#16
Entering the bedroom, Yeoul sat on the sofa like a doll with broken joints.
“Huu.”
At least he came alone, so he could catch his breath. Eun Sajun had said he had things to do and told him to return to the room first. Yeoul moved according to his orders. While he was going up the stairs, bodyguards in black suits came in. They were loading Baek Cheonhui’s corpse onto a stretcher. Whether they experienced this often, they were all calm. This made Yeoul feel bewildered once more.
Baek Cheonhui’s final moments kept flickering before his eyes. It overlapped with the scene where Shin Taeon had beaten a debtor to death in the past. No, perhaps now was even worse than then.
Shin Taeon was naturally rough and violent, so it could be understandable. He hadn’t expected Eun Sajun to be such a scumbag too.
The person who had slapped his cheek just a few hours ago had become a corpse…
Thinking about it now, Baek Cheonhui hadn’t left that time but had been confined in this mansion. Yeoul was rather dull and couldn’t have imagined such a thing, so he hadn’t noticed at all.
Why on earth had Eun Sajun confined and murdered Baek Cheonhui? Rather, it was he who had broken the contract and should have apologized to Baek Cheonhui. Had he made this choice because that situation irritated him?
Yeoul was confused and felt like his head would explode.
And…
Feeling an intense sense of déjà vu from the sight of Eun Sajun covered in Baek Cheonhui’s blood, he pressed his forehead.
A man he had encountered by chance long ago came to mind. Exactly when was that… Yeoul closed his eyes and searched his memory.
That day was a spring when rain drizzled down.
Fifteen-year-old Yeoul had attacked Park Hyeonjin who had bullied Yeojin, but was stopped by a teacher’s intervention right after. At the same time, fear rose within him about his own violence. Judging that escaping from here was the best option, Yeoul shook off the teacher’s hand and ran. Having left the school, he was catching his breath under a tree in a nearby park.
What would happen to him now? Would he be expelled? Would he go to juvenile detention? What if Park Hyeonjin died? When various anxious thoughts were tormenting him like specters, he felt someone’s presence behind him.
Startled, Yeoul turned around. A tall man was standing there. For some reason, he couldn’t remember his face well, but he seemed to have an unrealistic beauty. However, contrary to his handsome image, he was wearing military uniform.
He looked at the name tag on Yeoul’s left chest and raised the corners of his mouth.
‘So you’re Geum Yeoul.’
That voice, like entering a cave, didn’t feel human.
‘Who did you do such a pretty thing for?’
At the man’s question, young Yeoul tilted his head.
‘What? What do you mean…’
He had come after doing something that deserved criticism rather than being called a pretty thing. He suddenly wondered where this man had witnessed his actions. If so, it couldn’t be called a pretty thing even more, which was puzzling.
The man came a little closer. And he grabbed Yeoul’s chin. Flustered by the sudden touch, Yeoul shook off his hand.
‘Why, why are you doing this?’
At that thick scent, Yeoul felt intense dizziness. It felt like his body was floating in the air. Soon the man’s head tilted sideways and he pressed his lips to Yeoul’s nape and bit it.
‘Ahh…’
Feeling a stinging sensation at the same time, Yeoul lost consciousness. When he woke up again, he was in a hospital. At that time, rather than being bitten on the nape by a suspicious man, the consequences he had to face due to the assault he had committed came rushing at him frantically, so he had closed off that memory.
Why did that day suddenly come to mind?
Yeoul was rubbing his temples with a queasy heart when the bedroom door opened and Eun Sajun entered.
Tension came to Yeoul, who had been calming down for a moment. Eun Sajun sat right next to Yeoul.
Yeoul was momentarily startled and his body flinched, but he tried his best not to show it. Soon he took Yeoul’s hand. It was very hot. It wasn’t at a level that could simply be said to have high body temperature. Was he sick somewhere? Yeoul glanced at his face. But his complexion was fine.
“Hmm…”
Eun Sajun began fiddling with Yeoul’s fingers. Yeoul was tense, not knowing what unexpected action he might take.
“Do you still have the ring you took last time?”
“What? Oh!”
He seemed to be talking about the ring Shin Taeon had told him to bring. Currently, that ring had left his hands when his uncle delivered it to Shin Taeon. But unable to say this fact, Yeoul rolled his eyes and came up with an appropriate answer.
“Yes… It’s at my family home.”
According to Shin Taeon, it was a relic of Eun Sajun’s mother, so he began to worry that he might ask for it back.
“I see. Well, the size doesn’t fit anyway, so it would be awkward to wear. I’ll get you a ring fitted later.”
“What? No, it’s fine.”
They weren’t lovers or married, so he didn’t understand what ring he was talking about giving him. It was burdensome.
“Huh?”
At Yeoul’s refusal, Eun Sajun tilted his head as if puzzled.
“Didn’t you like rings?”
“I do like them… I like them, but…”
Gradually, Eun Sajun’s face became cold. It was as if the coldness of Antarctica had blown all the way here.
