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Throughout the car ride, Il-hyun couldn't take his eyes off the window. It was his first outing in nearly a week. When he opened the window, humid wind rushed in. Even though his hair was messily blown about, he leaned his face against the window like a child and watched the people outside.
After a while, he closed the window and leaned back against the seat. Every time he moved, his face involuntarily grimaced from the pain. At his groans, Park Tae-su kept glancing back at him. He had pushed aside the doctor's dissuasion and come out, but not being able to use his legs was more than just inconvenient.
"Are you alright?"
"I can bear it."
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault."
After getting shot, Park Tae-su, unlike his usual self, kept apologizing. Il-hyun felt like laughing.
"How are you supposed to stop a bullet that's coming with intent? Are you Superman?"
He remembered having a similar conversation with Lee Ja-kyung. The incident where he had noticed the bullet coming first and pushed him down. Actually, he later learned it wasn't the bullet but the reflection of the scope's glass in the light. Since then, he's been searching diligently, but Lee Ja-kyung had vanished completely.
By now, he's probably left for another country, not Korea.
"I underestimated him too much."
He muttered to himself and laughed in disbelief. After Lee Ja-kyung escaped, they discovered a wiretapping device under the back seat of the car he used to ride in. Lee Ja-kyung already knew that he was going to kill him. It was late, but he had to admit it. That he had looked down on his opponent.
Just thinking about it left a bitter taste in his mouth. If everything had gone smoothly, would he have been able to kill Lee Ja-kyung? Why did he reverse his decision on the day of the inauguration? Why did he hesitate? Why on earth... He was deep in thought when his cell phone rang.
The caller was Kang Yu-jeong. She had no choice but to attend the shareholders' meeting today, but when Il-hyun was causing a scene, the expression on her face as she watched from the front... it was truly a face that wanted to punch him. When he put the phone to his ear, her voice came through.
[Have you arrived?]
"Still on the way."
[Congratulations. The dismissal motion was voted down. You avoided becoming unemployed.]
Il-hyun snorted.
"As I expected. Everyone values my work ability highly."
Yu-jeong's voice sounded exasperated.
[More like they didn't want to become dog food.]
One of Il-hyun's eyebrows went up crookedly.
"Is there anyone who believes such jokes?"
Yu-jeong said she didn't want to talk anymore. She said she was completely drained. She said she had to go back to the hospital first, so they'd meet at night. He had moved his residence, and Yu-jeong had decided to stay there for the time being as well. Living with his older sister at his age wasn't comfortable, but her will was so stubborn that he had no choice.
After the call ended, Tae-su's gaze came through the rearview mirror.
"Congratulations."
Il-hyun laughed then looked out the window. He wasn't sure if it was something to congratulate. Remembering the faces of the damned directors who were desperate to devour him, he vowed that someday he would replace them all with his own hands. Chairman Kang, too, wouldn't be able to act recklessly without knowing what card he held.
Having failed once, he would lie low for a while. Ironically, even though he was his son, he feared him. He had known that for a long time already. While praising him with words, his eyes showed wariness, treating him like a monster.
"Tae-su."
"Yes."
"Send the video Lee Ja-kyung recorded to Chairman Kang. So he won't think of anything else for a while."
"Understood."
Outside the window, a cruise ship was leisurely floating on the river. Then his thoughts turned back to Lee Ja-kyung. Did he take a ship? If he did, where did he go? He thought about finding everyone related and torturing them to make them talk, but for now, he decided to leave them alone. When they think it's safe, they'll stick their heads out of the water.
Yes. Run far, far away. While mistakenly thinking you've gained freedom and enjoying that joy, I'll catch you and make you realize what a terrible mistake you made. Just thinking about it, he could already feel the cells in his body going wild with pleasure.
Il-hyun couldn't contain his excitement and opened the window and took out a cigarette. The doctor had said absolutely no smoking, but today he felt he couldn't endure it without at least this.
***
Buried under the blankets, curled up and sleeping late, murmuring voices could be heard from outside. Ja-kyung got up from the bed and looked around the house with a dazed face. Wang Han was nowhere to be seen. After getting dressed and roughly fixing his messy hair, he went downstairs, opened the door, and came outside.
It seemed to have rained at dawn, and the grass was moist, making it feel especially fresh. He was stretching and breathing deeply through his nose when the smell of grilling meat came from somewhere. Looking to the side, Wang Han was grilling skewers on the grill since morning and having a beer.
