Desires Chapter 1.5 - Longings That Are Not Mine

He had not realized before that time flowed so quickly. When he was floundering in pain, the sense of speed had felt slow, as he was busy enduring it.

However, Song Yeongin could hardly believe that just by moving his body busily in the relief of having his livelihood guaranteed, the day would pass so hectically and time would fly by in the blink of an eye.

The work at Jihmil was, before he knew it, establishing itself as a familiar routine for Song Yeongin.

The ability to store spaces or objects in his mind as if taking a picture was a skill he had acquired during his childhood when drawing landscapes or still lifes. Because he disliked making errors, he would capture the moment in as much detail as possible in his mind like a photograph, and then repeatedly transfer it to a drawing, and before he knew it, this modest ability had been trained to be quite impressive.

However, it was now being used as a useful talent at Jihmil, a place unrelated to drawing.

During his short break times, Song Yeongin was busy trying to grasp the routes and layout of this place. In his spare time, he had been meticulously grasping the structure of Jihmil and Ashuit by transferring the map to paper and reviewing it in his head.

It was a very short time that Song Yeongin had worked, as it had not been long since he first set foot in Jihmil as a staff member. However, he was able to quickly grasp the difference between veteran staff and a newcomer.

Memorizing the entire elaborate and complex internal structure of Jihmil, and seamlessly and organically grasping the secret routes and layout of the maze-like spaces that were entangled like a spider’s web, was a task that could not be anything but very tricky even for the skilled, veteran employees who had worked here for a long time.

The manager, who came to know through an unexpected opportunity that Song Yeongin, who was only a newcomer, had not only grasped the complex internal structure without any trouble in such a short period of employment but also had a thorough knowledge of Ashuit’s routes and floor plans, had to re-evaluate Song Yeongin.

The manager had simply regarded Song Yeongin as a handsome simpleton who had come down through the director’s connections. Indeed, it had been so.

Song Yeongin had a naive and dense side to him, to the point where he couldn’t grasp the hidden barbs in the teasing words and actions of the VVIPs he guided. It was a lofty purity that was terribly unsuited for Jihmil.

However, what he came to know through several implicit tests was the fact that Song Yeongin had an astonishingly innate memory for space.

It was not merely memorization; he had a grasp of even the parts that could only be possible by perfectly understanding architectural design, building structure, and anatomical blueprints.

The manager, who had been watching this carefully, began to entrust Song Yeongin with customer guidance that required a high level of difficulty, rather than the simple duties of a ‘front door boy.’

🌫️

Song Yeongin checked the reservation list sent from the security team.

‘Cha Woojin, James Han, Noh Seung-eun’

Song Yeongin greeted the two VVIPs standing before him with impeccable politeness. Song Yeongin bowed his head politely in front of them. His uniquely beautiful and calm voice echoed through the hallway.

“I will guide you to the conference room.”

Gazes latched onto him. One cold gaze and another blatant gaze. The two gazes were cleverly entangled all over Song Yeongin’s body.

A flawless appearance without a single fault. The presence, sharp as a blade and intimidating, still made others hold their breath. The confident and unhesitating gaze made it clear that he had no intention of hiding it, and that he knew very well it could not be hidden.

When his eyes met Cha Woojin’s, Song Yeongin felt something that had been submerged under the water urgently stir again. However, he could feel a small sense of relief in the fact that he had now become quite skilled at wearing a mask.

Time had solved many things.

Two strapping men, handsomely dressed in suits, were walking down the magnificent marble hallway, following Song Yeongin.

The man named James Han, standing next to Cha Woojin, was not as tall as Cha Woojin, but he was a man of great height with a mature and stately appearance, estimated to be in his early forties.

For security reasons, the conference room was located deep inside Jihmil, so guiding guests there could not be anything but a rather tricky task. Not only did one have to remember the complicated location, but one also had to walk this rather long way. The path, walking ahead of the two strapping men while passing through the long, long corridor, was extremely suffocating.

