LM Chapter 16

Despite being in an unfamiliar place and hearing a shocking confession, true to being the grandson of a human retriever, I slept soundly until morning again. I had a dream for the first time in a while. Perhaps because of Jaeheon hyung, I was working at a convenience store. The hyung there was cold and blunt like in my memories, and I think I shouted:

‘See! You didn’t like me!’

See, I didn’t need to feel guilty. I felt relieved, but what he said next changed everything. He agreed as if annoyed.

‘Right. I don’t like you.’

As if the dream world was distorting, my mood plummeted to rock bottom. The feeling was so strong that it remained even after I woke up. While feeling strangely relieved that reality was different, I also felt pathetic for being so calculating.

What’s going on with me, wanting him to like me when I’m not even going to accept his feelings right away? I think I only managed to calm down after washing my face and coming out of the room. I didn’t want to let him see these feelings.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to manage my expression. There was delivered food on the dining table. Anyone could see it was left there for me to eat. Sure enough, there was a note next to it in neat handwriting.

‘Eat.’

His messages were still as brief as ever. But the breakfast menu he bought was hangover soup. He did buy it for me once 8 years ago too. The day after that company dinner. But back then I had been drinking. Why hangover soup this time too? While wondering about this and removing the packaging to eat, I noticed something odd.

The packaging was somehow fancy. Even the wooden chopsticks, which were obviously disposable, had some kind of pattern on them. And the menu was beef hangover soup. My appetite, which had been dancing excitedly at the prospect of free food, hesitated and stopped. I got the same feeling as with the ice cream. The hangover soup hyung had brought to my old studio apartment back then had been cheap, filled only with bean sprouts.

Was it only my imagination that hyung seemed to be trying to make up for back then?

I stared at the still-warm food for a moment before shaking my head. He’s rich at the end of the day, right? Maybe he just spent money like he normally does without thinking much about it. I might be reading too much into his meaningless actions.

That’s how the world works. Things often turn out to be less serious than we worry about. Maybe even the Mirae chairwoman, contrary to people’s expectations, will coolly give up on revenge and focus on salvaging whatever money she can. As I was thinking about this, I became curious about news of her and quickly got my phone.

For some reason it was turned off, so I turned it on while tilting my head in confusion. Then I tried to search for articles about the Mirae chairwoman while eating the hangover soup. I didn’t even need to search hard. Her news was right on the main page.

‘Government to inject X trillion won of public funds to save Mirae’

…What? What did you say? Below the absurd headline was nonsense about Mirae’s corporate value and how they needed to help prevent Mirae from collapsing for the sake of national interest. This makes no sense! Why help when the head of the company ruined it through what was essentially gambling due to personal greed?

Of course, if other companies were harmed along the way, they should be supported, but reading the article, that wasn’t the case either. A conspiracy theory popped out of my mouth before I knew it.

“Did they take bribes?”

“That’s right.”

I flinched at the response from behind me and turned around. Jaeheon hyung was standing right behind me in workout clothes. His hair was still wet, suggesting he had just showered after exercising. How can wet hair suit someone this well? I deliberately turned my gaze away and asked him as he sat down across from me.

“They’re really helping them, using our money collected through taxes, because they took bribes?”

“Yeah.”

…I see. This country is a mess. As I was lamenting this, something occurred to me.

“If the chairwoman recovers, won’t she have more resources to take revenge on you?”

“She will.”

“…”

“She’ll probably capture you and torture you to torment me.”

Once again, I heard an unrealistic word. Torture, he says. Really now. However, knowing that the chairwoman’s hobby wasn’t golf, I couldn’t just dismiss it as a joke.

“Don’t tell me there have been people who have been tortured by her before?”

I asked half-jokingly, half-seriously. But instead of answering, he turned his head to the side. Why are you being so scary?! As my remaining composure disappeared, I asked urgently.

“Is torture her hobby too?”

“Who knows.”

He turned his expressionless face back to me, but his eyes weren’t serious at all. Only then did I realize he had been teasing me. I couldn’t help but get serious with him.

