My Bloody Valentine - 81

― The person I served has passed away. I feel like I need to stay with them.

“Ah… is it that three-day funeral?”

― Yes.

Taeshin’s tone was calm as usual, but the words he said, like something a lover might say when announcing their late return home, made Han feel a strange embarrassment. Han scratched his cheek and jaw with his other hand and replied.

“Got it. Do well and come back.”

After hanging up, Han sat at the center of the bed, dazed for quite a while. Taeshin’s quiet voice still echoed in his ears. It felt as if the past, where they only exchanged harsh words that tore at each other, was a distant memory.

Will you and I continue like this? As if nothing had ever happened?

It was entirely Taeshin’s decision that someone else went in his place, and since Han was unaware, he sometimes held a selfish thought that it might not have been his fault after all.

But when Han saw the scars covering Taeshin’s bare body, he thought that where he belonged was not in this cozy hotel room, but in the purgatory that Taeshin had endured for years.

On top of that, the guilt of not hiding his hatred for Taeshin, and even going so far as to verbally lash out at him multiple times, weighed on him. Though Han wasn’t sure if his words and actions had hurt Taeshin.

“Haah…”

With a sigh, Han got up from the bed and grabbed a cold bottle of water from the minibar. It felt as if his sleepy cells were slowly waking up. Then, he entered the bathroom, stood under the shower stream, and thought about what he had to do today. There wasn’t much to do, really.

Starting today, Han had decided to assist with a three-day recovery training session. Light exercise, like walking, was necessary to prevent complications after the general anesthesia surgery.

Being able to do something productive, to be helpful to someone, instead of just staring blankly out the window of a luxurious room, made Han genuinely happy. And the fact that it was with Jeong made it all the better.

Just as Han finished changing clothes and was about to leave, the doorbell rang.

“Room service.”

It was rare for anyone to ring the bell here. Feeling puzzled, Han approached the door and looked outside through the peephole. A hotel staff member in uniform was standing there with a room service cart.

Usually, one of Taeshin’s subordinates would directly open the door, come in, and leave the meal, but today it seemed the staff had come alone. Perhaps Taeshin had relaxed his surveillance a bit.

Han opened the door, and the man pushed the cart inside.

“I’ll move it further in for you.”

Looking at the time, Han realized he didn’t have time to eat. He decided to postpone the meal until after his hospital visit and quickly gathered his belongings, like his phone and wallet.

“Sorry, but I won’t be able to eat right now. Just leave it there, and I’ll…”

Just then, Han heard a presence right behind him. Sensing something was off, he started to turn around, but a hand suddenly covered his mouth and nose from behind.

The cloth that covered his face had a familiar sweet smell that stung his airways. In a brief moment of panic, Han struggled for a few seconds, flailing his limbs, before losing consciousness.

The man quickly caught Han’s limp body as he collapsed. He had done this more than a few times. After laying Han on the floor for a moment, the man moved swiftly.

There was a specific instruction from the person who had ordered Han’s kidnapping. Make it look like he ran away on his own, not that he was kidnapped.

This was to confuse Jang Taeshin’s investigation and buy time. As someone who had run a large-scale loan shark business, Taeshin was an expert at finding people.

The man spread the food on the table, went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower. He rummaged through the closet, packing belongings that seemed to be Han’s into a bag.

While searching, he came across some heavy watches and cufflinks, likely belonging to Director Jang Taeshin. Greed flickered in his eyes.

He pocketed the expensive-looking items, not forgetting to scatter things around the room, making it look like someone had hurriedly fled. After finishing his work, he stuffed Han’s body and the bag into the cart and quickly left.

Because he had taken a bit longer to satisfy his greed, he ended up running into a man in a black suit coming down the hallway. It was one of Taeshin’s subordinates who was guarding the room.

The subordinate had just returned after receiving a call about a minor accident in the parking lot. Fortunately, the car had only sustained a small scratch and was fine.

Upon seeing the staff coming out of the suite, the man in black frowned.

“Who are you? Why are you coming out of there?”

“Huh? Room service, sir.”

“Didn’t you get the instructions not to go in there without permission? You should have waited.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m still new here.”

The man in uniform scratched the back of his head, bowing apologetically. Seeing his humble demeanor, the man in black’s frown slightly softened as he asked,

“What about the food? Did you leave it inside?”

