By Zephyria “Unlike that guy, I’m very calculating.”
Song Hyun-soo seemed to evaluate himself as a person who was very worldly-wise and shrewd. But to Lee Hae-sung, he didn’t seem that way at all.
When you’ve experienced many people and lived exposed to their most greedy desires, you inevitably develop an eye for discerning people, whether you like it or not.
This disheveled man before him wasn’t the type to calculate to achieve his desires and deceive others without guilt.
Rather, he was someone who exposed his weaknesses, an easy target, full of clumsy gaps. He was starving for affection, opening his heart to even cheap snacks, yet he thought he was protecting himself by showing just a few claws…
Yes, those scumbags deliberately targeted children like him.
Lee Hae-sung took another sip of whiskey, suppressing his emotions, and asked calmly.
“Did you hear any more details?”
“Details?”
“About the dates I had with him…”
Song Hyun-soo immediately scowled.
“Why would he talk about that? It’s sickeningly sweet.”
This time, Lee Hae-sung furrowed his brow.
“He never mentioned it?”
“……”
“What movie we saw, where we first met, where we went… how we started dating… Did you really never hear stories about those memories?”
Lee Hae-sung’s composure, which he had maintained, was violently shaken. It had to be Song Hyun-soo. He had been convinced that the source of the information would be Song Hyun-soo. His sole intention in coming here today was to confirm that directly.
Even if Song Hyun-soo hadn’t confided directly in Yoon Hye-an, the story must have leaked from here and flowed to Yoon Hye-an. That was the only way it made sense. But… he said he never even told Song Hyun-soo?
Song Hyun-soo, who had been speaking without any apprehension towards Lee Hae-sung until then, flinched and looked around nervously, shrinking back.
“…No.”
“……”
“He just said… that you were incredibly good to him. That you cherished him as if he were some kind of treasure. That’s all he said. So… there’s nothing to worry about.”
Having said that, Song Hyun-soo gripped his glass tightly with both hands and remained silent for a while. He seemed to be holding back tears. Looking at his twitching cheek beneath his lowered eyelids, Lee Hae-sung knew he wasn’t lying.
He wasn’t particularly righteous, but he was the kind of person who wouldn’t hesitate to do reckless things for those he had opened his heart to. He wouldn’t lie about something involving the name of Choi Hong-seo, who had left them.
Jeong Ji-in, Song Hyun-soo.
Besides these two, who else could Choi Hong-seo have confided in privately?
It was to the point where he could only think that there must exist some kind of diary somewhere, unknown to Lee Hae-sung, where Choi Hong-seo had left detailed records, and Yoon Hye-an had gotten his hands on it.
But that was almost impossible.
After the accident, Lee Hae-sung had moved faster than Choi Hong-seo’s family or his agency. UB Entertainment, thrown into chaos with CEO Myeong Do-hoon’s arrest, and even Choi Hong-seo’s family, had entrusted the rights to handle the aftermath of Choi Hong-seo’s case and his belongings to ARA’s Lee Hae-sung, who had made a courteous offer. So easily.
Thanks to that, all of Choi Hong-seo’s belongings left in Bangkok and Seoul had been examined by Lee Hae-sung. He had been unable to discard even a single piece of tissue paper, thinking it might help the investigation, and even after all the trials had concluded, he had kept everything Choi Hong-seo had left behind. He was living buried within it.
No diary or anything similar had been found anywhere.
Of course, the possibility that someone else might have gotten their hands on it before it came into Lee Hae-sung’s possession could not be ruled out.
However, Choi Hong-seo was not the type to neatly record his thoughts or feelings in writing. A single small notebook for lyric writing was all the record that child had left.
What he thought would be easily proven and resolved was becoming complicated.
As if grasping at the last straw, Lee Hae-sung brought up the name.
“Do you know Yoon Hye-an?”
Song Hyun-soo slowly raised his head. And then he nodded slowly. Seeing his bewildered expression, as if asking why that name was suddenly brought up, Lee Hae-sung felt frustrated, thinking this question would also yield no results.
But Song Hyun-soo’s immediate words were entirely unexpected.
“Of course, I do. He was cast for the role Hong-seo was supposed to play in
“……”
“He even came to our bar a few days ago.”
Lee Hae-sung’s eyebrows twitched minutely.
“Yoon Hye-an came to that bar?”
“He said he just dropped by while passing by… I don’t know if you know, but his public image was rather… well, like a decadent celebrity. Even if he were to drop by, he wouldn’t come to a place like our bar, given his image. It was unexpected.”
Song Hyun-soo was clearly not taking the matter seriously. He shrugged and said so, then let out a small laugh with his nose tip red.
“Seeing him in person, he did resemble Hong-seo. Maybe that’s why… he didn’t seem like the human trash people say he is.”
Indeed, Song Hyun-soo was easy.
So easy as to change his impression of someone simply because they resembled his friend.
“Hyun-soo-ssi, you have poor judgment.”
“……”
“I don’t think they resemble each other at all.”
This time, Song Hyun-soo grinned at Lee Hae-sung. His face looked as if he were teasing his friend.
“You must be offended that someone said he resembles Hong-seo.”
Lee Hae-sung was momentarily taken aback, as this was the first time someone had treated him this way. But he didn’t dislike it. He couldn’t think ill of this clumsy young man who would probably stop at nothing for his departed friend, Choi Hong-seo.
Well, this is something.
It’s not right to dismiss him as easy just because he sees someone favorably for resembling his friend.
“But why Yoon Hye-an all of a sudden?”
“Did he ask you anything about Hong-seo?”
