By Zephyria “ARA’s Lee Hae-sung? With Yoon Hye-an? Not as a sponsor?”
With a shocked expression, Park Dong-ha, stunned, fell into thought. It was as if he were retracing the events he had witnessed. Park Dong-ha’s expression gradually shifted from shock to astonishment. Park Dong-ha’s eyes, which had been fixed somewhere on the table, turned towards Choi Hong-seo. The joints of his neck were like rusty machinery, creaking from a lack of lubrication.
“Someone like the Vice President… why on earth with Hyung?”
For that moment, Park Dong-ha’s question was merely a pure query, a bewilderment.
Even though he knew that the person ‘Lee Hae-sung would never accept as a lover’ that Park Dong-ha was referring to was ‘Yoon Hye-an’, Choi Hong-seo was momentarily drawn into the question.
Out of focus.
Lee Hae-sung’s mention of ‘out of focus’ could be interpreted as love at first sight, but based on what Choi Hong-seo knew of Lee Hae-sung, he wasn’t the type to put this much effort into someone for just that reason. Interest, curiosity. The ‘out of focus’ of their first meeting was probably just the catalyst.
“I think I’m quite greedy and wouldn’t have been able to accept such an unreasonable situation. It’s amazing that you would sacrifice alone like that for years for the team.”
Lee Hae-sung was someone who recognized how desperately Choi Hong-seo lived, how much energy he poured into everything. He was drawn to a VIP who recognized his struggles, struggles no one else paid attention to. Lee Hae-sung himself probably found himself drawn to those aspects of Choi Hong-seo. He was someone who loved scent more than appearance.
With Park Dong-ha, who was dumbfounded by the fact that Lee Hae-sung and Yoon Hye-an were lovers, sitting opposite him, Choi Hong-seo, who had traced back to their first meeting, looked across at Park Dong-ha with a faint smile.
“Indeed. I can’t help but agree with that statement.”
Park Dong-ha’s eyes, which remained on guard, were glaring at ‘Yoon Hye-an’.
“He says he likes my scent, but I don’t even know what scent I have.”
“What’s that? Is ARA bragging that Lee Hae-sung is head over heels for Hyung?”
“It was just me talking to myself. Don’t worry about it.”
“So? Now that we’ve shared a secret, you want me to believe you?”
“You keep bringing up the Vice President… and I can’t introduce the Vice President to you. I decided to tell you the truth. Otherwise, every time the Vice President is mentioned in front of you, I’d be deceiving you.”
Though his eyes were still tense and his lips tightly shut, Choi Hong-seo could tell that Park Dong-ha’s emotions had softened compared to before. It seemed he was trying to believe ‘Yoon Hye-an’ again, after being deceived so many times.
But Park Dong-ha would not be betrayed by ‘Yoon Hye-an’ this time.
With his resolve strengthened, Choi Hong-seo leaned closer to the table.
“It’s truly agonizing for me too, as I learn about the person I was, piece by piece. But… there are people who were hurt because of me, and I can’t keep hiding behind the excuse of not remembering.”
It was the truth. This wasn’t a matter he could simply dismiss by thinking, ‘I am not Yoon Hye-an, so it wasn’t me.’ Choi Hong-seo was now in Yoon Hye-an’s form, and thankfully, if this situation were to continue, he would have to live as Yoon Hye-an socially.
That was why he was trying to take responsibility. Regardless of his own inner circumstances, people would only see it as him evading responsibility by hiding behind the excuse of not remembering.
The spots kept spreading, and he had no certainty about how long he could stay by his side. Even if it wasn’t just cleaning up the mess Yoon Hye-an had left behind, he was in dire straits. It wasn’t a goal to become a good person, but a desperate struggle to survive, to try living as Yoon Hye-an.
“You were like that too, Dong-ha. Did your acting skills suddenly change just because you lost your memory? All of that is so strange!”
“……”
Park Dong-ha’s gaze dropped to the table. His nostrils flared as he bit his lower lip. His face looked like he was about to cry, holding back tears. What President Lim Sang-jin had said was probably true. He wasn’t so heartless as to be able to hate someone endlessly. Even the target of his resentment.
“I don’t know how it happened either. Strange things happened after the accident, my memory disappeared, and I changed… Can’t you believe that and give me a chance?”
Park Dong-ha now frantically rubbed his face with his palms. His face, revealed from behind his hands, was flushed red.
“Think about the ‘Titan’ thing again. Last time, you said that because you hated me, right? If we get back together, I’ll really take lessons diligently and practice hard. I’ll memorize all the old choreography too. Okay?”
“It’s too late…”
“……”
“It’s already too late…”
It wasn’t just his face that had turned red. Park Dong-ha’s eyes, muttering so despairingly, were also quickly bloodshot.
Rumble. Park Dong-ha flinched as if startled by the phone’s vibration. It was an oversensitive reaction, like when Choi Hong-seo had appeared in this private room. He had placed his phone on the chair next to him, so he reached out to check the message content and swallowed hard before gulping down water.
“What do you mean, too late? It’s a matter of me trying and you believing. I’ll show you my consistent effort so you won’t doubt me anymore—”
“That’s not it!”
Park Dong-ha placed his elbows on the table as if to strike it, covering his face with both hands. Then he clenched his hair as if to tear it out.