Song Yeongin swung open the conference room door with the card key he had been issued. A meeting room equipped with a state-of-the-art system in a magnificent space was revealed.

Cha Woojin and James Han, the two men, sat facing each other across a vast, long table.

Until Song Yeongin turned on the front screen projector in the conference room, the two men’s gazes were stuck on the busily moving Song Yeongin. James Han scanned Song Yeongin up and down with a blatant gaze, as if sizing him up.

Cha Woojin, sitting in an executive chair in the meeting room across from him, was silently watching James Han’s blatant overtures toward Song Yeongin with a quiet gaze. A suffocating, long silence continued.

As the screen projector turned on in the low darkness, a white light poured onto his neat and clean features. The beautiful face, illuminated by the light in the low brightness, left a sacredly ethereal afterimage.

The red and white lights shaped like the logo brushed past Song Yeongin’s face, and the two men’s gazes were staring blankly at the sight, as if frozen.

Song Yeongin silently finished his task and offered a nod of his head to signal his departure.

The moment Song Yeongin was about to leave the conference room, an unfamiliar voice came from behind him in the heavy silence that had been firmly sealed.

“There’s something I’d like to ask….”

James Han gestured to Song Yeongin with a tilt of his chin.

Cha Woojin’s jet-black eyes, which had been cast down indifferently, loftily observed James Han’s unexpected action.

In that moment, Song Yeongin’s gaze collided with Cha Woojin’s, who was sitting in his seat and staring intently at him. Song Yeongin saw Cha Woojin sneer with a voice so low it was almost a resonant hum.

At James Han’s call, Song Yeongin approached his side. He picked up a piece of paper and a pen that had been neatly placed in the center of the conference table and began to write something. It was cursive English.

“Go and bring this.”

The white, slender fingers received the paper. James Han intentionally touched Song Yeongin’s delicate little finger. It was a clear nuance of harassment. Song Yeongin’s hand flinched in surprise and trembled slightly.

Cha Woojin, who was leaning back in his executive chair and watching the opposite side with a gaze full of unease, abruptly cut in.

“I’d like to get to the point now.”

An unusually low bass voice echoed in the meeting room. James Han smiled leisurely and replied.

“Is there a need to rush?”

Cha Woojin’s sharp gaze checked the heavy metal watch on his wrist.

“My schedule is not that free.”

In that moment, James Han’s gaze once again latched onto the back of Song Yeongin, who was turning to leave through the door. With a face that seemed to say he was quite usable.

James Han stopped Song Yeongin, who was on his way out, once again. It was a gentle and soft voice, contrasting with Cha Woojin’s.

“This is my special instruction, so you, and not someone else, must be the one to bring it.”

At James Han’s insistence, seeking a firm answer, Song Yeongin’s elegant neckline and shoulders flinched and trembled. Then, as if in agreement, he obediently bowed his head.

Clean lines without any excess eventually capture the eyes of others like this, without exception.

The unusually neat eyes were not fixed on any specific place. Cha Woojin knew that it was a kind of defense.

As Song Yeongin left the conference room, James Han smiled slyly with his stately face.

“I suffer from a disease where I can’t just pass by a beauty….”

At those trivial words, Cha Woojin haughtily retorted.

“You seem to have forgotten that we did not gather today to enjoy ourselves.”

At those words, James Han replied as if he could not lose.

“As Director Cha may know, there are plenty of things that are good to look at.”

“……”

“However, it is not easy to find something that whets the appetite.”

Cha Woojin glared coldly at his opponent with his characteristic composed and arrogant gaze. And then, he raised the corner of his mouth into a sardonic smile.

James Han did not stop talking.

“I am a collector, and I collect beautiful things, whether they are objects or people. When I discover such things in unexpected places, I can’t control myself.”

At that moment, another invited person appeared in the conference room. It was the person who had organized the secret meeting of the three people here today.

Today, no one was supposed to know that these three people were in the same place. That was the reason why Noh Seung-eun had chosen this place, Jihmil. Noh Seung-eun of HBK entered the conference room, led by a guide from Jihmil.

