1.4 Richard and Christoph

A bed of nails is a bed of nails, after all.

Jeong Tae-ui fundamentally held the mindset that ‘it’s better to get the beating over with first.’

If there was something bad that was bound to happen, he believed it was better to experience it quickly and move past it. He didn’t like trembling in anxiety while waiting for the moment to arrive.

Of course, if it was something that could be moderately bypassed or smoothed over, he put in the effort to avoid it as much as possible, but if it was already a decided fact, he preferred to just get it over with. And for the most part, that was how he had lived until now.

That was why, even now, his reason was telling him, ‘Rather than trembling in anticipation, just go to that bastard first and see what happens, whether it turns into porridge or rice.’ A person only dies once, not twice, and waiting in anxiety about the future wasn’t exactly a recommended way to live.

Furthermore, the hope that Ilay would silently overlook a flaw he had already caught was something he couldn’t hold onto, no matter how optimistic he tried to be.

So, he had intended to sneak into the east wing tonight and have a—one-sided—showdown with Ilay.

—It’s not just his face that makes women follow him in droves. …I heard his thing is huge. Absolutely massive.

Yohan’s voice clung to his ears and wouldn’t leave.

“Give me a break… If there’s a woman who would follow him after seeing that thing, I’ll burn my grocery store.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, grinding his teeth.

Even he, who had done everything imaginable and unimaginable with that man for several years, felt like he was finally starting to breathe again. It was the result of blood-soaked effort and persistence.

But if he were to go back to the beginning and be given a choice, Jeong Tae-ui would undoubtedly scream:

That small is better.

There might be degrees of difference, but rather than having to endure a tool of that magnitude, it was certain that something disappointingly small would be far more comfortable for both body and mind.

“…Even so, just because I’m pretending not to know now, it’s not like that thing of his will shrink by the time I actually have to take the beating. It’s the same whether I suffer now or later. Surely he won’t actually kill me, despite saying ‘I’ll kill you if you step outside.’ …Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t call Kyle…”

Jeong Tae-ui clutched his head and muttered. To an outsider, he likely looked like someone with a slight problem, but immersed in his worries, Jeong Tae-ui didn’t care.

He was currently sitting on a bench in front of the west wing.

After barely eating dinner, he had crawled into bed and hidden under the covers in agony, but the thought of ‘getting the beating over with’ suddenly won out, and he had impulsively rushed out of his room.

However, once he stepped out to the west wing and the cool night breeze woke his mind, the cursed story Yohan had told him flashed vividly in his brain.

Should he go back to his room, or since he was already out, just head to the east wing? While wavering, he had sat on the bench—the midpoint—to think things through step by step. But no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t reach a conclusion that felt like the right answer.

Night had already fallen deeply, and the surroundings were quiet and dark.

Although the outdoor lights were far enough from the bench that they didn’t illuminate the immediate area, most of the windows in the main building, the east wing, and the west wing were lit, so it wasn’t pitch black. It was dim, but enough to recognize people.

Occasionally, people could be seen in the distance strolling through the well-kept courtyard or the forest paths, perhaps enjoying a night walk.

Should I go? To the east wing. Prepared to be half-killed, toward Ilay—and if by some chance he really tried to kill him, though he didn’t know if it would be possible, he planned to run away without looking back.

Or, since life is unpredictable and tomorrow is unknown, should he keep pretending not to know until it happens? The logic of ‘confessing to reduce the sentence’ wouldn’t work on a human like that anyway.

“High-voltage current flows through the walls of this house from midnight [visit stolen contentstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]our site]until five in the morning.”

Suddenly, a piece of information that had no apparent connection to the situation flew in, cutting through Jeong Tae-ui’s worries.

Jeong Tae-ui, who had been hunched over on the bench clutching his hair, looked at the person who had approached without a sound. Because of that low, cool voice, he knew who it was even before lifting his head.

“Christoph.”

“You might be able to climb the wall at other times, but you should be careful since guards patrol frequently. Climbing from the inside out is likely less guarded. But how on earth do you plan to scale a five-meter wall?”

Christoph, who recited the information in a detached tone as if reading from a textbook, sat down beside Jeong Tae-ui. He left a distance such that even if they swung their arms naturally, they wouldn’t touch unless it was intentional.

“Wall?”

When Jeong Tae-ui asked blankly, Christoph glanced at him as if he were the strange one.

“Weren’t you agonizing over whether to climb the wall and escape? I thought you were contemplating how to flee from Rick.”

It seemed Christoph had concluded that Jeong Tae-ui had left [Read on Read BL Novels]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-sizstolen contente:0;">[unauthorized copy]Berlin to avoid Ilay, only to unfortunately run into him here.

At that guess, which was half-right and half-wrong, Jeong Tae-ui sighed and shook his head.

“I was just wondering whether it’s better to take the beating in advance in this case.”

Christoph tilted his head and looked at Jeong Tae-ui.

“I don’t know what circumstances are involved, but if it ends with just a beating, taking it early is fine. But if lives are at stake, isn’t it better to avoid it for as long as possible?”

Indeed, it seemed he had made a fairly plausible guess this time.

Christoph, having worked with Ilay, would know well that even a minor mistake or fault could become a matter of life and death when associated with him.

“I doubt he’d actually kill me, but… if he really tried to kill me, literally, I can’t just quietly surrender my life. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’d have to run away first.”

“…”

Christoph remained silent for a moment. Looking up at the night sky as if thinking [stolen contentcopy">unauthorized copystyle="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]about something, he spoke quietly.

“In the case that you run away unconditionally. You just run. You’d bet your life on your legs and run for dear life. With every ounce of strength you have. But listen… imagine that while running like that, you look back, thinking you’ve finally shaken him off. What do you think you’d see before your eyes then?”

“…Weren’t you comforting me, telling me to climb the wall and escape safely?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked lukewarmly, erasing the mental image of the escape plan that had instantly turned into a scene from a horror movie. Christoph’s answer was concise.

“I was simply curious about how you’d overcome five meters.”

“… …Why did you come out here in the middle of the night?”

He felt it was better to change the subject.

Hadn’t he felt poignantly just a while ago that there was no one on his side in this world?

Jeong Tae-ui felt his mind ease, realizing that since he had come out and started talking to someone else, it was already too late to visit that man tonight. Anyway, it was decided: no east wing today.

“Because my head hurts.”

Christoph said nonchalantly. Jeong Tae-ui raised an eyebrow.

“When I stay still in my room, it gets noisy because things keep chattering in my head. Then I get a headache.”

He clicked his tongue as if the mere thought made him anxious.

However, at those words spoken in a tone that suggested it was merely annoying and not a big deal, Jeong Tae-ui wiped the expression from his face. He gazed steadily at Christoph’s profile, faintly visible in the darkness.

While running small errands for him or being pushed around by him, Jeong Tae-ui had observed him, whether he wanted to or not.

He recalled Christoph’s indifferent face as he chewed pills like snacks. Naturally, as if it had become a habit, he would pop painkillers into his mouth, and while grumbling that the medicine wasn’t working, he always made sure to refill the pill bottle so he wouldn’t run out.

“Who is chattering? In your head.”

Jeong Tae-ui asked quietly. Christoph seemed to frown slightly.

“I don’t know… several voices are mixed together, so I can’t tell. It’s noisy and gives me a headache, so Read Read on Read BL Novelson Read BL NovelsI don’t even want to listen.”

“What do they say, those voices?”

This time, there was no answer.

As if trying to recall what they were saying, he kept his gaze fixed on the air, and at some point, he clicked his tongue. Then, he took a small portable pill case out of his pocket. A hard, crunching sound echoed, like someone chewing a hard candy. It seemed his headaches became particularly severe at night.

“Have you ever tried counseling?”

Jeong Tae-ui also looked into the air and asked casually, as if it were nothing. Christoph, who spat behind the bench, complaining that the aftertaste of the medicine was bitter, answered calmly.

“Yes, I had a detailed examination, and they said there was nothing wrong and told me to go to a psychiatrist.”

“How was it?”

“Well. I didn’t like how they just rambled on with useless talk, so I just killed them. There’s nothing to report on how it was.”

Muttering words that could be either a joke or the [stolen stolen contentcontent]truth, he spat again, saying the medicine was bitter.

“Since when has it been like this?”

“Next, I suppose you’ll ask if I usually use drugs with hallucinogenic properties, or if such things happen often.”

“Hmm… if you tell me at what point you killed that doctor, I’ll stop asking right before that stage.”

Christoph glanced at Jeong Tae-ui. But he said nothing more. Rather than feeling offended, he seemed to have grown bored of the conversation.

Jeong Tae-ui also fell silent. Even though he hadn’t taken medicine like Christoph, a bitter aftertaste remained.

But that was the limit. No further.

Jeong Tae-ui instinctively knew how far he could step and when it was time to withdraw.

That boundary was the same as the limit of what he could handle.

The inside of his boundary was already mostly occupied by one insane man with an absurdly large capacity Read Read [visit our site]on Read BL Novelson Read BL Novelsfor handling things, leaving very little room. And with that remaining space, he could only step this far.

Nor could he kick that insane man out to increase his capacity. Because as time passed and life moved forward, his priorities had already become firmly fixed in that direction.

…If that weren’t the case, a long time ago, I would have just lied down and told him to catch me and tear me apart if he wanted…

According to his uncle, Jeong Tae-ui was ‘generally a conformist, but with a rebellious streak that occasionally flips things over in unexpected ways.’ Thinking this, he quietly shook his head. No, he thought, in a decisive moment, I probably would have cowardly sought to preserve my own life.

But even so, even if there were moments when he completely overturned a situation, his tolerance for this man ended here.

“You know… you really are Ilay’s friend. Sometimes the way you’re slightly out of it, the way you’re always on the edge, the way you’re a dangerous and unstable human being…”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered like a sigh.

He could feel a surge of irritation from beside him.

Though he couldn’t see clearly in the dark, that sculpted face was undoubtedly wearing a displeased, pouting expression and glaring coldly at him. He didn’t even have to look to know. Perhaps if it had been anyone else, Christoph would have sliced his tongue with a knife without a second thought.

They were truly contrasting.

Richard, who stood in opposition to him, always smiled with a kind and soft impression. Even if someone said something irritating, he didn’t do anything rough to them. He was a mature and gentle person.

“But, I like you more than Richard. …Now that I say it, it sounds a bit strange… Right, there’s no need to even compare, but despite how I am, I do like you.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, looking up at the empty black void. Lifting his gaze a bit more, the night sky was there. It was a cloudy night sky with scattered clouds and almost no stars.

After Jeong Tae-ui finished speaking and fell silent, Christoph spoke abruptly after a short pause.

“I don’t like you, though?”

“…”

He hadn’t expected a ‘I like you too.’ He hadn’t hoped for it. In fact, he might have felt a pang of regret if he had heard such words. But still, to spit out such an answer so readily.

“As I thought, there are things you need to learn first…”

Whether it was the environment or something else, humans lacking basic common sense in dealing with people were scattered around him like landmines. There were degrees to it, but just counting the people who came to mind, there were several. Setting everything else aside, even in the UNHRDO where he had on Read BL Novels -->Read on Read BL Novelsonce been, there were numerous people who teetered precariously between normal and abnormal on the line of common sense.

He thought that if he opened a common sense academy, business might be good. People who needed to learn common sense were everywhere. They were surely scattered in places Jeong Tae-ui didn’t even know about.

But after thinking about it, he soon gave up.

If he opened such an academy, nine times out of ten, the irrational people who actually needed to come would never show up, and the sensible—and among them, the somewhat timid—people who didn’t need to come would be the ones to visit.

