The Country Life Diary of a Gangster’s Secretary

This chapter is paid for by Nemuru!

It was quite a long time ago, but Ihyeok clearly remembered that moment from that day. The loud music. The college students beside him shouting and cheering. And amidst that, Hyeseong smiled faintly.

Of course, after that, Ihyeok had tried all sorts of methods to see Hyeseong’s smile one more time, only to get scolded, but anyway, that smile and the moment he first faced it remained intact in Ihyeok’s mind.

“That guy who was like that.”

Although he didn’t smile often, Ihyeok thought he had slowly broken down the hard walls of Hyeseong’s heart during the 6 years they spent together. But then he suddenly said he was quitting and left. Now, whenever he thought of Hyeseong, everything converged into one thing. The thought that the guy who was like that was trying to leave his side.

“What? What did you just say?”

A secretary who was busy looking at a tablet and walking beside Ihyeok asked. A face that had become quite haggard. Well, you didn’t need to see it to know it was a video. Naturally, with Hyeseong leaving, the position of the head of the secretarial team became vacant. Of course, the workload of one secretary had to increase excessively.

“Nothing.”

“Yes.”

Ihyeok was also concerned, but he didn’t feel like immediately recruiting new talent to lead the secretarial department and be his direct secretary. Replacing that position with someone was a thought he had never had in his life. Having someone sit in place of Hyeseong.

Ihyeok entered the conference room with the thought that he should raise the monthly salary of one secretary a bit. The interior where the board meeting was held was filled with executives but was only quiet.

As soon as Ihyeok sat down, the meeting began, and the contents were mainly about the projects currently being promoted by Taesung Construction. They first checked the current status of the Haewon City redevelopment construction, and after that, they discussed the agenda regarding the stadium currently under construction in Mapo-gu, Seoul.

“Has the construction started without any problems?”

“Yes. There are no special issues so far.”

Ihyeok fell into thought for a moment. Apart from meetings, there were also events and private occasions he had to attend as the CEO of Taesung Construction, so the schedule seemed to be longer than expected.

“I’ll stop by soon.”

“Yes. Then I’ll inform the site.”

Since it had come to this, it seemed better to quickly handle the schedules that could be done and go down. The work of the TF team in charge of the Haewon City redevelopment was currently being reported in real-time, so he was going to quickly finish this work and leave.

“I won’t be able to see you for a few more days.”

Ihyeok naturally recalled that he wouldn’t be able to see Hyeseong for a longer time rather than his body being tired and focused on the remaining meeting.

* * *

Hyeseong’s peaceful day began with Ihyeok’s text today.

[I think I’ll have to stay in Seoul for a few more days.]

A simple message. Hyeseong woke up from sleep and looked at the message with a blank face.

[Okay. But I wasn’t really curious.]

Of course, it was a text with a bit of a lie. When he heard from Dohyun that Ihyeok was in Seoul, he was curious about exactly how long he would stay and when he would come down or if he would come down. But there was no way he could show that.

[I thought you’d be curious.]

At the words that hit the mark, Hyeseong couldn’t bring himself to reply. Because it was true that he was curious. But rather, it was fortunate. Having time apart from Ihyeok was rather a good thing for Hyeseong. Because pheromones from his changed trait could be emitted anytime, anywhere.

How long could he last without getting caught? Hyeseong didn’t want to show Ihyeok himself, who had become an omega body with that one night with Ihyeok as the turning point.

He had harbored unrequited feelings for 6 years, and when he thought it was a good thing, he quit his job and came down to the countryside, but he never expected Ihyeok to follow him here.

“I can’t stay like this forever.”

A voice mixed with a sigh flowed out of Hyeseong’s mouth. From Ihyeok’s perspective, his actions might be a bit confusing, but he didn’t expect him to go this far. But Ihyeok acting like this was rather hurtful to Hyeseong.

Because he knew Ihyeok saw him only as a competent secretary, nothing more, nothing less.

That’s when Boksil pushed the door with his head came inside and started licking Hyeseong’s hand.

“Did you sleep well?”

Hyeseong ruffled Boksil’s head and ended his thoughts. When he came out, Dohyun, who had woken up first, was sitting in the living room watching TV as always.

“What are you watching so amusingly?”

“Hyeseong’s awake. I just put this on because I was bored, but the song is nice.”

The broadcast was showing a rerun of a famous festival being filmed.

“I thought it looked familiar, but I was right. The band that was super hot back then! They even came to perform at our college festival.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

It was a band Hyeseong knew well too. At that time, they were a band famous for their skills, and although their popularity had plummeted with the appearance of numerous idols and the Korean Wave, they were a band that left many great songs and were still frequently mentioned. He had heard they were still actively performing and holding concerts.

Before he knew it, Hyeseong was also sitting next to Dohyun, blankly watching the band singing.

“Wow, hearing this song reminds me of the college festival. Ah right, you couldn’t see it then, Hyeseong? This band sang a lot of encore songs before leaving.”

