TBM 6 Part 1

“…”

As their eyes met and he approached, the echoes of past violence clamped around Lee Il-seo’s ankles like chains. His violent gaze instantly broke any courage to confront him, and Lee Il-seo froze, unable to move away or stop Kang Hyung-won.

At that moment, a familiar figure blocked his view.

“Your hands are soaked again. Why don’t you listen when I tell you to stay still?”

Sa Seung-yeon, holding tissues, nagged as usual while wiping Lee Il-seo’s hands, and then cleaned the spilled tangerine juice from the floor with the remaining tissues. After throwing the crumpled paper cup into the trash, Sa Seung-yeon held Lee Il-seo’s arm and supported him to the front of the hospital room.

But instead of entering together, Sa Seung-yeon tried to usher only Lee Il-seo inside and close the door. Frowning, Lee Il-seo quickly reached out to hold the closing door.

“Why, why? Don’t go.”

“Just go inside.”

“S-Sunbae. We could just ignore him and call the police…”

“I understand. Don’t worry.”

Sa Seung-yeon smiled softly, then unwrapped Lee Il-seo’s hand from the door. But behind him, Kang Hyung-won broke free from the security guards struggling to restrain him. He seemed to have lost all reason, as if Lee Il-seo was the only person he could see. Kang Hyung-won was also an Alpha. He finally shook off the two security guards holding him with tremendous strength and shouted at Lee Il-seo.

“Lee Il-seo, let’s just talk for a moment. I was wrong. Okay?”

Sa Seung-yeon sighed just loud enough for Lee Il-seo to hear, firmly pushed Lee Il-seo into the hospital room, and closed the door. Simultaneously, Kang Hyung-won, who had approached within reach, grabbed the doorknob, but Sa Seung-yeon immediately seized his burly wrist and removed it from the handle. Keeping Hyung-won’s wrist twisted to prevent him from approaching the room, Sa Seung-yeon pushed him away toward the corridor.

“Ah, shit! Who the hell are you, aargh, let go!”

“….”

“Hey, you! You bastard!”

Kang Hyung-won violently shook his arm to break free from Sa Seung-yeon’s grip. The moment Sa Seung-yeon released his hand, Kang Hyung-won’s swiftly swinging hand grazed Sa Seung-yeon’s face.

“Oh my!”

It happened in an instant. With a sound cutting through the air, the baseball cap Sa Seung-yeon was wearing fell to the floor, and hospital staff watching Sa Seung-yeon began murmuring. Sa Seung-yeon turned his head and ran his fingertips across his face. Faint blood stained his fingers. Kang Hyung-won’s closely trimmed fingernail had left a shallow cut below Sa Seung-yeon’s eye.

A silence fell as if ice water had been poured over everyone. Sa Seung-yeon slowly turned his head. Kang Hyung-won had already moved very close to Sa Seung-yeon.

“Oh, right. Sa Seung-yeon. So you’re the kid’s father?”

The mocking voice stung his ears. Sa Seung-yeon didn’t answer and calmly looked down at him. The voices of security guards struggling to subdue Kang Hyung-won, staff murmuring while looking at his face, and Kang Hyung-won’s voice all mixed together, creating quite a commotion, but honestly, he could barely hear them.

As the ringing in his ears grew louder, Lee Il-seo’s message sent through the website overlapped with Kang Hyung-won’s face.

Tangerine’s desperate message saying he would leave home, that his stepfather was acting strange, every word was painfully clear.

“But what does it matter now that the kid is dead?”

“……”

“So what are you to Lee Il-seo now,  huh?”

At that moment, a smooth piece of paper fluttered before Sa Seung-yeon’s eyes. His gaze shifted, somewhat belatedly, to the paper Hyung-won had been waving. The postcard sized paper was an old photograph. The moment Sa Seung-yeon saw it, his eyes changed instantly, and the uncontrollable ringing in his ears intensified.

