Winter Season Chapter 59

I felt as if the pooled wine would spill down my body if I even turned my head, so I couldn’t move a muscle. Yihyeon bit his lips tightly while clenching his fists atop his knees.

“Your expression doesn’t look good.”

“…”

“Do you hate it?”

Seeing his face frozen in humiliation, Jinhyeok stepped closer to Yihyeon. He had a smile on his face, as if he found this situation amusing. With one hand, he pressed firmly against Yihyeon’s white, soft cheeks to make him face his way.

“I asked if you hate it.”

“…I am fine.”

“Right? You find it fun too, don’t you, Mr. Yihyeon?”

A thick thumb pushed its way between his red lips. Jinhyeok, who used his hand to pull up one corner of Yihyeon’s mouth into a forced smile, suddenly spoke in a chilling voice.

“But why the face, then.”

“…”

“We’re just playing.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Jinhyeok’s shoe-clad foot pressed down hard between Yihyeon’s legs. When Yihyeon unconsciously let out a gasp and leaned his upper body forward, the pooled wine spilled onto the floor. Jinhyeok, looking down at the sight, curled his lips upward and raised his hand.

Slap.

Yihyeon’s head snapped to the left in an instant. The slapped cheek tingled. As Yihyeon slowly turned his head back to the front, Jinhyeok stroked Yihyeon’s reddened cheek with the back of his hand.

“I told you to hold it well, didn’t I?”

Seeing a side of Jinhyeok that was entirely different from the one he saw at the office, Yihyeon finally realized that this was a real-life situation.

Even back when he was listening to Gu Seunghyeok talk about the plan and thinking it over in his head, things had felt unrealistic; now, they were laid out as reality before him.

Gu Jinhyeok was a man who had risen to the position of General Manager of a corporation that started in the back alleys, and Yihyeon was merely a tool deployed to deceive him. At the sudden surge of fear, his fingertips began to turn cold.

“Again.”

Jinhyeok, having straightened Yihyeon’s disheveled posture, poured wine onto his collarbone again. He looked down at the stiff, fist-clenching Yihyeon as if he were pathetic, then approached the table and picked up a pack of cigarettes. Then, while leaning comfortably against a chair and lighting a cigarette, he pulled a cell phone out of his inner pocket.

“Bring the things I mentioned to the room.”

At the sound of the call, Yihyeon’s head snapped up. His eyes remained fixed on Gu Jinhyeok’s phone. He saw Gu Jinhyeok, having finished the short call, set the phone down right on the table. Yihyeon quickly looked away, biting the inside of his cheek for fear of having his gaze discovered.

Not long after, a knock-knock was heard from the door at the entrance of the room. When Gu Jinhyeok answered, a neatly dressed waiter opened the door and entered the room. Yihyeon, who was sitting on his knees with his entire upper body bare, quickly lowered his head as soon as he met the waiter’s eyes.

It felt as if shame and humiliation were blossoming from deep within his stomach. Because of the alcohol pooled in his collarbone, he couldn’t move; he was in a state where he couldn’t cover his naked body or hide.

The waiter, discovering Yihyeon’s state, ignored him entirely as if he were a non-person. He felt grateful for that attitude, yet humiliated at the same time.

“I have brought what you requested.”

What the waiter handed to Jinhyeok was a small glass bottle containing something like white pills. Jinhyeok, taking the bottle, pulled his wallet from his inner pocket and handed the waiter several fifty-thousand won bills.

After the waiter bowed to Jinhyeok and left the room, Yihyeon stared at the glass bottle with a rigid gaze. Jinhyeok ran a finger along Yihyeon’s cheek and gave a languid smile.

“Ah, this? Just, let’s play a bit more fun.”

“…”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing dangerous.”

Jinhyeok, who poured wine into two wine glasses on the table, took pills out of the glass bottle and dropped them plop into each glass. The small pills dissolved quickly, releasing bubbles.

Before he could even ask what kind of medicine he had just put in, Jinhyeok stood up and leaned down toward Yihyeon. Then, he licked away the wine pooled in the hollow of his collarbone.

“…Ugh.”

As the pooled wine flowed down his chest, Jinhyeok’s tongue moved slowly along its trajectory. He put his hand between Yihyeon’s legs to lift him up and gripped his buttocks firmly.

