Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 65

The slumping shoulders that only appeared in front of him, the voice that flowed like water then abruptly cut off, the head that hung towards the floor, the shadow cast over the white face, the feet that stepped back—things like that would occasionally come to mind. What in the world was that all about. He should have grabbed him and broken him. He should have done something long before he fled to a place beyond his reach. Like a predator recalling its missed prey, Cha Moogyul thought of Baek Heeheon.

To make matters worse, Lee Eunhong would depressingly drone on, day in and day out, about “Heeheon this, Heeheon that.” Disgusted by the sight of it, Cha Moogyul left the family home and devoted himself to the group’s affairs for a while. Over several years, he smoothly took over management rights, filling the upper ranks with executives he had personally selected. Through his maternal family, he exerted influence in the political sphere, manipulating a few regulations to launch new businesses and generate enormous operating profits.

Everything went his way to the point of being tedious. Everything, except for one thing: Baek Heeheon.

From the moment he left for the special residential district, Baek Heeheon didn’t even come near the general residential districts, let alone the family home. He had never once returned. It was to the point where he wondered if he was avoiding some perceived danger. As if he knew what Cha Moogyul, who had been lying in wait for an encounter, would do.

‘Is he quick-witted, or just lucky.’

Cha Moogyul still found himself thinking of Baek Heeheon. Even after several years had passed, instead of fading, he became clearer.

But why. Why this nobody. What was he lingering on?

Should he have really caught him and broken him? Or, conversely, should he have played along with him? Should he have participated in the family games, the brother games, and mimicked them more actively?

The trivial question snowballed with each passing year. He mulled it over repeatedly, chewed on it again and again, pulled it out from his chest, and thought about it until it was worn out in his head. Then one day, suddenly, Cha Moogyul took an action whose motive even he did not understand.

He had someone secretly look into the news from the special residential district. He himself couldn’t fathom the underlying intention of his action.

Secretary Jo conducted a background check on Baek Heeheon’s living environment in the special residential district and submitted a report detailing his daily routine, training situation, and every single move. Reading it, Cha Moogyul burst into a hollow laugh.

‘Isn’t this kind of behavior no different from the interest my father showed in Lee Eunhong all those years ago?’

The realization brought a surge of disgust. It was repulsive and infuriating. The existence of Baek Heeheon, clinging to him, was so tiresome and fucking awful that Cha Moogyul drank himself into a stupor and chain-smoked.

‘Should I put pressure on the higher-ups to send him on a mission to a high-mortality area?’

What the hell was Baek Heeheon. Who the hell was this bastard. What kind of fucking comedy was this?

Baek Heeheon was nothing. Just one of the alien majority.

A brother from his father’s remarriage, a fool who got lucky because his mother married well. He might be an Awoken who became a Guide through a rare late manifestation, but that was no reason for Baek Heeheon to be special to Cha Moogyul. Baek Heeheon could not possibly be a special existence to Cha Moogyul.

Cha Moogyul now felt an otherness towards himself.

An uncontrollable anger boiled up at the fact that Cha Moogyul, a civilian, could not go to the special residential district. It felt as if Baek Heeheon, who had hidden behind Lee Eunhong and Cha Kwon Il, was now hiding beyond the barrier of the special residential district, ostracizing Cha Moogyul. It felt like he would ultimately turn away, run off as if to make a point, and disappear forever, bringing down the curtain on the stage.

So he thought. Wouldn’t it be utterly useless if Baek Heeheon ran away and died? If Baek Heeheon died now, it would mean it would all end with Cha Moogyul being ostracized by him. He could not accept such an ending. It seemed he could only be satisfied if he caught Baek Heeheon with his own hands and made him look back at him, even if it meant grabbing his neck and twisting it.

But. How?

No matter how capable Cha Moogyul was, how could he access an isolated military space like the special residential district? How could he get a hold of Baek Heeheon, and how could he make sure never to lose him again?

Only when he reached this point did Cha Moogyul acknowledge the otherness that had taken root within him. That its true identity was obsession. To deny it was impossible; the proof reflected in his own eyes in the mirror was crystal clear. At some point, Baek Heeheon had become a one-of-a-kind existence to Cha Moogyul, and he himself harbored a suppressed and twisted negativity towards that Baek Heeheon.

In truth, perhaps Cha Moogyul hadn’t been so different after all.

He, who had been convinced he belonged to the individual, the minority, the mutant, might have actually come to belong to the group, the majority, the species. Only Baek Heeheon made Cha Moogyul that way. When he thought of him, Cha Moogyul became ordinary.

The moment he became aware of that fact, lightning struck.

