* * *
Just as they were almost finished eating, Ray Jun’s phone rang. After checking the caller ID, he sent Kang Siwon a look as if asking for permission.
“Just answer it.”
“Sorry, I’ll get up first.”
Ray Jun stood from his seat and disappeared somewhere while answering the call. Kang Siwon was curious about who had called and what it was about, but not enough to want to eavesdrop. He finished his fried rice and left the table.
Perhaps because it was a penthouse, there weren’t even any dishwashing tools. He’d confirmed it earlier when cooking too—the cooking utensils were only there for show to begin with. It made sense, since people who stayed in places like this probably almost never cooked for themselves.
“…Hmm.”
Looking around the living room, Kang Siwon scratched his head. At first he’d been impressed by the luxury, but looking at it again, it was a space where there was almost nothing he could actually do. Kang Siwon just headed to the bedroom to look for his phone.
Thanks to having plugged it into the charger earlier, the phone’s battery had charged somewhat. Even if it wasn’t fully charged, it seemed fine to use. Kang Siwon sat with his back against the headboard and started mindlessly surfing the web again.
“…This is boring.”
It wasn’t what he’d hoped for, but since he suddenly had a lot of free time, it would be nice to rest during this opportunity—yet even that wasn’t easy. He’d never properly enjoyed leisure time in Korea or Macau, so he quickly got bored of whatever he did. Other people could spend hours with just their phones, but he had no idea how they did it.
On top of that, the phone’s heat was bothering him. Before he knew it, the battery area had gotten warm again. Since this had never happened before, he wondered if it was because his usage had increased more than usual.
“……”
The moment a certain possibility occurred to him, the back of his neck went cold. Biting down on his lower lip, he first checked the battery usage in the settings.
The app consuming the most battery was the internet browser. But the second one was strange. A memo app he’d never once opened was using 10% of the battery.
All he did with this phone was simple web surfing and exchanging messages with the Baeksa Faction. There was virtually no reason to use any other apps. But for an app whose existence he hadn’t even known about to have already eaten up 10% of the battery just today was clearly suspicious.
Kang Siwon hastily checked the usage log. Today alone, the memo app’s usage time was 3 hours and 32 minutes, all recorded as background execution.
“…Ha.”
There was no way it was normal for a memo app to run in the background for this long. If it wasn’t just a mechanical defect, it meant the Baeksa Faction had done something to this phone.
‘Is it recording, or is it location tracking?’
Since they already knew his location, recording seemed more likely. No wonder they’d sent him to the penthouse at the very top of the VIP floors without a single message—they must have judged that wiretapping was sufficient.
While he was at it, he checked the memo app’s permissions. As if he should say “I knew it,” microphone and storage access permissions were enabled. Storage aside, having microphone permission enabled meant his suspicion was true.
“Phew……”
Kang Siwon irritably ran his fingers through his hair. He hastily retraced the conversation he’d just had with Ray Jun, but fortunately there was nothing that would be troublesome if the Baeksa Faction heard it. If he’d mentioned following Ju Xiang in Hong Kong or having sex with Ray Jun… he didn’t even want to imagine what would happen after.
However, what he could feel relieved about was only regarding himself—Ray Jun’s situation was different. Just moments ago, he’d confessed everything from being Chairman Li Yong’s illegitimate son to having conflicts with internal personnel at Sovereign.
Ray Jun had hidden his personal information so thoroughly that even his existence had been doubted, yet information had leaked through such an absurd route.
“…What should I do.”
Kang Siwon chewed on his lips. It would have been better if information about himself had been leaked instead. He felt uneasy that those cunning Baeksa Faction bastards might do something to Ray Jun.
Should he just delete the app? Kang Siwon glared at the memo app icon. But if the app disappeared, there was a high possibility the Baeksa Faction would make a stronger move. Turning off the phone would be the same.
In the end, the best method seemed to be keeping the phone far away so it wouldn’t record. Fortunately, this penthouse was so spacious that voices wouldn’t reach if they were just a little distance apart. Even right now, Ray Jun was somewhere making a call, but no sound could be heard at all.
He needed to hide the phone somewhere.
Having decided this, Kang Siwon left the bedroom clutching the device tightly. He walked slowly down the hallway, looking this way and that. Behind furniture, behind display cases, between curtains… His eyes moved busily searching for a suitable hiding place.
