Pursuit of Happiness (Sequel to Pursuit of Fate)

Chapter Four

"Kyung Ju!" Seon Hyuk, the boss of 'G' Repair, shouted. He looked at the car and shook his head.

Kyung Ju scurried over, bowed at him and asked, "yes boss?"

"Didn't I told you to change the tires yesterday?" Kyung Ju nodded and asked if there was any problem. Seon Hyuk looked away before turning back to him and hit him on the head with his knuckle.

"Any problem? Can't you see for yourself? Why are the tires out of air?" Seon Hyuk yelled.

Kyung Ju turned to his left and saw that the tires were all flat. "Seon-nim, I told Hee Gun to change it. He must have forgotten." He replied in a flustered manner and gestured Hee Gun over.

Hee Gun dropped what he was doing and went over. He glanced at the car and took a look at the tires. "Boss, I did changed it last night. They were totally firm when I left." he explained. He was feeling puzzled about it. He was sure that there was enough air in the tires when he left. He even conducted checks to make sure that the air wasn't leaking out.

"How can you ask a newcomer to take over your task? Should I make him take over your job and fire you?" Seon Hyuk was fuming mad. The car has to be ready by 10.30am for the owner to inspect and collect however, they were only left with five minutes to fix it.

"No boss! I'm sorry! I'll change them now!" Kyung Ju apologized and took the tools needed.

"Do it quickly and Hee Gun, return to what you were doing." the boss said and went to stand behind the car to supervise Kyung Ju.

"Yes boss." Hee Gun replied. While Kyung Ju was on his way to retrieve the wrench from the tool box, he bumped his shoulder against Hee Gun's. "I'll settle this with you later." he muttered and glared at him with angry eyes. Hee Gun calmly stared back. Kyung Ju moved away when the boss started shouting and hurrying him.

"Hyung, why didn't you do as told? Kyung Ju hyung isn't someone to be trifiled with." Soo Jin, the youngest employee and also the only person who treated Hee Gun as his friend, whispered to him.

"I changed it." Hee Gun threw the bolts into the container and replied. He knew he did and as for what happened overnight, he didn't have a clue.

***

"You sure know how to curry favour with the boss." Kyung Ju walked up to Hee Gun and said. Hee Gun shut the tool box and turned around to face him. "I'm not trying to impress the boss or any of sorts." he calmly replied.

Kyung Ju rolled up his sleeves to his shoulders and exposed his muscular arms. He took a step forward and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt. Seeing that a fight between the both of them was about to break out, Soo Jin and the other workers hurriedly went over and tried to stop Kyung Ju.

"This is between me and him. Whoever dare to interfere, don't blame me if this lands on you." he clenched his fist and warned them. Frightened, they stepped back slowly and whispered among themselves. "Should we call boss?" one of them asked. Soo Jin shook his head. "We will be equally dead if we tell boss."

They watched on as Kyung Ju dragged him to the middle of the garage and pushed him to the ground. Hee Gun got up and stared at him. "I'm here to work, not to fight."

Kyung Ju scoffed at his words. "You caused me to look bad in front of boss. Did you do it on purpose because you were unhappy with doing some extra jobs?" he strode closer to him and placed his hand just below his collarbone, and pushed him backwards.

"Believe it or not, I did changed the tires." Hee Gun had been repeating the same thing to everyone the entire day. He felt wronged to be accused of messing things up to make Kyung Ju look bad and with him trying to provoke him every second, Hee Gun was trying his best to control himself from retaliating.

"You'll obviously say that to get yourself out of trouble so that I'll be the only one on the receiving end." he argued.

Hee Gun looked away for a brief moment before turning back to him. "You shouldn't ask others to take over your task in the first place." he said it right to his face.

Kyung Ju's eyes widened. He clenched his fists even tighter and swung one towards him. Hee Gun managed to grabbed ahold of his flying fist, wrapping his fingers around it and tried to resist his strength. Kyung Ju lifted up his other arm and attempted to hit him. Without much thought, Hee Gun swiftly kicked him in his stomach sending him falling back down on the ground.

"I told you I'm not here to fight but you forced me to." Hee Gun shouted. "Let me repeat this one last time I did what you told me to do." he stared at him for a second before turning to walk back to his work area to pack his stuff.

Halfway through, Hee Gun heard someone shouting for him to turn behind. A wrench struck him on his forehead, the minute he turned around. He staggered backwards while pressing his hand against his bleeding forehead. Kyung Ju threw a punch at his face, bruising the side of his lips.

Seeing what was unfolding in front of them, the other workers quickly rushed over and held on to Kyung Ju and stop him from causing any more injuries. Soo Jin supported Hee Gun up from the ground and led him out of the garage. They sat down at the back alley. Soo Jin passed him a cloth that he took on his way out to stop the bleeding.

"I told you he isn't a person you should trifled with. Just admit it if you really forgot to change."

Hee Gun looked down with a defeated look on his face. "Not you too.." he shook his head and sighed. Turning to his left, he thought he saw someone watching them from behind the spiral staircase.

"I mean I believe you but.. It's Kyung Ju hyung and I can't-"

"If you're afraid you will offend him then you don't have to be here." Hee Gun told him. His eyes still fixed at the direction where the spiral staircase is.
"Hyung, I'm not that kind of a person. I won't leave you in the lurch." Soo Jin replied.

Hee Gun stood up all of a sudden and threw the cloth on the ground. "Where are you going?" Soo Jin blinked at him a few times and asked.

"I need to check out something. Thanks anyway." Hee Gun said in such a fast speed that Soo Jin was confused with what was happening.

Seeing Hee Gun approach, the mysterious man quickly walked away and lifted up the hood of his sweater to cover his head. Realising that he was getting closer, he started running. Hee Gun chased after him with blood still trickling down his forehead. They ran down a dark road, turned at a corner and stumbled into a dead end. Both of them were panting. Hee Gun stood some distance away from him and stared at his back view.

"Hyung, what are you doing here?" he asked in between heavy breathing.