The nurses and security guards flinched and looked at Sa Seung-yeon. Kang Hyung-won was the one causing a disturbance. They should have been restraining him, but everyone’s attention turned to Sa Seung-yeon as they sensed the pheromones heavy with killing intent. Only one Alpha, having lost his reason, failed to recognize the extreme dominant Alpha’s murderous pheromone.

“A father just wants to see his son, what right do you have to stop me?”

“……”

“After his mother died, I treated him like my own child! Fed him, clothed him, put him to bed. Damn it, who’s the one being wronged here?”

Sa Seung-yeon cracked his knuckles once. Then he grabbed Kang Hyung-won’s shoulder as he shouted at the crowd around them.

Whoosh, the sound of air being cut and something breaking rang out. He didn’t know if it was his hand or that bastard’s teeth, but with a single punch, something hard broke, and blood splattered.

The two security guards, staggering from the force of the blow to the jaw, lost their grip on Kang Hyung-won. Kang Hyung-won, his body stiffened, fell to the floor like a log. Seung-yeon immediately mounted Kang Hyung-won’s body, and security guards and even a doctor rushed to grab Seung-yeon.

Even five grown men were barely managing to hold Sa Seung-yeon back when Lee Il-seo burst out of the hospital room, gasping for breath, and blocked Sa Seung-yeon’s path.

“Sunbae, stop… Please calm down.”

Just before losing all reason, Il-seo’s voice pierced through his muffled ears, where nothing but ringing could be heard. Finally, Sa Seung-yeon’s dark, motionless eyes wavered, and his clenched fist stopped midair.

Sa Seung-yeon tilted his head back to look at the ceiling briefly, then slowly rose and moved away from Kang Hyung-won. Lowering the hands of the staff who were still holding onto him tightly even after he had distanced himself, he smiled with just his eyes. However, his voice, laden with emotion, was coldly subdued.

“I’ve calmed down, so you can let go.”

Sa Seung-yeon’s appearance was barely disheveled, with only his bangs slightly ruffled, and he didn’t even take a deep breath. His eyes, with a fake smile, never blinked and stared intensely at the fallen Kang Hyung-won, unable to hide the killing intent within them.

Sa Seung-yeon slowly shifted his pitch black pupils. Lee Il-seo, who had calmed Sa Seung-yeon, was picking up Sa Seung-yeon’s hat from the floor and dusting it off.

The security guards dragged away the unconscious Kag Hyung-won, and even hospital visitors attracted by the commotion gathered, making the surroundings noisy. Meanwhile, the photo Kang Hyung-won had been holding lay crumpled on the corridor floor. Lee Il-seo, holding the hat, stopped in his tracks and stared blankly at the fallen picture.

It was a picture of a seemingly harmonious family.

Lee Il-seo, wearing a slightly oversized school uniform, his grandmother, and a younger-looking Kang Hyung-won with his arm around Lee Il-seo’s shoulder, standing in front of a pine tree at a school yard. It was a family photo taken during his middle school graduation ceremony in winter, requested from his homeroom teacher.

His awkward smile facing the camera lens looked innocent, unaware of what was to come. Shortly after graduation, Kang Hyung-won had admitted his grandmother to a nursing home and began showing a disgusting obsession toward him.

That family photo was the last image of Kang Hyung-won as a caring father, and it had been inserted in the portrait frame inside his mother’s cremation urn chamber. Kang Hyung-won had brought the photo as evidence that he was Lee Il-seo’s father.

Lee Il-seo bent slowly and picked it up.

Ironically, just today, he had felt bitter about having no family left. Lee Il-seo looked with an expressionless face at his younger self smiling brightly, unaware of the muddy future ahead, and then put the photo in his coat pocket. He felt both contempt and pity for the helpless boy in the picture who couldn’t protect himself or his grandmother.

Sa Seung-yeon rejected the nurse who approached to treat his face and took Lee Il-seo’s wrist, leading him into the hospital room.

