When Your Pain Becomes Mine

***

"What the hell? Are they running away from me?"

Gyeonhui looked at the two of them as they moved away, and a smile burst over his mouth. Soon, however, his sunken eyes represented his mood in anger.

"Cheonsun!" Gyeonhui followed them with angry cries.

His body, which had been strengthened by his regular exercise, quickly narrowed the gap between him and them. When he almost reached them as he hurried ever faster, the two suddenly turned onto the busy road.

"How dare you!"

As he saw them turn, he continued to run in the same direction. However, when he came onto the big road, he was hit by a large crowd in the street, making it difficult to speed up.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!!"

He pushed people away and walked forward rudely. At that moment, he bumped into a part-time student who was handing out flyers on the street.

As Gyeonhui's body staggered, he lost sight of the two of them because of the flyers that spread into the air.

"Hey! Don't you watch where you are going?"

He was angry and yelled at the boy. After that, he began to run in the same direction where the two of them went. However, as he turned around the corner between the buildings, he could not find them anymore because of the bustling crowd.

"... They couldn't have made it far."

He looked around the area quickly with fierce eyes.

"I've got you."

Confident that they were Sun and Eunwoo, he rushed toward them.

In the dark alleyway, the man and the woman stopped amid the road to give each other a hug.

"Hah."

When Gyeonhui watched them, he felt like his blood was rising through his body. He could no longer hold his anger and quickly approached them. He grabbed the man's shoulder roughly and tried to punch him in the face.

"Hey!"

However, the man who looked back at him with a panicked expression was not Eunwoo.

Gyeonhui quickly checked the woman's face with his eyes wide open, but it was not her either.

"Who, who the hell are you guys?"

"You little jerk, that's exactly what I have to say! Who the hell are you!"

The man could not stand his anger and punched him in the face.

"Ugh."

Because of the unexpected attack, Gyeonhui fell to the ground without avoiding it.

"What an idiot! Let's go, honey."

The man spat on the ground, grabbed his girlfriend, and walked out of the alleyway.

"Ouch..." He m.o.a.n.e.d and slowly raised his body. "Hah... It wasn't them, though."

He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the man and woman moving away. Soon, however, the annoyance that rushed through him had distorted his face.

"Where the hell did they go?"

"What... what is this? Blood?"

His hands trembled violently.

A moment later, his meaningless cry echoed in the dark alley.

***

"What horrible luck."

A part-time student sat and picked up the flyers with an annoyed lament.

"Here, take this too."

The lady, who was selling hats at a cart on the street, handed out the flyers that fell on her cart.

"Thank you."

"What a mean guy. He looked just fine, but he was rude to innocent people. I hope karma breaks his nose sometimes as punishment!"

The lady remembered something. When she returned to her seat, she watched a man and a woman who was standing near and asked them in disgust.

"Hey, the two of you there, are you guys buying the hats or not?"

The two people who were hiding beside the cart slowly turned toward the lady.

Eunwoo, who was wearing a baseball cap, carefully looked around the area first.

"Is he gone?"

Then, Sun, who was wearing a fedora, asked Eunwoo while looking around the area.

"I think he's gone."

They were still wandering around the area like they were being pursued.

"I said, are you going to buy them or not." The lady, who was watching them, asked again, seemingly frustrated.

"Oh, yes. Sure."

Eunwoo took some cash out of his wallet and handed it out to her.

As soon as the lady had the money, she suddenly started to speak with a gentle smile.

"They look great on both of you. Have a happy date"

"Oh, okay. Thank you..."

Sun and Eunwoo laughed awkwardly at each other over the lady's sudden change of attitude.

Eunwoo came out on the road and, once again, checked his surroundings. He then started speaking.

"Luckily, we gave our shadow the slip."

Sun nodded awkwardly.

"The lady at the cart was right. It's such a great fit for you."

"Oh, my. I wasn't thinking about it."

When Sun realized that she was wearing a fedora, she tried to take off her hat.

"Don't take it off. It's so cute."

"No way. How can I be cute in this hat?"

"You always look cute in my eyes." Eunwoo looked straight into Sun's eyes and said.

"Stop, don't kid me."

Sun awkwardly avoided his gaze and took off her hat. Eunwoo smiled after seeing her reaction and also took off his hat before opening his mouth.

"By the way, what's going on with Mr. Woo?"

"..."

Sun smiled awkwardly at him, but she couldn't answer. However, Eunwoo understood the situation as he saw her hesitating to speak.

'... I just had something to check.'

Eunwoo's expression sank when he recalled what she had said. He looked at her for a moment, and slowly opened his mouth.

"Why don't we have a drink?"

***

"Hah."

When he returned to the office, he breathed a long sigh.

"Hey, what happened to your face? Where did you get hit?"

Ojae saw Gyeonhui's face and asked hurriedly.

"Lower your voice. Do you want everyone to know about this?"

"No, but I'm so worried about you." Ojae quickly lowered his voice and replied.

"But, where is Sun?"

"... She's gone."

"To where?"

"... I don't know."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know! She ran away. What do you want me to do?"

Ojae noticed Gyeonhui's feelings and quickly closed his mouth.

Ojae had a lot of experience and knew that Gyeonhui would speak if he left him alone.

"Hey bro,"

Not surprisingly, but with a frustrated sigh, Gyeonhui called Ojae again.

"Have you not noticed that I've changed? Have I really changed a lot recently?"

"Huh? Oh, yes." Ojae responded cautiously.