“…Me?”
Those dark and crimson words shook Woonghee’s mind.
“Weren’t you the one who peeked at Woonghee-ssi, stole Woonghee-ssi’s things, and wore Woonghee-ssi’s clothes?”
Woonghee’s brown eyebrows, shaped like crescent moons, curved. Right, that’s correct. He himself had been at the center of that bastard’s every action.
Listening only to the man’s words, it seemed as if that bastard had deliberately targeted him.
…But could that really be? Wasn’t it just because he was alone?
That’s why he became an easy target. Even he would probably aim for the nape of a deer that was isolated and alone first.
“I’ll personally tail Woonghee-ssi. If I watch everything Woonghee-ssi eats, sleeps, and wears.”
…And then?
The man deliberately slowed his tempo by one beat. It was his habit. He would steal others’ attention like this.
“…That bastard will come out.”
Woonghee’s lips parted. It was as if a knife had stabbed into red flesh, creating a gap.
Listening silently to his words, something overlapped. This man, come to think of it, he had investigated him. This was practically saying he would tail him.
“N-no, that’s….”
Woonghee shook his head. Swish swish, his thin hair swayed.
“No. That won’t do.”
There was no way he could let him tail him just to catch some pathetic pickpocket. Absolutely not, he cut him off sharply, telling him not to cross the line even a little.
“Haha.”
The man laughed generously. His expression was as if he was bestowing magnanimity as vast as the sea.
“…It’s not working, is it?”
Wrinkling his nose bridge charmingly.
“I thought you were stupid with a bird brain, but you’re quite smart.”
If you use your head even a little, it’s an obvious scheme—how could he not see through it? There’s a limit to looking down on people. Woonghee was so dumbfounded that he let out a hollow laugh.
And the next moment, the man’s knee bumped against Woonghee’s thigh.
“Close your legs.”
It was a sudden rebuke. Woonghee’s eyes widened.
“…Yes, what’s that all of a sudden?”
“Press your thighs together. So your crotch isn’t visible.”
The man’s thigh, wrapped in a suit, came threateningly close. To avoid touching him, Woonghee unconsciously brought his legs together.
Ah, only after that did he regret it. Why did I do as this man told me? Why did I move as he told me to move? Just because I said I’d go under this man doesn’t mean I handed him my leash too.
Yet he was acting this oppressively as if it were natural.
“You listen well.”
Woonghee ground his molars. To think he was treating him like a cute cat again in that manner.
“Managing Director Gi, how can you guarantee that you’re not the culprit?”
This man himself has scary rumors following him, doesn’t he? Shouldn’t he be the first one on the list of suspects and then some?
“Woonghee-ssi.”
However, the man frowned his thick eyebrows and shook his head. Haah, he even let out a sigh conspicuously. To think he said he was quite smart about this kind of thing. He’s saying he misjudged, practically mocking him in his mind.
“I’m not that kind of person.”
His sharp jaw stirred the air. Even if a young newborn baby, Jjokko, came, he wouldn’t believe the man’s words.
Not that kind of person. Wasn’t he the most likely to be exactly that kind of person? Managing Director Gi, you are.
“And if by any chance I were like that….”
As if conveying a secret, the man whispered intimately.
“I wouldn’t have been leaving evidence all over the place like this.”
The reason that followed was sinister to the point of being gloomy. If you were a normal person, how could you do such a thing while wearing human skin, he would have said.
Instead, suspicion blazed up like a flame.
“Woonghee-ssi.”
Then the man put his tie pin in his mouth. His large hand swept up Woonghee’s bangs. The light brown hair that had grown long in the meantime was swept back smoothly.
“I think Woonghee-ssi looks precarious. Why are you acting so recklessly?”
Then, with the tie pin, he firmly secured the bangs in place.
“You know omegas subtly enchant people, right?”
Woonghee blinked his eyes slowly.
“Your skin is pretty and your voice is pretty. If you don’t have the skill to hide properly, then live in hiding.”
His round eyelashes fluttered and swayed. His eyes were filled with a moist film as if flesh had been squeezed tightly. A sweet fragrance like fruit juice seemed to emanate.
“We don’t even know who the bastard who stole is, Director Hwang is eagerly watching for a chance to fuck you from behind, Lee Ijun growls every time your eyes meet, worried his position might be threatened.”
“…….”
The man remembers the first moment he grabbed this hair.
He had been like an alley cat wandering the back streets. As if he would bite off his wrist if he even scratched his nape once, he had snapped fiercely.
But now he’s this docile. Look at those eyelashes fluttering. Doesn’t it seem like if the man extends his palm, he’ll rub his nose against it and act cute?
“…You won’t believe me even if I say it wasn’t me anyway.”
His slender eyelashes gradually lowered. The eyes of a hurt baby animal. Aren’t those the eyes of a furry creature abandoned on the street, kicked here and there countless times by humans’ feet?
He had been hiding these eyes behind this hair all along.
…Ah, this is why. The man sighed softly. This is why when conversing, you must look into the eyes. Because there isn’t a single thread of lies in the eyes.
