87.
“Please help me.”
Haseo tried his hardest not to miss this last chance.
“T-take me with you.”
“Where do you want to go?”
To this calm question, Haseo answered.
“Home. My home.”
It happened before Choi Mujin could react. Ryu Jiyeon, hearing Haseo’s answer, nodded with satisfaction.
“Haseo-ssi wants to come with me, Heejun-ssi.”
Jeong Heejun quickly moved toward Choi Mujin again. Then he grabbed Haseo and pulled. The arms of Choi Mujin holding Haseo tensed.
“Director Choi, let’s not complicate matters. This isn’t the time for that, is it?”
Ryu Jiyeon wasn’t wrong. Currently, Isaac Finance was entangled in various complicated issues. Although there was nothing that would cause problems if caught by the police, it was a time when not even a momentary gap should be shown. Chairman Jang was trying his hardest to bring down Choi Mujin with bloodshot eyes. But he couldn’t let go of Haseo.
“Director Choi?”
What could they do if he fled with Haseo right now? Ryu Jiyeon was just a figurehead who had grown up being pampered. She seemed to have somehow persuaded and brought a high-ranking police officer, but it wouldn’t last long. Those who moved for compensation no longer moved for them once the effect of the compensation ended.
As he was thinking this, suddenly the limp Haseo grabbed Choi Mujin’s neck and pulled himself up. Then he opened his mouth and bit Choi Mujin’s neck.
Where did he find such strength when he had been limp and not eating properly all this time? Blood began to seep from the bitten neck.
“Haseo!”
Jeong Heejun called out to Haseo in a surprised voice. Even in this situation, Choi Mujin didn’t loosen his grip on Haseo. It wasn’t difficult to endure this level of pain. However, the people around moved in alarm.
Jeong Heejun rushed in, followed by a security guard who had emerged from the hospital again, who also grabbed Haseo.
“Y-you shouldn’t do this!”
In the midst of this, well-built men in suits also joined in. They were standing a bit away from Ryu Jiyeon and appeared to be bodyguards. Their hands were rough as they clung to Choi Mujin and tried to separate Haseo.
“Ah, agh!”
Haseo was finally separated from Choi Mujin. Jeong Heejun embraced his trembling body that had fallen to the floor. Someone pressed a handkerchief to the wound on Choi Mujin’s neck. He shook them off to try to recover Haseo, but other hands quickly grabbed him. With the situation turning this way, he could no longer maintain his rationality.
Whack!
An enormous sound rang out as one person struck another.
“Ugh!”
One of Ryu Jiyeon’s bodyguards who had been clinging to his back fell away. Then Choi Mujin swung his fist again, and others began to respond. Even as Choi Mujin fought with the others, Park Dongsu moved quite cleverly. He approached Jeong Heejun to try to bring Haseo back, but the other side had more people.
Just how many bodyguards had they brought?
Ryu Jiyeon, escorted by yet another bodyguard, slipped away with Jeong Heejun and Haseo.
“I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Only this once.”
The police officer who had come with them sighed softly and remained in place, picking up his phone. Before long, more police arrived and began to bring the chaotic situation under control. Choi Mujin hadn’t sustained any significant injuries except for the wound on his neck. Instead, several men were lying around him, groaning in pain.
Still, he hadn’t laid hands on the people who had come from the hospital. Those people had backed away as the situation became complicated.
Grind.
Choi Mujin gritted his teeth.
“Sir, how can notable individuals like yourselves behave this way in public? I’ll need you all to come with me for a while.”
At the policeman’s words, the fallen bodyguards got up, groaning but moving quickly.
“No, it was just a minor dispute. We’re fine.”
“Pardon?”
The situation didn’t look minor at all. The police officer wore a dubious expression.
“Really. We’re bodyguards. And that person is someone we know through work, there seems to have been a slight misunderstanding.”
“But still, you caused a disturbance in front of a hospital.”
“We’re truly sorry about that. But it really wasn’t anything serious.”
Ryu Jiyeon didn’t bother to have Choi Mujin dragged to the police station. She probably decided there was no need to earn more of his resentment. So with the active defense of the bodyguards, Choi Mujin didn’t have to go to the police station. The police were also strangely not very assertive. The first police officer they had seen had already left.
“Hah.”
