The Country Life Diary of a Gangster’s Secretary

This chapter is paid for by Nemuru!

The Taesung gang was currently handling dark requests coming from chaebol families, corporations, and political figures. Of course, since they weren’t the only gang being used by them, they often clashed with other organizations in the same industry quite frequently.

Just like now. Right in front of them, at a large construction site, there were scattered members of an unknown organization. The men with bloody faces were lying unconscious, and the rest had already scurried away. The only ones standing intact there were Ihyeok, Seongjin, and the members of Taesung.

“Phew, it’s tough.”

Seongjin approached Ihyeok, who was leaning against one side and putting a cigarette in his mouth.

“But you said you weren’t coming today. You said you had to finish reading because the book’s rental period ends today.”

“You really hold grudges. I was just bored.”

“What?”

There was blood splattered on Ihyeok’s face, sleeves, and white dress shirt, belonging to who knows whom. Seongjin narrowed his eyes and stared at Ihyeok, who was saying something incomprehensible. Well, thanks to Ihyeok coming, the work ended faster. Because he was a man worth a hundred.

“Hyeseong left early.”

“Why?”

“He said there’s a school festival.”

Good for him, the joys of youth. While listening to Seongjin muttering beside him, Ihyeok took out his cell phone from his pocket. Not even caring about the blood on his hand staining the phone, he entered the messenger room he was sharing with Hyeseong.

[Are you diligently making food?]

Hyeseong had been silent to that message for an hour already. He usually replied quickly to texts, but he seemed quite busy. Ihyeok stared intently at the ‘1’ that wasn’t disappearing and recalled the conversation they had a few hours ago in the office.

“Can I come play too?”

At those words, Hyeseong made a face as if thinking deeply.

“Do as you wish.”

Leaving those words behind, he had slipped out of the office. Although the time he had known Hyeseong was not very long, Ihyeok, who was quick-witted, thought he had roughly figured him out. So when he said this, he immediately pictured in his mind how Hyeseong would react.

Telling him to do as he wished. He had no intention of going and just wanted to tease Hyeseong and see his reaction. Getting such a response was quite flustering.

“Boss. We will finish up here and leave.”

Just then, Baekdae approached the two and bowed his head.

“Okay.”

When Ihyeok waved his hand, Baekdae ran off to the scene in a flash.

“Ihyeok, how about a drink? It’s been a while. You have to drink after work.”

Seongjin grinned and gestured as if gulping down a glass. Ihyeok fell into thought for a moment. As he said, to continue doing this kind of work, it was important to relieve stress appropriately, and Ihyeok used to resolve it with drinking sessions with Seongjin.

“…Later.”

“Eh? Why?”

“I have somewhere to go.”

Ihyeok threw the completely burned cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it. Forget rejecting, but having somewhere to go at night. Seongjin was just puzzled. But Ihyeok ignored his gaze and got into the car parked in front of the construction site.

[Hanguk University]

After typing the address into the navigation, Ihyeok slowly drove.

* * *

Universities were inherently lively places. But now, during the festival season, it was overheating even more with the passion of young people. From the entrance, dazzling lights could be seen, and loud noises were ringing in the ears.

Ihyeok, who found it strange that he had impulsively come here, slowly made his way to the business administration department booth where Hyeseong would be. He had roughly changed into a spare shirt in the car for the dress shirt stained with dark splatters and had wiped the blood splattered on his face with wet tissues.

However, he couldn’t hide his disheveled hair or his tired appearance. Ironically, Ihyeok’s appearance instantly captivated the eyes of passing college students. Regardless of gender, everyone who passed by Ihyeok stopped in their tracks, opened their eyes wide, and was busy exchanging glances with their friends.

“Hey there! Which department are you from? Come to our booth. We’ll give you lots of service.”

Perhaps because of that, some students who fell for Ihyeok’s overwhelming appearance and presence were even soliciting him.

“Forget it, which way is the business administration department?”

Ihyeok cut them off and asked, but the student who was excited by the festival atmosphere wasn’t scared and personally showed him the way, saying it was further inside.

Even while walking that short distance, Ihyeok could instantly tell what kind of place a university was. The energetic students were desperate to show off their charms to each other, exchanging glances and winks. At this point, he began to regret a little telling Hyeseong to enjoy the festival. That wasn’t all. Students who were excited and drunk on alcohol were also passionately releasing their pheromones.

“Fortunately, Hyeseong is a beta.”

Muttering like that, Ihyeok spotted a place presumed to be the business administration department booth and moved his feet. Well, this kind of atmosphere didn’t really matter anyway. Hyeseong had said he would be working in the kitchen. He would surely be inconspicuously making food, so Ihyeok felt relieved and entered the inside of the booth.

“Excuse me, can you give me your number? Until when do you work? If it’s okay, do you want to drink with me and my friends?”

But to his surprise, what caught Ihyeok’s eyes was the sight of Hyeseong being held by someone while carrying plates and getting hit on.

“I’m working right now and it’ll be a while before I’m done. Here’s the food you ordered, and it’s hot, so be careful.”

For a moment, a fire that even Ihyeok couldn’t perceive boiled up inside him, but it quickly died down at Hyeseong’s firm attitude. Due to the rapid combustion of emotions, Ihyeok himself didn’t realize what was happening inside him.

However, other people sensed the ominous atmosphere that was clearly different from the festival mood and unknowingly stopped what they were doing. The gazes of the students inside naturally turned to Ihyeok, who was standing there. And Hyeseong also turned his head as if sensing something strange.

“…Mister?”

“Hi. Hyeseong.”

Hyeseong’s eyes widened slightly.

