“It’s Pyeongchang-dong.”
Why Pyeongchang-dong… When I thought of Pyeongchang-dong, all I had was the image of a wealthy neighborhood. It was a place I had no connection to in my entire life, and I didn’t know why the secretary was bringing up the word Pyeongchang-dong as if revealing some secret story. Not knowing how to go along with it, I kept my mouth shut for the moment, and he glanced at me once before opening his mouth again.
“Actually, we were thinking of Hannam-dong, but we chose there because Pyeongchang-dong is closer to the center.”
“Am I moving to Pyeongchang-dong today?”
Through the words being listed, I came up with the most absurd answer possible. As a result of analyzing my life recently, the most ridiculous possibility was usually the correct answer.
“…You heard.”
Where in the world is there someone who finds out about moving on the day of the move itself? Here. The secretary’s appearance, showing cold sweat and asking me with a troubled face, was enough to tell me my answer was correct.
“I’ll pretend I don’t know.”
I knew we were moving, but I didn’t know why he was so anxious about it. I couldn’t tell how much Lee Hyeonseok usually tormented him for the secretary to be on edge after letting slip that we were moving right now. At my words that I’d pretend not to know, the secretary begged me several times that I absolutely must do so.
“…….”
They say big things come without warning, but now I even find out on the day itself that it’s moving day. Though there was no character for ‘surprise’ left, since I’d known we’d be moving soon anyway, I actually wasn’t that surprised. Whether it was the officetel or the house we were moving to, it was all Lee Hyeonseok’s house, not mine. Besides, even if we moved, aside from workbooks and clothes, there wasn’t anything in the officetel I could call mine, so there wasn’t much to pack.
As the secretary said, we could leave right away as soon as Lee Hyeonseok came. Just like when I entered the officetel, I’d always worn only the clothes Lee Hyeonseok gave me, so there was no need to bring old clothes from my room, and I had no use for the workbooks anymore either.
“…Ugh.”
“Jiwoo-ssi?”
When I let out a faint groan as my stomach suddenly started churning, the secretary even turned his head to call me. I wanted to say I was okay, but I was busy calming my stomach while covering my mouth with the back of my hand at the feeling of something constantly rising up.
“Jiwoo-ssi, are you alright? Are you sick somewhere?”
“Urk.”
However, no matter how much I tried to calm it, I suffered from the nausea that kept surging up. The secretary, who had fully recognized that my condition wasn’t good, asked, but I couldn’t say anything because it felt like it would get worse if I opened my mouth.
“We’ll go to the hospital.”
“Wa-wait. Just a moment, urk…!”
It felt like if the car moved with this churning stomach, there’d be a major accident. Since I had no hobby of making jeon inside an expensive car, when I hastily opened my mouth to stop the secretary, the urge to vomit surged to its limit. Having reached my limit, I eventually got out of the car. Surprised when I suddenly got out of the car, the guards approached asking what was wrong, but hesitated at my pale face and the sight of my mouth covered by the back of my hand. In the meantime, I entered the officetel.
“Jiwoo-ssi!”
I heard the secretary calling my name from behind, but I was busy pressing the elevator button. Hurry up, hurry up. Fortunately, the elevator on the 2nd floor opened quickly. When I entered the elevator, I saw the secretary opening the public entrance door and coming in.
“Wait a moment!”
I wanted to wait for him, but if I delayed even a little, I’d have to make jeon outside. I quickly pressed the 5th floor and repeatedly pressed the close button. Unfortunately, the secretary couldn’t get on by a hair’s breadth. I heard a brief curse and was surprised, thinking ‘So the secretary curses too.’
“Uurk…”
With the elevator’s movement, I dry heaved once more. True to the expensive officetel, the speed was fast so I arrived at my destination quickly. Hearing a thumping sound from far away, it seemed the secretary couldn’t wait for the elevator and was coming up the stairs.
But that wasn’t my problem. I stood at Lee Hyeonseok’s front door, quickly entered the password, and went in. And the scene that unfolded was…
“Fucking hell, is this America? Why are you crawling in with shoes on again? Ah. Because you’re a fucking dog? You wanted to leave your traces that badly? Should’ve pissed everywhere too.”
Six burly men were collapsed on the floor, and a middle-aged man was kneeling, prostrated with his head bowed down. And I saw Lee Hyeonseok tapping the middle-aged man’s head with a golf club. At the spectacular scene entering my view, I first quietly closed the front door.
“?”
I was so surprised that the surging nausea calmed down. What did I just see?
“Jiwoo-ssi! How could you go ahead, no. Are you feeling okay?”
