PHUW 78

When Haeri had been taken to the emergency room after being beaten at the homeless shelter, Jeong Mok had once received a call from the Professor. There was an informant in the hospital who reported to higher-ups. If it were nothing serious, it might have been overlooked, but now that he was vice-chairman, his movements had surely gone past the Professor and reached the Chairwoman’s ears. All the more so because there was no Choi Sangeon to intercept in the middle.

“What did she say?”

“As far as I found out, she didn’t say much, but instead she was furious, asking why there was still no report on Mr. Ahn Haeri, and she ordered an in-depth reinvestigation.”

“Is that so?”

Jeong Mok had expected an immediate thunderous reprimand, so it was unexpected.

“Shall I create confusion and block it? Since we acted first, it is possible.”

Manager Ahn suggested.

“If you can.”

“Understood.”

On those instructions, he left a printed report.

The report contained detailed records of the progress on Hongil Trading, which Jeong Mok had given instructions about earlier.

When the client companies found their funds tightening due to various civil complaints and unexpected lawsuits, Hongil Trading started to panic. Their reaction was quicker than expected. Instead of carefully advancing major transactions over time, they had been conducting small-scale trades frequently.

With most companies, they extended deadlines or pressed by phone. But there were exactly two places where they sent people as soon as payments were delayed. One was an online shopping mall, the other an offline distributor. Their representatives had no relation to each other, and their headquarters were in completely different regions, but they had one peculiar common point. Both dealt in cosmetics, specifically nail products. Through Hongil Trading they bought nail polish in large quantities.

“Nail, huh.”

Nail polish was a chemical product, but also an everyday item found lying around homes and shops. And besides Hongil Trading, many companies imported Chinese-made nail products in bulk.

It was strange that a gangster-run trading company, which had no staff knowledgeable in cosmetics, handled them. Maybe they just dealt in it because it made money, or perhaps the distributors or shopping malls had picked the product specifically and entrusted them with proxy importing.

Turning to the next page, there was additional information on Lee Sangjin. Manager Ahn had dug through his various financial records and discovered that he was signed up for a couple’s phone plan. Further investigation revealed that his partner in the plan was a twenty-two-year-old woman. She was presumed to be his girlfriend.

Even without a specific request, Manger Ahn had already completed a background check on the woman and included it in the report.

She was from a working-class family. She did not seem particularly diligent, but she was not living recklessly either, just an ordinary person in her twenties. There were photos of herself on her social media, and aside from her unusually flashy nails, she was ordinary. What caught their attention was her occupation.

“What is this?”

She had graduated from a vocational high school in beauty and was a nail artist. She was not an employee at a specific nail shop but instead posted her work on social media and Neotube. Her Neotube channel had 23,800 subscribers. It was a fledgling channel, just starting out and struggling to grow. She frequently held subscriber events thanks to a fair number of product sponsorships.

There are cases where even very small channels get sponsorships. That in itself was not unusual. But the problem was that the products she gave away to subscribers and the polish products imported by Hongil Trading were the same brand.

According to Manger Ahn’s separate findings, that brand was exclusively imported by Hongil Trading, but it was of such peculiar low quality that most people interested in nails did not use it.

As proof, even recipients of the subscriber giveaway left comments complaining about how the smelly and oddly colored product was unusable. Furthermore, after that event, not only her social media but even her Neotube channel, which had uploaded new videos every four to five days, suddenly stopped. That time coincided with the date of Lee Sangjin’s death.

A picture began to form.

Perhaps thinking the same, Manage Ahn concluded the report by stating he would further dig into the distribution route of the nail products.

“So it really is tied to illegal drugs.”

Jeong Mok thought while looking at Haeri, who was sleeping soundly.

On paper, he had glimpsed the life of the person lying before him. Even though Haeri bore twisted resentment toward the world and lived recklessly, it was a harsh and lonely journey that drew sympathy more than scorn. And yet Ahn Haeri was bright. Not only optimistic, but it spilled out so much that it shone. Just watching was enough to lift one’s mood.

He himself also had family misfortunes that invited sympathy before judgment. But he was not like Ahn Haeri. Surrounded by countless helping hands, he still had not shaken them off, and instead leaned on someone living a harsher, more miserable life than his own. He was too weak.

He pulled over the neatly placed hand on the bed and held it. Despite the harsh life lived, it was a white and soft hand, as if it had never suffered.

There was no way it had no scars. Looking closely, there were nicks from cuts and small round marks from impacts here and there. But it was soft like a baby’s hand. Like the hand of someone who, even when dirt clung or blood sometimes came, shook it off and stood tall with a natural innocence and resilience.

