Winter Season Chapter 41

Yihyeon let out a hollow, bitter laugh at the reaction he had expected. Weakly letting go of the shirt hem he had been gripping, Yihyeon staggered and straightened his clothes before lowering his head to stare at a spot on the floor.

“Does it look that way to your eyes, too?”

Seunghyeok disliked this strangely compliant attitude, which replaced his usual defiant behavior. Gritting his teeth, Seunghyeok spoke in a low voice.

“If you’re drunk, just go inside quietly and sleep.”

Yihyeon, showing a smile that once again made one feel unpleasant, wiped his dry eyes with his hand. He then stumbled past Seunghyeok and headed out of the bathroom.

Watching the precarious-looking back through the mirror, Seunghyeok clenched his fist tightly.

Because a strange thought had flashed through his mind—that the moment he touched him, Yihyeon might disappear. In that moment, the only thing Seunghyeok could do was stand still and watch the closing door.

Do you want to sleep with me?

A sentence that he would have normally passed over without much thought had rushed in defenselessly at an unprepared moment. Thinking of that pale face as he spat out those words made that unpleasant feeling knot up inside his stomach again.

Just thinking about the face that had been sunken and pale, the eyes reddened by alcohol, and the wrists messily scarred made the inside of Seunghyeok’s throat go dry. The attitude of smiling as if he were used to it, while wearing a face that seemed to carry every misfortune possible, bothered him to the point of irritation.

Should he have grabbed and turned those shoulders away from him just once? If he had checked the expression floating on that white face, would that image of his back—which wouldn’t leave his head—have faded a little?

With his arms crossed, Seunghyeok looked down at the night view outside the window, a cigarette clamped between his teeth with the filter end chewed up. After a moment, there was the rustle of blankets and the sound of bare feet sticking to and pulling off the floor, then thin white arms wrapped around his waist from behind.

“I told you to just rest comfortably before you go. You pretend to be so clean in the strangest ways, don’t you, honey?”

Red-painted fingertips gently stroked the chest area of his shirt, but Seunghyeok’s indifferent gaze remained fixed out the window.

“The buttons. Shall I undo them for you?”

“Don’t cling to me.”

Seunghyeok brushed away the hand that was sliding over his body like a snake and sat leaning against the sofa on one side. The motion of pressing out the cigarette in the ashtray on the table was quite irritable. Because of the thoughts he couldn’t get out of his head, even the aftertaste of the cigarette felt bitter.

“I like this side of you, too. Your hyung is a bit on the violent side, so I enjoy imagining what you might be like.”

Whether she didn’t realize he had no intention of engaging in useless talk, or was just pretending not to know, the woman took a seat on the sofa next to Seunghyeok. Her calves, revealed beneath her deep navy robe, shimmered white.

“The preparations for the completion party. Is it going well?”

“Of course. More importantly, you said you prepared someone… how is it? Does there seem to be some potential?”

The woman was an actress under the agency owned by Jinhyeok, whom Jinhyeok had been seeing frequently lately. Much of the information about Gu Jinhyeok that had been handed to Yihyeon had come from this woman.

At the woman’s question, Seunghyeok once again recalled Yihyeon’s eyes from their last encounter. The red-rimmed eyes and the sharp eye line tinged with a sorrowful air.

“I’ll have to see to know.”

He wasn’t curious about how he would wind Gu Jinhyeok around his finger. He simply had a premonition that something he thought had a slim chance might actually succeed.

Vrrr, vrrrr.

Just then, a long vibration rang out from the cell phone placed on the nightstand next to the bed. The woman, who had been smoking, hopped up, grabbed Seunghyeok’s phone, and handed it to him.

“Kwak Taeshik? Isn’t he someone who works under you?”

Seunghyeok’s eyebrow twitched slightly at the unexpected caller. Taeshik was someone who wouldn’t contact him while he was attending to personal business unless it was a significant matter. Seunghyeok took the phone and connected the call.

“What is it.”

— Hyung-nim, I’m at Rose Balm, and it seems like a bit of a problem has occurred.

“What problem.”

Rose Balm was a high-end room salon whose main customers were women. Since it was a place where female VIPs were entertained, it wasn’t a business where a commotion would break out unless it was something serious.

— That is… President Yoon of Geese suddenly visited, so we hurriedly found some kids and sent them in, but…

Seunghyeok frowned at the hesitant, stalling attitude. As if he could see him, Taeshik quickly continued.

— It seems that, uh, Mr. Kwon Yihyeon was included among them.

“What?”

Kwon Yihyeon again.

Seunghyeok’s face contorted at the name that appeared out of nowhere.

“Tell me in detail.”

— It seems he was there alone when there were no kids in the office. The manager doing rounds in the waiting room must have thought he was one of the club’s boys and took him. I wondered if I should just leave it… but I thought you should know, hyung-nim.

It was unclear what that idiot was doing in an empty office, but the news that he had been dragged into a room pierced his ears first.

A mix of absurdity, annoyance, and unpleasantness made his expressionless face turn fierce. Seunghyeok brushed away the woman’s hand that was stroking his thigh and rose from the sofa.

“Fine. I’m coming.”

— Yes, understood.

Seeing Seunghyeok head straight for the door, the woman wore a curious expression. Seunghyeok didn’t even spare her a glance as he put on his jacket and straightened himself up.

“What’s going on?”

If it was President Yoon of Geese, she was a woman famous for playing dirty by calling in boys despite having a perfectly fine husband and a son over twenty. Hearing that he had entered that room of all places made his movements faster instinctively.

Putting on his watch which he had taken off, Seunghyeok bit the inside of his cheek. He felt foul due to an inexplicable sense of urgency.

“I’m leaving first, so contact me if a problem arises while preparing for the job.”

“You… seem to be in a hurry?”

Seeing Seunghyeok already finished with his preparations to leave, the woman gave a meaningful smile. Seunghyeok licked the inside of his cheek, where a metallic taste lingered, and stared into space with cold eyes.

“No way.”

As he stormed through the club doors with a fast stride, the employees standing at the entrance bowed their heads. Perhaps having received a word from Taeshik in advance, the manager working as the general manager showed a worried expression toward Seunghyeok.

“I heard a kid went into President Yoon’s room by mistake. I was looking for a chance to pull him out while moving back and forth with alcohol, but she told us not to let anyone in…”

Just imagining what she might be doing inside after forbidding anyone from entering made him scowl. Gritting his teeth, Seunghyeok spoke in a low voice.

“Which room is it?”

“It’s number 7.”

There was no hesitation in his steps as he moved. Passing through the corridors intertwined like a maze, he reached the door of room 7 and ran a hand through his unstyled hair.

Knock, knock, knock. Click.

The sight that greeted him as soon as he opened the door after a light knock was one of flesh. Several men with well-built, lean muscles were up on the table wearing only drawers. At the sudden opening of the door, everyone’s gaze turned toward Seunghyeok, but he ignored them and quickly scanned the interior of the room.

Ah, there he is.