After leaving the motel, Soo-hyun found a convenience store. His head was spinning and his stomach didn’t feel good. Digging through his pockets for remaining money, he found crumpled 1,000 won and 500 won bills. With that, he first bought triangle kimbap and cup noodles at the convenience store.

After sitting in a corner and eating hurriedly, he felt somewhat alive again. Soo-hyun sat there for a long time, waiting for his mind to clear. Afterward, he went outside and took a bus. The weather was cold, but the sunlight coming through the window was warm.

Sitting in the very back seat, he dozed on and off until he reached his destination. After getting off the bus, he walked for a while along the road. Turning into an alley, Chairman Yang’s residence came into view. As he walked past the parking lot toward the main gate, an employee nearby stopped him.

“What brings you here?”

Hello, he greeted, and the man scrutinized Soo-hyun from top to bottom with suspicious eyes. Although he had washed up, it was natural to look strange after drinking for three days and nights, plus having bright red marks on his neck.

“I came to see Chairman Yang.”

“Who are you?”

“He’ll know me if you say Baek Soo-hyun.”

When he tried to go inside, the man blocked him with a frown. His expression said, This isn’t a place for someone like you. Just then, he heard someone calling, “Hyung!” Turning around, he saw Kim Woo-jin running toward him wearing a school uniform with a coat. The tip of his nose was red from the cold as he caught his breath.

“What happened? I couldn’t reach you… I was worried and went to the hotel, but everyone said they didn’t know…”

“Sorry… That’s how it turned out.”

Kim Woo-jin’s eyes fell on Soo-hyun’s rough face and the marks on his neck. He made a complicated expression and grabbed Soo-hyun’s arm. Let’s go in first. You came to see grandfather, right? When the employee naturally made way, Woo-jin looked at him and his name tag.

“Director Lee. How could you leave someone outside because you couldn’t recognize a face?”

His tone was subtly reproachful. The older man bowed his head. I’m sorry, young master. Woo-jin casually pulled Soo-hyun’s arm. Soo-hyun observed Woo-jin with interest. The boy he thought was young, innocent, and knew nothing was smoking cigarettes with friends and knew how to scold employees old enough to be his father.

As they crossed the yard toward the main building, Chairman Yang was standing on the porch looking in their direction. Wearing a hanbok with a thick fur vest and holding a long smoking pipe, he resembled a nobleman from a childhood fairy tale. Next to him stood the man who was his secretary that Soo-hyun had seen before. Soo-hyun bowed to Chairman Yang in greeting.

“I heard you ran away, what brings you here?”

The old man’s tone suggested he was genuinely curious rather than accusatory.

“I didn’t run away, I just needed some time to think.”

“Think?”

“Yes.”

“Come in first.”

Soo-hyun took off his shoes and stepped onto the porch. Following the old man, they arrived at a room with red bedding laid out. As he looked around the unfamiliar place, a framed picture on the wall caught his attention. It showed the old man with three other men.

Yang Ho-beom, Kim Woo-young, and Kim Woo-jin.

It seemed to have been taken quite a while ago. Kim Woo-young looked very neat and tidy, unlike the drug addict Soo-hyun knew. Kim Woo-jin looked more childlike than now, and Yang Ho-beom… That b＊stard was old even then. Soo-hyun thought that he must have been born with that face.

“Sit.”

Soo-hyun placed a cushion opposite Chairman Yang and sat down. The secretary left, and shortly after, Woo-jin appeared with tea utensils. He always brewed tea when Soo-hyun came here.

“You look terrible.”

Soo-hyun smiled bitterly.

“So, I heard you learned everything from Beom.”

Soo-hyun nodded.

“Do you resent me? For deceiving you using your father as an excuse?”

“At first I was shocked and angry, but now it doesn’t matter. K＊ll me or not, do as you please.”

“In other words, your father cannot be a hostage to make you work for us?”

“Yes…”

“Why did you come here then?”

“I want to make a new contract.”

“Contract?”

Soo-hyun looked at Woo-jin. He was warming the teacups while waiting for the tea to steep. As if he couldn’t hear anything happening here. Noticing that gaze, Chairman Yang smiled.

“You can speak freely.”

Looking at Chairman Yang’s face, Soo-hyun suddenly became curious. How long would Chairman Yang live? They say human lifespan these days is 100 years, but the old man must be over 80. Would Yang Ho-beom inherit everything then? All that wealth.

“I’ll help you achieve your goal.”

“My goal?”

“For the candidate you support to win the presidential election, and for Prosecutor Seo Min-jun to fall into ruin.”

“And you’ll accomplish both of those for me?”

Chairman Yang stared at Soo-hyun in silence. It was already in the past, and there was no evidence or witnesses. The only witnesses, Seo Yoon-kyung and the Seo couple, were living abroad, and even if they were here, they wouldn’t tell the truth. So now, all they had was Baek Soo-hyun’s confession.

He couldn’t guarantee how powerful the impact would be. Whether it would just shake Seo Min-jun or truly drag him to the bottom. If they weren’t careful, it could backfire. That’s why Ho-beom had initially opposed the plan when he first heard it.

“Do you have a clever plan to deal with Prosecutor Seo?”

“I’ll make a video for you.”

“A video?”

“A s*x video.”

Soo-hyun noticed that Woo-jin’s movements beside him had stopped. The old man’s wrinkled eyes narrowed and then returned to normal.

