Chapter 59

Editor: Lio Soup

Pr: Re & TT

“Why did you ask to see me in person?”

The good-looking guy standing at the entrance of the subway station, where we met, threw the question at me as soon as he saw me. Maybe because he was discharged earlier than scheduled his complexion was still wan and he didn’t manage to look strong. I took him with me to a place I had been to before.

“How is Hyungseok?”

“Extremely excited. He said he’s positive he’s found a prey that would catch Chairman Kim’s eyes, and he was excited to lure him to the party no matter what. Ah, ‘parties’ are what they call those dirty events.”

“… Who is the prey?”

“Dunno, I haven’t heard the name. Still, if Hyungseok is trying to lure him, he must be a rookie like me or someone unknown.”

He answered, and added the last part lightly as if he had become desensitized to it.

“I don’t know who it is, but being targeted by Chairman Kim means it won’t end after suffering just once.

“…”

“But where are we going?”

He followed and asked the same question once more, but my head was filled with other thoughts. So the answer came when we almost arrived at our destination. A three-story building with a neat signboard. Tap, tap. As I went down the wooden stairs, the guy sucked ina small breath at the entrance.

“Uh? Here maybe…”

However, as soon as the door was opened, his words were drowned out by Photographer Lee’s cry as if he had been waiting inside

“Ahh! It’s real!!! It’s really Taemin!!!!!”

***

The inside of the studio, which was empty after work, felt desolate and large, but there was one person’s voice that filled the inside. Exactly, the one that was whining.

“Ughhh… I went to Amazon and went into the jungle to find Taemin… uhuhuhu… To the crocodile, to the crocodile…”

When Photograher Lee was unable to continue, the good-looking guy listening to his complaints with a bewildered expression asked in surprise.

“Gasp, did you get bitten by a crocodile?”

“No, I was stared at by a crocodile. Arghh! I was really scared! Its eyes were just chasing me!”

“…”

The good-looking guy looked back at me with an expression of understanding while I hadn’t responded at all from the beginning. And that expression seemed to ask, was this guy on drugs? Of course, knowing who Photographer Lee was, he did not express his doubts out loud. Unlike him, I immediately exposed my inner feelings. Photographer Lee was pretending to cry and quietly leaning on me. I pushed his body and warned.

“Shall I call my manager?”

Then, as if he had never cried, he clicked his tongue ‘tskk’ and stuck out his lower lip. He even answered quietly.

“Fine.”

Then he gently put his hand on my lap.

“Then this much…”

I immediately took out my phone. Soon Photographer Lee broke away with fake tears again and took his hand away. As he sat there with his head turned as if he was sullen for a while, the good-looking guy whispered to me.

“Is he angry?”

I responded with an annoyed voice.

“I will just leave.”

“Ah! no! Taemin, don’t leave!”

Far from being angry, his face turned red. As if expressing his bashfulness.

“Really, I like Taemin’s cold side so much that I can’t help but tremble. Ughh.”

After a while, he shivered as if he were thrilled, and the expression of the good-looking guy changed to a sour one. However, Photographer Lee, who was only looking at me from the beginning, did not take his eyes away no matter who made a rotten expression or not.

“By the way, Taemin, what’s the matter? You said you wanted to discuss something earlier over the phone? What is it? The nude? Shall we film the nude right now?”

The good-looking guy now looked at me with pitiful eyes. Thinking that it would be best to do my business quickly and get out, I brought up the main topic.

“Photographer Lee. You said that before. You will join me in my revenge.”

He blinked his eyes and suddenly clenched his fists.

“I remember! Yoohan, I will take revenge on Song Yoohan. Oh, perhaps…”

He asked quietly in a voice that had only become serious.

“Have you just started?”

I nodded.

“What can I help you with?”

I stared into space for a moment and picked out the right words.

“I need a small photo op. It could be a magazine photo shoot or a small commercial. However, Photographer Lee has to choose a model himself.”

He immediately gave an easy answer, saying, “That’s not difficult.” Then asked as if something came to mind.

“Then who should I choose?”

***

The manager was there the next day when I went to work. He told me why Chairman Kim had visited the company yesterday,

“It seems that the president’s opponents have taken advantage of Director Yoon’s absence and called Chairman Kim to the company directly to recruit him. Really, if Chairman Kim completely goes over to their side, Dream Project might really be dissolved. Only Director Yoon will be in trouble. If he keeps supporting the President, the way forward might be difficult, but if he sides with the majority, he would be betraying the president.”

His words faded, and my mind began racing. What was the best choice for the madman? Of course, the best decision would be to bring in Chairman Kim and suppress the opposition, but if he joined hands with Chairman Kim, there would definitely be sacrifices. He would ask for something. If he took the risk and got Chairman Kim on board, but as rumors said, the president only cares about his son…

“Taemin?”

The voice calling me snapped me out of my thoughts and I found myself in a conference room that looked like an office, with Hansoo and the road manager. We didn’t need the road manager since the manager would be traveling with us again from today. Hansoo seemed to have come along without thinking, but the manager and I immediately stared at the road manager. Can you not come? And Hansoo, who was making a fuss at the manager’s arrival, noticed our gaze and looked at the road manager.

“Oh, right. Road Uncle. The manager came back today, so you don’t have to come anymore.”

Hansoo’s bright and ignorant personality simply summarized the situation. The manager coughed in embarrassment but felt apologetic when the road manager stared at him. after sitting in silence, he spoke up again.

