The Country Life Diary of a Gangster’s Secretary

Late in the evening, as soon as Dohyun saw Hyeseong, he ran towards him with the momentum to hug him. Hyeseong already knew his behavioral pattern – whenever they met after a long time, he would hug him like this and constantly spit out words about how much he missed him. So Hyeseong lightly turned his body to the side and avoided it.

“I didn’t miss you.”

“You’re still the same. Cold as ever, Hyeseong.”  

Without answering, Hyeseong abruptly entered the store in front of him. An old pork belly restaurant with iron pot lids. This place was a regular store that Hyeseong and Dohyun had frequented since their student days. Although it was a bit far from the school, it was also a hidden gem that Dohyun had personally found for Hyeseong, who avoided the typical noisy and bustling restaurants in the university district.

So even as adults, the two naturally came to this place whenever they had a chance to meet.

“Ahjumma!”

“Oh? Hyeseong and Dohyun? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you two!”  

“How have you been?”

Unlike Dohyun who was waving his hand and smiling at the lady, Hyeseong politely bowed his head.

“I’m the same as always. Sit down quickly. I’ll prepare it right away.”

Having come here consistently since college, the restaurant owner recognized the two and treated them especially kindly. In fact, Dohyun’s great friendliness played a big part in that as well.

“But what do you mean by that? That you quit?”  

As the food was prepared and the pork belly was placed on the grill, Hyeseong asked.

“Exactly what I said. I submitted my resignation.”

“But why? Why did you suddenly quit the company you were doing well at?”

“Hyeseong. I really missed Korea.”

“What?”

When Dohyun made a sad face, Hyeseong’s face crumpled. The soju arrived at just the right time.  

“You try living abroad for a long time too. Homesickness, it’s quite severe you know?”

Dohyun poured soju, filling his and Hyeseong’s empty glasses.

“So you quit because of that?”

“Yeah. The work was good and they paid a lot, but it was mentally exhausting so I wasn’t happy.”  

Hyeseong slapped Dohyun’s hand with tongs as he kept flipping the pork belly that wasn’t even cooked yet.

“So I came back. To start over here.”

He couldn’t really say anything to his friend who said he quit even though the job fit his aptitude and had perfect conditions because his heart wasn’t at ease.

Usually, he would have nagged him asking if he really thought it through, if he wouldn’t regret it. But not this time.

“What about you, Hyeseong? How’s work?”

“Looks like you and I really are friends.”  

“Huh? Why? Are you saying that to make me feel touched?”

Dohyun made an impressed face, opening his eyes wide like a rabbit. Hyeseong explained with a smirk about his plan to return to farming, of course omitting the part about the shift in his trait.

“What? You’re going to quit too?”  

“Yeah.”

“Why? You don’t have any reason to get homesick. And that representative of yours…”

Dohyun tried to speak but couldn’t finish his words and gulped down his drink. Having been attached to Hyeseong since college, he knew to some extent. How Hyeseong felt about that representative, what his feelings were.

Hyeseong also emptied his glass without a word.  

“I’m the same as you. For various reasons, it’s just getting hard for me to be by his side.”

Could he, as an omega, stand indifferently next to Kwon Ihyeok, an alpha? He didn’t know when his barely controlled feelings would overflow again. Plus, there was the incident in England.

“…Right. If it’s hard, you should quit. When are you going to get a new job right away?”

“No. I’m going to return to farming.”  

Pfft. This time Dohyun spat out the soju he was drinking.

“…You’re really amazing. Hyeseong.”

“What are you talking about.”

After that, the two happily emptied their soju glasses and properly caught up after a long time. And as always, the one who passed out first was Hyeseong.

“Hyeseong, you’re out?”

Dohyun looked relatively fine as he hurriedly put on his clothes. It was a common occurrence for Hyeseong to pass out first, so he planned to quickly hail a taxi and send him off. That’s when Hyeseong’s phone rang.

[Kwon Ihyeok] 

“Hmm, that name seems familiar somehow…”

Dohyun tilted his head but couldn’t quite recall. Well, it didn’t matter anyway since Hyeseong was in no state to answer the phone. He was about to ignore it and gather their things when Hyeseong suddenly answered the phone.

“Mmm…yeah…”

“…Hello.”  

