Chapter Text
The house was tense and quiet when Gaon got home from the courthouse.
Being quiet wasn’t strange for a home that he shared with no one. But for some reason, the mere idea of Yohan skulking around somewhere just made it a million times lonelier than when Gaon was actually alone. He hadn’t seen Yohan since Yohan returned to Korea a few days ago, and frankly, Gaon wasn’t sure he was ready for any conversation that resembled the one they’d had.
Yohan knew Sunah was alive. Great. Awesome. Terrible. Dreadful. Life was dreadful.
He didn’t need to see Yohan to feel his disapproval. His words hung at the back of Gaon’s mind, ringing throughout the day, causing Gaon to hesitate and second-guess every interaction. His co-judges kept sparing him worried looks, because even they were smart enough to know something was wrong.
But Gaon couldn’t let that slow him down.
Yohan didn’t understand what he was trying to do, so of course, Yohan would push back.
“Everything alright?” Sunah had asked, earlier that evening.
“Everything’s fine,” Gaon replied, washing the blood off his hands in the sink. There were cuts and bruises on his knuckles, but Gaon didn’t care. He’d been itching to hit something and his office wall had borne the brunt of his anger.
“I hear Yohan is back in town.”
Gaon sighed, picking a towel to wipe his hand.
“Please don’t put me between you two.”
She raised her hands in surrender.
“I’m just making conversation.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“You want to talk about this,” she said, turning on the wall-wide screen in his office as Gaon leaned on the desk. “We have 30% control in these twelve areas, and 50% closer to Seoul.”
A wide map of the country lighted, with little, blue boxes scattered around, depicting Sunah’s strongholds. They weren’t Gaon’s. They were hers. Made by her connections.
But it was all Gaon’s plan.
“After the inaugural ball tomorrow, how much are we expecting to rise?”
“After you become the official live court show judge? We’re expecting a 60% increase, almost across the board, except here.”
She placed the laser pointer on a part of the map that had significantly less blue boxes.
“Cha Kyunghee has strong ties in the area.”
“She’s dead,” Gaon said, deadpanned.
“Her son inherited the property.”
“He’s a spoiled brat who doesn’t care about any of it.”
“He’s not so spoiled anymore.”
Sunah clicked the remote and a slide show of Lee Youngmin began, scrolling from him walking around the neighborhood, to him helping the locals, to him physically working on a building, himself.
“He’s developed a soft spot for the area. Most of the tenants barely pay any rent.”
“Why? Is he running for public office or something?”
“Nope,” she said in English, the “p” sound resounding in the room. “He has too much money to care about rent anyway.”
Gaon couldn’t believe a person would change that much in a year.
But then again, who was Gaon to say that? He was living proof that anyone could change. If you hated your current situation bad enough, change was the only other option. And given that Lee Youngmin had been flogged in front of the entire country, few days before his mother committed suicide, it made sense that someone like that would want some difference in his life.
“What do we do?” Sunah asked.
“Leave it. Move on to the next place.”
Sunah didn’t change the slide show. Instead, Gaon was subjected to watching more pictures of a selfless Lee Youngmin roam across his screen. He looked at her.
“That wasn’t the plan, Master-nim.”
“Don’t call me that.”
It reminded him too much of what Yohan had said: “ The new you, the new everything? She's turning you into me.”
Sunah wasn’t in control here, Gaon was. But he knew Yohan was right, in that regard. Consciously, or unconsciously, Sunah was trying to make Gaon into a version of Yohan that she could keep under her thumb. Gaon didn’t really discourage her. More often than not, he let her do what she pleased, turning him around, buying him clothes, putting the clothes on his body, being minimally inappropriate, every once in a while. He knew what he was getting from her. If she wanted to turn him into her own man-sized doll, Gaon wouldn’t call her out on it. If she knew he could tell, who knew what else she’d do to assert her dominance over him?
“We lose if we lose one bit.”
“It’s a tiny community.”
“Owned by a millionaire with a violent past.”
“Leave him be.”
“What if he wakes up tomorrow and decides he’s done with the good boy routine and wants to get back at us?”
“By then we’ll have everywhere else around him. His community won’t matter.”
“Will we?” she dropped the remote on the table.
“Excuse me?”
“Best let me know how long your conscience will be in town so that I know who I’m working with.”
“This isn’t about a conscience. Lee Youngmin will keep that community in line.”
“We can’t afford to let anyone else but us control secluded places, especially one that is protected by a man rich enough to barricade us out, should he please.”
“Sunah-”
“Your inauguration is tomorrow. The people in this country who don’t know about you will surely know tomorrow. Yes, it will help us in certain parts of the country and our foothold will become stronger in those places. But what do you think will happen in a place that is controlled by a man who remembers the role you played in his punishment and suspects a part you played in his mother’s death?”
Gaon’s nail dig into the edge of the table.
“I had nothing to do with his mother’s death.”
She inclined her head with a soft smile.
