While drinking coffee, he opened a taxi app in front of the convenience store. He precisely found the meeting place Jung Kyungwoo mentioned on the map and called for a ride. The taxi arrived in front of Jaeha shortly after.
Throughout the ride to the meeting place, Jaeha exchanged trivial small talk with the driver. When Jaeha subtly dropped hints about his profession along the way, the interested driver asked many things. Jaeha, who would normally keep his mouth tightly shut, rambled on about this and that to the unfamiliar taxi driver.
The taxi had somehow reached the Han River embankment. When they reached a distance where the taxi had its limits, Jaeha stopped the car.
“Thank you.”
He handed over his debit card while greeting. The driver, who processed the payment pleasantly, returned the card saying ‘Have a good day.’
This taxi number would be recorded in the bank account linked to the debit card and the card payment history. Simultaneously, Jaeha’s location would also be on the app. As if that weren’t enough, Jaeha used the app function to send where he was going to a chat room where he was alone.
Of course, if Taeryoung was determined and came at him, even if Jaeha ran along the Han River naked with his goods out shouting ‘I’m Seo Jaeha!’ and it spread through SNS by nearby passersby making him an internet star, they could still make Jaeha’s existence disappear like smoke.
‘Still, I can be bothersome.’
Perhaps he could even weave together Taeryoung’s mistakes.
He kept walking to the meeting place along the walking path and bicycle path swarming with Seoul citizens enjoying the night.
Among the paths connecting under the famous bridge, a particularly secluded area appeared. There was a black car on the side where construction materials brought by the district office for an urban landscape project were piled up, with streetlights far apart.
It was a domestic sedan with a white license plate. At least it didn’t appear to have Director Oh or whoever riding in it.
As expected, the driver’s seat opened and Jung Kyungwoo got out. As if he had watched some spy movie, even though it wasn’t that cold, he was dressed in a leather jumper with a cap pressed deeply down.
Perhaps not fully healed yet, Jung Kyungwoo had the jumper draped over his left shoulder with that arm resting in a medical sling. There was no bandage.
“You’re late.”
The bastard’s voice was hoarse. Whether heated from waiting or having caught a cold, it was rough and grating to the ears.
“Couldn’t catch a taxi.”
Jaeha answered standing at an appropriate distance.
“Taxi?”
“My car suddenly broke down.”
He made up an appropriate excuse. Then Jung Kyungwoo’s face, shadowed by the cap, distorted.
“If you prepared a metal pipe or aluminum bat or something, take it out quickly.”
While staring at Jung Kyungwoo, Jaeha took out the leather gloves he had put in his pocket and put them on.
“Let’s do this properly today.”
“I don’t have any.”
“What about the other guys?”
“You’re the one who said to come alone.”
“You’re not someone who listens to words so well.”
“If you can’t trust me, let’s end it here.”
Saying so, Jung Kyungwoo really turned his body. His attitude was as if Jaeha was the one who needed this, not him.
“Jung Kyungwoo-ssi, are you looking at me properly?”
Jaeha, who had closed the distance in an instant, reached out and grabbed the other’s shoulder. Jung Kyungwoo, who had just been touching the car door, spasmodically jerked his body.
“Take your hand off!”
The scream-like shout was buried by the sound of cars speeding along the riverside. Otherwise, it was desperate enough that someone from the apartment across the river might have looked out.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Dumbfounded, Jaeha also momentarily froze.
“Get away. Get away and talk.”
Jung Kyungwoo’s pretty face was distorted with fear. Fear dripped from his steps staggering backward. It was as if treating him like an unreasonable assailant.
“What does this person see me as?”
It was absurd.
“No, who’s treating whom like a criminal?”
“I told you not to come closer!”
Jung Kyungwoo, who shouted loudly, tried to hastily open the car door. The driver’s seat door was usually opened with the left hand. Using the right hand instead of the injured left hand, he couldn’t put proper force into it. Just pushing lightly from the front was enough to stop him.
Thud.
The door closed again. Jaeha, who firmly pressed the driver’s seat window with his left hand, showed his irritation.
“Where are you going?”
Even after seeing the beckoning gesture, Jung Kyungwoo kept stepping backward. He, who had been watching his surroundings, suddenly ran toward the nearby stacked construction materials.
“Hey!”
With a single cry, Jaeha chased after him. Without taking many steps, he grabbed the hem of Jung Kyungwoo’s jumper. Thanks to not properly threading it through his left shoulder, it fluttered in the air making it easy to catch.
“Where are you running? You bastard.”
Jaeha, who dragged Jung Kyungwoo, pushed him hard toward the car as if throwing him.
Thud.
“Huk.”
The bastard’s legs bent momentarily from hitting his back, then straightened. Jaeha pushed with his whole body against the guy trying to run away again. Tackling was the best way to restrain someone struggling.
Jung Kyungwoo, caught between Jaeha and the car, couldn’t move.
“Heuui.”
“Hey, Jung Kyungwoo-ssi. Who are you treating like a criminal right now?”
“Euheu.”
Jung Kyungwoo let out a strange groan and trembled. No, was this something to be this scared of? Where did the guts go that cracked the back of a current prosecutor’s head with a metal pipe?
“Did you do drugs? No, did you not take the drugs you should have taken?”
No matter how much he thought about it, drugs were the only answer. Jaeha snatched off his cap to check his condition. A pale face was revealed in the faint streetlight.
His black pupils trembled violently. Through his slightly parted lips, rough breaths leaked out in puffs, while his sharp jaw vibrated finely.
“Let… let go… fu…”
“Where’s the cursing? Executive Director Jung Kyungwoo?”
He threatened while pressing the guy’s chest firmly with his arm.
“Let go… let… hnngh.”
“Huh?”
“You… son of… a bitch… heuuk.”
