PHUW 141

It was just before he entered the underground parking lot after coming home.

“I’ll go in after taking a short walk in the park.”

It was something he said because it was too suffocating that the outing he had looked forward to ended in such a mess. He had no real expectation. Haeri thought Jeong Mok would say no.

“Alright.”

Sitting beside him, Jeong Mok readily agreed. It was unexpected. He was not bluffing. While driving, he told the bodyguard to stop, and he also instructed the security team following in the large celebrity van that Haeri would get off at the park in front of the house.

It was nice of him to stop. The bodyguards all got out in a group. But Jeong Mok did not. Before closing the car door, he stared at him.

“Why?”

Jeong Mok asked.

“Aren’t you getting out, hyung?”

“I’ll bring Gom-i down soon. Wait in the park.”

“Yes.”

Was it okay because the park in front of the house was considered an extension of the house? It was strange that the man who had even blocked kindergarteners did not get out to follow. It was a little odd, but he thought it could be that way.

Since it was a time he normally did not come, the park looked different from usual. Naturally, the park’s structure had not changed. It was just that the cat lady who was always there like a resident ghost, the young man on the bicycle, and the jogging man were not around. He felt a little disappointed since he had felt familiarity with them.

“They really weren’t jobless after all, looks like they actually went to work.”

Since they were there every time he came, he had naturally exchanged nods with them as neighbors. He had once asked out of curiosity what they did that they were always there at that time. They had been a full-time housewife, a self-employed person, and a civil service exam student.

The area around the park was an affluent neighborhood. Even if they did not own their homes, the housing costs were not something people in financial hardship could handle. He could understand a housewife who had more flexible time, but he wondered what happened to the self-employed person’s store or office that he was always jogging, and how the civil service student could ride his bike every day and when he studied.

‘So that’s when they do it.’

At the time when Haeri usually lazed around at home, opening packages delivered that morning and enjoying a solo fashion show, they too were living their own lives.

As a result, the park was empty. With no one in such a large space, his mood sank further. To make it worse, the men in black suits trailed after him like they were guarding some government official. If anyone saw, he would become a “park star.”

“Sorry, but could you stay a little farther away? It’s right in front of the house, and hyung will be out soon.”

“Understood.”

The security team was strange too. He thought they would say they absolutely could not leave since Jeong Mok was not there. He had just said it for the sake of saying something. He had not expected them to scatter so easily. In fact, all but one returned to the van and disappeared into the underground parking lot.

At this point, the issue was not going out, it was that they held some kind of grudge against the museum. Had something bad happened there?

He had only gotten out because he did not want to go home yet, not because he really intended to walk. He sat on a nearby bench and fiddled with his phone.

He thought about playing a game, but he had already maxed out everything with insane spending, so he had to wait for the next update. There was nothing to watch on NeoTube, and NeoStar was full of posts he had already seen. Haeri scrolled past short clips meaninglessly.

When he suddenly looked up, the exam student was riding his bicycle. Not only that, but hearing the rustle of a plastic bag, he turned his head and saw the lady.

“Hello.”

Smiling gently, the lady answered his nod, and then fed and gave water to the cats that had appeared at the sound of the plastic bag.

Something felt off. As if the jogging woman would appear as well. And sure enough, after a moment, he came out stretching.

Then a realization smacked him in the back of the head. Of course.

“Ah, fuck.”

“Stupid enough to fall for this. Am I a real idiot?”

He could only laugh in disbelief. Then the bodyguard standing behind him came closer and asked what was wrong.

“Ah, can you tell that man he doesn’t have to run, since it must be hard for him? And from now on, tell him he doesn’t need to struggle riding a bike, he can use an electric board. Also, since he’ll be bringing the dog out soon, tell the lady to feed the cats a little farther away. Gom-i doesn’t care about cats, but you never know.”

The orders startled the bodyguard. And the others too.

When he glanced to the side, the lady quietly stood and moved with the cats to another spot. That was expected, since she was close enough to hear. But the exam student, who had been riding fine, suddenly stopped his bike as if losing balance. The jogging man, who had just started to run, froze in place looking uncertain.

Behind the bodyguard Haeri was staring at, a giant ball of fur appeared.

Woof!

The excited black dog dragged Jeong Mok toward Haeri. But Haeri’s eyes were not on the happy dog. They were fixed on the man holding his leash.

As soon as the black dog saw Haeri’s angry face, he smoothly veered off course as if it had been heading elsewhere to begin with. The moment Jeong Mok let go of the leash, the dog ran across the empty space. A dog that big should not be left alone. But for now it was fine. The park was under Jeong Mok’s control, and the security team was guarding every corner.