Generally, irrational people don’t think they are irrational, so it would be thankless and a waste of effort… Jeong Tae-ui was lost in these random thoughts for a moment before shaking his head. With a sigh, he repeated bluntly:

“It doesn’t matter whether you like me or not. I’m not talking about an emotion where a relationship is only established if both parties like each other. What I want to say is—. …I don’t really know either. Anyway, that’s how it is.”

Damn, I’m the one who needs to go to a speech academy.

As he spoke, his tongue got tied, and eventually, Jeong Tae-ui fell silent. Feeling that it would have been better not to say anything, he smacked his lips.

A period of silence followed.

At the end of that silence, what Christoph said in a slightly lower voice was this:

“But I don’t like you…”

“I know, I know.”

Wondering if opening a common sense academy for a single individual would work, Jeong Tae-ui waved his hand. Even though they were sitting at a proper distance, the way Christoph shifted further away because that hand fluttered near him—this contact phobia, along with the lack of common sense, was also somewhat worrying.

“I don’t like you.”

Christoph said it once more. This time, his voice was even lower. Jeong Tae-ui started to open his mouth to say something, but then closed it again.

It probably wasn’t the case, but that low voice sounded a bit pitiful and anxious at the same time. Combined with that indifferent look, it suddenly seemed funny. And so, Jeong Tae-ui laughed.

Hearing the sound of Jeong Tae-ui laughing, Christoph turned his head with a peculiar expression.

“Is it fun?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“……. Because you’re with me?”

“Yeah, because I’m with you.”

Jeong Tae-ui chuckled, playing along with his words.

Christoph let out a hum of a sigh. He returned to staring blankly at some empty space beneath the sky. Even if it wasn’t clearly visible, his expression likely looked as bored and indifferent as always.

“Then come to me.”

“Huh, to you……, what?”

Still smiling, Jeong Tae-ui turned his head and asked back. As he prepared to answer, something felt a bit strange.

However, Christoph didn’t even look toward Jeong Tae-ui; he continued to gaze beneath the sky, muttering slowly in a tone that suggested life was a tedious affair.

“Ultimately, your concern is that you want to get away from Rick.”

“……. Did I ever say that?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked skeptically. The smile on his face vanished, replaced instantly by bitterness.

The reason for his concern was similar to Christoph’s words, yet different. Rather than wanting to get away, he simply wanted to avoid the tyranny that was soon to come.

“I told you before. I’ll be the one to talk to Rick. That guy doesn’t obsess over anything to begin with, and even if it’s something he treasures, he’ll let it go cleanly if you offer a corresponding trade. There are quite a few things I possess that he might covet, so if you want, well, you can stay by my side. ……And if he refuses, I don’t mind using force. I’ve hardly had a proper fight lately, so I’ve been feeling stiff. If you wish…… I can do that for you.”

Speaking as if granting a special favor, Christoph added, “If not, then forget it.”

Jeong Tae-ui looked at him, feeling somewhat dazed.

He had thought this before, but this seemed to be an incredible act of kindness. An immense favor, unimaginable given this man’s usual behavior.

No, it’s not that I don’t want to…… Jeong Tae-ui scratched the back of his neck, hesitating.

There was one crucial part of Christoph’s assumption that was off. However, trying to correct it felt somehow unauthorized [stolen content]unauthorized copy>copyawkward, so the words just lingered in his mouth.

Then, a different thought suddenly occurred to Jeong Tae-ui.

Using force. It sounded like he intended to resolve the matter through violence or coercive means, but did he actually possess the ability to do so?

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly recalled the confrontation between Ilay and Christoph.

……First of all, in terms of appearance, Christoph looked significantly weaker. In another sense, he had a face more powerful than anyone’s, but that look suited flowers, not fists.

As for personality, while their directions differed, neither of them was sane.

The point was physical strength and fighting skill…….

Throughout his life, Jeong Tae-ui had always been surrounded by men rather than women. Most of his family were men, he attended all-boys schools for middle and high school, then went to a military academy and the army, then UNHRDO after retiring, and since leaving there, he had been in Berlin—the only woman being Rita, who would be turning seventy in a few years.

He had lived a life swarming with men. Since the academy, he had drifted through environments where men specializing in fighting and combat gathered.

Among the countless such men he had seen, as far as Jeong Tae-ui knew, no one was more skilled at fighting than Ilay. Whether it was [visit our site]a swift and clean method [unauthorized copy]or a violent and grand one, no human was as adept at achieving their goals through fighting.

Therefore, it was hard to imagine Ilay being defeated by anyone, not just Christoph.

“……. If you use force, can you actually win?”

He wasn’t looking down on him, but since he was skeptical, Jeong Tae-ui muttered it. Christoph frowned. He glared fiercely in silence, his eyes demanding to know what he meant.

“No, it’s not that I don’t trust you.”

Jeong Tae-ui quickly added, raising both hands.

Christoph glared at Jeong Tae-ui with dangerous eyes for a long while before whipping his head away.

At the suddenness of that movement, which almost created a breeze, Jeong Tae-ui ended up laughing again.

It was then.

“How cruel. To say such things to [visit stolen content[visit our site]our site]the man who single-handedly achieved the European version of the killing fields.”

It was a low, chilly voice, sounding as if it were smiling, yet not.

Jeong Tae-ui thought about how once a person’s luck twists, it tends to keep twisting in succession. Simultaneously, he frantically searched through his memories.

Damn it. What did I say? Did I say something that would further irritate this guy, or not? I feel like I did, which makes me more anxious. I think the last thing I said was something about using force.

While Jeong Tae-ui was racking his brain, the man approached from the direction of the temporary tower. Even without looking back, that voice and that slow approach made it obvious who it was.

“What a hobby, eavesdropping…….”

Jeong Tae-ui frowned.

He glanced sideways.

Christoph remained motionless, his gaze still cast toward the empty space beneath the sky. His expression didn’t change, as if he were dreaming with his eyes open. After a brief, indifferent pause, he simply muttered, “You’re here?”

Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head awkwardly.

He hadn’t expected to run into him like this.

The east wing was quite a distance away, and from where they were sitting, the east wing was directly in view, meaning they could see everyone entering and exiting.

He thought he would be somewhere inside.

“Why are you coming from tha—”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke grumpily, turning his head toward the direction of the voice, but stopped mid-sentence.

Ilay had approached to within a dozen steps. Because of the backlight, his face wasn’t visible, but a familiar shadow was drawing near. However, on the shoulder of that familiar shadow, a large lump was protruding. A lump larger than Ilay’s own head.

“Huh? What’s on your shoul—”

But before Jeong Tae-ui could finish his sentence, the lump moved. Only after hearing a small child’s voice whisper, “Please put me down,” did Jeong Tae-ui realize a child was sitting on his shoulders.

Ilay lightly lifted the child and set him on the ground, and the silhouette [unauthorized copy]copy">unauthorized copythat had been protruding from his shoulder vanished.

“Christoph. Did Christoph come out to see the meteors too?”

The child approached them, looking pleased. Only after seeing the child illuminated by the light flowing from the lit windows of the west wing did Jeong Tae-ui recognize who he was. It was Oliver. A miniature version of Richard.

Christoph frowned slightly upon seeing the child. Then, he shook his head as if bored again.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Ah, they say there’s a meteor shower today. ……But the weather is cloudy……”

Oliver, who had been speaking excitedly, suddenly trailed off and looked up at the sky. In the sky, where clouds were scattered, the stars were not clearly visible.

Christoph looked down at the child with a dissatisfied face, then glanced at the sky. His gaze wandered aimlessly across the night sky.

“……Ah.”

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly muttered to himself.

At that word, Christoph’s gaze flickered toward him for a moment. Oliver also looked at Jeong Tae-ui. Jeong Tae-ui waved his hand to indicate it was nothing.

He suddenly realized.

Perhaps Christoph actually liked this child.

……Though, looking at that displeased and cold face, he might be mistaken.

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head and scratched his hair. Then, noticing the gaze pouring over him, he turned his head.

Ilay was staring at him from a short distance away. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but that gaze felt incredibly stinging.

Come to think of it, a question remained. Or rather, a shock.

“……Why did you bring that kid?”

When Jeong Tae-ui asked skeptically, Ilay slightly arched an eyebrow. Then he answered as [stolen content]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">[[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]if there were nothing strange about it.

“I received a request from Richard. He planned to watch the meteor shower with his son tonight, but something came up, so he’s going to the main building for a bit and asked me to look after his son until then.”

Jeong Tae-ui fell silent. Looking past Ilay’s shoulder in the direction he had come from, the temporary tower connecting the main building and the west wing stood there. From the top, which was an open air garden, the sky would surely be very visible. But…….

To entrust his beloved son to this guy—Richard might be a bigger shot than he thought.

Furthermore, another unexpected shock was the fact that this man actually gave children shoulder rides.

“I guess you have a surprisingly tender side, Ilay. Giving a kid a shoulder ride and all.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, glancing at him. Ilay looked at Jeong Tae-ui in silence for a moment. The gaze that stared intently at Jeong Tae-ui’s face, as if lost in thought, was chilly. So chilly that even Jeong Tae-ui, who was used to it, felt a shiver.

Eventually, as if he had finished his thoughts, he slowly opened his mouth.

“If you value your life, never call me by that name again, Kim Young-soo.”

“…—. I’ll keep that in mind, Riegrow.”

Jeong Tae-ui answered quietly. After staring at him for a bit longer, Ilay looked at Oliver standing a short distance away and spoke as if he had just remembered something.

“Is it that strange for me to give a child a shoulder ride?”

At those words, spoken with a slight hint of a smile, Jeong Tae-ui looked at him with an incredulous expression for a split second. Though he quickly composed himself.

He had thought that although this man was irrational, he at least knew himself quite well, but was that not the case?

“……Have you ever actually done that before?”

“No, it’s the first time.”

“I figured.”

Regardless of what wind had blown today, the figure of an Ilay Riegrow who treated children kindly was a fantasy that could not exist in Jeong Tae-ui’s mind.

Indeed, even now, there was no tenderness or warmth in the gaze he [unauthorized copy]cast down at unauthorized copyOliver. He seemed to view it merely as a task he had been assigned.

As expected, Richard has a great capacity. Thinking about it again, he couldn’t help but admire the boldness of entrusting his son to this man, even for a short while.

“I don’t know what got into you to carry a kid on your shoulders, but it doesn’t look bad.”

It was shockingly mismatched, but that was because Jeong Tae-ui knew the human called Ilay; if a stranger saw them, they wouldn’t be wrong to think a young, handsome father was kindly taking his child around.

Ilay seemed to smile faintly. He approached slowly. Jeong Tae-ui flinched slightly at that subtle gaze, which made his expression unreadable.

He seemed to slow his pace for a moment in front of Jeong Tae-ui, but then brushed past him. As he walked toward Christoph, who was saying something in a cold voice to Oliver a short distance away, he gave a very brief glance and whispered just barely audible in Jeong Tae-ui’s ear.

“If you want, I can pour it into your body every single day without fail until a child is conceived. How about that?”

“…―.”

Glancing at Jeong Tae-ui, who instinctively flinched and stepped back, Ilay laughed softly as he slowly passed by.

“I suit the role of a father quite well, don’t I?”

As Ilay spoke cheerfully and approached Christoph and Oliver, Christoph snorted and turned his head, while Oliver simply smiled in silence.

No matter how he thought about it, it was hopeless. That way of thinking—really, no matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t understand how it worked.

Jeong Tae-ui rubbed his arms, which had instantly broken out in goosebumps, and glared at the back of his head. He would have been perfectly content if he could just throw a single pebble at that skull.

Jeong Tae-ui sat alone on the bench, trying desperately to forget the words he had heard.

Just then, Oliver suddenly muttered, “Oh, Father,” and began running toward the main building.