The crowd that had gathered dispersed once the matter was resolved easily. As a result, only Choi Mujin and Park Dongsu remained.
“We’ve sent people after them.”
Park Dongsu had quickly responded by moving Seo Miso, who had been on standby nearby. But they weren’t easy people to deal with either.
“We lost them.”
Seo Miso had found Ryu Jiyeon’s car. The car was discovered at a rest stop on the way from here to Seoul. But it seemed it was already too late, as nothing was visible inside the car. They had abandoned the car midway and left.
Just in case, they also checked near Toho Construction’s main house, but they weren’t seen there either. In fact, they were similar to Isaac Finance in that they probably had several houses that nobody knew about, like Choi Mujin did. If they were hiding in one of those places, it wouldn’t be easy to find them.
Choi Mujin returned to Seoul right away. It was easier to mobilize people from there. Even then, due to the situation with Chairman Jang, he couldn’t mobilize everyone.
─ Director Choi, isn’t it about time you came to your senses?
At that moment, Baek Sira called.
─ I understand what happened. But they didn’t take your lover to kill him, did they? Don’t we have more urgent matters than this right now?
Choi Mujin didn’t respond to Baek Sira’s words.
─ Focus on the current situation. Once we push my husband out of the chairman’s position, I’ll help you after that. Whether it’s finding your lover or anything else.
Yes, following emotions rather than reason in the current situation was a foolish act. He should move as Baek Sira said for now. But the fact that Haseo was in someone else’s clutches made his darkened insides twist. He wanted to find Jeong Heejun and tear him apart immediately.
─ I’ll find him somehow. I promise.
“I understand.”
─ That’s good. That’s more like the Director Choi I know.
What does it mean to be “like me”? Choi Mujin smiled as he thought about this. He had rarely regretted his mistakes until now. If there was one, perhaps it was not being able to hold onto Seo Jaewoo. Even then, although he suffered for a while, he eventually returned to his original self. So maybe this time would be the same someday.
‘Someday?’
Having finished her business, Baek Sira hung up. Choi Mujin threw his phone aside and pressed his hand to his forehead. He didn’t want to cut Haseo off like he did with Seo Jaewoo. It didn’t seem like he could treat this as just a temporary pain and move on. He had thought he could keep him by his side forever.
He hated that Haseo was in someone else’s hands. And if someday he forgot the pain and started a new life… if Haseo forgot Choi Mujin just as he had forgotten Seo Jaewoo, he didn’t think he could endure it.
If he had known this would happen, he should never have given him freedom. Instead of letting him be comfortable in peace, he should have imprisoned him in a place no one knew about. If he had tied his hands and feet and twisted his mind to only see him, this wouldn’t have happened.
Why do people keep repeating the same mistakes?
Choi Mujin swallowed a deep sigh.
Ryu Jiyeon had rescued Haseo as promised to Jeong Heejun. She also told them about a place where they could hide and sent a doctor. The doctor examined Haseo and attached an IV.
“He’s fine. Just mild malnutrition. There are many wounds on his body, but they’ve all been properly treated, so he should recover with rest. Let him sleep for now, and when he wakes up, prepare some rice porridge.”
Jeong Heejun wore a heavy expression at the doctor’s words. What on earth had happened during that time for Haseo to end up in such a mess?
“I’ll leave some medicine as well.”
“Thank you.”
“Not at all. I’m just doing my job for money.”
The doctor waved his hand dismissively and went into another room. The amount he received for staying a few days was beyond imagination.
“Haah.”
Jeong Heejun exhaled deeply and sat in the chair next to Haseo’s bed. He had met his father, the chairman, and moved according to his wishes. He had hoped to find Haseo in return, but in the end, the person who accomplished everything wasn’t him but someone else.
‘To receive this much help.’
Having received this level of help, it seemed he should now seriously consider Ryu Jiyeon. First, he would get Haseo more help and send him abroad.
‘I suppose I can’t go with him?’
Ryu Jiyeon must have had her own desires to help this much. Despite everything, Jeong Heejun took after his mother and couldn’t completely ignore someone who had shown him kindness. Even if not as much as he had received, it was right to give something back. But he was worried about Haseo.
Could he survive fleeing alone to a strange place? When he had no family left. How would he recover from the wounds he had received?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
