road. Yoon Taehee, keeping his eyes on the road ahead, briefly explained the itinerary.

"We need to go to Yeosu first. It'll take a little over 4 hours if there's no traffic. Once we arrive in Yeosu, we'll head straight to the ferry terminal and take a boat to the island."

They had considered taking a train or plane, but since Shin Jihye was in a state of limited mobility, traveling by car was the best option. Just then, Jaegyeom, who had been nodding along, asked:

"Hey, is it okay for me to miss work without saying anything?"

Yoon Taehee had taken leave from headquarters, but Jaegyeom was suddenly absent without prior notice.

He belatedly remembered getting scolded by Kang Yibin for an unauthorized absence last time.

Yoon Taehee smiled gently and said:

"I've taken care of everything."

For some reason, he seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood today. In any case, that was a relief.

Coming from Yoon Taehee, who held a fairly high position, it was believable.

"I'm going to sleep a bit. Wake me up when we arrive."

At that moment, Shin Jihye, who had been rolling around in the back seat, put on an eye mask she had brought and spoke. She seemed tired from waking up early to prepare for the trip. By now, she had earphones in, a neck pillow on, and her legs stretched out, fully prepared to sleep. Jaegyeom envied her carefree ability to doze off. Well, it wasn't her problem, so maybe that's why she could be so relaxed.

Unlike Shin Jihye, Jaegyeom was inevitably in a state of high tension.

If this curse really was related to mermaids...

He fidgeted nervously with his fingers. The thought that he might be able to break the curse by meeting a mermaid had his pulse racing since yesterday. He hadn't been able to sleep properly at night.

As Shin Jihye fell asleep, the car became very quiet.

Jaegyeom sat silently, staring straight ahead with a tense expression. Yoon Taehee, who was driving, turned his head to look at Jaegyeom.

He looked as nervous as someone about to face an

important interview.

"..."

Yoon Taehee's fingertips tapped lightly on the steering wheel.

Just then, the car stopped at a red light. Yoon Taehee, after shifting gears and waiting for the signal, suddenly reached out his arm. Taking advantage of the momentary stop, he turned on the radio. He flipped through various channels.

The silence was broken by the sound of the radio.

Jaegyeom glanced at Yoon Taehee. After Changing channels several times, Yoon Taehee finally found the frequency he wanted. However, the channel he found wasn't the classical channel he usually listened to.

[Ssuhoook~ dae~ meori...]

The channel Yoon Taehee had tuned to was a traditional Korean music channel...

[In the cold room of a ghostly prison, all I can think of is you~]

The sorrowful pansori of a masterful singer, drawn up from the depths of the diaphragm, filled the air.

"..."

"..."

The tense atmosphere that had seemed to be stretched taut suddenly shattered. Jaegyeom glared at Yoon Taehee, raising an eyebrow. Yoon Taehee with one hand on the steering wheel and the other elbow resting on the window frame, fiddling with his lips while looking ahead, appeared quite nonchalant at first glance. But upon closer inspection, the corners of his mouth were slightly curved, as if he was trying to suppress a smile.

It seemed he had indeed changed the channel deliberately to provoke a reaction.

"Are you making fun of me right now?"

"Me? How could I..."

Yoon Taehee said, feigning innocence.

"I chose it with your taste in mind."

"What taste."

It was a completely transparent excuse. Mischief was dripping like honey from Yoon Taehee's eyes.

"Hey, do you think everyone just listens to pansori when they're old? That's prejudice. Stop messing around and change it to something else or turn it off."

"Then what kind of music do you usually listen to?"

"I listen to modern songs too."

"Like who?"

After rolling his eyes for a moment, Jaegyeom said with a sulky face:

"Choi Baekho."

"..."

Yoon Taehee silently stroked his chin. Listening to 70s and 80s music was sufficiently sophisticated by Jaegyeom's standards...

"Where did you hear Choi Baekho's songs?"

"On TV."