At the central entrance of the main building, far enough that faces were barely recognizable, Richard was emerging from the stairs. As Oliver ran toward him, Richard seemed to notice and smiled, opening his arms.

While watching them from a distance, the low voice of Ilay, not knowing who he was addressing, reached Jeong Tae-ui’s ears.

“You two need to be careful with your words.”

Feeling a prick of guilt, Jeong Tae-ui flinched and turned his head.

Ilay was looking at the father and son far away with an indifferent face, smiling faintly as if by habit.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at him with narrowed eyes and said with a bitter smack of his lips.

“I guess voices carry all the way up to the temporary tower?”

“I can clearly see who is sitting there. As for the voices…… well, I saw who was up there before I came down and approached, so I heard them.”

Jeong Tae-ui recalled the question he had momentarily forgotten while racking his brain earlier.

Come to think of it, what had he been saying to Christoph before this guy arrived?

Watching the Richard father and son approach, Ilay lowered his voice further.

“Chris. A guy who doesn’t want what he should actually want, but wants what he shouldn’t want—that won’t do, will it?”

“I?”

Christoph frowned. He looked at Ilay as if he had heard something not even worth laughing at.

“Since you don’t even know what you want anyway, don’t indulge in useless greed.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

A cold and quiet conversation continued.

Meanwhile, Richard and Oliver were approaching, and Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue at the subtly menacing atmosphere between the men beside him, thinking, ‘Why is it like this here too?’

The corners of Ilay’s mouth, who had been looking at Oliver with a calm, detached smile, twitched slightly. His gaze gradually grew cold, as if Christoph’s words had grated on him.

“The atmosphere is getting worse and worse…… what’s wrong with you guys.”

Jeong Tae-ui tried to intervene, but they said nothing.

Slowly turning his gaze to Christoph, Ilay stared intently at that expressionless, sculpture-like unauthorized copyface. Sudde[Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]nly, his lips moved slightly, and he spat out a low, dangerous voice.

“I bet you’ve never appealed that you’re in pain.”

“…….”

“I don’t care who you grab and wail to wherever you go, but you have to choose your partner well, Chris. Not this guy. Look elsewhere. ―But I wonder who would actually accept you…….”

The last part was very low. So faint it was almost inaudible.

Jeong Tae-ui’s expression hardened.

Those words were not directed at him. Ilay was clearly speaking to Christoph. However, those words sounded exceptionally eerie. Perhaps it was because the expression had vanished from Christoph’s face.

Staring silently at the courtyard, like a living doll, he didn’t move and only blinked. As if he wasn’t even listening to whatever Ilay said, he didn’t give him a single glance nor provide any answer. He just stood there blankly, as if bored and tedious.

His complexion was white. In that face, which was hard to discern mixed with the darkness, there was no blood.

Beside him, Ilay was looking down at him. For a [[unauthorized copy]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]very brief moment, his lips curved. His ice-like eyes bent.

“Ila—…, ……Riegrow.”

Jeong Tae-ui gave him a stiff look.

He didn’t know exactly which part it was. But Ilay had definitely sliced through some part of Christoph that had been hidden deepest, and he knew it. No, he had said it knowing from the start.

Ilay gave Jeong Tae-ui a cold look.

Just as Jeong Tae-ui opened his mouth to say something, he spoke first.

“Let me tell you, I don’t leave annoying people alone. Not to mention those who step in where they don’t belong and act without knowing their place. You’d better carve that into your mind, Kim.”

Jeong Tae-ui fell silent.

Those glass-like eyes looking straight down at Jeong Tae-ui were not Ilay’s, but Riegrow’s. Just as he was not Jeong Tae-ui, but Kim Young-soo.

If you step in, you die.

If it were anyone else, without a doubt, if they stepped in, they would die.

Then what about me?

Thinking this, Jeong Tae-ui let out a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, clutching his chilling heart.

Get a grip. Right now, I am Kim Young-soo. A person who must bear the full responsibility for all his actions alone. Someone who must not hope for any recognition or leniency from the opponent.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at Christoph.

He was standing indifferently, as if nothing had happened. Not looking at Jeong Tae-ui, nor anyone else, but toward the empty air. He was simply a bit pale.

An ominous silence flowed between the three of them.

Breaking that silence, Oliver, who had approached quite closely, ran toward them again. Watching his son run, Richard smiled warmly.

It was then.

“……Ah. A shooting star…….”

Suddenly, Oliver opened his eyes wide and looked up at the sky. Tilting his chin high, he chased a trajectory that sparkled briefly and vanished between the sparse, hazy clouds of the night sky.

“Did you see that just now?”

Oliver looked back with an excited face, his eyes wide. His shining pupils, which had been staring blankly at the sky, turned toward Richard, who was following a short distance behind.

Richard nodded with a smile.

“If we wait a little longer, more will fall. I wish the clouds would clear up even a bit, but…….”

Looking up at the sky with a hint of concern before dropping his gaze back to his son, Richard’s smile vanished in the next instant.

Oliver, who had been running while looking back and forth between the sky and Richard, was charging toward Christoph, who stood there as if frozen in place.

“Uh, ……whoa!”

Not noticing Christoph standing in his path, Oliver collided with him with his entire body. Losing his balance, he staggered for a moment and reflexively hugged Christoph’s waist to steady himself.

“Ah……, I’m sorr—.”

Oliver looked up to apologize, his face startled.

At that moment.

Christoph, who had been standing vacantly as if trapped within his own body, without moving a single finger as if a living statue had been placed there, changed expression.

His pupils shot up, losing their light and turning pale as if he had been electrocuted. His white face grew even whiter. His lips twitched momentarily.

And then, instinctively, without knowing what was what, Christoph violently shoved Oliver away.

As if a hideous, giant insect had clung to him, he shuddered violently and ruthlessly struck the small body that had been hugging his waist.

“……!!”

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Before anyone could stop him, before anyone had time to scream, Christoph’s brutal hand ruthlessly struck the boy’s body.

And Oliver, who had barely found his balance while clinging to Christoph’s waist, let out a single cry with wide eyes and was pushed back several meters.

Thud.

A dull sound echoed behind Oliver’s head as he fell backward onto his buttocks. It wasn’t loud, but it was a rupturing sound that made the listener’s heart go cold.

“Oliver!”

Richard’s shout tore through the brief silence.

As if snapping back to his senses the moment he shoved Oliver away, Christoph blinked with a confused face for a moment, and only then saw Oliver lying several meters in front of him. With a blank expression, he simply stared at the spot.

Jeong Tae-ui reflexively sprang up and ran to Oliver.

Right next to the wide path in front of the west wing where they had been standing, there was a well-maintained courtyard. Low stone pillars reaching up to the knees surrounded the courtyard, separating it from the path.

Oliver lay unconscious beside one of those stone pillars. Dark blood was smeared on the rounded top of the pillar.

Reaching Oliver almost simultaneously with Richard, Jeong Tae-ui checked the stone pillar first. A bloodstain remained, barely enough to rub off on his hand.

With a stiff face, Richard very carefully slid his hand under Oliver’s back. Then, he slowly and cautiously moved his hand toward the head.

“……Oliver.”

The voice calling his son’s name was low and stiff. It seemed as though his voice wouldn’t come out properly.

Oliver remained motionless, unconscious with a pale face.

Richard called him again. “Oliver, Oliver,” his voice grew louder as he called the name.

How many times had he called his name like that?

At some point, Oliver’s eyebrow twitched. His tightly closed eyelids trembled slightly. A barely audible groan leaked from between his lips.

“Oliver!”

Beside Richard, who was calling his name again, Jeong Tae-ui breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he anxiously fumbled through his pockets. He felt he had to contact someone—anyone. An ambulance or whatever. However, only after searching his empty pockets did he realize he didn’t have a phone.

Snapping his head up, he saw Ilay, who had been looking down at them with indifferent eyes from a few steps away, already making a phone call.

The contact was made, so then—.

Biting his thumb while recalling the steps of first aid, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly saw Christoph standing vacantly at the edge of his vision.

Remaining exactly where he had first stood, he was watching Oliver. He didn’t seem to be in a trance. He was simply staring at Oliver in silence. With a face even paler than before.

Just then, several people ran out from the main building. They immediately rushed toward them. It seemed the place Ilay had contacted was none other than the main house of the mansion.

“Good heavens, what happened?”

An elderly physician residing at the mansion approached. Two or three servants followed behind him. Having heard the commotion, several people were leaning out of the windows.

Richard stepped aside to make room for the physician who knelt beside Oliver. Then, standing next to the physician, he looked down at Oliver with a heavy expression.

“…….”

Jeong Tae-ui stepped back, moving away from the group surrounding Oliver.

Ilay was watching them with a face that showed he didn’t care much. He was a man who wouldn’t bat an eye even if someone died right in front of him. It would have been stranger if he were looking at the boy with a heavy, worried expression, but looking at him being so indifferent even in this situation didn’t make one feel very comfortable. It had always been that way.

Would that man’s face ever cloud over with worry or anxiety? Would he ever grieve or feel sorrow for someone injured or dying?

He tried to imagine it for a moment, but it was utterly inconceivable. Jeong Tae-ui ended up sighing.

Suddenly, it seemed Christoph’s feet moved.

He hesitated, appearing to take half a step forward, but then stopped. It was unclear where he had intended unauthorized copystyle="opacity:0;font-size:0;">Read on Read BL [unauthorized copy]Novelsto go, but having become motionless again, he eventually, very slowly, took his eyes off Oliver.

At a glance, it seemed as if nothing had happened. With his usual quietly sunken face, he slowly raised his hand and brushed off the area of his waist where Oliver had clung. He repeatedly brushed the clothes, even though nothing was on them.

“……Christoph.”

Jeong Tae-ui called him quietly.

Christoph, who continued to brush his clothes as if he couldn’t hear the voice, only raised his head after a long while. And he answered several minutes after Jeong Tae-ui had called him.

“What.”

An ordinary gaze turned toward Jeong Tae-ui. His attitude was as if truly nothing had happened, making Jeong Tae-ui momentarily wonder if he had been in a trance and didn’t remember shoving Oliver.

“Oliver is…….”

He stopped mid-sentence.

Even if he didn’t remember, bringing up that name now would only serve to reprimand visit visit our siteour sitehim. And he wasn’t the one who could reprimand him.

Looking at the silent Jeong Tae-ui, Christoph spoke coldly.

“I’ve always told them. Even those children. Not to touch me.”

“……!”

Christoph didn’t forget. He knew very well that he had shoved Oliver. However, his gaze toward the fallen Oliver and the people surrounding him remained coldly sunken. The only difference from usual was his complexion, which was faintly pale, almost imperceptibly so.

Beside Jeong Tae-ui, who was watching him in silence, Ilay—who had been observing the situation from a short distance with the perfect attitude of a stranger—interjected calmly, his tone carrying a hint of a chilling smile.

“Just because you always told them not to touch you doesn’t mean this situation can be justified.”

“Justified?”

Christoph scoffed. A chilly gaze settled over his pale face. The blue, cold light felt as if it could slice through one’s heart.

“Where is the need for justification?”

He spoke shortly. Then he cast a dry gaze back at Oliver.

—Where is the need for justification?

Christoph didn’t care whether he was justified or not. In the first place, it didn’t matter. Whether what he did was right or wrong, or what other people said, he was completely unconcerned.

Jeong Tae-ui followed Christoph’s gaze toward Oliver.

The physician examining Oliver was nodding and saying something to Richard. Judging by the physician’s calm expression and the way Richard’s stiff face relaxed slightly, it seemed it wasn’t anything serious, fortunately.

“……However, just in case, a detailed examination is…….”

As the physician’s words drifted over, a car approached from the garage and stopped. Soon, men carefully laid Oliver in the car and arranged his position so he wouldn’t be shaken.

