Even as he gasped and struggled in pain, Seongyeom took in the sight of the man who possessed both beauty and strength.
Below his coldly sunken eyes, a straight nose bridge, thinly pressed lips with no gaps, a face with beautiful lines that exuded a rough energy instead of gentleness.
Captivated by his overwhelming beauty, Seongyeom narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the man’s face. Those unfathomable, sharp eyes kept stirring up old memories.
‘…Where have I seen him before…?’
He was clearly seeing this man for the first time, yet his instincts kept whispering that he knew him.
Along with the low murmuring circling in his mouth, Seongyeom’s shoulders trembled. It was a terrible sense of déjà vu, closer to instinctive wariness than fondness.
At Seongyeom’s suspicious reaction, Yi Cheong subtly gestured to Seoldong.
What’s with this guy?
“Don’t try anything with the Boss, you pyramid scheme bastard.”
Seoldong once again violently tightened his grip on Seongyeom’s neck.
“Huk…”
It felt like the remaining air in his windpipe escaped, and blood rushed to his head. This was the limit. His eyes began to close, flickering.
If I fall asleep like this, I’ll really die.
“Choi Seoldong.”
The man’s low voice echoed throughout the first floor.
The tone was low and stable. What would it be like if he called my name in that voice…
Even in this suffocating moment, Seongyeom couldn’t control his imagination running in that direction. In truth, his mind was so hazy he couldn’t even recognize what thoughts he was having. Seoldong, who’d been choking Seongyeom, raised his voice as if rebelling against the Boss’s call.
“I told you not to buy the jade bed, Boss! This bastard came again!”
I’m not pyramid scheme…! If you’re going to move around while getting so worked up, at least let go of my neck first…!
Seongyeom tapped Seoldong’s arm resentfully. The man stared intently at Seongyeom like that, then tilted his head slightly.
“Really…? That’s strange. Didn’t you say you buried that jade bed guy yesterday?”
“Yes, Boss. We took care of it properly.”
A man with a gentler-looking appearance standing right behind the person called Boss answered.
Wait, buried? What…? And Boss, don’t tell me these people are really gangsters…?
Seongyeom clung to his fading consciousness and kept tapping Choi Seoldong’s forearm one last time.
“You…! That hand…!”
“Choi Seoldong. Let go. That person isn’t pyramid scheme.”
Just as Yi Cheong was about to shout unable to contain his anger. At the heavy voice that came down from above, Seoldong hesitated and soon released his hold.
Having lost his support, Seongyeom’s body collapsed limply to the floor. Gasping for breath on his knees, a cough burst out.
“No, cough! Ahem! I came here because I heard you were looking for a high school tutor!”
“Tutor?!”
Yi Cheong frowned with one eye and shouted at the Boss.
“A tutor, hyung! Weren’t you just saying that in passing?!”
“Ah, no! I have to do this tutoring job!”
“Huh?!”
In his desperation for money, Seongyeom blurted out his true feelings before clamping his mouth shut. Yi Cheong glared at Seongyeom with eyes that said how dare you interrupt.
But Seongyeom couldn’t back down either.
So what if you glare at me. I’m really desperate. That’s why I believed the absurd claim of one million won per hour and came all the way to a place like this.
Seongyeom was all-in. Even if this really was a gangster household, he was only thinking about landing this tutoring job. I came to teach kids, not to join an organization, so there shouldn’t be any dangerous work. They wouldn’t kill me just because they don’t want to study, right? The knife that had suddenly flown earlier did bother him considerably, but for now he decided to be shameless. Life is all about momentum!
Exhaling—Seongyeom looked up at these kids’ guardian… no, the Boss upstairs. The Boss stared at Seongyeom without blinking once, like he was some fascinating creature.
“You.”
The man’s voice settled heavily. It was just one syllable, but that voice pierced Seongyeom’s eardrums like a sharp castle. He could feel the surrounding air freeze instantly. Seongyeom cautiously raised his gaze toward the David of the gangster world, no, the master of this terrifying den. In a life that had never been entangled with gangsters, Seongyeom didn’t have the confidence to look straight at this handsome man who was giving him hyperventilation and arrhythmia.
“Yes…?”
Where had his earlier momentum gone? Seongyeom barely answered in a crawling voice.
“Have you met me before?”
With the man’s question, all surrounding noise receded like the tide. Flustered, Seongyeom looked around at the men watching him as if to swallow him whole. Every time their fierce gazes stabbed at him, he felt like he’d hiccup.
As if!
He thought all his sweat had dried from the air conditioning, but cold sweat ran down his spine again. Seongyeom looked at the Apollo of the gangster world with a face about to cry.
“I asked if you’ve seen me before.”
