Chapter 33

“No, seriously! I had no idea the Director could even get sick! Honestly, I thought he’d finally started dating someone and faked being sick to go on a trip. But since you don’t know either, Attorney Gong, then it must be true, right?”

Jio silently lifted his glass. Secretary Kim prattled on nonstop with a mountain of stripped lamb skewer sticks piled up in front of him.

“But where is he actually hurting? Appendicitis? Wisdom tooth?”

“I called you here because I don’t know either, Secretary Kim.”

“Me? How would I know something that you don’t, Attorney Gong? Who on earth is closer than the two of you?” Secretary Kim chuckled cheerfully.

Of course that’s how it looks to others.

Jio picked up a lamb skewer and pulled off a piece of meat like someone fulfilling a biological chore. Watching him, Secretary Kim marveled at how impossibly handsome he was before a sudden thought crossed his mind. If this were a scene on public television or an all-ages anime, whatever was in Gong Jio’s hand would be censored with a mosaic blur, while whatever was in his hand would air completely untouched.

Those two really are alike. Different art styles, but the exact same genre. Yep, that’s it precisely.

While Secretary Kim observed him, his lips itching with the urge to chatter again, Jio furrowed his brow and rummaged through his bag. What he pulled out was artificial tears. Sitting near the heat radiating from the grill had dried out his eyes.

Watching Jio close his eyes and gently press the inner corners of his eyelids while sipping his cola through a straw, Secretary Kim asked, “By the way, Attorney Gong, do you not date anyone? You’re super popular at the company.”

“I don’t.”

“Why not?”

Surprisingly, Jio and Secretary Kim interacted quite often. It made sense. Aside from being a chatterbox, Secretary Kim performed quite well as an executive assistant, with quick hands and sharp wits. And Jio handled so much of the work that belonged to Cha Gyuhan that he might as well have been the acting Director.

Above all, Jio frequently sought out Secretary Kim to inquire without hesitation about Gyuhan’s condition, schedule, and personal life.

“Because Cha Gyuhan doesn’t.”

At Jio’s reply, Secretary Kim waved his hand and laughed, “Eyyy, really? Then if the Director starts dating, will you date too, Attorney Gong?”

“Probably.”

He would. He’d do it ostentatiously. He’d do it just to put it on display. He’d try. He’d force himself to try.

How could he not know that it would be disrespectful to his partner? But if it ever came to that, he wouldn’t be in any state to consider courtesy for others. Keeping himself from snatching away the person Cha Gyuhan had searched for his entire life and inflicting a devastating wound on him would consume every ounce of Jio’s strength.

“Then I’ll make a wish and do everything I can so the Director starts dating right away!”

“No… you don’t need to do that. Just look after Cha Gyuhan. You know his address. I’ll give you the passcode…”

Fatigue caused Jio’s voice to sink heavily. That low tone sounded all the more sultry. Secretary Kim rested his chin on his hand, looking at Jio with a knowing expression. Searching for a notepad and pen, Jio frowned at the gaze.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Attorney Gong. I know your heart completely.”

“…”

“The truth is… you really like the Director, don’t you?”

Not a single crack appeared on Jio’s expression. He merely blinked his dry, half-lidded eyes slowly.

“You bicker every single day, but I know better than anyone that you care about the Director more than anyone else does. Aw, I’m so jealous of him. I wish I had a friend like you. He’s so lucky.”

Jio looked away from Secretary Kim, who had started chattering away again.

Rummaging through his bag for a notepad and pen, he scribbled down the passcode and let out a dry chuckle. Handing the slip of paper to Secretary Kim, Jio muttered, “Yeah. Real lucky.”

Even though Secretary Kim had interacted with Gong Jio for quite a while and relatively often, this was the first time he’d ever seen him crack even a faint smile. Kim stood there with a stunned Heh on his face before snapping out of it at Jio’s urging hand wave. Though he only came completely back to his senses after nearly dropping the paper right into the charcoal brazier and causing a disaster.

