HPK 52

[Bareun Dental Clinic

Total: 27,000 won]

Wooseung’s heart sank when he found the receipt while organizing the wallet that was now missing a ten thousand won bill. The thrilling excitement that had lingered at his fingertips vanished somewhere, and anxiety crept in, the kind that comes after making a huge mistake. He rubbed the edge of the receipt, trying to recapture the faded sensation, but it was hazy like a dream.

‘I bought you. You, Mr. President.’

Was it just a foolish act of bravado?

He had not even been drinking, so he did not know where he got the courage to hand Taejung ten thousand won. Wooseung chewed on the deep regret that settled into the space left by the excitement. Amidst it all, he hated himself for thinking, I should have done it after my root canal was finished.

“Ah, this is so annoying……”

But what was done could not be undone. Knowing this fact, the only thing he could do now was to ignore the endless waves of self-blame and depression. And the only way he knew to shake off the gloom was……. as far as he knew, there was only one.

Wooseung found his phone and checked Jaemin’s work schedule. As if by fate, it was Jaemin’s day off. On his days off, Jaemin almost always stayed up all night playing games or drinking with friends. It was well past midnight, but he was certain he would be awake.

Ring, riiing—. The ringing tone did not last long before Jaemin answered the phone.

“What are you doing?”

—Uh? Ah, uh, um……. Why? What’s up?

Jaemin did not readily answer the question of what he was doing and mumbled his words.

“Hey, you want to get a drink?”

—Uh, hsss……. I don’t think I can today.

Loud music could be heard behind Jaemin’s voice. It seemed he was outside.

“Are you out?”

—Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I’m out right now for a company dinner.

“You have company dinners often.”

—What do you mean often. We’re just doing all at once the ones we couldn’t do because we were busy. Hey, I gotta go. The team leader is looking for me.

The call ended abruptly before Wooseung could even reply.

Did they go to a karaoke bar or something……. Jaemin rarely enjoyed karaoke because his singing never improved even after attending a vocal correction academy. It must be quite an ordeal for him too. Thinking this, Wooseung unfolded his knees, which he had been hugging.

There was a bruise on the knee revealed below his shorts. It was not just there, either. His entire body was covered with bruises and red marks. Taejung was truly strong. When he grabbed with intention, not only did his skin chafe with pain, but it also felt like the bones and muscles beneath were being crushed.

‘Hey, you just wait and see.’

His jaw, hardened with agitation, his flushed cheeks, his flashing gaze.

Wooseung covered the bruise on his knee with his palm. Even so, his whole body still ached and throbbed.

He could only earnestly hope that he would not run into Taejung at the establishment tomorrow, and that today’s incident would make him so thoroughly pissed off that he would completely lose interest in him.

After arriving at Gimhae Airport, Hyungho stayed at his residence for a day. Afterwards, he moved with Hoonyeong to an abandoned factory in Pocheon. The last time, they had finished the job at an officetel in Namyangju, so the destination had suddenly been changed to Pocheon.

“Section Chief-nim. Why am I here……”

Hyungho looked around with an anxious gaze. Unlike the cool air outside, the air inside the abandoned factory was rather damp. Because of his rapidly beating heart, a slight heat even began to creep in.

“You’ll fall. Look ahead.”

Hoonyeong pointed forward in an indifferent tone. There was a lot of machinery and the overall lighting was dim, making it the perfect place to trip and fall if one was not paying attention. Apparently worried, he grabbed Hyungho’s elbow. The hand itself looked black because of the dense tattoos covering the back of it.

It was an uncharacteristic kindness from Hoonyeong, but Hyungho could not feel completely at ease. This was because the place where his gaze had briefly landed and then dropped was not his face or the ground, but his own abdomen.

“Why, why did we come here……”

Hyungho gulped, swallowing, and frantically looked around at the floor, walls, and ceiling. The speed at which his eyelids blinked was also noticeably faster than usual. Although this was only his second errand, he instinctively realized that things were going wrong.

In the distance, he could see Taejung. He was sitting backwards on a steel chair, his arms stretched out and resting on the backrest. In that position, with his head bowed low, he was motionless. Only the phone in his hand trembled faintly. The men lined up in front of him also stood more at attention than usual.

Hyungho stopped at a slight distance from Taejung. The atmosphere was quite different from usual, and his Adam’s apple bobbed continuously even though he had no more saliva to swallow.

“You’re here?”

Taejung asked, only turning his head slightly. An eerie energy flowed over his expressionless face. He looked to be in a particularly bad mood.

“Yes, yes.”

Hyungho answered in a trembling voice. In the meantime, Hoonyeong brought a chair and gestured with his head for him to sit. As his butt touched the cold chair, his body began to tremble. Perhaps because he had not even been able to comfortably drink a sip of water until now, his lips were parched and his throat felt cracked. To make matters worse, his stomach was slowly starting to hurt. It was because of the medicine Hoonyeong had given him earlier.

The inside of the factory was dim due to the low lighting, but it was not so dark that objects could not be distinguished. While busily looking around, he found a place that looked like an office. There was a firmly closed door on the wall of a shipping container. After glancing at Taejung and Hoonyeong, he cautiously opened his mouth.

