He complained loudly at the CEO’s back as he walked ahead of him, but without giving him a chance to explain, he came straight to me. Then, he leaned in slightly, bringing his face close. There was a very faint smell of wine. Not strong.
“Mr. Yeehyeon, how have you been?”
“Yes, hello.”
The CEO was getting a cup of coffee from the machine by the window, past the table. His back, leaning slightly with one arm on his hip, seemed a little tired.
“He said he came to buy us something delicious, but he came to see Yeehyeon.”
Hyung Juhan grumbled, and the man from the passenger seat put his arm around my shoulder and turned towards Noona and Hyung.
“What does it matter who I came to see? I’m still paying today.”
“Then let’s go. It’ll take 10 minutes.”
That was Noona Yuni’s neat reply, after checking her wristwatch.
○
The bar, located in a narrow alley further inside the bustling entertainment district, felt like a fancy hideout. It sold Spanish-style appetizers and wine, and the interior was filled with only four or five tables at most.
It wasn’t a solemn or stiff atmosphere. The atmosphere created by the clothes of the people filling the tables, the volume of their conversations, and the music playing was rather casual.
In any case, it was a slightly awkward and sophisticated place for me, who had spent the last 5-6 years in a fishing village without even a franchise pizza place, let alone a Spanish restaurant.
The man from the passenger seat seemed most familiar with the place. He got everyone’s agreement and, as soon as he received the menu, chose and ordered two or three dishes to eat as appetizers and some wine.
All four of them, except for me, seemed to know the owner of the restaurant. That alone suggested that they were on somewhat intimate terms privately. At least they were close enough to share a regular hangout.
“Can I call you Yeehyeon?”
I was drinking water because of the awkwardness, and I quickly put down my glass and nodded to the man across from me.
“Just call me Hyung Inwoo comfortably, Yeehyeon.”
I knew his name was Choi Inwoo because I had checked the artist’s name on the painting at the VIP opening.
“How can the Doctor be Yeehyeon’s hyung? Maybe uncle. Let’s just call him Ssaem Inwoo.”
Hyung Juhan said to the man from the passenger seat in a slightly teasing manner, and the man frowned, resting his folded arms on the table.
“I’m not Yeehyeon’s doctor, so why should I be called Doctor? I don’t like it.”
“Then why are we calling Doctor Doctor? Ssaem isn’t our doctor either.”
Tch. The man clicked his tongue at Hyung Juhan’s retort. He seemed to have reluctantly succumbed to Hyung’s logic, but soon a new complaint followed.
“Ssaem is enough to hear at the hospital. Do you know how much older I feel every time I hear that sound? And you guys, you call all the other affiliated artists ‘Ssaem,’ but only call me Doctor?”
“Hey, we see Doctor too often because of the CEO. We’d feel distant if we called you ‘Ssaem.’”
Hyung Juhan, leaning against the window with his back and sitting completely sideways, was smiling leisurely while fiddling with his long, thin fingers.
“That’s right. It’s an expression of intimacy.”
Noona Yuni chimed in. But the man didn’t let it go easily.
“What about Shushu? Then why do you call Shushu ‘Ssaem’?”
Shushu. It was a name I had heard before too.
I still remembered that the word, which sounded sweet, was incongruous with the Phantom CEO’s low, husky voice.
Feeling a little thirsty, I drank some more water.
Our group took the window seat closest to the entrance, but since there were five of us, one person had to sit with their chair facing the aisle. Hyung Juhan and Noona Yuni sat on the innermost side, and I sat next to Hyung Juhan in the order we entered the store. And the seat on the aisle side, which might have been the most uncomfortable, naturally became the Phantom CEO’s share.
Because he was right next to me with the edge of the table in between, I sat with my feet pulled back under the chair, worried that my legs might get tangled or I might step on his feet under the long tablecloth that completely covered my thighs.
He seemed uninterested in this place, half-listening to the conversations of the others at the table, resting one arm on the back of his chair and twirling an empty wine glass in his other hand.
Then why did he bother coming here? If the man from the passenger seat was right, it didn’t seem like he had even suggested that they come together.
“Mr. Shushu… has a personal relationship with the CEO, but we hardly have any private interactions with her.”
Noona Yuni lowered her tone, which had been playfully excited until now, and spoke a little cautiously. Maybe it was just my imagination, but she seemed to be watching the CEO’s mood.
The friendly-looking owner brought out the wine, and the conversation was briefly interrupted. A little bit of dark red wine was poured into each of the five empty glasses. It was my first time having wine.
