#37
“Haa… haa….”
Yeoul stood in front of Shin Taeon’s office, breathing heavily. The tightly closed iron door came into view. Most of the times he came here, he was forced to endure brutal beatings. So his feelings were complicated, but today urgency was greater. He clenched his fist and knocked on the door.
“Are you in?”
But the door remained as solid as if it would never open. His insides burning with impatience, Yeoul soon roughly grabbed and turned the door handle. Since no one was there, the handle wouldn’t turn and was solid.
“Did he go out…?”
Displeasure filled Yeoul’s eyes. Soon a steel pipe placed in the hallway caught his sight. Impulsive aggression was surging up. Without realizing it, Yeoul picked up that steel pipe. Then he fiercely struck the iron door.
Bang!
The collision sound rang out loudly. The iron door began to show scratched marks, but it only held firm like an iron fortress. Yeoul, who was already agitated, felt his insides burning even more. After hitting it several times, he suddenly stopped, feeling like he was wasting energy on something useless.
Also, there were other people in this commercial building, so it seemed like he would cause a disturbance. In the end, Yeoul sighed and carefully put the steel pipe back in its place.
“Do I have to wait longer?”
Yeoul sighed while looking at the sky spread out beyond the hallway window.
If he kept being away from his post like this, Eun Sajun would eventually find out he had fled and would interrogate him again. Moreover, since that man wasn’t normal either, he might cause trouble. He was curious about Yeojin’s whereabouts, but if danger befell him, that would be problematic in its own way.
He thought he should go back for today. Just as he was about to pass through the hallway powerlessly and go down the stairs.
“Huh? Geum Yeoul?”
Shin Taeon was looking at him with a surprised expression.
“How did you find your way here?”
He was full of bewilderment as if facing something completely unexpected.
“Why didn’t you answer the phone! I came because I was anxious.”
“What? Did you call me?”
Only then did Shin Taeon check his phone and twisted up the corner of his mouth.
“Ah, you did earlier. Do you like me?”
“What kind of thing is that to say?”
Like him…. Even as a joke, it was too horrifying.
“But why did you call so many times?”
“Because there was no contact after I gave you the code!”
“Were you worried I’d run away like this?”
Yeoul couldn’t bring himself to answer that he was. Shin Taeon’s eyebrows twitched and he climbed up the remaining stairs.
“Let’s go inside and talk first.”
* * *
Inside the office filled entirely with gray, not a bit of human warmth could be felt. Only an inhuman smell filled the space. Moreover, dark red bloodstains existed here and there on the floor. These were also traces of dragging debtors in and beating them.
Yeoul settled on the sofa and faced Shin Taeon. He tried his best to suppress and control the anger in his chest. It seemed like these Intermittent Explosive Disorder symptoms had been getting worse since meeting Eun Sajun.
Moreover, since Shin Taeon read his mind unpleasantly well and provoked him, he was anxious that impulses might arise. Shin Taeon opened the refrigerator door in the office, took out a health tonic, placed it on the table, and offered it to Yeoul.
“Drink it.”
“……”
When his heart was burning with urgency, there was no way this kind of thing would go down his throat. He just looked at the drink in silence.
“Why aren’t you drinking it? It’s drinkable.”
Shin Taeon put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. In an instant, the office was filled with white smoke. He scanned Yeoul from head to toe. It was a gaze full of displeasure. Soon his eyes fixed on Yeoul’s bandaged hand.
“Huh? What’s wrong with your hand? Are you injured?”
“Yes. There was a little incident.”
Yeoul felt awkward and put his bandaged hand under the table. Then, feeling like he should say what he came to say, he put strength in his eyes.
“I… did you check the code I gave you last time?”
“Yeah.”
“Now. Then… that’s it, right?”
“What’s done?”
“You said to find out the code instead of forgiving the debt….”
He thought he could finally escape from Eun Sajun now, but he was bewildered by Shin Taeon’s evasive answer.
Shin Taeon took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled. Unpleasant hazy smoke covered Yeoul’s face.
“No. I still need to verify whether that code is exactly correct.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Yeoul’s heart sank.
“You might have given me the wrong code.”
“I told you the numbers that were on that person’s body, didn’t I?”
“Right. But that doesn’t mean it’s 100% accurate. If it’s not, I’ll have to find out the code again. So stay by Eun Sajun’s side until we get definitive results.”