“Why are you suddenly mad? Did I do something wrong?”

Jeong Mok asked as he came closer.

“I’m not mad.”

“It doesn’t seem that way.”

Jeong Mok cautiously sat down beside him.

“It’s true. I just got pissed at myself for being stupid.”

“Why do you think you’re stupid?”

“Are you pretending not to know, or do you really not know?”

At that moment a bodyguard came up and whispered to Jeong Mok about what had just happened. It seemed he had not taken out his in-ear device, so he had not been informed. Listening to the explanation, Jeong Mok’s eyes widened, then covered his mouth with one hand.

“Are you really mad?”

“I told you I’m not.”

Haeri let out a short sigh.

“It’s strange that the same person who made such a fuss at the museum allowed me to take a walk in the park so easily. But it would have been better if you had said so in advance. I really thought they were local residents and talked to them a lot. Like an idiot.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

He meant it. The humiliating experience at the museum had been like a vaccination. He just felt embarrassed and ashamed, but he was not truly angry.

“But you’re not going to keep doing this, right?”

“Doing what?”

“Security.”

“Is it that uncomfortable?”

Jeong Mok asked worriedly. Was that even a question.

“Of course it’s uncomfortable.”

“Long-distance security has gaps. But if you’re uncomfortable, then there’s no choice.”

“I wasn’t saying you should change the way you do security.”

“Then?”

He looked straight at Haeri, as if he truly did not understand. For Jeong Mok, the option of not doing security did not exist.

“No, it’s fine. You don’t need to do long-distance security. Honestly, it’s easier for me when it’s obvious, since I can tell what’s happening.”

Haeri just brushed it off as nothing. It was easier than trying to explain a concept that did not exist to the other person.

The lady fed the cats again, and the man ran. The student passed by on his bike, nodding at Haeri and Jeong Mok. Even in this embarrassing situation, he had to act naturally. What on earth did it mean to be a working adult.

“Did you catch all the culprits?”

“We caught one ringleader and handed him over to the prosecution. As for the other, he’s in China, so we’re waiting for local contact.”

“Then did you already know those people?”

“Not at all.”

“Then you stepped in only because of me?”

“Of course.”

He spoke as if wondering why something so obvious even needed to be asked.

The museum had done a great job. There was no need to wonder why a chaebol vice president personally got involved in busting a drug trafficking organization. Instead, another question came up.

“You’re not hiding anything else?”

“Nothing.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Don’t lie. Everything always comes out. If I end up finding out on my own later, I won’t let it go, so tell me now. If you tell me now, I’ll understand.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Jeong Mok frowned.

“Are you going to keep pretending? Tell me before it comes out later. This is your last chance.”

“What am I supposed to say… ah. Did you see the news about that case?”

Jeong Mok trailed off with a troubled expression, as if something had come to mind.

Of course. Naturally he was hiding something. Otherwise this made no sense. Even in a world where someone could get hit on the head with a crowbar and end up with amnesia, people’s personalities did not change so easily.

If he was this obsessive with someone he had only just met, then surely something like that had happened before. The way he immediately brought up case-related news meant there had to be something.

Maybe he had been acquitted due to insufficient evidence, or it had ended as a minor offense so there was nothing on record. That would explain why in a chaebol family, even having a same-sex lover was accepted without issue.

But surely he had never beaten a former lover. Please, let that not be the case.

“Actually…”

Jeong Mok began to speak seriously. To what degree would it be. Haeri focused on his next words, hoping it would not be something too much for him to handle.

“I’m a lunatic.”

“…What?”

Haeri had known he was not normal, but he had not expected him to say it so bluntly. Seeing Haeri unable to hide his bewilderment, Jeong Mok smiled bitterly.

“Because of trauma I got aphasia and spent a few years in a psychiatric ward.”

Aphasia? That was not something you just caught like a cold. And for a chaebol who could wriggle out of anything with a powerful law firm no matter what he did, wasn’t a psychiatric ward basically the same as prison?

Considering his family’s tolerant attitude, Jeong Mok’s obsession, and his sudden shifts, maybe he had once been engaged, then gotten into a huge fight with his fiancé and caused some disaster. Instead of sending him to prison, they had put him in a psychiatric ward.

“…What kind of trauma?”

He was afraid to ask, but could not avoid it.

“I witnessed my father murdering my mother.”

At least it was not a lover he had killed… wait, what?