PHUW 122

Haeri felt something ominous. Could this be the item those bastards were looking for? Could it be that while he had lost his memory, he had found this thing and brought it here? He had to check first. Haeri tore it open in a hurry.

Objects wrapped in bubble wrap poured out. They were definitely not nail polish. Was it that something else had been smuggled while pretending to be nail polish? A chill ran down his spine. The tips of his fingers froze. He set the box down on the floor and ripped away the bubble wrap.

“Huh?”

Something strange came out. A box with Japanese writing, and the picture on it was… that kind of item. Something he had heard at a drinking table in the past flashed through his mind.

‘These days, druggies you know, they do this. They hide it in these kinds of things, these things. Crazy fucks. Filthy as hell.’

There were even stories of idiots who, after wrapping it in several layers of sex toys that could be bought at convenience stores, either swallowed them or stuffed them into certain body parts best not spoken of, and then ended up dead from acute drug poisoning when the rubber tore.

“Ah, fuck.”

There was no need to check further. Haeri grabbed the box at once and went out.

“Excuse me!”

“Hm?”

Jeong Mok, who was just coming out of another room after changing clothes, fixed his eyes on Haeri.

“I think I found the item those bastards were looking for.”

“What?”

Jeong Mok’s expression froze.

“Mr. Ahn said so. That the things Sang…no the organization who killed my friend were looking for something. Looks like I had it without knowing. Here, look at this.”

Haeri held out the box he was carrying to Jeong Mok. Looking inside, Jeong Mok stiffened.

“Dirty bastards. They hid drugs in this, didn’t they?”

“Uh… Haeri.”

“If we split it open, it’ll come out.”

“Mm. Will it? My thoughts are a bit different.”

Jeong Mok sounded doubtful. Looking troubled, he rubbed his handsome face so hard like he wanted to crush it.

“This, I sent it here under my name. Why would I do that? I must have had a reason, there must have been some intent.”

Haeri stubbornly insisted, but Jeong Mok only looked reluctant. Excited, Haeri thought he had to show him directly.

He put the box on the dining table, picked the most likely one among them, that is, a black silicon monstrosity so large he wondered what insane lunatic would dare stick it inside themselves, and strode to the kitchen counter. When he pulled a kitchen knife from the drawer, Jeong Mok came up beside him.

“What are you doing?”

“If we cut it open, we’ll know.”

Haeri gripped the filthy thing tight and struck with the knife.

Thud.

It was so thick the knife stopped halfway. He pulled out the embedded blade and tore at it with his hands. But inside there was nothing. If not in the shaft, then in the pouch. He swung the knife again.

Clang!

This time it split cleanly in two. But there was still nothing. What? Was this not it? Was this a fake and it was another one? Knife in hand, he turned back toward the table.

Standing beside him, Jeong Mok’s face was pale. His hand rubbing his chin moved slightly unnaturally, like a man who had seen something truly terrifying. But Haeri paid no mind. He had to split and cut every one of those filthy things in the box.

The box contained, from oversized ones no domestic buyer would ever use to normal sizes, a variety of condoms. The rest were small plastic devices and two transparent tubes, neither of which seemed to have space to hide anything. The transparent case looked like nothing special, so he chopped the white tube with the knife.

Transparent gel burst out and smeared over his hands. Nowhere inside was there any small lump of drugs like in the movies.

“What? No way.”

Flustered, Haeri searched the box again. But that was all. He couldn’t believe it. While he was about to smash the small plastic device with the knife, Jeong Mok blocked him.

“It’s dangerous.”

He took the knife from Haeri’s hand and tossed it back into the kitchen drawer. Dazed, Haeri, muttering that this couldn’t be, groped the halved gel.

Suddenly, a burning heat rose on the hands covered in the transparent gel.

“This is weird.”

“Haeri.”

“Look at this. It’s hot. Something’s mixed inside. So this must be refined into drugs…”

He held up both burning hands. With a low sigh, Jeong Mok caught him and led him toward the sink.

The water washed the mysterious gel away.

“No, this is evidence! Why are you doing this!”

Haeri shouted as his wrist was pulled.

“It’s not evidence. It’s just a product that works that way.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because we already found the item they were looking for.”

“What?”

Confused, Haeri looked at him, and Jeong Mok gave a troubled smile.

“We found it. We’re dealing with it right now.”

“How?”

Jeong Mok suddenly avoided his eyes.

“I don’t know the details yet. I just heard from Mr. Ahn that it was found, so I didn’t ask further.”

“He didn’t say anything like that to me.”

If it was found, he should have said so.

