Chapter 3 : The Calm Before the Storm

“…….”

Pausing before placing the next stone, Jeongsik turned his head slightly to the side.

At the end of his slanted gaze stood a man who looked five or six years younger than Jeongsik, who instinctively swallowed hard the moment their eyes met.

“About Mr. Kwon Yunhwan.”

At the mention of the familiar name, Manager Hong perked up his ears.

“There wasn’t any particular contact today, right?”

Before the question could even finish, he nodded vigorously.

“Yes. No contact.”

After answering, Manager Hong quickly pulled out his phone and asked, –Should I call him?– but Jeongsik waved his hand dismissively.

“Forget it, leave him be.”

Jeongsik looked back at the scorebook and toyed with the black stone in his left hand.

To others, it was just a stone, but whenever he held and touched these Go pieces, they evoked a strange sense of stability in him.

How hard had he tried to find peace of mind through these stones over the past week?

Jeongsik slowly closed his eyes and reminisced about the time that had passed.

Hiding Seonghye in a safe place under the Chairman’s orders, searching for that location, and even finding a guardian who could keep Seonghye safe and signing a contract with him—it was all the work of him, Park Jeongsik.

He couldn’t say that Chief Choi, the Chairman’s private secretary, hadn’t helped in the process of finding that guardian, but in any case, he had found the right person, so that was that.

“…Hmm.”

Opening his eyes, Jeongsik let out a low hum.

Thinking back to this point, Jeongsik felt that Yunhwan’s appearance was, in Go terms, a brilliant move.

What is a brilliant move?

It is an exquisite play on the Go board that makes the pieces fly and catches the opponent off guard.

It made sense because, though he wasn’t sure if Yunhwan or Seonghye themselves remembered, Yunhwan already had a history of saving Seonghye once.

And that was years ago, overseas.

He had thought Yunhwan was someone who had disappeared into the wind, never to be seen again, leaving behind both that success and his illustrious career.

Anyway, Jeongsik had found him with Chief Choi’s help, and fortunately, that side was desperate enough that they couldn’t refuse the offer, so everything seemed to be going smoothly.

However, for some reason, Jeongsik felt a lingering discomfort in a corner of his heart.

“Ha… it’s bothering me, it’s really bothering me.”

Muttering to himself, he rubbed his chin and swallowed a sigh.

“I can accept them not recognizing each other, but… no. It seemed like Mr. Kwon recognized him.”

Jeongsik calmly recalled the events in Hong Kong three years ago.

At the time, Seonghye’s safety had been compromised several times, leading to the hiring of mercenaries from a private military company.

Since all matters related to this were kept strictly confidential under the Chairman’s orders, even Park Jeongsik didn’t know much.

What he did know was that the situation at the time of Seonghye’s rescue was incredibly urgent, and the scene was a total disaster with several people dying in the process.

Because casualties and survivors were mixed among the mercenaries, Kwon Yunhwan had been redeployed to the scene after rescuing Seonghye to recover his colleagues’ bodies and save any remaining survivors.

It would be strange for two people to remember each other in such a chaotic situation.

Especially considering Seonghye, who had been a whirlwind of incidents and accidents every single day since going down to Sanghui-ri, it made sense that Min Seonghye wouldn’t remember him.

“…Ummm.”

According to reports from other employees watching the two, Kwon Yunhwan was visibly cautious when dealing with Seonghye.

This made Jeongsik wonder if Yunhwan knew but was pretending not to.

If so, why was he not speaking up? Was the past too much of a burden?

Jeongsik’s lips tightened as he continued his solitary reasoning.

The clear reason wouldn’t be known unless it came from the person involved, but one thing was certain.

Kwon Yunhwan had to take responsibility and protect Seonghye again this time while he stayed in Sanghui-ri.

Just as he had in the past.

So let’s stop thinking about it. Jeongsik let out a long breath.

To clear his complicated mind, he carefully examined the Go game he had been playing.

As he looked down at the board in silence, his forehead creased at a certain spot.

He thought he had played it correctly, but a white stone not far from the center was placed in a completely different direction from the scorebook.

Just as he was clicking his tongue at his own unconscious blunder.

Trr— rrr—

His gaze, which had been looking down at the board, froze at the sound of the ringtone coming from his inner jacket pocket.

A call at this hour usually felt like it was nibbling away at Jeongsik’s lifespan and drying up his blood.

Jeongsik’s brow furrowed with distress.

“…No, why again at this hour….”

He was well aware of Seonghye’s antics—how he would act out every night and practically flip a village upside down.

