1 – Chapter 1 Part 2

From the private room reserved for the company dinner, boisterous laughter and noise were already spilling out. Woo-jin, who had arrived late, slid the door open with a rumbling sound.

Despite having a lunch gathering just a few days prior due to the change in the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, it was announced that the prosecutors of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division would gather again after work at a Korean fine dining restaurant near the legal district, as it was unthinkable to have a gathering without alcohol so soon.

Jeong Ho-myung, who had arrived earlier, gave him a nod of greeting upon seeing him.

The Deputy Chief Prosecutor was seated at the head of the table, and along the long, connected tables, as if to display the hierarchy, the heads of Special Divisions 1, 2, and 3 sat next to him, followed in order by the deputy chiefs and then the senior prosecutors.

Jeong Ho-myung was seated at the very end. Under normal circumstances, Woo-jin, as the senior prosecutor, would have sat next to Head of Department Lee Seung-min or the deputy chief, but those seats were already taken. There was no empty spot at the first table where he usually sat.

Jeong Ho-myung avoided Woo-jin’s gaze. He took the only remaining empty seat, which was in front of Jeong Ho-myung.

Noticing Woo-jin belatedly, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor asked in a disinterested voice.

“You’re a bit late, aren’t you? No seats left, so just sit there for now.”

“My apologies. I had some remaining work to handle.”

“It hasn’t been that busy lately, has it?”

“Thanks to your consideration, it’s been quite leisurely.”

In a group where it was natural for those of lower seniority to submit their resignations and leave the organization if someone below them rose above, Woo-jin’s current position was in front of Jeong Ho-myung, at the last table where junior prosecutors with little experience sat.

The newly appointed Deputy Chief Prosecutor was a classmate of Head Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo.

Woo-jin, who by all expectations should have become a member of the Han-gyeong Group and perhaps even a part of that family, was inextricably linked to Han-gyeong and remained closely involved.

For the prosecution leadership, which had been in conflict with President Kim Jeong-geun, Woo-jin’s very existence was inevitably burdensome, and this seat was perhaps a natural outcome.

As Woo-jin, expressionless, gracefully drank his water and set the cup down, the junior prosecutors sitting beside him nervously rolled their eyes, unnecessarily trying to gauge his mood.

Despite being at opposite ends of the table, the fact that the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, along with Head of Department Lee Seung-min and the deputy chief, were paying wary attention to Woo-jin, seated at the very last spot, cast a strange chill over the increasingly tipsy atmosphere.

After what happened to Kim Jeong-geun of the Han-gyeong Group, everyone naturally assumed Woo-jin would leave the prosecution. But Woo-jin took no action. He didn’t submit a resignation, nor did he distance himself from the Han-gyeong Group. He was no different from usual.

The Deputy Chief Prosecutor passed around a bomb shot. They downed their drinks in one go, like riding a wave. Woo-jin also drank.

Jeong Ho-myung kept glancing at his expression as if sitting on pins and needles. Even though he knew Woo-jin didn’t care about such blatant contempt, and even though he knew Woo-jin was the real force behind Kim Jeong-geun’s downfall, the atmosphere treating him like a disgraced official was unavoidably uncomfortable.

The Deputy Chief Prosecutor stood up and went around the table, pouring drinks. When their turn came, the prosecutors would spring to their feet and respectfully receive their glasses, reaffirming the hierarchy.

Woo-jin’s turn also came. Looking around at everyone standing, he slowly rose from his seat and extended his glass.

“Special Division 3, was it? Your name is… Woo-jin? Hyun Woo-jin?”

Already knowing his name, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor furrowed his brow as if trying to recall a faint memory and asked.

“Yes.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Is that so.”

“Your reputation certainly precedes you.”

“You flatter me.”

It was a sarcastic remark, but Woo-jin didn’t bite. He showed no sign of resentment or anger at being seated at the end. He was observing how the game was played from a step back.

He had no intention of wasting energy on useless skirmishes. He politely received the drink.

Within the Central District Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division, known for gathering only the most outstanding prosecutors, Woo-jin had led Team 3 alongside Head of Department Lee Seung-min, handling major cases and figures.

Even before his engagement to the eldest daughter of the Han-gyeong Group, he had received evaluations that he would smoothly become Prosecutor General, perhaps even the youngest ever. Yet, such a person showed no sign of displeasure even while seated at the end.

The Deputy Chief Prosecutor was inwardly surprised. Park Hyung-soo had expressed lingering suspicions about Woo-jin but also said he was a prosecutor who knew nothing but work and likely had no connection to Kim Jeong-geun.

He poured Woo-jin a full bomb shot. The prosecutors all raised their glasses in unison and downed their drinks at his signal.

As the tension gradually eased and the festive mood of the drinking party rose, Woo-jin felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket and stood up.

He went out into the hallway. He looked at his phone. It was a text from the magnet he had attached to Hae-won. Hae-won, having finished orchestra practice, had gone to play tennis. A photo was sent of Hae-won receiving and hitting a ball under the one-on-one guidance of a coach at an indoor tennis court.

Hae-won didn’t particularly enjoy exercise but played tennis regularly solely for physical fitness. Since his profession involved physical performance, on days when his condition was poor, the quality of his performance would also drop, so he never skipped his workouts.

Though he had a tendency to be obsessive about the violin, he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the orchestra or engaged in extracurricular performing activities. Yet, seeing how he never missed lessons or exercise showed an unexpected professional consciousness and diligence.

He zoomed in on the photo and stared intently at the face of the coach who was pressed close to Hae-won.

Just then, the sliding door rumbled open, and noisy sounds poured out momentarily before disappearing. A prosecutor one rank senior to him came out of the room, slipping on his shoes, perhaps to go to the restroom.

Woo-jin’s eyes met his. The senior prosecutor made an awkward, ambiguous expression, passed Woo-jin, and headed to the restroom.

Jeong Ho-myung, who had followed out shortly after, spotted Woo-jin leaning against the hallway wall and approached with a dry laugh.

Woo-jin put his phone back in his pants pocket.

“Was I right?”

“About what.”

“Seonbae, you’re being treated like a discarded gourd whose string has snapped.”

“Me?”

“With President Kim Jeong-geun, who was solidly backing you, now detained and sentenced to prison, they see you as finished.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

It wasn’t an idle remark, but Woo-jin truly wasn’t interested and responded indifferently.

Jeong Ho-myung shook his cigarette pack, signaling to go outside. The garden in front of the private room, where a gentle night breeze blew, was quiet, perhaps because there weren’t many other guests. Only the faint sound of the Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s voice erupting in boisterous laughter from afar could be heard.

Jeong Ho-myung took out a cigarette and handed it to him. As Woo-jin put the cigarette to his lips, he lit it for him. Woo-jin inhaled the filter and exhaled smoke. White smoke spread and rose into the air.

“Still, today was a bit much. Putting you there. I was embarrassed for you.”

“I didn’t expect it either. Who would have thought I’d be sitting at the same table as you.”

Replying with a face that showed he didn’t much care, Woo-jin smoked the cigarette sweetly and fiddled with the phone in his pants pocket.

“It was a complete atmosphere telling you to resign.”

“Was it that bad?”

“That bad. It’s just that you don’t seem to mind, but yes, it was that bad.”

“Hmm.”

As Jeong Ho-myung said, the atmosphere at the District Prosecutors’ Office was different from before.

First, those who used to eagerly suggest having lunch together or grabbing a coffee had abruptly stopped. The number of people who would cling to him at the District Prosecutors’ Office to share a cigarette had also significantly decreased, to the point that there were none now.

They would even subtly avoid him when their eyes met, not to mention greeting him—something that hadn’t happened since his school days.

By wrapping up Take 2 and 3 simultaneously, Woo-jin had achieved his top-priority goal.

Kim Jeong-geun’s second trial had also concluded. Although it was somewhat delayed because Kim Jeong-geun failed to appear without notice, the result of the appeal trial went as intended.

Even if Kim Jeong-geun appealed to the Supreme Court, the judgment wouldn’t change. Seven years in prison was no light sentence for a chaebol chairman.

Though he hadn’t become a member of the chairman’s family due to his fiancée’s death, he had since maintained a close relationship with Kim Jeong-geun, the de facto owner of the Han-gyeong Group, boasting powerful backing.

Woo-jin, who aimed beyond the Prosecutor General to what lay beyond, had handled only major cases in the Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s recognition department, holding and shaking political and business figures in the palm of his hand.

Even such a person, now that President Kim Jeong-geun had received a prison sentence even in the second trial, was seen as nothing but a fallen figure in their eyes. With the Prosecutor General and Head Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo declaring the Han-gyeong Group a public enemy, his influence within the Central District Prosecutors’ Office had virtually disappeared.

Only Lee Seung-min, head of Special Division 3, and Jeong Ho-myung knew that it was Woo-jin, not Head Prosecutor Park Hyung-soo, who had moved against Han-gyeong. That was why Jeong Ho-myung was making such overt remarks.

“I heard the targeted investigation you uploaded last time has been transferred to Special Division 1.”

“I’ll be free for a while then.”

“What do you plan to do from now on?”

“They probably won’t send me to a branch office.”

“With your performance record, that shouldn’t happen. There might not be a personnel transfer, but you’ll probably only be assigned minor criminal cases.”

“That’s good. I was getting a bit busy anyway.”

“Are you busy?”

“Not busy.”

He felt a vibration from the phone he was fiddling with. He took the phone out of his pocket. After gesturing to Jeong Ho-myung that he should go back in now, Woo-jin moved his steps to a secluded corner.

“Yes.”

—It’s me.

It was the Chief of Staff.

After glancing back at Jeong Ho-myung and confirming that he was grinding out his cigarette with his shoe and going back inside, he spoke.

“I couldn’t contact you earlier. My apologies.”

—Just how long do you intend to make me wait? The second trial is all wrapped up, isn’t it?

“It’s under review now.”

—Surely you don’t intend to threaten me with that.

His voice, uneasy about whether his name was in the slush fund ledger that came out during the search of Kim Jeong-geun’s residence, was tinged with both irritation and tension.

“Threaten? You know well that even without that ledger, I have a few more cards to hold and shake you with. As I said, it’s under review.”

—I’m not interested in the others.

“There’s no need to worry.”

—Let’s meet tomorrow. Let’s talk face to face.

“I have meetings from tomorrow morning. The day after is also difficult… Next Tuesday lunch is fine. Let’s meet then.”

The sound of his breath, as if enduring something, came through heightened. Woo-jin held the phone to his ear and listened intently to his silence.

—Alright. Let’s meet on Tuesday.

Click, the call ended.

Woo-jin switched his phone screen back to the magnet’s text.

He gazed intently at Hae-won’s photo.

The image of him playing tennis with his own kind of seriousness, walking out of the concert hall with his violin case slung over his shoulder, the back view of him getting into a taxi.

It was almost time for the tennis lesson to end, so he would likely return to the officetel soon.

Every moment of Hae-won’s day, from when he opened the officetel door to when he entered, was reported to Woo-jin.

He stared down at Hae-won for a long time, then ground out the fully smoked cigarette on the dirt ground and went back inside.

Trying to figure out what Woo-jin was up to, even if it meant getting him drunk, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor kept offering him drinks. Woo-jin didn’t refuse and drank whatever he was given. He acknowledged the authority of the newly appointed Deputy Chief Prosecutor. He also showed a sign of obedience, indicating he would follow.

He kept downing bomb shots without pause but didn’t get drunk. Woo-jin had almost never been drunk.

Drinking a lot only meant frequent trips to the restroom, which was bothersome; no matter how many bomb shots he drank, he didn’t get drunk.

Once, he had deliberately binged to get drunk, but after personally realizing it was useless, he only pretended to be drunk. Woo-jin knew that people’s guard dropped when they thought he was drunk.

Woo-jin looked at the prosecutors, soaked in alcohol, swaying and staggering.

He stared as if observing a fellow prosecutor, with a flushed face from drunkenness, slinging an arm over a senior prosecutor’s shoulder and slurring his words, then began to mimic his behavior.

He blinked his eyes sleepily as if drunk, tried to sit with his chin on the table, and even staggered.

As Woo-jin wiped his face dryly with a towel, the Deputy Chief approached with a laugh, his guard down.

“This friend seems drunk, huh?”

“Deputy Chief, I was wrong. I’m a bad guy.”

Woo-jin, having lost his fear, put his arm on the Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s shoulder and spoke in a drunken voice. Woo-jin’s eyes stared at them, who had completely let their guard down, thinking him drunk.

“Please give me another chance. I’ll work hard.”

“You should work hard, then! Work even harder and see Kim Jeong-geun go to prison!”

“Of course. If you commit a crime, you should be punished. No matter who it is. Isn’t that only natural?”

The Deputy Chief Prosecutor patted Woo-jin’s shoulder. He poured him a drink, and Woo-jin downed it.

As it neared midnight, half the prosecutors had collapsed, and the other half were lying on the table. Jeong Ho-myung had a high alcohol tolerance, and at such drinking gatherings, his task was mainly to take care of the drunk ones, put them in taxis, and clean up.

Arranging them in order of seniority, he sent the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, then Head Prosecutor Lee Seung-min, and the deputy chief prosecutor off in a car driven by a designated driver. He also helped up Woo-jin, who was sitting with his eyes closed, leaning back.

“Seonbae, you should go home now.”

“I should. I should go home.”

“Get up. Come on, get up. I thought you were drinking too much. Ugh.”

Jeong Ho-myung tried to pull him up by the arm, using a scolding tone he didn’t normally use.

Pretending to be drunk while perfectly sober was one of the things Woo-jin disliked.

To blend naturally into organizational life, such efforts were occasionally necessary. If he didn’t appear disheveled, broken, and collapsed like this, people remained wary of him, as if showing their backs to a beast stalking its prey, never letting down their guard.

But when Woo-jin acted up and broke down in this manner, people like Jeong Ho-myung trusted him even more. This seemed to be what they called human touch.

“Where are you going? Should I take you to the officetel?”

“I’m going to my hubae’s place.”

“That place from last time? Why do you keep going to someone else’s house? It’s late, go to the officetel.”

“I have a debt to collect from that bastard.”

“You still haven’t collected it? It’s about time you did.”

“That’s why I have to go collect the debt.”

“Ah, it’s too late.”

Because Woo-jin insisted on going to Hae-won’s officetel, Jeong Ho-myung let out a deep sigh.

Reluctantly, he got into Woo-jin’s car, driven by the designated driver. Safely delivering Woo-jin, whose consciousness seemed scattered, to a confirmed safe place for the night was his final task for the day.

Even Jeong Ho-myung, who could hold his liquor well, seemed tired, as he dozed off, leaning his forehead against the car window and nodding off.

Woo-jin, who had been slumped over, was now sitting back in his seat, leaning against it, and gazing absently out the window.

The designated driver glanced in the rearview mirror at Woo-jin sitting too properly.

