Chapter 30

On the way back to the detached house, the grass was crushed beneath each of Ijun’s steps.

Without understanding why, Seoyun simply followed behind him.

Outwardly, there had been nothing that should have made him this angry.

Every member of the family had seemed to be in a foul emotional state, but after spending the day with them, Seoyun still could not guess the reason.

As soon as he entered the master bedroom, Ijun roughly stripped off his hanbok jacket and flung it onto the bed.

“F*ck……”

Seoyun, who had hurried in after him, froze where she stood.

She did not know why Ijun was so furious, but what shocked her more was the realization that he was the kind of person who could spit out such a curse.

The side of Ijun’s face as he stared at something was sharpened like a drawn blade.

“Ijun……”

Seoyun stepped closer and gently laid a hand on his arm as if to soothe him.

At that moment, Ijun seized her wrist and whipped around.

“You met Cha Ganguk?”

Seoyun understood the abrupt question a beat late.

Her tightly gripped wrist hurt, but she answered calmly.

Her only thought was that she had to calm him down.

“It was when I was in my first year of high school. Father had been invited to the Daejeong Electronics foundation anniversary event, and it was a party held right here in this house. At the time, Mother had already passed away, so Father brought me with him.”

“……”

“That day, I greeted Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of Daejeong Electronics, and he gave me spending money. I hesitated because I didn’t know whether I was allowed to accept it. It was too large an amount.”

Ijun listened silently to Seoyun’s explanation.

Her soft, even voice, no different from usual, seemed little by little to calm the boiling in his chest.

“That was the day I first saw you at the detached house.”

There was no need for her to say the subject aloud.

In truth, Ijun also remembered that day.

The little pale-faced girl trembling and begging him to help her.

But thinking of what kind of filthy thoughts Cha Ganguk might have had while looking at that pretty girl made anger surge through him.

“How much was it?”

“What?”

“The money Cha Ganguk gave you.”

“I don’t know. Just…. several checks.”

“Ha….”

That bastard.

That filthy habit of shoving money first at any young girl he saw.

Seoyun shifted the wrist Ijun was holding and took hold of his hand instead.

Then she quietly tugged him and seated him on the bed.

“You’re very tired, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You were coming home late until yesterday, and today you’ve been receiving guests since early morning. You must be tired and stressed.”

Ijun was a little dumbfounded.

Seoyun must have sensed the family’s bizarrely harsh emotions today as well.

And yet she was simply categorizing it all as stress.

But strangely, as he listened to Seoyun’s words, he began to feel that he truly had been tired and stressed.

“Shall I give you a massage? I’m actually pretty good at it. I used to do it for Father and even got spending money for it.”

This time, he nearly let out a hollow laugh.

Without even knowing how much of a hell this day had been for his family.

F*ck, a massage……

As if the emptiness and helplessness after enduring and surviving such extreme emotion could be solved by something like that.

And yet Ijun could not push Seoyun away and remained seated on the edge of the bed.

Seoyun’s small, soft hand seemed to cradle his shoulder, then pressed firmly into the tightly knotted muscle there.

Unexpectedly, her fingers had strength, and somehow she knew exactly where he was tense, enough that a groan slipped out of him on its own.

“See? It’s all knotted up like this, so your head must have hurt too.”

Putting strength into her thumbs, she pressed his shoulders in slow rounded motions, loosened his neck as she moved upward, and stimulated the spot behind his ears.

The pressure in his head, which had always felt as though it were being tightly squeezed, gradually melted away.

And every time Seoyun moved with force, her sweet body scent brushed against him.

As his shoulders loosened, his lower abdomen began to tighten instead.

Ijun twisted around, wrapped an arm swiftly around Seoyun’s waist, and pushed her down onto the bed.

“Ah!”

“Your massage skills aren’t that great. I think this is much better.”

Ijun wrapped his arms around Seoyun’s waist and buried his face against her chest.

Then he breathed in the deepening scent of her until it filled his lungs.