The car brought out in haste was quite spacious, but once Oliver occupied the back seat, only the passenger seat remained. The physician, who naturally took that seat, said there was no need to worry much and that he would go with him, but Richard shook his head.

Tsking, the physician left, saying that just in case, he would ride in the [stolen content]same car as the unauthorized copytyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]boy, so they should follow in another car.

Richard told the man standing beside him to bring another car, and the man hurried off toward the garage.

A cluttered silence settled over the place. The people watching the situation from the distant windows and those beginning to move busily between the main building and the west wing created a humming noise.

And in the center of those surrounding people, only they remained, just as they had at the beginning.

Ilay, who had held the position of a bystander from the start. Jeong Tae-ui, whose position was not different but who clicked his tongue with a clouded expression. Christoph, who faced Richard with an indifferent and calm face. And Richard, who had been pacing anxiously, but whose complexion froze coldly the moment his eyes met Christoph’s.

Richard, who seemed to have been so focused on Oliver that no other thoughts had entered his mind, seemed to be struck by a natural and violent rage the moment he locked eyes with Christoph.

“You…—!!”

Richard lunged forward. It took almost no time to reach Christoph, who was only a few steps away.

Just as he tried to grab Christoph by the collar, Christoph’s pale face twitched. His fingers flickered as if to clench a fist. However, as if resigning, his grip loosened, and Christoph stepped aside.

Having failed to catch Christoph by a hair’s breadth, Richard looked back at him with piercing eyes. Christoph stolen [visit [visit our site]our site]contentmet his gaze with eyes just as chilly.

Richard’s eyes narrowed. The structure of his jaw revealed itself as he clenched his teeth beside his slightly closed lips.

“Don’t touch me.”

Christoph spoke frostily. As he did, he brushed off the part of his clothes that Richard’s fingers had barely grazed. Watching that irritable gesture, Richard let out a “ha……” and laughed.

As if it were a lie that he had been lunging to grab Christoph’s collar without regard for anything just a moment ago, the light of agitation vanished from Richard’s expression. A calm and composed light returned, as usual. Only the smile was missing.

“What on earth did you intend to do to my son?”

Richard asked lowly. At that frost-like, solemn question, Christoph frowned. However, contrary to that desolate and expressionless gaze, there was even a hint of mockery in his tone.

“Intend to do……? I had no intention. Your son isn’t worth the effort of forming an intention to do anything to him.”

“……Haa. I see.”

Richard muttered through clenched teeth. It was low, like a beast threatening. It was a sound that [visit our site]class="wm-strong" style="position:relative;display:inline;">visit our sitestyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized copy]made the listener uneasy.

“Then it was simply an accident? The way you ruthlessly struck Oliver, who stumbled into you and grabbed you.”

“Of course.”

“And the fact that you stood still in that spot without dodging until the child, who wasn’t even running fast, collided with you—as if you were waiting for the collision—was also just my imagination, I suppose.”

“……. I see what you’re trying to say. Think whatever you like. I see no need to make excuses to you.”

Christoph looked at Richard coldly for a moment before answering indifferently.

……No.

That’s not it.

Such a thought flashed through Jeong Tae-ui’s mind.

When Oliver ran, Christoph wasn’t looking at him. Even if his eyes were directed toward Oliver, that pale, frozen vision was trapped in blackness within his [[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]own body. At least, that’s how it looked to Jeong Tae-ui.

There was no reason for Christoph to intentionally harm Oliver.

—That son is decent in his own way.

He recalled Christoph’s voice saying that with a blunt face. The way he answered Oliver’s questions sincerely one by one even while looking down at him with disapproval, and the way he followed the boy’s movements with his gaze even while clicking his tongue.

Christoph intentionally hurt Oliver? ……That’s not it.

Jeong Tae-ui frowned slightly.

“Richard, Christoph is—.”

However, as soon as Jeong Tae-ui spoke his name, a blade-like gaze returned from Richard.

It wasn’t the soft and kind look he usually gave Jeong Tae-ui. It was nothing other than the gaze one gives an annoying meddler who helps a hateful opponent.

Christoph’s gaze was not much different. A cold gaze of annoyance flew toward him.

Jeong Tae-ui realized. These two were not in a relationship where a third party could step in. The surroundings didn’t matter. Whether many people took Richard’s side or whether Christoph was practically isolated, it fundamentally didn’t matter to them.

Jeong Tae-ui shrugged and took a step back.

He felt Ilay, who had been watching with glass-like eyes without saying a word while crossing his arms nearby, looking at him with eyes containing a thin smile, but he didn’t turn his head.

Richard, who had been sending a silent gaze to Jeong Tae-ui—one that wasn’t overt but clearly felt hostile—eventually turned his gaze back to Christoph.

For a while, there was no word. Both Richard and Christoph simply looked at each other in silence. Beside that silence, thin and unstable like cold ice, the car that had approached to pick up Richard stopped, holding its breath.

“……Right. It must have been an accident.”

Eventually, Richard spoke.

It was a quietly sunken voice. At a glance, he seemed almost no different from his usual self.

Excitement or anger could no longer be found in his expression. Except for the smile, the reliable and sincere light had returned stolen contentstyle="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">Read [unauthorized copy]on Read BL Novelsas usual. Like giving worried advice to a close friend, that smileless, quiet expression even looked kind at first glance.

“You were always that kind of person, and this didn’t happen solely because of you. But you’re still the same, not changing a single expression even when such an accident occurs. Yes, that cruel nature hasn’t changed at all. From ten-some years ago until now, not a bit.”

The words spread through the air, spoken slowly, as if he had chewed and savored them sufficiently in his mouth before spitting them out.

Richard was becoming increasingly cold. As if it had been ages since he last showed anger outwardly, he was perfectly cold and composed. No, he was even wearing a faint smile.

“You said my son isn’t worth the effort of forming an intention to do anything to him. —Impressive. People tell me I have a great personality, but from my perspective, you seem a hundred times better than I am. While you don’t even feel like lifting a finger against my son, I’ve developed a grudge even toward your family.”

At that moment, Christoph’s expression, which had been merely indifferent and cold until then, faintly stiffened.

Richard was now completely the same as usual.

He had a kind, pleasant face and wore a gentle smile. Soft wrinkles formed around his eyes, making his impression even softer—in stark contrast to Christoph, whose expression was gradually freezing over.

“Why did you come back? You had no intention of returning to Tarten in the future, did you? Or am I wrong? Didn’t you go to T&R with the intent of never coming back?”

“……. The succession is an important event that happens once every few decades, so…….”

“Aha. So you returned because you value an important family event. That means someone didn’t just contact you on a whim.”

For a moment, Christoph’s face seemed to turn pallid. He simply stared at Richard without saying a word, not even blinking.

“Is your aunt in good health? Well, I suppose I’ll see her soon at the succession. How many years has it been? More than ten, I imagine. I think I received news via mail occasionally, but I never opened them, so I’m not sure.”

“……Thank you for your concern. My mother is healthy.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

Richard gave a thoroughly gentle smile. He nodded, stating once more that it was truly a relief.

Watching them, the smile had long since vanished from Jeong Tae-ui’s face.

Something had been flashing in his mind for a while now. That alarm, similar to a warning siren, was pointing toward Christoph.

He was growing paler, staring at Richard with a ghost-like face, devoid of any expression.

“But—you haven’t been back for a long time, so how do you know if your aunt is healthy? She must be quite advanced in age by now. Besides, I believe she suffered a lot from a chronic illness since she was young. ……She isn’t sick anywhere, is she?”

Richard seemed genuinely concerned. He momentarily dropped his smile and looked at Christoph, shaking his head with a slight frown.

“I’ll see her soon, so there’s no need to worry in advance,” Christoph said quietly. Rather than speaking, his lips merely trembled. It was almost mechanical. It was a frail answer, as if the person asking the question were himself, as if he were speaking to himself.

His face looked like wax. It was so white and pale that it felt as though it would melt away if touched.

At that moment, Jeong Tae-ui frowned slightly.

Christoph’s lips were trembling.

At first, he thought he was shivering. After tilting his head in confusion at seeing him shake despite it not being cold, he realized that he was whispering something. It wasn’t a conversation with someone else, but a monologue.

But it wasn’t just his lips.

He truly began to shake.

With a pale face, staring at the area around Richard’s lips right in front of him—no, to be precise, he wasn’t looking at anything in that spot—his shoulders began to tremble thinly. He curled his body as if he were cold.

As if completely unaware of this, Richard smiled. Very kindly, very sweetly. Then, leaning forward slightly toward Christoph, he whispered low into his ear.

“I hope to see her in good health this time. ……Because I haven’t yet chosen a beast to serve as the corpse to sprinkle over her grave when she dies.”

“……!!”

It was the moment Jeong Tae-ui, who had caught every word of that low whisper, unconsciously clenched his fists with a hardened face.

Christoph moved.

Before anyone knew when he had moved, he was throwing a punch at Richard’s face.

That dry sound piercing the ears did not end with a single blow.

Twice, three times, several times, the sound continued indiscriminately.

“Christoph!”

Jeong Tae-ui shouted.

Christoph had no expression. With unfocused eyes, as if there were merely a rag doll before him, he swung his fists with a mechanical indifference.

“Shut up.”

The reason he could understand that tiny voice, spat out by lips that barely moved, was solely because Jeong Tae-ui had heard those words several times before.

Muttering a habit of speech rather than addressing Richard or any specific person, he was striking at the opponent’s vital points without a shred of mercy. He struck without hesitation, even at dangerous positions that could potentially kill if they landed accurately.

“Chris! Stop—”

But it was before Jeong Tae-ui could stop him.

Thwack, a heavy impact sounded. It came from a slightly different direction [Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">stolen content]than the previous blows.

Richard, who had been caught off guard and taken a few hits, drove his fist accurately into Christoph’s solar plexus.

Christoph paused for a moment. No words came from his mouth, which had opened instinctively to let out a groan. He simply stared at his feet for a moment, curling his body and clutching his solar plexus.

“Why? Are you angry because I said I’d decorate your mother’s grave with a corpse? Even though you killed a wild dog and buried its carcass in Olivia’s grave?”

Richard spoke while rubbing his knuckles. Still calm and quiet, he looked at Christoph kindly, wearing even a faint smile. Then, suddenly falling silent, he clicked his tongue as if feeling pity.

“You really are a pitiful fellow. Born to be able to get whatever you want, with nothing to obstruct you and nothing to fear, yet this part of you is a bit strange.”

Tapping the side of his head just above the ear with his index finger, Richard let out a sigh. He looked at Christoph as if he were truly regrettable, as if he were pitiful.

Despite this, the soft smile on his pleasant face did not fade, causing Jeong Tae-ui to inhale sharply.

……Damn it. Turns out this guy is a lunatic too.

Jeong Tae-ui anxiously rubbed his other [visit our unauthorized copyunauthorized copy -->site]hand over his clenched fist, where the knuckles had turned white.

Cruel words were exchanged. Though Jeong Tae-ui couldn’t fully understand the context, every single word was cruel. To the listener, and to the speaker.

However, even if he could have stopped it somehow, he didn’t know how. All he knew was that he shouldn’t. Jeong Tae-ui had no right to intervene between them.

Tsk, clicking his tongue, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly glanced at Ilay.

He was watching them with indifference, as if watching a movie screen. With his arms crossed, he looked like someone waiting for the ending of a boring film.

Ilay tilted his head slightly, and noticing Jeong Tae-ui’s gaze, he shifted only his eyes. Their eyes met. But seeing that cold gaze, Jeong Tae-ui remembered that he was not just Ilay, but a Riegrow.

Damn. Right, I never had anyone on my side in this world anyway.

Jeong Tae-ui grimaced. Seeing this, Ilay also faintly frowned his eyes, which had been watching coldly.

