Winter Season Chapter 63

Chairman Gu paced quickly in front of Seunghyeok, who was rising sluggishly, trying to cool his anger. He had been warned several times by his doctor to be careful about his blood pressure rising, but it was difficult to maintain composure in a situation like this.

“You, what did you say with your own mouth? On the day of the completion party, without fail! I will bring, that item, and put it, in front of you—did you say that or not!”

“…”

“It’s already been three weeks since the item disappeared, and you’re still flailing around because you can’t find that one thing?”

Seunghyeok, who had his hands behind his back while leaving the blood leaking from his burst lip alone, tilted his head crookedly and swept the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He thought he had clenched his teeth in his own way when he was being hit, but it seemed the mucous membrane inside his mouth had been bitten and burst. It tasted metallic.

“Whether it’s the prosecution or the police, they’re all busy raising their performance at the end of the year, so they’re searching everywhere with fire in their eyes—do you know that or not? The laundering isn’t even finished, so if those cop bastards catch the scent, they’ll crawl up in no time. With the Capital listing ahead of us, if even one article leaks out, Section Chief Gu, what are you going to do about this, huh? You brat!”

Chairman Gu’s violent outburst was something Seunghyeok had expected from the moment he heard Taeshik say the lounge’s basement warehouse was empty. The man had once been a fist that ruled the area, but now he was nothing more than a dying old man, so it was at a level where Seunghyeok could just take the beating and move on. The problem lay elsewhere.

When they opened the lounge’s basement warehouse with the password Yihyeon had found out, a single Barbie doll had been placed in the middle of the empty room. Just thinking about that scene, which felt like blatant mockery, made his throat go bone-dry.

“I’ll give you more time, so handle those Seungri-pa sons of bitches properly and come back.”

Seunghyeok looked at Chairman Gu, who was still pointing in the wrong direction, and clicked his tongue with a disinterested face. At the sharp sound, Chairman Gu glared at him, turned his head, and let out a huffing, hollow laugh.

“Is this situation funny to you right now?”

Seunghyeok looked down with a dry gaze at Chairman Gu, who was approaching him while adjusting his own wrist. Chairman Gu, standing before Seunghyeok with eyes full of rage, grabbed Seunghyeok’s well-defined jaw with one hand and fixed it toward himself.

“Or are your father’s words funny?”

Every time the broad palm wearing a gold ring tapped his cheek, the stench of disgusting perfume vibrated. Seunghyeok looked straight ahead every time his head was turned to the side, his eyes lowered indifferently.

“Seunghyeok, I’m keeping you alive and giving you a chance because you’re my son. You punk.”

“…”

“I took a brat who was flailing in an orphanage and clothed him, fed him, and raised him.”

“…”

“Then you should repay that grace, shouldn’t you, huh?”

Seunghyeok swallowed his saliva without a word as a hand slapped his cheek with a crack. Chairman Gu glared at Seunghyeok, who only kept his eyes down without a reaction, then let go abruptly and walked toward the sofa.

“I happened to see Prosecutor Seo not long ago. That young fellow seems to have quite a large ambition.”

“…”

“He’s a gentleman who’s already busy poking around here and there, so resolve this quickly before he catches the scent and pounces.”

Chairman Gu, who pulled out and mouthed a cigar that had been on the table, lit a lighter with trembling hands. Then, exhaling a long trail of smoke, he looked down at his phone.

“Ah, and I need you to quietly wipe away Executive Director Im.”

“…”

“It seems a fellow who didn’t use to be like that has somehow fallen into gambling. He knows too much to just leave him be. He’s been a headache for a while, so it’s better to clean it all up this time.”

Chairman Gu was spitting out instructions to quietly kill someone with an nonchalant face. Seunghyeok also stared at the pattern of the office floor tiles with an expressionless face.

“I’ll send the information through Kwak Taeshik, so you may go now.”

Chairman Gu gestured without even looking at Seunghyeok, the cigar loosely in his mouth. Only then did Seunghyeok lift the back of his hand to dab at his burst lip; he wiped away the blood roughly and left the office.

“Hyung, hyung-nim, are you alright…!”

Leaving behind the secretary who bowed politely despite seeing his face beaten to a mess, Seunghyeok flung the door open, and Taeshik, who had been waiting in the hallway, quickly attached himself to his side. Seunghyeok brushed away the hand offering a handkerchief and walked toward the elevator with quick strides.

