Love Me More

Episode 2

“Is this bastard? That twisted little fly.”

“Yes. There’s one more besides this guy, and it seems they’re distributing together.”

“‘Seems’ or are they a set? Be precise.”

His voice was low and resonant. It wasn’t high-pitched, but it pierced through the ears like a sharp needle. With every word he spoke, Si-yul’s head dropped slightly. There was a weight to the man’s voice.

“It’s a set.”

Despite the indifferent question, the voice answering was filled with tension. Si-yul only fidgeted with his fingers. If it had been Kwon Yu-won, he would have somehow resolved the situation and escaped safely, but with the brain that had been mocked as a goldfish in the orphanage, he couldn’t see a way out of this crisis. He just wanted to cry.

The man grabbed Si-yul’s hair with a strong grip and pulled it back. Si-yul let out a small gasp. Blinded by the fluorescent light, he squinted and raised his gaze. The tears welling in his eyes flowed down, caused by both the pain of his scalp being pulled and the brightness of the light.

“Hm,” the man observed Si-yul. It seemed he was examining how someone could expose their insides and then walk around his sacred club, dirtying it. After blinking a couple of times, Si-yul’s previously blurred vision returned to normal.

The moment their eyes met, Si-yul’s eyes widened, which had been narrowed by the light. What kind of person looked like that? Even in a life-threatening situation, the face in front of him made him forget the sense of crisis for a moment.

The features that everyone else had, shone delicately and harmoniously on the man’s face. His nose bridge, jawline, and even the position of each eyebrow were perfectly aligned and not a single detail was out of place.

Is he a celebrity? Had he seen someone like this on TV? It made him tilt his head in confusion.

“This bastard… Why does he look so damn good? Are you an omega?”

Gasping, Si-yul snapped back to reality. With his hair still gripped in the man’s hand, he jerked his head away. He was slapped across the cheek. Even though the palm didn’t seem to have much force, the spot felt hot.

“You should speak.”

“Ah, no.”

The man narrowed his eyes. The atmosphere seemed to shift slightly, but Si-yul didn’t know. He blinked blankly and then lowered his gaze. He couldn’t bring himself to meet the man’s eyes again. He didn’t want to be hit again.

“…It’s better to get rid of the fly.”

The man let go of Si-yul’s hair and muttered. Even though it sounded like a soliloquy, his precise pronunciation pierced Si-yul’s ears, making sure not a single word was missed. Si-yul’s complexion turned pale in an instant. Only then did he raise his head sharply.

“No!”

“What?”

“It’s really my first time today! Originally… that’s not it, I won’t come here again. I promise I won’t. I won’t even turn my head or sleep facing this direction. Please, let me live.”

His hands were tied behind his back, so he couldn’t beg properly. He squirmed like a caterpillar and crawled toward the man. His eyes were already red. Soon, tears like beads began to fall.

“Please…”

He leaned his cheek against the man’s shoe. He was curled up in a flat position. If he had to, he would lick the soles of the shoes. What wouldn’t he do to survive? Si-yul was more afraid of dying than anything else. Even when he was a child, everyone had dared to cross the fence for a courage test at the closed reservoir, and while he had been beaten, he had stubbornly refused to go back. That’s how scared he was.

“I won’t come again. I really mean it.”

“…”

The man rubbed his chin and quietly stared at the back of Si-yul’s head. If this was acting to survive, it was worthy of an award.

Hadn’t he given enough fear? Just looking at Si-yul, who seemed to have the courage of a mouse, it didn’t seem like he would come back to play around. Moreover, he wasn’t a perfect thug; he could eliminate someone if he wanted to, but that was something for when he was young. At his age now, it wasn’t something he should be doing.

The feeling of having made a child cry also played a part. Si-yul’s crying face was just the kind to tug at someone’s conscience. His nose was red, his cheeks flushed, his lips were pink, and his eyes were heated. He looked like a ripe summer plum, dropping thick tears as he cried…

“Hm,” the man raised his head and turned his gaze to the ceiling. It was enough to torment the kid at this point.

“Tell your partner. If he messes around in someone else’s business again, I’ll prepare a drum. If he doesn’t want concrete filled in his stomach, he should behave.”

