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Donghwan laid Taein on the hotel bed and paced around him for quite a while. He kept checking on him whenever he had a moment in case he might have seizures as a side effect, but at this rate it seemed like it would be better to use a neutralizing agent. Donghwan kept watching Taein while making a phone call. He found the most trustworthy guy.
– Yes, hyung-nim. Have you arrived?
“Yeah, where are you right now?”
– I’m downstairs. Should I come up if hyung-nim is upstairs?
“No need to come up, just run an errand for me.”
– Yes, please tell me what to do.
“Uh…”
He hesitated because he didn’t know how to say it. He had never seen an omega who had been drugged, nor had he ever played around with them extensively, so explaining Taein’s condition was already a challenge. Donghwan was quiet for a moment before getting straight to the point.
“There’s a bastard who deals drugs in Dog Alley. Go get a neutralizing agent from that bastard.”
– What?
Donghwan and his entire crew had never touched the drug side of things. There were already big shots positioned in the drug market, and it was too risky to handle that as well. Daejeong, who was Donghwan’s close younger brother, first reacted with “What?” when his hyung-nim suddenly told him to get a neutralizing agent. He had once looked into a synthetic drug factory site and received money for it, but since then he hadn’t even taken such requests. There was no one around who would do drugs either. Daejeong opened his mouth in a hesitant, worried tone.
– Hyung-nim… is something wrong?
“What could be wrong with me?”
Donghwan’s eyes touched Taein, who was deeply wrapped in the bed covers.
“…There is something wrong… but first get that and call me. I’m hanging up.”
He could hear another “What?” from the other end of the phone, but Donghwan ended the call. He was the type who would do something if given orders, so he wouldn’t need to say more. Donghwan put his phone in his pocket and looked up again.
Kang Taein. The customer was still closing his eyes.
He had business in Seoul so he had left Juhang for several days, and it seemed something had happened to the customer during that time. Even from Seoul, Donghwan had thought of Taein several times and called him. It wasn’t any other emotion – he had just promised to lend money but felt sorry that work was delayed, so he called. There was a simple way to just send money, but he wanted to give the loan face-to-face if possible. So he sent only part of it, and the rest was supposed to be handled when he went to Juhang.
What kind of life had he been living?
How had he ended up like this in the few days he was away?
Donghwan, who had been standing at the edge of the bedroom, moved his steps and approached the head of the bed.
The room Donghwan stayed in was the hotel’s largest suite. He didn’t use just one room, so when bringing outsiders to the hotel, he would go to regular rooms. That time too, when he carried the unconscious Taein, he had headed to a guest room, not this room. Today he was also moving on personal schedule, and Taein’s condition looked worse than before, so he had deliberately brought him to the suite where he stayed.
“……”
He had never laid anyone on his bed, so seeing Taein occupying the middle of the spacious bed was just awkward.
Yoon Donghwan kept looking down at Taein with his hands in his pockets.
…Being handsome is definitely advantageous.
It’s easier to remember than dim-witted ugly guys, and they come to mind more often too.
If customer Kang Taein didn’t look like this, wouldn’t he have immediately forgotten him the day he entered the capital building? The next day, when an employee tilted his head saying a work loan would be impossible, he wouldn’t have said the challenging words “Well, should I try?” either. Was he the only one like that? This guy could have lived comfortably if he wanted to live comfortably.
But he couldn’t understand why, with all these good conditions, he was crawling around the bottom of Juhang.
“Mmm… uh… argh…!”
Then, Taein, who had only been groaning quietly, screamed and opened both eyes wide. He already knew his eyes were bloodshot red from seeing them earlier. Since he didn’t have the neutralizing agent in hand yet, there was nothing he could do for the man. Donghwan only picked up a bottle of water from the nightstand.
“Uh… want to try drinking some water?”
“……”
His focus was still blurry as if he wasn’t in his right mind yet. He seemed to be looking at something, but couldn’t properly focus on it. Donghwan waved his hand in front of Taein’s eyes a few times, and seeing that he couldn’t follow at all, made a “tsk” sound. He didn’t know what happened to omegas who were drugged, but it seemed like more time was needed.
“Friend. I’m telling you to drink some water.”
They had somehow become close enough to drop formalities, but he had rarely called him by name. He had only called him stiffly as “Customer Kang Taein” or “Customer Kang Taein.” Or “you” or “that person.”
Even after saying “friend,” Donghwan raised the corner of his mouth awkwardly. He only used such terms when threatening people – it wasn’t a word he normally used.
“Kang Taein.”
“……”
“Customer.”
When he properly called his name and even added “customer,” Taein’s eyes slowly turned toward Donghwan. His eyes showed no doubt, as if his mind still wasn’t clear. Donghwan stopped while opening the water cap and made eye contact with Taein. Though he had turned on the bedside lamp, it wasn’t very bright since it was night. Even so, he could see his pupils shining with a brown tint. It was separate from the bloodshot whites. For a moment he wondered if he had turned on the lights and looked up, but the main lighting was still off. Donghwan cleared his throat and wiped under his nose.
“…Gu Wanjae….”
“……”
In that instant, Donghwan’s expression visibly contorted at those words.
“…Take care….”
“……”
“Take…”
His focus was still absent. He kept talking nonsense as if dreaming with his eyes open. But Donghwan couldn’t simply brush off those words. How could he remain calm after hearing that name?
