By Zephyria Lee Do-hyeon, having left the convenience store behind, retraced his steps. Although it was a residential area, most people had moved out, and with not a single working streetlamp, it was dark all around. Even though one could barely make out shapes only after one’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, Lee Do-hyeon moved forward without hesitation, as if he had never once asked Ryu Jeong for help.
At the end of the narrow, broken alley, a car with its lights on was parked. Lee Do-hyeon strode towards the car glaring in the darkness, opened the back door, and got in. Chief Yoon, who had been looking at him through the rearview mirror, let out a short sigh and leaned back, looking back with a puzzled expression.
Lee Do-hyeon’s face held a rare smile. Even after straining to look, thinking he might have misseen it in the darkness, his eyes and lips were clearly curved in a smile. He had often seen him smile, but this was a different smile from the past, which always felt strangely artificial, as if he were wearing a mask.
He had known for at least 20 years the years he had been tormented by Kim Mi-hee and Lee Gyu-hyeon, the mother and son who pretended to be family while hiding sharp knives behind their backs. Considering he had manifested as a Dominant Alpha around the age of three or four, there were another 10 years he didn’t know about in addition to those 20 years. Lee Do-hyeon, who had been skilled at feigning expressions and hiding his true feelings since he was a clueless little boy, was now smiling purely without any ulterior motives, a sight that even his closest aide, Chief Yoon, was seeing for the first time.
“Have you finally made a decision?”
What good thing could have happened? The only good thing that could come from looking around the Moon Village was finalizing the site for the hotel.
Even in Seoul, where there was hardly any space to set foot, there were many idle plots of land if one looked hard enough, but Lee Do-hyeon had been searching around only the troublesome Moon Village for days. And he chose the early morning hours. This was because there were too many watchful eyes during regular business hours. His proactive attitude, not minding the fatigue, was very admirable, but the problem was that he was making even me suffer.
“About what?”
Watching Lee Do-hyeon, who was feigning ignorance while still smiling, Chief Yoon couldn’t hide his displeased expression. Was he really asking because he didn’t know?
“The hotel project. Aren’t you smiling because you’ve decided to build it here?”
“Smiling? Me?”
Well, well. It seemed he had only just realized he was smiling himself. Watching Lee Do-hyeon slowly wipe away his smile, Chief Yoon coughed in disbelief and turned his body, which had been facing the back seat, back around.
“Not fully decided yet, but for now, it’s on hold.”
A short smile appeared and disappeared on his expressionless face, as if he was thinking about something. Lee Do-hyeon chuckled and shook his head briefly from side to side, then closed his mouth. Chief Yoon, who had been looking in the rearview mirror, said he would leave now and gently pressed down on the accelerator. His tightly closed lips meant he shouldn’t ask any more questions.
He had managed to drive the car to the entrance of the neighborhood, but that didn’t mean the road surface was in good condition. It had been a long time since the distinction between the sidewalk and the road had become blurred, and as a result, maintenance had been neglected, so the car didn’t move smoothly, but rather shook violently like a ship in a storm. The asphalt granules that had fallen off were crushed under the wheels, making a chilling sound. After turning the steering wheel this way and that, the car exited the neighborhood and quickly crossed the wide main road.
“How did the thing I told you to look into go?”
Lee Do-hyeon, who had been quietly looking at his phone, suddenly spoke. It was timed perfectly as they stopped at a traffic light.
“Ah, that. Shall I give it to you now?”
“Yeah.”
Chief Yoon took the tablet that was on the passenger seat, turned on the screen, and tapped here and there, then opened a window and handed it to Lee Do-hyeon. The white document was neatly organized with tiny letters and charts.
“Is this it?”
Lee Do-hyeon, who had received it listlessly, scoffed in disbelief after looking at the few pages of the document. He didn’t even read it carefully and flipped through the pages quickly and carelessly. Despite the time he had put into it compared to the amount, Chief Yoon lowered his gaze with a displeased expression at the action that turned his hard work into foam.
While Lee Do-hyeon was rummaging through the Moon Villages remaining in Seoul, supposedly to find a site for the hotel, he had told Chief Yoon to look into the data for each site. It wasn’t anything grand. In the first place, if you excluded the places where redevelopment was prohibited due to height restrictions or cultural heritage protection, the only places that could be touched were about three or four places, including Wolhyeon-dong, which he had already visited several times, including today.
The table of contents of the data was focused on demolition. For example, the estimated cost of demolition, or compensation plans for residents. Even if they started leveling the land right away, it would take at least several months to build, but Chief Yoon couldn’t understand why Lee Do-hyeon was only listing Moon Villages. Especially in the case of Wolhyeon-dong, which Lee Do-hyeon had first said he would put on hold, the situation was complicated. It had already been put on the table for redevelopment planning several years ago, but it had been canceled once due to strong opposition from residents and lawsuits due to administrative conflicts.
Moreover, Wolhyeon-dong was larger in scale than other Moon Villages. It would not be an exaggeration to say that demolition alone would greatly exceed the cost of materials and labor required for hotel construction. However, that didn’t mean that the situation in other Moon Villages was any different. In the first place, Moon Villages were unsuitable for carrying out a hotel business.
“But is there a specific reason why you’re only looking at Moon Villages?”
“Why? Does Chief Yoon not like it?”
“It’s not that I don’t like it, but isn’t the process complicated? There’s a lot to negotiate. We have to get the residents’ consent, and we have to negotiate the relocation period. We also have to compensate them, and we have to pay extra for demolition.”
