INT Ch 3.1
by mimiThe party didn’t end until around 1 AM. The piano was exhausted, and the string quartet was even worse off. It had been more than five hours of practice. In any case, Haewon had gotten in all the practice he had missed and earned some money too.
He shoved the cash from the envelope into his jacket pocket. The banquet hall, now empty of guests and music, felt desolate, cold perhaps from the absence of the heat that had once filled the room.
Haewon stood near the hotel entrance waiting for Sunbae, wearing the scarf given to him by an unknown man. The night air was chilly. Winter was setting in.
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One by one, the staff members disappeared, and soon there was no one around the entrance. Haewon stared at the entrance driveway, waiting for Sunbae’s car to come out from the parking area behind the hotel. He wished Sunbae would hurry up. The cold made him pull the scarf up to cover his nose.
A stylish gray car, resembling the city’s ashen hue, stopped in front of Haewon. It wasn’t Sunbae’s car. Haewon stood still, staring. The window rolled down.
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“Are you getting in? I’m heading to Seoul.”
“……”
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Surprisingly, the person in the driver’s seat was Hyun Woojin, the prosecutor. Despite his fiancée’s suicide, this man, who might have been expected to sever all ties with the memory of his deceased fiancée, was still acting as though he were Kim Jeonggeun’s son-in-law.
Born into a family of doctors, yet he rejected the family business to pursue something else. The man Taeshin had once loved. The man Taeshin had called twenty times before he died.
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It was a sudden offer. Haewon briefly wondered if Hyun Woojin had overheard Sunbae’s gossip about him, especially after his fiancée’s suicide had caused his broken engagement and left him in a pitiable state. Haewon didn’t know him, but strangely, he knew more about Hyun Woojin than he expected.
At the hotel, he had been with a woman. Taeshin had loved him. And they had slept together. Even though he had a woman, he slept with Taeshin. Haewon didn’t know whether it was just a one-night affair or if he had genuinely felt pity for Taeshin’s confession of love, but he had some idea about the nature of their relationship. Haewon also knew that after the accident, Taeshin’s fiancée had taken her life. Haewon hadn’t intended to know such intimate details of another person’s life.
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Haewon turned away from him and, glancing at the parking lot, said,
“I’m waiting for someone else.”
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“Who, that other violinist? I don’t think his car can get out. Someone parked like an idiot.”
“……”
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Haewon turned his head to look for Sunbae, but the number of cars coming from behind the hotel had drastically decreased. There were no cars, nor even any people in sight, and the cold worsened as the night deepened.
“Come on, I’ll give you a ride to Seoul. Otherwise, you can wait inside where it’s warmer. It’ll take a while.”
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“I’m fine.”
Haewon politely declined, but just as he was about to move away, his phone rang. It was Sunbae. Hyun Woojin’s words weren’t a lie. The valet seemed to have lost the key to the car parked in front of Sunbae’s, so he couldn’t pull it out. Sunbae called to ask Haewon to wait a little longer. After hearing the news, Hyun Woojin raised an eyebrow as if to point out the irony when Haewon ended the call.
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Haewon sighed and opened the gray car door. Holding his violin case, he got into the passenger seat.
“Put it in the backseat. It’ll be uncomfortable there.”
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As Haewon placed the case between his legs, Hyun Woojin gestured to the backseat. When Haewon tried to move it, Hyun Woojin grabbed it and placed it in the back for him. The space between them seemed to shrink for a moment. The scent of him filled the car—fresh, soft, and clean.
“Aren’t you going to call?”
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Haewon turned to him, confused by the question.
“Won’t you tell them you’re leaving?”
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“Oh.”
Haewon dialed Sunbae’s number. He told Sunbae he was leaving in a car heading to Seoul. Sunbae seemed disappointed, but Haewon didn’t understand why. He just said he understood and hung up.
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As they drove away from the hotel, the car entered a darkened road.
After a while, Hyun Woojin spoke again, his deep voice breaking the silence.
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“Where do you live?”
