Vol 1 Ch 11

“If someone is in a really bad situation, but they don’t know it. What would you do?”

 

Seo Sang-il, who was eating jajangmyeon with tangsuyuk on top, asked, “Huh?”

 

“Would you help them?”

 

“No? Why would I? They don’t know it, you said. Then they’ll live well.”

 

Seo Sang-il chewed and swallowed the rest of his jajangmyeon.

 

“Still, as a human being…”

 

“Hey, Kim Jinkyung.”

 

Seo Sang-il frowned and continued.

 

“Are you planning to get your ass kicked again with another act of foolishness?”

 

“No. It’s not that…”

 

“Yes, it is. You really have a hobby of getting beaten up.”

 

If Kim Jinkyung saw a student being robbed by a gangster, he couldn’t just walk by. He wasn’t good at fighting and had no strength, but he stepped in anyway, and always ended up getting beaten up. Once, Seo Sang-il happened to see Kim Jinkyung getting beaten up and helped him. They became friends because of that, but Seo Sang-il disapproved of his friend’s meddling.

 

“You’re a coward, but you always have to interfere. Anyway, don’t interfere this time. Get your head out of it.”

 

…It felt like his head was already halfway in.

 

“Oh, right. Ahyeon-noona told me to ask where you’re living. She said you don’t seem to have any friends, so she wondered if you’re sleeping on the streets.”

 

“Ahaha…”

 

The two, who were brutally honest, were a match made in heaven.

 

“Where are you living?”

 

“Uh, with someone I know.”

 

“Who do you know?”

 

“…Someone you don’t know.”

 

“Who is someone only you know that I don’t know?”

 

Unusually, Seo Sang-il asked persistently. Kim Jinkyung smiled awkwardly and turned his gaze elsewhere.

 

“You haven’t been taken somewhere weird, have you?”

 

“I haven’t been taken, but I’m kind of indebted to someone…”

 

He couldn’t deny the ‘weird’ part.

 

“Who is it? Stop beating around the bush.”

 

“…The house where I tutor.”

 

Seo Sang-il, with jajangmyeon in his mouth, asked, “Huh?”

 

“That crazy guy’s house?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Didn’t you say some nonsense about liking men because you wanted to get fired from there?”

 

“I did.”

 

It wasn’t nonsense, but a problem.

 

“And you’re living there? Wait a minute.”

 

Seo Sang-il raised his chopsticks, which were covered in jajang, as if something had occurred to him.

 

“Don’t tell me…”

 

Kim Jinkyung’s heart began to pound, wondering if his friend had figured out his secret.

 

“Is it a cult?”

 

“What? What…”

 

He felt deflated.

 

“Wouldn’t they have to be a cult to take someone in so easily? No. Does that bastard like men too?”

 

“It’s not like that. Absolutely not.”

 

It was more likely that they were a cult.

 

“Yes, it is. Hey, now that I think about it, it was weird from the start that they didn’t fire you and kept the contract even after you said you liked men. Be careful. You might end up gay if you’re not careful.”

 

“……”

 

He already is.

 

Kim Jinkyung drank his tea in silence.

 

“They’re letting a tutor they’ve only seen a few times sleep at their house?”

 

“The house is big.”

 

“No matter how big it is. Is that easy? They must want something.”

 

Wanting something.

 

Something flashed through Kim Jinkyung’s mind like lightning. Kim Jinkyung jumped up from his seat.

 

“Thanks, Seo Sang-il.”

 

“What? What are you thanking me for?”

 

“I’m going to head out first. I’ll talk to you later.”

 

“Okay, sure. Hey, buy me meat later.”

 

While bewildered by the sudden farewell, Seo Sang-il called out for meat. Kim Jinkyung waved his hand roughly and left the restaurant. He immediately caught a bus to the mansion. He had finally found a way to get that big cat, who showed no interest in anything, out of his shell.

 

Mok Seongha wanted one thing right now.

 

To get into college.

 

He was so serious about getting into college that he had squeezed out private tutoring from him, letting him stay at the mansion even though he barely knew him.

 

He was going to use this somehow. Kim Jinkyung, with a thrilled heart, arrived at the mansion and ran into a man coming out of the entrance.

 

“…Oh.”

 

Surprised, Kim Jinkyung stopped in his tracks with his mouth open.

 

It was Mok Seongha. Dressed in a black suit.

 

Kim Jinkyung was so surprised by his attire, which was completely different from his usual comfortable clothes, that he couldn’t move and looked up at him.

 

His neatly arranged hair and suit gave off a feeling of asceticism that was almost suffocating, but his face was radiant, drawing the eye. He was ready to walk the runway right now. No, he deserved to be bathed in all the camera flashes in the world.

 

But what was most surprising was…

 

“…Are you going out?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Mok Seongha answered as he put on his shoes. He felt like a fool for having worried for days about taking him outside, when such a simple answer came back.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“To see the Chairman.”

 

Kim Jinkyung felt deflated at the word Chairman. He didn’t know what kind of person he was, but he knew that he was involved in every decision the man made.

 

“Are you going alone?”

 

At Kim Jinkyung’s question, Secretary Kang, who was standing behind him, stepped forward and said that he was going too. There were also several escorts who had not been seen before. Kim Jinkyung felt a sudden sense of unease.

 

“I, I’ll come with you then.”

 

“Why would you?”

 

Kim Jinkyung was speechless at the reply. Mok Seongha was right. He wasn’t in a relationship where he could be that involved in his affairs. But for some reason, he didn’t want to just let him go.

 

“…I mean, since I’m going to be teaching Mok Seongha, I thought it would be polite to at least say hello to the elder.”

 

He scraped together a weak reason that only worked in a Confucian country.

