Chapter 3: The Honeybee is Actually a Hornet
The hotel was grand. The interior was comfortable, and the ceiling and floor gleamed. Seonwook suppressed the urge to skateboard wildly across the spacious, smooth lobby and instead tucked his board under his arm, heading to the front desk.
“Welcome.”
“I’m here on an errand for Director Hwang.”
As Seonwook held up the envelope in his hand, the staff immediately picked up the phone.
“Please wait a moment.”
While the staff turned slightly away and spoke in a low, inaudible voice, Seonwook fidgeted and looked around. Everything was the polar opposite of Deokman’s inn.
“I’ll escort you.”
The staff led Seonwook to the elevator. When the staff pressed the button for the 27th floor, Seonwook’s eyes widened slightly.
Is he taking me to a room? Not a café or something inside the hotel?
So he’s showing his true colors again? He must have fallen for my nipples.
Seonwook bit his lip to stifle the laughter bubbling up as the elevator ascended. His whole body itched with excitement.
When they reached the 27th floor, the staff walked down a long hallway lined with rooms on either side.
How far are we going? It’s quite a walk.
I could just skateboard here. But what would that guy say?
Seonwook restrained himself from pulling out his skateboard again.
The staff stopped in front of room 2730, rang the bell, waited a moment, then swiped a card under the doorknob and carefully opened the door.
“You may enter.”
The staff handed the doorknob to Seonwook, bowed slightly, and walked back the way they came.
Seonwook stood holding the slightly ajar door, watching the staff’s retreating figure, then pushed the door open further. Farther inside, Director Hwang sat at a desk, looking at his laptop.
“Oh, Director Hwang! Hi!”
Seonwook waved and called out.
“Quiet. Come in.”
Director Hwang spoke without taking his eyes off the laptop.
“Have you been well?”
Seonwook exaggeratedly whispered as he entered. There were closed doors on either side, and a short hallway stretched between them.
Seonwook looked around as he walked down the hallway into what seemed to be a living room. From behind Director Hwang to the right of the living room, the windows bent in an L-shape, offering a wide view of Namsan Tower, lush mountains, and the expansive sky.
“Wow, this place is fucking amazing.”
“The envelope.”
Seonwook placed the envelope on the desk and continued to look around, pacing restlessly. The large desk dominating the living room made the space feel more like an office than a hotel room.
He leaned his skateboard against the long sofa by the window, took off his hooded jacket, and plopped down.
“How much does a room like this cost?”
Director Hwang only glanced at the stack of papers he had taken from the envelope. His neatly combed hair and expressionless face were as usual, but today he wore no suit jacket or tie—just a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
“Do you work here? Are you a hotel manager? What’s over there? Oh, is that the bedroom?”
Seonwook pointed at the sliding door across from him. It was closed, so he couldn’t see inside.
Director Hwang soon finished organizing the envelope, placing it in a drawer, then rested both elbows on the desk and stared at Seonwook.
Seonwook stared back.
“Did you look inside the envelope?”
“No.”
“Why not? Weren’t you curious?”
Even without looking, Seonwook knew it was related to the cleanup of the body in Room 203, which didn’t interest him at all.
“I’m curious about something else.”
Seonwook gave a sly smile.
Director Hwang studied Seonwook, then looked down at the papers on the desk.
“Why did you suddenly leave your hometown, where you lived your whole life?”
“…Me?”
“Yes.”
Director Hwang didn’t take his eyes off the paper.
“Did you look into my background?”
“You don’t have any family, relatives, acquaintances, or workplace here, yet you suddenly came here last December.”
Director Hwang looked up.
“Why?”
“Why I came isn’t in your report?”
“Tell me yourself.”
“Well, there was nothing fun, so I came. I was at that age. My hometown was fucking boring.”
“…”
“I wanted to live a little more excitingly before I got older.”
Director Hwang looked back down at the papers and rested his chin on his hand.
“Do you find working at that inn fun?”
“Isn’t it rude to criticize someone’s job?”
“For someone who came looking for fun, you’re living pretty shabbily, aren’t you?”
“Are you criticizing my life now?”
Director Hwang pushed the top paper aside and skimmed the next one.
Seonwook briefly imagined what might be written on that paper.
“Director.”
“…”
“You wanted to meet me alone, so you had me come here, right?”
Director Hwang looked up.
“Yesterday at the inn, I deliberately gave you a different envelope, but you took it anyway. The two envelopes looked completely different. You knew that, but you took it anyway, right? Because you knew I’d come here, and we could meet again, just the two of us, without interruptions.”
Director Hwang stared at Seonwook for a moment, then slowly stood up.
Seonwook inwardly marveled at the fact that he was barefoot.
Thin, taut skin on the top of his feet, toes that seemed surprisingly fragile yet supported his entire weight. It was a strangely strong organ, composed of such delicate parts.
He had entered Seonwook’s room wearing shoes, but here in his own space, he casually revealed that fragile yet strong part.
It was like seeing the bare body of a warrior who had never shown his unarmored self to anyone.
Seonwook licked his lips as he watched Director Hwang’s feet move silently across the carpet. They were the cleanest, most beautiful bare feet he had ever seen.
Director Hwang stood in front of him, and the cold, dark, almost dazzling scent of him rushed into Seonwook’s nostrils.
“You never answer obediently.”
“Uh, gobun… isn’t that a tomb?”
“Do you always provoke people like this in conversation?”
“Do you always avoid answering questions?”
“Should I answer questions that aren’t even questions?”
“So I should ask question-like questions?”
Seonwook looked down at Director Hwang’s feet.
“Toes.”
“…”
“Can I suck them?”
Director Hwang also looked down at his feet. Seonwook slowly raised his gaze, scanning Director Hwang’s body.
“Take them off.”
Director Hwang looked Seonwook in the eye as he undid his belt.
Seonwook eagerly reached for his pants buckle, but Director Hwang pushed his head back down.
“Just the T-shirt.”
Seonwook hesitantly grabbed the hem of his T-shirt, then paused.
“Huh?”
“I said take this off. Can’t you understand?”
Director Hwang roughly pulled Seonwook’s T-shirt up and off.
“No, I was gonna take off my—”
Seonwook couldn’t finish his sentence as Director Hwang pushed his chin back, forcing his head against the backrest of the sofa. Director Hwang opened his own pants with his other hand, slipped his hand inside his underwear, and began moving rapidly.
Seonwook blinked in surprise as he watched Director Hwang. Director Hwang, frowning even more deeply, was frantically running his eyes over Seonwook’s chest and stomach.
The sound of skin rubbing, clothes rustling, and the clinking of a belt mixed with his ragged breathing.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
