Chapter 121
Every living being has the instinct to survive. Even without developed senses, when feeling threatened, internal organs quiet down and cells become agitated.
Inbeom Yoon was in exactly that state.
Although they were just talking, Mitchell’s gaze became a blade cutting into Yoon’s skin.
It felt as if just standing in front of him was extinguishing his life.
Yoon trembled, feeling cold sweat running down his spine. Unknowingly, he stepped back, moving away from Mitchell. As the sound of his shoe heels dragging echoed, for some reason, Mitchell’s brow furrowed even more.
At that moment, a loud noise broke the silence. Mitchell and Yoon turned their heads simultaneously. Mitchell’s phone was vibrating on the table.
Mitchell immediately moved to grab his phone. As he returned to face Yoon, a clear smile spread across his face after checking the content.
What could be so enjoyable in this situation?
“Filthy things? What nonsense. What are you trying to say?”
Yoon asked, unable to hide his nervousness. Unlike the anxious Yoon, Mitchell brought up a somewhat irrelevant topic.
“I like setting appointments and meeting, but I also like it when someone appears suddenly without notice. Surprise. What about you?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Wait… Can you hear it?”
“Are you really crazy?”
“I’ve been learning Korean lately. For example, ‘salgeumsal-geum’ (tiptoe).”
His pronunciation of the Korean word “salgeumsal-geum” was quite fluent, but what stood out more was his playful expression and fluttering hand gestures expressing the word’s meaning.
“The word is really cute. Ah, I can make a sentence too. ‘Salgeumsal-geum geol-eo-o-da.’ (To approach quietly)”
As the direction of the conversation suddenly became disjointed, unkind words flowed from Yoon’s mouth. He couldn’t understand what Mitchell was talking about. His mind was so preoccupied with the incidents he had caused in the past that he had no room to deeply interpret Mitchell’s hidden intentions.
“Hey, Yoon Inbeom, Inbeom Yoon? I’m not sure how to address you correctly. Anyway, you’re stupid. You can’t distinguish between what you can do and what you absolutely shouldn’t do. You can’t even recognize who you can mess with and who you shouldn’t. Maybe it’s because you lack intelligence?”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Calm down. I won’t tolerate any more outbursts here. Especially in my house. Ah, fortunately, I won’t dirty my hands directly. These need to stay clean so I can comfortably touch other clean things, right?”
Mitchell showed his hands and laughed freely. After checking his phone again, the smile disappeared from his face. His expression changed dozens of times in a short period.
Yoon had a fleeting, absurd thought that he might be filming a play with Mitchell, but it quickly vanished.
Before getting angry at Mitchell for mocking him, Yoon first wanted to ask Mitchell what exactly he knew. As he was considering how to phrase his question indirectly, Mitchell murmured.
“It was a blue aluminum bat, right? With the brand name half-erased in the middle.”
Yoon, who had been rolling his eyes around, belatedly understood the meaning and stepped back. He couldn’t suppress his pathetically trembling hands, and his mouth opened uglily. How could Mitchell know about the baseball bat?
The weapon that had struck Geon-woo’s leg!
The bat used that day was roughly wiped with a towel and stuffed into the back of the car trunk. But now Mitchell was talking about it. How on earth could he know about the past incident that had been completely hushed up by confirming there were no CCTV blind spots and even bribing the police officer in charge!
“Why did you break Geon-woo’s leg?”
“……”
Yoon couldn’t say anything. Instead of spitting out plausible excuses or explanations, he just shook his head. A strange silence continued for a while.
“Geon-woo would be upset if he knew this, right? His disappointment in you would probably turn into hatred or disgust. If you’re really ‘such close friends’ as you say, the sense of betrayal would be even greater.”
It wasn’t a question expecting an answer. Yoon, who had been trembling, just glared at Mitchell without opening his mouth.
He had only wanted Geon-woo not to become famous. He tried to prevent Geon-woo’s entry into Hollywood to keep him within his domain. He thought that was the way he could control Geon-woo’s life.
Since he had already succeeded in Korea, if Mitchell hadn’t appeared, it would have been a smoothly progressing operation.
If only Mitchell hadn’t been there.
“I’m worried about how severely Geon-woo will be hurt. But I should tell him, right? It’s something he needs to know.”
“Don’t you know how serious false accusations are?”
“Idiot.”
Mitchell cut off Yoon’s desperate outburst. The sneer that appeared on Mitchell’s lips afterwards made Yoon feel terrible humiliation. At the same time, his reason, which had been barely holding on, crumbled.
It was the first time since his father’s era that he had been caught for his impure deeds. He had gone to Korea after borrowing money from his father to start a business, and used unfair methods to suppress competing companies. When his father found out about it, he withdrew the funds and the business fell apart.
Unlike Yoon, his father was a person who knew human decency and respected the law.
When his father’s strict order came down that he should never set foot in Korea again, Geon-woo appeared before the frustrated Yoon.
Yoon, who had to return to America, had to suffer for days with late regret.
Still, he eventually went to Korea secretly without his father knowing and succeeded in bringing Geon-woo down. As things progressed as planned, Yoon gained confidence that he could manipulate Geon-woo as he wished.
Later, when Geon-woo disappeared and they met again in America, he expected that damaging Geon-woo’s leg would help restore their relationship. Swinging the baseball bat wasn’t an impulse. It was Yoon himself.
“It wasn’t me.”
Yoon quickly denied his crime.
Geon-woo, Lydia, and even the currently operating DK Agency – he had always used unfair methods for his benefit, just as he had always done.
Nevertheless, he had lived well without being caught until now, but Mitchell was trying to shatter Yoon’s life. As the sound of crashing and breaking hit his ears, excuses crawled out of his tightly closed mouth.
“It’s not true! Am I crazy? Are you trying to pin everything on me? Why would I do that to Geon-woo? Talk sense. You, you! Just wait. I won’t forget this, this humiliation!”
In the end, he even bit his tongue, slurring his words. Yoon, who had been glaring at Mitchell with a face red enough to be pitiful due to his confusion, suddenly turned his body.
Yoon tried to escape to avoid the crisis right in front of him. He thought it wouldn’t be too late to check the baseball bat hidden in the trunk and then handle the situation.
He had completely hidden his face with a hat and mask, and even if there were witnesses, it wouldn’t matter. He had already confirmed that the CCTV was clean. The police officer in charge was on his side, so it should be fine.
He just needed to get far away from here and dispose of the bat, and it would be over.
Just as the urgent Yoon turned around and flung open the front door.
“Ugh!”
A choked sound, as if gagged, escaped through his lips. Yoon stumbled backward and tripped over his own feet. He fell on his backside in an unsightly manner, but he had no time to care about such things.
“Geon-woo…”
Geon-woo, who should have been in the park, was standing right in front of him.
He had come to Mitchell’s house after confirming that Geon-woo was settled in the park.
Knowing that Geon-woo had been taking walks for hours these days, he was certain that he wouldn’t return home for a while. He thought he would be talking to Mitchell alone, but the person in question was standing right there.
“Is it true?”
Geon-woo took a step forward. Although he no longer limped, to Yoon’s eyes, Geon-woo’s gait seemed to stagger as if he was about to fall.
“I’m asking if it’s true? You broke my leg? And then you appeared in front of me as if nothing happened? Even pretending to be close? Coming to visit me in the hospital?”
Geon-woo pressed on frantically. It was a natural reaction for someone whose close friend had done such a thing to his leg. But the emotion that should naturally be there was missing.
“That’s great. Now you can just disappear forever.”
Instead of being angry, Geon-woo was smiling as if he found this situation amusing.
