The problem was the competing construction companies. Even though Hyoseong-dong was on the outskirts, it was still part of Seoul, and once they demolished all the old buildings, the land condition was decent. The soil composition was uniform and the groundwater level was low, so the ground’s moisture content was minimal.
If things proceeded according to plan, it would be a jackpot location. For that reason, Geumін Construction, which had grown in a similar way to Taehyun Construction, and Mijung Construction, backed by solid corporate capital from a major corporation, were still showing signs of not giving up their lingering attachment to Hyoseong-dong.
Since Chairman Tae’s prime, they’d quietly bought up land and buildings in Hyoseong-dong with company capital and his personal assets, nailing down that this was Taehyun’s land. Nevertheless, they’d caught signs of them scheming again, taking advantage of the gap when Chairman Tae collapsed.
It was a time with many things to worry about in various ways. The empty water bottle crumpled in his grip. Ganghyuk, who threw the bottle into the trash can, placed his palms on the bare floor and put his full body weight on them. As he slowly bent his elbows and lowered his upper body, the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and back rippled gracefully.
‘When your head’s complicated, sweating through exercise is the best.’
Chairman Tae’s voice suddenly brushed past his ear. Following Yeon Cheolho, he was the benefactor who had put Ganghyuk’s life back on a normal track.
ლ
“Is there something on my face?”
“N-no.”
When Ganghyuk, sensing the furtive glances, lifted his pitch-black eyes and asked, Ian quickly played dumb. Though he said that, Ian’s earlobes were already dyed red.
Ever since seeing Ganghyuk’s bare body—strictly speaking, his undressed upper body—Ian’s face grew hot whenever he saw Ganghyuk, recalling those sculpted muscles.
The tiger tattoo engraved on his firmly honed upper body seemed to breathe on his skin, intimidating yet cool in itself.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen someone with tattoos. Among Hongdo’s subordinates and the employees who worked at the club, there were many with noticeable tattoos.
But when he looked at them, he only felt scared and never once felt his heart flutter. Even though Ganghyuk was now wearing a pitch-black shirt, why was his naked body shimmering in his eyes?
Of all times, he’d run into Ganghyuk on his way to shower after having a wet dream. When asked if the wet dream was about him, his heart had pounded as if it would leap out of his throat in surprise.
Though he’d said no, from that moment Ian kept gauging Ganghyuk’s reactions. He couldn’t stay still, thinking that maybe Ganghyuk had discovered his feelings.
He was confused, having both the thought that his feelings shouldn’t be discovered yet and the desire for Ganghyuk to notice.
That’s why he kept stealing glances at Ganghyuk like a thief and blushing. Having absolutely no immunity to this kind of emotion, it was too hard to act like nothing was wrong.
“I won’t be able to come home for a few days.”
“It’s really not… What?”
Ian, who had been unconsciously saying no, asked back in surprise. Ever since the two of them had started living together, although Ganghyuk had come home past midnight before, there had never been a single day when he’d stayed out overnight.
Strength entered Ian’s hand gripping his chopsticks. He felt restless because he had never slept here alone yet. Before, his grandfather had always been with him, and after returning here again, Ganghyuk had been living with him, so there had been no opportunity to be scared.
He worried about what to do if his father or Hongdo came looking for him while he was alone. Would it be okay to ask why he couldn’t come home?
“Lock the doors well. And don’t open the door if strangers come looking for you.”
At the following words, Ian’s brow furrowed sharply. He could sense it in what Ganghyuk was saying. That he was only looking at him as a child.
“Contact me right away if anything happens.”
However, at the words that followed, Ian squeezed his toes tightly inside his indoor slippers. As soon as he heard those seemingly indifferent yet affectionate words, his heart pounded.
He had been feeling self-conscious about only he himself making contact. Although he’d added the precondition of “if anything happens,” he felt good knowing that Ganghyuk was concerned about him.
“Okay.”
Ian answered with a bright smile and a strong voice. A hint of a smile flickered across the lips of Ganghyuk, who had his head lowered, but unfortunately Ian didn’t see it.
ლ
“Hey, four soup rice bowls here.”
“Yes! Please wait just a moment.”
At the rough voice, Ian reflexively smiled and rubbed his palms on his apron to wipe them clean. In that brief moment, his palms had become drenched in cold sweat.
The cause of his tension was four burly men who were clearly not from this neighborhood at first glance. Occupying an entire table as they sat down, they looked around the shop, then stared intently at Ian while snickering among themselves, which felt ominous.
Seeing the thuggish men naturally brought thoughts of Ganghyuk to mind. Two days had already passed since Ganghyuk hadn’t come home. During that time, Ian had struggled desperately to adapt to the time spent alone.
Every dawn he had nightmares, so he’d turned on all the lights in the house and even left the door to Ganghyuk’s room wide open, but he hadn’t contacted him just because he was scared.
If it had been before he’d become aware of his feelings of affection, maybe, but when no dangerous situation had occurred, he didn’t want to bother him by calling in the middle of the night.
But right now, he desperately wished that Ganghyuk would appear at the shop like magic. The men were all wearing jet-black suits with flashily printed shirts.
Though he hadn’t looked properly, two of the men had what appeared to be knife scars on their faces. Not only were their builds uniformly large, as if two or three of Ian’s bodies had been stuck together, but the conversation sounds reaching him were close to lewd talk.
“Ah, I’m going to fuck that Madam Jeong bitch soon. She’s so stuck-up despite being old. At the end of the day, she’s just a bitch who sells her body.”
“Cut it out. There are widespread rumors that Madam Jeong’s backing is no joke. If you get involved with her the wrong way and it reaches hyung-nim’s ears, you’d better be prepared to lose a pinky finger for real this time, you bastard. Did you already forget when you got half your finger cut off last time? You fucker with a brain full of nothing but cum.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go there instead. You know that place Daesik recommended. Didn’t they say a bunch of new omegas came in there this time? They said there are tons of young brats with soft peach fuzz. Let’s go empty our dusty balls before their holes get worn out.”
“Why is this bastard so crazy about omegas when he’s not even an alpha. A guy who can’t even smell pheromones.”
Ian swallowed dry saliva while placing four earthenware pots on the stove at once and just waiting for them to boil vigorously. Just in case, he sniffed the air. He only smelled the savory soup rice aroma.
Remembering the gaze that had scanned over him earlier, goosebumps rose on his arms. Moreover, he could sense a faint pheromone scent, as if there was an alpha among the group.
Judging by how the scent wasn’t strong, they were recessive. Leaking pheromones in public places was extremely bad-mannered behavior, but the men seemed like ruffians who didn’t care about others’ gazes.
You could tell just by watching them talk loudly as if they’d rented out the entire shop, even though there were other customers in the shop besides them.
When one elderly person glanced at them, they slammed down on the sheet metal table hard enough to make a clanging sound and displayed their displeasure.
“Hey, old man. What’s with those eyes of yours? If you came to eat food, just eat and get lost quickly. I’m dying from the disgusting smell of old people.”
Strength fully entered Ian’s hand gripping the ladle. The elderly person the punk was picking a fight with was someone Ian knew well. He was someone who survived day by day collecting waste paper, and because he liked the soup rice his grandfather cooked, once a month he would carefully spend his saved-up money to buy soup rice.
The elderly man shrank his shoulders and put down his spoon. He fumbled to take out five thousand-won bills from his pocket and smoothed their crumpled edges with his palm before approaching Ian, who was in the kitchen.
“Son, here’s the payment for the meal…”
