Winter Season Chapter 65

As usual, those armed in black clothes were standing together in one spot, staring at Yihyeon with rigid postures.

Considering their usual appearance—lounging on the sofas playing flower cards or giggling while fiddling with their cell phones—it was certainly an unfamiliar atmosphere. When Yihyeon gave a small nod with a puzzled face, someone greeted him.

“Oh, oh-oh, you came at a good time. Here to see hyung-nim?”

“Yes.”

“Come here for a second.”

After staring blankly at the man beckoning him in a low voice, Yihyeon approached, and one of the men standing nearby held out a tube of ointment and bandages. Instead of reaching out, Yihyeon looked up at him, and the man narrowed his eyes while scratching his forehead.

“Could you perhaps go in and give him these? Hyung-nim is not in a great mood right now, so it is a bit difficult for us to go in.”

When Yihyeon made a troubled expression, the man quickly pulled Yihyeon’s hand and placed the ointment and bandages on top of it. The unexpected request was one thing, but the mention of Gu Seunghyeok being in a bad mood weighed on him more. He wondered if he had come for nothing, but since he had come this far, he could not avoid it.

“…”

Yihyeon glanced at the closed office door and nodded slightly.

A sigh of relief drifted from behind Yihyeon as he walked toward the office without a word. Arriving in front of the office door, Yihyeon gripped the cool handle weakly, exhaled a sigh, and slowly turned and pushed it.

Click.

The moment he opened the door, what he saw were legs sticking out past the armrest of the sofa. His body was not visible from that position, as if he were lying down on the sofa. After sweeping his lips with his tongue once, Yihyeon closed the door and headed toward the front of Seunghyeok.

The sound of sneaker soles touching the floor echoed in the quiet room. After moving a few more steps, the upper body began to be visible. He wondered what the white marks all over the black jacket were, and they were all footprint patterns.

Yihyeon’s gaze passed the black shirt patterned with small flowers and landed on Seunghyeok’s face. Because he was in a posture with his arm resting over his eyes, only his nose and lips were visible.

“If it is not something important, tell me later.”

At the voice muttering lowly without even checking who it was, Yihyeon bit the inside of his cheek without answering.

The place where his eyes were fixed was the torn corner of the mouth where red blood leaked out whenever he moved. Between his fingers, he could see dried blood near the temple, and a long scratch remained on one side of his cheek.

At the image from the past that momentarily overlapped, Yihyeon unknowingly clenched his fists tight.

Why are you always in this state so I cannot even pretend not to see it.

“…What is it?”

As if it were strange that no words were heard despite the presence of a person, Seunghyeok moved his arm and lifted his eyelids. He discovered Yihyeon standing in front of the sofa looking down at him and frowned slightly.

“Did you not get the call from Kwak Taeshik?”

“I did.”

“Then what are you doing here.”

“…Just. To make things clear.”

As if the answer was not to his liking, the wrinkles between his smooth brows deepened. Seunghyeok turned his head to the opposite side from where Yihyeon was standing and closed his eyes.

“Get out.”

With those words, silence lingered within the office. Yihyeon stared quietly at Seunghyeok’s wound-covered face, then lowered his gaze toward the ointment and bandages held in his hand.

It did not seem likely that Seunghyeok would treat the wounds himself if he gave these to him. After a moment’s hesitation, Yihyeon sighed and pulled out a tissue from the table.

“…”

Yihyeon, who sat kneeling in front of the sofa where Seunghyeok was lying, brought the tissue to the bleeding corner of the mouth. When he pressed weakly on the wound, Seunghyeok’s body seemed to flinch, and immediately a sharp gaze landed on him.

“What are you doing.”

“Stay still.”

While wiping away the bloodstains while ignoring the glaring eyes, Seunghyeok tapped Yihyeon’s hand away with the back of his hand. Yihyeon met Seunghyeok’s gaze with calm eyes.

“The people outside asked me to.”

“…”

“It is not like I am doing this because I like it, so please just stay still.”

At those words, Seunghyeok, who bit his lip until his chin bulged, lifted his arm again and covered his eyes. Yihyeon looked down at that Seunghyeok and squeezed a thin amount of ointment onto his fingertip.

