Chapter 26: Not Me

“Why are you on the floor- I mean, I didn’t do that on purpose…!”

Seeing Chae Woo-seok’s cheek gradually turn red, Go Ha-jin snapped back to his senses. Did earnest wishes really come true? He had often imagined slapping that infuriating face just once, and somehow he had unconsciously made it happen.

“Domestic violence before we’re even married…”

“Are you okay? I-I swear it was an accident…!”

He had wanted this so badly, yet he didn’t feel relieved at all. Ha-jin, flustered himself, couldn’t even think to climb back onto the sofa.

He had to grab Woo-seok by the arm and haul him up from the floor. If Ha-jin was this shaken, how must Woo-seok feel after being hit out of nowhere?

“Jeez… why is your skin so delicate…?”

Judging by how vividly red one side of his face was, it looked as though Ha-jin had deliberately struck him with full force.

“Right. It doesn’t cross your mind that you hit me that hard? Ever since you poured water on my head, you’ve been giving me some fascinating experiences.”

“I’m sorry… I really didn’t mean to. Do you want to hit me back?”

Ha-jin thought that might be better. Even if it was an accident, knowing Woo-seok’s personality, he wouldn’t let it slide easily. As he’d said, who would dare leave a handprint on that face? Better to take a hit and end it quickly than let him sulk about it forever.

“Really?”

“N-No! Come to think of it, responding to violence with violence isn’t right, don’t you think…?”

But the moment Woo-seok clenched his fist, Ha-jin changed his mind immediately. One punch from that would probably snap his neck clean in two. Minimum outcome: death. Maximum outcome: death.

“I must’ve been too lenient with you. I’m not usually this merciful.”

As the wedding preparations neared completion, Woo-seok had grown a little easier to deal with. There were occasional threatening tones and looks, but they were fleeting.

Generally, he was arrogant but not unreasonable or violent, and Ha-jin had almost forgotten how frightening he could be. But a person’s true nature didn’t vanish so easily. Seeing Woo-seok stare at him with a humorless face, Ha-jin felt certain he wouldn’t get off lightly this time.

“Choose. Like you said, take one hit and we’re done, or…”

With exaggerated flair, a fist the size of a child’s head filled his vision again.

“The second option! I’ll take the second one!”

There was no need to hear the rest.

“Oh? Then say what you were about to say earlier. Properly.”

“What…?”

As Ha-jin looked at him in confusion, Woo-seok pulled Ha-jin’s hand to his own cheek. Warm heat spread across Ha-jin’s palm. He scrambled to understand what that meant. If he hesitated too long, that heat might soon bloom on his own cheek instead.

“Ha-jin hyung, you’re just going to pretend nothing happened after slapping my face?”

That was it. He meant the word Ha-jin had been trying to say before the slap.

“I’ll say it! I will! Just stop calling me that!”

Every time Woo-seok called him “Ha-jin hyung,” it triggered something like an allergic reaction. How could Woo-seok say such things so easily? And why was he so desperate to hear that particular term of address?

“Ha…”

Ha-jin took a deep breath. Woo-seok still held his small hand against his cheek. Distracted, Ha-jin didn’t even notice the position they were in. His lips, tense with effort, moved slowly.

“…Ye…”

Ha-jin’s usually fair face had already turned a deep crimson, beyond what “red” could describe. And yet it grew darker still. Watching him, Woo-seok couldn’t help but laugh first. That single word, “yeobo” (honey), and it was this hard to hear.

Another failure today. The hand against his cheek felt strangely ticklish.

****

“Police believe this case is also the work of the omega serial killer…”

Sitting in the lounge, Ha-jin’s expression was unusually heavy. The news filling the headlines lately all affected him directly or indirectly. One was about “SHS’s abuse of power” and “SHS’s lack of social contribution.” The other was about the omega serial killer.

“If the company goes under and Chae Woo-seok gets arrested as a murderer, I’m screwed too, aren’t I…?”

The country was in such an uproar that thoughts like that crossed his mind. The abuse scandal, which he’d assumed would quiet down over time, had spiraled beyond control.

And the omega serial killer? The murderer had even escalated to dismemberment, ensuring the public frenzy wouldn’t die down anytime soon.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

“Huh? When did you get here?”

