Gi Siyoung couldn’t stand the constantly damp fabric touching his wrist every time he moved because of his wet sleeve.
“Keep reading. I’m just going to change and come back out.”
“Understood.”
With a displeased expression, Gi Siyoung abruptly stood up from the sofa and headed to the dressing room. In the quiet living room, Seungun folded the small, tiny letter and pulled over the next bundle. Most of the letter bundles were uniformly flat. However, one bundle had a noticeably bulging middle.
“What’s this?”
Seungun stretched the rubber band and pulled out an unusually shaped envelope. The middle was slightly bulging, as if a small gift had been placed inside or many stickers had been stuck on. When he pressed that part, it was spongy and soft.
“It feels like cotton.”
He wanted to slightly open the letter to see what was inside, but no matter how strong the adhesive used was, it wouldn’t come off easily even when scratched with his nails. After barely opening the edge, he struggled to push his index finger through the gap. Then he pulled it open with a yank.
“……”
There was a chilling sound—*sseombeok*. Seungun bit his lips. His finger joints turned cold as if doused with cold water. He hastily examined the inside of the envelope. The soft, bulging thing that had been like a sponge fell out with a plop.
“……”
Seungun lowered his gaze. Something black like dust was clumped together. His hair immediately stood on end. What had fallen at his feet was jet-black hair. Real human hair, tightly coiled like a whirlpool. Seungun silently picked it up. The hair was quite long. It was dry without any luster.
“I told you to keep reading, so why… What the.”
“Ah.”
The razor blade cut Seungun’s hand directly. A very thin and sharply honed razor blade had been inconspicuously attached to the inside seam of the envelope. Seungun quickly picked up the clump of hair with his other hand and shoved it into his pocket. Red blood was already dripping where he had been. The shock of the hair had been greater than the razor blade, so the wound had been an afterthought.
“Fuck, seriously, one thing after another.”
Why does this happen every time he takes his eyes off him? Gi Siyoung snatched Seungun’s hand with a bewildered face. The raised finger had skin torn lengthwise, exposing the flesh inside. Drip, drip. Bright red blood flowed down and flowed again.
Seeing that made nausea rise from within. Barely suppressing his stomach, he ransacked the house. He roughly opened the lid of the emergency box and first looked for powdered hemostatic agent and bandages. Crash. The contents inside spilled out in a rush. He hadn’t known that something useless shoved in a corner would be this useful. Even in that moment, fresh blood flowed terrifyingly from Seungun’s torn skin.
“I should have properly checked the contents before opening it, I’m sorry. If you bill me for the carpet and sofa cleaning costs—”
“That mouth…!”
“……”
“Shut it, please.”
It was strange. Anger rose to the top of his head. He was pissed off at Im Seungun who volunteered to be the other actor’s hands on set, and he was pissed off at that face that didn’t show displeasure even though he had moved without missing anything as instructed, breaking out in cold sweat. Even his last bit of pride was completely hurt by that attitude of ordering only one delivery meal saying he wasn’t hungry.
“Why do you make people so uncomfortable?”
An unkind voice burst out.
Grinding his teeth, he clumsily wrapped a bandage over the hand sprinkled with white hemostatic powder. Has this person always just been on the receiving end? That pitiful state of being anxious to death, worrying about how not to leave a mark on himself, was absurd.
Billing for cleaning costs after injuring his own hand? Siyoung, who had roughly finished treatment, frantically searched for his phone without even wiping the blood. It was a wound he’d only briefly looked at, but it was impossible to treat at home. Seungun looked down at his palm where blood wasn’t circulating because it was tied too tightly. The palm dotted with white powder was almost grayish.
“Hey, hyung. It’s me. I’m going to the hospital with Im Seungun-ssi right now, so pop over there. You’ll see what happened when you get there, won’t you!”
“……”
Gi Siyoung hung up the phone with his hand on his hip.
“What crazy bastard put a razor blade in a letter…”
Gi Siyoung stomped around the house fuming. He walked with large strides and brought a trash can from somewhere. Then he shoved all the fan letters he hadn’t even read yet into the trash can. After tightly tying the knot on the trash bag, he mercilessly threw it toward the entrance.
“Get up. We’re going to the hospital.”
“……”
“What are you doing, I said get up?”
Seungun sluggishly stood up. However, his eyes were following something else.
“What are you looking at in this situation?”
“Gi Siyoung-ssi, you’re moving your hand well now.”
Gi Siyoung let out an empty laugh in disbelief.
***
“So what did you do with that?”
