The ceiling spun round and round. As soon as he came to his senses, nausea rushed over him in an instant. Kyungwoo bolted upright from where he was.
“Urgh!”
He covered his mouth with his hand and instinctively searched for a bathroom. The space was too unfamiliar. When he couldn’t control his staggering legs, someone guided him to a cold, white space.
“Huegh.”
He tried to vomit out everything inside him. But there was nothing to come out when he hadn’t eaten properly. He only spat out bitter stomach acid a few times.
It felt like someone was pounding the crown of his head with a hammer. While hot flames burned fiercely inside, at the same time, his arms and legs were so cold that sensation was dull.
“Huegh…”
While vomiting stomach acid until his throat stung, hot hands patted his back.
“I’m very glad you’re not dead, Jung Kyungwoo-ssi.”
Even in his dizzying state, the voice speaking to him was particularly irritating. He roughly wiped his eyes that had welled up with physiological tears. In his blurry vision, the silhouette of a large man wavered.
In an instant, his heart froze solid.
An unfamiliar space.
Cold hands and feet… A naked body.
And a young man!
“Uh… ah.”
The two hands that had been gripping the toilet bowl flailed through the air. The two legs that had been on the cold tile floor jumped as if shocked by electricity.
“Jung Kyungwoo?”
“Ahhhhh!”
Kyungwoo let out a scream and pushed the man in front of him with all his might.
Thud.
The man, pushed out through the open bathroom door, hit his back against the wall. He had to run away before the gap created between the two disappeared.
His trembling body sprang up. He immediately spotted the emergency exit light in the hallway that stretched to the left from the bathroom entrance. A door. He hurled his body toward it.
“Hey! Where are you going in that state?”
The man chased after him.
Rattle rattle.
The door wouldn’t open. Anxiety and fear deepened even more.
Bang! Bang!
“Open it! Open it! I said open it!”
Kyungwoo pounded on the door as if having a seizure. His palms and wrists ached from the heavy impact. But that wasn’t important. He couldn’t let that happen again.
Before he knew it, the man cast a pitch-black shadow over Kyungwoo.
“Get a grip.”
Anger showed in the man’s voice. A fear worse than death dominated his entire body.
“No!”
He closed his eyes and flailed his limbs as if having a seizure.
Thwack. Thwack.
His arms, swung like blades, struck the man randomly. But both arms, swung while losing reason, were soon caught by the opponent. It felt like his wrists would break.
“Let go! Let this go!”
He kicked while shouting. His sole slipped over hard thighs.
He heard a low curse. Goosebumps ran down his spine.
Thud.
His back hit the door. He momentarily forgot how to breathe from the strong impact. Before he could be surprised by the texture of cold metal, the presence of the unfamiliar man strongly pressed against his chest and stomach.
Despair. All that remained now was pitch-black despair.
His taut nerves could no longer bear the shock. Like air escaping from a rubber balloon that had burst, unable to withstand the internal pressure, strength drained from Kyungwoo’s body.
“Ngh.”
When he no longer had the strength to resist, Kyungwoo slowly sank down. With the man’s hands gripping both wrists like handcuffs, Kyungwoo was like meat hanging in a butcher shop.
“Phew. Hey, Jung Kyungwoo-ssi. Calm down. I won’t hurt you.”
The man kept calling his name and saying he wouldn’t hurt him. At the words delivered in a seemingly kind manner, bitter tears welled up.
It was exactly like that time.
“Your name is Kyungwoo? Pretty. Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. You know that, right?”
It was repeating again.
In this hotel.
In a place where no one would help him.
“I’m sorry… I was wrong.”
His voice trembled mercilessly.
“Please… let me go.”
Kyungwoo shed tears while caught by the man.
Why… why had he come here?
Even after 20 years, this hotel still stood firm, still looking exactly the same.
It was still too early. Because of the anxiety that the nightmare would start again, he had unconsciously headed this way without realizing it.
He had been too overconfident in himself. He had believed he would be fine. That the nightmare would be as worn out as this hotel was old.
If only that damn son of a bitch who appeared out of nowhere hadn’t reopened the wound. He wouldn’t have bothered coming here to test his complete recovery.
Because of one bastard who suddenly tripped him up, the trauma that had been dormant like an extinct volcano had become an active volcano again.
If only that bastard hadn’t locked the door and removed his watch there. If only he hadn’t approached threateningly in a space with just the two of them.
All of this was because of Seo Jaeha, that very son of a bitch.
When Jung Kyungwoo suddenly trembled all over and cried, Jaeha couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“Sniff… I was… wrong… please spare me… hnngh.”
The sorrowful sobbing even carried a thick sense of fear. Something about his condition wasn’t normal.
