Episode 134
A black car entered a dark, narrow road. He leisurely entered the passcode to open the iron gate. After parking the car in front of the entrance, he looked around and put on a baseball cap.
He entered the house with familiarity. After surveying the brightly lit interior, he soon confirmed that no one was there.
Coming out to the yard and looking around, his eyes caught sight of bright yellow street lamps. All the street lamps leading into the depths of the forest were lit.
Not only was the forest vast, but there were also several newly made trails branching out, causing him to get a bit lost. He felt somewhat angry. The layout had changed without his knowledge.
Just then, he discovered a strange building in the forest.
It was a small house made of transparent glass. Looking at it with meaningful eyes, he carefully took a step.
There was someone inside the glass house. About a dozen bottles of alcohol were set up on the table right next to it, and seeing the person lying motionless on the bed, they seemed to be asleep.
As he approached the glass house, the interior scene came into view one by one. All the bottles were empty, and the man on the bed seemed to have passed out completely drunk. When he turned the handle, it opened right away.
Entering the glass house, he carefully scanned the surroundings. After checking the shower room, small kitchen, mini-fridge, the bed where the man was lying, the table, and the bottles, he walked towards the bed and stood in front of the sleeping man.
The man with closed eyes had half his face buried in the pillow. His cheeks, flushed from alcohol, were plump, and his slightly parted lips glistened. The skin below his heated cheeks was as clean as porcelain. It was an intriguing face.
“So this is Baby.”
Jeff smiled brightly as he took out the cable ties and handkerchief he had prepared in advance.
As he brought his face closer, a pleasant scent tickled his nose. The man smelled of the same shampoo scent he had noticed when passing the shower room.
Jeff, more intoxicated by the fresh shampoo scent than the sweet wine, suddenly felt he understood why Mitchell liked this man. It was an unfamiliar feeling.
“No wonder Mitchell is so enchanted if this thing is clinging to him.”
Quietly muttering, he quickly checked beyond the glass wall and then hummed a tune. Then he immediately planted his fist right in the center of the man’s face.
Thwack!
Whether it was hit wrong or not, his nose started bleeding immediately. It was such a fierce punch that even Jeff’s hand hurt.
The beating continued without giving the man a chance to scream. By slightly turning his face so he couldn’t see him and concentrating the blows, his lip split, his eye area turned blue, and his cheek swelled severely. The violence only stopped after his face became a miserable sight covered in blood from his nose.
“This is better.”
Looking down at the man who was almost unconscious from pain, he laughed loudly as if finally satisfied. Jeff blindfolded the man with a handkerchief and then tied his hands with cable ties. Although his eyelids were so swollen that he couldn’t see properly anyway, he still made sure to secure him thoroughly.
“You’re Mitchell’s… Baby, right? Geon-woo Bae. Did you enjoy sticking to Mitchell? How dare a lowlife like you try to covet someone.”
Jeff slapped the face of the man, whether he was ‘Baby’ or ‘Geon-woo’ or a ‘lowlife’, who was gaping like a goldfish.
“Shut your mouth, you bastard. Mitchell doesn’t have any lingering attachment to people who’ve left him anyway. As of today, you’ve left Mitchell. Let’s say you left because you got bored. Got it? I’ll let you go, so nicely… Ah, no. You can’t go nicely. I’ve been through a lot, you know. Actually, I have a tender heart too.”
Jeff, who let out a bizarre laugh like scraping metal, climbed onto the bed. There was no one who would come here. He would be the only outsider who knew the passcode for the iron gate.
“Baby.”
Jeff grabbed the collar of ‘Baby’, who was covered in blood as his nosebleed wouldn’t stop. Then Baby, who had been groaning without being able to move, weakly flailed his tied hands in resistance. But Jeff brushed off his hands and laughed again.
“Leave Mitchell to me, and let’s play together.”
***
Jeff returned to Mitchell’s bedroom and placed a note on the bed.
[Mitchell, I’m tired of you now. Live well.
-Geon-woo-]
He scribbled the writing roughly as if someone had left in a hurry, and it looked convincing.
Afterwards, he went to the dressing room and messed it up thoroughly. He also packed several expensive clothes and watches into a large bag. He made it look like someone had stolen items and ran away.
He immediately went outside and got into the car.