Haewon gave him the name of a subway station near the apartment of the unknown man he had encountered earlier.
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“I asked if I had seen you somewhere before.”
“……”
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“I remember now.”
It seemed that the thought of Haewon had crossed his mind when Sunbae had been talking about him. For a moment, when Haewon turned to look at him, Hyun Woojin’s eyes met his, and Haewon’s heart skipped a beat.
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“You don’t remember?”
“I don’t know. Where have we met?”
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He asked with a blank face, not recalling. Haewon remembered that he had seen Hyun Woojin both at the hotel and at the funeral. At the hotel, he had been with a woman, and Taeshin had loved him. Then he slept with him out of pity. Later, at the funeral, he came to pay his respects, even after Taeshin had taken his life.
“At the police station. Don’t you remember?”
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“Ah.”
“Now you remember?”
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Haewon nodded.
“You were holding a violin back then too, right?”
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“I always carry it.”
“You’re Taeshin’s friend, right? I’m investigating that case.”
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“……”
He even knew Haewon’s name. When Haewon remained silent, he continued.
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“I heard Taeshin talked about you. He said you were a friend who played music.”
“Did she?”
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“She said she wanted to be born as that friend again.”
“….”
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Haewon involuntarily turned his face. His eyes, one hand resting on the steering wheel, stayed on Haewon for an unusually long time while driving, dangerously so.
It was news to him. He hadn’t known that Taeshin felt that way.
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What could have been so appealing about him? Without any plans or concrete dreams, he just lived one day at a time, without thinking much about anything. Haewon had never given much thought to things. He didn’t even try hard at work. He hated working, though he was old enough.
He had blackmailed his father to use his credit cards, which had caused him to fall out of favor with his stepmother. He had a father who prioritized the words of his mistress over those of his children, and he lost both his cards and his house. This was the state Haewon was in, the one Taeshin said she’d like to be born into again.
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The fact that she had committed suicide meant she had too many thoughts. Thoughts, reasoning, consumed a person and sank them like quicksand. Taeshin had too many thoughts.
“I don’t know why she said that.”
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“Well, people always envy what they can’t have.”
The conversation quickly ended. They continued driving in silence. Haewon, staring ahead, felt him glance over at him.
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“I guess you were close friends with Taeshin.”
“We were just acquaintances. We weren’t close.”
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“That day, Taeshin called his mother. They talked for about five minutes. Then he called me. His younger sister was going through a slump and causing Taeshin a lot of stress. When I didn’t pick up, he called you, Moon Haewon. You didn’t pick up either. He kept calling for over an hour. He was barefoot. The coroner said the frostbite on his feet must have happened before he died. He had been standing barefoot on a snow-covered building rooftop for hours.”
Haewon didn’t want to imagine Taeshin’s death. He didn’t want to know what state or what kind of mindset he had been in. Yet, with a lowered tone, he spoke about things Haewon didn’t want to hear.
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“It must have been impossible for his father to accept his son’s death. Taeshin’s father reported the case to the police. He thought Taeshin was hanging out with bad friends. The case was handed to me for investigation. According to statements from those close to him, Taeshin was writing in a diary. He didn’t come out of the house or his studio. There was no reason for him to commit suicide. The only way to understand why he made that choice would be through his records, but even those are missing.”
He turned the wheel. The car smoothly made a right turn. The tendons on the back of his hand bulged as he gripped the steering wheel. Whether he had slept with Taeshin once or twice because he felt sorry for him, the fact that he brought a woman to the hotel while he was with Taeshin was part of what led to Taeshin’s death.
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From his perspective, maybe he had just petted a poor stray cat he met on the road. Taeshin might have gotten some strength to keep going because of Hyun Woojin, but he might have lost it just as much because of him.
That said, Taeshin wasn’t the kind of person to choose death because of unrequited love. He had already given up half of his feelings for Hyun Woojin by the time he started liking him. Haewon had told him several times to stop complaining. Taeshin probably didn’t see Hyun Woojin as an absolute presence who would make him want to give up on life.
