"He got what?!"
When Kim Chansoo went with the driver to pick up Lee Wooseok and gave the report about Lee Yoohan, he didn't think he would witness agitation on his master's face.
But then again, the new car that he so generously gifted to Lee Yoohan yesterday was now in a garage somewhere with dents and scratches.
"Another traffic accident?" Lee Wooseok's secretary almost scoffed, but closed his mouth when he saw the boss's face.
"Explain," Wooseok said curtly; that agitated look had vanished from his eyes, but his voice remained sharp.
Kim Chansoo cleared his throat and started to tell the story of how Lee Yoohan took away the car immediately after he arrived at the mansion yesterday, and then came back before dawn, in a taxi, with bandages. It took a lot of yelling and stuff-throwing before they found out Lee Yoohan had crashed the car into a tree, got picked up by a random car, and spent time in a clinic somewhere before heading home.
Wooseok massaged his temple, exhaling heavily. "Is it severe?"
"Just some sprain and scratches, Sir, nothing to worry about."
"Do you send the family doctor?"
Kim Chansoo blinked, and replied carefully. "Should I, Sir? It's just—"
"Of course you should! You think an injured son of HS Group is a joking matter?" Wooseok hissed, and then added after looking at the secretary and Chansoo's surprised face. "You should check if the wound is real."
"Oh! Of course, we will send one right away, Sir."
Wooseok looked out the car window, clicking his tongue. And then he frowned, and asked after a while. "Was he drunk?"
"Oh, no, I don't think so, Sir," Chansoo replied swiftly, trying to remember what Yoohan seemed like—which was challenging given the ungodly hour he decided to show up at. "He looked sober enough when he arrived, so I don't think there'll be any trouble with the law."
Although it wasn't like they couldn't bend the law if it came down to it. But less bribing money involved is better, still.
"You traced it?"
Another annoying thing they had to coax out of Lee Yoohan. But they managed to find out the clinic that he went to from the taxi driver, and hunt the whereabouts of the car. They managed to take a look at the GPS but nothing more.
"The garage is owned by the gang that opposes the group we are supporting, Sir."
"So we can't put any tracker?"
"No, Sir..."
Lee Wooseok tilted his head, eyes piercing into the front seat. "So why don't you put it on before he took the car out?!" the seat jolted with a harsh kick from Wooseok's leg.
Kim Chansoo coughed and hastily pressed his lips. He wanted to argue that he couldn't do it because the car only came that afternoon before Lee Yoohan arrived. But he knew well that Lee Wooseok wouldn't take any excuses, so he just gulped and apologized profusely.
There was a long silence that ensued after that, where even the driver and the secretary hold their breath, until Lee Wooseok spoke again. "So why did he do it?"
Kim Chansoo coughed once before answering swiftly. "We found out that he crashed near the xx bridge, Sir, so maybe..."
He didn't finish, didn't have to. Hearing the name of the bridge already put things into perspective. Lee Wooseok rubbed his lips, staring at the road outside, mind wandering to Lee Yoohan.
"I was told that he visited his mother and brother's ash in the evening," Kim Chansoo added.
It was easy to picture it; after five years, Lee Yoohan, the filial son, would probably miss his deceased family member, no matter how trashy he had become. Whether it was nostalgia or stress or foolishness, he drove toward the place where his brother died and lost control of the car.
He might be pretty depressed right now.
Lee Wooseok narrowed his eyes, lips stretched into a mirthful smile. "How much time do I have before the dinner appointment?"
"About an hour, Sir, but..."
"Go to the mansion."
"Sir? Didn't you plan to visit the first madam tod—"
The secretary instantly closed his mouth when Lee Wooseok stared at him coldly. That wasn't good—the eldest son really detested having to repeat his older.
With a gulp, the secretary tapped on the driver seat, and the car took a turn toward the Lee family's mansion.
Now, shouldn't a good big brother go and console his dear, pretty little brother?
* * *
Yoohan had been spending the morning catching up for more sleeping time, and then sunk himself in the sofa and played games. He was only casually fiddling with it though, waiting for an inevitable visit.
