Small and Fragile Things - Chapter 47

That day, Irang was completely out cold when Muk-hyun carried her out in his arms. Startled, Jung Yoon came running. Muk-hyun told him to clean up the mess.

When Jung Yoon arrived at the location Muk-hyun mentioned, he found a man crawling on the floor, covered in bl00d.

The situation was obvious. The guy had either tried something on Irang, or had already done it — and that had earned him Muk-hyun’s fury.

“I-I was wrong. It’s my fault, all of it. Please… just spare me…”

The man, having stared death in the face, was completely out of his mind. He wasn’t asking for a settlement or anything — he was begging never to have to see Muk-hyun again for the rest of his life.

When Jung Yoon reviewed the CCTV footage during cleanup, his stomach sank.

It wasn’t even much. The man had helped the staggering Irang out, then his hand started wandering. The moment she pushed him away, he got angry and shoved her — and that was when Muk-hyun saw it. After that… well…

Muk-hyun wasn’t the type to use violence unless absolutely necessary.

People who only knew the rumors imagined him as some bl00d-crazed butcher, but in truth, if it wasn’t work-related, he was the kind of man who would let someone slap him across the face without hitting back.

For him to beat someone to that state meant he had lost control entirely — and the fact that it was over Irang was the bigger problem.

The only silver lining was that Muk-hyun himself seemed shaken by what he’d done.

That night, he stayed by Irang’s side until she woke safely, then immediately moved her to a different safehouse, putting Jung Yoon in charge of watching her. He ordered strict surveillance, but after that, he never once mentioned her.

A week passed. He looked like a man who had completely lost interest.

“Nothing’s happened. I think he’s just wrapping things up now that this job’s almost done.”

Jung Yoon slipped his glasses back on and pulled a tablet from his bag, as if he had nothing more to say.

As always, he was right — and the other two had no choice but to agree.

“…Tch.”

Silence settled over the room.

Gi-seon sat with a sour look, while Jung-pal kept sighing heavily, clearly deep in thought. Jung Yoon ignored them for a while, then asked offhandedly,

“Who’s guarding the place now?”

“Seong-pil, Cheol-ho, Sun-il, and Jung-min are rotating shifts.”

“Make sure they’re thorough. No slacking.”

“They will be. You’ve already told them over and over…”

Gi-seon ruffled her short hair in frustration before abruptly standing to tidy up the office. Staying still only made her thoughts swirl — moving her hands at least helped.

But her head was full of memories she didn’t want.

The first time she’d seen Irang in the basement. Those wide, curious eyes that found everything fascinating. How she’d earnestly practiced using chopsticks. The pages of neat handwriting in that little pink notebook.

“Gi-seon, why do you want to be a man?”

“I think it’d be amazing if you were my mom.”

Always saying ridiculous things just to throw people off. The more Gi-seon thought about it, the more her temper flared.

“For crying out loud. Who dumped this crap in the office? I told someone to clean it up! Always the same — one person makes a mess, someone else has to clean it!”

Jung-pal pretended not to notice her irritability and sprawled on the sofa with his eyes closed. Normally, he’d be snoring within three seconds, but today, all that came out were sighs. He, too, was thinking about Irang.

He’d heard she’d been frail since a bad fever, and he couldn’t help worrying — was she looking half-dead again? Was she eating anything?

Maybe he should bring her some bread. Or drop by “by accident” just to see her. She was probably staring at the door anyway. If she couldn’t see the boss, maybe seeing him would put her at ease.

The kid’s so gentle… and easily scared.

But then Jung Yoon’s words would come back, reminding him it was better to cut ties.

He hadn’t meant to get attached in the first place. In all his years in this life, it had never happened before — so how had it come to this?

What the hell had that tiny thing done to him?

“But why do you like me?”

“That’s fine. You’re still a good person to me.”

So… how do you even unattach yourself once you’re attached? If you just don’t see them, does it fade? It had already been a week without seeing her, and instead of fading, she kept popping into his mind.

“Damn sofa. Why’s it so uncomfortable? Cheap piece of crap.”

Jung-pal scowled even harder and turned over, picking a fight with the innocent couch.

“Holy crap, you scared me! Thought my heart was gonna stop!”

“Quit kicking up dust—!”

That was when it happened — both his cell phone and the office phone rang at the exact same time.

***

One hour earlier.

Irang peeked her head out the door. The man sitting on the sofa glanced up from his phone, then looked back down.

“What.”

“Water…”

“Get it yourself.”

Holding an empty bottle, she went to the kitchen, biting her lip.

On the fridge were the vocabulary cards — and just seeing them made her think of the people she missed. They’d become like a tear switch for her.

She’d woken once to see Muk-hyun, but when she woke again, he was gone — and only strangers filled the house.

They said he’d sent them, but she didn’t understand why. Why strangers, when Gi-seon had told her this was a place no one could just walk into?

At first, she thought something urgent had come up. But the next day, and the day after… no matter how long she waited, Muk-hyun didn’t return. Neither Jung-pal nor Gi-seon came by, either.

Now it had been a week. She woke that morning with her heart pounding, but all she heard outside her door were unfamiliar men’s voices.

Eventually, she broke down in tears.

The sudden absence triggered her trauma, and the fear that she might never see them again crushed her.

Haa…

Fighting the tears, she peeled every vocabulary card off the fridge and hugged them tightly to her chest. She was just pulling out a fresh bottle of water when she sensed someone behind her.

Not the man from the sofa — another one.

Expressionless, he stepped up close and jerked his chin.

“Move.”

Before she could, he reached past her shoulder and grabbed another bottle. The cap cracked open right above her head.

“Tch. What a pain.”

The men who came instead of Jung-pal and Gi-seon scared her.

They didn’t smile when she made eye contact — just stared. If she asked something or made a request, they’d scoff or ignore her. Already gloomy, she shrank even more around them.

“How old are you?”

“…Don’t know.”

“Don’t know, my ass. You’re working hard at this, huh?”

She didn’t know what he meant, but she could tell they didn’t like her. So she stayed in her room as much as possible — but after crying so long, her throat was too dry.

“What? Why are you staring like that?”

“Staring?”

“Yeah. Eyes wide open, glaring at me.”

That was when she caught a familiar scent from him. A bitter, grassy smell — just like the one that clung to Muk-hyun’s clothes.

She normally didn’t care for it… but right now, she craved it. If she could just smell it, maybe she wouldn’t feel so uneasy.

“Um… can I have one of those?”

“One of what?”

“…A cigarette.”

The man promptly spat out his mouthful of water. After coughing a few times, he glared at her like she was insane.

“What the hell…”

Irang didn’t know it, but he wasn’t actually angry — he was flustered.

That pale, bloodless face was too pretty, and he’d followed her without even thinking. Now she was staring up at him with those huge eyes, and yeah, of course he was thrown off.

He’d only grumbled to cover it up — but then her lips jutted like she might cry again, and damn, that was cute enough to drive a man crazy.

Sh1t. I’m screwed.

He chugged his water to distract himself — but then—

“What did you just say?”

His mind went blank. She was too close, and all he could think was: Damn it. I’m done for.

“I said… give me a cigarette too.”