Jae-young tightly gripped the handle of the shopping bag containing the hoodie. If he didn’t do that, he felt like he might throw a punch without warning.
“Hey, did I do something wrong? Why are you ignoring me like this?”
The man’s hand heavily pressed down on his shoulder. Sa Gong-hyun’s dry gaze was fixed in this direction.
“Hey!”
Finally unable to control his temper, the man raised his voice and blocked Jae-young’s path. Sa Gong-hyun was hidden by the man’s bulk. Jae-young closed his eyes once and opened them again. It was to hide the irritation that kept arising.
“I asked who you’re waiting for. I’ve been waiting since 6 o’clock and just met you now. So could you please move aside?”
“No, trying to brush me off again like this…”
Before the man could finish speaking, Jae-young moved. As he passed by the man and approached Sa Gong-hyun, he thought he heard the man’s sneering laugh from behind.
Jae-young stepped forward, not minding. His palm hurt from gripping the handle with all his might.
Finally walking up to Sa Gong-hyun, he held out the shopping bag he was carrying.
“I’ve been waiting to return this to you. Since I only know your name, Hyun-ssi, this was the only place I could wait.”
Sa Gong-hyun didn’t even think about taking the shopping bag and just looked down at Jae-young. His cold gaze passed through the shopping bag and fixed back on Jae-young.
Jae-young dropped his eyes downward, breaking the connected gaze. He directly took Sa Gong-hyun’s hand and placed the shopping bag in it.
“And.”
“…”
Jae-young firmly closed his mouth as if his throat was constricted. As if mixed with lingering attachment, Jae-young, not letting go of the rough hand, belatedly fumbled through his pocket.
He took out two crumpled checks from his pocket. He could sense that Sa Gong-hyun’s gaze was entangled with his hand without having to confirm it.
After placing the checks in his hand as well, he slowly inhaled. It was the timing for his eyes, which had been stinging since earlier, to show their true worth.
“I didn’t sell my body to you, Hyun-ssi.”
Jae-young raised his head. Sa Gong-hyun’s eyes locked with Jae-young’s.
Sa Gong-hyun dislikes seeing tears in front of him. When unable to read the opponent’s cards accurately, it was necessary to act somewhat boldly.
The cards Jae-young held were worthless, not even in the hand ranking, so to overturn the game, he needed to cause even a small disturbance. Only then could he continue the next round.
If Sa Gong-hyun tried to simply pass by him, he was determined to irritate him as much as possible. To make him look at least once more, so that in the end, he couldn’t just pass by. For that, all of this was a necessary process.
“So don’t think that you bought my body with money, Hyun-ssi.”
“…”
“…I know that I’m ridiculous.”
“…”
“Hyun-ssi, you’re really a bad person.”
He revealed his hurt eyes without hesitation. He averted his gaze first. Jae-young eventually let go of Sa Gong-hyun’s hand that he had been holding tightly. Slowly turning around, he took unhurried steps.
Having turned away with effort, a belated tear dropped. He made eye contact with the man who was standing at a distance, alternately looking at Jae-young and Sa Gong-hyun. Jae-young wiped his tears with his hand as he passed by the man.
Only after turning the corner of the alley could he moisten his lower lip.
“Hey.”
However, the man who had followed Jae-young’s path abruptly spoke to him again. While Sa Gong-hyun, who should have been sticking around annoyingly, remained still, this useless guy was being a nuisance.
“Do you know that man?”
Jae-young, who had been ignoring him and walking, stopped moving. He turned around, exhaling an irritated breath. His eyes were still red, but there wasn’t a trace of sadness in his expression.
“What if I do?”
“How do you know him?”
Jae-young tilted his head crookedly. As he looked up at the man indifferently, the man moved his lips.
“I was waiting to give you a piece of my mind because I was angry, but now I feel sorry for you, so I’ll tell you—be careful of that man. He’s an executive at Sebin Construction. Ah, you know Sebin, right? That company that suddenly became huge in the past few years. Originally, it was an unheard-of place, but suddenly it’s getting jobs everywhere. You know?”
“So what?”
“Sebin Construction might look like a decent company on the outside, but they say it’s actually a den of thugs. I heard all the higher-ups are gangsters.”
One piece of gossip is circulating well. Jae-young straightened his skewed posture.
“You seem to know a lot.”
At that, the man smiled pompously. Seeing him showing off with a piece of rumor that had no real value, his size was already apparent.
“I can’t help but know because I have a wide network.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“…Ah, I…”
Probably unemployed. Submitting one document to a company and then going from club to club like a horny idler. He could guess from just one change in expression without having to hear the backstory.
“Well, just… I have a business going on. Anyway, be careful. If you get involved with the wrong people, your life could be over.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Business my ass. Jae-young, who burst into laughter without realizing it, turned around again.
“But did you sleep with that person? Looking at it, you seem like a one-night stand that’s over.”
Ah, why does he keep yapping? He was more uncomfortable with the content of what the man kept saying than the fact that he kept talking. No matter how much he tried to brush it off, he just couldn’t tolerate this.
“I guess I’m right. Ah, I should have told you earlier. That person…”
“Excuse me.”
“Yes, what is it?”
Jae-young, with a cooled expression, turned his body to face the man directly. The man responded with an innocently unsuitable gaze.
“I’m telling you this because I feel sorry for you. That person you were happily badmouthing just now is my lover.”
“…What?”
“So if you don’t want to suddenly find a hole in your stomach one day, watch your mouth.”
“…You’re lying, right? It looked like you were returning money to him earlier…”
His eyesight might be good, but his hearing doesn’t seem to be. Jae-young smiled calmly.
“Hyun-ssi is just like that.”
“…”
“Maybe it’s because he has a lot of money. When I said let’s break up, he sent me clothes and money. Why do you think I was in that low-level club? I was sticking around there to catch that bastard messing around with his dick.”
The man, eyes wide open, hardened his face. His appearance, with his mouth hanging open and stiffly frozen, was so funny that Jae-young could hardly suppress a laugh.
“So be careful on your way home at night. I’m really saying this because I feel sorry for you. I’ve seen more than a few people become disabled just for wagging their tongues wrong.”
It was too good to see alone—he wanted to take a picture to preserve the moment. Instead of acting on that impulse, Jae-young finally walked away with peace of mind. His words must have been quite shocking, as the man didn’t follow him even after he left the place.
After confirming that no one else was following him, Jae-young took out his phone. He pressed an unsaved number and immediately connected the call.
“Hello, Jae-young,” Ju-yeon answered before the third ring tone.
“Noona, can you track Sa Gong-hyun’s movements this week?”
“Yes.”
“Send me that file, please.”
This job was particularly more troublesome and complicated than others.
***
Jae-young manipulated the mouse with a bored expression. After clicking the left button a few times, a file immediately popped up. It was a rough schedule table containing Sa Gong-hyun’s weekly movements.
Even a quick glance showed it was well-organized enough to understand easily. Actually, rather than being well-organized, his schedule was emptier than expected.
Jae-young recalled what Ju-yeon had added over the phone:
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