The first visit, unexpectedly, was made by the family's doctor. Just by the way the doctor questioned him, Yoohan knew that the man was there not to treat him, but to check whether his wound was genuine or not.
Well, fortunately, they were all real—although obviously not caused by crashing into a tree. But getting chased by a truck should be counted as a traffic accident too...right? So technically he wasn't even lying.
The one who visit him after that was someone he didn't think would come. Well, not now, at the very least.
The woman sauntered in with poise. Her whole appearance was glamorous and expensive, yet still elegant, thankfully. The light brown hair flowed down like silky, shining rivulets. Yoohan calculated that the money that went into making that hair look the way it was could be used to purchase another car.
She stopped beside the couch, looking up and down at Yoohan with a haughty face. The pretty makeup couldn't hide the disdain on her face, and Yoohan threw everything back with the best, prettiest smile he had in his arsenal.
"Hello, noona," Yoohan used his nicest voice, glancing at the entrance of the building. He didn't spot any of Wooyoung's entourage, and his mind quickly spun. This could be an opportunity.
Lee Wooyoung would have hissed and frowned if she didn't remember her hard work in maintaining her image. "That's the only thing you could say after arriving without showing your face in the big house?"
Yoohan, still keeping his smile, just turned his gaze towards the screen again. "Then you should have waited until I show my face, noona," he said lazily, sinking even more to the couch just to give that unbothered effect. "But I see that you missed me too much."
"You—" she almost yelled, but stopped herself in time, crossing her arm while staring at Yoohan sharply. "So it's true that you've changed."
The old Lee Yoohan would never talk back like this; he would either just smile politely or ignored her altogether. Old Yoohan would never initiate or respond to conflict.
But then again, the old Yoohan would never go straight to the annex building without properly coming through the main house and greeting everyone like a good boy.
"Changed?" Yoohan tilted his head, an overly innocent look plastered on his face to the point that it felt insulting for how blatantly fake it was. "I'm just being a good boy and becoming what my family wants me to be,"
This time, Wooyoung couldn't help but frown. She must have known that it was her eldest brother's work that Lee Yoohan could change this much. And she knew that all of her siblings were happy with that—either those who aimed for the heir position, or those that were just envious of Yoohan's good, perfect image of a son.
But it was different with Lee Wooyoung. Her dislike of Yoohan wasn't stemmed from successorship or how perfect he seemed to be. It was something more basic—and probably pettish.
Yoohan was pretty.
For SH Group which still maintained its patriarchal system, only the male children could have a chance in the inheritance war. As the eldest daughter, she had no claim over the family's future head position. But it wasn't like she minded that; she could have the money without the responsibility for it, living like a modern princess. So who cared about being an heir or whatever? All Lee Wooyoung wanted was to be pampered and fawned upon.
But Lee Yoohan...how could a boy steal more spotlight than her? Whenever there was an event that the HS Group's children had to attend together, people glanced at Yoohan more than at Wooyoung. It was infuriating—totally humiliating!
For Wooyoung, Lee Yoohan was boring—always clean, always proper, using the clothes and the style his attendants prepared for him. He was perfect for appeasing the board of directors, but got no style or personality. Even then, somehow, people still whispered about how he was pretty and whatever—even men who should covet her instead.
And now...now Yoohan came back without that boring look. With blonde hair and piercings and a nonchalant attitude. He might no longer be the perfect heir the family groomed him to be, but he also became more attractive, more alluring, and more infuriating for Lee Wooyoung.
"Do you think people would treat you better if you acted like this?" she sneered. "Do you think they'll see you as harmless and start to like you?"
Yoohan smirked. "What people?"
Lee Wooyoung frowned and clicked her tongue. "Lee Yoohan, you don't even have a supporter anymore, so what are you acting cocky for? No one liked you here."
"Is that so?" Yoohan smiled, pushing the button on his controller. He would like to say that he didn't need people to like him, or that he didn't really want to stay there. He didn't care much about the status or prestige that these people coveted. He never meant to be considered prettier than Lee Wooyoung either.
But it amused him that someone would dislike him because of something that petty—and it made him want to annoy her even more.