 

“Now is not the time…”

 

Mok Seongha raised his hand to cut off Secretary Kang’s words.

 

“Later.”

 

He replied briefly. His expression was somehow stiff, unlike usual.

 

“Then…”

 

Kim Jinkyung called out to Mok Seongha, who was about to leave the entrance.

 

“I’ll give you extra lessons when you get back.”

 

It was the best and most he could do for the man.

 

“Okay.”

 

Mok Seongha left the entrance as he was. Kim Jinkyung stared blankly at the closed door before taking off his shoes.

 

***

 

Kim Jinkyung, hearing a noise in his sleep, groggily got up.

 

Did he mishear?

 

He was about to lie back down when a clearer sound pierced his consciousness this time.

 

The sound of something breaking.

 

Kim Jinkyung was startled and got out of bed. The sound was coming from across the hallway. It was the study where the two tutored. He had waited up late and just fallen asleep, and the light was on in that room.

 

Kim Jinkyung checked the time.

 

2 a.m.

 

While he was wondering if he should go in, he heard the sound of something shattering again. Kim Jinkyung reflexively opened the door and stepped inside.

 

“What’s wro…”

 

Kim Jinkyung couldn’t finish his sentence.

 

Mok Seongha was standing there. His hands and face were soaked in blood.

 

This was the second time he had seen him covered in blood. The difference was that this time, he was covered in his own blood.

 

“Ah, lesson.”

 

Mok Seongha, having found Kim Jinkyung, said that as if he had suddenly remembered, and then wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. A trail of blood remained wherever he moved.

 

“I don’t think I can do the lesson today.”

 

Kim Jinkyung was horrified and ran over.

 

“The lesson isn’t important… S, stay still. The blood…”

 

Mok Seongha looked down at his hands with a blank expression. A half-shattered mirror was scattered on the floor, and blood was streaming down from the man’s raw flesh, which was raggedly exposed with shards of mirror embedded in it.

 

Kim Jinkyung hurriedly grabbed his hand.

 

“Wait, I need to stop the bleeding… Just hold your hand up like this for a moment…”

 

Kim Jinkyung’s hands, as well as his clothes, were quickly soaked with the flowing blood. He felt nauseous and faint, but Kim Jinkyung barely managed to hold on. It was difficult to stop the bleeding from his hand, where sharp shards of glass were jaggedly embedded.

 

“Let’s go to the hospital. I’ll call 119…”

 

As Kim Jinkyung was reaching for his phone, Secretary Kang rushed in.

 

“Get out of the way.”

 

Secretary Kang pushed Kim Jinkyung away. The medical staff who followed him in began to administer first aid. No one panicked, as if this was a very familiar occurrence.

 

“You can go back to your room.”

 

Secretary Kang said to Kim Jinkyung. It was a polite tone, but it was an order. Kim Jinkyung looked at Mok Seongha, who was surrounded by people.

 

Their eyes met, but he didn’t say anything.

 

In the end, Kim Jinkyung returned to his room. He could only think that something was wrong. He washed his hands for a long time in the bathroom attached to the room. Seeing the blood being sucked into the drain with the water made him feel nauseous again. He couldn’t calm down for a while even after changing his clothes.

 

Why isn’t anyone taking him to the hospital?

 

“Teacher.”

 

A while later, Secretary Kang knocked and entered the room.

 

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

 

“No. I’m fine. How is Mok Seongha…”

 

“Young Master is fine.”

 

“He was bleeding a lot, is he going to the hospital…”

 

“Professional medical staff came and took care of him, so you don’t have to worry too much. Go to sleep.”

 

It was a warning not to interfere any further. He wasn’t stupid enough not to understand that, but Kim Jinkyung wasn’t cowardly enough to accept it as it was.

 

“…Still, shouldn’t he get proper treatment? You can’t just leave him like that.”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“If scars are left on his face… Such a big wound, and you’re just doing first aid, that’s close to neglect… Neglect is the same as abuse.”

 

He said the last words in an almost inaudible voice. His fingertips were trembling. He would be beaten up. No, he would be drowned. No, he would be buried… Why couldn’t he hold back…

 

“Neglect? Abuse? Who is abusing who?”

 

Secretary Kang asked back with a face that showed he couldn’t understand at all.

 

“Mok Seongha…”

 

“Young Master? Me?”

 

Secretary Kang chuckled in disbelief.

 

“Ha. Really. This is absurd.”

 

He pressed down on his furrowed brow and continued.

 

“I swear, if anyone abuses Young Master, I will break their spine with my own hands and make them crawl on all fours. They won’t even deserve to walk upright.”

 

Kim Jinkyung quietly rubbed the back of his spine, feeling a chill for no reason.

 

“Is that enough?”

 

“No, wait a minute.”

 

Kim Jinkyung grabbed Secretary Kang, who was about to leave.

 

“What is it now?”

 

“Even if it’s a special situation, not letting him go to the hospital is…”

 

“It’s not that we’re not letting him go. He’s the one who doesn’t want to go.”

 

“Still…”

 

Kim Jinkyung almost fainted when he first entered the room. He could see the bone through the wound that had been torn open by the glass. Blood was literally streaming down from it, and if they left it like that…

 

“Teacher.”

 

Secretary Kang’s voice was low.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Stop thinking useless thoughts and go to sleep. Let’s talk again tomorrow after seeing Young Master’s face.”

 

“……”

 

Was he saying he would bury him tomorrow?

 

“Ah, one last thing.”

 

Secretary Kang, who was about to leave, added as if he had remembered something.

 

“Don’t bother Young Master for no reason, since he’s in a bad mood. …On days like this, he bites if you bother him.”

 

“…I understand.”

 

Secretary Kang closed the door and left.