Chapter 19

Otherwise… Go Woo-jin’s eyes couldn’t have softened when he saw him. There was no way he could have breathed a light sigh with his broad chest out. As if relieved. As if what he was worried about was his safety.

“Hey… Hey, Seon Jae-chan.”

Go Woo-jin immediately looked away as the roommate called him. An insignificant scene kept playing in his head. Because of this, Seon Jae-chan only patted Jeong Noah on the shoulder when he was suddenly gasping for breath. He only thought of Go Woo-jin.

“Ah… I feel weird… Oh, no. Earlier, in the syringe… Ah. Shit.”

It seemed that the syringe contained other substances besides the stimulant. Seon Jae-chan glanced at him, then took out his cell phone and dialed the number.

“119. There is a man who got an erection after being injected with an illegal drug.”

Seon Jae-chan’s insensitive request for rescue continued. Fuck. In the end, swear words erupted from the roommate’s mouth.

Apart from Seon Jae-chan’s restless mind. Also, apart from the circumstances of the roommate who started twisting his reddened body.

The operation to save Kim Geun-won ended in great success with the achievement of ‘saving Jeong Noah’.

It was quite a successful goal.

***

Late at night, the ringtone woke up inside the silent officetel.

Click. The bathroom door opened and a damp light spread on the contours of the classic living room. A large figure in a gown moved across the open space. The neat fingertips that lit the light by turning on the switch picked up the cell phone on the table. The caller’s name appears above the brightened screen.

[Stepmother]

Go Woo-jin, who had just washed and had wet hair, looked cynically at the screen.

It was a video call. His black eyes glowed with a faint sense of boredom. He put down his phone and put on his clothes at neither fast nor slow pace. The fabric slid over the swollen muscles from weight training a while ago.

The phone rang incessantly until he returned to the living room. Go Woo-jin brushed up his dry hair and sighed nervously. As if preparing, he smiled lightly, took a breath, and accepted the video call.

“Yes. Mother.”

At the same time, he used the remote control to increase the volume of the audio. It occupied a corner of the living room and was a gift from his stepmother that was now floating on the screen. A high-end product said to have been created by a world-class sound expert, complete with an entry number.

Luxurious string instrument melodies poured out. With his back to the music he didn’t know was good enough to listen to at any time, Woo-jin took his cell phone and approached the front window. Between the lights of the deepest buildings in District 1 that occupied the night, the waves of the black river that must have flowed in that place for hundreds of years seemed to at least relieve the cramped feeling.

– Gosh you. What’s with ‘mother’ all the time?

His stepmother’s voice sounded like a violin melody. A brilliant chandelier across the screen, as if for a banquet, with as many people’s heads as fake candlesticks stuck in it. The party’s laughter and clinking of glasses were a selling point.

– Are you at home again? I can hear music. Oh! It’s a classic I recommend!

His stepmother pressed her ear against the screen as if to hear more of the music. The screen was filled with a close-up of the long drop diamond earrings hanging on the ear lobe, and a heavy hitting sound rang out. Woo-jin responded by raising his lips slightly.

– I really like that music.

Again, the screen switched to the stepmother’s dark lipstick. A singing voice follows.

– Studies show that the ultrasonic sound emitted by the instruments is one of the richest songs. They say it calms people down. Is your job a bit rough? Isn’t that like a human butcher?

Woo-jin raised the corner of his mouth in response to his stepmother’s laughter. He simply lowered his thick lashes. He kept his sneers to himself. At first glance, Go Woo-jin appeared to have a drawn smile as a result of this.

Director Yoon Seo-mi stared at the handsome adopted son’s face for a while as if appreciating a moment. It was her habit that always comes out before getting to the main topic. A habit that you can’t fix even if you want to fix it.

– I attended a meeting today, and Director Choi said something strange. I heard you’re attending the board meeting this weekend?

Woo-jin didn’t bother to answer. Because his stepmother must have already decided the answer.

– Your father is also an idiot. What does a 21-year-old know to invite you to a place like that already?

Go Se-jin, his stepmother’s biological son and two-year-old younger than Go Woo-jin had been attending the board meetings like field trips since he was 15, but as if that had never happened, she covered her mouth with her hand and laughed. The perfectly maintained nail tips sparkle.

