Side story 2 Ch 2.2

The man found Im Seoncheol alone, without Kim Jung-deok.

“Mr. Im Seoncheol.”

He threw the shovel down in front of the mortuary. The clanging metal echoed in the small space.

“I found this near the drainage ditch by the mountain where Seo Byung-jin’s body was discovered. Do you know what it is?”

Im Seoncheol’s eyes widened like saucers as he recognized what had fallen from the man’s hand. Then he quickly backed away.

Watching this, the man was sure. There was something.

“I already told you, I don’t know anything. …I really don’t know anything.”

The man knew all too well how to make people like this talk.

Threats were the answer.

So he pointed the shovel toward Im Seoncheol’s chest.

Having already undergone abdominal surgery once, Im Seoncheol was so overcome with fear that he screamed in a shrill voice, “Aaaagh!”

Chased to the edge of the mortuary, he trembled as he looked at the dark red stains on the shovel. Finally, he began to stammer.

“…I, I just stopped the truck because I had to pee.”

The man narrowed his eyes. If it was just a brief stop, he must’ve been referring to the time he disappeared from the expressway.

“You just stopped the truck?”

“I thought he was dead for sure…!”

“……”

“But he suddenly sat up and attacked me.”

Clinging to the mortuary chains, Im Seoncheol screamed hysterically.

“He started strangling me from behind! He tried to kill me—for my ten million won…!”

After that outburst, a strange silence fell.

A chilling stillness settled between the man and Im Seoncheol.

“I didn’t do it.”

“I didn’t do it,” Im Seoncheol repeated, teeth chattering, body trembling. He had lived like a dog, caged for so long.

Like a man gripped by neurosis, he crawled around the mortuary on all fours, repeating the same words over and over.

“I-I had no choice if I wanted to live.”

“…So you bashed his head in with a shovel.”

Now, the pieces of the puzzle that had never quite fit finally slid into place. And what the completed puzzle pointed to was clear—Seo Byung-jin was not killed by Seo Yeowon.

Because Im Seoncheol had kept the truth hidden in order to use his nephew as a source of money, Yeowon still lived in fear. Sometimes, he wept hidden in the shadows. The man who slept beside him, skin pressed to skin, could not possibly have been unaware of Yeowon thrashing in torment each night. He had watched it all—the suffering, the anguish. Like a beast hunting its prey, he lay in wait in the dark, eyes gleaming, holding his breath, waiting for Yeowon to finally crawl into his jaws.

But Yeowon did not give in so easily. Fragile enough to shatter at a touch, yet stubborn to the end. Just a little longer, and he would crumble, the man had thought. Then Yeowon reached out, but not for him. For medicine. Drugged and disoriented, Yeowon had sobbed, saying the monster was there. And yet, he had clung to the man’s body, trembling.

It was only then that the man realized what had been gnawing away at Yeowon all this time. It was a delusion rooted in guilt—the guilt of having ended his own father’s life. It was more fitting to call it fear.

If he told Yeowon the truth, perhaps that burden of guilt could be lifted. If Yeowon didn’t believe him, if he accused him of lying, he could just show him the evidence and make him believe.

But the man never told Yeowon. Even when he handed over the bankbook and the bricks, he said nothing of the truth. No—he couldn’t.

“…CEO Jang.”

Just as he was getting ready to leave the house, he heard Yeowon’s voice calling him. He turned around. Yeowon was hugging his own waist and looking up at him, eyes wet with tears, as if they might fall at any moment. The man froze. For a moment, the world tilted. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“……”

Then, without warning, Yeowon kissed him. Clumsy and unskilled as it was, the man felt a surge of excitement. His lower body responded immediately—he wanted to tear those red lips apart. He wanted to bury himself in that sweet mouth and thrust violently. If Yeowon were to sob, vomiting and crying while looking up at him, that would be the greatest pleasure.

“…Mm.”

If he confessed the truth while facing this face, Yeowon would be set free. He had already found his mother, the guilt of murder would fade, and eventually, he would return to his proper place. He might even run away again, in search of true freedom. That thought alone made the blood under the man’s skin go cold.

The only reason Yeowon, who had once escaped him, could still stand with all limbs intact, without even a broken ankle, was because he was still bound by trauma. That trauma kept him from blending in with others. He couldn’t meet others’ eyes. Whenever someone tried to approach, he’d bristle like a cornered animal—then bolt, running away himself.

This same Yeowon had now come to him like a child, nuzzling into his arms. He kissed him and, with pitiful eyes, sought out the man’s warmth. Though his body was intact, everything he did made him seem like a cripple dragging one leg. Unstable, precarious.

So the man left him alone. Even though Yeowon had once run away, the man was confident he wouldn’t escape again. His mind was too twisted. He wouldn’t be able to let go of the one person he had given himself to.

“……”

And now, he was saying this trauma could be removed? That meant Yeowon would return to the life he once had. And that meant he might once again harbor the seed of escape in the back of his mind. Which meant—the man would have to sever Yeowon’s ankle to stop him from running. He’d have to pin him down and crush him with fear.

Then those eyes that called his name, the arms that reached out to him—those would be gone. Yeowon would face him only through fear.

That wasn’t what the man wanted. The sight of Yeowon reaching out to him voluntarily brought him more ecstasy than he’d imagined. The eye contact, the hesitant tongue—everything was sweet.

He couldn’t confess now. At his core, he was still a businessman. A businessman never does a deal that brings loss. He never lets fortune slip through his fingers. He takes what he wants.

“……”

That’s why he decided to kill Im Seoncheol. To repay him for what he had done to Yeowon. To bury the secret that only Im Seoncheol knew. For those two reasons alone, Im Seoncheol deserved to die.

As the man put on gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, getting ready to leave—

Yeowon said something unexpected.

