An Unlucky Day (4)
Not son but Yoon Jaehyuk. The man’s form of address was unfamiliar, but Jeongbae gathered courage and spoke.
“My name is Kang Jeongbae. I’m the person living with Yoon Jaehyuk.”
Jeongbae bit his lip once and continued.
“Please take Yoon Jaehyuk away.”
“……”
Yoon Moohyun’s gaze coldly swept down over Jeongbae. As if evaluating him for a moment.
“Why would I take away a full-grown adult? That’s not my job.”
A cold rebuke. Jeongbae felt completely breathless. This person didn’t get angry or push aggressively. He just pointed out facts step by step, but his speech gave the other person no room to breathe.
But Jeongbae had been prepared for this much. He knelt right in front of him.
“No… right now.”
The man narrowed his eyes but his expression didn’t change.
“I tried everything to separate, to be separated, but we just won’t separate.”
“That’s your situation. Not my portion.”
“If you know about me, you’ll change your mind. I don’t suit your son.”
A subtle interest crossed Moohyun’s eyes. He gestured as if to say continue what you’re saying.
“…I’m an orphan and poor. I graduated from a technical high school and did welding work. Now I do day labor and serving part-time jobs. My face is unsightly. And…”
“……”
The way he maintained silence as if to say continue somehow reminded him of Jaehyuk. Jeongbae gulped and continued with the same self-introduction he’d done before.
“I… might be a gold digger. I’ve done that before.”
“A gold digger?”
Moohyun’s eyebrow rose crookedly.
“Yes.”
“How much did you extort?”
It was the same question as Jaehyuk. Is this why they say blood is thicker than water, Jeongbae thought for a moment.
“About one to two hundred.”
“Hmm…”
Moohyun slowly sat on the sofa and met eyes with the kneeling Jeongbae.
“Jeongbae.”
“Yes.”
“There’s a contradiction in your logic, Jeongbae.”
“What?”
Jeongbae asked back in surprise.
“If you were really a gold digger, you should be busy extorting money from my son by now—is there a reason you’d come to me like this and appeal for me to take Yoon Jaehyuk away?”
Jeongbae was genuinely flustered. He’d said with his own mouth that he was a gold digger, but he didn’t expect to be doubted about it.
“I… I… it’s true. I’ve heard that said before too.”
Moohyun calmed Jeongbae who was excitedly blurting out words.
“Now, now. Let’s hear me out to the end.”
Jeongbae felt somewhat wronged, but closed his mouth and nodded.
“My thought is this.”
Moohyun, who paused for a moment, looked directly at Jeongbae.
“Actually, you like Yoon Jaehyuk very much.”
“……”
Jeongbae couldn’t believe the words that came from Moohyun’s mouth. Jeongbae’s eyes widened like saucers. What is this…
“But you think you’ll be a stumbling block in Yoon Jaehyuk’s path, and you won’t acknowledge it.”
“N-no.”
“So you keep denying and running away, and today you’ve finally come all the way to me. Am I right?”
Moohyun pressed like a prosecutor pressuring a defendant in court.
“No! That’s not it!”
When his voice got louder, Moohyun stared at Jeongbae’s face again. As if seeing through Jeongbae’s insides, his sincerity, his heart. Jeongbae gritted his teeth again. He couldn’t back down here.
“Yoon Jaehyuk.”
Jeongbae took a deep breath.
“I don’t like him at all. I don’t like him.”
He spoke as confidently as possible. Holding his head up straight.
But his eyes burned hot. His vision blurred.
‘No. I can’t. Not now. No… why.’
Something dropped from his eyes. He bit his teeth hard enough for his jaw to ache, but the tears didn’t stop and flowed down, trickling down his chin in drops. Eventually, Jeongbae’s face contorted.
A full-grown adult was crying in front of a person he was seeing for the first time in his life, in an ugly, unseemly state.
“Heuuuuung.”
Jeongbae finally covered his face with both hands. His shoulders shook endlessly and he couldn’t breathe.
‘Stop. Please stop crying. Stop.’
At that moment when his head was becoming empty.
A firm weight carefully descended on the back of Jeongbae’s bowed head.
‘…What?’
When he startled and raised his head with his messed-up face, surprisingly, Moohyun had placed his hand on Jeongbae’s head.
‘What… is this?’
Jeongbae didn’t understand the situation for a moment. But the hand that was placed didn’t leave and began to stroke his head just like that.
“Right… now…”
“I’m comforting you.”