– Mom knows everything. I heard you were busy with Mentor Island these days? I heard you’re in charge of cleaning up the remains of the pirates. That’s right. My son’s strength is that he is honest and sincere.

Your father praised you a lot. His stepmother muttered. It was a tone that abruptly muffled the laughter.

– Do you have a hard time with him? Well, I heard that the first child had a hard time to be face-to-face with their father. So the youngest should act cute. Se-jin is working so hard to please your father.

Go Woo-jin said, “Yes.” He pretended to be calm and just smiled. He was suppressing the movement to agree sarcastically. He turned his bored gaze to the side and turned away from the screen.

– So that’s what I mean. It’s hard for you to attend, do you want mom to tell him instead?

Only the timbre of the string instrument resonated in the living room. Does his stepmother really think that fast and loud sound is good to hear? He was cynical and kept silent. When there is no answer, the voice over the phone became low.

– Woo-jin? Go Woo-jin.

At the tone of her voice calling his name as she did when he was a child, Woo-jin raised his eyes while hiding his annoyance.

– Woo Jin-ah.

His stepmother called him once again. A call with heavy pressure, with the high pitch suddenly lowered. But it works for less grown children.

What. The more his stepmother is mistaken, the better. He immediately met her gaze like an obedient child. The thickly painted lipstick on the screen twists at a stern angle.

– Tell me. You’re not coming, are you?

The polite smile fixed on Woo-jin’s lips also deepened.

“Of course. Mother.”

He folded his eyes gently. Only then, as if satisfied, did another loud laugh reverberate over the phone. Only after a long and exhausting exchange of greetings with several middle-aged gentlemen who were acquaintances of her group was Go Woo-jin able to hang up the phone.

In a quiet living room, even the audio was soon turned off. Go Woo-jin’s gaze sank like winter as he stared at the phone screen after the call ended. His thoughts were carried on by his eyes, which were as cold as ice.

Even a few weeks ago.

Because of the phone call with this person, he couldn’t stay by Kim Geun-won’s side.

Go Woo-jin recalled the day when Team 5’s guide was kidnapped. As usual, after the persistent call from his stepmother, he received a text message from Kim Geun-won informing him of an emergency. He was even more surprised when he heard the situation.

Kim Geun-won almost died that day. Had it not been for an unexpected incident, he would have lost a close friend close by because of his stepmother who is obsessed with money.

His thoughts naturally turned to that ‘extraordinary change’ as he let out a short sigh. Woo-jin suddenly turned around and brought the item he had placed on the living room cabinet. The day of Team 5’s guide’s kidnapping. It was a handycam that had been in the hands of Kim Geun-won before being transferred to the hands of Team 5’s youngest member.

He pressed the play button. A crackling tone mingled with the sound of the wind flowing out.

[There’s a reason Go Woo-jin hates you, you cold-hearted punk!]

[What, the youngest? That’s right, you don’t even have the heart to ask for our youngest name!]

Following Kim Geun-won’s voice.

“Ah. Old man, you’re really annoying.”

Even Seon Jae-chan’s voice clearly revealed his twisted personality. The situation of the day remained clear.

However, the scenes filmed afterward were completely different from the ‘that guy’ he knew. Go Woo-jin let out a short sigh of confusion.

“…”

No matter what the circumstances were, Seon Jae-chan definitely saved Kim Geun-won on that day. That wasn’t all. As soon as he arrived at the scene that day, he remembered the pale face he had seen through the patrol car window. His complexion was as pale as if it would disappear without blood.

According to the kidnapped victim’s statement, it was Seon Jae-chan who caught the culprit. Did he really do something for someone else? Doing a lot of things to the point of being like that?

Did he really change now? After all this time.

Besides.

Go Woo-jin, who let out another sigh, played the cam again. The preoccupied youthful eyes under the wet hair gradually hardened sharply. Jae-chan knocked down Kim Geun-won and keenly inspected the back of the suspicious vehicle. When the culprit appeared after inspecting the scene, he came to a scene where Jae-chan hid in the trunk and stopped the screen.

His black eyes narrowed. He turned the video forward again.

This scene.

[…]

The criminal aimed a gun at the trunk.

[…Heuk]

He could hear the shallow crying of the youngest member of Team 5.

[…]

The criminal puts the gun down again.