Vol 1 Ch 20

 

‘…Let’s stop talking and go tutor.’

 

When Kim Jinkyung said that with a pale face, Mok Seongha nodded. Fortunately, there were no other comments while they were tutoring. Kim Jinkyung also tried not to think about what had happened earlier and focused on tutoring.

 

What broke the two’s precarious peace was the sound of a cell phone ringing. When he checked the caller ID, it was Seo Sang-il. It seemed like he was worried after going out.

 

“Excuse me for a moment.”

 

Kim Jinkyung got up from his seat. No, he was about to get up. If Mok Seongha hadn’t grabbed his sleeve.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“I’m going to answer the phone.”

 

Kim Jinkyung said, showing him the phone screen.

 

“Why are you doing other things during tutoring?”

 

“…….”

 

Kim Jinkyung was speechless. Going to the bathroom or making a quick call was something they would ask each other for permission and do without any problems.

 

“…It’ll only be a moment.”

 

“Sit down.”

 

His attitude was firm. Kim Jinkyung hesitated for a moment and then sat back down. The phone started ringing again. When Kim Jinkyung didn’t know what to do, Mok Seongha asked why.

 

“I’ll just talk for a moment.”

 

It seemed like the phone would keep ringing until he answered it.

 

Mok Seongha didn’t answer and snatched Kim Jinkyung’s phone. Then he pressed the button and turned it off completely.

 

He was working, so yeah. It was right to turn it off.

 

Kim Jinkyung sighed and put the turned-off phone back in his bag.

 

“What do you have to do so well for him to like that face?”

 

Kim Jinkyung was flustered by the sudden question, but he tried to answer calmly.

 

“I don’t like him.”

 

“You do. You like him.”

 

“…I don’t.”

 

Not now.

 

Kim Jinkyung lowered his eyes slightly, tapped the problem with his pen, and continued.

 

“Try solving this.”

 

Mok Seongha copied the problem onto the practice paper. He wrote down the numbers without hesitation and then opened his mouth again.

 

“I hate going outside. It’s smelly and noisy.”

 

“…….”

 

Secretary Kang’s words came to mind. He had said that he had been at home for 12 years. He had started tutoring outside for Mok Seongha’s sake, but now that his own desires were mixed in to some extent, he felt very sorry.

 

“Is that the kind of face you come out here to find? Is there a need to come out here to take lessons? Are your eyes on the floor, Teacher?”

 

“…….”

 

His apologetic feelings disappeared completely.

 

“That’s not it.”

 

“What’s not it?”

 

Kim Jinkyung felt a surge of emotion. Even if he was a professional at unrequited love, he felt that the assessment that his eyes were on the floor was a bit unfair.

 

“To that extent….”

 

He made eye contact with Mok Seongha, who was looking at him. Kim Jinkyung had never known that there was such a color of eyes until he met Mok Seongha. Also, that there were only a few people on Earth with golden eyes.

 

It was as if finely broken golden jewels were sparkling in his eyes every time they caught the light. It reminded him of the kaleidoscope he had seen when he was a child. Perhaps that was why he sometimes felt so dizzy that his stomach churned just from making eye contact with Mok Seongha.

 

Kim Jinkyung quickly lowered his head.

 

Looking at that face, he couldn’t bring himself to say that Seo Sang-il’s face wasn’t bad.

 

Mok Seongha tilted his head and waited for Kim Jinkyung’s next words.

 

…Sang-il, I’m sorry. Your face is good.

 

“It’s my personal life. Stop it.”

 

Kim Jinkyung drew a line. Mok Seongha, who had been silent for a moment, said, “Ah, personal life,” and muttered Kim Jinkyung’s words in his mouth.

 

“But wasn’t I being tutored here because of Teacher’s personal life?”

 

“…….”

 

He had nothing to say, even if he had ten mouths. The words of the ancient sages that you will pay the price someday if you choose the easy and comfortable path were always right.

 

“I’m tutoring, so solve the problem.”

