OMLM | Chapter 38

“Did you call me, boss?”

The place where the boss had called Cha Hyuk was an old warehouse.

Inside the warehouse, all the windows were covered with wooden boards, making it dark even though the sun hadn’t set yet.

Under the lone light of a hanging bulb, a burly man was smoking a cigarette. It was Choi Hyungbae. He had effectively taken over managing Cha Hyuk after his fallout with Lee Wonpil.

Long, thick scars ran along his arms under his rolled-up sleeves, bulging all the way to his hands. They were burn marks.

Seeing Cha Hyuk, Choi Hyungbae twitched his face. As Cha Hyuk approached him, Choi spoke up, “Bite down on this.”

With a sharp snap, a sound echoed. Cha Hyuk’s face turned slightly to the side.

His cheek quickly started to swell up and turned red, but Cha Hyuk maintained an impassive expression.

“Hyuk-ah.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Did I ever tell you to do whatever the hell you want?”

“I’m sorry.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a barrage of indiscriminate beatings followed. Lips split and bruises formed, yet Cha Hyuk’s expression didn’t change as he took all the hits.

After a while, Choi Hyungbae, seemingly exhausted, let out a deep sigh and tossed away his cigarette butt.

“Hyuk-ah, if you’re going to act like this, just kill yourself quietly, so no one knows.”

“…”

“You’re letting everyone know, and it’s making it hard for Representative Lee. That’s why I have to beat you up. Either keep it quiet or don’t do it at all.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

Fresh blood trickled from Cha Hyuk’s lips. His hair was a mess.

Choi Hyungbae patted Cha Hyuk’s cheek somewhat sympathetically.

“That’s enough for now, make sure nothing like this happens again. Chairman Park is watching closely.”

Choi Hyungbae firmly pressed Cha Hyuk’s shoulder and left the warehouse first.

Only then did Cha Hyuk grimace.

It hurt more than he remembered. He hadn’t been hit in a while, and it seemed every spot ached.

—

Kang Yebon slightly opened the classroom door and peeked inside. One minute before the class was to start, Cha Hyuk was not there.

Cha Hyuk’s absence at this time meant he would not be attending today’s class.

He was always the first one in the classroom.

Kang Yebon sat down in his usual seat and pulled out his phone.

He had replied to a message from Cha Hyuk that morning and had yet to receive a response.

‘It usually takes less than a minute for him to reply…’

No, he wasn’t waiting. It was just unsettling not to get a reply as usual.

People try to guard their hearts, but Cha Hyuk kept breaking through, the more he was pushed away.

He probably liked him, but in a different way than Kang Yebon liked.

This was very troubling for Yebon.

Yebon also felt empty, maybe because he was always around Cha Hyuk.

Though his gaze was forward, his entire focus was on ‘why Cha Hyuk hadn’t shown up.’ He would have probably told him if he wasn’t coming.

Again, the desire for Cha Hyuk’s consideration popped up.

Yebon fidgeted roughly with a pen between his fingers.

“Today’s the day for the best groups to present, right? Any group want to go first?”

Yebon and Cha Hyuk’s group wasn’t chosen. It was an expected outcome.

Yebon had been half-distracted while making the PowerPoint presentation, so it was unlikely they’d be picked. There were too many competitors, even with all his efforts.

As the presentations started, Yebon fiddled with his phone.

He remembered the bandage on Cha Hyuk’s forehead from the previous week.

On Monday, the bandage was gone, and the healing wound was visible.

The still-red wound looked precarious as if it could burst open at any moment.

Yebon was surprised when Cha Hyuk suddenly appeared in the library, but honestly, he hadn’t expected Cha Hyuk to be this clingy.

To this extent… even when it was obvious to his eyes, yet it’s not love.

Yebon kept thinking Cha Hyuk liked him and then quickly denied it, repeatedly.

After that, he struggled to sort out his feelings.

Trying not to love someone was an extremely difficult task.

Becoming aware of one’s feelings, seeing every action of the other as proof of mutual feelings, was just like not being able to not think of something.

Yebon thought about Cha Hyuk again.

His first impression was scary, but he was a good person who could be kind to those who were sad.

He seemed stoic but unexpectedly had a playful side and smiled often, and he was part of the mob.

His home looked like someone who might leave at any moment.

He didn’t particularly like animals, especially dogs.

‘And he’s probably the scariest person when he gets angry…’

Yebon imagined Cha Hyuk’s stern face and shivered.

Even though they had become closer, Cha Hyuk was still intimidating.

However, that didn’t mean Yebon was scared of him.

He somehow felt that Cha Hyuk would not get mad at him, a baseless confidence that kept growing.

It was… because Cha Hyuk had been too indulgent with him.

As the class ended and there was still no reply, Yebon repeatedly opened and closed the messaging app.

He had typed ‘Didn’t come to school today…’ before erasing it.

‘Alright, if I decided to draw the line, I need to act on it.’

With resolve, Yebon firmly left the classroom.

—

Throughout the library study session, every couple of hours, Yebon would step outside to look around.

It was an excuse for a walk, but mostly it was the ‘just in case’ thought.

And the longer he went without contact, the more anxious Yebon became.

‘What if something happened?’

The injuries he had seen a few days ago plagued his thoughts.

What if he was really stabbed? What if there was a car accident? Shot? Beaten up again? Arrested by the police?

Yebon’s mind was more filled with a noir film starring Cha Hyuk than the subjects he was supposed to memorize.

With less than 10 minutes to 10 PM, Yebon couldn’t hold back any longer and sent a message.

[Kang Yebon]: I noticed you didn’t come to school today… just worried if something happened… (9:54 PM)

Two minutes passed without a reply.

His anxiety grew, but Yebon reassured himself that he was just being too sensitive.

Yebon was particularly sensitive about death, probably because of a close encounter before and likely influenced heavily by his mother.

Cha Hyuk was surely just busy. He had not shown up before and then appeared in front of him just fine. That was all.

His hand tightened around his phone, his heart thudding uneasily in his throat. Despite the cold air, his face felt hot.

Suddenly, an image of two dangling feet filled his mind, swollen and dark red, almost unrecognizable as human.

Yebon couldn’t understand why this image appeared at that moment.

His heart raced faster, and the heat that had flushed his face now cooled, leaving his hands and feet sweaty.

As Yebon staggered with a pale face, his phone vibrated.

He quickly answered the call. It was Cha Hyuk.

“Hello! Hyung!”

-…

The silence on the other end was chilling.

“Hyung? Cha Hyuk hyung, are you okay? Say something!”

– Yeah, it’s Cha Hyuk hyung.

Relief washed over Yebon at the sound of the voice he had longed to hear.

He had been overly sensitive after all. It was a relief.

– I didn’t expect you to answer right away.

That comment brought a wave of embarrassment.

When had he been pushing him away, and now this seemed like a reproach.

– Are you home?

“No, still at the library…”

– Why are you still at the library, you usually were home by 9 before this.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

A brief silence passed. Knowing Cha Hyuk was safe, Yebon thought he should hang up, but his hand remained glued to his phone at his ear, motionless.

“Where are you, ahjusshi?”

– …Hyung’s at home.

Acknowledging that, Yebon suddenly felt a dissonance.

Maybe it was because of the voice through the phone, but Cha Hyuk’s voice sounded drained. His words kept trailing off or fading.

“Are you sick?”

– …

“Ahjusshi?”

The silence from Cha Hyuk tightened Yebon’s grip on his phone.