“You know what kind of relationship Seo Min-jun and I had.”

“Yes. An employee who worked at that house spoke up. Said he saw you two doing shameful things. Said he couldn’t bring himself to tell the owners. Even after hearing it, I was skeptical, but I guess it was true.”

Soo-hyun didn’t deny it. A newly hired employee had once caught them kissing and touching in the forest near the house. Fortunately, she kept her mouth shut and quit the job not long after. He couldn’t remember her name or face, but it was more surprising that Chairman Yang had found her.

“Will that really work? He’ll be wary of you.”

“Isn’t that the same approach you’re thinking of? It seems you want me to go on TV and blurt everything out, but what if things go wrong? Not only would I be screwed, but you would take a hit too. Wouldn’t a more certain method be better?”

Look at this fellow. Chairman Yang smiled and lit his pipe.

“Let’s say that’s the case. Then what do you want?”

“My value has increased, so give me 5 billion won. Of course, that’s if I succeed. If I fail, I’ll accept whatever punishment.”

Chairman Yang laughed silently. You were trembling and watching my reactions even when talking about 1 billion, and now you’ve grown bolder. After thinking deeply, he nodded and said, “Alright.”

“Will that be enough?”

“No, there’s one more thing…”

Soo-hyun paused before speaking again.

“I heard Yang Ho-beom was supposed to receive some land from you. On the condition he quit smoking.”

“He told you about that?”

“Yes…”

“And?”

“Give that land to Kim Woo-jin instead.”

Crash! The teacup slipped from Kim Woo-jin’s hand and fell to the floor. Surprised, Kim Woo-jin froze and stared at Soo-hyun, and this time even Chairman Yang seemed quite shocked. Wrinkles formed between his brows and his lips pursed.

“Give the land I promised to Ho-beom to Woo-jin instead?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To tell Yang Ho-beom to eat sh*t.”

Chairman Yang’s tightly closed lips twitched and then spread sideways. Ha, haha, hahaha, like he had seen something amusing, he leaned back and laughed. Soo-hyun waited slowly for his laughter to stop. Woo-jin was hurriedly wiping the spilled water with a dry cloth.

“Mr. Baek, you’re more interesting than I thought. Much more interesting than your father.”

“Will you do it?”

“What if I refuse and offer you more money instead?”

“Then I would refuse as well.”

Faced with Soo-hyun’s firm attitude, Chairman Yang’s concerns deepened. That land was also where Ho-beom had lived with his parents as a child. The house, the workshop, the fields they had cultivated together as a family. After his son’s death, Chairman Yang had bought the land, and when Yang Ho-beom recently learned about it, he wanted it for himself.

He had never shown any feelings about his dead parents before, so perhaps he missed them?

As his grandson, Chairman Yang hadn’t intended to deny him this, but if Ho-beom found out he had given it to Kim Woo-jin instead…

“Can you handle Ho-beom’s reaction?”

Soo-hyun smirked without hesitation.

Bl＊＊d formed on his parched lips.

“Well, what else can happen except getting beaten up?”

***

“Are you really okay? Where have you been and what have you been doing?”

The manager followed Soo-hyun around, questioning him persistently. When he smiled and said it was nothing, his lips cracked and bled. He roughly wiped it with the back of his hand, received his key at the front desk, and walked to the elevator. The manager, who had followed him, handed him a freshly pulled tissue. Wipe the bl＊＊d.

“How are you going to work with that face? Go and rest. I can send other staff.”

“Is there any staff willing to go up there?”

The manager was momentarily flustered.

“If not, I-I’ll go myself.”

“Ah, it’s fine. Just don’t stutter.”

At least there are people who worry about me. Not bad. Soo-hyun grinned and entered the opening elevator. Through the closing doors, he could see the manager’s face, sighing deeply. What a good person. Unlike someone else.

Arriving at the PH floor, Soo-hyun tapped his card and entered, only to find his face automatically wrinkling at the mess inside. What a complete disaster. Even if the cleaning person was absent, this was too much. According to the front desk staff, Yang Ho-beom hadn’t been here. In that case…

Sure enough, someone was sprawled in the bedroom. Seeing the lotus flower in full bloom on his back, Soo-hyun knew who it was without looking. Approaching closer, he noticed a bruise on Kim Woo-young’s mouth. Why is his face like that? After staring curiously, Soo-hyun shook his head and left the bedroom.

Deciding to clean the living room first since waking him would only make him irritable, Soo-hyun began putting the scattered items into a trash bag. A condom soaked with s*men made him grimace as he threw it into the bag. Expensive liquor left half-finished sat on the table, and the ice in the bucket had melted into water.

“I should have just taken the money. Why did I agree to work?”

As he was having these belated regrets, he heard heavy footsteps. Had Kim Woo-young woken up? Wondering if he would again walk around with his d*ck hanging out like last time, Soo-hyun deliberately avoided looking, but the footsteps drew closer.

“Hey.”

A chillingly low bass voice.

Soo-hyun spun around immediately. Something flew at his face and struck his cheek. With the impact, his body flew toward the sofa and hit his head. Ugh, he groaned, holding his struck face as he got up, his cheek stinging and ears ringing.

When he regained his senses, Yang Ho-beom was standing before him.

Grinding a cigarette between his front teeth and roughly loosening his tie.

With a face full of rage.

“You, did something quite bold, didn’t you?”