If You Want Me - Episode 65
<Episode 65>
“Is this really the right place? Are you sure?”
“Without a doubt.”
At Do-gyeom’s question, Secretary Bae solemnly nodded his head.
At the firm answer, Do-gyeom looked beyond the horizon with an absurd expression. The place they were standing now was the sea at Busan Port where seagulls cried.
Whether intentionally or not, Seo-won had disappeared to a place where he wasn’t caught on CCTV, so it took a long time to find his whereabouts.
In the footage they barely caught again by collecting car black boxes, Seo-won was riding a boat. And a very small barrel boat at that.
It was an unstable boat that seemed unlikely for him to board without coercion, but in the photo, Seo-won was boarding it on his own feet without hesitation.
Considering Seo-won’s condition, he was a pregnant fervent omega in an extremely unstable state. So Do-gyeom had told them to check the boat records again, assuming he would have come out of the island for a medical checkup at least, but even after searching several days’ worth, there was no record of him leaving the island. They said a register was left each time people boarded or got off the boat, but Seo-won’s name wasn’t on that register.
They tried to search CCTV footage or records on the island, but it was so remote that they said there was none of that either. To confirm if Seo-won was really there, they had no choice but to go directly.
“Sigh…”
The boat heading to the island where Seo-won was was right in front of his eyes, but he couldn’t muster the courage to board at all.
How was he supposed to ride this? Is it even safe? As he was looking at the boat with anguished eyes, Secretary Bae continued.
“Since it’s such a small island, big boats can’t enter. If not today, it’ll be hard to catch one due to the weather.”
“…”
For the past few days, the weather had been stormy with wind and rain as if trying to hinder Do-gyeom, making it dangerous to ride a small boat.
At least today the sun was out and the waves were calm, so they could enter the island. They said the sea could act temperamental so you never knew what tomorrow would bring, and with a high chance of rain tomorrow, if they were going to go, they had to go today.
While urging Do-gyeom to board right away as if he had to, Secretary Bae added realistic advice.
“There’s an important meeting with N Company tomorrow, so if you’re worried, I’ll go alone to check if Seo-won is there and report back to you.”
“…”
Tomorrow there was an important final meeting to decide on collaboration with N Company.
If I took the boat today and couldn’t make it back tomorrow, how much loss would there be… For a moment, an astronomical figure flashed through his mind, but Do-gyeom tightly shut his eyes and erased the thought.
“Let’s go.”
It wasn’t time to think calculatingly anymore.
More than astronomical economic losses, finding Yoon Seo-won as quickly as possible and having him by his side again was most important.
If it was only to check on his well-being, he could have sent Secretary Bae, but he wasn’t searching for Seo-won solely for that reason, so he had to go himself.
As Do-gyeom lightly boarded the boat, Secretary Bae let out a small sigh and followed onto the boat.
Soon, as he was watching the captain about to start the boat, Secretary Bae, who had been preparing a life jacket, suddenly seemed to remember something, rummaged through his pocket and held something out to Do-gyeom.
“Ah, one moment. Director. Take this.”
“What is it?”
“Motion sickness medicine.”
Looking down, there was a small brown medicine bottle in Secretary Bae’s hand. The shabby label had the words “motion sickness medicine” written on it.
Until now, he had ridden countless cars, boats, and planes. But even throughout that, Do-gyeom had never gotten motion sickness. Even for long distances.
Knowing that, Secretary Bae had never prepared motion sickness medicine for him before… So why was he suddenly doing this today?
Do-gyeom didn’t accept the medicine and let out a hollow laugh.
“I’ve never gotten motion sick even once in my life. Why are you preparing something so tacky?”
“This boat will be different. You should take it.”
Secretary Bae was more adamant than ever. He even added, “I took it too.”
How much motion sickness could there be… Do-gyeom looked at him with doubtful eyes, but the boat seemed to shake a lot even while standing still, so he twisted open the cap of the motion sickness medicine Secretary Bae offered and swallowed it at once.
“There, I took it.”
“That’s a relief for now. Make sure to wear the life jacket too.”
Secretary Bae’s expression softened warmly, and he held out the life jacket he had in his other hand to Do-gyeom.
He had dressed up neatly to meet Yoon Seo-won after a long time, but now he was told to wear a life jacket. The vest looked shabby too and didn’t seem to come in dominant alpha sizes, so he didn’t like it. Since it was the first time seeing him in a while, he had to look good, but he was worried wearing it would wrinkle his clothes and ruin his style.
But somehow… the boat atmosphere seemed unusual. It was a shabby and small boat where it wouldn’t be strange if someone died.
With his thoughts reaching there, Do-gyeom had no choice but to put on the life jacket too. As expected, wearing the life jacket looked terrible. The design was already ugly, but being too small and short made it look ridiculous.
‘…I’ll take it off as soon as I get off the boat.’
