10 – Take 5 (Extra)

“It’s you.”

“What are you talking about, out of nowhere? You just barged in here.”

The one who flung open the door to the prosecutor’s office was Kim Hanse. Woo-jin, who had been discussing work with Chief Hwang, turned toward him as he approached, breathing heavily. In Kim Hanse’s hand was the investigation report on the corruption of Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, who had recently received a prestigious alumni award.

“Why did this end up with me? Who else is there? Who else would do something like this?”

Kim Hanse snarled fiercely. Woo-jin snorted dismissively.

“It wasn’t me, but whoever it was, shouldn’t you be grateful? You’d never have uncovered it even if you’d died and come back to life.”

“An investigation that ignores illegal procedures, illegal wiretaps, protocols, internal regulations, and approvals is not an investigation.”

“Then pretend you don’t know.”

“What?”

Kim Hanse flared up, breathing heavily as if he were about to grab Woo-jin by the collar. His eyes seemed to burn red with barely contained anger. The elderly Chief Hwang, who had been watching from behind, cautiously stood up and approached to mediate.

“Prosecutor, our prosecutor knows nothing about this. He’s been so busy lately with tracking investigations. Our prosecutor hasn’t been able to sleep properly for days.”

Woo-jin patted Chief Hwang’s shoulder, who had stepped between him and Kim Hanse to try to stop the argument, gesturing for him to step aside. Chief Hwang awkwardly retreated.

“If you can’t do it because it was uncovered through illegal investigations and wiretaps, then just bury it. No one told you to do it, so why all this fuss? If it goes against your principles, just don’t do it.”

“If this gets exposed, you’ll take a hit too.”

Kim Hanse spoke with a suddenly serious expression. It almost sounded like he was worried about Woo-jin.

“So you’re saying someone leaked it to you knowing I’d take a hit? That doesn’t make sense. I’m just nuclear waste trash with no blood or tears in your eyes.”

“Yeah, you’re human trash.”

“Human or trash, why would I risk taking a hit myself to leak intelligence to you? Why would I do something so pointless?”

“You’ve probably already cut the tail. You’re trying to take down Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo, aren’t you? You couldn’t do it yourself, so you leaked it to me. Am I wrong?”

“I’m part of Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo’s line. If he falls, you’ll get to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office before I do, and I don’t want to see that happen.”

“…….”

“Don’t go after innocent people, go after the guilty ones.”

The sharp eyes that had been piercing through Woo-jin’s intentions turned away. Kim Hanse slammed the door shut and left. A slightly distorted, contemptuous expression surfaced on his face.

A good, honest, upright man. A man who can’t stand injustice. A man who stakes his life on realizing justice. The kind of true prosecutor this era wants.

That was the evaluation Kim Hanse received when he received some award from the Prosecutor General—Prosecutor of the Year or Prosecutor of the Month or something.

For some reason, Kim Hanse, who acted like that and still hadn’t been pushed out of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s Intelligence Division, was Woo-jin’s junior colleague who had competed with him for top ranks at the training institute. Woo-jin distinctly remembered feeling quite disgusted when Kim Hanse, who everyone thought would become a judge after graduation, applied to become a prosecutor instead.

“I really don’t understand. Where else would you find someone as good as our prosecutor? Human trash? What human trash? Prosecutor Kim Hanse has such a foul mouth if you watch him quietly.”

Chief Hwang grumbled, displeased that Kim Hanse had chased him to another prosecutor’s office and humiliated and disgraced his superior in front of the practical officer he employed.

“Well, I must look like human trash to the Apostle of Justice who plays it safe. Haven’t you seen Kim Hanse confront the Prosecutor General? I could never imitate that.”

Although Woo-jin brushed off Kim Hanse’s evaluation of him as insignificant, he wasn’t actually in a good mood. Regardless, he simply didn’t like Kim Hanse’s upright investigation methods, but objectively, he acknowledged his abilities. Precisely because he acknowledged them, he was bothered by that person’s evaluation of him.

“And does that make sense? Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo is the very line that will get our prosecutor to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. There’s no way our prosecutor would leak those corruption materials, right?”

“Personally, I’d prefer it if Kim Hanse didn’t touch Chief Prosecutor Park’s case, but you know his personality. He just won’t let it go.”

“Tsk, whoever it is… To leak that to Prosecutor Kim, how clever, so clever.”

“Exactly. We should consider it over.”

Woo-jin erased Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo from the mental list. The materials that had flowed to Kim Hanse were things Woo-jin had collected through illegal channels without the practical officer’s knowledge.

Woo-jin often leaked troublesome things he couldn’t handle himself to Kim Hanse. Because he knew Kim Hanse wouldn’t yield to external pressure and would somehow handle it, and because, although he didn’t know what backing kept him afloat, if Kim Hanse really fell out of favor, he could be sent to some remote countryside branch office—something Woo-jin would find unpleasant just to look at. This was truly killing two birds with one stone.

Woo-jin didn’t regard him as a competitor or rival to be wary of; he simply disliked him from the start and despised Kim Hanse’s personality. He hated his foolishness in prioritizing fairness and principle while missing what was important. Of course, such recklessly good and righteous people were probably necessary, but it was a story that didn’t work for those actually ruling from above.

To change the world that way, the efforts of one person, their passion, even pouring their entire life into it, wouldn’t be enough. Unlike him, Woo-jin knew well that to realize justice, illegality must be piled upon illegality.

Woo-jin possessed flexible thinking that could justify means and methods for the purpose, while Kim Hanse, who didn’t, believed purposes achieved that way were meaningless. He called Woo-jin human trash, and Woo-jin called Kim Hanse an idiot.

“It’s late, you should go home now. Starting tomorrow, make a chart in order of case progress and compile a list of people involved.”

“Yes, of course. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After the practical officers, including Chief Hwang, left work, Woo-jin remained alone in the office. He often stayed alone in the office. Overtime and all-nighters were routine.

Cases awaiting his processing were piled up, and even more cases were set aside, waiting for their three-month validity period without being reviewed. This was the extent of it even though general criminal cases had decreased significantly since he joined the Special Investigation Division.

On top of that, targeted investigations, planned investigations, intelligence investigations—just the ongoing ones alone numbered over five urgent cases. The officetel he’d secured near the District Prosecutors’ Office had long since been reduced to a changing room.

He hastily ate dinner with kimbap bought by the office manager and sat at his desk, sifting through the internal investigation materials on Han-gyeong Group. He planned to adjust the investigation speed and blow things up as a follow-up as soon as Kim Hanse targeted Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo.

Kim Hanse had spoken as if Woo-jin were manipulating everything behind the scenes. With animal-like intuition, he eerily sensed things even Chief Hwang, who worked with him, couldn’t guess. That’s why Woo-jin disliked Kim Hanse but couldn’t ignore him.

In the quiet office where he remained alone, his phone vibrated.

It was an unknown number.

Woo-jin, who had been waiting for contact from a finance team employee willing to give unfavorable testimony regarding Han-gyeong Group’s slush funds, assumed it was that person and answered the call.

“Hello.”

—…….

“Hello. Please speak.”

He waited patiently, but the other person said nothing. Woo-jin looked down at his phone screen and simply ended the call. If they felt like testifying, they’d call again anyway. He didn’t want to push too hard. After waiting a bit, as expected, the phone rang again. He answered slowly.

“Yes.”

—…….

“I promise protection, compensation, and follow-up measures based on the public interest report.”

—…….

“Hello?”

The other person didn’t answer. He sighed inaudibly. He couldn’t understand the intention of not saying anything when the number was clearly displayed. Then, his brow hardened.

“Are you in a situation where it’s difficult to speak? I’ll start tracking the location of this number now.”

As soon as he mentioned starting location tracking, the call abruptly ended. Woo-jin contacted the Criminal Investigation Unit. He instructed them to approach carefully as it was an important informant and provided the phone number. About an hour later, a call came from the responsible police sergeant at the Criminal Investigation Unit.

—Good work. This is Kim Seo-kho from the Criminal Investigation Unit. Yes, we found them, but it seems like a prank call. It’s some young woman. A civilian who’s been drinking. What should we do?

“A young woman? It was an informant call to my number. Could you ask how they got this number?”

Regarding Han-gyeong Group’s slush funds, the informant Woo-jin was waiting for was known to be a deputy manager of the finance team. The Han-gyeong finance team deputy manager was a middle-aged man in his forties living in Mok-dong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. His wife was an academy instructor, and they had two children—one in high school and one in middle school.

The police sergeant from the Criminal Investigation Unit, without hanging up, asked someone how they knew Woo-jin’s phone number and made a prank call. After a moment of murmuring from the other side, someone took over the phone.

—I did it.

“…….”

Woo-jin, who had been looking over the internal investigation materials with a pen in hand until then, raised his head at the unexpected voice. He stared sharply at a point in the air.

He put the pen he was holding to his lips. An unreadable expression, neither a smile nor a frown, appeared on his face.

—I said I did it.

“Who are you?”

He took the pen from his lips and twirled it in his hand. A smile surfaced on Woo-jin’s face.

—Don’t know who I am? Then it’s fine if you don’t.

The voice was still arrogant, barely suppressing irritation. Woo-jin liked that insolent side of Moon Hae-won but didn’t want to indulge it anymore.

“Put Sergeant Kim back on.”

Hae-won was silent. Having gone to such lengths to call and test him, Hae-won must have been terribly hurt by Woo-jin’s cold reaction.

Moon Hae-won had never begged anyone before, never clung to anyone. He was too accustomed to receiving to know what giving was like.

Woo-jin commanded in an increasingly sinking voice.

“I said put Sergeant Kim back on.”

—……Is that all you have to say?

“Switch the call.”

—Is that my fault? Who acted in a way that could be misunderstood? It was a situation anyone would misunderstand.

It must have been a situation anyone would misunderstand.

Woo-jin also remembered encountering Hae-won at the swimming pool that day. But he never dreamed Hae-won would have witnessed him with So-young in the lounge.

It was extremely unpleasant. Hae-won’s unpredictability wasn’t a first.

Hae-won knew too many things he shouldn’t know, things that wouldn’t do him any good to know. He knew about the relationship between Lee Tae-shin and Woo-jin. Moon Hae-won kept exceeding his expectations. He said unexpected things, took unexpected actions. As usual, Woo-jin didn’t like developments that strayed from his expectations.

“Don’t make trouble. Switch the call.”

—……I’m sorry.

And now, he throws another unexpected punch. Woo-jin felt the anger he’d felt toward Hae-won, who treated him like trash, melt away in an instant. He hung up.

I’m sorry.

It was an unexpected counterattack. He hadn’t expected the words “I’m sorry” to come out this quickly. It had only been a week. If anything, Woo-jin had inwardly thought he’d never hear from him again.

Hae-won’s unpredictability lay in this. He sharply attacked Woo-jin’s vulnerable spots that Woo-jin himself hadn’t even been aware of. After a brief delay, Woo-jin called Sergeant Kim.

“This is Hyun Woo-jin.”

—Yes, Prosecutor.

“I’m sorry. That person is a suspect I recently had placed under Mental Evaluation Detention, and I think he holds a grudge against me.”

—Oh, I see, is that so?

“I didn’t know he’d call with a changed number. I was waiting for an important informant call. I’m sorry for causing you trouble. It was my mistake.”

—Oh, no, no. It’s fine. Don’t mention it.

“I made you take a pointless trip while you’re busy.”

—We happened to be nearby anyway, it’s nothing.

Woo-jin politely apologized to Sergeant Kim and hung up. He noted down the number that had called. He didn’t know whose it was, but since Moon Hae-won had borrowed the phone, he needed to record it.

He got up from his seat, stretched his stiffened shoulders and neck as if he’d been sitting in one place for too long, and made a call somewhere. Standing by the window, he looked out at the darkened lawn in front of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office and the stream of cars with headlights flickering back and forth.

“It’s me.”

—Ah, yes.

The man answered, swallowing something as if he’d been eating dinner.

“Your report is late. Report once an hour, please. It seems he moved locations. Where is he?”

—He didn’t move locations, but he joined two women. They don’t seem to know each other. The women insisted on sitting together and drinking, and I was just about to report, but two men came, asked something, and left. Since I was eating, I didn’t hear the details. It seemed they had business with the women, not the target.

“I see. You can’t take your eyes off him even for a moment. You must report everything thoroughly and in detail. What he eats, what he drinks, whether it’s soju, beer, what side dishes he eats—everything.”

—Oh, sorry. The target is moving. I’ll report thoroughly.

The magnet attached to Moon Hae-won hurriedly hung up.

Thirty minutes later, a text came in saying Moon Hae-won had entered a bar near the hotel.

[Some man is approaching] – 9:30 PM

As he was reading the real-time text messages, a call came from Hae-won. Woo-jin didn’t answer. He let it linger. A second call came, and a text from the magnet was also received.

[Some man is touching the target’s shoulders and back, getting close] – 9:43 PM

A third call came, and this time, a fourth. He pressed answer.

—Someone’s buying me bread. What should I do? Can I just eat what they give me? You said no. You said no to anyone else, that you’d wipe out their entire family. Now, right now……, right now it’s okay, right? Are we over? We were together for a year.

Hae-won’s voice was choked up as if he were about to burst into tears. He was soaked in alcohol. Swaying from the liquor, he poured out his true feelings to Woo-jin. Woo-jin’s face was reflected in the window. He didn’t hide the smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t call. It’s distracting.”

Woo-jin spoke in a cold voice, as if watching the scene with his own eyes.

—Are we really over?

“I’ll block you, so delete my number too.”

—You said not to take my clothes off in front of other guys……, can I take them off now?

“Hang up.”

—Hyung…….

The magnet’s text was late.

Even though he said to hang up, Woo-jin didn’t end the call. He quietly held his breath and savored the choked sobs coming from the other end of the phone.

