The New Groom Chapter 34

Joo Seungchan, who had followed, knelt down and held an umbrella over him as he retched. Clicking his tongue, he patted Lee Jeongrok’s back and handed him a bottle of water to rinse his mouth. While rinsing, Lee Jeongrok was disgusted by the raw, watery smell and retched again. As he felt his insides turn over repeatedly and his strength failed, causing him to almost collapse into the mud, Joo Seungchan scooped him up and put him back into the car. Even then, Joo Seungchan did not stop chattering.

“Don’t just plop yourself down wherever you like. You’ll ruin your knees, you know? Goodness. Why are you like this again, is it because of the hair? Did you hate the pubic hair that much? If you hate it, shall I shave it all off? I don’t mind if you shave it. Ah, is that why the young master doesn’t have any hair? You should have said earlier if you liked a clean-shaven cock, I’ll go right now and pull every single strand out until not one is left…”

Lee Jeongrok felt his consciousness fading.

“Shut up… Please!”

Lee Jeongrok, who was on the verge of fainting from the infuriating prattle, screamed.

“Shut up, you son of a bitch, just shut up! Can’t you leave me alone for just a moment, for just one second? I’m so sick of this, really…”

“…”

Joo Seungchan scratched his cheek and silently closed the passenger door. He left Lee Jeongrok in the car and smoked outside. Lee Jeongrok sat blankly alone for a long while, then suddenly buried his face in his hands and burst into tears. He abandoned all pride and dignity, wailing aloud.

Since getting entangled with Joo Seungchan, he couldn’t even count how many times he had cried like a child. He felt terrified, angry, aggrieved, embarrassed, miserable, and wronged. He felt like he had been abandoned in the world, with nowhere to turn.

Only after crying until his head throbbed did the tears finally stop. Even after blowing his nose, wiping his face, and steadying his breathing, he sat dazed for a long time. His phone buzzed. It was his secretary looking for him. He turned it off. After tossing the now-quiet phone onto the dashboard, he tapped on the car window. Joo Seungchan, who had been aimlessly pacing in front of the car while smoking, finally got into the car.

Leaning his arms on the steering wheel, Joo Seungchan stared at him intently. Lee Jeongrok didn’t meet his eyes, nor did he turn his face away or bow his head; he just sat still.

“…”

Joo Seungchan opened his mouth halfway as if to say something, then closed it, and started the car in silence.

It was a rare, quiet drive—no music, no trashy soap operas, and no chattering from Joo Seungchan like a bird. All that could be heard was the sound of raindrops hitting the windowpanes.

Instead of the company, they returned home. Joo Seungchan returned on his own accord without asking a single question, but Lee Jeongrok didn’t bother to stop him. In fact, he was nodding off with his head against the window. He was exhausted, having spent the previous night awake and then having shed so many tears since the morning. However, thanks to returning early, he unfortunately ran straight into Hwang Bosik, who was about to head to work at a leisurely pace.

“What is it?”

Instead of the drained Lee Jeongrok, Joo Seungchan answered.

“He says his breakfast didn’t sit well. He insisted he was fine, but his condition looked poor, so I forced him to come home.”

“Indigestion again? My goodness…”

“I think the workload has been heavy lately, and his fatigue has built up.”

“No matter how busy he is! Never in my life have I seen a man with a cock as frail as that guy. Pitiful creature, tsk.”

Hwang Bosik, who had snapped at him, clicked his tongue and turned away. Lee Jeongrok barely managed to hold back the tears welling up.

After Hwang Bosik left, Joo Seungchan walked him to the bathroom. Lee Jeongrok sat on the tile floor, unmoving. Joo Seungchan, who had been about to leave quietly, turned back and approached him. Lee Jeongrok stared blankly at the mud-stained hem of his pants. A neatly folded handkerchief was placed on his knees.

“You’d better get used to it.”

“…”

“Because I have so, so many things I want to do with the young master from now on.”

It was a chilling statement. If there were demons, if there were goblins, would they be like this? Lee Jeongrok neither answered nor looked at him. Joo Seungchan laughed briefly and walked out of the bathroom.