“Section Chief-nim. I’m getting the signal now……. May I go to the bathroom?”

He was not tied up, but he could not just get up and leave as he pleased. Hoonyeong, who saw where Hyungho was glancing, turned his gaze back to his phone without answering.

“Sec, Section Chief-nim. My stomach hurts so much. I don’t think I can hold it in any longer here……”

“If it’s not that urgent, wait a little bit.”

“Hngh……. Yes, yes.”

He broke out in a cold sweat with a feeling like his intestines were twisting. When the signal came, Hyungho wanted to get what was inside his body out as much as possible. It was a much larger quantity than last time, so he was scared that something might go wrong if he held it in any longer. He was like this even though he knew it had been double-wrapped and that condoms do not tear that easily.

“Haah.”

Just then, Taejung threw his head back and let out a sigh. He got up from his seat, rubbed the back of his neck, and then grabbed the backrest of the steel chair with his hand.

“Does your stomach hurt a lot?”

He approached Hyungho, dragging the steel chair behind him. Screeeech, the unpleasant sound of it scraping the floor cut straight through the space.

“Ah, well, I think I can hold it for up to, hngh, five more minutes.”

Hyungho answered in a trembling voice, keeping an eye on Taejung. Unlike his usual attire, Taejung was wearing a stiffly ironed white dress shirt and black slacks. The casual sneakers offset the formal attire a little, but it was a distinctly different outfit from his usual.

“It’s a wonder you weren’t late.”

Taejung rubbed his eyebrow, saying, “My sister-in-law asked me to stay longer, but I blew her off and just came.”

He sat down on the steel chair he had dragged over. He tried to run his hands through his hair, but felt the stiffly styled strands and muttered a low curse.

“Hoonyeong-ah. Does this really look better?”

Hoonyeong’s gaze went to Taejung’s forehead, which was handsomely exposed with all his hair swept back.

“It is much neater.”

“It looks fucking awful.”

Taejung scowled as he looked at his reflection in his phone. The look with all his hair pushed back to expose his forehead felt quite unfamiliar.

Because his older brother, Taesu, preferred a neat and tidy appearance, he had to stick to uncomfortable attire whenever he met him. Although he was generally insolent, he made an effort to stay on the good side of his brother and sister-in-law.

Taejung was exactly 12 years younger than his brother, Taesu. Because sons were rare in their family, he had been adored everywhere he went since birth, and Taesu, who was much older, also cherished him. So much so that despite his extremely busy schedule, he would arrange a meal at least once a month to personally check on his younger brother’s well-being.

“Hyungho-ya. Did you have a good game of golf?”

Taejung lowered his phone and asked Hyungho. With his hand pressed against his lower abdomen, Hyungho barely managed to answer. He did not even realize that this was the first time Taejung had called him by his correct name.

“Yes, yes, hngh……. Mr. President.”

“Why is this guy panting like this.”

Taejung frowned as if the sound was unpleasant to his ears.

“It’s because my stomach, my stomach hurts so much right now.”

Hyungho looked around with anxious eyes. Was it because of the gloominess of the abandoned factory, or was it a warning from his instincts? Only bad thoughts kept coming to mind. It’s a job that will be over once he goes to the bathroom and empties his insides. There is no reason to bring him all the way here. The bad thoughts fed on plausible evidence and swelled up in an instant. It was even harder to find his composure because his stomach hurt as if it would rip open.

“He hasn’t eaten anything, so why would his stomach hurt……”

Taejung raised an eyebrow as if he did not understand. As he said, Hyungho had not had a single meal since before boarding the plane. He had even been careful about drinking a single sip of water.

“Last time too, after taking the medicine, I think the signal came around, around this time. If I go right now, agh, it would be perfect……”

“But Hyungho-ya.”

Taejung cut off his trembling voice coldly.

“……Yes, Mr. President.”

Hyungho, who had squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them at the churning in his lower abdomen, barely managed to answer. But at the words that followed, his face hardened completely.

“I said I’m fine with everything else, but that you shouldn’t do drugs.”

Taejung rested both his arms on his knees and leaned his upper body forward slightly. From the moment he heard the word ‘drugs,’ Hyungho lost his composure. Cold sweat trickled down his temple. Everyone present in this place knew that what he was talking about was not the laxative he had taken a short while ago.

“While you were playing your rounds in Thailand, I was so fucking nervous I almost died.”

“Mr. President, Mr. President, about that. You see, about that.”

“What would you have done if you had shitty luck and got caught…… Ah, is that what you meant by taking a risk?”

“No, no. Mr. President. That is, what I mean is……”

What I did at the club, how on earth did Taejung find out? Hyungho compulsively licked his lower lip with a deathly pale face.

“What’s in your stomach is worth 2.6 billion won.”

“Mr. President……”

“You have so much fucking debt, so does 2.6 billion won feel like, what, chump change to you?”

Even now, just managing the interest that was compounding every week was overwhelming; there was no way 2.6 billion won would feel like chump change. Hyungho, his mind racing, hurriedly opened his mouth. He endured the feeling of his intestines twisting and desperately made an excuse.

“Mr. President. But, you see, I only did herbs. Hoot, really, really, I didn’t do anything else.”

At the pathetic excuse, Taejung laughed, “Ha.”