“If you came to work, you should just work and leave. Why did you harass a child who was just minding his own business?”
“Ugh…”
At the cigarette butt pressing firmly into his skin, Changyul let out a suppressed groan. His mind flashed white. Because he knew well how terrible an alpha’s possessiveness toward an omega could be.
He didn’t know why Tae Ganghyuk’s omega was working at a shabby soup restaurant, but he realized he was screwed.
Sucheol was saying they weren’t much of anything to each other, but Ganghyuk’s actions were telling the truth. Someone as busy as Ganghyuk wouldn’t go this far for an omega he had no relation to, would he?
Besides, Changyul hadn’t really done anything. All he’d done was act mischievously and grope his ass a little. He felt wronged. It’s not like touching wears it down, and it wasn’t like they had sex—did it really warrant going this far?
But when Changyul’s eyes met Ganghyuk’s, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I was wrong! My eyes were fucked up so I didn’t even recognize he was Executive Director Tae’s omega! But really, nothing much happened! He was young but working hard, so I was praising him, but my method was wrong!”
The emotion floating in Ganghyuk’s eyes was nothing at all. No anger, no irritation, no boredom was visible. People don’t walk around worrying about bugs getting stepped on and dying beneath their feet. Because bugs aren’t worth caring about to that extent.
The indifferent gaze told Changyul that he was exactly at that level to Ganghyuk. He probably wouldn’t kill him since the aftermath would be troublesome, but he really could cut off one hand.
With that thought, he strongly felt he needed to escape this place first. However, inwardly he ground his teeth.
This could have been handled nicely with words. But instead, they kidnapped him out of nowhere and even burned him with cigarettes. He could feel searing pain from the round scarred wound.
No matter how much of a big shot Ganghyuk was, touching him like this when he made his living eating Geumin’s rice was crossing the line—and crossing it hard.
Ganghyuk flicked the extinguished cigarette butt to the floor and grabbed Changyul’s bangs. After staring directly into his trembling eyes, he released the strength from his hand.
“Saying you’re sorry with just your mouth is easy. You want this hand to stay attached nice and intact?”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
“Really?”
Even if he lost one hand, he wouldn’t die, but just imagining life after that was agonizing. Even with a prosthetic hand, it would show, and various troublesome things would definitely arise. Most of all, they wouldn’t anesthetize him before cutting off his hand, so he’d have to feel the terrible pain while alive.
Just being burned with a cigarette butt made his back damp with cold sweat. Changyul nodded his head desperately until his sweat-soaked hair flew about.
“Then I’ll trust you’ll show it through your actions. If you betray that trust, understand that this hand won’t be necessary.”
When Ganghyuk nodded, Sucheol brought a sharply honed sashimi knife to Changyul’s wrist. Just from lightly touching the blade, a red line was drawn across his skin.
As his skin seemed to burn more and more, Changyul shouted until veins bulged in his neck.
“Really, I swear, I understood perfectly!”
At that moment, the movement of the blade digging into his skin stopped. Sucheol clicked his tongue regretfully and pulled back the knife. Red droplets of blood flowing along the blade dripped down to the floor.
That evening.
Ian, who was wiping the table with a dishcloth, lifted his head at the jingling bell sound, then froze in surprise. The men who had driven Ian into terror yesterday entered the store hesitantly. Their faces, dyed in various colors and swollen up, looked even scarier than yesterday.
He quickly pulled out the cell phone he’d put in his apron pocket. He planned to call immediately, as Ganghyuk had instructed.
He went into his recent call list and was about to press the number saved as ‘Executive Director-nim (heart)’ when a resounding voice rang through the store.
“We’re sorry about yesterday!”
“We apologize!”
“Please forgive us!”
Strength entered Ian’s hand gripping the cell phone. The two customers eating in the corner also opened their eyes wide in surprise.
The three spoke simultaneously so their pronunciation was garbled, but he definitely understood they were apologizing.
As Ian just blinked his eyes, wondering what on earth this situation was, Changyul was the first to straighten his back that had been bent like a folder.
