Unscented Trajectory - Chapter 13

13

Haejun tilted his head at the immediate answer.

“You need money, right? When you are next to hyung, there is a lot of risk and it takes effort to do annoying things. I’ll give you plenty of money and give you frequent vacations, so come to me.”

“Again, I will decline.”

Haejun frowned and made a face that he didn’t understand.

“Do you need anything more than money? Tell me. If it’s something I can do, I’ll do my best to match it.”

“I don’t think there is anything you can match.”

Yihyeon got up from his seat without any regrets.

“I’m sorry if you wanted to meet me for such talks. It doesn’t seem like a good fit for me.”

As he was about to turn around and leave, Haejun grabbed his arm.

“It’s more urgent than it looks.”

He pulled him with strong force and sat him back on the chair. Then he put both hands on his shoulders and smiled brightly.

“How can I get you to come over?”

“No matter what you say, there is nothing you can do.”

At the resolute words, the smile on Haejun’s lips disappeared at once. The surrounding air suddenly turned cold.

“You are stubborn.”

Haejun’s hand touched Yihyeon’s cheek. His warmth moved through his cool hands.

“I mean. I really like pretty Omegas.”

Haejun’s cold eyes caught Yihyeon’s gaze, and his hand caressed his soft cheek.

“When those people cry under me, it’s so pretty. The sweet smell that comes out every time makes people go crazy, and it’s only for that moment, because afterward, it’s too sweet and you get tired of it. That’s why I don’t really like sweets these days.”

Haejun grabbed his chin and lifted his face slightly and started to bring his lips closer.

“I’d rather have beta without any scent.”

Their lips got closer and closer, so that their breaths touched each other.

Yihyeon, who was quietly keeping his mouth shut, opened his mouth.

“I think this is enough.”

Haejun’s movements stopped for a moment. A small mechanical beep was heard right next to his ear. The sound was heard once more by Yihyeon’s hand.

-drink.

Haejun lowered his hand that touched Yihyeon’s cheek at a voice that was clearly his.

-why? Do you think it was poisoned?

At the next words, he smiled and stepped back. He saw Yihyeon holding a small square machine the length of a little finger. The machine had two tapes attached to it, and it was in tatters as if it had fallen off from something it had been secured to.

– I do not eat or drink food provided by others while working.

Even Yihyeon’s clear voice was perfectly contained.

Yihyeon stopped the recorded voice by pressing the button on the machine and put it on the table.

“Even if you don’t have to record like this, don’t worry, I won’t betray Executive Director Lee Joohyuk.”

“… How did you know?”

Haejun had a completely different face than before. Previously, it seemed like he was plotting something behind his smiling face, but now he has a face without a single smile with sharp eyes that seem to see through the essence of the other person.

When he entered this room, Yihyeon’s gaze reached the square tape recorder installed under the table, and then fell.

“It’s just a kind of occupational disease, and it’s not really your fault.”

It was thanks to the keen observational power that he developed while attached to Joohyuk. With that, Joohyuk can be fully cared for and he can prevent minor accidents in advance.

As soon as he entered the room, he looked inside. A quick glance revealed no suspicious object in a conspicuous place.

Haejun sat him at the table and only talked there. When Yihyeon left his seat, he did not continue talking until he sat back in the chair.

At that point, he knew that Haejun was recording the conversation. There was a 50/50 chance that the location of the recorder was near the table or Haejun. When he first fumbled under the table, as expected, there was a recorder installed.

Haejun was also recording, but more than that, he was more curious as to why Yihyeon thought of himself as ‘Lee Joohyuk’s person’.

“How did you know that I was in contact with Joohyuk?”

“You made a mistake during the conversation.”

“A mistake?”

He didn’t know he made a mistake even when he tried to think about it. He thought he said as little as possible like a person who really wanted to cover up, but where was the loophole?

“Only me and Executive Director Lee Joohyuk know about the amount of my penalty.”

“I never mentioned how much Kwon Yihyeon received…Ah… !”

Haejoon let out a belated sigh.

“I heard that you have a contract with hyung. The amount of the penalty is a bit large, but I will pay you twice the annual salary you were supposed to receive and pay for the penalty aswell. Come under me”

He realized later that he had been caught because he said ‘the amount of the penalty is a bit large’. It was said because he knew how much the penalty was for Yihyeon’s breach of contract. Therefore, that part was a passage that made it immediately clear that Haejun was in contact with Joohyuk. It was surprising that Joohyuk shared that part with Haejun.

Haejun sat down on the opposite chair with a bitter face.

‘It’s a mistake, I underestimated him.’

Without realizing it, it seems that the other person was focused on being a ‘bodyguard’. He was overlooking the fact that Kwon Yihyeon was smart enough to start working as a secretary shortly after becoming Joohyuk’s bodyguard, and he was quick-witted.

“I didn’t know it would be so vain, but…Well, first of all, that’s right. I’m holding hands with Joohyuk hyung.”

He crossed his arms and tilted his head. Still, his gaze was fixed on Yihyeon and did not move.

“It’s not because we’re brothers, or because we’re affectionate. We just held hands for the sake of each other’s interests.”