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As Haewon remained silent, just listening, he asked:
“Have you ever seen it?”
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“Sorry?”
Haewon was lost in thought. When he asked again, Haewon responded.
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“Have you seen Taeshin’s diary or any of his records?”
“No.”
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“As I mentioned before, I’m investigating the case.”
The man investigating the suicide of the man who had once loved him.
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He must know the case well enough to handle it. Haewon suddenly remembered something Sunbae had said about Hyun Woojin’s family.
He said they were a family of doctors. Both his parents were doctors, as well as his older and younger brothers. His younger brother was in cardiology or thoracic surgery, he had said. Hyun Woojin, who chose law despite being born into a family of doctors, had been labeled ambitious, and his ambition was said to reek of something unpleasant. And Hyun Woojin had gotten close to Taeshin because of his younger sister’s art school preparations. Haewon remembered the statement about them frequently communicating because of the sister’s tutoring.
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“Taeshin tutored your sister, right?”
“Yes, they used to talk a lot because of that.”
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“Is your sister the only one preparing for art school?”
“Yes.”
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He looked at Haewon with a strange expression, as though the question was odd. Haewon met his gaze for a moment and then turned his eyes forward.
Someone was lying, but Haewon wasn’t sure which of the two it was. Sunbae had no reason to lie, so it had to be Hyun Woojin.
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Taeshin had liked him. He had slept with him. The man who was in love with a male prosecutor had, coincidentally, ended up committing suicide. It was a rather uncomfortable assumption for the person involved. Haewon would have lied too if he were in his position. It was the perfect scenario for suspicion.
At the intersection, the car stopped. They had arrived near Seoul. It was almost 2 a.m. and the roads were busy, people were crowding the streets despite it being late. Everything that had passed through a quiet hotel and forest path felt like a lie, as everything around them seemed to overflow with energy.
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“Even though you weren’t very close, aren’t you curious?” He asked. He was still talking about Taeshin’s death. Haewon’s lack of response was surprising.
“It wasn’t murder, right?”
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“It wasn’t.”
“Then what should I be more curious about?”
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“I’m not sure. I’m just personally curious.”
“….”
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The person who probably knew best why Taeshin had made such an extreme choice spoke again. As the light turned green, he shifted his foot from the brake to the gas pedal. The car smoothly moved forward.
“Personally, I’m curious why Taeshin made that extreme choice. I feel bad that I didn’t answer the phone that day… You didn’t answer the phone either, Moon Haewon. I thought you would feel bad.”
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Haewon felt the same. He regretted not answering the phone that day. No, it wasn’t so much regret as it was resentment toward Taeshin for calling him just before making that decision and giving him a lingering sense of guilt by not answering. If he was going to die, he should have just done it quietly. But, feeling angry at Taeshin for calling before he died seemed more accurate.
Haewon had no responsibility for his death. But Taeshin made him feel like he did. The first emotion that Taeshin, as a friend, gave him was an ugly sense of debt.
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Hyun Woojin, too, must want to know. He would want proof that he didn’t push Taeshin to make such an extreme choice, and to understand the other reasons that led Taeshin to give up on life. Only by knowing those things could he rid himself of these uncomfortable feelings. Both Hyun Woojin and Haewon were trapped in the snare of Lee Taeshin’s death.
“Taeshin’s father is suspicious that someone may have used his works for money laundering. Some of the artworks from his exhibition were sold for absurd prices.”
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“Did the police ask about that? About whether Taeshin met any famous people?”
Haewon recalled that the police had asked him the same thing, hinting that Taeshin’s suicide might have been linked to a famous person. They had asked Hyun Woojin the same.
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“A third-generation chaebol bought two of Taeshin’s works. We don’t know yet if it was for money laundering or for collection. He insists it was an investment, and he still holds onto the pieces.”
“I don’t know the details. I’ve never heard of such things.”
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“I’ve made you uncomfortable. Forget what I said.”
