# Chapter 31
The first location where the filming team secured permission to shoot was a small town near the southern coast. It seemed that unless you were a local, people rarely visited the area as the transportation was quite inconvenient and there wasn’t much to see.
Most of the buildings were old and the place was remote, giving it distinctly different feelings before and after sunset. After the sun went down, it had quite an atmospheric mood. The residents said they had received filming requests for movies and dramas several times before. As long as the crew wasn’t too noisy, the locals didn’t pay much attention to the filming team since they had nothing to lose.
Perhaps because of these circumstances, there were almost no people passing by the public restroom. The facilities were also quite deteriorated.
The yellow lighting cast an unstable glow on Seowoo. If it created an atmosphere that discouraged people from entering, that was actually a good thing.
After entering a stall and locking the door, Seowoo carefully took out his mobile phone and immediately noticed one unread message that caught his attention.
Jung Woojae:
Hyung, can you talk on the phone?
I’m here for the briefing
Call me as soon as you finish work~
Not including the main point in their messages was something they had mutually agreed upon recently while discussing Dohyun.
Dohyun was always sticking close to Seowoo. How easy would it be for someone who freely snatches Seowoo’s phone to glance at messages? It made sense to exchange only minimal information via text so that even if Dohyun happened to discover it, he would think it was nothing important.
Seowoo checked his surroundings once more before pressing the call button. After a short dial tone, Woojae’s voice came through.
— “Hyung, that was really quick. Aren’t you in the middle of filming?”
“I stepped away for a moment after getting your message. You said it would be brief. It’s about Prosecutor Baek, right? How did it go? Any progress?”
Prosecutor Baek. The protagonist of the story Woojae had excitedly told over the phone earlier.
The rumor about ‘a lone prosecutor pursuing CEO Seo’ that Seowoo had dismissed as gossip turned out not to be unfounded after all. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Baek Hyungil, a prosecutor from the Special Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. He apparently had some trouble with Seo Dohyun quite a while ago, and this became the spark that led Hyungil to become obsessed with taking Dohyun down.
However, in a situation without proper support, Hyungil couldn’t possibly exert any power against Dohyun, who was backed by force and capital. He had failed time and time again, and eventually, Hyungil’s very existence had turned into a mere rumor over the past 7 years.
— “Totally got some progress. As soon as Prosecutor Baek heard about you, he wanted to meet as soon as possible.”
“With me?”
— “Yeah. I don’t know the details about you, right? I just briefly shared what you told me, but it seems that was like an oasis in the desert for the prosecutor.”
Indeed, from what Seowoo had heard, Hyungil was desperate to catch Dohyun. Any testimony, any help would be important to him.
— “He wants to meet as soon as possible, even if it’s a bit of a stretch. He says he wants to hear your story directly and has something to tell you.”
“He’s that urgent?”
Is there a need to be so hasty? After all, the cohabitation contract had no time limit, and once Seowoo’s agency transfer was decided, it couldn’t be reversed.
Wouldn’t it be safer to wait and see, then set up an appointment when Dohyun’s guard was down? Woojae must have sensed Seowoo’s doubt in his voice, as he let out a short exclamation.
— “You know CEO Seo Dohyun’s personality better than I do. He seemed quite perceptive and quick-witted.”
“When it comes to plotting, nobody can match him.”
It was quite worrying not knowing how and where he might scheme next, so Woojae’s expression was very apt.
— “That’s why no one knows what else he might find out, or how he might prevent it. They say winning means acting as quickly as possible.”
“Because he’s so quick-witted, I’m all the more worried. If we move clumsily, I’m afraid we might get caught.”
— “You want to wait and see?”
The truth was, Seowoo did need more time to think. Recently, while living under the same roof, hadn’t he come to realize that Seo Dohyun was human in some ways too? Wasn’t there a method other than dragging him down by the ankles like this?
Apart from such sentimental aspects, it was also true that if they moved clumsily and got caught once, it would be dangerous. Dohyun treated human lives like flies. What cold response would he show if he found out Seowoo was trying to stab him in the back?
When Seowoo let out a short groan of affirmation, Woojae laughed lightly.
— “Well, you have an agreement, even if it’s just for show. But Prosecutor Baek and Seo Dohyun have a deep grudge, a real grudge. It’s a situation where you have to pull the trigger before getting shot to win.”
