Chapter 77
Tae-joo grabbed the collar of his coat, but Hyun-se brushed him off lightly. Tae-joo gritted his teeth at the unspoken pressure to leave. He enunciated each word clearly, speaking to Hyun-se’s back as he turned away.
“You’re just playing with Kwon Si-yul.”
The footsteps heading towards the door stopped in their tracks. Hyun-se only turned his head, showing just the outline of his nose and cheek. Tae-joo continued to speak through clenched teeth.
“I know Si-yul looks trivial in your eyes. So let him go. He’s not the right person for you.”
“…”
“He’s right for me. Let him go. I’ll take him.”
That last part was his true intention. Just as Hyun-se seemed about to turn around, Tae-joo’s body went flying. With a loud thud, his back slammed hard against the wall. The impact was so severe it made him feel nauseous.
As he gasped for breath, Hyun-se forcefully lifted his lowered head, pressing his forearm, which felt like a bundle of steel rods, against Tae-joo’s Adam’s apple. The pressure was so intense, as if trying to hang Tae-joo on the wall like a piece of clothing, that his heels naturally lifted off the ground.
“Tae-joo.”
No matter how much strength he used, he couldn’t break free from that arm. Unlike Tae-joo, who was exerting all his might, Hyun-se’s voice was calm. Even his breathing wasn’t labored.
Just as he seemed about to release the arm choking Tae-joo’s neck, Hyun-se grabbed both of Tae-joo’s cheeks and squeezed them, forcing his mouth open so wide that his tongue and back molars were all visible. Hyun-se peered inside.
“Our Tae-joo’s tongue is intact.”
Tae-joo managed to grab Hyun-se’s wrists, but he couldn’t close his gaping mouth. Instead, the grip tightened, causing a pain that felt like his cheeks were being crushed. Despite the groans of pain escaping, Hyun-se didn’t loosen his grip.
“So why can’t you distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said?”
Hyun-se waved his hand as if brushing off something dirty. Tae-joo’s cheek turned sideways as he collapsed to the floor with a thud. He cupped his aching jaw and cheeks with his palms. Although they had bumped into each other playfully before, he had never experienced such threat and violence. The fear was greater than the shock, and he didn’t dare look up.
Hyun-se bent one knee to sit, matching Tae-joo’s eye level. He gently brushed back Tae-joo’s disheveled hair and patted his shoulder.
“It’s fortunate that we’re blood relatives.”
Leaving Tae-joo sitting there in a daze, Hyun-se left the office. When his secretary reported that the car was ready, he nodded as usual, as if nothing had happened inside.
He craved a cigarette desperately. Getting into the car, he couldn’t hold back and took one out to smoke. The driver in front turned around and offered a lighter, igniting the tip of the cigarette red.
He inflated his chest, inhaled, and then exhaled slowly. He drew in the smoke as if to burn the entire long cigarette in one puff and held it inside. The acrid smoke moistened his lungs and rose back up. Only when the white smoke circulated through his blood vessels did his sharp senses dull their edges.
He took another puff, thinking of Tae-joo. No matter how fearless one might be in this world, how could he carelessly invade someone else’s territory and wag his tongue like that? He had wanted to rip it out but restrained himself, considering their relationship up to now.
He needed to teach him a lesson at some point, but he didn’t expect it to be today. Recalling the words Tae-joo had spouted, Hyun-se regretted only giving a mild warning. He should have stomped on him decisively this time to prevent him from ever trying to climb up again.
Clicking his tongue, he picked up his phone. A new photo had just arrived. When he clicked on it, the screen filled with an image of Kwon Si-yul taken from afar. The quality was poor, as if it had been zoomed in too much.
“They can’t even take a proper photo.”
He had wanted something like the photos Si-yul had sent before, but that seemed to be asking too much.
He had expected Si-yul to at least go to some regional touring performance, but Si-yul was obediently walking around the park near the house. Whether he was trying to earn trust or attempting to lower Hyun-se’s guard was yet unknown.
“This is why everything gets tangled…”
Because he’s unnecessarily gentle and pretty. Because he lives honestly, keeping his word, unable to callously rip out others’ livers and hearts. Because when offered something, instead of greedily accepting it, he turns his back and lies down, saying it’s not right. Because he can’t bring himself to push away when told to, and instead whimpers, making his face unbearably lovable.
Tae-joo, with his keen eye for both objects and people, couldn’t have failed to see this essence.
Hyun-se leaned his head against the headrest and laughed deflated. Above all, it seemed that he himself was the most terrible bastard clinging to Kwon Si-yul’s life.
* * *
Si-yul didn’t get his phone back. Hyun-se said he would personally inform him about Kwon Yuwon’s news. Going out was only possible with a bodyguard. Though he was out of the room, the confinement was still ongoing. The cage had merely become larger.
