SLC 16

“Let’s go.”

It wasn’t the kind of mood where he could ask what was going on. Kim Jinkyung hurriedly gathered his books. A car was waiting outside. Kim Jinkyung quickly followed behind him.

Only after the car started moving did Kim Jinkyung cautiously ask about their destination.

“Where are we going?”

“To see the Chairman.”

Mok Seongha answered while staring out the window, his expression cold.

“…Is it okay for me to go too?”

He remembered the time he had tried to follow along once before and gotten a fierce glare from Secretary Kang.

“I don’t have time to drop you off.”

“………”

If the speed dropped below 10 km, I could just jump out on my own.

Kim Jinkyung hugged his bag tightly and swallowed dryly.

After meeting that ‘Chairman,’ Kim Jinkyung knew exactly what Mok Seongha had done. Just what kind of person was he?

He imagined a heartless Chairman who had abandoned his grandson alone in a vast mansion. His heart started pounding.

Where were they going? While staring out the window and worrying that he might be dragged into the mountains, the car arrived at an unexpected place.

“Why are we…?”

Before he could finish the question, the car door opened.

“What is this? Why did the teacher follow you?”

Secretary Kang, who had opened the door, frowned.

“I didn’t follow, it’s just that…”

“Where’s the Chairman?”

Mok Seongha asked as he got out on the other side.

“He’s waiting.”

Mok Seongha stepped out of the car. Kim Jinkyung hesitated, unsure what to do, then got out as well.

“Why are you getting out?”

Secretary Kang asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Should I get back in?”

As Kim Jinkyung tried to get back into the car, Mok Seongha blocked him and said, “It’s fine.”

“Teacher, stay here.”

“…Okay.”

Kim Jinkyung sat on a bench. Mok Seongha went inside the hospital with Secretary Kang.

If the Chairman was at a hospital, and a tertiary hospital at that, then it was far more likely he was a patient than a doctor or hospital director.

Kim Jinkyung took his phone out of his bag and turned it on. He ignored the missed calls and messages for now and searched the hospital name and the director’s name. As expected, the surname wasn’t Mok.

…What’s he sick with? I hope it isn’t serious.

While he was lost in thought, his phone rang. It was Seo Sangil.

“Hello?”

–Hey, you bastard. Why the hell did you turn your phone off and not answer? Are you out of your mind?

“Sorry. I turned it off because I was tutoring.”

–Then you should’ve at least sent a message after. Your phone was off. I even went to the cafe and you were gone, so I thought you’d been dragged off somewhere.

“There was a situation. …And why would I get dragged off. I’m not a kid.”

–You were freaking out saying that tutoring house was full of lunatics and scary. Ah, damn it. I don’t know. Get beaten up or not, you idiot sucker.

“Sorry. But it’s not the kind of situation you’re worried about.”

…Probably.

–I don’t know. Kim Jinkyung, you asshole. I’m hanging up.

His sulky voice made Kim Jinkyung feel guilty.

“…I’ll buy you meat.”

–You think I’m some pig who’s satisfied with meat?

“Beef.”

–Hanwoo? (A breed)

“Yeah. Hanwoo.”

He had never been so grateful for his friend’s simple brain structure.

–Then Ahyeon-noona too…

Seo Sangil’s happy voice cut off there. A hand reached out from behind and snatched the phone away.

“Hey, why…”

Mok Seongha checked who was on the call, turned the phone off, slipped it into his pocket, and grabbed Kim Jinkyung’s wrist.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where?”

“To see the Chairman.”

“Me-me? Right now?”

“You said last time you wanted to greet him.”

“…Ah, yes. I did say that back then…”

While Kim Jinkyung stammered in confusion, Mok Seongha pulled his wrist.

“Go and say hello.”

Kim Jinkyung couldn’t understand it.

Suddenly? He told me to wait earlier. Why did he change his mind?

“Um.”

As he was being dragged along, the questions swirling in his head poked at Kim Jinkyung’s timid but good instincts.

“Why did you suddenly change what you said?”

Mok Seongha turned back to look at him. A smile flickered across his eyes.

“Maybe because you’re timid, but you’re quick to notice, teacher.”

“….”

“And you’re smart too.”

He felt something ominous. A bad sign.

“Please tell me why you’re taking me with you.”

Kim Jinkyung pulled his wrist free.

“If I tell you, you go.”

“No, that’s not what I mean…”

“The Chairman is going to die soon.”

“………”

Kim Jinkyung’s face went pale.

“Why are you making that face? It’s not you who’s dying.”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“What’s there to be sorry about? It’s not like you gave the Chairman cancer.”

As the atmosphere grew heavier, Kim Jinkyung ran out of things to say.

He felt guilty for having imagined awful things about a sick person and couldn’t even lift his head.

“A new drug was developed in the US, but he says he won’t take treatment. So I was going to make the decision, but he set conditions for a proxy in advance. That senile old man.”

The way Mok Seongha downgraded him from Chairman to senile old man made it obvious how angry he was.

“He said that once I become an ‘adult,’ I’ll be recognized as his legal proxy.”

