Please… this can’t happen. I can’t let him go again. I absolutely cannot let him go….
After pressing down on his chest dozens of times, Siwon urgently grabbed Seongyeom’s nose and blew air into his mouth. Far more sweat flowed down his face than when he had been beating up Gold Tooth inside the building.
“Boss….”
No one could stop Siwon like that and could only guard his back from one step behind in a solemn atmosphere. People who had been glancing as they passed by couldn’t easily walk away and murmured at the serious atmosphere.
“Please, please…!”
What’s that sound?
Seongyeom, who had been swimming at the beach, suddenly stopped moving and looked around. Under the warm sunlight, lush trees formed a dense forest.
In a place like this, wild animals or small creatures should live, but there’s no one, nothing here. Not even in the water. But what was that sound just now?
What am I doing here?
Seongyeom tilted his head and tried to recall what he was trying to do here, but his head just hurt and he couldn’t remember anything at all. Eventually, he scratched his brow and flopped backward with a splash.
Ah, this is nice.
He liked the leisurely feeling of lying on the sea surface under the warm sunlight and drifting along with the waves. Just as he was about to fall asleep, someone shouted again as if desperately frustrated.
“…ke up…!”
Hm?
“I said… gyeom!”
The sky rapidly— Seongyeom opened his eyes and hurriedly swam to get out of the water.
Huh, what? Why is my body suddenly like this.
Just moments ago he could move his entire body freely, but now he couldn’t even budge a single finger. To make matters worse, waves rapidly covered him from behind, and Seongyeom froze with a terror-stricken face.
Ahhhhh!
“Uuh….”
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was the needle-like cold piercing his entire body.
“What, why are you all staring like that…?”
As if witnessing a dead person come back to life, everyone was looking down at him with dazed faces. Soon after, belated excruciating pain rushed in.
“Argh!”
Seongyeom’s gaze swept over Hyung Teolbo, Ahjussi Daerim, Yi Cheong, and Seoldong-i in sequence, finally staring at Siwon, who was looking at him with a face soaking wet as if he’d washed it.
“Lee Seon, gyeom…?”
“…Yes?”
When an answer returned safely to the dazed question, Siwon bowed his head deeply and closed his eyes.
“Thank goodness, really thank goodness….”
Relief washed over him. He thought he was losing his person again.
He had no confidence he could endure someone dying again due to his carelessness.
After the relief came surging resentment. Siwon grabbed the collar of the lying Seongyeom and pulled him up.
“You! I told you not to go outside without my permission! Why do you keep disobeying! Do you really want to die so badly?!”
“I-I’m injured…! Agh!”
“Ah….”
The moment Siwon grabbed both of Seongyeom’s arms, a scream like a death cry burst out. Startled, Siwon hurriedly let go with both hands. Teolbo belatedly restrained him with an awkward face.
“Boss, he’s a patient.”
Siwon roughly ran his hand through the back of his hair with a disturbed look. After a moment’s hesitation, a low warning eventually flowed out as if being chewed.
“When we get back, I’ll hold you accountable for this incident. You’d better prepare yourself.”
Seongyeom, who had been listening with a tired face to the voice rumbling low near his ear, suddenly became curious.
How exactly will he hold me accountable…. Surely he doesn’t mean compensate with money. I don’t have a single penny right now….
“I….”
Seongyeom tried to speak but had to keep his mouth tightly shut because of Hyung Teolbo behind Siwon’s back, who was gesturing with his whole body pleading for him to not react anymore.
“Do you have something to say?”
“…No.”
Seoldong, who had been watching the two, tried to speak honestly to Siwon. When he took a step forward, Yi Cheong grabbed Seoldong’s arm and gave him a look to stay quiet.
“Kwon Yi Cheong. Choi Seoldong.”
Siwon, who had finished his conversation with Seongyeom, stood up from his seat and called Yi Cheong and Seoldong. The kids who approached him couldn’t raise their eyes at his fierce expression and only looked down at the ground.
“Answer me. Kwon Yi Cheong, aren’t you a member of Kwonmyeonghoe?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Inside the house, Teacher might accommodate your whims, but outside the house, you two should serve Teacher well, I said.”
“Tch. Even so, in a few days he’ll just take the money and run away anyway, so what’s the point of treating him well….”
“Cheong-ah…!”
At Siwon’s nagging, Yi Cheong pouted his lips out of habit. When Seoldong poked his side, only then did he close his mouth and sneakily raised his eyes to gauge Siwon’s mood.
“Where the hell did you learn such manners?”
Siwon looked down at his one and only half-brother with an exasperated face.
Seongyeom was still lying on the street with only a thin blanket spread beneath him. With his eyes closed, he quietly observed the conversation heard from above his head. From the atmosphere, it seemed the hyungs would only move when the Boss’s orders came down.
“Um….”
Unable to bear it any longer, Seongyeom carefully interjected into a conversation no one dared to interrupt. It was too cold and his stamina had reached its limit, so he just desperately wanted to throw everything away and be in a warm indoor space.
“If you have a mouth, answer me, Kwon Yi Cheong.”
“Uh… excuse me, President…?”
