Love Born of Pity Chapter 41

Kwon Jiho rushed towards Kwon Yoon Taek. He quickly hid his hand behind his back, lest he lose the envelope, and helped the man he was with to stand up.

“Honey! Let’s go, quickly.”

“You told me to keep searching. You said to look for anything else of value.”

“I said let’s go!”

The shabbily dressed man, muttering obscene curses under his breath, straightened himself. Roughly wiping his sweaty forehead and neck, he leered at Kwon Jiho. His eyes, disproportionately small for his face, lingered disgustingly between Kwon Jiho’s legs. His thick tongue licked his lips as if savoring a taste.

“See you later, Jiho. Huh?”

Kwon Yoon Taek pushed past Kwon Jiho, who was trying to hold onto him. Kwon Jiho, stumbling, dropped the coffee he was holding. As he turned to grab Kwon Yoon Taek again, the man who had waited behind instead of immediately following them extended a thick arm.

With a long sigh, he easily caught hold of Jiho’s slender body. His sweaty, clammy palm slid along Jiho’s back, all the way down to his buttocks.

“Why, why are you doing this…!”

“Why am I doing what, fuck. You’re the one who put your back and ass in my hand. Shit, can’t you speak properly?”

The man shoved Kwon Jiho roughly into a corner, laughed lewdly, and then left the counseling room. Kwon Yoon Taek, who was waiting outside the door, frowned slightly. He nudged the man in the ribs with his elbow.

Kwon Jiho was dumbfounded, looking at the traces of the two men who had quickly disappeared. He crouched down and stared blankly at the drawer where the envelope and business card had been. The envelope was gone, leaving only the business card.

His head was spinning. He could only think, did this really just happen? Maybe it was all his imagination. He wished it were just a bad dream.

“…….”

He couldn’t even cry anymore. His mind stopped working, not knowing what to do. Slowly blinking, Kwon Jiho let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes.

He just wanted to disappear.

♬⋆.˚

Kwon Jiho wiped up the spilled coffee, looked at the damp business card, and then threw it in the trash can along with the other garbage. Even tidying up took a long time. His throbbing head and aching eyeballs made him want to pull them out.

After organizing the messy academy and cleaning the floor, a lot of time had passed. It felt like someone had stolen a chunk of time. As he straightened up and turned around, the door opened.

“Teacher.”

It was Eunsol. The child smiled brightly and ran into the academy. Eunsol, approaching quickly with bouncy steps, hugged Kwon Jiho tightly.

“Teacher, I smell coffee.”

“I spilled it.”

“That’s a shame.”

“……I guess.”

Kwon Jiho stroked Eunsol’s round head, sat her at the table, and brought out some snacks.

“Teacher, open this for me. The lid.”

Kwon Jiho reached for the drink Eunsol offered, but his hand swiped through the air next to hers. Eunsol, thinking Kwon Jiho was playing a joke, giggled.

“It’s right here.”

With a drawn-out voice, Eunsol’s small hand shook the drink lightly. The child placed the drink directly into Kwon Jiho’s hand with an innocent smile. Heeyeon’s urging followed, asking him to open it quickly because she was thirsty.

After opening the lid, Kwon Jiho set the bottle on the table instead of handing it to her, and stood up with awkward movements. He told her to drink slowly and then rummaged through a textbook whose letters were blurring.

“But teacher, you know what? I’m going to buy a piano today. Dad’s coming home early.”

The words she mumbled while chewing on a snack floated indistinctly in the air. He scratched his muffled ears and tried to focus to hear better, but he couldn’t. Eunsol laughed, saying, “Poo-ha!” and then called Kwon Jiho, “Tea-cher!”

“Yes?”

He turned around with a pale face, but to the child’s eyes, Kwon Jiho’s face looked as lovely as always.

“Are you sick?”

“……Huh?”

“I think you’re all better from the dog bite, and I don’t see any marks.”

Eunsol jumped off her chair and trotted over to Kwon Jiho, pulling his trembling hand. Worriedly, she touched Kwon Jiho’s forehead as he bent down, saying his hand was shaking.

“Teacher?”

“……Ah. It’s because of the air conditioner. Aren’t you cold, Eunsol?”

“I’m hot.”

“Then……. Okay, then let’s go in.”