Arriving at Hae-won’s officetel, Jeong Ho-myung woke the dozing Woo-jin.

“Seonbae, get out. We’ve arrived. Seonbae.”

The designated driver, waiting to receive the fare, looked suspiciously at Woo-jin, who staggered out pretending to be drunk, leaning on Jeong Ho-myung.

Jeong Ho-myung propped Woo-jin against the car, took out his wallet, and handed bills to the designated driver. The driver, putting the money away in his pocket, flinched as if guilty when his eyes met Woo-jin’s, who was squinting.

Woo-jin gave him a nod with his eyes. The designated driver sped out of the parking lot as if fleeing.

Jeong Ho-myung grumbled under his breath as he slung Woo-jin’s arm over his shoulder and lifted his weight. Woo-jin deliberately let himself be dragged along. He kept up the act until Jeong Ho-myung started cursing under his breath.

“Ah, fuck, you’re so heavy. You don’t look it, why are you so heavy? Is it all muscle?”

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

“No! Hold it in! Not here!”

Not that he was hurrying up in a panic, but Jeong Ho-myung, half-carrying Woo-jin, anxiously watched the elevator floor display while straightening him out.

As soon as the elevator stopped and the door opened, he pulled Woo-jin out. Jeong Ho-myung frantically pressed Hae-won’s officetel doorbell, making a rapid tadadadak sound.

“Just hold on a little! Seonbae! Just a little!”

“Dizzy… I think I’m going to throw up.”

Woo-jin muttered. Jeong Ho-myung, after pressing the bell rudely, set him down on the floor.

“I’ve brought you safely. Well then, sleep well.”

The door hadn’t even opened yet, but Jeong Ho-myung ran toward the elevator that was still stopped as if fleeing, practically dropping him. The elevator carrying Ho-myung descended.

Woo-jin, who had been sitting slumped with his elbow propped on one knee, rose from his seat upon seeing the elevator stop at the first floor. He dusted off his disheveled clothes.

He unlocked the door before Hae-won could open it and went inside. Hae-won seemed to have just finished showering, emerging hastily from the bathroom door while draping a shower robe. It appeared he had come out mid-wash due to the doorbell.

“What is it?”

“Sorry. I suddenly couldn’t remember the passcode.”

“I thought something had happened.”

Scowling with an annoyed expression, Hae-won went back into the bathroom.

Woo-jin took off his jacket, threw it on the sofa, and opened the refrigerator. He took out a can of beer. Walking to the window while drinking the beer, his silhouette was reflected against the dark windowpane with the night view as a backdrop.

His shirt had come untucked and was disheveled. Woo-jin tucked the shirt hem into his pants to tidy up his appearance. He tossed the empty beer can into the trash.

Just then, Hae-won, having finished washing, opened the bathroom door and came out. Tying the robe’s knot, he roughly towel-dried his dripping wet hair.

Woo-jin approached Hae-won, who was drying his wet hair. The nape of his neck was pale white through the parted robe. Embracing that waist, Woo-jin buried his nose in Hae-won’s nape. The soapy scent moistly permeated his nasal passages like a dampness. When Woo-jin inhaled, Hae-won twisted his shoulder, saying it tickled.

“You smell like alcohol? Did you drink?”

“Ah……. Yeah.”

Hae-won turned toward him, who answered as if he had forgotten. He didn’t look drunk. His attire, hairstyle, behavior, and expression were all proper. Woo-jin swayed unsteadily and leaned his forehead against Hae-won’s shoulder.

“Who did you drink with?”

“It was a work dinner.”

“Ah, with the new Deputy Chief Prosecutor? You said you had lunch together last time.”

“You have to drink with them too.”

“Did you drink a lot?”

“A little……, quite a bit.”

Just as others found a drunk Woo-jin intriguing and let down their guard, Hae-won also softened inexplicably when he was drunk.

Usually, he was so perfect it was almost off-putting, never needing anyone’s help, but when he became loose and careless from drink and leaned on him, Hae-won felt both pity and affection simultaneously.

Like he had done in front of Jeong Ho-myung, drunk and off-balance, he leaned on Hae-won.

“This ahjussi is at it again.”

“Hae-won-ah. Hae-won-ah?”

“I’m Moon Hae-won, right?”

“I want to sleep with you.”

“…….”

The smell of alcohol and hot breath seeped from Woo-jin’s lips, dampening Hae-won’s nape. Woo-jin swayed and rubbed his forehead against Hae-won’s shoulder. Hae-won, somehow stiffened, merely held onto his swaying arm. Woo-jin pressed his lips to that neck and spoke again.

“I want to sleep. With Moon Hae-won.”

“……Do you like me?”

“I do. Some twenty-nine, no, thirty-something……, I like a college student so much……, I want to sleep with you.”

“I’m not in college.”

“No? You weren’t a college student?”

As if trying to focus his blurry vision, he furrowed his brow and pressed his face close to Hae-won’s.

Hae-won liked Woo-jin so much, he was at a loss, his eyes shining with an expression he couldn’t hide, he liked the man before him so much.

Woo-jin felt a thrilling tingle down his spine. It was to see this expression, to see those eyes sparkling with affection toward him, that he was putting on this show. It was well worth the effort.

He pressed his lips to Hae-won’s and lightly sucked.

“You smell like alcohol.”

Hae-won slightly frowned as if avoiding him and turned his head away.

“Want to sleep with me?”

“……What is that. Who are you hitting on?”

“I’m hitting on you.”

The hand holding Hae-won’s back suddenly pulled down the robe. The robe slipped off, revealing his shoulder. Woo-jin placed his heated lips on that shoulder and trailed upward as if savoring the scent and skin. His feverish lips swept over Hae-won, from shoulder to neck, to the nape, to the ear, to the plump earlobe.

“I want to get serious with you.”

“Are you really drunk? Why do you keep talking nonsense?”

The drunken voice whispered into his ear, which was flushed red.

Woo-jin was watching the reflection of Hae-won and himself against the night view.

Hae-won, with his shower robe off, his back fully exposed, was trapped in his arms. The sight of Woo-jin’s hand sensually caressing Hae-won’s bare back was starkly reflected in the large window. Woo-jin untied the robe knot at that waist. The robe slipped off completely and fell at Hae-won’s feet.

The silhouette of long bare legs, small buttocks, and a smooth back wrapped its arms around Woo-jin’s neck.

Unable to tear his gaze from the dark window, Woo-jin stared intently at Hae-won’s back.

When he spread his large hand, it was enough to cover Hae-won’s entire back. He gazed as if admiring the hand enveloping Hae-won. Sweeping up the back of the thigh, grabbing the buttocks, he busily caressed Hae-won’s naked body.

Warm blood rushed to Woo-jin’s lower body.

Woo-jin pushed Hae-won. Hae-won stumbled backward. Pushed and pushed, his back touched the window. As the cold surface made contact, Hae-won’s spine lightly trembled.

Woo-jin tore his gaze from the window and looked down at Hae-won before him. He pressed his forehead against Hae-won’s. The distinctly warm scent of Hae-won’s heated body wafted up.

“I’ve started wanting to be entangled with you.”

“I……, don’t want to be entangled with Hyung.”

“Let’s date.”

“……Are you doing this on purpose?”

Hae-won looked up at Woo-jin with resentful eyes. Meeting Hae-won’s gaze, he exhaled a breath that seemed burdened by drunkenness.

“Getting drunk and saying the same thing every time, are you doing it on purpose?”

“What are you talking about?”

When Woo-jin was drunk, or rather, when he pretended to be drunk, he often said similar things.

All the words just now were tricks to shake Hae-won, to find out how much Hae-won liked him, how much he desired him, until he could see it with his own eyes. That series of confirmations pleased Woo-jin.

Hae-won’s eyes were moistly wet like a child on the verge of tears. Beneath the removed robe, desire was half-erect over fine-textured body hair, unable to be hidden.

Without even touching, with just a few words, Hae-won could neither hide nor conceal his feelings toward Woo-jin. Because he believed Woo-jin was drunk. If Woo-jin had said such things while sober, Hae-won would have taken it as a joke and brushed it off.

Alcohol was truly strange. It made people honest. It stripped away the false masks they wore. Alcohol was useful. There would be no tool more excellently suited for psychological warfare, neither before nor after civilization.

“You always do this when you drink. What’s with that act? Making people’s hearts tremble.”

“Your heart is trembling?”

“When others drink, they cry, call people they’re not close to……, just sleep, sing songs, things like that. Act drunk like others. Don’t do this.”

“……Really? Others are like that? What am I like?”

“Hyung……, Hyung is mean. Hyung was bad. Your habits are really not good. Do you do this to other people too?”

“Other people? What other people?”

“Other people……, people you met before. Did you do that to your fiancée too?”

“Who?”

“The person you were with the longest…….”

“Who? You?”

If Hae-won believed Woo-jin was soaked in alcohol, he invariably brought up Ha-young. A topic he never mentioned otherwise.

It seemed an important issue to Hae-won. How close Woo-jin and Ha-young were, how deep their relationship was, how much they liked each other. Ha-young, already dead and gone, seemed to reside deeply in Hae-won’s consciousness, stimulating his nerves.

Hae-won looked at Woo-jin with vexation. He must be determined to toy with him, even while drunk. He only said heart-fluttering things, only made heart-shaking sounds.

“Do you like me?”

“I like you.”

“……Do you love me?”

“I love you.”

He said it with unwavering eyes. He said it without even blinking. Hae-won wrapped his arms around Woo-jin’s shoulders and pressed his lips against his. Hot flesh entangled with their breaths. Hae-won urgently began to remove Woo-jin’s clothes.

Through the parted curtains, the pale light of dawn spread.

Woo-jin had woken up an hour ago.

Hae-won had once said he couldn’t sleep well unless it was this bed, and indeed, his bed was worth its expensive price.

He too, when sleeping in this bed, didn’t want to get up even after waking. The feeling of not wanting to do something was unfamiliar, something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Today was the same. It was unthinkable to dawdle because he didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to leave the bed.

It had been the same even when he was a minor; on weekends, his family would sleep in lazily, but even at that young age, Woo-jin would get up on time regardless of weekends or holidays and move according to schedule.

But now, even though he had woken up an hour ago, he was wasting precious time lying in bed like a lazybones, staring at the ceiling.

The mattress, moderately soft and firm, gently supporting his weight; the bedding, light as goose-down clouds, warmly enveloping his bare body.

Preferences regarding tactile sensations against bare skin were outside his concern. Having lived his entire life ignoring such things as if they didn’t even exist, the sensations he felt upon waking were new every morning.

Hae-won’s sleeping habits, just as he was waking from sleep, were also one of the reasons he couldn’t leave the bed.

Since it started taking time to leave the bed like this, Woo-jin began deliberately waking up an hour earlier. And after enduring for about an hour, when it was time to get up as usual, he would throw off the covers and escape the bed that seemed to reach out with tentacles.

Hae-won, who had been lying still as if about to wake from sleep, turned sideways and slipped his bare leg between Woo-jin’s thighs.

Rubbing his calf against Woo-jin’s, he rubbed and scrubbed his dry, crackling, even softer-feeling bare instep against Woo-jin’s instep and foot.

Starting with the sensation of well-dried skin rustling and rubbing, Hae-won’s slow habit of rousing consciousness continued.

Woo-jin, who had been lying with one hand under his head, staring only at the ceiling, slightly turned his head and gazed at Hae-won lying beside him.

Rubbing his instep, which emanated a distant heat like a heat haze rising, against Woo-jin’s foot, slipping his arm under Woo-jin’s arm and rubbing, he generously smeared his body temperature and scent all over with his whole body. As Hae-won thus roused his consciousness, his closed eyelids fluttered open, and his eyes opened as lazily as ever, unparalleled in indolence.

Perhaps the expression of some princess of a royal family, who had never known any hardship, any worry, in the past, and was convinced there would be no anxieties or concerns in the future either, would be like that.

Woo-jin shifted his gaze from Hae-won to the ceiling and then closed his eyes.

“……Ugh.”

As if stretching, Hae-won grabbed Woo-jin’s arm, curled his back in the bed, and trembled his limbs. Then he lightly bit Woo-jin’s bare shoulder.

Only then did Woo-jin open his eyes. When he turned his head, his eyes met Hae-won’s, who was biting his shoulder.

“Did you sleep well?”

His voice, just awakened from sleep, was slightly cracked. Woo-jin liked that voice of Hae-won’s. He could understand Hae-won’s eccentric behavior of even recording his own voice and listening to it often, at least at times like this. Not that he wanted to make a fuss and record that voice like Hae-won did.

“What happened yesterday?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“I must have drunk too many bomb shots. Did Prosecutor Jung bring you home?”

“I saw Hyung come alone yesterday? I didn’t see Prosecutor Jung.”

“Prosecutor Jung?”

Woo-jin asked back in a disbelieving voice.

“Hyung’s Hubae prosecutor.”

“Why add ‘-nim’? It’s creepy.”

“It’s not right for me to just call him Jung, Jung.”

“Don’t add ‘-nim.’ I hate hearing it.”

“What nitpicking. Is your head not hurting?”

“It’s not my head that hurts, it’s my body.”

Woo-jin frowned, recalling last night.

“It must hurt a lot. Yesterday Hyung…….”

“Huh?”

“Yesterday……, yesterday……. Just get up.”

Recalling last night, recalling the words Woo-jin had said last night, Hae-won couldn’t even meet his eyes and pushed his back, telling him to just get up.

The body temperature and texture of the soft instep rubbing against his bare leg were somewhat regrettable, but he had no more leisure to linger like this.

Leaving Hae-won, who was lying down pulling the sheet over his head again for some reason feeling shy, Woo-jin finally got up and went into the bathroom. Even as he finished showering, applied skin and lotion to his face, and changed clothes, Hae-won remained lying in bed.

Today with a face that loves more, today with a face that thinks of Woo-jin more.

Last night’s efforts were effective.

As always realized, alcohol is a useful tool.

Moreover, it was quite rare for Hae-won to wake up first.

Hae-won would watch Woo-jin’s daily routine of preparing for work as if watching a TV observation program, then be lazy for another hour or two, and when it was time to start preparing now to be about ten minutes late for orchestra, he would reluctantly begin getting ready to go out.

Hae-won’s gaze, lying in bed as if viewing Woo-jin, followed behind him today as well.

Woo-jin finished showering, came out, changed clothes, buttoned his shirt, and stood before the mirror. He put on a tie that was the same color as yesterday’s, only different in material. Finally, he put on his jacket and walked to the coffee maker.

Woo-jin was picky about taste. He was even more particular about drinks. He wouldn’t touch wine or whiskey unless it was premium, and it was the same with coffee or tea.

Even before becoming engaged to the eldest daughter of a Chaebol chairman, he had been in a long-term relationship, and from what he ate to what he wore, to what he spent, everything was high-end, so it was inevitable his tastes became sensitive.