“Where was it found?”

“I don’t know. I only know it was found, I didn’t ask where.”

He looked evasive.

“Come on, the Vice Chairman is the boss. How could the boss not know?”

“Boss? And don’t call me Vice Chairman, it’s too awkward. Call me hyung.”

“No, that’s not the point right now. I’m asking where and how you found it.”

“There’s a way. I can’t disclose it externally for security reasons.”

Unbelievable. Wasn’t it? Everything lined up too perfectly.

“Wait… was it you who told me to smuggle the goods?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then why won’t you say how you found it?”

“You didn’t say it was at your house either.”

Haeri was caught off guard and couldn’t argue further. It seemed they had found it by searching his house.

“You… knew my address?”

“Anyone can find it if they investigate.”

“I… see.”

“And I definitely wasn’t the one who told you to smuggle it. I don’t do drugs. Didn’t Attorney Shin Chaehee tell you the reason we met?”

He had heard. But it sounded too much like some comic book plot to accept blindly.

“Anyway, this isn’t that kind of product, so don’t worry.”

Jeong Mok gathered the scattered adult products into the box one by one. Haeri had been spacing out when he suddenly blurted,

“Then why is something like this in my room?”

“Well, wouldn’t your credit card statement tell you?”

After tidying up, Jeong Mok rolled up some kitchen towels and wiped off the gel. He stopped mid-wipe, picked up the torn tube, and absentmindedly read the English words on it.

“It says it has a heating function. I guess you can wash it with water.”

Haeri, who had been standing there like an idiot, finally snapped back to his senses. The warmth that had stayed only on the back of his hand rose upward, making his neck, face, and even the top of his head burn.

So right now, the adult products he had secretly bought and stored, he had not only shown them to the intended user but even went so far as to cut them to pieces like a lunatic right before his eyes. What kind of creative madness was this.

“Uh… I, um…”

“Forget this and go inside to rest.”

“I-I’m sorry!”

Haeri ran toward his room like a puppy with its tail on fire. Or at least he meant to. Hobbling on his casted foot, he hurried and slipped on his own.

Thud.

Marble floors were made for walking gracefully, not for falling on. Screw embarrassment, it hurt so bad it nearly brought him to tears. Marble, the merciless bastard.

“Haeri, are you okay?”

Jeong Mok dropped the kitchen towel he had been using to clean the table and rushed over. He slid his hands under Haeri’s armpits and lifted him up, then scooped him into his arms like a child. It startled him a little, but the pain in his shin was stronger.

Jeong Mok set Haeri down on the sofa, then checked him over carefully as Haeri groaned from the pain.

“Ow, ow, ow.”

“Where does it hurt?”

“My knee.”

Jeong Mok rolled up Haeri’s pants leg. A bright red mark was visible. He touched it lightly, and it throbbed.

“Tsk. It must hurt a lot.”

“It hurts like hell.”

“You can still move your leg, right?”

His ankle and toes had sensation. His knee hurt, but it wasn’t immobile.

“Let’s go to the hospital.”

Ah. He had just been discharged, and now back to the hospital? Haeri’s face twisted in frustration.

“Who goes to the hospital for this. Just put some ointment on the bruise.”

“No. Your knee might be seriously injured.”

“Ordinary people don’t go to the hospital for something like this.”

When Haeri insisted, Jeong Mok gave in. Instead, he pulled out a first aid kit from a drawer near the kitchen. It was full of medicines. Checking them one by one, he chose one and applied it to Haeri’s swollen knee. Just touching it made Haeri grimace.

He wrapped it with a thin gauze bandage so the ointment would absorb well, then handed Haeri an anti-inflammatory pill with a glass of water. Haeri obediently swallowed it. While handing over the glass, Jeong Mok let out a sigh.

“Ahn Haeri, I really can’t take my eyes off you for even a moment.”

Haeri had no answer.

After that, Jeong Mok didn’t just watch over his every move, he assisted with everything. Even when Haeri showered, he stood by the door. He said many people slipped and died in bathrooms. Haeri couldn’t argue with that. It was embarrassing but Jeong Mok didn’t come into the shower booth itself, so he managed to wash up.

When he came out with a towel wrapped around his waist, Jeong Mok dried his upper body with a large towel.

That wasn’t all. Like he was dressing a toddler, he knelt down and held out prepared underwear at his feet. Not even a mother would go this far.

“Uh, you don’t have to go this far…”

“What if you fall again. This foot. Hurry.”

“……”

It was humiliating, like being treated as handicapped, but the truth was, he had acted like one, so he couldn’t protest. He just had to do as told.