“In those people’s eyes, I’m just human trash, aren’t I? Whether I really did it or not doesn’t matter anyway.”
Despite spewing such things with his mouth. Only those two eyes were wavering. Lee Woonghee is caught in a very deep misconception. He must believe his inner self is solid, but not at all. His inner self inside was utterly soft. Like the flesh of a newborn young animal.
“Is that really so?”
While laughing darkly inside, the man deliberately put on a voice as sweet as chocolate.
“Yes, everyone’s just about to die of boredom here, so they need someone to torment. Like killing an ant, let’s end this bastard’s life too.”
He doesn’t know his own inner loneliness. He tries not to look at himself drowning in deep solitude. He’s probably afraid. Because you’re more of a coward than you think.
“An ant. I don’t think of Woonghee-ssi like that.”
Acting foolishly and stubbornly. Beneath that was a sordid family history. Of course, it’s not strange for a poor person to have one such crude narrative attached.
Lee Woonghee’s was a bit excessive.
Juggling three or four part-time jobs, sleeping only about 5 hours a day. All he ate every day was triangle kimbap. He didn’t even buy a single pair of socks for himself with careless words.
Could he possibly think his parents died because of him? That stubbornness, my word. Isn’t it sordid to the point of being filthy? To the man, it was to the extent he didn’t even want to mention it.
“You’re a good person, aren’t you? Woonghee-ssi.”
The man put on a gentle voice. Like placing a lollipop in a three-year-old baby’s hand. Swish swish, he waggled his three-inch tongue, tempting him to covet the forbidden fruit.
“You’ve taken care of your young sister to that extent, lived busily, without carelessly playing with your body like a rag.”
Lee Woonghee hunched his shoulders like an attacked snail. Both cheeks reddened. As expected, he has no immunity to this kind of praise.
Every day, perverted bastards enchanted by your face and your body must have clung to you. He probably never met a human who looked into that life itself even once.
The man dug into that blind spot. As if pitying, in an admiring tone.
“…If it were me, I really couldn’t have done it. Because it’s Woonghee-ssi, you can do that.”
Lee Woonghee’s fingers curled inward. He must want to hide some emotion. For instance, the embarrassment blooming in his heart.
Ah, now he knows how to handle Lee Woonghee. In front of Director Hwang or Lee Ijun, he had his fur all puffed up, but in front of Paeng Hana, he acted soft. Lowering his eyelashes, folding his shoulders while continuing to speak gently. Softly.
‘Woonghee-ssi, how are you good at so many things? You’re really amazing at such a young age, your face is fucking pretty too.’
Every time that woman gave gentle praise, Lee Woonghee blushed. He would curl up while folding his nape.
The man had imitated that. Since he was a man quite skilled at acting. Wouldn’t it work to melt him gently like this….
“…But.”
Lee Woonghee fidgeted, kneading his shirt for a long while. Then he carefully parted his lips.
“Mm, speak slowly.”
The man generously waited for the next words. Yes, say something, Lee Woonghee.
“Managing Director Gi.”
Managing Director Gi—the man’s eyebrows distorted at his title popping out from those lips. A thought crossed his mind momentarily. Does Lee Woonghee even know his name?
“How are you so certain? That it wasn’t my doing.”
He looks up at him through moistly wet eyelashes. His eye corners, where reddish heat blossoms bloomed, were seductive.
“Perhaps.”
“…Mm?”
“Do you perhaps know who the culprit is?”
Checkmate. The man, suddenly attacked, clicked the inside of his mouth with his tongue.
“That murderer who stabbed the captain.”
Once again, he clicked inside his mouth. He slowly rubbed the flesh with his tongue.
It was the man’s old habit. A habit he did when flustered or hit on a sore spot. When Baekjo died too, he had touched the intimate places inside his mouth.
“No, that can’t be.”
When the man answered so lightly, Woonghee lowered his eyelashes. With eyes that said, ‘I thought so.’
“Woonghee-ssi.”
The man gripped that small chin in his grasp. Lee Woonghee groaned, “Ugh,” as if in pain. That’s when the soft atmosphere took a sharp turn. What a carefully melted atmosphere it had been.
The man knew he should stop here, but he couldn’t suppress the surging impulse.
“Don’t lower your eyes when looking at people.”
“…Ugh.”
Lee Woonghee bit his lips tightly and twisted his lower jaw. The man didn’t let go. It was always like this when entangled with Lee Woonghee. His reason would slip out of control.
“I’m a generous, gentle person to my people at least…. But if Woonghee-ssi keeps doing that, my feelings might get hurt.”
While keeping that head fixed on him, the man continued speaking.
“You look exactly like someone trying to hide something. I hate betrayal, you see.”
“…M-Managing Director Gi, this….”
“I gave Woonghee-ssi a place to sleep, food, and let you rest comfortably.”
“…….”
“You can’t betray me.”
The corners of Lee Woonghee’s mouth facing him stiffened. His large eyes, as if glass beads had been embedded, were colored with shock. The man smiled leisurely at those eyes.
“When Woonghee-ssi does that, I want to slap your cheek.”
