A Contracted Gangster Who Has to Die to Survive

“What are you thinking?”

It seemed like he had already called my name several times. Choi Taejoon was looking at me with a dissatisfied expression.

“Nothing.”

The interest I’d taken in Choi Taejoon of Alcohol Swab was all because of Do Hyuntae. Although they were clearly different, there was something eerily similar about them.

If you stripped away the scar on his face, he resembled Do Hyuntae. Their personalities were also similar, even their way of speaking.

The way he cut to the chase, saying only what he wanted to say, the imposing atmosphere he exuded without even trying, and the peculiar mix of pity and sensuality in his gaze—all of it.

With that very gaze, he’d seduced Hyun Woo Kyung, creating some pretty intense scenes night after night. But now, the relationship between Choi Taejoon and Hyun Woo Kyung was entirely different from the original story.

So, I ended up obsessing over the original character of Choi Taejoon, weaving all sorts of fantasies. To him, I must be nothing more than a strange guy obsessed with dying—or worse.

Even earlier, what was I thinking just because he helped me fasten my seatbelt? Embarrassment and disbelief made my neck burn.

“Why is your face so red? You look like a tomato.”

Choi Taejoon squinted at me as he spoke.

“It’s, uh, it’s hot. Really hot.”

“Hot?”

“It’s summer—it’s only natural to feel hot. Is the air conditioner off?”

The car’s air conditioner was on so strongly that the chill was biting at my nose.

“You don’t have a fever.”

As he drove, Choi Taejoon reached out with one hand and touched my forehead. His cool palm pressed gently against my skin before pulling away. Now, my heartbeat seemed to relocate to my forehead.

“That’s dangerous. You should focus on driving.”

“You’re the one distracting me. Are you sick?”

“No, not at all.”

“If you’re not sick, you must be having some dirty thoughts again.”

His gaze sparkled as though it could pierce through me, making it feel like he was reading the thoughts I dared not voice.

“Of course not. Do you think I’d be innocent enough to get flustered just because you fastened my seatbelt?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, Choi Taejoon’s lips curled into a long smile.

“So, that’s it.”

“What?”

“You just admitted it.”

He ran a dry hand across his face and looked toward the traffic light. Why was this signal so long? Why wasn’t the red light changing? Was it broken?

“Getting all red-faced like you’ve smeared paint on your cheeks over something so trivial.”

“Paint? Really…”

“It’s almost at that level.”

I pulled down the vanity mirror from the passenger side and looked at my face. I finally understood what he meant. My cheeks were so red they really did resemble a tomato—it was abnormal even to me.

Then suddenly, his hand landed on my thigh.

“How about this?”

The back of his hand, veined and scarred, rested against my leg. The jagged marks gave off an eerie and cold impression, making the muscles in my thigh tense.

His hand—this hand—felt like evidence of countless rough acts, each scar a testament to his past.

“Stop joking around. What’s wrong with that traffic light? Is it broken?”

Without lifting my head, I pushed his hand away. But the face I saw when I finally looked up was a stark contrast to the story his hand had told.

“Look up.”

“Why?”

“I need to check something.”

It wasn’t the traffic light that was broken—it was me.

As his fingers crept back onto my thigh, and as his gaze bore deeper into me, growing denser and darker, my heart pounded erratically as if it had malfunctioned.

“Oh! Green light!”

I had never been so grateful for a green light in my life.

The cars around us started moving, and the vehicle behind us honked its horn.

“Mr. Choi! The light’s green. Let’s go!”

Choi Taejoon removed his hand from my thigh with an almost languid expression.

“See you at home tonight.”

His tone was casual, as though nothing had happened, but the impulsive, provocative edge in his voice left a mark on me, just like the handprint on my thigh.

My heart raced.

At home? What does he mean by that…?

All day, my mind was a haze. It wasn’t just the sweltering heat—it was something else entirely.

In this suffocating weather, I felt like I might either melt away or shrivel up and die. Standing outside only seemed to amplify the surreal fog clouding my thoughts.

Beads of sweat pooled under my chin and dripped onto the ground, while the world spun faintly around me.

After the funeral, my assigned role was “Gate Guard No. 4.”

Every single day, I stood beneath the scorching midday sun, where temperatures soared well above 35°C. That was my job.

I prided myself on being able to endure most things, but the heat—it was simply unbearable.

Just a few days ago, it had rained so heavily it felt like the sky had sprung a leak. Now, as if that had never happened, the relentless scorching heat showed no sign of letting up.

That was when I heard a check-in through the in-ear device I was wearing to monitor the area I was assigned to.

— “2B, any irregularities to report?”

Who would have thought I’d be wearing this in-ear monitor all day, something I hadn’t even used much during my time on stage?

