After the war-like lovemaking ended, Kyungwoo fell asleep immediately without even taking more than a few bites of the hamburger he’d called soul food. Though it would be better to sleep at home to go to work tomorrow, since there was still time, Jaeha let him sleep deeply.
Jaeha, who came out after roughly washing up, only put on pants. While the moisture dried, feeling hungry, he sat on the sofa next to the bed and ate the completely cold hamburger and flat soda.
Even though the sound of the drink coming up through the straw was quite loud, Kyungwoo didn’t budge an eyebrow. He seemed really tired. Jaeha had completely drained the remaining stamina of the person who said he’d had a rough day and couldn’t eat properly.
Even under the soft daylight-colored lighting, Kyungwoo looked somewhat pale. He didn’t look like someone who had just been moving their body while heated up.
Cheekbones that seemed to have little flesh. A tired brow. Sharp-looking eyes.
He didn’t look feeble because he had the basic skeletal structure and muscles, but still, for a young person, he severely lacked vitality. The only part with any color was his lips, slightly swollen from continuous kisses. Even that was frozen like a painting while he slept.
‘What the hell did that Jap bastard do?’
The memo left by Detective Seol Haeseong passed through his mind like subtitles. The background image was a photo of a child like a rag doll swept away by a cold flood and drying up at the end of a sewer.
The eyes of young Kyungwoo in the photo that clearly showed its age were like a bottomless pit. In his pale face staring blankly at the camera with pupils that were merely black, there was only the shadow of a ruthless crime so terrible that he couldn’t remember what had been done to him, and it would be fortunate to have no memory of it.
‘That incident was the reason he grew up in America.’
Because he was a child of the wealthy Taeryoung family, they were at least able to send him to America where child psychology was developed. He vaguely guessed the reason for sending him to the relatively relaxed Northwest rather than big cities like New York or LA.
It was also the cause of the panic attacks he occasionally showed in front of Jaeha. The suspected perpetrator who died in the fire was an Asian male. Both the place and the race. The contempt for the country that Kyungwoo sometimes revealed was clearly connected to that.
Kyungwoo was a tentative victim of child sexual abuse. Superficially, he was just a missing child, and even that record had disappeared.
Flames rose right from the pillow of the sleeping suspect. He suffered severe burns while sleeping and died on the spot. The record left by Detective Seol Haeseong also included an autopsy result that showed high blood alcohol concentration.
The fire was probably set by the traumatized child himself.
Looking at his personality of immediately grabbing a steel pipe and attacking Jaeha when Jaeha touched his trauma, it was entirely possible.
“But why did you accept my proposal?”
He asked in a low voice. The person sleeping soundly didn’t answer.
Recalling the strange behavior Kyungwoo had shown at the hotel where they first kissed, he suddenly felt an ominous feeling.
If he calmly thought for just 5 minutes combining the few facts he’d just learned, he could quickly identify what that ominousness was. That’s why Jaeha blocked his thoughts before deeper thinking could continue.
“Nothing will change just because I know the reason.”
It was words to himself.
Even if Jaeha knew, the relationship with Kyungwoo wouldn’t change. Unless he spoke directly. No, even if he spoke, it wouldn’t be a reason for the relationship to change.
He just needed to keep pace beside him so that the bastard, pale and violent like a platinum flame, wouldn’t get hurt and rampage anymore.
Suddenly, Jaeha picked up his mobile phone that he’d placed on the table. Then he found and deleted several files he’d hidden away carefully. He accessed the cloud he used for personal purposes and deleted the backup files too.
Beep beep. Ring ring.
As the mobile phone operation sounds continued, the person sprawled on the bed tossed and turned.
“What are you… doing there?”
Kyungwoo, still with his eyes closed, said languidly. His slightly scratchy voice was erotic.
“Mm. I remembered something I’d forgotten.”
“The bastard who got angry about bringing him to work. Do you like touching your smartphone alone after doing it?”
“It seems like something you’d like more than me.”
“Me?”
“I deleted all your videos. You can check if you don’t trust me.”
Jaeha tossed the unlocked mobile phone onto the bed with a thud. Kyungwoo sprang up from his position. He checked the video app and photo app.
“The backup?”
“That’s all. I deleted the PC backup through the cloud too.”
Jaeha approached and opened the cloud app for him. Since it contained game-related files, there was nothing problematic about showing it to Kyungwoo.
Kyungwoo, who had been staring at the screen with eyes still drowsy from sleep, asked back, “How can I believe there are no other files?”
“There’s no reason to keep such files now.”
“What are you suddenly thinking?”
“I kept them from the beginning to establish trust. Mutual blackmail that you wouldn’t be safe if you stabbed me in the back. But now, even without using such files, there are too many ways to stab you in the back.”
Saying that, Jaeha got on the bed and brought his lips to the shoulder of Kyungwoo sitting awkwardly.
“For example?”
“How about leaking Jung Kyungwoo’s sex video? In America, they raise celebrity value with stuff like that.”
