By Zephyria Upon opening the pot, he saw the braised short ribs looking delicious. He greeted him, saying he would enjoy the meal, and was about to send him home when his Hyung headed to the living room with the game console he had borrowed before.
Lee-eum hurriedly chased after his Hyung, unable to take his eyes off the bedroom. He had hidden Choi Won-joon’s shoes and locked him in the room for now, but his heart was pounding with anxiety that this crazy bastard might suddenly pop out.
“Leave it. I’ll set it up.”
“I thought I’d do it since I’m here. Get me a beer.”
“You have to go put Yoon-ji to bed.”
His Hyung turned around and smiled. He said Yoon-ji was tired today and fell asleep early, looking genuinely happy as he connected the game console.
“Don’t worry about me and go to sleep. I’ll just play one game and leave.”
Seeing him so happy, Lee-eum couldn’t bring himself to kick him out. Lee-eum took out a beer and gave it to his Hyung, then sat down on the edge of the sofa. The bedroom was directly in front of him, and he was curious and scared about what Choi Won-joon was doing.
“Did you hear about Kim Ji-cheol?”
“Yeah…”
“Don’t get your hopes up. The victim has no intention of suing, and even submitted a petition, so it’ll end with a non-indictment.”
He had guessed as much to some extent. Still, it was hard not to feel bitter.
“At first, the higher-ups were in favor of taking a strong stance, but yesterday the Head of department called me in and hinted that I should wrap things up appropriately. I guess that’s because there were instructions from the Prosecutor General.”
“Is it because of Assemblyman Kim?”
“Who knows? How could a lowly person like me know what’s on the minds of those high-ranking officials?”
His Hyung was sarcastic but didn’t get angry or anything. In the beginning, his Hyung would get furious and vent whenever he experienced something like this. Saying they were bad guys, all of them were trash. But he gradually changed. The Sewha Construction case last year had a big impact. Thinking about that made him feel guilty. Isn’t the youngest son of Sewha Construction in that bedroom right now?
“Don’t push yourself too hard either. You can’t catch all the bad guys in the world.”
“I know. But I’ll do my best within the limits of what I can do.”
His Hyung paused the game for a moment and gestured for him to come over. When he got closer, he messed up his hair. Hey, really. Lee-eum dodged, and his Hyung just laughed. It was his way of saying he was proud and supporting him in his own way. But his game, which was supposed to be just one round, continued, and Lee-eum eventually forcibly pushed him out.
“You heartless bastard. I’m leaving, lock up tight.”
As soon as his Hyung disappeared, he rushed to the bedroom. Now all he had to do was chase out Choi Won-joon. Lee-eum burst into the room and couldn’t help but grimace. Choi Won-joon was lying face down on the bed, asleep. Seeing his bare shoulders above the blanket, he wasn’t even wearing a shirt.
“CEO Choi Won-joon.”
He went closer and called out to him, but there was no response. He wondered if he was pretending to be asleep, so he tapped his shoulder, and his brow furrowed briefly before returning to normal. The scent of the shampoo Lee-eum used was coming from the top of his head. He had shamelessly taken a shower in the meantime.
“Wake up!”
Should he grab his hair and shake him? As he was contemplating that, he saw his cheek pressed against the pillow, his mouth slightly open, and he laughed in disbelief. He looked just like Young-shik. No, Young-shik and Choi Won-joon were the same kind of person.
No matter how much he tried to wake him up, there was no response, and Lee-eum, angry, yanked the blanket off, then stepped back with a curse. He thought he was only shirtless, but this guy was sleeping completely naked. Lee-eum covered him back up and looked around, trembling.
Choi Won-joon’s suit was hanging on one side, and beneath it, he noticed a piece of cloth torn to shreds. He went closer and saw that it was the bear shirt he used to wear. It was so mangled that it looked like a rag.
“Why this…”
He was about to wake him up again, but he didn’t want to touch his naked body, so he took a hanger from nearby and poked Choi Won-joon with it. Wake up. Wake up, I said. But he still didn’t budge and just kept sleeping. At this point, wasn’t he just dead?
Watching Choi Won-joon sleeping soundly, Lee-eum sat down on a chair and stared at his face. Then he spotted the cell phone placed by his head and his eyes sparkled. Like a beast of prey stalking its target, he crept closer and carefully picked up the cell phone.
It was locked, so he stealthily brought the cell phone to Choi Won-joon’s right thumb. The moment the lock was released, Lee-eum was startled even though he was the one who did it. Can a police officer do this? Messing with someone else’s cell phone… But that’s only when the other person is a good citizen, and this guy is a bad citizen.