“This is disappointing, isn’t it? What secret talks were you having without me?”

Noh Seung-eun sat down with a greasy, smug face. The hyena, who was constantly looking for an opportunity to gain an advantage from James Han, was on pins and needles, anxious that Cha Woojin and James Han might be hatching another plot behind his back.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Cha Woojin rose from his seat.

“Where is the main character going?”

To Cha Woojin who was about to leave his seat, James Han showed a look of puzzlement.

Cha Woojin’s flawlessly perfect and proper face showed an arrogant and leisurely smile.

“Please continue your conversation. I just remembered an important matter I need to take care of, so let’s discuss the corporate sale and acquisition when I return in 10 minutes.”

“You said you weren’t free, but now you seem to be deliberately procrastinating.”

Cha Woojin laughed boldly as he made a joke.

“The two of you can go ahead and have a secret consultation without me in my absence. It must have been a while since you saw each other, so please take your time to exchange greetings.”

Noh Seung-eun seemed anxious to send Cha Woojin away quickly, as if he was looking forward to the time alone with James Han. Noh Seung-eun’s original target was James Han, but James Han’s side, considering the risks of a corporate acquisition, had been asking about Cha Woojin’s willingness to participate.

Cha Woojin walked out of the door without hesitation. Noh Seung-eun began to wag his glib tongue at James Han, as if to make up for the time he had lost by being late.

For a moment, he would be able to buy some time.

🌫️

The man’s body, as strong and agile as forged iron, turned through the corridors of Jihmil with a fast stride.

After turning at several intersections, Cha Woojin was able to run into Song Yeongin again at that corner.

Song Yeongin had almost collided with him. Looking extremely surprised, his small, neat face was staring blankly at Cha Woojin with a bewildered expression.

In Song Yeongin’s hand was a whiskey in a skull-shaped bottle. He could guess that it was the item James Han had requested.

“What foul taste.”

A jeering sneer echoed lowly in the quiet hallway.

After a nod, as Song Yeongin tried to pass through the narrow corridor, Cha Woojin did not move from the spot where he stood, blocking the way.

“Please go ahead.”

Even though Song Yeongin yielded the way and pressed his body into a corner to make space, he seemed to have no intention of passing through.

On the contrary, Cha Woojin strode toward Song Yeongin.

At the man’s aggressive stride, which approached without hesitation and without maintaining a radius, Song Yeongin almost took a step back. Behind the sneer, under the gaze cast darkly downward, Song Yeongin felt his breath catch in his throat as if he were suffocating.

The man’s large hand reached out toward Song Yeongin without hesitation. Song Yeongin, startled, stared at Cha Woojin.

The stuffy air that enveloped the corridor and the moisture in the dark eyes. The gaze that relentlessly bore down. All of it was so unsettling that it was impossible to breathe.

Cha Woojin snatched the skull bottle that was in Song Yeongin’s hand. And he checked the label engraved in English.

“Oscillating between hell and desire….”

He murmured so, at a distance so close that their breaths could touch.

The man’s bleak and cold scent instantly rushed to the tip of his nose. Song Yeongin, unable to look at the man, let his precarious gaze fall quietly to the floor. Cha Woojin knew that it was a kind of defense.

It was at that very moment.

Cha Woojin, with his characteristic arrogant and composed face, dropped the skull bottle vertically as if by a lie.

He dropped it on purpose. To be precise, he let go of it in mid-air without exerting any force. Along with a clearly intentional gesture of the hand, a large shattering sound filled the quiet hallway.

The strong scent of whiskey was evaporating from between the skull fragments that were shattered on the marble floor. The hem of Song Yeongin’s pants became damp with the broken whiskey.

Song Yeongin scanned the empty hallway to check for people. There was no backup anywhere. Eyes full of bewilderment shot up wide toward the man. The clear and pure pupils, transparent like broken glass, stared at Cha Woojin as if to pierce through him.

“W-what… on earth is this…!”

The cold-blooded and arrogant eyes stared blankly at Song Yeongin. On his sharp nose bridge, as if carved, not a trace of urgency could be found.

