CTL 64

Yoongeon called Park Dongju and asked him to find out who the unidentified man who had burned to death was. When asked if he had anyone in mind, he passed on the lounge bar manager’s information, and Park Dongju said the National Forensic Service results would usually be out in about three days.

But what Yoongeon wanted was to know faster than the detectives. He said it would be fine even if he found out just an hour or two earlier if the situation wasn’t favorable, and Park Dongju readily agreed without asking again.

To repay that trust, Yoongeon briefly explained Ko Yoonchul’s situation to Park Dongju. That things seemed to have gotten a little twisted. Park Dongju, who listened up to the part about there being signs of a struggle, was startled.

[This won’t do. I’ll have to use my own people.]

He meant that he wasn’t keen on rumors spreading, but with the situation being what it was, there was no other choice. Yoongeon didn’t bother to stop him. In the first place, the reason Yoongeon was looking for Ko Yoonchul was to get him in his grasp and kill him off whenever he wanted, so it didn’t really matter whether Yoongeon found him first or his mother did.

“Haaa…”

As soon as he hung up the phone, Yoongeon let out a deep sigh. There was a mountain of documents to look at, but for some reason, he had no energy. It was frustrating.

“…”

It was not of his own will. Feeling as if the strength he had was being forcibly drained, Yoongeon stared blankly at the ceiling, blinking his eyes as he slumped down.

“Yoongeon.”

It was then. Seohwi seemed to knock on the study door and then carefully came inside.

“Work… what are you doing?”

It seemed he was about to ask if he was working. But when he saw Yoongeon slumped over listlessly, he approached with a dubious expression and asked if he was sick.

“I’m not sick.”

“Why are you like this.”

“Just because.”

“…”

He had a completely unfamiliar expression. Then again, the Yoongeon that Seohwi had seen until now was always doing something.

‘Why am I so lethargic…’

There was work to be done, he knew he had to do it, and he even tried to do it, but he couldn’t.

“You look tired.”

“…”

He was about to answer that there was no reason for that. But for some reason, Yoongeon was at a loss for words.

Was I tired?

At Seohwi’s words, he started to think that maybe he was right.

‘It seems like he’s right…’

No, he was surely right. No matter how much of a superhuman Yoongeon was, he was still human, so wouldn’t there be times when he got tired? Especially after living through eleven lives and trying so hard. He understood it with his head, but Yoongeon was just as unfamiliar with this listlessly slumped version of himself as he was. Yoongeon had never once stopped like this, even if it meant dropping dead.

Come to think of it, Yoongeon was always a person who was running. He set goals, never rested, and always obtained what he wanted to obtain.

“Is your work all… no, never mind.”

It seemed he now knew that there was no stupider question than asking Yoongeon if he was done with his work. Seohwi said, “That’s enough for today,” and held out his hand to him.

“Why the hand.”

It was a question asking who he was treating like a patient right now, but Seohwi did not withdraw his outstretched hand and gave no answer.

“I can do it myself, so move. …Ugh, what the?”

As Yoongeon swatted his hand aside and stood up, Seohwi suddenly bent at the waist and slung him over his shoulder.

“Hey, what’s with you all of a sudden?!”

His stomach was pressed painfully from being carried on his shoulder like a sack of luggage, but instead of saying it hurt, Yoongeon snapped in irritation. It was because he thought he must look like a patient who couldn’t even support his own body, but instead of answering, Seohwi went down the stairs with him slung over his shoulder. Yoongeon, who had been yelling and shouting, held back his anger, worried that he might slip and get hurt because of him.

“Haaa… what are you really doing, huh?”

Once Seohwi set him down on a dining chair, Yoongeon finally asked with a cold face. But Seohwi just rummaged through the freezer nonchalantly, took out two ice cream cones, and handed one to him.

“…What do you want me to do.”

“Eat.”

“I’m not eating it.”

“Why?”

Yoongeon, who was about to say he wasn’t eating it because he was in a foul mood, disciplined himself not to take his anger out on an innocent person and accepted the ice cream. As he ate the chocolate ice cream Seohwi handed him, Seohwi sat in front of him and stared intently at Yoongeon, as if monitoring him.

“…Are you monitoring me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

When he asked what on earth he was monitoring, if he was monitoring him for eating a mere ice cream, Seohwi grinned and nodded. He scoffed, finding it so utterly ridiculous.

“I did everything you told me to do. What is there to monitor.”

Today, Yoongeon really did as Seohwi said. If he said let’s go, he went, if he said let’s eat, he ate, and if he said let’s rest, he rested.

“Why. Do you hate it when I work?”

When he asked if it was because he worked too much, Seohwi shook his head.

“If it’s work that has to be done, you have to do it.”

“Then why are you being like this.”

Yoongeon thought for a moment before adding.

“Don’t be tied to me, you go do your own work too.”

He used to do that often in the past as well. Seohwi was usually indifferent, but sometimes, when Yoongeon was anxious or worried, he would put off his own work and stick by his side. Even this side of him was no different from back then, so Yoongeon felt strange for some reason.

“Hmm…”

“You have a mountain of work to do too. New employee, Mr. Yoon Seohwi.”

“I can’t work without Ms. Jia and Chief Ha anyway.”

He meant that whatever he did, he had to get it confirmed before moving on, so there was no point in doing it.

“And I’ve done as much as I can. If they tell me to revise it again, I can just do it then.”

He did have a point. Yoongeon pictured the revised design and nodded.

“As long as there are no issues with stability, it’ll be approved. It bothers me a bit that the sensitive components are placed too precariously close to each other, though.”

“What if it doesn’t get confirmed?”

“Well… we’ll have to find another way. We have to avoid it because the unit price goes up a lot if we deviate from the standardized specifications.”

If it’s going to be expensive, it should be so expensive that it’s not easy to buy, and if the price has to be cheap, it must be reasonable. Yoongeon frowned and touched his forehead. Because there is no one in the world who buys an item for a price that is neither here nor there—as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.

“…geon! Yoongeon!”

“…”

It was just for a moment. Yoongeon closed and opened his eyes, and Seohwi was holding onto him with a startled face.

“What, why.”

“You…!”