Chapter 22
“So this is your house. It’s the first time I’ve come to your place since high school. It smells like you.”
“No, why are you sniffing around like that?! It’s messy here, so it only smells stuffy.”
Wonyoung panicked and covered Heegang’s nose. Heegang chuckled and lowered Wonyoung’s hand, then said.
“You know, there’s something I couldn’t say last time.”
“What?”
“I missed you a lot, Rae.”
He probably didn’t need to keep saying things like that. Following his previous confession, Wonyoung was at a loss for how to handle this statement. Heegang quietly continued.
“I kept thinking only about you. Following you around, thinking about you. But I also thought it would be better if I didn’t appear in front of you. In high school, I only caused you trouble by clinging to you.”
Heegang pitifully looked down. Seeing that face, Wonyoung spoke based on his character interpretation that whatever happened between Narae and Baek Heegang in the past, Narae wouldn’t have cared since he was such a pushover.
“I, I don’t mind. Whatever happened in the past.”
And using his brain, he added this line too.
“Let’s not talk about the past anymore. It’s all over. What matters is now.”
“…Rae.”
Heegang looked at Wonyoung with melancholy eyes.
The two’s gazes aligned directly, and Heegang’s hand moved over Wonyoung’s hand that was pressed against the floor.
Before long, Heegang’s face drew closer.
‘This is dangerous…’
It was dangerous, but he couldn’t push him away. Was it his face that was the problem? This guy was famous for refusing to film kiss scenes even in dramas and movies, so why? Was it okay to do it with me? Does he really like me? Is this conquest complete?
While Wonyoung was half-dazed, having such thoughts even with Heegang’s face right in front of him, he suddenly snapped back to reality at the sound of someone pounding on the door.
“Huk.”
That was almost a disaster! Is this the power of a popular actor? Is this guy a gumiho? Is there some special setting I don’t know about?
Wonyoung had all sorts of thoughts about his careless state of being distracted even when almost being taken advantage of by another man, and hurriedly pulled back his body. Only then did he belatedly realize that someone was roughly pounding on the door.
Bang bang bang!
The first person who came to mind was Kyung Taerim. Since Ki Siyeon and Baek Heegang had come in turn, he thought it might be his turn next. Baek Heegang had also pounded on the door like that earlier.
But that was soon revealed to be a misconception.
“Hey, open the door! I know you’re in there!”
Wonyoung was flustered by the rough voice coming from outside the door. If Kyung Taerim was pleased, he was pleased, but he didn’t have that kind of phlegmy, disgusting voice. Wonyoung instinctively sensed danger from the menacing voice.
“You stay still…”
So he tried to protect Heegang quite manly, but Heegang slipped out from behind his small back and looked around. Then he spotted some dumbbells placed in a corner and picked them up.
“What, what are you going to use those for?”
When Wonyoung asked with an ominous feeling, Heegang smiled and hid the dumbbells behind his back. Those were something Wonyoung had bought to try to increase his stamina but had half-abandoned after getting a debuff that actually decreased his stamina. They weren’t something to pick up with people in front of him.
While Wonyoung was having such thoughts, Heegang had already opened the door and was greeting the uninvited guests.
“Who are you?”
“…What? Why did you come out so late? Wait, I’ve seen this bastard somewhere before…? Isn’t that right, hyung-nim?”
“Hmm.”
The two men who had hesitated for a moment upon seeing Heegang’s handsome face completely changed like fish meeting water when they spotted Wonyoung.
“Hey, you rat bastard! Why aren’t you paying back the money quickly?!”
“Me?”
Wonyoung stood next to Heegang, trying hard not to look at the dumbbells. From their demand to pay back money, it seemed loan sharks had appeared immediately after the scary talk about debt. As expected, a game was a game.
“If you don’t mind me asking, could I know how much I need to pay back…?”
“Huh? You call that talking? It’s 100 million, you bastard!”
“100 million?!”
Wonyoung, who had asked carefully, was shocked by the amount that was larger than expected. But before he could ask anything more.
“100 million my ass.”
Wonyoung had to grab Heegang from behind to stop him from taking out the dumbbells.
While engaging in a fierce struggle behind him, Wonyoung asked with effort.
“Ah, haha. The interest seems too high, so what’s the principal amount…?”
“You borrowed money without knowing that?! Do you think it’s easy for people like you to borrow money?”
“It’s Rae’s father’s debt. The man’s already dead. Then it’s gone, right? Where do you come demanding money?”
Wonyoung desperately blocked the dumbbells that Heegang kept trying to take out and said.
“I’ll somehow pay the interest regularly. I had something happen recently, so I forgot about debt repayment. Just a moment.”
Wonyoung said that and brought his wallet, taking out all the money he had. Although tears blurred his vision at the thought that he wouldn’t even be able to eat triangle kimbap anymore, preventing a dumbbell murder incident was the top priority right now.
