He shoved again. Jaeha touched the railing precariously.
One more push, and I can wake up.
Just one more time.
“Please…”
Taesung couldn’t bring himself to push Jaeha and instead grabbed his shirt. He squeezed his eyes shut and pleaded in a voice that sounded like it was being wrung out. Please, Jaeha. I know you hate me, but trust me just this once. I don’t want to sin against the Chairman ‘again.’ So please.
Please, I’m begging you.
Run away.
You’re smart. You got into that amazing university I could never dream of reaching, making Chairman Noh cry like a little kid and brag about it all over the neighborhood—you were that brilliant, weren’t you? You’ll learn English, Chinese, Russian, whatever quickly, won’t you? What attachment do you have to this fucking country to want to stay? Go abroad, call yourself Tom or Jerry or whatever foreign name, and live comfortably.
“This makes it seem like you’re worried about me.”
Jaeha placed his hand over Taesung’s hand that had wrinkled his shirt so pathetically. He slipped his fingers between each of Taesung’s clenched fingers and removed his hand from the clothes. Jaeha brought Taesung’s palm, now damp with cold sweat, to his cheek.
“But you should have said this first.”
It was damp.
So it clung to his skin even more stickily.
Taesung’s body heat was transmitted even more vividly.
“Hyung, did you miss me?”
Fucking bastard.
Taesung muttered like spitting and rubbed his palms against the blue soap that was dried up like a mummy, cracked and split. His reddened skin squeaked like rubber gloves, but the soft sensation that had filled his palm showed no sign of disappearing.
Is it true that even hateful affection is still affection? He’d spent his whole life wishing Hyun Jaeha, that bastard, would disappear, but seeing him dive headfirst into a rock with his egg-like head, he didn’t know why he suddenly wanted to stop him. Well, there are people who pick up stray kittens they had no connection with, spend money to treat them, and cherish them, and Taesung took care of Jaeha for nearly 10 years at Chairman Hyun Hongwon’s request, so it’s only human nature to hope he stays alive.
In fact, there was only one thing to do right now. Go find Jang Hyeokjin and say one thing—that the bastard eating up 38 percent of Baekjin Shopping Complex shares is Hyun Jaeha. Then, whether he rolled up his sleeves himself after a long time or sent his thugs, they’d smash Jaeha’s pretty face with a meat mallet and dump him in the waters off Incheon. Then Taesung wouldn’t have to see Jaeha ever again. He’d have nightmares occasionally, and maybe even Chairman Noh would appear in his dreams swinging his cane, but in reality, he could pat his full belly and sleep with his legs stretched out.
Right, Taesung had done enough. He’d warned him he could die and given notice he’d report to Jang Hyeokjin. Why would Jaeha, who appeared after 3 years and is diligently digging with a shovel into the land that’ll be his grave, resent Taesung for doing anything right?
“Miss you? That crazy bastard. I hate seeing you even in dreams so much I’m about to go to a shaman for a talisman.”
Taesung splashed his face with vigorously falling cold water. Then, horrified by the heat rising in his face, he hit his own cheeks. Fuck, fuck, fuck—spewing curses at who knows who, he alternately slapped both cheeks.
Hyun Jaeha released poison.
Or maybe pheromones.
No. He’s been taking his medicine faithfully, so there’s no way he’d react to some brat’s pheromones. That vape pen. It definitely has some fucking drug in it instead of nicotine. Right, that’s why Jaeha, that bastard, went crazy like that.
“Right, he’s a bastard whose life hit rock bottom anyway.”
Taesung took out his phone. At the top of his call history was ‘Dog Dick.’ Just press it and everything ends. Just bring his finger to it once.
“Ha.”
The finger that had been trembling over ‘Dog Dick’ slid down weakly. Taesung turned off the screen and roughly shoved the phone into his back pocket.
He didn’t want to call Jang Hyeokjin first and ruin his mood. That was why. If Jang Hyeokjin called first, he’d answer then.
When lunchtime came, the vegetable shop became quiet. Having apparently sold off all the sunchokes nicely, the owner was neatly stacking empty boxes inside the shop.
“Did you get hit?”
He was just going to pass by without wanting to exchange words, but the woman spoke first. And she picked exactly the words that would grate on Taesung the most.
“Hit? By who?”
Taesung couldn’t hold back and snapped.
“No, you were fine when you went in, but your face.”
The woman made a gesture of tapping her own cheeks.
“I was sleepy so I hit myself to wake up. I have to drive to get home, don’t I?”
Taesung’s words only grew longer and more rambling.
“Ah, I thought Jaeha hit you. Want an ice pack?”