The secretary caught up to me right away. This was the 5th floor, yet he was perfectly fine without any signs of fatigue. Perhaps surprised, he raised his voice excitedly, then soon regained his composure and asked about my physical condition, but I couldn’t say anything and just shook my head.
“I’ll take you to the hospital…”
“What?”
“Eek!”
“Young master!”
The secretary, seeing me standing stupidly unable to enter the house, didn’t ask anymore and gently pushed my back. I also didn’t want to enter that hell-like place I’d glimpsed, so I nodded once and the moment I slowly moved, the door opened with a short bell sound. Lee Hyeonseok popped out with a low voice.
Unlike me who screamed because I was so surprised, the secretary only called out “Young master!” in a tense voice. Lee Hyeonseok looked at me disapprovingly, as if he was quite displeased that I was here. My stomach, which had calmed down after being startled, churned again. Instead of a groan that couldn’t come out as sound, something eventually rose into my mouth.
“Why are you here when you should be in the car?”
“Well, Jiwoo-ssi’s physical condition doesn’t seem good.”
“Physical condition? What does that… Why is he like this?”
No matter how threateningly Lee Hyeonseok acted, I was now busy focusing on the something in my mouth. When the secretary answered instead of me, Lee Hyeonseok finally looked at me. Seeing me with a very poor complexion and my mouth slightly puffed up, Lee Hyeonseok also noticed something was off with me.
“It seems his stomach isn’t feeling well…”
“Stomach? …You, don’t tell me… Right now that mouth…”
The secretary glanced at me and spoke carefully. Lee Hyeonseok looked at the secretary once and asked back, then soon looked at me and seemed to realize what it meant. When he frowned and asked with a face full of disbelief, all I could do was nod and nod.
I didn’t want to show everyone something terrible to see.
“Crazy, wait.”
Lee Hyeonseok went back inside the house. I just stood there stupidly and the secretary watched the front door while glancing at me. About 10 seconds later, the front door opened again and Lee Hyeonseok stuck his hands under my armpits and lifted me up.
“Urk!”
“If you vomit, you’re dead.”
At the sudden movement, when I felt something surging up once more, I heard a threat. The people who had been collapsed on the floor besides Lee Hyeonseok earlier were gone. Instead, bloodstains were visible here and there. I could guess what had happened, but decided not to think about it.
“Uewerk!”
As soon as Lee Hyeonseok put me in the bathroom, I retched into the toilet. Fortunately, since I hadn’t eaten anything, all that came out was gastric juice and saliva, but it still didn’t look good. Even as Lee Hyeonseok patted my back, I waved my arms at him to go away.
“Young master. I just called an ambulance.”
“Can’t ride… Can’t ride the car…”
At the secretary’s words that he called an ambulance, I refused in a weak voice, feeling I absolutely couldn’t ride in a driving vehicle. After dry heaving once more and nothing more coming out, after resting briefly, I got up with my trembling body and rinsed my mouth with water.
“…Call his primary physician and the pheromone person.”
“Yes.”
“Ugh…”
“Now that you’ve emptied everything, crawl into the room.”
Perhaps judging that I absolutely couldn’t move, Lee Hyeonseok eventually told them to call the doctor and researcher to the officetel. And after telling me who was staggering to go to the room, he supported me. The moment I felt a bit grateful thinking ‘Bastard… He has at least a shred of conscience as a human,’ I discovered red stains spread here and there on his white dress shirt.
“…….”
“What?”
“No, thank, thank you.”
I’d forgotten because he’d been treating me decently recently, but this bastard was someone who could flip at any moment. Originally, you don’t provoke a crazy bastard’s mood. I conveyed my thanks with the most harmless face in the world. Though my voice trembled at the traces of violence I’d seen in a long time, Lee Hyeonseok seemed to think I was trembling because I was having a hard time and smiled with satisfaction.
“How admirable.”
Lee Hyeonseok laid me on the bed and praised me while stroking my head. Though his attitude was still shitty, perhaps because I was sick, I couldn’t shake the thought that he was being kind. Indeed, life should be lived at a ratio of 9 bad deeds : 1 good deed. It even created synergy when showing a good side to someone in poor condition.
“Get some sleep.”
Lee Hyeonseok arranged my hair and left the room. Just as my heart was about to feel a bit touched, I regained my composure thanks to the clattering sounds and groaning moans coming from outside.
“Safe cut-off, only a safe cut-off is the answer…”
I had to remember that even while pretending to be kind, he was a bastard who casually wielded violence, had problems with emotional instability, and had no special feelings toward me whatsoever.
