Desires Chapter 1.4 - Longings That Are Not Mine

Every time Song Yeongin commuted to and from this gallery, he had to spend a considerable amount of time. The location, when you thought about it, was not on the outskirts, but could be described as close to the edge of the city, just beyond the center.

However, it was in a remote location that was difficult to enter without a car, and it was so isolated that it would be impossible for ordinary people like him to find this place at once without prior information.

Having to take a bus and then walk a long way into that fortress was quite an inconvenience. However, because it paid a salary that was overwhelmingly higher than other jobs, enough to endure such inconvenience, not a single member of Jihmil complained about it.

Inside the quiet bus, which was still a long way from its stop, Song Yeongin opened a notebook that was slightly larger than his palm. On the opened page was the sculpture-like profile of a man, skillfully croquied with dark lines.

Inside the swaying bus, Song Yeongin could not easily turn the page and stared at it blankly for several moments. His eyelashes, catching the sunlight from the bus window, cast a shadow on the white paper.

Song Yeongin did not think deeply about why he was drawing that man, Cha Woojin.

Originally, Song Yeongin had never thought deeply about the reason for drawing something. The moment he was drawing was a moment when no thoughts could intrude. He would simply become completely absorbed in the act of drawing itself. That was also the reason why Song Yeongin continued to draw.

The beginning of his drawing seemed to have been from his distant childhood, when he had to communicate with his deaf mother, with whom verbal communication was difficult, by drawing pictures.

Therefore, from a very young age when a voice wanting to express something inside him had formed, Song Yeongin drew pictures instead of speaking, and not once had he ever harbored the primordial question of “why.” This was because his hand was already drawing before he could even ask himself the reason.

It did not erase.

The afterimage of that man continuously formed in the empty air. When something would not be forgotten and hovered around him, the most familiar method Song Yeongin took was to draw it.

Cha Woojin’s afterimage, on one hand, gave Song Yeongin an unknown, vague anguish. That aimless shimmering, like falling down an endless cliff, felt as if he were seeing his own end, which would soon plummet to the bottom.

Song Yeongin knew that this feeling was very different from when he drew his own bleak pain. However, he did not dare to know what he should define this unfamiliar feeling as. No, he did not want to know.

🌫️

“Cha Woojin… came to Jihmil with Shin Hwayeon?!”

“Yes. The actress, Shin Hwayeon.”

A firsthand account flowed from the mouth of a Jihmil staff member who had just finished guiding someone and entered the waiting room, stating that Cha Woojin had entered a private room of Jihmil with the top actress Shin Hwayeon. Staff members began to flock around the witness.

“If it’s Shin Hwayeon… isn’t she the daughter of Assemblyman Shin Hwacheol?”

“Doesn’t something… smell fishy? I heard Assemblyman Shin Hwacheol is running in this presidential election….”

“A historically prestigious political family for generations, plus, she’s the representative beauty of South Korea with a good educational background and a good image.”

“It’s suspicious…. At this rate, isn’t Assemblyman Shin Hwacheol going to be elected president?! …If Shin Hwacheol becomes president, there’s nothing lacking in attaching his daughter Shin Hwayeon as a partner to Cha Woojin, the heir of Woosung Group.”

“I heard her maternal grandfather is the owner of the Dongha Ilbo? I heard her mother’s side of the family has been a media chaebol for generations….”

“This is a totally massive scandal. I wonder if South Korea will be turned upside down if the rumor spreads.”

“Are you saying that because you don’t know what happened to that one staff member who blabbered last year? Watch your mouths! …If the rumor spreads, we’re the ones who will be suspected the most.”

The atmosphere in the break room, which had overheated with the scandal of Cha Woojin and Shin Hwayeon, dispersed as people were called out one by one. In the end, the staff members concluded with hushed words to keep their mouths shut.

The noises, which were close to pollution that he would have normally ignored, today lingered maliciously around Song Yeongin’s ears like the devil’s whisper.

