Chapter 8.1

During the past 3 weeks of EunHa’s recovery, KyungHyun only left her a total of seven times. Whenever he did leave her, he made sure to handcuff her once again and sent General Manager Cha to keep watch over her.

EunHa had tried to seduce General Manager Cha as well, but he didn’t fall for any of it. It seemed that he was an old-fashioned, diligent public servant.

With the exception of her request to be set free, KyungHyun fulfilled all of her wishes. He had even gone and bought her some women’s underwear on his way home. When he was home, he was either lost in thought for long stretches of time or spoke in a serious tone with General Manger Cha outside the room.

However, when the sun set, he always embraced her without fail. EunHa had complained that she would lose stamina due to being locked inside this room, and so KyungHyun kept her panting and sweating through sex.

Thankfully, after the night he confessed to her, he never mentioned it again. Instead, KyungHyun passionately embraced her every night. When the light of dawn began to creep into the room through the windows, he embraced her from behind and slipped his hand into her panties, effectively waking her up.

There was even a time when he had been watching her shower as he leaned on the doorframe, smoking a cigarette. Then he walked into the shower, still clothed, and began to have sex with her, not caring about the water drenching his clothes.

After that strange ‘first night’, KyungHyun took every opportunity he could to explore every nook and cranny of her body with his tongue, driving her into a frenzy.

“Shin KyungHyun-ssi, I’m sorry to ask, but were you always a man with this much free time?”

“I have enough time to roll around with you.”

“Why don’t you do it on your own sometimes?”

“Are you asking me because you want to see me masturbate? I have some time now to satisfy your curiosity.”

“…No thank you. Don’t do it. I won’t look. Ah… Please.”

As the time EunHa spent within this room grew longer, the more anxious she became. On the other hand, KyungHyun seemed more relaxed as he calmed her down. After a long round of sex, he would embrace her limp body and enjoy some listless afterplay as he told her stories she didn’t ask to hear.

For example, he told her a story of the time when he had just joined Serim and was sent out into the field. He had never used a weapon other than a gun before, so he had been very confused when he had to use a knife, hammer, or a club to fight his way out of a brawl. However, when he realized that he was actually pretty good at it, he told her that it didn’t feel bad at all. EunHa listened to his absurd stories and felt that they seemed to suit him perfectly.

“When did you get this?”

Inside the bathtub, EunHa rubbed the tattooed waves on his upper chest. KyungHyun was holding her as they faced each other. He was stroking her bottom, and whenever he moved his arm, the dragon on his arm twitched as if it were alive.

“Immediately after I graduated the police academy and was assigned to infiltrate Serim.”

“Did your superiors order you to get something like this?”

“Someone said something in passing that pissed me off, so I put in a lot more effort than necessary. But even then, I never expected it to turn out like this.”

“What did they say?”

“I heard someone say that I didn’t look like a thug but more like an arrogant member of the elite and that I needed to change up my style.”

EunHa frowned as she snorted.

“…Elite?”

“Why? You don’t believe me?”

KyungHyun asked calmly. EunHa didn’t doubt that he could do his work well. Whatever he did, he did it perfectly. It was just that…

“It’s just… I can’t imagine you wearing a police uniform.”

Wearing his expensive suits with a cold expression on his face, he seemed to be a businessman who committed crimes as naturally as he ate food.

“Same here. It was so long ago.”

“Maybe this was your calling instead of being a policeman.”

“Maybe.”

KyungHyun faintly smiled. Even though his smile was cold, his body felt extremely hot. Even now, EunHa felt that she was only seeing one side of this man. No, could anyone truly know someone completely? She hadn’t even known the truth about her family even though they had been extremely close.

“…I want to ask you something.”

EunHa hesitated before asking.

“What is it?”

“When you first entered Serim…”

Her voice shook slightly due to her anxiety. She had wanted to ask him this for a while now, but she had always held back.

“Did you see my dad often?”

KyungHyun remained silent for a moment before opening his mouth.

“I was always out in the field, so I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to see him. Your father’s position was too high for him to come out very often. My team was also observing someone else at the time.”

“Ah, I see.”

Her voice carried a slight hint of disappointment. KyungHyun pulled her closer to him and rubbed her hair which now smelled like his shampoo.

“Are you curious about what your dad was like in Serim?”

