Prologue
“Ungh—!”
His body was slammed down onto the living room floor, which bore black shoe prints. A heavy pain followed as his bones collided hard with the ground.
Yiseon curled his body into a tighter ball, as if protecting the child in his arms. His frightened body trembled violently. His back had long been soaked with cold sweat.
“You fucking bastard, I’ve been running around like a damn idiot for 20 minutes because of you. Our hyungnim’s time is worth gold, and you can’t even put down a goddamn signature, you son of a bitch!”
“Ungh…!”
A life that had been unfortunate since childhood remained this pathetic even in adulthood.
Violence, threats, mockery, and vulgar curses from loan sharks demanding money poured down over his head. It was humiliation he had endured sickeningly for decades.
In this vicious cycle that was disgustingly persistent and impossible to break, Yiseon, who had become an adult early, chose to silently endure the misfortune that befell him.
“Answer me, you fucking bastard. Want me to drill a hole in your ear?!”
Each time a kick flew at him, pain followed as if his flesh was tearing. Though this happened every time, he never seemed to build resistance to violence. The skin struck by the hard shoe felt like it was being ripped apart. His waist, which was obviously bruised bright red, throbbed as if burned by fire. Yet he gritted his teeth and held back the groan trying to escape.
Lying sprawled on the floor like a corpse, Yiseon barely rolled his eyes.
His shabby belongings came into view. A yellow table with chick drawings, broken toys… Their precious daily life, found with difficulty amidst misfortune, had been destroyed in an instant.
“Haa, ha…”
“Daddy, huk, hueoong—”
He pushed the trembling child deeper into his embrace and closed his eyes tightly.
For a moment, the ecstatic memory from last night flashed by like a dream.
‘Ah, h-hng, aah! It’s too much, too much. Hurry…’
‘Who seduced you? Do you know who’s in front of you right now? Hm?’
‘Ah, ahjussi. Seong Geumhyeok. It’s Seong Geumhyeok…’
If only he could, he wanted to return to yesterday. He wanted to breathe within his shadow like someone who knew nothing of misfortune.
But reality wasn’t so kind. It was as if someone was grabbing his ankle and dragging him down, reminding him that the only path ahead was a mud pit.
He would fall helplessly. His already messy life would be ruined beyond recovery.
Just as he was about to give up without even struggling once in his sad assumption—
“Grown-ass men targeting a kid—aren’t you fucking embarrassed?”
A chillingly familiar voice fell from above his head. It was an upright, low voice like a voice actor’s.
Startled, Yiseon moved his gaze upward, scanning the long legs before his eyes.
Clean shoes and dress pants, an upper body where the silhouette of precisely sculpted muscles was clearly visible through his clothes, and eyes that were sharply opened unlike usual, along with glistening pupils—he took it all into his vision. He had to look again and again because he couldn’t believe it.
Last night, Geumhyeok, who had intensely tangled bodies with him, appeared in immaculate form, standing guard in front of him.
Again… it’s ahjussi again.
When he closed and opened his eyes with a dazed mind, Yiseon had become a third party. From the moment they entered the house, the thug who had been tormenting and tormenting him was now confronting Geumhyeok.
It was an absurd, dreamlike scene that he couldn’t easily believe.
“Hyung, your face looks familiar, doesn’t it? I heard you’re a public figure who shows your face on TV. Now you’ve set up a company and even raise celebrities? If I film this and spread it all over the internet, your company will collapse in an instant. Think carefully, yeah?”
Even as the thug provoked him, pointing with the cigarette held between his fingers, Geumhyeok’s expression didn’t change at all. Instead, he scoffed as if it was ridiculous and arrogantly furrowed both eyebrows.
“Film it. I don’t have camera anxiety.”
Finally realizing it was reality, Yiseon’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it.
He who seemed as distant as the universe beyond the sky, impossible to grasp, had stepped into Yiseon’s world. A man who absolutely didn’t suit someone burdened with misfortune like him… kept closing the distance. He tirelessly invaded their small world.
Both his still-young child and himself looked up at him helplessly, unable to do anything about the surge of emotion.
We shouldn’t get more involved…
Paradoxically, as tension melted away, tears of relief dropped down.
