—Bang, bang bang bang!
Taesung woke up to the sound of pounding on the front door. The moment he opened one eye, a disgusting headache rushed in like a mixer shoved into his temple stirring his brain, brought on by the bright light that stabbed through. Dry heaving, Taesung rolled off the bed. While cradling his head with both hands, someone pounded on the front door again.
—Bang bang, bang bang bang!
“Fuck, what!”
He screamed out as if shrieking. But actually, a ringing sound echoed in Taesung’s ears so he couldn’t hear his own voice well. It seemed like someone was shouting outside, but it only registered as a rumbling vibration. Taesung repeatedly punched his right temple where the pain had started with his fist. So hard it seemed his skull might crack.
Pitch-black blood dripped onto the floor. Whether it was because Taesung had struck his head so savagely or because of the terrible headache, his nose had started bleeding. Strangely, after seeing the blood, the headache gradually subsided. The intercom finally rang in his stuffy ears.
Taesung tried to get up while roughly wiping the nosebleed with the back of his hand. But because the pains that had been briefly obscured by the terrible headache rushed in all at once, Taesung tumbled back to the floor clutching his side. From his neck to his arms, chest, stomach, waist, legs, and the ass that made him feel the most fucking awful—truly there wasn’t a single sound spot to be found.
Taesung finally realized that what happened yesterday was reality.
But it was questionable how he’d opened his eyes in his own room’s bed.
Naturally I thought I’d wake up either half-buried in concrete or being sold somewhere under a fish box, but after going through the trouble of drugging me to sleep, he just left me?
The intercom sound stopped. Instead, the phone started ringing. At least the phone was nearby. Taesung swallowed the moan that came out naturally and struggled to reach out and pick up the phone. The nosebleed on his hand left a dark bloodstain on the screen. Under the dark red smudge, “41 missed calls” was printed.
“Yeah.”
—Oh my, hyungnim! Are you alright?
Cheolgu’s fussy voice rang out loudly simultaneously from outside the door and beyond the phone.
“If I was alright, I’d have answered the phone, bastard.”
Taesung swallowed dry saliva to fix his constantly cracking voice. Blood moistened his torn throat.
—No, you weren’t answering calls since morning and even when I pressed the bell there was no response. And you’re not the type to go somewhere without telling me anything, so do you know how worried I was?
“Yesterday I took medicine and drank too much…”
—I knew it. Ah, hyungnim. I told you drinking alcohol with medicine destroys your liver, didn’t I?
“Destroys… Why is this bastard’s mouth getting more and more free-spirited?”
—Anyway, please just open the door. I was already worried about you so I even bought gimbap, and this will all go bad.
Taesung looked down at his pitiful state, unable to answer. On his naked body, the traces that bastard Hyun Jaeha had left the previous day clearly remained. Biting, sucking, fucking, hitting—fuck, what the hell, there wasn’t a single part of his skin that remained a normal color.
I’d rather die than show this sight. Though no one was watching, Taesung pulled the blanket from the bed and hastily covered his lower body.
“Who’s out at the site right now?”
—Huh? As I told you yesterday, Manager Park is continuously managing the Icheon side.
“Then you go to the Unje-dong site today and check it, and if there are problems, report by text.”
—Are you really okay?
“Just, fuck, I have a hangover so I can’t go out, so handle things yourself today.”
—Hyungnim.
“Ah fuck, just go do your work, bastard! Fuck, I’m tired to death already, why are you making me repeat the same thing several times!”
—No, there was a scene at Wonin Construction early this morning. The young master appeared.
The hand raised to throw the phone stopped abruptly. The wrist that had been scraped and bruised while being tied and having that done to him the previous day trembled. Taesung squeezed both eyes shut and tried to understand what he’d just heard. So who went where and made a scene?
“What?”
—That’s why I was worried that maybe the young master had come to find you too, hyungnim. Whew, of course you’re not someone who’d be harmed by the young master, but…
I was harmed. And thoroughly cleaned out, guts and all.
“So, what kind of scene did he make at Wonin Construction?”
—He appeared to match President Jang’s commute time, cursed, threw money around, and it wasn’t a joke apparently?
This crazy bastard, really…
Taesung held his forehead.
If you fucked someone like that, you should at least be drained of energy and stay quiet, but why the fuck does he go find Jang Hyeokjin?