Sa Seung-yeon sat Lee Il-seo on the bed, took off his coat, and rolled up his knit sleeves to his forearms. Then he approached Lee Il-seo and checked his temperature by touching his forehead and neck. Throughout this, Lee Il-seo’s eyes followed only Sa Seung-yeon’s face. He felt sorry for the red nail marks left on his handsome face.

After confirming there was no fever, Sa Seung-yeon sat down beside Lee Il-seo. Closing his eyes and cracking his neck with an audible sound, his disheveled appearance along with his untidy clothes made him look somewhat tired.

“Are you okay?”

But it was Seung-yeon who asked if he was okay first. Il-seo’s breath caught for a moment at the sight of his worried expression.

“…Yes.”

“You must have been surprised. Does your stomach hurt?”

He had been exposed to the pheromones of a violent Alpha, so there was a slight pain in the area of his surgery, but it was bearable. Il-seo nodded calmly.

“No.”

“Good. You’ve been through a lot.”

Sa Seung-yeon didn’t say anything after that. Lee Il-seo also didn’t have the energy to say anything more. Sa Seung-yeon let Lee Il-seo rest his forehead on his shoulder. At the same time, pheromones flowed in gently. Lee Il-seo took a deep breath of Sa Seung-yeon’s scent, slowly closed his eyes, and steadied his breathing.

Lee Il-seo ate the provided dinner, and Sa Seung-yeon made do with a sandwich he’d bought from somewhere near the hospital. Only the awkward clattering of dishes echoed. Both of them had somewhat complicated expressions because of what had happened in the afternoon.

While Sa Seung-yeon was putting away the dishes, a kind nurse visited the room with a small tray of ointment and bandages. When told it was sent by Director Lee Ju-seung, Lee Il-seo received the tray instead. With a toothbrush in his mouth, his pronunciation was muffled.

“Thank you.”

“Let me know if you need more bandages or cotton swabs.”

By the time Lee Il-seo returned from spitting out his toothpaste, Sa Seung-yeon had come back to the room. After finishing brushing his teeth, Lee Il-seo wiped the water off his hands with a towel and walked toward the tray placed by the bedside.

“Sunbae. Let me apply your medicine.”

Lee Il-seo tore open a sterile cotton swab and squeezed out some ointment. Sa Seung-yeon smiled at the fidgeting Lee Il-seo, who was clearly intending to help, and sat down on the sofa for guardians.

How long had it been since they’d faced each other this closely? With less than a hand span between them, unnecessary thoughts made various parts of his body feel warm. Lee Il-seo, carefully bringing the cotton swab closer, made a troubled expression. Sa Seung-yeon’s somewhat long hair was brushing against his eyes.

After hesitating, Lee Il-seo carefully brushed aside the side hair to better expose the wound. His heart ached at the sight of the red marks drawn from his eye to his cheekbone.

“It might leave a scar if we’re not careful.”

Such an ugly mark on an actor’s face. The wound stood out even more on Sa Seung-yeon’s fine skin, which was already free of any blemishes. Yet Sa Seung-yeon smiled mischievously despite carrying that wound.

“Lee Il-seo will have to take responsibility.”

“…Yes. I will.”

Sa Seung-yeon’s relaxed mouth tightened at the docile response to what should have been a playful remark. The cotton swab tip carefully touched the wound. Even though it probably didn’t hurt much, Lee Il-seo was dabbing it too lightly.

The soft orange lighting cast the shadows of the two people darkly on the hospital room wall. Sa Seung-yeon fixed his wandering gaze on Lee Il-seo. Strangely, it felt good to see concern in those large eyes looking at him. He wondered if he could see Il-seo shedding tears of worry if Kang Hyung-won had cut him longer and more nastily.

“From this angle, your face looks like a steamed bun.”

Thankfully, the good natured person smoothed his furrowed brow at the silly joke, as he had been feeling guilty about something that wasn’t even his fault. Putting down the cotton swab stained with blood and ointment, Lee Il-seo blew a soft breath over the wound and muttered.

“To an actor’s face… That crazy bastard.”