Then, Richard, who had been mimicking tapping his head, slowly shook his head regretfully and spoke.

“So, it’s only natural. That your mother threw you away in disgust.”

The sound of Richard clicking his tongue followed.

And then.

Christoph, who had been standing frozen and bent over while clutching his deeply struck solar plexus, moved.

It wasn’t toward where Richard was. Rather, he moved in the opposite direction, toward his side.

Toward the guard who had been watching them from about twenty paces away with a serious face—and a face clearly filled with curiosity—he strode forward without a moment’s hesitation.

With a face completely devoid of expression and eyes that didn’t blink, as if he had no soul, Christoph approached in a straight line like a grotesque doll.

Seeing the bloodless, pale wax doll suddenly approach him, the guard instinctively took two or three steps back, his hair standing on end. But before he could even complete his retreat, Christoph, who had closed the distance, reached out his hand.

The moment Jeong Tae-ui realized what Christoph had snatched from him as he withdrew his hand, his face hardened.

The object that had been hanging from the guard’s waist and had now passed into Christoph̵Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm-strong" style="position:relative;display:inline;">[unauthorized copy]7;s hand was a steel baton.

“Chris! Don’t!”

Jeong Tae-ui shouted, but the voice did not reach his ears.

Moving as if being controlled by someone, his eyes out of focus, Christoph headed straight for Richard.

That was a weapon that could kill a person. No, now that it was in Christoph’s hands, it was a weapon for killing a person. It might be insignificant in the hands of an amateur, but in experienced hands, it was enough to kill someone in a single blow. Even if he didn’t aim for the head, a glancing blow anywhere could easily break a bone.

Seeing Christoph approaching him expressionlessly, Richard momentarily wiped the smile from his face. But that was all; without moving or dodging, he remained standing exactly where he was.

“What the hell is wrong with this household……!”

Jeong Tae-ui spat out a curse through clenched teeth.

Honestly, he hadn’t liked it from the start. What was the point of appearing so unified to the public when they were splitting into factions and fighting internally? And look, this wasn’t a friendly competition; look at this situation where they were seriously aiming for each other’s lives. Tarten is insane.

Without realizing it, Jeong Tae-ui was springing from his spot. stolen Read on Read BL NovelscontentThe moment he realized it, he thought, ‘Now that I see it, I’m insane too. I must have caught it, damn it,’ but by the time that thought occurred, he was already intervening between them.

Come to think of it, something similar had happened recently.

Right, at the cathedral.

There, too, while trying to stop this guy from beating a man to death, he had ended up getting hit and knocked unconscious himself.

……Looking at that steel baton, it doesn’t seem like it’ll end with just being knocked unconscious this time.

By the time Jeong Tae-ui wedged himself between them, Christoph had already come within a few steps.

He seemed to pause for a moment upon seeing Jeong Tae-ui suddenly blocking his path, but soon spoke with mechanical emotionlessness.

“Move.”

“Chri—”

But without even waiting for Jeong Tae-ui to finish calling his name, he swung his arm down.

The steel baton fell toward his head. The sensation of air being pushed down coldly approached.

“……!”

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue. Simultaneously, he hurriedly twisted his body to the side. Even though he had anticipated it, the speed was terrifying. Despite thinking he could avoid it since he had guessed the move, it grazed his forearm. A chilling sound of cutting through the wind passed by his side.

He felt rough footsteps approaching from behind, but Jeong Tae-ui didn’t have the luxury to care about that.

As Jeong Tae-ui reflexively stepped aside, Christoph ignored him and moved toward Richard again. In that instant, Jeong Tae-ui instinctively grabbed Christoph’s elbow. The moment he grabbed it, he realized his mistake.

Christoph, whose complexion had changed like a ghost, swung his arm without hesitation. In the process, Jeong Tae-ui was hit in the face by that elbow.

“Ugh……!”

It hurt so much it felt as if his face were splitting in two. Stars appeared before his eyes, and his head spun for a moment.

Christoph turned back. This time, he strode decisively toward Richard.

There was no room to weigh options or think. Clutching his throbbing cheek, he ran.

By the time Jeong Tae-ui caught up to Christoph again, there were fewer than a few steps left between Richard and Christoph.

“Damn it……!”

While wondering somewhat randomly if his face still looked human, Jeong Tae-ui wedged himself between them again, while resenting that damn guy named Richard for not running away until now.

The timing was bad.

Originally, Jeong Tae-ui had thought that regardless of what happened later, he should first land a punch on Christoph’s jaw to knock him out. However, as Jeong Tae-ui narrowly intervened, Christoph was already swinging the steel baton down.

“……! Tsk……!!”

It was already too late to dodge.

In that case, he had no choice but to minimize the damage.

If he grabbed that thing with his hand, there was a ninety-nine percent chance his hand bones would be crushed. His wrist might even be gone. But he couldn’t think of any other way right now.

Jeong Tae-ui grit his teeth and raised his hand to grab the steel baton.

It was then.

Clang……!

A heavy metallic sound rang out.

Narrowly missing Jeong Tae-ui’s hand, which had been about to grab the baton, a long iron bar struck the steel baton.

The steel baton, which had been swinging down in a large arc, screeched as it clashed with the iron bar, its trajectory diverted.

Soon after, Clang—this time, the metallic sound rang louder than before. The steel baton in Christoph’s hand was hit squarely by the iron bar and slipped from his hand, which couldn’t withstand the force. Clatter……, the steel baton rolled across the stone floor before stopping.

“You lunatic.”

Before he could realize what had happened, that low, cold voice pierced his ear. And before he could identify the owner of the voice, a massive sound erupted by his ear, and fire broke out on his cheek. His vision flashed, then blurred black and spun for a while, leaving him unable to regain his senses.

It was nearly ten seconds later that he realized he had been slapped.

Clutching his cheek, which had been hit so hard his ears were ringing, Jeong Tae-ui stood dazed. In front of him, the man who had slapped him grabbed Christoph by the back of the neck, stopping him as he tried to approach Richard even after losing the baton. Then, he dealt a merciless blow to Christoph’s cheek as well.

“Wake up. Christoph.”

Along with those words, he slapped the other cheek. Struck so hard his head snapped to the side, Christoph staggered back a few steps. He spat out blood.

Thinking that the metallic taste in his own mouth meant his lip was torn too, Jeong Tae-ui watched them with a mind that was still sluggishly processing information.

As his senses slowly returned and he looked around, he saw a single iron bar, which he didn’t know where it had been pulled from, rolling on the floor. The steel baton was rolling beside it.

Thinking that he had seen that iron bar somewhere before……, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly looked back at the bench. And there, he discovered that one of the iron supports fixing the backrest of the bench had been ripped out entirely.

“……. He must have hit [stolen content]Read on Read BL Novels -->wm: stolen content -->me without mercy with that kind of brute strength……, hhh, ow ow ow…….”

Jeong Tae-ui groaned, clutching his cheek.

But while Jeong Tae-ui was complaining of the pain, clutching his rapidly swelling cheek, the man of monstrous strength who stood before him and looked down with ice-cold eyes—Ilay Riegrow, who had helped him in the end but had given him indelible pain in his cheek in return—muttered in a voice that seemed to drip ice.

“You’re dying for a death wish.”

“—No, I didn’t have the slightest desire to die……. Though one of my hands would have been smashed.”

As Jeong Tae-ui grumbled sullenly in a shrinking voice while opening and closing his intact hand, Ilay glared at him with piercing eyes. Jeong Tae-ui quickly shrunk his head and decided to keep a low profile.

Ilay stared at Jeong Tae-ui as if looking at the world’s biggest idiot, then turned his head.

Christoph was standing there with unfocused eyes.

He was no longer looking at Richard.

He was simply standing there, muttering to himself in a voice so small it was unintelligible.

Ilay slapped his cheek again without hesitation. Whether the inside of his mouth was torn and he was already spitting blood or not, there was no hesitation in Ilay’s hand.

“Wake up. ……Aren’t you waking up?”

He spoke casually, as if offering a greeting, and without waiting long, he struck Christoph again.

“Riegrow. Stop.”

When Ilay raised his palm to strike Christoph once more, the person who stopped him was Richard, who had been watching them silently from behind.

Despite having almost died just a moment ago, and despite seeing Christoph charging with a steel baton, Richard, who had faced him without so much as a twitch of an eyebrow, shook his head at Ilay.

“This is enough. I’ve already told him everything I needed to say. And I’ve received the reaction I wanted.”

Richard spoke calmly. As if he himself had not been part of the urgent commotion of this brief moment.

Ilay, looking down at Richard with his palm still raised, suddenly let out a short, mocking laugh.

“You’re mistaken, Richard. I didn’t block him for your sake. I’m just saying that whether to stop or not isn’t for you to decide.”

“Right, that’s why I’m asking. Just stop.”

Richard smiled with a troubled expression. He looked straight at Ilay with a warm smile, as if making a request to a close friend.

His expression was exactly as it had been when Jeong Tae-ui first saw him—kind and possessing an inviting aura.

…Right. Right, Ilay. You were right. What Christoph said was right. This guy is a top-tier pervert, a human being one should never associate with. This man is the one whose mind is warped in some corner.

Jeong Tae-ui barely swallowed the words surging up to his throat, looking at Richard with eyes bordering on horror.

Ilay clicked his tongue and lowered his hand, and Richard smiled and thanked him.

Only then did the man, who had been waiting for him in a car parked a short distance away, hesitantly speak to him. Richard nodded to him and began to walk away.

“Then I’ll be heading to the hospital now. Oliver should be undergoing tests.”

Leaving those words instead of a formal farewell, Richard gave Ilay a light wave and then turned his gaze toward Jeong Tae-ui.

After scanning Jeong Tae-ui slowly with a subtle look, as if searching for something, he smiled and greeted him.

“Thank you for trying to help me. You saved my life.”

“…It was nothing. I didn’t really do anything.”

I had just blindly tried to block with my body, and it was actually Ilay who stopped him; besides, it wasn’t as if I was trying to sacrifice myself for Richard’s sake.

Rather, the reason Jeong Tae-ui had done that was—.

“The west wing will be noisy tonight.”

At the end of Richard’s gaze, as he murmured to himself, was Christoph.

Christoph stood blankly, as if he could see nothing and hear nothing.

Suddenly, something surged up in Jeong Tae-ui’s chest.

He didn’t want to leave that defenseless, vacant state exposed to the eyes of the people who were already surrounding them from a distance, watching as bystanders.

It made his heart ache, as if he were looking at an old, exhausted man who had lost his mind and exposed his shame on the street.

“Christoph. Let’s go inside.”

Jeong Tae-ui approached him. He was merely standing there vacantly with clouded eyes, like a doll. His lips were trembling slightly.

Soon, the sound of a car door closing echoed. From inside the car departing for the hospital, Richard looking back entered Jeong Tae-ui’s field of vision. He was looking at Christoph with narrowed eyes, appearing amused.

Eventually, the car moved away from the building and soon vanished from sight.

“Do you think he’s the type who would have just taken it if you hadn’t intervened?”

Ilay’s voice reached him. visit our siteEND: visit our site -->Jeong Read on Read BL NovelsTae-ui simply stared silently in the direction the car had disappeared.

Just then, from among the people surrounding them, a middle-aged man with a troubled face approached them, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. Judging by the polite way he addressed Ilay as “Mr. Riegrow” and his impeccable attire even at this hour, he seemed to be one of the butler-level servants—of which he had heard there were about four or five in this house.

While listening with one ear to the man’s request to come to the main building to explain what had happened, Jeong Tae-ui checked on Christoph.

His slightly trembling shoulders and bluish, bloodless lips showed no sign of improvement.

