<43>
While Kang Il-hyeon selected a tie in front of the display case, Ja-gyeong looked around his dressing room. The dressing room, reminiscent of a clothing store, contained countless similar shirts and pants beyond counting, and shoes, belts, cufflinks, watches and other accessories were as diverse as if an entire store had been moved inside. If Wang Han, who had a great appetite for clothes, had seen this, he would have gone wild with excitement.
While Ja-gyeong was browsing the watches, Kang Il-hyeon called him.
"Come here for a moment."
Kang Il-hyeon held ties against Ja-gyeong's clothes one by one, selecting the one that suited him best.
"This one is better."
He untied the black tie Ja-gyeong was wearing and replaced it with one that had red in it. His hand movements as he formed the knot were neat. Looking down at his long, smooth fingers, Ja-gyeong briefly wondered how many people these hands had killed. Probably no fewer than himself, at the very least.
"What are you thinking about?"
Ja-gyeong raised his head and met eyes with Il-hyeon right in front of him. He smiled broadly, took a step back, checked Ja-gyeong's appearance, and laughed with satisfaction.
"Perfect."
"Thank you."
Why did Chairman Kang call for him? He had sensed from the phone call that this wasn't simply a dinner invitation. Ja-gyeong felt the tie around his neck becoming suffocating. Wang Han was right when he said he had no talent for acting. He had no idea what expression to maintain when he got there.
"Go with a light heart. What could possibly happen?"
"……."
"Just in case, take a gun with you."
He said nothing would happen, so why a gun? It was so absurd he didn't even bother listening and turned to leave. But Kang Il-hyeon grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He wondered why, but then Il-hyeon went to the display case and took out a box.
When he opened the lid, there was a wristwatch inside. It was worth at least over a hundred million won, and he put it on Ja-gyeong's wrist. He checked the band and asked if it seemed a bit large.
"Why the watch…?"
"There's a bomb inside. If you go there and say something stupid, boom, it explodes."
Perhaps because he had seen Choi Ki-tae's head in a box earlier that day, his words no longer sounded like a joke.
"Come to think of it, that's not bad either. Save money, and the old man dies too."
When he tried to remove the watch, Il-hyeon grabbed his hand.
"It's a joke. A gift."
One of Ja-gyeong's eyebrows slanted upward.
"I was already satisfied with the gift I received during the day."
He said it in a tone that contained not even a speck of sincerity, but Il-hyeon's eyes curved into a smile. Was he that happy to hear that he was satisfied because Choi Ki-tae had died? When he raised his hand to touch his cheek, Ja-gyeong stepped back to avoid it. Kang Il-hyeon strode forward, and Ja-gyeong could no longer move because of the mirror behind his back.
The hand touching his cheek swept down his neck, shoulder, and chest. When his hand touched his already sore nipple, Ja-gyeong flatly slapped it away. Then Kang Il-hyeon laughed in a low voice.
"Got sensitive?"
At those words, Ja-gyeong didn't lose and sneered back.
"Thanks to you, Managing Director. You bit and tore at it like a dog, so it's all tattered, isn't it."
"Were you talking about your nipples? I was talking about your mood."
"……."
"If you want, I can make other parts tattered too."
His hand went down to his buttocks, and Ja-gyeong removed it while forcing a smile. If it were up to him, he would have liked to shoot Kang Il-hyeon's head and make it tattered. But Kang Il-hyeon was his employer. And a VVIP who paid 15 million dollars at that.
At first, he had planned to flee without looking back once this case was over, but thinking about it, if he were to make another request, and if he were to pay an equally large sum as an operation fee, he was willing to handle one or two more jobs. Of course, on the condition that he didn't covet his body.
Ja-gyeong checked the watch Il-hyeon had put on him earlier.
"It's time to go. I'll be leaving—"
When he raised his head, their lips overlapped. He considered pushing him away but gave up and moved his pupils upward to stare only at the ceiling. Then his hand started groping his body again. He tried to endure it when he only touched his side, but when he firmly grabbed his buttocks, Ja-gyeong couldn't stand it anymore and pushed his shoulder away.
He wiped his lips with the back of his hand and glared, but Kang Il-hyeon laughed unconcerned.
"Why is your face red? Because you like it?"
He couldn't distinguish between being angry and liking it—this bastard was definitely a psychopath.
"No. Honestly, it was the worst kiss I've ever had."
He said it to hurt his feelings, and it seemed to work as his eyes turned sharp.
"That can't be true."
"It's true. It was enough to make even a hard dick go soft."
"We'll have to verify that then."
He kept clinging persistently, so Ja-gyeong pushed him away and left the dressing room. As he came out, Park Tae-soo looked at him from the living room. Ja-gyeong felt irrationally annoyed and deliberately stomped up the stairs, making noise with each step.
***
After asking a staff member for water, Ja-gyeong waited for Chairman Kang in his study. Throughout dinner, he hadn't said much. But Ja-gyeong, worried that there might be poison in the food, couldn't easily bring himself to eat, and only after Chairman Kang and Seok-ju began their meal was he finally able to pick up his chopsticks.