Hae-won was crying. Moon Hae-won was crying because of him. Woo-jin felt a thrilling pleasure. It had been a while since he’d felt this excited. He held his breath and listened to Hae-won’s choked sobs. He only knew Hae-won was good with his hands, but his voice, tinged with tears, was even better to listen to than his playing.

Woo-jin found this situation very interesting. He’d felt this interested when watching the chief prosecutor being urgently arrested and dragged away by the inspection bureau. That man, who had repeatedly obstructed his investigations, was now serving a prison sentence. After his release, Woo-jin had cut off his livelihood so he couldn’t even practice law.

—I was wrong. I……, I was wrong.

Without even realizing it, Moon Hae-won was begging. There were times Woo-jin wanted to make him kneel. He wanted to make him cry and beg, and hearing this kind of pleading, not in bed, wasn’t bad either.

Woo-jin didn’t give any response. Not yet. The relationship with Moon Hae-won needed more consideration. Woo-jin had spent, and wanted to spend, more time on him than he’d planned. His plans kept going awry.

Being with Moon Hae-won made it hard to stay sane. Because it was lowly, he tried to keep his distance from Moon Hae-won. Then, when he felt like it, he thought he’d just accept and hug him appropriately, but with Hae-won acting like this, he was realizing that “appropriately” was an impossible premise from the start.

—Was it such a wrong thing that we could end it this easily? You know I say things without thinking, Hyung.

When Moon Hae-won called him a ‘dog,’ Woo-jin understood what turmoil was. There had been times when he wanted to get rid of someone because they were unnecessary, but it was truly the first time he felt a murderous impulse purely driven by emotional turbulence.

It was grating how Hae-won kept provoking him like this, and how he found himself reacting to every single provocation. When he was with Hae-won, his own self, swept away by emotions, felt unfamiliar. It was because of Hae-won that he learned emotions he had believed he never possessed existed within him too.

Woo-jin called that name in a low voice.

“Hae-won.”

—I miss you. I miss you so much I could die.

Did calling that name stimulate something somewhere?

Hae-won clung on with a voice thick with tears. He was letting his emotions overflow, as if playing the violin.

He hadn’t known that words like ‘I miss you so much I could die,’ words he had no desire to empathize with, could unsettle a person like this.

“This is uncomfortable.”

Woo-jin meant it. He was uncomfortable with Moon Hae-won, who kept poking at parts of him that weren’t rational.

—You son of a bitch.

“…….”

—What’s so easy for you? I’m dying here, but you, what’s so easy for you?

“Whether it was a misunderstanding or the truth, you’re the one who didn’t even look back.”

For the time being, he needed to keep his distance from Hae-won. His work couldn’t be disrupted. He also had to fix Hae-won’s habit of acting out on his own. Only then could he control Moon Hae-won, and control himself. Strictly managing the situation and making it move according to his will wasn’t a principle that applied only to Hae-won.

If he couldn’t even control such trivial personal emotions, it would affect future plans, and a small hole would eventually collapse the entire framework. It was a time to be more cautious than ever.

—I was scared, I’m telling you. I was scared you might really be like that, that you might be that kind of person. Do you know how I felt then? I didn’t know what to do, that’s why.

“Not knowing what to do means abandoning me?”

—That’s not it.

“If it were true. If I really had that kind of relationship with Ha-young’s younger sister, then abandoning me would be natural, right?”

—…….

“You treated me like trash.”

—No.

“Stop it. I’m hanging up.”

What did it mean to be scared he might really be that kind of person?

Did it mean that meeting the younger sister of his deceased fiancée was wrong?

Woo-jin found it extremely difficult to understand the language and emotions of ordinary people. He had grasped the universal, but other cases were hard to explain logically and impossible to memorize conceptually.

After pressing the end call button, Woo-jin, unable to understand the meaning behind Hae-won’s words about being scared he might be that kind of person, remained motionless, standing there for a while gazing out the window.

“I’ll try to handle it somehow.”

—It seems GHB and speed have been delivered. They just went in.

It was a report that Moon Hae-won had followed a man he met at a bar into a motel. The man had ordered methamphetamine with GHB. It was a headache. He thought not seeing each other would reduce things to worry about, but controlling Hae-won while not seeing each other was several times more draining.

“Chief, this is Hyun Woo-jin, an investigator from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division. I’m sorry for contacting you at this late hour.”

—What brings you to call? What time is it now?

The watch on his wrist pointed to around ten at night.

Last year, he had handled the police chief’s misconduct with a non-indictment and quietly covered it up. The police chief owed Woo-jin a debt, and Woo-jin collected on that debt whenever needed. Of course, he didn’t request anything the chief would find difficult to handle. He contacted him for matters that could be sufficiently handled within the chief’s authority and had no legal issues, using minor requests to constantly remind him that he held his weaknesses and who was above whom in the power hierarchy.

“I called because I have a request. I need you to conduct a crackdown on prostitution.”

—Why a prostitution crackdown all of a sudden? We had a large-scale crackdown not long ago.

“Just one place is enough. K Motel in District D. There’s something I need to retrieve, and the person staying at K Motel has it. If a prostitution crackdown happens, I’ll just take what I need.”

—I’ll send an officer from the nearby police station.

“No. Please send Criminal Investigation Unit Sergeant Kim Seok-ho.”

—Who? Criminal Investigation Unit Kim Seok-ho?

“Yes. He’s on duty today.”

—Understood. That kind of thing, I can do as much as you need.

It wasn’t asking him to break the law; a prostitution crackdown order was something easily resolved for him with just a phone call while sitting down. He ended the call with the chief.

He contacted the magnet he had attached to Hae-won and told him a prostitution crackdown would happen soon, so wait.

Sitting back at his desk to start work, he couldn’t focus at all. The text message that Hae-won had held hands with a man he just met and gone into a motel wouldn’t leave his mind. A motel, of all places. Moon Hae-won, who wouldn’t even sleep unless it was a hotel, went into a cheap motel. And held hands.

What kind of hand was that? It meant some guy he’d never seen before was holding and touching that noble, extraordinary hand that one should risk blindness to even touch.

The pen held between Woo-jin’s fingers snapped in two with a snap.

“…….”

Moon Hae-won must be struggling in his own way to forget him.

It was an unexpected side effect. He should be holed up at home crying quietly, but getting drunk, holding hands with a man, and going into a motel was an unpleasant development he hadn’t anticipated. And on top of that, the other party had GHB and stimulants.

Woo-jin knew well what happened when Moon Hae-won got excited.

He stood up. He put on his jacket, grabbed his car keys and phone. His steps toward the parking lot were hurried.

In front of K Motel, a police car was parked with its lights flashing. Two police officers must have been rummaging inside, as a man and woman, barely clothed in their underwear, ran out into the hallway covering their faces, brushing past him as they fled.

The magnet he had privately hired was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have left upon seeing the crackdown. Arriving at the room number the magnet had given him, Woo-jin opened the half-open door.

“Prosecutor Hyun Woo-jin.”

“Ah, I’m Sergeant Kim Seok-ho from the Criminal Investigation Unit who called earlier.”

A man whose appearance made it hard to tell if he was a criminal or a detective firmly shook Woo-jin’s outstretched hand. His thick palm had many calluses. Gripping it felt like holding a bear’s paw, not a human hand.

Whether Kim had barged in before anything could happen, Moon Hae-won lying on the bed looked clean, with no signs of being disheveled. However, as Woo-jin had worried, he wasn’t in an excited state. He was completely unconscious.

A small amount of methamphetamine with GHB could render someone unable to resist, but losing consciousness completely like that was impossible. Not only that, the possibility of other drugs being mixed in couldn’t be ruled out.

The man caught red-handed by Sergeant Kim Seok-ho was kneeling on the floor with his face buried in the bed. His arms were sharply bent behind his back, handcuffs fastened.

“We were conducting a crackdown based on a prostitution tip, and I recognized his face.”

He could have thought two men were spending a hot night together and passed it off as unimportant, but the sharp Kim Seok-ho remembered Moon Hae-won’s face and found the unconscious Hae-won and the man about to assault him suspicious.

Even though he was coming anyway, Kim Seok-ho, considering Hae-won an unarrested suspect, had contacted Woo-jin. For Woo-jin, who had planned to have the magnet enter the motel and bring Hae-won out once the crackdown happened, it was rather a welcome bit of meddling.

“GHB and crystal meth. To lose consciousness, he must have used a lethal dose, but unless he’s insane, he wouldn’t have taken that without knowing, and the possibility of other drugs exists. Arrest him immediately. Search his phone, arrest the dealer too, find out the supplier.”

The man, whose clothes and hair were a mess as if he had struggled with Kim, raised his head with difficulty and looked at Woo-jin, who was ordering his arrest.

Woo-jin approached the man and stared at his face for a long time. Having often seen people who play around with drugs, there was no particular feeling to be had, but for some reason, Woo-jin felt intense disgust toward him. He wanted to slowly crush the man’s face until its shape disintegrated.

“Charge him with special rape of a mentally incapacitated person, luring and abduction of a person with diminished mental capacity, violation of the Narcotics Control Act, and whatever else he is, just… it seems best to ruin his life.”

The corners of Woo-jin’s eyes hardened coldly, trembling faintly with each word.

“W-wait a minute. There’s some misunderstanding here. I didn’t lure and abduct him; we came in together. Check the CCTV, you’ll see. He was already drunk and drank more, that’s why he lost consciousness. It wasn’t intentional.”

“Take him away.”

Woo-jin didn’t even pretend to listen to the man’s crude excuse, straightening his bent back. At Kim Seok-ho’s signal, another Criminal Investigation Unit detective lifted the man and dragged him out. Kim Seok-ho pointed at Moon Hae-won lying on the bed.

“He’s the unarrested suspect, right?”

“Start the investigation tomorrow morning, and I’ll handle this person. I’ll give you a separate contact, so call me tomorrow and conduct a thorough investigation, please.”

“Yes, understood. Then I’ll be going.”

Kim Seok-ho left, and the motel room grew quiet.

He looked down at Hae-won, unconscious and collapsed, his face tinged with the vulgar colors of red and blue neon signs shimmering beyond the curtain. He contacted the magnet and instructed him that he would take over, so he could leave now.

He looked around the motel room. On the table, leftover chicken and spilled beer remnants were scattered messily. It seemed Kim Seok-ho had collected the evidence.

It was an unsanitary space he didn’t want to stay in for a moment. Woo-jin didn’t even take a deep breath. The very sight of Moon Hae-won lying in such a place felt alien.

Expressionlessly, Woo-jin approached Hae-won, grabbed his arm, lifted him, and immediately transferred his weight onto his own back. Carrying him, who felt heavy and limp like waterlogged cotton, on his back, he left the motel. Not wanting to touch anything, he pushed the door open with his foot and closed it with his foot.

Opening the passenger door of the car parked in front of the motel, he sat Hae-won down. He slumped limply, falling forward onto the gear shift. Sitting Hae-won upright, a strong smell of alcohol and what seemed to be a man’s skin scent wafted over. It was an unfamiliar body odor.

Woo-jin wrinkled his brow but pulled the seatbelt over and buckled it, securing Hae-won’s limp upper body to the seat.

Woo-jin sat in the driver’s seat and put a cigarette in his mouth. He lit it and drew on the filter. Exhaling, smoke filled the car. He rolled down the window and stepped on the accelerator. Smoking the cigarette down to the filter, he dropped the butt into a drink bottle. Sizzle, the cigarette ember was extinguished by the tiny amount of remaining liquid.

He glanced to the side. Hae-won’s face, which had been swaying side to side whenever the car changed direction, was tilted toward him.

Woo-jin leaned over and sniffed his scent. The man’s unpleasant skin scent had disappeared, replaced by the smell of the cigarette he smoked.

Stopped at a red light, Woo-jin carefully looked down at Hae-won’s face, tilted to one side.

No tear stains remained on his cheeks. He had clearly been crying. He deeply regretted missing that. If Moon Hae-won cried in front of him, if he got on his knees and begged, he felt he would accept him no matter what he had done.

His own temperament, becoming endlessly merciful only toward Moon Hae-won, felt unfamiliar like this. It wasn’t because it was a particularly good day whenever he met Hae-won; it was because the other person was Moon Hae-won. Woo-jin didn’t acknowledge that fact, but he was gradually, naturally accepting him as an exception.

Flawlessly clean, white skin, and delicate features one could call beautiful filled the small face without gaps. The habit of tightly pursing his lips made him look both angry and sulky.

Woo-jin licked Hae-won’s lips, which were close, with his tongue. It wasn’t an affectionate kiss but a dutiful movement, as if wiping off something that had touched here. After thoroughly licking the lips clean, Woo-jin spat into the drink bottle where he had discarded the cigarette butt.

“Going around getting dirty things on you.”

Arriving at Moon Hae-won’s officetel, he parked the car in the underground parking lot. This time too, Woo-jin carried him on his back. Knowing he was completely unconscious and wouldn’t perceive anything, his actions were somewhat rough. Even though Hae-won’s head thumped, thumped against things here and there, his movements were relentless. Holding hands with a strange man and going to a motel wasn’t the way to get revenge.

The officetel door lock code was still the same. Whether he was careless, naive, or truly lived without a thought in his head, he was curious about the unfathomable workings of Moon Hae-won’s mind.

He laid Hae-won on the bed. Not even a breath sound was audible, so Woo-jin placed his finger under his nose. A faint breath tickled his finger, repeating being drawn in and out. Woo-jin looked around the unchanged interior of the officetel, gazed out the window for a moment, and caught his breath.

Seeing Hae-won passed out at the motel, an uncontrollable rage had surged, but thinking about it calmly, it was rather a good thing. Having gone through this, he wouldn’t be able to get drunk and follow strange men around in the future. If he tried such a thing again, Woo-jin felt he might do something to Hae-won that even he couldn’t handle. Whether it would be mental reconditioning, physical restraint, or some other form, what was clear was that he would do something.