Sa Seung-yeon’s eyebrows twitched at the harsh curse coming from such a kind face. Indeed, he felt it was good that he’d been properly scratched once. Lee Il-seo carefully placed a bandage on the side of the cheekbone and said in a ticklish voice.

“Still, thank you, Sunbae.”

“…”

“I thought I’d really beat him up if I met him again. But just hearing his voice made my body freeze up.”

The long standing violence that had even caused claustrophobia had led to habitual fear. And perhaps having manifested as an Omega made him more vulnerable to the pheromones of an angry Alpha.

“I had so much to say, so much built up, but I couldn’t spit out a word, and it was so painful. Even after you closed the hospital room door, I was so scared, embarrassingly so that I couldn’t follow you right away.”

His finger pressed firmly on the bandage before dropping down. Lee Il-seo looked at Sa Seung-yeon. His chocolate brown eyes were clear enough to reflect Sa Seung-yeon’s image.

“When I went out and saw the blood on your face… Strangely, as if something cleared my vision, I found courage. I felt like I could really hit him hard then, so I ran with my fists clenched. But he was already on the ground.”

“I hit him pretty hard, including for what I couldn’t ten years ago.”

If it hadn’t been for Kang Hyeong-won, Lee Il-seo and Sa Seung-yeon might not have been at odds like this. Thinking of tangerine’s page that had been erased as if fleeing and his note that ultimately wasn’t delivered, Sa Seung-yeon gritted his teeth until his jaw tensed, believing this resentment wouldn’t be resolved even if he beat the man to death.

In contrast, Lee Il-seo let out a soft laugh. With his eyes creased in a smile, Lee Il-seo muttered as if to himself.

“It feels good.”

“…”

“Ah, really, it feels so good. Even though I wasn’t the one who hit him…”

As if it had been waiting, thick tears fell from his large eyes without a chance to dry up. Lee Il-seo kept wiping under his eyes while laughing along with his self mutterings.

“But Sunbae, what if you get reported for assault?”

As if he was belatedly having a rational thought, he asked while wiping around his eyes with the back of his hand. Sa Seung-yeon reached out and wiped his wet cheeks before smiling.

“You still don’t know my personality even after going through all this.”

Lee Il-seo blinked, unsure what he meant. His breath hitched as he tried to decipher the cryptic smile. With a quiet sigh, Sa Seung-yeon tapped his own cheek and said, 

“I got hit too.”

He intentionally didn’t avoid Kang Hyung-won’s hand. Kang Hyung-won had caused a disturbance at the hospital and had a history of assaulting Il-seo, so the two people’s assaults would not be treated equally.

“But still…”

“And that Beta nurse who fell earlier. When an Alpha threatens a Beta, it’s a special assault, and if it’s proven to be an act of intervention, it’s self-defense.”

Sa Seung-yeon chuckled lightly, shaking his head as if it were no big deal. Then he tapped the bandage with his finger.

“Besides, do you know how many pending advertisements I have because of this one line? If he wanted to repay me, he’d have to give up one of his kidneys.”

Looking at the bandage, Lee Il-seo lowered his gaze and muttered weakly.

“I didn’t want to hold you back anymore… Both the pregnancy and Kang Hyeong-won… It seems like you keep getting involved in bad things because of me.”

“I’m the one who got you pregnant, and I’m the one who hit him. What do you mean it’s because of you. Don’t worry about useless things again.”

Seung-yeon flicked his finger and lightly hit Il-seo’s round forehead. He felt sorry for Il-seo, who was ignorant of the world, or rather, had been hurt so much by the world that he was easily frightened by even small things.

“Ouch, apply ointment here too.”

Sa Seung-yeon shook his hand and turned it over to show Lee Il-seo the back of his hand. The bumpy knuckles were covered with red scratches and bruises. Not knowing there were wounds on his hand too, Lee Il-seo hurriedly picked up the ointment again with a surprised face.

“…What should I do.”