"You see, noona, I don't think that's true,"
"What kind of delusion are you—"
"At the very least," Yoohan glanced at her, before smiling prettily, "Wooseok hyung seemed to like me more than you,"
A rather long silence ensued, before a loud sound of laughter came out of Lee Wooyoung. She looked at the still-smiling Yoohan as if the young man was crazy.
"Oh God, do you think Oppa liked you just because he'd been taking care of you?" she cackled again, and her practiced, elegant posture vanished. "Wake up, Lee Yoohan! Surely you're not that dumb?"
The smile on Yoohan's face didn't falter. It wasn't a fake smile either. He just enjoyed the picture of her crumbling expression later on—although it might sacrifice his dignity for a little bit.
"You don't believe it?"
"It's you that need to stop believing such nonsense—"
"Then would you like to see it for yourself?" Yoohan asked, with a deep smile and a low, firm voice full of confidence.
Something inside that smile made Wooyoung stop and stared inquisitively. There was that spark of brilliance inside Yoohan's black eyes that reminded Wooyoung that Yoohan might be trash now, but not necessarily dumb.
"You're seriously considering it?" she was astonished. Yoohan might be confident, but might also be a lunatic.
"That's why I told you to see it for yourself," Yoohan shrugged, glancing at the window that showed the pathway toward the annex. "Perfect timing, he is here."
Wooyoung whipped her head and widened her eyes she saw the man's silhouette outside the window. She looked at Yoohan then, eyebrow raised.
"I suggest you hide somewhere, noona," Yoohan leaned his head back into the couch, eyebrow raised as if challenging her. "If you want to see how delusional I am."
Right. Lee Yoohan could be right or totally wrong. He might turn delusional and lunatic now, or he might be right. Either way, there was no harm in finding out.
With a frown and narrowed eyes, she moved swiftly into the adjacent room right as the entrance door opened for the third visitor.
Lee Wooseok came just like his sister, firm and without hesitation. He walked like an observer, eyes scrutinizing every part of the room—from the decorations to the furniture—as if he was there to invest in real estate.
It felt even more so because he just came back from a business trip and still had his suit, looking impeccable as the eldest son and now, the apparent heir.
Truth be told, there was nothing inadequate about him. The man was handsome, well-built, and had enough brains in his head. It was just while he was adequate, he wasn't excellent—not as excellent as Lee Yoohan anyway. And he was too alike his mother in appearance, in contrast to Yoohan that had their father and their grandmother's look. It also didn't help that the first wife asked for a divorce, putting her children in an unfavorable light. So even while he was good, he would never be as favored as Yoohan while their grandfather was still alive.
In a way, Yoohan understood the first wife's frustration. Too bad the woman was straight-up vicious about it. It was as if the woman adapting standard villainess acts in dramas.
And Yoohan's mother became the victim of it.
Yoohan could imagine the gleeful face of that woman; now that her son became the apparent heir. To his knowledge, she was also the one who fervently set up an engagement between Lee Wooseok and a female celebrity who was also the daughter of a prominent congressman—all to secure that prim and proper heir image.
Yoohan thought the man did look like a prim and proper heir now, standing where his sister stood a while ago. But rather than looking at Yoohan's whole body and scrutinizing the wound Yoohan got, he stared straight at the younger's face.
Yoohan put his controller down and looked back at the older man, a subtle smile on his face. "How nice of you to visit me, hyung."
Wooseok put his hand inside his pants, looking around once more before looking at Yoohan again. "Why is there no one here?"
"Oh, I dismissed all of them," Yoohan shrugged casually.
"All of them?"
Adding a smile to his words, Yoohan replied sweetly. "All of them."
"Even though I'm the one who prepared them for you?" Wooseok tilted his head, eyes flashed coldly, and voice dipped low.
Yoohan paused, staring at the cold eyes with ease. He had seen one much colder and fiercer, voice more vicious. This display of dominance from Wooseok honestly felt nothing for him.
But rather than showing that he wasn't intimidated, Yoohan put on an innocent mask. "Really, hyung? I couldn't tell, they were so insolent and incapable that I thought the house manager just pulled the leftover, most useless staff," he shrugged and tilted his head, blinking his pretty black eyes. "You're not seriously saying you're the one who drafts them?"