He had intended to keep his distance from Moon Hae-won, but recalling the unfamiliar emotions he felt upon encountering him at the motel, he simultaneously realized it was likely impossible. Possessing Moon Hae-won was the only way to control him and control himself.

He wrung out a towel soaked in warm water. He removed the clothes of Hae-won, asleep on the bed, one by one. Realizing he had been staring too long and obsessively at the completely naked body, Woo-jin turned his head away. Opening the wardrobe, he took out pajamas and placed them beside the sleeping Hae-won.

He wiped Hae-won’s face with the damp towel. He wiped his lips especially meticulously. Hands, arms, shoulders and chest, stomach—with careful touches as if preparing a corpse, he wiped him down. Goosebumps rose on Hae-won’s skin, feeling a chill as the damp towel passed over. Having cleaned him meticulously enough to be satisfied, returning him to a pristine state as if no one else’s hands had touched, belonging only to him, Woo-jin looked at his own erect lower body.

“…….”

He had focused solely on restoring Moon Hae-won to a clean state without any sexual involvement, but Woo-jin’s body betrayed its owner’s will and made his genitals stiffly erect.

This was precisely Moon Hae-won’s problem.

Woo-jin only became sexually aroused when he wanted to relieve sexual desire; in all other situations, he could perfectly separate his emotions and his body. He despised those who got excited swayed by emotions and lost their reason.

Especially, sexual desire was a lower concept for him than appetite, sleep, or excretion, even lower than the desire for achievement. But when he was with Moon Hae-won, his sexual desire escaped his owner’s control, showing how strong an instinct’s dominance over a human could be.

There was nothing Woo-jin couldn’t endure. It wasn’t that he had strong patience to withstand pain well; there was simply no need to exercise patience in the first place.

Having recognized the instinct, he indifferently unbuckled his pants and lowered the zipper. He took out his erect penis. He brought Hae-won’s hand to wrap around the sticky tip wet with fluid. Holding the back of his hand, he stimulated his penis. Not stopping there, he covered Moon Hae-won’s lips with his own. Pushing his tongue in, he opened Hae-won’s lips.

He sucked the soft, wet inside. The mouth, opening helplessly as he pried it, he pulled the tongue lying still, wrapped around it, sucked it up, rubbed it roughly, and stroked Moon Hae-won’s hair. Hae-won’s clean scent wafted strongly.

The feeling of impending climax didn’t rise easily, but perhaps because it had been a while, Woo-jin was rapidly swept up in excitement. The heightened sound of his own breathing alone was loud.

Moon Hae-won’s lips that a strange man might have touched, his cheeks and chin, neckline, collarbone, chest, the nipples the same color as his lips and the pale areolas—he licked and sucked them as if devouring them.

The sound of sucking on flesh as if devouring Hae-won made Woo-jin feel like he had become a beast, which wasn’t particularly pleasant, but his head grew hot and he didn’t want to stop. Woo-jin rubbed his genitals against Hae-won’s pubic bone, stroking until he ejaculated.

As he soaked his lower half with a sticky wetness, the unpleasant feeling that had been enveloping Woo-jin all along vanished along with the pleasure. Woo-jin belatedly realized how furious he had been at the fact that Hae-won had ‘held hands’ with a bastard he didn’t want to treat as human and entered a motel.

“…Haa.”

Even though he knew it was a stupid thing to do, he felt better after defiling Moon Hae-won with himself, and a strangely unproductive sense of satisfaction fulfilled him.

He repeated the same act about three times on Moon Hae-won’s naked body. The more he repeated it, the more the completeness of his satisfaction increased the more he performed the childish act of smearing his semen on Hae-won’s lips.

He also stayed by Hae-won’s side for a long time, unplanned. After wiping away his traces and putting pajamas on Hae-won, it was already well past 3 AM. His plan to just drop Hae-won off at the officetel and return to the office was ruined and had vanished from his mind. He kissed Hae-won’s lips for about an hour and then left the officetel.

∞ ∞ ∞

Fortunately, Moon Hae-won seemed to have no intention of trying to forget him by meeting other people now. Having nearly been raped after losing consciousness to drugs, how terrified must he have been? To Moon Hae-won, who said he wouldn’t press charges against the man, Woo-jin had Kim Seok-ho thoroughly scare him instead.

Kim Seok-ho blended facts about how the drugs could easily cause a heart attack if mishandled, how human trafficking frequently occurs in such motels, how the worst-case scenario of being dragged away isn’t just ending up gang-raped but having your arms and legs completely amputated and being reduced to a sex toy incapable of resistance could happen, actual incidents that had occurred, and rumors that circulated like urban legends, and vividly scared Moon Hae-won as if he himself had investigated the cases, teaching him—not a six-year-old but a man pushing thirty—how dangerous it is to follow a stranger.

Thanks to Kim Seok-ho, Moon Hae-won didn’t budge from the officetel. He took sick leave from the orchestra and didn’t attend the lessons he supposedly had with a professor. The texts from the magnet, whom he had ordered to report once an hour, were received precisely every hour, stating there were no changes.

Occasionally, if he moved, it was to sit in a cafe or walk endlessly down the street, and the magnet, unaware of what relationship he and Hae-won had, added unnecessary comments like Hae-won seemed like someone who had been dumped, reporting that there was nothing to report.

Woo-jin gave the magnet one more task. He instructed that from now on, he should take photos of Moon Hae-won and send them along. Although it was meant to create distance because it was interfering with work, Woo-jin ended up having more time stolen from him, spent looking at the photos of Hae-won that came via text.

There were no more calls from Hae-won.

His pride must have been hurt. Woo-jin could still recall the image of Hae-won, sitting on the bed doing nothing, looking at him strangely as he turned to leave.

It was a face that couldn’t believe he was leaving him like this. It wasn’t cute narcissism; he probably had never experienced such a thing before. Woo-jin had felt since then that he wanted something more than simple release from Moon Hae-won.

“Prosecutor Kim ended up crashing into him after all. I heard there was a huge fuss yesterday because Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo said he would arrest Prosecutor Kim Han-se on charges of illegal investigation. The internal investigation confirmation document was submitted, but they say the approval didn’t go through. It’s bribery; they can’t just cover it up like this, right?”

Woo-jin had also heard the news Chief Hwang relayed yesterday. In fact, Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo had contacted him, saying he wanted to see him a bit. He arranged to have lunch with him. Woo-jin put on his jacket and said.

“I have an appointment, so I’ll be going out. Enjoy your meal, everyone.”

He left the District Prosecutors’ Office and got in his car. Arriving first at the restaurant, the meeting place, he entered a room prepared as a private dining area. After waiting about ten minutes, Park Hyung-soo appeared. Woo-jin rose from his seat, shook his hand, and bowed his head.

“Sit, sit.”

Park Hyung-soo gestured for him to sit quickly. After knocking and the server opened the door, he roughly ordered, ‘Bring me any two things,’ then poured a full cup of water and drank it all in one go.

“Ugh, my stomach’s burning, burning. What happened? How did Kim Han-se find out about that and get hold of it?”

Woo-jin seriously hardened his face, saying he didn’t know either.

“It wasn’t leaked by President Kim Jeong-geun, was it?”

“President Kim has no reason to do that. It’s bribery.”

“If it wasn’t on Kim Jeong-geun’s orders, then who the hell leaked it to Kim Han-se? That crazy bastard is now biting my pant leg and won’t let go.”

As if frustrated, he drank water again. When the server brought the meal, he finally closed his mouth. The employee who placed the meal on the table closed the private room door and left. His voice grew loud again.

“Well, haven’t you heard anything?”

“I don’t know where Kim Han-se got it, but if it was obtained through illegal means, it has no evidentiary value. You don’t need to worry too much.”

“Even if it’s just raising suspicions, I’m supposed to become the Chief soon, and it’ll come up again during the hearing, and those hearing committee bastards won’t just sit still.”

If it went that far, it would really be a full-scale mess, but it wouldn’t come to that. Woo-jin had a few pieces of corruption regarding Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo that Kim Jeong-geun didn’t know about. He just hadn’t revealed them yet.

Park Hyung-soo was under suspicion of bribery. Contact would also be made with Han-gyeong Group, President Kim Jeong-geun, who gave the bribe. Woo-jin planned to give Park Hyung-soo’s corruption not to Kim Han-se but to President Kim Jeong-geun.

Kim Jeong-geun, who wanted to avoid investigation for bribery, would undoubtedly use the materials Woo-jin gave him to threaten Park Hyung-soo, cut off his tail, and then extricate himself. If he didn’t cooperate, he would try to crush him by exposing Park Hyung-soo’s corruption, and the long-standing collusion between the crushed Park Hyung-soo and Kim Jeong-geun would break.

Park Hyung-soo would grit his teeth. He wouldn’t leave Kim Jeong-geun alone. And here, the probability was high that the identity of the ‘Take 2′ Woo-jin wanted to know would be revealed.

He intended to use this opportunity to find out who Kim Jeong-geun’s connection was at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, and if not the Chief, then the connection line to the Blue House. He couldn’t make a mistake like with Kim Ha-young and waste the opportunity.

“I’ll find out how much Kim Han-se knows and what he has.”

“The media is also paying attention to Kim Han-se, so it’s no small headache. I can’t touch him recklessly.”

He revealed his frustrated feelings while eating. Woo-jin took out his phone under the table and checked the texts and photos from the magnet attached to Moon Hae-won.

Moon Hae-won, wearing a baseball cap, was staring blankly out the window like a sick person. He seemed to have lost a little weight since the last time he saw him. The artist’s unique expression, as if a screw was loose somewhere, poked at Woo-jin’s guts.

“Why, did some important information come in?”

Park Hyung-soo asked Woo-jin, who kept looking at his phone under the table. Woo-jin took his eyes off the screen and shook his head.

“It’s nothing.”

A call came in from the magnet who reported Moon Hae-won’s every move via text. Woo-jin ignored his call, saying he was in a meeting.

“For this case, proceed divided into two teams and move according to the senior prosecutor’s instructions. You can go out.”

It was a planned investigation regarding preferential establishment of the Jeon Gyeong-hyeop and illegal acts committed during the process, likely sensitive as it was related to the previous administration’s Office of Planning and Coordination. The prosecutors rose from their seats in a fluster at the words of Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-min of the Special Investigation Division and went out.

Woo-jin gathered the files on the table. Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-min lightly grabbed Woo-jin’s arm as he was about to leave the meeting room. Even though everyone had vacated their seats and the surroundings had grown quiet, Lee Seung-min asked him in a secretive tone only he could hear.

“I heard Kim Jeong-geun and Park Hyung-soo clashed? What’s going on?”

“It’s under investigation.”

“Kim Han-se asked. Is it you by any chance?”

“Why would you think that?”

Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-min was someone who knew Woo-jin’s traits better than anyone. He also knew well where his focus was. Woo-jin had also been under him for three years now.

“Take 2 is Kim Jeong-geun, right?”

“It’s not me.”

“You can tell me. I’m just here to watch the show and eat the rice cakes. What, are you going to corner Han-gyeong Group and then, ta-da, save them? Did the two of you deliberately start a fight? Why go to all that trouble? President Kim Jeong-geun already treats you like a son-in-law anyway.”

Even though he said family and treating him like a son-in-law, Woo-jin and Kim Jeong-geun were no relation at all. In the end, blood is thicker than water. Countless data said so.

“Don’t be curious. A really interesting show is about to unfold.”

“If you need anything, let me know. Want me to take you off this Jeon Gyeong-hyeop investigation?”

“Just leave it. I’ll handle it along the way.”

At Woo-jin’s words about handling the Jeon Gyeong-hyeop and the former Blue House Minister of Strategy and Finance along the way, Lee Seung-min smiled awkwardly and nodded. It was a signal to go out.

Lee Seung-min followed Woo-jin’s back as he went out. His subordinate prosecutor was more difficult than his superior. Because he had him, who was exceptionally capable, and had been promoted from deputy chief to chief of the Special Investigation Division, he was particularly cautious.

Lee Seung-min knew that Woo-jin assigned numbers to things he considered important. Woo-jin set priorities and established clear goal consciousness. Lee Seung-min also knew that Kim Jeong-geun was among those numbers, though he didn’t know exactly which one.

Was it really necessary to do this to Take 2?

He could hardly guess Woo-jin’s true intentions. Lee Seung-min shrugged his shoulders. If he just watched the sword dance Woo-jin performed, picked up the bean powder, and kept a low profile, Lee Seung-min could get promoted this time too. He stopped paying attention and turned his gaze away from Woo-jin’s retreating back.

As soon as Woo-jin left the Chief’s Office, he called the magnet.

“What’s the matter.”

By now, it seemed better to forgive Moon Hae-won, even if just to avoid the annoyance, and meet him again. Being concerned like this was more of a hindrance.

—He’s at Incheon Airport now. The subject has moved to the airport.

“The airport? Does he have any overseas schedule?”

Hae-won had taken sick leave from the orchestra. There was no official schedule. Woo-jin, who had returned to the office, rummaged through his desk piled with documents. He found a paper with this month’s schedule for the Han-gyeong Symphony. Looking at it again, there was no overseas schedule.

—He’s alone; it seems like he’s going on a trip.

“Where is he going?”

—Bangkok. The flight is at 6:20 PM. What should I do?

He hadn’t anticipated him going overseas. If he went abroad, he would completely escape Woo-jin’s control. It was better for him to be under the magnet’s surveillance.

Suddenly, his mind became busy. There was no justification to detain an innocent man like him. And if he did such a thing, Moon Hae-won might realize it was his doing.

—What should we do? Have him banned from leaving the country or something.

The magnet, who firmly believed Moon Hae-won was a criminal suspect, suggested.

“That requires approval from the Ministry of Justice. I can’t apply for it immediately, and he doesn’t meet the requirements for a travel ban. Did he take his violin by any chance?”

