“His son’s in high school, right?”
“Uh, yeah yeah. Starting this year.”
Taesung pulled out bills from his hand at random. He folded the stack of bills in half, tucked them between his index and middle fingers, and teasingly dodged President Oh’s hand that shot out toward him, shoving the money into his chest pocket.
“Don’t spend this yourself, President Oh. Give it to your son as allowance.”
“That’s a lot for the kid. Haha, oh, he was asking me to buy him some kind of pad last time—I guess I can get him that.”
That won’t be enough for that.
Well, it was President Oh’s business to handle. Honestly, it was questionable whether it would even be used to buy his son a tablet PC.
Taesung waved the hand holding his cigarette dismissively, as if telling them to pack up the equipment now. President Oh rushed over and started shouting something or other at the employees.
Today they’d stuff themselves with pork belly and soju and have a grand time cursing Taesung and Jang Hyeokjin as bastards to chew out. Then, nicely drunk, they’d band together saying let’s multiply this money a hundred times and flatten those Wonin Construction bastards’ noses, and head to the greenhouse where gambling went down.
People don’t change.
Just like how Jang Hyeokjin’s a piece of shit even when he pretends to be refined, and Taesung’s a gangster bastard even when he goes around acting like a president.
That bastard Hyun Jaeha curses like he’s something too, but in the end, it’ll be hard for him to shake off that young master vibe.
Woof woof, woof woof woof!
Is it because I suddenly thought of Hyun Jaeha?
The sound of barking dogs rang out noisily again.
Taesung slammed the cigarette he hadn’t even half-smoked onto the ground and answered the phone.
—Where are you.
Jang Hyeokjin asked abruptly.
“Icheon.”
Taesung answered curtly and gestured to Manager Park to hurry and get their equipment into the site first.
—The job I gave you?
“I just settled things with President Oh.”
—Not that one.
He crushed the cigarette with his shoe heel.
“You said you’d give me a month for that one.”
—So you threw everything aside and went down to Icheon?
“This job was more urgent. That one has a deadline a month away, and this one had to be resolved within this week.”
—Fine. If you’ve said that much, you’ll handle it yourself.
He caught on faster than expected. Thinking he was fortunate not to have to listen to this irritating voice for long, Taesung waited for Jang Hyeokjin to hang up.
—Come up to Seoul by 10 o’clock.
But Jang Hyeokjin’s business was something else.
“What? The equipment’s coming in here now so it’ll take some time…”
The call ended. This fucking bastard, really.
And then a message arrived from Jang Hyeokjin’s lackey, Director Yoon of Wonin Construction.
[Please come to Knox today at 22:00.]
Knox. A high-class social club that Jang Hyeokjin once owned and still practically owns.
Of course, the ‘high-class social’ part was just Knox’s one-sided claim. A joint’s a joint. Club my ass.
Moreover, it was a place with quite a few bad memories for Taesung…
Surely he’s not planning to pull that shit again today.
Taesung turned off his phone screen and anxiously fiddled with the blank display. Of course, heat doesn’t suddenly come on like a seizure just from taking one shot of medicine, so they couldn’t set a date this suddenly. That’s why Jang Hyeokjin had thoroughly managed even Taesung’s suppressant intake during his ‘prime time.’ So he could induce heat whenever he wanted.
Taesung’s body when not in heat had no value whatsoever. His face wasn’t pretty like Hyun Jaeha’s, and he had scars here and there—how many people in the world would be interested in a big guy’s hole?
‘Those bastards’ just wanted to see the rare commodity that was an omega in heat.
And fuck him while they were at it.
[This is an official occasion.]
A new message arrived from Director Yoon. Whether she knew something, or whether she just added something randomly when Taesung didn’t reply, he didn’t know.
Thanks to it, his anxious mind settled down a little.
Your eyes resemble the color of the Han River.
On a gloomy day, the Han River just before water ghosts emerge.
Once, Taesung stared into Jaeha’s eyes and said that. Jaeha opened his already refreshingly large eyes even wider and met his black pupils that hazily rolled about in his sharp eye shape.
If these eyes really were the Han River, they would have grabbed your ankles and dragged you down endlessly.
Taesung always cursed the Han River. A stinky river with trash floating around. They should just dump garbage there like Nanjido and landfill it, then build apartments on top.
But even so, Jaeha knew that he often went to the Han River alone to sip beer. So even if one day he suddenly heard news that Taesung had walked into the Han River and disappeared, he wouldn’t be surprised. Because Taesung really loved the murky river water that rippled in a hazy jade color.