“Gen—General Manager…”

The hand that had been roaming over Yihyeon’s chest passed over his exposed skin and headed toward his belt buckle. It was then that a vibration rang from Jinhyeok’s phone.

Bzzz, bzzz.

When the unpleasant vibration sound echoed across the table, Jinhyeok pulled his lips away and frowned. Reaching out a hand to take the phone, he checked the caller displayed on the screen and moved away from Yihyeon.

“Yes. Chairman.”

Perhaps it was an important call, as Jinhyeok answered immediately, pushed Yihyeon to sit on the bed, and headed toward the room entrance. Now was the time.

Keeping an eye on Jinhyeok, Yihyeon stood up and, with trembling hands, pulled the plastic bag from his pocket. Then, he emptied the medicine into Jinhyeok’s glass, which was about one-third full of wine. The white powder dissolved instantly and vanished without a trace. It felt as if his heart would burst from thumping.

“No, sir. I will make sure to wrap it up carefully. Yes, yes.”

At the sound of the approaching voice, Yihyeon quickly went to the bed and sat down. Jinhyeok, with a narrowed brow, ended the call, turned off the phone, and slammed it down on the table irritably.

“A man who’s about to die soon has so much fear for his position…”

Jinhyeok, adjusting his tie with a cold face, picked up the wine glass in front of him and held it out to Yihyeon. It was the very glass Yihyeon had spiked with sleeping pills moments ago.

“Drink. I’m not in a particularly good mood right now. It will be better for you, Mr. Kwon Yihyeon, to just take that.”

At the glass held out before him, his mind went blank in an instant. He couldn’t think of how to get through this situation. When Jinhyeok crookedly arched an eyebrow because Yihyeon was just staring at him with a calm face despite his internal chaos, Yihyeon slowly stood up.

“What are you doing?”

The place Yihyeon headed after standing up was to the table where the other wine glass sat. Yihyeon, pretending to be composed, picked up the other glass, approached Jinhyeok, and reached out his arm to cross it with Jinhyeok’s.

“…Because I want to drink with you, General Manager.”

It was the posture for drinking with arms entwined. At Yihyeon’s action, Jinhyeok let out a laugh like escaping air, as if he found it ridiculous. Then, staring straight into Yihyeon’s eyes from quite close, he muttered in a low voice.

“Drink it all, don’t leave a drop.”

Yihyeon slowly tilted the glass while maintaining eye contact with Jinhyeok. Along with a fruity scent, the heavy smell of alcohol brushed past his nose, and a bitter aftertaste took its place. He knew it contained an unidentified drug, but in a situation like this, he had no other choice. He swallowed the wine while watching Jinhyeok’s glass diminish.

No sooner had Yihyeon unlinked his arm and lowered the glass than Jinhyeok pressed his body against him. He wrapped his arm around Yihyeon’s bare waist and lowered his face over the wine stains remaining on his body. Yihyeon barely pushed Jinhyeok away and spoke haltingly.

“Wait a moment, I’ll—I’ll go wash up. The parts with wine on them are sticky…”

Yihyeon, having set the empty wine glass on the floor, headed toward the bathroom as if fleeing. He thought he heard a low curse from behind, but he had no room to care. After entering the bathroom and locking the door, Yihyeon turned the lever of the shower and stood leaning against the sink.

“Ha… ha…”

Even though he was standing straight with his eyes closed, a dizziness set in as if the floor were spinning. It felt like a similar type of drug to the one Yoon Subin’s friend had given him before, but considering it was like this even though only a few minutes had passed since he took it, it seemed to be a stronger substance.

Yihyeon turned the faucet toward the cold water and filled the sink. Every time he swallowed while waiting for the water to rise, it felt as if his breath were being stifled. Repeatedly rubbing his face with both hands to try and snap out of it, Yihyeon gripped the sink and shoved his face into the water.

Splash, gasp…

Splashing the cold water made him feel like he was regaining his senses slightly. Yihyeon roughly wiped his dripping face with the back of his hand and cleaned off the wine stains on his body. Every time the coldness touched his skin, it acted as a stimulus that made him flinch and shudder, so Yihyeon bit his cheek hard.