Just when he thought this life was over, it felt like he was falling back into the abyss of despair.
“You didn’t say anything like this last time! Then, how much longer do I have to wait?”
“It’ll take about a week.”
“What? That long?”
What could possibly take so much time to identify 8 numbers? It was too absurd.
“This is connected all the way to a Russian research facility, you see. Next Friday at 4 PM. Let’s meet at that cafe we agreed to meet at last time.”
“Haa….”
In the end, the time he had to stay by Eun Sajun’s side had increased even more. Yeoul was extremely dejected. Since he had been intimate with that man, his heart felt even more strange…. To have to be together more in this state….
“If you don’t want to see Geum Yeojin die, shut up and wait.”
Shin Taeon roughly frowned. Yeoul couldn’t continue speaking either. As long as Yeojin was held as a weakness, any further rebellion was impossible. The impulse arose to want to bash Shin Taeon’s head with the steel pipe that had been in the hallway just before, but he held back with effort.
For now, as long as his weakness was caught, he had no choice but to wait. In the end, Yeoul came out of the office with difficulty.
“Haa….”
As he came down the stairs, the cold winter wind swept over his body. It seemed to remind him of the grim reality. It felt like eternal darkness had settled before him. When would he ever be able to escape this life? Dejected, Yeoul suddenly raised his head to look at the sky. Contrary to his feelings, it was annoyingly clear.
He trudged outside like that. How far had he walked? A shadow fell before him and Song Hobin stood there. Yeoul’s eyes widened at his sudden appearance.
“Are you done with your business?”
At his sudden appearance, Yeoul’s eyes shook violently.
“Why are you here?”
“I was worried, so I followed you. Did you just come out of that building?”
Song Hobin looked at the building where Shin Taeon was and frowned deeply.
“Isn’t that an illegal loan shark business?”
He had told him not to follow earlier, but had he tailed him? Yeoul felt a headache coming on and shook his head.
“Ah… no… it’s not. It’s too late. Let’s go to the hospital now.”
Originally, he would have delivered the code and left Eun Sajun as planned, but since Shin Taeon had changed his words, he had to be careful with his actions.
Song Hobin also seemed to feel something suspicious from Yeoul’s attitude, his expression wasn’t good, but perhaps accepting it, he nodded.
“I understand.”
Yeoul got back in a taxi with Song Hobin’s help. And headed back to the prison-like hospital.
His feelings were complicated in many ways. Not only Shin Taeon’s attitude that changed like flipping the palm of his hand, but the fact that Song Hobin had followed him was even more uncomfortable. Although he had said it wasn’t a loan shark, the man seemed to continue being suspicious. He was afraid he might tell Eun Sajun about this fact.
Becoming anxious, Yeoul glanced at him sideways. Then their eyes met. Thinking “oh no,” Yeoul hurriedly turned his head away. Gradually, a strange heat began to circle in Song Hobin’s eyes.
“Baby-nim. Actually, there’s a secret exit in the CEO’s mansion.”
“Huh?”
Yeoul looked at him, wondering why he was suddenly saying such a thing.
“If you go into the north warehouse on the first floor, there’s a door inside, and if you go out through there, it leads directly outside.”
There was such a space in that mansion? Yeoul was extremely surprised.
“Really? How did you know that?”
“I saw the housekeepers going in and out through there after grocery shopping last time. That’s how I found out.”
“Ah….”
Was it simply made to make work more convenient? But it wasn’t like it was difficult to enter and exit through the main gate either, so he was confused about whether there was really a need to go that far. But right now, at this moment, a bigger question existed.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I just thought it would be good for Baby-nim to know.”
Song Hobin gave a kind eye-smile. It felt suspicious, as if he knew that Yeoul wanted to escape from Eun Sajun.
“I don’t need to know such things.”
Yeoul, who felt like his weakness had been caught for no reason, denied it and then looked out the car window.
The sky that had been clear just before was now dark as if covered with dark clouds. It seemed to hint at his future, making his state of mind even more complicated.
Bzzing.
At that moment, the phone Yeoul had put in his pocket began to ring. At the same time, his heart dropped. Currently, there was only one person who would call this phone. Only Eun Sajun. Yeoul swallowed and answered the phone.
“Hello?”
[Where are you right now.]
His voice was extremely cold.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
