CH 249

“Di, Director.”

Go Dong-ju, who saw Yoo Si-hyuk’s appearance belatedly, broke out in a cold sweat and straightened his back. Then he covered me with his body, who was standing next to him.

“Are you here? That, this is…”

“Go Dong-ju.”

“Yes?”

Yoo Shi-hyuk nodded his chin. He meant don’t annoy him and get out of his way. Go Dong-ju, who immediately understood the meaning, hesitated for a moment and then carefully stepped aside from me.

Thump, thump, the sound of a beating heart rang in my ear. The sight of him getting closer and closer gave me faint vertigo. I thought, giving strength to my trembling hands.

‘That’s fake.’

I chewed hard in my mouth. Along with the piercing pain, the rough breathing started to diminish little by little.

‘That’s fake…’

That’s not real. The real thing was no more here. This man in front of me…

Raising my head involuntarily, I staggered backwards, unable to overcome the fear that was creeping into me. The feeling of intimidation was different from what I felt when I was Kwon Se-hyun pressed down on my whole body. The silver-grey eyes with no emotion were so frightening. Chills arose in my back like a man thrown into the middle of winter.

Yoo Shi-hyuk, who was looking down at me with no expression, took out a cigarette from his arms while fixing his gaze. The attendant lit a black cigarette between between his long, ribbed, white fingers and stepped back.

“I don’t see the guy who should come to see me, but…”

Yoo Shi-hyuk, who muttered in a muffled tone, blew out smoke.

“Go Dong-ju. Explain the situation.”

“Ah, yes! That… a sudden attack…”

“Who.”

“Gyeongseong… I am guessing.”

“Guessing?”

Yoo Shi-hyuk, who chuckled, once again sucked in the cigarette deeply until his cheeks were pierced.

“You’re a gangster now, Go Dong-ju. You only guess them who came to the store.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Did Kwon Se-hyun make you do that?”

I closed my eyes tightly at the name that came out of Yoo Si-hyuk’s mouth and then opened them. It’s all over. Just imagining the expressions of the other people watching this situation from behind made my heart ache.

‘I didn’t want to meet you because it will be like this…’

Kwon Se-hyun’s name was one of the information that had to be hidden. I knew that it wasn’t going to be something that they would know Kwon Se-hyun’s name from other employees, but…

“Ah, it’s not, Director.”

“Then will you tell me?”

“Ugh…!”

Yoo Shi-hyuk grabbed my hair with his big hand. Biting my lip at the sharp pain I felt in my head and holding back a groan, I noticed cold energy exploding from behind.

‘Stop!’

No. You can never attack this person.

I quickly rolled his eyes as my hair was caught. Ha Tae-heon, Kim Woo-jin, Park Geon-ho, and Woo Seo-hyuk, who were about to run to me with hardened faces, noticed my eyes and immediately stopped moving.

“Hm.”

As I was held quietly without a sound, the corners of Yoo Shi-hyuk’s lips rose with a look of satisfaction.

“Di, Director. This guy is a newcomer who has nothing to do with it…”

“Haha, he’s a newcomer who has nothing to do with it… Did Kwon Se-hyun say that?”

Yoo Shi-hyuk, who laughed as if he was amazed, tilted his head slightly.

“Yeah, well… If Se-hyun said so. Then shall our newcomer explain it instead?”

Sharp pain from his scalp became a needle and pricked my nerve. I opened my mouth slowly, trying not to wrinkle my brow, even if I made a mistake.

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh. Our Se-hyun did a pretty good job educating the kid.”

“……”

“Did your owner tell you to treat customers like this?”

As he spoke, he lowered his eyelids.

Answering a lie was meaningless. It was clear that Yoo Shi-hyuk had already noticed that we handled Gyeongseong by my own judgment and not by Go Dong-ju. I sighed and said.

“During the confrontation with Gyeongseong, I heard about Director’s visit. We decided that it would be better to organize as soon as possible.”

“What is the basis for judging they are Gyeongseong?”

“I confirmed the tattoo on the inside of his arm on the man called Chief, who is known to belong to Gyeongseong. There’s no chance that it won’t be difficult.”

After hearing my answer, Yoo Shi-hyuk smiled brightly.

“That’s the perfect answer. To the point of being annoying.”

Cold sweat dripped down from my forehead. Feeling the force of the hand holding my hair growing stronger, I couldn’t hold it any longer and narrowed the corners of my eyes. It was then.

“Director.”

Gasp, I saw Kwon Se-hyun rushing in alone, exhaling a heavy breath. Behind him was Cheon Sa-yeon, who frowned.

“Hello, Se-hyun-ah.”

“What… what are you doing?”

“It makes me so sad if you ask like that without greeting me.”

Yoo Shi-hyuk brushed off the cigarette ash and pushed my head. Kwon Se-hyun, who grabbed my arm, who staggered under the force, hurriedly sent me behind his back. It was only then that I started to breathe a little when Yoo Shi-hyuk was hidden by Kwon Se-hyun.

