Chapter 29: Changed Eyes
Kim Seonuk sat in a cafe, anxiously looking around. He repeatedly checked his watch as if waiting for someone and alternately sipped the coffee and cold water placed in front of him.
“Are you the one who made the request?”
He quickly turned his head at the voice he’d been waiting for, but there was no one there.
“I’m behind you. Don’t turn around.”
Only then did he realize someone was sitting in the seat behind him.
“Are you the one who requested through Mr. K?”
He nodded at the question, then realizing he couldn’t be seen, briefly answered, “Yes.”
“Do you have the down payment ready?”
Kim Seonuk looked down at the bag he had placed by his feet.
“Just leave it there and get up.”
“How will we contact each other?”
He asked, worried that they might just take the money without completing the job.
“Contact Mr. K like this time, and we’ll reach out to you.”
Mr. K referred to the person who had introduced Kim Seonuk to this individual. Although he was uncomfortable with having to go through him continuously, he had no other way to find someone like this, so he had no choice.
“Don’t turn around.”
When he stood up and unconsciously tried to look behind, the other person immediately warned him again. Despite having been advised that it was better for both of them not to see each other’s faces, curiosity kept rising. Reminding himself that ignorance was bliss, he left his bag where he had been sitting and exited the cafe.
He prayed that Kang Dohyuk would disappear from his sight. Once that bastard was gone, both the Kangsan Construction deal and Baek Hyeri would return to him. This was also for Hyeri’s benefit. The Yeouido project would be more stable with Star Finance than with Dragon Holdings, whose origins were unclear.
In this way, he tried to shake off his uneasy feeling by rationalizing, one by one.
***
Saturday evening, Cha Seonyoo visited Dohyuk’s villa. Dohyuk frowned at the unexpected visit, but she smoothly deflected her son’s gruffness, saying she had just thought of dropping by while passing.
“You seem to be getting along better than I expected?”
She asked, alternately glancing between Dohyuk, who wouldn’t even look at Yeon despite sitting across from him in the living room, and Yeon, who remained as still as a wax figure. It seemed that although she had forcibly installed a shaman from Muryeong, she had been worried because the atmosphere had been quite hostile when she last visited.
“As you said, it seems he does have spiritual powers, so I’m keeping him around to observe.”
When he gave this casual answer, his mother’s face brightened. She was amazed that Dohyuk of all people would say such a thing.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Her tone suggested that she too hadn’t fully believed in Muryeong, making Dohyuk shake his head.
“How is it going? Things seem to have calmed down recently.”
She asked Yeon.
“I’ve been cutting off the minor malicious connections that I can see, but…”
Yeon glanced briefly at Dohyuk before looking back at her.
“Kang Dohyuk-ssi’s way of working continuously creates new malicious connections. Even if they’re not strong enough to threaten his life right now, as they accumulate and strengthen, terrible things could happen.”
“Resolve it before it gets to that point. That’s your job.”
Cha Seonyoo cut him off firmly. Despite having contacted Muryeong out of tremendous concern for her son, she didn’t seem particularly bothered that her son’s methods were creating malicious connections.
“Go to your room for a moment.”
Dohyuk interrupted their conversation, asking Yeon to step aside. Yeon stood up and went to the room at the end of the hallway. His mother, who had been watching Yeon’s retreating figure, turned to look at Dohyuk only after the door closed.
“You seem to be getting along better than I expected.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“This child. Why would you say that? I was worried you might find him bothersome.”
“He’s bothersome enough as it is.”
Her face hardened slightly at her son’s heartless response.
“Lee Seoyoung, the representative of Hovan Gallery.”
His mother flinched at the name that came from Dohyuk’s lips.
“You got the introduction to Muryeong through her, right?”
“You’ve been investigating again? You could have just asked me.”
Though not particularly surprised by Dohyuk’s information-gathering abilities, she frowned, clearly displeased that he was also investigating her.
“I’m asking you now.”
Despite knowing he had upset her, Dohyuk continued without concern.
“Who did you make the payment to?”
“To Representative Lee Seoyoung. In cash.”
His mother answered readily, knowing any lie would be quickly exposed.
“When you brought Yeon from Muryeong, who accompanied him?”
“Yeon?”
When she asked back, Dohyuk nodded toward the room Yeon had entered.
“So his name is Yeon? At least you’ve introduced yourselves.”
“That’s not the important part.”
When he prevented the conversation from going off-topic, she gave him a sidelong glance.
“I sent a car to Hovan Gallery to pick him up. I don’t know how he got there.”
It seemed his mother didn’t know more than that either. Since he had already anticipated her answers, they weren’t much help.
“But why are you asking? You shouldn’t mess with Representative Lee Seoyoung. You know that, right?”