“Yes… I understand. I’ll gratefully accept it.”
In the end, Yeoul answered reluctantly. At the same time, Eun Sajun’s eyes became warm as if spring had arrived, and the corners of his mouth rose softly into a smile. Then he gripped Yeoul’s hand a little more strongly. His heat could be felt completely.
“Then, let’s change your phone too now.”
“What? No. As I told you last time, it’s still not inconvenient to use and it’s fine.”
“I want to have couple phones with the same model as mine.”
“Is there really a need to do that?”
Following the ring, it was an absurd proposal.
“For a baby to be conceived quickly, emotional communion between us is important. For that, it would be good if even small accessories felt special. So let’s change your phone.”
As he thought last time, if communion was this important, he could find a real spouse and get married instead of a contract, so why was he doing this?
Most importantly, couple phones didn’t seem like they would have much influence on conceiving a baby… It felt like coercion disguised as sweetness.
“I’ll transfer your contacts and data as is, so don’t worry.”
It was such a troublesome proposal. He needed to contact Shin Taeon regularly, and in the process of changing phones, the fact that he was communicating with him might be discovered. Also, when leaving this mansion in 25 days, he would have to return the phone, but he would need to delete the communication records with Shin Taeon, and even if deleted, data might remain.
Even if he explained the situation to Shin Taeon, he wasn’t someone Yeoul could control. So unexpected calls might come.
“Hmm…”
Eun Sajun, who had been looking at Yeoul, made a suspicious expression.
“Why? Is there something you want to hide?”
“No, no… There isn’t…”
Yeoul, hit right on target, shook his head roughly.
“Looking at your face makes me even more curious.”
At his mischievous remark, Yeoul felt his heart grow colder.
“Let’s change it tomorrow.”
Eun Sajun, who had arbitrarily notified him, stood up from his seat. Naturally, their clasped hands were also released. And he frowned deeply as if somewhere was uncomfortable, then wiped away the sweat that had formed on his forehead.
“I’ll go take some medicine for a moment, so rest.”
“Medicine? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“It’s nothing serious, just a bit.”
He smiled awkwardly and soon left the bedroom.
Left alone, Yeoul was unnecessarily concerned. Where was he feeling unwell? Had he caught a cold? Yeoul wondered if he should nurse him. But would someone sick harm Baek Cheonhui so mercilessly? Yeoul shook his head, thinking he shouldn’t worry unnecessarily.
More than that, his phone was about to be exposed now. If Eun Sajun found out that he was communicating with Shin Taeon, then… His violent appearance came to mind like a stranglehold.
What to do, what to do, what to do.
“Ah!”
Yeoul, who had been worrying, had a solution to break through this situation flash like lightning. A red madness also appeared in his pupils. It was an extreme choice, but it couldn’t be helped. Yeoul stood up from his seat.
And he quickly took his phone and approached the window. In the middle of the well-decorated garden, there was a space where stones were arranged like a tower. Yeoul thought this was it.
First, he had to go down to the first floor. He considered going out through the front door, but the staff who had been disposing of Baek Cheonhui’s corpse might still be there, and he might encounter Eun Sajun. So Yeoul opened the window. There was a bare tree across from him.
He quickly put his body on the window frame and crossed over to the other side via the tree.
And he quickly climbed down the tree. Yeoul’s small feet touched the stone floor.
“Huu…”
After looking around once more, Yeoul picked up a stone that was near the stone tower. And he put his phone on the ground and struck down at the screen. With a thud! sound, the screen cracked like a spider web. But Yeoul didn’t stop and continued to strike the phone.
Now, in this situation, to hide the data, there was no choice but to handle it physically.
Actually, he had considered throwing the phone to the ground. When he used to work part-time at a cafe, he had dropped his phone while cleaning the second-floor terrace. But what kind of phone was like what kind of brick – not a single part of the screen was damaged and it was fine. Of course, the battery drained faster than before, but the data wasn’t damaged and there was no major problem using it. So to properly destroy this, this was the only way.
Gaining momentum, Yeoul struck the phone like a crazy person. Was that sound quite loud? Someone approached.
“What are you doing right now?”
Startled, Yeoul stopped his hands and looked behind him. It was Secretary Kim. He had a surprised expression as if he had encountered a scene from a horror movie.
It was a difficult situation. Yeoul momentarily had an impulse to strike Secretary Kim’s head with the stone too. The moment strength entered his hands, he barely regained his reason. He shouldn’t do this.
If he thought of Yeojin, reckless acts were forbidden. Yeoul barely swallowed his instincts that were boiling up like magma. And he gently lowered the stone he was holding to the ground.
“I dropped my phone and was looking for where it was.”
“But why were you holding a stone?”
Secretary Kim was bewildered as if he had seen a scene he shouldn’t have seen. Yeoul broke out in cold sweat and gave an answer.
“I thought it might be around here, so I was just poking around the stones. I finally found it just now.”
Yeoul, who answered calmly, picked up his destroyed phone.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
