5.
Where is there a salaryman, like an actor’s profile photo, who commutes to Yeouido every day?
I thought so in my heart, but in reality, I couldn’t say anything. He was someone so socially impressive, someone who, in Choi Hong-seo’s opinion, could do anything he wanted in the world, and had a solid build despite being twelve years older. Yet his shy demeanor was somewhat cute. My lips tickled for no reason. Even so, instead of laughing, I only bit my lip.
Was it just because I was shy, unfamiliar, or lacked the courage… Those were the only reasons I couldn’t say what I wanted to him?
This time, my heart, which was pounding fast, suddenly began to pump more blood at once. Peeling off the skin of my lips with my fingers, I touched on related news under his profile.
The title of today’s news caught my eye first.
Vice President Lee Hae-sung departs for Canada tomorrow… Expected results from North American business trip
The article I clicked on included a photo of him giving a brief press conference at the airport before a past business trip.
Lee Hae-sung was one of the least exposed executives, despite being the most well-known in South Korea. This was in contrast to the Hanseo Group family, led by his cousins, who were also third-generation managers. Although the Hanseo Group siblings did not enjoy media exposure, they did not strongly prevent the sharing of their private actions. On the other hand, Lee Hae-sung was so reserved in management that some called it ‘mysticism.’
Few people knew that Lee Hae-sung, who was expected to lead ARA Electronics and eventually the ARA Group, was a movie enthusiast and had privately funded the production of several films independent of ARA’s capital. But that was hardly a secret.
What was unknown to the public was his enormous collection of cameras and his enjoyment of photography, to the extent that he had secretly held several exhibitions under a pseudonym. Only his personal secretary and Choi Hong-seo knew this top-secret information.
This was his only breathing space where he could exist solely as the human Lee Hae-sung, free from roles and duties.
Scrolling up the past with trembling fingers, Choi Hong-seo saw:
Vice President Lee Hae-sung leaves urgently for Bangkok, Thailand… Why?
Vice President Lee Hae-sung returns looking gaunt
Lee Hae-sung drives himself to the villa on leave, raising concerns about his health
Scattered among the news related to ARA Electronics, a few articles caught Choi Hong-seo’s gaze. All these dates pointed to the time right after he jumped from the 32nd floor in Bangkok.
So he went to Bangkok… Choi Hong-seo’s hand, which had been peeling his lips, stopped. His eyes, reading the articles one by one, trembled fiercely.
Immediately after Choi Hong-seo jumped, Lee Hae-sung hurriedly left for Bangkok, and it definitely wasn’t for an official ARA-related schedule. Therefore, it’s not necessarily a wild imagination to think his sudden departure was due to Choi Hong-seo’s accident.
So… What happened after that?
What happened to our relationship?
Did he feel disappointed that I did such a thing? Was it because he found out the whole truth about the X scandal and completely lost all affection for me?
So, since there’s no future between us anymore…
The image of him gripping the steering wheel and leaving the Seocho-dong parking lot was not clear. It was taken at night, and the tinted windows made it difficult to see.
Even so, it was good. His face, which always showed a gentle and kind expression, looked sharp and sensitive, almost like a different person, but it was nice to see a living, breathing version of him in this world.
But it’s all over now.
His gentleness, kindness, cautiousness, and secrets, none of it belonged to me anymore. I had returned it all to him with my own hands. Or maybe from his perspective, he might believe I cruelly discarded everything he valued and shared with me when I stood on the 32nd floor and threw it all away like garbage.
Not just his fingers, but Choi Hong-seo’s entire body began shaking violently.
He felt nauseous. Even though he had been instructed to call immediately if there were any issues, he couldn’t wait for the nurse. He ran to the bathroom in the private hospital room. While he could walk slowly, running was still difficult. He barely managed to reach the restroom, almost crawling as his knees buckled several times.
All he had consumed was a few sips of water, but Choi Hong-seo vomited up yellow liquid of unknown origin.
Barely standing up from in front of the toilet, he held onto the edge of the sink. He wiped his lips with his wet hand and unintentionally met his own gaze in the mirror.
……
Water kept pouring from the faucet, but Choi Hong-seo could not even scream.
People who came to visit and spoke to him kindly felt alien, but that was nothing.
Compared to the unfamiliar face in the mirror.
@
It was the end of midsummer.
While it was still technically summer season, it felt less scorching than the peak of the hot season.
Lee Hae-sung was sitting in a single seat by the window, staring at his tablet screen. A cigarette hung from his fingers, and pale smoke slowly curled up.
Living alternately between his homes in Bundang and Seocho-dong, he had recently moved his residence to this place, a mansion in Hannam-dong. Though it was his property, he had always leased it out and never actually lived there.
This was also the place where Hong-seo had last stayed with his group members.
Because of the “incident,” he couldn’t bring himself to lease it out and had stayed away from it for a long time.
Lee Hae-sung had left it untouched, as if preserving the traces of Choi Hong-seo frozen in time.
Confirming Hong-seo’s traces meant confirming his absence, so living here always brought back pain.
However, he decided not to force himself to forget anymore. He had tried enough and realized that efforts to forget someone were as futile as trying not to love someone.
Rather than struggle to forget, it was better to indulge in the longing within those traces. Longing persisted even while trying to forget.
Fixing his gaze on the news on his tablet, Lee Hae-sung tapped the ashes into the ashtray.
The articles he was thoroughly reading concerned his cousin, Lee Seo-gyeong’s death.
Everything started with the “X scandal.” That was the detonator.
The scandal alleging that male idol-turned-actor X was previously a host bar gigolo and continued to procure jobs through sexual favors post-debut, fueled by provocative content, had spread rapidly from entertainment channels on video-sharing sites.
Several individuals were suspected to be X, and in the process, a certain actor who was cornered as X attempted suicide. Fortunately, he survived, but some of the public’s frenzy did not subside.
Meanwhile, the case reached a new turn.
The revelation that X had been exploited and coerced by a pimp, who turned out to be none other than the representative of X’s current agency.
As UB Entertainment’s president Myung Do-hoon, who represented Choi Hong-seo’s agency, was identified as the pimp, the web quickly pointed to Choi Hong-seo as X.
Barely hours after Myung was arrested at the airport while attempting to flee abroad, Choi Hong-seo, who was in Bangkok for a schedule, jumped to his death.
At the pinnacle of the exploitative pyramid behind the “X scandal” was none other than Lee Seo-gyeong from the Hanseo Group.
To prosecute Lee Seo-gyeong and bring him to court, Lee Hae-sung had teamed up with his longtime adversary, Lee Han, Seo-gyeong’s brother. With a deep personal grudge against Seo-gyeong, Lee Han had proposed personal retribution to Hae-sung.
“You’ve never thought about cutting off a limb or two? Dragging him up to the same height where that person had to jump from and pushing him off repeatedly? Really, you’ve never?”
“If such a thing happened to someone I loved, I… wouldn’t be satisfied with just serving prison time or having assets forfeited. Legal punishment alone wouldn’t be enough for me.”
At that time, Lee Hae-sung had declined Lee Han’s proposal.
However, he later changed his mind.
It became evident that Lee Seo-gyeong had maliciously instigated the “X scandal” and played a significant role in shaping Choi Hong-seo into “X” from the beginning.
Lee Seo-gyeong should never have harmed Choi Hong-seo.
