Bad Relationship 113

‘The customer’s phone is turned off and cannot be connected.’

Hearing this announcement from the receiver, Jaehyuk frowned and looked down at his phone screen.

It was already past midnight.

He had finally finished his work and sent a message to Junghyun about returning together, but there was no reply.

Thinking that perhaps Junghyun hadn’t heard the message because it was noisy at the farewell party, he called directly, but again, the call couldn’t connect.

Since Junghyun had said he wasn’t drinking, he wouldn’t be drunk, and even if he did drink, he wasn’t the type to get intoxicated easily.

So, his phone had probably just run out of battery.

He rarely turned his phone off completely these days.

It wasn’t particularly surprising since Junghyun, due to his profession, often didn’t answer calls when busy and frequently returned home in the early morning.

Moreover, he could handle alcohol better than Jaehyuk, so there was probably nothing to worry about.

After organizing his thoughts this way, Jaehyuk next called Junghyun’s secretary who managed his schedule.

Fortunately, this call connected immediately.

“Yes, Director.”

“I’m sorry for calling so late. Did you happen to check Junghyun’s departure time today?”

“Yes. He said he would leave with you today, sir. He instructed me not to wait because you would pick him up after the farewell party.”

That was in line with their morning conversation.

They had agreed to leave together since both expected to be late.

“When was your last call with him?”

“Our last call was at 2 PM, and I received a message at 8 PM.”

The last message exchange between Jaehyuk and Junghyun was at 9 PM, so his phone was still on until then.

At that exact time, the farewell party would have been in full swing, so he might not have noticed his phone turning off.

He wasn’t the type to constantly check his phone anyway.

“I see. Thank you.”

Ignoring the uneasiness that was creeping up around his ankles, Jaehyuk ended the call and immediately looked for Yongwoo’s number.

Again, he pressed the call button right away and waited. The call connected precisely on the second ring.

“Yes, hyung.”

“The farewell party?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m asking if the farewell party is still going on.”

With the suspiciously quiet atmosphere on the other end of the line, Jaehyuk frowned and asked again, only to receive another stupid answer.

“…Farewell party?”

“Junghyun’s farewell party.”

“…His farewell party was held at lunch yesterday.”

At the retort asking why he was suddenly talking about a farewell party now, a moment of silence fell.

And after a very brief moment, Jaehyuk asked again.

“I heard it was tonight?”

“…That can’t be. He resigned yesterday…”

Yongwoo stopped talking midway.

As if he’d just realized that their conversation wasn’t matching up.

And so, a heavy silence lingered for a moment.

In that atmosphere where not even breathing could be heard, Jaehyuk spoke first with a warning tone.

“Seo Yongwoo.”

“…”

“Tell me everything truthfully.”

At Jaehyuk’s threat to confess everything exactly as it was, without omitting anything, the sound of swallowing dry saliva echoed.

“You said the farewell party was held at lunch yesterday?”

“…”

“And his resignation date was also yesterday?”

As Jaehyuk pointed out each detail that Yongwoo had just mentioned, after a long pause, a very small voice was finally heard.

“That crazy Chihuahua bastard…”

It wasn’t directed at Jaehyuk but was a self-mutter.

At that small voice that sighed as if in dismay, coming from far away, Jaehyuk perked up his ears, and Yongwoo stopped speaking as if he’d realized his mistake.

But it was already too late.

“Tell me everything, one by one, truthfully.”

“Well… no, hyung, that’s… no… um, sigh…”

Though he tried to find a way out of the situation, he apparently couldn’t think of an escape route. Like a machine stuck in a buffering loop, Yongwoo kept repeating the same words before finally closing his mouth.

As the heavy silence descended again, Jaehyuk waited for the next words with full concentration.

After a moment, a small sigh was heard.

And soon, Yongwoo’s confession began.

“I know you won’t believe me, but regarding today’s events, I don’t know anything either. All I can tell you now is that his resignation date was yesterday, and he didn’t want a big fuss, so the farewell party was replaced with a lunch gathering yesterday.”

“…And today?”

“Of course, he didn’t come to work.”

“I dropped him off at the company this morning, so where did he go?”

