Hazardous Concentration Chapter 30

Once she left the house, Yeo Taejun, left alone in the main building, stroked the head of the wagging Bull Terrier once and headed toward the dressing room.

Throwing his jacket onto the display case as if casting it aside, he walked toward the centerpiece cabinet, dressed in a white shirt with a navy vest over it. Inside were items including watches and cufflinks.

Yeo Taejun’s appearance, reflected in the mirror in front of him, was intimidating.

He was unbuttoning his watch with an indifferent face when a cell phone ringtone was heard. He stopped what he was doing and moved back toward the display case.

Rrrrr—.

Yeo Taejun stared quietly at the number displayed on the screen. The ringing stopped and then started again. He pressed the call button and held the phone quietly to his ear.

—This is Joo Eunhoo.

“Yes.”

It had been ten days since he had made the offer. He had been just about to take action, finding it boring to wait any longer.

Just as he had hinted back then, Yeo Taejun had to have what he wanted to have. In that process, it didn’t matter if the other party was ruined. If anything, he was more pleased by it. Because if he reached out his hand at a desperate moment, the other party would never be able to escape from him.

—I, um….

“What is it?”

As Yeo Taejun asked nonchalantly, he could feel the hesitation on the other side of the phone.

“If you have nothing to say, I’m hanging up.”

Perhaps fearing he would really hang up, the person’s breathing became ragged.

—The offer you made back then!

“….”

—Is it still valid?

“…”

—I’ll do it. Whatever you want.

Tears bled into his trembling voice.

—So, please help me.

While the idea of breaking him and possessing him was enticing, having him walk in on his own like this wasn’t bad either. The corners of Yeo Taejun’s lips, reflected in the mirror, turned upward.

“It is 22,000 won, including the surcharge.”

The digital clock attached above the taximeter indicated 1:05 AM. Eunhoo paid the taxi fare without a word.

As soon as the taxi left, Eunhoo was left alone on the road. A sultry wind brushed past his bangs.

25 Haewon-ro.

I never thought that in all my life, I would end up coming back to this house on my own two feet.

Eunhoo stared at the building surrounded by a high wall with a conflicted expression on his face.

Because it was a wealthy village, the other houses also looked amply large, but if I had to pick the most eye-catching place among them, it would definitely be this house.

It had been like that before, but even seeing it again, the site was so incredibly vast that I couldn’t get used to it.

Eunhoo turned his gaze to look at the high fence that stretched on endlessly. The first time I sought out this house, I couldn’t even find the entrance, so I wandered for a long time. Even after discovering the main gate, I couldn’t summon the courage to press the bell, so I paced in front of the gate for a long time.

Returning to reality, Eunhoo stared quietly at the bell in front of him. The size of the back gate was about half that of the main gate. He stood in front of it and reached out his hand to press the bell. However, as if it had been waiting for him, the door opened before he could.

“Mr. Joo Eunhoo?”

A middle-aged woman with short hair spoke from inside the door, as if she had been waiting in advance.

“…Ah, yes.”

Eunhoo bowed his head out of habit. She looked at Eunhoo with an expressionless face and stepped aside.

“I was already told by the Director and have been waiting. Please come in.”

After hesitating for a few seconds, Eunhoo stepped inside. He heard the door close with a clack behind him. At that sound, he flinched and trembled.

Whether he did or not, she walked past Eunhoo and led the way.

“This way.”

Unlike the main gate, where you can see the garden immediately, stairs were the first thing you saw on the back gate side.

“It is dark, so please be careful on the stairs.”

Contrary to his worries, lights were turned on here and there, so his field of vision was not dark.

The number of stairs was quite significant, but the width was quite broad, and the height itself was not that high. If you raised your head just a little, you could see the panoramic view of the building immediately. Just like the main gate, CCTV cameras were installed here and there at the back gate as well.

The two people climbed the stairs without a word. Then, they stopped in front of a door. The middle-aged woman brought her thumb to the middle of the door lock installed in front of the door. As soon as the fingerprint recognition ended, a beep sound rang out, and click, the door opened.

“The Director is in the study on the 2nd floor. It is the 2nd room after you go up.”