As soon as the glasses were filled, everyone lightly clinked glasses without anyone suggesting a toast. There was no special toast. The wine, which I was drinking for the first time, was more fragrant than beer, but the aftertaste that remained in my mouth after swallowing was stronger than I expected. It was a new sensation, with the flavor building up in layers in my mouth as I drank.
I suddenly realized that I had already emptied about half of my glass and put it down. The three people except for the CEO were still talking about honorifics. If I didn’t come to a conclusion, this debate would continue all night.
“I’m not a Phantom employee… if it’s okay, I’ll call you hyung.”
It was something I said without much thought, because I didn’t think I would have many opportunities to call him that in the future.
Noona Yuni and Hyung Juhan had expressions as if they had lost a game, and Inwoo… Hyung had an expression like a child who had finally gotten the toy he wanted after a fierce struggle.
“Then say it once. Say Inwoo Hyung.”
Because the width of the table wasn’t that wide, Inwoo Hyung’s face, leaning forward from right across from me… was quite close. It was a face that revealed his expectations so honestly that it was hard to disappoint him.
“Inwoo Hyung… your main job is a doctor, right?”
He smiled brightly, revealing his even teeth. It was an objectively attractive smile, with the corners of his eyes slightly folded and his pupils seeming to shine.
“Aren’t you being really old-fashioned right now? Why are you so obsessed with being called hyung?”
The Phantom CEO shook his head and said that, swallowing the wine as if letting it flow into his mouth.
As uninterested as he seemed in this place, he was emptying his wine the fastest among us.
I wondered if he wasn’t feeling completely comfortable in this place because I was here, but I soon ignored it. I could take a pretty bold attitude when it came to him.
“It’s cute. If he keeps calling me hyung, hyung, I’ll want to grant him anything.”
The man from the passenger seat, Inwoo Hyung, who said that with a dreamy expression, was a specialist in gastroenterology. And at the same time, he was an affiliated artist of Phantom.
He was a specialist, but he was affiliated with a small general hospital where his parents were the director and vice director, respectively, so he was a carefree doctor who just hung out every day, according to the Phantom CEO, Noona Yuni, and Hyung Juhan.
As a result of Phantom actively marketing him as a doctor-artist, he was a fairly popular artist whose paintings sold as soon as they were put up in the exhibition hall.
Both of his parents were passionate collectors of art, so he had been familiar with paintings since he was a child, and he had been painting as a hobby for a long time before entering the art market at the recommendation of the Phantom CEO. Even if he wasn’t a full-time painter, he was already a professional painter from the point of selling his paintings for money.
Remembering that I had recommended his own work to him at the VIP opening last time, I felt my face flush. I drank the innocent wine, and when my glass was empty for the second or third time, Inwoo Hyung took out a bottle of wine from the steel basket next to the table and refilled my glass.
“I’m sorry about that day. I didn’t even know you were the artist… I’m almost completely ignorant about art, so I just said what I felt… I’m sorry if I offended you.”
“No, not at all. Why would I be offended? It’s not like you said anything bad. I felt like I had shown my naked body, but Yeehyeon’s interpretation resonated with me much more than the critics who only spout pretentious words. Honestly, I even felt fate.”
If he hadn’t made an exaggeratedly playful expression while saying the last sentence, I would have been at a loss for what kind of reaction to show.
“Ugh, that fate of his… Ssaem sure has a lot of fates.”
It was fortunate that Hyung Juhan’s sigh and added remark made the atmosphere a little lighter.
“It might be presumptuous to say this… but I think I know why Ssaem… no, Hyung’s works are popular. It’s because most people have a hard time being honest, even if they want to be…”
I didn’t say it with anyone in particular in mind, but strangely, my gaze turned to the Phantom CEO at the end of my sentence. Feeling embarrassed by the direction of my gaze, I brought the glass I was fiddling with to my lips.
I realized for the first time that alcohol was a pretty good shield for hiding expressions and gazes.
“Honestly, after hearing Yeehyeon’s story that day, both Kun and I thought Yeehyeon would have majored in art in some way. I found out it wasn’t true after hearing from Manager Han.”
‘Kun.’
I had heard him being called by the exotic name Kun a few times, although he seemed to be called by the title of CEO by most people.
But even though I had helped out at Phantom a total of three times until today, I still didn’t know the CEO’s real name. I could easily find out if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to ask him about it, whether it was Mrs.Han, Yuni, or Juhan. I didn’t feel like searching ‘Gallery Phantom’ in the search bar of my phone either. Not that anyone would see it.
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