She seemed concerned that Dohyuk might interfere with Representative Lee Seoyoung and tried to set boundaries in advance. Dohyuk didn’t give a direct answer. To dig into Muryeong, he would inevitably have to involve Hovan Gallery as well. He couldn’t make empty promises to his mother.
“Dohyuk!”
Sensing her son’s intentions, his mother was alarmed.
“Representative Lee Seoyoung isn’t as easy to handle as you might think.”
“And how do you think I see her?”
At his lowered voice and sharpened gaze, his mother couldn’t continue.
“I know that Representative Lee Seoyoung is deeply entangled with political and business figures, so don’t worry.”
His mother’s concerns were unnecessary for someone who intended to wield all that power at once.
“If you’re that worried, perhaps you should go abroad for a while.”
Her face hardened at his suggestion that she should leave the country if she didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire.
“What are you trying to do?”
“You’re the one who brought a shaman here, Mother.”
At his seemingly unrelated answer, her gaze turned toward the room Yeon had entered.
“Don’t tell me…? Are you planning not to send him back?”
His mother was indeed his mother. With just this much conversation, she had guessed what Dohyuk was thinking. However, she was half right and half wrong. The issue wasn’t just keeping Yeon; it was about controlling Muryeong itself.
“Do you like him? If so, I’ll talk to Representative Lee Seoyoung and arrange for him to be exclusively yours…”
“No, there’s no need. He was mine from the beginning anyway.”
Dohyuk had no intention of paying Muryeong any additional fees for keeping Yeon. To begin with, he couldn’t accept that Muryeong was profiting when Yeon was the one doing the work, whether it involved spiritual powers or whatever. Moreover, while Yeon belonged to Muryeong, he wasn’t Muryeong’s property. Judging from everything Yeon had said so far, he was more deeply connected to Dohyuk. So it made no sense to pay for reclaiming what was already his.
Cha Seonyoo became anxious watching her son’s firm response. Was it the shaman’s overly pretty appearance for a man that was the problem? Somehow, the way Dohyuk looked at the shaman seemed different from before.
Maybe… No, that can’t be.
Forcibly suppressing the creeping ominous feeling, she smiled brightly when her eyes met Dohyuk’s.
“When will you marry the Kangsan Construction daughter?”
She deliberately asked as if probing.
“There’s a Yeouido project presentation scheduled for next week. Once that’s over, there will likely be immediate talk of setting a date.”
“I see. Arrange the meeting of the families first.”
It seemed her thoughts had been excessive. As long as he properly proceeded with the marriage to Baek Hyeri, nothing else mattered. Even if Dohyuk had unusual sexual preferences, she could pretend not to know.
***
Knock, knock. After a neat knocking sound, the door opened. Yeon, wearing the now-familiar white shaman’s robe, entered the room. Dohyuk glanced at him briefly before taking off the shirt he was wearing.
“Why are you undressing…”
He chuckled, feeling Yeon’s tension. If Yeon kept reacting like this to every little thing, it only made Dohyuk want to tease him more.
He casually hung the removed shirt on a chair by the table and found another shirt from the drawer to put on. Only then did Yeon exhale softly. He had warned Yeon that being unnecessarily self-conscious would make him want to do bad things, but it seemed the warning had been meaningless.
Well, if it had been someone other than himself, they might not have noticed and overlooked these subtle changes in Yeon. In fact, on the surface, he still looked expressionless and calm. It was just that Dohyuk himself was catching even the slightest trembling of his pupils or changes in his breathing.
Yeon stood at the door without moving an inch. It seemed like he was determined not to move unless Dohyuk pretended to sleep, like last night.
Had he lived like this every time he went out on a job? No wonder he looked like that, not eating or sleeping properly.
Though it wasn’t visible now because the shaman’s robe covered it, Dohyuk inwardly clicked his tongue, remembering when he had stripped Yeon. Until then, it had been a matter of indifference to him. But now it was different. If he was going to keep Yeon by his side, he couldn’t tolerate people criticizing him for not feeding him properly.
“Come over here.”
Dohyuk pulled a chair to the front of the bed. Yeon seemed slightly confused at the gesture to sit there.
“You’re going to wait until I fall asleep anyway. Why stand there? It’s not like you’re on guard duty. You can sit and wait.”
Given this explanation, he slowly approached and sat in the chair. When the lights went off, darkness settled in. Despite having a person sitting in front of him, not even the sound of breathing could be heard. At times like this, Dohyuk always found himself questioning whether Yeon was really a living person.
How much time had passed? While pretending to be asleep, he saw Yeon raise his hand to grab something in the air. A small groan was heard. More accurately, it wasn’t the sound itself but the sense of Yeon flinching.
Opening his eyes, in the darkness now familiar to his sight, he could see Yeon’s face. He was frowning like someone in pain. The moment Dohyuk saw this, something surged inside him.
He abruptly got up, grabbed Yeon’s arm, and pulled him. Dragged without resistance, Yeon collapsed onto the bed.
