Chapter 32: Empathy
Dohyuk’s eyebrow quirked up at Lee Seojin’s demand.
“Since when did you start interfering in my private life?”
At the mention of “private life,” Lee Seojin tightly clenched his fist resting on his knee.
“There are rumors that Managing Director is sponsoring someone. Even if that person were a woman, there would be nothing beneficial for you, let alone a man… It could become a fatal weakness.”
Kang Dohyuk needed to be perfect. For that reason, Lee Seojin hadn’t even dared to confess to him.
“I must be losing my touch,” Dohyuk replied with a sneer.
“To think I have to hear concerns about potential weaknesses.”
Dohyuk’s voice dropped lower.
“I’m not doing any sponsoring, and even if I were, I wouldn’t be so careless that everyone would know and gossip about it. Did I seem that easy to you too?”
At the chilling question, Lee Seojin reflexively shook his head. He knew well what kind of person Kang Dohyuk was.
“Then why do you keep that person by your side? At the company, and even in this private place…”
It was a place no one had been allowed to enter until now. Yet in such a place sat an unidentified man who wasn’t even Director Baek Hyeri from Kangsan Construction.
“I have no reason to explain to you, nor is it your place to step in.”
The inflection disappeared from Dohyuk’s voice. He was quietly warning Lee Seojin. A warning not to dig any deeper.
“Let me make it clear once more: don’t come here recklessly. If you’re seen coming and going from my home, there’s no point in having planted you with Kang Sunhyuk.”
Lee Seojin pressed his lips together. If he became useless, he might be discarded. But if Dohyuk found someone to hold in his heart before that happened, wouldn’t it be meaningless anyway?
It felt like someone had thrust a hand into his chest and was tearing it apart. Murky emotions swirled inside, making his stomach churn and his head ache.
He rose from his seat, bowed his head, and turned to leave. Even as he put on his shoes and opened the front door, Dohyuk didn’t offer any customary farewells like “take care” or “get home safely.”
“Dohyuk-sunbae.”
Lee Seojin turned and stood facing Dohyuk. At the title “sunbae,” Dohyuk raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Since graduating from university, he had never called him “sunbae.” The reason he deliberately used this term now was because he wanted to be seen not as an employee of Dragon Holdings or as a spy planted by Kang Dohyuk, but simply as “Lee Seojin,” an individual.
“I believe you when you say it’s not sponsorship. I also know you’re not that kind of person. But that’s why I’m even more…”
Suspicious.
“…worried. That person, does he have special meaning to you?”
Dohyuk already knew he was gay. So he wouldn’t deny it because the other person was a man.
Dohyuk didn’t answer immediately, furrowing his brow. He seemed to be pondering something, but to Lee Seojin, his silence was already an answer. His jaw ached from clenching his molars too hard. Not wanting to hear the killing blow from Dohyuk’s own lips, he turned to leave.
“Perhaps.”
As the front door was closing, he heard Dohyuk mutter. And so he regretted it. He should never have asked, never have confirmed it. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have felt this sense of loss as if the ground had fallen from beneath him.
***
Knock knock. Before he could answer the knock, the door opened. Yeon, who had been sitting idly on the cot, lifted his head to look at Dohyuk entering the room.
“Has your guest left?”
“I told you that you didn’t need to avoid them, guest or whatever.”
“I judged it wasn’t my place to be there.”
“Because they weren’t someone who would harm me?”
Dohyuk looked incredulous even as he asked.
“What if they had been someone harmful?”
At Dohyuk’s question, Yeon looked straight into his eyes.
“I would have stayed by your side.”
He would have tried to sever the bad connection while observing the situation from beside him.
“Everything works in reverse with you compared to ordinary people.”
Dohyuk clicked his tongue. Only then did Yeon understand why he was acting that way. Normally, people avoid danger and stay when it’s safe. He understood what Dohyuk was pointing out, but this was Yeon’s business. He had always lived this way, so the standards of ordinary people meant nothing to him.
“People can suddenly change even when they seem perfectly fine. There’s no rule saying that the connection you see couldn’t transform in an instant.”
Of course, as he said, there were connections that changed color in a short time. When engulfed by impulsive emotions, the color of the string changes too. A string that was once a bright hue full of affection could turn pitch black in an instant of hatred, sometimes wrapping around someone’s neck.
“That person won’t harm Kang Dohyuk-ssi.”
Romantic feelings. But sadly, they were one-sided romantic feelings. However, a bright crimson thread that wouldn’t easily change or betray stretched toward Dohyuk.
“To me?”
Dohyuk caught the end of his words. He was truly sensitive, which was exhausting. It would be nice if he could just let some things slide, but he always caught even the slightest changes.
“It sounds like you’re saying they might harm someone else, if not me.”
Yeon looked down at the murky yellow string connected to himself. Jealousy. The moment he saw Yeon with Kang Dohyuk, this thread started from him and stuck to Yeon. So it wasn’t good to keep showing them together. It might unnecessarily stimulate his heart and draw out malicious feelings. That’s why he avoided the situation.
“Tell me clearly what you mean.”