Sending Secretary Kim on his way, Jio moved on to another venue. Sticking to beer in front of the non-drinking Secretary Kim hadn’t been enough to satisfy him. Standing before his regular bar, Jio lit a cigarette before stepping inside.

Thanks to a sudden shower during their meal, the pavement was damp and slick.

He despised rain. One of the few things Jio liked about the company was that their primary international business partners were in the Middle East. It hardly ever rained there, and the climate was dry. Had they taken on projects in Southeast Asia or near the equator, Jio would have ground his molars down to dust every year clenching his jaw to endure it.

Not that he would have quit even then….

That reality tasted thoroughly bitter, and feeling like an idiot for it, Jio gritted his teeth lightly around the cigarette filter. For no reason, he flicked the lighter on and off with repeated clicks, as if that could dry out the humid air.

“Excuse me, sorry to bother you.”

Someone casually struck up a conversation with him.

“Could you spare a light?”

Jio turned his head at the sound of a voice that felt strangely familiar and instantly soured his mood.

“I think I lost my lighter.”

A soft voice, gentle mannerisms, and a beaming smile. Even without those, he possessed a harmoniously handsome face that could win anyone over in a heartbeat.

When it came to other people’s appearances, Jio judged them strictly by their facial feature count—with the sole exception of the Cha family. Yet this was a mug he actually remembered, despite having seen it only for the briefest moment.

“Go Woonha?”

As Jio frowned and muttered the name, the other man looked slightly surprised before flashing a smile once more. “Ah, sorry. Do we know each other?”

Well, he wasn’t shocked that Go Woonha didn’t remember him. They had met late at night, and Jio had been wearing sunglasses. Besides, he didn’t expect a guy who had been hung upside down and dipped into seawater like shabu-shabu to remember his face properly.

The infuriating part was that he remembered Woonha. If the bastard hadn’t fucked Cha Gyuhan in the ass, Jio wouldn’t have remembered him either. Because the reason he remembered Go Woonha was profoundly grating, Jio stripped off his polite social mask in an instant.

“Where’d you leave your lover?”

Even with Jio flicking his cigarette ash and speaking in blunt, insolent banmal out of nowhere, Go Woonha didn’t seem particularly bothered.

“Is this that kind of bar?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know I have a lover?” Go Woonha asked with a playful grin.

Exhaling smoke, Jio answered dryly, “Because I happen to know your current lover’s older brother—the one you were rolling around in bed with before you met your current guy. We know each other quite well.”

“Ah!” Go Woonha nodded with a radiant smile. “You must be Gyuhan-hyung’s friend.”

Gyuhan-hyung… Hearing that affectionate address rubbed Jio the wrong way. Frowning, Jio pulled out the sunglasses tucked into his front pocket like a pocket square and slipped them on. As the glare scattering across the wet asphalt was shielded, his eye sensitivity decreased. Or rather, it should have.

But standing in front of Go Woonha’s very presence—the bastard who had shared a bed with Cha Gyuhan—there was no way his nerves would settle just by putting on sunglasses.

“You really don’t remember me?” Jio bit down on a second cigarette and asked irritably, “I’m the guy who dipped you.”

“Dipped…? Where?” Go Woonha asked back, as if he had been dipped into other places before.

“In the sea.”

“In the sea? Ahhh. Incheon?”

“Incheon.”

Only after seeing Jio nod did Go Woonha put on an expression of full realization.

Remarkable. He didn’t seem stupid like Cha Gyuhan, but he was excessively cheerful and clear. No grudges, no creases in his demeanor. Naturally, this wasn’t genuine admiration; it was sheer sarcasm. The thought ran something like this. I never imagined I’d run into a bastard like you twice in one lifetime. Meeting someone like him once was already bizarre enough.

“Well, since we know each other, care for a drink? My treat.”

“Won’t your lover be sad?”

“Still, I can’t just let you go. It’s always better to make a good impression.”

“Why. You planning on marrying him? Let’s not mess with Gyuwon. He’s an innocent kid.” Jio let out a scoff upon meeting Woonha’s eyes, which were crinkled in a smile as he gazed at him. He’s not as soft as he looks.

