The Country Life Diary of a Gangster's Secretary - c84

 

〈Sigh.〉

 

The man who was throwing punches at a tremendous speed suddenly stopped his hand in midair at Hyeseong’s words. Unfortunately, Baek-do had already lost consciousness by then. 

 

〈Since you’re hurt, could I borrow some ointment?〉

 

Hyeseong gulped and met the eyes of Ihyeok, who was approaching with hollow eyes and looking down at him.

 

〈Get in the car. I’ll take you to the hospital.〉

 

Ihyeok dusted off his hands and grabbed Hyeseong’s wrist, leading him away. Hyeseong didn’t move, perhaps instinctively scared by Ihyeok’s still enraged appearance.  

 

〈Why. Are you hurting? Should I call an ambulance? Huh?〉

 

Hyeseong slowly shook his head. The injury wasn’t serious enough to warrant that. If they called an ambulance now, the person who should be riding in it was Baek-do, not himself.

 

〈I want to go to the office. I don’t need to go to the hospital. Really.〉

 

Perhaps reading the earnestness in Hyeseong’s eyes, Ihyeok’s breathing gradually returned to an even rhythm. After telling Unyeong to take care of Baek-do, he took Hyeseong and went up to the office. 

 

Entering, he sat Hyeseong on the sofa and immediately rummaged through the shelves. Ironically, the gangster office had a well-stocked first-aid kit.

 

〈Give me your hand.〉

 

Ihyeok placed the kit on the table and knelt down in front of Hyeseong. Even though his usually neat and tidy pants were crumpled haphazardly, Ihyeok paid no attention. His eyes only saw Hyeseong’s wound.

 

〈I can do it myself.〉  

 

〈Don’t be a smartass. I’m in a really shitty mood right now.〉

 

The sharp tone and manner of speaking. It was the first time he had cursed like that in front of Hyeseong. Looking a little crestfallen, Hyeseong held out his hand.

 

Ihyeok deftly dipped a cotton swab in ointment and applied it to the back of Hyeseong’s hand. It was on a completely different level from when he was hitting his gang member earlier. Careful and tender.

 

Hyeseong glanced at Ihyeok’s face, focused on holding his hand and applying the medicine. His brow was deeply furrowed, but his expression was different from when he was angry at Baek-do. 

 

He looked irritated, and also, somewhat hurt.  

 

And foolishly, unaware of the stinging pain, Hyeseong’s heart was pounding.

 

〈Does it hurt?〉

 

〈No. I have delicate skin. So even a slight graze easily leaves a wound. It just looks worse than it is. It’s really nothing.〉

 

〈How is getting cut by a knife nothing.〉

 

Says the gangster himself. Hyeseong muttered inwardly. 

 

Ihyeok carefully applied a large bandage as the finishing touch.

 

〈It’s not Uncle Baek-do’s fault that I got hurt.〉

 

Ihyeok lifted his head, finished with the treatment. Their gazes met at eye level in that moment.

 

〈I know.〉

 

〈Then why did you do that?〉

 

〈Because it’s his fault for not doing his job right.〉

 

〈I’m the one who came when you told me not to.〉

 

Silence descended between them after those words.  

 

Along with feeling sorry towards Baek-do, Hyeseong felt like he had inconvenienced them and was walking on eggshells. He should have listened when Ihyeok told him not to come. He should have just gone straight home and slept obediently. He couldn’t avoid being scolded.

 

Ihyeok was still looking at Hyeseong with a subdued expression, his thoughts unknown.

 

〈No. If you think about it, it’s my fault.〉

 

Ihyeok’s large hand gently stroked Hyeseong’s hair.

 

〈How can it be your fault, Ahjussi?〉 

 

〈Because I was in the middle of scheming to get you to join Taesung.〉

 

〈……〉

 

〈I made you run pointless errands and gave you money. I made you get attached to the guys. I made you keep coming here. Because I needed you.〉

 

Hyeseong clenched his fists tightly. The old, worn leather sofa sank under his grip. To an outsider, those words might sound like a sweet confession of love, but Hyeseong was smart and quick-witted. 

 

He knew what Ihyeok was saying and why he said he wanted him. 

 

That man had never once hidden his ambition for success. His eyes that held a certain goal always sparkled from any angle. Hyeseong liked even that side of Ihyeok.

 

〈I didn’t know it would lead to a result like this.〉

 

The back of the hand with the large bandage, the wound left on the white, fragile hand that had only ever held a pencil its whole life.

 

Feeling guilty for inflicting undeserved pain, Ihyeok was experiencing the sensation of falling into an abyss he had never imagined.

 

Until now, he had only thought of somehow getting Hyeseong to join Taesung. 

