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His insides felt turned inside out, and his head throbbed as if it would split open. He barely managed to open his eyes, but even moving his body felt like a bother. The bed sheets were terribly tangled from however much he'd thrashed around all night, and he was lying upside down. As he struggled to get up, Ja-gyeong's eyes went wide.
A sofa was piled in front of the door.
"Huh...?"
Thinking he might have seen wrong, he rubbed his eyes. He remembered drinking in the living room with Wang Han and Wang Lun last night, but after that, his memory cut off. He got out of bed and looked around, but nothing particularly strange caught his eye.
Why did it end up like this.
He went into the bathroom to gather his senses first. Standing in front of the sink, he looked at his face and lifted his bangs. A bruise was clearly visible in the middle of his forehead. What is this. Did I fall? Bruises that hadn't been there before had appeared on his knees and arms too.
What on earth did I do. After showering to clear his head, he covered the kiss marks Kang Il-hyun had left with patches of pain relief patches and changed his clothes. He moved the sofa back to its proper place, then opened the door with a somewhat fearful heart.
Contrary to his worries, the living room was perfectly fine, no different from usual. The sofa and table where they'd had drinks yesterday had been completely cleared away. He breathed a sigh of relief and went down to the first floor. As he passed through the living room, he could hear Wang Han and Wang Lun's voices coming from inside the kitchen.
Before he could go to them, the housekeeper approached and asked with a kind face.
"Is your stomach okay?"
Ja-gyeong nodded with an awkward expression. Yes.
"Should I make some soup for you?"
"No, just give me the usual."
When he went inside, Wang Lun and Wang Han were sitting at the table having their meal. Their expressions were somehow strange. When Ja-gyeong mouthed 'Why?', they only shook their heads instead of answering.
The housekeeper approached and handed him honey water instead of juice.
"This should help settle your stomach before eating. I'll have breakfast ready soon."
He took the cup and sat down. Wang Lun, who was dipping bread in his soup, kept twitching his mouth as if trying to hold back laughter, his lips curled inward. An ominous feeling crept up his back. Before he could ask why, voices were heard from outside the living room.
It was past work hours, but Kang Il-hyun came inside. As Ja-gyeong turned around to greet him, his eyes widened slightly. A bandage was stuck on the bridge of his nose. When Ja-gyeong stared at him blankly, Il-hyun met his gaze and smiled brightly.
"Good morning."
He pulled out the chair next to Ja-gyeong and sat down. Wang Lun and Wang Han stood up abruptly as if they had made a pact, picking up their bread.
"Thank you for the meal, Madam."
Looking at the Wang brothers, Il-hyun gestured for them to sit.
"The witnesses can't run away."
Witnesses?
Il-hyun shifted his position to face Ja-gyeong's profile directly, draping his arm over the back of the chair. Avoiding him as he pressed closer, Ja-gyeong slowly leaned his upper body backward.
"W-why?"
"Don't you have something to say to me?"
Something to say? What?
"What's... wrong with your nose?"
When Ja-gyeong asked, Il-hyun furrowed the bridge of his nose as if in pain.
"I got attacked by a crazy cat last night."
Ja-gyeong wore a puzzled expression. What's this about a crazy cat. Don't tell me.... He moved his eyes to look at the Wang brothers sitting in front of him, but both of them were fidgeting nervously. Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed like he had done something wrong. Did we get into a fight while drunk. No matter how much he tried to recall, nothing came to mind.
He watched for reactions and asked carefully.
"Did... I do that?"
He didn't answer at all. Since he had no memory, he didn't know what to say. Soon after, Il-hyun tugged at his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. The area around his neck was mottled red and purple.
"You don't remember this either?"
Ja-gyeong opened his mouth and tilted his head in confusion.
"You mean, I did...?"
As soon as the words ended, he called Park Tae-su and beckoned him over. Park Tae-su, who had been standing near the sofa, brought something over. It was a tablet, and he turned on the screen and played a video. As soon as he pressed the button, two people appeared on the CCTV footage.
It was a recording, and the timestamp at the bottom showed last night. In the second-floor living room, the two were grabbing and shoving each other, arguing, then Ja-gyeong threw the first punch. Il-hyun dodged it lightly, but the problem came after. The two got tangled and rolled on the floor, and Ja-gyeong put his leg over Il-hyun's shoulder, crossing it and choking his neck.
Choking his neck with a leg, not an arm, Il-hyun seemed unable to do anything about it and rolled around on the floor for a while. As soon as he managed to pry off the leg that was choking him, Ja-gyeong dashed away to the bedroom. Il-hyun stood up and stood in front of the door, one hand on his hip, brushing back his falling hair.
Even watching through the screen, his anger was palpable. Ja-gyeong lost all words, bread in his mouth, staring holes through the screen. Next to him, Kang Il-hyun smiled with a gentle face.
"Wanna hear the voices too? It's even more intense."
When he opened the next file, the two people's voices could be heard alternately.
["Don't act like this. Tell me exactly why you're angry."]
The low, deep voice was Kang Il-hyun's.
["Fuck off! You bastard! Just try coming near me. I won't let you off!"]
Ja-gyeong was completely riled up.
["I called you pretty, and you just keep climbing higher?"]
["When did I ever ask you to call me pretty!"]
["Come here while I'm asking nicely."]