“…CEO, then please let me go too.”

“What?”

“…If you must go, then let me go with you.”

Yeowon, who had a knack for reading the mood, must have sensed something. His face pale, he insisted on following. The man thought perhaps Yeowon wanted revenge himself.

But he never expected Yeowon to take a saw and gut Im Seoncheol. Just the thought made him tremble. So the man prepared the stage. Instead of a saw, he placed a card in Yeowon’s hand. Even when handed a good card, Yeowon kept losing. The man merely watched.

No matter what choice Yeowon made here, Im Seoncheol would die today. That was the plan.

“CEO, please don’t do it.”

Yeowon stepping in to block him—this was not part of the plan. The man was not one to let his plans fall apart before his eyes. But just this once, he stopped.

Yeowon’s eyes, clear as glass, glistened with tears like frost. Through those eyes, the man finally faced Yeowon’s fear.

Drenched in trauma, if one more thing were added, Yeowon might break completely. The man didn’t mind that either. But at the very least, he wanted Yeowon to retain some semblance of reason. So that he could look him in the eye properly, call his name with those lips.

So the man delayed his plan. Yeowon, who had fainted, asked him—while being carried on the man’s back—to please take his uncle to the hospital.

“…I’ll be punished.”

Yeowon curled up tightly, murmuring. So faint a voice, the man would have missed it without paying close attention. He asked again.

“Punished?”

“By that god… the one who said he enforces punishment.”

Yeowon muttered, glancing obsessively around the room.

“He’ll punish me too.”

“……”

He remembered what the man had said about that god who delivers punishment. Tears trickled from the ends of his long lashes. The man swallowed as he looked down at Yeowon’s teary eyes. A strange sensation spread from the center of his chest.

“I’ve done things too, so I won’t be punished alone.”

“……”

“But I’m still scared.”

The tear-streaked pale face turned to him. Those large eyes displayed raw fear, completely unguarded. He bared his vulnerable insides fully.

…Ah. The man gave a small sigh inside. He swore under his breath. Fuck.

Conflicting emotions gripped him hard. One: he wanted to grab Yeowon’s neck and twist it till it snapped. The other: he wanted to kiss that neck, lick it, make him cry out in ecstasy.

As he wiped away Yeowon’s tears, the boy leaned into him. Holding Yeowon in his arms, the man’s head filled with filthy fantasies. As Yeowon sobbed, his tongue—

“…….”

However, the man suppressed his raging sexual desire. Letting out a slow, controlled breath, he looked down at Yeowon, who had fallen asleep, and rubbed his c*ck against the inside of his thigh. He imagined thrusting inside, rocking his hips wildly, and soothing Yeowon as he whimpered in pain—but for now, coming between his thighs was enough.  

The man experienced a dry orgasm, his vision flashing white. A new kind of pleasure, unlike anything he had ever felt before, shook him to his core. If he were to bury himself in that tight, wet, warm heat, the pleasure would be incomparable… but even now, the sheer mental ecstasy alone made his nerves tingle.  

 

When his palm brushed between Yeowon’s thighs, he squirmed and whined like a small animal. The man patted his back with an unbearable touch.  

 

“…….”  

 

Instead of pushing further, he chose to hold Yeowon close and stay by his side. Even that alone was enough to leave him satisfied for the night.  

 

The next day, the man ordered Kim Joongdeok to have Im Seoncheol—still impaled on the fence—hospitalized. When Yeowon heard the news, he responded with something even more absurd.  

 

“…Please don’t lay a hand on my uncle anymore.”  

 

The man bit down on Yeowon’s tongue.  

 

“…Tch. He’s not worth it.”  

 

“…….”  

 

“Hey, promise me….”  

 

He sank his teeth into Yeowon’s long, slender neck and roughly shoved his fingers inside.  

 

“CEO….”  

 

Even as he moaned in pleasure, he didn’t forget to beg.  

 

“Fine.”  

 

The man agreed. Of course, Yeowon took it as compliance and closed his eyes, finally relaxing and surrendering fully to the pleasure the man gave him.  

 

***  

 

Several quiet weeks passed before news of Im Seoncheol reached the man’s ears. As soon as he showed signs of recovery, he couldn’t resist wandering between gambling houses.  

 

The man, who had confined Im Seoncheol to a nearby hospital, was waiting for the right moment. He had told Yeowon, who had begged him not to touch his uncle, that he would comply. Yeowon had naturally taken it as obedience…  

 

But the words “Fine” that left the man’s lips carried a different meaning. He still intended to kill Im Seoncheol. His resolve was as unshakable and cold as ice. If fear of consequences was the only thing stopping him, then he would simply bear those consequences himself. He would take revenge on behalf of Yeowon, who couldn’t even entertain the thought of hurting someone else due to his trauma, and keep him in his arms forever.  

 

The man had instructed the caregiver looking after Seo Yeowon’s mother to deliberately act as if she knew him. He planned to strike when she was with Yeowon, ensuring he had a solid alibi.  

 

The crime scene would be littered with evidence pointing to Im Seoncheol as the killer of Seo Byung-jin. The murder weapon would be found nearby, drenched in his fingerprints and blood. Prosecutors, scrambling to piece together a motive, would conclude it was a spontaneous killing during a struggle over the ten million won in Im Seonhwa’s bank account.  

 

The perfect scenario. After all, Im Seoncheol’s face had already been captured on the bank’s CCTV when he failed to withdraw money due to not knowing the PIN. It would be easy to spin a story. These were men consumed by gambling and alcohol, after all.  

 

After getting his hands on the account, Im Seoncheol would drift between gambling dens before ultimately hanging himself, unable to pay his debts.  

 

The plan was foolproof. The man saw no way it could unravel. He ordered Kim Joongdeok to bring Im Seoncheol to him.