“We agreed not to lie to each other, Kim Gaon-ssi.”
Gaon’s heart beat, heavily, in his chest as a memory of that night flashed through his mind. He’d sprung into action, searching Cha Kyunghee’s body for the memory drive, covering himself in her blood. Even though they hadn’t been the ones to kill her, even though they’d only arrived in time to hear the gunshot as she killed herself, Gaon and Yohan were implicated in that murder by contaminating the crime scene. If Soohyun hadn’t shown up when she did, they could have gotten in serious trouble.
Except…
Now that he thought about it, they’d gotten away scot free. No one had seen them, Soohyun had taken care of it. Yet, here Sunah was, making a reference to it, as if she knew something. Something that could really destroy Gaon.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean,” she said, turning back to the screen. “That if we’re going to change this country, we can’t let Lee Youngmin get in our way.”
And there it was.
She had something tangible on him.
Gaon had wondered how long she’d take to start showing her fangs. He was almost sad that she’d done it. A huge part of him was starting to like her… trust her, even. Sunah was a great wingman. She was smart, calculating, funny and incredibly witty. It was easy to talk to her for hours, even if it wasn’t about work, because she was a well of raw information, just gushing from one subject to the next.
There was also the added bonus that she kept Gaon sharp. Mentally, physically and aesthetically.
But he’d always known. A woman like her didn’t come out of the things Gaon had done to her and just forgive. He’d hoped she had. He’d prayed she had.
Apparently not.
“I guess you’re right,” he agreed, looking back at the screen. “What do you suggest?”
“Kill him.”
“That could overshadow what we’re doing if news gets out. His mother was Cha Kyunghee, after all.”
“Second option,” she said. “Have someone talk to him.”
“Should I talk to him, myself?”
She scoffed.
“You’re a trigger for him, Gaon.”
“Exactly why I should.”
Compromise.
Sunah wasn’t going to budge and Gaon didn’t feel like destroying Youngmin’s life any further. This was the best they could both do without destroying the balance between them and Gaon was just going to have to do his part.
When he got home that night, he heard the door to the guest room swing shut, seconds after he entered the house. He smiled to himself. This must have been how Yohan felt when he came home everyday, knowing that Gaon had spent the day snooping around the mansion. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. It wasn’t as if Yohan didn’t trust him. Gaon knew how Yohan felt about him.
It was Sunah Yohan didn’t trust. As long as Gaon was working with her, Yohan was going to move about on pins and needles.
He had a shower, spending more time under the spray to rinse away the anxiety of the day, before he went to the kitchen to fix up some dinner. Choosing to be the bigger person, he stopped at Yohan’s door, on his way to bed and knocked. Yohan didn’t open the door, so Gaon pushed it open, himself.
Yohan was lying in bed, a laptop in front of him as he worked, quietly tapping at the screen. Gaon had no idea what Yohan could possibly be working on, but then again, they didn’t share that kind of information with each other. Not now. Not ever, really, if Gaon was being honest.
Yohan had always kept his cards very close to his chest and Gaon had grown to accept that.
“Can I come in?”
Yohan didn’t reply, so Gaon walked in, sousing a seat for himself by the dresser.
“Are you going to keep ignoring me?”
No reply, once again.
“How’s Elijah doing?”
Nothing.
“It’s weird having you here without actually having you here.”
Still nothing.
“I thought you’d want to hear what I’m planning with Sunah,” he said, getting up and tucking his hands into his pockets. “But I guess not.”
As he turned to leave, Yohan said, “Wait.”
“Are you talking to me now?” he looked back, barely concealing a knowing smile.
“I want to hear what your plan is.”
“So that you can poke holes in it?”
“So that I can help you.”
Smiling, Gaon approached the bed, falling onto it as Yohan shifted and stood up from the bed, wrapping his housecoat around his body. Confused, Gaon frowned.
“What is it?”
“We’re just talking,” Yohan said. “Nothing else.”
Blinking, trying to assert some balance in his head, Gaon assessed the situation before him. Because when had Yohan ever shied away from physical intimacy with Gaon, except for when he was feeling vulnerable and mistrustful. Which was strange because Yohan trusted Gaon. Right? He always did. He always would. Gaon wasn’t enough of a threat for Yohan to push him away.
Or maybe he was.
Yohan hadn’t pushed back at Gaon after that first day. He’d stayed to keep Gaon safe, but he didn’t interact with Gaon, didn’t confront him. Didn’t do anything. He was avoiding Gaon the same way he used to avoid Sunah.
Because he didn’t trust Gaon anymore.
Not even enough to lie on the same bed as Gaon.
Keeping the smile on his face, Gaon fought to appear unbothered. He could live with this. Yohan wanted to hear his plan, which meant that Yohan was willing to work with him. That would have to be enough. Right?
Right?
Nodding, he got off the bed.
“Fine,” Gaon agreed, returning to his seat by the dresser. “If that’s what you want, nothing else has to happen.”