By Zephyria 
“Are you going to have to raise him at this rate?”
At Seon-gyu’s words, Lee-eum elbowed him in the side. With a groan, Seon-gyu made a fuss about dying, and Lee-eum got dressed and entrusted Young-shik to Seon-gyu. The local police station hadn’t contacted him yet, so he planned to take Young-shik to the scene of the accident on his day off in two days. He hoped it would jog his memory.
Casually throwing on a black shirt over a white T-shirt, he reached for his car keys when someone tugged at him from behind. He turned to see Young-shik clutching the hem of his shirt, looking at him with a gloomy face.
Seon-gyu had been taking care of him for several days, but Young-shik sought out Lee-eum to an unusual degree.
“I’m the one who played with you like crazy at the playground, but you’re showering all your affection on someone else. Young-shik, you little punk. I’m hurt.”
Now that they were quite close, Seon-gyu draped his arm around Young-shik’s shoulders, who was much taller than him, and swaggered. Young-shik then asked with a puzzled expression.
“What does ‘played with you like crazy’ mean…?”
Lee-eum frowned at Seon-gyu, telling him to watch his language, but the guy wouldn’t listen. He grabbed the center of his crotch and shook it.
“This, this thing. A man’s gotta have a strong dick.”
Lee-eum retorted sharply.
“Don’t teach him weird stuff.”
“What’s the big deal? He’s not a real kid anyway. Honestly, it doesn’t make sense that an Alpha with his looks has no experience. Right? Young-shik? Tell me. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“What’s a… girlfriend?”
“Someone you want to kiss and hug.”
Young-shik turned his head and looked at Lee-eum, and Lee-eum was startled. Why are you looking at me?
“For your information, Kim Yi-eum here, he may have a dick, but it’s as good as useless. He has no time for it. He’s always running around catching bad guys. And that guy is a Beta. Can’t you tell just by looking?”
Lee-eum, who was looking at Seon-gyu laughing with a pathetic look, said goodbye and left the house. Before going to work, Young-shik, as always, politely bowed with his hands neatly gathered.
Even though his mental age is young, he seems more mature the more I see him. That’s why my heart is more troubled. I need to find his family quickly, but since there’s no missing person report, my anxiety only grows.
Does Young-shik have no family? Did he really live in the mountains? Could he be a pure person who looks fierce but is actually afraid of people and ran away to the mountains? While he was having all sorts of wild fantasies, the car arrived in front of the police station before he knew it.
Seeing Lee-eum go inside, Nam-soo approached.
“That person is in the interrogation room.”
“Who?”
“You know. Atelier Madam.”
The victim, who was found dismembered, had stayed at a bar for a long time before his death. So I went to see her yesterday, but the madam who was with him was not there, so I left my contact information.
Lee-eum opened the door to the interrogation room and entered, and the Team leader, who was talking, got up from his seat. He patted Lee-eum on the shoulder and left, so Lee-eum pulled out a chair and sat down. Opposite him, the madam was sitting with her arms crossed and legs crossed, looking somewhat tired.
“Hello. I’m Detective Kim Yi-eum.”
He took out his business card and handed it to her, and the woman looked back and forth between the business card and Lee-eum’s face.
“Our detective’s name is unique. And he’s handsome.”
Lee-eum pretended not to hear and continued what he was saying.
“I went to your store yesterday, but you were away. I was going to go today, but you came here yourself.”
“My mother was sick, so I went to see her. There’s no other reason I came here on my own. It’s not good for us if a detective is going in and out of our store. You said you had something to ask.”
Lee-eum took out a photo of the deceased victim from his notebook. When he put it on the table, the madam’s gaze stayed on the photo. He carefully examined her expression, but there was no sign of agitation. The woman brought the photo forward with her index finger and stared at it intently.
“I heard he was there that night.”
“Yes, he was.”
“Did you sit with him?”
“I sat there for about 30 minutes and left. That guy has such bad manners when he’s drunk.”
“What do you mean by bad?”
“He hits people. Regardless of whether they’re women or men. One of our waiters was hit and his eardrum burst.”
“Did you report it at the time?”
The woman laughed as if she was dumbfounded.
“Our detective is as innocent as he is handsome. You must know since you investigated. Where our business is managed, and by whom.”