All three looked like steamed buns with mold on them, but Changyul’s condition was the most serious. He was even wearing a cast on one arm.
“We’re truly sorry about yesterday. This is a small token of our sincerity.”
Changyul held out a white envelope to Ian. When Ian didn’t accept it and just stayed still, he placed it on the table.
“…What’s the reason for suddenly doing this?”
Though he received the apology, rather than feeling better, goosebumps rose on his arms. Because the men’s behavior, flipping like a coin, was eerie.
Moreover, they all appeared with injuries on their faces and bodies, so naturally he felt wary.
“We’ve reformed our ways.”
Changyul straightened his back and spoke. He seemed unaware of anything strange even after saying the wrong four-character idiom. Ian, who had something on his mind, narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Did you happen to meet Executive Director Tae Ganghyuk?”
“Who? That’s the first time I’m hearing that name.”
He spoke innocently, but Ian witnessed Changyul’s eyes shake violently for an instant. Ian, who let out a small sigh, pushed the envelope toward Changyul.
“If you promise not to come to this store anymore, I’ll accept your apology. But take this money too. I don’t really want to accept it.”
“It’s quite a large amount though.”
At those words, Ian hesitated briefly but soon shook his head. The men weren’t sincerely apologizing, so accepting money would only leave him feeling uncomfortable.
“It’s okay.”
“If that’s the case…”
Changyul didn’t insist more than twice. Perhaps inwardly regretting the money, he immediately picked up the envelope and put it in his suit’s inner pocket. He gestured to the men standing on either side.
“Then farewell!”
“Sell lots of soup!”
“We won’t visit again!”
The men bowed in half and spoke loudly just like when they’d entered through the store door, then disappeared like the wind.
Jingle jingle. Only the violently shaking bell sound echoed through the store. Ian apologized to the customers inside.
“I’m sorry. I’ll give you each one more bowl of soup on the house.”
The customers brightened at Ian’s apology. After bringing the customers soup with steam rising from it, Ian placed his hand on his waist.
Beyond the glass door, he could see a car parked nearby. It had taken up position since this morning and hadn’t moved even after lunch and dinner passed.
Sure enough. The men who’d just left approached the black car, bent at the waist, and could be seen talking with someone sitting inside the car.
‘…Telling me not to like you while doing this, your personality is really weird.’
He hadn’t told Ganghyuk about it wanting this kind of retaliation. The men’s faces, bruised and bulging unevenly, hurt just to look at.
Especially the person who’d touched Ian’s ass was even injured in the arm. Ganghyuk probably had a hand in it. He didn’t know if he’d hit them directly or had his subordinates do it.
Ian kept putting strength into the corners of his lips until he closed the shop, as they kept trying to twitch upward. His shoulders, which had been stiff as if a stone had settled on them, became much lighter.
ლ
“It’s already past midnight…”
Ian’s eyebrows drooped as he glanced at the clock hanging on the living room wall. He’d said he’d be late, but Ian didn’t know he wouldn’t come home even past midnight.
Was he planning to come home at dawn? Ian wanted to greet Ganghyuk when he got off work, but yawns came out until the corners of his mouth felt like they’d split.
“Haaam…”
Ian wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes with his fisted hand and sprawled out on the sofa. Lying on his side, he listened intently toward the front door.
Ganghyuk’s footsteps weren’t loud, but they had a regular and neat feeling.
When Ganghyuk returned, he wanted to talk about what had happened today. That the men who sexually harassed him yesterday came to the shop and loudly apologized, then suddenly held out an envelope of money. Whether he knew anything about this matter.
Given Ganghyuk’s personality that he’d observed so far, it seemed like he’d coolly admit it. Then he’d have to ask again. Whether he knew this kind of behavior was perhaps flirting.
Then what would he say? Would he look at him as if dumbfounded, or would he let out a snicker? When the gently curving eye-ends that appeared when he smiled faintly came to mind, even amid his drowsiness, a grin formed on his lips.
