***
Day broke. He had stayed up all night with his eyes wide open, as if the day of the final battle was right before him.
The endless night finally brightened. He rested his head on his chest to find his heartbeat while tossing and turning, and also admired his neatly lowered eyelashes.
Sa Gong-hyun woke up several times because Jae-young couldn’t easily fall asleep. The warm touch that burrowed under his T-shirt urged him to sleep as if saying “go to sleep soon,” but it had no particular effect.
Jae-young couldn’t fall asleep until the end, and Sa Gong-hyun got up after not even three hours. Jae-young, who had buried his nose in his nape and tickled his skin, greeted Sa Gong-hyun’s early morning with a smile.
Sa Gong-hyun began his preparations for work without fail that day too. Jae-young followed him around and helped with his preparations. The cheerful atmosphere remained unchanged, but somehow it was an unsettling morning.
He escorted Jae-young home on his way to work. Jae-young could only move his feet after seeing the back of the black sedan disappear.
Having confirmed the existence of the ledger, he needed to make contact with his group first. On his way to Ju-yeon’s workshop, he searched for the notebook he had seen the previous day on his phone.
“Why isn’t it here…”
Jae-young, who had been endlessly scrolling, frowned. He thought it would be relatively easy to find because it had an embossed pattern, but it was rather challenging.
Whether it was custom-made or not, he couldn’t find a similar hardcover notebook no matter how much he looked.
As he was irritably messing up his hair, a taxi that had been roughly crossing the road stopped. Jae-young paid the amount shown on the meter and got out of the taxi.
Before heading to Ju-yeon’s workshop, he first stopped at a large stationery store. He picked up material that was as similar as possible to what he had felt with his fingertips that day. Although there was no notebook that felt exactly similar, he had no other option.
After purchasing a hardcover notebook, he headed to Ju-yeon’s workshop. Jae-young, who had climbed the stairs and reached the door, deliberately crumpled his face, which was soaked in fatigue. From beyond the closed door, raised voices were flowing out.
“…What’s going on? Why are they like that?”
The entrance with the unlocked password was somehow suspicious. He opened the door and hurriedly entered the workshop.
The voice that had been clamorous enough to split his eardrums until just a moment ago suddenly stopped. Seung-kwon and Ju-yeon closed their mouths as if they had planned it together.
“Why are you fighting? Did something happen between you two?”
“…Nothing happened.”
Ju-yeon, unable to suppress her anger, turned her back with a hardened face. Seung-kwon belatedly tried to smooth over the situation, but he wasn’t foolish enough not to notice that the atmosphere between the two wasn’t the same as before.
Jae-young picked up the half-finished Americano placed on the round table. He kept a close eye on the two while sucking the coffee through the straw.
“Why, is something not working out?”
“I said it’s nothing. What brings you here?”
“It doesn’t seem like nothing…”
Jae-young mumbled while chewing on the straw.
“Since there were no issues, it is nothing. I asked for a briefing because it’s important, but you weren’t there. Im Ju-yeon, am I working with amateurs?”
Seung-kwon said crushingly in an irritable tone while exhaling a long sigh. Ju-yeon, who had been showing only her back all along, turned around while sweeping back her hair.
“…That’s why I asked you to tell me in advance if it’s so important.”
Fatigue accumulated further in Ju-yeon’s voice. Although the response was subtly delayed, it wasn’t so strange if one considered that she was trying to suppress her anger.
“Shit, how am I supposed to tell you in advance when I don’t know when something’s going to happen?”
“Stop fighting already.”
As Seung-kwon persisted in attacking Ju-yeon, Jae-young, who couldn’t stand it anymore, chimed in. He shook his head and put the coffee down on the table.
“I confirmed the ledger. It is indeed in there.”
Jae-young walked to the sofa and sat down. Then he took out a hardcover notebook from the paper shopping bag.