“Geon-woo.”
Jeff turned to look at ‘Geon-woo’, who was tied up in the back seat, and struck his cheek hard. The scab that had just dried on his lip burst open again. He struck again the area that had swollen so much he could barely speak.
From there, he left the mansion and headed to a garage workshop. It was a friend’s workshop that had been closed for nearly a year. He had contacted them in advance and received the key.
“There’s a bastard in the back seat. Throw him in a room.”
At Jeff’s command, the blonde guarding the warehouse moved quickly. The blonde took the ‘bastard’, who could barely walk, to a corner room. The blonde’s hands were shaking as much as the bastard’s.
“Ah, how annoying with all this blood.”
Meanwhile, Jeff went to the sink and washed his clothes, which were dirty with blood. Even though it was a black outfit, the blood stains were surprisingly visible, irritating him. It seems he wore expensive clothes for nothing.
Just then, Jeff heard groaning sounds. He had forgotten about the object of his anger. Jeff entered the room and looked down at the trembling bastard. With his bad mood, it seemed he needed to taste some more punches.
***
Around midday, Jeff, who had been quietly looking down at his phone, made a call somewhere. After it went unanswered for a while, a voice came through with noisy background sounds.
– Wait a moment. I’m loading luggage.
Mitchell had returned from Miami in a day. Originally, Geon-woo should have gone to see Mitchell in Miami, but Geon-woo was now unconscious, collapsed in the warehouse.
Geon-woo’s phone had been off all along, so he couldn’t be contacted. Mitchell naturally had to come to LA.
Sure enough, when he called, Mitchell said he had just arrived at LA airport. In a little while, he would arrive home and find out that Geon-woo had disappeared. No, he might already be sensing something. Since he couldn’t contact Geon-woo.
Jeff, sitting in a chair, kicked the mattress at his feet. Mitchell’s Baby was lying face down on it, as if dead.
He had been beaten so much that new scabs formed over the old ones on his face. His nose was broken, and one ear was torn. His buttocks, which had been beaten the most after his face, were bruised and red.
Geon-woo, Mitchell’s Baby, the rotten bastard, had completely broken down in front of Jeff. He had been ruined to the point where he could never approach Mitchell again. Jeff placed his shoe on the back of his creation and ground it as if putting out a cigarette.
– Yeah. What is it?
Jeff, coming to his senses at Mitchell’s voice, listened to the sound of a car starting through the phone. It seemed he was about to leave.
“Why are you back so soon? Weren’t you having a birthday party at the villa?”
Jeff couldn’t hide his smile at the thought that the moment for Mitchell to face reality was not far off. He continued the conversation, trying to sound nonchalant while holding his chin.
– The dates got mixed up with the contractor.
“Contractor?”
– By the way, didn’t I tell you not to contact me?
Perhaps because it was buried in the noisy background, Mitchell’s voice telling him not to contact him didn’t sound very serious.
“Well, that’s cold. I came to LA after such a long time, you know. Back then, you were too busy, so it couldn’t be helped. I was hoping to have one last meal at your place today. Really the last time. If I leave this time, I’m never coming back to LA.”
– Hang up for now. I’m driving.
The call was abruptly cut off. Jeff glared at the phone. Mitchell should be anxious since he couldn’t contact Geon-woo, but for some reason, he seemed relaxed. Did he not know about Geon-woo’s absence yet?
Jeff quickly got into the white Ferrari parked in front of the warehouse. Mitchell hadn’t definitively refused his coming to the house.
It takes about 30-40 minutes from the airport to Mitchell’s house, so he needed to leave right now to roughly match the timing. He had to arrive at the house before Mitchell. It didn’t matter if it was close. It was okay to meet in front, but they absolutely had to enter the house together.
That way, he could witness Mitchell’s despair!
The message left on the bed and the dressing room messed up as if a thief had been there.
His current goal was to see that scene together with Mitchell. He planned to vividly watch how Mitchell would break down.
Jeff’s heart pounded at the thought of clearly showing Mitchell that someone like him doesn’t have anyone to love. In the end, only he would remain by Mitchell’s side.
‘I need to hurry.’
Judging by the distance, it seemed he would arrive at a similar time or slightly before Mitchell. He pushed the Ferrari to its maximum speed for the first time in a long while.