He knew right away that they were not blood-related brothers anyway. According to his mother, he was the son of Lee Jeongho. Even after becoming an adult, he thought that it was the case, and when he got to the position of an executive at a company under the Shinwoo group, he was just calm.

Joohyuk approached Haejun and held out an envelope. There was evidence that he was a stranger who had no blood connection with Lee Jeongho. He tore it up saying he couldn’t believe it, but that didn’t change the truth. He had a person check it out, and he even went to the hospital to test it himself. The result was that the document Joohyuk showed was the ‘truth’.

Joohyuk made a sweet proposal to Haejun, who was desperate.

As the third son of the Shinwoo group, he would be given all the benefits, so he was asked to become his spy.

It was a pretty good proposal for Haejun, who prioritized certain causal relationships and interests rather than ‘affection’ between people.

It was much better to be in Joohyuk’s side, who said that he would make him a younger brother, rather than Sihoon, who was insecure as he was not a biological son.

Lee Sihoon, who had been holding Joohyuk in check early, seemed to think that Haejun, who was born to the same mother, was of course by his side. Haejoon was attached to him to make him think like that, but Sihoon didn’t seem suspicious of him at all.

Haejun held hands with Joohyuk. to secure their future.

Joohyuk didn’t ask for much from Haejun. Even if Sihoon or his mother tried to use someone to put Joohyuk in trouble, there was no need to report it unless it was too dangerous. Joohyuk was able to solve it on his own without any help, and there was nothing he could do to the extent that Haejun, who held his hand, was uncomfortable. Sometimes, when Sihoon was working behind the scenes for work, all he did was give a hint.

Joohyuk, in Haejun’s eyes, was always confident and cold, and he didn’t need anyone’s help. To be exact, he didn’t need it. As with Haejun, keeping the contract tied up was just one of the defenses just in case.

But Joohyuk kept another person he had tied up with a contract by his side. Even when it comes to protecting himself, Joohyuk was constantly suspicious of his opponents and kept a distance, but he entrusted Yihyeon with 24-hour security. In addition, it was said that he gave him the vacant position of a secretary. They did not know each other for a long time, but he was someone who accidentally saved him.

“We are not in a relationship to confide in each other. However, since I was on the same boat, I thought I had to sort out the elements that could be dangerous to Joohyuk in advance. So I did some testing.”

The word ‘test’ may sound unpleasant, but Yihyeon still sat calmly with an expressionless face. Haejun shrugged and added.

“If you fall for something like this easily, there is no meaning in signing a contract with a large sum of money.”

It was as Haejun said. The reason that Joohyuk set Yihyeon’s annual salary and penalty high from the beginning was to prevent that in part. If one thought that he was just a bodyguard and tried to buy him with a reasonable amount of money, Yihyeon cut them off like a knife.

In fact, Yihyeon received quite a lot of calls from those who wanted to scout him. He was always an obedient and loyal bodyguard, and he was very talented. Even if any number of bodyguards rushed in, he quickly subdued them with his slender body, and his job as a secretary was perfect. Even his appearance was attractive, so taking him wherever one went, it becomes a beautiful sight, which makes one want it even more.

However, Yihyeon refused to properly listen to the conditions they were proposing. There were people who said several times as much as Haejun did, but when he asked how much they had guessed, they always brought in a significantly smaller amount. The amount written in the contract with Joohyuk was huge.

‘I’m not going to go no matter how much you call.’

The reason he is attached to Joohyuk was to keep the ‘covenant’, never because of money.

Haejun drank the already lukewarm coffee and added.

“I thought it would be better to get things sorted out now, as long as people with a lot of money ask for a penalty or raise their salary. Because Sihoon hyung is looking at you.”

“I have no intention of leaving Executive Director Joohyuk within the contract period.”

“Fortunately, you are a person who prioritizes contracts over money.”

Haejun, who smiled, suddenly tightened his eyes and glared at him.

“But I still don’t trust you. Maybe you said that because you knew that I was holding hands with hyung.”

Yihyeon was expecting Haejun to not trust him easily. From what he found out, he was suspicious and cautious in everything he did, and he was a person who decidedly put his own profit and loss first.

“What should I do if Joohyuk is wrong because of Kwon Yihyeon? My neck is hanging too.”

Again, rather than worrying about Joohyuk, he was worried about his own neck first.

Yihyeon, who was sitting still, suddenly put his hand into the inner pocket of the suit jacket. He took out his cell phone, opened a screen, and handed it to Haejun. Haejun, who was looking at the phone and Yihyeon alternately, received it and scanned the contents. Soon his face hardened and his eyes widened.

“I know that Lee Haejun did not inherit the blood of Chairman Shinwoo.”

Haejun raised his hard face and looked at him. Only Joohyuk, himself, and Ahn Seohee, the mother who gave birth to him, would know that fact, but how does the bodyguard in front of him know?

“You must have been worried because you didn’t know when that fact would catch your foot. So you came in case things go wrong.”

Haejun’s hand holding the cell phone trembled. He lowered his eyes and fixed his gaze on the document exposed on the phone’s screen. On the top line of the document, the title ‘Confirmation of the embezzlement of Shinwoo Department Store’ was written. Haejun, who was sitting in the executive seat of Shinwoo Department Store, had nothing to do with this story.