The 41 missed call records suddenly came to mind. Taesung searched through the list with trembling fingers. But most were from Cheolgu, and the rest were just a few subordinates who probably called at Cheolgu’s request.
There were no missed calls from Jang Hyeokjin.
Jaeha made that scene but Jang Hyeokjin didn’t call Taesung once?
No way, fuck, no way.
Did that bastard Hyun Jaeha go covered in pheromones?
“…I’m going crazy.”
—Exactly. As soon as I heard that, I came looking for you first, but you didn’t respond when I pressed the bell and didn’t answer calls, so I really thought I’d die of shock.
Yeah, in a way, Jaeha had properly screwed Taesung over. If the ‘young master’ who clearly had no interest in a bastard like Taesung appeared covered in Taesung’s pheromones and suddenly went crazy, how would it look in Jang Hyeokjin’s eyes? He’d think Taesung drugged the kid and fucked him to try something. He’d think Jaeha was doing crazy things while high on drugs.
So that’s why he fucked me, that bastard.
That’s why he shoved his amazing cock in even while being disgusted by my slut hole.
“Got it, so Manager Kim, let me rest just for today.”
—Yes, hyungnim. What’s one day? Rest well until you feel better. I’ll just give you the gimbap and go, so please just open the door.
“Hang it on the door and go.”
—If you don’t eat this quickly, it’ll go bad…
“I said I got it!”
As soon as he shouted, crash—he heard the sound of something being hung on the doorknob.
—Hyungnim, there’s also a cup of ramen…
Cheolgu seemed to have more to say, but Taesung hung up without the energy to answer more.
His body hurt too much. Every bone joint that had been beaten by Jang Hyeokjin and Jaeha was creaking and screaming.
The terrible headache had passed, but inside his head was still being stirred like melted cream. Nausea like motion sickness surged up to under his chin.
Ha, or not. Is it really motion sickness?
Maybe I’m actually dreaming while tied up below a fishing boat deck?
Well, thinking about Jang Hyeokjin going crazy again, that might be better. Taesung pressed his eyes tightly shut. In dreams, often if I do this and open my eyes, I return to reality.
But when he opened his eyes again, Taesung was still sitting in a pathetic state on his room floor.
“I made an additional 5 billion won loan to Ju Seonghwan of JB Foods.”
It was just as Hyun Jaeha had declared. The green kid who didn’t know the value of money was now spraying the fortune his grandfather had scrimped and saved his whole life to accumulate everywhere like water.
Wasn’t Ju Seonghwan of JB Foods famous in the industry as Midas in reverse? Rumors were rampant that he’d lost big money getting caught in a coin scam, but not a single person extended a hand to him. Because the JB Foods chairman had declared default due to the second son’s series of pathetic antics.
Without the chairman’s guarantee, who would believe Ju Seonghwan and readily hand over tens of billions? The ‘young master’ had accomplished the foolish act that even lowlife loan sharks desperately hoping for just one sucker from a rich family hesitated to do.
I thought he was clever.
Well, could a kid who crawled out of the emotional and foolish Hyun Sejun’s belly be normal? For Hyun Jaeha, his life’s achievement was struggling to study and receiving acceptance to a good university. Thanks to that, Hyun Hongwon believed he had sound judgment and told him where he’d hidden his slush fund.
If left alone, he’ll self-destruct, but then the money Jang Hyeokjin can ‘recover’ will also disappear.
Jang Hyeokjin looked at Director Ha, who was restless in front of him. He was someone Jang Hyeokjin had planted in Wonin Construction’s accounting team since when Hyun Hongwon was alive. He’d handled work quite well until now, but regrettably couldn’t figure out even the money Hyun Hongwon had siphoned off.
“Still haven’t estimated the scale of Chairman Hyun’s hidden assets?”
“Well, originally we were estimating around 16 billion won, but…”
It doesn’t make sense that a bastard holding only 16 billion would scatter 8 billion in two weeks and additionally donate 5 billion more. But recalling Hyun Jaeha who’d been running wild like a moth jumping into flames, it seemed he might be emptying his fortune to deploy an initial quantity offensive to lure Jang Hyeokjin.
Right now I shouldn’t think I’m dealing with a normal human. I’m dealing with a bastard who’s rolled his eyes back with rabies. Regardless of whether the opponent is acting in a way that excites them or not, a crazy bastard who drools and bares his teeth, where the only best countermeasure is just swinging a club early on to chase him away.
