Diamond Dust Novel - Chapter 18. Unique Nostalgia

The last day of an exhibition was, thankfully, not as busy as the opening day. Depending on the nature of the exhibition, sometimes there would be an after-party inviting the artists and buyers on the final day, but since this was a group exhibition by several artists, coordinating schedules was difficult. So, it was concluded with the Director of Phantom and the teacher separately entertaining the artists whose schedules aligned and the main clients off-site.

As a temporary part-timer, I didn’t need to show up in the morning. I came in at closing time to help Yuni Noona and Juhan Hyung clean up the exhibition hall. This time, it was the opposite of the opening: the job was to take all the artworks down and move them to the basement storage.

Perhaps because we had worked together once before, we finished moving all the pieces to the storage room and properly repackaging them before 10 PM. Most of these artworks were scheduled to be delivered to their new owners starting Monday. With a sales rate close to a record high, a fat bonus was expected this month, and the two of them were so excited they even broke into some kind of impromptu dance in the basement storage room.

The pace of the work was fast, but as a result, I was completely exhausted afterward. It was the kind of fatigue you feel after a short-distance sprint.

We sat scattered around the large conference table in the office. Juhan Hyung was sprawled face-down on the table, using one arm as a pillow. Noona put two capsules into the coffee machine, brewed a strong cup of coffee, and poured it over ice, gulping it down. I, too, felt a bit tired and leaned back slightly in my chair with my arms crossed.

“But you really seem to love stripes.”

“Pardon?”

I wasn’t asking because I genuinely hadn’t understood Noona’s words. It was a reflexive reaction caused by hearing something unexpected at an abrupt moment. Noona, who had drunk more than half of the nearly full coffee in her large tumbler, looked somewhat revitalized.

“You wore a striped T-shirt to the VIP opening, and the day before that, too. I can’t believe you showed up in stripes today as well. Because of that, I lost the bet.”

“Thanks, Yihyun-ah. I get to eat out on Baek Yuni, thanks to you.”

Juhan Hyung, who was lying face down but had turned only his head toward me, smiled widely, making a V with his fingers in the same position.

“Oh… I’m sorry, Noona.”

Noona, who was getting up and passing behind me, smiled and lightly patted my back.

“Then would you be sorry to Kwon Juhan if I had won?”

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, that was true.

“You’ll be even more sorry to me after you get this. Oh well…”

Noona placed a small shopping bag she had brought from the desk onto the table. The small black shopping bag, lettered with the phrase ‘Old Future,’ was decorated with a black ribbon.

“What is this?”

“A gift. I figured you must be a stripe fanatic. When I saw this, it immediately made me think of you.”

Inside the shopping bag was a black and white striped T-shirt. When I unfolded it, it was a loose-fitting short-sleeved shirt with a slightly wide neckline.

“It’s not something I bought separately; I brought it from the online store we run, so don’t feel pressured to accept it.”

“No, be pressured. Take this, feel pressured, and come work with us. Huh?”

Hyung, who had somehow moved over to the seat across from me, reached an arm across the table, grabbed my hand, and looked at me with a desperate expression. Hyung’s earnestness about working together felt sincere, making me happy and grateful, but I could only offer an ambiguous smile as I recalled the man who had stressed ‘peace and safety’ to me, growling like a man from the underworld: “Understand? Mr. Seo Yihyun.”

“But… you run an online store?”

“It’s a bit different in nature from a typical shopping mall, but if you have to call it something, yes. We only opened it recently. About half a year ago?”

Noona looked at Juhan Hyung, as if confirming her memory as she spoke the last words.

“Our tastes are like this, you see. It’s hard to find clothes we like here in Korea. We thought it would be good to open a website for people with similar tastes. We mostly stock clothes we buy in our spare time during overseas business trips, so we only have one or two of each item, so the profit isn’t huge. We’re not doing it to make a lot of money; we’re just doing it because we both enjoy it.”

Hyung spoke lightly, as if talking about going out for a bike ride in front of the house when he has time, but to me, it seemed quite remarkable. Regardless of how successful it was, I knew it wasn’t easy to turn a thought into action.

“Then shouldn’t this be an item you need to sell?”

“Even so, it’s not expensive, so wear it without feeling burdened. Both Kwon Juhan and I operate on the principle of not giving gifts that cause a burden.”

Noona sat on the edge of the table, sipping her coffee, and lightly ruffled my hair. Just the sound of the ice clinking in her cup as she tilted it was cooling.

“Thank you. I’ll wear it well.”

There wasn’t any particular reason or stubbornness behind wearing only striped T-shirts. I didn’t have the eye to choose clothes stylishly, and I had little interest in clothing itself.

The thought that stripes wouldn’t be too drab but also wouldn’t stand out was the starting point. Before I knew it, my closet was full of striped shirts. Actually, it wasn’t even fair to say I only wore striped T-shirts, as I didn’t own many clothes to begin with. Moreover, since I had only packed two or three thin long-sleeved shirts when leaving Grandpa’s house, I actually needed a few short-sleeved shirts as the weather was getting increasingly warmer.

