Getting into the car after leaving the restaurant, Seong-ho said,

"Sorry for calling you out on your day off."

Byeong-jin Jo, his face tired, glanced back at Seong-ho as he climbed into the passenger seat and nodded.

"Yeah, so when I get married, you'd better stuff a fat envelope in the gift box."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of your wedding."

Seong-ho said it with a smile at Byeong-jin.

"I already told Gyeong-eun. To clear the entire Ilhyeon Hotel wedding hall for when you get married."

"The whole hall? Why?"

"If there are other ceremonies right before and after yours, it's a nuisance — and who knows? Maybe it rains during the outdoor ceremony and you end up needing the indoor hall."

"So you're saying the hotel won't do any wedding business that day?"

"Yeah. On your wedding day, it'll run your wedding and yours alone."

Byeong-jin's face took on a burdened look. It was already almost too much to be grateful for — having his wedding at a hotel, and the finest in the country at that — and now Seong-ho was saying he'd clear the slots before and after, indoor and outdoor both, and run nothing but his wedding. It sat on him as a bit of a weight.

Seong-ho saw Byeong-jin's expression and caught what he was thinking.

"It's your wedding, of all people's — isn't it? You help me out like this, so I ought to pay you back to match."

"No, still… isn't it a bit much?"

"Much, nothing."

Seong-ho shook his head, his expression firm.

"I could do even more for you."

"Honestly…"

Byeong-jin was both grateful and sorry that Seong-ho would go that far for him. Coming out on a weekend wasn't something he did for free — he was drawing overtime for it — and it struck him that the reward for it was far too large.

But Seong-ho's thinking was different.

On the day I died, you were at my side — for you, I could do more than this.

The two friends who'd stayed with him to the very end,…