Moisture mixed into the slurring words. His shoulders heaved and the humidity in the breath leaking between his lips intensified. Simultaneously, fine tremors were added around his eyes.
“Are you… crying? Jung Kyungwoo, hey… are you crying?”
Jaeha stuttered, too flustered. Thick tears fell plop from that pretty bastard’s black eyes. His lips trembled violently and his cheeks below his cheekbones twitched.
“Euheuk… let… go.”
“No, why are you crying?”
It was a question thrown not with the intention to interrogate but because he genuinely didn’t know. Was it normal for a man in his thirties to cry over this level of physical struggle?
“Heueuk… huk… weep.”
Perhaps ashamed, Jung Kyungwoo tried hard to swallow his crying while keeping his mouth tightly shut. At that sight, his heart sank.
“What did I do?”
“Weep… huk… weeep.”
Jung Kyungwoo continued heaving his shoulders and chest, struggling desperately to stop crying.
“No… what did I…”
Jaeha unknowingly released the strength from his arm pressing Jung Kyungwoo. Perhaps breathing became easier, as the other took a big breath.
“Pheueup.”
That trembling sound, just as a child crying miserably would occasionally do when suddenly inhaling, was not just pitiful but heart-wrenching.
“What’s wrong?”
Worry subtly mixed into the question thrown again. Could there be an underlying illness?
“Are you hurt somewhere? Is the hand injury still serious? Do you want to go to the hospital?”
Jaeha also bent his waist to check the complexion of Jung Kyungwoo, who had lowered his head.
Tears dripped ceaselessly down his sharp nose bridge. Thinking if only he had tissues or a handkerchief, Jaeha unknowingly searched his pockets with his hands. But there was no way such things would exist.
“You have tissues in the car, right?”
He figured there would at least be promotional ones received from gas stations. But Jung Kyungwoo, leaning his back against the car, didn’t budge. His upper body, gradually tilting downward, only trembled more violently.
“Phewk. Sniff. Phewk.”
He seemed to be trying his best to calm down in his own way. But the crying didn’t seem like it would stop easily.
“Jung Kyungwoo.”
Jaeha reached out to support the tilting body.
“Don’t… mm… uh.”
Between the front and back syllables of Jung Kyungwoo swallowing the welling tears, there was one thick gulp. The hand pushing away Jaeha’s hand was slightly wet.
“What do you mean don’t?”
He pulled up the leather jumper hanging down and draped it over the other’s left shoulder. Then he naturally patted his shoulder and back as ordinary people would.
When interrogating criminals, when the other became emotional and cried or got excited, he would appropriately soothe them. No matter how dog-like they were, the more humane treatment given, the better cooperation could be expected.
“Jung Kyungwoo. It’s okay. I won’t do anything.”
Actually, he had come to hit him once. As if he had never even dreamed of such a thing, Jaeha soothed the other with a gentle tone.
The crying subsided somewhat. If he said anything more here, it would likely only stimulate shame. Jaeha slowly took his time to allow Jung Kyungwoo to calm down.
Jung Kyungwoo’s forehead, slowly straightening his body, touched Jaeha’s shoulder. He was slightly tense but deliberately patted his back pretending to be nonchalant.
“Phew.”
With a long sigh, Jung Kyungwoo released the tension in his body. Then he swayed a little.
Jaeha naturally held him. Before he knew it, it was a situation where the other was embraced in his arms.
No, we came to fight, so why did it turn out like this?
He was perplexed. However, the hands embracing Jung Kyungwoo moved diligently.
Quite some time passed. Several citizens enjoying exercise late at night cast strange looks this way. Jaeha slightly turned his body so Jung Kyungwoo wouldn’t be visible.
Of course, it wasn’t out of consideration for the other. It was simply because he didn’t like getting unnecessary misunderstandings from strangers.
“Hah.”
As if he had never cried, Jung Kyungwoo pushed Jaeha away with a long sigh. Then, with somewhat clumsy steps, he returned to the car and got in the passenger seat.
Watching his actions, Jaeha naturally sat in the driver’s seat.
The dark Han River bank. They sat side by side in the car with the engine off, maintaining silence.
Jung Kyungwoo, as if his head hurt, hung his right arm on the window and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
“Hospital?”
Jaeha broke the silence first.
“It’s not something to go to the hospital for.”
“Didn’t your medication wear off?”
“If it wore off, I would have fainted.”
“So you do take drugs.”
At the calm tone, Jung Kyungwoo glanced toward Jaeha. Then he made eye contact with Jaeha, who had been conscious of him.
“No intention of saying what’s going on?”
“……”
Silence was affirmation.
“Hotel. Restaurant. Today. You have seizures very frequently. Do you have… um. Panic disorder?”
“……”
Jung Kyungwoo turned his gaze away.
“Is that the right answer? Someone who fears nothing in the world has panic disorder.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Sure it’s not.”
He thought Jung Kyungwoo would bristle at the sarcasm. But he only let out a tired sigh.
“Think whatever you want.”
“Why did you go to Myeongbu Hotel?”
“Persistent. Seo Jaeha.”
“I can find out as much as I want by investigating separately, but I’m asking you first out of courtesy, and you’re acting like this?”
“Talk about courtesy. From a guy whose first option was violence.”
“No, that’s.”
He was about to raise his voice in indignation but held back. It was because he felt a noticeably flinching presence beside him.
“Why are you so easily startled? Thanks to you, this side gets startled too. You look like you’d have quite a temper, but you’re not acting like it.”
“You don’t need to know. I can hear you even without shouting, so talk quietly.”
“Are we the kind of relationship that talks quietly?”
“First time I agree with you.”
“Phew.”
This time Jaeha let out a long sigh.
“Are you really not going to explain what’s going on?”