He brewed coffee with freshly ground beans and opened the refrigerator door.

The inside of the refrigerator was as unremarkable as he had seen last night. He hadn’t had time to go grocery shopping and left it, but Hae-won seemed to have no intention of filling it himself.

Lately, half by choice, half by circumstance, he had more free time than usual. Thanks to that, as he spent more time with Hae-won, things he hadn’t considered inconvenient were becoming inconvenient and bothersome one by one.

For example, Hae-won’s refrigerator with beer and shriveled apples rolling around, the bathroom with only a shower stall and no bathtub, the utility room that quickly became messy even after cleaning, the somewhat low ceiling that didn’t resonate with Hae-won’s playing.

Among these, the most bothersome was the fact that the men Hae-won had met before knew the location of the officetel where he lived.

The rich and full aroma of Arabica beans spread through the air.

Woo-jin closed the refrigerator door. Turning to get his coffee, Hae-won, who had gotten up at some point, swiftly approached and snatched away the coffee he had made. Hae-won held the hot mug with both hands and quickly took a sip of coffee.

“Smells good.”

“…….”

Without a word, Woo-jin ground more beans.

The bothersome things weren’t just the shortcomings of Hae-won’s officetel. There were clearly pajamas meant to be worn for their purpose, but Hae-won wore Woo-jin’s dress shirt like pajamas. When he moved his arms, his buttocks and long bare legs were clearly exposed.

Hae-won had been with many men before meeting him, and Woo-jin, from some point on, would involuntarily grimace as if smelling something foul whenever he thought that others, not him, had seen Hae-won’s behavior, which could be kindly called free-spirited or harshly called vulgar.

Woo-jin’s mug, from which he drank coffee by the bowlful upon waking in the morning, had a larger capacity than usual. Moreover, being ceramic, it was too heavy for Hae-won to hold with one hand, so he held the mug with both hands and sipped the coffee.

Hae-won turned toward Woo-jin, who was standing in front of the dripping coffee maker waiting for it to fill.

Woo-jin turned his eyes to the gazing stare. In response to the look asking why, Hae-won swallowed the coffee in his mouth and spoke.

“Drink moderately. Don’t drink to the point of blacking out.”

“How can I not drink when the Deputy Chief Prosecutor is offering?”

“Losing control is just a moment.”

“What do you mean?”

Woo-jin genuinely didn’t understand and asked back, but Hae-won, thinking he was arguing, hesitated.

“Grandfather’s health is something Grandfather should take care of himself.”

“Isn’t that something someone who sucked Grandfather’s energy all night shouldn’t say?”

“What?”

“It’s not completely blacked out. Bits and pieces come back.”

“Really?”

Hae-won, who firmly believed he was drunk and thought he wouldn’t remember, had brazenly brought up Woo-jin’s former lover, whispering incessantly that he liked him, loved him, now stared at him with tense eyes.

“I remember you saying ‘I love you’ every now and then. I also remember you coming without my permission.”

“…….”

“I don’t forget things like that.”

Woo-jin spoke while glancing at the watch on his wrist. It was eight ten in the morning. It took about fifteen minutes by car to the District Prosecutors’ Office, and anyway, if he left now, it would be rush hour everywhere in Seocho-dong. He had about thirty minutes to spare.

Perhaps because it was a large mug and Hae-won was holding it with both hands, his face looked unusually small. Woo-jin reached out his hand. Hae-won flinched as if the hand suddenly approaching his face was about to hit him.

Smirking at Hae-won’s reaction, Woo-jin spread his fingers and measured the small face. He hadn’t even fully extended his bent fingers, just spread them to a moderate size, yet Hae-won’s face fit snugly in Woo-jin’s palm.

“Why is your face so small?”

“Small is good. That’s why my proportions are good. Of course, my limbs are long too.”

“It feels like I could crush it with one hand.”

He finally took the now fully drained coffee, uttering such a horrifying remark as if it were nothing. He turned his gaze to Hae-won, who was staring intently while taking a sip of the hot coffee.

“Don’t equate a human head with tofu.”

“It’s so small it makes me uneasy.”

“Don’t you know how hard the skull is? Even a hammer can’t easily break it.”

“Bad habit.”

Placing the mug in his hand on the table, Hae-won moved right up to him. Woo-jin deliberately ignored Hae-won, putting the rim of the mug to his lips.

“Don’t mess around.”

“You’re going to leave late anyway since traffic will be bad.”

Hae-won brushed the achromatic jacket covering Woo-jin’s shoulders. The fabric draped softly like tanned animal hide. With his other hand, Hae-won felt along the front of the pants made of the same material.

He caressed Woo-jin’s groin, which filled the spaces between his fingers, with a heavy touch.

Woo-jin made no response to Hae-won, slowly drinking only his coffee while holding the mug. With cautious movements to avoid accidentally spilling the hot liquid, he drove away the lingering weariness with caffeine.

Then, Woo-jin irritably set the mug down and stared directly at Hae-won. It meant ‘stop.’ Meeting the fierce gaze, Hae-won’s lips curved into a smile.

“You said you wanted to date a college student.”

Even though he had barely touched it, the area between Woo-jin’s legs swelled up. Hae-won wrapped his hand around the rapidly hardening flesh, feeling its outline, and squeezed from base to tip with force. Even while being tormented like that, Woo-jin’s impassive face, which was hard to believe was suffering, drank the coffee and muttered indifferently.

“A thirty-year-old college student… If you have a conscience, you shouldn’t call me that.”

“Who started it?”

Hae-won said as if it were absurd. The man right before his eyes was the one who had said Hae-won looked young, that he was pretty, and had chattered all night while applying saliva and licking his face.

“I was drunk, so I couldn’t help what I said.”

“Stop teasing me. I know I’m thirty too.”

Embarrassed and grumbling, Hae-won removed his hand. Woo-jin caught the retreating hand and made it touch his lower body again. Even while glaring, Hae-won subtly applied pressure with his hand and caressed him. Woo-jin felt the back of his neck stiffen.

“Can you be late for orchestra?”

“I’m planning to rest today. The conductor isn’t here anyway.”

“How will you make a living working so lazily?”

“It’s fine. Hyung will cover the savings account shortfall from last month.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why me?”

“You promised last night.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Did I make such a promise?”

“You did. You said you’d give it to me, not to worry, that you’d take care of everything.”

“Why did you even open it if you’re going to have a shortfall every month?”

“Just because. Everyone else does it. I want to do something like that too. A savings account. It’s cute. The pronunciation is kinda cute too. Savings account.”

His lips drew closer and closer. Hae-won brought his lips so close they almost touched Woo-jin’s and whispered ‘savings account.’ Each time he spoke, he stuck out his tongue and lightly licked Woo-jin’s lips.

Woo-jin pulled his head back and drank his coffee.

“When on earth will you react to me before the coffee?”

Hae-won gradually grew angry at Woo-jin, who was ignoring his lower body as if it weren’t attached to him, even though it was fully aroused.

Hae-won bit Woo-jin’s lower lip as if to chew it and ground it slowly. Woo-jin bit back the lips that were slowly arousing him. He set the mug in his hand down on the table. Wrapping his arm around Hae-won’s waist, he pulled him tightly against his chest. After sucking on the softly wet lips and pulling his face away, Woo-jin spoke.

“Put on pajamas. Don’t walk around in something like this.”

“…Something like this?”

“Yeah. It’s obscene.”

“There’s quite a distance between what I think is obscene and that. Is it really obscene?”

“It’s obscene.”

“I’ll be obscene just for today. Since Hyung seems to like it.”

Even though he looked slender, Hae-won was surprisingly well-built, so Woo-jin’s shirt was roomy and good for wearing as comfortable sleepwear. And it was also fun to see Woo-jin’s reaction—wrinkling his eyebrows in disapproval yet unable to look away—when Hae-won walked around wearing only his shirt over his naked body.

Hae-won undid Woo-jin’s belt buckle and unfastened it. He pulled down the zipper and grabbed the fleshy mound beneath the briefs. Hot heat and moisture clung stickily to his palm all at once. He took a cautious breath. His chest swelled, touching the firm chest. A throbbing pulse could be felt through the thin fabric.

A strong stroke swimming swiftly, parting the water like an athlete. Woo-jin’s shoulders were as solid and firm as they were then. The shirt tightened around him with each breath he took. Hae-won wanted to keep monopolizing the man who had shaken him up last night. He wanted to be together forever.

“…Let’s go to the bed.”

“…….”

With moist eyes, he rubbed his flushed lips against Woo-jin’s chin and whispered.

Woo-jin didn’t respond. He lowered the two arms wrapped around Hae-won’s waist, grabbed his buttocks, and lifted his weight in one swift motion. He set the lightly lifted weight down on the kitchen table and grabbed each of Hae-won’s bare knees.

“Once I lie down on that bed, I don’t want to get up.”

“Right? I told you. I’m not lazy.”

He slowly spread Hae-won’s knees, which he was holding, widening the angle.

He approached between the loosely spread thighs. Hae-won wrapped his arms around Woo-jin’s shoulders and met his darkened gaze.

Woo-jin applied force with his hands, spreading the legs wider. He stroked the thighs with a touch dripping with desire.

Hae-won grabbed Woo-jin’s cheek and lifted his head. He liked seeing Woo-jin’s face from above, looking down from a high position.

Thick eyebrows, cold eyes that seemed to dig into a person’s inner self, a nose as straight as his pride and arrogant personality, a face that made Hae-won want to keep adding clichéd, boring, and messy descriptions stared intently up at him.

Woo-jin was a classic handsome man, as if he had just stepped out of an old movie. Even when excited, his expression tended to be completely blank, so looking up at him from beneath gave an eerie feeling.

Whenever Hae-won faced Woo-jin’s face in such a situation, his throat tightened and a sharp pain arose in one side of his chest.

And how was it last night?

Even if a complete stranger had approached him like that on the street, he would have been shaken.

When drunk, Woo-jin poured out sweet words as if determined to do something to Hae-won. And each time, Hae-won fell for Woo-jin anew. Each time, the depth of his love sank deeper by a foot, and now it was to the point where if he reached out, he could touch the strata.

Today, he especially didn’t want to let him go. Whether pretending not to hear Hae-won’s words about not going to work at the orchestra or genuinely not understanding, Woo-jin didn’t give the answer Hae-won hoped for.

“…Hyung, take a day off too. Say you’re sick from drinking.”

“I’m busy.”

“Say you threw up and are in pain and have a fever from drinking too much bomb shots yesterday. And don’t go. When you’re sick, you should rest.”

“Do I look sick?”

“No, that’s just a saying. You drank a lot yesterday. You finally have a good excuse, so use it, please.”

Frustrated, Hae-won’s voice rose a little. Woo-jin seemed to have no intention of doing as he wished.

“Do you think there are many places that make allowances and let you freeload like your orchestra?”

“Freeload. Don’t be loyal to a place that forces bomb shots on people and makes them suffer. Don’t work hard either.”

If you have that kind of passion and time, don’t waste energy elsewhere, use it on me now—Hae-won put all his effort into seducing him today. Woo-jin, who kept glancing at his wristwatch, let out a low sigh.

The hand holding his knee slowly moved to the inside of his thigh. Unlike his cold voice, his hand moved horrifyingly lewdly.

Hae-won looked down at the bold movement. Applying strong pressure with his thumb, Woo-jin gradually spread the already parted legs wider.

Woo-jin approached the flinching lower body. He pulled down Hae-won’s waist and pushed aside the shirt that was barely covering him. His breathing had already grown ragged. His face was flushed hot with the heat radiating from his entire body.

As Woo-jin’s hand groped and pushed in below, Hae-won grabbed his wrist. The interrupted eyebrow twitched. Sternly opened eyes sharply stared at Hae-won, the interferer.

“Let’s go to the bed.”

Woo-jin turned his wrist to check the time. He only had twenty minutes left. Time had passed too quickly. He was very irritated.

“The moment I lie down there, it’ll be endless.”

“That’s why let’s go to the bed.”

“Let go. Or your wrist might break.”

Emitting a fierce energy as if he would break the wrist if he kept arguing, he pushed Hae-won’s hand away and pushed down below.

Hae-won’s legs were spread wide open before him. His upper body swayed backward and collapsed. He hastily lowered both hands to the table to support his weight. Pulling Hae-won’s lower body down tightly, Woo-jin buried his face between those legs.

“Ugh…!”

Half-lying on the kitchen table, Hae-won grabbed Woo-jin’s hair.

The face of the man he had been staring at blankly was buried in his lower body, wetting below with a moist, hot tongue and lips.

That unbelievable gap dizzyingly stimulated Hae-won. Each knuckle of the hand grabbing Woo-jin’s hair turned white as if trying to stop him. Woo-jin deliberately made squelching sounds loud enough to make his ears hot and sucked below.

“Here, ah, here, I don’t want to…!”

Both lifted legs were draped over Woo-jin’s shoulders. He took Hae-won’s into his mouth, sucking strongly and licking upward.

“Ah, ah-ugh, Hyung, ah, ah-hng…!”

A hysterical moan burst out—as if he would cry, as if he would laugh, as if he would sob. Hae-won’s body trembled violently. The man who had been sucking and swallowing below lifted his face, which had become as hot as heated iron.

“Haa…!”

With an urgent hand, Woo-jin pulled down his pants zipper. The front of his pants felt like it would burst. He pulled down his briefs and took out his fully erect penis. He thrust into the still-soaked below with his own saliva. He deeply stabbed his penis into the hot, wet vulva.

“Hyung, ah-ah!”

Hae-won’s body, which had hastily grabbed the back of Woo-jin’s neck, fell backward, knocking over cups and dishes. Reaching the deepest possible point, Woo-jin held his breath. His waist, which had momentarily pulled back, thrust in deeply again.

“Kgh-ugh!”

Below clenched tightly. A gasp burst from Hae-won’s mouth. Hae-won tightly hugged Woo-jin’s shoulders. He rubbed his heated lips against the collarbone. Rubbing his cheek against the neck, as if out of his mind, he rubbed his face against Woo-jin’s body. Each time Woo-jin swept his waist and pushed in, moans and sobs scattered simultaneously.

“Ah, Hyung, Hyuung…!, ah, ah-ugh…!”

Woo-jin’s clenched jaw tightened. His chest heaved along with him.

He quickly moved his waist. The moist, wet inner walls receiving him were like sticky brain matter. They were soft, tight, and hot as if holding fire. Each time the sharp pleasure, as if cutting through the penis, pierced inside, it arose thrillingly.

Grabbing one side of Hae-won’s buttocks, which retreated when pushed, he pulled with rough force. As if his lower body were held captive, Hae-won couldn’t move an inch and tightened below each time Woo-jin thrust in. Rough breaths burst out.

“Ah, ah-hng! Ugh-ugh, Hyung, Hyuung, Woo-jin Hyung…!”