The car stopped near a subway station close to an apartment complex. Haewon unbuckled his seatbelt and began to reach for his violin case in the backseat. Hyun Woojin handed it to him. Their hands brushed. Despite his meticulous appearance, which seemed like nothing could pierce him, Hyun Woojin was surprisingly considerate of others.
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Perhaps it was this tenderness that made Haewon wonder if Hyun Woojin’s sympathy for Taeshin’s death came from his care.
Haewon wanted to ask if he had slept with Taeshin because of his kindness, even though he had a girlfriend. Sympathy and mockery were always a thin line apart.
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“Thanks for the ride.”
Haewon said, preparing to get out of the car. Hyun Woojin pulled out a business card wallet from his jacket pocket. He handed Haewon his card.
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“If we have the chance, we’ll meet again.”
“……”
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Haewon thought it unlikely, but he took the card out of courtesy. As Sunbae had said, Hyun Woojin was with the Central Prosecutor’s Office, Special 3 Department.
Haewon got out of the car and closed the door. The dark, stormy-colored car drove off without hesitation. He had no place to dispose of the business card. Haewon stuffed it into the pocket of his violin case.
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He trudged towards the unknown man’s house.
Would knowing why Taeshin died lift this uncomfortable feeling? Just as Hyun Woojin wanted to know.
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Hyun Woojin’s desire to uncover the reasons behind Taeshin’s suicide was a deeply personal and selfish attempt to free himself from guilt.
When Hyun Woojin brought up the diary in the car, Haewon thought of the notebook and two photos of Taeshin that had arrived in the mail.
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Like not answering Taeshin’s call, Haewon had discarded the notebook and the photos. He had thrown them into a box he planned to throw out when moving. It felt like a pointless gesture. Understanding the context of Taeshin’s death wouldn’t bring him back, and he hadn’t pushed Taeshin to die, so in the end, it was Taeshin’s choice, and it had nothing to do with Haewon.
∞ ∞ ∞
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Haewon learned the name of the man who had given him the spare room when he saw a piece of mail on the living room table. His name was Lee Jinyeong, and he worked at a major corporation, the overseas sales team at Samjeong Corporation.
Haewon couldn’t practice at his apartment. With no money to rent a practice room, he squeezed into a small practice space that his schoolmates had rented with pooled funds. The professor who usually gave him lessons was abroad for a seminar, so Haewon couldn’t even book a practice room at school without him.
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Some of his classmates, who weren’t very close to him, openly ignored his calls, clearly displeased that Haewon was occupying the practice room. He searched for a place where the noise wouldn’t matter. He ended up practicing violin at a karaoke room, where people walking by commented on him, judging by their lip movements—probably calling him a crazy person.
In facing the inability to practice, Haewon was unexpectedly discovering how obsessed he was with the violin.
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Lee Jinyeong was kind to Haewon. But as kind as he was, he demanded higher levels of intimacy. For Haewon, sleeping with men wasn’t unusual, but being with a man like Lee Jinyeong was different. It wasn’t going to be a simple, comfortable relationship.
He believed their meeting at the hotel was fate. Haewon, however, didn’t believe in fate and didn’t want such grandiose notions. He thought Lee Jinyeong was naïve for believing that kissing was the only thing that mattered. No matter how he thought of him, Haewon wasn’t interested.
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Lee Jinyeong gave Haewon expensive clothes, and with two suitcases already full of things, a third was about to be added because of the clothes he brought.
That day, he presented Haewon with an outrageously expensive watch, which was more than his yearly salary as a junior manager at a major corporation’s overseas sales team. For Haewon, who had been living off his father’s wealth for a long time, it was a meaningless amount.
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Haewon had no need for a watch, especially one that cost more than a year of Lee Jinyeong’s salary. The thought of carrying it around made him uneasy. He refused the gift.
“I can’t accept this.”
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“Huh? Why? It suits you so well. The color of your skin and your eyes.”