“I… I couldn’t help it… Hyung, you were a bad person. You always were. I just wish you had stayed a bad person…”
It was then. The private room door opened without a knock. Both men’s heads turned simultaneously towards the entrance. An unexpected figure stood there, one hand in his suit pants pocket, smiling crookedly.
“Ah, I’m a little late.”
The face that swaggered in was Chairman Jo.
■
“Hye-an. Have you been well?”
Chairman Jo, who had burst in without an employee’s guidance, plopped down on the seat next to the frozen Park Dong-ha.
“I was disappointed you didn’t visit me even after coming back from the dead…”
Suddenly, Chairman Jo started to chuckle.
“So you caught a big fish like Lee Hae-sung, who will become the Chairman of ARA Group. Then, of course, someone like Jo Seong-hyeon, a mere construction company CEO, would seem like small fry. I understand, I understand.”
Nodding, Chairman Jo grabbed the water bottle on the edge of the table and poured it into a glass.
Chairman Jo? Choi Hong-seo tried to grasp how the situation was unfolding, but without any memory of Yoon Hye-an, he couldn’t get a handle on it. He couldn’t discern anything from Park Dong-ha’s reaction, his head bowed so low his chin touched his collarbone.
Chairman Jo, who had only taken a sip of the full glass of water, set it down and said,
“When I heard our Hye-an had lost his memory, I couldn’t just stand by.”
“……”
“I brought a few memories to help you regain your recollection.”
A video played from the phone Chairman Jo placed on the table.
The screen was dark, so from Choi Hong-seo’s seat, only a blurry silhouette was visible, but the content of the video was easily guessed from the audio alone.
[Ah, Daddy… Daddy, I like it… After sucking off the dicks of those incredibly ugly old men… Doing it with Daddy… Haa, ah, fuck, it feels so good…]
Exaggerated moans flowed from the video.
With the camera angle zooming in close, the naked protagonist panting was, without a doubt, Yoon Hye-an.
Choi Hong-seo’s lips parted, and he gasped for breath, hunching his chest.
“Originally, I was going to meet the Vice President and talk about money. But hearing how things were unfolding, I slightly revised my plan.”
Clutching the edge of his seat with both hands, Choi Hong-seo tried to control his breathing. The floor was already starting to sway. It was a precursor to ‘that symptom.’ He had to steady his mind.
He figured out that Chairman Jo was one of the many sponsors Yoon Hye-an had gone through. He also realized that Chairman Jo had been listening to their entire conversation here through Park Dong-ha’s phone. But he couldn’t understand why he had appeared here or what he wanted.
“It seems the memories helped jog your recollection. That’s fortunate, Hye-an.”
Chairman Jo, speaking in a smooth, almost slippery voice with feigned affection, picked up the menu from Park Dong-ha’s plate and flipped through it, continuing,
Although the volume was lowered, Yoon Hye-an’s sex tape was still playing on the table.
“Though it seems your memory was fine from the start. Dong-ha, you believed him again even after being treated like that? If you lost your memory, why would you make that face when you saw me standing at the door?”
Tsk, tsk, tsk… Chairman Jo patted Park Dong-ha’s shoulder and clicked his tongue, turning his attention to the menu.
“No, Dong-ha. It’s not that, it’s for another reason… I heard something about that person, that’s why I made that face.”
Choi Hong-seo, sweating cold sweat, explained. Whether he remembered or not, it wasn’t important anymore. Park Dong-ha lowered his head heavily.
Now he seemed to understand the situation to some extent.
After Yoon Hye-an left the team, Park Dong-ha’s solution when cornered was likely not loan sharks, but a ‘sponsor.’
Chairman Jo probably had videos and photos of Park Dong-ha, not just Yoon Hye-an. And he would have used that as leverage to threaten Park Dong-ha. To make him draw out Lee Hae-sung through Yoon Hye-an.
Then it made sense. Park Dong-ha’s recent unstable behavior, as if he were being chased, even while pressuring ‘Yoon Hye-an.’
『Is the Vice President… also affectionate when doing that? Someone like that wouldn’t make strange requests, right?』
He finally understood why he had said that, the true meaning hidden in those words. Park Dong-ha had been thinking of his own sponsor, Chairman Jo, at that moment. His sponsor, who wasn’t affectionate, made strange requests, forced him to do things he didn’t want to, and threatened him.
“What about dinner? Does anyone feel like eating? I’m quite hungry right now and need to eat something.”
Choi Hong-seo, glaring at Chairman Jo’s face, who was tapping his lips with the sharp corner of the menu, pushed his chair back and stood up.
“This was a meeting scheduled with Dong-ha, and I don’t know what’s happening without an appointment. I’ll be going now.”
“Sit down.”
Chairman Jo’s voice, dry and firm, had completely lost the oiliness it had moments before.
“Call him. Tell him Lee Hae-sung doesn’t need to come down.”
“……”
Chairman Jo looked up at Choi Hong-seo, shaking the phone on which the video was playing.
“Or what? Are we going to have a screening right here with the Vice President today? Either way is fine with me.”
Fixing his gaze on Chairman Jo, Choi Hong-seo slowly sat back down. His hand slipped as he took his phone out of his jacket pocket, dropping it twice.
His finger trembled as he opened the recent calls list. The list contained only one person. Carrot Seller.