Before he could stop him, Hyeseong had answered.

“How would you know that, Representative.” 

Representative? Dohyun’s face instantly stiffened. Right before his eyes, he was witnessing the catastrophic scene of his drunk friend answering his boss’ call.

“I don’t know. What does it matter to you if I drink or not…”

“Hey! Cheon Hyeseong! Give it here.”  

Before he could make an even bigger mistake, Dohyun snatched away his phone. And carefully brought it to his ear.

“Hello. Cheon Hyeseong. Where are you.”

“Uh…well…”

“Who are you.”

At the chilling voice, Dohyun unknowingly held his breath.  

“Ah, I’m Hyeseong’s friend. The kid got a bit drunk while drinking with me. Haha. I’ll take him home safely so don’t worry…”

“Send the location.”  

“Pardon?”  

Leaving only those words, the call ended. For some reason, Dohyun felt like he had no choice but to send the location. Using Hyeseong’s phone, he texted the address to Ihyeok. A few minutes later, a luxury sports car pulled up in front of the store.

“Cheon Hyeseong.”

Ihyeok strode up to Dohyun who was supporting Hyeseong.

“Hello…”

He’s really handsome. Thinking that, Dohyun glanced at his friend’s boss who was giving off an unsettling aura.

“Let go.”  

“Pardon?”

“I said let go. I’ll take him.”

“Ah, okay.”  

Easily picking up the unconscious and staggering Hyeseong, Ihyeok walked straight to the car without looking back. As Dohyun stood there blankly, Ihyeok quickly drove off.

“Ah, it’s noisy.”

Hyeseong covered his ears as if annoyed by the sound of the sports car’s exhaust. It had been a very long time since Hyeseong had gotten this drunk. Knowing he had a low tolerance, Hyeseong usually showed tremendous restraint at drinking gatherings. Was it a setting comfortable enough for him to lose control and drink? He rarely let loose even when drinking with just the two of them.

No, Hyeseong didn’t often drink privately with him in the first place. Recently, he almost always refused when asked to go together. Ihyeok recalled Dohyun’s face. Come to think of it, he felt like he had seen him somewhere before. Unable to overcome the strangely rising unpleasant feeling, he gripped the steering wheel tighter. 

Unable to resist the surging emotions, Ihyeok stared intently at Hyeseong, flushed red from the alcohol, and roughly stepped on the accelerator.

“Hyeseong. We’re here.”

In front of Hyeseong’s studio apartment. Ihyeok parked the car and called for Hyeseong.

But there was no response from Hyeseong. It seemed he had fallen fast asleep in the meantime. Since kicking him out of the house this morning, he had been constantly thinking. About what unpleasant things he might have said. But no matter how much he reflected, it wasn’t anything that would sound bad to others. He had simply said that he needed Hyeseong. No matter how he thought about it, something must have changed in Hyeseong.  

Otherwise, there was no way he would flatly reject the exceptional proposals he had made to try to change his mind.

However, it was difficult to figure out why Hyeseong had changed. All he could think was that Hyeseong’s sharp rejections and his meticulous work in the midst of it were ironically cute.

In the end, unable to overcome his curiosity, Ihyeok finally made the call. But over the receiver came Hyeseong’s voice, slurred from being dead drunk.  

And even the voice of some unknown man.

“What’s with him these days, seriously.”

Ihyeok lightly pinched Hyeseong’s cheek.

These days, Cheon Hyeseong was incomprehensible. It was ridiculous enough that he suddenly declared he would return to farming, but he was drawing even more lines and putting up walls against Ihyeok. Now, he was even drinking until losing consciousness, which he had adamantly refused before. Lately, Cheon Hyeseong has been his greatest challenge. He used to think he knew everything about him.

“Hyeseong.”

The pinching touch was now gently caressing his cheek. He could feel the intense heat from the reddened cheek. Then suddenly, his gaze was drawn to the band on his neck.  

Just how big was the mosquito that bit him that he was still wearing it?

“…”

Human intuition can be frightening at times. And right now, Ihyeok was feeling a strange intuition for some reason. He stared intently at the band, then carefully peeled it off.  

“…Damn it.”

And there, a kiss mark left blatantly by someone came into view.