It was as if winter had arrived around the angry Siwon. The Boss’s dignity was felt in the frozen air and heavily settled atmosphere. But that wasn’t what was important right now.
“Where did you learn such ill manners that you’re now….”
“I did!”
Seongyeom suddenly raised his uninjured shoulder’s hand and shouted.
“I taught him!”
“What?”
Not only Siwon and Yi Cheong but all the organization members present stared absurdly at Seongyeom lying on the ground just waving his hand around.
“Lee Seongyeom, does this look like child’s play to you?”
Siwon looked at Seongyeom as if looking at an incomprehensible strange creature. This time even Cheong shook his head with a pale face. It was an expression as if looking at a crazy person who didn’t know how precious life was.
Cheong, you bastard. Just you wait when I survive this.
“No, it’s not that. As Cheong’s tutor, I also feel a sense of responsibility, you know… haha.”
He was so exhausted that no laughter came out at all, but he squeezed out even a laugh sound by demonstrating an unnecessary service mindset.
“Really?”
Siwon’s lips twisted ever so slightly. It was an expression where you couldn’t tell if he was smiling or if his anger hadn’t subsided yet. His breathing was still rough. Seongyeom smiled following Siwon and nodded.
“Yes! When we go back, I’ll teach him well!”
“How?”
The low voice continued as it was. Siwon bent his knees to sit and brought his face close.
“Pardon?”
“How will you discipline him?”
To hear the answer, Siwon bent his knees, sat down, and brought his face close. When his mood was absurdly lifted by just a few words of conversation, it was an action with the thought of just teasing Seongyeom.
Conversely, when the handsome face approached right up to his nose, Seongyeom became mentally confused and threw out any words.
“That’s enough, stop….”
“I-I already! Received a month’s salary in advance! So at least for one month! N-no! I need more money to become independent, so at least two months… I’ll tutor the kids diligently….”
At Seongyeom’s answer, Siwon blinked with a dazed face and finally burst into laughter.
“What? Haha!”
When Siwon laughed so hard he staggered, Teolbo approached and supported him. Siwon, who grabbed Teolbo’s shoulder and caught his breath, scratched his brow and gestured to Seongyeom.
“You’re quite something anyway. Alright, I’ll look forward to it. We’re going back. The rest of you stay and clean up the situation.”
“Yes.”
Before long, Siwon wiped away his smile and stood up with a groan, with difficulty. Among his not-so-short life in the organization, days that felt as long as today were rare. When fatigue belatedly rushed in, Siwon put a cigarette in his mouth and walked to the car with Teolbo.
“Um…?”
Seongyeom raised his head while watching the two people gradually moving away.
No, are both of you just leaving me behind like this? Then who’s going to take care of me?
“Geez, Teacher! Why did you go into cardiac arrest and everything?!”
“Cardiac arrest…?”
When Siwon left, as if they’d been waiting, Cheong spoke irritably.
“Then I really died and came back to life?!”
Seongyeom was startled and groaned as he sat up. People who had been watching from afar also left one by one, tired.
Yi Cheong, who was already covered in wounds and couldn’t get angrier at Seongyeom who had taken his side, instead smacked the back of Seoldong’s head who was next to him.
“Agh!”
“This is all because of you! If only you hadn’t blabbered about too much blood coming out!”
“Ugh… Cheong-ah, you saw it too. Earlier the blood really gushed out so I really thought Teacher was going to die!”
Seoldong muttered while rubbing the back of his head.
“Ah, whatever! I just got scolded for nothing! Damn it!”
“Cheong-ah, let’s go together!”
Yi Cheong, who roughly wiped away the tears welling up, turned around sharply and flung open the car door of a nearby organization member and got in. Needless to say, Seoldong chased after Cheong to soothe him.
“Um, kids…? What about me…?”
Seongyeom called out to the kids while being left alone on the street, but the car that had already departed was driving away into the distance.
…Surely they don’t expect me to go home alone in this state?
Just as he was mulling over his anxiety, Ahjussi Daerim’s voice was heard from behind.
“Can you stand up?”
A black sedan stopped in front of Seongyeom. Daerim’s figure could be seen through the lowered window. In his eyes that always seemed kind and benevolent, a bit of worry was cast.
“Ahjussi…!”
Seongyeom hurriedly raised his upper body, but his breath caught at the pain that seemed to pierce through his spine. Eventually, he collapsed to the side with a short scream.
“Kyak!”
“Seongyeom-nim!”
Urgently, Daerim and an organization member helped Seongyeom get in the car. Due to the earlier movement, blood was seeping out again from his shoulder that had been stopped with a jacket. Daerim immediately assessed Seongyeom’s condition and urged the organization member to hurry home.
“Why did you keep enduring it!”
“Uuh, did it show…?”
When Daerim scolded him, Seongyeom laughed while enduring the burning pain. Seeing that the glare didn’t soften even at that awkward smile, the wound must be quite serious.
“Just endure a little more. 15 minutes… no, we’ll arrive in 10 minutes.”
“…Yes.”
“Don’t lose consciousness.”
Why does that sound so difficult?
Even though he bit down hard on his lower lip, strength gradually drained from his entire body. Earlier it had been so cold, but now he was hot to the point of becoming hazy. Sweat flowed like rain from his forehead.