The words of Noona Miyeon, who survived almost getting her wallet stolen by drunk high school students, flashed through his mind: ‘Even when you enter a tiger’s den, if you act crazy, you’ll survive.’
Just as the man was about to turn his head to the secretary standing behind him, Seongyeom pulled up his facial muscles with a ‘screw it’ mentality and gave a bright eye-smile.
“Y-you’re so handsome I couldn’t help staring…!”
“……?”
When he even made a heart shape with his hands, Yi Cheong standing next to him grimaced and pulled Seoldong’s arm, stepping back.
Not even knowing that, Seongyeom played it even more brazenly, hoping to appear as a harmless creature with 0% attack power.
“I just came to teach the kids because they said they’d pay a lot of money…”
“M-money…?”
One of the men who’d been staring at Seongyeom with a dumbfounded face couldn’t hold back and mimicked his strange speech pattern.
Catching that sound, Seongyeom grinned.
Looking down at that bright yet cheeky smile, the Boss finally couldn’t hold back and let out a low laugh.
“What should we do?”
“Never mind. Leave him be.”
The man with glasses asked in an emotionless voice. The Boss stroked his lips that held a crooked smile and spoke while looking at Seongyeom.
“An interesting teacher has arrived. Daerim, show him the way.”
“Yes, Boss.”
The man with neatly styled dark brown hair and glasses, Daerim, nodded slightly. He came down the stairs two or three steps and guided Seongyeom upward.
“Hyung!”
As Seongyeom headed upstairs following Daerim, an irritated voice burst from the pale boy’s mouth. Seongyeom, as determined as he was, passed by the man they called Boss with a stern face.
When he kindly stepped aside, Seongyeom bowed in greeting and hurried after Daerim. Repeating the same words over and over in his head.
One million won per hour, two million for two hours.
One million won per hour, two million for two hours.
One million won per hour, two million for two hours.
Four million in a week! Sixteen million in a month!
***
The place he entered guided by Daerim was the room of the two high school students downstairs. It had a simple structure, as boys’ rooms typically do. There was a bunk bed on one side and a large wardrobe on the other, as if the two shared the same room. It was clear they didn’t study at all. The desk was a mess with miscellaneous junk.
“You heard in advance, right? Classes are every Tuesday and Thursday, two hours a day from 9 PM to 11 PM. The hourly rate is 1 million won, all paid in cash. Today you just need to do a simple test. However, the schedule may change depending on organizational business.”
At Daerim’s words, Seongyeom nodded quickly. Just then, Seoldong kicked the door open and came in. The kid who’d called the Boss hyung rushed in behind him.
I think his name was Cheong, but seeing that sulky expression, he does seem to resemble that man called Boss. Are they really brothers?
Seongyeom was lost in thought for a moment. As if noticing that gaze, Cheong looked up. As soon as their eyes met, he walked right past Daerim and Seongyeom and flopped onto the bed. Watching this silently, Daerim turned back to Seongyeom and gave a brief greeting.
“Well then, please take good care of the children.”
Click—
As soon as Yi Cheong confirmed the door was closed, he put down the game console he was holding and got up from his seat. His face, white as rice cake, was unreadable.
“Do you know why our tutoring costs a million won?”
At his eerily curving lips, Seongyeom’s face gradually hardened. When he stepped back in confusion, Seoldong, who’d approached from behind, firmly grabbed both of Seongyeom’s arms.
“I want to practice darts.”
Yi Cheong smiled brightly and pulled out one of the dart pins hanging on the wall. The metal tip with its sharply ground point aimed at Seongyeom’s brow.
“Teacher, give me a problem. I’ll get it right. And while I’m at it, I’ll hit the teacher too. Won’t that be fun?”
“No?! Not at all!”
Still held in Seoldong’s grasp, Seongyeom frantically shook his head.
What kind of high school senior studies like this!
His fear reached such an extreme that his voice wouldn’t even come out properly. Yi Cheong swung his arm wide as if he’d really throw the dart. Seongyeom twisted his body and buried his face in Seoldong’s chest behind him. The solid arms holding him felt less threatening than the sharp metal tip in front of his eyes.
“Huh?”
When Seongyeom, who had a similar build to Yi Cheong, came into his arms terrified, Seoldong’s indifferent eyes widened. Seoldong unconsciously wrapped his arms around Seongyeom’s slender waist as if supporting him as he leaned against his chest.
“What are you doing, Choi Seoldong?”
Yi Cheong, who’d been watching the whole process, blinked his large eyes. After standing there dumbfounded for a moment, he threw the dart on the floor.
“I’m not doing it.”
“Cheong, what’s wrong?”
At the sight of Cheong lying down on the bed, Seoldong threw Seongyeom away without hesitation. Seongyeom muttered emptily as he watched the two.
I have to teach these kids to study.
His gaze automatically turned toward the sky.