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

Mok Seongha put the pen in his mouth and muttered.

 

“Which problem?”

 

Kim Jinkyung quickly lowered his body.

 

“No, you.”

 

Mok Seongha looked straight at Kim Jinkyung and continued.

 

“Why do you get so serious when I ask if you like that bastard, when you’re acting like you like every man in the world?”

 

The sharpness that he sometimes showed was so terrifying that it was surprising. It was like dealing with a wild animal that would play well and then suddenly bite your hand.

 

“I’m getting serious because I don’t like him. Solve the problem.”

 

“Do you know he has a girlfriend? He smells a lot like a woman.”

 

“…I know.”

 

You’re such an animal.

 

“Did you shamelessly like him even though you knew?”

 

“At that time, there wasn’t….”

 

Kim Jinkyung closed his mouth with a gasp. The golden eyes flashed faintly. Like a beast of prey that had been crouching in the darkness for a long time and had just found its prey.

 

“You liked him.”

 

It felt like his neck had been bitten. Kim Jinkyung grabbed his neck, which was dripping with blood, and pretended to be calm as he tapped the problem book with his pen.

 

“Keep solving it. Why did you stop?”

 

Mok Seongha continued the equation he had been writing earlier. Kim Jinkyung deliberately stared only at the numbers and equations he was writing.

 

“I solved it all.”

 

Mok Seongha found the answer. Kim Jinkyung checked the calculation with his eyes and marked the wrong parts with a red pen.

 

“Look at this one more time and try to solve it.”

 

Mok Seongha started solving the problem again as he was told. Neat and elegant handwriting. The sound of the pen scratching the paper continued without hesitation.

 

He’ll get it right this time.

 

Kim Jinkyung checked the row of numbers heading in the right direction and took a sip of his coffee.

 

“Did you two do it?”

 

Startled by the sudden attack, Kim Jinkyung choked and spat out his coffee. Mok Seongha frowned, saying, “Gross.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Kim Jinkyung quickly wiped away the coffee he had sprayed with a napkin. Mok Seongha pointed to Kim Jinkyung’s mouth.

 

“You, here.”

 

Kim Jinkyung wiped his lips as well.

 

“How many times did you do it?”

 

“Am I crazy?!”

 

Kim Jinkyung shouted.

 

“Well, you wouldn’t be in your right mind if you were doing that kind of thing.”

 

“That’s not what I meant…”

 

Kim Jinkyung drank some cold water to quickly regain his composure.

 

“What do you mean, ‘do it’? He doesn’t even know I like guys. Besides…”

 

Kim Jinkyung pressed hard on his forehead. A headache was coming on.

 

“How can you do that kind of thing with a friend?”

 

“You shouldn’t?”

 

“No, you shouldn’t.”

 

Kim Jinkyung glared and said firmly.

 

“Why?”

 

At this point, he started to get confused. …Is he really asking because he doesn’t know?

 

“You usually don’t do that with friends. You have to keep seeing each other. …And I don’t plan on talking about that kind of thing.”

 

If possible, he didn’t plan to say it forever. He didn’t want to, and he didn’t feel the need to.

 

“So you only sleep with guys you won’t see later?”

 

…He doesn’t sleep. He hasn’t slept. He couldn’t sleep.

 

“You’re a mess.”

 

“…Let’s move on to the next page.”

 

“So you don’t see them after you sleep with them once?”

 

Like a student begging, “Tell me about your first love, teacher,” Mok Seongha was begging, “Tell me about your sexual experiences, teacher.” It was his first time getting proper tutoring, so it was fine that he was absorbed in the teacher-student role-playing, but he was crossing the line too much.

 

“If you keep doing this, today’s lesson will…”

 

He was about to say let’s stop here, but Mok Seongha got up first. Before he could ask what was wrong, the bodyguard, who had approached unnoticed, handed him his phone. Mok Seongha started a call. After a short call, he closed the book.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

It wasn’t an atmosphere to ask why. Kim Jinkyung hastily gathered his books. A car was waiting outside the door. Kim Jinkyung quickly followed him.