“In addition to what you are seeing now, we have secured testimony that you have secrets obtained by sleeping with Omegas from famous backgrounds.”

Haejun was a man who knew how to effectively deal with his alpha pheromone, and he heard rumors that his sleeping technique was great. With those two and an Omega’s heat cycle, it wouldn’t have been difficult to coax them in bed.

Haejun twisted his hard eyes and glared at Yihyeon.

“If things go awry, you must have thought of throwing away Lee Joohyuk and the Shinwoo group. You must have thought about how to collaborate with other places outside of the country using those secrets… And vice versa, of course.”

Haejun felt his mouth dry out. He thought he was a bodyguard who hung his neck with money, but it seemed that he saw it wrong. Does he know that he secured not only other company’s secrets, but also Shinwoo group’s secrets?

“… Are you going to threaten me?”

If that was the case, it could be said that it was successful. Because Haejun was already weighing Yihyeon and Joohyuk in his head.

“It’s not a threat.”

Haejun’s anxious face was contained in Yihyeon’s deep, clear eyes without any ripples.

“I have a suggestion for you.”

* * *

After the conversation with Haejun, Yihyeon headed to the parking lot of the mansion and stopped tall when he saw a car in the distance.

Watching Joohyuk smoking a cigarette while leaning against the back seat door, his heart was strangely heavy.

Dark night sky, black vehicle, black clothes and black smoke.

It was all dark and black wrapped around Joohyuk.

Same as that day

On a dark night with no stars visible, the image of a young boy caught in a black van was still shimmering in front of his eyes. He ran desperately and hung on something like a ladder in the back of the van, and he had to tighten his hands to keep from falling. Rather than thinking that if he fell, he would get hurt, he had an intuition that if he lost it like this, he would never see him again.

The vehicle digging into the dark mountains soon came to a halt, and in front of it was a shabby mountain hut with few lights. Five men, dressed in black, dragged the lost boy inside. They took a break and peered through the window. The boy was roughly tied up and some kind of injection was given. Then they threw him into the shed in the corner of the hut.

All the men in the hut were smokers. They smoked a smoky cigarette, and the dim light was quickly obscured by smoke.

Why does he remember the events of that day?

Yihyeon, who struggled to shake off the past that had changed his fate, moved to Joohyuk. Joohyuk, who recognized this, frowned angrily and flicked the cigarette out with his finger. The tip of the cigarette, which had been burning well until then, disappeared with the embers.

“Why did you go in and out of the mansion? Didn’t you hear me tell you to wait in the car?”

He approached Joohyuk and bowed his back.

“I’m sorry.”

As Joohyuk was annoyed and was about to say something else, another voice came from behind Yihyeon.

“Don’t say anything, hyung. I called him for tea.”

Haejun, who followed soon after, smiled brightly at Joohyuk. Yihyeon, who straightened his back and turned around, made eye contact, but Haejun didn’t say anything except for the corners of his eyes.

Joohyuk looked at Haejun for a moment and got into the car without saying a word. Yihyeon bowed his head to Haejun, then went back to the driver’s seat and got into the car.

Joohyuk’s car quickly drove out of the mansion. The smile gradually disappeared from Haejun’s face as he saw them off. In his head, the last words Yihyeon said to him were floating around.

“Please think carefully before contacting us.”

He had to think about it carefully before sleeping.

He has two hands, so it wouldn’t matter if he held one in each hand. Looked like the way to go anyway.

Returning to the mansion, Haejun took out his cell phone and called somewhere.

“This is Lee Haejun. They told me to contact you here to join hands.”

* * *

Arriving at the penthouse, Joohyuk sent all the bodyguards out of the house. He grabbed Yihyeon’s arm painfully and started asking questions.

“What did you do with Lee Haejun?”

His arm was sore, but he answered as if nothing was wrong.

“It wasn’t much.”

Joohyuk’s brow furrowed.

“It wasn’t much?”

He grinned and twisted his face.

“There’s no way he could have called for a cup of tea with a guy he liked.”

Yihyeon knew that Joohyuk was misunderstanding something. He thought it might be that Joohyuk was suspecting that he was conspiring with Haejun , but now that he looked at him, he realised that he was misunderstanding in a different direction.

His feelings sank.

He couldn’t mix bodies with anyone other than him.

“There was nothing like you thought. Really…!”

Joohyuk suddenly grabbed him by the neck and pulled him straight. Joohyuk raised the corners of his lips sullenly in the distance as if kissing.

“If you know what I’m thinking, I’m more suspicious.”

Joohyuk’s lips rushed towards him harshly.

Lee Joohyuk was a person with a strong desire to monopolize people. Although it was surprising that he had a childish mentality who wanted his partner to only look at him, it also suited him.

If the opponent looked elsewhere, he cut them off instantly. Just because he had a strong desire for monopoly, he didn’t do stupid things to cut himself a place in his partner’s life when they lost interest. So, when some of Joohyuk’s partners were interested in Yihyeon, they were cleanly thrown away and he never saw them again.