#94

To clear his head, Ho-jae took a wide look around the banquet hall. This was the same place he had visited during the launch ceremony of the MJ Blue Wolves last year. However, the atmosphere was different now.

Fresh flowers covered every surface, and white lights fell like spotlights onto the round banquet tables.

People dressed in gowns and suits seemed accustomed to such events, chatting while holding champagne or wine glasses offered by waiters. He felt curious gazes landing on him, but Shin Ho-jae sat immediately in the seat marked with his name.

Then, he glanced around, moving only his eyes. He carefully scanned the faces of everyone present, but the face he was looking for was nowhere to be found.

Shin Ho-jae clenched his fist slightly, not enough for others to notice. It was because he realized the emotion rising within him was ‘disappointment.’

He had thought that if he came here today, he might be able to see Kwon Jung-hyun.

Since it was a celebration for the birth of a nephew, he naturally assumed he would be here.

Perhaps today was an event for officials rather than family. Or perhaps, since the police investigation had happened not long ago, he had decided it was better not to attend.

“…….”

Kwon Jung-hyun’s police investigation hadn’t lasted long. This was because he had admitted to all the charges and, in the end, reached a settlement with the victim. The public interest, which had been bubbling like a boiling pot, faded away along with it. The players of the club no longer spoke of Jung-hyun.

By that time, articles were no longer appearing on the main pages, to the point where one had to search his name specifically in the search bar. Shin Ho-jae had no way of knowing if that was thanks to Jung-hyun’s marriage partner or not.

Furthermore, there was no contact from reporter Park Ha-na. Reporter Park Ha-na likely found it difficult to find any more irregularities in Jung-hyun’s charges. Thinking about it made his heart sink endlessly.

He suddenly felt that he had done something truly foolish.

Filled with the hope that a single phone call from reporter Park Ha-na could clear his name, he had impulsively visited his house. He had even climbed over a wall and waited outside for over two hours.

Just because he wanted to tell him not to worry—that one single phrase.

Ho-jae’s brow furrowed.

He was a man who had approached him merely out of curiosity. A man who envied his older brother, an Alpha, and imitated everything he did, and a man who said he wanted to marry for the sake of social climbing.

It must have been because the pleasure he tasted for the first time was too great. That was why he had viewed that man however he pleased.

He wasn’t the kind of person he thought he was….

“Thank you to all the distinguished guests who have attended today despite your busy schedules.”

Kwon Ki-hyuk’s voice echoed through the speakers. Ho-jae reflexively looked up.

Kwon Ki-hyuk stood on the podium, holding the microphone. That podium was the same one Kwon Jung-hyun had stood upon during the launch ceremony.

Once again, memories rushed back like a wave. The sight of Jung-hyun that day, the argument they had in the hotel room afterward, their first kiss…….

It was then. The face he had been searching for so desperately suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

Shin Ho-jae’s mouth hung open blankly. Kwon Jung-hyun—he was on the podium.

Bathed in the dazzling spotlight, he looked exactly as Ho-jae remembered him.

“There is one more thing to celebrate today. It is the news of the engagement between my only brother, Jung-hyun, and writer Kyung Seung-hee, the youngest son of Vice Minister of Transport Kyung Shin-taek. Please join me in congratulating them with a round of applause.”

Sporadic applause erupted from the surroundings. Only Shin Ho-jae did not join the applause, staring at the podium with a dazed expression.

Only now did the man standing next to Jung-hyun enter his sight.

A man with a glamorous face and a wide smile approached Jung-hyun, whispered something in his ear, and then wrapped an arm around his waist.

It was Kyung Seung-hee.

After the two of them gave brief remarks on the podium, they stepped down, and Ki-hyuk’s wife, dressed in a gown and bringing their young son, appeared as the main event began.

Shin Ho-jae’s eyes moved away from the podium, following the area outside the lights. It was where Jung-hyun and Kyung Seung-hee had moved together.

The two of them took seats at a table close to the podium. He could see Kyung Seung-hee constantly whispering in Jung-hyun’s ear, and Jung-hyun responding with a smile.

He saw a ring on Jung-hyun’s hand as he lifted his champagne glass. He could tell immediately that an identical ring was on Kyung Seung-hee’s ring finger.

Shin Ho-jae neither drank nor ate anything; he simply stared vacantly at the backs of the two men.

No thoughts came to mind. Only his heart throbbed and tightened, as if proving its existence right there.

Then, at some point, tears welled up. Startled by his own reaction, Shin Ho-jae blinked rapidly and turned his head away.

After glaring at the podium for a long while, he glanced back at where the two had been. In the meantime, Kyung Seung-hee seemed to have stepped away for a moment, as Jung-hyun sat alone, looking toward the podium.