“Hyung, do you find it fun to scare me?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then why talk about torture…”

“There have been several people who disappeared after getting on her wrong side. Most were found dead, and some bodies were missing fingers. While it might have been to hide their identities, if Mirae’s chairwoman did it herself, it was likely torture.”

“…Hyung, your jokes have gotten better.”

“Not at all.”

But I couldn’t completely abandon my disbelief and held onto hope. Surely she couldn’t be a real psycho who kills people, right?

“Honestly, I can’t fully believe what you’re saying, hyung.”

“Then check with Attorney Kim. Given how she tried to protect you, she must know quite a bit about the Chairwoman.”

…Ah, come to think of it, she did try to protect me to an almost excessive degree, damn it. She did that as a way to keep my relationship with hyung from being exposed. Thinking about it this way made me feel wronged.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you just said you don’t like me?”

“That’s difficult.”

“Why?”

“Because it would be a lie.”

“Even though my life is in danger?”

“You’ll be safe by my side.”

His firm words seemed to nail down that I had no other choice. The guilt I briefly felt last night over ice cream felt like it happened a hundred years ago. Instead, anger welled up.

“What if I say I still want to leave?”

He pushed the food toward me and asked expressionlessly.

“Can you even leave me behind?”

Why can’t I? As I looked puzzled, he stared straight into my eyes.

“Because I don’t know what I might do if something happens to you.”

“What, is hunting your hobby too?”

“I do have a gun.”

“…”

“Eat.”

“Hyung, you know that’s a really strange threat, right?”

At my question, he slowly twisted his lips. Though it might look like a sneer to others, to me it looked like a genuine smile where his emotions rarely showed through. He asked in a somewhat excited, low voice.

“You’ll stay?”

Again, it felt like someone squeezed my heart tight and let go. I avoided answering and looked down at the hangover soup.

“Hyung, I’m not the same as I was 8 years ago. I don’t know what you want from me, but…”

“Like me.”

Only serious eyes remained where the smile had disappeared. He’s making such a direct request? It was as embarrassing as his confession yesterday. It seems I’m the only one feeling embarrassed. I barely managed to open my unwilling lips.

“That’s something I’m not sure about either.”

Actually, I think it could be easy since I’m already concerned about him. But conversely, I was also anxious about whether my feelings might not grow any bigger from here. What if I misunderstand my feelings of guilt for him as love?

Moreover, the fact that my memory wasn’t perfect was also a problem. Not remembering that night bothered me. As he watched me pondering, he said one thing.

“I’ll help.”

“How?”

He reached out and took my hand. Then he rubbed the inside of my palm teasingly with his thumb. At that sensation, I tried to pull my hand away while shrinking my shoulders, but he wouldn’t let go.

“If you didn’t like me, you would hate me touching you, so…”

When he paused speaking, I got a notification. I glanced down at the phone screen on the table. The sender was Saebyeok. Though I couldn’t see it all, whatever he had said was something that couldn’t be ignored.

— Minha-ya, meet with me. It’s about Shim Jaeheon. You shouldn’t trust that person. He’s as cruel and selfish as Mirae’s chairwoman…

I unconsciously looked at hyung. He didn’t seem interested in my phone at all and was just looking at me. And as soon as our eyes met, he continued what he had stopped saying.

“Let’s sleep together.”

“…”

My silence must have been quite long. His hand touched me. Again, the tender flesh inside my palm was grazed. The area he touched was probably not even a few centimeters, but goosebumps spread as if my whole body had been grazed. I instinctively tried to pull my hand away, but again it was held by a strong force.

“Will I get the answer if we sleep together?”

I barely managed to say. I felt embarrassed that my voice sounded so awkward even in this situation. So please stop staring at me so intently. But those black eyes scanned my expression as if examining every corner of me.

“It’s quite a good method.”

“Well, there’s no need to, particularly.”

As I tried to pull my hand away while roughly refusing, he gripped it tightly as if he had anticipated it.

“You don’t want to?”

“It’s quite an uncomfortable question. I can’t readily agree when someone I’ve only met for a day suggests sleeping together.”