Jeongbae was so surprised that his crying stopped abruptly. What does he mean comforting…
He’d thought Moohyun would despise and chase him away. From the moment he entered this building, he’d been prepared to be turned away at the door. But… Yoon Moohyun was…
“To just get to the conclusion, it’s impossible for you to run away, Jeongbae.”
“What?”
When Jeongbae flinched and shrank at the rude response that came out unconsciously, Moohyun slightly folded his eyes. It was an expression that seemed to scold yet was strangely playful.
“Jaehyuk takes after his mother.”
“M-mother.”
“I got caught as soon as we met and got married right away too.”
“……”
Jeongbae was at a loss for words.
“The more you run away, the more they follow, the more you reject, the more they cling, and they don’t care even if you say you hate it, right?”
Jeongbae found himself nodding frantically without realizing it. Yoon Moohyun sighed as if exasperated and added.
“For example, we’re having a victims’ meeting right now. Got it?”
“…Victims?”
“Yes. They chased me for 3 years. Didn’t you know? I’m a son-in-law who married in, and this is my father-in-law’s company.”
“……”
“I was a poor working student. I also ran away saying I didn’t suit my wife. But…”
He looked down at Jeongbae carefully for a moment. Then said with slight trembling.
“Running away doesn’t work with those types. That kind.”
Moohyun lowered his voice a little.
“It should be about time now. It’s been about 30 minutes since I called.”
Jeongbae’s eyes widened.
“…Called?”
“He said he hasn’t even gotten near this building yet. He’s running because traffic is backed up.”
Jeongbae’s mind went white.
Suddenly, a dull sound was heard from outside the CEO office’s thick door.
Bang.
Thud.
Thud.
“Kang Jeongbae!!!”
It was a shout that didn’t suit a law firm.
The doorknob turned,
Bang!
The door swung wide open.
Jaehyuk, breathing roughly and having run so hard his top was soaked, barged into the CEO’s office.
Jeongbae reflexively stepped back. But Jaehyuk approached faster and grabbed his arm.
“Let go.”
Jeongbae said in a trembling voice.
“No.”
Jaehyuk pulled Jeongbae just like that. Moohyun crossed his arms again and watched, then shook his head.
“…You saw it, Jeongbae. Running away is impossible.”
Then he lifted his wrist slightly to check his watch.
“Jaehyuk, you’d better take him out quickly. The story must have already reached Mother’s ears by now.”
“Got it. Thanks for today.”
“I’ll call you.”
Moohyun lightly waved one hand as he saw them off. Jeongbae, still with a bewildered expression, received his greeting.
Click.
The sound of the door closing rang out.
“How can they be so exactly alike?”
In the quiet office, Moohyun looked at the closed door for a moment before slowly exhaling. His youth in his twenties when he was in a passionate relationship came to mind.
‘Honey followed me to every workplace and made a spectacle of me, dragged me by the hair to the police station several times just for talking to other omegas, and I was even imprisoned naked in the basement of the Gangwon-do villa begging to please be let out.’
“All memories now.”
Scenes that were somehow close to criminal and extraordinary flashed by like a kaleidoscope. Moohyun slowly leaned back on the sofa. He rested his elbow on the armrest, lightly pressed his forehead, and let out a breath that was either a sigh or a laugh.
The young man named Kang Jeongbae he met today.
‘I’m worried because he’s so exactly Jaehyuk’s type.’
Contrary to his thoughts, Moohyun’s mouth corners lifted slightly. Jaehyuk said he was like a country puppy, and it was the perfect description. Honest, a crybaby, and even gentle. He’d heard he was older, but at a glance he clearly had strong patience and grit. Seeing him in person, he liked him even more than when he’d heard about him from his son.
Opposite to his cold, stiff-looking face, Moohyun was a doting husband and a son-fool who exchanged calls and texts with Jaehyuk every day. Unlike his wife who’d kicked Jaehyuk out, Moohyun supported Jaehyuk’s cohabitation.
‘It’s a bad story for Jeongbae, but at this rate, we might have to choose between spring or fall for the ceremony.’
That is, if Jeongbae happened to encounter “that person” whose taste exactly matched Jaehyuk’s. If it was Honey, they’d definitely push through like a bulldozer.
Moohyun, whose nickname was “Living Buddha,” felt sorry seeing Jeongbae’s rough future ahead so clearly.
‘I’m sorry in advance, Jeongbae. Please, may you catch Honey’s eye as late as possible.’
Then with arms crossed, he muttered in a voice somehow ominously mixed with excitement.
“…A spring ceremony would be safe.”