“No issues to report.”

— “Outdoor team, hang in there a little longer. If it gets too hard, take turns resting as needed.”

After responding affirmatively, I was just about to pull a handkerchief out of my pocket when—

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

I looked up to find a towering figure—a guy nearly twice my size, both in height and build—calling me “hyung” while looking down at me.

“Do you have any water left?”

“Yes, here.”

As I handed him a bottle, I couldn’t help but think loosening the necktie choking him might cool him off a bit.

Watching him gulp down the water, I pointed toward the building’s interior.

No matter how respectfully he called me “hyung” and acted courteously, his intimidating appearance made me instinctively wary.

“If it’s too much, head inside.”

“No, I’m fine!”

He shook his head, rubbing his flushed, heat-reddened cheeks.

Despite his rough exterior, his youthful face revealed he was barely out of high school—if that. What on earth brought someone so young to this line of work?

Apparently, he had similar thoughts about me.

“Um, hyung. I’m not sure if I should ask this, but I’ve been curious—how did you end up joining our team?”

He seemed about to bring up rumors about me being related to Choi Taejoon, the executive director.

“Only yesterday did I hear the story. They said you’re the one who saved the famous Director Choi and that’s how you got scouted to join us.”

What nonsense was this?

“Manager Yoon told me you threw yourself into danger to save the director. Is that true?”

“Oh, that!”

It sounded like he was referring to the night outside the bar. I stared at the excited guy recounting it like a movie scene with a blank expression.

“Isn’t it true, hyung?”

So that’s why people had been looking at me more favorably lately.

“It just happened—it’s been exaggerated a lot…”

“And last week, I heard you risked yourself again to protect the director at the funeral. That’s so cool. I respect you, hyung!”

Apparently, Hyun Woo Kyung was now “the guy who saved Director Choi Taejoon.”

“Ha ha, respect might be a bit much…”

“They say word’s already spread to Kang Jae-wook’s team too.”

“What word?”

“That we’ve got a jon-ddo on our team now.”

Jon-ddo? What’s that?

“Jon-daetmal-ddo-ra-i. A formal-speech lunatic. They say you were doing crazy things while speaking in polite, formal language that day. Ha ha, it’s so cool!”

He even gave me a thumbs-up as if he were genuinely praising me.

What was this? Was he mocking me in a roundabout way? Jon-ddo, seriously…

I was about to deny it but stopped myself. Instead, I turned my eyes toward the gleaming building ahead, ignoring his overly admiring gaze.

Choi Taejoon was up there.

“……”

Just thinking about Choi Taejoon made my already heated face begin to sting. A sudden wave of dizziness hit me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re staggering.”

It seemed like I was the one who needed a break in the shade, not him.

I felt that way even more as I thought about what happened this morning, alone with Choi Taejoon. His voice still lingered in my ears as I pressed a palm against them.

“Hyung, they just called for a shift change. Hey, where are you going? Aren’t you eating?”

I waved him off, saying I’d be back later, and walked in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

My mind kept wandering to the conversation I had with Choi Taejoon. It felt like it was branching out into all sorts of directions, leaving me unsettled.

I wasn’t in any state to sit down and have a meal.

“Tonight, at home.”

Since we were bound to meet at home anyway, it could’ve just been a simple statement. Maybe I was overthinking it, blowing it out of proportion.

My preconceived notions about Alcohol Swab’s Choi Taejoon might be making me force his real-life self into the mold of the fictional character.

Or maybe the blazing sun had fried my brain.

I wandered farther from the office building, searching for a quiet spot to rest. I ended up in an empty lot that grew even quieter during lunchtime.

I scanned the benches circling an old tree, then leaned back against one of them.

The distant sound of cicadas buzzed like a lullaby, and the breeze brushing against my hair was pleasantly cool.

Before I knew it, my racing mind began to settle, and my fluttering eyelids slowly lowered.

Then—

“Living the easy life, aren’t you?”

A voice accompanied by the kick of my shoe jolted me awake.

“Not checking your emails, ignoring calls—you’re useless at everything.”

The mocking tone, the vaguely threatening inflection, and the scoffing laugh—it sounded like the voice of Baek, the police team leader I’d spoken to on the phone not long ago.

Lying on the bench with my back to him, I held my breath and thought quickly. Was it really Team Leader Baek? I’d never seen his face, so I couldn’t be sure.

“You should greet your superior when you meet him, Woo Kyung.”

It was him. It had to be Baek.

The police official who’d played a decisive role in throwing me into this mess was now standing right in front of me.

Caught off guard, I struggled to figure out how I should respond.

But there was no time for that.

“Officer Hyun, can you hear me?”