Jaegyeom, responding with an indifferent face, continued:

"There's a show called 'Open Concert' on Channel 9 on Sunday evenings, and he appears there sometimes.

And recently, he was on 'Gayo Stage' too. 'Gayo Stage' is also on Channel 9, and they play a lot of good songs there."

"..."

"Don't you watch 'Gayo Stage'?"

"Ah... I don't have a TV at home..."

At Yoon Taehee's words, Jaegyeom furrowed his brow.

That's right. Come to think of it, when he first visited Yoon Taehee's house yesterday, there was no TV where there should have been one, just shelves crammed full of all sorts of books.

"Hey, why don't you have a TV at home?"

"I know right."

Yoon Taehee, having succeeded in diverting Jaegyeom's attention, responded casually and laughed silently. Jaegyeom's posture, which had been stiffly rigid, had now relaxed considerably.

"You're rolling in money, but you don't even buy a TV?

What have you been doing?"

"Should I buy a TV?"

"You should."

"If I buy a TV, will you come over to my place?"

"...What?"

Yoon Taehee, still staring straight ahead, said in a low voice:

"I'll buy a TV, so will you live with me?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Jaegyeom turned his head sharply towards the passenger window and replied indifferently:

"W-why would I? I have a TV at my place too."

Yoon Taehee, seemingly not having expected much, quietly laughed without further comment and changed the radio channel. A regular pop song started playing, filling the car's silence appropriately.

Jaegyeom, his gaze fixed out the window, suddenly fell into thought.

He was suddenly reminded of yesterday, when Yoon Taehee had brandished a knife, offering to give up his own gallbladder. It made him feel oddly unsettled.

Come to think of it, if the curse was broken and he could live and die normally, what would happen between Yoon Taehee and him? Would they continue

to be like this?

Yoon Taehee seemed to like him enough to offer his gallbladder. So then I...

Just then, the red light changed to green.

Yoon Taehee, who had been half-sprawled on the steering wheel waiting for the light to change, suddenly took Jaegyeom's hand without permission.

He interlaced his fingers with Jaegyeom's and gripped the gear shift. Jaegyeom flinched and looked at Yoon Taehee. Their overlapped hands pushed the gear shift forward together.

"Shall we go?"

The car that had been at a standstill surged forward.

***

Two hours had passed since they entered the highway after passing through the toll gate. The highway was quiet as it was a weekday morning. They were now about halfway to their destination, Yeosu.

Yoon Taehee, who had been driving while occasionally chatting with Jaegyeom, turned the car towards a rest area sign. They decided to stop at the rest area to get some fresh air and have a light meal before lunch.

Yoon Taehee woke up Shin Jihye in the back seat. Shin Jihye, who had been deep in sleep, groggily sat up and said, "I don't want to go out. Just go by yourselves"

before settling back into a comfortable position.

"Bring me some walnut cookies and a warm latte when you come back."

Shin Jihye boldly ordered as she shifted around.

Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee left her behind and got out of the car side by side. As he stepped out, Jaegyeom looked around, taking in the rest area. It was his first time at a highway rest stop. The view was quite nice, with mountain slopes stretching out behind the rest area.

"What are you doing, Jaegyeom?"

Yoon Taehee, who had walked a step or two ahead, playfully wiggled his fingers as he stretched his hand back. Jaegyeom, who had been distracted by the sight of the rest area, belatedly followed him.

A few cars entering the rest area passed in front of the two. Since there were no traffic lights or crosswalks in the parking lot, they had to cross carefully, reading the flow of traffic.

As they were walking past the parked cars towards the rest area building, a car approaching from a distance didn't slow down and came dangerously close to hitting Yoon Taehee, who was walking in front. "Hey, watch out!" Jaegyeom, who had been walking behind him, jumped forward in surprise. He grabbed Yoon Taehee's arm and pulled him back.

"That son of a..."

After pulling Yoon Taehee behind him, Jaegyeom glared at the driver with murderous intent.

The driver sheepishly bowed his head in apology.