“Christoph. …Go inside. Let’s go to your room first.”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke quietly. Even at a time like this—no, perhaps because it was a time like this—he clicked his tongue inwardly at the fact that no one else tried to approach him.

Since he remained frozen in place and refused to move, Jeong Tae-ui eventually grabbed his sleeve and began to lead him away slowly.

It was then.

“Mr. Kim Young-soo?”

At the sound of a familiar voice calling an unfamiliar name, Jeong visit [stolen content]our siteTae-ui paused for a moment before turning back to Ilay.

Ilay, who had been about to head to the main building with the servant, threw something at him the moment Jeong Tae-ui looked back. Reflexively catching the object that fit in the palm of his hand, Jeong Tae-ui looked down at his palm with a bewildered face.

It was a glass bottle. A small brown glass bottle, about the size of two fingers tied together. There was some liquid inside. He could feel the sloshing sensation through the single layer of glass.

“This is…?”

Jeong Tae-ui looked up inquisitively.

However, having confirmed that Jeong Tae-ui had received the object, Ilay had already turned away without any explanation, leaving Jeong Tae-ui to only see his back, which provided no answer.

Raising an eyebrow, Jeong Tae-ui looked at the bottle again, shrugged, and put it in his pocket. Then, to solve the most pressing problem at hand, he turned back to Christoph.

 

* * *

 

He thought that once they returned to the room, Christoph would slowly calm down in the silence.

While being led back to the room by his sleeve, Christoph, following behind Jeong Tae-ui as if possessed, did not stop his slight tremors.

Upon entering the west wing building, Jeong Tae-ui looked back to adjust his grip on the sleeve and was startled.

It had been too dark outside to notice. He had simply thought Christoph looked paler than usual because the light was dim.

However, facing Christoph under the bright lights inside the building, his complexion was not just white, but bluish. Even the word ‘pale’ didn’t seem fitting.

With a face like a corpse, he was whispering something, his lips trembling thinly. Jeong Tae-ui asked, “What?” but no answer came. He just kept muttering to himself as if possessed.

It seemed this wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened—a state completely detached from reason, where he lunged at someone not out of threat, but with a genuine intent to kill. He felt it from the gazes of the people watching him as he led Christoph into the mansion.

Their looks, which were closer to disgust and fear than shock or surprise, told him that this was not the first occurrence. Though it didn’t seem to be something that happened very often.

While going up to Christoph’s room, Christoph seemed to have not regained his reason even [Read on Read BL Novels]visit our siteRead BL Novels -->as he followed quietly behind Jeong Tae-ui. It was the same after they arrived in the room.

He had thought that returning to Christoph’s own room, where he was shielded from the gazes and whispers of others and where a quiet stability lingered, would allow him to slowly come to his senses. He thought it might take some time, but once his mind calmed down, he would look at him as usual.

However, it wasn’t long after returning to the room that Jeong Tae-ui thought, This might actually be a bit dangerous.

Jeong Tae-ui, who had sat on a chair by the door to catch his breath, intending to return to his own room after seeing Christoph calm down, watched with curiosity as Christoph’s trembling did not subside over time.

It might have been his imagination, but the complexion seemed to fade even whiter. His body was still shaking intermittently, and the low voice he was muttering in gradually grew louder, to the point where Jeong Tae-ui could now understand it.

With a corpse-like face devoid of any color, he was glaring into the air. His eyes, which barely blinked, shook unstable and out of focus.

“…won’t… I won’t leave it alone… I’ll kill you, I’ll kill…! …ugh….”

A low, hoarse voice, sounding like grinding metal, growled like a beast. That voice was no longer his. As if possessed by a ghost, his glossy blue eyes trembled thinly, and he muttered in a muddy voice as if he were being strangled.

“Christoph. …Chris.”

Jeong Tae-ui called him quietly from the side. But the voice did not reach his ears.

It wasn’t just his gaze and voice that were trembling. His body was shaking too.

The shoulders that had been twitching slightly began to shake more violently, and soon the tremors spread throughout his entire body.

While clutching his shivering body, Christoph bit his pale lips and groaned like a beast.

“Chris, calm down. Chris.”

He called him several times, but it was useless. He didn’t even give him a glance. Nevertheless, Jeong Tae-ui called him persistently. Quietly. Slowly.

How much time had passed?

The voice that had been spitting out terrifying curses and groans while biting his lips until they bled gradually grew quieter. The sound became so small it was hard to understand, eventually sounding like nothing more than trembling breaths.

Christoph, who had been curling up and hugging his shaking body while his lips quivered, finally seemed to show signs of calming down, if only slightly. He flicked his eyes.

When their gazes met—his eyes still shaking unstablely—Jeong Tae-ui called his name once more.

“Chris. …It’s okay.”

“…My head hurts….”

A faint voice was heard. The trembling voice and shaking body were like those of someone who was uncontrollably cold.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You’ll get better.”

Even though he knew it wasn’t okay and wouldn’t get better, Jeong Tae-ui had no choice but to say that. Even as his fists clenched white, digging his nails into his palms, there was nothing else he could do.

“It’s noisy… I keep hearing sounds… It’s noisy, the inside of my ears hurts. My head hurts….”

Christoph muttered to himself as if he had lost his mind. Those words weren’t directed at anyone. The words he murmured quietly while his gaze was fixed on some point in the air were meant to drown out other sounds in his own ears.

“What sounds do you hear?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked quietly. But Christoph only kept muttering, “Noisy, noisy.” His face began to distort bit by bit. His face, beyond just [visit our site]being pale, looked as if he might roll his eyes back and collapse at any moment.

He felt it was dangerous.

“Chris.”

Jeong Tae-ui pulled his sleeve. Christoph, who had been standing blankly, staggered a few steps as if pushed. His swaying body looked precarious, so Jeong Tae-ui instinctively grabbed his arm to support him.

At that moment.

He felt Christoph’s body stiffen. Almost simultaneously, Christoph violently shook off his arm. In the process, Jeong Tae-ui was pushed back, taking a hard hit to the face from Christoph’s fist.

“Don’t touch me!”

As if a fire that had been dormant, stealing heat from his trembling body, had suddenly erupted, Christoph screamed. He shouted harshly like a shriek and glared at Jeong Tae-ui. That piercing blue gaze slammed down on Jeong Tae-ui, feeling as chilling as if it were hacking his whole body to pieces.

“It’s noisy… it’s noisy! It’s noisy!! I said it’s noisy!!”

He wasn’t looking at Jeong Tae-ui. However, Jeong Tae-ui was where that gaze was directed, and [visit our site]Christoph stepped toward him with a body visit our sitethat was shaking more and more violently.

Seeing those dangerously staggering steps approaching him, Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue.

“Damn it… just calm down, you crazy bastard…!”

Jeong Tae-ui backed away as much as Christoph advanced. One step, two steps; the distance neither increased nor decreased. But if this continued, his back would hit the wall soon.

Jeong Tae-ui let out a groan of a sigh.

Fortunately, there was nothing in the room that could be used as a weapon, nor were there any guards carrying batons. So, he wasn’t facing an urgent and desperate threat to his life.

…Still, he didn’t think he’d end up in a good state if he were caught in those hands.

What should I do? Isn’t there something that could help? Not a weapon, but something—.

Knowing he didn’t remember putting anything helpful in there, he searched his trouser pockets anyway. His fingertips caught something.

“…!”

A hard glass bottle. A size that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.

He lightly gripped and released the bottle, feeling the liquid sloshing inside.

“I don’t care what it is, if it’s not something helpful, I’m going to get angry.”

Thinking that he might have to vent his anger in the wrong direction, Jeong Tae-ui took out the bottle. Now, would a gold nugget come out of this gourd, or a goblin? …Surely it’s not something like hydrochloric acid.

Jeong Tae-ui looked straight at Christoph and opened the bottle with one hand. Even though he must have seen Jeong Tae-ui take out the bottle, Christoph didn’t seem to care. No, his eyes weren’t seeing such things anymore.

As he opened the bottle, a sharp, pungent smell surged into his nostrils.

It was chloroform.

“….”

Jeong Tae-ui instinctively frowned. It was because a dark [stolen content]unauthorized copystolen content -->past suddenly flashed through his mind. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Ilay’s face when he threw this bottle seemed to have carried a meaningful smile.

But now was not the time to be picky. This was certainly an object that could be used excellently in this situation. The gold nugget had come out of the gourd.

He took out a handkerchief he had haphazardly stuffed in one pocket. Then, he poured the contents of the bottle onto it. Feeling his vision sway slightly from the smell lingering in the air, he quickly held his breath.

“…!”

The wall was behind him.

The distance to Christoph closed quickly.

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue and grit his teeth. Then, he stepped close to Christoph and grabbed the back of his neck.

As Jeong Tae-ui’s hand touched him, he flinched. He swung his arm violently to shake off the hand. An elbow hit Jeong Tae-ui’s ear hard. His vision swayed again, for a different reason than before.

“Tch…!”

Even while frowning, Jeong Tae-ui did not let go. He covered Christoph’s nose and mouth with the handkerchief in his other hand. [unauthorized copyclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]He was mercilessly hit in the solar plexus and lower abdomen by the man who was thrashing wildly.

Damn it. It hurts more because I’m being hit in the same spots. I feel like I’m going to die from the pain. My face, which was hit by that monstrous strength earlier, is already swollen.

It seemed today was the day he was destined to be the neighborhood punching bag.

While grumbling, It hurts, I said it hurts, Jeong Tae-ui did not loosen his grip on Christoph.

Before long, Christoph’s movements slowed. The grip on his collar, intended to push Jeong Tae-ui away, slowly lost its strength. After a low groan of “uh…” escaped him, his body collapsed.

Jeong Tae-ui quickly supported his body as it fell like a heavy ragdoll. The sagging weight rested heavily on his shoulder.

“… …phew….”

Only after confirming that Christoph, who had slumped his entire weight onto him, was no longer moving, did Jeong Tae-ui let out a long sigh.

He barely managed to support the body that kept slipping due to loss of balance and moved him to the bed. He practically dumped him onto the bed with a thud.

“This guy is surprisingly high-maintenance….”

Jeong Tae-ui frowned, rubbing his back which had tweaked while lowering him onto the bed. With that frowning face, he looked down at him in silence.

He was no longer shaking or muttering that it was noisy. On his pale face, where not a single finger moved as if he were dead, color was returning very slowly, bit by bit.

“….”

Jeong Tae-ui looked down at him silently. Perhaps because sweat had seeped out in the meantime, he felt chilly. Even though the weather was almost humid, he felt a chill inside his body for some reason and rubbed his own arm.

Christoph lay with his eyes closed, so quietly that it was unimaginable he was the same man who, just a few minutes ago, had glared like a madman and screamed like a shriek.

“Hey… you really have problems… huh? Not just one or two. What are you going to do….”

Jeong Tae-ui sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Suddenly feeling a tightness in his chest, he tapped his solar plexus a few times with his palm. Only then did the pain from when Christoph hit him in the solar plexus return, making him bend his waist with a groan.

I really was the punching bag today.

Jeong Tae-ui let out a deep sigh and slowly, carefully felt his own body.

It throbbed with pain whenever he brushed over the spots where he had been hit, but seeing as there was no other major discomfort, it seemed there were no seriously injured areas.

Still grumbling that he would undoubtedly be aching for the next few days, Jeong Tae-ui looks at Christoph.

Unconscious and silent, he looked like a statue momentarily set down upon the bed.

Could there be another person this beautiful? That face alone would be enough to fascinate anyone. He could be loved by anyone who desired it.

And yet.

“……. Huh? So what are you going to do…….”

Tae-yi whispers like a sigh, knowing he cannot hear.

For a while, he looked down at him in silence. Then, he suddenly reached out.

