By Zephyria 
“D-Director Han.”
Blood flowing from his head pooled in Seo Dong-hu’s torn mouth. Because of this, Seo Dong-hu’s words were cut off, leaking out. At that, Han Seung-jae released his grip on the hair he had been forcibly clutching.
Min Ra-hyeon hurriedly bowed his head, covering his eyes with his palms. However, he could not block out the sound of Han Seung-jae lifting a whiskey bottle from the table and smashing it down on Seo Dong-hu’s head, a sound that pierced his eardrums. It was incomparable to the sound of breaking glass he had heard a moment ago. A dull sound, as if something were being crushed, mixed in.
“Gasp…”
Seo Dong-hu let out a choked breath. He then broke into a fit of hacking coughs.
Holding his breath, Min Ra-hyeon slowly lifted his head. Through the gaps in the fingers covering his eyes, he looked at Seo Dong-hu lying prone on the floor. Seo Dong-hu was crawling away, as if trying to escape from Han Seung-jae, who stood facing him. The carpet shifted with his movements. Furthermore, Min Seon-woong was in the direction Seo Dong-hu was heading.
Min Ra-hyeon instinctively took a step forward, then retreated two steps back. Han Seung-jae stomped on Seo Dong-hu’s hand. While gripping a shard of the broken whiskey bottle, he spoke to Seo Dong-hu.
“I’m not in a very good mood right now.”
Han Seung-jae yanked Seo Dong-hu’s hair, forcing his head up.
“I have no patience.”
Contrary to his words, looking at Han Seung-jae’s actions, it seemed he had no intention of exercising patience in the first place.
Because of the blood constantly streaming down, Seo Dong-hu’s eyes couldn’t focus properly, but seeing the glass shard drawing closer, he screamed fiercely.
“Min Seon-woong!”
Seo Dong-hu wailed relentlessly, as if vomiting the blood pooled in his mouth.
“That fucking bastard did it! He said Yi-kyung was there, that I just had to go and meet him!”
Min Ra-hyeon’s entire body froze instantly. Simultaneously, Min Seon-woong, who had been burying his head in his arms, snapped his head up.
“I only told you to meet him; who told you to go and cause such a scene?”
Seo Dong-hu raised his voice, driven by spite.
“If you hadn’t called me, how would I have known Yi-kyung was there and gone to find him! Director Han, I really didn’t know Yi-kyung was there! I only went because Min Seon-woong told me everything.”
Seo Dong-hu flinched. The glass shard in Han Seung-jae’s hand did not stop for a second.
“Director Han! I told you everything. It’s all true! Ask that fucking bastard again. I’m telling you it’s true!”
As if his focus had belatedly returned, Seo Dong-hu screamed in terror. However, Han Seung-jae, with eyes still cold, thrust the shard into Seo Dong-hu’s eye.
“AAAAAAAGH!”
Seo Dong-hu’s grotesque screams echoed incessantly through the living room. Min Seon-woong, his face pale at the sight unfolding before him, stood up. He tried to flee, but was caught by the guards and thrown back onto the floor. Despite this, Han Seung-jae maintained the same posture. Blood spurting from Seo Dong-hu’s eye flowed down his elegant, long fingers.
“Aagh, AAAAAAGH!”
Seo Dong-hu wailed and writhed his upper body while lying prone. Han Seung-jae took a step. The hand that had been trampled under his foot was released. Seo Dong-hu reached up with trembling hands to fumble at his eye.
Seo Dong-hu’s screams grew even louder.
“My eye! I can’t see!”
“Seung-jae Hyung…”
Min Seon-woong’s pitiful voice leaked out in a broken whisper as he sat on the floor. He looked up at Han Seung-jae, who had approached him. His refined features looked almost unrelated to the desperate, screaming struggles of Seo Dong-hu behind him. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.
How could someone make a person like that? Yet, Han Seung-jae was excessively composed. As if nothing had happened.
“I really just thought Dong-hu Hyung wanted to see his brother so badly… so I just tried to help him. I-I really didn’t know something like this would happen.”
Min Seon-woong’s words were nearly drowned out by Seo Dong-hu’s screams. He turned his head and stared at Min Ra-hyeon. Han Seung-jae was not an opponent Min Seon-woong could handle, and this was a pain he could not endure.
“You didn’t know?”
Han Seung-jae’s voice was so low it was chilling. It seemed even more eerie because Seo Dong-hu was screaming. Min Ra-hyeon managed to take a few steps. Avoiding the debris scattered on the carpet, he stood beside Min Seon-woong.
“Seung-jae, I think there’s some misunderstanding.”
At that, Han Seung-jae’s gaze slowly shifted sideways. Min Ra-hyeon instinctively swallowed hard. Han Seung-jae’s eyes were somehow different from the ones he usually knew. However, for the sake of Min Seon-woong, whose legs had given out and who couldn’t even stand, he added more.
