The Country Life Diary of a Gangster’s Secretary

This chapter is paid for by Mimzy! 

Kwon Ihyeok knew Cheon Hyeseong very well. They had spent a whopping 6 years together, building Taesung from the ground up side by side. Because of that, Hyeseong was the only one who approached Ihyeok casually while others found it difficult. Some people even jokingly said that in their past lives, the two must have been married.

When he heard those words, rather than finding it simply amusing, a vague thought that it might have really been true crossed his mind. Cheon Hyeseong was his perfect partner who understood what he wanted and how he wanted to lead Taesung without him having to say it.

The reverse was also true. Ihyeok also knew Hyeseong better than anyone. From his childhood happenings and lifestyle patterns to his blood type, traits, ancestral seat, birthplace, and other personal details – what foods he liked, what he disliked, what type of people he avoided the most, such trivial things and his relationships, he knew it all.

“Um… I don’t quite understand. Hyung.”

The name of the man standing in front of Ihyeok was Han Deok-soo, who currently ran his own detective agency. In the past, he had served as an informant for the Taesung group. His outstanding information-gathering skills caught Kwon Ihyeok’s attention and Taesung frequently sought out Han Deok-soo whenever they needed quick information.

“So the person you’re asking me to investigate is Hyeseong hyung? Do I understand correctly?”

Han Deok-soo was a funny and silly guy. Even though he was the same age as Hyeseong, he jokingly called him ‘hyung’ just because his birthday was later, and now he was calling him that naturally. But contrary to his light attitude, his information skills were undeniably good. Even during their organization days, they benefited a lot from him, and there were few people who could move unnoticed by Hyeseong’s eyes.

“Yeah.”

“But why? If there’s something you’re curious about, can’t you just ask Hyeseong hyung directly?”

You two are always together, Deok-soo added with a completely uncomprehending expression.

“Deok-soo. If I could ask him myself, would I have called you?”

If he was a little smarter, Ihyeok might have given him a position when forming Taesung Construction. Well, even if he did, that guy was so free-spirited that he probably wouldn’t have accepted it.

“That’s true… But… this is…”

Deok-soo still seemed unable to accept it. Even Ihyeok himself found it absurd when he thought about it. Asking him to find out all of Cheon Hyeseong’s relationships. But he couldn’t just sit still. It wasn’t simply because of Hyeseong’s ridiculous talk of quitting and going back to farming. 

Right. If that was all, he wouldn’t have called Deok-soo here today. If only he hadn’t seen that damned kiss mark. Even now, when he closed his eyes, that scene vividly came to mind.

The inside of the car dimly shining with moonlight. The clean face with a red blush. The snow-white nape of the neck. And someone’s mark there. The kiss mark was so vivid, as if ink had been stamped on white paper.

“So I should focus on investigating Hyeseong hyung’s relationships, right?”

“Yeah. Without missing a single person.”

“But the scope is too broad. How can I find out everyone he’s brushed shoulders with from childhood until now? Please narrow it down a bit. What exactly do you want to know?”

Deok-soo was holding a small memo pad that he had taken out at some point. In a world where you could handle everything with a smartphone, Ihyeok thought that appearance was uncalled for, but he didn’t want to nitpick every little thing.

“Cheon Hyeseong’s lover.”

“Pardon?”

“Someone he’s in a romantic relationship with or someone who gives off even a slight hint of such a nuance. Is this scope enough?”

What is a kiss mark, fundamentally? It’s a type of skinship. Moreover, it’s a blatant and intimate skinship done in a place visible to others, as if marking one’s territory. It’s a contact that would normally occur between lovers, and in a broad sense, it could apply to a one-night stand partner as well.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something boiling up inside him. Cheon Hyeseong’s lover. No matter how much he mulled over those two words, they didn’t match at all.

Knowing everything about Hyeseong naturally included his relationships, and dating someone was obviously part of that. The Hyeseong he knew was a kid who had no interest even in the letter “d” of dating. While others were busy dating and going out during their university days, Hyeseong didn’t attend a single blind date, which was so common. Regretting that he was wasting his youth, Ihyeok had even offered to introduce him to a nice person, but Hyeseong had said,

“I don’t really trust the nice people you know. And I’m not very interested in dating.”

At that time, Ihyeok had thought he was just putting on airs, but that wasn’t the case. Hyeseong had a cold image, but he was famous in his department for his fair skin and pretty looks that didn’t match a beta. He had been hit on a few times, but when Ihyeok found out that Hyeseong had rejected them all, he realized it. He really had no dating in his fate.

It was the same after graduation. Hyeseong had always stayed by his side. From growing the organization into a solid company and establishing it stably in society, up until now, Hyeseong had never taken his eyes off Representative Kwon Ihyeok. People jokingly told Ihyeok to let his secretary go, asking if he was going to get married like that, but Ihyeok knew it was Hyeseong’s choice. And he was quite satisfied with that.

‘A kiss mark on a guy who said he had zero interest in dating?’

So he couldn’t help but be surprised. Seeing the mark on Hyeseong’s neck. It felt like seeing a student who had just learned addition and subtraction suddenly mastering calculus and trigonometry overnight.

Who could it be? What inconsiderate bastard left a mark in such a visible place? It was an act with no consideration for the other person.

“Son of a bitch.”

Thinking that, he felt an unknown emotion boiling up from his core again.

“Hmm, I see. I perfectly understand.”

