By Zephyria “Is that really so?”
“……”
“You won’t regret saying that later?”
Jo Seong-hyeon, finding a rift and agitation in Lee Hae-sung, became genuinely delighted.
“Haha… Even the Vice President gets riled up sometimes. I like seeing this side of you. Makes you seem like just another person, like me.”
He felt that if he provoked Lee Hae-sung a little more, his mask would come off. For this moment, Jo Seong-hyeon felt he could genuinely strip himself bare for it.
“Are you really going to make me stand on the JS Rooftop?”
Lee Hae-sung lunged directly at Jo Seong-hyeon, as if he were about to throw a punch right then and there. No, he clearly intended to. If Yoon Hye-an hadn’t held him back, the well-mannered, model student, third-generation chaebol ARA Vice President might have gotten into a physical altercation in the golf course lobby.
Yoon Hye-an, clinging to Lee Hae-sung’s arm as if embracing him with both arms, looked straight at Jo Seong-hyeon and said,
“No matter what happens, you will never become someone like Jo Seong-hyeon, Vice President.”
“What? Jo Seong-hyeon?”
Jo Seong-hyeon let out a hollow laugh at the provocation from the cat he used to play with and discard, now daring to match him with a title he could never have imagined in the past. In the brief moment Jo Seong-hyeon snickered and shrugged his shoulders, Lee Hae-sung had already regained his composure. With his arm around Yoon Hye-an’s shoulder, Lee Hae-sung’s expression and voice were once again solid.
“Tomorrow, let’s change the meeting place. See you at Nox Hotel. Bring your lawyer. It seems we have a few things to agree upon.”
“Yes, let’s do that, Vice President. See you tomorrow. Since you’re showing such magnanimity as to agree to terms with someone like me… as a token of my gratitude, I’ll let you know a couple of points that would make our Hyean cry and wail.”
Lee Hae-sung’s steps, which had been turning away, stopped. Jo Seong-hyeon’s entire body tingled with the anticipation that Lee Hae-sung’s composure would finally be shattered.
However, Lee Hae-sung’s expression and gaze, as he turned back, showed no sign of a rift. Leaving Yoon Hye-an standing there, Lee Hae-sung slowly walked back towards Jo Seong-hyeon.
“Chairman Jo, you seem too preoccupied with satisfying your own desires to even know where the other person feels it. Men like you… they never seem to be good at sex either. And your dick is small too.”
“Haha… I don’t know about anything else, but Chairman Jo… cough!”
As Jo Seong-hyeon tried to retort, Lee Hae-sung’s right hand landed on his shoulder. This time, it wasn’t the simple tap he’d given him in the Pro Shop. A force as if to crush bone pressed down and tightened around his shoulder.
“Ah. Even so, seeing as Chairman Jo is making an effort, I should offer something in return.”
“Let go… of this…”
“I’m thinking of attending Jo Jang-yeon’s competition. There’s another schedule set for January.”
“……”
In an instant, Jo Seong-hyeon’s defiance completely subsided.
“But Jo Jang-yeon’s record is quite peculiar. He wins almost every competition of similar scale, yet he doesn’t even consider participating in larger ones. What a shame.”
Jo Seong-hyeon roughly brushed away Lee Hae-sung’s hand, shaking his head as if puzzled. Jo Seong-hyeon, leaning in so close his lips were about to touch, rolled his eyes and ground his teeth.
“You… you crazy bastard… If you have a problem with me, settle it with me. Why are you involving the child?”
Jo Jang-yeon was Jo Seong-hyeon’s only son, studying violin in the United States. He was decent but not exceptional, so Jo Seong-hyeon was diligently managing his record by having him participate only in competitions where placement was possible through backroom deals.
Lee Hae-sung, signaling to the approaching bodyguards that he was fine, lowered his eyelids instead of looking down, gazing at Jo Seong-hyeon from above.
“It’s amusing to hear that from your mouth. When Jo Seong-hyeon tried to pull Yoon Hye-an’s hair to get at me, I was simply looking for someone whose hair I could pull.”
“You acted so noble… You’re just a hypocrite too.”
“Did you think I was acting noble all this time? Why did you think that?”
Lee Hae-sung muttered as if to himself, then met Jo Seong-hyeon’s eyes again.
“If that’s what you think, then it’s your misunderstanding, Chairman Jo. I was in a position where everything went smoothly without me having to get my hands dirty. But if necessary, I will dirty my hands.”
“Ugh!”
And as soon as he finished speaking, Lee Hae-sung’s large hand, fingers spread wide, covered Jo Seong-hyeon’s face and squeezed tightly.
“If you don’t touch the trash, you can’t throw it away.”
Lee Hae-sung pushed Jo Seong-hyeon back a few steps while gripping his face, then let go as if throwing him away. Bodyguards blocked Jo Seong-hyeon as he lunged at Lee Hae-sung, and Lee Hae-sung and Yoon Hye-an left the lobby together.
