Come Back

“And, how is Chuncheon these days?”

Chuncheon meant Chuncheon Prison. It was where the former president of UB Entertainment, Myung Do-hoon, was imprisoned.

For a while, Lee Hae-seong didn’t even mention Myung Do-hoon. It was to the point where it seemed like he was going to leave him in Chuncheon like this. Director Kang had secretly hoped that would happen. It wasn’t because he sympathized with Myung Do-hoon even a little bit, but because he hoped that Lee Hae-seong would be freed from that incident and his desire for revenge for the dead.

“It’s still the same. As I’ve been reporting, he is being continuously harassed by other inmates. It’s not to the point where it’s a problem, so Myung Do-hoon’s reports and complaints are not being processed.”

“Oh my, that must be hard. How much must you want to come out?”

He wiped away the beads of sweat that were dripping down his chin and glistening like a rag on his chest, but Hae-seong’s gaze was still focused on the distant mountains.

“Let’s get started.”

“……”

“Please prepare a special pardon.”

“……All right.”

There was a slight sense of anxiety in Director Kang’s expression, which seemed no different from usual. It seemed that his wish to leave Myeong Do-hoon in Chuncheon and forget about him would not come true.

Although he looked like he had a lot to say, Director Kang kept his mouth shut about what he had to say.

“If there is any further instruction…”

“Let’s take some time off.”

“yes?”

“Give me about a month. Keep it confidential and quiet.”

“……”

“So that I don’t have to go to work.”

It wasn’t difficult. Hae-seong’s work wasn’t something that had to be done by going to the office. Nevertheless, Hae-seong always went to work faithfully. His policy was that just the regular attendance of the owner family could boost the morale of the employees, and it actually worked.

This was the second time, as far as Director Kang could remember, that Lee Hae-seong had ordered such a long vacation for personal reasons. The second time after Choi Hong-seo’s death.

Lee Hae-seong, who had not been able to see Choi Hong-seo’s makeup in person even after going all the way to Bangkok, Thailand, had returned to Korea and taken a vacation, confining himself to his villa in Okcheon. So Director Kang could not help but be concerned about this order.

“You have to go to the US to get a checkup, and as Director Kang knows… isn’t your health very good? I’m thinking of letting you rest in a quiet place in the convalescent car.”

Yesterday evening, Lee Hae-seong personally carried the VIP from the parking lot to the bedroom on the third floor. The VIP’s bloodless lips were pale and her hair was wet, like someone who had been hit by rain. Director Kang personally saw her shivering as if she was suffering from severe chills or as if she was possessed by a ghost.

“Why, there is no answer?”

Director Kang answered Lee Hae-seong’s question cautiously.

“Mr. Bird was worried.”

“Me? Oh, you can’t seem to sleep? But… what does that have to do with what I just instructed you?”

As if he was tired of the sweat that kept flowing down no matter how much he wiped it, Lee Hae-seong wiped his chest and lower abdomen once more and then carelessly hung a towel on the treadmill handle.

“Director Kang, you don’t seem to like VIPs.”

“I don’t have the authority to make that judgment. I just…”

“but?”

“I am just worried because it seems like the Vice President is not taking care of his health since the VIP came to Bundang.”

“Health… what a convenient word.”

Understanding, who had been mumbling like that, stopped the treadmill. As the machine slowly slowed down and lowered the incline, Understanding wiped off the sweat with the new towel that Director Kang had handed him.

“Why, do I sound like a crazy person?”

“Vice President.”

“You asked me to investigate whether there was any intention to approach me by imitating Choi Hong-seo, and now you’re putting me in Bundang and treating me like Choi Hong-seo. Are you worried about my mental health?”

“Vice President, you are a person with clearer discernment than anyone else. I apologize if I made you feel that way.”

“Should we just call VIP Hongseo?”

“I was overstepping my bounds.”

Director Kang bowed his head politely and stepped back.

“Don’t look at that guy so displeased, Director Kang.”

Just a moment ago, the angry tone of Hae-seong suddenly softened. Hae-seong got off the treadmill and put his hand on Director Kang’s shoulder. The hand of the man, who was over 190cm tall and had a well-trained body, was as heavy as the position and duty he held.

“Director Kang is the kind of person who doesn’t want me to lose my sense of direction and standards and run wild.”

“……”

“I’m saying this because I feel like if something goes wrong with that person, it won’t end with me being locked up in a villa.”

Lee Hae-seong grabbed Director Kang’s shoulder tightly and shook it gently as if to encourage him.

“Director Kang, please pray for me to stay healthy and stay by my side for a long time.”

Hae-sung Lee walked to the shower room attached to the gym. In order not to wake Hong-seo Choi, who had been sick all night, he finished showering on the second floor and went up to the third floor. He carefully opened the door to the master bedroom. It was broad daylight, but the bedroom was dark with blackout curtains drawn. In the darkness, Tiffany raised her head and looked in this direction with sharp eyes.