Lee Jinyeong, happy as he tried to strap the watch onto Haewon’s wrist, was taken aback when he heard Haewon’s unexpected words.
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“It’s too expensive. Take it back and get a refund.”
“No, it’s not that expensive. I wanted to give it to you. Don’t worry about it.”
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“I don’t need it. I already have a watch.”
Haewon took the watch off and placed it in its heavy crystal case, then handed it back to Lee Jinyeong. He looked at the crystal case with a disappointed expression, his face wrinkling with frustration.
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“Sorry. I thought it would suit you so well. I didn’t mean anything else.”
“You don’t give gifts like this to other people. It’s not a wedding gift.”
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“……”
Lee Jinyeong fell silent as if the gift was a wedding present.
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He set the case down on the table and walked towards Haewon, pulling him into a hug. Haewon let out a small sigh and embraced him. Lee Jinyeong’s lips brushed against his neck. He sniffed Haewon’s scent, his body pressing closer.
“It’s almost Christmas.”
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It’s already that time, huh? I hope that watch isn’t a Christmas present.
Haewon looked down at Lee Jinyeong’s hand, which was touching him, with a sense of foreboding. Lee Jinyeong, who was giving him a watch that cost more than his annual salary as a so-called Christmas present, was not in his right mind, and neither was Haewon, who was living in a stranger’s house for the first time in his life.
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“I’m sorry. I may not have much, but I’ll pay for living expenses.”
“What?”
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“I should pay for living expenses. It’s too rude to keep eating and sleeping for free in your house.”
“There’s no need for such talk.”
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He tightened his arms around Haewon as if genuinely disappointed, pulling him close. Haewon’s waist was squeezed tightly. The strength in his arms, which was said to be from practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was strong enough to crush a log if it were embraced.
“Ah…! It hurts.”
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“I’m sorry. I was just joking around, right?”
He loosened his grip and smiled mischievously. Lee Jinyeong took Haewon’s hand, placing it on his own. He stared at it like he was inspecting it. Compared to his rough, thick fingers, the fingers of Haewon, a violinist, were long, delicate, and completely different in both color and texture.
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“Your fingers are really long. Is it because you play the violin?”
“Maybe it’s because of that. I’ve been playing since I was little.”
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“I’ve never heard you play before.”
“I can’t play here. The security guards would say something.”
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“I want to hear it.”
He was saying he wanted to hear it, even though he didn’t know anything about music and wouldn’t even create an environment for Haewon to play properly. It annoyed Haewon. Him, the classmates who kicked him out of practice rooms, his father who didn’t give him money, and his stepmother who kept poking at his father to not give money—all of it was driving him mad. Haewon pulled away from his arm. He shoved him aside and stood up.
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“Where are you going?”
“I have to go to my part-time job.”
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“I’ll give you allowance. Why bother working so hard for that?”
“…”
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Compared to Lee Jinyeong, who didn’t even know how much Haewon’s instruments cost, he thought nothing of offering him a few hundred thousand won in allowance. Haewon found it more sensible to just call Kim Jaemin, who was in the U.S.
He hadn’t thought of that. If he told Kim Jaemin to come back, he’d probably come to Korea right away. He’d reserve one of the two suites on the 40th floor of a hotel.
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Haewon had this thought as he went into the room Lee Jinyeong had assigned him. He packed up his things. Lee Jinyeong followed him in, quietly watching as Haewon packed, then asked a dull question.
“Where are you going? Why are you packing?”
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“I think I’m being a burden. I should leave now.”
“Where to? You don’t have a place to go, do you? You said you left home.”
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“Well, I can go anywhere. Thanks for everything.”
Haewon opened his suitcase and started throwing things into it. He packed up items on the desk and the bed. His stuff had piled up. He didn’t even want most of it, especially the things Lee Jinyeong had given him. Haewon didn’t touch any of the gifts he gave him.
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“Haewon, is it because of the watch? Did I make you uncomfortable?”
“It’s not that. I don’t have a proper place to practice… and I don’t want to keep relying on you. That’s all.”