“A grudge…”
— “Wouldn’t it be better for you to bite before getting bitten?”
How terribly entangled must they be for him to be grinding his teeth like this? Well, considering Dohyun’s behavior, it wasn’t surprising that he would make enemies wherever he went.
“As soon as possible, when should we meet?”
— “Ah, you need to create a date for that.”
“…Create a date?”
What does that mean? As if understanding Seowoo’s puzzled reaction, Woojae explained step by step.
— “Prosecutor Baek can make time if needed, but you’re the important one. While you’re meeting with Prosecutor Baek, we can’t have Seo Dohyun sensing something strange. We need a day when CEO Seo is busy, and you’re the only one who can know that.”
“Ah…”
It sounded easy enough when just talking about it, and it seemed like there should be at least one such day…
Ironically, Dohyun had been busy these days, sticking to Seowoo’s schedule to a ridiculous degree. With Manager Gu in tow.
Dohyun didn’t have just one celebrity to take care of, and from what Seowoo had heard, he had businesses spread out here and there, not just entertainment. Yet Dohyun followed Seowoo everywhere as if he were his top priority.
“…That guy hasn’t been giving me much space lately.”
Not just ‘not giving space’—he was marking Seowoo so closely that it could potentially turn any plan to bubbles.
But Seowoo didn’t want to tell Woojae that the plan might be impossible from the start. No, even if it wasn’t possible, he had to make it possible. If he tried to find and widen a gap, even if it required some extra effort, something would come of it.
“I’ll try. I can’t give up without even trying.”
Just as Hyungil was trying to use Seowoo somehow, Seowoo also saw Hyungil as his only lifeline. If Hyungil had been clashing with Dohyun for a long time, he would know more than Seowoo, at the very least.
— “I’ll give you the number, hyung. But be careful when saving it, just in case.”
“Why be careful about saving it?”
— “Didn’t you say Seo Dohyun has a history of cracking phone passwords? You never know when or how you might get caught, and it would be problematic if you saved it obviously as ‘Prosecutor Baek Hyungil’.”
True, Baek Hyungil wasn’t exactly a common name. That concern was easy to understand.
“It seems dangerous to save it under his name anyway.”
— “How about saving it with an emoticon or a nickname?”
“…You want me to give a nickname to someone I haven’t even met yet?”
— “If you get caught, you can pretend it’s a lover.”
Seo Dohyun would clearly know that Seowoo doesn’t have a lover, so would such a trick really work? He had doubts but didn’t raise them. There was no other suitable method anyway.
Seowoo successfully saved the twelve-digit number Woojae gave him. Since he decided not to use a name, he entered any eye-catching emoticon. It was an adorably cute puppy emoticon.
A heart seemed too much like a lover, and he couldn’t think of any nickname. It was a middle ground, but Woojae laughed when he heard this.
— “It just looks like someone hiding a secret relationship.”
“…Really?”
Well, that’s fine then. Just as Seowoo was about to brush it off and end the call, he heard the sound of a metal door opening and closing not too far away.
“…?”
He hadn’t misheard. It definitely seemed like someone had just opened the restroom door and entered. Seowoo’s voice, which had been continuing in a casual tone, unconsciously stopped abruptly.
— “…Hyung? Hyung?”
“I’ll hang up.”
Seowoo whispered very quietly. From the other end of the line, he could hear a voice calling his name, but there was no time to respond.
After ending the call and listening carefully outside, it seemed Seowoo hadn’t misheard, as heavy footsteps could be clearly heard with each step. The sound was definitely coming from right in front of the door.
Who is it? Did someone just come in to use the restroom? I heard hardly anyone comes here, but someone had to enter right now? It was timing too incredible to be just a coincidence.
Maybe Dohyun was deliberately following Seowoo, or had come looking for him. Fortunately, whoever it was had entered just as the call was ending, so they probably hadn’t heard much of the conversation, but it was natural for the situation to look suspicious.
“…”
While Seowoo held his breath for a moment, the footsteps that had been pacing outside suddenly stopped. A quiet stillness settled, making even the sound of breathing seem unusually loud as everywhere became quiet.
At the same time, the door in front of him rattled forcefully three or four times.
“…Huk.”
He couldn’t completely suppress the involuntary cry that escaped. Seeing the locked door being shaken as if it would be flung open at any moment, Seowoo stepped back hesitantly toward the inside.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