Finally, a call came for Song Yeongin, who was sitting alone in a corner of the waiting room, silently awaiting instructions.

— There is a request from the guest, so please go to the sommelier at the main BAR right now.

Receiving the instruction, Song Yeongin headed for Jihmil’s main BAR. His footsteps were unusually slow and heavy.

🌫️

“Here are the glasses of a specific brand of Pinot Noir and the Gold Tie Grand Cru that the guest in H-Zone Room 1 specifically requested, along with the wine you were asked to decant. They are expensive products made by special order, so please be particularly careful about breakage.”

Following the sommelier’s instructions, Song Yeongin carefully pulled the tray loaded with the expensive crystal wine glasses and decanter.

At the place where his steps stopped, he pressed the bell of H-Zone Room 1, whose door was firmly locked.

“Excuse me. I have brought the items you requested.”

First, he asked for the VVIP’s understanding through the speakerphone in front of the door.

— Come in.

The door to the private room opened.

Upon entering, what came into Song Yeongin’s view was the back of a young man and woman sitting at the BAR. The protagonists of the eye-catching silhouettes were none other than Cha Woojin and Shin Hwayeon. It was, indeed, those two.

The man’s imposing and sharp frame, the suit tailored without error to his sharply defined muscular body, was perfection itself, overwhelming the gaze.

The delicate and elegant curvilinear beauty of the woman sitting side-by-side next to the man’s broad shoulders formed a sensual ensemble. Anyone who saw them could not erase the thought that they were a handsome man and a beautiful woman.

As the door opened and the tray moved, Cha Woojin was the first to turn his gaze toward the source of the sound.

In that moment, the gazes of Cha Woojin and Song Yeongin met and became subtly entangled. Silently enduring that gaze, which stung just by touching, Song Yeongin gave a light nod of his head.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

His neat and clear face was as indifferent as if he were facing a stranger for the first time. Song Yeongin intended to avoid making eye contact with that man as much as possible.

The slender woman who had been crossing her legs smiled and left a blatant touch, full of sexual nuance, on the man’s lapel.

Song Yeongin began to carefully place the crystal wine glasses and the decanted wine one by one on the BAR where the two were sitting.

Beyond the alluring woman’s laughter, Cha Woojin’s gaze landed on Song Yeongin’s face as he was serving. Song Yeongin’s profile, with his eyes neatly lowered, was reminiscent of a masterpiece captured in a painting.

It was the moment he was placing the final item, a geometrically shaped decanter full of wine.

Along with the woman’s laughter, the BAR stool swiveled. A sharp heel painfully brushed against Song Yeongin’s leg. In an instant, his steps got tangled.

The hand that was holding the decanter lost its balance as if by a lie. As the decanter, which he had intended to place in the center, tipped over, the crystal glasses made a shattering sound and broke in a domino effect with a crash.

Flustered, Song Yeongin tried to catch the falling glasses and the fragments of the decanter in the middle to prevent them from splattering onto the two people, and in doing so, he grabbed the fragments directly with both hands.

Blood-red wine splattered into the air.

Through the broken decanter, wine began to stream down onto the marble countertop. The spilled wine instantly soaked Cha Woojin’s shirt and tie sporadically.

Shin Hwayeon’s scream fluttered in the air. The bewildered Song Yeongin was still holding those fragments. Fortunately, by blocking the broken pieces with his whole body, there was no misfortune of glass shards flying onto the two people.

However, Cha Woojin’s white shirt was soaked with red wine and had become a mess. The sight, at a glance, looked as if it were drenched in blood, appearing so gory and disastrous that it was utterly tragic.

Song Yeongin bowed his head repeatedly on the spot and apologized.

“…S… Sorry.”

Shin Hwayeon retorted sharply with a displeased face.

“I don’t think this is a matter that can be resolved just by saying sorry, is it?”

“……”

“Can’t you see he’s completely drenched in wine?! …The Director’s clothes are ruined because of the wine!”

