Chapter 80
Jiin stepped onto the stairs heading toward the basement from which thin musical sounds were leaking. When he had gone down about three or four steps, the door quietly closed behind him. After descending all the stairs that curved in the middle, a reception room about the size of a hotel room appeared.
The atmosphere of the space, decorated darkly in dark brown and deep gray, was like a secret fortress. Above the fireplace where logs were burning, a decoration that looked like a huge rock embedded as-is caught his eye.
And in the high-backed armchair placed in front of the fireplace. There sat Lee Seogyeong, Executive Director of Knox Hotel New York.
“You’ve come a long way. It wasn’t uncomfortable on the way here, was it?”
“Except for having my eyes covered… it was comfortable.”
The man chuckled while remaining seated and asked Jiin if he wanted a drink. It seemed like it would be necessary to become disheveled rather than maintain clear consciousness.
“Then, please make it something strong.”
“Sit down.”
The man stood up from his seat while offering Jiin a chair.
It was an armchair of the same shape next to where the man had been sitting, facing the fireplace. Jiin hesitated a bit then slowly walked over there.
Though the adoptive father had used the expression “just one little date,” he wasn’t naive enough to think that meant a meeting where they’d have a drink and conversation.
Perhaps from the moment he entered that basement, Jiin was already regretting his choice. No, perhaps it was from the moment he tried to grant the adoptive father’s request.
Yet it seemed like the simplest solution.
If the years of being raised as an adopted son were a debt, he wanted to pay off that debt with this matter and cleanly erase the adoptive father from his future life. Moreover, even though divorced, he was still the twins’ biological father. When his work wasn’t going well, the twins would worry about their distant father and couldn’t even eat properly.
If just one person—me—closed their eyes, it could pass as if nothing had happened. We could maintain our family’s peace. That’s what he thought at that moment. Even if it was foolish.
A one-night stand with a stranger while traveling. It’s not like I can’t do it. It’s not like I have such strict moral standards about sex that I’d cry over a one-night physical relationship, right?
Thus Jiin tried to erase from his mind the fact that this “date” was transactional.
While blankly staring at the flames burning in the fireplace, the man who had somehow approached one step closer handed him a glass. From the short handle, it seemed to be cognac.
“It’s strong alcohol as you wanted. About 40 proof?”
“Thank you.”
“You seem to handle alcohol well.”
“So-so… I’m not weak.”
The man standing in front tilted his head sideways and looked down at Jiin with interested eyes. Then he returned to his seat.
“This is the space I put the most effort into in this house, decorated like a Speakeasy bar. I have this aspect of… yearning for past times and spaces I haven’t experienced. How is it?”
“It’s nice.”
Looking around from his seated position, Jiin briefly gave his impression. But to Jiin’s eyes, the appearance of the man he would soon have to roll around with was more concerning than the underground secret base that seemed to have cost quite a lot of money to decorate.
Despite being in his own mansion, the man was dressed in a suffocating three-piece suit. Though he had unbuttoned his jacket, the suit tailored precisely to the shoulder line, arm width and length was suffocating just to look at. It seemed like a means to control and restrain himself, not clothing.
“Everyone needs a place to hide, don’t they? A place completely separated from the world that exists only for one’s own pleasure. A space where you can focus only on yourself, whether dancing freely, singing, drawing… any activity is fine.”
“……”
“You don’t seem to feel any emotion about what I’m saying.”
No matter how you package it, isn’t this ultimately saying this place is completely separated from the world for enjoying sex?
While internally sneering like this, Jiin superficially expressed agreement.
“It would be nice to have such a place. But… for ordinary people, it’s like a dream.”
Even when raising his arm to drink, the man’s wrist barely revealed any bare skin. His shirt collar was tightly fitted as if choking his neck, and the cuffs at his wrists seemed to have no room even for 1cm. Along with his sharp appearance, it made his obsessive impression even more prominent.
“The head chef’s office desk only had photos of the twins, so I didn’t know about Jiyoon-ssi’s existence. When I first asked for an introduction… what was the name? Anyway, it was the male twin. The head chef showed me Jiyoon-ssi’s photo. From the photo, I thought the twin would be more my type, but…”
“……”
Jiin’s hand, which was bringing the reddish cognac to his lips, stopped.
“When I actually saw you, I felt like Jiyoon-ssi and I could connect somehow. People who understand life’s shadows are more attractive than those who are just bright and cheerful, aren’t they?”
The man’s subsequent words didn’t register well in his ears.
Jiin bent his wrist again and swallowed the alcohol. He could barely feel the nearly 40-proof alcohol.
When they first greeted each other at the restaurant, why the man had specifically mentioned the adoptive father’s paternal love to the twins. He seemed to understand the reason belatedly.
To protect Ian… I’m not as precious an existence as Ian… it can’t be… while putting me forward as a substitute to protect Ian, not enough to find other alternatives to protect me…
A hollow laugh leaked out. He decided to stop thinking. At this point of already coming here, even if more reasons were added, it wouldn’t change much.