—Yes, he purchased a separate seat for the violin.

“Stand by for now. I’ll contact you.”

He had to stop him from going somehow. Holding his phone, Woo-jin sank deep into thought. He soon made a call somewhere. He put the phone, where the signal was going, to his ear. He loosely pulled down the necktie that was annoyingly tightening around his neck. His throat felt parched. He picked up the half-empty water bottle left on the cluttered desk and gulped it down.

“This is Prosecutor Hyun Woo-jin from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Special Investigation Division 3. Please connect me to the Legal Team Leader of the Office of Planning and Coordination. It’s urgent.”

A moment later, the call was connected.

“Hello. This is Prosecutor Hyun Woo-jin from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Special Investigation Division 3. I urgently contacted you because we need to detain one person. A suspect we are investigating is trying to leave the country today via Incheon Airport, and he has a high-value musical instrument with him. If the evidence is taken overseas, the investigation itself will become difficult. Yes. Name Moon Hae-won, flight to Bangkok at 6:20 PM this evening. It’s a confidential investigation, so it must be handled without the suspect knowing. That is…, I’m thinking, so please wait a moment.”

He had to detain him without Moon Hae-won knowing. The airport official asked back how they could detain someone without the suspect knowing. He pulled down his necktie, but his neck area still felt stuffy, so he unbuttoned his shirt.

“I believe the Daemyung Cultural Foundation lends out instruments. Say it’s a stolen item from the Daemyung Foundation that hasn’t been re-contracted. I’ll send an investigator; just detain him until then. Please prevent him from leaving the country today. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Woo-jin hung up. He sent a text to the magnet, telling him that Moon Hae-won wouldn’t be able to leave the country today. Instead, he instructed him to follow on tomorrow’s flight. Having the magnet attached was at least reassuring.

After somehow blocking Hae-won’s matter, Woo-jin focused on the tasks he needed to handle first. While he was in the middle of rummaging through account books, a call came from the Incheon Airport Office of Planning and Coordination. The fact that they specifically called the office seemed to indicate they had checked whether it was a lie or not.

Moon Hae-won’s resistance seemed fierce. Having an instrument he had used since college treated as stolen goods was something that would make Hae-won’s anger boil over.

“Tell him we’ll book him a first-class ticket. Isn’t there the same flight tomorrow?”

—He’s a first-class passenger anyway. He has two tickets including the violin seat, and tomorrow is fully booked. Rather, bringing a warrant would be…

The bastard was so high-class he even sat his violin in first class.

Yet, it was puzzling how he came up with the idea to hold hands with a man he just met and crawl into a run-down motel. Recalling that incident, Woo-jin’s temper grew very fierce. He was already frustrated that he couldn’t recklessly handle that sexy body.

Even Woo-jin found it strange in this situation, but his sexual desire sharply surged at the annoying actions of Hae-won. He felt a hunger.

—He says he’ll bill everything—airfare, hotel, wasted time—as per-minute costs. And he says he won’t go to Bangkok. He’s called a lawyer now.

“He says he won’t go?”

—He says he won’t go.

At the words ‘won’t go,’ Woo-jin took a deep breath. It felt as if Hae-won knew all about this and was playing with him, doing this and that. He was really something else.

“Disconnect for now. I’ll talk to the lawyer, so please contact me.”

Woo-jin put down the receiver and let out a deep sigh.

“Haa…, he’s really self-centered.”

It was incredibly tiring. Yet, Woo-jin discovered he was subtly enjoying this situation. Tormenting Hae-won was enjoyable, and his reactions were amusing.

Hearing through the magnet about all of Moon Hae-won’s actions as he struggled to forget him made him excited. So Woo-jin was also diligent, as if it were work.

He began interfering whenever Moon Hae-won seriously planned something. If it looked like he was going out to change his mood, he blocked his path; if he went to a bar, he sent a crackdown; if he went to a PC bang, he even interfered with the PC bang. He blocked all his attempts to try other things and forget him.

He made him think only of Hyun Woo-jin in the officetel bed. He made him unable to move, buried in bed, crying.

And exactly two weeks later, after persistent interference, on a day when rain heralding winter fell, at the very moment winter was about to begin, Moon Hae-won came to his officetel.

Having received a report of Hae-won’s location from the magnet, Woo-jin now told him to withdraw, thanking him for his hard work. He transferred a not insignificant amount as compensation for his efforts and deliberately held out until past 4 AM. If he gave up after waiting appropriately, it meant Hae-won wasn’t ready yet. Then he planned to start interfering with everything Hae-won did again from that point.

Since he hadn’t changed the officetel password, Woo-jin thought he would naturally be waiting inside. Unexpectedly, Moon Hae-won was standing in front of the door.

It was already cold, and with the rain, it was an exceptionally chilly day. Even though it was inside the building, Hae-won, who had been waiting in the hallway for hours while wet, was trembling all over. His face was pale with fright, and his lips were bluish-purple from the cold.

As planned, Woo-jin ignored him and entered the officetel. He turned on the heating and warmed the inside. He leaned his back against the door Hae-won was leaning on, looked down at his wristwatch, and killed time for a while.

He had to wait, he had to endure, but he reached the limit of his patience. Just coming this far was almost like Hae-won laying down everything he had. Yet, he was trembling like that, waiting for him in front of his home. Woo-jin had achieved his goal with that, and he opened the door without waiting any longer.

∞ ∞ ∞

Woo-jin opened his eyes. He had a disturbing dream. Frowning, he abruptly sat up. As he pushed aside the bedding and tried to get out of bed, Woo-jin stopped moving upon seeing In-young lying beside him.

Hae-won, who had endured him all night until the end, sobbing and panting, was asleep.

Moon Hae-won was a violinist. His playing was profound, like a century-old serpent with deep cultivation, and his delicate expressiveness and technique were exceptional. His face when completely immersed in music was so sensual it could make one’s lower body ache.

Moon Hae-won possessed the most preferred appearance among all the people Woo-jin had seen so far. His personality was unpredictable, impossible to guess where it might veer.

Woo-jin had met many people considered beautiful, but there had never been a case where both the exterior and interior were to his taste like Moon Hae-won. If the looks were good, the head was often empty, making communication impossible; if the inner self was interesting due to being completely obsessed with one thing and clinging to it alone, the appearance didn’t spark desire. Woo-jin was well aware of his own picky tastes.

There had never been anyone like Moon Hae-won, whose appearance and inner self were both to his taste. Whether dressed or undressed, he matched Woo-jin’s preferences well, and their encounters always provided greater satisfaction than expected.

The arrogant eyes that stared intently at people, the pale skin, the long nape and smooth body he kept wanting to touch, and above all, the fingers that moved across the violin fingerboard and produced notes that directly struck his lower body—mere fingers that still managed to excite him.

He had approached Hae-won because of Lee Tae-shin’s matter, but thinking it wouldn’t be bad to freely embrace Hae-won, who matched his tastes after so long, he had continued the relationship.

Woo-jin had tamed the wild, colt-like Hae-won. Moon Hae-won, unaware of Woo-jin’s intervention, had voluntarily become his. It was fortunate that Hae-won’s officetel was close to the District Prosecutors’ Office.

He checked the watch on his wrist. It was 6:05 AM. There was a meeting at 7, but seeing Hae-won lying there naked, thoughts of the meeting evaporated from his mind as if dissipating. Despite cautioning himself against it, he spread the legs of the prone Hae-won. The long, stretched legs parted in a provocative shape.

Hae-won let out a pained moan, buried his face in the pillow as if in refusal, and whined. Woo-jin gripped his erect genitals and brought them to the cleft between Hae-won’s buttocks. With the tip, he brushed over the barely visible valley.

The naked body flinched. While rubbing gently back and forth, Woo-jin moved his hand forward and touched Hae-won’s nipple. He tightly grasped the bare, fleshless chest, squeezing and kneading it as if clutching a mound, and Hae-won barely lifted his heavy eyelids. Hae-won’s sleepy voice came out hoarse and cracked.

“…What are you doing?”

“You’re awake? Sleep a bit more.”

Whispering softly into his ear, Woo-jin released the tight grip. He should have touched him freely last night when he lost consciousness, but if he touched too hard, it would hurt, and if it hurt, Hae-won would dislike it, and if he disliked it, troublesome things would happen again. Not answering his calls, running away, disappearing—Hae-won did all sorts of things to mess with Woo-jin.

Relaxing the strength in his hand, he languidly teased Hae-won’s nipple. The shivering resonance of that body reached his bare skin. Already reacting to the stimulation, Hae-won slowly rubbed his lower body against the bed. It was also the first time Woo-jin had seen such honest, desire-driven gestures that didn’t look vulgar.

Gazing at the seductively wriggling smooth back, Woo-jin brought both hands to his chest and roughly fondled the two protrusions and areolas. He covered Hae-won’s back with his own chest. Pressing his hardened, leaking penis against the buttocks, he rubbed. Woo-jin, who greatly disliked uncertainty, leisurely and satisfyingly savored the sense of complete ownership, feeling he could now control Hae-won’s mind and body as he pleased.

“Ah, ughh……”

Hae-won let out a ticklish moan. It was a stimulating tone that felt like licking his ear. Wanting to hear that sound more, Woo-jin pressed his face against Hae-won’s cheek. He kissed the nape and straight shoulders. Trapping Hae-won’s legs between his own, he tightened them. As the thighs came together, Woo-jin’s genitals tightly fit between them.

Slowly rocking his hips, he moved back and forth right below the groin. The hand fondling the chest didn’t stop either. Trapping the perversely erect nipple between his index finger and thumb, he applied a bit of pressure and tickled, causing Hae-won’s breathing to become rough.

“Hae-won-ah.”

“Ughh, uhn?”

“I want to do it, Hyung.”

“…Again? I’m too sore.”

“If I say I want to do it, you just have to nod.”

“I don’t want to…, I don’t want to, it hurts.”

He had even stopped counting how many times they did it last night. On top of the time they were apart as Woo-jin tried to keep his distance, Hae-won had been hospitalized with a severe flu, wasting precious days.

Hae-won, whose body and mind had been tormented together, relaxed his tension and let go of consciousness in Woo-jin’s embrace. As if saying, do as you please. As if saying, this body is yours, so do as you wish, Hae-won fainted in his arms.

Woo-jin had accumulated as much unmet desire as the number of times he couldn’t do it with anyone but Hae-won. Before he could do anything, Hae-won coming to find him first was a wise choice. He recalled the faint thrill he felt upon seeing Hae-won crouching in front of his officetel door. The thrill that licked his nape and ran down his spine was a thrilling, killing intent and excitement.

While he had distanced himself to let go of his obsession with Hae-won, seeing Hae-won standing there shivering from the cold in front of his officetel door, Woo-jin redefined his concept of Moon Hae-won, thinking that perhaps he wanted to possess him even if it meant killing him.

He forgave him, and in the way of accepting him, he possessed his mind and heart. From Hae-won’s tearful whisper of “I love you,” a formless emotional expression, Woo-jin learned the joy of ownership. Moon Hae-won was entirely his, from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.

His own possession dared to shake its head blurrily at its owner, saying it didn’t want to.

“Hae-won-ah. If Hyung says he wants to come inside you, you should say, ‘Please come inside me,’ and spread your legs prettily. Right?”

“I don’t want to, it hurts……”

Hae-won wasn’t just whining and throwing a tantrum for no reason; if he touched his lower part, it was swollen to the point of being warm. Last night, Hae-won was literally overworked by him. He endured up to three times, but after the fourth, he broke down. Not knowing how the pain-filled moans he uttered from hurting, suffering, feeling like he was dying stimulated and satisfied him, Hae-won’s entire body became an instrument itself, crying out in pleasing tones.

“Try it. Say, ‘Please come inside me.’ Try saying it.”

“Ah, don’t. You perverted bastard.”

Don’t whisper such low-quality words in my ear, Hae-won shuddered. Woo-jin knew he liked his voice. With just Woo-jin’s voice, Hae-won could come ten times. Fondling his chest and lower parts, Woo-jin could no longer hold back and pushed his genitals inside. A scream mixed with crying burst out.

“It hurts, it hurts… ah, it hurts! Hyung, Hyung……!”

The tightly clinging inner walls squirmed. Woo-jin climbed on top of him and began thrusting his lower body in earnest. The more he did, the deeper the crying became. He grabbed Moon Hae-won’s hair. As his head was pulled back, tears wetting his cheeks fell shimmeringly to his chin. Hae-won was hurting and suffering.

“It hurts, it hurts, Hyung, Woo-jin Hyung, ah… ah!”

Seeing Hae-won’s painful appearance, Woo-jin felt a slight regret and pulled out of that body. As he pulled out, the hole contracted, sharply scraping the glans.

Gripping his fully swollen genitals, he stroked upward. The reason Woo-jin could stop midway was because of Moon Hae-won’s hand. The pleasure when Moon Hae-won’s hand, which produced such beautiful sounds, gripped and touched his genitals shook Woo-jin with an intensity similar to when he entered and made him cry.

He took Hae-won’s hand and made him grip the penis. Hae-won cried while touching his. Looking down at the sobbing Hae-won, he added his own hand to Hae-won’s and vigorously stimulated his lower part.

The hand that had been frantically thrusting soon stopped. Woo-jin furrowed his brow and gushed semen onto Hae-won’s chest. Wetting the red, swollen nipple and the areola that had turned purplish like red bean powder from bruising, the warm fluid he spurted seeped along Hae-won’s side into his armpit.

“Hoo……”

Woo-jin rubbed the tip of his penis, which was still spurting semen in clumps, against his chest. Hae-won’s skin flinched repeatedly. Although he had whined about it hurting and not wanting it, he didn’t seem displeased. If Hae-won disliked it, troublesome things would arise one after another, so Woo-jin had no choice but to control his surging desire in his own way.