Seoyun quietly held Ijun’s head.

It felt as though the poison that had filled his heart was slowly draining away.

The headache pills and sleeping pills he always had to take at the end of a holiday did not seem like they would be necessary tonight.

***

After finishing class, Jiho slung his bag over his shoulder and came out of the lecture hall.

Nick, who had been sitting beside him, walked silently alongside him.

Nick was a student who took classes with Jiho at Stanford.

And he was also the meticulous watcher Cha Ijun had hired.

Jiho had no idea how Cha Ijun had found him and hired him, but it was hard to imagine anyone more suited to the role.

He was taciturn and thorough.

To the point that it almost felt as if Cha Ijun had sent an AI.

He attended every lecture with Jiho, and whether they were eating or going to the restroom, he never left Jiho’s side.

If Jiho ever had to move around alone even for a moment, he had to leave his laptop and phone with Nick.

Then again.

If even the desktop he used at school or home was inspected every day, would his phone and laptop be any different.

Even Jiho’s calls with Seoyun were recorded and sent to Cha Ijun.

「Hey, Jiho! Jiho!」

As Jiho was leaving the building beside Nick, someone came running after him, calling his name.

It was a girl named Chloe who took classes with him at school.

She was a somewhat noticeable student, with rounded forehead-hugging choppy bangs, long hair, and round glasses.

「You’re J, right? The one who won DefCon. When you were in high school.」

「… So what?」

After glancing once at Nick standing beside him, Jiho answered indifferently.

「Wow, it really is you! I competed there too.」

「Yeah. Nice to meet you.」

Unbothered by Jiho’s soulless response, Chloe beamed brightly.

「Hey, do you want to join our group?」

「Group?」

「Yeah. We’re a group that takes orders from various organizations, cracks their servers, and finds weaknesses in their security systems so they can be patched. Sometimes it’s private companies or corporations, and sometimes even public institutions. It’s a pretty decent way to make spending money too. There are three of us, and among them, Daniel and I are friends who competed together at DefCon. Oh, and there’s also a guy named Benji, and he’s probably as much of a genius as you. So? Sounds fun, right?」

Jiho swallowed hard.

Since coming to the United States, he had not once been able to handle a computer freely as he pleased.

He missed those moments terribly, when he could break into any server he wanted and play around designing firewalls.

But Jiho stole another glance at Nick beside him.

「No. I’m good.」

「Why? Is it because of Nick here? Then he can join too. If it means getting you, we can make room for someone like Nick.」

As though she had never imagined Jiho would refuse, Chloe exaggeratedly dropped her jaw open.

And even though Nick was standing right there listening, she casually treated him like an extra thrown in on the side.

Nick, expressionless as always, gave a faint snort.

Even though he knew it was impossible, Jiho hesitated.

「It’s not because of Nick. I just don’t want to anyway. I’m not interested. Let’s go, Nick.」

「Hey! That’s a lie!」

As Jiho turned away without regret and walked off, Chloe shouted loudly after him.

It was definitely a lie, one hundred percent.

Because the hacker’s blood flowing in Song Jiho was purer than anyone else’s.

***

「What did J say? He said yes, right?」

Daniel asked as Chloe came trudging back into the classroom.

With a frustrated look on her face, Chloe shook her head.

「What? No way.」

「He said no and went back with Nick.」

Daniel pinched one eyebrow together and looked suspicious.

「Those two are really weird. They’re stuck together every second. I think they even go to the restroom together.」

「Hmm…. Gay?」

「Even if J looks kind of pretty, he didn’t really give off that vibe. And that guy Nick feels kind of gloomy somehow, doesn’t he?」

At Daniel’s words, Chloe and even Benji, who had been sitting silently at the desk, tilted their heads.

「Anyway, we’re not giving up just like this, right?」

「Of course not!」

At Daniel’s question, Chloe answered in a ringing voice, and Benji nodded firmly as well.