“Huuu—”
Lee Hyeonseok roughly wiped the blood flowing from his head with the back of his hand and let out a long breath. Right now, he wanted to grab Seo Jiwoo by the hair to wake him up, then slap that pale, soft cheek hard enough to leave his handprint. Still, he tried to gather his last shred of reason and suppress his boiling anger.
“Wow. Fucking hell, I’ve lived long enough to have my head split open twice by the same human.”
Lee Hyeonseok felt he’d been too harsh on someone who was a first-timer. He’d been willing to take a slap or so to the cheek. But he hadn’t been willing to have his head split open and bloodied with the cup he’d given him to drink from. Right now, he had to become calm somehow. Otherwise, one of Seo Jiwoo’s four limbs wouldn’t remain intact.
“Haha….”
A hollow laugh escaped from the now-calm Lee Hyeonseok. To Lee Hyeonseok, the bastard who had split his head open twice, tried to bury him in the mountains, and even bent his important part now just seemed funny. Rather, he was even looking forward to what he’d do next time. Of course, he was curious how far he could endure.
“Young master?!”
While Lee Hyeonseok was sizing up Seo Jiwoo with a cold face, the door opened with a knock. The middle-aged woman who came in carrying a tray with moderately cooled white porridge and water was the beta housekeeper he had hired. About two months ago, secretary Cha Minjae, who had manifested as an alpha, couldn’t even dare to enter the house due to Lee Hyeonseok’s pheromones spread throughout the entire house. On top of that, he needed someone to handle housework and take care of Seo Jiwoo.
As soon as the housekeeper entered the room, she was shocked to find her employer covered in blood in broad daylight. Seeing the broken glass around, the colorful marks on the bed, and the young man unconscious with bite marks all over him, she briefly thought she’d gotten involved in a crime.
However, she soon realized that this young man was the person who had spent nights with her employer for about a week straight. More precisely, she realized he was the one called the precious successor of HW Group, Lee Hyeonseok’s mistress from behind, carrying various rumors. She rationalized the situation she witnessed as a lovers’ quarrel. Was Lee Hyeonseok an ordinary employer? Recalling the absurdly large amount of her allowance, she turned her thoughts in the most positive direction possible.
“Give me that.”
“Ah, yes.”
Lee Hyeonseok received the tray from her and placed it on the bedside table. The housekeeper was wondering whether she should leave as is or bring something to treat him with, when she saw a drop of blood that hadn’t been wiped off drip down from the center of Lee Hyeonseok’s forehead and exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh! Y-Young master. There’s blood on your head…!”
“I know.”
“The glass.”
“I can see it.”
The housekeeper, who couldn’t even dare approach Lee Hyeonseok, tried to belatedly voice her concerns along with her exclamations, but every word she tried to say was blocked by Lee Hyeonseok and she couldn’t finish properly.
“I’ll bring the first aid ki—”
“I don’t need it.”
When even her words about bringing the first aid kit were blocked, the housekeeper realized the answer was just to shut her mouth and go outside. Just as she was about to convey that she’d call his personal doctor, Lee Hyeonseok spoke first.
“But I think we’ll definitely need one from now on.”
“……”
“Ah, right. You know what? Even though he split my head open and made me teeter between life and death, this bastard is the first one who’s not just still breathing but is perfectly fine.”
With those words as his last, Lee Hyeonseok looked at the unconscious Seo Jiwoo with a fishy smile. That appearance was like a villain that would appear in noir or horror films. That smile seemed like he was satisfied with committing a bad deed or enjoying watching someone struggling to survive, so Chae Yeongseok, the housekeeper who was thirty-eight this year, once again felt that crazy bastards weren’t far away.
* * *
It was three days after ‘that day’ that I could start studying for the college entrance exam again. I had braced myself to be hit once after splitting Lee Hyeonseok’s head open one more time, but surprisingly, he ended with just spanking my butt about three times with a slap. Though it hurt like hell, it was a different result from what I’d imagined. Noticing me being on guard, he smiled fishily saying, ‘We’re going to be together for a long time, so wouldn’t it be better to get along well?’ I’d rather have just gotten beaten and stopped seeing him.
I was studying for a while, leading my body that hadn’t fully healed yet, when the door opened with a knock.
“Jiwoo-ssi, have some snacks while you study.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
She was the housekeeper Lee Hyeonseok had hired. I thanked her for bringing fruit and encouraging me to take a break, and received the bowl. I was tired anyway, so I decided to take a short break as she said. When I stretched and got up, turning my body left and right, a refreshing cracking sound came from my bones.
“And ajumma, I told you to speak casually to me.”
“Oh my, no.”
“I’m uncomfortable with it, so please just speak comfortably to me.”