It was understandable since he had forcibly put a guy who didn’t want to go into a deep sleep and dumped him in Sanghui-ri.

He also knew that it took several employees in addition to Kwon Yunhwan to keep him restrained.

After all, his natural physical strength was insane and his secondary gender was an Alpha, so how could just one or two people suppress him?

As he opened his large palm over the Go container, the stones trapped in his hand tumbled down.

Having cleared his hands, Jeongsik pulled his phone from his jacket.

But before he could even press the call button, the ringing cut off.

In the meantime, two missed calls were logged.

One of those numbers triggered an even greater sense of anxiety in Jeongsik.

“…Surely not.”

He urgently tried to call back the Sanghui-ri employee, but at that moment, the door slammed open and Kim Junseong, one of Seonghye’s attending physicians, burst into the office.

Judging by the heavy sound of his footsteps, his mood was clearly beyond twisted.

Junseong shouted with a face full of surging emotion.

“Why aren’t you answering your phone, huh? Is that phone just a decoration? Look at this, I knew this would happen. Manager, is this the time to be leisurely playing Go!—”

It looked like he might flip the Go board if left alone, so Jeongsik cut him off and intervened.

“Why? Did something happen? What’s wrong with you, Dr. Kim? Don’t worry about the Go; I’m doing it lately for peace of mind.”

Junseong, who had walked up to Jeongsik’s side, screamed without holding back.

“Seonghye had an accident! I just got the call and called you immediately! I heard the kid’s head is split open and he’s being rushed to the hospital right now!”

“…What?”

At the same time, as if on cue, Jeongsik’s phone began to ring again.

The screen showed the contact for the employee dispatched to Sanghui-ri.

Quickly pressing the call button, he spoke before the employee could pour out their words.

“Status.”

[…He’s unconscious and blood keeps flowing from his head. We called the Baeksan Health Center and they said emergency surgery is possible, so we are heading to the nearest one first.]

Beyond the phone, the sound of the car racing down the road grew louder.

As soon as he heard the situation, Jeongsik hung up after leaving a message saying he would leave immediately.

By the time he stood up, Manager Hong had already gone out to catch the elevator.

The man, a giant standing over 190cm tall, instantly shifted his aura to something menacing and spoke to Junseong.

“What are you doing? Follow me.”

Baeksan Health Center.

The nauseating smell of disinfectant peculiar to hospitals spread like mist.

True to a desperate space where life and death crossed paths, a heavy tension hung over the hospital room.

As the old incandescent light on the ceiling cast a bluish glow downward, Yunhwan’s face, as he sat by the bedside with his head bowed, turned even paler.

In a space that was not just quiet but desolate, he was breathing heavily as if breathing were his only remaining function.

In contrast, Seonghye’s condition was quite different from Yunhwan’s.

His body, restrained by various medical devices including an IV, was currently in a state of unconsciousness.

The surgery was over, and he hadn’t yet woken up from the anesthesia.

The doctor who had been checking on Seonghye until a moment ago said that such a state was natural since the impact at the time of the accident was large and anesthesia was required for suturing the wound.

However, even the doctor couldn’t easily give a definitive answer as to when his sealed consciousness would be released.

“…Seonghye.”

Yunhwan painfully called his name toward the sleeping face.

Under the white lights, his face looked even paler and more beautiful today.

Although his face couldn’t be fully seen as it was obscured by bandages and tape, Seonghye, with his naturally elegant and aristocratic features, still possessed a strikingly vivid appearance.

That was why, even more so, he didn’t belong in such a situation and such a place.

Especially not for the reason of being injured while trying to save someone.

Just as Yunhwan, staring at Seonghye, could no longer hold back and his eyes began to redden.

—Bang!—

“…!”

Yunhwan’s heart plummeted at the violent noise.

“F*ck, where is he!”

Beyond the hospital room door that had been thrown open savagely without warning, the commotion from outside began to pour in.

When a startled Yunhwan turned around, there stood Manager Park, whose anger had already reached its peak, Kim Junseong trying to stop him, and Manager Hong with an awkward expression.

“Manager! Use your words, your words! Do you want to pay a settlement fee in a hospital?”

“Settlement fee? Dr. Kim, doesn’t it look like that person over there is the one who should be paying a settlement fee? You go and check if Seonghye’s head is split open. Let go!”

Manager Park, Seonghye’s guardian and the ‘A’ in Yunhwan’s contract, roared.

Manager Park shook off those trying to stop him and grabbed Yunhwan by the collar.

Then, he slammed Yunhwan hard against the wall.