MW 48

“Fuck, Seo Yijae…”

No, everything was Seo Yijae’s fault. His body was like a whore’s anyway. What would change if he spread his legs one more time! If he had just kept his mouth shut, things wouldn’t have gotten this bad. All his anger and resentment was directed at Yijae.

“Just you wait. I really won’t let you off this time. I’m going to actually kill you.”

Picking up a bottle of strong liquor, Dohae’s brow furrowed tightly at that moment. Come to think of it, where the hell was Seo Yijae now, after causing all that trouble and running away from home? As soon as he had that thought, a sense of anxiety began to bloom deep inside Dohae’s chest.

‘No way…’

Staggering up from the bed, he rummaged through the messy floor and picked up his phone from a corner.

“If I’m right, then…”

Thinking of Yijae, Dohae’s eyes widened, the blood vessels in them bursting, and he called someone.

—Yes, this is Secretary Oh.

Less than 10 seconds after the ringing started, Secretary Oh’s voice came through the receiver. It was a perfectly dispassionate voice, neither high nor low, and Dohae clenched his teeth.

“It’s me.”

—Yes, I am aware, young master.

“Ha. You don’t know why I called, Secretary Oh?”

Hearing the reply, Dohae felt as if all the effects of the alcohol had vanished. Grinding his teeth, he swept the dishes on the table onto the floor.

Crash, the expensive dishes shattered mercilessly, and Dohae, breathing heavily in his excitement, opened his mouth.

“How long do I have to stay here? What the hell are Father and Mother thinking! I heard Dohyeon-hyung even woke up…”

—Young master.

At the audacity of Secretary Oh, who dared to cut him off, Dohae let out a short, incredulous breath with a cold, hardened face.

—The chairman has not yet sorted out his thoughts. Please wait quietly.

“Are you crazy?”

—I will hang up now.

Click, the call ended, and Dohae’s lips twisted into a snarl as he stared at his phone screen. The family dog, who wouldn’t have even dared to speak to him in the past, was now trying to bite its master.

Vowing not to let him off the hook when he returned home, Dohae took in his reflection in the mirror.

His always glamorous and neat appearance was gone, and the man looking back at him was a wreck, like a ruined man.

“No. That’s not me!”

He grabbed whatever was at hand and threw it at the mirror. Only when the glass shattered and the man’s image completely disappeared did he feel like he could breathe.

But Dohae frowned at the stinging sensation on his cheek. He stared blankly at the bloodstain on his fingertip and clenched his fist.

“Why am I…”

Clutching his head, Dohae squatted on the floor and began to search for strong liquor, as if escaping from reality.

“Bring me alcohol. Fuck, just bring me anything strong!”

All the bottles he could grab were empty. Ordering a few more bottles of liquor through room service, he leaned back on the sofa and gasped for breath.

Just then, he heard a ringing sound in his ear. Was it Secretary Oh? Dohae shot up from his seat, rummaged through the pile of trash, and, guessing where the sound was coming from, finally found his phone.

“Hello, Secretary Oh?”

—What the. You were already drinking? Your tongue’s all twisted, you must be drunk already.

It wasn’t the voice he expected. Rubbing his blurry eyes, Dohae checked the caller’s name and chewed on his lip in annoyance.

“I’m not in the mood to talk, hang up.”

—Hey, by the way, do you work at Hidden?

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

He had played along because there was nothing to lose by being friendly, but it seemed he was crossing the line. Why on earth would he, the second son of the Sejin Group, be working at a bar like Hidden?

Just as Dohae was about to open his mouth to give Oh Seokmin a piece of his mind for spouting such ridiculous nonsense, he bit the inside of his mouth as a headache washed over him, feeling as if his head would split open.

—No, Kim Yoonchae said she saw you there? What? It wasn’t Gu Dohae but a guy who looks like him?

From the conversation they were having amongst themselves over the phone, the words “a guy who looks like me” caught his attention. Dohae, who had closed his eyes, opened them and tightened his grip on the phone, saying.

“Where did she say she saw him? Hidden?”

—Yeah, she said she saw him at the entrance there? What, is it true?

So that’s where that damn son of a bitch is hiding? He who had been leaning against the sofa, got up from his seat.

“Could that be true? Hang up.”

—Hey, hey. Gu Dohae!

Dohae, who hung up the phone abruptly, was about to head out the door, but then remembered his appearance and changed direction, heading into the bathroom. He couldn’t go meet that bastard looking like this.

‘I’ll never lose to you.’

Biting the inside of his mouth, Dohae tasted the metallic tang of blood and thought of Seo Yijae with gleaming eyes.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

Jaeha, who was waiting for Yijae in the car, muttered to himself at the weather forecast that said it would rain a little later.

“Was there an umbrella in the car?”

It was almost time for Yijae’s shift to end. He rubbed his tired eyes, perhaps from looking at documents in the dark for a long time, and quietly got out of the car. As he was moving to the back seat to look for an umbrella, Jaeha’s gaze shifted to a car pulling in at high speed.

Seeing it swerving, ignoring all the lanes, he could guess the driver’s condition at a glance. His brow furrowed as he picked up his phone.

Jaeha, who spotted the face of the man who got out of the driver’s seat after stopping the car haphazardly in the parking lot, got out of his own car and moved quickly.

“Gu Dohae!”

Jaeha, grabbing Dohae’s wrist with a highly agitated face, blocked his path and said.

“Ha… hyung, what are you doing here?”

Jaeha frowned at the strong smell of alcohol wafting through the air.

“Did you just drink and drive?”

He got behind the wheel in this state? Jaeha’s grip on his wrist tightened. He knew he wasn’t in his right mind, but he didn’t know he would be this reckless.

Just then, as Jaeha was about to open his phone to report him to the police, Dohae’s lips twisted into a smirk and he spoke.

“Seo Yijae.”

Jaeha lifted his head as he uttered Yijae’s name.

“You’re the one who took him, right?”

“That’s right. Yijae is with me.”

“Ha, that fucking bastard Seo Yijae finally…”

“Watch your mouth.”

Jaeha didn’t hold back his anger at his unhesitating profanity towards Yijae. Dohae’s eyes, who didn’t even let out a single groan despite the pain, were filled with venom.

“Why, did you sleep with Seo Yijae or something? Was he that good? Well, it’s true that men can’t help themselves when they see him, I wonder how sluttishly he acte…”

“I told you to watch your mouth, Gu Dohae.”

If he had it his way, he wanted to rip that mouth apart right now. He wondered how many times he had hurt Yijae and carved out his heart with his blade-like words in his absence. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like bitter bile would rise in his throat.

“Haha, really. It’s amazing. You never gave me a second glance. What’s the difference between him and me? What am I lacking that Seo Yijae has!”

“You are not Seo Yijae.”

“…What?”

Dohae, who had been shouting like a madman, shaking his head as if venting his pent-up anger, lifted his head with a dazed expression, as if he had lost his mind at Jaeha’s words.

“Do you think he can abandon his own mother?”

A sneering remark flowed from his mouth, his eyes bloodshot and red. As expected, Gu Dohae was trying to threaten him using Yijae’s mother as a weapon. To think that Gu Dohae, who still didn’t know anything, would try to shake Yijae with that.