Wooseok raised his brow, before frowning a little bit. He realized that he hadn't received a detailed report about how Yoohan was faring ever since he arrived. All he received was the thing about Yoohan's accident and nothing more. "Were they upsetting you?"
Yoohan narrowed his eyes, looking visibly displeased. "Should I be upset about being made to wait at the airport? Being made to wait forever for them to prepare me a drink—"
"Alright, I got it," Lee Wooseok sighed. He took a seat on the table in front of Yoohan, his voice a tad bit softer. "But don't you still need people to take care of your business?"
Yoohan shrugged with his arms wide open. "I have no business, though. It's suffocating being surrounded by a lot of people."
"Not even one attendant?"
There was almost a smirk on Yoohan's face. "The last time you send me one...pfft..." he snorted, leaning back and covering his mouth, eyes glancing into the window; he could see it, Kim Chansoo fidgeting outside the annex. Honestly, it would be funnier if the man follow Lee Wooseok inside and heard everything.
"What was that?" Wooseok followed Yoohan's gaze outward.
"Hyung, don't you think it's weird?" Yoohan started his telltale while still looking at his former attendant, smiling subtly while doing so. "I might be spending my time playing around, but all I did was just drink and fight. I don't gamble, I don't do drugs."
Yoohan shifted his gaze to Lee Wooseok, who had a frown drawn on his face. The gaze in his eyes was hardened, and Yoohan flashed a smirk for a split second.
"Where do you think all the money you sent to me went?"
"Are you saying—"
Yoohan stretched out his body, feeling the bruise on his ribs acting up and winced, but managed to speak something with a huff. "All I'm saying, hyung, is that I'm sick of other people's presence around me."
The older man looked at the frown and the small bead of sweat on Yoohan's temple. It was then that he looked at the younger man's condition; the little scratches marred his fair skin, and the bandage on his leg.
It occurred to him that Yoohan might decide to go out yesterday and drove in frustration because he didn't feel welcomed here. Obviously, due to the bad performance of the workers that Wooseok sent.
No—now that he thought about it, he ordered Kim Chansoo to prepare for Yoohan's homecoming.
Ah...Wooseok glanced outside the window again, with cold eyes and a stiff jaw. It made sense now, and it seemed he needed to strike the hammer over the insolent dog who couldn't understand his master.
But that was a problem for later. Right now, there was something more urgent. There was no way he could let Yoohan on his own, without any assistance—the poor pretty thing wouldn't be able to do anything on his own, as an HS Group's prince who never met hardship in his life. Besides, Wooseok needed to plant his own man to watch over Yoohan.
"Are you going to reject bodyguards too?"
Yoohan nodded and replied swiftly. "Yes."
"Really?" Wooseok sighed, putting on a face of a very troubled and disappointed man. "You think you can keep yourself safe just because you fight here and there in clubs?"
"Why not?" Yoohan shrugged, fixing his gaze at the television screen again, where his game was still on pause.
Wooseok stood up with a frown, eyes blazing fiercely. Yoohan had seen those eyes often, every time the man lost his temper—which was basically all the time. "Lee Yoohan! You're a son of HS Group!"
"So what?" this time, Yoohan didn't play innocent. He shot an equally fierce gaze at the older man.
Wooseok's temper faltered for a bit when Yoohan threw him that gaze, as the younger's face scrunched up in anger. "What...?"
"So what?! That meant nothing! My brother is also a son of HS Group—"
Yoohan closed his mouth and pressed his lips tightly. He looked up at Wooseok with angry, agonized eyes. With chest heaved up and down from sudden bursts of emotion, Yoohan averted his gaze and turned his head away.
The sofa dipped slightly as Wooseok sat himself beside Yoohan, the coldness vanished from his stoic face. A gentleness that no one had ever witnessed was in the smile that appeared as he softly stroked Yoohan's cheek and brought the younger's face back to face him.
"I'm sorry," his fingers slid down to rub Yoohan's chin. The voice that was usually harsh and spiky turned sweet and soft as cotton candy. "I'll allow it, so don't sulk, mm?"