“I don’t know about marriage, but I do plan on seeing him for a long time. Believe it or not, this is my first relationship.”

“First relationship?” Jio burst out laughing. Pffft. “Your reputation precedes you. Gyuwon asked me, so I did a background check on you.”

“Ah, that was you? You did a thorough job. Got to see some fun things thanks to that. Thank you.”

“Keep the flattery. I didn’t do it personally, I hired someone. But even without that, there was plenty circulating about you.”

“You heard about me naturally? Aha. Now I see what kind of crowd you run with—are you really in a position to lecture me?”

“If you’re sincere about Gyuwon, then we’re both just sluts harboring pure love. Let’s not be harsh with fellow sluts. Honestly, I feel like I’m getting the short end of the stick here—I’m not quite a slut on your level.”

A brief silence.

Jio felt like getting punched by Go Woonha. No, he sincerely wished for it. Because then he could punch Go Woonha right back.

Fuck, what on earth am I even doing right now?

Every single arrow was pointing elsewhere, yet he was acting pathetic and childish as if this were some love triangle. Not a single arrow pointed toward him, yet here he was, throwing a solitary fit.

Suddenly, Go Woonha burst into laughter. Soft peals of amusement rang out into the damp air. Laughing until tears welled in his eyes, he chuckled breathlessly and pointed at Jio. I should snap that fucking finger off. Wearing an impassive face, Jio pressed his thumb against the knuckles of his index, middle, and ring fingers in turn, cracking them one by one to suppress the urge. After all, getting a criminal record wouldn’t do.

“Do you like Cha Gyuhan?”

“Yeah. I do.”

At Gong Jio’s confrontational tone, Go Woonha merely nodded. “Then we ought to get along better. We might be seeing a lot of each other down the road.”

“What, are you suggesting we start acting like family?”

“That’s getting way ahead of ourselves. Let’s see if my relationship lasts a while first before going that far. And don’t worry. I have zero interest in Cha Gyuhan. I’m fairly single-mindedly simple when it comes to my current boyfriend.”

Single-mindedly simple…?

Gong Jio wondered if he’d misheard the idiom for single-minded devotion, only to belatedly recall that Go Woonha was a gyopo[1].

Yet the very next thought that followed was a pang of bittersweet longing—Cha Gyuhan doesn’t know four-character idioms either, that fucking blockhead[2]. And so, however Go Woonha had butchered the idiom slipped clean from his mind.

“Can’t you even have one drink with me? We’re both devoted sluts, after all.”

Gong Jio furrowed his brow and tossed his cigarette into the trash can.

“I told you not to lump us into the same category of slut. I’m not going to spout some sophistry about being pure just because I only thought of Cha Gyuhan while doing it, but I certainly didn’t sleep around as much as you did. Comparatively, I’m better off. More like a dishcloth? By the way, for a foreigner, why is your pronunciation of ‘slut’ so immaculate?”

“Right? Maybe because I’ve heard it so often.”

Gong Jio found the situation of heading into a bar with Go Woonha utterly absurd, but decided to roll with it for now. If possible, he wanted to ask how many times he’d slept with Cha Gyuhan, too. Given how diligently they’d fucked during that week or so, maybe he had already beaten his count.

“Fuck.”

On their way up, Gong Jio suddenly braced his fist against the wall and rested his forehead against it. He had been trying so hard to hold it in, but it flashed through his mind again—that exasperating face of Cha Gyuhan, obediently returning on his own two feet and announcing he’d brought spare underwear. What kind of bastard comes back on his own? Gong Jio ground his teeth, refusing to crack a smile over something like that.

Gong Jio ordered the most expensive liquor on the menu.

It wasn’t particularly out of revenge; he naturally preferred high-end spirits anyway. If he’d wanted revenge, he would have ordered cheap booze that came in massive quantities and tasted like shit.