‘Drug withdrawal symptoms? Or is it acting to escape the situation?’
Either way, it wasn’t what was important right now. A perfectly fine adult man was crying like an abused child wearing only underwear, and much of this situation was Seo Jaeha’s own responsibility.
“Hey, Jung Kyungwoo-ssi.”
He hadn’t found anything particular to say since earlier. He repeatedly called his name and tried to check if the other party showed any sign of coming to his senses even a little.
“Hnngh.”
From the two eyes that had suited cold anger, salty droplets fell one by one. His wet cheeks twitched. His reddened lips trembled.
“Please… spare… me.”
His appearance continuously begging for forgiveness looked so pitiful. If the voice that desperately oozed despair was real acting, this guy should be going in and out of broadcasting stations instead of running a logistics company.
“Um.”
Jaeha knelt on one knee on the floor. Then he carefully released the two wrists he had been holding.
The wrists with red handprints curled sharply toward the upper body of the naked opponent like a startled mimosa. His moderately built shoulders drooped. Jung Kyungwoo wiped his tears with the back of his hand. Soon the crying subsided.
“Whew.”
At his calming appearance, Jaeha unconsciously sighed. He had to desperately avoid letting this disgraceful state be known to the world.
If it became known that two people related to an important case covered by the media were in contact in this state at a downtown hotel in broad daylight? Both Jung Kyungwoo and Jaeha himself would be in a very awkward position. Still, it seemed good to go to the hospital.
“Do you need a doctor? Do you know a doctor personally?”
Chaebol families also managed the owner’s health status in extreme secrecy. Even minor illnesses, if known outside, would cause stock prices to fluctuate.
If this seizure wasn’t the first, there was certainly a tight-lipped doctor dedicated to Jung Kyungwoo.
He took out his mobile phone and prepared to press the keypad.
“Where should I contact? The secretary’s office? If you’re doing this on purpose, stop… huh?”
Jaeha’s voice cut off midway. That was because Jung Kyungwoo, who had been curled up like a drug victim in a reality exposé documentary, suddenly burrowed into Jaeha’s arms.
“H… hey… there?”
For once, even Jaeha stuttered.
‘What is this?’
His eyes widened in bewilderment and his mouth opened involuntarily. While he was momentarily stunned and frozen, Jung Kyungwoo tightly embraced Jaeha with both arms.
His still-trembling breathing continued several times. When Jaeha belatedly came to his senses and tried to push the other party away, Jung Kyungwoo had already lost consciousness again in Jaeha’s arms.
“Hey, Jung Kyungwoo.”
Beyond absurdity, his reason gradually wavered. Jaeha called him in banmal and shook him, but the unconscious person showed no sign of opening his eyes.
Ring ring ring ring.
His mobile phone rang loudly. He reflexively looked at the screen. The caller was Lee Byungdo.
Ring ring ring ring.
Quite some time had passed. He had come down to the lobby belatedly and called after not finding Jaeha.
Beep.
Jaeha pressed the red button. And immediately turned off his mobile phone. Lee Byungdo would go wild later, but.
Right now, with the half-naked Jung Kyungwoo before his eyes, someone like Lee Byungdo was not at all an important matter.
With tears dried on his face, Jung Kyungwoo gasped for breath. He couldn’t just leave him like this and go.
“I’m going crazy.”
Out of difficulty, Jaeha swept his hair up from his forehead with his palm, then swept down his face again.
‘First, let’s put this guy on the bed and think.’
Even though he was slim like a model, it took quite a bit of effort to move a man whose height and frame were much larger than a woman’s.
Thud.
After laying him on the bed, he also arranged the arms and legs that stuck out and placed them neatly. Then he spread the bed sheet again and covered him with it.
“What kind of situation is this?”
Jaeha, mentally exhausted from the absurd experience and suddenly exerting force, flopped down on the chair next to him.
Even in the midst of this, Jung Kyungwoo was like a prince in an enchanted forest. He looked even more decadent because of the tear stains on his pale appearance.
Searching through the clothes yielded little. There were only car keys and a mobile phone, and a money clip with cash attached and a room card key. There was nothing that could be connected to drugs.
Jaeha took Jung Kyungwoo’s mobile phone and used the unconscious opponent’s thumb to unlock it.
He entered his own number and made a call. On his mobile phone, a number different from the one he had called before appeared.
‘Must be his personal number.’
He shook out the crumpled clothes and looked at Jung Kyungwoo again. Seeing him breathe evenly, it didn’t seem like anything would happen immediately.
“Let’s meet next time.”
Right after that, Jaeha left room 416 of Myungbu Hotel.