Since Lee Hyeonseok was the one who hired her, she only needed to respect Lee Hyeonseok, but ajumma treated me politely too, which was troublesome. As a Korean with Confucian ideology like any ordinary, typical Korean, ajumma’s behavior was burdensome to me.
It was because she treated me exactly like a boss or a boss’s family member, making it impossible to just accept it as a simple service job.
“Won’t you just get used to it from now on?”
“No, I have no intention of getting used to—”
“Take it easy and call me if you need anything.”
“…I don’t need anything though.”
Even though I declined several times, ajumma, who had pretended not to hear several times, now tried to persuade me instead. She slipped away like a loach as soon as she finished what she had to say without even listening to me. Thanks to that, my words echoed in the empty room.
“…Fine, whatever.”
Anyway, there wasn’t even two months left now. In about two months, I could escape from this house where my body was comfortable but my mind was uncomfortable. I hoped my relationship with Lee Hyeonseok would end here too, but it was my fate to have to hang out with him periodically until he settled into this world. I put an apple in my mouth, hoping he’d get tired of me before someone I loved appeared. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, but I wanted to give up on everything.
“Jiwoo-ssi.”
“Ah, yes, yes! What is it?”
I was eating fruit while slumped over when ajumma called me once again with a knock. Ajumma came in as soon as I was startled and straightened my posture.
“The young master said he’ll arrive an hour early today, and asked me to tell you.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Even though he received a beta diagnosis, Lee Hyeonseok didn’t give up. This time he told me to be ready because we’d go get tested with a newly developed machine. I barely swallowed the words telling him to stop being so persistent down my throat.
As soon as ajumma left, I plopped down in the chair and tilted my head back. I was already tired enough just from studying, and I sighed at the thought of having to deal with Lee Hyeonseok on top of that.
* * *
“Oh?”
“Have you been well?”
When I came out of the officetel with one guard behind me, Lee Hyeonseok’s secretary was standing next to the sedan. I was so happy to see him after not seeing him for a while that my voice got louder. Since the last time was when I hospitalized Lee Hyeonseok, I might not be favorable to him as a secretary, but fortunately he smiled and asked me how I’d been.
“Not at all! Have you been well, Secretary-nim?”
When I brightly denied it and asked about the secretary’s well-being, he seemed quite flustered, as if he hadn’t thought the word “not at all” would come from me.
He could make that face but it couldn’t be helped. A repeat test-taker studying for the college entrance exam, even if they lived in a good environment, ate delicious food at every meal without fail, and lived comfortably, could never be doing well. At least that’s how it was for me.
“Where have you been uncomfortable, Jiwoo-ssi? Please tell me.”
“Everything.”
“Still, if you tell me, I’ll improve it as much as possible.”
“The problem is studying.”
“…You must have been uncomfortable.”
The secretary set aside the answer to my question and asked what I was uncomfortable with. I acted playfully, but the secretary’s expression was more urgent than I thought, so I immediately conveyed my meaning. After hearing my answer, the secretary was briefly dumbfounded but immediately erased his expression and accommodated me.
“You can ride in the passenger seat.”
“Yes.”
I thought we could at least joke around this much, but the secretary was finding me more difficult than I thought. No, rather, it felt like he was finding me even more difficult than before. I felt needlessly disappointed but didn’t show it. He wasn’t my friend. Secretly disappointed, when I opened the passenger seat door, Lee Hyeonseok was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“You look happy enough to die.”
“Why are you picking a fight as soon as we meet?”
As soon as I sat in the passenger seat, Lee Hyeonseok started picking fights with a sullen face. Just because an adult bastard who should originally be 25 became 20, did his actual mental age get younger too? No. Lee Hyeonseok’s disposition was rotten from the start. I wasn’t even angry anymore. I was just dumbfounded. Rather, I was scared that even this would seem like nothing later on.
“I thought you two were going to set up house together there.”
“What house?”
“As soon as you saw Secretary Cha, you looked so happy with your face all bright.”
“……”
Lee Hyeonseok didn’t seem to see my dumbfounded expression as he wrinkled his brow and spewed incomprehensible words. He diligently mocked me even while starting the engine. Not even a hollow laugh came out.
“I thought you two were sticking together.”
“……”
“Fuck, what. Is it real? Why are you so quiet.”
“How about going to see a psychiatrist sometime?”
Stalker tendencies and delusions of infidelity too. This bastard is a bastard who must live alone, but since you never know about people’s affairs, I was too worried about whoever would become his spouse in the future.
“Going to a psychiatrist these days isn’t even a fla—”
“Let’s get along nicely when I’m being nice?”
“Yep.”
I spoke quite seriously, but Lee Hyeonseok, this bastard with a rotten personality, not knowing my heart, lightly slapped my cheek with a smack. There was only sound but no pain, but between the sudden fight-picking and the slap. If this bastard hadn’t been holding the steering wheel, I might have sent him to the hospital one more time.