Woo-jin’s neatly combed hair became a tangled mess in Hae-won’s hand. Tangling the hair enough to pull his scalp, Hae-won lifted his head.

Their eyes met.

The teary eyes, filled with moisture, shook turbulently as Woo-jin pushed in.

Hae-won contorted his face painfully. He grabbed the back of Woo-jin’s head and pulled. Clinging to the man’s shoulder as if rubbing his lips against it, he let out a gaping, pained moan.

“Ah, ah…, ah-ah…. Good, kiss me.”

Woo-jin parted his lips. Hae-won’s tongue entered his mouth and touched the wet inside. Woo-jin locked lips as intricately as below and kissed fiercely. His mouth opened wide, and Woo-jin’s tongue slid in wetly, squelching and tangling. He sucked in Hae-won’s breath and tongue in one gulp.

Tightly closing his eyes, tears streamed down Hae-won’s cheeks. His chest was hot as if he had swallowed fire. His head felt like it would explode. He clung to the lips and tongue that steeply swirled and ravaged his mouth. The hand gripping Woo-jin’s shoulder turned white.

The movements grew faster and faster. Lower bodies quickly joined. Flesh collided abundantly, making terrible slapping sounds.

Biting and sucking Hae-won’s lower lip, Woo-jin swallowed saliva. His Adam’s apple quivered as he swallowed saliva and moans. Pulling away from the lips rubbing hotly against each other, Hae-won panted and spoke.

“Outside…, do it outside. Ah, ah!”

“Haa, of course. Hgh-ugh, of course…, ugh.”

A heated voice pleaded not to do it inside. The intercourse grew faster, and panting breaths and heat boiled up as if about to burst. The knuckles gripping Woo-jin’s shirt were desperate. He could feel the hardness and heat of the penis thrusting inside increasing.

Hae-won struggled.

“Ah, don’t do it inside, don’t…, don’t do it inside!”

“I won’t. Hgh-ugh, I won’t do it inside, haa.”

On the verge of crying, Hae-won shook his head. The feeling of being thrust into rapidly pushed Hae-won over the cliff. Falling dizzyingly to a place where his feet couldn’t reach, he hugged the muscular back that twitched.

His toes curled. A sore pain arose in the widely spread crotch. The intense stimulation gave the illusion that his lower body was melting. It was melting away.

“Ah, ah-ugh, Hyuung, Hyung…, ah, ah!”

The mug placed beside them fell to the floor, glass broke, things spilled—none of that mattered anymore. The sensation, hot enough to feel like it would burst, momentarily subsided then exploded.

“Ah-ah, ah-ugh…!”

Hae-won trembled as if convulsing and came. His back arched roundly. Simultaneously, Woo-jin’s movements intensified.

Hae-won let out a gasp at the strong stimulation coming with the ejaculation. Woo-jin’s waist, holding the curling knees, also stiffened with a jerk. The breath, thrust in so deep it couldn’t go any deeper, poured down like a waterfall all at once.

“Haa, haa!”

The feeling of ejaculating deep inside struck his back. Veins bulged on Woo-jin’s furrowed forehead. He trembled his waist finely as if urinating. Goosebumps rose on his arms and nape.

Hae-won panted while still hugging his shoulders. Woo-jin, who slowly caught his breath, released the knees he had been gripping tightly. His gaze went down to their joined lower bodies.

The twitching of tendons and muscles that had grotesquely bulged at each point of pleasure also subsided.

Woo-jin slowly pulled out his penis. As the embedded glans came out, Hae-won’s entire body flinched.

Drip, drip—cloudy semen flowed obscenely from below the vulva.

“…I told you not to do it inside, not inside.”

His voice already hoarse, Hae-won got angry with a tearful voice. His bloodshot eyes were intently watching the viscosity slowly dripping down.

“Then why did you mess around?”

“…Get lost.”

“You’re late anyway.”

“Don’t. I won’t do it! I won’t!”

“Keep messing around. You’re the only one who loses.”

Woo-jin lifted the protesting Hae-won in his arms and turned around.

∞ ∞ ∞

His throat was parched. Hae-won swallowed and furrowed his brows. He had screamed and sobbed so much that his diaphragm trembled. Unable to move a finger, he had collapsed as if fainting and only opened his eyes after the sun was high in the sky.

The bed was a mess again.

Not to mention the area around the kitchen table where the coffee maker sat, the two pillows on the bed were flung far away, the sheets were half-pulled off and trailing on the floor, and the lamp from the side table was rolling around at his feet.

There were times when Woo-jin’s sex became so rough that Hae-won’s body was completely drained and hard to move, as if he were a piece of Buddha normally devoid of sexual desire but once unleashed, everything around him was wrecked. Today was one of those days.

Last night, drunk, had been unusually gentle.

Having grown accustomed to his fiercely embracing acts, that dizzying gentleness couldn’t sate his thirst for him. It was a mistake to have stimulated him out of impatience.

Lying sprawled on the bed, Hae-won touched his sore lips. A warm ache arose. He absentmindedly fiddled with his slightly swollen, reddened lips.

“…Weird.”

As Hae-won muttered to himself, something momentarily pierced through his mind. Alone, he curled up his aching limbs. Rubbing his cheek against the overly soft, cloud-like bedding, his disheveled hair flowed down in the direction he tilted his head.

“……”

Though he was the one who initiated most of the time, the frequency was significantly lower compared to how often Hae-won clung to him.

It was Hae-won who demanded their intimate moments. And it was Woo-jin who incited such feelings.

Woo-jin was an attractive man, someone Hae-won liked. Wanting to be with such a person, to mingle flesh, was utterly natural, but whenever the atmosphere turned suggestive, Woo-jin would deliberately show only his splendid side, as if intentionally seducing.

There was a part of him that made one unable to control their thirst before tailored bait. As if he did it on purpose to elicit that reaction.

Hae-won shook his head, dismissing the thought.

Groaning, he lifted his heavy body.

It wasn’t that he disliked Woo-jin; Hae-won liked him. He had even clung to him, begging to meet again after they broke up. The person who knew that best was Woo-jin himself. There was no reason for him to deliberately provoke Hae-won with premeditated actions.

After showering, Hae-won picked up the baguette sandwich Woo-jin had made before leaving for work.

“He’s the perfect husband material.”

Good in bed, good at cooking, capable, handsome, splendid, tall, and though as a public servant he wouldn’t earn much, being the second son of a prestigious medical family meant he’d inherit considerable assets, so he’d never have to worry about money in his life.

And not long ago, he appeared on TV for about 0.1 seconds in a news footage clip.

Amid the swarm of black-suited prosecutors pouring out of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Woo-jin’s profile was momentarily captured by the camera.

How striking his face was—even Hae-won, with his poor observational skills, didn’t miss that fleeting glimpse.

Hae-won downloaded that news video, captured the screen, and set it as his laptop wallpaper. Though pixelated and blurry, the intimidatingly handsome features were still evident.

With a proud expression, Hae-won stared at the blurry profile of Woo-jin on his laptop screen.

With one hand shoved in his pocket, walking briskly, his tie fluttered and draped over his shoulder. The sharp profile glancing somewhere was so handsome he wanted to print it and stick it on the wall.

When he asked who they were going to beat up with such scary faces swarming out, he got the mundane answer that the entire Special Investigation Division 1, 2, and 3 were going for a lunch meeting at a galbitang restaurant with the newly appointed Deputy Chief Prosecutor.

When he asked why the broadcasting station filmed them going to eat galbitang, Woo-jin nonchalantly said even the Central District Prosecutors’ Office prosecutors wondered the same.

Hae-won grabbed Woo-jin’s neck and hugged him tightly. On top of that, he was often cute like that too. Enough said.

His slightly off-kilter, quirky side was also part of his charm. For instance, when he seriously explained how offensive the term “kkondae” (stubborn old-timer) was, or when he talked about trivial matters as if they were the most serious things in the world, or when he was subtly picky about food and refused to touch instant stuff like a fussy child.

Then his phone rang.

Hae-won picked up the phone lying on the dining table.

A few months ago, despite Hae-won telling him not to because the officetel was dirty, Woo-jin insisted on cleaning and opened the window wide.

Why the phone was even there was a mystery, but Hae-won’s phone, placed on the windowsill, fell down below when Woo-jin shook out a doormat.

The phone that fell on the road was literally smashed. Two cars and a one-ton truck ran over it, completely grinding the already shattered phone into powder.

When Hae-won flared up, accusing him of doing it on purpose, that he threw the phone out the window because he hated the photos and voice recordings of him on it, Woo-jin apologized and bought him the latest phone, recorded his voice on it (exactly as Hae-won’s script said), and took photos and videos together. Only after that arduous process did Hae-won acknowledge that Woo-jin hadn’t done it on purpose and forgive him.

While fiddling with the new phone, Hae-won looked away, and a photo was accidentally taken of Woo-jin placing a hand on his shoulder and staring intently at him. It became his favorite photo, more than any other, making him almost glad the old phone was smashed.

Sometimes Woo-jin, who usually seemed emotionless, made that expression toward Hae-won.

There was an unfathomable depth in his eyes that couldn’t be explained by investigation.

Woo-jin seemed unaware when he saw that photo, but Hae-won knew that look. It was the expression only those undeniably in love could make.

Changing phones like that meant all the saved contacts were lost. Except for the numbers of his father and stepmother, whom he had to save even if he didn’t want to answer, and a few orchestra members he had to lie to about being sick when he suddenly felt too lazy to go out, he still hadn’t recovered all his contacts.

An unknown number appeared on the screen.

Hae-won declined the call. As he took out a juice pack from the fridge, the ringtone sounded again. This time, it was the same number. It didn’t seem like a wrong number.

“Yes.”

—Is this Moon Hae-won’s phone?

“It is. Who is this?”

—Ah, I’m Park Jong-hoon. I’m not sure if you know me.

“Who? How did you get my number?”

—The concertmaster of Han-gyeong Symphony is my school hubae, so I asked him.

“Who? Park what?”

—Park Jong-hoon.

Annoyed at the concertmaster for carelessly disclosing personal information without asking, and also irritated at this Park whatever person who dug up his number and called, Hae-won felt displeased. Being contacted this way was unpleasant regardless of the reason.

“I don’t know who Park Jong-hoon is, but why are you asking around for other people’s phone numbers?”

Hae-won questioned accusatorily and took a sip from the juice pack. As he moved, a dull pain arose in his waist. He wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand.

Park Jong-hoon answered.

—Well, you might not know. I heard the album you worked on with Director Kim Jae-min last year and am contacting you.

Despite the indifferent response, Park Jong-hoon stated his business without seeming disappointed or intimidated.

“And?”

—There’s a crossover project I’m preparing, and I’d like to recruit you. I called to ask if you can participate. I heard you don’t have separate management.

“I don’t do that anymore.”

The album session wasn’t done with any particular purpose; half of it was out of fun and curiosity. Also, he didn’t particularly like the crossover genre.

Hae-won preferred classical music. Classical music was like a diamond. It never changed and wasn’t swayed by time or trends. Its unchanging perfection remained good even after centuries. Since he wasn’t greatly moved even by Kim Jae-min’s works, considered famous in the modern music scene, Hae-won replied indifferently.

He crumpled the empty juice pack and threw it in the trash.

—It’s not pop music but a project blending traditional Korean music with classical. I thought your playing would fit well, so I took the liberty of contacting you.

“I’m not interested in that scene. And I don’t like kkwaenggwari (Korean gong).”

With the phone to his ear, he took off his bathrobe. He wanted to end the call. As he entered the dressing room naked, he paused in front of the mirror.

He scrutinized his reflection in the mirror. A deep bruise remained below his collarbone. Frowning, he touched the spot with his finger. A subtle pain still lingered from how hard he had been sucked.

—How can you decide you don’t like it without even listening?

“You composed it, right? Mr. Park Jong-hoon?”

—Yes, I composed it.

It was a confident voice.

Hae-won turned his face sideways to check if there were marks Woo-jin left on his neck. As he examined his reflection in the mirror here and there, he asked in a voice that had already lost interest and curiosity about this man who called himself a composer.

“Do you think you’re better than Beethoven?”

The other person didn’t reply. Hae-won turned his head the other way. Frowning at the red mark on the left side.

“Do you write better music than Bach?”

—…….

Grabbing the back of his neck as if massaging it, he stretched and slowly turned his head. A languid groan escaped from the stiffness. The dull ache Woo-jin left all over his body remained like a low fever.

“I’m asking if you’re better than Brahms.”

—I must have dialed the wrong number. Sorry.

“Yes, you dialed wrong. I’ll hang up.”

The other person hung up first. Hae-won put down the phone, finished undressing, and went into the bathroom.

Since he was late anyway, he took a monthly leave day for the orchestra.

How nice it would have been to call in sick and rest together on a day like this. Even though it was this late, Woo-jin stubbornly went to work.

Though he unintentionally took monthly leave, he didn’t want to waste time in bed. Woo-jin had deliberately bitten and fiercely penetrated everywhere to render Hae-won immobile.

Woo-jin liked Hae-won being at home. If he was outside, he’d nag him to come home quickly.

Yet, without accompanying him on outings, he extremely disliked Hae-won going outside, not even approving of him going for lessons or playing tennis.

Thanks to that, since being with Woo-jin, Hae-won had to live a repetitive life shuttling only between work and home.

Hae-won left the officetel and hailed a taxi.

An exhibition of works by a painter active in New York was ongoing. It was an artist Hae-won liked.

Though he hadn’t brought it to the officetel, he had one of his paintings purchased as an investment by persuading his father, stored at the family home.

The painting’s value hadn’t risen much, and his father, who had paid a considerable sum, complained, but Hae-won still liked his works.

Before opening to the general public, the first preview invitations were sent only to VIPs with a history of purchasing the artist’s works, and Hae-won was one of them.

After checking in with the invitation, he entered the nearly empty gallery. Being a weekday afternoon, there were even fewer people.

Holding a pamphlet, Hae-won slowly looked around inside. Though lacking the freshness of earlier works and without challenging attempts, the perspective on nature still brimmed with vitality and energy.

He stood for a long time in front of a particularly appealing large canvas.

As he spent a long time appreciating the painting, a woman presumed to be a curator approached.

“You seem to like this piece? This exhibition features paintings Damian Ryu created based on inspiration from his over-a-year stay in Europe. Especially this one, they say he painted while personally producing wine at a small wine farm in Italy.”

On a clear, spread background, endless lines seemed to form a winery. Though merely connected lines, the overflowing green of hot sunlight and fresh foliage made one feel the tireless energy of the sun.

“How much is it?”

He wasn’t interested in artworks or painting styles. If something pleased the eye and moved the heart, that was enough. And Hae-won wanted such works.

“This piece is one hundred twenty thousand dollars. Since you’ve purchased before, we’ll give you a special 5% discount. And VIPs can get a 10% discount if they purchase one more by the end of the exhibition.”

