By Zephyria 
The night passed when a sudden shower created ripples in Min-ho’s heart. After that, Gyu-oh continued to abruptly intrude into Min-ho’s time and space at all hours. Since the guy’s specialty was sneaking in anywhere, Min-ho often found himself caught if he didn’t stay alert. Although Gyu-oh was currently away to dig something up, Min-ho couldn’t easily let his guard down.
“Things are progressing smoothly on that side too.”
“Yeah. I think we just need to check if Son Pro’s hand is useful.”
Min-ho stretched, sinking deep into the back of the sofa. He felt blood flowing through the parts of his body that had been stiff and knotted all day. After loosening the tie that had been tightening his neck, he wiped his face with both hands.
“Why does your face look so worn out?”
It was Mu-gyeong’s voice as he pushed some documents aside. He reached out and touched Min-ho’s cheek with the hand that had been scanning his face.
“Is it that bad?”
Maybe his skin had become a bit dull. He felt like some stubble had grown too. When his mind was cluttered and he was stressed, nightmares crossed the boundary between dreams and reality. Perhaps because he hadn’t been able to do the things he used to do to relieve stress lately, it was showing on his face.
“Yeah, take it easy.”
Min-ho pulled the half-loosened tie all the way down. He stuffed the dark gray tie carelessly into his pocket and rubbed his eyes.
“……Do you have that detective’s number?”
“Who?”
Mu-gyeong, who was about to stand up with the documents, sat back down.
“The one who handled the Yongin Casino case before.”
After rolling his eyes and searching his memory for a while, Mu-gyeong seemed to remember someone.
“Ah, I think I have his business card.”
“Give it to me. I don’t have the number.”
The gaze staring at him held no interrogation or suspicion. This was the appropriate reaction between friends and colleagues.
“You were the one contacting him originally.”
His face asked why he was suddenly asking for the contact info after taking charge of it. Here too, only curiosity remained, without any suspicion mixed in. He wondered what Won Gyu-oh’s reaction would have been in the same situation.
“I think it got deleted.”
“……Hmm.”
Making a sound in his throat, Mu-gyeong nodded and stood up. He added that he would look for it and contact him soon.
“Thanks.”
“If it’s not urgent, contact him later and go home. Take a break until tomorrow. You look in terrible shape.”
Even then, Min-ho remained sunk deep into the sofa. His body did feel particularly heavy today. Pressing his stinging eyes with his palms, he spoke slowly.
“Then run Gyu-oh around a bit.”
“Why the brat?”
“Because he’s being annoying.”
His voice trailed off. He quickly straightened his waist and tidied his disheveled appearance. Despite that, his sunken condition showed no sign of improving.
“It’s because he’s starved for people, people. He spends all his time wandering around neighborhoods with no sign of people after the sun goes down, so he’s lonely.”
“If he’s starved for people two more times, he’ll just move into our house.”
“Just accept him like you’re raising a puppy when that happens.”
Min-ho blinked blankly at the strange exchange and burst into laughter.
“Doesn’t it feel like something has changed from usual?”
Usually, he was the one defending Gyu-oh, and Mu-gyeong was the one who found the brat annoying and scolded him. This time, the conversation flowed in the exact opposite direction.
“True. Now that he’s being scolded, I actually feel bad for him?”
“That’s love.”
Mu-gyeong, curling his lips into a crooked smile at those words, raised his middle finger. The time they spent striving to bond and settle in was more solid and affectionate than expected. Even for these two, called the money ghost and the work ghost.
“Anyway, rest until tomorrow. I’ll definitely make Won Gyu-oh run circles.”
There was particular emphasis when he pronounced the word ‘definitely.’ If Mu-gyeong set his mind to it, he could easily run him around for a day or two. Perhaps because it was so tiring, Gyu-oh would lose several kilograms whenever he was assigned to work in tandem with Mu-gyeong.
“I trust you since you’re an expert.”
He wanted to lounge a bit more, but as Mu-gyeong said, it seemed better to rest. To take some work home, it was better to move quickly. With a small grunt of effort, he stood up and headed straight for the door. Neither said a goodbye or a ‘take care,’ but he didn’t feel bad or slighted.
As he was leaving the executive office, Min-ho stopped abruptly. He grabbed the almost-closed door and swung it wide open again. Then, he peeked his face through the gap.
“……Don’t overdo it, just a moderate amount.”
Mu-gyeong, who had been looking down at the documents expressionlessly, only raised his eyes and waved his hand. Whether that was an affirmation or a denial, he didn’t know.
He headed straight to his own office. By the time he had packed all the documents to review at home and finished tidying up, a text arrived from Mu-gyeong. There was no explanation, just a single photo of a business card attached.
“……Hmm.”
Staring at the screen, Min-ho wiped his mouth with his palm. Until he asked Mu-gyeong for the number, he had intended to contact him immediately… but for some reason, he didn’t feel like it. Was his body really that unwell? Pushing the inside of his cheek with his tongue, he sank into thought for a long time. Until the screen turned black.
Despite all that pondering, he ended up unable to contact the detective. No, ‘could not’ would be the correct expression. He thought about sending a text after taking a refreshing shower at home, but lo and behold. His fever was rising, and he felt chilly. He loosely tied his robe and lay down on the bed.
