HPK 86

“Ahem, ahem, pfft, ah, I apologize.”

Hoonyeong repeatedly cleared his throat, forcefully swallowing a laugh.

“What’s so funny that you’re cracking up, you fucking bastard.”

Taejung hurriedly wiped his lower jaw, trying to manage his own face, which he knew must have gone stupidly slack. Just seeing Hoonyeong laugh like that painted a clear picture of the expression he must be wearing. To think he would get hit with a blow like this.

“Hey, if you’re done with your fucking business, get lost.”

“Yes, ahem. I will be on my way now.”

Even though it was a clear case of Taejung taking out his anger on him, Hoonyeong paid it no mind. He covered his mouth with a clenched fist and cleared his throat a few more times, then picked up his briefcase as if to leave.

“Ah.”

But then he stopped and turned around again.

“Director Jeong separately….”

He took out a file from his bag and, in the middle of speaking, glanced at Wooseung. His eyes slowly traveled back and forth between Taejung and Wooseung. He seemed to ponder for a moment, then lightly shook the file.

“Um, should I give you this next time?”

At that moment, for some reason, the end of Taejung’s eyebrow twitched. His intention to get angry vanished for a moment, and he repeatedly rubbed the back of his neck as if flustered.

“……The study.”

Taejung indicated the direction of the study with a jerk of his chin.

“Yes, then I will just leave this in the study and go right away.”

Hoonyeong, who seemed to be turning to leave, glanced at Wooseung again. When their eyes met, he naturally broke into a soft smile.

“You’re going through a lot.”

Wooseung couldn’t readily answer and checked Taejung’s reaction. Just as expected, he was glaring at Hoonyeong with a menacing face.

“Does the President pay you well?”

Hoonyeong, undeterred, spoke to him again.

“Fuck. You wanna die?”

Taejung snatched the whiskey bottle as if he were about to throw it. Wooseung flinched in surprise, and Taejung set it down, muttering “Fuck” under his breath, but his fierce demeanor remained.

“Well then, carry on with your work.”

Hoonyeong smiled, covering his mouth with a clenched fist, and briskly turned away.

The sound of slippers on the floor quickly faded, and not long after, the front door opened and then closed. A thick silence settled over the dining room.

“Money, money. That son of a bitch.”

It wasn’t something Taejung, who had controlled Wooseung with money more than anyone, should be saying. As the saying goes, the rich are even worse; how petty had he been before giving him the card? Hoonyeong, who had watched from the side, couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.

Taejung met eyes with Wooseung, who was staring blankly at him.

“I’m not giving you any money.”

“……”

“You’re the one who clearly said the card was enough.”

The credit card Taejung had given him could be used for cash withdrawals, so there was no inconvenience in using it. Thanks to it, he had long been freed from the pressure of living expenses and loan repayments that had been choking him. Yet Taejung continued to speak as if threatening Wooseung, who hadn’t said a word, that he wouldn’t give him any money.

“But….”

After fuming by himself for a while, his lips suddenly twisted into a nasty smirk.

“Looks like you’re really not scared of me anymore. What? Jealousy?”

He glared at Wooseung, who was staring back with wide, blank eyes. He had such a dazed face, yet who knew what was going on inside his head; every time he was taken by surprise, it made his own head tingle.

“Jealousy is ha….”

The dull sound of a finger tapping the table echoed irregularly.

“Hey, you think I’m a pushover, don’t you.”

Taejung lightly flicked Wooseung’s cheek with his other hand, as if giving him a little rap on the forehead. The white flesh trembled like pudding.

“You’re not a pushover.”

‘……You’re not a pushover.’

Wooseung replied with the same answer as he had once before, in a slow tone.

“If I’m such a pushover, why don’t you drop the formalities while you’re at it.”

However, Taejung sneered as if to say, as if you would ever do that. And he added something that could have been either a joke or a serious suggestion, to drop the formal speech.

“How can you use polite speech when you feel so wronged? Drop it. Wooseung-ah, we’re the same age.”

Taejung leaned forward slightly, resting his hands on the table. Their eye levels, which hadn’t matched due to the height difference, finally formed a slightly slanted straight line.

For Wooseung, this fight that had suddenly started again was just tiring. It was because every single thing he said, Taejung would pounce on it as if he had caught him red-handed and go on a rampage like this.

Wooseung discreetly shifted his gaze to a point behind him and gently shook his head.

“Speaking informally……. It’s okay.”

“Ah, so speaking informally is okay?”

Taejung straightened up and mocked Wooseung’s reply.

He says this is okay, that is okay, but when it comes to the crucial moment, he strikes you from behind with words you never even considered. Maybe even now, he’s just pretending to be okay, pretending to be nice, while secretly harboring some cute little thought.

“……”

He watched Wooseung with a searching gaze. That dazed face that couldn’t even be bothered to hide its annoyance and fatigue.

What could he be thinking?

What is he hiding inside while acting so bland?

An intense curiosity arose, and Taejung did not hesitate. The impulse to find out what was inside that head, even if he had to mess it up completely, took over his brain.