Yoohan lowered his gaze, the frown on his face unraveled and he looked soft and meek and pitiable, the angry flush looked pretty on his fair cheek. The rubbing hand climbed carefully into the pink, bitten lips and Yoohan flinched. But the younger man did not move away, and Lee Wooseok smiled deeply.
So he's not ready yet, the older man thought regretfully, still moving his thumb across the soft, pink pairs that started to tremble. Too bad, but I should be patient and ease him into this.
He had worked hard, patiently bringing the upright boy to fall into debauchery. His mother and siblings thought he did it to make Yoohan fall from the grace of the directors, and praised him for it. But Lee Wooseok did it for another, more sinister, more immoral objective.
It was to have his sweet, pretty Yoohan for himself.
Because surely, the Lee Yoohan now, who only thought about playing around, would no longer have any prude, boring thoughts. The boy—no, the young man might still feel reluctant now, but it wouldn't be long before he could taste this beautiful specimen. At long last.
Look, Yoohan didn't pull away from his touch, and Wooseok filled with twisted mirth. "You forgive me, don't you?" Wooseok tilted his head, peering closely into the pretty face he dreamed about since a long long time ago.
"I'm not...angry," Yoohan muttered, soft and quiet like a whisper, only for Wooseok to hear and indulge in.
"But you still need people to keep you safe," Wooseok stroked the pale, trembling cheek. Yoohan was so fair, so pretty, so delectable. "You know how much I care about you, right? Yoohan-ah?"
Yoohan bit his lips again—that soft coral tint that getting redder and more inviting. "Just...one. I'm okay with just one."
"One..."
Yoohan lifted his face, looking at the older man from beneath his lashes. "I want to make an audition. I want someone who can be a bodyguard and can cook and do other things,"
"That would be hard..." Wooseok narrowed his eyes, fingers brushing Yoohan's hair with affection.
"I read about a butler that can do all of that," the younger man suddenly pulled out a fantasy novel from the side table. "I want something like that."
Yoohan smiled with sparkly eyes, and how could Lee Wooseok deny that one, cute request?
"Alright," he answered finally, rubbing the hand Yoohan used to take the book so energetically earlier. It delighted him that Yoohan didn't pull his hand away, even smiling so prettily.
Well, what gave the pretty little one some leeway? It was just a multi-talent bodyguard. Since it wouldn't be easy to find one, he just had to send one of his men to join the audition.
"Thank you, Wooseok hyung,"
Wooseok smiled widely, longing for that soft voice to call his name sweetly, sensually one day. He leaned closer with glee, lips touching the blonde hair that unexpectedly looked pretty on the younger man. "I know you're always a good boy, my sweet Yoohan,"
Behind the slightly ajar door of the guest bedroom, Lee Wooyoung clasped his mouth shut with both hands, crouching against the wall.
This is...this is beyond liking Yoohan more.
Her older brother, the one who carried their mother's ambition...
She watched cautiously as Lee Wooseok went back out of the building, but stayed still in her place for a long time with bated breath. Her mind was still trying to deny everything that she saw and hear.
That sweet, soft voice Wooseok used to appease Lee Yoohan still lingered in her ear. Lee Wooseok had never used that kind of tone to talk to her or their other siblings—not even to their mother, the first wife. She couldn't see Wooseok's face, but the gentle, intimate gesture left nothing to be doubted.
What is this?
She knew that Wooseok had never actively scorned Yoohan before; he acted cold instead, as if Yoohan didn't exist. She thought her brother hold back because he didn't want to appear bad in front of the directors. After all, when he was among the other siblings and cousins, he still talked about Yoohan as if the younger man was a nuisance. So they still thought that Wooseok was the one who resented Yoohan the most, and just biding his time until he brought the younger man down. Wooseok even went as far as making Yoohan fall into the state he was now, and their mother praised him for it.
But...was that all just a farce?
Lee Wooseok had never called Yoohan his 'brother'. Even earlier, the man always called Yoohan with his name, affectionaly.
—My sweet Yoohan.