But he wasn't alone; he was with two Russian women staying at the neighboring house. They were sisters named Rita and Sasha, who had rented a house and were staying there, becoming close with Wang Han and often coming over to hang out. The older one, Rita, seemed to have quite a liking for Wang Han.
After working on Kang Il-hyun, the three people—Lee Ja-kyung, Wang Han, and Wang Lun—moved their residence several times. However, Kang Il-hyun's side was quieter than expected, and after about half a year, they started settling in one place for longer periods. And as it was approaching a year, Wang Lun left for Japan last week, saying he had business to attend to.
Ja-kyung had planned to buy an island with the money he saved, but the places he really liked were unreasonably expensive, and the decent places always had at least one flaw he didn't like. So he was still just thinking about it.
Wang Han had his hair transplanted as planned, and the effect was better than expected, resulting in more hair than before. When he washed his hair, he touched each strand preciously as if handling a newborn baby, which made Ja-kyung laugh when watching from the side.
"You're up?"
"Come here and eat some skewers."
Ja-kyung shook his head and walked in the opposite direction. There was no way meat would go down his throat right after waking up. Instead, he took out a cigarette and was about to light it when Sasha, the younger of the sisters, came running and stood next to him.
She held out a skewer to Ja-kyung.
"Here."
It was awkward to refuse, so he accepted it.
"Thanks."
She followed him around, chattering away at his side. She had her hair braided in two pigtails, she was about shoulder height to Ja-kyung, and her eyes looking up were round with blue pupils, and when she smiled, the dimples on her cheeks were cute.
He understood about half of what she said in Russian and half he didn't understand, but he answered based on guessing. As they walked through the garden, she stopped in front of a plumeria tree and reached out her hand. It seemed like she wanted to pick a flower, but when her hand couldn't reach, she looked at Ja-kyung.
Ja-kyung reached out and picked a flower and handed it to her. She pulled up both corners of her mouth in a smile, then held out the flower and gestured for him to tuck it behind her ear. After hesitating, Ja-kyung smiled and tucked it in, and she asked if she was pretty.
"Yeah, you're pretty."
Her brightly smiling face really was pretty. She suddenly pulled the cigarette from Ja-kyung's mouth and, before he could stop her, put it in her own mouth. Wang Han, watching from afar, whistled. When Ja-kyung looked at him, he made strange eye signals, and Ja-kyung frowned as if to say don't do that, then walked in another direction.
All afternoon, Ja-kyung spent time lying in the hammock hung inside the yard. The weather had been clear until morning, but after lunch, rain poured down. Patter, patter, listening to the rain sounds, Ja-kyung savored the languor of the afternoon.
Wang Han, who had been filling his stomach with alcohol and meat since morning and taking a long nap, came outside scratching his back. He pulled up a chair and sat down, putting a cigarette in his mouth. Looking at the pouring rain, he opened his mouth wide in a yawn and exhaled cigarette smoke.
"Shouldn't we start working soon?"
Having rested for a long time, Ja-kyung also felt the itch to do something. He had saved up money, but he couldn't just use it indefinitely.
"Dmitri contacted me. There's an overflow of work, but it seems there's no one suitable. It's hard to find someone as skilled as you."
"No. I'll never deal with that guy again."
Wang Han understood Ja-kyung's firm refusal and didn't bring it up further. Because he had switched employers in the middle without consultation, their position had become awkward too, and Ja-kyung had nearly died at Kang Il-hyun's hands in Korea.
After leaving Korea, Ja-kyung had never once looked up news about Kang Il-hyun. When Wang Han or Wang Lun asked, he consistently said he didn't know. He didn't want to recall anything related to him. He knew himself that it wasn't just feelings of disgust or hatred. That's why even more, he didn't want to bring it up or admit it.
When he closed his eyes, the sound of rain came especially loud. In the hot and humid air, the cigarette smoke Wang Han exhaled was mixed in. Wang Han, having finished his cigarette, rocked the hammock left and right. He said it was just like a baby lying in a cradle, making Ja-kyung burst into laughter.
"Do you remember when I used to put you to sleep like this when you were young?"
"Lies. I was ten years old then."
"You were especially small, so I'm telling you it was like a newborn."
He laughed, telling him not to say such nonsense. As his body swayed, sleep really started pouring in. Wang Han hummed a song. His especially low tone mixed with the rain sounded pleasant. After he sat for a while and went inside, Ja-kyung remained lying there for a long time, enjoying the sound of the rain.
It was an afternoon of incomparable peace.