HPK 45

Wooseung did not even know what kind of ‘errand’ Hyungho wanted to do. He did not understand the intention behind asking him, “Should I let him do it?” when he knew nothing at all. It felt like an unnecessary spark was flying his way, and he simply resented Taejung. Wooseung compulsively licked his lower lip before reluctantly parting his lips.

“I do not really know……”

He meant, so do not ask me.

“Ah, again.”

Taejung’s face immediately colored with disappointment. He even grumbled that Wooseung, who always dodged and weaved, was annoying. Nevertheless, Wooseung did not add any more words until the very end.

“Alright, then.”

Taejung straightened his back and picked up his phone. His thumb moved quickly across the screen. He massaged the nape of his neck with his free hand, as if his neck, which he had been bending uncomfortably, was stiff.

“When Hoonyeong comes, follow him.”

“Th, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President!”

Hyungho shot up from his seat and bowed ninety degrees. His unkempt hair scattered messily. Taejung’s gaze fell in turn on his face, which had changed to look like someone who had been sick for a long time, his wrinkled shirt, and his cheap belt. But it quickly lost interest and scattered hazily.

Soon, Hoonyeong, who had been contacted, arrived. Hyungho, who sprang up like a jack-in-the-box, repeatedly expressed his thanks. Not a trace of the venom he had when he was making threats could be found in his appearance. His glistening eyes were now colored with joy.

“Ah, Hoonyeong-ah.”

Taejung stopped him as he was about to turn away. Hoonyeong and Hyungho turned around at the same time.

“Take good care of him.”

Taejung said as he stood the lighter upright and tapped it against the table, thwack, thwack.

“Very good care.”

At the meaningful addition, Hoonyeong’s eyes shifted, shhhk, toward Hyungho. Presently, a dry voice, devoid of any emotion, flowed out.

“Yes, I understand.”

The door closed, and Taejung stretched. He leaned back against the backrest and murmured, “Ah, this is fucking hilarious.”

“This is why I do not believe a word those whores say.”

He shifted his shoulders slightly and looked at Wooseung.

“They are two-faced.”

The smile hanging from his twisted lips had a different weight than usual.

“Anyway, it is a special trait of bastards who do drugs. They cannot tell their ass from their elbow.”

Taejung clicked his tongue as if he found it pathetic. Wooseung did not reply and just quietly cast his eyes down. The ensuing silence made his toes curl.

“Why are you acting so distant? You have been since a while ago.”

Taejung tapped his cheek with the back of his hand, thwack. His head was pushed back powerlessly.

“What?”

“I am asking why you have been playing so fucking hard to get. It is annoying.”

His voice gradually became more irritable. As he listened, it seemed to be getting more and more similar to his voice from when he had been acting rough on the stairs. He had been all over him just a moment ago, so he did not know why he was annoyed again.

“I was not playing hard to get. I just…… did not know how I should act.”

At the gentle answer, Taejung stared at Wooseung. His characteristic dazed face had a particularly vacant look when it was expressionless.

“Am I your first?”

“……What?”

“Do not pretend you do not know.”

Wooseung thought for a moment. Taejung was the first man he had slept with.

“The first, time.”

But it was not his first time having sex itself.

“Well, you were fucking bad at it.”

Taejung, who had been drumming his thigh with his index finger as if sizing something up, turned his body completely toward Wooseung. He folded his right leg, put it on the sofa, and rested his arm on the table. Then, with his chin propped on the back of his hand, he observed Wooseung.

“Do you want to keep sleeping with me?”

At the unexpected words, Wooseung blinked his eyes slowly.

“You said I was bad at it. So why……”

He had thought it was just a spontaneous one-night stand driven by impulse. He had heard that sexual desire sometimes followed intense exercise or violent acts. That day, Taejung had assaulted a customer, and the un-subsided excitement had coincidentally been directed at him.

“I……. I do not know. That day, you too, Mr. President……”

“I was not asking.”

Taejung cut Wooseung off coldly.

“Why are you deliberating?”

He fiddled with his earlobe with his hand, then pressed his chin firmly with his thumb. It was not an intentional action. He was generally the type who could not keep his hands still. He constantly kept his hands busy, either by playing with a lighter or by breaking a cigarette.

“……”

The cold face, from which the smile had vanished, gave off a chilling sensation. When he made such an indifferent face, Wooseung would become terrified. The events that had happened so far unfolded in his mind, and his heart churned. To act so rashly in front of such a person……. Hyungho suddenly seemed amazing. It was something he would not be able to do even if his liver trembled with fear, so how could he have done it?

“I have a debt to the establishment, so I have to keep working.”

“Work. Who told you not to?”

“……”

“How long does it take to have sex?”

Taejung said it as if it were no big deal. The memory of being tormented all through that dawn was still vivid, so was he being shameless, or did he have no sense of shame? Probably both.

“I told you I was not asking.”

As the silence lengthened, Taejung warned him again. Wooseung wiped the clammy sweat from his palms on his pants. After swallowing hard, he cautiously brought up what he had been contemplating all along.

“Then, is this by any chance…… a sponsorship?”

“What?”

The hand that had been pressing his chin stopped. His voice, mixed with his breath, was uncharacteristically dazed.

A moment later, Taejung burst out laughing, revealing his neat teeth, as if he were about to die.

“Ahaha!”

“……”

“Wow, fuck……”

As his laughter gradually subsided, he rubbed the nape of his neck. His lips were still stretched wide. Through them, a sound like air escaping, pfft, pfft, seeped out as laughter.

“You want to get paid for it?”

“……”

“Is the watch not enough?”

“That, I will return it to you.”

Wooseung, with a desperate face, repeatedly said that he would definitely return it. Since he had not the slightest interest in the watch that had already left his hands, Taejung barely listened.

“But Mr. President, why do you want to…… sleep with me? You said you did not do it with men.”

Wooseung asked, holding on to a faint sliver of courage. After a moment of thought, he tilted his chin up and said.

“Because you are easy?”

Even after hearing the answer, he did not particularly understand. To him, all the hosts at Kirin would be easy. And among them, there would be those who would gladly accept Taejung’s proposal.

Taejung was good-looking, and he had so much that his violent personality could be dismissed as a minor flaw. Leaving aside for now whether it was money earned cleanly and respectably.

“I have never done anything like this before……. Would not you be uncomfortable too, Mr. President?”

“……”

“It would be better to have someone with this kind of experience rather than me, uh……”

As Wooseung cautiously conveyed his opinion, a wrinkled piece of clothing came into his view. It was the white T-shirt Taejung was wearing under his anorak. He reached out and straightened the hem that was folded outward.

“I think that would be better.”

Taejung’s eyes followed the white fingers that had straightened the T-shirt and withdrawn, with a persistent gaze. The sleeves of the knit sweater half-covered the back of his hand. Below it, the long, outstretched fingers were white and straight. The closely trimmed nails had a pinkish hue.

“……”

He rubbed the inside of his cheek hard with his tongue. Saliva kept pooling, yet for some reason, he felt thirsty.

His glistening eyes went to the space between the loose-fitting knit, toward the straight collarbone, and then slowly moved up. When he met the gentle, drooping eyes straight on, the pathetically trembling pupils were very clearly visible. He was so amusing and detestable, trying to slip away in every which way.

“Wooseung-ah. Sell when the price is high.”

“……”

“Do not regret it when your value hits rock bottom.”

So he deliberately threw out insulting words. As expected, the clear face hardened nicely.

“You are at your most expensive right now.”

The force with which he gripped the small jaw was fierce. His thin body fell back powerlessly. The bright light stabbed painfully into Wooseung’s eyes.