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“Haewon, just wait a second. Don’t go like this. Are you mad at me?”
He wasn’t angry. It was just the way things had turned out. The thought of Kim Jaemin, who had left his officetel in a mess and went to America, suddenly came to Haewon’s mind.
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Haewon, hastily packing his things, had his arm grabbed by Lee Jinyeong. He was suddenly forced to turn around. The force was unexpected. Haewon felt his wrist being held firmly, causing him to turn around.
“It hurts.”
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Lee Jinyeong didn’t release his grip. His hands were for playing music. They couldn’t be hurt. In winter, Haewon always wore gloves. He didn’t drive because he was afraid of an accident that could injure his hands.
As Lee Jinyeong twisted Haewon’s wrist harder, Haewon realized how carefully he had been handling his hands all this time. He hadn’t even been aware of it until he was in a situation where his hands could be injured, and the realization made his heart drop.
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“Why are you doing this suddenly?”
“I told you it hurts. My hand, it hurts.”
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“Calm down and listen to me. The watch I gave you… I just wanted to get you something nice for Christmas and for our anniversary. I thought a lot about it. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
Lee Jinyeong spoke hurriedly, his words tumbling out. Haewon didn’t care what he said. All he could focus on was Lee Jinyeong’s grip on his hand.
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“Let go of my hand.”
“Haewon…”
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“Let go. If you keep holding it like that, it’ll break.”
It was truly an ignorant strength. Haewon felt like his wrist might break. Lee Jinyeong was applying that force. It was as though he was trying to force Haewon into submission, preventing him from running away, holding him down with sheer strength.
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“Haewon, listen to me…”
“Let go and then talk.”
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“If I let go, you’ll run away.”
“I’m not running away. If anything happens to my hand, I won’t let you off.”
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He finally released Haewon’s wrist. The skin around it was red from the pressure. Haewon looked down at it, then turned and continued packing his things. As he closed the suitcase and zipped it up, Lee Jinyeong grabbed his wrist again. He roughly pulled him up and then tossed him to the floor. Haewon, lying on the ground, looked up at him. His eyes were clouded as he looked down at Haewon, who had been thrown.
“This can’t happen. I can’t let you go.”
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“Who do you think you are? Whether I go or not, that’s for me to decide.”
He grabbed Haewon’s collar and lifted him up. His body was lifted off the ground. Lee Jinyeong threw Haewon onto the bed. Haewon, who had been thrown onto the bed, quickly got up without even a moment to stumble. He ran out of the room as if escaping from him.
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He only grabbed the violin that was standing in the living room. As Haewon ran toward the entrance, Lee Jinyeong caught him by the waist and pulled him close.
Haewon fell to the floor with the violin. He landed on his back, causing a sharp pain. He began coughing violently. It was a pain he had never experienced in his life.
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Lee Jinyeong, with his chest tightening, approached Haewon, who was coughing as if he were vomiting. He tightly grabbed Haewon’s wrist, as if trying to break it. He was doing it on purpose, repeatedly touching Haewon’s hands and wrists.
Lee Jinyeong quickly climbed on top of Haewon, who was retreating while sitting. It was a heavy weight. The man’s hand tore Haewon’s clothes. The buttons flew off. He kept trying to grab his hands. He was trying to break them. He knew that if Haewon’s hands were broken, Haewon wouldn’t be able to do anything. If the hands were ruined, Haewon would be nothing.
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“Stop! Don’t touch me!”
Haewon screamed. Lee Jinyeong firmly held Haewon’s right wrist, pinning him down, while with one hand, he grabbed his middle finger, trying to twist it backward.
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“Stop!”
Haewon convulsed. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t escape. He threw anything he could grab at him—remote controls, mail, newspapers, anything—to strike his face and fall to the floor, but it was not enough to stop him.
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He was trying to break Haewon’s middle finger. Haewon grabbed the heavy square crystal case that was on the table. It was a watch case worth more than his entire year’s salary. He used it to stab at his eyes.