 

But this was a den of gangsters, and what Ihyeok was doing wasn’t exactly honorable either. With the singular thought of reaching his dreamed goal and succeeding, he had long ago thrown away his conscience and guilt as a human being while rationalizing his illegal activities. 

 

And yet, to think he was trying to drag that boy, with a bright future and infinite potential ahead of him, into this dirty world. Why did he do that? Why did he want to keep Hyeseong in this dangerous place?

 

Was it because he wanted him by his side?

 

Blinded by success, he had nearly done something unforgivable. He felt like trash for trying to use Hyeseong as a tool to achieve his goals.

 

〈Hyeseong, don’t come here anymore. You don’t need to run errands anymore. I’ll support you until you graduate. Don’t worry about money.〉

 

〈Why? Who are you to support me? Why are you giving me money when I’m not even working?〉

 

It should have been a somewhat shocking statement, but strangely Hyeseong remained calm.

 

〈You get money for working. That’s the order of things.〉

 

〈Hyeseong.〉

 

〈Ahjussi, I came here because I wanted to. You didn’t make me do that.〉

 

He liked coming here to see Ihyeok, liked seeing him strive towards the light, towards higher places even in the darkness. Others might call him a fool blinded by love who can’t even distinguish dangerous things, but he didn’t care.

 

〈I want to see how far you can climb. If you want, I’ll help you.〉

 

Hyeseong wanted to stay by this man’s side. He wanted to see how far he would go, what kind of future he would create. And he was willing to help him do that.

 

Because during the most unstable and lonely time in his life, Ihyeok had been like a father and brother to him, and a precious person who gifted him with the noble emotion called love. 

 

〈After getting hurt today, you still haven’t learned anything? Why are you so fearless…〉

 

〈Then keep protecting me. You said you needed me. Use me.〉

 

Taken aback by the bold reply, Ihyeok was at a loss for words. Did this kid have no fear at all? Or was he saying that because he was still naive to the ways of the world?

 

〈Of course, I’ll receive proper compensation, and if things look hopeless here, I’ll leave right away though.〉

 

Ha, in the end Ihyeok let out a dumbfounded laugh.

 

The tension he had felt from the moment he realized Hyeseong was gone instantly dissipated and Ihyeok regained his composure.  

 

Their gazes intersected in the air. The quality of their eyes as they looked at each other was clearly different, but one thing was the same.

 

Cheon Hyeseong and Kwon Ihyeok trusted each other.  

 

That was the starting point of the immense trust that had defined their relationship until now.

 

* * *

 

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

 

The cold sensation returned to his forehead. Through the blurry image of the icepack, he could still see Ihyeok with his unrelenting expression. The him that was clearly different from back then.

 

His face had barely changed, but the aura surrounding the person named Kwon Ihyeok was incomparably different from 6 years ago.  

 

Back then, he had a strong sense of being completely raw. If in the past he was a beast recklessly running through the fields, hunting prey regardless of whether they were weak or strong, now he was a refined leader quietly lurking at the top of the food chain.

 

“Nothing much.”

 

On that day, along with the cut on the back of his hand, Hyeseong had bet everything on that man. In reality, that choice wasn’t wrong. Kwon Ihyeok had truly risen from being the leader of a gang operating out of a shabby back-alley office to the CEO of a solid company.  

 

If not for that wound, Hyeseong might not have been able to see all of his facets. Both the gangster Kwon Ihyeok who beat a man half to death, and the warm Kwon Ihyeok who fretted helplessly over a small cut.

 

Perhaps it was because he had seen both his dark side and his not-so-dark side that Hyeseong was able to resolve to accept such a person and raise him to greater heights.  

 

“I’m really okay now.”

 

In the end, the reality was that he had left that person while keeping all sorts of secrets. His past self probably wouldn’t have known. How the feelings he never doubted would be unshakable would reach a certain conclusion 6 years later.

 

“Hey Ahjussi.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“By any chance… the new secretary…”

 

As the past of working by his side quickly flashed by, the vacated position naturally came to mind. Even while thinking he shouldn’t be interested, contradictory curiosities kept popping up.

 

“Wait a sec, Hyeseong.”

 

A faint vibrating sound rang out. Ihyeok took out his cell phone from his pocket. Hyeseong unintentionally glanced at the screen where an unfamiliar name appeared.

 

[Taesung – Secretary Yoo]

 

Secretary Yoo? An unknown surname.

 

Hyeseong knew instinctively. That the person to replace him had finally appeared.  

 

Ihyeok said he would take the call and stepped away from him.

 

Now he even takes work calls somewhere else. Watching Ihyeok’s broad back, Hyeseong kept recalling it. The determined resolution that held lofty ambitions when he bet his life on the person named Kwon Ihyeok and the traces of those years.

 

Those memories that slowly faded and were now labeled as reminiscence.