“Please stop…… ugh.”
Lukewarm saliva spread across tender skin as thick lips latched on and sucked. Every time the other person exhaled harder through his nose, a wave of revulsion crashed over Yi-won.
Hot sweat ran down his back and goosebumps broke out all over his body. I don’t want this. Please let me go, please…… Yi-won’s pleas were easily swallowed up by their laughter and the cigarette smoke that filled the room.
“P-please……”
The man gripped Yi-won’s pointed chin with force. His gaze from above was sharp and cutting.
Those glinting eyes fell on the tears pooling heavily in Yi-won’s large eyes. Even under the dim lighting, his pale face stood out clearly.
The flush of red blooming across that face, and the tears clinging on before finally falling — it only made him want to put his hands on him more. A face that looked beautiful crying. A face he wanted to make cry. A face that would drive a man absolutely mad the more it cried. The man’s dark pupils deepened beyond measure.
“You talk too much.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he raised his hand. It cut swiftly through the air and struck Yi-won’s cheek with a sharp crack.
“Ugh!”
“You’ve been pretty one-sided about this, haven’t you.”
Before Yi-won, who had collapsed to the floor in the center of the room, could even lift his head, the man — cigarette still hanging from his lips — undid his buckle. He smiled with satisfaction at the dark bruise blooming on Yi-won’s nape.
“Ngh……!”
“I like it rough. There’s something addictive about wrecking something. I think you’re going to be really fun.”
A rough hand seized Yi-won by the hair. He couldn’t even let out a scream. His hanging head was wrenched backward.
“Hng.”
“Who knows — if you’re good enough, I might just buy you. How about it. Tempting as hell, isn’t it.”
“Hh……”
The man standing over Yi-won, who was choking on fear, smiled like a devil.
At that same moment.
The back entrance — the door closest to Room 3 of Blue Moment — swung open. Choi Woo-hyuk, stepping out of Unsol-chae for the first time in two weeks, walked inside.
Those two weeks had been eight parts out of ten about Jeong Yi-won. Shut away in Unsol-chae with Han Min-jae’s help, Woo-hyuk had been looking into how Yi-won came to be born and raised on this island. He was still trying to track down the medical staff who would have handled the delivery at the time, but had yet to come across anything substantial.
All anyone who remembered those days could say was that, out of nowhere, the sound of a newborn’s cry had echoed through the island. Even Shin Mi-sun — who supposedly cared for Yi-won — had said the same, according to Han Min-jae’s report.
At present, it appears there is no one who remembers the pregnancy or delivery at the time. Even speaking with those who were on the island when Jeong Yi-won was born, they only recalled that a baby’s cry had suddenly been heard. The statement given by Shin Mi-sun, confirmed as the first person to have made contact with the newborn Jeong Yi-won, was the same.
Then what changed on this island around that time.
It may not be worth reporting, but around that period, the Chairman’s frequently used cruise ship was decommissioned. It does not appear to be connected to Jeong Yi-won.
He had agreed with Han Min-jae on that point. The whims of his father, Choi Seong-jae, and Yi-won’s birth didn’t seem to have any point of intersection. And yet, no one else came to mind. If it were his father, any kind of manipulation or concealment on this island would have been possible. But the dead don’t speak.
At the same time, Yi-won had been making his presence known to Woo-hyuk frequently, both in past and present. Being the only person born and raised on the island without any affiliation, he was someone who drew fond eyes from some — and furrowed brows from others.
Yi-won had already said it himself. That now that he was an adult, he probably couldn’t keep doing just cleaning.
There is no confirmed debt recorded under Jeong Yi-won’s name. Regardless of the cause of his parents’ deaths, the debt would have been inherited — yet there is no record of anything remaining. It is not impossible that the parent gave birth in secret and died shortly after repaying the debt, or alternatively, that they abandoned him here.
Woo-hyuk decided, for the time being, to move Yi-won.