Moon Hae-won was different from others. He was unfathomable. Like a ping-pong ball that could bounce in any direction, he couldn’t be calculated or measured—which way to hit it to make it return to where he wanted. He had to move cautiously.

The strange thing was that sometimes Moon Hae-won voluntarily moved in the direction Woo-jin wanted. And Woo-jin found that admirable.

Leaving the exhausted Hae-won as he was, he got out of bed. He showered and got dressed. Hae-won, who had been lying languidly without even moving a finger until then, only began to stir and sit up after he finished dressing.

He stared blankly at him. Woo-jin approached him. Pinching his cheek, he lifted his face for a clear view. It was a face that provided visual satisfaction just by looking. Having only seen him in photos sent by the magnet, seeing him up close in detail like this made him want to keep looking anew. It was a face that made him proud that this was his.

During the time they were apart, it wasn’t just Hae-won who suffered; Woo-jin also wasn’t entirely happy not being able to see or touch Hae-won. He brushed his thumb over the chapped, rough lips. Hae-won lifted his transparent eyes and looked up at him.

“Don’t skip breakfast and take your medicine without fail. If you feel something’s off, go to the hospital. I’ll let Mother know.”

“It’s because of Hyung.”

“What can I do? It’s been so long I can’t control myself. You’re too pretty; I can’t help it.”

“……”

Far from being upset at being called pretty, Hae-won looked at the affectionate Woo-jin with an expression craving more words of praise.

Woo-jin said everything strategically. Especially with partners he had relationships with, he was good at saying what they wanted to hear. Rather than making the other person feel bad and difficult to handle, it was much more beneficial to get what he wanted with a few words and make them move as he wished.

Although Hae-won’s dissatisfied expression didn’t change, it seemed he had been somewhat appeased. The tightly pursed lips that seemed angry relaxed their tension.

“I’m going. Sleep more.”

“Okay. Call me if you miss me.”

Woo-jin unintentionally, unknowingly smiled. Whenever Moon Hae-won unexpectedly struck somewhere in his chest, he smiled not an intended smile but an instinctive laugh. He should have just turned away, but his body didn’t listen.

He stroked Moon Hae-won’s soft hair. Only after pressing his lips to his forehead and breathing about four times could he remove his lips and turn away. The watch he checked upon leaving his officetel pointed to 7:10 AM.

The District Prosecutors’ Office parking lot was full. Woo-jin parked in the executive lot and got out. From early morning, a meeting had been scheduled; the head of the Special Investigation Division, the deputy chief prosecutor leading the joint investigation, and the prosecutors under them were gathered in the Chief’s Office. He was thirty minutes late.

Woo-jin opened the Chief’s Office door and entered. The deputy chief prosecutor, who had been briefing the case progress on the whiteboard, paused briefly. Woo-jin bowed his head to Head of Department Lee Seung-min and the deputy chief prosecutor, apologizing for being late.

“I’m a bit late.”

“Woo-jin, what’s going on with you? Why have you been late so often lately?”

Lee Seung-min, who had been sitting at the head seat, turned his upper body and listening to the briefing, made a comment.

“I guess I’ve been tired from having a lot of work lately.”

It was a tone telling him to gloss over it appropriately. Woo-jin sat in an empty seat and took the file handed by a junior prosecutor. The deputy chief prosecutor resumed the briefing.

“The Finance Team Leader is scheduled for a summons today, and we’ll review each point and apply legal principles.”

“I’ll handle the Finance Team Leader’s interrogation.”

At the end of the briefing, as the deputy chief prosecutor volunteered to conduct the interrogation, Woo-jin interjected. A planned investigation is a good opportunity to boost performance records. He couldn’t let something like that go to someone else. At Woo-jin’s words, Lee Seung-min made a nodding gesture of permission.

The belated meeting ended. The Special Investigation Division 3 prosecutors left the Chief’s Office and dispersed to their respective offices. Prosecutor Jeong Ho-myung, who had been following behind Woo-jin, subtly asked him.

“Seonbae, did you get a lover?”

“What?”

“It’s visible on your neck.”

Wondering what he was talking about, Woo-jin turned to look at him. Jeong Ho-myung’s gaze was directed at his nape. When he felt with his hand, a faint pain was felt in the area Moon Hae-won had bitten last night.

Hae-won sometimes bit his lips until they bled, and if he felt like it, he often left deep kiss marks on his nape and collarbone.

Last night, perhaps disliking being the only one in pain and suffering, he suddenly bit Woo-jin’s neck with all his might. Woo-jin frowned, grabbed his hair, and roughly pulled away Hae-won, who was biting his neck like a beast.

Hae-won was unfathomable, what should he say. He was an unpredictable wild beast.

“You observe all sorts of things.”

“What’s their style? I just can’t believe it. I’m really curious who bewitched the heart of someone like Seonbae, who only works.”

There was a pointed edge to Jeong Ho-myung’s words. He always prioritized work. He did his best in his own work and didn’t look at anything else. He had been engaged before but had never been in love. The people he had dated somewhat were divided into those he approached to achieve a purpose and those he met to satisfy desires. There had never been a relationship beyond that, and he might not even have been interested in such things.

Woo-jin briefly thought about Moon Hae-won. About how he disrupted the focus of someone who had only worked, how things unrelated to work bothered him and became an interference, ultimately leading him to chase after Moon Hae-won, putting everything else aside.

“It’s an injury from exercising. What on earth is in your head that you see it that way?”

Woo-jin said in an indifferent tone. Jeong Ho-myung scratched the back of his head.

Cute.

That was Woo-jin’s overall assessment of Moon Hae-won.

Moon Hae-won was cute. His temper tantrums, calling him uncle, elder, old man, and such, and above all, his audacity in not being intimidated or afraid of him unlike others, his mischievousness was cute.

His usual expression, lips tightly pressed together and face hardened as if angry, was also cute. Despite being as old as he was, the cuteness of pretending to be a university student was adorable.

In his eyes, Moon Hae-won, pounding and acting up in the palm of his hand, looked cute. While being just cute like that, the moment he performed was different again. He transformed into a completely different kind of human. Sensual and beautiful.

And he was excellent at stimulating sexual desire. Hae-won drove him sexually to an extreme degree. When with Hae-won, Woo-jin often felt a severe urge of desire, like a long-starved carnivore.

While believing there was no act as despicable as rape, there were moments when he wanted to really do something to him, going mad with desire, and Woo-jin generally controlled those situations well.

“Shall I set you up on a blind date? Isn’t it about time for Seonbae to date? What style do you like?”

“I like cute and sexy.”

Unconsciously, Woo-jin replied while thinking of Hae-won.

“That’s unexpected. I thought Seonbae would mention something extraordinary rather than such ordinary things. Like the youngest top graduate from Law School or a Triple Crown of State Examinations. Those non-ordinary styles, you know.”

“I’m an ordinary man too.”

“I didn’t know you liked bagels like me.”

“What?”

“They call the style of baby face and glamorous ‘bagel.'”

“Baby face and glamorous? That combination is perverted. Instead of wasting time on such useless talk, why don’t you do some work?”

It was a vulgar term. As he frowned, showing displeasure, Jeong Ho-myung, who like Woo-jin often pulled all-nighters, looked startled. He apologized, saying “I’m sorry,” as if he had overstepped.

Woo-jin arrived at his office, opened the door, and entered. Without even looking back, Jeong Ho-myung bowed deeply and said, “Work hard,” but the door had already closed after “Work har—”.

Hae-won did have a baby face. Despite being twenty-nine, he pretended to be a music college student, and there were even fools who naively believed such nonsense.

Woo-jin didn’t particularly like the number twenty-nine. At twenty-nine, his fiancée had committed suicide, and at twenty-nine, Lee Tae-shin had committed suicide, putting him in a difficult position.

After experiencing two coincidences, Moon Hae-won’s age of twenty-nine felt quite grating. That was the second reason he wanted to keep his distance. There was no number as incomplete as twenty-nine. Fortunately, he would soon be thirty. Once this winter passed, the perfection of possession would become even more complete.

“Prosecutor, Chief Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo called earlier, but was your phone off?”

“I turned it off during a meeting.”

“He said it was urgent and asked you to contact him.”

“Let’s call him.”

Replying to Chief Hwang, he entered his office and closed the door. From the corner of the bookshelf filled with various legal codes and casebooks, he pulled out the thick Prosecutorial Practical Training Record. Inside the book, which no one seemed likely to touch, was a document envelope. He took the envelope and called Park Hyung-soo.

“I’m sorry. I was in a meeting.”

—You’re investigating the Federation of Korean Industries, I hear?

“The former Minister of Economy and Finance from the previous administration is now the ruling party’s floor leader. We’re proceeding cautiously.

—By the way, President Kim Jeong-geun isn’t answering my calls. Have you spoken to him recently?

After asking about the ongoing investigation as if it were a routine greeting, he coyly brought up the main point. With Kim Hanse persistently digging in, he must be on edge.

“I heard he went on a business trip overseas.”

Woo-jin shifted his gaze to the calendar hanging on the wall and continued.

“Actually, he’s returning today. Try calling him this evening. He’ll answer.”

—So he’s not deliberately avoiding me?

“Just remember that you two need to join forces on this matter. You need to control the situation well, Chief. Don’t forget that Mr. Kim is a businessman. It’s better not to expect things like loyalty.”

—I’ll have to coax him somehow. It’s not like we’ve only been together for a year or two… There’s no need for things to get awkward over something like this. When I become Prosecutor General, I can pull you up to at least a section chief position at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office within my term. You know what I mean, right?

“Don’t worry about me; you two need to reach an agreement first. Given our internal circumstances, with Kim Hanse on the case, it won’t be easy to let this slide. President Kim might not understand that. You need to persuade him well. If you two fall out, both the prosecution and Han-gyeong will be in a difficult position.”

That was precisely what Woo-jin was waiting and hoping for.

—Kim Jeong-geun isn’t a fool; he won’t make unreasonable demands. For me, it’s just a matter of keeping up appearances, serving a short sentence, and getting out on medical parole. If he targets me, all the effort he’s put into the prosecution so far will go down the drain. He wouldn’t do that, would he? Do you think the Prosecutor General would just sit back?

“Right.”

His words made practical sense. The problem was that things wouldn’t proceed as Park Hyung-soo, thinking practically, expected. Kim Jeong-geun would never willingly undergo a prosecution investigation because of some chief prosecutor. That was Kim Jeong-geun, the head of a conglomerate.

Woo-jin ended the call with Park Hyung-soo and placed the document envelope in his bag.

Kim Jeong-geun was scheduled to return on an evening flight after concluding his business trip to Shanghai. After returning, he would either meet Park Hyung-soo or contact Woo-jin. Even though he was abroad, he must have already received information through his secretariat.

Woo-jin calculated the time. He needed to keep his schedule clear from nine o’clock onward.

He hadn’t planned to move things along this quickly. He had intended to take thorough preparatory time until at least he moved to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office or rose to a section chief-level position where he could exert some influence.

He didn’t deny that he had been provoked by Hae-won’s words. He didn’t want to endure being called Kim Jeong-geun’s dog for several more years, waiting because more preparation was needed. He had lived like his dog until now, but from this point on, he wouldn’t.

In the morning, he processed and handed over the backlog of indictment cases. In the afternoon, he personally interrogated the finance manager of the Federation of Korean Industries, who had been summoned as a reference witness.

The documents were perfect, but upon closer inspection, they were full of things that didn’t make sense logically. The more he investigated, the more useless and pointless the organization seemed. In a word, it was irrational.

It was a private association that would be better off not existing: over five billion won in taxpayer money went annually into producing a propaganda newspaper that barely published conservative-leaning economic articles, another five billion to maintain the non-profit corporation, with a yearly budget of ten billion won but effectiveness that was literally minimal—no, close to zero. It was a state subsidy determined to line someone’s pockets.

He had planned to handle it at a level just to fill his performance record and focus on Kim Jeong-geun and Park Hyung-soo, but Woo-jin simply couldn’t let such irrationality slide.

“The newspaper is distributed for free. Does anyone even read it?”

“If people read it, we’d distribute it, right?”

“You paid Assemblyman Park of the Min-guk Party twenty million won for writing one column. And that’s every month.”

“That’s not just a writing fee; it includes advisory fees and lecture fees for the Federation’s executives and employees. Originally, it should have been more, but Assemblyman Park adjusted it to receive a reasonable amount.”

“Submit today the details of Assemblyman Park’s advisory content, lecture materials, number of lectures, and attendance records.”

“The advisory is just us calling to ask questions, and there are no separate lecture materials or anything like that. It’s not like taking attendance in school, so we don’t keep attendance records either.”

“I suppose there aren’t any photos taken either.”

“No.”

Woo-jin lifted his gaze to the Finance Team Leader, who was lying shamelessly without changing his expression. Staring intently, the man subtly avoided his sharp gaze and just gulped down his already cold coffee.

“Do you smoke?”

At Woo-jin’s question, the man nodded reflexively. Woo-jin took a cigarette from his shirt pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it. The Finance Team Leader, who had expected Woo-jin to offer him one, stared blankly at him smoking alone with an awkward expression. With the cigarette between his lips, Woo-jin tapped on his laptop keyboard.

“The Ministry of Economy and Finance has allocated about twelve billion won for this year’s budget. There’s no major change in activities compared to last year, but what’s the purpose of the extra two billion?”

“This year, there are overseas training sessions scheduled for executives in Germany and the Netherlands, and plans to build a training institute in Gangwon Province. The details should all be in the budget application.”

“Fifty billion for producing a newspaper no one reads, two hundred million for website development costs, three daily visitors. You’re spending two hundred million to create a website even the employees don’t visit, with maintenance costs of ten million won per month. Do you know that’s similar to the maintenance costs of a site running multiple large servers?”

“I’m not an IT expert, so I wouldn’t know.”

“…Interesting.”