Everyone thought it meant Wooseok didn't even consider Yoohan as their equal. But what if it was something more?
Wooyoung inhaled deeply, before standing up and going out of the room she had been hiding in. But her steps weren't as haughty as before with the tremble on her legs. She looked at Yoohan, whose gaze already turned back to the game screen.
"You, since when..."
Yoohan replied nonchalantly. "What do you mean?"
Wooyoung reached out to one of the chairs and sat there, biting her trembling lips. "Are you...and Oppa...?"
"No," Yoohan rebuked swiftly, shivering slightly from the leftover feels of Wooseok's touch all over him. "But as you can see, he thinks otherwise."
Yoohan had steeled himself, but it took everything in him to hold back from pulling away or making a disgusted face. But he needed to pretend that he had turned meek and submissive for the man to stop being suspicious and sending more of his men to Yoohan's side. Also...
He wanted the man to self-destruct.
He wanted this family to fall into chaos.
If he had to play the part of a pretty, submissive honeypot for that, then so be it.
See, with just one display, the woman in front of him already shaking in turmoil. Her makeup couldn't hide how pale she had become, as she gripped her trembling hands together. When she looked at Yoohan, her eyes were wide and shaking.
"H-how? Wh-why?"
"Why?" Yoohan tilted his head, "Ah, why does he harbor such feelings for me?"
When was it, that Yoohan started to realize there was something wrong and different about the way Lee Wooseok acted toward him?
Yoohan's early memory of Lee Wooseok was actually quite nice. The man—just a boy at that time—felt like a good-natured older brother. Especially when they were alone, Wooseok liked to spoil him. But gradually, the man turned cold, whether it was in front of others or when there were just the two of them.
When Yoohan entered middle school, Wooseok was getting weirder. He still acted cold and full of disdain, but sometimes, Yoohan caught his eyes that looked at him with something more—something similar to the way the first wife looked at inheritance money; desire.
There were times when even the scornful first and third wives and the other HS Group's children would coddle him; during the great family dinner event, or when the grandfather was around. They would act cordial, patting his head and back, hugging him, giving him stuff—all done with fake smiles and distaste in their eyes.
But Wooseok was different. His hugged and caressing hand felt genuine—more than genuine. Yoohan would have felt elated if not for the greedy gaze that gave him the creep. The hug and the caress usually lingered for a bit, staying on his nape, the small of his back, his hair...
Later, after Yoohan understood more, he knew that Wooseok had been harboring improper thoughts about him. He didn't mean to, but he heard the man call out his name sensually, during one 'family' vacation time, when Wooseok thought Yoohan had fallen asleep, quietly jerking off to him.
Yoohan started to secretly learn martial arts after that.
But he didn't have any chance to practice it on the older man, since Wooseok went abroad for his study after that. He didn't think he would not only annul his decision of sending a punch to his 'older brother's face and ruin that handsome mug, but also ended up acting as if he was alright with that.
The reason resided within the information he'd been gathering about each member of HS Group's family.
Yoohan gave Lee Wooyoung a mysterious smile instead. "What do you think?"
He saw as Wooyoung slowly frowned and fidgeted in her seat. Yoohan pressed again, trying to cull the wide, sinister grin inside his heart. "Why don't you try to find out, noona? If it's you...you should be able to realize it."
Yoohan didn't need to do much. He knew Lee Wooyoung was naturally a curious person, and with her many entourage helping her, she would find out the truth by herself—
"Who exactly Lee Wooseok is,"
How could Wooseok harbor such unpure thoughts on his younger brother? Unless the man was morally corrupt to the core, there was only one answer to that.
And by the look on Lee Wooyoung's face, Yoohan knew her mind had wandered to that area already.
Repressing his smirk, Yoohan whispered quietly. "Surely, noona, you won't just stand by this?"
The first thing Yoohan would do, was planted a seed of discourse inside the first wife's side.
_______________________________
🎶 Incubus - Megalomaniac
I told you it's going to be twisted
There's no Jay in this chapter, but I'll drown myself with manhwa chapters 43+44 😌
Yoohan's flushed face is just...👌
Jay will be back next chapter...I think?