Despite the apologetic gesture, the enraged Jaegyeom continued to glare fiercely at the driver until they had fully crossed the road.

"Fucking driving like that."

Yoon Taehee chuckled and said "It's okay," before wrapping his arm around Jaegyeom's shoulders.

Jaegyeom, caught off guard by the other's embrace, awkwardly followed for a few steps before gently pulling away as they reached the rest area building.

As they arrived at the rest area building, delicious smells wafted from all directions.

Jaegyeom stared blankly at the row of snack corners.

At some point, his gaze fixed on a store selling skewers. Yoon Taehee, standing beside him, quietly said while lightly scratching the inside of Jaegyeom's palm with his fingertip, "Want me to buy you one?" The peculiar sensation made Jaegyeom's shoulder twitch.

Jaegyeom rubbed his palm against his pants and nodded indifferently.

"Yeah."

Yoon Taehee asked if there was anything else he wanted to eat. The two walked around the rest area and bought two fish cake skewers, grilled squid, baked potatoes, and a bag of walnut cookies. By this point their hands were full of bags, but they still had one more stop to make to complete Shin Jihye's errand.

To buy the latte she had ordered, the two headed to the cafe inside the building.

Since they were at the cafe anyway, Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee decided to get drinks for themselves too.

At Yoon Taehee's question, Jaegyeom looked at the menu board. Seeing the board filled with all sorts of incomprehensible words, he suddenly felt dizzy.

"What would you like to drink?"

Jaegyeom stared at the menu board with his mouth half open. The truth was, Jaegyeom didn't know much about cafe drinks. He was about to ask Yoon Taehee,

when Yoon Taehee leaned in and whispered affectionately:

"Do you know the cafe menu items?"

"..."

Slightly irritated, Jaegyeom glared at Yoon Taehee.

"I know all of them, okay."

"Should I choose for you?"

"No need. I'll choose myself."

Yoon Taehee suppressed a laugh and approached the counter.

"One cafe latte and one milk tea, both hot please.

And..."

After ordering his own drink, Yoon Taehee turned to look at Jaegyeom. It was a look asking if he had decided. Jaegyeom, who had been staring at the menu board as if trying to bore holes in it, flinched slightly before carefully enunciating:

"I'll have a strawberry. Yogurt. Smoothie. Please."

Yoon Taehee's eyes widened.

"A strawberry yogurt smoothie?"

It wasn't long ago that he had been scolded for saying

"guacamole salmon salad" as if he were catching a mouse...

"Have you had it before?"

Yoon Taehee asked again.

"Really?"

Feeling challenged, Jaegyeom nodded.

"Yeah. I've been to cafes a few times."

In fact, this was a lie. While it was true that he had been to cafes before, Kang Yibin had always ordered for him on those occasions, choosing arbitrarily, so Jaegyeom didn't know the types of cafe drinks. He had just picked something at random after spotting the word 'strawberry' among the confusing names on the menu board.

Aren't all drinks pretty much the same anyway?

Just then, the employee taking the order tapped on the POS machine and repeated the order.

"One milk tea, one cafe latte, both hot. And one strawberry yogurt smoothie. Is that correct, three drinks in total?"

"Yes, that's right."

Yoon Taehee nodded and was about to take out his card from his wallet when Jaegyeom, who had been standing blankly beside him, suddenly interjected:

"Can I have mine hot too, please?"

Both the employee and Yoon Taehee turned to look at Jaegyeom.

"Pardon?"

Thinking they might not have heard him clearly, Jaegyeom repeated:

"Mine too... hot please."

"..."

"..."

The employee glanced at Yoon Taehee with an expressionless face. Their eyes seemed to say, 'He's with you, so you deal with this, revealing the fatigue of a worker. Yoon Taehee, who had been momentarily stunned, stumbled slightly as he leaned on the counter, bowing his head.

"Well, smoothies..."

Unable to contain his laughter any longer, Yoon Taehee covered his mouth with the back of his hand and chuckled.