Unscented Trajectory - Chapter 19

19

“From now on, after every meal, take your medicine in front of me.”

“…”

Of course, there was no immediate answer. Yihyeon just looked into his eyes and did not open his mouth.

“Kwon Yihyeon, won’t you answer?”

He thought the atmosphere was strange these days, but wondered if Yihyeon would even rebel.

“Why are you trying to do that?”

At Yihyeon’s calm question, Joohyuk’s eyebrows went up. It was not uncommon for him to ask questions without answering what he was told to do.

A smirk hung on Joohyuk’s face.

“I told you. The only thing I can afford is your body. I can’t help but care for the body.”

Yihyeon’s eyes were deeply lost. The black eyes fell again, and Joohyuk was no longer reflected there.

“… All right.”

With his head bowed, Yihyeon turned and walked towards his room.

“Tsk. You can’t even care for your body properly.”

Pretending to be talking to himself, the words thrown at Yihyeon stopped his feet. But he only paused for a moment. He pretended not to hear without looking back and headed to his room.

Joohyuk, who was looking at his back, exhaled a stuffy breath and put a cigarette in his mouth. Joohyuk’s frustration continued until he lit the fire and inhaled his cigarette.

He heard that nervous stomach cramps were quite painful, but Yihyeon didn’t show any signs of injury no matter where he was, so he didn’t know how severe it was. Occasionally, he saw him taking medicine, but he didn’t know if it was not effective or if Yihyeon was weird.

‘I’m nervous…’

How the hell did he get so stressed out that he got such a disease? Since when had he been sick? Did it hurt so much that his face got thinner day by day? Why didn’t he show it?

It had been a while since they were together all day, but he couldn’t tell anything about him. He was the kind of person who would say it was okay to ask anything, and told him not to worry about it.

Joohyuk was only thinking about Yihyeon while repeatedly sucking in his cigarette and exhaling smoke like a machine. He thought about what might be causing the stress, but he couldn’t come up with an answer.

* * *

The business party held at the hotel was more colorful than expected. It was a place to make connections and share business information, so it was natural for people from all walks of life and business leaders to gather. There were even celebrities from the entertainment world filling their seats, so the expression of brilliance seemed appropriate.

Yihyeon, like several other bodyguards, was standing with his back against the wall at the end of the party hall. Still, his eyes were on Joohyuk, surrounded by people in the distance.

He told him to stand in a place close to him, but Joohyuk didn’t look at him. There were so many people around him and he was a little far away, so it was a natural thing to do, but he seemed to have forgotten about his existence because he was paying attention to the party.

In fact, there were very few personal bodyguards in these party venues. Those who prepared the party did not need a bodyguard because the basic idea was to hire a separate bodyguard to set up security. In addition, it was a place where people who usually carry several bodyguards gather, so if everyone took them according to their temperament, there would be too many people. So it was common to have them wait in the room or stay in the car.

Only one attendant can enter the party hall. So, in most cases, it was the secretary, even if it was accompanied by an attendant. As the number of people was limited, the bodyguards who were openly monitoring Yihyeon did not come to the party with them.

‘I’d rather go to the room.’

Since there were two bodyguards waiting in the room, he could’ve have swapped seats with one of them. If he had, he would have been staying in the room even if he was being watched by now.

Joohyuk, who had put himself on standby at the party, seemed to have forgotten his existence, and it was hard for him to stand until the party was over because his heart was throbbing. He thought it hurt more when he thought about Joohyuk.

“I told you. The only thing I can afford is your body. I can’t help but care for the body.”

What Joohyuk said became a dozen of daggers that pierced his heart.

He wished he could go back to the past. He should have gone back to just before mingling with him, locked him in a room and called other partners. If he had, he wouldn’t have been as upset as he was now.

“Tsk. You can’t even care for your body properly.”

It was as he said. Because he got sick, he couldn’t control his emotions.