But the joy wasn’t just that I had received something I needed, which happened to work out well.

The fact that someone had closely observed me, understood my taste, and thought of me even when I wasn’t there. That unexpected thoughtfulness caused a slight resonance in my heart.

The kindness of their hearts, which thought of me because of a striped T-shirt, felt like a gentle scolding of my social seclusion, which had resisted the world outside the narrow confines of my relationship with Morae and Hyung.

As I looked down at the T-shirt in my hand, I was lost in the somewhat grand thought that salvation might not only come in the form of lofty, sacrificial affection.

The two of them insisted on seeing me wear it and pushed me behind the partition in the office. I took off the old long-sleeved T-shirt I was wearing, draped it over the partition, and pulled the new shirt over my head. The design was more stylish than what I usually wore, making me feel awkward, but their reaction was enthusiastic.

“Can one T-shirt really change the atmosphere this much?”

Juhan Hyung, who had been playing a game on his phone, reacted with a slightly exaggerated response that made me chuckle.

“Now, acknowledge the discerning eye of this Baek Yuni, your Lady!”

Noona crossed her arms and lifted her chin, boasting, while Hyung, still sitting on his chair, grimaced.

“Lady Baek Yuni, Yihyun was already pretty even when he was just wearing black jeans and a cheap T-shirt.”

“He was already pretty, but he got even prettier. Admit it, you bastard.”

“Ah, when did I not admit it? I admit it, totally admit it. Baek Yuni is the best.”

Their compliments, where they tossed around the word ‘pretty’ concerning me, felt as awkward as the T-shirt I was wearing, so I distractedly rubbed the back of my neck. I then remembered the old T-shirt still draped on the partition, retrieved it, and put it into my bag along with the shopping bag.

“How tall are you?”

At Noona’s question, I recalled my memory from the military.

“About 181 [cm] when I last measured.”

“Maybe it’s because your face is small and your limbs are long… I thought you were taller.”

Noona scanned me with her eyes from across the table, as if gauging my height.

“That’s perfect, though. He’s not going to be a model, so being taller than that would just make it hard to find clothes and be annoying. 181 that looks 183 to 184. That’s perfect. I’m jealous, man.”

Juhan Hyung, who looked about 5 to 7 centimeters taller than me, said this while rapidly tapping the screen, still engrossed in his game. To me, Hyung looked like a model himself. I had felt that way since I first saw him in the basement storage.

“Great proportions and a good face, just changing one black T-shirt makes him look like a model right away. Yihyun, I bet you’ve heard people ask if you’re an Alpha.”

Noona spoke with almost certainty, but no matter how hard I searched my memory, I had never been mistaken for one. At least, no one had ever said such a thing to my face.

“No, never…”

“Nah, Yihyun is less like an Alpha, and more…”

Juhan Hyung, who lifted his eyes from the screen and looked at me with a slightly subtle, intense, and pressing gaze, was interrupted before he could finish his sentence by a commotion outside the office door.

The front door was locked from the inside, so only those with a pass could enter or exit. Everyone looked at each other with an expression that asked, ‘Who could it be?’

“Hello, babies!”

The person who burst into the office, opening the door after passing through the hall and corridor with a theatrical entrance like a musical actor, was the man from the passenger seat. Seeing his face, Noona and Hyung openly sighed.

It felt less like a genuine gesture of rejection and more like a playful greeting that could occur between comfortable acquaintances.

“My Juhan and Yuni are welcoming me so warmly again. What kind of reaction is that to someone who came to buy you all delicious food?”

Behind the man, who seemed slightly tipsy, followed the Director of Phantom with a displeased expression.

“Director, why did you bring Teacher Inwoo?”

“I didn’t bring him. This bastard insisted on coming, so I had no choice but to be dragged along.”

He pushed the man from the passenger seat aside with a tired expression and entered the office.

“Who dragged who? I came out here because I’d rather buy my babies at Phantom, who are slaving away, a good meal than sit among people with nothing in common, forcing a smile. You were the one who followed me!”

He complained loudly at the Director’s back, who had walked past him, and without giving him a chance to retaliate, he came straight up to me. He bent down slightly, bringing his face close. I could faintly smell wine. It wasn’t strong.

“Yihyun-ssi, have you been well?”

“Yes. Hello.”

The Director was brewing coffee at the machine near the window. His back, with one arm resting on his hip, looked slightly fatigued.

“You said you came to buy us good food, but it looks like you came to see Yihyun.”

Juhan Hyung grumbled, and the man from the passenger seat draped his arm over my shoulder and turned toward Noona and Hyung.

“What does it matter who I came to see? The fact that I’m treating you all today is the same.”

“Then let’s go. Ten minutes is all we need.”

It was Yuni Noona’s crisp answer, checking her wristwatch.