“That’s a thought worthy of a son of a bitch.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Kyungwoo, who turned off the mobile phone, threw it on the floor. As if not in a bad mood, he smiled with his eyes. For a moment, Jaeha reconfirmed that his choice to delete the videos was right. The area around his heart ached.
Kyungwoo, completely unaware of Jaeha’s state feeling subtle heartache, turned his body and grabbed Jaeha’s hand, bringing it to himself.
“Is the other star of that sex video you?”
“I’ll gladly comply.”
Jaeha began to move again to meet the expectations of Kyungwoo, whose mind was quite willing.
*
Kyungrok, who came to work for the first time on Monday, was satisfied seeing the president’s office and secretariat that had been rearranged simultaneously with her appointment as new president.
The secretaries who had been going from department to department while she was gone also returned under her. It was Jung Taeho’s silent consideration, saying if you’re going to do it, do it properly.
“Good morning, President.”
The secretary who knew Kyungrok’s style well brought a thick file folder as soon as she sat down.
Whenever she placed documents distinguished by color and marked in various places, she briefly introduced which department it was from and what project it concerned.
Most were matters she knew well, and they were continuing projects that Kyungrok had laid the groundwork for before taking a break.
“What about the hotel matter?”
“It’s here.”
Perhaps because it was a file related to a newly conceived business, the documents were jumbled, not properly organized.
“Did Holdings send it like this?”
“Yes.”
The secretary tensed as if she were the one who committed a crime. Kyungrok sighed and roughly looked over the documents.
“Oh my. Did they send it like this deliberately to mess with me? I thought this kid was helping. That’s too much.”
Toward Kyungrok who was complaining quietly, the secretary carefully continued.
“The staff in charge explained that it’s because the Jeju Island field survey data wasn’t properly compiled. Originally, it was a business trip that two teams would finish in one round, but because one team didn’t operate properly, the remaining team belatedly went on a Jeju Island business trip again, so the report writing was delayed.”
“Are there people who work so messily while getting paid? Who’s the executive in charge of this?”
At that point, the secretary who swallowed her saliva spoke very cautiously.
“They say it’s Executive Director Jung Kyungwoo. The business trip team that didn’t submit the report was also a team that Executive Director Jung led directly.”
“Kyungwoo? He’s not such a sloppy kid though. That’s strange.”
Kyungrok, who had been frowning and flipping through documents, closed the file folder.
“This is unusable. Tell them to write it again from the beginning. There must have been employees who went with Kyungwoo.”
“That’s… they say the Executive Director went alone.”
“Alone?”
At that point, Kyungrok was slightly surprised. And she looked at the secretary with eyes full of doubt, as if she’d heard some nonsensical rubbish.
“Was he the type to go around Jeju Island alone?”
Kyungrok, who reopened the documents she’d closed, found a report on expense processing among them.
“Look at this. It’s processed as expenses for two people. There must be another employee. Look into it.”
“Understood. I’ll contact them right away.”
While the secretary went out and looked into it, Kyungrok reviewed other documents. About 30 minutes later, the secretary returned.
“Who do they say it was?”
“There was an employee who was supposed to accompany him originally, but the Executive Director changed them to inside work right before the business trip.”
“Then who’s the other person?”
“Well, listening to what the local staff said, it seems he went with a friend. Since it’s Jeju Island after all, mixing vacation with business trip… The business trip date was also a weekend.”
“Executive Director Jung? That’s strange. He’s not a kid who can’t distinguish between public and private matters… Wait, you said a friend?”
“Yes.”
“By any chance, is it a woman?”
The secretary was startled and shook her head.
“No. As a result of inquiring with the hotel, they say it was a man.”
“Is that true?”
“I spoke directly with the hotel manager. Because they ordered barbecue service, an employee and chef visited the villa, and they say there was definitely a male companion. The chef said they conversed comfortably, so he thought it was a friend, not business entertainment.”
Kyungrok’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
The secretary who had served her closely for a long time knew well that her superior, who was thoroughly ability-focused, had the rare temperament of despising chaebol-born managers who couldn’t distinguish between public and private matters.
So she thought Kyungrok’s reaction was shock from anger at her younger brother who handled work sloppily.
“Wait. Please leave for a moment.”
“Yes, President.”
The secretary who left the president’s office thought she would surely call her younger brother and have a dry ice-like conversation that was very gentle yet flowing with cold air.
The competitive structure between the siblings had already formed anyway. With competition among cousins led by the Vice Chairman also imminent, she only hoped this matter wouldn’t become too big.
Meanwhile, Kyungrok, who hurriedly took out her mobile phone and pressed the speed dial button, spoke in an urgent tone as soon as the other person answered.
“Mom, can you talk now? Yes. It’s urgent. There’s nothing wrong at the company. More than that, it’s about Kyungwoo. He… seems to have changed a bit.”
Kyungrok continued a long call with Jungok right there.