After sending Eunsol to the practice room, Kwon Jiho rubbed his right eye. His blurry vision, as if covered with a white film, wouldn’t clear up no matter what he did. When did this start? Kwon Jiho unconsciously bit his fingernails, bringing his fingertips to his mouth. He realized that his eyesight, which he had simply thought was blurry because he hadn’t been paying attention, had deteriorated drastically.

Would Do Yeonjae find out? On top of presenting as an Omega, if he found out that his eyes and ears weren’t normal… what would he do then? Kwon Heeyeon had called him disgusting, and what if Do Yeonjae felt the same way and abandoned him?

“Tea-cher! I don’t understand this part.”

A young voice interrupted his bleak thoughts about the future. Kwon Jiho let out the breath he’d been holding and walked towards the practice room.

“Which part is difficult?”

After quietly entering the practice room, explaining the part Eunsol didn’t understand, and coming back out, Kwon Jiho suddenly walked over to the trash can. He took out the business card he had thrown away with the trash while wiping up the spilled coffee.

Fortunately, the hospital name and phone number weren’t smudged. He checked the location, worried about causing unnecessary misunderstandings if he kept the business card, and threw it back in the trash can.

Unaware that Do Yeonjae was watching everything,

Do Yeonjae, sitting in his office, stared blankly at his laptop screen, then raised a hand towards Secretary Kim, who was reporting his afternoon schedule.

“Again.”

“You have a meeting scheduled at 3 p.m. for the interest rate event planning.”

“Soon.”

“Yes, that’s correct. Since this is the first event to introduce the bank, even the chairman will be attending the meeting.”

At the word “bank,” Do Yeonjae scoffed. He stood up, sarcastically remarking how successful the loan shark had become, and briefly scanned the proposal he had received in advance.

“Shall we go?”

“I’ll escort you.”

Do Yeonjae didn’t let go of the tablet he was holding even as he headed towards the meeting room. If he left it as is, it would be like revealing Kwon Jiho’s existence to the chairman. Secretary Kim, who was contemplating whether to advise him or stay silent, cautiously opened his mouth when Do Yeonjae’s gaze remained fixed on the tablet.

“Excuse me, CEO.”

“Yes.”

“Are you taking the tablet inside as well?”

“Why do you ask?”

Do Yeonjae, without taking his eyes off the screen, or rather, Kwon Jiho, looked back at Secretary Kim and asked.

“If your purpose isn’t to inform the chairman about Mr. Kwon Jiho’s existence, wouldn’t it be better for me to keep the tablet?”

“Ah. He’ll find out eventually anyway.”

Do Yeonjae sighed, deciding there was no need to reveal how engrossed he was. He looked back and forth between Kwon Jiho, whose face filled the screen due to the zoom, and Secretary Kim with a disapproving expression.

“Record it.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“And Kwon Yoon Taek took an envelope of money from Kwon Jiho’s counseling room. Where do you think that money came from?”

Secretary Kim hummed at the question as he received the tablet.

“Probably Kang Gyumin, right?”

“I think so too.”

“I need to have dinner or breakfast with Kang Gyumin. Check his schedule and make an appointment. And he was rummaging through the trash can. Check what he threw away.”

Do Yeonjae’s gaze landed on Kwon Jiho sitting blankly in the corner of the tablet screen. He smiled faintly at Kwon Jiho, who was staring blankly into space, and turned away.

♬⋆.˚

Kwon Jiho sent all the children home and went out to visit the eye doctor before Hyunwoo arrived. He immediately hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address he had memorized after checking it multiple times. The driver soon started the car.

It wasn’t close as the driver had said, but it wasn’t far either. It was a distance of about 10 minutes by car.

“Ha……”

The reality of leisurely going to the eye doctor while his uncle had ransacked his counseling room and taken the money he’d received from Kang Gyumin didn’t feel real.

“Where should I drop you off?”

“Ah……. I’ll get off here… in front. Thank you.”

The driver chuckled, praising Kwon Jiho for being a polite young man as he politely handed him the fare. He received his change and exchanged farewells and reminders to drive safely. Kwon Jiho got off at the taxi stand and searched for the eye clinic among the tall buildings.

“New Eye… Clinic.”

Kwon Jiho smiled awkwardly at the clinic’s literal name. Thinking it probably didn’t have such a simple meaning, he read the signs hanging densely on each building. He finally found a sign that read “New Eye Clinic.” The circles in the “Eye” part of the blue lettering contained eye-shaped images. He thought it was a strange design choice.