The living room and kitchen seemed like places Ray Jun would frequent, so they were out. The entrance was a place they’d have to pass through to leave the room, so it seemed risky. After circling the penthouse like this, what caught his eye was a tucked-away guest room.
This penthouse had several rooms attached, and this one was the smallest among them. Of course, “small” was only in comparison to the main bedroom—it was bigger than the studio apartment Kang Siwon had lived in back in Korea.
“……”
After looking around the room briefly, Kang Siwon decided to put his phone in the nightstand drawer next to the bed. Just as he’d made up his mind and pulled the drawer handle—
“I wondered where you went.”
A cool voice came from behind him. Kang Siwon reflexively pushed the phone into the drawer and turned around.
“…What. Were you looking for me?”
“Yeah. Of course I was looking for you. I thought you’d be sitting quietly in the living room or bedroom, but when I couldn’t see a single hair of yours, I thought you’d run away or something.”
Ray Jun seemed displeased somehow. Had the call just now contained bad news? Come to think of it, the call had been quite long, so maybe it was an important and serious matter.
“If I was going to leave, I would have said goodbye to you.”
“Hmm… You said something similar earlier too, so you do have some thought of going out?”
He smiled crookedly. His stomach churning at this, Kang Siwon replied curtly.
“Well, would I stay in this stuffy place forever? I’ll have to go out when the time comes.”
“Stuffy? Why?”
Ray Jun tilted his head as if he genuinely didn’t understand.
“You can’t even ventilate properly here. Because you can’t open the windows.”
“There’s an air conditioning system though?”
“Would that be enough? Proper ventilation means opening the front and back windows so the wind can flow through. Like our dorm.”
“Ha, as if anything about that decrepit building is proper.”
“……”
His mood sank at the words Ray Jun casually threw out. That dorm was like a spiritual home to him, but to Ray Jun it seemed to be nothing more than an uncomfortable building. Perhaps for him, who’d grown up wealthy, living in that place itself had been an ordeal.
Even trying to understand, the bitterness didn’t fade. For some reason, his mood had been scraping the bottom ever since entering the penthouse.
But he couldn’t just stay gloomy forever. Since the topic had come up, it seemed like it would be good to get some fresh air, so Kang Siwon moved to walk away.
“Where are you going, Kang Siwon?”
However, before he could even take a single step, Ray Jun grabbed his arm. Kang Siwon glared at him forcefully and replied.
“I’m going to get some fresh air for a bit. Why?”
“No. Don’t go. Stay here.”
At that childish whining, Kang Siwon ended up letting out an empty laugh.
“So, you want me to stay in this penthouse for a whole month? What am I, a prisoner? To be locked up?”
“I’m not trying to lock you up. But there’s no need to go out right now, is there, Siwon? Let’s go out together later, okay?”
When his stubbornness didn’t work, Ray Jun changed tactics and coaxed him with a gentle voice. He seemed to know that Kang Siwon was weak to this kind of soft approach.
It wasn’t only because of that, but since Ray Jun hadn’t actually locked him up, it felt pointless to get angrier. Kang Siwon mumbled in a much softer voice.
“…Fine, so let go of my hand.”
“You’re not mad, right? Hmm? You’ll go out with me to get some fresh air later, right?”
“I said fine, geez.”
At that answer, Ray Jun slowly tilted his head. Though Kang Siwon had no idea why things had suddenly turned this way in this situation, it seemed he was going to kiss him.
Kang Siwon hesitated, conscious of the phone’s presence. But it seemed better to just kiss him quietly. If he bickered with Ray Jun telling him not to, that sound would flow all the way to the Baeksa Faction.
In the end, Kang Siwon let Ray Jun do as he pleased.
“…Hoo.”
After kissing for a while, Ray Jun pulled away and licked his own lower lip. Desire rippled in those hazelnut-colored eyes. Perhaps because of the light eye color, that current seemed to read even more clearly.
“Let’s do it, Siwon.”
Ray Jun wrapped his arms around Kang Siwon’s waist and naturally led him toward the bed. It was obvious what he meant by “do it.” If it were the past when they lived in the dorm, Kang Siwon would have pretended to give in while thinking sleeping with Ray Jun wasn’t so bad. But the situation now was different.
“No!”
Kang Siwon pushed Ray Jun away firmly. Ray Jun’s eyes widened as if startled by that resolute rejection.
Soon his eyes narrowed coldly.
“No?”