Blood sprayed from Lee Jinyeong’s eyes. The man screamed and collapsed. Haewon’s long fingers, holding the gleaming crystal, trembled. The red blood that stained the case dripped onto the floor.
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∞ ∞ ∞
He didn’t know who to contact. There was no one to call. His father wouldn’t help, and his stepmother would be even less likely. It wasn’t even an option to contact Choi Sunbae, who was waiting for a chance to exploit Haewon’s weaknesses. Moreover, as a law-abiding, very ordinary person, he was unable to deal with the situation Haewon was in right now.
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If he contacted Kim Jaemin, he would come, but it would take a full day just to travel from the U.S. to here, and there was no guarantee he would come just because Haewon called. Haewon recalled how he had pushed him away before.
Fortunately, Haewon had grabbed the violin. He was now locked up in the holding cell, but the violin was outside. As Haewon blankly stared at the violin case, he remembered the business card of Hyun Woojin, which he had shoved into the front pocket of the case, not knowing where else to put it. He asked the officer on duty to retrieve the card from the front pocket of the case. Luckily, Hyun Woojin’s business card was there.
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He contacted him. It took some time for Haewon’s voice to register, just as it had taken a while to remember who he was after hearing his voice.
The voice on the phone sounded puzzled, likely wondering why Haewon was calling so late. It was past midnight. After Haewon stammered through his situation, the person said he understood and hung up the phone.
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He sat there for a while longer.
The police opened the holding cell door and told Haewon to come out. When he stepped outside, Hyun Woojin was standing there. He was dressed in a button-up shirt without a tie. When wearing a formal suit, his hairstyle exposed his forehead, but now his hair covered it, though Haewon felt the same impression of him regardless.
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He looked tall and elegant, but because Haewon knew his private matters, there was a sense of something unsettling hidden beneath the polished exterior that Haewon could clearly feel.
Haewon’s clothes were torn, buttons loosely fastened, and it was hard to tell if they were on or off. Hyun Woojin’s eyes carefully scanned Haewon, who was stained with blood in several places.
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“Are you okay?”
He took off his jacket and draped it over Haewon’s shoulders. A fresh scent of cologne wafted from it. Haewon nodded as he adjusted the jacket’s front, feeling as though calling him had been a wise decision. He gently patted Haewon’s shoulder, affirming that he had done well.
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Following the police, Haewon was led into the interrogation room. It was a stark, empty room with only a table and two chairs. Sitting there with a blank expression, Haewon stared at the clock on the wall.
It was 2 a.m. The door opened, and it wasn’t a police officer who entered, but Hyun Woojin. He was holding a cup of coffee. He set a steaming cup of black coffee in front of Haewon, then placed a folder of documents in his other hand.
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“Drink some coffee. It’s a bit cold in here.”
“…….”
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Hyun Woojin sat in the chair across from Haewon and opened the folder. He flipped through the papers carelessly and casually asked.
“You were trying to rape him, right?”
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“…….”
He was asking if a man almost got raped by another man, and it made Haewon feel humiliated. They were both men, yet it felt degrading. When Haewon didn’t answer, Hyun Woojin asked again, his face devoid of any emotion.
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“Is it true that that person was trying to rape Moon Haewon?”
Instead of empathizing with the victim, he took a step back, looking at the situation with an utterly professional and objective gaze. Haewon responded by nodding slightly.
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“So, did it happen?”
“No.”
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“Did you stab his eye with a square glass before it happened? It says here it was a watch case?”
Hyun Woojin checked the documents again.
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“Yes.”
“Don’t you want to know what happened to him?”
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He asked, as if it were a given that Haewon wouldn’t care about what happened to someone who had been stabbed in the eye with such a gruesome object. Lee Jinyeong had been trying to destroy his own hands. A person like that deserved to die. If that wasn’t appropriate, then going blind was a fitting punishment.
He had bled profusely from his eyes, and some of it had even stained Haewon. It was inevitable that his eyes would be damaged. Haewon didn’t need to ask; anyone who had seen that situation could guess what happened to Lee Jinyeong’s eyes.