Over that neat and beautiful face—a sculpture that Tae-yi wouldn’t dare touch even if the world split in two while he was awake—Jeong Tae-ui’s hand hovered.

Though he knew the man couldn’t possibly be awake yet, he hesitated as he tried to touch him, his hand remaining suspended, neither descending nor withdrawing, just barely grazing the forehead.

Very lightly, very softly, his hand, unable to bring itself to touch the skin, carefully brushed the hair falling over the forehead.

But then.

“If you stay like that without ventilating while keeping chloroform right next to you, you won’t be faring much better yourself.”

A voice flew in like a dagger from behind, piercing through his chest.

That familiar voice, laced with a faint smile, had approached unnoticed.

Startled, Tae-yi’s trembling fingertips lightly touched Christoph’s forehead. It was cool and smooth. Truly like a statue.

Silently withdrawing his hand, Jeong Tae-ui turned around.

“Any word from Richard’s side?”

“Ah, I got a call a moment ago. They said Oliver regained consciousness shortly after arriving at the hospital. Some test results are out and some aren’t, but from what can be known for now, it doesn’t seem to be anything serious.”

“I see…….”

Jeong Tae-ui nodded. Only then did the knot that had been tightening in his chest seem to loosen, if only slightly.

“I think I need to chew on some headache medicine myself…….”

Perhaps because the tension had broken, his head throbbed. Knowing exactly where the medicine was after seeing it several times, Jeong Tae-ui opened Christoph’s drawer and took out a bottle of pills.

“That’s why you should have ventilated immediately, tsk tsk.”

“No, no. I don’t think my headache is solely because of the chloroform.”

As Jeong Tae-ui muttered sullenly, [[visit [stolen content]our site]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]the man, who had walked to the window and flung it wide open, let out a smirk.

“If we’re talking about headaches, yours probably isn’t as bad as mine was when I saw you here.”

“Isn’t it because you carry things like chloroform around?”

“I don’t carry such things unless I have reason to associate with Christoph. See, it was helpful just now.”

“……. You must have suffered a lot carrying anesthesia around while being away from home for two months, Rick.”

Hearing Jeong Tae-ui’s displeased mutter, the man’s eyes gleamed, his face still wearing a faint smile.

Due to long experience, Jeong Tae-ui immediately recognized that dangerous glint and glared at him.

“What now. What’s the problem?”

“I don’t particularly like that title.”

At his mutter, which sounded like he Read on Read BL Novelsstolen content-->was talking to himself, Jeong Tae-ui stared at him with an incredulous look for a moment.

It hadn’t even been a few hours since the man had threatened that he wouldn’t let it slide if he were called by that name.

“Pick one tune and stick to it, just one.”

“Since there are no birds to hear the day’s words and no mice to hear the night’s, there’s no need to keep our distance, Tae-yi.”

Jeong Tae-ui glared hatefully at those lips speaking so smoothly, then let out a groan of a sigh. Fine, do whatever you want.

“I thought I’d finally gotten out of Berlin, but who knew I’d run into you here. ……You look quite refreshed, Ilay.”

As Jeong Tae-ui spoke sullenly, Ilay Riegrow laughed pleasantly once more.

Tae-yi silently counted in his head.

About two months and ten days.

That was how long it had been since they had last faced each other in a room like this.

Looking at Ilay, who had opened all the windows instead of closing the door and was now leaning against the window frame, Jeong Tae-ui felt a strange sense of novelty.

Once a person becomes familiar, even if they haven’t met for a long time, they usually feel as close as if they had seen each other just the day before. This was especially true for him and this man. They had lived in the same house, facing each other every day for years; there was no reason to feel so estranged after being apart for a mere two months.

And yet, wondering why he felt this novelty, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly nodded. At the same time, he spoke abruptly.

“What’s with that outfit? I thought you were some fashionable young entrepreneur.”

At that, Ilay, who had been facing him with his arms crossed while leaning on the window frame, arched an eyebrow.

“Does it look that way to you? Not long ago, a new accountant grabbed me to talk about window-dressing audit issues.”

“……Now that you mention it, you don’t exactly look like you’re NOT some crooked lawyer scrap.”

As Jeong Tae-ui muttered to himself, examining the suit Ilay wore, his neatly groomed hair, and the glasses he wore despite having no prescription, Ilay arched an eyebrow and gave a subtle smile.

Along with that smile came an unrestrained gaze.

Those familiar black eyes were not smiling at all. Only the corners of his mouth were.

In that instant, a warning light flashed. An instinctive signal of danger rang a loud ‘beep’ in his head.

Right, come to think of it, since leaving Berlin and entering this mansion, since unexpectedly running into Ilay, this was the first time they were confronting each other alone—to be precise, not entirely alone, as the unconscious Christoph was lying beside them.

He was now facing the man who had left after leaving a brief threat that he would die if he left the house.

Jeong Tae-ui thought timidly that it was a relief he was closer to the door, and asked him tentatively.

“Is it okay for you to be here? I thought you said you had to remain neutral and avoid personal contact with certain groups.”

Wanting to ensure at least his safety here, Jeong Tae-ui unconsciously clenched his fists and looked very seriously at the man’s lips. Depending on the answer that came from those lips, his safety in his current reality would be decided.

Ilay, who couldn’t have been unaware of Jeong Tae-ui’s thoughts, looked at him with cold eyes and a faint smile on his lips, and after a moment, as if he had finished thinking, he slowly spoke.

“Yes. While I am here, I must remain a sound and reliable member of Riegrow from head to toe.”

The tension left his fists.

It seemed he wouldn’t reveal his true nature here.

Jeong Tae-ui struggled not to let the sudden brightness on his face show too obviously. If he looked too happy now, he might offend this unpredictable human being.

Watching Jeong Tae-ui struggle to maintain a poker face with a subtle smile, Ilay suddenly straightened his posture. His relaxed stride brought him toward the bed where Jeong Tae-ui was perched.

“……I intended to, but you’re really not helping. Hmm?”

“—What is.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, watching the closing distance with wary eyes. Meanwhile, Ilay continued to close the gap.

For a moment, he felt an impulse to stand up quickly and confront him with the bed between them, but he gave up on the idea a second later. Predators become more dangerous when provoked clumsily.

Eventually, Ilay stood before Jeong Tae-ui. Standing close enough [unauthorized [stolen content]copy]to touch, he looked down at him. Jeong Tae-ui looked up to meet his gaze.

“Jeong Tae-ui.”

He suddenly spoke in a low voice. The moment Tae-yi realized the trace of laughter had vanished from that voice, the smooth tone brushed against his ear chillingly.

“Do you really want to die?”

“No. Not in the slightest.”

Jeong Tae-ui answered as soon as the words left Ilay’s mouth. He felt that if he hesitated or answered incorrectly, he would die right then and there by this man’s hand.

“Then never get between Christoph and Richard. I don’t know what you’re mistaken about, but if you think Richard would have died from a commotion like the one earlier, he would have already died hundreds of times over.”

“……You mean Christoph has had seizures like that hundreds of times?”

“To put it without necessarily linking it to Richard, it’s a number a few digits less than hundreds.”

At Ilay’s answer, Jeong Tae-ui looked at him in shock. While “a visit our sitefew Read on Read BL NovelsNovels">Read on Read BL Novelsdigits less than hundreds” might not be a literal fact, it seemed Ilay had seen it quite often.

“Judging by the people in this house earlier, it didn’t seem to happen that often…….”

As Jeong Tae-ui muttered, Ilay narrowed his eyes, gazed at him for a moment, and then spoke.

“He probably didn’t have many opportunities in this house. He joined T&R shortly after becoming an adult and hardly ever returned to Tarten after that. He probably only saw it a few times before then.”

“You said it was a few digits less than hundreds.”

“I saw it hundreds of times at T&R.”

Ilay seemed lost in thought for a moment, muttering slowly as if retracing the past, but soon shrugged nonchalantly and raised his hand.

“I see, there were rumors that the mobile task force was a den of lunatics, so things like that happen inside…….”

Jeong Tae-ui nodded, feeling that it somehow made sense.

Ilay perched himself on the nightstand right next to the bed. It was more of a dresser [unauthorized copy]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]than a nightstand and quite high, so even though he was perched, it was practically the same as leaning.

It was fine that he had approached threateningly and then backed off, but this time, their feet touched. At the subtle pressure pressing down on his slipper, Jeong Tae-ui flinched for a moment but didn’t let it show.

“So, never get between this guy and Richard again. ……No, if possible, don’t stick your head into anything related to this guy. There’s nothing good about getting caught between people who aren’t in their right minds.”

Ilay spoke as if he didn’t care about the feet at all—or rather, as if he didn’t even know their feet were touching. However, Jeong Tae-ui, whose foot was completely covered by the foot pressing down on his slipper, lowered his head as if in thought and glared at that foot.

Just step on me openly already.

But before arguing that, a part of what the man had just said bothered him.

To be called someone who isn’t in his right mind by you… Christoph’s life really is a mess.

He desperately wanted to say that, but he modified it slightly.

“I thought you and Christoph were friends.”

He spoke, recalling how Christoph had Read Read stolen contenton Read BL Novelson Read BL Novelsreacted sternly, denying they were friends. Come to think of it, Ilay seemed to dislike it too.

Sure enough, Ilay frowned, thought in silence for a moment, and then shook his head.

“I don’t know what you consider a friend, but it’s probably not a friend in the sense you’re thinking.”

“What’s so special about being friends? If I think we’re friends, then we’re friends.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered as if he were talking nonsense. Meanwhile, he glanced down at the foot again.

Having taken off his slipper entirely to step on the top of Jeong Tae-ui’s foot, Ilay was slowly sliding his foot into Jeong Tae-ui’s slipper. The slipper, too narrow for two men’s feet, was tightly packed.

Toes slowly brushed over the top of the foot. The sensation of slowly tracing down from the top of the foot toward the arch of the sole was somehow subtle.

Jeong Tae-ui lifted his gaze from his foot and looked at Ilay with displeasure. However, even after meeting Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes, Ilay looked completely unfazed.

“…….”

Am I too twisted? I don’t know why I feel so strange even though he’s just playing unauthorized copyaround with my foot. ……But he wasn’t mentally disciplined enough to [visit our site]say openly, ‘Leave my foot alone, it’s evoking some erotic imagery.’

Jeong Tae-ui pulled his foot out of the slipper. He slipped out from under the foot that had been pressing down on him. Then, he shifted his foot back slightly and scratched his head.

“Even if you’re not friends, you are colleagues. You said you worked together. In T&R’s mobile task force.”

“It’s more accurate to call them colleagues only when interests align.”

Ilay spoke concisely. Jeong Tae-ui looked up at him with a strange expression again.

Working as colleagues within the same group basically means that external interests align. However, if one digs into the minor personal details, it was very common for internal power struggles to exist even while working toward the same goal within the same group.

In short…….

“I see, they did say Tarten has incredible unity in external affairs. Even if they’re baring their teeth at each other internally.”

Jeong Tae-ui nodded in understanding. However, no answer came from Ilay.

While Jeong Tae-ui watched the silence with curiosity, Ilay turned his gaze to Christoph, who was unconscious on the bed. Suddenly, he clicked [Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]his tongue. If anyone else did that, it would feel like they were feeling sorry or pitying him, but it was strange how, when this man did it, it felt like he found it bothersome or annoying.

Thinking this, Jeong Tae-ui shook his head inwardly.

Given his track record, it’s natural to think that, he muttered spitefully.

“Shall I tell you about this guy’s nasty side?”

Ilay suddenly spoke. Lightly, with a smirk, as if telling a story about a funny mistake from the past, he leaned his body back slightly. Then he extended his leg. Having let his guard down for a moment, Jeong Tae-ui’s foot was stepped on again.