The man really looked like someone who would prepare a drum. Si-yul nodded vigorously, still crying and sniffling. If Kwon Yu-won had seen him, he would have said that a man shouldn’t cry so much and to cut it out, but since he wasn’t there, Si-yul cried freely.

“Throw him away.”

“But, boss, just letting him go…”

“—What do you want to do with a kid who doesn’t even smell like milk? Don’t make me say it twice.”

The man stood up, dragging the chair. The surrounding thugs all bent at a 90-degree angle and answered loudly, “Yes.” Regardless, the man shoved his hands deep into his pockets and walked out nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, Si-yul, who had been lying on the ground like a dead person, straightened his back as soon as he heard the door close.

He was alive.

He thought he was going to die, but he was alive. The tears that had flowed out of relief disappeared beneath his eyes. With someone watching, he couldn’t smile widely, so his lips only twitched. He promised himself he would never come back here again, that he would never meet that terrifyingly handsome man again, and with that resolve, Si-yul ran out of the club on his own two feet.

“Hey! Why haven’t you been answering your phone!”

While lying under the covers like a pupa in the motel room, the door burst open, and Kwon Yu-won, who almost nailed his coffin shut, entered. The room shook as Kwon Yu-won shouted and rushed to the bed, throwing the covers off.

He sharply hit Si-yul’s back, who was curled up, and when Si-yul flinched and retreated to the corner, he raised his arm, flexing his round muscles, and pulled Si-yul up.

“Why haven’t you been answering your phone? I’ve called you so many times! Do you know how worried I was…?”

Kwon Yu-won, who had been firing off questions like a machine gun, suddenly stopped. His eyes widened as he examined Si-yul’s face, and then, as if that wasn’t enough, he grabbed Si-yul’s chin and turned his face from side to side.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are your cheeks and eyes swollen? Which bastard dared…!”

People are truly colorful. He first got angry for not answering his calls, and now he was furious about Si-yul’s swollen cheeks. Si-yul steadied his dizzy head and pushed Kwon Yu-won’s hand away.

“I got caught by the club owner.”

“What? That can’t be.”

“It can’t? He knew everything. I thought I was going to die. It was really scary.”

Kwon Yu-won bit his thumbnail. It was a habit he had since childhood. Afraid he would draw blood again, Si-yul quickly grabbed that thumb, which was much shorter and blunter than the others. Even though his life was in danger because of Kwon Yu-won, he couldn’t hate him. Even if Kwon Yu-won hit him on the back of the head, he could forgive him twice depending on the severity.

“If you get caught next time, it’ll be a drum. They’ll put concrete in your stomach. Let’s never go there again.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Kwon Yu-won apologized, looking completely deflated. If he had ears like an animal, they would have drooped down. Then he tightly hugged Si-yul and buried his face in his neck.

“I’m really sorry. I’ll take you out of there. Damn… I really didn’t think it would turn out like this.”

That was enough. Kwon Yu-won wasn’t the type to say one thing and mean another. Si-yul raised his arms and patted Kwon Yu-won’s back. A brief sound of sniffing came from below his ear.

“Still, the club owner was really handsome. I’ve never seen someone so good-looking in my life. The person was scary, but his face was insane.”

Wanting to lighten the mood, Si-yul blurted out anything. However, even as he said it, he felt a pang of guilt. No matter how thoughtlessly he threw it out, praising the appearance of someone who had threatened to kill him was absurd. It was indeed the most shocking scene he had seen today.

“Are you saying that about the guy who threatened to kill you?”

As expected, Kwon Yu-won’s eyes widened sharply. “Oh, come on,” Si-yul laughed foolishly.

“No, it’s just that he was so handsome.”

“…It wasn’t about sending you away. It’s all my fault.”

If left alone, he would dig a hole in the ground. It was all in the past, and now that he had returned safely to the lodging, wasn’t that enough? Si-yul patted his chest.

“Let’s not talk about that and just eat chicken. You’re buying.”

“I’ll ask for no salt.”

Kwon Yu-won made a stuffy sound. After Si-yul had confused the salt that came with the chicken for medicine, there had been a huge uproar, and since then, they never accepted salt with any food they ordered.

Si-yul wiped Kwon Yu-won’s reddened eyes with his hand and smiled slyly. He pushed the scary memories to the back of his mind. Today was just a day where he would fall and break his nose. Tomorrow would bring a new dawn.