“How…?”

“You told me to do as I wish. So I came.”

Ihyeok replied briefly and then turned his head to the student who was still holding Hyeseong’s arm. The male student, who had a flushed face from being drunk, sobered up as if the alcohol had worn off when his eyes met Ihyeok’s, and the focus returned to his blurry pupils. Then he made an expression that clearly showed he was flustered. A strange man with a sharp gaze was approaching.

“You there.”

“Y-yes?”

“Why don’t you let go and stop bothering someone who’s working? I think it would be good for a student’s future to just drink quietly if you came to drink.”

Ihyeok’s low voice echoed inside the booth. It wasn’t a loud voice, but perhaps because the attention of the students inside the booth was already focused there, the interior became quiet in an instant.

The student who was receiving Ihyeok’s gaze must have felt a chill down his spine, as he shrugged his shoulders and obediently let go of Hyeseong. He felt like something terrible would happen if he held onto Hyeseong’s hand any longer.

“I’m, I’m sorry for bothering you. Then I’ll get going!”

He hurriedly picked up his belongings from the table as if he had seen a ghost and left the pub.

Seeing that scene, other people quickly concluded that Ihyeok was ‘someone you shouldn’t mess with,’ and in order not to get on his bad side, they started to resume the chatter they were having.

Soon, the surroundings became noisy again as if nothing had happened.

Ihyeok intently looked Hyeseong up and down as he held the empty plates.

“But why are you serving?”

“The department head said it would be better for me to serve. He said it would attract more people, but I didn’t really understand and was just doing as told.”

Well, he could roughly guess with what intention the department head had said that. That beauty was certainly eye-catching enough.

“When are you done?”

“I have to stay longer.”

Hyeseong was surprised by Ihyeok’s sudden appearance but couldn’t take his eyes off him.

Ihyeok looked around the inside of the pub. He could see a few guys wearing business administration department jumpers chit-chatting in the kitchen area.

“Who’s the department head?”

“Over there.”

Hmm, Ihyeok let out a low hum and looked at the student with black horn-rimmed glasses and a sturdy impression who was diligently attending to customers where Hyeseong pointed.

“Hey, you.”

And he called out to the department head who was about to go to the kitchen after taking an order with a hand gesture.

“M-me?”

“Come here for a sec.”

The department head looked at Hyeseong standing next to him with a puzzled face, but he was just as flustered. Hyeseong signaled to Ihyeok with a look asking what he was doing, but he didn’t even pretend to see it.

“Hyeseong can stop working now, right?”

“What?”

The department head timidly asked back to Ihyeok, who was giving off an unusual atmosphere.

“You can make those guys chit-chatting over there do it. Stop making the kid work.”

Saying that he personally snatched the plate Hyeseong was holding and placed it in the department head’s hands.

“What are you doing…?”

But Ihyeok stared only at the department head without even looking at Hyeseong.

“Right?”

He was smiling, but it was almost a threat. The department head looked at Hyeseong and Ihyeok with a confused expression, alternating between them. He had a lot he wanted to say, but he couldn’t open his mouth recklessly because of Ihyeok’s force and atmosphere.

“Yes… well. Hye, Hyeseong. You can go now. I’ll make the other kids do it.”

The department head smiled awkwardly and pushed Hyeseong’s back. He seemed to have judged that it was better to just kick him out rather than create more conflict.

“Let’s go.”

Ihyeok held Hyeseong’s hand and left the booth right away.

“What are you doing?”

As soon as they came out, Hyeseong let go of his hand, and Ihyeok shrugged his shoulders.

“I came to play as you said. You have to play with me.”

“No, but I didn’t expect you to actually come…”

“Let’s go. I think there’s a performance over there.”

Ihyeok naturally moved his feet, taking Hyeseong to a place where loud music was coming from. At the center of the main field, a large stage was set up, and a popular band these days appeared and was singing excitedly.

“They’re not ants, but there are so many brats.”

Ihyeok muttered curses under his breath at the sight of the crowd filling the front of the stage.

“We can’t get through anyway.”

The two had no choice but to be satisfied with watching the performance on the large screen from the back.

“So why did you really come?”

“I wanted to show you that there’s another kind of youth.”

Due to the loud music and the students’ noisiness, Hyeseong and Ihyeok naturally had to narrow the distance between them to hear each other’s voices. At Ihyeok’s answer, Hyeseong turned his head without a word. The band began to play their representative song, saying it was their last stage for the day, and at that moment, an unparalleled cheer erupted from the crowd.

Hyeseong’s eyes were sparkling with colorful lights. Ihyeok stared intently at his side profile instead of the stage.

“I never expected to be doing this with you.”

“Me neither.”

It was at that moment. As the song reached its climax and the band’s performance gradually intensified, it was right when the last verse ended. The sound of fireworks going off was heard, and beautiful fireworks were shot up towards the sky.

Passionate cheers erupted, and Hyeseong’s head turned towards the fireworks decorating the sky. The fireworks of various colors were bursting and creating incomparably beautiful shapes.

“It’s nice.”

Hyeseong, who had been quietly watching the fireworks, opened his mouth.

“This kind of youth too.”

And Ihyeok saw it. Hyeseong’s lips slowly curled up. A raw, harmless smile, not one that was forced or made out of courtesy. Hyeseong was smiling now. Strangely, he couldn’t take his eyes off that face.

A smile that was prettier, more splendid, and more eye-catching than the fireworks. Ihyeok thought that day, seeing Hyeseong’s sincere smile for the first time, that it was fortunate he didn’t go drinking with Seongjin, and that he made the right choice coming here.

This chapter is paid for by Nemuru!