A chilly, loud voice echoed through the hall.

With a cold and expressionless face, Cha Woojin took out a handkerchief from his inner jacket pocket. He stood up from his chair and, with a disciplined gesture, calmly brushed off his wine-drenched shirt.

“…S… Sorry… Are you two… are you unhurt anywhere….”

The junior employee, pale without a trace of blood, was terrified and was pitifully checking on the well-being of the two people.

Cha Woojin answered in a calm voice.

“We are not.”

As if frustrated, Shin Hwayeon glared at Song Yeongin with cold eyes.

“Don’t just stand there like a fool, call the person in charge immediately.”

Bowing his head deeply once more as a sign of apology, Song Yeongin clutched the earpiece by his ear. A voice, trembling uncontrollably, was requesting support.

“An accident… has occurred….”

Simultaneously, Cha Woojin picked up the receiver on the table and politely requested of the front desk.

“A small problem has occurred, so please send in the manager.”

Before long, the manager entered the room. The manager bowed his head so low to Cha Woojin and Shin Hwayeon that it nearly touched the ground.

“I am sorry. We have committed a great offense. Are you two unhurt? We will compensate and take action for all damages suffered. We will immediately provide clothes for you to change into and guide you to a new room.”

Song Yeongin, too, stood by the manager’s side and bowed his head respectfully to ask for forgiveness. Shin Hwayeon, as if her excitement had not subsided, was flushed and agitated.

“I heard that Jihmil is a top-class salon that operates by accepting only the highest-echelon clients as members…. Could it be that I was mistaken?”

The manager and Song Yeongin, unable to lift their heads, were bowing deeply toward the floor.

“It seems even basic employee training isn’t properly done, I think that reputation is undeserved.”

At that moment, a flat, toneless voice cut Shin Hwayeon’s words off coldly.

“Don’t make a fuss.”

“……”

“I can just have Manager Park bring me a new shirt and jacket to change into.”

Song Yeongin, who was standing with his head bowed to the ground, unable to lift it out of guilt, could not think of anything.

Everything she said was right. Not only did he have no experience whatsoever on how to handle a situation like this, but the fact that he had caused an inconvenience to others was itself unbearable.

There was nothing Song Yeongin could do other than stand next to the manager, trembling and bowing his head. In his unfocused eyes, only miserable self-reproach was present.

It was then.

Cha Woojin, who had been wiping his wine-drenched shirt, began to walk toward the manager. Shin Hwayeon, standing beside him, was watching Cha Woojin’s actions in silence.

The man’s footsteps passed the manager without hesitation. He was approaching Song Yeongin. The manager watched Cha Woojin with a bewildered gaze.

From Song Yeongin’s hands and arms, red wine that had thoroughly soaked his shirt sleeves was continuously dripping onto the floor, ‘drip, drip.’

A large shadow that had walked over leisurely stopped its steps in front of Song Yeongin. The man, standing tall before Song Yeongin, looked at the manager and uttered in a low voice, as if commanding.

“That’s enough. There is no harm on this side, so….”

The large man’s hand snatched Song Yeongin’s right wrist, which was soaked in wine. Cha Woojin, clutching Song Yeongin’s wrist, showed the hand to the manager as if for him to see.

“First. Take care of this here.”

With his wrist caught by him, he looked up with surprised eyes. His heart was sending all of its blood there. The captured wrist felt like it was burning.

Only then did Song Yeongin slowly look up at his own wrist that he was holding. His slowly moving pupils blinked rapidly.

On his hand that Cha Woojin had grabbed and lifted, glass fragments were deeply embedded, and blood was streaming down.

He had been in such a state of shock that he hadn’t had a chance to feel any pain. The stinging was brief, and he had only thought that wine was dripping from his soaked shirt sleeve. But what was flowing down his wrist was not wine, but his own blood.

At the directive of this VVIP, for whom every single word was law and truth in this place, the manager bowed his head politely.

