LM 101

“Let me go!”

Kwon Siyul used all his strength to try and shake off the men. He just needed a small opening, but these people seemed skilled at this kind of thing and easily subdued him. A hand clamped over his mouth to stifle his shouts. The man in the suit sighed lightly as he watched Kwon Siyul struggle within their grasp.

“I know you don’t believe me, but we really don’t intend to harm you. So just come along quietly.”

Expecting him to believe that after grabbing him like this, Kwon Siyul thrashed violently. Despite his whole body writhing around, he couldn’t break free from the two much larger men. In the end, he was dragged down the alley with his arms bound like a criminal.

True to the man’s word, they didn’t hit or threaten Kwon Siyul. The act of forcibly taking him was a threat in itself, but after that, they just sat him in the middle of the backseat and drove in silence. The car eventually stopped in front of a mansion with fortress-like high walls.

“Where is this?”

“You’ll know when you go in.”

“Please tell me. I came quietly, didn’t I?”

The man looked down at Kwon Siyul. Trying not to appear intimidated, Kwon Siyul deliberately kept his neck straight.

“It’s the young master’s family home. Mr. Woo Hyunse’s.”

The man answered with another sigh at Kwon Siyul’s repeated questions. It seemed unlikely he would listen no matter how many times Kwon Siyul said they had no connection anymore.

“Go in.”

The man pushed Kwon Siyul’s back, forcing him to lead the way in case he tried to escape again. Shoved forward, Kwon Siyul crossed the lawn and stood before the mansion’s door. While the scenery was just like a painting, to Kwon Siyul’s eyes it looked like the edge of a cliff. As Kwon Siyul hesitated, the man opened the door for him.

The man left Kwon Siyul and had a brief conversation with someone else. He started to say “Eui-” but then, seeming to notice the outsider, changed the title to “Chairman.” Kwon Siyul pricked up his ears, but it was difficult to make out the whispered conversation going on around him.

After finishing the conversation, the man took Kwon Siyul down a back path. Crossing a trail thick with pine trees revealed a separate building that had been hidden behind the main house. Unlike the modern main building, this was a quiet, traditional Korean-style house.

“…”

At the mansion entrance, the guest house was so quiet it seemed to swallow even sound. Kwon Siyul really didn’t want to enter. If the man hadn’t been standing behind him like a ghost, he would have tried to get away somehow.

Urged on by the man, Kwon Siyul reluctantly went inside. Despite bright sunlight streaming in everywhere, it felt somehow eerie. Rubbing his goosebump-covered arms, Kwon Siyul turned as directed by the man.

“Chairman.”

The man bowed deeply. Though he must have heard the call, the one addressed as Chairman kept his back turned, absorbed in the act of pruning a bonsai tree. A fairly thick branch snapped off cleanly, cut by the sharp scissors in his hand. The falling branch looked just like a person’s head dropping to the floor, and Kwon Siyul unconsciously covered his own neck with his hand when he saw that.

It was quite a while before the Chairman finally turned around. Kwon Siyul had wondered if he might be Woo Hyunse’s father since this was said to be the Woo family home, but the man before him didn’t resemble Woo Hyunse at all. While Woo Hyunse’s exterior at least appeared gentle and kind, this man looked thoroughly despicable no matter how you looked at him.

Sparse eyebrows, buttonhole-like eyes, a sharp hooked nose, mean-looking lips, and a narrow jaw. If forced to find a resemblance, it would be closer to a rat.

Caught up in observing, Kwon Siyul forgot to greet him. The Chairman strode over. He unfastened his wristwatch and handed it to the still-bowing man standing next to him. The moment the man took the watch, the Chairman’s arm rose and there was a crack as a flash of light burst before Kwon Siyul’s eyes.

With a crash, Kwon Siyul fell to the floor. A long, high-pitched ringing shook his eardrums. The pain came next. His cheek felt like it was on fire.

“How dare a lowborn like you look me in the eye.”

Kwon Siyul clutched his stinging cheek. His nose stung, and then a warm liquid trickled down to his lips. It turned out to be the metallic taste of blood.

As if he had touched a bug, the Chairman wiped his hand with a handkerchief and sat in the seat of honor. Kwon Siyul stared blankly at the floor, unable to grasp the situation. The man quickly pulled Kwon Siyul up into a kneeling position.

“An orphan who doesn’t even know his parents, garbage who sells drugs, and a recessive, not even a dominant.”

The old man recited Kwon Siyul’s background. It was as good as cursing, but Kwon Siyul couldn’t say anything in response. Unfortunately, none of the information was false.