Frowning, Lee Il-seo suddenly grasped his hand. It felt as if hearts had formed wherever Lee Il-seo’s fingers touched, with blood pulsing strongly, but Il-seo seemed to be so worried about him that he couldn’t see anything else.

You’re holding my hand right now. But Sa Seung-yeon knew that if he mentioned this, Lee Il-seo would surely let go and look like a cat with raised fur, so he closed his mouth and just stared at the neat fingertips of Lee Il-seo wrapping around his hand.

Il-seo, with his eyebrows furrowed, applied ointment once and then blew air with his mouth.

“If, huu, if this gets bigger, huu, I’ll take responsibility for everything.”

Watching Lee Il-seo concentrate as he applied ointment to the wound, Sa Seung-yeon silently raised the corners of his mouth.

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything. It was because the moment he heard those words, he didn’t want to be caught with the ugly thought that he hoped everything would go to hell and Lee Il-seo would take pity on him and take him in.

Lee Il-seo, what does the responsibility you’re talking about mean? Does it include the emotions that we haven’t finished sorting out? He wanted to ask him right away what he was to him now.

If Lee Il-seo took one step forward, his heart would rush three steps ahead, hastily and clumsily. That’s why those kind words of taking responsibility for everything sounded irresponsible.

At the end of February, winter’s cold was at its peak. Each time the bone chilling wind blew, people tightened their collars and hurried their steps.

A man taller than those around him but with a small face entered a large coffee shop right in front of a busy subway transfer station. It was Lee Il-seo, who had pulled his hat down low and was wearing a mask. After receiving an Americano, Lee Il-seo went straight to the second floor.

Near the window, a familiar silhouette waited. Taking a small breath to compose himself, Lee Il-seo walked toward that seat.

“So you became an Omega. I can feel your scent wafting from a distance.”

Kang Hyung-won sneered before Il-seo could even sit down. The sight of his lips covered with scabs and a dark bruise on his jaw was quite satisfying to see, but Lee Il-seo gave no reply as he pulled out the chair, sat down, and placed his coffee on the table.

“Aren’t you having coffee? I only ordered one for myself.”

“Did you deliberately choose such a public place for our meeting?”

Kang Hyung-won, sitting empty-handed, asked with a crooked voice instead of answering, and Lee Il-seo replied without changing his expression.

“Yes. Because there needed to be CCTV.”

“I won’t hit you anymore. Even that day, if you hadn’t scratched me, I was just going to ask how you were doing and leave.”

Lee Il-seo’s expression cooled at the detestable excuse. But he spoke calmly.

“Exactly. I couldn’t understand why you would even ask about my well-being.”

“…”

“I kept wondering what right you had to say something like that… But then—”

Lee Il-seo took a photo from his pocket and placed it on the table.

“When you came with this that day, I realized.”

“…”

“Ah, you’re still caught up in this damned family pretense.”

At Lee Il-seo’s words, Kang Hyung-won burst into laughter. He found it amusing how Lee Il-seo was getting upset over the photo he had brought to provoke him. Looking at the snickering Kang Hyung-won, Lee Il-seo said lightly.

“I’m going to proceed with the lawsuit.”

However, Lee Il-seo’s next words were 100 percent beyond Kang Hyung-won’s expectations. Frowning deeply, Kang Hyung-won corrected his relaxed posture and sat up straight.

“What? Lawsuit?”

“I’m going to sue you for child abuse, assault, sexual harassment, and stalking.”

Kang Hyung-won, who had been watching Lee Il-seo speak calmly with perfect posture, snorted.

“What abuse? When did I ever abuse you? Kids need to be disciplined to learn manners.”

“…”

“Did your work dry up after getting pregnant? Our great actor has a lot of time for nonsense.”

Just as the sneering Kang Hyung-won said, the evidence for his childhood abuse was weak and too much time had passed, so Lee Il-seo had been ready to give up. But after a little research, he found that the statute of limitations for child abuse begins after the victim becomes an adult, so there was still time left. So along with the stalking charge from last winter when Kang Hyung-won broke into his studio apartment, he planned to proceed with the child abuse lawsuit as well.