“I put it all in a trash bag and isolated it.”
“Good job. I’ll take that to the company as is. Let’s have it examined to see which bastard committed such heinous act. There should be fingerprints on it at least.”
“It’s useless.”
“Why is it useless.”
“It’s all soaked with Im Seungun’s blood. Even when I found it, it was in a tattered state.”
“Damn it. Not satisfied with a blood letter, they even sneak a razor blade in as a fan letter?”
“……”
“Why the hell are such bastards mixed in claiming to be your fans. Wait. Then is that bastard different from the one who sent the blood letter? The one who sends their own blood is harming their own body, and the bastard who sent the razor blade is trying to harm your body!”
Myeongwoo pointed out sharply.
“Like I care.”
“Ugh, gives me chills… Seungun-ah. Are you okay, no, there’s no way you’re okay. You got 5cm stitched up.”
“Something like this doesn’t even feel like an injury—”
“Why don’t you just keep that trap shut?”
“……”
A corner bed behind curtains in the emergency room. Gi Siyoung, wearing a white mask and black ball cap that had been stuffed in his car, growled lowly. Myeongwoo, who had rushed over in a flurry from working at the company, clicked his tongue. Myeongwoo glared at Siyoung, who was only snapping at Seungun who got hurt because of him, instead of offering words of consolation and encouragement.
“The hospital fees and all future treatment costs will be covered by the company, so get very thorough scar laser treatment too, Seungun-ah.”
“Yes.”
“The mental damage must be indescribable. This is why being a manager is an extreme profession.”
“Still, it’s better for my hand to get hurt than Gi Siyoung-ssi’s hand.”
“You really make people properly uncomfortable.”
“Hey. Is his hand a gold nugget and our hands stone nuggets? Don’t be like that too much. Seungun-ah. The salary is already stingy, so we should at least take good care of our own bodies.”
“Yes.”
“Oh right, I only relayed the news to Director-nim because of the overseas business trip. He asked about your condition, so I told him everything. First, let’s go home. Hyung will take you. Take as much time off as you want. It’ll be processed as paid leave.”
“By the way, will we be able to catch the culprit?”
“Well… This is the first time receiving a fan letter with a razor blade inside. Or maybe we missed it because there’s been too much volume all along.”
Myeongwoo muttered while rubbing his chin.
“When going to events where many people gather, we should increase security personnel, and it’d be good for you and me to keep Siyoung’s house card key well, Seungun. It’ll be big trouble if we lose it. Siyoung, you be careful too. I know the house security uses fingerprints, but change the password settings frequently too. Seungun, where did you say your house was?”
“Ah, I’ll tell you on the way.”
As Seungun lowered his feet under the bed, Myeongwoo turned his shoes around properly so he could put them on. Gi Siyoung, who had his hands shoved in his pockets, suddenly proposed.
“Don’t do that and come to my house.”
“To Gi Siyoung-ssi’s house?”
“You hurt your hand because of me. I have at least that much conscience.”
In any case, he had followed his demands and read fan letters that weren’t even his, and his innocent finger got torn. And it had to be stitched up 5cm at that. He bore considerable responsibility for Seungun’s finger that was stiff because the anesthesia hadn’t worn off. Seungun really wanted to refuse, but the moment he saw his expression, he realized it was useless.
“I’ll be outside, so get ready and come out.”
Gi Siyoung resolutely opened the curtain. Myeongwoo read the room and followed behind him.
“Hey, Siyoung-ah.”
“What.”
“But who brought you here?”
“What kind of random question is that. I brought him, who else would bring him.”
“What? You?”
Myeongwoo’s eyes went wide like a rabbit’s.
“What’s wrong?”
“A guy who gets nauseous just seeing blood did all the emergency treatment and brought him here?”
Only then did clear bewilderment rise on Gi Siyoung’s expression. Even today on set when his hand got cut, Myeongwoo had hastily covered it with a handkerchief to stop the bleeding—that’s how weak Siyoung’s immunity to it was. Yet he had not only directly treated a wound gushing blood with his own hands, but had also driven here as if nothing happened.
“Right. Were you too flustered?”
Although nausea had risen, the severity of the wound was higher than that, so he had only thought about needing to treat it quickly.
“You must have been out of your mind too. Well, a razor blade in a letter, ugh, really horrifying!”
Myeongwoo shuddered. Soon the curtain opened from behind and Seungun, who had roughly crumpled on his sneakers, limped out. Siyoung clenched his fists stiffly with an uneasy feeling.