“I did go to the stationery store and buy a similar notebook, but the material of that one was more luxurious. It seems like it was custom-made.”
Seung-kwon and Ju-yeon, who had been far apart, approached Jae-young. Jae-young, who was looking up types of patterns on his phone, showed the pattern that appeared on the screen to Seung-kwon and Ju-yeon.
“Well, it had this kind of gold-foiled pattern on it. Can we produce this on our side too? Even though it’s just for deception, it would be better if it could buy us more time.”
Then he drew the size of the pattern on the scratch paper that was scattered on the low table.
“The size is about… this big, I guess.”
He moved his lowered head away and compared it with the hardcover notebook. He lifted only his eyes to examine Seung-kwon and Ju-yeon’s faces.
“I have a list of candidates narrowed down. Oppa, could you work on it once production starts?”
“Sure.”
The exchanged dialogue was somehow dry. Hmm, Jae-young narrowed his eyes while elongating the nasal sound.
“D-day is in ten days. We must finish this time, no matter what. Before Han Ju-seong makes the first move. Take this while you’re here. Review it in advance.”
“…”
“Go ahead first, and I’ll follow.”
Jae-young continued with a brief silence as he looked at the map that Seung-kwon had offered. What he offered was an escape route. Several routes were suggested to prevent any unexpected storms that might come.
The reason Seung-kwon joined later would be for the meeting with the client. And also to hand over Sa Gong-hyun’s activities to the prosecution to achieve their purpose.
A feeling of unease belatedly surged. Where would he keep the USB? Since it’s an important item, he would definitely carry it on his person. His gaze blankly scanned Seung-kwon’s body.
Suddenly, their eyes met. Jae-young raised his eyebrows cunningly and nodded his head.
***
Time never flowed slowly. They say time is fair to everyone, but Jae-young had no time to understand why it felt so harsh to him.
Some days he became someone’s loving partner, and on other days and times, he became a deceiver roaming the streets.
If there was a problem, it was that there was less and less time to contact his group for conspiracy. He thought he could contact them while his lover was at work, but that day’s plotting was the last.
Sa Gong-hyun was always attached to his side, mechanically repeating that it was fine even when asked if he should go to work.
“I’m sorry. I have assignments piling up, so I think I need to go home today.”
“I have enough wealth to support a single Do Jae-young even if you don’t live so desperately.”
“Just hearing that makes me feel secure, but today is really not possible. Let’s meet comfortably after I finish my assignments.”
If he had known this would happen, he would have disguised himself as an intern employee of a small company. At least it would have been easier to send him away than when he was a student.
He smiled faintly toward Sa Gong-hyun, who was standing with his brow furrowed as if something was highly disagreeable. He looked like a child whining for someone to stay by his side, despite not looking the part. Of course, the tenor was very different from a child’s tantrums.
“You can wait well, right?”
“I feel like an unwanted nephew. Even a child wouldn’t be coaxed that way.”
“Do you know how to coax someone, Hyun-ssi?”
“Either attract attention with a more stimulating toy or…”
Sa Gong-hyun, who had been leaning against the car, took one step closer. The streetlight was blocked, casting shadows on his face.
“Or satisfy the urge to act out in another direction at least.”
A cold hand climbed up his nape. Sa Gong-hyun’s head tilted. Naturally lifting his chin, he welcomed the lips.
Jae-young’s laughter flowed between their pressed lips. Though the invading tongue captured the sound waves as soon as it burst.
The kiss was quite intense. Jae-young, who had unconsciously caressed Sa Gong-hyun’s forearm, pressed his upper body even closer. When he lifted his lower jaw even more, wanting to swallow even the breath escaping between his teeth, Sa Gong-hyun painfully bit his lip.
“…Ah!”
Jae-young deliberately let out an exclamation and pulled his head back. His lower lip felt numb. There was also a metallic taste, suggesting his lip had split.
“This is punishment. Contact me before the bite mark heals.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