“Thank you for your consideration. I will ensure he receives treatment immediately.”

When the manager bowed his head to the two people once more, Cha Woojin indifferently let go of the wrist he was holding and turned away.

Song Yeongin stared blankly at Cha Woojin without a word. Their flickering gazes intertwined. The black eyes of the man he met were utterly composed. However, Song Yeongin’s neat pair of pupils wavered endlessly like a lamp in the wind. The ends of his red-rimmed eyes grew moist.

Shin Hwayeon, standing beside them, silently watched Cha Woojin’s unexpected action with a surprised expression. With a noticeably stiffened face, she did not say anything further.

The warmth still lingered on the wrist the man had held. He quietly looked down at his own hand. The glass shards embedded in his palm glittered vividly as they spat out blood.

There was nothing Song Yeongin could do to that poised and composed man. Nothing but this, to bow his head politely like their servant.

🌫️

To Madame Jeong and the manager, Song Yeongin repeatedly bowed his head.

“It is my mistake. It was something that happened because I am inexperienced at my job. I am sorry. If there is anything I must compensate for, I will compensate for it all.”

“Mr. Song Yeongin, the wine glasses and that decanter are worth several million won each. With Mr. Song Yeongin’s salary, it’s not even close to being enough to compensate for the damaged items.”

“……”

“This is not a matter for which an individual should be held responsible, but a problem that Jihmil must handle.”

“……”

“Instead, Director Cha said he will not make an issue of this matter, so it would be better for you to express your gratitude to Director Cha.”

“Still, it happened because of me……”

“The Director is not so petty as to get worked up or hold someone responsible over such a trivial matter. As the Director said, let’s get you treated first.”

Madame Jeong, with her characteristic trustworthy smile, soothed the still-trembling Song Yeongin’s anxiety. As if dissuading anxiety were her very profession, she was that skillful.

Thanks to the consideration of Madame Jeong and Cha Woojin, Song Yeongin immediately left Ashuit to receive treatment. The hand with the embedded glass shards did not seem like a major injury that warranted making a fuss, in his opinion.

With this much, it would probably be fine to work after getting it treated. However, if there was one thing that bothered him in his heart, it was the fact that the injured hand was his right hand.

He tried opening and closing his hand. Just a moment ago, he hadn’t even felt any pain, but as the tension eased, a stinging and unpleasant pain surged in, feeling foreign. His grip ached with a sensation that prevented him from clenching it. Only then did he give a bitter smile at the thought that he might not be able to draw for a while.

Without even properly putting on his overcoat, Song Yeongin hurriedly walked out of Ashuit’s entrance.

🌫️

After walking for a while to the access road, Song Yeongin struggled to catch a taxi. But as always, in this noticeably quiet and isolated vicinity, catching a taxi at such a late hour was not an easy task.

A blinding headlight shone on Song Yeongin, who had been wandering for a long time, unable to catch a car. A large, black luxury sedan blocked Song Yeongin’s path and stopped.

An unfamiliar man with a face he did not recognize stopped the car in front of him and got out.

“Please get in.”

No matter how hard he tried to recall, it was a completely unfamiliar face. At least, it wasn’t in his memory.

“The Director has ordered me to take you to the hospital.”

The unfamiliar man said he was Cha Woojin’s man. Without a moment’s thought, Song Yeongin first shook his head.

“It’s alright. I will go on my own.”

The man sent by Cha Woojin was the owner of an intelligent and flawless impression, looking like an elite at a glance. He thought that even the people he employed were like him.

“It will be difficult to catch a car around here.”

“It’s alright. If not a taxi, I can take the bus.”

Cha Woojin’s man showed a troubled expression at Song Yeongin’s reply.

“He instructed me to accompany you to the hospital and see to your treatment. I will take you to a Woosung-affiliated hospital that is a short distance from here.”

Song Yeongin stood there, looking at Cha Woojin’s man with a silent, still gaze. He couldn’t quite accept those words.