“The reason scum like you attached yourself to that child is obvious.”

Here, “that child” clearly referred to Woo Hyunse. Kwon Siyul hastily opened his mouth.

“I-I’m not with hyung anymore—”

Another blow landed. This time his lip split. His mouth must have torn inside too, as he tasted the metallic flavor of blood on his tongue. It would have hurt less if he’d fallen, but the man behind him held him up, preventing even that from happening.

In the past, he would have burst into tears first. But now, though his eyes stung, no tears fell.

“See, Secretary Yoon? This is why both dogs and humans need education. Without proper home training, he wouldn’t know when to bark and when to shut up. That Hyunse brat is the same. He learned from his vulgar mother as a child, and now his tastes have turned out like this. Getting infatuated with some flea-bitten rat and losing his mind, tsk.”

The Chairman clicked his tongue in disapproval. Kwon Siyul kept his mouth shut. No matter how much he tried to explain, he’d just get slapped again anyway.

“You know why you’re here, don’t you? Don’t say you don’t know, no matter how stupid you are. It makes me pity that fool who liked someone like you.”

A shadow flickered on the floor. Kwon Siyul stared blankly at that shadow, unable to meet the Chairman’s eyes. His shoulders were hunched, his hands clenched white-knuckled on his kneeling legs.

“Whether you want to or not, don’t you dare show your face to that child again. Not even a single hair of yours should be seen.”

“…”

“Otherwise.”

The Chairman paused. He threw the handkerchief stained with Kwon Siyul’s blood to the floor like trash. The spotted cloth fluttered down before Kwon Siyul’s eyes.

“Not just the orphanage you came from, but everyone who cares about you and whom you care about, everyone you’ve crossed paths with and will cross paths with—you’ll see them all end up on the streets.”

Kwon Siyul’s eyes opened wide. He raised his head, prepared to be hit again. This time the man didn’t stop him. Though his swelling cheek pushed up under his eye, he looked straight at the Chairman. The Chairman clasped his hands behind his back and stared intently at Kwon Siyul. His piercing gaze was vicious.

“Any place you’ve worked will go bankrupt and anyone who helps you will get hurt. Anywhere you’ve stayed will become a wasteland where not even a blade of grass grows, and if you start a family, that family won’t be safe either. In the end, everyone will blame you as the cause.”

“Why…?”

At the question that burst out without thinking, the Chairman raised his foot and this time kicked Kwon Siyul in the stomach. With a choked sound, Kwon Siyul clutched his belly and curled into a ball. Bloody saliva dripped from his open mouth.

“You should have known your place from the start. There are trees you can’t climb that you shouldn’t even look at or approach.”

Your place. Even in his pain, Kwon Siyul laughed hollowly. Thankfully the Chairman couldn’t see it with his head bowed.

Having said his piece, the Chairman turned away without bothering to linger around. He reached for the scissors and moved toward the bonsai he hadn’t finished trimming. With a snip, a thin branch was cleanly cut off between the closing blades.

When Kwon Siyul returned to his senses, he was at the bottom of the hill leading to the inn. Only after the man opened the door did Kwon Siyul get out of the car, as if waking from a deep sleep. Though the places he’d been hit were throbbing with pain, strangely it felt unreal, like he’d had a terrible nightmare.

“Mr. Kwon Siyul.”

The man called out to Kwon Siyul, who was dazedly walking up the hill. His expression was as blank as when they first met, but there was a slight furrow between his brows. When Kwon Siyul looked at him, he let out a long breath through his nose and took out a white envelope from his breast pocket, holding it out to Kwon Siyul.

“Take it.”

“What is this?”

“Consolation money.”

“Consolation money.”

His pronunciation was unclear due to half his face being swollen. Kwon Siyul stared blankly at the envelope. When he showed no sign of taking it, the man forcibly shoved the envelope into his pocket.

“What happened in the guest house, leave it there. That would be best for you too, Mr. Kwon Siyul.”

“…What?”

The inside of his cheek was so swollen that even clenching his teeth slightly made him bite the flesh. Kwon Siyul suppressed the urge to grab the man’s collar by clenching his fist instead.

“What would be best for me?”

“…”

Kwon Siyul roughly pulled out the envelope and threw it at the man. The envelope hit his chest and fell to the ground. Kwon Siyul glared at him, breathing heavily. A curse—”Fuck”—escaped his lips.

“I don’t need this shit.”

The man quietly bent down to pick up the envelope. This time he placed it directly in Kwon Siyul’s hand. He patted the back of Kwon Siyul’s hand a couple times as if telling him not to throw it away, then got into the car.