HRDT Ch 2

<Are you really not going to eat? We are going to grill meat outside right now.>

<Ah, get lost!>

<Young master. Starving yourself, that is not going to work at all, you know? The boss said to absolutely not even glance at you!>

Yeo Heedo only provoked him and left. That night, the smell of pork belly seeping in through the window was so torturous. He pulled the blanket over his head and lay down, but he was so hungry he could not even sleep.

When he absolutely could not stand the hunger, he crawled to the bathroom, turned on the sink, and gulped down the gushing tap water. Every time he felt the cold water pass through his esophagus and flow into his empty organs, Raewon could personally realize where his stomach was located.

“Choi Taejin, you vicious bastard.”

Raewon clutched his hungry stomach and muttered. Ah…… now it really feels like my whole body is empty, beyond just hunger.

He had no energy at all. Inside his stomach, only sour gastric juices sloshed around, and Raewon leaned his weak body against the wall and poured out endless resentment.

If a person says they are on a hunger strike, shouldn’t someone at least check to see what is going on. How can he not even show his face?

Choi Taejin did not show a speck of interest in him. He would not even neglect a dog he was raising like this. He had said he would hold the leash for the next year, but in reality, he was a person who did not give a damn whether he starved to death or smeared feces on the wall.

Raewon deliberately moved in front of the door, observed the movements of the people coming and going, and eavesdropped on their conversations. Among the voices that came and went, Choi Taejin’s was not there. Just as Yeo Heedo had said, he was thoroughly ignoring him.

He had a feeling it would be a long fight. To be honest, he vaguely felt that he had no chance of winning, but he just did not want to admit it.

Just then, he heard boisterous voices from outside the door. When he listened closely, it seemed the gangsters were about to eat something. A late-night snack….

Before long, a smell that stimulated his hunger pierced through the door and seeped into Raewon’s nostrils. Ramen, it is ramen!

The stimulating smell brought to mind a taste he knew all too well. As soon as he imagined the hot noodles and broth, saliva dripped from his sticky mouth. His stomach clenched from the extreme hunger, and even his fingers began to tremble.

Endure it, how long have I held out for, I must endure it no matter what.

Raewon slammed his thigh with his fist. A tear welled up. It was not because it hurt, but because he wanted to eat ramen so badly. I cannot give in to a cheap instant food. Have you no pride?

A large cauldron pot was placed plunk on the bare floor. The men gathered around the pot, and each scooped out a handful of ramen.

“Look at how swollen the noodles are. Fucking hell, who cooked the ramen?”

“Isn’t it better that there’s more, boss.”

“Did you put in eggs?”

“Of course. I threw in everything that was in the fridge.”

There is nothing like ramen when you are hungry. The well-built gangsters had extraordinary appetites and had to constantly put something in their mouths. There were many of them, so they were huddled together eating ramen when the door, which had been firmly closed for days, opened with a creaking sound.

“Huh?”

Yeo Heedo, who saw this, reacted immediately. He really came out? He stared intently at Raewon’s door with surprised eyes.

One of the gang members had said that the smell of ramen when you are hungry can be so irresistible. He said that he would surely not be able to stand it and would come crawling out as if possessed, so he had boiled a generous fifteen packets of ramen and let the smell waft out, just in case. And what do you know, Raewon was slowly crawling out on his own.

“Aigoo, young master. Are you coming out now? See, you’re hungry, right? I will go and tell them to prepare a meal quickly….”

끙차, just as Yeo Heedo was lifting his heavy bottom, Raewon started running at a surprising speed. He squeezed in between their shoulders without a moment’s notice and scanned the pot and bowls. A hint of madness was melted into his flashing eyes.

“Are you going to eat ramen? Just a moment. I will bring you chopsticks and a plate, no! Hey! Don’t eat what someone else was eating!”

Yeo Heedo shrieked in horror at the sight of Raewon snatching the bowl of the guy sitting next to him, but the young master, who was said to have been raised with a silver spoon, shoved the ramen into his mouth greedily without a moment to be stopped. With his bare hands at that. Like a man possessed by a hungry ghost.

He looked more desperate to fill his stomach than to feel the taste. Yeo Heedo let out a disbelieving laugh and then kicked the butt of the guy sprawled out next to him.

“Hey, go get some cold rice too.”

Raewon was on the verge of burying his nose in the bowl that was bigger than his head. No one thought of taking what was in his hands, but he clutched it tightly as if it were a sacred object. He was no different from a beggar.

“Eat slowly. This is all yours, young master.”

Yeo Heedo added a word while squatting down. The gangsters who had been sitting around had already tactfully left, and the surroundings were empty.

“Isn’t it to die for?”

Raewon finally raised his head. His cheeks were so bulging they looked like they would burst, so he could not answer. Instead, he nodded slightly.

The ramen, which was so swollen it had no texture to chew, was, without a doubt, the most moving food he had ever eaten in his life.