Lee Hae-seong approached the bed, being careful not to make even a sound of slippers. He was wearing a bathrobe without even changing clothes and his hair was not even dried.

“……”

Choi Hong-seo was fast asleep with his face half-covered by a white blanket. Only then did Lee Hae-seong smile faintly as if he felt a little relieved, but the next moment, he narrowed his eyebrows. He bent down and placed his finger under Choi Hong-seo’s nose. Only after feeling the ticklish breath touching his index finger did he close his eyes for a moment and let out a sigh of relief.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at the tired face with its eyes and nose peeking out. Then, wanting to look at it more closely, I slowly pulled down the blanket covering its lips and lower face.

Tiffany, who had been curled up at Choi Hong-seo’s bedside and watching Lee Hae-seong, quickly got up. Meow. The guy was on alert.

“Why? I told you not to do it?”

Hae-seong lowered his voice and stroked the boy’s head.

“You don’t have to protect it from me?”

The boy turned his head as if he was annoyed and waved his forelegs to shake off Haeseong’s hand.

“I care and love you much more than you do?”

Suddenly, he felt funny saying such things to Tiffany, so Lee Hae-seong smirked while rubbing his eyebrows. What am I doing now? He pressed Director Kang, asking if he thought he was crazy, but he couldn’t deny that things had changed from before.

Tiffany walked lightly over the fluffy blanket and placed her front paw on Lee Hae-seong’s hand, which was gently pulling down the end of the blanket. It was a warning to stop.

“Even so, Hongseo is sad that you don’t follow her.”

While stroking Tiffany’s front paw placed on the back of his hand with his thumb, Hae-seong lowered his voice further.

“Do you think your butler is cute?”

Perhaps judging that the fight with Lee Hae-seong was meaningless, the guy opened his mouth wide a few times and licked his lips, then returned to Choi Hong-seo’s bedside and rolled up again. However, his gaze was still directed at Lee Hae-seong. It seemed as if he would pounce on him if he did anything stupid.

I stared at the sleeping face in the dim, light-deficient darkness without ever getting tired of it.

Why did I think this face was Yun Hye-an?

How could I not have known that it was Hongseo?

Now, in Hae-seong’s eyes, it was Choi Hong-seo without a doubt. It’s not because his facial features were the same as before. The appearance that we recognize as someone is not something like his eyes or his nose. He now knows that the unique expression and gaze that moves his facial features and gives him life are what makes him unique.

To Lee Hae-seong, the person sleeping in front of him was Choi Hong-seo, whose face had changed slightly due to an ‘unexpected accident’.

Lee Hae-seong, who was looking at his lover with eyes full of love and longing, gently stroked his lips and the area around them with the hand that was holding the end of the blanket.

“Baby, why do you keep getting sick? Huh?”

I occasionally brushed the tips of my trembling eyelashes.

“Tiffany said it wasn’t ringworm… but the spots didn’t go away.”

I got Tiffany’s fungal culture results yesterday. The hospital said Tiffany was not infected. It wasn’t ringworm.

Hae-seong deeply bowed his waist over Choi Hong-seo’s chest. He prostrated himself on top of her body as if apologizing, but he did not press on her chest, only touching the surface. Even so, he could feel the faint movement of her chest rising and falling. Choi Hong-seo was alive.

In the darkness, Lee Hae-seong raised his face from his prone position. Tiffany at the head of the bed was still staring at him. Lee Hae-seong rested his chin on the sleeping Choi Hong-seo’s chest and stretched out his arm to caress Tiffany’s face.

“You must guard Hongseo well. Don’t let it be taken away. This body belongs to Hongseo now.”

Nyaa. The guy’s answer felt somehow believable.

Lee Hae-seong stroked Choi Hong-seo’s cheek again with a faint smile.

“Hongseo, this is absolutely not a punishment. You and I have met again, so how could I punish you? This is a reward. A very big reward.”

Unlike someone who had been suffering from fever and delirium all night, Choi Hong-seo’s face was calm.

“I’m the one who gives the punishment. You did it. I’m a demigod.”

The day Lee Seo-kyung was murdered in Bangkok, Thailand. That very day.

A member of an idol group who had been unconscious for several months after jumping from Dongho Bridge miraculously regained consciousness.

At the time, I didn’t know, and even if I had known, I wouldn’t have paid attention to it. But I was aware of it now. That idol member was ‘Yoon Hye-an’.

On the day that Lee Seo-kyung was killed, Lee Hae-seong no longer thought it was a coincidence that Choi Hong-seo opened his eyes in Yoon Hye-an’s body.

And there was still one more human who deserved to die.

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