Woo-jin chuckled dryly. If you’re going to swindle someone, you should at least show some effort, but all he saw was deceit. It was irritating irrationality and illogicality. The Finance Team Leader’s insincere attitude during the investigation, likely expecting Assemblyman Park to back him up, was also irritating.

“Huh? What did you say?”

The Finance Team Leader looked uneasily at the smiling Woo-jin and asked again.

“I said it’s interesting.”

“……”

Woo-jin repeated, “It’s interesting,” enunciating each word clearly, with a face that showed no amusement at all.

Putting aside the irrationality and illogicality, there wasn’t even the minimal sincerity in the theft.

The Finance Team Leader, not understanding what he meant, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Woo-jin stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and spoke to Jeong Ho-myung, who was assisting him.

“Send a summons to Park Yong-ho of the Min-guk Party.”

“Huh?”

It meant he was going to escalate the situation. A tense Jeong Ho-myung looked at Woo-jin.

“Brief the media on the Federation’s corruption and have it broadcast from the evening news. Call the reporters, set up a photo line, and tell Park Yong-ho to appear by eight o’clock the morning after tomorrow.”

“Shouldn’t we report to the Chief first?”

Jeong Ho-myung asked cautiously. Without even glancing at the Finance Team Leader, who had turned pale and was sitting frozen, Woo-jin spoke. His eyes were like those of a snake instilling fear in its prey.

“This is under my full authority. Also, summon everyone involved with the Federation’s newspaper, the website developer, and the maintenance company as reference witnesses. Check where the Gangwon Province training institute site is and summon the construction and design firms too.”

“Um, Prosecutor. Let me say something… Can I use the phone?”

“Arrest this person immediately, detain him, and apply for a warrant afterward. Dig into Park Yong-ho thoroughly. Dig into everyone connected to him. Strip him down to his underwear.”

“…Seonbae. He’s the Min-guk Party’s floor leader. He was a minister in the previous administration.”

Jeong Ho-myung turned his head and whispered quietly so the Federation’s Finance Team Leader wouldn’t hear.

“I’ll take responsibility, so have the entire Team 3 focus on Park Yong-ho.”

Handing over the investigation to Jeong Ho-myung, Woo-jin left work around six. Jeong Ho-myung, who had to handle preparing press releases, briefing reporters, and issuing summonses, groaned as he chased after Woo-jin, who was leaving sharply on time. When Woo-jin got in his car and drove off without looking back, Jeong Ho-myung muttered inaudible curses.

Woo-jin went straight to Hae-won’s officetel. He had time until nine o’clock. Hae-won was standing in front of sheet music, as if he had been practicing the violin. His face was lively. Woo-jin had thought he’d be lying in bed unable to move, but his stamina was surprisingly good. Hae-won turned and smiled at him.

“You’re early?”

“I have to go out later.”

“Again? Is it your duty shift?”

“Not duty, I have an appointment. Let’s have dinner.”

Woo-jin took off his jacket, hung it on a dining chair, and put on an apron. He rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands first. He opened Hae-won’s refrigerator, which he had stocked not long ago.

He enjoyed cooking. Being picky about food, he found restaurant meals often didn’t suit him, so he had reached the point of cooking for himself. He had particular tastes.

Today, he didn’t have much time. He chose spaghetti, something that could be made relatively quickly.

After putting the violin away in its case, Hae-won approached and hugged his waist from behind. He buried his cheek in Woo-jin’s back and nuzzled.

“…I’m a mess. My hands are completely stiff and won’t move.”

“Take it slow. They’ll come back with practice.”

“I have a lesson tomorrow; I think the professor will scold me.”

“Tell him you were sick. That you were too sick to practice.”

With his face buried in Woo-jin’s back and arms tightly around his waist, Hae-won followed him as he moved around the kitchen. Woo-jin wasn’t the type to cook for others like this, but after observing Hae-won and comprehensively judging, he had figured out what kind of man attracted him and what behaviors he liked.

Moon Hae-won liked affectionate people. Being loved and cared for by someone was a default setting for him. That was utterly natural to Hae-won. And on that foundation, he wanted someone with enough weight to appropriately restrain his willful self.

When entering the officetel, Woo-jin set himself up as the person Hae-won liked. Be affectionate, don’t indulge all his whims, be appropriately assertive. It was far from Woo-jin’s actual indifferent personality. All three were unnecessary for him, but just as in his work, he dealt with Hae-won strategically.

Hae-won, who had been clinging to his back, seemed to let go for a moment, then a click sound was heard. Woo-jin looked back. Hae-won was taking photos of him with his phone. Click, click, click.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking pictures.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know when Hyung will say it’s over again, so I’m preparing in advance. I need to have lots of photos at least.”

“If you just behave well, that won’t happen.”

“…Really? If I don’t change, will you not change either?”

Hae-won put down his phone and approached Woo-jin. As if clinging, out of habit, he hugged Woo-jin’s waist and looked up at him intently. Looking down at Hae-won from this angle weakened Woo-jin’s self-control.

“The water’s boiling. Move.”

“Let’s eat dinner later.”

“I told you I don’t have time. I have to go out.”

“We can skip dinner, so later. Okay?”

Hae-won stubbornly turned off the induction stove. Hae-won untied and removed the apron knot tied behind his waist. With weakened self-control, Woo-jin scooped Hae-won up in his arms. Holding him by the buttocks, he kissed him passionately.

Carrying Hae-won, he walked to the bed. Holding both cheeks, Woo-jin sucked on his lips and tongue as their breathing grew increasingly ragged and disordered.

They fell onto the bed together. Woo-jin closed his eyes and focused on Hae-won’s lips and softly moist mouth. He sensed a stimulating taste worth investing time and effort in. As they kissed, Hae-won’s hand pushed his shoulder. Woo-jin pulled back, exhaling sharply, and looked down at Hae-won, asking why.

“Phone… your phone’s ringing.”

Hae-won mumbled, covering his flushed face with his arm. Woo-jin’s phone in his jacket pocket was ringing. Woo-jin alternated his gaze between Hae-won and the jacket, then reluctantly got up. An important call was expected.

Contrary to expectation, the number on the phone screen was from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office.

“Yes.”

—Prosecutor Hyun. Did you summon Assemblyman Park Yong-ho?

It was Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-min. Woo-jin wiped his lips, wet with Hae-won’s saliva, with the back of his hand. He glanced sideways at Hae-won lying on the bed and straightened his gaze.

“Yes.”

—You should have consulted in advance about summoning the ruling party’s floor leader. When did you release the press materials?

“Has the press briefing ended?”

—It just ended. I’m going crazy because of you. Hey, you should have reported something like that to me first! The Prosecutor General is summoning you. Where are you now?

“You don’t need to know where; I have an appointment and can’t come. Make up a suitable excuse for me.”

He looked back at Hae-won. He wanted to return to the bed quickly. Moon Hae-won was waiting for him. Hae-won was lying there, limbs stretched out languidly, waiting for his touch and lips.

With each slow exhale and inhale, his chest rose and fell slightly. Woo-jin wanted to return to the bed quickly and suck on Hae-won’s chest. He moistened his anxious, dry lips with his damp tongue.

—I think you need to cancel your appointment and come quickly. The ruling party’s floor leader is here too.

Lee Seung-min spoke as if in a difficult situation.

“If the ruling party’s floor leader is interfering with the investigation, you should stop him. That’s your job, Chief.”

—What were you thinking, sending a summons out of the blue? I heard you told them to set up a photo line? You should have just called him quietly; why a photo line?

“Anyway, I can’t come. If you keep this up, show him the internal investigation materials on the ruling party assemblymen. Tell him to decide whether to take out one or ten, given they’re already short on the required number of assemblymen.”

—Who has those?

“Jeong Ho-myung should have them.”

—Got it. But what appointment is it? Is it President Kim Jeong-geun?

“I told you not to worry about it. It’s better you don’t know.”

—Ugh, you ruthless bastard. I won’t live out my lifespan because of you, I won’t.

Woo-jin ended the call. Turning around, he saw Hae-won had already sat up abruptly, the mood broken, and was looking at him. The heat had already cooled, and he seemed curious about the call’s content.

“Who was it?”

“The Chief.”

“That Chief you don’t really like?”

“Not that Chief, a different Chief.”

“Which Chief is the one you don’t really like?”

“The Chief Prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.”

“Why are there so many Chiefs?”

“There are. So many that they need to be sorted out a bit. What should we do? Do you want to eat dinner, or…”

“Won’t the phone keep ringing? Turn it off. It’s bothering me, I’m telling you.”

He knew Hae-won sometimes secretly turned off his own phone. If nothing important was going on, he pretended not to know and let it slide, but a day like today was problematic. They needed to do one of two things: eat dinner or quickly have a round.

Woo-jin chose the latter. He quickly took off Hae-won’s clothes and removed his own top. When he turned Hae-won over to lie face down, Hae-won complained.

“I don’t like it… It feels like you’re just trying to get your business done quickly and leave, so I don’t like it.”

“It’s not like that.”

Although he said it wasn’t like that, Woo-jin was unbuckling his belt and lowering his zipper. In his haste, he had forgotten the first rule. Woo-jin covered Hae-won’s back with his own chest and carefully embraced him. He kissed his nape and cheeks methodically.

He pulled down Hae-won’s underwear and caressed his appropriately plump buttocks. Hae-won slightly spread his legs and turned his head back toward Woo-jin behind him. His long eyelashes fluttered slowly as he stared at Woo-jin.

Twisting his upper body dizzily, Hae-won reached out and grabbed Woo-jin’s nape. Applying force with his hand, he pulled Woo-jin down toward him. Then, he pressed their lips together and kissed him deeply. Not fitting perfectly, the movement of their tongues entering and leaving each other’s mouths was vividly visible. The sticky, entwined flesh bent urgently, trying to suck the other in even a little more. Woo-jin rubbed his tongue against Hae-won’s and sucked on his lower lip, swallowing.

“Mmm…!”

When Woo-jin sucked hard enough to hurt, Hae-won pulled his lips away and licked his own sore lower lip with his tongue. Hae-won murmured.

“…It’s strange.”

“What is.”

“When I broke up with Hyung before, back then, actually…”

“Actually what?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that my lips hurt so much back then. They hurt exactly like they did then.”

“What are you talking about? We were broken up, why would your lips hurt? Did you kiss someone?”

“……Huh?”

“I’m asking if you kissed someone else.”

“No.”

“Then why do your lips hurt?”

“I don’t know.”

“What on earth are you even saying?”

Unaware that I had sucked on those lips all night long until they were bruised, Hae-won fidgeted with his lips, saying they hurt like they did back then.

Hae-won quietly shut his mouth, afraid I might find out about that day. He just stared up at me with an innocent expression, pretending he hadn’t done anything, hadn’t done a thing. It was both ridiculous and cute. It was such an innocent expression that if I hadn’t known the truth, I would have believed him unconditionally.

“My lips hurt when I kiss Hyung…….”

Hae-won brought his lips close to Woo-jin’s and whispered. Heat rose like a shimmering haze. Woo-jin gently took his lips, chewing and licking them carefully so they wouldn’t hurt. Their tongues tangled again. Woo-jin grabbed his own heated penis and rubbed it against Hae-won’s buttocks. Hae-won turned his body. Now facing each other lying down, Hae-won’s hands wrapped around Woo-jin’s shoulders.

The kiss, seeking to feel each other, grew deeper. The sound of swallowing each other’s saliva was audible. Hae-won, whose spirit seemed to have left him, his pupils hazy and unfocused, let out a pitiful moan and urged Woo-jin on.

Woo-jin grabbed Hae-won’s genitals. The sparse pubic hair and light color meant even Woo-jin, who didn’t have that many experiences with men, felt almost no aversion. Rather, because he knew exactly where to touch to stimulate, it was easy to caress.

With their lips pressed together, Hae-won’s hand grasped Woo-jin’s erect flesh pillar. Woo-jin held and stroked Hae-won’s. Excited fluid dripped steadily from the thrusting flesh. Saliva he couldn’t swallow in time trickled from his parted lips. The heightened breathing and the heat radiating from their naked bodies made the officetel feel stiflingly hot.

It was hot. Woo-jin swept his hand down Hae-won’s sticky, sweaty back, bringing it lower to touch his anus. Hae-won’s body flinched, and at the same time, the genitals he was holding reacted. Being touched front and back simultaneously made his chest heave rapidly. He wriggled with lewd movements. Woo-jin inserted a finger into Hae-won’s hot hole. When he thrust his middle finger deep inside, Hae-won’s upper body jerked up.

“Hah, ugh!”

Woo-jin lowered his lips to Hae-won’s neck and chest, which were beading with sweat. He took the entire nipple into his mouth and circled it with his tongue. Hae-won’s whole body trembled breathlessly, as if convulsing, unable to bear the stimulation.

“Hyung, Woo-jin Hyung, Hyung… Hyung, ahh, good, good…….”

Hae-won’s back hole seemed to prefer Woo-jin’s fingers over his penis; it gripped them well. His shameless writhing, lifting his lower body and moaning, was so explicit that Woo-jin focused on tormenting him.

“I don’t like it, ah, I don’t like it… Hyung, I don’t like it…….”

One moment he says it’s good, the next he thrashes around saying he doesn’t like it. He was utterly incomprehensible. Woo-jin detached his lips, which had been nibbling at Hae-won’s chest. The nipples, soaked slick with his saliva, were swollen and distinctly colored.

Hae-won, reduced to pure instinct, pushed Woo-jin down onto the bed, got up, and moved on his own, climbing onto Woo-jin’s lower body. He grabbed the erect penis, aimed it at his anus, and without hesitation, sank down. Woo-jin stared intently at Hae-won’s face, which was changing with every moment.

“Ung……!”

The movement of inserting it deep inside, clenching tightly, and throwing his head back was sensual. To think he had kept such a thing at arm’s length for so long—Woo-jin belatedly regretted his mistaken judgment. He should have taught him with his body instead. He should have engraved it into this sensitive body so he could never say such things again, never leave him again.