Perhaps he had been hit badly by the golf club, as his entire body throbbed with every step. The fact that the metallic taste kept lingering in his mouth was also unpleasant. Seunghyeok frowned, spitting out blood irritably.

“Go to the office.”

The inside of the car, which had left the parking lot and was speeding down the road, was filled with silence. Taeshik, who was driving, constantly checked Seunghyeok’s mood through the rearview mirror, but Seunghyeok remained motionless with his arms crossed and eyes closed. Seeing the dried blood next to Seunghyeok’s torn eye, Taeshik spoke cautiously.

“Hyung-nim, the wounds are quite severe; shall we stop by Dr. Nam’s before we go?”

“Do you want to advertise that I got hit? Just go.”

If the visible wounds were like that, the invisible places would be worse than usual. However, knowing that Seunghyeok hated saying the same thing twice, Taeshik quietly shut his mouth and turned the steering wheel.

“Have you arrived, hyung-nim?”

As soon as Seunghyeok entered the office, the hulks who had been lying around comfortably immediately stood up. Then, their eyes widened at Seunghyeok’s condition as they spoke.

“Gasp, are you alright?”

Seunghyeok brushed off their worried gazes with a few gestures and went straight into his room. While only the people looking at each other’s reactions remained, Taeshik followed behind Seunghyeok.

Seunghyeok lay down on the inner sofa without even taking off his shoes. Whether the burst lip oozing blood was bothersome, he kept frowning. Taeshik, who walked up and stood before him, looked down at Seunghyeok with his hands gathered.

“I grilled one of the snitches under Gu Jinhyeok, but there was nothing useful. I don’t know if he noticed and diverted it in the middle or if it was planned from the start, but…”

Taeshik checked Seunghyeok’s reaction once and continued.

“We also have to consider the possibility that Mr. Kwon Yihyeon opened his mouth.”

“…”

“As of now, it’s true that he is the most suspicious.”

Seunghyeok silently swept the roof of his mouth with his tongue. The metallic taste of blood lingered on the tip of his tongue before disappearing.

If, as Taeshik said, Kwon Yihyeon had confessed the truth to Gu Jinhyeok, it would mean that even Kwon Yihyeon wandering the hallway drugged at the lounge had been an act.

While thinking that couldn’t be the case, he found it ridiculous that he couldn’t be certain it wasn’t. Seunghyeok thought of the flushed face and the half-dazed eyes, then slowly lifted his eyelids.

“…Go bring me Kwon Yihyeon’s promissory note.”

Taking the white paper Taeshik brought out, Seunghyeok stared quietly at the three characters of the name written at the bottom. Kwon Yihyeon. Seeing the neatly written handwriting, that uniquely expressionless and clean face came to mind.

White, translucent skin and a thin, high nose. Eyes with ends tilted up like a cat’s and the small mole located beneath them. Seunghyeok remembered vividly, as if he could draw it, the scene where tears spread over that mole and stained it red.

Kwon Yihyeon. Kwon Yihyeon…

He couldn’t even gauge whether he wanted to believe Kwon Yihyeon or if he didn’t want to believe him. The only thing certain was that every time he thought of those uniquely black pupils and that upright gaze, he felt a sensation as if his throat were tightening and turning bone-dry. And Seunghyeok found that sensation unpleasant and uncomfortable. His nerves were on edge, like when putting a foot into a sneaker filled with sand.

“…”

Seunghyeok crumpled the promissory note he was holding with one hand and lowered his arm.

“Contact Kwon Yihyeon and tell him he doesn’t have to pay back the money he borrowed. Tell him the debt has been fully settled.”

“…Yes.”

“And Chairman Gu is going to send a cleanup job. When you receive it, pick a date and deploy the kids first.”

“Understood.”

Having finished speaking, Seunghyeok lifted his arm to cover his eyes as if telling him to leave now. Taeshik bowed and then exited the room with quick steps. Silence immediately found its way into the office where only Seunghyeok remained.

Tick, tock.

Seunghyeok tried to manage the surging emotions by breathing slowly in time with the steady ticking of the clock. Everything from the unpleasantly throbbing pain in his entire body to the current situation that had become a mess was grating on his nerves. The most irritating thing was that even in the midst of this, he couldn’t erase Kwon Yihyeon from his head.