The curator spoke with unparalleled kindness.

One hundred twenty thousand dollars would be about 145 million Korean won. If the previously purchased painting’s value had risen, he might have persuaded his father by mentioning investment value, but since the painting bought over five years ago remained stagnant, his father said Hae-won had no eye for such things.

His father had not a speck of interest in art and no cultural refinement. As a businessman, there was no way he’d pay 150 million won for a painting he deemed worthless.

Moreover, since his stepmother watched Hae-won and his father like a hawk when it came to money, it was obvious she’d pester his father for something equivalent if he bought a 120,000-dollar painting.

He didn’t want to engage in exhausting conflicts with his stepmother. Nor did he have the money to buy a 120,000-dollar painting right away.

“What shall we do?”

“The one I bought before didn’t appreciate much.”

“You’re not just buying for investment, are you? Hanging such a painting at home is a statement of your taste and discernment.”

“I don’t have the money. Me.”

“Ah.”

Hae-won looked at the curator, then turned his gaze back to the painting. With an awkward expression, she uttered the customary “Enjoy your visit” and disappeared before he even realized.

He stood there a while longer before turning away.

This would likely be the last time he’d see this painting with his own eyes. Though he didn’t have 120,000 dollars to invest, nor did he love the painting to death, he soaked it in one last time with his eyes before leaving the gallery.

∞ ∞ ∞

Woo-jin opened the office door a bit late. Chief Hwang and an administrative officer were chatting while drinking coffee from paper cups.

“You’re here, Prosecutor. You must have worked late yesterday.”

“I’m a bit late.”

“A fraud case that the criminal division couldn’t handle got transferred over.”

“Bring it to my room.”

Woo-jin entered his office. He took off his jacket, hung it on a hanger, and sat at his desk. As he turned on his laptop, Chief Hwang came in with documents.

“Shall I bring you coffee?”

“I’ve had some.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

“About what?”

“All the planned investigations were taken by Team 1. Only these kinds of cases are coming to our Prosecutor’s Office. We have our ongoing work; isn’t this too much?”

Chief Hwang grumbled about how unfair the world was, adding unnecessary words to console Woo-jin.

“There are times like this, and times like that. Go on out.”

Woo-jin spoke nonchalantly. Seeming to find something lacking, Chief Hwang clicked his tongue, but since Woo-jin didn’t even look at him, he went out.

Woo-jin closed and pushed aside the documents he hadn’t even looked at.

Those who saw him as a loose kite weren’t only within the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. Still, thanks to last night’s antics, the Deputy Chief seemed to have softened a bit.

When the usually arrogant, sharp Woo-jin, who seemed impervious to needles, unexpectedly got drunk, staggered, and acted up, they somehow became lenient and let down their guard.

He picked up the vibrating phone. His brow slightly furrowed at the number on the screen. It was the same number that had persistently called since this morning.

When he didn’t answer, Hae-won, as if finding it strange, shoved the vibrating phone in Woo-jin’s face, asking who it was and why he wasn’t answering, demanding he answer right in front of him, as if Woo-jin were two-timing.

Woo-jin didn’t answer the ringing phone but snatched it from Hae-won’s hand.

At Hae-won’s absurd urging, asking why he wouldn’t answer if he had nothing to hide, he suddenly, without context, wanted to kiss him.

He missed this call because he was busy with a suffocatingly long kiss on those lips that protested and resisted.

After briefly looking down at the phone and hesitating, Woo-jin sighed and answered the call.

“Yes, this is Hyun Woo-jin.”

“Hello, Prosecutor Hyun. This is Attorney Choi from the law firm Bareum, whom I contacted you about previously. I hope I’m not bothering you too much while you’re busy.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I happened to have some business at the District Prosecutors’ Office today. If you’re in your office, I’d like to stop by and pay my respects.”

Woo-jin, who had no intention of taking his call or meeting him, frowned at the sudden announcement of his presence. Woo-jin intensely disliked such time-wasting.

Moreover, he was a lawyer. He pathologically detested the profession of lawyer and those who practiced it—so much so that he couldn’t stand breathing the same air as them, to the point of opening windows or doors in enclosed spaces.

He wanted to refuse, but if others found out he had turned away a seonbae with a much higher seniority number from the training institute to his face, all the effort he’d put in while drinking last night could go to waste.

“I’m in my office now, so please come by.”

“Building 1014, right? I’ll be right up.”

Attorney Choi from the large law firm Bareum, unfazed by Woo-jin’s stiff tone, replied cheerfully and hung up briskly.

A few minutes later, he knocked on Woo-jin’s office door.

Woo-jin, who had the window wide open, guided him to the reception table in front of the desk. Attorney Choi handed over his business card. Woo-jin glanced at it perfunctorily and tossed it onto the desk.

“Would you like some tea?”

“Water would be fine.”

Woo-jin poured water into a paper cup, placed it on the table, and sat facing him.

Facing Woo-jin, who was staring at him bluntly as if to say, “If you have something to say, get on with it,” Attorney Choi maintained his smile and took a sip of water.

Attorney Choi was a partner at Bareum, one of the top large law firms in the country by revenue, and had left his judgeship ten years ago.

Despite being a seonbae of significantly higher seniority, Attorney Choi remained respectful. It was a tactic to pressure him.

“You’re preparing for President Kim Jeong-geun’s appeal, right? Since the second trial also confirmed guilt, wouldn’t an appeal actually be disadvantageous?”

The imprisonment of the Han-gyeong Group’s chairman was a topic of conversation everywhere, and the story of Woo-jin and his deceased fiancée was known to anyone in the legal profession who paid attention to their surroundings.

Having anticipated that the meeting request was related to President Kim Jeong-geun’s case, Woo-jin responded indifferently.

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Kim has no plans to change his defense team. He’ll proceed as is. And no matter how prestigious Bareum is, turning this situation around would be difficult. Even with sentence negotiations, it won’t go below five years.”

“We have no intention of taking on that defense either.”

“……”

Woo-jin raised his eyes in surprise and looked at the middle-aged man.

Whether it had become a habit to wear a trustworthy smile, Attorney Choi had laugh lines around his eyes even when not smiling.

“President Kim Jeong-geun’s comeback will be tough, I suppose. Not only has his corruption been exposed, but his management abilities have also been laid bare to the world, so public opinion won’t support him running the company after his release.”

He spoke of Kim Jeong-geun’s future as Woo-jin had anticipated.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I heard you’ve been entrusted with President Kim Jeong-geun’s stock voting rights. You might not be implicated as an accomplice, but the prosecution must know. From the prosecution’s standpoint, as long as you’re part of the same family, it’s like holding onto a troublesome burden. It’ll be difficult to handle.”

Despite the significant difference in seniority, he used formal speech throughout, but his content was quite direct. Woo-jin had a habit of being wary of people who didn’t drop formalities. When Woo-jin just stared without responding, the man smiled broadly and got to the point.

“The annual salary starts at two billion won. Incentives are separate.”

He was suggesting that Woo-jin resign as a prosecutor, become a lawyer, and join the law firm.

It was a completely unexpected and surprising proposal.

From the outside, it might seem that way. Woo-jin was a Han-gyeong Group insider, so he was undoubtedly a thorn in the side of the prosecution’s leadership, which was at odds with Han-gyeong. It was strange he hadn’t been pushed out to a branch office.

The prosecution organization moved that way. Knowing this well, Woo-jin had deliberately sat at the end of the table last night, pretending to be drunk, and made his efforts accordingly.

“You seem to know a lot for an outsider.”

“If you’re a prosecutor at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, you can’t not know. Weren’t you with President Kim Jeong-geun at the fundraising party hosted by Han-gyeong last year too? Right next to him.”

“……”

“Your position must be quite awkward. But you can’t just quit recklessly either, can you? Isn’t that right?”

As Chief Hwang had worried, Woo-jin, who had only handled core investigations for the intelligence division, was now processing indictments for minor fraud cases with imminent deadlines.

For the time being, he wouldn’t be assigned any major investigations. His primary goal was to avoid being pushed out to a branch office.

So, last night, Woo-jin had softened the Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s stubborn mind. As long as he held Han-gyeong’s bribery ledger, no one could touch him carelessly.

“You seem to be under quite a few misconceptions.”

It was a laughable proposal. Unable to restrain himself, Woo-jin showed his emotions. Attorney Choi, who had maintained a benevolent smile throughout, stiffened upon seeing his sneer.

“It’s President Kim Jeong-geun’s personal downfall. Han-gyeong Group’s stock price has fallen a lot, but Han-gyeong hasn’t collapsed. Only President Kim Jeong-geun has been removed from Han-gyeong. From the group’s perspective, the owner’s arrest is actually good news. Because Mr. Kim is a lawbreaker, and his management and crisis management abilities are significantly lacking.”

“……What does that mean?”

“Kim Jeong-geun is actually a hindrance to a company with a market cap of ninety trillion won. Him disappearing like this is helping. Regardless of my standing in the prosecution, I have no intention of resigning. You’ve made a wasted trip.”

Woo-jin stood up. He gestured toward the door to the flustered Attorney Choi, indicating he should leave, then returned to his desk and started working, paying no attention to whether he left or not.

Feeling a faint vibration near his chest, Woo-jin took out the phone he kept inside his jacket. Getting into his car parked in the lot, he started the engine and answered the call.

“Prosecutor, this is Team Leader Song.”

“Go ahead.”

“President keeps asking when you’ll be coming to Seoul and that he wants to see you. What should I do?”

“Please tell him I’ll visit soon. And about what we discussed earlier, when can I see it? Would tonight be possible?”

“The Planning and Coordination Office is preparing it. I’ll visit with the managing director in charge.”

“I’ve opened a temporary office at Hotel H, so let’s meet there. I’ll be there by eight.”

“Understood.”

As soon as he finished the call with Team Leader Song, a text came in as if waiting.

It was the tracker attached to Hae-won.

For Hae-won, who had lived as a freelancer, going to work on weekdays like ordinary office workers seemed burdensome, even though it was something everyone did.

Hae-won made all sorts of excuses and didn’t show up at the orchestra once or twice a week. Anyone else would have been fired long ago.

Somehow aware of the friendship between Seo Okhwa and Hae-won, the orchestra concertmaster didn’t complain about Hae-won’s frequent absences. In fact, he seemed to be mindful of Hae-won. Hae-won had once mentioned offhandedly that the concertmaster was extremely kind to him, saying that when a person changes like that, it means their time is up, and what a pity it was for someone so young to be like that.

Anyway, Hae-won firmly believed it was okay to take breaks like that originally, not because of Seo Okhwa, and acted as he pleased.

Today, he had been drained of energy since morning, unable to move, but his stamina was surprisingly good. Everything he did in the morning was in vain. Hae-won was diligently engaged in his hobby.

Perhaps it was because he was an artistic person.

Aside from hearing, Hae-won was unusually sensitive in all five senses. It was his sense of pursuing beauty.

According to the tracker’s report, Hae-won was appreciating paintings at a gallery. Even without the tracker reporting, Hae-won reported his schedule on his own, but that alone wasn’t enough. It needed to be more meticulous and more seamless.

Perfect control came from transcendence.

Woo-jin checked the time and stepped on the accelerator. Now that he was excluded from all important cases, he wasn’t chased by deadlines and could freely attend to personal matters.

His gray car left the District Prosecutors’ Office parking lot and merged onto the road.

After driving for about an hour, he stopped the car at the prison’s main gate. He made a call somewhere. Usually, releases happened early in the morning, but due to scheduling conflicts, it had to be postponed. Due to a non-existent “administrative procedural error,” the man’s release wasn’t carried out until the afternoon.

“This is Hyun Woo-jin from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. You can release him now.”

After ending the call, he got out of the car and headed toward the sturdy main gate that stood firm as if forbidding anyone’s entry.

He waited about ten minutes.

It was a particularly desolate and dark place with no passing people or cars. The firmly closed prison gate opened, and someone walked out as if pushed from behind, wearing a crumpled suit and carrying an old sports bag that didn’t match.

Woo-jin stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking on the ground. The sun beyond the prison wall and outside shouldn’t be different, but he brought his hand to his forehead as if the light was blinding.

As if facing a completely unexpected and bewildering situation, he squinted his eyes, stung by the sunlight, and looked around.

Woo-jin approached the middle-aged man. As someone drew near, the man’s gaze naturally turned toward Woo-jin.

“Hello.”

“……Who are you?”

“Long time no see, Executive Director.”

“You……, Ha-young’s fiancé? That what, prosecutor, was it?”

The man, who looked much older than his actual age, furrowed his brows, trying to remember Woo-jin.

“Yes, that’s right. You look well. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Ha-young’s matter was unfortunate. As you know, I should have been out to see. How is my sister-in-law?”

“So-young went to study in the U.S., and she followed her there. She’ll return soon, but she’ll probably keep going back and forth.”

So-young left for the U.S. before the second trial opened.

Seo Okhwa also left the country with her, citing the need to care for her daughter. Superficially, it was to attend to her daughter’s studies, but in reality, it was an escape.

They were shareholders owning stock in Han-gyeong Group’s core subsidiaries and were directors of Han-gyeong. There were more than one or two things that could be problematic, but the prosecution focused on Kim Jeong-geun.

“Is So-young doing well?”

“It’s hard to be doing well. There’s been a lot going on inside and out.”

“I saw about my brother on the news.”

“That’s how it turned out. Please get in the car first.”

Woo-jin pointed to his car. The man stood silently for a moment, then took a deep breath and exhaled. As he breathed in the outside air, the emotions of release surfaced on his face. He took one last look at the cold, gray prison standing firm and slowly moved his steps.

Executive Director Kim Jeong-woo was President Kim Jeong-geun’s half-brother and, unlike Kim Jeong-geun, had qualities as a businessman. Unlike Kim Jeong-geun, he was rational, and though it might have been a strategy to secure management control, he had exposed his brother’s corruption.

It was five years ago that Kim Jeong-geun pinned his own embezzlement charges on him and sent him to prison, and Woo-jin had led that effort.

Executive Director Kim had even the meager stock he owned taken away. Now, no one in the group remembered him.

He was a crown prince who had lost the war between brothers and whose very existence had vanished.

Despite several parole opportunities, Kim Jeong-geun had blocked them each time. Kim Jeong-woo had such exceptional business capabilities that even in that state, Kim Jeong-geun felt the need to be wary of him, who had completely lost his power.

Unlike his brother, he had studied proper, professional business management and had leadership skills. That was why he had to go to prison.

Kim Jeong-woo was watching the rapidly receding streets with an expression of innocence, having not seen the outside world for years. Only five years had passed, but it seemed much had changed in his eyes.

Without taking his eyes off the streets, he asked.

“What on earth happened to my brother?”

“He provoked the prosecution first, and things escalated.”

“But would that guy get caught so easily?”

