After returning to the room, I did as he instructed—took out another one of his outer garments from the closet, put it on, and waited. Due to yesterday’s influence, pheromones denser than usual still flowed from my body. This was more than enough to soak into the clothes.
Perhaps because the filming was running long, Kwon Yujin returned to the room two hours later.
Without saying a word, he immediately laid me down on the bed, pulled down only my pants, and inserted himself. My lower area, still softly loosened, smoothly accepted Kwon Yujin. The room was instantly filled with moans and pheromones. Like a continuation of yesterday.
We did it twice more in succession like that. If the coach hadn’t called in the middle about afternoon training, I might have been held captive even longer.
I stared blankly as he prepared to leave, then fell asleep just like that.
When I opened my eyes, it was already evening, and the space beside me had cooled, with no warmth to be felt. Kwon Yujin had already left the hotel.
***
As the agent had said, Kwon Yujin left for training camp in Australia right after submitting his entry. There was no separate contact after leaving the hotel, but I could learn about his departure through the news.
Two weeks of training camp ahead. And the week after that was the World Aquatics Championships. It must be an important time—I sometimes wondered if there would be any problems with his condition.
But I knew my place well. I wasn’t in a position to exchange trivial conversations with him, so all I could do was wait for him to contact me first.
Perhaps due to the influence of the inducer, the reaction of getting excessively excited in front of Kwon Yujin gradually returned to normal. There was no reaction even when encountering other alphas or working in the same space.
So I spent my days as usual. My routine of waking up at dawn as always, eating, going to work, coming home, washing up, and falling asleep.
One exception intervened in the midst of that.
“Hello.”
Late dawn. A call came in. As soon as I felt the vibration, I opened my eyes and immediately pressed the call button as if I’d been waiting.
I knew the only person who would contact me at such a late hour was Noh Seungmin.
—What? You weren’t sleeping?
“I was. President Choi. Did you find him?”
A sigh flowed through the receiver.
—Not a trace. It’s complicated.
“……”
I couldn’t find words to respond and closed my lips.
—The name does seem to be Choi Hyeonggeun, but I can’t catch any tail at all. It might be better to just give up on President Choi.
“……”
The statute of limitations for Dad’s kidnapping case is 15 years. Now there’s only 1 year left. If we can’t find additional accomplices in the meantime, it would really be the end.
There was still time left, so from my standpoint, there was no reason to give up in advance.
“Still, keep looking into it whenever you have time. I’ll send money.”
—When someone’s identity doesn’t come out this persistently, it’s one of two things—either there are cops backing them or their background is rotten as hell. Nothing proper is coming out and it’s just eating up a shit ton of time, so the cost-effectiveness is really not there.
He was right. If nothing was coming out to this extent, even if we dug further, the possibility of no results was high. It’s not like I could give that much money, and I couldn’t make infinite requests to Noh Seungmin just because we’re from the same neighborhood.
—By the way, why the hell have you been trying to find this President Choi or whatever since last year? You were quiet all this time, weren’t you?
Noh Seungmin pressed me as if frustrated. I could faintly hear the sound of him exhaling cigarette smoke through the receiver.
“I remembered.”
—You suddenly remembered about President Choi?
“Yeah.”
—All the culprits in the kidnapping case were caught though. Your dad and that driver kid who got arrested. If there was one more accomplice, the old man would have spilled it long ago.
“……”
This was also true. I too had thought until now that the culprits in Kwon Yujin’s kidnapping case were only those two—Dad and the driver. Until one complicated matter came up.
Around this time last year, while working on site, an accident occurred where bricks the person in front was carrying spilled toward my head. I wasn’t seriously hurt because I was wearing a hard hat, but the impact was considerable enough that I had difficulty moving for several minutes.
I don’t know the exact reason, but that day, I dreamed of a scene where Dad was talking with a person called President Choi. Dad was specifically discussing with President Choi how much to demand as the child’s ransom. I don’t remember the face or voice, but I recalled the plum blossom tattoo drawn on his neck fairly clearly.
I thought it was just a dream at first too, but when I asked Noh Seungmin to look up the identity, surprisingly, there was a person called President Choi around Dad. According to Noh Seungmin’s investigation, his name was Choi Hyeonggeun, and everyone around him at the time called him President Choi.
Since the surname wasn’t that unique, it was uncertain whether he was really the President Choi from my dream. I couldn’t even be sure if the content of that dream was real in the first place.
But what if, just what if, it wasn’t a simple dream? If a part of my memory was correct, that person too deserved to be punished.
I wanted to keep the possibility open and find President Choi somehow before the statute of limitations ended, but unlike me, Noh Seungmin seemed to want to wash his hands of it. The insufficient compensation seemed to be holding him back. It’s not that I didn’t understand Noh Seungmin.
“Got it. Then don’t investigate further.”
—I didn’t use all the money you gave me last time. I’ll return it.
“It’s fine, so don’t give it.”
—I may backstab other bastards, but I don’t do that to you, hyung. And don’t cling too much to the past.
Noh Seungmin added, saying it was advice for my sake. I knew those words were sincere. Even knowing that, it was difficult to let go.
—That kid’s family is rich, right? By now, he’s probably living well on his own.
“…I hope so.”
I muttered as if talking to myself.
—Let’s meet up sometime, hyung.
The call ended like that. I quietly stared at the ceiling, unable to find a way to empty the frustration that had piled up in my chest. The streetlight streaming in from outside dimly illuminated the dark room.
Even thinking about it again, Noh Seungmin’s words were right. Maybe I was too obsessed, considering I had a bad head, no money, and no know-how. My heart felt heavy because I didn’t know what to do.
It would be good if I could at least confirm whether this person called President Choi was really Dad’s acquaintance.
***
—Family member for inmate Hyun Taesoo’s visit, please come inside.
I came to see Dad after a very long time. This was exactly the second visit since Dad was incarcerated. It had been so long since I last came that I barely remembered anything about the first visit.
‘You son of a bitch! You ungrateful bastard, where do you get off not recognizing the parent who raised you and betraying your real parents? I’m the idiot for raising a piece of shit like you who deserves to be beaten to death.’
I only recalled Dad’s face, looking like he’d kill me the moment he saw me. If there hadn’t been a glass wall in between, he probably would have killed me on the spot and more.
I hadn’t set foot here even once after that. So every process felt very unfamiliar.
Following the announcement that flowed from the prison visiting waiting room, I moved inside. Upon entering the visiting room, I saw Dad sitting beyond the transparent glass. I unconsciously stopped walking and stared at him for a moment.
Soon I sat down and picked up the receiver. Then Dad stared at me from across with a puzzled expression. He probably couldn’t recognize me because I was wearing a hat and mask.
“Who is it? Doesn’t seem like Hanseok. If you came to visit, you should talk face to face, what are you doing all wrapped up like that?”
Dad was much more gaunt than I remembered. The build that always felt as big as a mountain also looked smaller than before.
“Fuck, are you gonna talk or not? So frustrating.”
At Dad’s urging, I had no choice but to take off my hat and mask.
“You…”
Dad, who had been staring at me blankly as if surprised for a moment, let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s me, Dad.”
“Hyun Taeyoung. What brings you here, you bastard?”
“……”
“Now that you’ve grown, you really look exactly like your mom.”
Dad muttered while scanning me up and down as if it was interesting.
Strangely enough, Dad recognized my face right away. Even though back then it had been full of acne and rashes, so my impression should have been different from now.