 

***

 

Only after the car started did Kim Jinkyung cautiously ask their destination.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“To see the Chairman.”

 

Mok Seongha replied, looking out the window with a coldly hardened face.

 

“…Am I allowed to go too?”

 

He remembered the cold look Secretary Kang had given him last time he said he would go with them.

 

“I don’t have time to drop you off.”

 

“……”

 

I can jump out of the car on my own if we go under 10 km/h, though.

 

Kim Jinkyung hugged his bag and swallowed hard.

 

He knew what Mok Seongha had done after meeting that ‘Chairman.’ What kind of person could he be…?

 

He pictured in his mind the cold-hearted Chairman who had abandoned his grandson in a vast mansion. His heart pounded.

 

Where are they going? Worried that he might be dragged into the mountains, he looked out the window, but the car arrived at an unexpected place.

 

“Why are we here…”

 

Before he could finish his question, the car door opened.

 

“What? Why did you come along, teacher?”

 

Secretary Kang, who had opened the car door, made a disgusted face.

 

“I didn’t come along, I just…”

 

“Where is the Chairman?”

 

Mok Seongha asked as he got out on the other side.

 

“He is waiting.”

 

Mok Seongha got out of the car. Kim Jinkyung, unsure of what to do, got out of the car for now.

 

“Why are you getting out?”

 

Secretary Kang asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

 

“Should I get back in?”

 

As Kim Jinkyung was about to get back in the car, Mok Seongha stopped him, saying, “It’s okay.”

 

“Teacher, stay here.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Kim Jinkyung sat on a bench. Mok Seongha immediately followed Secretary Kang into the hospital.

 

The Chairman being in a hospital, and a tertiary hospital at that, meant that he was more likely to be a patient than a doctor or hospital director.

 

Kim Jinkyung took his phone out of his bag and turned it on. He put aside the missed calls and messages for later and searched for the hospital’s name and the hospital director’s name. As expected, it wasn’t Mok.

 

…What’s wrong with him? I hope it’s not too serious.

 

While he was worrying about this and that, he received a call. It was Seo Sang-il.

 

“Hello.”

 

「Hey, you, you son of a bitch. You turn off your phone and don’t even bother to call back.」

 

“Sorry, I turned off my phone because I was tutoring.”

 

「Then you should have sent a text or something when you were done. Your phone was off. I even went to the cafe, but you were gone. I thought you had been kidnapped.」

 

“Something came up. …But why would I be kidnapped? I’m not a kid.”

 

「You were so scared of that crazy family you tutor for. Ah, whatever. I don’t care if you get beat up, you idiot.」

 

“I’m sorry. But it’s not like that.”

 

…Probably.

 

「Whatever. Kim Jinkyung, you son of a bitch. I’m hanging up.」

 

Kim Jinkyung felt sorry at his friend’s gruff voice.

 

“…I’ll buy you meat.”

 

「Do you think I’m just a pig who’s happy with meat?!」

 

“Beef.”

 

「Korean beef?」

 

“Yeah, Korean beef.”

 

He had never been so grateful for his friend’s simple brain structure.

 

「Then let’s bring Noona, too….」

 

Seo Sang-il’s happy voice ended there. A hand reached out from behind and snatched the phone away.

 

“Hey, why…”

 

Mok Seongha, having checked the caller, turned off the phone, put it in his pocket, and grabbed Kim Jinkyung’s wrist.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

“Huh? Where?”

 

“To see the Chairman.”

 

“M-Me? Now?”

 

“You said you wanted to say hello last time.”

 

“…Ah, yes. I did then, but…”

 

While Kim Jinkyung was flustered and stammering, Mok Seongha pulled on his wrist.

 

“Go say hello.”

 

Kim Jinkyung didn’t understand.

 

Suddenly? He told him to wait a minute ago. Why did he change his mind?