As if she had been told to do nothing but provide guidance, she only opened the door and did not move a single step.

Eunhoo stood outside for a few seconds before slowly entering the dark interior. Perhaps because it was a late hour, the inside of the house was quiet. As soon as he set foot in the entrance, the sensor lights turned on brightly, illuminating the dim interior.

After narrowing his eyes at the sudden light for a moment, as soon as he entered the entryway, he stared at the painting directly visible. It was a painting of nine carp (Gu-eo-do) swimming among lotus flowers. The width was wide, but the height looked to be over 2 meters by his rough guess.

The corners of Eunhoo’s eyes, who was looking at the painting, twisted.

Once, Eunhoo’s father, having heard it from somewhere, had busily brought in things like paintings of nine carp and sunflowers, as well as a three-legged toad with coins hanging all over it, for the house and the store. His mother, who had been fascinated at first, started pouring out nagging complaints to stop buying them as the quantity gradually increased. However, when cleaning, he showed such affection that he would sweep and wipe them himself instead of using a helper.

As time passed, he disposed of the small things, but the gold-plated three-legged toad and a few paintings remained in a corner of the house until the seizure tags were attached.

“…”

Taking off his shoes and entering inside, Eunhoo walked down the long corridor. It wasn’t difficult to find the stairs leading to the 2nd floor. Once he left the corridor, they were not far away. Eunhoo stared blankly at the stairs leading to the 2nd floor, standing still.

While coming here, a myriad of thoughts crossed his mind. Am I not doing something useless? Wouldn’t it be better to change my mind and turn back even now? And things like that.

However, once he thought of his mother lying in the intensive care unit, he couldn’t do that. Above all, Eunhoo himself could no longer hold on.

He had tried to endure on his own, fighting tooth and nail, but he had reached his limit.

He had admitted that he could no longer protect his mother or himself. It wasn’t a fact he hadn’t known. Even from the beginning, Eunhoo knew very well that he could only stall for time but could not resolve the situation.

The principal amount, which reached hundreds of millions, still remained entirely, and if things continued like this, he would never be able to pay it back even if he worked for the rest of his life. Even though he knew that, he stubbornly insisted he could do it. It was because he felt that was the only way he could live without dying.

Eunhoo placed his foot on the first step of the stairs. As his weight was applied, the stairs let out a creak sound. Because the surroundings were exceptionally quiet, it sounded even louder.

That sound felt exactly like it was trying to stop him from going forward. However, he did not stop. Ignoring it, he stepped up, one step, and another step, moving upward step by step. After stepping onto the very last stair in that way, he did not turn back and walked straight ahead.

Subtle lighting was turned on on the 2nd floor as well. There were three doors in total. Eunhoo approached the door in the very middle among them. And then, he knocked on the door without a second of hesitation.

Knock, knock.

Because the house was so quiet, the knocking sound felt exceptionally loud. He paused for a moment at the thought that there would be no turning back once he opened this door. However, his hesitation did not last long. Soon, Eunhoo opened the study door.

“…”

They say you can tell a person’s personality by looking at their interior design. Even just looking at his younger brother, Yeo Gijoon, there were objects everywhere that could tell you about his hobbies, such as signed balls, LPs, and a turntable, but Yeo Taejun’s study was neatness itself. Like a space made solely for work, there wasn’t a single item that was trivial or complex.

However, as he entered inside, he smelled a scent he had smelled a few times before. It was the perfume smell that came from Yeo Taejun. There, the smell of cigarettes was faintly mixed in.

Eunhoo, who had stepped inside, flinched slightly at his lips upon discovering Yeo Taejun. He was looking toward the window, holding a cigarette in one hand.

Unlike his usual appearance, Yeo Taejun, wearing a slightly loose V-neck summer knit and dark cotton trousers, had a face that looked like a good-natured person. However, I didn’t mistake him anymore. With that face, I witnessed with my own two eyes the scene where he casually smashed a person into a pulp. Recalling that time, his breathing became rough again. At that moment, a low-pitched voice drenched in laughter was heard.

“You managed to not run away, remarkably.”

Yeo Taejun turned his body.