His profile looked like a painting. The broad forehead, the elegantly straight bridge of his nose, and the dimple beneath his slightly parted lips.

An unknown emotion surged and overflowed.

He had heard and known that he was planning to marry. That he had desperately desired that marriage.

But only after witnessing it with his own eyes did he feel that he had known nothing at all.

He knew nothing. What it meant for Kwon Jung-hyun to marry someone else.

It meant that the smile he used to give him was now being given to someone else.

It meant that there was someone else’s hand on the waist he used to hold, and someone else was the one kissing his hands and lips.

And that someone was none other than….

His chest and stomach tightened simultaneously, leaving him feeling stiff.

To think the marriage partner was that Kyung Seung-hee.

His head began to ache. Then, on the day the three of them ran into each other, had Jung-hyun really come from a date, just as Kyung Seung-hee had said?

Was that why he didn’t mind that Kyung Seung-hee had left his pheromones on him? Because he was the person he was going to marry?

He didn’t want to think about it, but the puzzle pieces assembled themselves in chronological order in his head.

The day he saw Kyung Seung-hee in front of the house, and the way Jung-hyun hadn’t followed him during the three-week away game series.

He had said he wouldn’t meet Kyung Seung-hee even if he were contacted. Ho-jae remembered clearly how he had felt inwardly relieved and happy upon hearing those words.

But thinking about it now, was that really true?

He was a man who was too good at lying. So good that Ho-jae had been completely fooled every time.

Did it make sense not to meet the person one was marrying? It made more sense to think that he had been seeing Kyung Seung-hee and himself at the same time.

At the same time…….

His vision turned bright red. His clenched fists trembled uncontrollably.

He was seized by a sense of betrayal far greater than when he discovered that Jung-hyun wasn’t the person he thought he was. The betrayal spread like a spark on dry firewood, accompanied by resentment, jealousy, and anger, leaving a black soot in his heart.

The sound of the chair scraping against the floor rang out loudly. He simply could not sit in this place any longer.

Shin Ho-jae opened the nearest door and walked out of the banquet hall. If he didn’t, he felt as though he would lose his mind and rush at the two of them, regardless of the other guests’ gazes.

Ho-jae blinked rapidly. What unfolded before him was not the place he had entered, but an unfamiliar hallway. It seemed he had opened a side door instead of the main entrance. As long as he could escape the banquet hall, it didn’t matter.

Shin Ho-jae strode down the hallway wherever his feet led him. He found several doors, but they were all either locked or led to other banquet halls.

Frustration and irritation surged. Just as he had the illogical thought that the reason he was wandering the banquet hallway like a fool was all because of Kwon Jung-hyun, a scent faintly brushed the tip of his nose.

A fragrant, dry scent, like dried grass and wood being crushed in one’s hand.

Pheromones……?

It was similar to Kwon Jung-hyun’s perfume, but this was definitely a pheromone.

Shin Ho-jae moved his feet with a blank expression. It was an action close to unconsciousness. As he walked to the end of the hallway and turned the corner, the scent grew stronger.

The scent was coming from inside the restroom. Shin Ho-jae slowly pushed open the restroom door.

There was no one inside. Shin Ho-jae looked around with an expression as if he were dreaming.

Soon, the sound of someone gagging was heard from the farthest end. The sound of water flushing followed immediately.

Ho-jae walked slowly toward the source of the sound. The last stall was slightly open. And the scent, which had weakened, brushed strongly against the tip of his nose once more.

Feeling his mouth go dry, Shin Ho-jae slowly pushed the door with his finger. With a creak, the restroom door slid open.

It was Jung-hyun.

Jung-hyun was leaning against the wall, sitting with one arm draped over the toilet, his eyes closed.

Ho-jae hesitated for a very brief moment before kneeling on one knee on the floor to examine him. Perhaps because of his disheveled bangs and bloodless face, he looked incredibly gaunt; he looked so haggard that Ho-jae wondered if he had misseen the happy smile in the hall.

“……CEO.”

He called out to him cautiously, but Jung-hyun only breathed shallowly with his eyes closed, showing no significant reaction.

His heart pounded so hard it hurt. Ho-jae’s lips parted for a long time.

“Why….”

Why are you here alone like this?

Where did you leave that wonderful fiancé of yours?

Why have you gotten even thinner? Like a sick person.

Why do you look so…… unhappy?

However, instead of uttering those words, Ho-jae quietly raised his hand. He wiped the forehead damp with cold sweat and loosened the tie that was choking his neck.

As he slowly pulled his hand away, Jung-hyun suddenly grabbed Ho-jae’s hand. Then, he pressed it against his own face.

95 – Puck Drop