After feasting to his heart’s content, Raewon even took the digestive medicine Yeo Heedo had prepared and lay down comfortably. The hunger strike he had started so boldly had ended in failure without any gain. But he could not give up just like this. Raewon patted his full stomach and once again sought a way to survive.

The hunger strike… it was too reckless a thing to do. The first priority was to grasp the situation.

Fortunately, Raewon did not have a great aversion to gangsters. Since his grandmother was in the private loan business, he had seen many rough types since he was young and could be said to be quite used to them.

Raewon sat his guard, Yeo Heedo, next to him and began to ask about Choi Taejin and Yoorim Construction. On the outside, it was a plausible company, but as expected, it was a gangster group, and what was even more surprising was that it was a family with a pedigree beyond imagination.

The man named Choi Taejin was a whopping fifteen years older than Raewon.

Is he young for his thirty-six years? He is a direct descendant, but only a managing director, his position is terrible. As Raewon muttered his thoughts without filtering them, Yeo Heedo immediately glared at him and took Choi Taejin’s side.

“Our big boss is someone who will definitely take over the Yoorim-pa! That position is all just a pretense!”

“You just said he was a great person holding a high position. Do you even know what rank a managing director is? There are tons of heads above him.”

“The big boss will definitely make it! I bet my neck on it.”

Whether Yeo Heedo bet his life or the cream bread he would eat tomorrow, Raewon did not give a damn. The problem was why his grandmother had entrusted him to a man named Choi Taejin of all people. It was certain that a secret connection had been made….

As he was deep in thought with his arms crossed, he heard the sound of old wooden stairs being stepped on, 삐걱, 삐걱. It seemed someone was coming up from downstairs. When he turned his head in the direction of the sound, a large figure slowly dominated Raewon’s field of vision.

The managing director of Yoorim Construction, the third son of Chairman Choi Seongryong of the Yoorim-pa, the man who would hold Jin Raewon’s lifeline for a year, there were more than enough phrases to describe Choi Taejin. But any and all modifiers became fleeting in front of the presence that man exuded.

As if the proper noun ‘Choi Taejin’ existed separately, he boasted an uncommon atmosphere. A man with a noble and arrogant impression, as if it were natural for him to be superior, as if there were nothing else to revere but him.

As soon as Raewon faced Choi Taejin, he suddenly felt his breath being crushed and unknowingly fumbled with his own neck, which the man had gripped. He felt anew that the sensation from that time when he had made him faint still lingered.

His height, well over 190 cm, and his well-built physique were of a different class from the big guys Raewon had seen so many of. It was more refined, more luxurious. The overwhelming presence that Choi Taejin possessed was not comparable to that of gangsters. Perhaps it was because of his eyes, which were masterful at pressuring people.

Raewon slightly raised his lying body and glared at him. How unlucky…. Who does he think he is scaring.

The man, who added weight to the space just by his appearance, looked down at Raewon. A low voice that matched his cool gaze flowed out.

“It seems you still have not come to your senses.”

“…….”

“Do you need more time alone?”

Raewon finally realized that Choi Taejin had come to talk to him. This is what I wanted too. He equipped a face no less grim than his and lifted his bottom from the sunken sofa.

The two sat facing each other with a table between them. It was a long-awaited conversation, but the atmosphere was quite chilly. On the long table, there was not even a common glass of water, and only an uncomfortable silence flowed.

Jin Raewon, who had completely regained his strength, looked at the man he was facing with resentful eyes. The way he sat cross-legged on the hard chair was the epitome of insolence.

“What did you get from our Chairman Jeon? Money?”

Choi Taejin burst out laughing at the disrespectful question. The laugh, which was no different from a sneer, quickly subsided, and soon only his original cold impression remained.

His body was twisted at an angle as he crossed his long legs. His gaze was far from Raewon’s face and landed on the corner of the table. Surprisingly, the answer came out readily.

“That cannot be converted into money.”

“It’s obvious, you plan to climb up with Chairman Jeon’s help. It seems you’re having a hard time on your own, huh? Well, just looking at the fact that you’re still a managing director, I can tell your abilities.”

His knees on the chair danced up and down. Jin Raewon was not intimidated at all in front of the man’s overwhelming presence. Rather, he showed off his vigorous energy. Jin Raewon, who had regained even his temper with a single bowl of ramen, was afraid of nothing in the world.

Taejin’s lowered gaze turned and fixed on Raewon’s face. Putting aside his behavior, the words he spat out with his half-tongue were particularly grating on his nerves.

His gaze instantly turned fierce.

“Don’t show that you weren’t raised properly.”

“And how well were you raised? Did you major in home economics or something? Are you a professional?”

Taejin burst out in silent laughter. His skill at pissing people off without lifting a finger was no ordinary thing. Should I say he was born with it. Usually, there were only those who were careful in front of him, so the teasing he was experiencing after a long time was just absurd.

