By Zephyria 
“Deputy General Manager, you’ve arrived.”
Did he only pick guys who looked like square-cut radishes? Most of those waiting were well-built and had fierce expressions. Gyu-oh wondered if that was why Son Pro was hiding without a peep.
“What’s the situation?”
“There are two others besides him. Three in total. You told us not to ambush them, so we’ve just herded them; they’re probably scattered.”
Does he still have people he brings along even in this state? It could be that he’s hiring gangsters like last time, or seeing as he’s just hiding without any resistance, they might simply be company employees. Scratching his eyebrow and staring at the stairs, Gyu-oh gave a slight nod.
Then, he divided the roles haphazardly. He assigned two or three people to each floor and decided to roam around alone.
“If you find Son Pro, don’t grab him. Just call me loudly.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If any of you touch that piece of shit, I’ll consider you an accomplice, got it?”
It was a somewhat extreme threat, but everyone nodded without a word of protest. Regardless of the others, he had to catch Son Pro with his own hands. As he shouted for them to disperse, grinding his teeth, the large men moved in perfect unison. Gyu-oh also strode up the stairs, taking them three or four at a time, heading toward the third floor.
Because the abandoned building was quite vast, it took time to check every single space. However, the anger he had felt while riding his motorcycle here had mostly subsided. Why? Because now, he was someone who could become something with Cha Min-ho!
As he hummed a song and searched every nook and cranny, he heard a shout that someone had been caught once, but Gyu-oh’s interest wasn’t in some nameless small fry.
The surroundings were deathly silent, but strangely, he felt certain that Son Pro was hiding on the third floor.
Tension, carried by the freezing wind, swept past his feet. Just as Gyu-oh stepped out from behind a large piece of machinery, he felt something move quickly behind his back. It was a nimble movement made without a sound, but there was no way he would miss it.
“Trot, trot, trot. Following Son Pro.”
Gyu-oh brushed the dust off his shoulder and moved toward the source of the sound. He stopped humming and silenced his footsteps as he headed toward the room in the furthest corner.
Peering into the space where the door had fallen off, he saw that one wall was completely open. Freezing wind was rushing in where a large window should have been. Beneath a desk placed in front of it, the hair of a crouching man fluttered. Watching the back of the head focused on searching the inside of the desk, Gyu-oh quietly spoke.
“Are you busy?”
“Aaagh!”
Startled, Son Pro tumbled backward with a scream. An old mobile phone terminal and a lighter he had been holding scattered across the floor.
“You bastard, you should’ve answered if you were here. What are you doing, acting like a rat?”
“…….”
“I’m the only one who had to slave away for nothing.”
Trembling eyes stared at Gyu-oh warily before dropping to the items scattered on the floor. Son Pro hurriedly picked up only the phone and stood up. Then, he stepped backward as if threatening him with his very life. The freezing wind continued to rush in from the open wall behind him.
“Do you… do you know what this is?”
His voice, usually so composed, was cracked, and his greasy face looked quite worn down. It seemed he had suffered quite a bit after stabbing Min-ho and fleeing. A flicker of sympathy rose, but then again, if he hadn’t gone around construction companies taking backdoor money, abusing his power, and hitting on Cha Min-ho, things wouldn’t have ended up like this. He reaped what he sowed.
Brushing back his hair fluttering in the wind, Gyu-oh stared intently at the object in the man’s hand.
“Correct. A phone.”
“No…!”
Perhaps frustrated that Gyu-oh was stating the obvious, Son Pro stomped his foot on the floor. Despite the agitated attitude, Gyu-oh didn’t even blink, staring only at the device.
“A rub-rub phone?”
“Ha. I see you still have the leisure to joke around.”
“I don’t have leisure, but I’m curious about the answer. What is it?”
“…….”
Whether he had no intention of answering, the man merely curled his lips into a crooked smirk. Then, he gave the phone in his hand a small shake.
“Texts and photos from when I was a kid contacting my father. It’s all here.”
That wasn’t important now. Even if the fact that Son Pro was the Executive Director’s biological child was revealed again, the Executive Director had already decided to sever the bloodline, and Son Pro, who had injured Cha Min-ho, could not avoid punishment. Besides, frankly, he had no particular interest in the affairs of that father and son.
“And?”
When he answered indifferently, Son Pro’s eyes wavered slightly. He cleared his throat for a moment, then his chapped lips twitched. Perhaps the air was dry, as his lips were cracked and stained with blood.
Come to think of it, it’s about time Hyung Min-ho needs lip balm. He applies hand cream all year round, but he never pays attention to his lips. Since I’m the one who’ll be kissing him now, I should take care of it. What should I get? Cherry scent, or fragrance-free? Despite the urgency of the situation, his thoughts kept drifting in that direction.