“You’re already an adult.”

“Yeah, an ‘adult’ who meets the conditions he himself set.”

“What are those?”

“Either get married or get into a good university in Seoul.”

Kim Jinkyung couldn’t understand it. Were those two conditions even related?

“Why would that…”

“When he told me that, I hadn’t even taken the elementary school equivalency exam yet. He probably never imagined I’d get all the way to college admission within a year.”

…So in short, it meant get married.

“When I told him I’d get into a good university in Seoul within the year, the old man laughed.”

Passing the elementary, middle, and high school equivalency exams and then getting into university in such a short time was rare, so the Chairman’s reaction wasn’t hard to understand.

“I really worked hard.”

If nothing else, Kim Jinkyung knew how hard Mok Seongha worked. His achievements were rare and impressive. Hearing that he had passed all the equivalency exams on his own, without proper tutoring, made it feel even more remarkable.

“I thought I could do it. And you said I was doing well too, teacher.”

“That’s right. You really are doing well.”

“But the Chairman keeps coughing up blood.”

Kim Jinkyung remembered Mok Seongha’s face never looking good whenever he said he was going to see the Chairman. It didn’t feel right.

“…Haven’t you thought about another option?”

Kim Jinkyung asked very carefully. Realistically speaking, getting married might be a faster and easier choice.

“I haven’t.”

His voice was cold enough to sting.

“Even so, if you at least met someone…”

It was ridiculous to suggest marriage to someone he had a crush on, but he thought choosing something he wouldn’t regret later might be better.

“Once you pair up, you become bound.”

“Huh?”

“You can never get out.”

Kim Jinkyung blinked. He couldn’t immediately understand the idea that marriage meant you could never escape.

“If you have sex, the other person definitely gets pregnant.”

“Huh? Ah… yes.”

So that’s what he meant.

Kim Jinkyung scratched his reddened cheek.

“This ends with me.”

Kim Jinkyung could vaguely guess what Mok Seongha meant by ‘this.’ Time spent switching between a panther and a human couldn’t have been easy.

“Um, isn’t there someone else you could appoint as a proxy?”

“No. They’re all dead.”

Kim Jinkyung remembered that Mok Seongha had never once mentioned relatives or parents. He felt even more sorry for him.

“Did you tell the Chairman, I mean your grandfather, how you feel, Mok Seongha-ssi?”

“I did. He said I don’t know anything because I’m young and told me to get married first.”

“Haha, elders are like that.”

Twenty two was too young to get married, but the thoughts of an old man lying in a hospital bed might be different. Especially when he had no parents or close relatives.

“He called me in today and already set up a meeting.”

Kim Jinkyung muttered a small, oh no. So that’s why he was so furious and dragged me along…

…Why me?

Kim Jinkyung lifted his head.

“So I told him I like men. A lot.”

“Huh? Who likes men?”

“Me.”

Mok Seongha grabbed Kim Jinkyung’s wrist again.

“So go and say you’re dating me. And tell him to start treatment right away because I can get into university this year.”

“Huh? Huh? What?”

The conclusion made no sense. Kim Jinkyung stared at him in shock. After he finished explaining, Mok Seongha pulled Kim Jinkyung along by the wrist.

“No. Wait a second. What are you saying? Why me? We’re not dating. No, excuse me. No. Please.”

Kim Jinkyung struggled and tried to pull his hand free, but Mok Seongha didn’t budge.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to watch the Chairman die because of you?”

“……”

What are you saying? You just said I didn’t need to be sorry because I didn’t give him cancer.

“Live righteously.”

Mok Seongha tightened his grip on Kim Jinkyung’s wrist. Kim Jinkyung felt so wronged he could barely breathe. He’d been called a sucker, an idiot, a fool before, but never in his life had anyone accused him of living badly.

“No, wait. This isn’t right. I can’t say something like that…”

“You like this guy and that guy anyway. Just think of liking me too for a few minutes.”

I already like you!

“No. This really isn’t right. I absolutely can’t…”

While being dragged along, Kim Jinkyung protested with all his strength.

Mok Seongha stopped abruptly.

“Hey.”

“……”

A hard, cold block of ice plunged straight into his heart.

“I really fucking hate going outside.”

“……”

“It smells everywhere, and there are too many people, so it’s fucking awful, but I put up with it and came out for your messy sex life.”

“That’s…”

“So you also act messy just once for me. It won’t even take five minutes.”

“Someone else, someone else…”

Kim Jinkyung, who had never been messy even once in his life, stammered and shook his head.

“You think the Chairman would’ve accepted you if he looked into your background?”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying the only person who can date me right now and talk about university is you, teacher.”

Mok Seongha pulled Kim Jinkyung and trapped him in his arms. The arm wrapped around his shoulders made Kim Jinkyung suck in a breath.

It was the first time.

The first time he had ever been held by someone he liked.

And it filled him with a fear intense enough to make his hair stand on end. Kim Jinkyung was dragged along just like that.

When he stepped into the hospital room, he couldn’t even lift his head.