When he brought his fingertip to the wound next to the lips where blood scabs had messily settled, drops of blood mixed into the transparent ointment. It felt as if he could feel the pain just by looking at it, so Yihyeon’s brow narrowed on its own.

After applying the ointment to the side of the torn lips and over the long scratch, what remained was the side of the eye hidden under Seunghyeok’s arm. Yihyeon hesitated for a moment, then reached out and grabbed one of Seunghyeok’s wrists.

The warmth transmitted from the touching skin was awkward. When he lifted the heavy arm and lowered it, Seunghyeok’s eyelids, which had been closed the entire time, opened. The thing covering them vanished and their eyes met.

His own face reflected in the black pupils felt foreign, as if it belonged to someone else. He swallowed dryly once and hurried to turn his gaze away.

While he spread the ointment over the long, torn wound, he could clearly feel the gaze staring at him. As he slowly lowered his eyes, the cool pupils within the sharp eyes were excessively close.

It was a distance where their breaths could mix. Gaze and gaze met frequently.

“…”

The subtle silence was uncomfortable. It was a moment where he felt he should bring up something—whether it be thanks, an explanation, or a question—regarding what happened at the lounge yesterday, but his lips would not part easily.

The reason he impulsively opened his mouth while organizing his complicated head was to break the uncomfortable tension that seemed to press down suffocatingly on his chest.

“…Yesterday, we both made a mistake. It must be unpleasant, but please just pass it over as if nothing happened.”

“What?”

“Originally, after drinking the wine with the sleeping pills, I should have fallen asleep next to Gu Jinhyeok. That way, he would have suspected someone else instead of me.”

As soon as he mentioned the issue that had been weighing on his mind ever since he heard the talk downstairs earlier, Seunghyeok’s gaze turned cold. Yihyeon, who was looking down at Seunghyeok from up close, paused his finger.

Thud.

Seunghyeok, who had been lying still, slapped away Yihyeon’s hand that was on his face without any warmth and slowly sat up. Getting up with a cool, mocking laugh, he headed toward the window side of the desk while massaging the back of his neck.

“Is that what you kept thinking about until you came here?”

“…It was because I was in a state where I was out of my mind due to the drug. If I had been sober, that would never have happened.”

“So what you are saying is that if you had been sober, you would have rolled around with Gu Jinhyeok instead of me. Right now.”

A self-mocking laugh was layered throughout the lowly sunken voice. At the sight of Seunghyeok, whose atmosphere had suddenly changed, Yihyeon stood up while biting the inside of his cheek hard. He felt that no matter how much more he spoke, it would be useless. It was then that he tightly gripped the bandages in his hand.

“They said they checked the site as soon as they confirmed the password, but the warehouse was empty.”

Seunghyeok, who stood bracing the desk with both hands, let out a smirk while tilting his head crookedly. Then, he picked up the ashtray that was sitting on the desk and drew an arc with it as if imitating a plane.

“As if they had heard the news in advance and moved it leisurely.”

Clack. At the same time the ashtray was set down roughly, Seunghyeok’s head lifted and their eyes met. The corners of his mouth were curved, but Seunghyeok looked exactly as if he were angry. When Yihyeon just stared quietly without any reaction, Seunghyeok continued.

“Kwak Taeshik suspects you.”

“…”

“What do you think?”

Ah. Information leaked out and I am in a situation where I am being suspected. Yihyeon’s face, having grasped the situation in an instant, hardened stiffly.

He could not glean any particular information from Seunghyeok’s face, whose expression was unreadable. After standing still and making eye contact, he opened his mouth.

“Even if I say it was not me, would you even believe it?”

“Well. It depends on your answer.”

“…”

“I also wonder if a kid who sells his body for money wouldn’t have sold information too.”

Strength gathered in Yihyeon’s previously indifferent eyes. Seunghyeok saw Yihyeon glaring at him, let out a short laugh, and shrugged his shoulders.

“It is not like I said something that isn’t true, so why get so serious.”

“…”

“But well, it doesn’t matter.”

“…”

“If you put in enough sincerity to even ingest a stimulant just to deceive me, I should pretend not to know even if you really did it.”

Gaze and gaze met. Seunghyeok pulled up the corners of his mouth and clicked his tongue with a sharp sound.

“How desperate for money must you have been to do such a thing.”