Context Clues | Completed

Chapter Three | Old Nicknames

Bu Seok

The stadium was comfortably quiet as I walk around the hallways, waiting for Gal Jii to arrive. My phone chirps at me as one of the various group chats I was in alerts me to an update on the Miss Jones/Lee Young-min situation.

I ignore the messages, opting to silence my phone and look at my watch again.

"Bu Seok!" I turn around and see Coach Chang Dong waving at me.

"Coach," I nod, shaking his hand.

"How are you?"

"I've been well. Waiting to have a meeting with Gal Jii. Have you seen him around?"

"He's on his way back from a meeting with the public relations liaison assigned to Kang Il. He should be arriving momentarily."

"Public Relations liaison?"

My eyebrows raise in surprise. Chang Dong shakes his head and shuffles his feet as he lets out a huff.

"Have you seen the story going around about Kang Il harassing two American kids?"

"Nope, but I'm not surprised."

"Well, it's not as bad as it sounds, honestly; well, it's not as bad if you see the whole video and not the excerpt that's been released."

"What do you mean?"

Chang Dong looks around to see if anyone is near before pulling out his phone and opening a video. He presses play and as the video continues on, the laughter builds and builds until I am bent over and sobbing with laughter, my guts hurting as I laugh.

"You can't tell anyone about this, as he doesn't want it released, but the owners sent it to me as a 'thank you' for dealing with him," Chang Dong wipes at his eyes. "I laugh every time I watch it. Which is often."

"Wow... that's amazing." I wipe at my own tears, "I won't say a thing; I swear."

"Bu Seok!" I turn and see Gal Jii walking towards us, "Sorry for my tardiness, the meeting took a little longer than expected due to—"

Gal Jii reflects on his meeting and lets out a cough, "Apparently Kang Il knows the liaison and asked for a moment alone to speak with her."

"Her?" Chang Dong asks. "He knows a woman? And she—"

"I'm not sure of their relationship, but he was bothered enough by her appearance to use the word, 'please' to ask me to leave."

Chang Dong merely blinks in response to Gal Jii's update.

"I snuck a photo of the two of them when I was leaving."

Gal Jii shows us a photo of the couple sitting on opposite sides of a table, looking at a calendar. Kang Il's grumpy face is tilted to look at the woman across from him and while he still wore a scowl, he stares at her with almost a sense of...longing.

Wow, I should use this in my next screenplay...

"She's gorgeous," Chang Dong says, staring at the woman.

And she really was.

The public relations liaison was only caught in the photo from her profile only. She had a pale, heart-shaped face, full lips, and a honey-colored eyes. Her hair was tied away from her face showing off her slender neck and thin frame. While Kang Il watches her in the photo, she seems to ignore him.

Despite the photo not giving us any more clues to their relationship, the tension in the photo is palpable.

"Does this mystery woman have a name?"