Not all cheap alcohol tasted bad, but Gong Jio knew drinks that tasted awful with a vile aftertaste to boot. It was simply that he wasn’t petty enough to go so far as orchestrating some grand revenge against Go Woonha. Above all, it took only a few exchanges to realize that Cha Gyuhan meant absolutely nothing to the man.

“So you were planning to seduce Cha Gyuhan’s fiancé if he ever brought one home?”

“I figured I would.”

Before long, Go Woonha was casually tossing around “Cha Gyuhan, Cha Gyuhan,” and Gong Jio had dropped to informal speech without even being drunk.

“And what made you so sure they’d fall for you?”

“I’m handsome,” Gong Jio replied dryly.

“Does someone’s heart sway so easily on looks alone?”

“Actually, I’m good at lying.” In the first place, Gong Jio had never been conceited about his appearance or any other external qualities. His confidence lay in something else entirely. “I’m confident I can deceive them completely.” Gong Jio spoke nonchalantly, yet a bitter note lingered at the tail of his words.

“That’s hardly courteous to the poor person.”

“That’s why I only ever thought about it.”

To be precise, it wasn’t out of consideration for the other person so much as the fact that Cha Gyuhan had never actually brought anyone home, which had allowed him to keep within bounds. But because Gong Jio hated even imagining confronting such a situation in the first place, he brushed it off with a half-hearted answer.

Go Woonha chuckled slyly, holding out his glass. “Then you should be grateful to me. I made you cross that line, after all.” Gong Jio stared at Go Woonha, then very slowly, languidly curved the corner of his mouth upward.

“For someone who supposedly did that, he was as tight as brand-new.” Go Woonha’s eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Don’t cross the line too far. There’s a limit to how much respect I’ll give you just for being Gyuwon’s boyfriend.”

“I’m not the type who just takes a beating anywhere I go.”

“I’m not usually the type to go out drinking with someone I just met either. And if I hadn’t already eaten Cha Gyuhan, I would’ve crossed that line long ago.”

“Are you sure about that? I happen to get turned on when I get hit.”

“Ah, is that so? No wonder I didn’t feel like beating you. Going easy on you right now must be crossing the line, then.”

Go Woonha burst out laughing.

Clinking his glass against Gong Jio’s—which Jio hadn’t extended in return—with a crisp clink, he knocked back the rather strong liquor in a single gulp. Then, he got up from his seat with an easy air. Draping the jacket he’d hung over the back of the chair over his arm, he checked his watch. The curiosity and amusement from moments earlier had vanished from his expression, replaced by a settled, steady warmth. Gong Jio watched Go Woonha’s face with sour distaste before draining his own glass.

“I think I should get going. Can I ask one last question before I do?”

“No. You can’t.”

“Since when have you been in love with him?”

Gong Jio set his glass down with a clack, letting his arms hang loose as he tilted his head back. He looked up at Go Woonha for a quiet moment, then slowly curled the corner of his lips.

“Like hell… I’d tell you.”

Go Woonha chuckled, as if he’d expected nothing less. “See you around. I have a feeling we will.” Leaving that farewell behind, he walked away.

Gong Jio refilled his glass and swirled the thin, delicate crystal in his hand.

Because he had grown up with nothing, he was fiercely possessive over what became his, and while he could conceal his desire for what he wanted but couldn’t have, he could never surrender it. Thus, he would never share with anyone when it had all begun. After all, he hadn’t even told Cha Gyuhan.

Could that idiot ever figure it out from that hint?

He was skeptical, yet a flicker of anticipation stirred anyway. Foolish and utterly pathetic. The only thing Gong Jio—a man who lived without regrets—clung to with lingering attachment and remorse. Once again, he found himself treading the path he had walked dozens, hundreds of times before.

The thought that he should never have taken his hand in the first place.

“I should’ve beaten you to a pulp and broken you for good.”

No sooner had the muttered words left his mouth than the half-melted ice tilted and collapsed with a soft chime against the glass. Like a tilted head looking up at him, the ice seemed to ask.

You know you couldn’t break him even if you beat him to a pulp, don’t you?

Yeah… That was just the kind of bastard Cha Gyuhan was.