DHG Ch 36

The playful banter between the two men instantly sharpened. Hornet and Lightning straightened up as if they had swallowed swords.

A jet-black sedan smoothly rounded the corner. The car door opened, revealing their superior, who was making a rare visit, his long coat billowing around him.

“Good evening, Director!”

Hornet and Lightning bowed their heads respectfully.

Unlike Hornet, who immediately stood at attention with an impassive face, Lightning, in the same posture, struggled to keep his rolling eyes focused.

Their superior’s aura seemed unusual. He had completely shed his usual sociable demeanor, even if he wore it out of obligation. The oppressive aura was colder than the biting wind.

However, despite the overtly ominous air, the superior’s following words were dry.

“You’ve been working hard. Good job.”

It was his usual tone, but Lightning felt a chill down his spine. You’ve been working hard. It was unlikely, but it felt as if his recent complaints had been precisely picked out and sliced through.

The two men remained tense until Jang Seungyung and Secretary Hwang completely disappeared. Only after hearing the elevator ascend did they cautiously relax their stiff shoulder muscles.

Ugh, shit. Connections or whatever, it seems like I just need to stay out of trouble.

Lightning, his bravado significantly diminished, gulped. In retrospect, Hornet was absolutely right. In an era with a million unemployed young people, where else could he earn this kind of salary? He was lucky to have the right connections.

That aside, how does Secretary Hwang always stick with the boss?

He didn’t dare voice his thoughts, fearing even whispers might be overheard, and just exhaled shortly. Lightning exchanged glances with his trusty colleague, Hornet. Checking his radio receiver, he began to vigilantly scan their surroundings once more.

Meanwhile, inside the elevator, Secretary Hwang, accompanying Jang Seungyung, was also breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Ahem.”

Secretary Hwang cleared his throat as they left the lobby and headed for the internal elevator leading back to the 3rd floor. Even though Jang Seungyung didn’t mistreat his subordinates and even looked out for those within his inner circle, Secretary Hwang had been feeling the pressure lately. The atmosphere had been so tense that he could barely crack a joke.

Is it because of the extreme cold?

Hmm, no.

Secretary Hwang recalled last winter, which had been just as freezing. Jang Seungyung might have sought out a long padded coat, but he hadn’t become a cold front himself. No, not a cold front. It was more like a blade-sharp wind. His piercing eyes looked like they could fillet someone.

‘Even a fillet knife would be softer than him. Is it because of the Taegang personnel issues?’

However, Secretary Hwang quickly dismissed that idea. Things were progressing relatively smoothly, even if slower than expected.

In the end, he arrived at the president’s office without figuring out the reason for his superior’s low spirits. Secretary Hwang smiled at the warmth that greeted him as soon as the door opened. Whoever was cleaning had been turning on the heating in advance lately.

Perhaps thanks to the clean and warm air, Jang Seungyung’s gaze softened slightly. Secretary Hwang, sensing the change in atmosphere, quickly spoke, wanting to seize the opportunity for a breather.

“Looks like the Cleaning Fairy visited again.”

Referring to the noticeably sparkling president’s office, Secretary Hwang had taken to jokingly saying that the Cleaning Fairy had visited.

Jang Seungyung raised an eyebrow and looked around, as if noticing it for the first time. Indeed, the president’s office, touched by the hands of an unknown employee, was spotless and gleaming these days.

The Cleaning Fairy. He acknowledged it was a fitting title for the unnamed employee who was so dedicated to their work.

“Why are you so down lately? Did someone stab you somewhere without me knowing…?”

Secretary Hwang cautiously started a conversation with his superior, who had reacted to his joke. He ignored the way his usual lighthearted joke kept getting stuck in his throat.

Jang Seungyung became aware of his own low spirits at the secretary’s words. Why was he in such a bad mood?

In truth, Jang Seungyung had been in an unprecedented state of shock since the kiss in front of the president’s office two weeks ago.

After being rejected by Kwon Heewoo again that day.

Jang Seungyung, like a fighter who gets back up immediately after being knocked down, had chased after him. But he couldn’t find him anywhere, neither in the kitchen nor the dorms.

He considered having his men or the employees search all the rooms, but by then, his pride was slightly wounded. The last thing he remembered was retreating, deeply submerged in his foul mood after desperately searching everywhere like a thirsty dog.

He hadn’t even looked towards Beni for several days after that.

He hoped that by avoiding Kwon Heewoo, the source of the problem, this unpleasant feeling would fade.