“It was something that happened due to my carelessness. I cannot continue to be indebted to that person.”

However, despite his words of refusal, the man was once again bowing to Song Yeongin and recommending he get in.

“I cannot disobey an order based on my own judgment. I am merely following my superior’s instructions.”

Song Yeongin just stood there blankly with a troubled expression. He had intended to catch a taxi and get away if one came by in the meantime, but while he was haggling with Cha Woojin’s man, not a single car passed on that remote and silent road.

“I’m really alright.”

“If you do not get in, my position will become difficult.”

As if he himself could not budge if Song Yeongin did not move, Cha Woojin’s man was looking at Song Yeongin with firm determination. That gaze felt like a foolish reprimand directed at him.

The standoff between the two people continued in silence.

Cha Woojin’s man watched Song Yeongin for a long time on that spot. His face was resolute and impassive, without even a flicker of movement. He seemed determined to hold onto him until the very end if he did not get in the car.

Being indebted is uncomfortable. Because it means another burden to repay is added.

Song Yeongin looked at Cha Woojin’s man, who was holding his ground unmovingly, for a long time. Perhaps that man, too, was simply complying with a superior’s order, just as he himself did at Jihmil. Just as much as he disliked being indebted, he also disliked bothering someone, or taking up their time.

Song Yeongin let out a deep sigh.

The man, sensing his surrender, agilely opened the back seat door. And so, Song Yeongin bowed his head and offered a polite greeting to the man, and got into Cha Woojin’s car.

🌫️

A burly attendant who opened the private room door and entered presented Cha Woojin with a new suit, shirt, and tie, still in their packaging.

Cha Woojin showed no hesitation even in the presence of others. He unfastened the buttons of his shirt, which was hideously stained with wine, without reservation. The taut shirt, fitted to his broad and solid body, was unceremoniously taken off.

For a while now, Shin Hwayeon had been noticeably quiet. Shin Hwayeon was staring blankly at the man who was unhesitatingly throwing off his wine-soaked shirt.

His sharply refined, sensual, and muscular upper body was revealed. The broadly built shoulders and the strong, thick masculine frame was, in anyone’s eyes, a perfect male with no flaws to be found. Even among males, he was a perfect man, flawless for reigning as a king.

‘What woman could refuse this magnificent man.’

With a reddened face, Shin Hwayeon could not hide her blatant excitement at Cha Woojin’s naked form. However, Shin Hwayeon was in a very foul mood because she had been offended by that man since earlier.

With a disciplined gesture ingrained in his body, a new silk tie went up onto a clean new shirt that was free of any excess.

Right at that moment, Cha Woojin’s mobile phone rang.

— He strongly refused to get in, but he is ultimately receiving treatment. The doctor says the wound is not deep enough to be of concern.

As Cha Woojin held his phone without answering, Shin Hwayeon approached him with a seductive gesture.

“Mr. Cha Woojin. Can’t you focus on me a little?”

Shin Hwayeon, with a swaying gesture, adjusted the tie that was not yet tightened. Cha Woojin’s sharp-as-a-blade nose bridge stared at Shin Hwayeon with a fierce look.

“I even canceled my filming schedule to come here, you know. But that kid ruined my precious day. So how can I not be angry?!”

The man’s chillingly cold gaze stared deeply at Shin Hwayeon. It was a cold and empty gaze, filled with nothing.

“Stop it. This is the limit of me listening to your tantrum.”

Cha Woojin indifferently shook off the woman’s hand that had been wrapped around his neck. Shin Hwayeon pulled the thick upper arm that was turning away into her chest.

“Please don’t go….”

“I didn’t come to this place just to cater to your every whim.”

“……”

“Wasn’t it you who called me out to make a deal with me?”

At Cha Woojin’s words, Shin Hwayeon’s face crumpled in an instant.

“You desperately pleaded with me with all sorts of sweet talk. You begged me to spend just one day with you.”