On the contrary, Cha Woojin calmly pressed his phone to his ear.

“Manager, by my mistake, I broke the whiskey that an employee was carrying. A small accident occurred in the process.”

Song Yeongin gave a look of horror at that shamelessness.

“He seems quite startled, so take him and let him rest a bit.”

“……”

“No, he doesn’t seem to be in good condition. It would be best to let him go home and rest for today.”

Song Yeongin fiercely showed his displeasure to Cha Woojin with eyes that asked what on earth he was doing.

However, Cha Woojin was not a kind man. He did not give Song Yeongin any explanation. It was simply either to instruct or to command, one of the two. From birth, he was the type who did not know the need to be considerate of others.

“You may go back.”

The straight shoulders that had been trembling ceased their convulsions. A precarious and low gaze was fixed on that arrogant man. Red, thick lips were asking the man.

“Are you doing this… on purpose?”

Song Yeongin recalled the day of the wine-spilling accident, when the man had intentionally tripped him with his shoe-clad foot. A strong conviction began to grow that it had not been a misunderstanding.

Song Yeongin was asking with a double meaning. It was a question of whether he was doing this to him on purpose, last time and at this very moment.

Cha Woojin approached him composedly.

As he approached, that scent once again rushed in dizzily. A chilly and cold scent that felt like a scream would be silenced. The arrogant and insolent reality before his eyes held a sneer colder and more cold-blooded than that atrocious沉潜.

“I doubt you’ve been properly trained….”

Cha Woojin sneered once more with cold eyes.

“Did you just ask me a question?”

“……”

“At Jihmil, asking unnecessary questions to a guest is a taboo and a poison.”

At that sharp and authoritative voice reprimanding a subordinate, every cell in his body stood on end. Song Yeongin hurriedly bowed his head.

“Go and tell him that. That Cha Woojin ordered him not to come near this way.”

He is just a mere servant. He knows he should not ask them for reasons.

Forcibly suppressing his bewildered feelings, the face that showed resignation with transcendent eyes was strangely pathetic. Song Yeongin obediently acquiesced and bowed his head to the man of power.

It was the moment he was about to turn away.

Cha Woojin bent his intimidating, muscular body down to Song Yeongin’s feet.

“Wait a moment.”

As he shouted that and the man suddenly bent his body down to his feet, Song Yeongin, in order to steady his body that had almost fallen, had no choice but to place his hand on the man’s broad, hard shoulders and support himself.

A large, sharp glass fragment from the skull bottle was stuck to Song Yeongin’s trouser leg, specifically, on the back of his thigh.

The man’s touch reached the uniform pants that were smoothly fitted to his lower body as if tailored. Along with the stinging pain of the glass fragment being removed, the sensation of the man’s thick fingers touching his skin was felt at the same time. A creepy sensation was transmitted tinglingly through his skin.

As if he had made a mistake, Song Yeongin hastily removed his hand that had been resting on the man’s shoulder.

Song Yeongin was startled by the sensation of the hard and sharply defined scapular muscles that could be felt through the smooth suit fabric at his fingertips.

“……I am sorry.”

He looked down at Cha Woojin’s large, broad back, stooped below him. Song Yeongin apologized, blushing red all the way to the tips of his ears.

The perfect and arrogant man’s face, as he dropped the glass fragment from the skull bottle from his hand, looked up at Song Yeongin.

“Are you always this dull?”

“……”

“If you had sat down without knowing this, you would have seen blood again, just like last time.”

The gaze that looked up at him lowly as he said that was like a beast crouching silently, stalking its prey. It is hiding its fangs. It will sink in its poison fangs. The fragment that had pierced his thigh felt like a poison fang that he had driven in. He saw a hallucination of a deadly poison spreading throughout his body through it. His body went limp as if convulsing, and he automatically became short of breath.

Song Yeongin thought that his face, which he was looking down at from up close, was sharper and more dangerous than that broken fragment. He was right. If he continued to waver aimlessly like this, he would surely see blood.