*Thwack.*
His vision flashed, and the taste of blood spread in his mouth. Kang Siwon touched his throbbing cheek.
“You don’t get beat up enough, so you don’t know your fucking place and act up, huh?”
“……”
“Get out, you bastard.”
Thoroughly agitated, Ju Xiang got out of the driver’s seat. He opened the passenger door and roughly dragged Kang Siwon out. A fist drove into Kang Siwon’s stomach as he was pulled out of the car limply.
“If you just say ‘yes, yes’ and follow orders, how nice would that be? What is this—every time I tell you to do something, you glare at me first, acting all ‘I don’t want to,’ this bullshit…… You think I’ll put up with your insolence forever?”
The punches continued without pause. He could fight back if he wanted to, but Kang Siwon silently endured the violence. He knew that fighting back would only bring greater retaliation.
“Huk, hgh……”
In the corner of the parking lot, a CCTV blind spot, Ju Xiang cornered Kang Siwon against the wall and unleashed violence on him. Each time a fist hit his side, his organs rang out, and the following kicks sent his body crashing to the floor.
“Try saying you don’t want to one more time. It won’t end like this then.”
Ju Xiang roughly grabbed Kang Siwon’s hair and yanked it back. He forced eye contact while spouting off.
“Your uncle…… I said I’d sell him off piece by piece whenever I get the chance, right? You think that’s a joke? Just one eyeball alone would fetch a pretty good price.”
Kang Siwon gasped for breath and hung his head. As if dissatisfied with that, Ju Xiang pulled his hair up even harder.
“But even that won’t pay back all 3 billion. So you need to suck dick. You don’t like Feng Tao? Then I’ll attach a different sponsor to you. Let’s match your belly one by one and find someone who suits your taste.”
After mercilessly kicking his stomach one last time, Ju Xiang forcefully threw Kang Siwon’s hair aside.
“If you understand, get the fuck out of here, you bastard.”
Kang Siwon placed his hands on the ground and caught his breath. Watching Ju Xiang’s retreating back, he ground his teeth.
The Baeksa Faction’s threats had never once felt like empty bluster. They were the kind of people who would actually do such things.
“Ha……”
The future looked bleak. No matter how much he struggled, it seemed like he couldn’t escape this quagmire. He’d lived half-resigned from childhood, knowing that his path ahead was somewhat predetermined from the moment he was born under a man who didn’t deserve to be called a father, but this particular moment was especially difficult to endure. He’d barely escaped from that man, obtained a decent job, and it seemed like he could breathe a little, so why had things become like this again?
If only it weren’t for that damn debt. Even in death, his father was of no help.
Kang Siwon moved his heavy feet. He couldn’t stay in the parking lot forever. He walked with the thought of going anywhere, and when he came to his senses, he was on his dormitory bed. It wasn’t exactly comfortable here either, but for now it was the only place he could lie down. Even that fact made him feel newly miserable.
“……”
In the room Ray Jun had left, Kang Siwon pulled the blanket over himself and buried his face deeply. Seeing the wound on his lip, Ray Jun would press and wonder until he explained the situation. But right now, even thinking up an excuse felt exhausting and tiring.
He just wanted to sink beneath the bed. It felt like even if his whole body melted and disappeared like this, there would be nothing to regret.
“Xie Wei, I’m back.”
The bedroom door opened and warm light flooded in. It seemed Ray Jun had turned on the fluorescent light in the living room. The bedroom light was still off, but just the light seeping in brightened the room a little.
The more light there was, the deeper Kang Siwon burrowed into the blanket. He didn’t want to show his pathetic state.
“Show me your face. I need to put ointment on it.”
Ray Jun’s voice was more affectionate than usual. However, Kang Siwon was too exhausted to even feel grateful.
“It’s fine, so just leave…… Ugh!”
Ray Jun grabbed Kang Siwon’s shoulder and pulled his body up, sitting him upright on the bed just like that. His position changed in the blink of an eye, leaving him dumbfounded.
“Is it just your lip that’s hurt?”
“You heard me tell you to leave……”
“Don’t talk. Your lip might tear more if you move it.”
He firmly gripped Kang Siwon’s chin to hold it in place. As before, that strength was stronger than expected, making it impossible to move. At this level, it deserved to be called superhuman strength.
Ray Jun skillfully squeezed out ointment with one hand and gently applied it to Kang Siwon’s lips. The thick ointment covered the swollen wound. At this point, resisting adamantly felt pointless, so Kang Siwon reluctantly accepted his touch.
“Now that you’re done applying it, move your hand.”
“Let me look a little more.”
“I said move it. It hurts.”
