Chapter 159
Malik had been staying in New York for about two weeks for the filming of
Having drunk with Geon-woo and Mitchell just the day before, Geon-woo’s face was still clear in his memory. Seeing Geon-woo’s face in the man who was shouting loudly in Korean piqued his curiosity. That’s why Malik approached Junman.
“Geon-woo? Geon-woo… my, my brother.”
His guess was correct. If it wasn’t related to Geon-woo, he would have left the man alone whether he was causing a disturbance or not, but he said they were brothers.
“Is there a quiet place where we can take these gentlemen? I’d like to have a conversation.”
Malik politely asked the hotel manager. Malik was a famous celebrity and a VIP guest of the hotel. The manager, unable to treat him carelessly, looked troubled.
Fortunately, with timely news, the manager immediately arranged a place. They had been informed that someone who could resolve the situation was on their way.
The manager took them to an employee conference room near the lobby, as Malik wanted. As security guards stood watch at the door, Junman looked a bit dazed. Raul was only thinking about taking pictures with Malik later.
“I overheard by chance as I was passing by,” Malik began. He didn’t particularly want to help Jeff, he just found it an interesting commotion and decided to get involved. He wasn’t very close to Jeff. If anything, they had a bad relationship. He found Jeff’s show of bravado without having anything irritating.
How annoyed he was when Jeff came to own the Saint Hotel.
Moreover, whenever they happened to meet, Jeff always compared Mitchell and Malik. He had said to Malik’s face that the setting sun should know when to retire. It was when a movie Malik starred in had bombed at the box office.
At the time, Malik had politely countered within reasonable limits, but he still remembered that day. That’s when he started to despise the guy who was flourishing with his father’s money without any ability of his own.
How could he just let it go when such a person was involved in an unpleasant incident with Geon-woo’s brother? Having caught onto something, Malik was struggling to suppress his twitching lips.
“You said it was an assault case, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. The owner here hit me.”
Raul quickly interpreted Malik’s question.
As a famous Hollywood actor, Malik could exert more influence than most journalists. Junman explained in detail what had happened to him. He thought that even if Jeff tried to cover up the incident with money, it would be difficult to stop someone of Malik’s caliber.
Also, Malik had introduced himself as Geon-woo’s friend. Enticed by this, Junman trusted him more. Junman had been deeply relying on Geon-woo for some time now.
“I’m certain! The owner of Saint Hotel hit me and kidnapped me. I was also assaulted by people he hired. This is all evidence.”
Junman pointed to his face and lifted his T-shirt to show his bruised body. He added a bit of exaggeration due to rising indignation and resentment. He even spilled his suspicion that Jeff might have mistaken him for Geon-woo.
Malik clapped his hands after hearing the whole story. His heart was pounding at the thought of Jeff falling flat on his face.
In fact, Malik quite liked Geon-woo. Moreover, he had confirmed that Mitchell and Geon-woo’s relationship was more than just friends.
The atmosphere between the two at the dinner that day was unusual, and Mitchell didn’t even try to hide it. Throughout their conversation, he couldn’t concentrate and only looked after Geon-woo.
It was surprising that Mitchell, who rarely expresses emotions, was interested in a man, but thinking about it, it would be stranger for someone of his character to distinguish between men and women.
Rather, Geon-woo was such a unique and eye-catching person that it made sense for Mitchell to fall head over heels for his charm.
He couldn’t just ignore it when Geon-woo’s brother had suffered an injustice.
Malik was thinking of ways to torment Jeff in some form.
“So, you’ve relayed everything?”
Malik asked the manager standing at the door. The manager, who had heard Junman’s complaints along with them, had been relaying Junman’s story to someone. Malik guessed that the person the manager was in real-time contact with was Jeff.
However, the person who opened the door and appeared a little later was not Jeff, but Jeff’s father.
***
“What’s going on here?”
Junman looked around the suite room. When he said he had nowhere to go, Malik personally booked one of the best rooms at Saint Hotel for him.
While Raul was busy exploring the suite, Junman felt frustrated as he couldn’t understand how things were unfolding. Since arriving in New York, he still hadn’t seen Jeff’s face. He had planned to extort a huge amount of settlement money when he met Jeff.
It would be good if he could contact Geon-woo at a time like this.
Smiling bitterly, he felt somehow empty and reached for the alcohol provided in the room. He believed that Malik, who claimed to be Geon-woo’s friend, would somehow resolve the situation. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was essentially trusting Geon-woo.
At the same time Junman was gulping down the alcohol, Malik was in a private meeting with Jeff’s father.
Jeff’s father, Jason, was suffering from a headache due to his son’s consecutive disgraceful acts. Although he had acted quickly to prevent today’s incident from spreading, he couldn’t do anything about the rising irritation.
The truth of Junman’s claims wasn’t important. It wouldn’t be difficult to cover up, but the problem was that Malik had found out about this incident.
Moreover, Jeff had entered Mitchell Cronenwirth’s empty house without permission and messed with Geon-woo’s older brother.
“Mitchell was also extremely angry.”
Jason finally understood why Mitchell had sent Jeff’s photo. Whether it would end here or escalate further depended on his choice.
“There’s a lesson I’ve learned from decades in the entertainment industry,” Malik said, crossing his legs.
“…What is it?”
“Don’t mess with Mitchell.”
Jason frowned at Malik’s answer. He couldn’t refute because it wasn’t wrong. Who wouldn’t know about the Cronenwirth family’s background? If we’re talking about connections, it could go up to the most powerful people in the United States.
There was nothing good about touching Mitchell, who knew Jeff’s secrets, and the fact that the person Jeff had beaten up was a family member of someone Mitchell cared deeply about made Jason lose all motivation.
He recalled his last conversation with Mitchell. It was a request with a weight no different from an order.
Damn son.
Just then, Jeff, who had heard the news, opened the door. Jason told his worthless son, who came rushing in out of breath, everything that had happened today. Then he threatened the now pale-faced Jeff.
“Go to Las Vegas.”
“What?”
“Don’t even think about setting foot in New York again.”
“Father, what, what are you saying right now?”
“I’m saying you are to never appear in front of anyone from the Cronenwirth family from now on.”
Jason recited exactly what Mitchell had said.
***
Mitchell, having left the study, headed to the bed where Geon-woo would be. Due to overworking his body with filming, Geon-woo had been sleeping a lot lately. He would fall asleep whenever he had a place to rest his head. While it was pitiful, he seemed more energetic than ever when awake, so Mitchell couldn’t stop him.
Mitchell was busy pouring out material support. He paid attention to simple things like food and clothes, and had already changed Geon-woo’s car twice. Even though the travel distance had decreased compared to before, it was Mitchell’s desire to give only the best.
He even cooked food that Geon-woo wanted to eat for him when he couldn’t sleep until dawn because of reviewing scripts. Thanks to this, Mitchell’s cooking skills were improving day by day.
These days, what Mitchell looks at most are scripts, Korean study notes, and cookbooks. He has become able to make any food Geon-woo wants on the spot. Mitchell poured all his energy into Geon-woo. His own care was always secondary.
“Are you awake?”
Geon-woo, who Mitchell thought would surely be asleep, was sitting on the bed looking at his phone. Geon-woo looked back and forth between Mitchell and his phone with a serious face.
“Why? Did we get caught up in another dating rumor?”
Mitchell approached Geon-woo. He joked while messing up Geon-woo’s hair, then knelt down in front of him. His hand that was stroking Geon-woo’s thigh moved to wrap around his waist as he looked up at Geon-woo.
“Mitchell… look at this.”
Geon-woo showed him an article on his phone. As soon as Mitchell saw the title, his face also froze.