“Yes, he seemed to be in the shower, so I just left the food and came out.”

“Alright. You can go.”

The staff member bowed once more and disappeared down the opposite hallway.

The man in black entered the room briefly to check the interior. As the staff had said, he could hear the water running in the bathroom, and the food was neatly arranged on the table.

Meanwhile, the man who had brought the cart took the freight elevator down to the basement. In the underground parking lot, a refrigerated truck bearing the logo of a food distribution company was waiting.

The man loaded the entire cart into the truck, secured it with a lock, and got into the passenger seat. The driver, who had been waiting, started the engine without hesitation. The man in uniform took off his vest, crumpling it and tossing it aside. He then spoke to the driver.

“Call Director Oh. Tell him we’ve acquired the goods.”

❖ ❖ ❖

“Director, someone’s tailing us.”

At Myungseop’s words as he looked in the rearview mirror, Taeshin turned to check behind them. The van that had been stationed at the corner of the parking lot throughout the funeral was now trailing them, with a couple of sedans in between.

“It’s probably the police.”

“The police? Why would the police…”

“They’re probably worried there will be a brawl over Chairman Bae’s position. Don’t pay any attention to it.”

“Yes, sir.”

A moment later, before the car even came to a full stop at the hotel entrance, the door flung open, and Taeshin’s long leg stretched outside.

As he strode across the lobby without hesitation, the staff greeted him, but he had no time today to return any of their greetings.

He went straight up to the 15th floor. In front of his suite, a few men stood nervously, murmuring to each other. One of them, his face pale, wore a solemn expression as if awaiting his fate. He was the one who had stepped away after a call about a minor fender bender.

Ignoring them, Taeshin quickly entered the room. His eyes scanned the scene. An untouched meal on the table, the wardrobe wide open. The bathroom and some living room drawers were left ajar, clothes scattered on the floor as if someone had been in a hurry. A bitter chuckle escaped through Taeshin’s teeth.

Of course.

It had always been Han, who looked at him with eyes filled with disdain. Sometimes, those eyes mixed with disgust, as if looking at a loathsome insect.

When Taeshin had once told him to smile, Han had declared with certainty that there would never be a reason to smile in front of him. Han had been stubbornly adamant about keeping that promise.

So, when Han had started behaving as though he might actually like Taeshin over the past few days, Taeshin had known it wasn’t genuine.

Yet, when Han had grasped his shoulder, when his pale, slender hand had carefully brushed his skin, when he had embraced Taeshin first—there was a fleeting moment when Taeshin had thought maybe, just maybe, it was real.

But when Han had run away again, it reminded Taeshin of the harsh reality. Everything had been nothing but a delusion.

Who would have thought he’d soothe him and then stab him in the back like this?

Han had slipped through his fingers like sand, vanishing in an instant. Taeshin felt utterly pathetic. He imagined Han laughing at him from somewhere, mocking his downfall.

How did it come to this?

At first, Taeshin had merely been curious about his body. That had been all. He had never known or cared about emotions like love or affection. But even after his curiosity about Han’s body had been sated, Taeshin found he couldn’t let go.

It dawned on him late. He craved everything about Han. Perhaps from the moment he first saw Han’s pale face under the dim lights of the workshop.

Staring down at his empty hand, Taeshin clenched it into a tight fist as though trying to grab hold of the emptiness. Behind him, a man, as if confessing his sins, began explaining.

“It seems he left while I was checking on a minor collision that happened while I was away.”

“Collision?”

“Yes… I went down to the underground parking lot, and it was just a small scratch on the wheel, so I came back quickly. But it seems he slipped out during that time…”

“Get all the CCTV footage and bring it up.”

Taeshin gave the same command he had a few months ago, then sat down at his desk, turned on the computer, and logged into the cloud. There was a high-resolution camera installed above his room door, separate from the hotel’s own surveillance. He was about to check the footage.

Junho, who had come up late, looked around the room before standing in front of Taeshin.

“What happened? Did he escape again? How on earth, this time, how did he manage…”

“Junho.”

Taeshin cut him off as if no further words were necessary.

“Yes, Director.”

“We need to find him again.”

“…Yes.”

What tormented Taeshin more than having to search for Han again was knowing that during the search, he wouldn’t be able to see him.