He remembered seeing some medicine somewhere last time. Were there antipyretics or cold medicine? His head was hazy, so he couldn’t recall clearly. Perhaps because Won Gyu-oh always took such meticulous care of him, he easily forgot these trivial things. This was why he hadn’t wanted to rely on anyone.
He even felt like calling Gyu-oh to ask, but even going to get his phone was a chore. It would be in his jacket pocket, but those few steps to the dressing room felt tedious and overwhelming.
“Is it a cold?”
He pressed his feverish cheeks and exhaled a hot breath. It felt as if a hot ball of fire was stuck in his throat, but he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t the type to get sick often, and even when he was unwell, he usually pushed through with sheer willpower. Today was distinctly different. He felt limp from head to toe, and his eyes kept closing. If he fell asleep like this…
“I feel like I’ll have a nightmare.”
Whenever his body and mind were this weak, a nightmare invariably visited. He would wake up drenched in cold sweat, only to fall back asleep repeatedly.
“……Hup.”
He forced his limp body up and headed for the kitchen. It felt as if he were walking through a space where water had risen up to his chin. Every step was burdensome and heavy. Finally reaching the kitchen, Min-ho rummaged through various places to find medicine.
“Fuck, where is it?”
He didn’t even have the mental capacity to suppress his frayed nerves. He usually tried not to swear, but right now, it felt as if foul words would pour out the moment he opened his mouth. After frantically searching through the drawers with an irritable hand, Min-ho slammed the drawer shut in frustration. He felt like this was only making his fever rise.
“Forget it……”
Ultimately giving up on finding the medicine, he flung open the refrigerator. Inside, bottles of alcohol, stocked for a few hours of sleep, stood in a row. Although they had decreased by more than half while Gyu-oh stayed, it was enough to put out the immediate fire.
Gripping the cold bottle, he swallowed the opening. As he gulped down the ice-cold liquid, the throat where the ball of fire had been flared up. The flames spread along the path the soju took, and a hazy smoke filled him up to the top of his head.
“Tastes like shit.”
After drinking half, he pulled the bottle away from his mouth and wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand. The unpleasant taste of alcohol made the bridge of his nose sting.
Without even thinking about cleaning up the half-empty bottle, he staggered straight back to the bedroom. A hazy body and mind. Now, even if a nightmare came, he wouldn’t recognize it. His eyes, which had been blinking slowly, finally closed peacefully.
* * *
“What? A detective’s business card?”
Gyu-oh’s voice cracked and shot up sharply. If it was the detective in charge of the Yongin Casino case that had proceeded while he was on vacation, it was that guy. The detective he encountered at the restaurant. The bastard who smiled disgustingly and subtly touched Min-ho.
“Is there a problem?”
“Ah, shit. I should have just bitten him right then.”
Since Min-ho Hyung is too kind to do that, I should have done it for him. Mu-gyeong, who had been quietly watching him fly into a rage, tilted his head.
“Why are you being so bothersome?”
“Bothersome? Do you have any idea how meticulously I’m taking care of Min-ho Hyung right now?”
Meticulously? Mu-gyeong let out a smirk, catching the word. This Hyung wouldn’t know. The fact that while living stuck to Min-ho Hyung’s side, he had dealt with several scoundrels, and the detective was just one of them.
He couldn’t possibly explain everything in exhaustive detail. Just as he pressed a hand to his forehead, wondering where to start and where to stop, an indifferent voice drifted into his ear.
“By the way, you didn’t know he was feeling unwell?”
Gyu-oh snapped his head up. In his mind, he pictured Min-ho Hyung’s face from this morning. He had looked tired, but he always did, and he seemed drained, but wasn’t that his usual state? No matter how much he retraced his memories, he couldn’t recall anything particularly unusual.
“Feeling unwell? How?”
When that Hyung feels unwell, he usually drinks and… Ah, so that’s why he looked for that detective bastard’s contact info. Gyu-oh felt a stiff tension pull at the back of his head. More accurately, it was a sense of emptiness, like sand slipping entirely through a tightly clenched fist. Along with it came a resentment that Min-ho hadn’t just stayed quietly within his grasp.
“How should I know? Viper, who lives practically glued to his side, would probably know.”
Despite the news that someone had left work early because they were sick, Mu-gyeong’s gaze remained bored throughout. A man with no blood or tears. Gyu-oh glared silently at Mu-gyeong before suddenly springing to his feet. He didn’t even glance at the documents he had been held back to review until a moment ago.
“Why tell me after all the work is done? You should have told me before I assigned the tasks.”
“Then you would’ve just trotted off to find him again.”
“Of course I should go.”
“What’s so ‘of course’ about it?”
Gyu-oh’s movements stopped abruptly as he hurriedly grabbed his jacket and car keys. It was a simple question, yet he couldn’t find an answer, his lips merely parting soundlessly.
“Director Cha is sick, so why is it ‘of course’ that you have to go?”
“…Someone should be by his side. Do you know how miserable it is to be alone when you’re sick?”
Even as he said it, he couldn’t look Mu-gyeong in the eye.
Right. Why did he think Hyung shouldn’t be left alone when he’s sick? Whether he asked for the detective’s number or not—that was Hyung’s way of relieving stress. He had known that all along and hadn’t actively tried to stop him. The question marks poking at his mind grew larger and larger.