With a bitter face, he turned his gaze away from Joohyuk. His pain kept getting worse.

“Huh? Kwon Yihyeon?”

An unfamiliar voice was heard in the midst of the loud noise. He turned his head towards the sound and saw a young man in a tailcoat approaching with a smile on his face.

“Seong Jihwan?”

Jihwan, who was Joohyuk’s partner, was at a party like this.

“That’s right. I could see you from afar.”

Jihwan approached with a friendly face and curved the corners of his eyes beautifully.

“It’s nice to see you after a long time.”

Jihwan, who looked closer and smiled bashfully, glanced at Joohyuk, who was still talking to people from afar.

“I actually thought you’d be here. I heard in advance that he was coming.”

Because it was natural that Kwon Yihyeon would be with Joohyuk.

“These days, there are rumors about Executive Director Lee Joohyuk.”

“What rumors are you talking about?”

Up until now, he had resented Joohyuk, but it was the job of the secretary and bodyguard, Kwon Yihyeon, to keep a tab on stories about him.

Jihwan raised his hands to Yihyeon, who was taller than him, and whispered.

“There are rumors that Lee Joohyuk will be seated as the vice president of the Shinwoo group soon.”

Jihwan continued to look around as if it was a great secret story.

“Sitting as vice chairman means that he will become the next chairman. I heard that the chairman’s health is not good, but Lee Joohyuk may become the chairman of the Shinwoo Group at once.”

Yihyeon was quietly listening to his words. It was a story with some potential. It seemed obvious to Yihyeon that Joohyuk would soon be seated in a high position in the group. Although it was competitive with his second son Lee Sihoon, the chairman himself raised Joohyuk as his successor, and his support group was also superior. If nothing else happened, it was natural for Lee Joohyuk to sit in the chair.

But it was weird. Jihwan’s words were not at the level that anyone could have guessed. It was not easy for anyone to hear the words that he would be seated as the vice chairman early and that the health of the chairman of the Shinwoo group was not good.

“After that, I thought you should be a little more careful.”

Jihwan smiled softly towards Yihyeon, who was thinking hard.

“I was at another party a few days ago and overheard it, and according to what I heard, there was a movement to get rid of Executive Director Lee Joohyuk in a rather bad place.”

Having said that, he pursed his lips and looked at Joohyuk in the distance.

“IServes him right. He was trying to make someone a eunuch.”

It seems that he still did not forgive him for the events of that day when Joohyuk almost stepped on his vital point.

Jihwan put his hands in front of Yihyeon with an apologetic face and made a playful pleading expression.

“Sorry. Forget what I just said. What if that person really comes to make me eunuch?”

In fact, Yihyeon was more concerned about the words he had said earlier than Jihwan.

‘A bad place? Was it a company? Or separate…?”

There were no hints, so it was difficult to make sense. The names of companies that regarded the Shinwoo group as a thorn in their eyes or kept them in check came to mind, but they could not accurately infer the ‘bad place’ that Jihwan said.

“Seong Jihwan, can you tell me more about that story?”

If there were other forces that could threaten Joohyuk, they had to prepare in advance.

Although he was puzzled that Jihwan had unexpectedly given a lot of information, it was important to check the truth of the rumors and identify the forces.

“In fact…”

Jihwan’s eyes lit up and he opened his mouth as if he was going to pour out everything he knew right away. But he blinked a few times before closing his mouth.

“Um, just pretend you didn’t hear it. I don’t want to confuse you with something I’m not sure about.”

“I’ll see which one to ignore.”

Yihyeon leaned slightly and set his eye level with Jihwan. Jihwan, who faced Yihyeon’s black eyes right in front of him, tried to avoid his gaze and blushed.

“As a person who protects the Executive Director, I cannot ignore such rumors. The source of the information will be kept secret, so please tell me as much as you know.”