["No! You old pervert!"]
Ja-gyeong's eyes and mouth fell open. In the audio file he was listening to, silence flowed as well. After a moment, Kang Il-hyun's incredulous voice was heard.
["Old... what?"]
["Old man!"]
Il-hyun, holding the tablet, grit his teeth. Ja-gyeong gently placed the bread he'd been holding on the plate and put both hands on his knees. Fuck. I committed a capital offense.
Il-hyun turned around and called Tae-su.
Tae-su, do I look that old?
Park Tae-su answered no immediately. Ja-gyeong glared. He did his job well, but he wasn't honest. When he asked the housekeeper and the Wang brothers the same thing, they all answered no. They were all liars. When he first met him, he was twenty-nine, but that was hard to believe. At least now that he was thirty, he looked a bit less old. When he's about thirty-five, he'll probably look his age.
But that wasn't important right now. Just as he was about to apologize, he pressed the button. Whether he was being choked or not, Il-hyun's coughing, choking sounds could be heard. Cold sweat ran down Ja-gyeong's spine. Apparently he barely escaped, as Il-hyun's murderous voice reached all the way here.
["Are you seriously going to be like this?"]
Ja-gyeong too wouldn't back down and screamed in fury.
["How do you like it? Feels shitty to get choked too, doesn't it! Try choking me one more time! I'll shove it up your ass the same way and stomp on your neck!"]
Ah, I can't listen anymore. When he squeezed his eyes shut, Il-hyun stopped and put down the tablet. Then he propped his chin on his hand and smiled at Ja-gyeong with a gentle face.
"Do you remember now?"
"I'm sorry..."
"I almost died yesterday because of you."
"I'm really sorry..."
"No need to apologize. Thanks to you, I even met my dead mother for a moment."
"...."
"Her face was clearer than when she was alive. What a relief."
Il-hyun smiled sadly, and Ja-gyeong was at a loss for words. It was amazing that with that temper, he hadn't killed Ja-gyeong yesterday. Like some kind of traitor to the realm, his head kept dropping lower and lower. The area around the dining table was as quiet as if no one was there. Even the breathing of the Wang brothers sitting in front of him couldn't be heard.
Il-hyun lightly tapped the table with his fingertips. Then he reached out and tucked Ja-gyeong's side hair behind his ear. His touch was affectionate.
"Forget the apology. Why don't you tell me directly with your own mouth why you did that yesterday?"
Ja-gyeong kept his mouth shut and held firm.
"If you tell me honestly, I'll forgive you."
"...I'm sorry. I don't remember..."
"Think carefully. There must have been a reason."
"...."
"I don't think you're some crazy bastard who picks fights with random people when he's drunk."
Strange. He was clearly bringing up what he did wrong, but he seemed to be in a good mood. He was grinning, and that was even scarier. Ja-gyeong quietly moved the fork and knife in front of him far away.
"I... don't remember..."
His gaze carried playfulness along with a strange current. Ja-gyeong hurriedly made an excuse.
"That's... normally what happens when I drink. The hyungs know too."
He made up words that didn't exist to get out of the crisis. Ja-gyeong had blacked out from drinking only once before. That was when he was eighteen. Ja-gyeong felt like the bread he just ate was stuck in his solar plexus, so he quickly grabbed some cold water.
Just as he gulped down a sip,
"Was it that upsetting that I went to a hotel with a woman?"
Pffft! He sprayed the water he was holding right in Kang Il-hyun's face. Park Tae-su brought a handkerchief, and Il-hyun wiped his wet face while still smiling pleasantly. Ja-gyeong looked at him with his mouth open, speechless, then turned his head to look at Wang Han and Wang Lun sitting in front.
The two of them avoided eye contact simultaneously, as if they had conspired together. Il-hyun, who had roughly wiped his face, leaned his body even closer toward Ja-gyeong.
"Tell me. Was it something that made you angry enough to choke my neck?"
A smile spread across his face. Ja-gyeong's upper lip trembled in bewilderment. Honestly, it was true that he was angry. But he wasn't angry because Kang Il-hyun was with a woman; he was angry at himself for feeling bad about seeing that. So it was definitely not jealousy.
"I understand. If the roles were reversed, I would have torn you apart on the spot."
A murderous glint appeared then disappeared in Kang Il-hyun's eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about..."
Il-hyun picked up the tablet again.
"This won't do. You're denying it till the end, so I have to show you the evidence."
Ja-gyeong's face went pale as he mumbled. Even in a drunken state, there was no way he would have said such things.
"That's a lie..."
"You'll know when you hear it."
When Il-hyun tried to press something, Ja-gyeong shot up from his seat. Then he quickly snatched the tablet and dashed away to the second floor. He closed the door, locked it, and sat right down, breathing roughly. He turned on the screen and checked, but there was nothing other than the video and audio files he had seen earlier.
Just in case, he listened to the rest of the audio file, but he couldn't find any content about jealousy at all. Ja-gyeong held the tablet with a stunned expression, trembling all over. A moment later, a message from Kang Il-hyun arrived on the phone in his pocket.
[You seem embarrassed, so I'll send breakfast up.]
His delighted face was vividly before his eyes. He grit his teeth in fury, and then another message arrived.
[Tonight in bed, I'll show you how much you were jealous♥]