TRIPLE 15

Morning broke. Siyeon, having stayed up the entire night, stared at his phone screen with eyes that hadn’t caught a single wink of sleep. The low-toned threats of Chief Kang wouldn’t leave his ears, and the draft of the contract he’d pored over all night shimmered before his eyes.

[Beom Yisu]

Instead of replying via messenger, Siyeon pressed the call button. Conversations of this nature had to be held in person. Above all, he didn’t want to move only on the board the other side had laid out. Shortly after, the ringing sound played a few times and stopped.

— Speak.

Beom Yisu’s voice, which followed, remained as dry as ever. Siyeon continued as he had practiced dozens of times throughout the night.

“Today, I want to discuss the contract terms. In person.”

— I’ll send someone to your location.

It was as fast as if he had been waiting for it. After the brief call, Siyeon said a quick goodbye to Deacon Kim and stepped out of the church doors.

The Pastor was just around the corner, yet he would end up leaving without seeing him. If he could have his way, he would have asked for time to say goodbye, but in the thin fog of early morning, a black sedan was waiting neatly on the side of the road.

‘After I get the money, I’ll come visit.’

Just as he was thinking about how he should come back with a bunch of gifts, the headlights diffused faintly and the car door opened.

“Mr. Hong Siyeon, I’ve come to escort you.”

A man in a sleek suit bowed toward Siyeon. He had expected Beom Yisu to come. Or perhaps Chae Yoonoh. Siyeon opened his mouth, wary of the stranger.

“…Who are you?”

“The Representative had an external meeting, so I have come in his stead. I will escort you to the residence.”

The business card clearly read, ‘Beom-yeong Chief Secretary Han Wonwoo.’ Come to think of it, he had said he would send someone in his place. Why had he assumed he would come himself? Besides, looking at the name, he recalled who this person was.

If there was Manager Park Ji-hoon by Chae Yoonoh’s side in the original story, this man was always by Beom Yisu’s side. Unlike the villainous Park Ji-hoon, he remembered the Chief Secretary as a character of unwavering loyalty. An awkward and annoying extra who would block the protagonist’s path every time he tried to run away, so to speak. Anyway, it seemed it would be more comfortable later if he made a good impression now.

“I’m in your care, Secretary.”

Having finished his calculations, Siyeon put on a pretty, eye-smiled expression and climbed into the car. The inside of the car was excessively quiet. Perhaps it was because of his nerves, but even the sound of him fastening his seatbelt sounded loud.

Just as Siyeon sat there, feeling reasonably tense, he saw the Chief Secretary turn his body slightly from the passenger seat.

“I apologize, but I cannot disclose the destination due to security reasons. I must ask you to wear this.”

He held up a black blindfold. Yes, what had to come, had come. It wasn’t unexpected, which perhaps was why his heart felt settled. The moment the secretary reached out to put the blindfold on him, Siyeon blocked his hand first.

“Leave it, I’ll do it.”

Maintaining a forlorn expression, Siyeon slowly pulled the blindfold over his eyes. As his vision was swallowed by darkness, the surrounding noises became clearer. As Siyeon sat quietly with the blindfold on, the secretary turned his head without making any further gestures.

‘Are they not binding my hands?’

In the original work, it was a scene where they blindfolded the protagonist while his limbs were tied because he was making a scene. But wasn’t he currently a free man? The situation was much better, so he was satisfied with this much. It was likely just a courtesy, loosening the leash for a dog that listened well, but either way.

“We will depart. It will be uncomfortable, but please bear with it for a while.”

Following the Chief Secretary’s polite guidance, the car moved immediately. The low friction sound of the tires scraping the road, the sound of the wind grazing the car body. A calm classical piece, which seemed to be Beom Yisu’s taste, played on the car audio, and an unexpectedly peaceful time passed.

While the landscape outside the car window flowed by in shades of gray, Siyeon quietly rummaged through his pocket under the blindfold. The rough edge of paper brushed against his fingertips.

‘Siyeon, if you’re in a pinch, come here.’

The phone number Deacon Kim had pressed into his hand. It was something he had asked for separately last night.

‘Um… I do have one favor to ask.’

‘A favor? What is it?’

‘When you get settled in your new place, could I visit? Ah, I don’t mean I’ll follow you right away. Later. After everything is sorted out… so….’

Perhaps it was because he had felt a bit of warmth for the first time after being tormented endlessly in this unfamiliar place. Although he lived by the motto that life is ultimately lived alone, Siyeon had asked for Deacon Kim’s contact information first. Fortunately, Deacon Kim had readily given him the number.