As if admiring the performance, Woo-jin lay back, hands cradling the back of his head, watching Hae-won who was rapidly moving his lower body, swallowing and spitting out the penis.

When Hae-won, who had been moving with his eyes tightly shut, tried to sneak a peek, Woo-jin made an equally pained expression to egg him on. Hae-won braced his hands on Woo-jin’s chest and rocked his bent waist back and forth.

“Hyung, I want to come. Ugh, I want to come…….”

“Just five more minutes, huff.”

“I want to come. Let me come. Huh? I want to come.”

“Hold on just a little longer.”

He wasn’t asking for permission; he was enjoying himself. He didn’t want this good thing to end quickly. Woo-jin sat up. He wrapped his arms around Hae-won’s waist. He grabbed Hae-won’s hot, bucking penis. He pressed his thumb against the urethra, blocking it.

He knew when and how Hae-won ejaculated, when and how he secreted fluid when unbearable pleasure washed over him. Pressing hard on the urethral opening, not just simply blocking it but pressing in a circular motion and lifting from below—Hae-won couldn’t withstand the pleasure akin to urination.

“Ah, I don’t like it. Hyung, I don’t like that. Don’t do it. Don’t do it!”

“It’s been a while, hah, Hae-won should, huh? Pee in front of Hyung. Huff!”

“I don’t like it, don’t do it! You son of a bitch!”

A fierce fist struck Woo-jin’s shoulder. Woo-jin hugged Hae-won, laid him down on the bed just like that, and pressed down on him from above.

“Ah-ugh!”

Held tightly, only able to twist his pelvis without escaping, Hae-won whimpered.

Woo-jin looked down at Hae-won, his face now serious, his thrusts deepening and speeding up. Panting and heat intensified. Hae-won, who had been hitting him with his fists trying to get away somehow, gasped as if his breath was catching.

“I don’t like it, ah-ugh, let me go! Let go! Hah, ah, Hyun Woo-jin! You bastard! Don’t do it!”

Please don’t do that, Hae-won twisted his upper body in agony. Woo-jin grabbed Hae-won’s penis as if to burst it and plugged the hole.

“Like a baby, hah, you want to shoot anywhere, ugh, right? Hae-won. Look at Hyung. Look at my face.”

“I don’t like it, I don’t like it!”

Woo-jin grabbed both of Hae-won’s cheeks with one hand and made him look at him. Reaching the unbearable moment, Hae-won finally burst into tears.

“Don’t do it! Don’t do it……! I’m really going to come! I don’t like it, don’t do it, hoo-uk, it’s coming out, it’s coming out. It’s coming, it’s coming. Please… please……!”

Hae-won sobbed and begged Woo-jin. Woo-jin’s excited face gradually hardened.

“Hah, fuck.”

Woo-jin cursed under his breath and thrust himself violently into Hae-won. Hae-won’s chest, slick with spreading sweat, heaved.

“Moon Hae-won, Hae-won. You have to look at Hyung. Huh? Fuck, look at my face……!”

Swear words kept spilling out. Woo-jin grabbed the nape of Hae-won’s neck and pulled him up. Their eyes met. Eyes brimming with tears looked at Woo-jin—no, beyond him.

“Ah, ugh, ahh!”

His whole body, soaked with sweat, trembled as if convulsing, and when Woo-jin released his hand, warm fluid spurted from Hae-won’s genitals. Woo-jin didn’t stop, thrusting his hips even faster. Hae-won intermittently spilled secretion each time Woo-jin’s member plunged in.

As if muscles were contracting, the inner walls tightened, distorting Woo-jin’s brow. He thrust in so deep it made a wet sound and held his breath.

“Kgh-ugh……!”

Strength gathered in his lower abdomen, feeling the climax. His abdominal muscles became distinctly defined. His lower belly, ejaculating semen, quivered.

“Hah, hah…….”

The pleasure of coming inside Hae-won pierced through his entire body. For a post-sex sentiment, it was a bit much, but Woo-jin felt indescribably refreshed.

Covering his face with his hands, sobbing, Hae-won bit his lip. He still had Woo-jin inside him at his core, and his body shook with each exertion of force. His genitals trembled faintly, dripping lukewarm fluid drop by drop. His chest and stomach, thoroughly soaked with fluid, glistened under the light.

Woo-jin, who had been supporting the area below Hae-won’s knees with his hands, slowly pulled out his penis. The flesh pillar that slid out wetly was a mess of semen and love juices. The narrow hole between his legs twitched and expelled Woo-jin’s semen. Woo-jin lowered Hae-won’s legs and removed the two arms covering his face. When he tried to grab his wrists to move them, Hae-won resisted.

“It’s okay. Let me see your face.”

“I don’t want to……, leave it.”

“I want to see your face.”

“I said I don’t want to!”

At this very moment, he really didn’t want to show that face even if he died. Knowing that well, Woo-jin forcibly pulled Hae-won’s arms down and pressed them against the bed as if pinning them. Hae-won twisted his head, trying to hide his face somehow. The corners of his eyes were red, and his cheeks were flushed too. His lips quivered continuously from the suppressed sobs.

“Show me your face.”

Hae-won shook his head, twisting it enough to strain his neck, burying his cheek in the bedding. In the end, Woo-jin forcibly grabbed his cheek and straightened Hae-won’s face. His eyelashes were damply wet, clumping together in strands. Hae-won couldn’t meet his eyes and kept his gaze lowered, looking only downward.

“What did Hyung say earlier?”

“I don’t know, get lost.”

“When you were about to come, I told you to look at my face, right?”

“I said get lost!”

“Don’t bite your lip. Open your mouth.”

Tsk, Hae-won glared at Woo-jin, who wasn’t even listening to his protests. Defiantly, he bit his lip tightly and stared. Woo-jin looked down at Hae-won piercingly and spoke softly. It was a gentle but coercive tone.

“Open your mouth.”

“…….”

“Open your mouth and stick out your tongue.”

“…….”

“You said you love Hyung.”

“…….”

“You don’t love me? Then should we break up?”

“I love you, you fucking bastard.”

When Woo-jin threatened him, Hae-won’s pupils wavered. Hae-won released his tightly bitten lip, blinked his tear-wet eyes, and hurriedly answered. The few extra words he added because he hated to lose could be seen as cute. The tear-beaded corners of his eyes sparkled transparently.

“Then open your mouth and stick out your tongue.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

“…….”

“Very deeply.”

Reluctantly, Hae-won parted his lips slightly and stuck out his red tongue just that much. Woo-jin’s tongue licked and entwined the red flesh that popped out between his lips like a rodent’s tongue.

After a long kiss, Woo-jin lifted Hae-won, held him, and led him to the bathroom.

What was there to be ashamed and humiliated about? It was only natural that it came out when stimulated, but even inside the shower booth, Hae-won stood with his forehead against the wall, turning away from him like a child.

Woo-jin adjusted the hot water and stood under the pouring showerhead. He wet himself from the crown of his head under the stream of water and swept back his thoroughly drenched hair. As he tried to turn around the waist of Hae-won, who was standing with his back turned, Hae-won shook his head saying he didn’t want to.

“It’s okay. What does it matter?”

“I said I don’t like it. I said I don’t like that…….”

“You said you wanted to come.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay because it excites me.”

Woo-jin inadvertently spoke his true feelings. He felt Hae-won’s glance looking back at him but pretended not to notice and pulled him into an embrace. He hid Hae-won’s face against his chest. The hot stream of water soaked Woo-jin and soaked Hae-won.

“……You get excited when I do that?”

Hae-won pressed his lips against Woo-jin’s chest and mumbled the question. His voice was buried under the water falling from the showerhead, but Woo-jin managed to understand.

“I get excited.”

“You get excited about peeing? You like that kind of thing?”

“I didn’t know, but I guess I like it.”

“Pervert.”

“But only do it in front of me.”

“Only come in front of Hyung, only get naked in front of Hyung……, Hyung also only comes in front of me.”

Only then did Hae-won lift his head and meet his eyes. Woo-jin didn’t voice the thought that came to his mind and just smiled.

Woo-jin liked high-level play. It was about suppressing the urge to grab his penis and cover Hae-won’s white body with the urine he was excreting right then and there. He planned to teach him step by step, one thing at a time.

Hae-won, who had only experienced normal sex, couldn’t handle Woo-jin. And, more than expected, even without such acts, Woo-jin easily got excited and easily ejaculated in his relationship with Hae-won. Extreme acts that stimulated the urge to ejaculate weren’t strictly necessary.

Even while showering, Woo-jin deeply bit Hae-won’s lips and kissed him for a long time.

When they finished showering and came out, as if by agreement, a rumbling sound came from Hae-won’s and his own stomach. While Woo-jin finished preparing dinner, Hae-won tidied the bed. Ashamed of his own traces, afraid Woo-jin might see, he hurriedly changed the sheets. Unaware that Woo-jin was pretending not to notice and deliberately not looking, Hae-won grabbed the laundry and noisily disappeared into the utility room.

In the middle of eating dinner facing Hae-won, the awaited call came.

“Yes.”

—Prosecutor Hyun, where are you now?

It was President Kim Jeong-geun. Eight forty. He had called me as soon as he returned to the country. The fact that he was looking for me, not Park Hyung-soo, suggested President Kim Jeong-geun had no intention of listening to Woo-jin’s advice. The situation was moving according to plan under Woo-jin’s control. Checking the watch on his wrist, Woo-jin put down his fork.

“I’m near the District Prosecutors’ Office.”

—If you’re not busy, come to the house. You know what it’s about.

“I was just about to contact you. I’ll leave shortly.”

Ending the call, Woo-jin flipped his phone over and placed it on the table. Hae-won, who had been shoveling a rolled-up forkful of spaghetti into his mouth, barely swallowed what was in his mouth and asked.

“Are you going?”

“I’ll be back. Rest.”

“I was going to watch a movie together.”

“I might be a bit late.”

“Finish dinner before you go.”

Woo-jin finished his meal and stood up. Hae-won clung to his waist, telling him not to go, so he had to drag Hae-won all the way to the entrance.

The image of Hae-won from back then, coldly rejecting him saying he couldn’t meet because he was someone his dead friend liked, was now unimaginable. He wondered if Hae-won acted like this only with him, or if his countless past lovers, whom he couldn’t count even using fingers and toes, had ever seen Hae-won like this. He was so curious he even wanted to summon a few for interrogation. He should have gotten the name and phone number of that handsome man who came to Hae-won’s officetel before—regret always comes too late.

At the entrance, Woo-jin gazed down at Hae-won. Hae-won, who had been stubbornly ignoring the silent demand to let go, met his eyes gloomily.

“I told you I’d cling to you. That I’d be clingy, that I’d do things Hyung dislikes.”

“You said you’d be clingy, you didn’t say you’d become a baby.”

“I’m a baby. I pee anywhere, so I’m definitely a baby.”

“You’re a baby for a twenty-nine-year-old. I’ll be back soon.”

“If you’re coming back soon, why are you going?”

He was the one who used all means and methods to interfere with what Hae-won wanted to do, but Hae-won interfered with Woo-jin just by holding on and standing there. This was why he had been wary. Hae-won kept disrupting his priorities.

“I’ll give you a kiss.”

“Can’t I follow? I’ll stay in the car.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Hyung, Prosecutor, Sir, Mister, Great-great-grandfather.”

“Moon Hae-won.”

As Woo-jin was about to say something, Hae-won’s lips assaulted Woo-jin’s lips. The kiss was so fierce that Woo-jin was pushed back by his force until his back hit the door. Hae-won’s hand, passionately pressing their mouths together, touched Woo-jin’s groin. Woo-jin barely managed to remove the hand that was grabbing and recklessly fondling the flesh mound.

Woo-jin forcibly detached their lips and breathed roughly. Hae-won looked down at his lower half and then up at his face. It was fully erect, leaning to the left, clearly protruding against his pants.

“Come back safely.”

“…….”

After reducing Woo-jin to that state, Hae-won lay down on the bed as if he knew nothing, looking at Woo-jin and even slightly spreading his legs. Woo-jin’s brow hardened. President Kim Jeong-geun wanted to meet, and he was contemplating whether he should go now or not.

It was a situation requiring judgment. He turned away from Hae-won, who was sucking on his finger like a popsicle, and left the officetel. Hae-won’s voice shouting, “You impotent bastard! Hyung, you are impotent!” faded away.

Arriving at Kim Jeong-geun’s residence, Woo-jin headed straight to his study. The unusual atmosphere seemed to have the employees all tense. Knock, knock. When he knocked, his secretary opened the door. Exchanging a nod with the secretary, Woo-jin entered and bowed to Kim Jeong-geun, who was sitting on the sofa smoking a cigar.

“You’re late.”

“My apologies. The traffic was a bit heavy.”

“Have a seat.”

Woo-jin sat down in front of him. The secretary closed the door and disappeared. Silence flowed in the study where only the two remained.

“Who is it?”

“We’re tracking them down.”

“It doesn’t seem to be from our side, so whose doing is it?”

Kim Jeong-geun seemed to have already finished investigating his advisors and close associates. Woo-jin answered mechanically.

“We’re looking into it.”

“By the way, Park Hyung-soo, I’ve let this bastard grow too much. He told me to come out to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office a bit.”

Kim Jeong-geun took a deep drag on his cigar as if exasperated. His chest swelled greatly as he inhaled. The spicy, pungent cigar smoke spread densely into the air.

“The prosecutor investigating that case now, Kim Hanse, is quite formidable. He’s a notorious headache even within the prosecution. Head of department Park Hyung-soo must be having a hard time too. Why don’t you just go there once?”

“You want me to be investigated by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office?”

“That’s the situation.”