Though Dohyuk pressed him, Yeon kept his mouth shut without saying a word. That person’s emotions weren’t something he should comment on. He couldn’t reveal feelings the man himself hadn’t yet expressed.
“Wasn’t it your job to understand all of my human relationships?”
“Only to cut off the bad connections.”
He corrected him, as Dohyuk was trying to broaden the scope of his job too comprehensively.
“You talked readily enough about Baek Hyeri and Director Choi.”
Dohyuk retorted. Well, those two were bound by trust and camaraderie, so there was no reason to hide anything.
“Usually, there’s only one reason why you keep your mouth shut.”
Dohyuk came closer. The distance had become too close, making it burdensome to look up at him. When Yeon was about to turn his gaze away, Dohyuk grabbed his chin.
“When romantic feelings or desires are involved.”
With those words, Yeon realized. Kang Dohyuk also knew what feelings that man harbored for him. And perhaps…
“Are you exploiting his feelings even though you know them?”
He asked with faint hope in his heart. But Dohyuk didn’t answer. He just stared into Yeon’s eyes.
“That’s the worst, really.”
His true feelings burst out before he knew it. Seeing one of Dohyuk’s eyebrows twist, Yeon forcefully struck away the hand holding his chin. With a smack, Dohyuk’s hand was pushed into the air.
“Why are you getting angry? It’s not like I’ve played with your heart.”
“…”
Yeon glared at him with hardened lips.
“I never asked Lee Seojin to like me. Am I responsible for his feelings too?”
“I didn’t say you should be responsible. But at least if you know his feelings, you shouldn’t hurt him.”
“I haven’t hurt him.”
Dohyuk answered firmly. It wasn’t just empty words. He truly believed he hadn’t hurt him.
Right, you were like this in the past too.
Yeon sighed deeply and turned his head. The argument itself was pointless. This man didn’t care about others’ feelings. The reason he was upset now was because he saw his past self in that man who was one-sidedly in love with Kang Dohyuk.
He had liked him. He liked him so much that he could do anything Dohyuk wanted. He could even give him his heart. But while knowing his feelings, Dohyuk always used them. Even as he pretended to be affectionate, caressing his cheek, he was always thinking of something else behind his back.
He had stayed by his side until the moment of death, but he was always alone.
Those feelings from back then were revived, and he empathized with someone he’d never met before. The way that man looked at Kang Dohyuk so desperately seemed similar to his own heart in the past, so he couldn’t ignore it.
“It seems like you’re the one who’s hurt.”
Dohyuk murmured, still staring at Yeon even though Yeon had avoided his gaze first.
“There’s no reason for me to be hurt, nor have I been hurt.”
“Then that’s fortunate.”
After Dohyuk casually replied and left the room, Yeon finally relaxed his body. He had been about to ask why, if he could tell that he was hurt, couldn’t he see that the man from earlier was hurt too, but he stopped himself. This was a man who was cold and indifferent to others yet could catch even the slightest change in them. It wasn’t that he didn’t know; he was pretending not to know. Because even if he had hurt someone, it didn’t matter to him.
Kang Dohyuk’s coldness made Yeon’s heart feel like it was freezing over too. Nevertheless, the red string tangled around his finger would never break. It was only being pulled tighter and tighter.
***
At a five-star hotel not far from the Dragon Holdings building, preparations for the Yeouido business presentation were in full swing. Since it was a large-scale presentation involving not only Dragon Holdings and Kangsan Construction-related individuals but also government officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and the Ministry of Environment, other construction companies interested in the Yeouido project, financial institutions, and even hidden major players in the business world, the seminar rooms within Dragon Holdings or Kangsan Construction were insufficient, so they decided to rent a hotel banquet hall.
Director Choi was busy preparing for the presentation on behalf of Dohyuk. Dohyuk was sitting in a hotel room he had reserved in advance, going through the presentation materials prepared by Kang Chahyuk’s team one more time while passing the time.
Yeon stood by the window, pacing back and forth.
“You’re being distracting.”
Finally, Dohyuk frowned and spoke up. The guy who usually behaved like a doll, barely noticeable, was unusually restless today. Putting down the presentation materials and turning to Yeon, Yeon approached him as if he had been waiting for this.
Ignoring Dohyuk’s dissatisfied gaze, he reached out to grab something. Knowing by now that he wasn’t trying to touch him but trying to grab the string only visible to him, Dohyuk didn’t need to pull away. However…
Before Yeon could grab anything, Dohyuk caught his hand.
“I told you not to do it.”
“Kang Dohyuk-ssi!”
Rarely did Yeon’s voice rise. That’s how anxious he was. Dohyuk rolled up Yeon’s shirt sleeve to check his arm. The black marks that had remained until a few days ago had barely disappeared now.
For the past few days, Dohyuk had prevented Yeon from touching his bad connections, especially the most dangerous one—the one that had black energy sucked into his body whenever Yeon touched it. Yeon, who had silently backed off for a day or two, was particularly restless today.
“It seems like it’s about to devour me right this moment?”
At Dohyuk’s question, Yeon’s face hardened.