As soon as he was released by Lee Hae-sung’s bodyguards, Jo Seong-hyeon grabbed a displayed golf club and completely smashed one of the display shelves in the Pro Shop. When the shop staff and golf course security guards rushed to stop him, Jo Seong-hyeon threw the club to the ground and panted, unable to contain his rage.
“Stop this bullshit and send me the bill. I’ll pay for it.”
■
“A mistake is a wrong that can be forgiven and undone, but a wrong that cannot is a sin.”
In the quiet interior, where the noise of cars on the road just outside was inaudible, Park Dong-ha’s voice stretched out like a long line. The voice was jagged and unstable, like a line drawn with a trembling hand.
“Ha… Are you really not going to do it properly, Park Dong-ha? Do you want to get kicked out of
Park Dong-ha, his forehead pressed against the script spread on the dining table, ran his hands through his hair.
Jo Seong-hyeon had also canceled his casting for a drama where he was almost confirmed as the lead, and had threatened to obstruct his future entertainment activities as much as he wanted. Those videos Jo Seong-hyeon had secretly filmed. If even one of them were released to the world, Jo Seong-hyeon could ruin not just Park Dong-ha’s entertainment career, but his entire life.
His acting lessons were canceled, and now all that was left was
What happened to Yoon Hye-an? What did Vice President Lee Hae-sung demand from him? Money? Once the Vice President paid the money, would Yoon Hye-an be free from Jo Seong-hyeon? Even if that happened, he would never, ever forgive me, right?
Rumble, rumble.
His phone, placed near the dining table, vibrated loudly. Knowing that Jo Seong-hyeon would throw a fit if he didn’t answer quickly, he hurried to pick up the call.
“……”
But the caller was Yoon Hye-an. Should he answer or not? Clutching the phone, Park Dong-ha swallowed dryly and connected the call.
“Hello.”
[Are you at your apartment now?]
Yoon Hye-an’s voice was urgent.
“Uh? Uh…”
[The situation is a bit urgent, so I’ll get straight to the point.]
“……”
[Were you threatened with videos by Jo Seong-hyeon?]
“……Yeah.”
[Jo Seong-hyeon has several videos of you, right?]
“Yeah.”
[He told you to make a meeting with the Vice President through me, or he’d release the videos. That was the threat, right? So you asked me to introduce you to the Vice President?]
Park Dong-ha’s hand, which had been scribbling random lines on the script with a pen, suddenly stopped.
“H-how… did you know?”
[The situation fits perfectly. The person who always came early to wait for script studies, then came rushing and acted unsteadily.]
Yoon Hye-an’s sigh could be heard from the other end of the phone.
[I didn’t think of it at the time, but looking back after meeting Jo Seong-hyeon… that must have been the situation. The puzzle pieces fit perfectly.]
Park Dong-ha was speechless at the unexpected turn of events and lowered his head. If it were the Yoon Hye-an he knew, he wouldn’t have considered Park Dong-ha’s circumstances. Regardless of whether Park Dong-ha was being threatened, the conclusion that he had put Yoon Hye-an in a difficult position would have been the only thing that mattered.
If he were the Yoon Hye-an I knew. If he had remained that kind of person.
Then I could have felt less guilt. But the current Yoon Hye-an is not like that, which made me hesitate, then disappointed again, and then confused for the past few months.
Park Dong-ha’s hand holding the pen was trembling.
[It would be best to avoid Jo Seong-hyeon for a while.]
“Avoid him? How?”
[An hour from now, an escort from the Vice President will come to you. Pack a travel bag and get your passport ready. They will take care of the rest.]
Park Dong-ha shook his head vigorously.
“I can’t go. That day… the video I showed Hyung at the restaurant… Jo Seong-hyeon has dozens of videos like that of me too… I can’t go anywhere.”
[It’s okay. I’ll make sure those videos are sealed. It’s more dangerous for you to be exposed to Jo Seong-hyeon right now.]
“Hyung lost his memory… That’s why he forgot what kind of person Jo Seong-hyeon is. He said he’s coming today. Tell him to wait. If he’s not there, he’ll go crazy. All my videos and photos will be released.”
[That will never happen. I promise. Jo Seong-hyeon is probably too busy looking for his own survival today to even go to your apartment.]
“No, I can’t. I can’t go.”
Park Dong-ha just kept repeating that he couldn’t go. The hand holding the pen was so tightly gripped it turned yellow, yet the line drawn on the notebook was thin, trembling, and faint.
[Dong-ha.]
“……”
[Do you believe now that I lost my memories?]
“I believe… I believe it now…”
[……]
“…I’m sorry.”
Even though he knew it wouldn’t be seen, Park Dong-ha nodded his head diligently. Tears, which had been pooling, fell heavily onto the notebook from the shadow of his bowed face.
“I’m sorry, Hyung.”