“There’s also evidence of that slut Cha Min-ho seducing men all this time.”
“Eh.”
A disgusting sound emerged, ruining the mood of Gyu-oh imagining a fragrant future of kissing. In particular, the claim that he had collected information on Min-ho’s past—which Gyu-oh himself didn’t even fully know—made him feel a surge of irritation.
“I’ll mix this together and make it look like Director Cha and the Executive Director are in that kind of relationship. Isn’t it the perfect way to send both of them down to hell at once?”
“…….”
“It’s exactly the kind of thing gangster bastards like you are good at.”
Listening to this, it was honestly absurd. The good mood he had barely managed to regain thanks to Min-ho turned foul again in an instant.
“What happens if this spreads? The contract acquisitions will go down the drain, and Woowon will take a hit, right?”
“Hey. You should be bowing in gratitude to Director Cha, and yet you’re stabbing him in the back so rudely?”
“I decided that if I don’t make contact for more than a day, I’ll upload this.”
“Does this even make sense, ha.”
Gyu-oh let out a low sigh. Standing with his weight shifted to one leg and both hands on his hips, he stared blankly at Son Pro. His gaze was likely not kind. Naturally.
How could he even think of linking that old man Executive Director with my Hyung? No matter how much Hyung likes men, he has eyes, and moreover, he’s the type who values his body so much. This bastard doesn’t know how to respect Hyung’s taste at all.
What was even more infuriating was why he chose to link Hyung with someone else instead of him, who was already entangled in the work. Honestly, that was the part he understood the least.
“If you don’t want the gangster company you’ve worked so hard to protect to come crashing down, don’t touch him, got it?”
“Worked so hard?”
Gyu-oh, who had been standing crookedly, took a large step forward. Simultaneously, Son Pro flinched back and gripped the phone tightly. Perceiving the movement as an attempt to seize the device, he held out his other hand as if telling him not to come any closer.
“T-taking this one thing isn’t everything. D-do you think there isn’t a backup?”
“I’ve seen bastards like you as often as I eat. But you’re especially malicious. You have zero character analysis and zero respect for taste.”
“Shut up! I don’t know what’ll happen if you take one more step.”
The wind blew freely through the open wall. The sound of many footsteps poured through the empty hallway. It seemed they were all gathering here. He wanted to catch him with his own hands before those guys arrived. Gyu-oh swept the inside of his cheek with his tongue, glancing between the phone Son Pro was holding and his feet.
“…….”
Just how did he link Min-ho and the Executive Director to be so confident? Well, since he was backed into a corner, he must have grown desperate. He was curious.
After a brief hesitation, Gyu-oh lunged forward. Son Pro, who had been guarding him with his hips pushed back, flustered and scrambled. As Gyu-oh got close enough to grab him, the man threw the phone toward the inner part of the room. Or rather, that’s what he intended to do.
“……Fuck!”
The phone hit a mysterious pillar wrapped in cloth and bounced in the opposite direction, spinning on the floor before falling—thud—down through the open wall. The attempt to distract him with the phone and escape had completely failed. A panicked Son Pro glanced at him and made a gesture to throw himself outside.
“This crazy bastard.”
Gyu-oh grabbed the nape of the leaping Son Pro and jumped down with him. The freezing wind clawed at his cheeks and hair. What floor was this again? That only occurred to him after he started moving. Fortunately, boxes were stacked neatly below, and the surrounding area was a field of withered grass. He braced himself, curling his body as he fell.
Thump! Thump! The sound of heavy objects falling echoed in succession. Gyu-oh, who hit a pile of boxes once before rolling onto the ground, frowned.
“Ah, ugh. Is this fucker still energetic? Why the hell did he jump?”
Ouch. He pushed himself up, feeling his stinging forehead. Son Pro was also sprawled on the ground, but perhaps because the boxes absorbed the impact, he wasn’t bleeding or had any bones protruding.
“Why be so stubborn when you’re just going to crash?”
He delivered a hard blow to the head of the motionless Son Pro, who seemed to have lost consciousness. Then, he looked down at his wet hand. It was covered in blood.
“Fuck, I said one hit per wound.”
At this rate, he felt like he’d be beaten to death. Holding his throbbing forehead, he pushed himself up using the pile of boxes.
The ground was spinning. Having taken quite a shock, he had the illusion that his body was floating. His feet seemed to shimmer. His bleeding head and shoulder both hurt, but Gyu-oh quickly scanned the surroundings.
“Where did he throw it?”
The old phone Son Pro had used to threaten him was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t know what content was in it or how, but he wasn’t afraid of the device itself. It wasn’t even certain if there was actually any information.
However, if there really was something, he wanted to see it with his own eyes. Because it was about Cha Min-ho.