Time passed anxiously as he sat in the study waiting. Family photos hung on the wall, and unlike those in the living room, these looked quite old. It wasn't hard to find Kang Il-hyeon in them. He looked much younger than now, with a face that looked like he'd rather die than have his picture taken.
While he was looking around, the door opened and Chairman Kang entered, leaning on his cane. A staff member followed, placed tea in front of him, and withdrew. As soon as Chairman Kang sat down, he took out a thick cigar and lit it.
"Did you enjoy your meal?"
"Yes… it was delicious."
"I'm glad it suited your taste. Would you like a cigarette?"
"No… I'm fine."
He laughed good-naturedly.
"True, what's the point of learning something bad for your health. This cigarette thing is really hard to quit."
"Yes… haha."
"I don't know how foolish humans are. They know the harm but can't avoid it."
Ja-gyeong remained silent.
"Is it uncomfortable living with Managing Director Kang?"
"As I mentioned last time, the Managing Director treats me well…."
"That's fortunate. You need to live comfortably before I can face your grandfather with dignity."
Was he testing him? It's natural for people to become more suspicious as they age. Whatever the case, right now he just needed to act as Jang Ian. He told various stories. From his connection with Jang Ian's father to his grandfather, Jang Myeong.
As he gave appropriate responses and laughed, a secretary entered. He was a young man wearing glasses with an overall gentle impression.
"The flower wreath?"
"Yes, it's scheduled to be sent today."
"Take good care of it. He's close to Seok-ju, so don't let him feel slighted."
After the man said yes and left, Chairman Kang gazed steadily at Ja-gyeong.
"You know him too, don't you? Choi Ki-tae. You must have seen him while hanging out with Seok-ju."
Ja-gyeong nodded. Yes.
"He was found dead in his office today. They say some unknown person cut off his head and took it."
Chairman Kang clicked his tongue, saying the world was going to ruin. Ja-gyeong was speechless. He thought they had disposed of it quietly; he never imagined they had left the body in the office. He put on a slightly surprised expression and asked if that was so, and Chairman Kang expressed regret.
"He was young, what a shame."
"Indeed."
"It's a scary world. There's no guarantee that won't happen to you."
His hand holding the teacup paused. Ja-gyeong looked at Chairman Kang. He was smiling as he crushed the cigar he was holding in the ashtray. Hiss, smoke rose and the fire went out. He wondered what he had been thinking when he said that.
"Who do you think did such a bad thing?"
Chairman Kang looked straight at Ja-gyeong as if piercing through him. Ja-gyeong didn't avoid that gaze. With his eyes as relaxed as possible, he became the innocent Jang Ian and asked him a question. Just who was that bad person? Chairman Kang returned to his appearance as a kindly old gentleman and opened a box to offer Ja-gyeong a candy.
"I wouldn't know. But I once heard a famous saying."
"……."
He looked at Ja-gyeong and recited slowly, as if carving each word into bone.
"There are those I believe will not harm me. I call them corpses."
Strength went into his clasped hands under the table. Chairman Kang smiled and asked if he knew who had told him that famous saying. Ja-gyeong couldn't answer.
Chairman Kang picked up his teacup and savored the tea with pleasure.
"I hear you've been spending private time frequently with Managing Director Kang lately."
It was an explicit question, as if he knew everything. Just who… was there a spy among the people working in the house? When he kept his mouth firmly shut, he set down the teacup and smiled chillingly.
"Don't trust too much. Whoever it is."
That smile so resembled Kang Il-hyeon's that he truly felt they were indeed father and son.
***
Steam rose from the coffee cup he was holding. The sky had been dark all afternoon, and now rain began to pour from the sky as if a hole had been pierced through it. Il-hyeon's eyes as he looked out the window resembled that sky as well. From a speaker in one corner, Chairman Kang's voice from the main house was playing.
[There are those I believe will not harm me. I call them corpses.]
"He's playing games."
Il-hyeon openly mocked Chairman Kang. Those were words he himself had once said to Chairman Kang. Yi Ja-gyeong in the speaker was extremely sparing with words. In this situation, that was the natural course of action for him.
[Don't trust too much. Whoever it is.]
Il-hyeon turned off the sound and turned around to come to the sofa. Park Tae-soo was already sitting there. He was the one who had leaked the news to Chairman Kang that Kang Il-hyeon and Jang Ian were involved. He immediately invited Jang Ian to the house. The meal was a pretext, and doubt was likely sprouting in his mind.
"Will it be alright? Chairman Kang will start to suspect."
Il-hyeon laughed with a cigarette in his mouth and a delighted expression.
"That's what I'm hoping for. That way he'll move."
Chairman Kang had secretly hired a contract killer and cleanly erased the evidence. Being shot isn't enough. He had to find other evidence that he tried to kill him. To do that, he needed to exploit his uneasy state of mind. When cornered, the mind becomes urgent, and an urgent person is bound to make mistakes.