“… I want to continue.”

Suddenly there was an awkward silence. No matter how bright he was, Hansoo couldn’t tell the road manager to stop coming. Instead, I looked at the manager to see what he could do, and the manager, still flustered, stammered out the words.

“Ah, uh… First of all, I’ll talk to Chief Park and find out if there’s anything else, so go home first…”

Then the road manager lowered his head a little and mumbled again.

“My wife doesn’t like it when I’m at home…”

“Huh,” I heard someone suck in a breath. I could tell it was the manager without looking at him, but the sound that followed of someone swallowing his emotions with an ‘ugh’ was unexpected. I thought, the manager might sympathize with him because he was married, but why is the other person like that? The reason followed.

“W-when my father is at home, my mother is hard on him so he goes to the library. Uhuhu.” Hansoo bit his lip and turned his head away, and the already emotional manager jumped up from his seat.

“Wait. I will ask Chief Park for a favor!”

“Oh, let me join you!”

When the manager and Hansoo left to harass Chief Park, the room where the two of us sat remained silent for a long time. I naturally thought he would take advantage of this gap to sleep, but surprisingly he was staring at the wall. If it was the manager’s eloquence, he would definitely get permission from Chief Park, right? As this thought came to my mind, I thought of something to say to the sullen-looking road manager.

“I have a favor to ask.”

He averted his eyes from the wall and blinked as if asking what I meant. I pointed to the empty seat that had lost its owner.

“If possible, can you stay with Hansoo until he goes home? Then, if some strange people want to visit Hansoo, please contact me.”

“…”

“It will take a few days. I will give you overtime pay.”

After staring at me for so long that I wondered if he was dozing with his eyes open, he replied

“Strange people… who?”

“Just. Just anyone you think looks dangerous.”

However, his reaction to my words was very unexpected. Then he smiled for the first time.

“Then what if Lee Taemin meets a dangerous person?”

Me? The words he asked with his soft gaze just faded away. It was the look of an adult who was worried about a child, which was unexpected given his drowsy impression. I felt awkward, so I gave an answer after a pause

“I will be fine.”

When I said this dryly, he nodded his head after a while and muttered to himself again.

“Well, then the three of us should go together.”

“No, only Hansoo, not me…”

Suddenly, the door burst open and the manager entered with a serious expression.

“Taemin-ah, this is really bad. Director Yoon helped me with my false accusation case, so I was hoping things would go well but,”

My ears perked up when I heard the word Director Yoon. What’s going on? As I looked up, the manager approached with a frown.

“Damn it, Chairman Kim seems to have joined hands with the opposition, and he will become the new manager of the Dream Project under their recommendation.”

Don’t be surprised if you lose in the first game. I was prepared for it by the words of the madman who had warned me, but what now if this was the case? Chairman Kim’s preemptive strike had already defeated him before the first round.

***

As I left the company at night, I realized that Myungshin returned home today due to this incident. If it was decided quickly in the absence of the madman… If that was the case, wouldn’t it mean that Chairman Kim never intended to join hands with the madman in the first place? Rather than partnering up, he tried to gain power over him.

However, Myungshin, who dragged Director Yoon in and tried to make an appointment until the end, did not seem to know that. So was that why he rushed back? If this was true then it was clear that Chairman Kim did not tell even Myungshin anything important.

Well, I didn’t think Myungshin was a precious existence to him, but it seems like he was more insignificant than expected. If so, I should be happy because my revenge against Myungshin would be easier, but I didn’t feel good at all. Only one other person came to mind. This madman, what on earth…

“Oh, I will go from here.”

Hansoo, who was tapping the phone’s dial, grinned and muttered what was interesting.

“A blind date all of a sudden, hehe.”

Who knows who arranged the blind date, Hansoo excitedly twisted his body. It was not the subway station we usually go to, but the bus stop.

“I suddenly have an appointment.”

Then he waved his hand and ran briskly, and the road manager trailed behind him. Perhaps he was trying to do me a favor, and he went in the direction he didn’t normally go. Tomorrow was the day I had decided to meet Myungshin and Chairman Kim, but would the madman come ? As I walked a bit questioningly, I felt a vibration in my pocket. The sender was the good-looking guy.

― Chairman Kim said he was having a celebration party today. Hyungseok was excited that he would bring the prey he was aiming for. He must have easily seduced him because the senior of the prey knew him.

Pause. I stared at the message, then turned around and started running. Fuck, these bastards.

Huff, huff, huff.

I ran with all my might and arrived at the bus stop, but Hansoo and the road manager were nowhere to be seen. Did they go by bus? Where did they go? I hurriedly took out my cell phone and called Hansoo. But the call only continued to ring.

“Haa, fucking damn it.”

I hung up the phone and tried to contact the good-looking guy. If this was the case, I should ask for the location of the party… But then something caught my eye. A car parked across the road. It was the car that the good-looking and yellow haired guys used to take me to Alice. I remembered it clearly because of the splashing colors and decorations on the bumper.

He was still around here. I started running again, frantically looking around. There was no one around here… Then I remembered what Hansoo had said before. He said he sometimes goes to the park to play basketball. Since this was a place where only offices were concentrated, there were no people in the park in the evening.

I changed direction and headed for the park, fortunately finding two groups facing each other there. I say ‘group’ but there are only two people on one side. The other side had 5 people surrounding them. Among the five, the mad dog could be seen.