TIN 167

Originally, I would have brought Henry, but I only took a driver to Oceans. Choosing the item was entirely up to me, so there was no need to move around unnecessarily. Besides, Henry had other things to do while I was visiting Oceans.

When I saw the Oceans sign in the distance, I felt a strange new emotion. I never thought I would come here as a customer, but the opportunity came sooner than expected. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around.

‘Wait here.’

After leaving the driver at the entrance, I headed into the store alone. If Henry had been here, he would have frowned at me walking around without security. But there was no one in this store who would harm me anyway.

The lavishly decorated entrance, trying its best to look luxurious, showed how vulgar this place was. They didn’t seem to know that the more money they threw at the interior, the cheaper it looked. Maybe it looked beautiful to the people in this neighborhood.

I heard that the inside was decorated like the sea. I wondered how those who had never seen the sea could have recreated it. What was so great about that barren ocean? How trivial were the longings packaged under the name of romance?

There was a ‘CLOSE’ sign on the door, but the guards standing at the entrance opened the door without hesitation when they saw my face. They didn’t know who I was, but they must have realized that I was one of the VIP customers. Either the CEO had told them, or my eye color was different from ordinary people.

‘……’

The moment I stepped through the open doorway, an unusual air brushed past my cheek. I slowly stepped inside and let out a low exclamation when I saw the huge man raise his hand.

‘Ah.’

He’s putting on an interesting show.

‘I’m pretty sure I said I was going to visit…’

If my memory wasn’t wrong, that man must be the CEO. He was in the middle of beating a man who appeared to be an employee in the middle of the lobby. The CEO’s size was by no means small, so it looked like a one-sided act of violence.

It wasn’t a surprising sight. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but there were many merchants who used physical violence under the guise of education from the owner’s point of view. Although it was a somewhat barbaric method, I knew that it was actually quite an effective response.

However, the problem occurred when I casually turned my gaze while admiring the noisy interior. The moment my eyes met the employee who was dripping blood, and the man I hadn’t paid any attention to.

‘……’

‘……’

The moment our eyes met, it felt like time had stopped. The feeling of electricity running through my stomach was an overwhelming shock. The calm mood suddenly turned sharp and edgy.

A doll… no, a person. And a very beautiful young man.

There were plenty of pretty people around, but I didn’t know why my chest tightened at that moment. His expressionless, cold face, his dry gaze, and his unusually static atmosphere clung to me like glue.

The first thing I felt was a sense of crisis, and then came a sense of déjà vu. I felt my calm heart throbbing. The déjà vu, which was probably a delusion, eventually became a throbbing headache that tormented me.

‘Ah…’

I came to my senses after a thin groan escaped from the man’s lips. An unfamiliar voice flowed out from between his lips, which were as red as if they had been dyed with flower water. The sight of him opening his mouth and making a sound brought a sense of reality as if waking up from a dream.

What am I… what am I imagining?

‘The item management is a mess.’

An inexplicable unpleasantness stuck to me like dirty rags. My stomach burned with an instinctive revulsion, and my throat felt parched as if I had swallowed a ball of fire. Even as I smiled as if nothing was wrong, I felt like something was being gnawed away.

‘Is that the item you were going to show me?’

He was a wretched man, no different from a beggar, and was pathetically broken. His hair was soaked in an unknown liquid, and his cheeks and eyes were covered in mottled bruises. His long eyelashes were matted with blood, and the whites of his eyes, where blood vessels had burst, were a pale pink.

What a mess. To think that the first thing I thought when I saw such a messy face was that he was beautiful. I couldn’t have thought that unless my eyes were blind. Or maybe I had lost my mind.

Yes, otherwise…

‘This guy is not for sale.’

Fortunately or unfortunately, the man was not the item the CEO had prepared. If he wasn’t for sale, was he a toy? The question that briefly popped into my head made me feel as bad as if I had been covered in filth again.

‘Please come inside first. Would you like a cup of tea…’

The CEO led me inside and flattered me, bringing out an expensive tea that he claimed to have brought from somewhere in England. He introduced me to several Betas he had prepared and even bowed at the waist to try to sell them to me.

‘How about it, is there anyone here you like?’

Normally, I would have picked someone reasonably good and taken them home. After all, it was fake, and this time the expiration date wouldn’t be very long. As long as they listened to me, as long as they could call me ‘Hyung’, I didn’t care.

‘I’ve trained these guys very well…’

But I didn’t like any of them. It wasn’t just that I didn’t like them, I couldn’t even see them properly. Ever since I left the blood-soaked man in the lobby, I couldn’t even hear what the CEO was saying.

Why do I feel so bad?

Just thinking about the man’s face made me feel worse and worse. A pale face with no blood, and wounds that had burst like flowers on it. I didn’t know why I was so annoyed by the flaws on an item that wasn’t even mine, and my stomach started to twist.

And that wasn’t all. The most unpleasant thing was the feeling I had felt when I looked at the man for a moment. A sense of déjà vu, or something close to expectation.

I must be crazy. Like a fool, was I expecting that kind of male prostitute to be my Hyung? That the Hyung who had run away from my house would be selling his body in such a vulgar place.

Besides.

‘…Director?’

There’s no way I wouldn’t remember.

If that person was Hyung, then my memories would have returned. When I saw his face, or even when he opened his mouth.

‘D-Director?’

The CEO couldn’t hide his embarrassment when he saw me get up from my seat without a word. But I left him behind and started walking. Since my mood was ruined like this, it seemed impossible to buy anything here.

‘Director, if you give me one more chance, I’ll get you a better item…’

The CEO, who had been so imposing in front of the man earlier, was now fidgeting and bowing as he followed me. He must have thought he couldn’t lose a valuable customer, but the more he did, the less I wanted to. If the item he had carefully selected for me didn’t please me, then the items he showed me later would be the same.

‘Please, just one more time…’

I was too lazy to even say no, so I just kept my mouth shut and walked. With each step I took, the wave paintings on the walls seemed to ripple.

I scoffed. Is this what they’ve made the sea out of? There’s no sea here, and there’s no one I can call Hyung. Yes, unless only fakes exist.

‘I’m… Bada.’

When I reached the end of the hallway, instead of the CEO’s voice, which had finally quieted down, I heard a desperate introduction. An employee I hadn’t seen earlier was standing in front of the bleeding man and was about to say something.

I wasn’t curious about their conversation. But the moment I caught a glimpse of an inexplicable determination in the employee’s expression, I blurted out without realizing it.

‘How much?’

I’m being robbed. It was a word that burst out like an instinct under a thunderous premonition. The surging emotions were close to a conviction that I couldn’t let go here.

‘How much is that?’

I pointed at the man with my index finger. I could still see his black eyes staring straight at me. I didn’t care about the Boss’s panicked voice or the employee’s pale face. All that mattered was the ‘Bada’ who had moved me for a moment.

‘I’ll take him.’