Lee-eum took Choi Won-joon’s cell phone and went to the living room, reading the call history and exchanged messages. The majority of them were about work. He was surprised that he worked harder than he thought.
[Joon-ah, don’t you miss your mom? Come home this weekend. You were very angry because of your dad, right? Mom scolded him, so he won’t do it again.]
What is this…? Is this Choi Won-joon’s mother? She’s very affectionate. Shouldn’t a person who grows up receiving a lot of love be a little more upright? Why did he turn out like this? While he was completely baffled, Director Lee caught his eye.
He scrolled down through the messages exchanged with him, carefully examining them in chronological order from the time Park Chang-shik went missing. Most of them were just conversations about work and schedules. How could there be nothing at all like this? Could he have another cell phone?
After pondering for a while, Lee-eum slowly typed a message in the chat window with Director Lee.
[Ji-hoon-ah. Did you take care of Yang Mok-hyung properly?]
He wrote the message and hesitated for a long time. He felt a pang of guilt for no reason and looked back at the bedroom, then sighed, considered deleting it, and finally, thinking, “Oh, well,” he pressed the send button.
The number in front disappeared, indicating that the message had been read. Lee-eum stared intently at the cell phone screen with a somewhat nervous expression. Choi Won-joon wouldn’t handle the dirty work himself, so it was obvious that Director Lee would be in charge.
Please. Please…
Almost five minutes passed without a response, and just as he was about to give up and close the window, a reply arrived.
[President. Who is Yang Mok-hyung?]
Lee-eum bit his lower lip tightly. Damn it. Did he catch on? The other person didn’t ask any more questions or give any more answers, so he immediately left the chat room. Then he opened the photo album, and among the few photos, one video stood out.
The location in the video seemed familiar for some reason. With a feeling of foreboding, Lee-eum pressed the play button, and his face contorted in an instant. He clenched his teeth and jumped up from his seat, walking towards the bedroom.
That bastard, really!
He burst into the room, and Choi Won-joon was sleeping soundly on the bed. Lee-eum took a deep breath and tried to sort out the situation. After finally calming himself down, he put Choi Won-joon’s cell phone back in its original place. Choi Won-joon didn’t even notice people coming and going.
Lee-eum came out completely and found the smoking area in the complex, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. As time passed, the cigarette butts piled up, and the dark sky gradually began to brighten. Finally, Lee-eum seemed to have made up his mind and called his Hyung.
[What is it, you punk… From dawn.]
“Hyung, I have a favor to ask…”
❖ ❖ ❖
It’s stuffy. Why is it so narrow…?
He had barely fallen asleep in the early morning and woke up groggily, but his body wouldn’t move as he wanted. Was he having sleep paralysis? With his eyes closed, Lee-eum reached out his hand and realized that there was a wall in front of him.
That’s strange. There couldn’t be a wall in front and a wall behind, could there? He forced his eyes open and turned his head to look behind him, and saw that Choi Won-joon had come in at some point and was sleeping right behind him. Annoyed, he got up from his seat, and Choi Won-joon slowly opened his eyes.
“Good morning…”
His voice was full of sleep. Lee-eum looked down and realized that he had been sleeping naked last night, and he pushed his chest away in horror. As a result, he lost his balance on the narrow bed and rolled down.
There was a thud! and then a groan. He stretched his neck and saw Choi Won-joon holding his head on the floor. Ah, thankfully he was wearing pants.
“Why did you come up to someone else’s bed!”
Choi Won-joon groaned, holding his head. Don’t pretend, he snapped, but there was no answer. What was it? Did something go wrong when he fell? The thud was particularly loud, but it wasn’t enough to break his head. Lee-eum leaned further forward. Choi Won-joon, who had been groaning, was silent.
“Are you okay?”
As soon as he asked lifelessly, Choi Won-joon raised his head and looked blank. He blinked slowly, looked at Lee-eum, and smiled, “Heh.”
“Mister… when did you come in?”
Lee-eum frowned, and Won-joon looked around.
“Seon-gyu Hyung said he was going out for a bit…”
Lee-eum stared intently at Choi Won-joon. He had loosened the strength in his eyes and was making a face as if he didn’t know anything about the world. When he didn’t say anything, Won-joon called out again, “Mister?” and Lee-eum sighed and got out of bed.
Won-joon grabbed his leg. Mister? Did I do something wrong? Are you angry at Young-shik? He looked up with tearful eyes, but Lee-eum coldly pulled his foot away without a moment’s hesitation, glared at Choi Won-joon, and said one word.
“Don’t play dumb and shut up. You’re annoying me.”
Lee-eum stormed out, and Won-joon, left alone, twitched his eyebrows and got up with a pitiful expression.
“Damn it, that didn’t work.”