“What was it like that day? Anything different from usual? Any conversations you had?”
“Well. He seemed a little excited…. I don’t really remember.”
Lee-eum said calmly to the woman who was making a prim expression.
“I can’t help it then. I have no choice but to visit you every day until you remember. Like you said, the customers would love it if I just camped out there. Right?”
The woman sighed, clicked her tongue, leaned back in her chair, and fiddled with her long nails.
“I don’t know the details either. He said he was going to do a big business soon. That he was going to get an investment from some construction company. He mainly talked about things like that. He said he knew someone high up there.”
“A company?”
“There’s that one. The one that’s often in commercials, what was it. Oh, this memory of mine….”
“Sehwa?”
“That’s right. That one. He was bragging about how he and the executive director there were like brothers. I don’t remember anything after that. Honestly, most of the things those guys say are obvious, so I didn’t even listen carefully. He always bragged so much anyway.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. That’s all. He got drunk and called a driver to send him home.”
Even if I asked more, the answers were similar. Lee-eum closed his laptop to finish the investigation. Thank you for your hard work. The woman got up from her seat. Then, she took out a business card from her palm-sized bag and handed it to Lee-eum.
“If you have any more questions, don’t come to the store, contact me separately. This is my personal contact information.”
The woman winked and passed by him. When he took the business card and came out of the interrogation room, the woman had disappeared, and the atmosphere was chaotic. The team members came in droves and surrounded Lee-eum.
“Did you get anything out of her?”
“Wow, she’s even prettier in person? That’s Han Joo-hee, right? The one who used to be an actress.”
“You have a good memory. Han Joo-hee from way back when.”
“I think we need to investigate further. Oh, I’ll go to Sehwa Construction with Nam-soo this afternoon.”
“Sehwa? Why there?”
“Before the victim died, he said that the executive director of Sehwa Construction was going to invest in him. We should go and check it out first.”
❖ ❖ ❖
“Darling. It’s not that I wanted to, I really had circumstances. I’m sorry. Lee-eum asked me, and I couldn’t refuse.”
Seon-gyu held the phone away from his ear. His girlfriend’s screams echoed loudly from the receiver. At the words that she would break up with him if he didn’t come right away, Seon-gyu turned to look at Young-shik sitting on the sofa.
Young-shik was sitting on the sofa watching TV after lunch.
“Young-shik. Is the cartoon interesting?”
“Yes….”
“Hyung has an appointment and has to go out for a while, can you be alone for an hour, no. Can you be alone for 30 minutes?”
Young-shik nodded while keeping his eyes fixed on the TV screen, and Seon-gyu smiled brightly and got up from his seat, grabbing his coat and car keys. Before leaving, he turned to look at Young-shik one more time, just in case. He thought it would be okay to leave him alone for about an hour since he was relatively quiet at home compared to when he was at the playground.
Right now, appeasing his angry girlfriend was his top priority.
“Hyung will buy you ice cream when I come back!”
The door opened and closed, and Seon-gyu disappeared, and Young-shik focused on the TV screen. A cartoon was being broadcast. As he watched, the series ended, and Young-shik got up from his seat to wash the snacks off his hands.
Soon after, Young-shik stood in front of the bathroom sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long time. Who am I, anyway? What kind of person am I? Curiosity grew in his heart. On the other hand, he was depressed at the thought that he would have to part with Kim Yi-eum if he found his memories.
Young-shik liked living here. No, he liked Kim Yi-eum.
Swaa- He turned on the water and rubbed soap on his hands. He was playing with the smooth soap as it moved between his palms, when suddenly it slipped out and fell to the floor. Surprised, Young-shik hurriedly reached out, worried that the floor would get dirty.
Then, he stepped on the soap and lost his balance, and his body tilted and fell to the side. He tried to brace himself on the floor, but his head hit the bathtub first with a thud! His vision blurred and he lost consciousness.
How much time had passed? Young-shik opened his eyes and slowly got up, supporting himself on the floor.
Holding his head, he groaned and leaned on the sink with his hands and raised his head. The first thing that caught his eye was his awkwardly lowered bangs and the childish T-shirt with a bear on it. His brow furrowed as he looked up and down, and a vulgar curse came out of his mouth.
“What the fuck is this.”