A blue light split the mirror and flashed.

Late manifestation.

Upon receiving the result of being an S-rank Esper, Cha Moogyul left without looking back. He had to get a hold of Baek Heeheon. By any means necessary. Whether as a brother, as an Esper, he didn’t care about the pretext; this time, he had to completely ensnare him and make him belong to Cha Moogyul himself.

Only then, it seemed, would he see the end.

Of the sense of otherness he had felt as if it were a part of him since his younger days.

Of the long, long, tiresome stage of comedy.

Baek Heeheon… held the answer.

Ring, ring, ring, ring.

Suddenly, a monotonous ringtone broke the narration.

A familiar melody flowed from Heeheon’s pants pocket, and the gazes of the two sitting on the sofa simultaneously dropped to the source of the noise.

“…”

“…”

A cellphone.

The number of people who knew Baek Heeheon’s number was extremely limited. It wouldn’t be Cha Moogyul, who was right in front of him, so the caller was certainly his mother.

Heeheon, frozen solid like ice, trembled his eyelids minutely. The blood drained from the hand holding the empty glass, turning it white. Time just flowed by endlessly. The melody repeated over and over before abruptly cutting off.

‘Ha…’

Just as he was about to let out the breath he had been holding, the phone started ringing again.

Cha Moogyul let out a smirk and instructed Heeheon.

“Answer it.”

“No.”

Heeheon shook his head in disgust.

“If I answer, what do I say to her if I answer…”

“You can just tell her the truth.”

“What…”

“As you can see, hyung and I are sleeping together, and it hasn’t just been once or twice.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You crazy bastard, I’m not answering.”

“…If you can’t do it yourself, shall I tell her for you.”

Cha Moogyul got up and crossed over to the sofa where Heeheon was sitting. Then he unhesitatingly reached out a long arm. It seemed he was trying to take the cellphone from Heeheon’s pants pocket and answer the call.

“Hey…!”

No way. Panicked, Heeheon threw the glass he was holding onto the rugged floor and scrambled to the corner of the sofa. Cha Moogyul wasn’t just saying that; it seemed he would really, without hesitation, expose all their immoral acts to his mother.

He could be even more certain now, after hearing his past. Cha Moogyul was the kind of person who would nonchalantly commit acts that would hurt not only Baek Heeheon but also Baek Heeheon’s mother, Lee Eunhong. Because he had an emotional motive that went back fifteen years, no, generations. So it was just as he said. Eight years was far too shallow for Cha Moogyul.

‘Could it be true? That Mister Kwon Il did that.’

The car accident…

There were parts that were hard to believe, but now was not the time to determine the truth. Heeheon, who had retreated to the very end of the sofa, leaned back, his upper body blocked by the armrest. Cha Moogyul grabbed the waist of the fleeing Heeheon, pulled him down, and laid him on the sofa, fumbling at his pants.

“Ugh, Cha Moogyul!”

A fierce struggle ensued. Heeheon grabbed his arm and resisted, struggling to flip his body over. But he couldn’t stop his hand from reaching the pants pocket that held the cellphone.

The continuously ringing cellphone was pulled out by him. Looking at the screen, Cha Moogyul’s distinctively black eyes curved languidly.

“Ah. It’s a video call.”

“Don’t answer, give it to me!”

“To drive the point home for good, I’m thinking of showing her us sucking each other off.”

Fuck…!

You fucking psycho. You goddamn son of a bitch.

Heeheon held on to Cha Moogyul’s arm with all his might. He fought a desperate battle to snatch the cellphone away. He was desperate and frantic. It felt like his head, heated up from the alcohol, was about to explode.

“Are you really crazy? Don’t do anything… anything to my mother. She’s already completely broken, and you’re going to pour oil on the fire!”

“Then why did you do something so stupid.”

Cha Moogyul murmured lowly and sat on Heeheon’s stomach.

“Why are you trying to die already. It’s far too early.”

He pressed down, adding his weight so he could no longer struggle, and forcefully twisted and pulled away Heeheon’s wrists that were clinging to him.

“I don’t know if you noticed, hyung, but I was pretty angry too. I was just wondering what to do after we finished talking… this works out well.”

“So, you’re going to take out your anger in the end? You always act like that. Please, just…”

“It’s just an example. This way, hyung won’t get distracted by other thoughts again.”

Heeheon looked up at him with despairing eyes. His pupils trembled minutely. The thought that now not only Baek Heeheon but also Heeheon’s mother would get entangled with him was beyond dreadful. His head, which felt hot enough to burst, now felt dizzy and seemed to be ringing with a low hum.

“Or, you can relieve my anger yourself, hyung.”