Tap, tap. The movement of the finger hitting the table suddenly stopped. He reached out and brought over the whiskey. He opened it in an instant, tossed the cap aside carelessly, and slammed the bottle onto the table with a thud.

“Let’s play a drinking game.”

“A drinking game……. So suddenly?”

Wooseung’s eyelids blinked rapidly.

“You like to drink. I like games.”

“……”

“Killing two birds with one stone.”

Could that really be brushed off as killing two birds with one stone? Why would he suddenly want to play a drinking game…….

Wooseung stared at the whiskey with a confused face. The unique shape that widened toward the top, the deep almond-colored liquid, and…….

“……I don’t want to drink.”

He slowly shook his head. Not only did he not particularly like whiskey, but he had clearly seen ‘43%’ written on the package earlier. It was a proof high enough to knock him out after just a few shots straight. And knowing Taejung, he would surely be determined to make him drink.

“This is expensive, you know?”

Taejung held up the whiskey and shook it playfully.

“I don’t like whiskey.”

“Ah, right. You like soju.”

“……I don’t like soju either.”

Taejung said, “Is that so,” and breezily ignored Wooseung’s words.

Wooseung, with a pouting face, looked back and forth between the whiskey and Taejung, then discreetly shifted his body back.

“I’m not going to drink. I don’t want to play a game either.”

He didn’t understand why he suddenly had to play a drinking game with Taejung. Especially since the memory of being forced to drink barley tea and alcohol by his coercion was still vivid, it was an extremely unwelcome proposition.

“Then you don’t have to drink.”

At the shameless voice, Wooseung found himself staring at Taejung, almost glaring.

“How can I not drink? It’s a drinking game….”

“If you lie, you drink. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to drink. It’s damn simple, isn’t it.”

“……”

“Then shall we start?”

And so the game, which he had never agreed to, began. Taejung took out one of the shot glasses that came as a gift with the whiskey and roughly tore off the packaging. The gushing liquid quickly filled the tall, slender glass. He skillfully poured until it was just about to overflow and then set the bottle down.

And…….

“Are older guys your type?”

A question like a thunderbolt struck Wooseung’s ears just as he was wiggling his toes, trying to time his escape.

Just now… what did he say?

Are older guys my type?

Wooseung looked up at Taejung, unable to control his expression. Despite his face being a clear picture of bewilderment, Taejung, the one who had asked the strange question, was astonishingly brazen.

“……”

Knowing Taejung, it wouldn’t be strange for him to brand all his answers as lies and force him to drink, so he had intended to make his answers as ambiguous and vague as possible.

But to ask if older guys were his type……. Such a question had not occupied even a single line on his list of anticipated questions.

“I don’t particularly like older guys….”

He answered, harboring a sense of anxiety in a corner of his heart.

As expected, Taejung showed a displeased expression at the ambiguous answer. The next question immediately followed.

“Then?”

“……”

“Same age, younger?”

Wooseung didn’t answer and just frowned.

“What is it?”

“……”

“Hey, if you don’t answer, you have to drink too.”

Taejung’s slipper lightly tapped the tip of Wooseung’s slipper. There was no force behind it at all. Glancing at his slipper as it returned to its place, Wooseung opened his mouth.

“……But, President.”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?”

“……”

“You’ve already asked three questions, President.”

Taejung’s lips parted slightly, as if he had been attacked out of the blue. He moved his lips, flustered, then soon reacted irritably, “What do you mean, three.”

“Older, same age, younger.”

“……”

“That’s three….”

The slow, trailing voice still had a tender and affectionate quality to it. Taejung hid his tingling fingertips by clenching them into a fist, and instead, his eyes glared even more fiercely.

“It is three….”

After a few seconds passed like that, Taejung, who had been staring holes through Wooseung, blurted out.

“Then count it as three, fuck.”

When he had no grounds to deny what the other person said, he always answered in that do it or don’t, I don’t care kind of way. He got excessively prideful about things he couldn’t control. Like a child who deludes himself into thinking the world revolves around him.

A single short answer contained the very essence of the person named ‘Eom Taejung’.

It’s childish beyond measure, and on the other hand, it makes one wonder how he managed to age like that. Even now, he was glaring at him with a face full of displeasure. And then, suddenly, he felt like laughing. The man had such a huge build and an atmosphere that seemed impenetrable, yet the reality was that he was so childish and petty…….

Wooseung pressed his lower lip inward, erasing the smile. He reined it in beforehand, just in case he got picked on for laughing.

“Then…… can I ask a question now?”

“Ah.”

Taejung said, as if something suddenly came to mind.

“But you didn’t answer.”

“My answer? Oh, I did….”

He had definitely given the ambiguous answer that he wasn’t particularly into older guys. The corners of Taejung’s mouth shot up in a smirk.

“Same age, younger. Which one of those is your type.”

He rambled on with the lame excuse that if he was going to count it as three questions anyway, then he should answer them all. And yet, he was proudly lifting his chin.

“See, you didn’t answer.”

His red lips parted slightly, and a sigh he couldn’t quite hide escaped from between them. Wooseung’s dumbfounded gaze landed on that handsome face, which overflowed with its characteristic vigor.