Though he couldn’t save it on the phone Beom Yisu gave him, and could only keep it as a scrap of paper. Just having this felt like he had created a psychological refuge. It wasn’t even funny, but had he grown fond of them in these few days? Do people who have real families all feel this kind of stability? He was curious.

‘Would they take me in if a situation where I had to run away arose?’

He didn’t want to trouble the Deacon again as he had when Chief Kang caused a scene, so he would have to think of this as truly the last resort. Before that thought could even finish, a noisy alert sound rang out from the front seat.

Beep.

Beep-beep-beep.

It felt as though the fact that they were close was true, as he could feel the car gently reducing its speed. Shortly after, the secretary’s dry voice reached him through the car’s mirror.

“We have arrived. Please step out now.”

∞ ∞ ∞

As for moving, all he had was his empty body. Even though he had nothing in his hands, the Chief Secretary personally opened the car door for him. Siyeon, who got out of the car awkwardly, was speechless at the sight before his eyes first.

It didn’t seem like it had taken that long from Nagwon-dong, so wasn’t this somewhere in Seoul? A three-story detached house? And there wasn’t just one building. The exterior was so large that it wouldn’t be unreasonable to call it a mansion rather than a house, and his spirit withered slightly.

“Please, go in.”

There were multiple surveillance cameras blatantly mounted on the outer gate, and it seemed they had opened the door knowing Siyeon had arrived. Standing in front of the black-painted iron gate that had opened with a clack, the Chief Secretary stepped aside and gestured.

No matter how much he boasted that if you keep your wits about you, you can survive even if caught by a tiger. Entering the tiger’s den on his own two feet like this wasn’t exactly something he was keen on.

Siyeon turned back with an expression like livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse, but the Chief Secretary merely held his ground in silence. He seemed to have no intention of taking a step until Siyeon went inside.

“Thank you for bringing me. Have a safe trip.”

Siyeon gave a light nod, pretending to be a forlorn and tragic Omega to the end. He then stepped straight inside the iron gate.

‘What is all this?’

The inner garden of the mansion was meticulously groomed. A house where everything from each tree to the lighting and the spacing of the pebbles was adjusted without a single flaw. That such a space was needed for a mere three people to live. If this wasn’t reckless squandering of money, nothing was.

‘It’s pointlessly large. I wonder what the actual floor area is.’

He recalled the episode in the original story where Hong Siyeon would hide in every corner of the house. He had thought it was an exaggeration when he read it, but at this scale, playing a simple game of foot volleyball would be more than possible.

‘It must be a pain to clean,’ he thought, letting his mind wander with futile ideas as he crossed the entrance; the first thing that caught his eye was the state-of-the-art security system. There was a card key instead of a number pad, fingerprints, a small lens to verify those one more time, and a separate side door that looked like an employee entrance.

‘Why is it so heavily guarded?’

How on earth did the protagonist manage to escape from a house like this? It seemed the ‘#runaway-bottom’ keyword wasn’t something just anyone could use. They were all professionals. Siyeon cast his eyes over the garden, wondering if there might be a dog door he didn’t know about, as he stepped into the interior of the mansion. The living room, revealed as the somewhat heavy wooden door opened, was flooded with midday sunlight streaming through a massive floor-to-ceiling window.

And in the very center of that light, there was a person sitting obliquely on the sofa, his wrists dangling loosely. His bright blonde hair caught the sunlight, sparkling like glass shards, and he could see his clear eyes staring at him while holding the light as it was.

One of the few faces he recognized: it was Chae Yoonoh.

“Long time no see, dear.”

Unlike their sudden meeting last time, there was nothing covering his face. As Siyeon approached him, Chae Yoonoh rose to his feet, waving his hand with ease. He had expected him to interrogate him about why he ran away, but contrary to his expectations, the fact that he welcomed him so warmly made him even more suspicious.

“I didn’t know we’d meet like this, did I?”

His silhouette, standing with his back to the light from the floor-to-ceiling window, cast a long shadow. As Siyeon hesitated awkwardly, Chae Yoonoh, who had already stepped close to Siyeon, peered around him.

“Did you not bring your luggage?”

“I… didn’t have time to stop by home.”

“Is that so? Well, it’s fine if you don’t have anything important. Everything you need is here anyway. Clothes, daily necessities, whatever. Or, you can go out shopping with me.”

“Go out?”

“Yes. If it’s going out with me or Yisu-hyung, then anywhere.”