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Haewon had gripped the watch case so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and he had stabbed Lee Jinyeong in the eye. Not wanting to know what had happened to him, Haewon was given a detailed explanation of Lee Jinyeong’s condition.
“He managed to avoid the eye perfectly. It’s a blow to the orbital bone, with a four-week recovery. There’s a lot of tearing of the flesh, so he’ll likely need reconstructive surgery. His vision won’t be affected though.”
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“……”
“Are you disappointed?”
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He asked. Haewon had naturally assumed that Lee Jinyeong would go blind, and even hoped for it, but hearing that there would be no damage to his eyes ironically gave him a sense of relief. Haewon shook his head.
“The impact was on the eye. This would be attempted murder.”
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Hyun Woojin made a circle with his finger on his own face, indicating the head area, as if any injury to the head, whether to the eye or nose, would be considered an attempt to kill.
“……”
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Haewon lowered his head in silence.
“Why didn’t you just take it in stride?”
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Haewon looked at the coffee, which was still steaming, and slowly lifted his head. His eyes met Hyun Woojin’s. Haewon didn’t know what position Hyun Woojin saw him in, but the words “take it in stride” were uncomfortable to hear, whether coming from the perpetrator’s or victim’s perspective. It sounded as though he was asking why Haewon had escalated things instead of letting them go. Such things couldn’t just be “taken in stride.”
Hyun Woojin silently stared at Haewon’s face, his eyes lingering on Haewon’s bloodstained face as though admiring it like a piece of art.
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“You look like you enjoy spreading your legs for men.”
“……”
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“Right?”
Haewon didn’t deny it. He didn’t say anything, only staring at him. Hyun Woojin smirked.
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“Oh, did I go too far?”
“My fingers…”
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“……”
“You were trying to break my fingers.”
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“Some people value their fingers more than their lives.”
Hyun Woojin nodded as if understanding and then stood up. The steam from the coffee began to fade.
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“Drink your coffee.”
Haewon picked up the takeout coffee cup. His hand was stained with blood. Slowly, he took a sip of the now lukewarm coffee.
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He was released from the police station at 5 a.m. Hyun Woojin gently supported Haewon’s shoulder as they walked out. His large hand wrapped around Haewon’s shoulder, and Haewon could feel the warmth, which contrasted with Hyun Woojin’s cold demeanor.
Hyun Woojin’s gray car, which he had driven the last time, was parked in the police station parking lot. He opened the door for Haewon, who climbed into the passenger seat. As Hyun Woojin closed the door, Haewon looked up at him.
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“Ah, the violin.”
Hyun Woojin looked down at Haewon with a puzzled expression.
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“I left the violin behind.”
“……”
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Without saying a word, he walked back into the police station. A few minutes later, he emerged holding Haewon’s violin. The insurance was several million won, and its value exceeded ten million. It had been specially requested from a European music foundation dealer by Haewon’s professor.
The violin, made from wood used during the Ice Age, was a masterpiece whose density and depth of sound rivaled that of a Stradivarius or Guarneri.
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Haewon, who had been watching closely, let out a sigh of relief when he saw Hyun Woojin place the violin in the back seat of the car. Hyun Woojin got into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything to the violin.”
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“……Can we just go like this?”
Haewon wondered if it was okay to leave in his car, to leave the police station like this. Hyun Woojin had said that what Haewon did was attempted murder, and although Haewon had avoided his eyes, he still caused serious harm. Haewon had expected to return to the holding cell, but now he was sitting in Hyun Woojin’s car.
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“It’s mutual fault, and we agreed it was self-defense. It took a while because they resisted agreeing.”
Hyun Woojin pressed the accelerator. The car smoothly left the parking lot and followed the other cars on the road.
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“Is that possible?”
“It’s not possible for anyone else. But it is for me.”
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“……”
“Don’t worry. He’ll never get near you again while you’re alive.”
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