RB 37

Son Jinhyung whistled. His lips kept twitched as he held back laughter. Then he walked toward the front gate. With both hands shoved into his pants pockets, his stance already looked delinquent.

“Shouldn’t there be a bell somewhere here?”

He looked around for a long time. There was no doorbell, which any house should normally have. Instead, there were four or five CCTV cameras aimed straight at him like gun barrels.

Jinhyung met eyes with each camera lens one by one, then straightened his hunched back.

“Ah… no uninvited guests allowed, is that it?”

Creepy place. He muttered with sarcasm, then roughly pushed back his hair. If he was the type to give up because of something like this, he wouldn’t have come all the way here.

He stepped back a few paces. With his hands still in his pockets, he rolled his shoulders back. He tightened his lower stomach, then bellowed toward the gate with deep, resonant breath.

“Yoonho-ya, let’s play!”

His voice boomed through the wide street. In the already quiet neighborhood, it was nothing short of noise pollution.

“Yoonho-ya! Choi Yoonho! Come out and play!”

The singsong shout was like how children in an alley would call their friends. It was a sound that didn’t belong in this area.

Jinhyung giggled like a kid and shouted again at the top of his lungs. He planned to keep yelling until someone poked their head out of the house.

After a few more tries, the heavy iron gate finally opened. It was wide enough for two cars to pass, and just opening it took a long while.

The one who stepped out was a face Jinhyung knew well.

“Are you crazy?”

Seo Taehwa clenched his teeth. His heavy breathing showed he had run out in a rush. His flushed face was most likely because of Jinhyung’s outrageous behavior.

“Hi, Taehwa.”

Jinhyung waved his right hand in greeting. Since he had achieved his goal, the smile on his lips grew wider.

“What the hell are you doing? Get lost.”

“You speak too harshly to a friend.”

Taehwa scoffed in disbelief. But he knew better than to lose his temper. He clutched his hot forehead and barely calmed his breathing.

“You think I came here for nothing? I came to visit, believe it or not.”

Jinhyung curled his lips in a sly smile and stepped forward.

“Let me see Choi Yoonho’s face.”

“……”

“What are you hiding him for? Locking him up and abusing him?”

“As if Choi Yoonho would be abused.”

Taehwa sneered. If he was the type to be broken that easily, Choi Yeorok would have beaten it out of him already.

While Taehwa was lost in thought, Jinhyung took the chance to shove his foot between the gate. Taehwa blocked him with an arm.

“Hey, get out. Do you want me to call the police?”

“Oh, that’s exactly what I want. Go ahead, call them.”

Jinhyung poked Taehwa’s shoulder with his finger. He knew perfectly well Taehwa would never actually call.

“I am really worried about Choi Yoonho’s safety. If the police come, wouldn’t they kindly check for me?”

Taehwa clenched his teeth. He had to control even his expression. Jinhyung had a keen nose for things, and one slip would give him an opening.

“Yoonho just fell asleep. He’s been sensitive lately, he doesn’t want to see anyone. Give it up.”

“I only want to see him for a minute.”

“Why do you keep poking into someone else’s family matters?”

“Pfft! You think you’re not an outsider? Taehwa, you’ve been freeloading here so long you think you’re Haegang’s family now? Want me to call you Choi Taehwa? No, not even family, more like the household dog?”

The more Jinhyung provoked him, the colder Taehwa’s head grew instead of hotter. His teeth ground together.

“Yeah. I’m this family’s dog. And I’m also Choi Yoonho’s errand boy. What’s the big deal about a dog guarding its master’s house?”

“Ah… so you really won’t show him?”

Jinhyung slowly erased his smile and licked the corner of his lips with his tongue. His eyes sharpened.

“So it’s true then.”

“What is?”

“That stuff Yoonho took at the club. The batch was bad, you know. Plenty of guys ended up dead from it, or crippled. So which one is Choi Yoonho?”

“……”

Jinhyung kept tossing bait with his smooth tongue.

Taehwa unintentionally swallowed. He had to force himself to stay calm. He had no way of knowing whether Jinhyung’s words were true or not, and even if they were, unless it was something agreed upon with Choi Yeorok, he couldn’t say a word.

“He’s not half-paralyzed?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why won’t you show him?”

“I told you, he’s asleep! Ha… Son Jinhyung, cut back on the drinking. That’s why your brain works at that level. Do you even know where you are? Do you think you can handle Choi Yeorok?”

“Fuck, who the hell is Choi Yeorok?”

Jinhyung scoffed, but as soon as that name left Taehwa’s mouth, his face stiffened. Taehwa caught the change quickly and pushed the advantage.

“You know every bit of this mess you caused is going to be reported inside.”

“Oh, I’m so scared.”

“Should I call Yeorok right now? If you’re so confident, why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“Yeorok this, Yeorok that. You’re still kissing up to him, just like always.”