“That’s what you don’t like. You’ve listed all the reasons why you don’t like it, but you’re saying you don’t.”
Chief Yoon, who was about to add a word in anger, soon gave up and sighed. He tried to comfort himself by saying that a man who valued practicality wouldn’t go out of his way to do unnecessary things, but he kept feeling uneasy. Chief Yoon unnecessarily readjusted the steering wheel.
“Did you see the last page?”
Wasn’t this all there was? Lee Do-hyeon, who had been reading the data without really reading it, glanced at Chief Yoon and turned the page.
“Recently, paper companies that appear to belong to Kim Mi-hee and Lee Gyu-hyeon have sold a large amount of Youngkang Group stock.”
“Sold? Not bought?”
Lee Do-hyeon, who quickly frowned, moved his finger to enlarge the chart. As Chief Yoon had said, there was indeed evidence of selling, not buying. Lee Do-hyeon muttered in disbelief at the incomprehensible move.
“When did they start collecting it little by little like squirrels?”
“However, there are forces that have bought a large amount of stock at the time of the sale. It’s not an individual or an institution, but through a foreign account….”
“They must have embezzled it. Passing it back and forth between themselves.”
Chief Yoon subtly pushed up the glasses that were sliding down his nose. Lee Do-hyeon, who understood immediately without further explanation, made a small humming sound as if he was thinking deeply.
“Where did all that money come from?”
It wasn’t a question he was asking because he didn’t know. Lee Do-hyeon crooked the corners of his mouth as if he knew.
“Kim Mi-hee is obvious.”
“Yes. She is consistently attending Hwarang. Next week, there will be an exhibition of new artists in Suwon, and I confirmed that her name is on the invitation list.”
Kim Mi-hee was the director of the art museum owned by Youngkang Group. Since she majored in Western painting in college, there were no major problems in managing the art museum, but the problem was her actions. Visiting her acquaintance’s gallery in Yangpyeong almost every week, and especially looking around exhibitions of new artists and often purchasing works, were seemingly unproblematic actions as the director of the art museum, but Lee Do-hyeon didn’t see it that way. There was nothing as easy to launder money as art.
“But I don’t know about Lee Gyu-hyeon.”
Kim Mi-hee and Lee Gyu-hyeon had nothing in common, so much so that it was hard to believe they were of the same blood. Kim Mi-hee was born with a good head on her shoulders, so much so that if she had been born in the right era, she would have been called the chairman of a group, not someone’s wife or the madam of a group. But Lee Gyu-hyeon was not. From the day he left his mother’s arms and entered the main house in Pyeongchang-dong, Lee Gyu-hyeon had never once won against Lee Do-hyeon. Whether he was born with a stupid head or he was always the one who got hurt when he tried to trick Do Hwon, it said it all.
“There’s nothing particularly suspicious about him either. Especially since the drug rumors came out last time, he’s been quieter than usual.”
Or is he really not doing anything? Looking at him eating and sleeping under Kim Mi-hee’s skirt even at this age, it wasn’t a completely wrong assumption. But his intuition was telling him. There was something.
“Ah, did he restore that flamboyant head of his?”
“Yes? Ah… it’s still the same. I think he’ll restore it before returning to the company after his sick leave ends.”
Since there was nothing urgent anyway, there was no reason for him to be impatient. He had properly touched his pride by saying he would build a hotel, so even if he didn’t step forward, the other side might provide an excuse first.
“Keep watching for now. But don’t stir things up.”
“Yes, President.”
Lee Do-hyeon, who had thrown the tablet he was looking at roughly on the seat next to him, chuckled at the thought of Lee Gyu-hyeon’s yellow head, which was really unbearable to look at.
“That’s right. Chief Yoon. Go home on time starting tomorrow.”
“Yes?”
Chief Yoon was so surprised that he replied blankly. He barely managed to hold on to his mind to avoid making a sudden stop.
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“Ah… no. It’s not that, but.”
It had been a long time since the weather had been at odds with the heat, but sweat was seeping out. From the time they started knowing each other in college, Lee Do-hyeon had been sticking with Chief Yoon, Yoon Dong-hyeon, as if he had caught some kind of weakness, so much so that it looked like that to others. After graduation, he even forced him to get a job as his secretary and took him everywhere under the pretext of work, but suddenly, what wind had blown that he was giving such instructions? Was this what they called slave mentality? Maybe he had come to think of being exploited as natural.
Lee Do-hyeon chuckled at his reluctant expression.
“He says he doesn’t like being told to go home early.”
“Then what about the inspections?”
“What inspections? Am I a public official? That makes me sound like a manager who gets paid a salary.”
Lee Do-hyeon grumbled like a child, unlike himself. Even though he spoke brusquely, Do Hwon’s eyes, looking out the window, were softer than usual. He seemed to be slightly spaced out, resting his chin on his hand and looking at something through the glass.
“Well, there’s no other reason. I just think it would be good to look around leisurely by myself. I have to be careful.”
He already knew he was a workaholic, but it didn’t seem to be just because of work now. He didn’t seem to know it himself, but pheromones had been subtly rising since he got in the car. He said he was just going to look around leisurely, but strangely, he seemed to be in a good mood. What could have made him so happy that he couldn’t control his pheromones? Dong-hyeon kept glancing at the mirror and then averted his gaze. It was the pheromone of the same Alpha, but it wasn’t unpleasant, so he decided not to point it out.