Since they had been friends since college, Dohyun also knew him well. That Hyeseong was not cut out to enjoy festivals. It seemed like that day too. When Dohyun contacted him to meet up and watch the performance together after finishing their assigned tasks at the booths, Hyeseong sent him a cold message saying he would go straight back as soon as he finished work.

“I saw it too.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah.”

Dohyun widened his eyes and looked at Hyeseong as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Not on your way home?”

“Uh, no. I went into the field performance venue and saw it in person.”

“You told me you were just going to go home then!”

When Dohyun shouted with a sense of injustice, Hyeseong brushed it off, asking why his memory was so good.

“Who did you see it with? Huh?”

“……”

All memories are meant to fade and be erased with time. Just as memories that were difficult and frustrating at the time are regarded as nothing much later on. But there were also memories that could never be forgotten no matter how much time passed.

For Hyeseong, that day was like that. The festival where others at school were laughing and chatting wasn’t very fun or comfortable for him. He didn’t want to do things like running a booth, but it was the nature of a group that if he was the only one missing out, rumors would spread, so Hyeseong had no choice but to help out.

He had volunteered for kitchen work, but on the day of, he was suddenly pushed to serve, and whenever he served food, people would pry and ask this and that, making him feel unpleasant irritation. That’s when he faced Ihyeok approaching him.

Hyeseong still remembers that moment. The moment his heart was pounding as soon as he saw that face, let alone feeling displeasure. The touch of Ihyeok he felt after that. The bustling campus they walked together. And the two were together amidst the refreshing music and the scene of passion reverberating in the field.

In fact, Hyeseong didn’t remember at all what the representative song of that band was that day or that they sang an encore song. Because he was busy being conscious of Ihyeok standing next to him. However, only the scenery and emotions of that day were deeply engraved in his heart.

Hyeseong still can’t forget the moment the fireworks burst largely into the sky. The surroundings were noisy and his ears hurt from the huge cheers, but just having Ihyeok next to him made everything a beautiful melody.

He was surprised by Ihyeok’s sudden appearance and was concerned about leaving his booth to work behind, but that was just a momentary emotion. Hyeseong thought for the first time that he was glad he came to the festival with the sight he had seen with Ihyeok. To the point where a smile was naturally drawn.

He was trying to somehow only look forward, not wanting to show that smile for no reason, but he suddenly had a thought. What kind of expression was Ihyeok making then? That kind of thought.

Of course, now they were all meaningless things.

“Huh? Who did you see it with?”

“With someone special.”

When Hyeseong smiled playfully, Dohyun kept bothering Hyeseong, saying he must be lying as expected.

“Ah, right. It seems like the CEO won’t be able to return for quite a while.”

Hyeseong quickly changed the subject so that Dohyun couldn’t persistently cling to him.

“Oh. Yeah. That’s what I heard.”

At Hyeseong’s words, Dohyun nodded his head as if he already knew.

“Huh? You knew too?”

“What? Ah, no, that’s not it, he told me he was going to Seoul for work. I just thought it was like that. Haha.”

Dohyun laughed awkwardly and turned his gaze to the TV. He felt suspicious eyes next to him, but Dohyun hummed along to the song flowing from the screen, trying hard to ignore it.

After watching TV, the two ate breakfast together and went out to the yard to tend to the vegetable garden for a long time.

Having his own small field to cultivate was the first thing Hyeseong wanted to do as soon as he decided to return to the countryside. He could obtain fresh ingredients by carefully tending to plants over a long period of time and was drawn to the productive work of directly cultivating something.

However, it was not easy to cultivate even a garden-level field attached to the yard. The land that had not been managed for a long time was full of gravel and weeds, so he had to remove them first. There was a mountain of things to solve before planting and growing something. So these days, Hyeseong was spending the most time organizing the field.

“Wow, it’s so hard.”

Dohyun, who had roughly finished work and came in, collapsed in the living room. He didn’t even pretend to hear Hyeseong’s scolding to wash up and lie down.

“That’s why I told you to take it easy.”

This was all because they had run into elderly neighbors passing by. In the eyes of the elderly who were quite old, the sight of Hyeseong and Dohyun moving diligently just felt admirable, so they gave warm words like telling them to let them know if they needed anything while passing by. Hearing those words, Park Dohyun, who was overwhelmed alone, overworked himself and quickly got tired.

“We have to take Boksil for a walk too.”

Dohyun spoke regretfully while looking at Boksil who had come next to him.

“It’s fine. I’ll wash up and go.”

It was better to just go alone than to have him get sick from overexertion and have to take care of him. Hyeseong refreshingly washed his sweaty body and went out with Boksil.

Excited for the walk, Boksil wagged his tail and went around sniffing excitedly. It couldn’t be cuter than that. Hyeseong felt like he newly understood why people kept pets. As he was approaching the village hall in the middle of the village with Boksil, who was in a very good mood,

“What is it?”

He saw a few elderly people and village residents at the village hall, but strangely, the atmosphere was a bit chaotic.

This chapter is paid for by Nemuru!