Jinhyung shook his head in disgust. Then he looked down at Taehwa again and smirked.

“You two slept together?”

“Watch your mouth. Do you want to die?”

“Yeah, even if the world split in two, Choi Yeorok would never take a cock. Too bad, Taehwa. What are you going to do when you’re burning up?”

Son Jinhyung tapped Taehwa’s shoulder lazily with his right hand. Seo Taehwa swatted his hand away like it was filth.

“If you really can’t hold it in, call me. Not my taste, but I’ll grit my teeth and fuck you once.”

“Bullshit, you crazy bastard.”

Jinhyung laughed so hard his throat showed. His loud, cackling laughter carried past the open gate, all the way to the annex.

Eunho slid his finger between the blinds and peeked outside through the crack. The voice that had been calling Choi Yoonho nonstop and the laugh he had just heard clearly belonged to the same man.

“Son Jinhyung, that bastard…”

Eunho mouthed the name Taehwa had muttered before running out of the room.

“Son Jinhyung…”

The only son of Munseong Academy. One of the group Choi Yoonho often hung around with.

One day, he would have to face him too. He already knew Jinhyung was just as debauched as Yoonho, but he was someone Eunho would only be tied to briefly.

As long as he fulfilled the conditions, he could change Choi Yoonho’s life however he wanted. Eunho planned to cut off all of Yoonho’s relationships and fix his disgraceful lifestyle in his own way. If he moved abroad, no one would recognize him, so there would be no problem.

Eunho imagined that dreamlike future for a moment, then dropped his finger. The thin slat of the blinds snapped back into place.

“…But if I do that, I won’t see the Chairman anymore.”

He felt regret. Why? It seemed he wanted to stay with Choi Yeorok.

Yeorok’s kindness was like poison. His beauty didn’t just lure people in, it slowly seeped into the deepest parts of Eunho’s heart.

It was expected. From the moment he had received the proposal, Yeorok had stayed fixed in his mind. He had tried to stay on guard and keep his distance, but it was useless against Yeorok, who came toward him on purpose.

The drinking together, the movies, the time spent could all have been carefully planned, but Eunho decided he didn’t care.

Eunho sat down with his back against the wall, hugging his knees, and took time to look honestly into his own feelings. What he felt for Yeorok was closer to admiration, maybe mild affection. Too weak to even call it liking.

But if it went any deeper, it would become a serious problem. Not only because they were both men, but because the other was Choi Yeorok.

Yeorok would never see him as someone to love. On top of that, Eunho was disadvantaged because he looked like Choi Yoonho.

Besides, even after the one-year contract ended, he was going to keep living as Choi Yoonho. No matter that they weren’t blood, no matter that he wasn’t in the family register, in everyone else’s eyes he was only Yeorok’s nephew. Just holding these feelings was already a grave sin. It was dragging dirt across Haegang’s and Yeorok’s name.

Yet the more he thought about it, the clearer it became that it wasn’t just admiration. Others like Seo Taehwa or Ahn Jaehwan were kind to him too, but he never felt his heart pound or his face burn in front of them.

Yeorok’s flawless face came back to his mind again. His heart beat no matter how he tried to steady his breathing. The trembling was unlike nervousness. Eunho closed his eyes.

He couldn’t let this happen. It was a feeling too heavy to admit.

“Ah… why him of all people?”

Eunho covered his face with his hands and murmured.

Why did it have to be Choi Yeorok, out of all the people in the world? He even laughed, feeling like he had already been rejected without confessing.

Not that he could confess in the first place. If he showed even a hint of his feelings, he would only get a look of disgust. Then everything he had built up and Yeorok’s kindness would vanish in an instant.

Eunho decided he would hide these feelings until the day he died. If they faded away on their own, good. If not, it didn’t matter. He was already used to swallowing his feelings and suffering alone.

He just had to make sure not to get caught.

While he steeled himself in secret, a sudden knock came at the door.

“Eunho-ya, we have to step out for a bit… can you stay home alone?”

Seo Taehwa and Ahn Jaehwan peeked through the door. Their expressions made it look like something bad had happened.

“Yes… I’ll be fine. Did the guest leave?”

Eunho carefully asked about Son Jinhyung. Taehwa’s lips tightened even more. He sighed long and rubbed hard between his eyebrows.

“He left. When we go, the house security system will be on. The alarm might go off, so don’t open any windows or doors.”

It was an unusually heavy warning. Eunho just nodded instead of digging deeper.

“We won’t be too late. Make sure you eat dinner.”

With that, Taehwa left in a rush.

It was only 11 in the morning, yet they were already talking about dinner. Whatever it was, it must be very important. Eunho hoped it wasn’t serious and took the tablet PC from the desk. As always, he planned to spend his time copying Choi Yoonho.

One hour later, four people gathered at an officetel in Seoul.