“…Yes, you’re right. When I was young, I never even imagined that my dad was in the mob. Honestly, I can barely even imagine it now.”

“He definitely gave me the impression of being someone who was far removed from the rest of the thugs. That’s probably why he was mainly in charge of the business side of things. Even on our side, he was second on the list of people to keep our eye on. The first being the leader. He was even above Kang SungHo.”

EunHa let out a deep sigh as she listened carefully. This was the first time she was hearing about how her father was the the criminal organization from someone other than SungHo.

“But you father wanted to give up on everything a few times.”

“…What do you mean?”

Hearing this for the first time, EunHa’s eyes widened as she stared at him. Recognizing the longing inside her eyes, KyungHyun slowly replied in a soft voice.

“Your father was two positions above the man we were watching.”

“…So?”

“He said that your father was a man who constantly talked about his family.”

EunHa, who had been pretending to stay calm, stared at him as her eyes began to tremble. She wanted to hear more about this side of her father that she never knew.

“In the beginning, he had nothing, so he came to Seoul and entered Serim. He did everything he was told to do, but… After a certain point, he was constantly scared something would happen to his family. Whenever he got drunk, I heard that he always joked about retiring early and setting up an orchard somewhere far away.”

“EunHa, should we move here? Do you want to live here? Then we can eat all the fruit that you like so much.”

EunHa bit her lip as she remembered a memory from long ago. Her family had gone somewhere for vacation. How had she answered that question? It was an island that was only accessible by plane, so she probably shook her head and told him that she didn’t want to leave her friends.

“Your father was too skilled and had too many followers to just quit. The boss of Serim back then wouldn’t have let your father go too easily. And Kang SungHo was there to witness it all. He probably felt jealous and a sense of defeat at the time.”

EunHa’s eyes began to water. She kept her eyes wide open to hold back the tears as she let out huff of laughter.

“I guess being too talented can be a problem. In the end, he was stabbed to death by a fellow member of the same organization.”

KyungHyun looked at her as she scoffed. He caught her eyes and began to speak slowly but with conviction.

“Your father only thought about his family until his dying breath. That much is definitely true.”

“…But he was still just a gangster in the end.”

“Just because they’re in the mob doesn’t mean that they don’t hold anything dear to their hearts. For your father, it was his family.”

EunHa felt herself choke up. Her eyes began to redden as she looked up at him with a silent smile. KyungHyun lightly swept his hand across her face as she tried to hold back her tears. He softly pressed his lips against hers. When he tried to thrust his tongue inside, EunHa pushed him away and asked him a question.

“…What is it for you?”

“What do you mean?”

KyungHyun brought her finger to his lips and lightly bit it. Even thought it was covered in soap bubbles, he didn’t care. He pulled her to his chest, disturbing the water that filled the tub.

“What’s dear to your heart?”

“That? I can’t think of anything.”

“Then why are you doing something so dangerous like this?”

“After I became a policeman, this was my first assignment.”

It was such an expected answer from him that it was almost disappointing.

“…Do you have any family?”

“I do.”

At his curt reply, EunHa looked up at him with confusion.

“Do your parents know you’re doing this kind of work?”

KyungHyun pressed her fingers to his lips as he smiled faintly. Did he have a complicated home life that forced him to join the police force? Was he working because he needed the money? EunHa did a double take. She suddenly didn’t want to hear his melodramatic life story.

“My father has probably received a report from someone about my situation by now.”

“…What do you mean?”

“My father used to be the previous police commissioner. Even though it’s been a while since he’s retired, he still has some pull around here.”

EunHa blinked. KyungHyun wiped a drop of water running down her face and spoke calmly.

“You seem surprised.”

“…I’m as shocked as I was when I first heard you were police.”

“Is this something to be so shocked about?”

His wet hair was swept back, revealing his forehead. Even though he was completely nude, he still looked neat and impeccable.

“I never expected you to be born with a golden spoon.”

“I remember our household to be pretty average.”

Yeah, right. EunHa looked at him with disbelief as KyungHyun murmured.

“The title seems pretty lofty, but the salary wasn’t as big as you’d think.”

“Okay. We’ll just say you were born with a silver spoon instead of a gold one. Even if your father was dedicated to his job, wasn’t he reluctant to let his son join such a dangerous mission?”