“No. And boss, if you have eyes, judge people properly before you go around. Who would get hit by that brat?”
“Ah, yes yes. Go on.”
Did Jaeha and that woman both eat their manners through their assholes?
Taesung, who had taken a couple of steps because he didn’t want to deal with them, suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around. The woman was still devoted to organizing boxes.
“Hey, boss!”
Someone’s calling and she doesn’t even look up. Taesung clicked his tongue and approached her side.
“Hey, boss. Did your ears get plugged already?”
The woman dug in her ear with her pinky finger and dragged a box into the shop. Taesung squeezed his eyes shut.
Hold it in, hold it in, fucking hold it in.
They say if you endure three times with the character for ‘endure,’ you can even avoid murder, and that’s true. Even just now, didn’t I save one person’s life?
“How much are the mangoes?”
As soon as Taesung’s words ended, the woman burst out of the shop.
“These are usually sold for ten thousand won each at the mart, but I’ll give you two for ten thousand won.”
Is she possessed by the ghost of someone who died unable to do business? Taesung examined the mango about the size of his palm from all angles and frowned.
“Just give me one. That’s five thousand won, right?”
“One is eight thousand won.”
“Fuck, you said two for ten thousand.”
“That’s the price when you buy two, one is eight thousand won.”
“Ha, fine. Do whatever you want.”
“You’re only buying one? For just two thousand won more you can take another one.”
“Yeah, boss. I’m just buying one.”
“Ah, this is so frustrating. For just two thousand won more I’ll give you one more, so why insist on buying just one?”
“Fucking hell, a customer who’s like the heavens says they’ll just eat one, so why are you talking so much?”
“Fine, well, you got hit by our building owner and all, so I’ll give it to you for seven thousand won.”
“I didn’t get hit!”
“If you pay cash I’ll take off a thousand won.”
“Fucking hell!”
The owner hummed a tune and returned his card. Taesung roughly threw his card into the plastic bag with the mango and got to the main point.
“What’s your relationship with that bastard?”
“Who?”
“Who else, that…”
He glanced up at the rooftop. Jaeha’s figure wasn’t visible.
“Hyun Jaeha. What’s your relationship with that bastard?”
“I told you yesterday. We’re business partners?”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Don’t think weird thoughts. I’ll throw up on your clothes, mister. Ugh, with that slippery guy, ugh.”
Seeing her shudder and hate it as much as Taesung, she definitely isn’t in ‘that kind of relationship’ with him.
“Boss. I’m telling you this because I pity you—quit the business right now and cut ties with Hyun Jaeha. Don’t be a shrimp whose back bursts while whales are fighting.”
“Why? Is Wonin Construction sending out muscle?”
Taesung doubted his ears for a moment. He even told this woman about Wonin Construction? Just what is Hyun Jaeha’s relationship with her that a woman who didn’t even exist three years ago knows all his intimate circumstances and is doing ‘business’ with him?
“Jaeha said Wonin Construction is all fucking nobodies?”
“That, that bastard’s all bravado. When the Chairman was alive, everyone crawled to that brat who doesn’t know how the world works…”
“Looking at you, mister, it doesn’t really seem like bravado though?”
“Hey, what did you just say? Don’t cut off your words—say it properly.”
“Hey. Don’t worry. It’s something Jaeha started, so he’ll handle it himself. I have to make money, so I can’t quit this. That’s the condition for our partnership.”
So she’s definitely possessed by a money demon?
Well, everyone has at least one value they cherish more than life. Everyone thinks that way until right before they die.
Her thoughts will change after getting beaten up by Jang Hyeokjin’s thugs. Taesung had nothing more to say to her.
“That mister looked totally like a gangster, but he’s nicer than he looks, right?”
Taesung was truly like the Platonic ideal of a gangster. So not a real-life gangster, but a gangster from movies.
Whether it was because of his deeply frowning expression, or because he was wearing a suit that people don’t really wear these days, or because of his way of speaking—opening his mouth and going “fuck, fuck”—when she first saw him, she thought, they sent some really vicious thug bastard from Wonin Construction or whatever. Well, he was a perfect triangular talent possessing all three of these qualities, so that made sense.
But seeing his face properly today, he had quite a handsome face. Because of his thick eyebrows and sharp nose bridge, his features were clearly visible even from afar, and at first she thought his eyes were just slits because he narrowed them threateningly when looking at her, but seeing him with his eyes properly open, for someone without double eyelids, his eyes were quite large. He was quite tall too, and despite his slim build, he had shoulders, so the suit fit him well.
How to put it. Like, Hyun Jaeha had good reason to wait for him so desperately?