“I’ll go and bring Yi-kyung back.”
Since he knew where he was, Min Ra-hyeon judged that he could somehow persuade Seo Yi-kyung and bring him to this house. However, the more he spoke, the colder Han Seung-jae’s eyes became. He reached out his long arm and gripped the head of the cowering Min Seon-woong.
“Aaagh! Hyung!”
Min Seon-woong’s body was forcibly yanked up. A short scream escaped his mouth. Han Seung-jae brought his blood-stained hand to Min Seon-woong’s eye.
“I can persuade him. You said that when I suggested going to see the paintings, Yi-kyung followed me with a smile. If I talk to him, Yi-kyung will change his mind…”
Min Ra-hyeon spoke urgently. He hurriedly reached out with both hands to grab Han Seung-jae’s arm.
“He can’t come.”
The tip of Han Seung-jae’s finger dug into Min Seon-woong’s eye.
“How is a person lying in a hospital supposed to come here? Isn’t that right?”
Han Seung-jae shifted his gaze and asked Min Seon-woong. But all that came from Min Seon-woong’s mouth were pleas for mercy. Min Ra-hyeon pulled Han Seung-jae’s arm even more violently.
“W-what does that mean? Yi-kyung is in the hospital?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“KAAAAAGH!”
As Min Seon-woong struggled violently, his blood splattered onto Min Ra-hyeon’s cheek. Min Ra-hyeon’s legs gave out, and he collapsed helplessly.
Min Ra-hyeon had not known this indifferent side of Han Seung-jae. That was because Han Seung-jae was different inside the house. The Han Seung-jae who was by Seo Yi-kyung’s side never showed this side.
Even if he was cold, hadn’t he always acted consistently? He used formal language with Seo Yi-kyung, and his gaze was the same when watching Seo Yi-kyung leave the painting studio or when watching him eat. Since Min Ra-hyeon was always between the two of them, he had observed Han Seung-jae more closely than anyone. Han Seung-jae was placid and expressionless even when going up to the second floor where Seo Yi-kyung was.
Thus, Min Ra-hyeon vaguely believed that Han Seung-jae hadn’t changed much since he was young. He had been cold then too, and his inner thoughts were unknowable, but he hadn’t felt this sense of alienation, as if he were a different person.
Min Ra-hyeon had never imagined that Han Seung-jae’s demeanor would change this much when Seo Yi-kyung wasn’t in the house.
Soon after, Min Seon-woong collapsed beside him.
“Seon-woong.”
Min Ra-hyeon hurriedly grabbed Min Seon-woong’s shoulder. Han Seung-jae turned his body slightly.
“I believe I told you. Why are you all so incapable of understanding simple words?”
Min Ra-hyeon’s fingers curled. While holding Min Seon-woong’s shoulder, he squirmed and looked up. Han Seung-jae looked down silently and spoke coldly.
“Have you forgotten? The reason I let you into this house.”
Min Ra-hyeon’s breathing became ragged. He searched through memories he had buried.
—Yi-kyung is still alone, right?
—…….
Han Seung-jae neither affirmed nor denied it. This only made Min Ra-hyeon propose more boldly.
—I’ll take good care of him by his side. It might not matter to you, but people naturally get lonely and desolate when they live alone. Since it hasn’t been long since you got married, Yi-kyung probably hasn’t adjusted to this house at all, right?
He had intended to take good care of him while staying here. At the moment he said those words, it wasn’t a lie. However, wasn’t everything Seo Yi-kyung enjoyed provided by Han Seung-jae?
He thought that if he hadn’t gone to study abroad, if he had spent more time by Han Seung-jae’s side, perhaps the things here would have become his. He resented his father. The man who pushed him to marry a doctor who wasn’t even satisfying and seemed infinitely lacking.
Throughout this, Min Ra-hyeon had been confident that he knew more about Han Seung-jae. Since Seo Yi-kyung hadn’t been married to him for long, it was actually Min Ra-hyeon who knew the deeper details of Han Seung-jae’s family affairs.
He wanted to show Seo Yi-kyung, as if to boast, how he could approach Han Seung-jae’s lonely mother more warmly and share affection. All Seo Yi-kyung had done was have a child, hadn’t he? If only that Seo Yi-kyung disappeared…
Min Ra-hyeon, whose thoughts had reached a climax, parted his lips. But that was merely a thought. He hadn’t put it into action yet. To be precise, Seo Yi-kyung hadn’t provided the pretext for it. No matter how Min Ra-hyeon tried to approach, Seo Yi-kyung rarely allowed an opening.
Because of that, he had only thought that if the money-starved Seo Dong-hu met Seo Yi-kyung, perhaps a small problem would arise regarding Seo Yi-kyung’s well-being. But that was strictly something he had only considered in his head.
“I didn’t do anything.”