“Well…”

Jihwan visibly hesitated. Then, with determined eyes, he grabbed Yihyeon’s arm. He looked around, then dragged him towards the door.

“Then let’s go this way… There are too many ears of other people here.”

He couldn’t deny that, so Yihyeon was gently dragged away. Still, he looked at Joohyuk, but he didn’t even seem to know that Jihwan approached him. He still seemed to be busy conversing with other people.

‘It’ll be fine if we just talk and come right away.’

Even if the story was long, he expected it to be only about 30 minutes.

When he came out of the party room, the atmosphere seemed to have changed. Since there were many alphas and omegas inside, it was filled with various scents, but the hallway outside the party hall had no scent as there were no people.

Jihwan looked around and dragged Yihyeon. He wondered if they were going to a suitable corner, but the place Jihwan took him was in front of the elevator in the party hall.

“Where are we going?”

“I got a room here at the hotel, so we can talk there. Who knows, how can we talk about such a dangerous thing outside? I know that my neck is precious.”

It was understandable that Jihwan was careful. If there is an official from the place he intended to speak out, it was possible that he was here somewhere.

He followed Jihwan to the elevator, and shortly after going down a few floors, the door opened. Jihwan pulled out his card key in front of one door.

The card key was recognized without any problem, and Jihwan opened the door and blinked as if to enter. Yihyeon stepped into the room first.

It wasn’t the suite that Joohyuk had, but it was still quite spacious. As he entered the brightly lit room, he saw a man sitting on a chair in the living room. Recognizing who he was, Yihyeonn stood tall. The man looked at him and smiled.

“Come here and sit down.”

It was a gentle voice, but he knew what kind of person he was, so he did not relax.

“Then talk well, you two.”

Looking back, he saw Jihwan standing behind the front door waving his hand.

“Boss, don’t forget your promise!”

This time, he spat out an excited voice at the man in the living room. He hurried out of the front door and closed it immediately.

Yihyeon sat on the sofa in the living room and looked at Lee Sihoon, who was looking at him. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes that didn’t smile at all resembled Haejun.

“Sit down and let’s talk.”

Sihoon pointed to the sofa opposite him. Yihyeon, who came close to him, did not sit on the sofa where Sihoon authorized, but only looked down at him.

“Isn’t this the first time we met? You know me.”

“It seems that the vice president is the same.”

There was a strange tension between the two. The two looked at each other silently for a moment.

Shihoon was the first of the two to open his mouth.

“Are you going to stand up and talk?”

“I don’t think we have much to talk about.”

Seeing Yihyeon fighting back without losing, Sihoon laughed.

“You’re stiff as Haejun said.”

Sihoon stood up. He turned the direction of the sofa he had recommended so that Lee Hyun could be seated just by sitting. Then he stood facing Lee Hyun.

In front of Yihyeon, Sihoon grabbed both the left and right sides of the chest collar of his well-groomed suit jacket. While pushing Yihyeon in that state, he hit the back of his knee with one leg. It wasn’t painful enough to distort his face, but it was enough to make him bend his knees in an instant.

“…!”

His body trembled from the sudden attack. Aiming for that moment, Sihoon temporarily put his weight on his arm and pushed Yihyeon away. Because of that, he was sitting on the sofa right behind Yihyeon’s body.

Yihyeon’s eyes were startled at what happened in an instant. Sihoon, who placed his hands on each of his armrests, brought his face closer.

“Sit down, let’s talk.”

As if to warn him, Sihoon interrupted and straightened Yihyeon’s crumpled collar with his hand. Then he looked down as if piercing Yihyeon’s eyes. Yihyeon also did not avoid his eyes and faced him directly.

Looking at it now, Sihoon’s body, hidden in a high-class suit, was quite strong. Although he was a little smaller than Joohyuk, he had a muscular body. Judging by the instantaneous strength and technique of falling over, he was definitely a professionally trained person.

He thought Joohyuk was strong too, but when he looked closer, he thought that Sihoon wouldn’t lose to him either.