Because his chin was being held, the cheek that had been punched earlier throbbed. The moment he was hit, it seemed the inside flesh had torn from scraping against his teeth.
“Where else does it hurt?”
Ray Jun, who had released his chin, examined Kang Siwon’s face closely. Discovering that his left cheek was slightly swollen, he narrowed his eyes coldly.
“You got hit on the cheek too?”
“What are you going to do if I did?”
“What else. Get revenge for you.”
Ray Jun answered ominously while tapping ointment onto his cheek.
“Forget it. I’ll handle it myself, so butt out.”
“Hmm, doesn’t seem like you can handle it yourself though?”
“……”
“Then I’ll just ask one thing. Did you win or lose?”
“It wasn’t a fight.”
He was one-sidedly beaten, so it was neither winning nor losing. Understanding his expression somehow, Ray Jun nodded as if he knew.
“Sunbae Ju Xiang, right?”
“……What?”
His heart sank for a moment. It wasn’t a probing question like ‘Is it possibly Ju Xiang?’, but a tone confirming something already known, wasn’t it? Though it couldn’t be, he wondered if Ray Jun had directly witnessed what happened in the parking lot.
“It is Ju Xiang. The one bullying you.”
“Th-that’s not……”
Seeing Ray Jun’s expression, Kang Siwon trailed off mid-denial. He had the look of knowing the whole story. However he’d found out, further denial seemed pointless.
“I’ve known from before. That you don’t get along with Ju Xiang from the surveillance team.”
“……How did you know?”
“I could tell just by looking at his eyes. That person glares at you every time you pass by in the casino. Like a direct senior chewing out a subordinate they don’t like.”
In reality, within the Baeksa Faction, Ju Xiang was essentially a direct senior. So Ray Jun’s judgment was accurate.
“……You’re perceptive.”
“I hear that sometimes. But this time, I only noticed because I’m always watching you.”
For a normal person, those might have been heart-fluttering words. However, Kang Siwon felt his heart constricting.
If what he just said was true, it meant Ray Jun might have seen him scrutinizing settlement information unusually meticulously or contacting the Baeksa Faction. Perhaps even meeting Ju Xiang in the underground parking lot.
Sure enough, he asked while gently stroking Kang Siwon’s hair.
“I’ve thought it was strange for a while now, but you’re being blackmailed by Ju Xiang, aren’t you?”
“……”
“Is it because of money?”
Each casually thrown remark hit the mark precisely. It was so accurate it was chilling.
“You, how……”
Come to think of it, Ray Jun was someone who had noticed the existence of Sovereign Resort’s double bookkeeping system less than a year after being hired as a dealer. For someone like him, figuring out his pathetic circumstances would be a piece of cake.
However, Ray Jun chuckled and said.
“Money’s the most common motive, isn’t it? If not that, it’d be a grudge…… But you’re not the type to earn someone’s grudge.”
“……”
“Are you being one-sidedly extorted, or did you borrow money? Hmm, should I guess this too? You borrowed it, right?”
Kang Siwon’s pupils trembled finely. Since he’d been caught being blackmailed by Ju Xiang, he had no intention of denying it, but even if he had made excuses, it would have been useless.
“Is the amount big? Well, if it’s more than a Sovereign employee’s salary can handle, it must be quite large.”
“……”
“I don’t think you’d be in debt from extravagance, and it doesn’t seem like student loans or hospital bills either. Then you’re paying back debt your family incurred?”
“……Stop it.”
The intimate circumstances he’d hidden tightly, afraid someone might notice, were being forcibly stripped away layer by layer. Kang Siwon glared at Ray Jun fiercely.
Even receiving such a look, Ray Jun returned a gaze that rather seemed to pity him. To simply say he felt sorry seemed odd somewhere…… It was an arrogant gaze, as if looking down while seeing through the other person completely.
“Do you feel like talking now?”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“No. Ju Xiang is the one threatening you, and I’m trying to help you.”
Ray Jun gently placed his hand over the back of Kang Siwon’s hand. Startled, Kang Siwon twisted his wrist, but instead of letting go, Ray Jun slowly caressed the back of his hand.
“Xie Wei, you can tell me everything. Whatever circumstances you have, I absolutely won’t criticize you. I promise to be on your side.”
“……”
“How hard it must have been being blackmailed all this time. Even getting beaten like this…… I absolutely can’t stand by and watch the man I like suffer like this.”
Ray Jun spoke earnestly like the protagonist of a romantic classic film. Both his expression and tone were dramatic, but it didn’t seem like he was lying.
Perhaps because of that. Kang Siwon was momentarily swept up in the impulse to confess everything.