Ah, why does he look hurt again? Clearly, he’s the one forcibly holding my hand and not letting go, but I felt like I was the perpetrator.

“We’ve known each other for a long time.”

So what I mean is after our reunion… I gave up trying to explain. And again acknowledged the gap between him and me. Still, this time I couldn’t readily accept him.

“In my memory, we only held hands.”

And even that you quickly pushed away. I didn’t say the latter part for fear of sounding petty. Instead, I looked down at my hand that he was holding now.

“Honestly, even this feels quite burdensome, hyung”

After a brief silence, an emotionless response was heard.

“Okay.”

Simultaneously, his hand fell away. Perhaps because it had been held continuously, my freed hand felt strangely empty.

“I was too hasty.”

As he took a step back, I felt a bit sorry. No, there was no need for his voice to lose strength like that.

“You’ll stay by my side anyway.”

Huh? I hesitated at the words that came suddenly like an ambush. He caught my expression like a ghost and asked sharply.

“Won’t you?”

“Well, since the chairwoman seems dangerous…”

“She is dangerous.”

“…Right.”

Only after my answer came did his sharp atmosphere completely dissolve. And he pushed the food bowl toward me again. At his gesture saying ‘eat,’ I asked without thinking.

“Were you worried that I hadn’t eaten properly for 8 years?”

“Yes.”

I was about to grab the spoon when I looked at him. His serious expression didn’t look like he was joking, which was a bit overwhelming.

“I’m not a child, why would you worry about such things?”

“I didn’t have any news about you, so all I could do was worry.”

“…”

“Eat.”

The second burden I felt at his gruff command was fortunately easy to ignore. But I felt so uncomfortable anyway. I couldn’t tell whether the hangover soup was going into my mouth or nose. So in the middle of the meal, I finally said something.

“Stop staring, hyung.”

“Eat the vegetables too.”

My attempt to alleviate the burden ended without even breaking even due to my picky eating.

I mean, what hangover soup restaurant gives this many vegetable side dishes? I picked up just a little bit of some unidentifiable green seasoned vegetables with my chopsticks and pretended to eat.

“I can’t digest all this if you stare at me like that.”

“That’s because you’re not chewing properly.”

I almost said something in response to his blunt criticism. What are you, my mom?

“You’re not eating?”

“I already did.”

“Let’s eat together next time.”

Then I can criticize you too. I should have said the latter part too. Seeing how his expressionless face looked touched at my words, it felt like digestion would be even harder.

“Okay, at lunch.”

“Ah, lunch might not work.”

I checked my phone, remembering the text message that came earlier. As expected, there was a long request to meet. Plus, the words not to trust Jaeheon hyung and that there were things I needed to know were repeated several times. While I’m not curious about Jaeheon hyung’s story, it seemed like I should meet with Saebyeok once.

“I’m not imprisoned, right? The security guard said I could go out freely.”

“That’s right.”

“Then I’ll go out for a while. Uhm, I should at least meet Saebyeok once.”

“Okay.”

An unexpectedly light answer came out. Is he going to permit it so easily? What if the Chairwoman is using Saebyeok as bait to catch me?

“Is it fine to meet Saebyeok?”

“You want to meet him, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then meet him.”

I nodded while feeling bewildered at his cool response. I wondered if he was that protective of me.

“Thank you, hyung.”

He looked at me as if surprised, then the corners of his mouth twitched.

“No need for thanks, I’m coming too.”

***

Jaeheon hyung came with me to the meeting place, but I went into the café alone. After all, I’d look silly like an elementary school student bringing their parent. Fortunately, he seemed to have no interest in what I would talk about with Saebyeok. I was so curious about this that I asked directly.

‘What if Saebyeok talks bad about you to me?’

‘So what.’

This was his entire response. I felt that this was just like the person I knew, and I was also glad that he didn’t care about what others said. That’s why I think I met Saebyeok without much worry. But when I actually saw Saebyeok’s face, his complexion was so bad that I felt sorry for coming out with such a light heart.

“Are you okay?”

The question came out before I knew it. Saebyeok straightened his back and nodded.

“Of course I am. How could I not be?”