“The Prosecutor General, the Minister of Justice, even VIPs were involved, so there was no choice. The second trial will proceed as is.”

“Where are we going?”

“To a hotel for now.”

“I’ll go home.”

“Madam sold all the stock she held a year after you went in, settled the assets, and immigrated to Canada. The house you lived in is the same.”

Not only was he completely abandoned by his family, but he was also scattered apart from them. His wife never visited him in prison, and during the asset settlement, the family registry was also finalized, so they had been strangers since five years ago.

Kim Jeong-woo probably had an inkling. He had nothing left but his old body. Having nothing, he would listen well.

Having Kim Jeong-woo manage Han-gyeong Group was one of Woo-jin’s long-term plans.

“I’m a discarded person.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“……”

Only then did Kim Jeong-woo turn his head and look at Woo-jin meaningfully.

The man who had promised to marry his niece.

If it had gone through properly, he would have become his nephew-in-law.

Not long after Ha-young’s suicide, Kim Jeong-woo had to enter prison. He had no time to gather his grief and sorrow. Misfortune came overlapping and happened sporadically in an instant.

“Did my brother entrust it to you? If he finds out you brought me in, do you think he’ll stay quiet? Even a rich man’s ruin lasts three years.”

“Han-gyeong Group is not a company that exists for individuals.”

“……She was such a bright and upright child. What a pity.”

Unable to take his eyes off Woo-jin, who was driving while looking straight ahead, he muttered as if to himself.

Seeing Woo-jin, Kim Jeong-woo couldn’t help but recall his niece, who had been as radiant and pretty as a freshly bloomed flower. His niece had a pure and upright heart, and they were a well-matched pair, like a painting.

Woo-jin, turning the steering wheel, looked back at Kim Jeong-woo. Their eyes met. They were colorless eyes devoid of emotion.

They were like the eyes of prison guards who deliberately excluded emotion to avoid empathizing with inmates and stared at prisoners. If coldness had a color, his chilly pupils, as if coated with that color, swept down his spine like a shiver.

Kim Jeong-woo unconsciously tensed and swallowed dryly.

“Don’t forget who sent you to prison.”

As if telling him not to make emotional noises when he had just been released after serving five years for a crime he didn’t commit, as if urging him to recall long-buried resentment erased by resignation, Woo-jin’s eyes were sharp like a whip.

Kim Jeong-woo straightened his back and sat upright from the loosely leaning seat.

The car crossed through downtown Seoul and soon arrived at a hotel.

It was a hotel owned by Han-gyeong Group. He had ordered the entire floor of residence rooms with not-so-great views and high vacancy rates to be emptied. He planned to work from here going forward.

Woo-jin got out of the car. Kim Jeong-woo also slowly opened the car door and got out.

They took the elevator and got off at the pre-determined floor.

Inside the residence, equipped with two rooms, a living room, bathroom, and study, Secretary Choi, who managed the Yangpyeong villa, had arrived first.

He approached Woo-jin as he opened the door and entered.

“You’re here.”

“This is Executive Director Kim Jeong-woo. You received the contact yesterday to set up the room, right?”

“It’s prepared.”

Secretary Choi took the sports bag Kim Jeong-woo was holding.

“You can relax now. Wash up and change your clothes.”

At Woo-jin’s words, Kim Jeong-woo nodded absentmindedly. With a bewildered expression, he followed Secretary Choi.

Woo-jin headed to the study. He opened the small refrigerator in the study, took out a bottle of water, and drank. As he took off his jacket after drinking, Secretary Choi, who had returned, quickly approached to take the jacket Woo-jin was removing. Woo-jin gestured to refuse.

“Please take good care of Executive Director Kim without making him feel uncomfortable. Give him this phone.”

He opened the desk drawer and took out a box containing a phone. Secretary Choi tucked the box under his arm.

“Team Leader Song is coming at eight, so check the recording status in each room. Especially Executive Director Kim’s room needs attention.”

“I’ve already checked.”

Woo-jin walked to the window. He lifted one side of the drawn curtain and opened the window.

A spring breeze blew in, shaking the branches filling with pale green color.

Woo-jin, who had been lost in thought while gazing at the bleak scene behind the conspicuously cold-looking building, finally opened his mouth. Secretary Choi took a step closer to better hear his voice.

“Please proceed with the construction of the apartment in Seocho-dong.”

“Are you referring to the apartment you were planning to move into after getting married, Prosecutor? Has it not been sorted out yet?”

“Not yet. No other modifications are needed, just soundproof the remaining rooms. So that no matter what kind of commotion happens inside, it won’t be heard outside.”

“…Understood.”

“Ah, and I purchased a painting from Gallery B. Please hang it in a visible spot in the living room. I gave them your contact information, so they should reach out by tomorrow. Please proceed with the construction as quickly as possible.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Secretary Choi promptly responded to Woo-jin’s request and, at the implied cue to leave, turned around with the phone box tucked under his arm.

Woo-jin hung his removed jacket on the sofa and stood before the wide desk.

He had deliberately moved the items from Kim Jeong-geun’s home study here exactly as they were.

The desk, sofa, safe, the cigars and ashtray he used to smoke, even the refrigerator.

He sat at Kim Jeong-geun’s desk. Numerous high-value businesses had started at this desk, and corruption and schemes had also begun here. Overseeing and managing them was also scheduled to take place at this desk. Now, the owner of this desk was Woo-jin.

Knock, knock. A knocking sound was heard.

“Come in.”

At Woo-jin’s response, the door opened, and Team Leader Song and the Executive Managing Director of Sales entered.

Executive Director Lim had never seen Woo-jin before. Entering and seeing Woo-jin working at the desk in Mr. Kim’s study, he looked at him warily with unfamiliarity, then glanced at Team Leader Song with an expression asking who he was.

“We’re late. I apologize.”

As Team Leader Song politely apologized to Woo-jin, Executive Director Lim’s expression stiffened awkwardly.

Woo-jin tidied up the documents spread on the desk and stood up. Team Leader Song introduced Woo-jin to the Executive Managing Director.

“This is Prosecutor Hyun Woo-jin from the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. You must have heard from the President, but until the President is released, Prosecutor Hyun will be in charge of the group’s strategic office operations. Please greet each other.”

The General Manager of Planning and Coordination and the task force executives implicated in President Kim Jeong-geun’s corruption were all under arrest, detained, and on trial. Consequently, there had been a massive personnel reshuffle. Based on performance evaluations and understanding their inclinations, new executives had been appointed.

Woo-jin extended his hand. Executive Director Lim, who reflexively shook Woo-jin’s hand, offered an awkward greeting.

Another knock was heard, and this time Secretary Choi and Executive Director Kim Jeong-woo entered. Recognizing Kim Jeong-woo, Team Leader Song and Executive Director Lim both flinched simultaneously.

Executive Director Kim, who had bathed, shaved, and dyed his faded white hair black, looked completely transformed from his prison-release appearance into a promising businessman.

The sudden appearance of someone who should have been in prison right before their eyes caused Executive Director Lim and Team Leader Song to exchange urgent glances. For them, he was undoubtedly a completely unexpected figure.

“You already know Executive Director Kim Jeong-woo. I won’t explain separately. Did you bring the business proposal?”

Woo-jin guided them to the conference table in the middle of the study. He seated Executive Director Kim at the head of the table. Team Leader Song hesitated, then pulled a document folder from his briefcase.

“Please bring some drinks.”

At Woo-jin’s words, Secretary Choi went outside.

Woo-jin briefly skimmed the file handed by Team Leader Song and passed it to Executive Director Kim. Executive Director Kim, who had also received no prior notice, took the file with a look of panic no less than the others.

“The first task is to recover the fallen stock price. Since Executive Director Kim cannot step forward fully yet, Team Leader Song, please take charge. President Kim Jeong-geun’s corruption must be clearly delineated as personal wrongdoing. Inform the media that the company’s position is different. And let’s handle it by systematically addressing, at the company level, each charge President Kim is facing.”

“Are you saying we will bear the losses caused by President Kim?”

Team Leader Song asked. Most of President Kim’s corruption involved breach of trust, embezzlement, and stock price manipulation. It meant there were those who suffered losses equivalent to the gains President Kim made.

“Whether by liquidating affiliates or restructuring, secure funds to the maximum extent and start by repaying the public funds received during the financial crisis.”

“Excuse me?!”

It was money that had already been processed and didn’t need to be repaid. He was telling them to come up with that astronomical amount. Their faces showed not just surprise but shock as they all turned horrified gazes toward Woo-jin.

“Ah, no, that’s not a small sum, it’s impossible! It’s not even feasible with just one or two affiliates.”

“Then start with three or four, beginning with the unprofitable and worthless ones. I’ve already commissioned a consulting firm. They will conduct due diligence and propose measures for public fund repayment. Review and implement them, whether realistic or not.”

“Has this been discussed with the President in advance?”

Executive Director Lim asked, not bothering to hide the disbelief in his eyes. For them, Kim Jeong-geun, who had received a prison sentence, was still the decision-maker.

Woo-jin looked at Executive Director Lim. The area around his eyes, quietly observing Executive Director Lim, twitched faintly.

“Once he’s transferred to prison, it will be even harder for him to participate in management than now. Given that the company is distancing itself from President Kim Jeong-geun, we cannot proceed by seeking approval for every single matter.”

“That’s nonsense.”

“As you know.”

Cutting off his words, Woo-jin clasped his hands together. He placed his hands on his crossed knees. His eyes, which dominated the situation, slowly scanned the faces gathered at the meeting.

“The person entrusted with the stock voting rights is me. Whether the executives agree or not, President Kim Jeong-geun’s management rights are with me. So, you’ll have to follow my words. Whether you like it or not.”

Despite carrying a hint of a smile, his calm, deliberate tone and low voice held a tension akin to relentlessly pursuing prey.

Executive Director Lim subtly lowered his gaze, which had been fixed directly on him. The meaning was clear: if you don’t like it, you can quit.

“I will command the headquarters strategic office from here. Let’s have meetings twice a week from now on. Report everything this Wednesday—current issues at affiliates, ongoing projects, financial status—down to the last detail.”

No one responded to Woo-jin’s words; they only exchanged wary glances.

Woo-jin gestured to Secretary Choi. He pulled a document from a drawer and handed it over.

Woo-jin placed the received document in front of Executive Director Lim. Executive Director Lim glanced at the document, then startled, snatched the paper.

“I hope you didn’t think you could fool me just because I’m not a specialist. The work performance, attitudes, and corruption details of headquarters and affiliate executives are being reported in real time. It seems some people tried to cause trouble, taking advantage of the chaos during the special investigation. The name Han-gyeong should not appear in the media any more than this. Please remember that it’s a time to be cautious.”

Their shoulders slumped as if weighed down by something as they sat listening without even making a sound. Woo-jin turned his head toward Executive Director Kim, who was observing the unfolding situation.

“Executive Director, please start by grasping the business operations. If you need anything, just tell Secretary Choi here. From now on, Secretary Choi will act as your hands and feet.”

Woo-jin pointed at Secretary Choi. Secretary Choi bowed slightly toward Executive Director Kim. It was a blatant statement that he would attach his own person to monitor him.

He stood up from his seat with an apologetic gesture as a call came in. Woo-jin walked to the window, far enough from the conference table that the call content wouldn’t be easily heard, and put the phone to his ear.

“Yes.”

—Woo-jin, it’s Mom. Are you busy?

“No, it’s fine. Go ahead.”

It was his mother. Woo-jin replied softly.

—You haven’t forgotten we were supposed to have dinner together tonight, right?

“I’ll head home later.”

—Alright, see you at dinner then.

After ending the short call with his mother, Woo-jin, who had been quietly staring at the screen, turned back to the tense executives.

∞ ∞ ∞

Woo-jin’s family home was no less than the Han-gyeong Group owner’s residence. The formidable walls blocking others’ curiosity, the expansive garden inside with freshly sprouted green grass growing lushly.

The railing of this floor, from which his brother had hung and fallen, seriously injuring himself, still remained. Woo-jin scanned the new shoots with indifferent eyes and went inside.

His mother, who had come out early to wait for him, smiled affectionately as her eyes met Woo-jin’s.

“Come in. I didn’t take time from your busy schedule, did I?”

“No. I’m not that busy lately.”

“Because of President Kim? Did something troublesome happen?”

“I can’t say it didn’t.”

Putting on the slippers his mother offered, Woo-jin headed to the living room with her.

Woo-jin was the second of three brothers. His older brother and younger brother, like their parents, were medical specialists. They went abroad to study when young, got married there, and settled down overseas permanently.

The spacious house, from which his brothers had left, was beyond quiet—it was silent. Woo-jin knew the reason they had left to study abroad as if fleeing when they were young. It was because of him.

A servant in the living room saw Woo-jin, silently bowed, and passed by.

“Your father has an appointment tonight.”

“Yes.”

Woo-jin knew that his father, like his brothers, found him awkward. His mother also maintained a composed smile in front of him, but her tense interior was extremely cautious.

Woo-jin had realized by an age of reasonable judgment that the parents who gave birth to him were wary of him. If they were ordinary parents, they would have been afraid, not just wary.

He knew from a very young age that he was not ordinary.

There was a major accident where his older brother, who insisted on playing a forbidden prank, fell from this floor and broke his leg. Woo-jin was right beside him, watching as he barely clung to the railing. And he did nothing until his brother fell.

It was his brother who had ignored their mother’s warning not to play on the railing.

He didn’t grab his brother. He let him fall. He just stared down impassively at his brother screaming as he fell, neither calling for help nor running down to assist.

That incident was the starting point. His mother began to find Woo-jin strange, as he was already markedly different from his brothers—not crying loudly or throwing tantrums.

After that, when their dog died, his mother turned suspicion into conviction.

The dog they had raised since puppyhood was severely injured, breathing laboriously and in critical condition. While his older brother and younger brother cried and fussed childishly, just stomping their feet, Woo-jin quietly let the dog go.

It wasn’t a wound that would heal with treatment. Even through a child’s eyes, it was a fatal injury with no chance of recovery. If the fragile life was going to die anyway, he thought it was better to lessen its suffering. Upon hearing Woo-jin’s answer, his mother took him to a psychiatrist. His mother, a pediatric specialist, also began studying psychology from that point.

He was diagnosed with innate antisocial personality disorder.

However, Woo-jin couldn’t understand receiving such a diagnosis and couldn’t accept others seeing him as strange.

He was utterly ordinary. He responded to everything with reason and logic rather than leading with emotions like others.

I am much more rational. I am much more logical. They, who couldn’t control their emotions and couldn’t even maintain daily life consistently, called Woo-jin abnormal.

After many trials and errors, he now acted close to common sense to an extent indistinguishable from ordinary people, becoming someone who didn’t deviate from the norm, and instead strived to use his nature for righteous purposes.

When others laughed, he laughed even if he didn’t feel like it. When others cried, he frowned even if he didn’t want to cry. When others were angry, he got angry with them.

