Chapter 26: Where You Should Be
“Ha, fuck! That fucking bastard. I swear someday I’ll take that face of his and—”
Kang Sunhyuk, who had burst into the Executive Director’s office slamming the door open, let his words trail off when he saw Kang Chahyuk leaning against his desk.
“Where are you coming from? Don’t tell me you went to see Kang Dohyuk?”
Chahyuk asked with a smirk. It was a reasonable guess, as Dohyuk was the only person who could make Sunhyuk this angry within the company.
“Because of this?”
Chahyuk turned the tablet PC screen he was holding toward Sunhyuk. On the screen was an article about Kang Dohyuk and Baek Hyeri. Seeing it again made Sunhyuk’s blood boil, and he let out an “ugh” sound while pounding his chest with his fist.
“Will getting upset change anything?”
“You bastard!”
Sunhyuk raised his fist at the snickering Chahyuk. But whether because of Chahyuk’s smiling face or because he was still his younger brother, he didn’t swing recklessly. He just let out another “ahhh” sound and lowered his raised fist, which made Chahyuk chuckle.
“So? Did you go to confront Dohyuk?”
“Yes! I went!”
Chahyuk just laughed at Sunhyuk’s heated response. Sunhyuk told him to get lost instead of making him even angrier when he was already upset, but Chahyuk remained steadfast.
“Don’t clash with Dohyuk. Meeting face-to-face will only make you angry, won’t it?”
“He’s the one making me angry!”
“But going there and yelling at him doesn’t change anything, does it?”
Chahyuk put down the tablet PC on the desk, approached Sunhyuk closely, and pointed to his own head with his finger.
“You need to use your head.”
At those words, Sunhyuk laughed derisively.
“Use my head? Against that guy? Like that would work for either of us.”
No matter what they tried, they couldn’t match Dohyuk’s mental agility. He had been overwhelmingly superior in school grades since childhood. It was even more evident after he joined Dragon Holdings. Unlike Sunhyuk, who always caused problems that brought the police around, Dohyuk somehow managed to carry out numerous mergers and acquisitions without a single controversy. As a result, Chairman Kang began entrusting everything to Dohyuk, while Sunhyuk and Chahyuk became figureheads with titles only.
“Who said to use that kind of smarts? Anyway, you seemed to be trying something for a while…”
Chahyuk stared at Sunhyuk with an enigmatic look. Wondering what he was talking about, Sunhyuk returned a blank expression, and Chahyuk murmured “the recent lobby incident.” Sunhyuk cleared his throat awkwardly and turned his head away.
“I was surprised you tried something like that, hyung. It was clumsy, but still.”
“You bastard!”
When Sunhyuk bristled at being called clumsy, Chahyuk laughed out loud.
“I’m complimenting you. It wasn’t bad. You chose the right target, but the weight class was different. Don’t you remember? Dohyuk is an ex-special forces. If you send ordinary guys, our side might get hurt instead.”
“Special forces my ass, that was years ago. These days he just sits in the office working all day—what’s so scary about that?”
“Haven’t you seen Dohyuk’s bare body? His muscles are still incredible.”
Chahyuk whistled. Lee Seojin, the secretary who was bringing in drinks for the two, looked back in surprise at Chahyuk’s comment.
“How would you know that?”
Sunhyuk asked with a frown.
“I have my ways of knowing.”
After giving a slick answer, Chahyuk thanked Seojin for the drinks and gestured for him to leave. After Seojin bowed and withdrew, Chahyuk looked back at Sunhyuk.
“I came to warn you not to act directly. Not only Dohyuk, but the Chairman is also watching. If you cause any trouble and mess up this Yeouido project, you’ll be out without mercy.”
“So I should just sit back and watch?”
“Who said that? I’m saying don’t act directly.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Think for yourself. Your head isn’t just for decoration, is it?”
“Ha, you son of a bitch. If you’re going to talk, say it properly!”
Chahyuk found Sunhyuk frustrating for not catching on despite the hints, but he didn’t add anything more.
“By the way, is Dohyuk sponsoring someone? Doesn’t your mother have some connections in that area?”
Chahyuk tilted his head at the mention of sponsoring. Dohyuk? With his personality? A model who had recently shot an advertisement for Dragon Holdings had been quite aggressive in approaching Dohyuk, but he didn’t even give her a glance. It was absurd to think that someone with absolutely no interest in humans, let alone celebrities, would sponsor anyone.
“He brought some guy into his office?”
“A woman?”
“No, a man. But he looked quite delicate. He had blue eyes—is he mixed-race? Or maybe those color contacts that celebrities wear these days? The atmosphere was strange.”
It seemed odd that it wasn’t a woman but a man, yet the fact that someone was in Dohyuk’s office was surprising in itself.
“Could it be that bastard has no interest in women because he’s that way?”
Chahyuk laughed at the outlandish misunderstanding.
“He’s marrying Baek Hyeri, so that’s impossible.”
“That could be a cover marriage. There’s not an ounce of affection there anyway; he’s doing it for business. Baek Hyeri is stupid. If she married me instead, I’d treat her so much better. I’d be a hundred times better than Dohyuk.”
