Jae-young, who had been staring blankly at Seung-kwon’s back, quickly strode forward. He grabbed his arm and blocked his path.
“Hey, you lunatic!”
His face was distorted mercilessly. Seung-kwon’s cold gaze fell upon Jae-young.
“You told me to seduce him, so I did, and I’m sticking with him to do the job! But what? What’s wrong with your head?”
“…”
“Homo… Ha, I’m really speechless. Should I be ecstatic in that situation, or should I be wailing and pounding the ground?”
After venting his anger, his breathing became rough. Jae-young ran his hands through his hair, exhaling a long breath that made his cheeks puff out.
“I’m doing well, aren’t I? When did I ever project my emotions? Can’t you distinguish between acting and reality anymore? What’s wrong with you these days? Why do you keep doing things you never did before? Why do you come into my house and sleep without permission, and…”
“…”
“…Why the hell do you hold me while sleeping, you crazy bastard? If you don’t want to be misunderstood, behave properly yourself.”
Standing in place, Jae-young panted and shoved Seung-kwon’s shoulder hard. Simultaneously, the camera fell with a thud, making a heavier sound than expected.
He flinched around his eyes as he looked down at the broken camera. Without realizing it, he glanced at Seung-kwon’s face. The eyes that had been clouded with anger until just moments ago were now blankly subdued. He seemed not to have noticed that the camera had fallen from his hand.
Is this my fault? If I had held it properly, this wouldn’t have happened. He shot a glance at him, so briefly that counting the time would have been meaningless.
It was frustrating. Who was acting like they were dying of love? Not being able to distinguish between acting and reality. He must have lost his touch.
He strode forward and hastily shoved his feet into his shoes. Just as he was about to leave, Seung-kwon grabbed Jae-young’s hand.
“What are you doing?”
Seung-kwon dragged Jae-young into the walk-in closet in the bedroom. Even when Jae-young tried to shake off his hand, Seung-kwon didn’t budge.
“Hey!”
Without a word of response, Seung-kwon took a cap from the cabinet and put it on Jae-young’s head.
“Don’t come here for a while.”
“What?”
“Those guys confirmed that you were leaving this neighborhood. I took care of the CCTV inside the apartment. They’ll probably keep hanging around here until we catch Hayashi Ren.”
“…”
“So.”
Seung-kwon infused emotion into his previously calm voice. Irritation was haphazardly soaked into it.
“From now on, don’t go around showing your face without permission. If an unavoidable situation comes up, tell me right away. If you keep acting on your own, I won’t let you on the field.”
“…”
“Look around carefully and leave cautiously.”
Silently, he bit the inside of his lip. He was furious. After taking a long breath and exhaling loudly, Jae-young finally shook off Seung-kwon’s hand.
“You’re the one who shouldn’t come.”
He was sorry. But he was too angry and felt too wronged to easily say those words. As someone who lived by his pride alone, the words wouldn’t leave his mouth.
Jae-young hurriedly left the walk-in closet. His gaze, directed toward the shoe rack, caught the camera lying miserably on the floor.
He put on his shoes and opened the front door. His feet, which had been stepping firmly on the ground, suddenly stopped in place. He felt drained. There was no way to describe this feeling except with the word “annoyed.”
Jae-young sat huddled in front of Sa Gong-hyun’s gate. His sullen face showed no signs of brightening. His mood had plummeted drastically after meeting with Seung-kwon.
The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. It wasn’t even funny anymore. Here I am sitting like this because of him, and he’s the one who ordered me to do this, yet he’s the one who’s confused? Is he crazy? Even after thoroughly badmouthing Seung-kwon, his mood didn’t improve at all.
Just wait and see. Once he found the ledger, he would dump him spectacularly. He intended to completely uproot that absurd misunderstanding.
He should have asked exactly why Sa Gong-hyun had done that to that man, and what had happened to him since, but with things turning out like this, he couldn’t even make a phone call right now.
Was he dead? Bleeding that much, he must be dead, right? The more I think about it, the reason seems to be because of me…
Even if Sa Gong-hyun was the craziest of the crazy, would he really have killed someone? Given his social position, he probably just beat him to within an inch of his life?
No, no. A guy who secretly sells drugs is capable of anything. He may look normal on the outside, but inside he’s nothing but a thug.
Judging by the many scars on his body, he’s probably casually killed one or two people. A guy who keeps a gun in his bedroom…
Jae-young took a deep breath and forcibly smoothed his distorted face.
He was worried that if he kept this up, he might end up like that too. If there was a number one goal in his life, it was to make a lot of money and live a long life.
Jae-young anxiously shook his leg, which was propped up on the stairs. He had chosen the wrong target for this job. He couldn’t shake off that thought.
Somehow, I wondered why he was offering five million dollars. His feelings were as miserable as a livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse tomorrow. Jae-young heaved a deep sigh.
“I’m going crazy…”
He muttered with his head deeply bowed. He wanted to tear at his hair but restrained himself for fear of messing it up.
He took deep breaths to calm himself down. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly. Once… twice…
Feeling his mind settle a bit, he opened his closed eyes. Right, I just need to avoid being caught until the end. Let’s be really careful now. He comforted himself with hopeful words.
Hoo, ha, hoo, ha. Eventually, Jae-young took deep breaths while fidgeting nervously and scanned his surroundings. By now the sun had set, and streetlights illuminated the way instead. He tilted his head to the side and leaned against the wall.
It seemed quite late, but there was no sign of Sa Gong-hyun. His mood was already damp, and having rushed out, his phone was now dead, so he couldn’t even track Sa Gong-hyun’s location.
It was just as Jae-young was pouting his lips in dissatisfaction. Tok, tuduk. Something lightly struck his head. Rain.
“Ah, shit… Nothing’s going right.”
His expression twisted irritably. He looked up at the sky and stood up. It wasn’t raining heavily yet, but it was ambiguous whether to continue standing here.
Jae-young looked around while covering his head with his hands. He felt like Sa Gong-hyun would arrive soon, so he was reluctant to give up and leave, but the raindrops were falling steadily enough to be annoying.
After peeking at the roadside, Jae-young sat back down.
“Does your father stay out overnight often?”
He suddenly spoke while leaning his head against the gate. If someone passed by, they might mistakenly think he was crazy, but unfortunately, Jae-young wasn’t talking to himself.
Woof!
Ver barked once from beyond the gate.
“How often does he do it? Does he feed you properly?”
Woof, woof!
Until just a moment ago, the sound of trampling grass had been continuously heard, but this time the gate rattled once. It seemed like an excited Ver was putting his front paws on the gate.
“…What’s wrong with this dog.”
Startled, Jae-young lifted his bottom from the stone steps. With a perplexed face, he scanned his surroundings and brought his face close to the gate.
He was more concerned about Ver’s excited state beyond the gate than the dewy raindrops settling thickly on his head.
“Ver, are you sick somewhere…? Is it because of the rain? Hey, this will stop soon. If you’re scared, just go inside.”
After moving around in confusion, he carefully spoke to soothe Ver. Clunk. It seemed like Ver had gone completely crazy. The thick gate rumbled heavily once more.
“…”
Jae-young, silent in place, slowly moved to the corner. He sat with his legs bent in that corner between the wall and the gate.
If the wall were lower, he could climb over and go in…
Although there were protruding parts here and there on the wall, they were designed merely for aesthetics and were woefully inadequate for stepping on. The wall was also intimidatingly high.
Jae-young hugged his raised knees with both arms. Due to his wet clothes, his body began to shiver. To make matters worse, the wind started to blow.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