Sihoon, who smiled brightly at Yihyeon, who was slowly analyzing himself, got up. He pulled the sofa he was sitting on earlier with one hand and sat closer. On purpose, Yihyeon’s legs were spread out with a long leg. If Yihyeon wanted to go outside, he would have to ask Sihoon for his understanding, or if not, he would have to hit his knees.

Sihoon, who had Yihyeon locked between his legs, put his elbow on the armrest and put his chin on the back of his hand. His interest-filled eyes caught Yihyeon’s eyes.

Sihoon looked at him carefully and gradually figured out what kind of person he was.

It was difficult to know what he was thinking because he had no expression on his face, but in this situation, his calm eyes showed Yihyeon’s personality to some extent.

He was the type of person who didn’t fall into a panic and was quick witted. Still, he didn’t give the other person a chance to figure out what he was thinking.

‘He is rather like an entrepreneur than a bodyguard.’

Well, that was why he was also working as Lee Joohyuk’s secretary.

Sihoon knew that Yihyeon was not simply an ignorant bodyguard who could only use his body.

“Is there anything I need to see?”

Yihyeon asked calmly. Sihun liked him who asked questions without any change in his emotions even though he was seated a little rough.

“Since you have business to do, you must have sat me down here, right?”

“Then please hurry.”

He was such a boring guy.

Thinking like that, the smile on Sihoon’s face disappeared. Seeing him in person was more desirable than seeing him in photos.

“I really like Kwon Yihyeon. Leave Joohyuk and come to me.”

When he spoke directly, Yihyeon’s calm eyes looked intensely as if digging into Sihoon.

“I will give you any amount you want. If necessary, you can always ask for more…”

“Sorry.”

Yihyeon replied immediately as if he did not need to listen any more. Sihoon, who was only smiling, frowned slightly.

“Lee Joohyuk puts some money in your bankbook, so you don’t listen properly and refuse me?”

“I don’t think I need to hear it. I have no intention of protecting anyone except Executive Director Joohyuk.”

For Yihyeon, it was a natural thing to say. It was because he only became a bodyguard to be by Joohyuk’s side, and he was not really blinded by money.

However, Sihoon, who thought that Yihyeon was staying with Joohyuk because of money, was in a situation where he had no choice but to panic. If it was money, he thought it would be easy to convince him because he had enough money to not lose to Joohyuk.

“Then what do you want? Say anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s not money, so whatever.”

“Nothing.”

He wanted something, but it wasn’t something others could give him. Joohyuk was the only person who could do that.

“Ha, I don’t understand.”

The smile disappeared from Sihoon’s face. He got up and put one knee on the sofa exposed between Yihyeon’s legs. Then he put his arms on the back of the sofa. Yihyeon looked up at Sihoon, who had imprisoned him while looking down at him from above, with dry eyes.

“Mr. Kwon Yihyeon. I’m really curious, so what’s so good about Lee Joohyuk?”

Yihyeon’s eyes fluttered for a brief moment. Sihoon, who was obsessively staring at only his eyes, did not miss that moment.

The moment Yihyeon’s mouth opened to speak.

Beep-

He heard the sound of the front door opening. Immediately, the door swung open, and Joohyuk, breathing heavily, walked in. The attire he wore at the party was the same, but he had two shirt buttons unbuttoned without a tie, probably because it was stuffy.

Joohyuk entered the room and opened his eyes to the situation in the living room. Yihyeon was sitting on the sofa, and Sihoon was holding a pose as if he was about to attack him. Seeing the faces between the two of them were so close that their breaths touched, he was furious..

“Get off right now.”

At the warning from Joohyuk’s low voice, Yihyeon’s eyes changed. Sihoon, who was looking at Yihyeon, who was slightly bewildered, suddenly grabbed his chin with one hand and raised it. Then he immediately lowered his lips.

“Ugh!”