AGC | Chapter 1.3

Jiwan thought about pulling the robe tighter to cover himself but stopped. Honestly, it would look weird to act shy in front of another guy.

“Change and come to the next room.”

For a meal. Minhyung kindly closed the door as he left.

Ever since they met, it was all about food, as if haunted by a ghost who died of hunger. Jiwan briefly wondered if he looked like someone who had been starving, then shook his head. He unfolded the sweatshirt in his hands once more.

It was indeed faded and worn. The other clothes were the same. Perhaps because he had gotten used to the clean space, the familiar yet unpleasant musty smell of clothes from the suitcase was noticeable.

After some hesitation, he rummaged through the shopping bag Minhyung brought. He found a neat T-shirt, shorts, and a shirt. The white T-shirt was slightly loose, but the cotton shorts fit well and were comfortable.

As he put the sweatshirt back in the suitcase, he started justifying himself. It wasn’t because he was embarrassed about wearing the same clothes for over nine years, but because it was summer, so he was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Because it’s summer.

Jiwan sighed deeply and opened the door. He was immediately flustered.

There seemed to be endless doors on the second floor, making it impossible to know how many rooms there were. He had heard it wasn’t far from his grandmother’s house, but it was surprisingly large for a villa in such a rural area.

“Come in.”

The room he entered after knocking was so spacious it was hard to tell if it was a living room or a room. The wall-mounted TV was so large it was hard to estimate its size, and the gray sofa was placed at a reasonable distance from it.

Jiwan wondered what the purpose of this room was as he stepped inside.

Cha Minhyung was sitting at a round table in the back, and next to him stood Kang Jinsong, who had introduced himself as the manager. The table was piled with various disposable containers.

Jiwan approached Minhyung and sat awkwardly in front of him.

The sense of incongruity he had vaguely felt since entering the room grew stronger. All the furniture and items he saw here looked brand new, as if they had been bought yesterday.

“Since the meal wasn’t ready, we ordered some delivery food in a hurry.”

Manager Kang Jinsong said as he rummaged through the plastic bags, and Jiwan stared blankly at the tower of delivery food.

On top of a pizza box with a smiling female celebrity’s photo were chicken boxes and paper bags with hamburgers. There were even tonkatsu sets and cold noodles under the table.

Are these guys planning some kind of food torture?

Jiwan hesitated for a moment before picking up the paper bag with the hamburger on top.

“Manager, please step aside.”

Manager Kang Jinsong, who gave a short bow, collected all the food except the hamburger and left the room.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Minhyung just stared at him with his arms crossed. Jiwan was beyond feeling burdened; he was now at a loss.

“I’m not hungry.”

With you staring at me like that, I’m losing my appetite too.

Jiwan couldn’t say this and unwrapped the hamburger. Anyway, a bulgogi burger wasn’t a bad choice, and he was starving. Even after taking a few bites and swallowing the cola in front of him, Minhyung didn’t say a word.

“When I asked what I was curious about, they told me to ask you directly when you came.”

“…”

“What happens to me now?”

In truth, he had more than a few questions. The strangest thing was why they were treating him so well after kidnapping and confining him. Giving him IVs, letting him shower in warm water, and even feeding him like this.

He put down the hamburger he hadn’t eaten much of. Come to think of it, no matter how hungry he was, he wasn’t in a position to leisurely eat something like this.

“Jiwan-ssi.”

Minhyung glanced at the hamburger before turning his gaze back to Jiwan.

“How many times do I have to say it for you to understand? I told you to just relax for now.”

“Who can relax after being kidnapped?”

Yoon Jiwan was the type to speak his mind, no matter how scared he was.

Minhyung, who had been watching silently, sighed and slowly stood up. His heavy footsteps headed behind Jiwan’s chair.

It felt as if the air in the room suddenly turned cold. Despite the spacious room, it felt like there wasn’t enough air.

“Do you want to be uncomfortable?”

“Ugh…”

When Minhyung raised his right hand, Jiwan instinctively closed his eyes tightly.

I’m going to get hit. I don’t know how, but I’m definitely going to get hit by that hand.

Yoon Jiwan was someone who knew well how to get hit less painfully, thanks to a long database of experiences. You have to relax your body as much as possible. Of course, it’s not easy, but you have to somehow loosen up to get hit less painfully.

“Why are you trembling?”

Jiwan slightly opened his tightly shut eyes. Minhyung’s face, which had been expressionless, was now twisted.

“…Weren’t you going to hit me?”

“Why would I hit you?”

Minhyung sighed deeply as he brushed off the body wash bubbles left on Jiwan’s neck. Jiwan also sighed in relief. At least, contrary to his fears, he wasn’t going to get beaten.

“I was going to tell you slowly, but you seem to have too many questions.”

Minhyung, who had sat down next to him, wore a subtle expression.

“I’ll tell you first.”

It was the moment he had been waiting for the most, yet also the most feared. After leisurely washing and eating, it finally felt like the inevitable had come. Whatever he heard, it was bound to be bad news.

