I’m Not That Obsessive

Chapter 40

“What?”

“No, no. I mean, do you have feelings like wanting to take care of someone with utmost devotion or wanting to grasp all aspects of their life and make them yours?”

It was like he was describing himself. Feeling awkward, Geon-woo chuckled and tilted his head to the side. His cheek briefly touched Mitchell’s arm before pulling away.

“I don’t have anything like that, you just annoy me.”

“Ah! So it is similar to me. You annoy me too.”

Mitchell used “annoying” negatively, but Geon-woo took it positively. Either way, it meant the same thing – that they were aware of each other’s presence.

“I’ll fill that void for you well. Just follow me! You just need to stay by my side. Then you’ll never be lonely.”

With a grin, Geon-woo smiled with his characteristic confident expression and went into the gym.

Mitchell stared at the door Geon-woo had entered, not even starting the car.

“You’re a bit loose.”

Mitchell chuckled briefly, then fumbled around where Geon-woo had been sitting before taking out a phone from a bag in the back of the car. It was Mitchell’s second phone that Geon-woo hadn’t seen.

He found and played a video of Geon-woo naked.

“I won’t tell anyone about what I saw today. If I break this promise, you can upload this video to the internet or whatever…”

As Geon-woo’s voice came through, Mitchell finally turned the steering wheel. It was the voice he listened to every time he drove alone in the car. He couldn’t watch the screen while driving, but he had heard the voice countless times, enough to memorize it.

The video wasn’t long, so he had to press play each time. He had done it so many times that he could bring Geon-woo in front of him with just a flick of his finger, without even looking directly.

He could have set it to repeat, but he deliberately didn’t. Willingly enduring the effort of bringing Geon-woo before him, Mitchell muttered.

“You’re too loose with your words, making people excited.”

Geon-woo’s voice filled the car, covering Mitchell’s soliloquy. He was no longer alone. Finally at peace, he quickly headed towards the filming location.

***

“Mark, what brings you here?”

Mitchell lightly hugged the unexpected visitor who had come to the filming location without notice. Though his greeting was gruff, his face wore a smile.

“Do you have a moment?”

Mark was a journalist for “The Show” magazine, who had become acquainted with Mitchell after writing several articles about him, and they gradually became closer.

They had fought over fabricated articles Mark had published about Mitchell, and conversely, Mark had helped Mitchell when he was in trouble by writing good articles that could change public opinion. Now they had become close friends who casually called each other when bored.

“Yeah, now is fine.”

Mitchell led Mark to a suitable spot. After handing him a canned drink, Mark drank half of it in one go before getting to the point.

“I’m planning a special article this time.”

“What about?”

“Celebrity stalkers.”

“Want to hear about my experiences?”

“Yeah.”

“You already know everything.”

“What about other things? I won’t say it’s your experience, so tell me everything you know. Even if it’s from long ago.”

“Hmm. There is someone persistently sticking to me right now.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah.”

“See! There is someone. Who is it?”

Mitchell just smiled. If he called Geon-woo a stalker, he would surely throw a fit. Wasn’t he the type to get upset even at the word obsession?

Moreover, Geon-woo had explained his situation to Mitchell in as much detail as possible. Typical stalkers don’t ask for understanding from their targets. While his actions are comparable to stalking, strictly speaking, he’s not a stalker. Mitchell had just thought of Geon-woo as if playing a mischievous prank.

“Come on, tell me. Or at least give me some details like appearance, age, or characteristics. Give me some sources.”

“An Asian man.”

“An Asian man? Ah, that might… some people might see that as racial discrimination. Anything else?”

“He’s handsome and has a good body. The popular type. Completely normal.”

“That’s how it is, right? People who do weird things, they look completely normal on the outside. What else?”

Mark pushed up his glasses and widened his eyes.

“Forget about my story. Go see Lydia. She knows some crazy guy.”

“A crazy guy?”

“Yeah. That might be more useful than me.”

“Alright.”

As Mitchell stood up, Mark also rose. Mitchell started talking about something he suddenly remembered as he walked towards the filming location.

“Aren’t you going to take the golf bag from my house?”