He bent down and brought the hand to his lips. The curved white knuckles brushed the tip of his nose. It smelled warm and sweet. He rubbed his lips lightly against the back of the hand. The feel of the skin on his lips was so soft it was addictive.

The fingers he held trembled. At first he thought they moved in sleep from ticklishness. Song-i often did that too. But as he pressed his lips together and sucked on the plump flesh of the hand, then lightly grazed it with his front teeth, the knuckles curled and clamped down all at once like a startled sea anemone.

“Did I wake you?”

He asked with his lips pressed to the back of the hand.

“Tick… it tickles.”

Haeri tried to pull his hand away. But Jeong Mok did not let go.

“Your throat is clogged. Want some water?”

“…Yes.”

Even after Haeri answered in a completely hoarse, rough voice from resting too much, Jeong Mok sucked on the back of his hand a moment longer before he stood up.

There was bottled water in the refrigerator of the hospital room. He poured out half, then mixed it with half a bottle left at room temperature. Adjusting the temperature so it was not too cold but cool enough, he stuck in a straw and used the remote to raise the angle of the bed so Haeri’s upper body lifted slightly.

“Here.”

Haeri rubbed the hand that had been sucked, the one with the IV, against itself and reached out. But Jeong Mok ignored it and instead brought the straw straight to his lips. Slightly flustered, Haeri obediently bit onto the straw and drank the water down in gulps.

“Is it refreshing?”

As he asked, Haeri’s tangled brown hair, matted like a dish scrubber, swayed up and down. It made Jeong Mok smile without thinking.

After letting him drink just enough, he asked if Haeri wanted to go to the bathroom. When he shook his head, Jeong Mok felt a slight pang of disappointment. He set the water nearby and combed gently through the messy curls with his fingers. Clear barley-tea-colored eyes gazed steadily at him.

“Do you have something to say?”

“…Aren’t you being too familiar?”

“In what way?”

Jeong Mok answered while pushing back his hair and then lightly scratching around his ear with his index finger.

“This kind of thing.”

“What kind of thing?”

“Touching.”

A flush rose on Haeri’s face as he looked at him.

“Why, do you not like it?”

“…If I say I don’t, will you stop?”

“If you say you hate it enough that I’m unbearable to look at.”

“……”

After a while, Haeri mumbled, “I don’t hate it to the point that I can’t stand the sight of you.”

“Pft.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re too cute.”

“…….”

Haeri’s unwashed face, scruffy like a dirty puppy without a bath or haircut, crumpled. But unlike before, he did not shout.

Muttering to himself, he then looked at Jeong Mok with tightened brows, as if making a big decision.

“Hyung-nim.”

“Mm?”

“You like me, don’t you?”

Jeong Mok wondered what he was trying to say. The question was so ridiculous and obvious that he almost laughed, but Haeri looked serious to the point of severity. Holding back his smile, he answered.

“Yeah.”

Ahn Haeri tucked the hand without the IV snugly into his opposite armpit. At first, Jeong Mok thought maybe it was because his hand was cold. But since the IV hand also hovered near his other armpit, the intention was clearly a sulky folded-arm stance.

“Don’t answer so easily. I don’t mean you like me as just some younger friend.”

Ah, scary.

“I know.”

Jeong Mok matched his tone, answering seriously.

“You don’t seem to know.”

“I said I do.”

“Then explain what my question means.”

Haeri’s tone was like a bully in a kindergarten.

“You’re asking if I want to sleep with you. And not in the innocent way of just holding hands and sleeping like we’ve done until now.”

When he gave a direct answer, Haeri’s face, the one who had asked the question, froze in shock.

“…Th-that’s not… what I meant.”

“Really? Because that’s the way I answered.”

Ahn Haeri could not close his mouth. His pale face drained of color entirely. Had he startled him too much? Jeong Mok reached out and stroked his sweat-damp forehead. Haeri could not even brush off his hand, he only rolled his barley-colored eyes.

“And you?”

“Wh… what? Me?”

A moment ago he had been so strict, but now Haeri floundered like someone caught off guard.

“Yeah.”

“What about me?”

Feigning ignorance shamelessly. The look was like a puppy refusing to turn its head no matter how much you point to the mess it made.

“I asked what about you. Do you want to sleep with me?”

When he asked directly, Ahn Haeri could not answer. Instead, his pale face flushed all at once, red enough to look like it might explode. Jeong Mok purposely stayed silent, waiting. Startled at his own silence, Haeri flicked out a pink tongue to wet his plump lips. His body fidgeted restlessly with anxiety, which made his operated foot move.

“At this rate your surgical site will burst. I’m joking, so don’t think about it and just lie back.”

It was about a hundred million light years from a joke, but he deliberately gave him a way out.