Deok-soo, who was intimidated by Ihyeok’s sharp cursing for no reason, coughed awkwardly and wrote “Hyeseong hyung’s lover” in large letters on his memo pad. If he was only going to write that, there was no need for a memo pad, but anyway.

“How long will it take?”

“Well… about a week…”

“3 days.”

Ihyeok spoke firmly, leaving Deok-soo deep in thought. Investigating a person’s entire relationships, and on top of that, finding quite intimate relationships in 3 days made no sense.

“Yes, sir.”

But Deok-soo didn’t have the courage to talk back to Ihyeok, who seemed angry.

Deok-soo carefully put the small memo pad in his bag, politely bid farewell, and disappeared. Left alone again, Ihyeok got into his car. As if consumed by the unique air of the late night, he blankly stared out the window. 

Does Cheon Hyeseong really have a lover? Or did he really meet a one-night-stand partner? In the latter case, it would be a behavior that didn’t align at all with Hyeseong’s usual values.

But considering Hyeseong’s strange behavior lately, it wasn’t completely impossible.

“Sigh.”

Is the person also a beta? Or could it be an alpha or omega? Such relationships are common these days. He was curious about the face of the bastard who boldly left a mark on Hyeseong’s body, but at the same time, he didn’t want to know.

* * *

It was 2 weeks before his resignation, to be exact, 2 weeks remained until the date he had declared he would quit. Perhaps because of that, Kwon Ihyeok had been acting strangely lately.

During meetings, when he felt a gaze from somewhere and turned around, Ihyeok would be staring intently at him. But when asked if he had something to say, Ihyeok would just shake his head and look away. That wasn’t all. These days, the number of times he spoke to Hyeseong had noticeably decreased.

Since Ihyeok used to talk about personal matters without reserve, in addition to work-related conversations, the change was clearly felt.

“Since the Team Leader is leaving soon, the CEO seems to be feeling unsettled.”

It was to the extent that a secretary noticed the awkward atmosphere. She seemed to interpret Ihyeok’s abnormal behavior as a boss not ready to let go of a long-time employee, but that wasn’t it at all. In the first place, Ihyeok hadn’t even processed his resignation letter. Whenever Hyeseong brought up the topic of when he would process it, Ihyeok would just brush it off, saying he was busy and they would talk next time.

“The wedding of Sangwon Electronics’ president is at 4 PM, right?”

“Yes. We should get going soon.”

Hyeseong had always accompanied Ihyeok to his official events. After checking his appearance in the mirror, Hyeseong left the secretary’s office.

He was about to knock on the CEO’s office door to call Ihyeok. Just then, the door opened from the inside first.

“……”

Perhaps he had changed clothes to attend the wedding, Ihyeok was wearing a gray suit, unlike in the morning.

Looking at Ihyeok, Hyeseong realized what kind of person is meant when they say someone is hard to take your eyes off. He now understood why people stared at celebrities in a daze like that.

“What are you doing? Not going?”

“Ah, yes.”

As expected, such colors suited him well since he had the face for it. With that thought, Hyeseong stood next to Ihyeok, who was walking ahead first. Ihyeok naturally got into the prepared car in front of the company. Today, Hyeseong took the passenger seat.

At that, the chauffeur flinched in surprise and looked at him strangely as he sat next to him. As if asking why he was coming out here.

Well, that was a natural reaction. Normally, as his secretary, it would be right for him to sit in the passenger seat, but Ihyeok usually told him to sit next to him when traveling by car. Unless there was a special reason or task, it was rare for him to sit in the passenger seat, so it was understandable for the driver to be surprised like that.

“Let’s depart.”

After fastening his seat belt, he happened to look at the rearview mirror and made direct eye contact with Ihyeok. He wondered if Ihyeok, who was staring intently at him, was going to tell him to sit next to him again, but Ihyeok quickly averted his gaze elsewhere. Like that, not a single word was exchanged inside the car during the entire trip to the wedding hall. The driver also seemed to notice the strange atmosphere and kept glancing sideways and behind him.

On a normal day, they would have engaged in nonsensical conversations, but only silence lingered in the car. The awkwardness of that silence was the same for Hyeseong. Finding the unusually quiet Ihyeok unfamiliar, he peeked at him through the rearview mirror, but there was nothing special. Ihyeok just occasionally looked at his phone, furrowing his brows or sighing.

“We’ve arrived.”

A luxury hotel located in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul. The area in front of it was crowded with various high-end cars and reporters holding cameras. Perhaps because it was the wedding of a famous business owner, the scene was particularly chaotic. Ihyeok and Hyeseong also slowly got out of the car.

As soon as Ihyeok appeared, the reporters also raised their cameras one by one towards him. Among them, a reporter tried to approach closely, so Hyeseong stepped forward, but the bodyguards hired by Sangwon Electronics quickly intervened.

“Hyeseong, you.”

As they slowly entered, Ihyeok spoke softly. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in a truly long time.

“Even though you’re smaller and weaker than me.”

“Are you picking a fight?”

“Don’t recklessly step up like that. You’ll get hurt.”

With those words, Ihyeok fully entered the wedding hall. He probably meant to caution Hyeseong, thinking his behavior of unconsciously stepping forward toward the rushing reporter was careless. Hyeseong had thought Ihyeok didn’t notice since he was just walking straight ahead, but he had been watching the whole time.

Feeling a slight tingle in a corner of his heart, Hyeseong followed behind Ihyeok.

This chapter is paid for by Mimzy!