“Nonsense?”

“…”

“I’m going to do my best.”

The corners of Lee Il-seo’s mouth turned up slightly.

“I’m going to start working again soon. I won’t be living in a studio apartment that you can freely enter anymore, and I’ll hire security guards strong enough to overpower you. Of course, the lawyer I’ve retained is so competent that I’m not sure if you’ll be able to walk around outside.”

Watching Kang Hyung-won’s face stiffen in real-time as he continued speaking, Lee Il-seo maintained his firm voice.

“I thought it would be over if I just didn’t see you, or rather, avoided you, but the moment I saw this photo that day, the back of my neck tightened. I realized that the connection where we once considered each other family would remain, whether you die or I die. Now I want to completely erase that past. By making you pay for what you did.”

“So this is how you repay the kindness of taking you in after Hae-soo died, Lee Il-seo.”

The moment he heard his mother’s name, emotions surged, but Lee Il-seo suppressed them by clenching his fist under the table and looked directly at Kang Hyung-won.

“Actually, after my mother passed away, for a short time… I thought of you as a father. But it was you who created the reason why we couldn’t be a family. Your ugly, dirty desire that saw me as a substitute for my mother.”

“Listen to this bastard, talking back to his father like—”

“Mister.”

Unable to bear hearing the word ‘father,’ Lee Il-seo cut off Kang Hyung-won’s words coldly and snatched the paper on the table. He tore it into pieces and threw it on the table. His eyes, revealed above the mask, were blazing with anger.

“Not once have I been family with you since you did that disgusting thing.”

“You little—”

“So, stop clinging to your self-made delusions and please live in reality. We are strangers.”

At Lee Il-seo’s insult, a blue vein bulged prominently on Kang Hyung-won’s temple. The surging unpleasant pheromones were palpable. Lee Il-seo pointed toward the mobile phone he had placed on the table when he arrived.

“Hit me if you want. This entire conversation is being recorded, and my manager over there is listening too. I’d appreciate any additional evidence.”

From the beginning, the contact with Kang Hyung-won had been arranged through Ondo Entertainment. Choi Kyung-hyun had made contact on his behalf using the number Kang Hyung-won had left at the company, and they deliberately chose a location with high foot traffic where Kang Hyung-won couldn’t act recklessly.

Kang Hyung-won, who had been trembling with his fist clenched, glared at the calm Lee Il-seo.

“You son of a bitch, never backing down.”

“Annoying when someone speaks their mind, isn’t it?”

“…”

“I learned it from someone I know.”

Thinking of Sa Seung-yeon, whose way with words was exceptional, Lee Il-seo laughed emptily. It was quite satisfying to see a person who would normally have been seething and raising his hand, unable to do anything but flush red.

“Oh, and once the lawsuit starts, I’ll immediately move my mother’s columbarium spot, so visit a lot before then. The fact that my mother truly loved you, that’s the only reason I bothered to meet with you today to tell you this.”

Having said all he needed to say, Lee Il-seo stood up. His feet still felt soft as if stepping on a cushion, and his fingertips were cold from lack of circulation, but strangely, his mind was very calm.

Choi Kyung-hyun and the security staff member from Ondo Entertainment, who had been brought along just in case, also stood up with Lee Il-seo. Knowing now that he was no longer alone, his rapidly beating heart quickly found its normal pace. When Lee Il-seo’s eyes met Choi Kyung-hyun’s, he gently raised the corners of his mouth. Choi Kyung-hyun, who had been constantly worried about Lee Il-seo’s safety, smiled back as if relieved.

In the car, Choi Kyung-hyun looked at Lee Il-seo as he started the engine. He was indeed much stronger than expected.

“How about trying a legal drama next time? It would suit you well.”

“I don’t have the energy to joke around.”