His nerves, abused by all kinds of worries and anxieties, felt like they were about to snap. He didn’t care about Joo Seungchan or anything else; he just wanted to rest. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to sleep as deeply as the dead. Only after sitting there to wash his body, brush his teeth, and gargle deep in his throat as if to swallow the antiseptic, did Lee Jeongrok stumble toward the bedroom.

The neatly arranged bedroom was empty. It was a relief. He had no room left to care about anything. Lee Jeongrok fell onto the bed, pulled the pillow toward him, and buried his face in it. The moment he closed his eyes, he fell asleep.

He had all sorts of dreams he couldn’t remember.

In his dreams, Lee Jeongrok was both pained and happy. He dreamed of when his father was alive, dreamed of his high school days in the tennis club, and dreamed of his wedding. He was swept along by memories that flowed windingly like a river, and he drifted for a long time. The river wrapping around him felt so warm and comfortable that he thought it would be fine to just drown in it. He really, truly wanted to die. Cruelly, that was when he woke up.

Upon waking, he didn’t want to die.

He felt a thirst and an incredibly intense hunger.

Lee Jeongrok ate his breakfast like a starving man. When he, who usually had a small appetite, polished off two bowls of rice, his mother-in-law watched him with concern. The distraught Lee Jeongrok couldn’t even feel those gazes. When it was time to leave, he stood in front of the elevator in a daze for a long time. It was only when Kim Soohyun, who had finished preparing for work, asked what was wrong that he startled back to his senses. He went down to the parking lot with his mother-in-law.

Joo Seungchan and his mother-in-law’s attendants were waiting in front of the elevator. When their eyes met, Joo Seungchan grinned and sucked his upper teeth with his tongue. It looked vulgar and ignorant, but at the same time, it was terrifying. He was just… terrified. Lee Jeongrok, who reflexively avoided his gaze, opened the back door himself.

Just as Joo Seungchan had predicted.

He had many things he wanted to do with Lee Jeongrok. Very… many.

After the horrific and trashy oral sex incident, contrary to expectations, Joo Seungchan was quiet for a few days. He didn’t suddenly jerk the steering wheel on the way to work to drive to a secluded spot, nor did he burst into the office to commit unspeakable, filthy acts.

Lee Jeongrok was terrified to his bones by this sudden peace. Every day was a series of tensions. His heart would thump at the sound of a knock, and he kept his head bowed until his neck felt stiff for fear of accidentally meeting Joo Seungchan’s eyes. It was a hell of a life, not peace. At that moment, when his tension had reached its limit and was about to break, Joo Seungchan finally broke the silence.

That day, there was a company dinner for the first time in a while. In the three months or so that he had worked at Hanyang Construction, Lee Jeongrok had only participated in company dinners twice. When he first joined, and when the power plant construction site was designated. There had been many small dinners among the subordinates, but he had never even shown his face for a moment. It was his philosophy that a person in charge should show authority rather than be friendly.

However, for Lee Jeongrok, who had been stressed to the point of death by the extreme tension of the past few days, a change of mood was necessary. Whether it was alcohol or pointless chatter, he wanted to forget Joo Seungchan for even a moment.

Lee Jeongrok was not one to enjoy alcohol. He didn’t drink at all usually, and would only have one or two glasses of heavy-bodied red wine on rare commemorative occasions. He really wanted to avoid the headache and upset stomach that came with a hangover the next day.

That was the story if things were normal. Lee Jeongrok drank soju as it was poured by those beside him. He gulped down several glasses of somaek (soju mixed with beer) that an intern had brewed with bravado. It was when he was looking at the glass being filled again, thinking he would rather just pass out, that it happened.

Joo Seungchan appeared suddenly and snatched the glass.

“Stop feeding him, you idiots. You know damn well the General Manager can’t drink. You see a chance and you’re obsessed with making him drink.”

Joo Seungchan, who emptied the glass by tossing the soju onto the floor, poured out his nagging. A secretary who often smoked and hung out with Joo Seungchan laughed awkwardly.

“We heard the General Manager was taking the alcohol well today.”

“Taking it well, my foot. Don’t you see his eyes going glazed and hazy? I had a good opinion of you guys, but this won’t do. Drink with me next time.”

“No thanks, Manager Joo, you drink like a fish. If we drink with you, we’ll all be dead tomorrow.”