“Well, in some sense, that might be true.”
Answering half-heartedly, Chahyuk thought he needed to find out immediately who this man in Dohyuk’s office was.
***
The secretaries glanced at Yeon sitting at a table in one corner of the secretarial office. Until now, they were merely curious because he didn’t move from inside the Managing Director’s office, but with him sitting visibly, they kept looking his way. Since Executive Director Sunhyuk’s intrusion earlier, he had been sitting there without going back into the office.
“Aren’t you going back in?”
Director Choi, unable to bear it any longer, asked Yeon.
“Ah… I’m sorry. Am I disturbing your work?”
At Yeon’s question, the secretaries simultaneously shook their heads. Disturbing? Not at all. Rather, having such a doll-like beautiful person sitting in front of them felt like a visual cleansing. The secretaries said it was fine, leaving only Director Choi in an awkward position, as Dohyuk had just given him a pointed look when he entered the office, asking why Yeon was still outside.
“Did something happen between you and the Managing Director?”
He asked out of genuine concern.
“…No.”
There was no particular change in Yeon’s expression, but Choi sensed that he seemed to be avoiding eye contact. The atmosphere had been strange earlier when Sunhyuk barged in. Dohyuk had been his usual self, but Yeon had appeared quite flustered. Since Yeon was also someone who rarely showed emotion on his face, Choi suspected something had happened.
“If something did happen, it would be best to talk to me about it.”
It was sincere advice. Even if it involved Dohyuk, while Director Choi couldn’t do much to help, he could at least listen. He also wanted to prevent Yeon from discussing anything related to Dohyuk with others.
“I’m really fine.”
His answer had changed from “nothing happened” to “I’m fine.” It still seemed suspicious, but as Director Choi, he couldn’t press further.
“Who is this person?”
Turning toward the familiar voice, he found Kang Chahyuk standing there. He wondered why the brothers were taking turns visiting today, then realized it was because of the article with Baek Hyeri and let out a groan.
“If it’s about the article regarding Kangsan Construction, you can meet with the Managing Director…”
“No. I just dropped by while passing through.”
Chahyuk cut off Director Choi’s words and looked Yeon up and down. Only then did Choi realize that he hadn’t come because of the article but to see Yeon. Since Sunhyuk had already seen him, there might have been some conversation between the brothers.
Director Choi stood in front of Yeon to block Chahyuk’s view. Although Dohyuk wasn’t particularly trying to hide Yeon’s existence, he judged that there was no benefit in exposing him to Chahyuk. However, when Director Choi blocked his view, Chahyuk’s smile became even more meaningful.
“Has hyung really started sponsoring people?”
He asked with a casual smile as if it were nothing unusual.
“As you know, it’s a common occurrence for me.”
He tried to lower Chahyuk’s guard by subtly referring to his own mother.
“Sponsoring…”
Without anyone noticing when he had come out, as there was no sound of the door opening, Dohyuk was standing behind Yeon. His pitch-black eyes turned toward Chahyuk.
“Are you suggesting I’m on the same level as Lee Miseon-ssi?”
Chahyuk’s smiling face twisted slightly as Dohyuk mentioned his mother’s name specifically.
“You’re putting words in my mouth.”
“There’s nothing strange about it. Everyone who should know already knows.”
Chahyuk clenched his fist at the blatant disparagement of Lee Miseon, but couldn’t refute anything because it was all true.
“Sunhyuk hyung was interested. I was curious too, so I just came to look.”
Chahyuk backed down readily, seemingly realizing that continuing the conversation would only disadvantage him. Dohyuk paid no attention to whether he stayed or left and turned to Yeon.
“That should have been enough time, right?”
Yeon just blinked, wondering what he meant.
“I’m asking if it was enough time to calm your agitation.”
Ah. At Dohyuk’s pointed remark, Yeon bit his lower lip firmly. He felt more embarrassed that Dohyuk had seen right through his agitation.
“Don’t disturb the secretaries’ work. Stay where you should be.”
With just those words, he went back into his office first. Left behind, Yeon took a deep breath loud enough to make a “haa” sound, then quickly closed his mouth when he felt the gazes of Director Choi and the secretaries.
“I think you should go in.”
Director Choi, noticing that Dohyuk wasn’t in a good mood, gently pushed Yeon’s back. Since he couldn’t stay in the secretarial office indefinitely, Yeon reluctantly opened the door to the Managing Director’s office.
Through the open door, he could already see Dohyuk seated at his desk. Dohyuk only raised his eyes at the sound of the door opening to look at Yeon. Just that gaze made it difficult for him to step forward.
‘Stay where you should be.’
Dohyuk’s recent words echoed in his ears. Where he should be… There was no deep meaning to those words. Since he had been requested to protect Dohyuk, naturally he should be by his side.
Yet it kept sounding like something else, which troubled him. It felt as if the red thread wrapped around his finger was being pulled taut. It was as if Kang Dohyuk, holding the other end of that thread, was pulling his life toward him.
