# Chapter 60
I don’t know how long I’d been soaking in the bathtub. My body was beyond bloated, with my fingertips all wrinkly.
By the end, I was rolling around in the shower booth too, with half my memories gone. I almost said goodbye to this world from a concussion while having sex.
Jiho acted so urgently, as if today was our last time having sex. Well, when was he ever not impatient?
‘At this rate, I’ll really catch a cold…’
I wasn’t the only one who overdid it. Jiho was always the type who never knew when to quit, but today he seemed especially crazy. Now he was asleep before Yeomin.
Jiho’s hair was still damp, and it somehow bothered Yeomin. What’s so pretty about this guy? He’ll probably catch a cold and suffer badly.
Yeomin tried to ignore his concerns and waved his hand in front of Jiho’s face.
Jiho didn’t move at all.
‘At this point, he’s practically half-unconscious.’
How ridiculous. I should be the one passing out. Yeomin still had almost no feeling below his waist.
Despite this, Yeomin gritted his teeth, groaned, and got out of bed. Then he tiptoed out of the bedroom.
When he opened the bag he’d hidden from Jiho, an envelope appeared. It was the money envelope President Ahn had given him earlier.
‘This is my bribe. A bribe asking you to take good care of our Jiho.’
Looking at it again, it was a tempting amount—an amount he wondered if he’d ever have the chance to touch in his life.
Yeomin was conflicted.
‘Since she gave it to me asking to take care of her son… should I just close my eyes and accept it? Anyway, Seol Jiho will eventually get bored and leave on his own, so maybe I should just hang in there until then.’
He wondered when such a lottery-like fortune would come his way again. It briefly felt like free money.
But Yeomin soon shook his head.
‘Even so, if I stay beside Seol Jiho any longer, my life might really be mortgaged.’
This was the guy who had tied him down with a contract while telling him all sorts of trivial lies. What law says he can’t do more than that?
Yeomin, who was already suspicious by nature, now completely “distrusted” Jiho.
“It’s a shame, but I’m leaving this behind…”
If I ran off with this money and Ian Group decided to sue me later, that would really be crossing the line.
Yeomin neatly placed the money envelope on the living room table. His hand holding the envelope showed lingering attachment.
Yeomin put on the bag he had packed beforehand.
“…”
The feeling was peculiar. Imagining Jiho getting furious when he found out he was gone felt satisfying, yet leaving this nice place he’d been staying at was regrettable. At the same time, he felt uncertain about what lay ahead.
Still, he wouldn’t regret it.
“There’s only one way to screw over Seol Jiho.”
Yeomin wrote a final message on the money envelope.
[Contract terminated, you son of a bitch]
He even chuckled while writing it.
‘Ah, let’s not delay any longer. If Seol Jiho wakes up, all this will be for nothing.’
After taking one last look around the house, Yeomin called the elevator.
It’s too risky to go directly to Taeyang’s place, so I’ll stay at a motel tonight.
Just before escaping this luxurious prison, Yeomin got into the elevator with a pounding heart. He pressed the first floor and quickly pushed the close button.
With a smooth, stable sound, the doors closed from both sides.
“…Phew.”
Just as he sighed in relief, anticipating the success of his plan…
Suddenly, with a beep! sound, the elevator doors opened again on both sides.
‘What the hell? Why are they opening again!’
A panicked Yeomin pressed the close button hard again. The closing doors stopped with a clank, then opened completely.
The face that appeared between the opening doors was Jiho’s.
“Going for a midnight stroll alone?”
“…”
“With a bag packed and all.”
This puppy with separation anxiety is problematic because it refuses to leave its owner’s side. Now it’s even baring its teeth fiercely.
Yeomin thought he was the one holding the leash, so dropping it would be his decision. But in reality, he was the one wearing the collar, not Jiho. It had been that way since the moment he entered this house.
“…”
Yeomin thought he’d gotten used to Jiho’s cold expressions. But it seemed what he’d been shown until now was relatively “kind.” It was nothing compared to now.
“Jiho. It’s not like that…”
Yeomin pretended to be flustered, then quickly tried to press the close button again when he saw an opportunity. He mashed it repeatedly like playing a game, with enough force to break it.
But it was no use. By then, Jiho had already squeezed his body through the elevator doors.
As soon as Jiho boarded, the elevator doors closed completely and began descending.
“Damn it.”
Yeomin openly muttered a curse. He really was trying to sneak away quietly!
The despairing Yeomin found himself cornered, trapped between Jiho’s arms.
Even backed into a corner, Yeomin stared straight back at Jiho.
“…Explain. Where were you going? If it’s a reasonable explanation, I won’t get angry.”
Yeomin found Jiho’s words ridiculous.
“Cut the crap. I’m the one who should be angry right now.”
“Were you really trying to leave?”
Jiho sighed as he looked at Yeomin’s backpack. I thought he’d sneer mockingly, but unexpectedly, he wore a hurt expression.