“Hmm… No. Would he know who I am to ask?…”
“……”
“Rather, I spoke to him first. I told him to take good care of the role, since it was supposed to be Hong-seo’s. That I was Hong-seo’s friend.”
“Is that all?”
Song Hyun-soo nodded.
That Song Hyun-soo wasn’t the source of information, and that Yoon Hye-an hadn’t asked Song Hyun-soo any questions related to Choi Hong-seo, were indeed unexpected. However, it was clear that Yoon Hye-an knew an unusually large amount of information about Choi Hong-seo.
Yoon Hye-an wouldn’t have known that he was Choi Hong-seo’s friend. Song Hyun-soo seemed to believe Yoon Hye-an’s story about just dropping by the bar, but Lee Hae-sung thought differently.
What Yoon Hye-an claimed were coincidences were never coincidences.
Furthermore, considering he had even sought out Song Hyun-soo, it was highly likely he would become more actively involved.
Lee Hae-sung took out a business card from his case and handed it to Song Hyun-soo.
“If anyone tries to pry information about Hong-seo, contact me immediately. You’ll be connected to my secretary.”
“Why… why? Is something wrong? Is someone going to hurt Hong-seo?”
Song Hyun-soo’s eyes widened as he received the business card in a daze. Lee Hae-sung looked him straight in the eye and spoke deliberately, with conviction.
“That will absolutely not happen. I promise.”
At ARA Lee Hae-sung’s promise, Song Hyun-soo immediately looked relieved.
Song Hyun-soo must have thought the same thing as Choi Hong-seo, that someone like ARA Lee Hae-sung could do anything.
Even if he couldn’t do anything, he certainly wouldn’t stand by and watch someone tarnish that child’s name again.
Lee Hae-sung, leaving Song Hyun-soo to finish his drink, stood up and left the bar after paying.
As soon as he exited the two-story old building, he lit a cigarette. He deeply inhaled the now quite chilly autumn air along with the smoke.
Since the narrow alleyway was inaccessible to cars, his sedan was waiting at the entrance of the alley. He saw his attendant getting out of the driver’s seat upon spotting Lee Hae-sung.
“Wait a moment!”
A hurried voice called out to Lee Hae-sung as he walked towards the car.
Holding the cigarette between his fingers, Lee Hae-sung waited, bent at the knees, for Song Hyun-soo, who was catching his breath.
Swallowing hard, he straightened his back and looked directly at Lee Hae-sung with a flushed voice. His determined gaze was even challenging.
“You asked me a lot of questions, so please answer just one of mine.”
“Are you trying to make a deal with me?”
One had to acknowledge the nerve, not being intimidated even by ARA Lee Hae-sung. But in reality, it wasn’t nerve, but pure innocence, naivete. Just as children don’t care if their opponent is a chaebol, a politician, a king, or a celebrity.
Lee Hae-sung smiled, but Song Hyun-soo’s face was serious, even solemn. It was the face of a child thinking only of one thing in his head.
“Lee Seo-kyung.”
“……”
“Did you kill him? …You killed him, didn’t you?”
It was a completely unexpected question. As the cigarette burning between his fingers turned to ash, Lee Hae-sung calmly asked back.
“…Why would you ask something like that?”
“Kill Myeong Do-hoon too!”
“……”
This time, the smile disappeared from Lee Hae-sung’s face.
Song Hyun-soo spoke without a single misplaced word or stuttered syllable. He shouted, with a clarity that was almost too resolute, asking for someone to be killed.
There was no hesitation in his eyes as he looked up at Lee Hae-sung. It was as if he were making a request more righteous than asking for someone’s life to be spared.
“To Hong-seo, Myeong Do-hoon is a bigger son of a bitch than Lee Seo-kyung! I, at least, didn’t have as much money, so I didn’t… suffer such a terrible fate… but, sob, Ho, Hong-seo… sob sob… Hong-seo had money, so…”
His lips quivering as he continued to speak, Song Hyun-soo finally burst into tears.
“Kill Myeong Do-hoon too! Only then can Hong-seo rest in peace! You said you loved Hong-seo! Then kill that son of a bitch! Kill him!”
Now he was yelling at Lee Hae-sung as if angry. He seemed unable to regain control of his emotions once the dam had broken.
Lee Hae-sung put the emotionally overwhelmed Song Hyun-soo into his sedan and sent him away. He handed Song Hyun-soo over to his attendant to ensure he was taken home safely.
He told his attendant he would take a taxi home, but instead, he drove into a more secluded alley and wandered around the dark Naksan Park for a long time.
He knew, of course, that Myeong Do-hoon, who was in prison, was at least as much of a son of a bitch as Lee Seo-kyung, if not more so. In relation to the ‘X-Boy Scandal,’ Lee Hae-sung himself had perhaps gathered more information and truth than the prosecution or the courts.
‘Hong-seo, you said you love him! Then kill that son of a bitch for me!’
He would not kill Myeong Do-hoon just because Song Hyun-soo pleaded so earnestly.
Nevertheless, Song Hyun-soo’s tear-streaked, wailing face left something intense in Lee Hae-sung’s heart.
Yoon Hye-an pleaded his innocence, claiming his actions had no purpose, but if someone had no purpose, they wouldn’t have tried to imitate Choi Hong-seo even if they had the information.
They certainly wouldn’t have gone so far as to find Song Hyun-soo.
Even if he couldn’t uncover where the information was obtained, they had no intention of just waiting around.
Lee Hae-sung, who had been silently gazing at the eastern night view of Seoul for a long time, seemed to have made up his mind and turned his steps in an instant.
Darkness clung to his back as he merged into the dazzling swarm of lights.
■