Lee Il-seo took off his mask, showed a tired smile, and leaned his head deeply against the seat. Choi Kyung-hyun started the car with an awkward smile. Lee Il-seo blankly watched the scenery disappearing behind the car window before slowly closing his eyes.

After exchanging farewells with Choi Kyung-hyun, who had parked in front of the hospital building, Lee Il-seo entered the ward. The moment he was completely alone, he bowed his head deeply and let out the breath he had been holding.

“Haaa…”

It was a short but deep sigh. Having used all his mental strength to pretend to be calm while facing a monster, he felt completely drained of energy.

But it was something that had to be done. Considering his past, which had become tangled with regrets from avoiding and postponing, he needed to approach it as quickly and firmly as possible.

Regarding the lawsuit, Lee Il-seo had first asked Choi Kyung-hyun if he could look into it, and Choi Kyung-hyun had researched the legal procedures with CEO Kim Jin-hong before sharing the information with Lee Il-seo. As his health gradually recovered, time was what he had plenty of, so after examining the litigation process, Lee Il-seo decided to seek legal resolution with Kang Hyung-won.

He walked to his room after getting off the elevator. But the door to his room was slightly open. Lee Il-seo checked the clock on the wall and placed his hand on the doorknob with a smile. Sa Seung-yeon had said he had a schedule today, but if he had finished early, he might have arrived first.

But as soon as he opened the door further, his wrist was grabbed. Sa Seung-yeon’s face, which had approached so quickly that he felt a gust of wind at his feet, was pale.

The pheromone emanating from Sa Seung-yeon, who was pulling Lee Il-seo into the room while holding his wrist, was distinctly felt. When Lee Il-seo instinctively became frightened and stopped, Sa Seung-yeon stopped walking further and turned around to grip Lee Il-seo’s shoulders.

“Where on earth did you go without saying anything…”

Sa Seung-yeon couldn’t finish his sentence, and only then did the disorderly room come into view. The cabinet doors were wide open, and all the bedding was turned over. Lee Il-seo fumbled in his pocket for his phone. There were many missed calls from Sa Seung-yeon on his way back to the hospital, but he hadn’t noticed because his phone was on silent.

“Ah… I left a message saying I was going out to take care of something while you were on your schedule.”

Before long, a look of dismay crossed Lee Il-seo’s face. There was an X mark next to the message he had sent.

“Ah… it wasn’t sent.”

Lee Il-seo looked at Sa Seung-yeon and lowered his eyebrows with a troubled expression.

“I’m sorry. I sent it in the elevator, so I guess the signal dropped.”

Sa Seung-yeon, who had been panting, clenched his teeth and then released them as he dropped his hands from the shoulders he had been gripping. He had gripped them so hard that Lee Il-seo felt a tingling sensation of blood flowing around his shoulders.

“Were you surprised?”

“…”

“I left with a pass… Didn’t you ask at the desk?”

He had already asked. But they had only told him that Lee Il-seo had obtained a pass to leave, not where he went, why he left, whether he went alone, or when he would return. Sa Seung-yeon ran his hand over his face and let out a long sigh that made his chest heave.

“It’s fine as long as you’re okay. Where did you go?”

A relieved voice flowed out, devoid of strength. Even though he knew better, even though he believed it couldn’t be true, he found himself checking the cabinet to see if Lee Il-seo had packed his things, and looking around the ward several times to make sure they hadn’t missed each other, or if he had collapsed somewhere in pain.

The situation where he could only speculate turned into more terrifying imaginings that grew wildly in his mind.

He wondered if he had gotten an outpatient pass because of Kang Hyung-won’s threats, or if he was being beaten or threatened by him. Or perhaps it wasn’t Kang Hyung-won’s fault, but he had decided to leave the hospital room forever because of him. He couldn’t know Il-seo’s honest feelings, so he felt like he was going to die from frustration.

“I met Kang Hyung-won.”

“What?”

But Lee Il-seo came out with the worst possible answer he had imagined, and Sa Seung-yeon’s brow wrinkled uncontrollably.

