Small and Fragile Things - Chapter 53

So, I decided to keep her at a distance. If she was in front of me, there was no way I’d be thinking straight. I needed space.

Besides, she still needed time to fully recover, and isolating myself—so I wouldn’t start having indecent thoughts around someone who was still hurting—would probably help her heal faster anyway.

And if I’m being honest… there was a petty part of me that wanted to make her just a little more restless for me. That, too, was arrogance.

From the moment I thought, If I just clear my head, I’ll be able to figure out my feelings for her. From the assumption that she’d simply wait around until I made up my mind—either way.

“The woman has run away.”

Now I know what it really means when people say it feels like the sky is collapsing. Now I know what it’s like to drink poison drop by drop every second.

And then—

“The person you’re looking for? She’s with me right now.”

How dare you.

You, of all people.

***

Muk-hyun stood once again in front of that building—no signboard, no address. A ghost of a place.

As he went down to the basement and walked the hallway, he thought back to the first time he came to Mujin City. It hadn’t been that long ago, but it felt like years.

She was the same. They hadn’t actually spent much time together, but somehow she felt like someone who’d been by his side since birth.

The door opened, and like that other day, only one seat at the table was empty.

“Why so late?”

“Welcome.”

The déjà vu in those greetings made him huff out a quiet laugh through his nose.

He walked slowly to the seat prepared for him. Choi Il-hyun slid over a glass and some whiskey—just like that day. But Muk-hyun flipped the glass upside down the moment it touched his hand.

“Where is she?”

When he heard that Il-hyun had taken Irang, relief was not his first reaction—disgust was.
The fire that shot up inside him, he wasn’t even sure if it was aimed at Irang or Il-hyun.

Now, facing him, he knew. The kind of rage that makes you want to rip a man’s limbs off with your bare hands for daring to covet something that was yours—that was where his anger had been all along.

“Must’ve scared you, huh? Should’ve called you sooner. My bad.”

“Just tell me where she is.”

Il-hyun looked much the same as always—if anything, more relaxed. Even though he had to feel the tension in the air, he smiled like it had nothing to do with him.

“This morning I went to Sorang’s gallery. Right near your place, right? I had a favor to ask, and besides, Mother sometimes tells me to drop by your neighborhood and check in on you. Anyway, I was just walking down the alley… and there she was—Irang.”

Muk-hyun was barely holding himself back from ripping that smug mouth open or yanking off that rotten head.

“Crazy coincidence, right?”

His jaw clenched so hard it felt like his teeth might shatter.

“But she looked like something was wrong, even from a glance. So I put her in my car.”

The curses he was holding down boiled in his throat like phlegm.

“That was in the middle of the day.”

“Yeah. I didn’t call you right then because… well, I was caught off guard too. Needed a second to think.”

Listening to that nonsense made his skull ache. Everything coming out of Il-hyun’s mouth was just an empty shell—pretty wrapping for the rot inside.

He remembered the way Il-hyun looked at Irang at the art hall. That greedy, absurd desire… he’d wanted to rip it right out of him even then. He’d held back for the sake of the situation, but now he regretted it.

Coincidence? Not a chance. Il-hyun must’ve guessed she’d be at that house and deliberately made his move.
That was his style—he couldn’t openly check out a woman his younger brother was seeing, so he’d cook up an excuse and seize the chance. Wrapping up foul intentions in a shiny package was what Il-hyun did best.

“Tell me where she is. Don’t make me ask again.”

“My brother brought her to my hotel. She seemed pretty shaken, so I figured she should calm down first. We treated her very well, so no need to worry. Oh, and don’t be too grateful, yeah? I had a lot of fun for the first time in a while.”

Like attracts like—his sister was already running her mouth.

“She’s absolutely adorable. Where’d you pick her up?”

“Pick her up…?”

Muk-hyun’s eyes flicked up from under his lashes. Jihyun’s lips curved in a thin smile.

“What? No last name, just a given name. Looks classy but totally timid. Someone said at the event she was like a little puppy about to pee itself. And if my brother’s assistants couldn’t dig up anything on her, that means she’s probably some chairman’s unregistered love child, right? You two drawn together ‘cause you’re both from the same boat?”

“….”

“You know, I honestly thought you had zero interest in women. But now I get it—you were just smart enough to stay in your lane.”

“Jihyun, stop.”

“Fine, fine. I’m always the bad one, aren’t I?”

Il-hyun, as usual, let his wild little sister run around saying whatever she wanted, only stepping in when it suited him.

“Muk-hyun, the reason I didn’t bring Irang straight to you is… well, I’d heard something. She wouldn’t say a word, like she was scared of something. So I brought her to Jihyun. Don’t be mad. You don’t really think I’d mess with a woman my brother’s seeing, do you?”

The rumors about him being rough with women had been convenient to leave alone, so Muk-hyun never denied them. Still, the fact that Il-hyun dared to bring it up now, after letting his dirty gaze roam all over her before… it was pathetic.

“Irang is—”

He didn’t even like the sound of Il-hyun saying her name. It was uncomfortable. No—offensive.

It made him angry enough to be mad at Irang for telling him her name in the first place. Everything about this situation was unbearable.

“She’s fine.”

“…Fine?”

“If our conversation goes well, nothing bad will happen to her.”

…Maybe I should just kill him.

Muk-hyun had to force himself to remember why he was wasting time like this at all. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, trying to tamp down the murderous urge boiling inside him.

But this idiotic brother-sister pair seemed determined to make all that effort worthless.

“See that face, oppa? I told you I was right.”

“…Yeah.”

The two of them, wearing the same smirk on their almost identical faces, came into view.

“Muk-hyun, is Irang really that important to you?”

A tightness gripped his chest like a punch to the gut. His bl00d pressure climbed so high his neck stiffened—yet somehow, he laughed.

“You always seemed fearless. But today… I see you’re just like everyone else.”

Il-hyun smiled like a gentleman. If you stripped off that mask, you’d see the arrogance and self-righteousness underneath.

Raised his whole life without ever facing hardship, treated like royalty, and convinced the world revolved around him—an egotist through and through.

“Muk-hyun, I have a proposal for you.”

He almost laughed out loud.

“Just hear me out. You might like it.”

Muk-hyun lowered his gaze to the floor and stayed silent. However Il-hyun interpreted that, he continued in an overly solemn tone.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for Father. I’m not going to deny your contribution to building the family’s current empire—in fact, I think you deserve more recognition.”

“….”

“And I do regret that you ended up in prison. It was Father’s decision, so I couldn’t do anything about it, but I get why you’d feel hurt over that.”

Muk-hyun’s eyes lifted briefly, meeting Il-hyun’s gaze. He stared for a moment, then let his mouth curl into something crooked.

“So?”

The irritation in his voice was impossible to hide.

Even their father had never tried to butter him up like this, and now Il-hyun thought this was the moment to hand out compliments?

But of course, Il-hyun had to ruin it further, sprinkling ashes over the bitter taste.

“I’m not like Father.”