In the room with just the two of them, only the sound of the air conditioner humming could be heard.

Yoon Jiwan imagined what Cha Minhyung might say.

Your father’s debt is all yours? I’ll put you on a shrimp boat? I’ll sell you to an underworld you can’t even imagine? All the possibilities he could think of were the worst.

“To me, Jiwan-ssi is a 2 billion won hostage.”

But this was completely unexpected.

“Your father, Yoon Jungtae. He’s not dead.”

Jiwan’s eyes widened. In contrast, Minhyung continued speaking calmly.

“He scammed our company with land and ran away.”

“…We even had a funeral, so how is he not dead?”

“Did you check the body?”

Jiwan shook his head, unable to erase his dumbfounded expression. He hadn’t. He deliberately didn’t attend the funeral. Even though he hated his father so much, he didn’t want to see his brutally murdered body. That didn’t mean he could easily believe this hidden camera-like situation.

“That wasn’t your father. It was a fake corpse.”

Minhyung said quietly.

“We’ve checked everything, and he’s definitely alive.”

“…”

“So the closest child became the most valuable hostage.”

Minhyung looked at the completely dazed Jiwan before standing up. The one-sided conversation ended before Jiwan could say anything.

“I’ll keep your phone. Just in case your father tries to contact you.”

Minhyung whispered as he placed a hand on Jiwan’s stiff shoulder.

“Don’t be scared, just relax. I’ll be back in two days.”

Jiwan was left alone in the spacious room, staring at the table.

After hearing that his father was alive and that he was a hostage, all of Minhyung’s words echoed like a buzzing in his ears before scattering.

Until the echo disappeared, he sat blankly in the empty room, reflecting on his life. And only when the sun, which had been hanging in the sky, began to set did a groan-like curse escape from his tightly closed lips.

“Damn it…”

Returning to the bedroom, Jiwan threw himself onto the bed and blinked.

Honestly, at first, he thought Cha Minhyung was being generous. He thought he was being kind because of their past connection.

Jiwan let out a hollow laugh at the thought that he had completely misunderstood. He was just a valuable hostage. He had taken Minhyung’s words to relax at face value, marveling at the warm shower stream and eating a hamburger.

He rubbed his eyes, which were embarrassingly tearing up, but once the tears started, they didn’t stop easily. Anger and loneliness were burning him up inside. His cunning and sly father must have known that if he ran away, his son would take all the blame.

Jiwan bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Cha Minhyung was dumber than he looked. He had no value as a hostage in the first place. A hostage is only meaningful if they are precious and valuable to the person involved, but his father wouldn’t care if his son died at any moment.

He couldn’t understand why he felt so miserable. Was it because he was angry that his father, whom he thought was dead, had screwed him over to the end, or was it because he was tired of a life where he wasn’t even allowed to live normally?

⋆ ☾⋆ ☾⋆ ☾⋆

Manager Kang Jinsong sighed as he looked at his ringing phone. He paused for a moment before answering.

“Yes, Director.”

―What about Yoon Jiwan?

The low voice on the other end of the line cut straight to the point, asking what he wanted to know.

It hadn’t been long since Yoon Jiwan entered the villa, yet Minhyung was constantly checking on him. It wasn’t a particularly tiring task, but he was obligated to report everything to Minhyung.

“He didn’t seem interested in dinner, so I didn’t offer.”

―…

Minhyung didn’t respond, and Kang Jinsong knew it was silent pressure to say more.

“I think he’s crying.”

―…Crying?

“Yes.”

Even now, he could hear the sound of crying. From the sofa, he looked up at the second-floor bedroom, where the door was closed, but Yoon Jiwan was sobbing loudly enough to be heard on the first floor. For an hour now. Was he always like this? Kang Jinsong shook his head and adjusted the phone against his ear.

Minhyung was silent for a while after hearing that Jiwan was crying. Soon, a long sigh came from the other end of the line.

―Comfort him.

Kang Jinsong took off his rimless glasses with his free hand, placed them on the table, and rubbed his face. Am I a nanny? Of course, Manager Kang Jinsong never said this out loud. He only thought it to himself repeatedly.

“Yes, understood. I’ll try to comfort him.”

The call ended.

Kang Jinsong put the phone down on the sofa and slowly stood up. He walked up the stairs to Jiwan’s bedroom, knocked politely, and opened the door.

“Stop crying.”

Kang Jinsong wasn’t someone who could speak in a comforting tone. How was he supposed to comfort an adult man crying and lamenting his situation? He had no knack for comforting anyone, but he followed orders nonetheless.

Pulling back the white blanket revealed a face swollen and red from crying. Kang Jinsong thought it was quite a sight and picked up the air conditioner remote to lower the room temperature further. Yoon Jiwan, with his face puffed up from tears, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Kang Jinsong clicked his tongue inwardly.

“…Go away.”

The pale face he looked down on was flushed from crying. Despite the slightly upturned eyes and high nose bridge, the round tip of his nose was bright red.