“It’s Jiin.”
“……”
The man’s puzzled expression turned this way. His white, neat face showed that despite owning such a mansion, he didn’t enjoy any outdoor activities.
“My name. It’s Jiin, not Jiyoon.”
“Ah… I see, sorry. Jiin-ssi.”
Unlike his words, he didn’t seem particularly sorry. Rather, an uncomfortable expression gradually deepened on his face that had been almost expressionless. The man spun his glass that he had only half-emptied and spoke coldly in a sharp voice.
“I understand to some extent feeling like you’re some modern-day Judy Garland… but nothing severe will happen to you. There was no forceful oppression on the way here, was there?”
The man who had completely emptied his glass stood up, pressing down on the armrest.
“It’s a bit awkward for me to say this myself… but I’m quite soft-hearted, so I have no hobby of tormenting others.”
The man smiled while looking down at Jiin.
It was the day before Christmas Eve. The sky he briefly faced while getting out of the car and before entering the mansion was low and ashen, and the air was piercingly cold as if it would shatter everything.
Though the adoptive father had emphasized “just one night,” things didn’t work out that way. Jiin left that gloomy mansion about a week later, with his eyes covered by a ribbon just like when he arrived.
In the car moving back to Manhattan, Jiin had no choice but to suffer from various thoughts. All he could do was blankly observe images that randomly appeared and disappeared in his mind.
Then, he thought about how that kid who had shared his first experience with him several years ago would be somewhere not far from New York. If he was attending Columbia University, it would be really close. Even other Ivy League universities would be at most four hours from New York by car. Four hours by car wouldn’t be far within America.
Back then… I was afraid to learn details, so I didn’t ask.
Or maybe, like that time, he’s traveling or away from the area visiting Korea. It would be vacation time now.
Had he become even slightly freer from his tendencies? If he had just overcome that, he would have gotten a lover quickly.
A man who would be faithful to instinct in bed, but infinitely affectionate to his lover normally. Even if his kisses on the bed were beast-like, his lips might tremble when giving a goodnight kiss in front of the house before parting.
Thinking such thoughts made him feel a bit bitter, as if something of his had been stolen.
Still, thanks to that, he could smile. It was a bizarre laugh like someone who had swallowed disgusting food and had a stomachache, but still, at least like that…
■
The weather forecast that the metropolitan area would enter the typhoon’s influence zone only after the weekend was wrong. The raindrops that had been lightly scattering in the morning were now strongly beating against the large window of the karaoke private room.
Two people from Knox Hotel’s PR team, two from the advertising agency. A total of four people had visited UB’s office for a meeting then moved locations for a company dinner. The high-end karaoke on the 32nd floor of a high-rise building in Gangnam was Manager UB’s choice.
The room for six was rather modest in size itself. But the interior was luxurious, and the night view of the entire Gangnam area visible through the large window occupying one wall formed a decoration in itself.
The sofas were arranged in a U-shape with a long rectangular table in between. At the innermost head seat sat Knox’s deputy and male employee, to their right were the agency’s section chief and male staff member who appeared to be in his late twenties, and across from them sat me and UB’s manager.
“This place has good facilities, but the view is nice, right? I only come to places like this when there’s entertainment like this, but every time I come, I think it’s really well built.”
The manager who had accompanied me during the <Eternal Night> contract was with me again this time. His hand movements mixing beer and whiskey in one glass were as skilled as a professional bartender.
“We’re the same. For office workers like us, high-end karaoke like this is only possible during company dinners or entertainment. If the weather were good, we could see our hotel across the Han River, but it’s a bit disappointing that it’s cloudy today.”
Knox Hotel PR team’s deputy stretched her neck long and peered out the large window. She, a deputy in her fourth year, was essentially the advertiser’s representative in today’s meeting.
“By the way, we should have been the ones treating you… I’m sorry about this.”
“Since you evaluated our actor positively, we should naturally be the ones treating you.”
The manager, who even waved his hand at her embarrassed expression, distributed the mixed drinks to everyone.
“Then, please take good care of our Jung actor.”
Because I had no talent for leading such occasions, the manager was struggling as expected.
“We should be the ones asking for your favor, Manager. We were already strongly recommending actor Jung Jiin to Knox… but then the article about his confirmed appearance in <Eternal Night> was released. So we thought, ah, we need to hurry with this.”
This time it was the words of the section chief, who held the higher position among the two people from the advertising agency.
She was about the same age as Knox Hotel’s deputy and was the person in charge of recommending advertising models that fit the image Knox wanted and brokering contracts.
After cleanly emptying a glass of smoothly going down alcohol, I casually brought up a story that was difficult to ask about during the meeting.
“Um… was it thanks to your recommendation, Section Chief, that I became a candidate?”
“What thanks could there be from me? You simply matched the image the advertiser wanted.”
“I guess there wasn’t any specific model that Knox Hotel internally hoped for…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