“……”

“Who was it again, who audaciously threatened that if I didn’t comply, your maternal grandfather, the media mogul, would mobilize every connection he knows to spread rumors of an affair with me?”

The splendid and haughty face turned bright red, on the verge of tears.

“Yes, I know. That you don’t want this, and it’s just me, desperate and begging like this…. Who else besides you would dare to wield Shin Hwayeon like this?”

Cha Woojin let out a sigh weary with fatigue, his face filled with boredom.

Shin Hwayeon once again grabbed onto Cha Woojin’s thick upper arm. However, the man, who was adjusting his tie, coldly shook off her thin, delicate wrist.

Shin Hwayeon forcefully suppressed her boiling anger and spat out as if throwing a tantrum.

“If you’re overly considerate to someone else, it makes me, the person next to you, look like the strange one.”

The man, who had skillfully and perfectly adjusted his tie, finally gave Shin Hwayeon his attention as if bestowing a charity.

“Mr. Cha Woojin, you cared more about someone else than me, who was right beside you. Is a mere low-level employee getting hurt more important than me?”

Cha Woojin narrowed his eyes and openly let out a sardonic sneer at her face. This was why he was fed up with nuisances who were born and raised like royalty in prestigious families.

“Is showing tolerance to the weak such a displeasing thing?”

Cha Woojin’s cold face never once showed a sign of excitement or agitation. He just looked bored, as if he desperately wished for this tedious conversation to end.

“Mr. Cha Woojin, you’re not someone who shows that much interest in anyone else, are you? But, why on earth did you….”

Shin Hwayeon had more to say, but she cut her words short because she felt she was making herself too miserable.

“I am the top actress in South Korea. That kid is just some nameless, low-level employee here. But, if you take his side like that with me right next to you, it makes me look ridiculous in front of people.”

As if he could no longer listen to her lengthy and tiresome whining, the man’s cold face became even more frigid and heartless.

Cha Woojin pushed his chillingly perfect face toward Shin Hwayeon. And he grabbed her slender wrist and lifted it. Cha Woojin whispered to her with a cold-blooded and emotionless face, a face that held not a single feeling.

“If it’s so unfair… you can just block the glass with your whole body and let the blood stream down your hand, can’t you.”

A cruel tone of voice. A brutal sound. At Cha Woojin’s heartless and ruthless gaze, goosebumps rose all over Shin Hwayeon’s body.

Behind Shin Hwayeon, who was frozen on the spot, Cha Woojin roared.

“I’ll call you a driver, so go back alone. Because I’m not in the mood to give you what you so desperately begged for.”

“Mr. Cha Woojin, I…!”

Cha Woojin cut off her words decisively, as if they were no longer worth listening to.

“I understood the terms of the deal well. And what you and your family can give me.”

“……”

“I will review it.”

Cha Woojin, who had put on his suit jacket with an indifferent and disciplined gesture, strode out of the private room without a word.

Shin Hwayeon’s slender shoulders, left alone, trembled. Shin Hwayeon’s face, as gorgeous as a single red rose, was filled with a misery that seemed about to burst.

🌫️

The emergency room of a hospital under the Woosung Group. Cha Woojin’s man had guided Song Yeongin here.

The doctor said that fortunately, the wound was not as large as he had feared. He said the glass was embedded in a place unrelated to the nerves, and had simply torn the raw flesh.

While the embedded fragments were being removed and his hand was being stitched up, the very first thought that came to his mind was none other than the treatment fee.

It was a desperate situation where he couldn’t even afford his next meal, and furthermore, since it had not been long since he had started the job, he had not yet received his salary.

Song Yeongin did not have a single common credit card. Thinking about it like that, his heart began to feel more uncomfortable than his palm with the embedded glass.

‘I heard the emergency room costs much more than a regular consultation….’

Song Yeongin blamed himself, thinking he should have just endured it until the night passed and seen a doctor in the morning. After all, the pain had been bearable enough that he didn’t even know something was embedded in his hand. It didn’t even hurt that much….