The opponent was a kid who had not even shed his baby fuzz. He had deliberately shown him the workshop and thrown him into a house full of rough guys to suppress his rebellious nature. But Jin Raewon showed no signs of being broken. No, if he was the type to be disciplined by something like this in the first place, Chairman Jeon would not have asked him to do it.

“I can tell. How selfishly he must have been raised.”

“I admit that. I was raised quite delicately. Ah, since we are on the topic.”

Raewon uncrossed his legs, which had been on the chair, one by one. He pressed his upper stomach tightly against the table and said in a much softer voice.

“I’ve thought about it, you see? You and I, neither of us wants to be involved with the other. Let’s not do anything troublesome and just come to an agreement, what do you think?”

“…….”

“If the condition is to keep me for a year, well, fine. I can cooperate to some extent too. Just tell Chairman Jeon that you’re taking good care of me. I’ll live quietly on my own without causing trouble. Then, when you think you’ve gotten enough out of it, we can split, sounds good, right?”

Jin Raewon seemed quite pleased with the proposal he had made.

I do not want anything else. First, give me back my phone, and just get me a separate house to live in and some money to use for the time being. I will pay it all back with interest later. He brazenly and boldly listed his demands.

“To play quietly without causing trouble.”

“Really. I can promise.”

Choi Taejin suddenly put his hand into his pants pocket. What he pulled out was Raewon’s phone. As he took out the item he had requested, Raewon’s face could not have been brighter. His large eyes looked only at the phone with longing. As if it were his only hope.

Taejin dangled the phone back and forth in front of Raewon’s eyes. The face that moved along with the device was just ridiculous. This is why brats are no good. They cannot even hide a single expression, so they spill their weaknesses.

“You seem to want it very much.”

“Stop teasing and give it to me, will you?”

“If I give you back the phone, are you confident you will listen to me?”

The gaze that had been fixed on the black machine like glue slowly rose. Raewon, who was looking directly at Taejin’s face, crumpled his expression.

“Still don’t get it? The condition is that we don’t touch each other.”

“What makes you think I can trust you and let you go?”

“If you don’t trust me, then just attach Yeo Heedo to me!”

“You……”

Taejin held the phone up high. At some ominous sign, Raewon reached out his hand and made a small sound, “uh oh.” But all he could grasp was a handful of air.

“It’s going to take some time to fix you.”

He slammed the phone he was clutching against the corner of the table. As it collided with the hard wood, the screen cracked with a sharp sound, like a spider web. Before he could be surprised by that, Choi Taejin slammed the phone a few more times. The screen shattered into pieces, and even the mainboard underneath was completely destroyed.

Raewon vividly watched the broken circuit board fly in all directions. The phone, which was no longer salvageable, was tattered, with only the side barely maintaining its original form. That… crazy bastard. A curse came out automatically.

As if he had heard it, Choi Taejin’s eyes became even more fierce than before.

“Watch your mouth. If you don’t want to end up like the phone.”

He threw the shattered phone at Raewon as if he were giving alms. It was ambiguous whether he meant to pick it up if he wanted it, or if he was warning him that he could be shattered like the phone if he messed around.

“Are you really crazy?”

Raewon straightened his bent torso. He could not quite understand it with his own head. What better proposal could there be than this, why was he deliberately trying to take the hard road? Look at him now. It’s so obvious from his eyes that he does not like me. I said I do not want to be involved with you either, okay?

It was so absurd that he laughed. They had only exchanged a few words, but he could already feel they were polar opposites. Regardless of the age difference, even their basic compatibility did not match with Choi Taejin.

Raewon, who gripped his angry forehead with his hand, just glared up.

“You really want to do this, right? You’ll regret it.”

“Know your place. Don’t get beaten up for crawling up without fear.”

He pushed back his chair and stood up. He was so tall that it took a while for his gaze to follow him up. Raewon stared at him without a word.

On the outside, he looked like a white-collar worker, but Choi Taejin was a gangster at his core. And a very nasty-tempered one at that.

The forearm revealed under the neatly rolled-up shirt sleeve was bulging with muscles. How long must he have built those muscles. It felt like he would not even be able to pick up his bones if he were hit by that big hand, but Raewon had no intention of bowing his head to Choi Taejin.

“You can’t handle me.”

A blank gaze came down at the words thrown as a warning. A cold smile briefly appeared on Taejin’s face, which had been only cool and without humanity.

“I don’t really intend to handle you.”

“…….”

“Because I’ll make you bow your head on your own.”

He turned and left as sharply as he had come. Raewon kept his eyes on the back that was moving away from his sight. In the quiet silence, his brown eyes glittered strangely.

Before long, Choi Taejin would regret rejecting today’s proposal for a long, long time. Raewon made a firm resolve to make it so.