“Ah, right.”

“Take it soon. I’m planning to throw it away soon.”

“Come on, you don’t have to go that far.”

“The house door is open, so take it even today.”

“You still haven’t fixed your door? What about the doorbell?”

Mark had been to a party at Mitchell’s house a few months ago. It was broken then, and it seemed it still hadn’t been repaired.

“No one’s going to come into the house anyway since the driveway is blocked.”

“But Seimon got in! That serial killer! This guy has no fear?”

“That was because someone who didn’t know better let him in.”

“Even so, in a house with no one…”

“Just take it today. If not, I’m really throwing it away. How many months has it been?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll leave right after talking with Lydia. Happy?”

“Okay. See you later.”

Even though the filming hadn’t even started, Mitchell disappeared, making the excuse that he was busy. He kept looking at his phone as if waiting for a call. Perhaps he had a meeting with a company scheduled.

Mark, making a rough guess, had a brief conversation with Lydia before leaving the filming location. Since it wasn’t a formal interview, he couldn’t take too much time and didn’t get into detailed conversation.

Mark went straight to Mitchell’s house and called him at the iron gate. When the huge gate opened, he drove in familiarly.

Mitchell’s front door was indeed open. Grumbling about the lack of safety awareness, he loaded the golf bag into his trunk.

After finishing his business, as he was returning to the company passing through the iron gate, he suddenly remembered the Boston bag he had left behind. Thinking he should take that too, he had only taken the golf bag. Inside the Boston bag were golf shoes that were almost new, having been worn only a few times. Mark grumbled as he turned the car around.

It was when he reached the iron gate again. Mark saw a man lingering in front of the gate. He was Asian.

For a moment, Mark thought of Mitchell’s stalker.

“No way…”

A few years ago, hate crimes against Asians had been rampant in this area. There was even an incident where an indiscriminate shooting occurred at a store operated by Asians, resulting in the loss of over a dozen lives.

There were hardly any Asians in this area to begin with, and after that incident, they had completely disappeared. So it was quite surprising to Mark that Geon-woo Bae, a Korean movie actor, had settled here.

An uncommon Asian was lingering in front of Mitchell’s house in such a neighborhood.

Could he be an acquaintance of Geon-woo Bae?

Just as he was about to get out of the car after slowly reducing speed, the Asian man made a phone call to somewhere.

Mark suddenly got goosebumps. A call was coming in from an unknown number. The timing was uncanny. Hesitating, Mark answered the phone.

– Hel, lo. Mark?

What?

The person who made the call was the Asian man in front of him. The man held out his phone.

[I know Mitchell’s secret.]

It was a sentence translated into English.

Mark had received a call from his friend, Smith, just yesterday. It was a contact saying there was someone who wanted to report an incident and to meet them. The man in front of him had called Mark after being introduced by Smith.

He was planning to meet him anyway, but it was bewildering to encounter him by chance in a place like this. Why here of all places? He soon found out the reason for the uneasy feeling.

[First, let me introduce myself. I’m the older brother of Geon-woo, who lives next door to Mitchell. You know him, right? Geon-woo Bae. The Korean movie actor who caught the serial killer. Anyway, I’m here briefly to see my younger brother.]

“Ah…”

The man who identified himself as Geon-woo Bae’s older brother had a similar build to his brother and his face slightly resembled him. While the atmosphere was clearly different, someone who wasn’t observant might not be able to distinguish between the two brothers.

In any case, Mark was glad that he could take care of both the golf bag and the request from a troublesome acquaintance at once. Moreover, the man in front of him opened with quite an interesting story.

[Nice to meet you. But what is Mitchell’s secret?]

Mark attempted to converse through the translation app on his phone, just like the man. As he happened to be in a large van, they conducted the interview in the spacious back seat. Although the conversation was slow due to using the translation app, it wasn’t unbearably so.

With the man’s consent, he also recorded, adjusting it so that the phone screen where the conversation was taking place was captured better than the face. The face would be mosaiced anyway.

[Mitchell is a homosexual who likes men. Mitchell sexually harassed me.]

Mark couldn’t close his mouth after seeing the sentence.