‘If you’re poor, you must never get hurt….’

That wretchedness made Song Yeongin more miserable than his aching hand. He let out a ragged sigh into the empty air with teary eyes.

Life is not easy.

The offensive smell of wine vibrated at the tip of Song Yeongin’s nose after the treatment was finished. As time passed, the seeped-in red wine had turned into a foul odor. It was because of the uniform he had not had a chance to change out of, having left in a hurry. It was to the point where a headache was setting in.

Vile wine. He had been told that a single glass that holds this stuff costs millions of won.

As he was about to pay at the reception as guided by the nurse, the man sent by Cha Woojin approached him and spoke in a polite tone.

“The payment has already been taken care of.”

Song Yeongin doubted his ears.

“If you keep… doing this….”

“……”

“It makes me very uncomfortable.”

The man replied in a gentle voice.

“Do not worry. This is a hospital under the Woosung Group. Director Cha is practically the owner of the hospital, so there is no need to pay for the treatment.”

“I will repay it.”

At his resolute gaze and tone, Cha Woojin’s man shook his head.

“This may be presumptuous of me to say, but you do not need to feel burdened. This level of tolerance is nothing to him.”

Song Yeongin accepted those words as they were.

It would be nothing. To him, how fleeting and trivial a part of his tolerance would this level of favor be. Still….

“Still, my heart is uncomfortable, so please tell him I will definitely repay it.”

He knew. That the man would not even have any interest in the fact of whether he repaid the money or not. However, even if it was just a single penny. Even if it was simply a meaningless favor, he hated being indebted.

He was fed up with debt. Whether small or large, meaningless or meaningful, whatever it was, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. He cannot just accept a favor as if it were a given.

However, the fact that he did not have even a few coins in his pocket to return right away made Song Yeongin feel shabby once again.

Cha Woojin’s man continued to follow Song Yeongin all the way to the front of the emergency room. Finding it strange, Song Yeongin spoke first.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I received treatment comfortably.”

“……”

“I will be on my way now.”

“I will take you home.”

Song Yeongin now truly did not know what kind of expression he should make.

“Is that also his instruction?”

The man nodded. However, Song Yeongin absolutely did not want that. He wanted to avoid that no matter what. Even if he had to run away, he did not want to see the sight of this top-class foreign car loitering around the entrance of the shantytown slum where he lived.

“I am sorry. I must decline.”

Song Yeongin bent at the waist and gave Cha Woojin’s man a respectful 90-degree bow. Then, he hurriedly ran and caught an empty taxi that was waiting in front of the emergency room.

“Please convey my thanks. To him, something like this might be nothing… but to me, he is like a savior.”

The man visible outside the car window had a troubled face. When the taxi hurriedly departed, he too seemed to have resigned himself.

It was quite a long distance to his home, so even paying the fare for this taxi he had just caught was a burden. He felt extremely pathetic for having felt a moment of relief in a corner of his heart when he heard that payment was not necessary.

As the man had said, it would be nothing. Perhaps a generous heart comes from a generous pocket….

Song Yeongin recalled Cha Woojin’s shirt, soaked in wine as if it were stained with blood. About why he had made such a fatal mistake there.

‘Could it be, on purpose… was it intentional?’

It had certainly started because of Shin Hwayeon’s high heels, but the reason the incident had grown to the point where he lost his balance and everything came crashing down was none other than Cha Woojin.

It was because he had tripped on that man’s shoe-clad foot, was unable to support himself, and his body, which was trying to regain balance, had collapsed. For a moment, Song Yeongin had almost suspected that it had been an intentional movement of the foot.

However, he thought it was a ridiculous suspicion.

Why would a perfect man who has everything have done such an absurd thing to him? Once again, Song Yeongin recalled the composed face of that man.

Like the flickering city lights outside the car window, with the sudden flashing of useless illusions, Song Yeongin’s mind was endlessly losing its way.