However, the unidentified residue only became more blatant and distinct with time, like a receding tide revealing the stark seabed. The most fundamental question, surging like a distant wave that would eventually crash back in, repeatedly plagued Seungyung’s mind.

Why, exactly, was I rejected?

Jang Seungyung stretched out on the plush couch, resting his long arm on the backrest.

Dealing with the Taegang old men was taking longer than expected, and Madam Won’s workdays were getting longer as well. The madam kept subtly complaining, saying that even with the extra pay, the contract period was being exceeded. He had been putting it off, but he had come to Beni today to appease her, though he was determined not to see Kwon Heewoo.

He wasn’t confident he could refrain from hitting on him if he saw him, and he was afraid of being rejected again.

…Afraid?

Me?

Even at eight, when the orphanage director stood before him with a nail-studded club, at fourteen, when high school delinquents swarmed his school, at twenty-four, when he confronted Chairman Jang, who he hadn’t known was his blood relative, he had grinned, his blood boiling. Was he really, truly afraid?

Jang Seungyung let out a hollow laugh, picturing the docile face he internally referred to as various animals: a puppy, a fish, a bird. As he marveled at his own state, his secretary hesitantly spoke again.

“Should I call Mr. Kwon Heewoo?”

How could he ask such a question so suddenly, a question that went precisely against his intentions?

Jang Seungyung was dumbfounded, but Secretary Hwang was equally bewildered. He knew his superior had been in a bad mood lately. For the past few days, his superior had been frantically working through the tasks Chairman Jang had assigned regarding the Taegang issue. Even the workaholic Secretary Hwang was getting tired of it, so he had been relieved when his superior decided to visit Beni after so long. Because Kwon Heewoo was here.

Unfazed by Jang Seungyung’s incredulous stare, Secretary Hwang answered confidently, as if deducing the answer to a simple equation.

“Because Director, your mood improves when you see Mr. Kwon Heewoo.”

Every time he visited Beni and saw Kwon Heewoo, it had been like a bright spring day. But when he stopped seeing him, a freezing north wind blew. From Secretary Hwang’s perspective, it was a natural conclusion.

As Secretary Hwang was reminiscing about his accumulated experiences, a thought flitted through his mind that this deduction itself was rather strange. Then, his superior called him.

“Gyumin.”

Jang Seungyung and Hwang Gyumin were born in the same year, but Secretary Hwang was born earlier in the year.

Normally, he would have internally grumbled about being called by his name despite being older, but Secretary Hwang humbly clasped his hands. “Yes,” he replied, like a eunuch serving a young tyrant.

“Do you really think so? That I’m…-.”

His superior trailed off, then finally completed his sentence.

“A little too nice to him?”

“…….”

That man being nice to someone? Secretary Hwang’s lips twitched.

Still.

But still, wasn’t he being nice to Kwon Heewoo? Secretary Hwang mainly handled Jang Seungyung’s official work, aside from delivering clothes or chicken a few times. He didn’t know every detail of what his superior did at Beni, so he couldn’t say for sure.

“…Perhaps?”

Secretary Hwang replied hesitantly, wrinkling his nose, deepening the lines around his mouth. Jang Seungyung also clicked his tongue dubiously.

After a long silence, Jang Seungyung spoke, as if offering an excuse.

“I could be nice. He’s the first person I’ve ever wanted to roll around in bed with.”

Secretary Hwang blinked. He suddenly recalled their conversation near the hardware store when he had first asked about Kwon Heewoo.

“You still mean… that?”

“Yes. I want to sleep with Kwon Heewoo.”

“…….”

“What else could it be?”

Seungyung retorted coldly, then pondered his memories. The beginning was certainly like that. Probably.

The carnal desire he felt when he saw that soaked body, its lines clearly visible through the water and pheromones. And the satisfaction he felt, greedily absorbing even Kwon Heewoo’s smallest reactions during that brief moment.

The pale face, so pale that he wouldn’t have known he was suffering from a high fever if he hadn’t found him collapsed. And the frustration stemming from the knowledge that no matter how much he ramped up his pheromones, the boy wouldn’t feel his lust, as if they lived in different worlds.

Those were the beginnings.

Most recently… he was angry at his rejection.

“…Hmm.”

It started with lust.

Now it’s anger from rejection.

Jang Seungyung checked the beginning and the end. It was natural for him to be angry, wanting to fulfill his lust but being rejected.