Alright, if you think so, that’s a relief.

“Mirae will receive support from the government, but the Chairwoman will use her personal fortune to rebuild it. Everyone’s talking nonsense about how it’s ruined, but that’s absolutely not true. Mirae will not fall.”

The voice was so confident that I didn’t express any opposing opinion. I wasn’t here to fight anyway. Still, I wanted to say one thing.

“Of course she should use his personal fortune. Whose fault is it?”

“It’s Shim Jaeheon’s… haah.”

Saebyeok sighed and suddenly looked around.

“Didn’t Shim Jaeheon come with you?”

I was bothered by how Saebyeok was calling him by name without honorifics, especially since I had been carefully using them and calling him hyung. So I didn’t answer, but he guessed the answer first.

“I saw you getting out of the passenger seat. Didn’t Shim Jaeheon give you a ride?”

I looked at my friend with admiring eyes for a moment. He’s quite good at deduction, huh?

“And the security guards who all piled out of the car behind…”

Just as he said, the security guards who followed us were blocking the front of the café again. I glanced through the café’s large window when an urgent question was heard.

“Shim Jaeheon came too, right?”

“You made the appointment with me, so you only need to check on me, right?”

When I responded, Saebyeok smirked. He seemed to think I was avoiding the answer.

“You think I might do something to harm Shim Jaeheon? I’m not stupid enough to set such an obvious trap. Chairwoman Bae has just finished round one and is preparing thoroughly for a counterattack. She wouldn’t do something as petty as trying to harm Shim Jaeheon by using you as bait before the fight even starts.”

“That’s good then.”

“Good?”

Saebyeok exhaled with a sigh as if finding me pathetic.

“If you knew that, you shouldn’t have come here today. Why do you think Shim Jaeheon brought you here himself? Since the Chairwoman isn’t showing much reaction, he’s trying to provoke her by continuously showing you off as a decoy.”

With nothing to say in response, I stayed quiet, and Saebyeok showed a sneer while looking at me.

“Don’t tell me you actually think Shim Jaeheon really likes you? That he’s been holding onto his first love all this time? Haah… Minha-ya, you’re not actually believing that’s real, are you? You two haven’t even met for 8 years.”

“Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

“No, there’s more. Be careful of Shim Jaeheon. That person only has thoughts of revenge against the Chairwoman and is using you as a shield. Do you know how much of a cold-blooded and cruel person he is? He only cares about money. If you don’t believe me, I can let you talk directly to several people who worked with him. Everyone trembles at the mention of Shim Jaeheon. They say he’s a selfish person who doesn’t have even a speck of courtesy towards his colleagues and only cares about his own achievements. And such a person suddenly appears and says he likes you? If he really liked you, he should have protected you from being exposed to the Chairwoman. I heard he deliberately stuck close to you at the art hall for everyone to see. That’s all part of his plan.”

“What plan?”

“I told you. It’s a scheme to use you as a shield while he escapes from danger.”

“If what you’re saying is true, then I can’t be a shield since he doesn’t really love me. And who would believe it after not seeing each other for 8 years?”

“But Shim Jaeheon…”

“Saebyeok-ah.” I cut off his words while calling his name. He clearly seemed to be in an irrational state. He seemed to firmly believe that such clumsy talk would work on me. I was a bit worried because it might mean he was that desperate.

“What’s the real reason you called me out?”

“Why else? Because I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll handle my own problems. If Jaeheon hyung turns out to be a bad person, I’ll take responsibility for our relationship. Thanks for the advice.”

When I concluded, Saebyeok closed his mouth tightly, apparently having nothing to say. Then he kept checking his phone nervously. What is he checking so much? It was as if he was anxiously waiting for a certain time to arrive.

…No, it can’t be. Surely he wasn’t trying to buy time to harm Jaeheon hyung while keeping me here. He wouldn’t actually do something so petty. It can’t be, but I unconsciously glanced outside. Where’s Jaeheon hyung? Then I heard a question mixed with a sigh.

“You’ve already fallen for Shim Jaeheon, haven’t you? Well, I guess it would be easy to fall for feeling special when such a cold person shows even a little kindness.”