‘You stabbed me in the back first, didn’t you? Why are you making that face?’
His victim impersonation was top-notch. Yeomin had no time to comfort Jiho who was acting all upset.
“Yeah, I was trying to leave. Secretly. While you were sleeping.”
“So that’s why you were so nice to me today.”
“If you were awake, would you have let me go?”
“Why would someone who knows me so well do this? Are you stupid, hyung?”
As he said this, Jiho gripped Yeomin’s shoulders tightly. His expression was too complex to simply describe as ‘angry.’
Whether he’d try to persuade him, forcibly take him back upstairs, sweet-talk him, pretend to be pitiful and beg, or offer another deal.
His face was calculating intensely which method would work best.
He really was a cunning guy. It’s not like Yeomin hadn’t known what kind of person he was all along. After all, Yeomin had been sticking with Jiho for money too…
But Yeomin had one personal principle: <People should know when to get in and when to get out>.
Knowing the right timing to join and the right timing to leave is how you survive life long and steady, right?
And in Yeomin’s opinion, this was the last chance to escape from this guy.
“…I’m feeling a bit hurt right now.”
“You’re not hurt, you’re pissed off.”
Just then, the elevator arrived at the first floor. Yeomin considered making a run for it but knowing Jiho would chase after him anyway, he trudged out dejectedly.
Fearing Yeomin might escape, Jiho grabbed his wrist from behind. But Yeomin quickly twisted his wrist free and rummaged through his jacket pocket.
Taking out a cigarette, Yeomin bluntly said,
“Follow me, Seol Jiho.”
* * *
The two headed to a smoking booth within the complex. Yeomin didn’t want to create a melodrama in the lobby of the residential-commercial building.
In Yeomin’s mind, this was the most secluded and appropriate place.
Yeomin silently put a cigarette in his mouth. Just seeing Jiho’s face beside him made him crave a smoke.
“…”
Jiho stared at Yeomin intensely as he lit up.
Yeomin was about to ask ‘Want one?’ but decided against it, remembering Jiho had said before that he didn’t smoke.
Come to think of it, he’d learned… too many things about Seol Jiho. Is there a place that does memory wipes? Would getting hit on the head with a hammer make him forget?
Yeomin took his first drag and told the truth.
He didn’t want to have another headache-inducing fight with Jiho. Yeomin just wanted to get away from here safely today.
“Your mother came by earlier today.”
“I saw the envelope.”
The envelope where Yeomin had written a curse before leaving.
“Seeing how quickly you understand, you must have anticipated this situation. Was this part of your plan too? Me running away after finding out about your schemes?”
“…”
Jiho’s silence was answer enough for Yeomin.
“You clearly said it yourself. The moment restrictions came from your family, I could be out.”
“Did I say that?”
Did I say that…? This bastard…
Yeomin confronted him.
“But your mother doesn’t seem to want me out?”
“She must have liked you. Of course. Who wouldn’t like you, hyung?”
Jiho was being completely shameless. How could he act so despicably?
Yeomin felt his blood pressure rising rapidly. Then he took a drag from his cigarette as if to calm himself down.
The sight of him and Seol Jiho like this suddenly felt extremely ridiculous.
He was having a serious reality check.
“Be honest, Seol Jiho. What were you planning to do with me?”
“…”
“Did you want to do charity work, or did you need a toy to control as you pleased? Speak up, you jerk!”
“Do you really want me to be honest?”
Jiho asked in a low voice. Yeomin considered leaving right then, but he was curious about the answer that would come from Jiho’s mouth. He had to open that Pandora’s box.
Jiho let out a brief sigh as if he had no choice, then wrapped his hand around Yeomin’s wrist. He took the cigarette from between Yeomin’s fingers and threw it in the ashtray.
“…”
Jiho pressed his lips to Yeomin’s fingers, which now smelled of cigarettes. Yeomin was startled by the unexpected skinship.
“Are you crazy… What are you doing?”
Jiho said to the embarrassed Yeomin,
“I want hyung to have no one but me. I want you to have no hope, no despair, no happiness, no joy, no sadness except through me. I wish you were lonelier and more desperate. Because then you’d pay more attention to me.”
The words Jiho was saying, every single one of them sounded so psychotic, like a monologue from a play.
He must be the only person in the world who could say such things with such a romantic, desperate expression.
‘Is what I just heard a confession, or a threat?’
“I like you the most, but you love money the most, don’t you? So I made up a little story. It was cute seeing you get so immersed.”
“…”
“I think I really do like you, hyung. Even though you were trying to leave me, I still like you so much right now…”
The way he said it, as if he really liked him so much he didn’t know what to do, was the most insane part.
Yeomin unconsciously took a step back, only to be stopped by the booth wall.
Jiho smiled as he approached Yeomin with certainty.
“This is love, isn’t it?”
Yeomin thought that his prediction was right after all.
Seol Jiho doesn’t know what love is.