“…If he came to the company, I would have seen him, or at the very least, he would have contacted me to say he stopped by briefly. But honestly, I didn’t see him at all today. There were no messages either.”

The sound of Yongwoo groaning was heard, saying he was honestly a bit anxious.

His admission of anxiety meant that he had somewhat anticipated this situation.

Only then did Jaehyuk begin to understand the nature of the discomfort and anxiety that had been following him like a shadow since this morning.

Clearly, everything had seemed normal.

But there was something different.

That guy’s gaze, and his expression were different from usual.

It was probably…

“Seo Yongwoo…”

Just as Jaehyuk was about to press Yongwoo to speak if he knew anything, there was a knock at the door.

At that sound, with a glimmer of hope, Jaehyuk turned around, and the door opened immediately to reveal a familiar-faced man entering.

It was his secretary.

“What is it?”

With frayed nerves, Jaehyuk addressed him in a somewhat aggressive tone, as if scolding him. The man approached the desk and placed a document envelope on it.

“It just arrived at the security office, sir.”

“…At this hour?”

“Yes.”

“…Who’s the sender?”

“Hwaseung Law Firm.”

As the secretary had said, the “Hwaseung Law Firm” logo was engraved in the upper left corner of the envelope.

The moment he confirmed that mark, a chill ran through the inside of his heart.

He just knew. What this was.

With the strange sensation creeping up from his ankles and now spreading to his heart, Jaehyuk calmly instructed the secretary standing in front of him.

“You may go.”

“Yes, sir.”

Watching the secretary leave the office immediately with a respectful bow, Jaehyuk promptly ended the call.

“Find him.”

“Yes… I’ll ask around…”

Without listening to Yongwoo’s final words, Jaehyuk hung up and silently stared at the document envelope for a while.

If it was from a law firm, he needed to check it.

Hwaseung wasn’t a firm he dealt with, but legal complaints could come from anywhere.

Normally, even in civil cases, complaints would typically come from the court, but in cases requiring prior coordination, law firms might send them for preliminary work.

And this was clearly the latter case.

They weren’t filing a lawsuit right away.

It meant they wanted him to know in advance.

So he needed to open this envelope.

But he didn’t want to.

He already knew what document was inside.

At the vivid sensation that arose, Jaehyuk quickly denied the fact.

No, it couldn’t be.

This was just a suspicion. Perhaps he was thinking negatively because he’d been on edge lately.

There was no reason for things to escalate to such an extreme situation.

Recently, his relationship with Junghyun had been good, and they were more comfortable and happy than ever.

As if by mutual agreement, neither of them had mentioned that issue, and Junghyun seemed satisfied and settled with the current situation.

So, it was fine.

Nothing would happen.

Trying to reassure himself this way, Jaehyuk picked up the envelope. Then he immediately found a letter opener and opened the sealed document.

It’s okay. Nothing will happen.

This is a common blackmail attempt. It’s not like he hadn’t received such documents before, and this kind of thing is common.

So, it won’t be anything serious.

He wanted to believe that.

Until he saw what the document was.

* * *

The dawn of March was dark, cold, and quiet.

In the early morning when even cars were scarce, the home he returned to, speeding for the first time in his life, was empty.

The bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen.

He checked the dressing room with a last hope, but it was the same.

Still hoping against hope, Jaehyuk had rushed in like a madman, panting as he looked around the house, and then laughed dejectedly.

And finally, with a “surely not,” he checked the dressing room one more time, but it remained unchanged.

The clothes, the other luggage.

Nothing was missing, no spaces were empty. If there had been, Jang Sujin would have reported it already.

She was sensitive about such things.

No, come to think of it, there was nothing to disappear.

When Junghyun moved into this house, he had brought only two suitcases.

Even then, most of the clothes he brought in those two suitcases had been disposed of. The clothes in this dressing room were ones that Jaehyuk had bought.

The belongings Junghyun had brought were clothes, a personal laptop, miscellaneous items like his phone and phone charger, a few books, and one photo album.

And all of those things had disappeared one by one from this house over the course of just three months.

He had discarded them cleanly, saying they were no longer needed.

As if they were getting in the way.

Author: Hyacinthus B

Hyacinthus