Move him to Blue Moment. As a server. Put someone appropriate in to keep an eye on the situation.
Are you not planning to send Jeong Yi-won off the island.
Han Min-jae couldn’t understand why Woo-hyuk would give an affiliation to Yi-won, who had no real reason to be trapped on this island.
Woo-hyuk didn’t think too deeply about it. He had no plan. Certainly nothing like sending Yi-won off the island. If anything, he only wanted to keep him close and watch him a little longer.
Not yet.
Blue Moment may have been low in quality — both in facilities and in the clientele it attracted — but the line between servers and entertainers was more clearly defined there, and it was the closest establishment to Unsol-chae.
On top of that, it was a place unlikely to be frequented by anyone who might recognize Woo-hyuk. In several ways, it wasn’t a bad choice for where to move Yi-won.
I say this with some hesitation, but Executive Director — your interest in that boy is excessive.
It’s not as though I don’t know that.
……
But it’s mine, isn’t it. This island.
So it’s better to keep him somewhere within my line of sight.
I don’t think you’re like that. I think you’re a good person.
It stayed with him. Whether he’d been swayed by those words — by someone calling him a good person — he couldn’t say. But that smiling face kept surfacing in his mind at the oddest moments.
He told himself that was the reason. And so his thoughts moved in a direction that would have Yi-won — who would remain on this island — enclosed within yet another fence of his own making.
A justification for laying his hands on Yi-won directly wasn’t something that mattered. Curiosity alone was enough. So for now, he intended to keep Yi-won within his sight and watch how things unfolded — until the right moment came, when Yi-won would follow him without question.
But.
The expression on Woo-hyuk’s face darkened as he opened the door and stepped inside. Sitting in the arranged seat was not Jeong Yi-won — the person he had requested.
“Ugh! Help, hic! Ngh!”
Woo-hyuk’s large hand clamped hard around the server’s throat. The blood rushing to the man’s face as his airway was cut off made him look grotesque under the intense light flooding the room.
He dragged the server by the tips of his feet and hurled him out into the corridor. The man slammed into the door of the room across the hall and the wall with a resounding bang. The force was so violent that every sound in the vicinity went dead all at once.
The server who had shunted Yi-won aside seemed to have passed out on the spot. He lay there limp, not able to move so much as a fingertip.
What’s going on. What happened. The rowdy noise inside the rooms shifted at once to murmuring.
Doors opened here and there. Those who witnessed the scene in the corridor exchanged glances — and then all eyes converged on one point. Just as quickly, they shut their doors again, as though they’d seen nothing at all. Subdued by the bloodlust and the pheromones radiating off Woo-hyuk, everyone went into hiding.
“Bastards.”
Rapid footsteps rang out toward Woo-hyuk, who was visibly shaking with rage he could barely contain. Moving quickly from the end of the corridor and bowing at the waist in a hurry was none other than Im Seok-ju. He too was thrown off by the way things had gone sideways.
“……Why on earth…… I made it clear to Jeong Yi-won——”
“Why? Who exactly are you asking that.”
“I’m sorry.”
Im Seok-ju was one of Woo-hyuk’s subordinates who had been placed inside Blue Moment ahead of Yi-won’s transfer, following Woo-hyuk’s instructions.
“Seok-ju. You’ll be held responsible for today too.”
“I’m sorry.”
“This bastard in front of me — and any others worth rounding up — make sure you get them all. Take responsibility.”
“Yes, Executive Director.”
“Start right now.”
Woo-hyuk put a cigarette to his lips as if steadying his breath. The rage he had reined in quickly left his face cold.
Im Seok-ju and Han Min-jae, having received their orders, moved.
As if Im Seok-ju had anticipated the chaos, he went first for the floor manager, who had been hiding in a corner of the kitchen.
We’re fucked. The floor manager, who had been trying to keep one foot out, knew things had gone wrong. At this point, might as well just go all in.
“……Hey. Seok-ju, you……! Who the hell are you?!”