“He is my employee. Why are you so rude…”

“Ung, it looks like that.”

With a smile on his face, Yoo Shi-hyuk cut off the conversation and pressed half of the remaining cigarette on Kwon Se-hyun’s shoulder and rubbed it. Chik, grey cigarette ash was smeared on the black suit.

“He was taught the same way as you, from how to fight to how to talk. Awesome, in that short time.”

Kwon Se-hyun glanced at me at that speaking, then looked straight ahead.

“Didn’t I ask you not to come here again?”

“Ha…”

With his face distorted, Yoo Shi-hyuk, who smiled annoyedly, grunted as he threw a crumpled cigarette at the attendant.

“You talk like a shit now, our Se-hyun.”

“……”

“Come out. I have the car waiting.”

At the end of those words, Yoo Shi-hyuk turned around without hearing an answer and left the store with his attendants. After he left, Kwon Se-hyun took a deep breath and turned to me.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

“Nothing. Did you get trouble?”

Kwon Se-hyun, who looked at Cheon Sa-yeon for a moment at my question, bowed his back and whispered in my ear.

“Gyu Tae-sik was sent to the hospital right away. It’s not to the point of worrying. You sent Cheon Sa-yeon, right?”

“Yes. I’m glad if there are no any major problems.”

“What’s the situation here?”

“There was an attack from Gyeongseong. They were supposed to come tomorrow… This is something I couldn’t even imagine. Still, we did it to some extent.”

I glanced at the chief, who was still faint on the floor.

“The chief was caught. The rest were deliberately released.”

“Good job. The chief is enough. But, why when I’m away…”

“It’s a situation that Gyeongseong created, so there’s nothing we can do about it. Still, since we got the chief, it’s quite advantageous for us as well.”

“That’s true… we’re not open today, so go back and rest and then come back tomorrow. I’ll clean up after I go back myself.”

Kwon Se-hyun, who had his upper body straight up, ordered Go Dong-ju, who was standing still in a tense position.

“Clear the hall with the kids. I’ll be right back. Let the newcomers go home now.”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

“…then see you tomorrow.”

Kwon Se-hyun, who held my shoulder for a while and then released it, went out at a fast pace. He had to clear up the misunderstanding with Yoo Si-hyuk, so he probably wouldn’t come back soon.

There was no sign of sympathy for him. Because I was also in a pretty difficult situation.

“Let’s start cleaning up. It seems better to leave the rest of the guys outside except for the chief and take injured employees to the hospital right away.”

“Yeah, I think it would be better. That… are you okay?”

“Of course, I’m fine.”

“Are you really okay? I really… Hyung-nim is right. You’d better off leaving work.”

Go Dong-ju, who was listening to me with a complicated expression, took a deep breath and shouted to the employees.

“Those who are in good shape should help clean the hall and those who are injured should go to the hospital. One person called Gyu Tae-sik if he was okay.”

Go Dong-ju hit the chief’s side with his shoe and continued.

“Tie this bastard well and throw him in the underground. When Hyung-nim comes back later, he will decide what to do with him.”

“Yes!”

With the appearance of Yoo Shi-hyuk, the hardened employees began to move busily. In about an hour or so, the broken tables and bottles would all be cleaned up.

Feeling relieved, I turned my head to the place I had been forcibly ignored. I could see everyone staring at me with unknown expressions.

“……”

When I saw that, I laughed bitterly. It was something that I had been preparing for about Yoo Shi-hyuk since he came to the store, but when I faced him in reality, I had no idea what to do.

I hesitated, unable to get closer, but someone grabbed my wrist with a warm hand.

“Han Yi-gyeol.”

As I looked up in surprise, Kim Woo-jin looked somewhat sad and opened his mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh?”

“Can I come closer now?”

I blinked blankly at the unexpected words, and this time, I felt a hand gently stroking my forehead from the side.

“Fortunately, there were no injuries.”

Park Geon-ho, who followed Ha Tae-heon, who came next to him, chimed in.

“That’s it. I don’t know who he is, but I was surprised how hard it was to hold someone’s precious child’s hair so harshly.”

“Since they said they are closed, we should go back to the hotel.”

“Yi-gyeol-ssi! Didn’t you get hurt? Are you okay?”

“Hyung, just as Secretary said, let’s go to the hotel. Edward-ssi too.”

Piiik, pik!

All of a sudden, everyone gathered around me and started talking one word at a time. You just moved on without asking anything like this? It was at that time that I, in bewilderment, couldn’t answer easily and stood blankly.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who gently touched my cheek and the corners of my eyes with his thumb, spoke as usual.

“Let’s go take a rest, Han Yi-gyeol.”

“……”

At those words, something hot erupted. It was a strange, tickling, rumbling feeling as if hundreds of butterflies were flying through my chest.

I nodded, barely swallowing the emotions that seemed to come out of my mouth at any moment.