On the first day, he had stared at him as if he knew him, but he thought he had been mistaken. He had looked at him at the level others would look once, but concluded it was more noticeable because of his handsome face. He hadn’t said anything particularly strange since then either. Donghwan kept frowning in front of Taein, who had closed his eyes.
Gu Wanjae.
It was a name he had forcibly erased.
Five years ago, he had been found in a near-death state in some grass field in Goseong, Gangwon-do, after being hit by a car while doing something. It was a common hit-and-run accident, but the vehicle was a freight truck, and since he had been thrown straight down a low cliff below the road, even large hospitals couldn’t guarantee survival. They said he was barely breathing only because he had the fast-recovering alpha trait.
The period he spent with his eyes closed without any response was three months. No one looked at it positively. That bastard father, pretending to care for him, apparently said several times that if he was in too much pain, they should just let him go, but his lifeline was too tough to grant that. When he opened his eyes after several months, he only saw two nurses in front of him. The world looked black and white and nothing came to mind. He had completely forgotten not only his name and age, but whether he was even human.
The doctor said he could temporarily lose memory, so the method was to frequently see faces with people he knew and close people to recover his memory. But the guy named Gu Wanjae had no one by his side. He had lived like a lone wolf without a single friend, and around him were only cunning bastards trying to please him. What could he find by looking at those guys? Because of this, his school days were completely blown away, and he could barely piece together fragments only about his parents.
It was like letting only that fucking father back into his life.
He wanted to abandon that life.
There was no reason to live as Gu Wanjae who wasn’t even like Gu Wanjae.
It was only after 5 months that Donghwan had to suffer headaches again from suspicious gangsters who finally made contact.
He had roughly planned to do such work, but he couldn’t believe he had actually been with them.
It was quite late to recover memories, so even when a buzz-cut hyung-nim asked “Do you remember this? What about this?” and asked about details, he couldn’t give a single answer.
Smuggled goods, Geoje, Gangwon-do, Seoul, business partners.
Only fragments like that flew around in his head.
The bald hyung-nim also asked about friends. Asking if he wasn’t his friend. Where did that guy go. It seemed like one of the cockroaches swarming around had followed him to his workplace, and thinking it was one of the guys in Seoul only made him feel disgusted. So he just said he would contact him and left it at that. The hyung-nim helped him trace memories like that before asking what use this would be, saying anyway they were doing a complete organizational overhaul so there would hardly be anyone he knew, and finished by saying let’s shake hands and go together anew.
It was some autumn night when the heat hadn’t dissipated.
Abandoning the name was easy.
Becoming a dead person and living a fake life suited his temperament too.
There were already many such men around him. It was a method used when hiding identity while entering from foreign countries or during human trafficking. Rather than using just one name, Donghwan introduced himself with several. Some days Donghwan. Some days Dojin. Some days Sangun. He varied his introductions according to the passport or ID he happened to have in hand at the time. In Juhang they mainly called him Donghwan, and the guys he met in Seoul thought he was Dojin. All the other names were attached in similar ways.
He had never thought about what his real name was.
He would just die like this.
When he died, that would be it.
He just lived earning lots of money.
Still frowning, Donghwan just looked down at Taein.
* * *
Sleep wouldn’t come. Donghwan had only given Taein the neutralizing agent that Daejeong had obtained and stayed far from the bed. Since it was a spacious room, if he didn’t want to see, he could avoid seeing well enough. Throughout his life, there had been many who came forward claiming to know him, but most of them only pretended to know him for a purpose. No one had openly called the name “Gu Wanjae” like Taein did. Had it been about 4 years? Since he hadn’t heard that name.
Donghwan sat on the wide sofa and just stared at the ceiling.
On the table, only a bottle of alcohol and one glass were placed.
In the quiet room where even the sound of dust floating seemed audible, Donghwan suddenly turned his head at a sound he heard.
Taein, who had been quietly sleeping the whole time, had raised his body. He hadn’t left the bed. He had barely raised his upper body and was supporting his weight with his hands. With his head deeply lowered. Donghwan exhaled a “hmm” and got up from his seat. When he walked over and stepped up the two steps, he could properly see Taein. Though he was supporting himself on the bed with his arms, he looked like he would collapse soon.
From his neck to shoulders to wrists, everything was trembling.
Though he had given the neutralizing agent, he had no immunity to aphrodisiacs and had reached the point of losing consciousness. Now he seemed to barely be at the level of being able to see ahead.
“…How are you feeling?”
“……”
There was no response.
“Kang Taein… customer.”
“……”
At those words, Taein slowly raised his head and his eyes focused somewhere on Donghwan’s face. Though there was focus, it was still slightly unfocused. Donghwan scrunched up half his face and tilted his head to the side. Did he get the wrong drug? Even after receiving the neutralizing agent, there seemed to be no effect. Would it need to be morning? Donghwan looked at Taein, whose shoulders drooped like a powerless animal, before approaching the bed closely.
“You should sleep more.”
“My body is itchy…”
“Huh?”
“Itchy…”
Though he didn’t know well, this wasn’t his personality to say such things. Donghwan only stroked his own neck at the gaze looking up at him while saying it was itchy. Since he hadn’t changed clothes separately when coming out of JAM, he had wrapped blankets around his body wearing only underwear. When giving the injection too, he had only taken out his arm. But now that he was in a sitting position, not only his upper body but also his lower body was fully exposed. Donghwan met his eyes before bluntly spitting out words.
“So what… what do you want me to do about it?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