So lost in thought, Ha-jin hadn’t noticed anyone approaching. At the sound of Woo-seok’s voice nearby, he hurriedly tapped at his phone. He couldn’t let the very person he vaguely suspected of being the omega killer catch him reading those articles.

Of course, he still believed, without much basis, that someone this normal couldn’t possibly commit something so heinous.

“‘SHS Group on the Brink After Raw Chicken Assault’? Why are you reading trash like this?”

Woo-seok snatched the phone from his hand. Of all things, that article had to pop up.

“It’s everywhere these days. Why would you hit someone with raw chicken?”

“…Enough. I don’t want to hear that from you too.”

“Did you leak this one as well? Like the convenience store scandal?”

“As if. How embarrassing would that be, raw chicken, for f*ck’s sake. And honestly, they kind of deserved it. Who just leaves food like that lying around?”

He tossed the phone back onto the table and slumped into the chair opposite. Things had already been chaotic enough lately.

The story was this: the eldest daughter of the Chae family had gone to personally inspect a convenience store branch. She’d found raw chicken being stored at room temperature and used it to assault the store manager.

The incident, combined with existing abuse-of-power controversies, had spread like wildfire. SHS’s already sinking image had plunged even deeper.

“Oh, I see. Blood runs thicker than water, I suppose. I wonder if your sister is reflecting properly.”

“Cut it out. If you say that in front of my dad, your mouth might actually get torn open.”

“What were you two talking about, son?”

Speak of the devil, like someone attending a party, a middle-aged man in a flamboyant semi-suit sat down beside Woo-seok. A

bright mustard shirt with stark white trousers, utterly unconcerned with others’ gazes. His slicked-back hair exposed sharp eyes. He looked like someone who’d get a refund anywhere he went.

“Good evening, Father.”

“Yes. But I see you’ve decided to greet me while sitting down now?”

“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t paying attention…”

Lee Ah-seong radiated displeasure the moment he sat down. Ha-jin inwardly cursed himself for giving him an opening. Chatting with Woo-seok had made his usual demeanor slip slightly.

“Never mind that. The dowry is ready, I assume?”

“You see those cars outside? Everything you requested is loaded in them. I could’ve delivered them to the house myself…”

Outside the first-floor lounge, three black vans lined up in a row, filled with wedding goods. Ha-jin had never once been allowed into the main house before the wedding. He couldn’t help wondering what could possibly be so grand to warrant such strictness.

“You must be busy these days. It must be upsetting, what with the raw chicken incident and all.”

He threw a light jab at Lee Ah-seong, unwilling to just take the condescension. After breaking his back preparing gifts alone, it was irritating to be treated like someone collecting a debt.

The faint crack in Lee Ah-seong’s mask told him it had landed. But since they weren’t married yet, he didn’t push further.

“From my perspective, it seemed like an appropriate response. Strange how people see it differently.”

With his usual blank expression, Ha-jin defended the indefensible. For a fleeting moment, Lee Ah-seong felt a sense of kinship, another member of the privileged class. From their vantage point, it was nothing more than a trivial matter.

“Ha… exactly. These hyenas just wait for something to explode so they can pounce. So you behave yourself.”

“Right, Woo-seok-ssi. Make sure you listen to Father.”

Ha-jin deliberately redirected the comment to Woo-seok, though he knew it was aimed at himself. Just yesterday, photos of Woo-seok drinking heavily at a club had surfaced on social media, drawing a flood of comments asking when he’d fix his reckless ways.

Ha-jin had been annoyed too. Did he have no brain at all? Venting a bit now felt satisfying, though not entirely.

Crash!

Just as Lee Ah-seong opened his mouth to scold them, a sharp, shattering sound echoed from afar. The lounge had been calm, filled with well-dressed guests, so the disturbance felt jarringly out of place.

“Maybe someone bumped into a staff member…?”

“Th-”

Before Ha-jin could finish, Lee Ah-seong’s face twisted, and Woo-seok sprang to his feet, almost running.

“W-Woo-seok-ssi…?”

As if he hadn’t heard Ha-jin at all, Woo-seok rushed toward the commotion. He helped up a slender man who had fallen to the floor.

Seeing his clothes soaked with what looked like red juice, Woo-seok removed his own jacket and draped it over the man’s shoulders, then took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. The gentleness in his touch, the look in his eyes, it was anything but ordinary.

Watching from a distance, Ha-jin understood.

That man was special to Chae Woo-seok.

Very special.