Mok Seongha’s grandfather. The Chairman. The man who had ordered someone to bring in the man supposedly dating his grandson.

…He didn’t have the courage to meet his eyes.

“So you’re Seongha’s tutor?”

“Yes. Ah, yes. Hello.”

Kim Jinkyung bowed belatedly and greeted him.

“What’s your name?”

“Kim Jinkyung.”

Kim Jinkyung answered as politely as possible and raised his head. At that moment, his eyes met those of the old man sitting upright in the bed.

A piercing glare.

It was the first time he had encountered in real life the expression he had only seen in books. An old story came to mind, one that said if you locked eyes with a tiger in the mountains, you would fall ill and die within days. Kim Jinkyung quickly lowered his head again. His hands clasped in front of him trembled. Seeing that, Mok Seongha suddenly grabbed his hand.

“Ghk.”

Kim Jinkyung flinched and tried to pull away, but Mok Seongha gave him a fierce glare.

Just try letting go.

Before entering the room, Mok Seongha had bent down with an arm around Kim Jinkyung’s shoulders and whispered.

‘No matter what I say, don’t argue. Just smile. If you do anything useless in there, I won’t let it slide.’

‘…And what will you do if you don’t let it slide?’

Kim Jinkyung had tried a last, meaningless act of resistance.

‘I don’t know. What should I do?’

Mok Seongha had smiled with eyes beautiful enough to be creepy. Before Kim Jinkyung could answer, Mok Seongha opened the hospital room door and walked in.

“You see? I’m dating my tutor. So I’m not marrying a woman.”

Mok Seongha said while shaking the hand he was holding.

“Well, that is…”

As Kim Jinkyung fidgeted, Mok Seongha tightened his grip. Kim Jinkyung swallowed a scream and hunched his shoulders.

“Are you a student?”

The old man asked in a rough, dry voice with a metallic edge. Kim Jinkyung quickly answered yes.

“…This is the young master’s tutor I mentioned before.”

Secretary Kang, standing to the side, calmly answered.

“You look even younger than in the photos.”

“I-I’ve already completed my military service.”

The moment he said it, Kim Jinkyung bit his tongue.

You idiot. Why would you say that now, in this situation?

“And now. You’re saying the two of you are in a relationship?”

The old man’s white eyebrows twitched.

“Well, it’s…”

…I’m currently being threatened by your grandson.

“Yes. We’re in a serious relationship.”

Mok Seongha interrupted him and answered instead.

They weren’t even dating, they were just looking at textbooks. As Kim Jinkyung stood there unable to do anything, Secretary Kang, who was near the bed, stared at him. Kim Jinkyung hurriedly tried to show that he was being treated unfairly with his eyes, but Secretary Kang’s expression remained harsh.

“Since when did you two become like that?”

Another question flew toward Kim Jinkyung.

“Ah, that’s…”

With anxious, wavering eyes, Kim Jinkyung looked up at Mok Seongha.

“The teacher said he likes men, and we made eye contact, so…”

This time, Kim Jinkyung grabbed Mok Seongha’s hand tightly.

If you say it like that, what does that make me. It sounds like I’m some shameless bastard who seduced an innocent student.

“What’s wrong? Do you want me to hold the other hand too?”

Completely missing the silent protest, Mok Seongha misunderstood the gesture entirely and asked.

“What do you mean hold both hands? Stop…”

Before he could finish, Mok Seongha snatched Kim Jinkyung’s other hand as well. Kim Jinkyung’s face turned bright red as he tried to pull both hands away, but once again, Mok Seongha didn’t budge. He even looked like he was enjoying it, holding both hands and shaking them up and down playfully.

“Enough.”

A severe rebuke came from the Chairman lying in the bed. Kim Jinkyung held his breath and froze in place.

“Both of you, get out.”

The old man’s low voice trembled slightly with anger.

“Then we don’t have to do the matchmaking anymore, right?”

Mok Seongha asked right there, without even reading the room.

“Get out. Now.”

Kim Jinkyung realized exactly where Mok Seongha’s temper had come from when he heard the old man’s roar, which sounded like a beast’s bellow.

‎

‎

“Let’s talk.”

As soon as they arrived at the mansion after leaving the hospital, Secretary Kang dismissed everyone around and grabbed Kim Jinkyung’s shoulder.

He hadn’t said, shall we talk. He said, let’s talk. All the heavy meaning in that phrase pounded mercilessly on Kim Jinkyung’s timid heart.

“Me-me?”

Kim Jinkyung asked back, having been restless since the car ride.

“Who else would I be talking to?”

“Talk to me.”

Mok Seongha interfered.

“Young master, we’ll talk later. First, with the teacher…”

Mok Seongha stepped in front of Kim Jinkyung.

“Talk to me.”

Right, right, at least you’ve got some conscience.

“The teacher’s just going to keep his mouth shut.”

…Ah. So that’s it. He’s trying to stop me from saying anything.

“Then let’s talk right here.”

Secretary Kang glared at the two of them in turn and continued.

“You two are dating?”

“No, that’s…”