He stared at Woo-jin with apparent displeasure. He took a drag on his cigar and exhaled sharply. Smoke billowed toward Woo-jin’s face, momentarily blurring his figure. Soon, the air purification system sucked away the smoke, replacing it with air as clean as Hawaii’s.

Lee Seung-min was mistaken. Kim Jeong-geun wasn’t Woo-jin’s designated Take 2, but Take 3. Take 1 had been arrested, and Take 4 was dead. There had been numbers up to 5, and while number 5 had some variables, it was nearly complete.

The Take 2 he had been cultivating for years was still ambiguous—whether it was the Blue House or the prosecution. Without knowing who was backing him, rashly touching Kim Jeong-geun would ruin the plan.

Woo-jin knew all of Kim Jeong-geun’s irregularities. And Kim Jeong-geun was someone Woo-jin wanted to capture, even if it meant marrying his daughter.

The reason Woo-jin had betrayed his family’s expectations and chosen the path of a prosecutor instead of a doctor was also because of Take 3.

There was a time when President Kim Jeong-geun’s enthusiastically launched new business had incurred astronomical losses. Back then, Woo-jin was a student preparing for college entrance exams. It was when Chairman Han-gyeong, President Kim Jeong-geun’s father, had to step back from the front lines of management due to worsening chronic illness, and Kim Jeong-geun began moving the group in earnest.

It was his personal misjudgment, and the government took on the losses Han-gyeong should have borne as national debt, repaying it with taxpayers’ money. Kim Jeong-geun didn’t suffer a single penny of loss. Under the pretext of national support to prevent falling behind in the global economy, he expanded his domain domestically, funneling work to affiliates, growing his business, and killing off small domestic companies.

Kim Jeong-geun’s insensitivity, committing irrational acts without understanding what he was doing, and his directionless ignorance awakened Woo-jin. He decided then to become a prosecutor. He could tolerate injustice, but he couldn’t stand irrationality and unreasonableness.

President Kim Jeong-geun solved everything with money. He inflated his business with money and changed Han-gyeong’s governance structure. There wasn’t a single National Tax Service employee who hadn’t eaten from Han-gyeong’s money, nor a politician who hadn’t received Han-gyeong’s political donations, nor a prosecutor who hadn’t been entertained by Han-gyeong.

Of course, Woo-jin had also received laundered slush funds from Han-gyeong that were untraceable, and he used them for confidential investigations. He had been tracking Kim Jeong-geun with the money Kim Jeong-geun gave him.

Of course, there was one prosecutor he knew of who hadn’t taken money. Kim Hanse was the kind of person Woo-jin despised most in the world. Unable to tolerate injustice, he made a fuss as if he alone could realize justice, and like such people often are, he was naive. He made no effort to understand the immense physical forces that make the world go round. Ultimately, what stood above the law was capital and power.

Kim Jeong-geun had capital, and Woo-jin had the ability to seize power through his own strength. With capital added to that, Woo-jin could show what Kim Hanse failed to achieve.

That was the power Woo-jin pursued. If good people had no desire for dirty power, the world would run irrationally and unreasonably. Without colluding with capital, there was no way to control this rotten group.

Woo-jin took a document envelope from his bag. He handed it to him. With the cigar still in his mouth, Kim Jeong-geun took the envelope and opened it. It contained details of Park Hyung-soo’s corruption. One was a sex scandal that could be quite fatal, and the other was his son’s military service irregularities. If the military service irregularities exploded, it could crush his dream of becoming Prosecutor General, but it would be insufficient to drag him down from his position as Chief Prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, a Prosecutor General-level post. If the sex scandal exploded, it could bury him.

“The photos?”

“There’s a video.”

“Where is it?”

“I have it safely. I’m giving it to you for negotiation, not for blackmail. It will be more convenient for you later if he rises to Prosecutor General.”

“So, you want me to take the fall alone this time?”

“There isn’t a single chaebol group head who hasn’t been to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office at least once.”

“So, you’re telling me to take the fall.”

“I’m just suggesting. It’s better to hold onto this.”

“We can raise up some other bastard. There’s no need to specifically target Park Hyung-soo. Are we that short on people on our side?”

“……”

Woo-jin didn’t answer.

The scenario he was aiming for was to use this corruption detail to blackmail Park Hyung-soo, creating a confrontation between Kim Jeong-geun and the prosecution. Once the prosecution targeted Kim Jeong-geun, things would become easier. To do that, Park Hyung-soo had to be removed first.

To confirm whether Take 2 was the Blue House or the prosecution, driving a wedge between them was faster than tracking them down. While amplifying the Park Hyung-soo case, he needed to find out who had been backing Kim Jeong-geun to take them both down at once and swallow Han-gyeong more easily. If he left either side alone, they would obviously try to cover it up.

Even if he was lucky enough to get a special prosecution, the likelihood of a non-indictment or suspended sentence was high. The reason Woo-jin was wary of Take 2 was that, like himself, he was targeting Han-gyeong. To either side, Han-gyeong was a tempting cut of meat. Delicious to eat and good for the body.

“Otherwise, I’ll indict Han-gyeong.”

“You, Woo-jin?”

“I’ll try to minimize it as much as possible without harming Head of department Park Hyung-soo.”

“Alright. Let me think about it first.”

“Don’t consult with a lawyer. You must remember that its value drops the moment it becomes public.”

“Who on earth is it? Park Hyung-soo must have been blabbing.”

“It’s an amount worth bragging about.”

“Anyway, those without money……, I shouldn’t have dealt with them from the start.”

He shook his head in disappointment, having planned to fully cultivate Park Hyung-soo to dominate the prosecution. His domination of the prosecution was impossible as long as Woo-jin remained a prosecutor. Previously, it was about defending and obstructing somehow, but now it was time to attack. He no longer wanted to hear Hae-won’s harsh assessment that he was Kim Jeong-geun’s dog.

Kim Jeong-geun stubbed out his cigar and stood up. Woo-jin also tidied up his seat and followed him.

“Have you had dinner?”

“It’s quite late, haven’t you eaten yet? I’ve eaten.”

“I just got off the plane not long ago. I was thinking of having dinner together.”

Like a harmonious father and son, Woo-jin walked alongside Kim Jeong-geun. As they left the study, Seo Okhwa, who seemed to have just returned home, spotted Woo-jin and approached. Before Woo-jin could even greet her, Seo Okhwa asked.

“Woo-jin, you have that hubae, right? Hae-won, they say he’s sick and took sick leave. I heard he hasn’t been coming to the orchestra lately?”

“Really? I haven’t been in touch recently.”

“I went to see his face, but he didn’t show up. Have you had dinner?”

“Yes, I have. Father seems not to have eaten yet.”

“You haven’t had dinner yet? Why haven’t you eaten?”

“It’s only been an hour since I got off the plane.”

Woo-jin watched Seo Okhwa’s back as she hurried to the kitchen to prepare Kim Jeong-geun’s meal. It was hard to guess why she was so concerned about Hae-won.

“She must have taken a liking to him. Maybe she wants to make him this.”

Seeing Woo-jin’s puzzled gaze at Seo Okhwa, Kim Jeong-geun raised his pinky finger. Woo-jin knew about a few of Kim Jeong-geun’s young lovers, but Seo Okhwa was clean in that regard. And Seo Okhwa didn’t know that the lovers who had received houses from President Kim Jeong-geun were scattered all over Seoul.

“Surely not.”

“No. She sometimes talks about that violinist. He’s decently built and handsome. He has the kind of face women like.”

“Is that so.”

“I’m going to have dinner, so Woo-jin, if you have something busy, go ahead. Good work.”

“Please decide carefully.”

President Kim Jeong-geun patted Woo-jin’s shoulder as he bowed in greeting and walked in the direction Seo Okhwa had disappeared.

Woo-jin, who stood there for a moment, slowly moved his steps and left the mansion.

The bodyguards greeted him. As he headed to the parking lot, Kim So-young’s white car entered. So-young parked her car next to Woo-jin’s, turned off the engine, and got out.

“Are you leaving now?”

“It’s late.”

“I had a dinner meeting with professors. Is Dad here?”

“He’s having a meal. I’m going.”

“Wait a moment.”

She grabbed Woo-jin’s arm as he was about to unlock his car. She walked to a dark corner of the parking lot where CCTV and others’ eyes couldn’t reach. Woo-jin let out a low sigh.

“What.”

“Did that get resolved well?”

“What.”

“That hubae. Does talking like that work?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Woo-jin gave a short nod. So-young swept her chest as if relieved.

“That’s a relief. Anyway, Woo-jin, you’re a genius. How did you think of that? I ended up looking like a fool alone, but. A woman who forcibly blackmailed a man she had a crush on and took him to a hotel, and the man brought up her parents to make her come to her senses. It really sounds plausible.”

Fortunately, Hae-won believed the script Woo-jin hastily concocted. Or maybe, even if it was absurd, he might have been waiting for some explanation. It was fortunate he believed; if he hadn’t, Woo-jin would have had to resort to coercion. If he hadn’t believed and kept rejecting him, Woo-jin would have probably dragged Hae-won to Yangpyeong.

Woo-jin couldn’t understand Hae-won’s reaction. The eyes with which Hae-won looked at him with contempt were exactly the same as Kim Hanse’s eyes when he looked at him. Eyes that saw not a human, but something less. Kim Hanse would call him human trash at such times.

Recalling Hae-won’s expression and Kim Hanse’s gaze at that moment, Woo-jin slightly furrowed his brows.

“When will we talk? I’m graduating from graduate school soon, and Mom is making a fuss about introducing me.”

So-young wrapped her arms around his waist. Woo-jin merely stared into the darkness, neither embracing her nor turning to look at her.

“Not yet. Didn’t you see his reaction? In others’ eyes, we’re trash worse than bugs. Father and Mother would be shocked too.”

Woo-jin’s face hardened as he recalled Hae-won’s words about selling his body to swallow Han-gyeong Group.

“What do we do about this? Is it our fault? The dead are dead. Do I have to remain chaste just because Unni died?”

“I know, so shut up. Someone might hear.”

“Why don’t you come to the apartment? It seems like you haven’t been coming lately. Do you know how many times I’ve come for nothing?”

“I’m busy with work.”

Woo-jin had changed his plans due to Hae-won’s unexpected reaction. Rather than becoming family with President Kim Jeong-geun and swallowing Han-gyeong, driving President Kim Jeong-geun into a corner and swallowing Han-gyeong was a better method.

If Hae-won, who didn’t know the situation well, was that shocked, it went without saying for Kim Jeong-geun or Seo Okhwa, who knew well what Kim Ha-young had done to Woo-jin.

Through Hae-won, he realized that they would never accept it, that any ordinary person would inevitably feel that way about his relationship with Kim So-young, and So-young was excluded from his plan.

Excluding her didn’t mean he could dispose of her. If the plan went awry, he had to move to the second, third options, and Kim So-young was placed in the third. If he had to sell his body to get it, Woo-jin could do that as many times as needed.

So-young’s unni and his fiancée, Kim Ha-young, had known that Woo-jin didn’t love her. It was a loveless marriage, but if they married, they would have children, and then they would become family; she wanted to become family and possess Woo-jin.

The naive woman, who knew nothing, chose the path of a doctor, wanting to become the recognized daughter-in-law of her family. She was more devoted to Woo-jin than anyone and loved him more than anyone. Woo-jin acknowledged that too.

He also considered such a woman as a companion, a partner who could go with him to the end. Though he told Hae-won he disliked her, he actually didn’t. The things he could achieve by possessing Kim Ha-young were endless, and Ha-young was an indispensable element in his life.

She couldn’t refuse Woo-jin’s request to bring confidential documents and ledgers from Kim Jeong-geun’s secret safe. If she had refused, Woo-jin would have found another way. Kim Ha-young brought her father’s irregularities to her fiancé. Ha-young suffered from the remorse and guilt of betraying her own flesh and blood and frequently argued with him.

Knowing that Woo-jin, who had been targeting Kim Jeong-geun for a very long time, had become a prosecutor solely to crush him, and that marrying her was part of such a plan, she broke down. She drank heavily, something she never did in her life, and drove a car.

Even after becoming paralyzed, Kim Ha-young tried to ruin Woo-jin’s plan. She demanded the engagement be broken off. Woo-jin ignored her opinion. It wasn’t worth listening to. He couldn’t tolerate any disruption to the plan. He blindly pushed forward with the marriage. Because Kim Ha-young had broken down like that, the only person who could save her was him.

That incident was unexpected for Woo-jin too. Even now, when his body is tired, he dreams of Kim Ha-young, seeing in his dreams the figure of a woman crawling through the garden trying to kill herself. Dragging her two immobile legs, staining her white dress with mud, Kim Ha-young crawled across the ground like an arthropod. Toward the black plum blossoms blooming profusely.

She ruined Woo-jin’s plan by dying. Because Kim Ha-young ruined it, time was delayed. Though he took a detour, Woo-jin would soon achieve what he wanted.

“I’ll go now.”

“It’s been too long since we last did it.”

“Shall we do it here?”

Woo-jin turned to look at So-young. In the darkness, her pupils froze in bewilderment. Woo-jin turned his body fully toward So-young. So-young’s eyes, trapped in the darkness and by Woo-jin, trembled.

“Do it for me?”

“Woo-jin.”

It was cringeworthy. The sight of a woman pleading with her body to her dead unni’s fiancé would be cringeworthy in the eyes of ordinary people, and her parents would find it cringeworthy if they knew.

When the first plan failed, Woo-jin, who wanted to swallow Han-gyeong by possessing the younger sister of his dead fiancée, couldn’t collect data because it wasn’t something that commonly occurred.

There was no average in such matters. He tried to push forward with his plan, not knowing he was becoming human trash and ruining it. So, ordinary sensibilities were a difficult area for him.

“Be somewhat appropriate, considering the time and place. This goes against common sense.”

Having continued a relationship that went against common sense, Woo-jin despised his accomplice So-young and turned away. He got into his car and left the parking lot.