That’s why when he said Jaeha’s eyes resembled the Han River, it didn’t feel bad.
Because now Taesung would think of Jaeha every time he saw the Han River.
“Excuse me, by any chance…”
Someone’s voice suddenly cut through the music playing randomly. Jaeha slowed his running pace and pulled out one earphone.
When his head got noisy, he often ran along the long path stretching along the Han River. There were many cases of people out for a walk by the Han River glancing at him when Jaeha passed by, but it was rare for them to speak to him directly like this.
Then this must be an exceptional person.
Jaeha whipped around toward the person who’d spoken. A man wearing light sportswear with just an armband, as if he’d been running too, awkwardly smiled and scratched his head. A face that looked dull behind black horn-rimmed glasses. His arms and legs were also scrawny, so he didn’t look like he had the energy to hit anyone. Of course, nothing that could be a weapon was visible either. He didn’t seem like someone Jang Hyeokjin sent, and surely he wasn’t brave enough to be asking for his number.
“Hyun… Jaeha?”
Jaeha roughly wiped away the sweat running down his forehead with the back of his hand and skillfully curled up the corners of his mouth. When he raised the corners of his mouth, his eyes always curved round too. Because he always smiled consciously, now his facial muscles moved along like a habit. Conveniently.
“Who?”
“You are Hyun Jaeha, right? Wow, well of course. I recognized you right away from your face. I mean, I was… you probably won’t remember, but we were in the same department. We shared a room during orientation…”
Ah. An acquaintance from that side.
Jaeha blinked his eyes slowly and flipped through the pages of memories that would have been recorded a few years ago, carefully comparing the man’s face. His glasses were round back then. Now they’re square. His name is…
“I remember. Jung Yunjong.”
“Wow, whoa, dude, how do you remember me?”
Instead of rambling on with an answer, Jaeha grinned and tapped his shoulder. Then with a gesture to follow, he started running slowly again.
“You were in Korea? Everyone said you seemed to have gone abroad to study.”
“Not studying abroad, military service.”
“Right after one semester? Why did you go to the military so fast?”
“I heard the faster you go, the better.”
“True, now that you mention it, I’m jealous. I haven’t gone yet. I can’t delay anymore either so I’ll get dragged in, it’s driving me crazy.”
“Looking at you running, you seem fine though?”
“I actually started exercising because of that. Where did you serve?”
Jaeha looked back at him and smirked. Whether he took his smile to mean something, Jung Yunjong unnecessarily blushed.
“Just wherever would take me fastest.”
“Oh…”
He clearly didn’t understand at all. Well, Jaeha didn’t particularly want to explain anyway.
“So you’re returning to school now?”
“Maybe?”
If things get resolved well, that might be the case. Now that his grandfather Hyun Hongwon is dead, something like a college diploma isn’t particularly necessary for Jaeha, but there’s one ‘hyung’ with such a massive inferiority complex about education that he drools whenever he sees a college student.
“Then we’ll be completely out of sync. But at least we can attend our last semester together.”
Jung Yunjong grinned like an idiot. Jaeha placed his hand on his back, which seemed to be struggling to keep up, and gave him a light push. As if wanting to live up to Jaeha’s expectations, Jung Yunjong mustered his strength and moved ahead despite his ragged breathing. Only then did Jaeha take his hand off his back and whispered.
“I’m only going to do this much today.”
“Huh? Oh? Then me too…”
“You keep running. You said you need to build your body before enlistment.”
“No, that’s true but… Ah, do you run here often?”
“Sometimes.”
“Then uh, want to do it together next time? It’s boring running alone, people tell me to join a running crew but everyone there just comes to date, so it doesn’t fit…”
“Yunjong.”
When he called his name, Jung Yunjong’s eyes widened. Though his expression didn’t look particularly impressive hidden behind his thick lenses.
Jaeha wrapped one arm around his shoulder. Looking down at his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed dry saliva, he whispered softly into his ear that was burning a deep red as if about to burst.
“See you next time.”
Jaeha waved his hand lightly and plugged his earphone back in. He could hear Jung Yunjong’s voice murmuring from behind, but he didn’t bother to look back. He was probably trying to ask for his phone number.
The smile that had spread across his lips gradually disappeared. When he reached the faucet, he scrubbed his hands that had gotten Jung Yunjong’s sweat on them under the strongly gushing water.
The communication was perfect, right?
He wore a perfect smile, remembered his name, small talk flowed quite smoothly, and he expressed intimacy with appropriate skinship.
Jaeha shook off the water from his hands and assessed it as a flawless conversation.