“Why did you meet that bastard alone?”

He could feel Sa Seung-yeon’s sharp, dark eyes scanning his body. When Lee Il-seo stopped Sa Seung-yeon’s hand that abruptly tried to lift his clothes, Sa Seung-yeon let out a short groan. While the listener felt like all the blood was draining from his feet, Lee Il-seo, who actually looked calm, wrinkled the bridge of his nose and reassured Sa Seung-yeon.

“I wasn’t hit.”

“Don’t you have any fear? That bastard is an Alpha. You’re just a—”

“I’m not stupid. Choi Kyung-hyun and the company’s private security team went with me, and we met in a public café.”

“So why on earth—”

“For the lawsuit.”

Lee Il-seo rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged his shoulders once.

“When Kang Hyung-won came to the hospital last time. I’ve been thinking a lot since seeing the family photo he brought.”

“…”

“Honestly, he’s someone I want to ignore so much that I don’t want to respond in any way, but it didn’t seem right to leave that relationship as it was. Now that my grandmother has passed away too, and there’s nothing he can use to threaten me, I thought it was doable to file a lawsuit.”

Lee Il-seo briefly bit his lower lip and looked up at Sa Seung-yeon.

“And thanks to you stepping up for me like it was your own problem, I gained courage. If you can do that, I can’t keep hiding and living in fear forever.”

And that courage stemmed from having someone who would stand in front of him without looking back.

He had endured all this time. Because if you ignore and endure, time flows somehow, and wounds fade. But that was just fading, not erasing. In the moment of helplessness from learned fear, someone had stood in front of him, and Lee Il-seo realized at that moment that he was not alone in the world.

“Thank you.”

“…”

“And I’m sorry for worrying you.”

A complex and subtle color spread across Sa Seung-yeon’s face. It was certainly admirable what Lee Il-seo had done, but a feeling arose that couldn’t be precisely pinpointed. Sa Seung-yeon moistened his lower lip with his tongue as he looked at Lee Il-seo, who had left a plain apology.

His complicated mind was confused with various emotions. The fact that he hadn’t told him in advance that he was going to meet Kang Hyung-won, and that he had received help from the company first, made him feel like he wasn’t yet qualified to stay by Lee Il-seo’s side. But this was selfishness. He shouldn’t be greedy because he was nothing to Lee Il-seo right now.

Sa Seung-yeon slightly lowered his head with a sense of helplessness and slowly nodded. He clenched his fist then released it. Straining his voice to sound firm, Sa Seung-yeon said to Lee Il-seo.

“Right, good thinking. If you need anything, tell me. I’ll help.”

Lee Il-seo slowly nodded at Sa Seung-yeon’s voice.

“Are you also filing charges for the past sexual harassment?”

“Yes. There’s no physical evidence, but I’m going to try. I’ll file charges for forced molestation of a minor.”

Lee Il-seo nodded once more as he answered. He knew that having evidence would make the lawsuit much smoother, but too much time had passed for the childhood abuse, and there was no evidence except for testimony, so he just hoped that detailed statements would be accepted as evidence.

“Let me know if you need the messages you sent.”

“Messages?”

Lee Il-seo’s head tilted.

“The messages you sent with the ‘Tangerine’ ID. You told me about what your father did. I have all of them captured, and I recently organized them chronologically so they could be used as evidence.”

“What?”

As Lee Il-seo’s eyes widened, Sa Seung-yeon said with a small sigh.

“I’ve been looking into lawsuits since Kang Hyung-won caused trouble.”

“Ah…”

“Since they include timestamps, they should be valuable as circumstantial evidence even if not direct evidence.”

“No, wait… you’re saying you have those messages?”

“Yeah.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah, why?”

“…Wow.”

“What is it?”

Seung-yeon, with a face so brazen it was almost shameless, asked the reason instead. Il-seo shook his head from side to side with a drained face and replied.

“Sunbae, you really have a persistent side to you.”