Starting from school, he identified someone in the group with a similar environment or intelligence, observed their behavior closely, and mastered imitation as a survival method.

There were minor incidents where those who noticed this labeled him as creepy, disgusting, unpleasant, and so on, but anyway, he blended in with ordinary people to the extent of receiving evaluations like somewhat cold, icy, or heartless. Those who recognized Woo-jin’s true nature were extremely few.

There were those who knew instinctively. As someone had said when he was young, they called him a snake, and like his father had, a monster.

His father treated Woo-jin as a seed of evil, a child whose actions were fundamentally corrupt

1]

, a monster.

For Woo-jin, who distinguished between good and bad, right and wrong, using the dichotomy of rationality and irrationality, the only times he clearly felt genuine dislike were when others evaluated him as a monster and when he felt doubt about himself.

What if I really am a monster?

It was no exaggeration to say that Woo-jin’s life had meaning in proving he was not a monster, and even he thought he tended to be a bit fixated on that part.

He was especially careful in front of his mother. The disgust from his flesh and blood was enough from his father and brothers. The only person who treated him with persistent affection was his mother.

In Woo-jin’s view, there was nothing wrong with him. He was no different from others.

All life has the purpose of fighting oneself and overcoming one’s inner self. Woo-jin was the same. His life was also a continuous fight with himself; he had already overcome and proven much in many aspects.

Woo-jin did not have antisocial personality disorder. He was absolutely not what people commonly call a psychopath.

Therefore, he was sensitive and sharp about anyone evaluating him in that way, and recently, he had been very angry because of Lee Tae-shin. Fortunately, since Lee Tae-shin had conveniently died on his own, there was no need for separate measures.

“It’s delicious. It suits my taste.”

Woo-jin, who had been quietly eating while facing his mother at the dining table, spoke.

She had been obsessively observing her son for decades, trying to find even a shred of humanity in the child she bore in pain.

Moreover, she believed her discipline had changed Woo-jin’s disposition. His mother was not an ordinary person; she was a pediatric specialist and also held a doctorate in psychology. If he could skillfully deceive her, Woo-jin could deceive anyone.

“Among the cases you’re handling lately, is there anything interesting?”

“Due to being misunderstood as involved with President Kim Jeong-geun, I’m not being assigned to planning investigations.”

“That’s not right. You’re not even married to Ha-young, yet they’re discriminating in work assignments just based on acquaintance.”

The two families had been close since Woo-jin was young, but after Ha-young’s suicide, both his mother and father avoided meeting President Kim Jeong-geun or Seo Okhwa, finding it awkward. Naturally, they grew distant.

Probably, even after this incident occurred, they wouldn’t even contact each other.

They were the ones who once clung to each other as if inseparable, laughing heartily, then flipped their attitudes and acted ambivalently, all while claiming to be normal themselves.

Whenever Woo-jin saw such irrational things, questions arose, but most of the time, he kept his mouth shut, fearing that pointing it out wouldn’t seem like normal thinking. It became a habit, and he stopped paying attention to unimportant matters altogether.

“That’s how organizations are. Full of unjust things.”

“How are you handling it?”

At his mother’s question, Woo-jin thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

“I’m waiting for time to solve it.”

She smiled with satisfaction as if hearing a perfect answer.

“There’s no pressure to resign or anything like that, right?”

“Perhaps rumors spread, as I received a job offer from a law firm, but I have no intention of resigning. I’m just being excluded from important investigations; there hasn’t been such pressure yet.”

“Good, that job is your calling.”

A prosecutor’s duty requires completely excluding even existing emotions, and legal principles almost perfectly aligned with his logical structure, so there was hardly any stress from having to gauge emotions he couldn’t comprehend. Therefore, as his mother said, being a prosecutor was his calling.

His mother placed a side dish Woo-jin didn’t touch on top of his rice bowl. The side dish picked up with chopsticks touched by his mother’s saliva was disgusting, but he didn’t show it. There were too many things in the world that required patience.

“Can’t you get into your officetel lately? I went yesterday too, and you hadn’t touched any of the food left from last time. You said you weren’t busy.”

“I hardly go in. Just a moment.”

The ringing of his phone prompted Woo-jin to rummage through his discarded jacket. It was Hae-won. Woo-jin deliberately answered the call in front of his mother.

“Yeah.”

—Where are you? Why aren’t you here? You said you’d come early.

“Sorry, I forgot to mention I had something to talk about. I’m having dinner with Mother at the family home.”

—Ah, Ms. Choi Hyun-mi?

“Yeah.”

Woo-jin looked at Choi Hyun-mi.

—Is Ms. Choi Hyun-mi doing well?

“She’s doing well.”

A faint smile touched his lips at Hae-won’s tone, which consistently referred to his mother by her full name. As Woo-jin laughed and apologized again, his mother, seemingly curious about who he was talking to, pretended not to listen while perking up her ears.

—Then I guess I’ll have to eat dinner alone.

“Don’t eat trash. There’s something I made this morning in the fridge. Heat it up in the microwave.”

—How can someone who calls hamburgers trash eat things like galbitang and kimchi jjigae?

“Everyone eats them. You have to be ordinary within the ordinary. You don’t eat them. Don’t increase food waste, eat what’s already made.”

—I don’t want to eat alone. I won’t eat.

“I’ll check whether you ate or not. I’ll also check if you threw it away or not.”

—What if I threw it away?

“You’ll get scolded.”

—How much?

“A lot.”

—Okay. I’ll look forward to it.

Hae-won, who seemed to enjoy being scolded, hung up. Woo-jin pressed the call end button on the screen and placed his phone on the dining table. As he resumed his meal, his mother, who had been hesitating as if wanting to ask something, finally spoke.

“…Do you happen to be seeing someone?”

“It’s someone you know.”

“Who? That young lady I met last time?”

“No. My Hubae from school. Moon Hae-won.”

“……”

What Mother ultimately wished for Woo-jin was for him to see someone and engage in human interaction.

The marriage with Ha-young, who had liked Woo-jin since childhood, was clearly a transaction driven by a sense of obligation and responsibility towards her, and the desire to expand his own domain by utilizing her background. What Woo-jin and Ha-young did was not the human interaction his mother desired, which converged on an average, but a transaction.

Woo-jin looked at his mother. He was engaging in the action she had most wished for and awaited, yet she was staring with wide, surprised eyes. Even her hand, which had been eating, stopped mid-air and froze.

“Moon Hae-won? That violinist?”

As if she couldn’t believe it, or as if she already knew, she asked.

“I was actually going to tell you. We’re seeing each other now. Since Hae-won stays at his officetel, he hardly ever comes to my officetel.”

“That violinist who was hospitalized at our hospital last time?”

As if she couldn’t believe it, as if it was unbelievable, Mother repeated the same question.

“Is there a problem?”

“Ah, no. No. I just knew he was your Hubae. I didn’t know you two were in that kind of relationship…”

“It’s been a while. I’m even thinking of moving.”

“Moving?”

“Both my officetel and where Hae-won lives are inconvenient for two people to live in. More than anything, spending a few days together in an officetel is nothing more than a one-time thing. I want to move to a deeper stage.”

“…I see. Did Hae-won agree too? Hae-won’s agreement comes first.”

“Hae-won will be the one to demand it first.”

He will make Hae-won cling to him first, saying he wants to live with him. Woo-jin held the emotional upper hand and had no intention of willingly giving the initiative to Hae-won.

“Then the officetel you live in now won’t do… Have you looked at any houses?”

“There’s an apartment, you know.”

Woo-jin replied dryly as he continued eating.

“What apartment?”

“The apartment in Seocho-dong.”

“That place? The place you were going to move into if you married Ha-young, you mean now?”

His mother’s reaction was different from his expectations. It was a moment when Woo-jin’s common sense and his mother’s common sense were placed on different planes. Unable to understand the gap, Woo-jin looked at his mother with a searching gaze.

“It’s under my name.”

It wasn’t like he was taking something that belonged to someone else; it was his own, yet his mother’s face turned pale. After keeping her mouth shut for a moment, Mother let out a heavy sigh.

“It would be quite upsetting for Hae-won to know. Every bit of that apartment’s interior, furniture, and bedding has Ha-young’s touch. The wedding items are still there as they were.”

“So?”

With an expression that said, “So what?” Woo-jin asked back.

“Ha-young was the woman you were going to marry.”

“So?”

His eyes seemed to say, “She’s dead and gone, so what does it matter?” Choi Hyun-mi realized Woo-jin was still the same.

“Put yourself in his shoes. Would you feel good if Hae-won suggested living together with you in a house he had prepared to live in with his ex?”

“Is that a matter of feeling good or not?”

His mother explained why it was commonly considered upsetting, but it was a weak reason to give up the optimal conditions.

“It’s more inefficient to incur additional costs and time for such emotional reasons alone. And if it’s upsetting, then he just doesn’t need to know. There’s no need for Hae-won to know. It’s already all over, and Ha-young isn’t even alive.”

“……”

“It’s close to the District Prosecutors’ Office, and as you said, there’s no need to separately prepare the interior or furniture, so all conditions are perfect for starting to cohabit. We can’t just leave it vacant forever. If there’s anything in the way, even though you’re busy, Mother, please stop by and clear out Ha-young’s things. I wouldn’t know what to look at anyway.”

It was more than just upsetting; it was a disquieting matter.

It wasn’t that the apartment was an irreplaceable newlywed home for Woo-jin and Ha-young’s marriage that had fallen apart. The problem was that she had committed suicide. To make Woo-jin, who considered the difference between the living and the dead only in biological terms, understand, she would first have to point out what was wrong with Woo-jin, and it was too vast and abstract to explain, so she gave up on explaining.

“Is it physical attraction or mental attraction? Those are distinct.”

“…Are there people who can’t distinguish that?”

Woo-jin’s expression froze coldly. He stared straight at his mother, clearly warning her not to make him out to be abnormal. His mother met his gaze intently. It was a demand for an answer.

Woo-jin put his spoon down with a clatter. It was a sign of displeasure, but his mother did not yield.

There was no specific, predetermined answer to the feeling of liking someone. It was literally just a feeling. It was the only field he struggled with.

Such ambiguous questions felt like tests, making him uncomfortable and unwilling to answer, but he didn’t want to appear abnormal to his mother, who was staring intently.

If he could deceive his mother, he could deceive anyone.

Woo-jin thought deeply and then opened his mouth.

“Hae-won has disrupted many of my plans, but I don’t feel like sorting him out.”

“……”

“It’s not the way I pursue things. What’s clear is that Hae-won is a hindrance to my work. But I don’t dislike that.”

“…Okay. I understand. I’ll stop by the apartment and clear out all the things that need to be sorted.”

“Actually, it’s under construction right now, so please go check on it.”

Excluding the resolution of sexual desire, there was nothing for him to gain from Hae-won, yet Woo-jin couldn’t sort him out, and he didn’t want to.

This must be the realm of irrationality that some people so insisted upon and tried to force him to understand, but which he could never accept.

“What do you like about Hae-won? When I saw him before, he seemed talented at the violin. His performance was very impressive.”

His mother asked casually about her son’s lover. Woo-jin thought of an answer that would satisfy her.

Vaguely and ambiguously. They liked things vague and ambiguous.

“It’s hard to explain in words.”

“……”

His mother nodded and swallowed a breath filled with emotion.

Whether it was a man or a woman, Woo-jin liked someone.

For her, who had clung obsessively to Woo-jin’s normality, this was a thrilling and encouraging change that made her hands tremble.

Woo-jin confirmed his mother’s reaction and resumed his meal.

Leaving the family home and receiving his mother’s send-off, he got into the car. Woo-jin turned the car around, rolled down the window, and looked up at his mother.

“Drive carefully.”

“Go inside.”

“Give my regards to Hae-won.”

“I will.”

Inorganic eyes looked at her once. Then the window went up. Woo-jin’s car left the open garage without hesitation.

Woo-jin unlocked the door lock and opened the door.

The sound of music assaulted his ears.

Hae-won was watching a DVD live performance recording. Unaware that Woo-jin had arrived, he sat loosely on the sofa, staring blankly at the classical music that all sounded the same to him.

On the screen, an elderly conductor was passionately waving his arms, leading the orchestra somewhere. Perhaps to a world Woo-jin would never understand.

He wondered what it was that made Hae-won so entranced. The fact that he might never know in his entire life made him want to know even more.

As if submerged in water, Hae-won was submerged in the music, and Woo-jin quietly watched over him without making a sound.

Hae-won looked up at the shadow falling over him. Woo-jin reached out, grabbed Hae-won’s cheek, bent down, and pressed his lips against his. He then grabbed the back of Hae-won’s neck.

Their bodies fell onto the sofa. As if he had just brushed his teeth, a refreshing fruity scent and taste came from Hae-won’s mouth.

That feeling he couldn’t explain to his mother in words washed over him.

When his lips met Hae-won’s, when he wrapped his wet tongue around its root and sucked it in, when Hae-won unzipped Woo-jin’s pants and boldly pushed his hand inside, when the lips that met in a curved line twisted strangely—feelings like that were hard to explain in words.

If possible, he wanted to do this to the limit of his physical strength.

It wasn’t worth investing that much time and labor, yet just from kissing, his consciousness grew hazy, and he wanted to somehow increase the area of contact, to feel more, if possible more, as much as possible of another person’s flesh, body temperature, and scent.

It was a pleasant act.

If before he had contact with others to satisfy a physiological need, now he had become obsessed with sex simply because he liked the act itself.

He pulled Hae-won’s shirt off over his head. His brown hair became disheveled.

His straight shoulders, deeply carved collarbones, flat chest, and the light-colored nipples protruding above—his rapidly rising sexual arousal made the inside of his pants and underwear feel tight.

Pulling off Woo-jin’s tie and unbuttoning his shirt, Hae-won met his gaze.

With doll-like eyes, long eyelashes, reddened lips, and delicate facial features set in a small face, Woo-jin caressed them with his large hand.

After unbuttoning all of Woo-jin’s shirt buttons, Hae-won pulled the shirt off over his shoulders. The sleeves caught on his arms. When Woo-jin raised one arm, Hae-won pulled it off that side, and when he moved the other arm, he pulled that one off too.

He grabbed Hae-won’s pants and underwear together and forcibly pulled them down. Half-exposing Hae-won’s lower half, Woo-jin impatiently took off his own pants along with his underwear.

With each other’s lower halves half-exposed, Woo-jin lay on top of Hae-won and rubbed his genitals against him as if inserting.

Hae-won’s eyes closed. As if sinking alone into that unknown realm while listening to the live recording, he sank into a distant haze.

He rubbed his fully erect penis against Hae-won’s flesh. As he moved his hips, the sound of the sofa leather crumpling could be heard.

Stopping the hands trying to forcibly pull off his pants and underwear, Hae-won wrapped his arms around Woo-jin’s back.