“Is that how you fell for her?”

“What?”

“I mean Mirae’s chairwoman. I was wondering if you fell for her because you felt special.”

At my words, Saebyeok closed his mouth again. Grandfather always said that jealousy mostly comes from one’s own flaws. To me, Saebyeok’s advice strangely felt like jealousy. In his messages, he had said himself that the Chairwoman and Jaeheon hyung were similar. So I thought maybe he was projecting himself onto me.

“I am special.”

Saebyeok answered belatedly in a strong tone.

“Then you shouldn’t regret your choice.”

“Of course I don’t regret it.”

“I won’t either.”

“…”

Maybe because I was in a more relaxed position, I could clearly see Saebyeok’s eyes wavering. So I pretended to avoid his gaze by looking down at the drink I had received. After waiting for a moment, I brought up my main point.

“Actually, I came out to ask you about what happened 8 years ago. I have some things to confirm about when I was pheromone showered by Alpha Six.”

There was still no response, but when I looked up, I saw his face frozen pale. Although he already looked unwell, which made me feel sorry for him, this time I didn’t wait and asked. Even though it might just be my oversensitivity, I needed to confirm if he was trying to get rid of hyung by using me as bait. So I wanted to finish my business quickly and get up from my seat.

“Do you remember that? It was also the reason I quit school.”

“I don’t know what Shim Jaeheon told you, but it wasn’t me.”

Huh? I was puzzled when Jaeheon hyung’s name suddenly came from him, but Saebyeok didn’t seem to notice my expression. He just quickly spewed out excuses that were hard to understand.

“I don’t know what in the world Shim Jaeheon told you, but it really wasn’t me, Minha-ya. I really didn’t sell you out to Alpha Six. Yes, I did pass information about Omegas to Alpha Six, but that was because… there were some circumstances. But not yours. How could Shim Jaeheon find out about that and blackmail me…? Haa, shit.”

Saebyeok collapsed his previously straight back and covered his forehead with his hand.

“What do you mean by blackmail?”

“Ha, he didn’t tell you about that? You don’t know how much that bastard went around digging up the truth after you left school. Shit, not only did he directly harm Alpha Six, but he even came to me and threatened to reveal everything I did. Do you know how much I begged that bastard while holding onto his pants leg at school? For fuck’s sake.”

Saebyeok, in his confusion, spilled out all that happened as if he didn’t even know what he was saying.

“Are you even aware of how much my mother had to donate to the school to stop that? Professor Hong too, shit, what right does that woman have to threaten me with disciplinary action? My life turned into hell trying to cover that up. But I really didn’t do anything wrong. I just said a few words to Alpha Six, really.”

“Those few words caused great harm to Jun.”

When I mentioned the name of the hoobae who was captured before me 8 years ago, Saebyeok turned his head and avoided my gaze. But his voice was sharp when he responded.

“If he knew he was weak to Alpha pheromones, he should have taken more suppressants.”

“…”

“But you, you’re different.”

Saebyeok wiped his lips with the back of his hand while keeping his head turned.

“You probably think of me as some kind of villain, but I really didn’t pass on your information.”

“I know.”

At my words, he turned his eyes toward me as if surprised.

“When I was caught by Alpha Six, they said something strange. They said there had been a big bet on me since freshman year, but thanks to having a good friend, I avoided it. At first, I didn’t know what that meant.”

Later, when my memories returned, that Alpha’s words kept bothering me. And I vaguely suspected that someone had deliberately passed information about Omegas to Alpha Six, and that it might have been Saebyeok.

“I thought maybe you prevented Alpha Six from targeting me. You must have helped me because I was your friend in your own way.”

Saebyeok’s eyes trembled several times today, but this time it seemed like a ripple of emotion rather than tension. However, since there had been victims clearly because of Saebyeok, I couldn’t just be happy about being the only one who received help. Still, looking at my old friend, I thank him 8 years later.

“Thank you, Saebyeok-ah.”

Everyone has multiple sides to them. Maybe Saebyeok’s purpose in calling me today had bad intentions. But this last part was clearly different.