Do-gyeom thought that and sat down. And not long after, the captain looked at Do-gyeom and Secretary Bae, the only passengers, and shouted loudly.
“We’re departing! Don’t walk around and stay put while sailing!”
The captain usually had a heavy regional dialect and spoke roughly, but today’s passengers seemed unusual and not ordinary, so he spoke calmly.
Soon, with a loud motor sound of du-du-du-du, the boat slowly started to move. Strong spray rose on the calm sea.
* * *
“Ugh… What kind of boat is this?”
“Are you alright?”
As Do-gyeom got off the boat covering his mouth with a pale complexion, Secretary Bae hurriedly took out a handkerchief.
Do-gyeom accepted the handkerchief with a distorted face and covered his mouth. When boarding the boat at Busan Port, he had been worrying if the weather would be bad tomorrow and he wouldn’t be able to catch the returning boat, if he would even be able to attend the meeting.
But after riding the boat, that wasn’t something to worry about. Forget the meeting, it was a matter of life and death. It shook so much that he was worried he might fall into the sea and drown with how rough the voyage was. If his stomach felt this bad even after taking motion sickness medicine, he couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like if he hadn’t taken what Secretary Bae gave him in advance.
Fortunately, he didn’t end up retching, but if the sailing time had been even a bit longer, he would have made a mess.
As Do-gyeom stood hunched over with a bad complexion, Secretary Bae didn’t know what to do. Even though he had motion sickness himself and had a pale face, he tried to attend to Do-gyeom.
“There’s a bench over there, I think it would be good to sit and settle down for a bit.”
“There’s no time for that. We need to find him quickly.”
Do-gyeom shook his head and forcibly straightened his bent back. His stomach still churned as if he were on the sea, but there was no time for this.
The sky was already starting to darken bit by bit. It wasn’t because it was late, but rather the sky seemed temperamental again, as if it would pour rain at any moment.
He had brought an umbrella for emergencies, but if it rained, the island villagers who were out would also go inside, making it difficult to ask around.
Do-gyeom said that with that thought, but Secretary Bae seemed to understand it differently and shook his head.
“Anyway, there are no boats returning to Busan today. The earliest is tomorrow, so there’s no need to rush.”
“…”
It seemed he had understood Do-gyeom saying there was no time for this as meaning he would find Seo-won and take the boat back today.
Since he hadn’t explained why he was looking for Yoon Seo-won, even though Do-gyeom had instructed him to find Seo-won quickly, Secretary Bae seemed to think it wasn’t urgent.
When it came to work, he was usually quick-witted… Do-gyeom didn’t bother explaining and started walking first. At that, Secretary Bae awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and followed hesitantly.
They left the dock and went deep into the island. As he went inside, Do-gyeom observed the overall atmosphere of the island. It had a generally quiet and peaceful atmosphere. The houses looked so shabby as if an expert couldn’t have built them. It wasn’t much different from the countryside village he had moved to before.
To think he moved to a place like this twice. It was hard to gauge if he liked this secluded and quiet atmosphere, or if he ended up coming to a place like this while trying to avoid Do-gyeom.
As Do-gyeom narrowed his brows and looked around, in what seemed to be the center of the village, elderly men and women were gathered at a pavilion chatting.
“I’ll ask those people.”
Secretary Bae must have seen that too, as he spoke with determination.
When Do-gyeom nodded saying “Okay,” Secretary Bae took the lead and approached them.
The elderly people gathered at the pavilion were talking and laughing amongst themselves, then shifted their gaze to Do-gyeom and Secretary Bae at the appearance of outsiders.
The island villagers already had a deep wariness towards outsiders, and Do-gyeom and Secretary Bae’s physiques were so imposing and their appearances gave off such a solemn atmosphere that it was felt they tensed up even more while looking this way.
As Secretary Bae strode towards the residents, one old man stepped back timidly as if scared and opened his mouth.
“Wh-what is it?”
“Excuse me. Has a young man recently moved into the village? Around a month ago.”
Secretary Bae asked nonchalantly as if not seeing the frightened old man’s face. It was visible that the residents’ wariness deepened at the inquiring question.
Do-gyeom vaguely thought he should have brought a secretary with a gentler appearance instead. Because of Secretary Bae’s rough impression, it seemed they wouldn’t answer, but then an old woman who heard the question widened her eyes as if she knew who they were looking for.
“A young person? Ah. Are you perhaps talking about that young man? What was his name again? Seo, Seo…”
“Young man Seo-won?”
“Ah! Right. I think that was his name?”
As the old woman trailed off, another old woman next to her blurted out Seo-won’s name.
Perhaps because there were so few young people on the island, it narrowed down quickly even with the clue of “a young man who recently came.”
So he really was on this island. He had been worried it might be a wild goose chase, but at the thought of being able to see him soon, Do-gyeom’s heart raced.