Seeing all the members of the National Assembly fret about not being able to expedite their children’s mandatory military service on the news, EunHa couldn’t understand KyungHyun’s father.

“In my household, there are three sons. Because our house is filled with men, everyone’s pretty indifferent about each other.”

“…Fine, let’s leave your father for now. What about your mother?”

“My mother passed away when I was seven.”

When he replied indifferently, EunHa asked another question.

“What do you brothers do?”

“My older brother is a human rights lawyer. My younger brother is a war correspondent photographer, so we don’t know where he is exactly at the moment.”

EunHa stared at him in silence. She tried to imagine the life of Shin KyungHyun. A sigh left her lips.

“That’s seriously so crazy.”

“What is?”

“His son might die any minute, but the police commissioner father is completely fine with that. I can’t understand it.”

“Because a parent can’t live their children’s lives for them.”

KyungHyun smiled faintly. Even since he was little, every member of his family did everything on their own. Their taciturn personalities and lack of emotion was probably genetic. His father didn’t concern himself with the lives of his three sons.

“My brothers knew what they wanted to do at a young age, but nothing seemed to interest me.”

“Then did you choose to join the police force because of your father?”

“I guess you can say that. Even after graduating high school, there wasn’t anything I wanted to do. There wasn’t anything I wanted to study in college either, but… I thought that if I became a policeman like my father, it would give me more of a thrill.”

“…Thrill?”

EunHa frowned.

“Yeah. I felt that my life was pretty boring when I was young. I guess another way of putting it is that I didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment. Even though there was no one there to praise me, when I did get any praise, it didn’t particularly like it or anything. Everything seemed useless… Now that I think about it, I might have been emotionally dense.”

“Excuse me. Did… anyone ever say that you were cold as a child?”

“…From time to time.”

“Or that you were full of yourself? Or rude little bastard?”

“……”

Judging from his blank expression and the fact that he wasn’t denying it, he had definitely heard it before. Of course. EunHa scoffed as she continued speaking.

“I got goosebumps when you told me they called you a member of the elite, but I think this is a bit more believable.”

“What is?”

“The rude, arrogant, twenty-year-old Shin KyungHyun. I imagine you were a lot worse when you were younger.”

KyungHyun chuckled, but he didn’t say anything.

“Anyways, you ended up living a life full of thrill just like you wanted.”

“You’re right. Seeing people die in front of my eyes and having my life constantly in danger, I don’t have time to be bored. I thought I was getting on a thrilling rollercoaster, but it turned out to be a train to hell instead. And I couldn’t get out.”

She couldn’t tell what he was thinking about from his languid voice.

“I felt that there was no other choice but for me to survive, so I did my best. But sometimes I got confused on whether I was actually a thug or police.”

Having lived undercover for so long, it was understandable that he experienced an identity crisis. His large hand softly rubbed her shoulder. The temperature of the bath had gone down a bit, but her body was still warm. EunHa stared at him as she opened her mouth.

“So did you make an effort to remind yourself that you were police every day?”

“…Is there something you want to say?”

KyungHyun’s eyes narrowed. EunHa grabbed his hand as he began to slide it into her cleavage.

“Your room doesn’t have any curtains. If someone told me it was a prison cell, I’d believe them. And yet you lived there without buying any furniture for many years. Was it because you were trying to remind yourself that you weren’t the director of KeumOh but a policeman of South Korea?”

“…Are you interrogating me right now?”

KyungHyun’s brows furrowed as he smiled.

“I’m just telling you what I think. It didn’t seem like you were enjoying your reality.”

EunHa hesitated before continuing.

“…It seemed like you were afraid you’d enjoy it.”

She thought she felt KyungHyun’s pulse race through his hand. His hand tensed up.

“It’s true that I was nervous I’d end up a thug to the bone at the rate I was going.”

To hear this cold-blooded man admit that he was nervous sounded strange.

“At first, I consciously made an effort. How would a gangster talk? How would he act? Every moment, every second, I thought before I acted. Because I didn’t want anyone to suspect that I was a cop. So that they wouldn’t even question what I was doing there.”

“…Because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t survive.”

EunHa murmured as if she was talking to herself. She thought about the term ‘effort’. How much effort did he put in so that he wouldn’t get caught in this game of life and death?