“Don’t put it in. Haah, just do it. I like this.”

“…I want to put it in.”

“Don’t. Just do it. Just… ah.”

Hae-won moved his hips beneath Woo-jin, changing his posture to better align their lower parts. The area of contact widened, and the angle of alignment deepened. Holding his breath, Woo-jin rubbed his lower part against Hae-won in a wave-like motion from above, his chest heaving.

With eyes closed, Hae-won searched for his lips. The lips that had been licking his chin and cheek met Woo-jin’s.

His tightly closed mouth opened, and hot breath poured out. Hae-won took a deep breath of the heated air. He grabbed the back of Woo-jin’s head and bit his lip.

Heat surged. His body and emotions heightened together, much like the sound of the orchestra reaching its climax.

The lascivious red tongue probed Woo-jin’s teeth, roamed inside, and moved urgently like a baby bird begging for food.

Woo-jin twisted his head. As if inserting, he pressed his lower part down with all his might. A gasp and a sigh burst from the mouth that was being devoured. Each time he changed position, Hae-won groped and grabbed Woo-jin’s protruding shoulder blades. His fingers tightened.

Woo-jin and Hae-won eagerly rubbed and ground their private parts against each other. Woo-jin’s lower back arched and twitched. Hae-won’s hands, heated with lust, desperately clung to his back and tightening buttocks.

At this rate, it was hard to reach the point of ejaculation.

Woo-jin relaxed the strength in his supporting arms and lay completely on top of Hae-won. Leaning his weight and pressing down, he reached down with his lower body and grabbed the two erect fleshy mounds.

“Ah! Hyung…!”

“Does it hurt?”

“No, ugh, don’t rub so hard. I think I’m going to come.”

Hae-won’s cheek, pressed against his, was burning hot as if about to burst. As the whisper that he thought he was going to come flowed into his ear, blood rushed sharply to Woo-jin’s lower abdomen.

He moved his hand quickly. Hae-won’s body, panting and raising the pitch of his voice, trembled in jerks. A sobbing-like moan spilled from the lips that reached his ear.

“Hyung, Woo-jin Hyung…, ah, ah, Your Highness, wait a moment. It hurts, wait, Grandfather, just a moment.”

Feeling as if he would really burst, Hae-won urgently squirmed to stop his hand. Woo-jin frowned. Clenching his molars tightly, his jaw trembled.

“Hyung, I…, ah, ah…!”

“Kghh…!”

Unable to hold back, he ejaculated with a grimace. The area below his waist that was ejaculating trembled violently.

The breath he had been holding back poured out all at once.

“Haah, haah…”

Woo-jin completely lost his strength on top of Hae-won. With hazy, dulled eyes half-open, Hae-won, crushed beneath him, stared blankly at the ceiling and embraced his intermittently trembling limbs. After a while of catching his breath, the violently pounding heartbeat subsided.

Woo-jin slowly raised his upper body. His eyes met Hae-won’s. Moist eyes looked up at him. He wrapped his arms around Hae-won’s lower back and lifted him. Sitting him on his own thigh, the eyes that had been looking up now looked down blankly and cupped Woo-jin’s cheeks.

“Haah…, ah… We came.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s been a while since we came together. Right?”

Both of Hae-won’s cheeks were flushed. Woo-jin fixed his gaze blankly on that face. Smoothing Woo-jin’s disheveled hair and caressing his cheek, Hae-won pressed his lower body tightly against him.

“Conductor Grandfather. I like it.”

“…Do you know how inappropriate that is?”

“Vulgar. Does that word excite you?”

“Don’t tease your elders.”

“I’m thirty too. Huh? Now that I think about it, elder…, thirty… I guess you become an elder when you pass thirty. Right?”

He didn’t know how relieved he was that Hae-won had turned thirty, that he had safely passed twenty-nine.

Everything was ideal.

Starting with crossing items off the list one by one, his work had stabilized, and Hae-won had also safely turned thirty as he had hoped.

It felt like this was the reward for all the hardships until now.

Hae-won sitting on his thigh was like that, and even Hae-won’s appearance was like that.

It wasn’t just that he was beautiful, nor was it simply that his appearance was pleasing; it was Hae-won’s eyes, expression, and gestures as he looked at Woo-jin.

Woo-jin had an unusually strong desire for recognition and a desire to control someone, but the feeling of being loved by Hae-won, where those two were simultaneously fulfilled, was a completely different concept on another dimension.

Hae-won pulled him into a hug and rested his cheek on his shoulder.

They rubbed against each other for a long time, like in a dream, with the faint, lingering sensation that warmed their bodies as their lower halves brushed together.

“Shall we shower together?”

Hae-won, who had been swaying as if drained of energy, barely shook his head.

Lifting his damp body, he entered the bathroom. Throwing their clothes outside the door, Hae-won and Woo-jin stood facing each other naked under the showerhead.

Woo-jin turned on the faucet. Warm water poured down over their shoulders, which were pressed together as they stood overlapping.

As if sleepiness was washing over him, or as if he was tired, Hae-won blinked slowly and rubbed his cheek against Woo-jin’s chest.

Leaving Hae-won as he was, Woo-jin squeezed liquid soap onto the shower towel and worked up a lather. Starting from the nape of Hae-won’s neck, who was leaning against his chest, he slowly moved the shower towel down along his spine. Woo-jin felt something was lacking.

“It would have been nice if there was a bathtub.”

“…Huh?”

At Woo-jin’s muttering, Hae-won lifted his face.

“The bathroom is narrow.”

“That’s why we’re pressed together like this.”

“It’s uncomfortable.”

“I’ll make you more uncomfortable.”

Hae-won’s hand gripped Woo-jin’s genitals. The penis, which had gone limp after ejaculation, stiffened and stood erect as soon as he gave it a few squeezes.

Woo-jin’s hand, covered in soap suds, trailed down Hae-won’s spine and groped between his buttocks. When Hae-won flinched, Woo-jin seized one cheek firmly and pulled him close. Their wet lower bodies collided with a slick sound.

“Does that mean once this morning wasn’t enough?”

“I keep wanting to touch you. Tear it off and give it to me.”

“Is it that you like a man’s dick, or…”

“It’s my favorite among the twenty-one dicks.”

“…Hae-won.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Haa.”

Letting out a sigh drawn from deep within his gut, Woo-jin swept back his wet hair. The stream of water from the showerhead shattered against Hae-won’s shoulders.

Still loosely holding Woo-jin’s genitals, Hae-won looked up at him with cautious eyes.

“So this is what they mean by getting pissed off.”

“You just realized that now? Are you really pissed off?”

“Quite.”

Woo-jin’s expression twisted fiercely. He had clearly learned that strange phrase somewhere and was applying it at the perfect moment.

Even though he knew full well that Hae-won was deliberately provoking him, Woo-jin found himself freshly enraged each time.

It was disgusting enough that he came after fingers and toes, but the thought that so many other men had touched Hae-won was the part that made his anger hard to contain.

The unbearable thought was that someone other than him had held this face, this body, this Moon Hae-won.

What made him even more uncomfortable than this intolerable uncertainty was his own childish behavior—the urgent, hasty need to vent these filthy feelings.

He had never done anything irrational before, but with Hae-won, every provocation stirred an irrational impulse, and he couldn’t rest until he somehow released it.

Grabbing Hae-won’s arm, he roughly turned the body around.

Hae-won’s chest hit the foggy, steam-covered glass door. Parting the soap-slicked buttocks, Woo-jin pushed his fingers straight into the warm interior.

“Ugh…!”

The flesh swallowing his fingers flinched and trembled.

Woo-jin deliberately moved the two fingers he had shoved in recklessly, stirring the tightly constricting inner walls. Hae-won’s back arched as if being squeezed.

Woo-jin pressed his upper body tightly against Hae-won, almost pinning him down. He ruthlessly thrust into the quivering interior. As he did, he looked down at Hae-won, who was panting with his forehead against the shower stall. The wet eyelashes fluttered delicately, like dragonfly wings.

His emotionless, detached gaze remained fixed on Hae-won, who seemed overwhelmed by the heat, unsure what to do. Each time he pressed a point of pleasure, Hae-won’s knees buckled and shook.

“Ah, ah…, Hyung, I’m, I’m going to come again. Ah, ahh…”

Pulling out the fingers that had been ravaging the inside, he pushed in his erect genitals.

To prevent any thought, to ensure nothing else came to mind except him, Woo-jin urgently drove his hips upward.

“I’m sorry. Hng, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Never again, ugh, uht!”

“Does it hurt? Hae-won. Does it hurt?”

“Ahh, uht, ugh! It hurts, it hurts…, ah, ah!”

“You just don’t listen to words, haa, you don’t listen. Huh? I’ll carve it into your body.”

“Hng, ugh, ah, Hyung, Hyung, please…, please, hng, it’s too deep, aah!”

With a wet sound, the penetrating genitals pushed aside the internal organs deep in his belly.

Woo-jin grabbed Hae-won’s hair. Thrown onto the bed, writhing beneath Woo-jin, sweat dripped from his violently moving back.

His scalp pulled as his hair was seized. Hae-won’s head was forced back. Tears streaming down his cheeks flowed past his chin and down his neck.

Woo-jin stuck out his tongue and licked from Hae-won’s damp neck up over his chin to his cheek. The taste on his cheek was salty and sweet.

“If it doesn’t get carved into your head, ugh, I’ll plant it in your brain. Hah!”

“Stop, stop, stop…, stop!”

Hae-won’s body, which had been thrashing and shouting in refusal, suddenly went limp as if all power had been cut off. As if fainted, he collapsed onto the bed, legs splayed, and Woo-jin continued his beastly, rough act.

Holding Hae-won’s waist, he came. Even while ejaculating, he didn’t stop moving. After pouring semen into the tight interior, still inserted, he lifted his sweat-drenched upper body.

“Haa, haa…”

He combed back the disheveled hair with his fingers. Pulled out the tightly embedded genitals.

A viscous mucous substance oozed stickily from the hole. Woo-jin spread Hae-won’s buttocks. Rubbed the reddened, ripe hole with his thumb. Each time the hole gaped, cloudy fluid gushed out, and though the method was hasty and urgent, seeing the sodden area between the thighs where the sediment of emotions that had made him uncomfortable was now thoroughly soaked, it all vanished cleanly.

Mother had said the concept wasn’t about possession, but Woo-jin couldn’t explain this irrational union with any other concept.

Woo-jin bit Hae-won’s buttock. Left a round tooth mark in a place Hae-won could never see.

Hae-won’s flickering consciousness drifted back into awareness.

His body was lying on the bed, covered with cozy bedding.

Turning his head, the wall clock showed 2 a.m. Woo-jin wasn’t beside him.

Hae-won barely lifted his upper body, which felt sore and heavy. Woo-jin was sitting at the dining table, reading something, wearing only pants, half-naked. Though exposed and disheveled, he somehow looked calm and intellectual.

As Hae-won silently watched him, Woo-jin spoke without looking up from the documents.

“Awake?”

“…Thirsty.”

He immediately rose from his seat at Hae-won’s words. Filled a cup with cold water from the dispenser and approached. Hae-won drank the water he offered.

The surface of his lips was rough and cracked, and his throat, swollen from crying and shouting, stung each time he swallowed.

He handed back the empty cup. Woo-jin, who had been staring down at him, took the cup and turned away. He returned to the table and resumed reading the documents.

Seeing Woo-jin handling backlogged work from home wasn’t new, but today, seeing him concentrate while sitting at an uncomfortable dining chair without a proper desk, or sometimes on the floor, seemed particularly pitiful.

Should I buy him a desk?

He looked around the officetel, wondering where to put a large desk. To place a big desk for Woo-jin, he’d have to move the audio equipment and probably the sofa too.

Hae-won put on the shirt Woo-jin had taken off and got out of bed.

With unsteady steps, he approached Woo-jin. There was no welcoming gesture or beckoning, but he sat on Woo-jin’s thigh. Woo-jin naturally wrapped an arm around Hae-won’s waist, pulling him close, and raised the documents higher. Hae-won wrapped both arms around his neck and buried his face. Rubbing his lips against Woo-jin’s shoulder, he mumbled.

“…What are you reading?”

“A fraud case.”

“What kind of fraud?”

“Real estate fraud.”

Real estate fraud introduced through acquaintances often involves the acquaintance being deceived as well, so even if it’s later revealed as fraud, it frequently doesn’t constitute a criminal fraud offense, and financial losses may not lead to fraud charges.

It requires applying both civil matters and criminal fraud statutes simultaneously, and perpetrators already know the loopholes in this legal structure, making real estate fraud cunning and tricky to handle.

Woo-jin, who also had to manage Han-gyeong’s business progress reports, had asked Lee Seung-min to reduce his case load, but he ended up assigned a particularly complex and headache-inducing case.

He knew well that such cases only consumed a lot of time without significantly impacting his Performance Record, but given his nature, he couldn’t just breeze through it and move on.

Flipping a page of the documents prepared by the victim’s attorney, Woo-jin idly fondled Hae-won’s bare buttock with one hand.

“Did I pass out while doing it?”

Woo-jin nodded yes.

“It’s the first time I’ve passed out.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Peeling Hae-won off his cheek, Woo-jin finally asked with a serious face.

“It’s because of Hyung. Take responsibility.”

“Got it. I’ll take responsibility.”

He only says things that sound good, so why is he so infuriating?

He felt somewhat wronged and resentful. Staring at Woo-jin with eyes full of dissatisfaction, Hae-won gave up thinking, buried his face in Woo-jin’s shoulder, and let out a weary sigh.

Woo-jin slid his hand under Hae-won’s shirt. His large hand busily moved over the smooth back and buttocks.

“…Sleepy. Put me to sleep.”

Hae-won whined. Woo-jin’s hand patted and stroked his back. Perhaps extremely fatigued, Hae-won fussed for a moment before, as if lying, he relaxed his strength and fell asleep right there on Woo-jin’s thigh.

Woo-jin set down the documents he was reading. Preciously embraced Hae-won, who radiated warm heat. Carefully soothed and held him as if putting a newborn baby to sleep just after it dozed off.

“…Run away? How laughable.”

He snorted. Anyone hearing would think he was unilaterally exploiting and beating Hae-won.

He does whatever he’s told, gives whatever is wanted, accommodates everything. Woo-jin only showed Hae-won the side he would like. It wasn’t for nothing that he sat there shirtless.

It was the same now. He hadn’t forcibly pulled Hae-won onto his lap. Hae-won had walked over on his own and embraced him first.

Yet they spout nonsense as if Woo-jin had done some harmful deed to such a Hae-won.

Every time he recalled Tae-shin’s diary, Woo-jin felt displeased. He frowned. Those who knew nothing judged and assessed him based on a few fragmented pieces. Woo-jin could have been a good man for Hae-won. There was no reason for Hae-won to run away from him before, nor would there ever be.