Still, should he be thankful that he was at least allowed to get some fresh air? Si-yul walked along the park path and sat down on a nearby bench. Piles of unmelted snow were scattered throughout the park. On the grass was a snowman someone had built, and on another bench, a row of snow sculptures shaped like ducks or rabbits.
It was a peaceful scene. Enough to make one smile contentedly just by looking at it. However, Si-yul’s inner state was far from calm. Even a snowstorm would have been more tranquil than the worries Si-yul was experiencing.
Seeing a vending machine nearby, Si-yul got up from his seat. He searched his pockets but found only the card Hyun-se had given him to use. Even this felt like another shackle to track his movements, so he gripped it and then shoved it back into his pocket.
No matter how much he searched, not a single coin appeared, so he crouched down in front of the vending machine and scanned the ground. It was something he often did when he had no money. Searching under the vending machine usually turned up a coin or two that had been overlooked.
“Use this.”
Si-yul hadn’t heard the footsteps approach. He looked at the suddenly outstretched hand and then followed the arm up with his gaze. It was the bodyguard. Even for just the park in front of the house, a bodyguard had been assigned.
“Thank you.”
He bowed his head slightly and accepted the coins. He inserted them one by one and pressed the coffee button. There was a thud as the paper cup fell, followed by the sound of liquid pouring. When he took it out, mist bloomed over the coffee as it met the cold air.
“Have some.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re working hard following me around. Next time, I’ll buy with my own money.”
Finding it difficult to refuse twice, the bodyguard accepted the coffee. Si-yul also got a coffee with the remaining money. As he took a sip, his insides, which had been suffering from the cold, slowly began to thaw.
“How long have you been working with the CEO?”
The word “hyung” came out so easily. It had taken him so long to change how he addressed Hyun-se.
“About 3 years.”
“That’s quite a while. Come to think of it, what’s your name? I didn’t even know your name.”
The man dutifully answered that it was Kim Ji-sang. Si-yul murmured, “Ji-sang hyung.” He also asked not to use formal speech. The man shook his head.
Si-yul tapped the toe of his sneaker against the cold concrete ground for no reason. Just like he used to do at the playground when being scolded by Kwon Yuwon as a child.
“Have you seen the CEO’s fiancée?”
He was in such a daze that day that he couldn’t clearly remember what the person standing next to Hyun-se looked like. He vaguely recalled an elegant, beautiful, and graceful atmosphere. Hyun-se fiddling with his tie, Hyun-se’s face becoming expressionless, and his cold, sharp scent undulating like dark, deep water were deeply etched in his mind.
“Once, a while ago.”
“What kind of person are they?”
“I don’t know much.”
“Still, at least what they do?”
“…”
The man kept his words to himself and just stared into the distance. As befitting one of Hyun-se’s subordinates, he was as cold as ice. Even though it wasn’t his own money, Si-yul started to feel like the coffee was a waste.
“They’re a good person.”
Perhaps sensing Si-yul’s feelings, or maybe just showing some kindness, the man glanced down at the coffee he was drinking and spoke. Si-yul perked up his ears. He didn’t want to miss anything.
“They’re capable and consistently do volunteer work.”
“What do they do for a living?”
“They’re a lawyer at Yusong Law Firm.”
Even though Si-yul was an outsider to that world, he had heard of Yusong before. It was the place wealthy people always sought out when filing lawsuits. Wasn’t it something like hundreds of thousands per minute for consultation? They worked at such an impressive place. They seemed to have everything one could have – personality, background, looks, and ability – to the point of excess.
Such a person was Hyun-se’s fiancée.
“They sound amazing.”
They matched well with Hyun-se. They were in a place so high and far away that Si-yul couldn’t even dare to compare himself. He laughed bitterly at himself for trying to find even a thread of possibility in this situation. It was like dreaming of living at the top of a high-rise building while living in a semi-basement room.
The man briefly looked at Si-yul when he unconsciously let out an empty laugh. His gaze quickly scattered elsewhere.
Maybe it was because he drank coffee on an empty stomach, but his stomach felt sour. However, he wanted to wet his stinging throat. He wanted to drink more, but the paper cup was already empty. Not having the face to ask to borrow more coins, Si-yul just chewed on the rim of the cup. While the coffee had been bittersweet, the paper cup only grew more bitter the more he chewed.
Si-yul sniffled and raised his gaze. The cloudless sky was so blue it was chilling. Winter is always colder and more dangerous the clearer it is. Although there was no forecast for a cold wave, it felt much colder today than yesterday, yesterday than the day before, and now at midday than this morning.
For some reason, the draft that froze his head and nose tip didn’t disappear, whether at the orphanage or after leaving it. Si-yul didn’t know if the bone-chilling cold was due to the blue sky alone, or if there was another reason. The biting wind seemed to blow over his life, not just through the air.