“It wasn’t too bad when my efforts became a habit… But before I realized it, when I looked in the mirror, I saw a gangster drenched in blood staring back at me. From that point on, I began to feel afraid. Afraid that I’d disappear at any moment.”

EunHa asked in a soft voice.

“How did you overcome those moments?”

“I ran until I couldn’t run anymore. It reminded me of the times when I was being trained in the academy, and it made me feel better. It also got rid of any trivial thoughts.”

EunHa recalled how he had kept the ball in play for 40 minutes at the squash courts and chuckled.

“Then why did you act like a sexually deprived gangster when I met you at the squash courts?”

“That was the truth.”

“…What was?”

“I think you know better than anyone the sexual attraction I felt for you.”

EunHa didn’t bother denying it and blurted out her reply.

“You’re right. I thought you were full of yourself, telling me that I wasn’t your type when your lower half was standing up like that.”

KyungHyun’s lips stretched into his characteristic languid smile as he stretched out his hand and slipped his fingers between the cheeks of her bottom. He began to rub her soft spot, causing the water in the tub to ripple. The sound of the bathwater crashing against the bathtub walls echoed in the room.

“I didn’t want to fall for a young woman and make a fool of myself. I didn’t have time for that.”

“Then are you here with me because you suddenly have the time now?”

“I can’t help it anymore. Whenever I’m with you, I go crazy because I want to have sex. Even though we do it multiple times a day, I’m always hard.”

“Don’t you feel embarrassed when those words leave your mouth?”

“Not really. It’s the truth.”

As he continued to rub the place he had countlessly licked and penetrated, he felt the blood rush through his body.

“I’m not only fond of your face. Everything about you is my type. You’re smart, incredibly observant, and have good intuition for a kid.”

“Does it make you feel better when you stress my age and emphasize how you’re older than me?”

“You’re my guilty pleasure.”

KyungHyun softly whispered. He brought his face close to hers and flashed his milky teeth as he smiled. His sexy smile caused the area between her legs to grow wet.

The normally cold, expressionless face was now flashing her a languid smile.

EunHa felt that this was probably Shin KyungHyun’s true face. She had never met this person before, and she would probaby never meet him again.

If KyungHyun hadn’t gone undercover in the criminal organizations, their paths would never have crossed like this. If that were the case, how would she have felt about him?

“Even if you’re my type, I didn’t plan on embracing such a rookie like you.”

Whatever the case, she probably wouldn’t have felt such an intense attraction to him as she did now.

“How is a twenty-six-year-old a rookie?”

“That’s the way it is for me.”

She turned her head in disbelief. KyungHyun looked at her profile and wrapped his hand around her cheek.

“And if that woman approached me to kill me, shouldn’t I have been more wary with her?”

As he licked her lips, she could feel his arousal. His wet face was stuck to hers.

“Losing my mind and having sex with a woman in the middle of my assignment should have been impossible for me…”

He lightly bit her lower lip.

“Whenever I’m with you, all the rules I’ve kept seem to collapse.”

He had told her that he had been afraid of losing who he was while he lived as a gangster of a criminal organization. EunHa felt that it was an unnecessary worry.

“…So is that why you’re so turned on?”

For an adrenaline junkie, danger made of his own doing would probably bring him the most thrill. The languidly smiling man in front of her was someone who would never kill himself. His ego was too great for that to happen.

“How’d you know?”

EunHa met KyungHyun’s gaze and let out an exasperated sigh.

“I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but do you know that you have an incredibly perverted personality?”

“I agree.”

He bumped his sculpted nose to hers as he faintly smiled. When she felt his finger penetrate her wet entrance, she quickly tried to push his hand away with all her might.

“Enough. If we do it again today, I think I’m going to faint.”

EunHa lifted her head and complained as she glared at him reproachfully.

“Isn’t it ungentlemanly to rile up a woman and just leave her like this?”

“It’s fine…”

“I won’t drag it out.”

Instead of replying, EunHa glared at him. KyungHyun took his hand away from between her thighs and clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“You have so little stamina for such a young kid.”

“Excuse me, just taking you as much as I have is…!”

He suddenly picked her up and lifted her from the water. She had told him multiple times not to carry her like this, but KyungHyun continued to carry her around like a parcel. KyungHyun whipped a towel off the rack and wrapped her dripping body in one swoop. After drying off most of the water, he laid her down on the bed.