“This is all the money I have right now. If you could just take this for now and go back…”
“Is this bastard joking right now? We’re being nice to you, so do we look ridiculous to you?”
“That, that’s not it.”
Anyway, this was the problem with loan sharks. While Wonyoung was troubled by the man’s unreasonableness, the other man who had barely spoken until now restrained his colleague. Unlike the small-fry in front, this was a man with quite a presence.
“Cut it out. Don’t you know this guy’s situation well?”
“Sinchul hyung-nim, even so, this bastard’s overdue interest is no joke. We have to make a living too.”
“Is that so?”
At those words, the man called Sinchul looked at Wonyoung.
“That’s what he says, hyung-ssi. Will you give us at least one eyeball?”
“What? No, no.”
Wonyoung shook his head while gripping the swaying dumbbells with both hands. At this rate, they’ll flip out completely! Just go home! He desperately pleaded with his eyes.
“I’ll try to bring more things that could be worth money. Or come tomorrow. At least the money in my bank account…”
“Then you should just hand over your bank account, you bastard! Along with the account password!”
“What? That’s a bit difficult…”
Wonyoung trailed off at the small-fry loan shark’s demand. By this point, Wonyoung was also getting irritated and was on the verge of proactively causing a dumbbell murder incident himself.
Then the man called Sinchul gestured with his chin toward Wonyoung.
“If that’s the case, at least work that body of yours. You’re pretty, so you’d be popular. Want me to introduce you to some establishments?”
When his sly eyes swept over Wonyoung’s body, disgust coursed through his entire body. And the next moment.
Crack.
“Ugh!”
Wonyoung didn’t even have time to confront the loan sharks. In an instant, the dumbbell was swung, and one man collapsed. And the dumbbell that was about to be swung again.
“Heegang!”
It stopped abruptly at that call.
Heegang, holding the blood-stained dumbbell, looked back at Wonyoung affectionately.
“Rae. Why?”
“…What?”
“Why did you call me?”
Wonyoung got chills at that nonchalant question. Was this the time to ask why he called him? When he was about to kill someone?
Although Wonyoung felt confused, he swallowed and said.
“Don’t, don’t do it.”
Then Heegang replied with a slightly sullen face.
“…But this person told you to sell your body.”
“He was just saying that. If we give him money, he’ll just leave.”
“They’re trash. It wouldn’t matter if they didn’t exist in this world. The police probably won’t even investigate.”
“They will investigate.”
“Then I can cover it up.”
“Don’t! Give it here!”
When it seemed like he couldn’t get through to him, Wonyoung tried to directly take the dumbbell away. But then, the loan shark who had been panicking at the sudden situation where his colleague was attacked didn’t miss the opportunity and pulled out a knife to swing it.
“How dare you bastards!”
“Baek Heegang!”
Wonyoung instinctively embraced Heegang. The moment he thought he’d be stabbed by the knife, a dull ‘thud’ sound was heard.
“Kuk…!”
After a short death rattle, silence fell.
When Wonyoung hurriedly turned around, he saw the loan shark collapsed after being hit by the dumbbell. Heegang had struck down the loan shark with the dumbbell in one hand while blocking the knife with his other hand. However, his hand was bleeding profusely from directly grabbing the blade.
Wonyoung turned pale and threw the knife away from Heegang’s hand.
“Hey, this…!”
“It hurts, Rae.”
Looking at Heegang making a tearful face, Wonyoung gritted his teeth. But instead of scolding him, he hurriedly wiped away the blood and took out a hemostatic agent first.
Fortunately, since he had fully stocked the first aid kit in preparation for when Siyeon might come injured, treatment wasn’t difficult.
Although the bandage was still difficult to tie today.
Wonyoung looked seriously at the bandage that became looser the more he tied it, then soon instructed Heegang.
“You need to go to the hospital for this. I’m very clumsy. But since you probably won’t listen if I tell you to go, I’m doing this for now.”
“Okay.”
Seeing him answer so obediently, no matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t match at all with his behavior of recklessly swinging dumbbells at loan sharks. What the hell is this guy…
While Wonyoung was lost in thought looking at Heegang, Heegang smiled at those obvious eyes and leaned his head closer to Wonyoung.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Huh?”
“Sometimes you look at me like you’re enchanted.”
“Me, me?”
No way. Are my preferences changing too? Wonyoung quickly denied the unbelievable fact.
“I was just spacing out?”
“Really?”
“More, more importantly, could you move back a bit?”
“Hm?”
Heegang saw Wonyoung’s reddened ears and smiled mischievously.
“Rae. If I do good things too, will you look at me prettily?”
“What? What do you mean by that…”
Wonyoung, who was about to question him, suddenly remembered his conversation with Siyeon and hesitated.
“Wait. You couldn’t possibly… How do you know about that? Ah, no, I don’t mean that’s true…”
“I’m confident too.”
“Listen to what people are say…”