Because it was the middle of summer, the sun was still up in the evening sky. Even though the strong rays shone into the room, EunHa had been locked up in here for almost a month now. She couldn’t tell the change in season happening outside.

Having left the warm waters of the bath and now lying on the cool, crisp sheets, EunHa enjoyed the pleasant sensation. KyungHyun lied down next to her with his arm underneath his head.

“What about you?”

“What?”

“What did you do to endure the hard times?”

The last time KyungHyun had seen her was 10 years ago. Because she had lived under her overprotective parents, her mental age seemed to be younger than her sixteen years.

And that girl had developed into a woman who KyungHyun had almost not recognized. In that long stretch of time, many things would have happened to her. KyungHyun knew that things weren’t always happy for her.

“Unlike other people, I joined the organization at a young age, so it wasn’t that hard for me.”

As KyungHyun watched her calmly reply with a straight face, KyungHyun’s black eyes softened.

“I’m glad.”

“…But there were times I was a bit tired.”

“What did you do then?”

“I watched movies.”

“Do you like movies?”

“More specifically, I like going to the movie theater. When all the lights go out, my heart races. Because I like it so much.”

“Why do you like it?”

EunHa momentarily stopped speaking when she saw his face filled with confusion.

“…For that short moment, I feel like I’m completely taken out of my reality.”

Her voice slightly lowered as she mumbled distantly.

“What about when the movie ends?”

“It’s like coming back from a short vacation. Back to my real life.”

“If your reality is shitty, you wouldn’t want to come back.”

EunHa rised her voice as she shrugged.

“That’s why I always stay seated until the very end. Even after the credits have finished rolling, I stay in my seat until the lights are completely turned on. Sometimes there’s a scene at the very end too… and it feels like someone left a secret present for those that stayed. It feels good. As if I was invited to a special play.”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m trying to imagine how that feels, but I can’t figure it out at all.”

EunHa laughed softly.

“Of course. I don’t think I can imagine you sitting in a movie theater either.”

If it was Shin KyungHyun, he’d be wearing his expensive suits and sit uncomfortably in the seats. He also seemed to be the type of person who would get up as soon as the movie ended, almost as if he’d been waiting to leave.

“Should we go see a movie together next time?”

At KyungHyun’s question, EunHa looked straight at him and shook her head.

“I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“I just told you. I’m the last person to leave a theater. I don’t think someone like you can endure the boredom.”

“I’d be looking at you the whole time, so why would I be bored?”

“…You’d look at me in a movie theater instead of watching the movie?”

“Yeah.”

EunHa frowned in disbelief.

“Then why would you even go to a movie theater? It’s dark, so you wouldn’t be able to see very well. You can just look at me as much as you want in a bright place. Here, you can see me now.”

“I want to see what you look like when you’re really happy.”

EunHa had been bringing her face closer to his when she suddenly stopped at his reply. She bit her lips. He brushed her forehead as he continued to speak. She felt her pulse speed up when she felt his large hand softly touch her.

“I’m curious about the way you look when you’re completely drawn to the screen, and I’m also curious about how you look when you’re disappointed at the end of the movie to the point where you don’t even want to leave your seat.”

“……”

“Up until now, I haven’t even stepped anywhere near a movie theater, but now I feel the sudden urge to go.”

In a dark room where his vision wasn’t perfectly clear, he wouldn’t be able to fend off any surprise attacks, so it was dangerous. No, he couldn’t even imagine doing something for personal pleasure. After getting used to this lifestyle, he had never even felt that kind of desire. KyungHyun brought his face close to hers before pressing a kiss onto her lips.

“You’re like a summer cold.”

“…Are you reciting a poem right now?”

“Are you saying I’m poetic? What an honor.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t think you have any talent in that field.”

KyungHyun chuckled at her declaration.

“It just means that I never thought I’d catch it. I usually don’t catch colds.”

“……”

“I never thought I’d be defenseless to a woman like you. I never knew that it was possible.”

“Hmm… you don’t come across a woman who looks like me very often, do you?”

“A woman with your personality isn’t common either.”

Being a man who didn’t know how to joke around, he answered her honestly. Uncomfortable with the tickling sensation in her heart, EunHa attempted to frown, but it was in vain.

“The more I get to know you, the more feverish I become.”

His deep gaze sucked her in.

“But I don’t hate it.”\n