“The private mobile task force I was in operated on individual freelance contracts unless there was a special circumstance. Simply put, while I was under contract with Montague, a colleague in the same task force might occasionally be under contract with Capulet.”

Jeong Tae-ui thought about kicking Ilay’s foot off the top of his own, but upon hearing those words, he forgot the thought for a moment and frowned.

“That’s a truly nasty system.”

The idea that colleagues could point guns at each other didn’t sound very pleasant, even when wrapped in the nice words of ‘freelance contracts.’

In fact, couldn’t that be described as barely avoiding a violation of visit our sitestyle="position:relative;display:inline;">[Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]double-contracting, which is a major prohibited clause in most private personnel organizations?

“Some people say that, but as long as it’s our system, you just have to accept it. If you don’t like it, don’t sign the contract.”

Ilay spoke lightly and shrugged.

“In the first place, a person of such noble character that they would reject someone with cleaner work skills just to protect another’s camaraderie wouldn’t be looking for us anyway.”

Adding that, he chuckled. Jeong Tae-ui had no choice but to bitterly agree.

“While it was operating like that, there was a time when I went to Montague and this guy went to Capulet. Well, this wasn’t uncommon within our task force, but I ended up confronting this guy.”

“So, you and Christoph fought?”

“Simply put, yes.”

As he spoke, Ilay smiled subtly. Even without the subtle smile, Jeong Tae-ui could guess that the two of them hadn’t just had a light squabble that could be easily described as ‘fighting.’

“At the time, due to my mission, there was a story I absolutely had to draw out of this guy’s mouth, but since he had his own job [stolen content]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[Read on Read BL Novels]to do, he didn’t tell me easily. In such cases, some coercive and violent means are inevitably accompanied—and I was quite troubled. I was very troubled then.”

Adding that it was quite difficult, Ilay shook his head.

Jeong Tae-ui placed his other foot on top of the foot that was steadily stepping on his own—of course, his foot underneath became even heavier, but there are times when a human wants to step on the opponent even while enduring their own pain—and narrowed his eyes.

“I won’t believe the lie that you were troubled because you couldn’t bring yourself to do something cruel to a colleague. Well, I guess Christoph just wouldn’t open his mouth?”

“Aha…… I see, you know well.”

Ilay smirked.

Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head vigorously. Then he turned his head and looked at Christoph, who was lying right behind him.

“In the end, I caught someone else and made them spit out the information, but by then, this guy was already in bad shape and had to lie in a hospital for several months.”

“Now I finally understand why Christoph looked so disgusted when I asked if he was your friend…”

As Jeong Tae-ui muttered, Ilay let out a low laugh. Then, with his eyes still narrowed in amusement, he leaned slightly stolen contentstyle="position:relative;display:inline;">[visit our site]toward Jeong Tae-ui. His voice dropped a fraction.

“This fellow, you see, didn’t scream once while I was unilaterally inflicting a fair amount of violence on him while he was unable to resist. No, he didn’t even let out a moan. He didn’t budge an inch, keeping that same boring face.”

As Ilay finished speaking with a subtle smile, Jeong Tae-ui’s expression became equally subtle.

Ilay was not the type to be so soft or lenient that someone could simply suppress their screams. Jeong Tae-ui knew very well how viciously painful Ilay’s touch could be. Even now, the cheek he had been struck earlier was still burning and stinging as if it were on fire.

If that was the case…

“Does he… not feel pain?!”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, frowning.

If so, that would be fatal for someone in this line of work. Not feeling pain was equivalent to not sensing danger.

However, Ilay shook his head. Then, as if having a sudden thought, he nodded. He laughed again after giving two contradictory answers simultaneously.

“Later, when I visited his hospital room with some get-well gifts, he told me indifferently that he endured it because he knew that if he let out even a single word about being in pain, he wouldn’unauthorized copyaria-label="visit our site">visit our site;t be able to stop complaining about it afterward.”

Jeong Tae-ui’s expression went blank. He opened his mouth to say something, frowning slightly, but it took a moment for the words to come out.

“I suppose… one could think that way…”

But he stopped mid-sentence.

It wasn’t a situation one would normally imagine. He was in a position where he had to absorb overwhelming, one-sided pain and damage.

Ilay looked down at Jeong Tae-ui, who had stopped speaking and was simply staring back at him, and then he spoke.

“This fellow doesn’t have pain in his mind. Even if he does, his cognitive structure is broken. He’s the kind of guy who, even if his stomach is churning and he vomits, doesn’t realize his stomach hurts and instead thinks his throat is stinging.”

“…”

Jeong Tae-ui quietly lowered his head. He stared blankly at his interlaced fingers. After staying like that for a while, he muttered like a sigh.

“That’s not exactly a story I want to take lightly.”

He felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Extremely bitter. So bitter that he couldn’t taste anything else.

He squeezed his interlaced hands tightly. He rubbed his exposed knuckles until it hurt. Still, the bitterness refused to fade.

Looking down at Jeong Tae-ui, Ilay narrowed his eyes. He looked pleased.

“Yes, I thought you’d react that way.”

At the sound of that slow voice laced with a faint smile, Jeong Tae-ui glared up at him fiercely.

“Then why bother telling me?”

He was a man with bad tastes to begin with, but he wasn’t the type to enjoy such a story with a smile. No, in the first place, he was the type who wouldn’t show any interest in this kind of story. The happiness or misfortune of others was of no interest to him. And yet, he went out of his way to tell Jeong Tae-ui.

Ilay tilted his head. Then, slowly, he slid his foot, which had been stepping on Jeong Tae-ui’s, across it. The foot brushing against him was warm, yet it felt freezing cold.

“Since your ideal type is a gentle man, I thought I should show that side of me occasionally.”

Jeong Tae-ui looked at him with a bewildered expression, as if he had been hit in the back of the head by a stone thrown from nowhere.

The first thing that left him appalled was the fact that such words had come out of this man’s mouth, but the content of the words was what he challenged first.

“How is that a gentle side! The fact that you tortured someone else? Or what, that you visited the person you tortured yourself?!”

Even though a considerable amount of time had passed since they started living together, there were times when Jeong Tae-ui couldn’t understand this man. Actually, it happened quite often. Sometimes, he felt that the moment he finally understood this man would be the absolute rock bottom of his life.

When Jeong Tae-ui suddenly shouted at the incomprehensible remark, Ilay chuckled. By the time that smile faded from his lips, his ice-black eyes were already looking down at Jeong Tae-ui.

“It means that for a guy with a broken head like that, no matter how many different ways he pleads for me to let you go, I won’t.”

As he finished speaking, Ilay gazed intently at Jeong Tae-ui. Facing that gaze, which was almost eerie, Jeong Tae-ui’s mind went blank for a moment, and he could only blink.

Staring at Ilay in a daze as if caught off guard, Jeong Tae-ui frowned slightly. He tilted his head and looked at him askew before opening his mouth. However, no appropriate words came from his parted lips.

Countless things he wanted to say flashed through stolen contenthis mind, Read on Read BL Novelsbut he couldn’t choose which one to say first.

Whether I go to someone else or not, letting me go or not isn’t a decision for you to make… Should he say that first?

Then would you kindly let someone with a functioning head go? Should he say that first?

More than that, the sheer audacity to develop this conversation based on the implicit premise that your own head isn’t broken… Should he say that first?

Such thoughts mixed haphazardly and raced through his head. Jeong Tae-ui mumbled the beginnings of sentences—Who, then, more than that—before finally bending his body, sighing, and resting his forehead against his interlaced hands, muttering in a tired voice.

“Calling that a gentle side… I really can’t understand you.”

I guess my life hasn’t hit rock bottom yet.

Suddenly, fatigue washed over him, and he wanted to just collapse and lie down on his side.

Physical fatigue and mental exhaustion blended together.

It had been a grueling day. He had absorbed far too many things he didn’t want to know, [Read [Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]things he didn’t want to hear, and things he didn’t want to see.

He wanted to end the day just like this, soak in a hot bathtub, and then crawl into bed without thinking about anything.

Yes, let’s just go back to the room, he thought, and as Jeong Tae-ui lifted his heavy eyelids…

He met the eyes that had been silently and steadily watching him.

He already knew the man was sitting there, but meeting a gaze that had been fixed on him without breaking once made his shoulders flinch involuntarily.

Ilay was slowly tapping the nightstand. With eyes devoid of emotion, he looked down at Jeong Tae-ui in silence, and it was impossible to guess what he was thinking.

“Ila—”

It was just as Jeong Tae-ui opened his mouth.

His foot, which had been moving in slow circles on the top of Tae-ui’s foot, touched the area near the ankle. That foot slowly slid up, stroking his shin and calf. Slowly, leisurely.

“Now… since we’ve roughly covered [stolen [Read on Read BL Novels][unauthorized copy]content]the things that need to be said first, shall we finally get to the real talk?”

The low tone of that opening was somehow extremely ominous.

Jeong Tae-ui frowned sharply. Ah. Come to think of it, he had forgotten.

“Why are you here, hm? Mr. Jeong Tae-ui, who said, ‘I’ll leave for good a month from now before you return.’ Yes, you certainly did leave Berlin, just as you said.”

Even though I came back after making you promise to stay quietly at home, Ilay added, narrowing his eyes.

Damn. He’s been caught. No wonder he’d been stepping on him since a while ago.

Jeong Tae-ui tried to slowly slide his foot out from under him. However, he failed because of Ilay’s oppressive foot pressing down firmly just below his ankle.

“Were you planning to run away?”

Ilay asked. But even as he asked, he didn’t seem to actually think so, as he tapped the top of Jeong Tae-ui’s foot with his toes.

Of course, he had no intention of running away, but since he asked, he felt like agreeing. …But Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novelsthinking about how ugly the aftermath would be, Jeong Tae-ui gave the best answer he could in a blunt tone.

“No… I heard you were here, so I followed you.”

“…”

Lifting his head brazenly and staring straight at Ilay, Jeong Tae-ui said it without a hint of hesitation. His face was a very serious expressionless mask.

Ilay, who remained silent for a moment as if caught off guard, eventually let out a bewildered, hollow laugh.

“You followed me here?”

“Of course.”

“Then I must have misheard my brother’s call from the other day. He told me to help you because you were being tormented by Chris while trying to recover the stolen book.”

Kyle. This time, you aren’t on my side until the end.

He resented Kyle for a moment in his heart, but Jeong Tae-ui hadn’t actually thought that an impromptu unauthorized [unauthorized copy]copylie would work. He just wanted to gloss over it a bit.

But if there had been a call from Kyle, any attempt to gloss over it was completely useless.

“If you knew, why did you ask?”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered sulkily and whipped his foot out from under Ilay’s. Ilay’s foot, which had been pressing down on Jeong Tae-ui’s, lightly hit the floor.

Ilay raised an eyebrow slightly. After a brief, awkward silence, Jeong Tae-ui quietly slid his foot back under his again.

“…Fine. I’ll just assume I misheard my brother. Since you said you followed me—such a cute thing to say—I suppose I should think of it that way.”

“How gentle of you.”

Jeong Tae-ui quickly muttered again with a very serious face and dry lips. It was a phrase that sounded exactly like sarcasm, but Jeong Tae-ui had no intention of being sarcastic. If anything, it was closer to flattery.

Ilay gazed at Jeong Tae-ui. Looking at that face, where a faint smile lingered only on the lips while the eyes remained coldly sunken, Jeong Tae-ui thought he was difficult.

He had a difficult face.

It was hard to tell what he was thinking, and hard to tell how he felt. However, he had never said anything pleasant after making that face. He usually made this face when he was thinking about some difficult problem.

He briefly thought that perhaps the man was feeling flustered or troubled, but he couldn’t imagine a situation where this relentless man would be flustered or troubled.

A difficult problem. What exactly was the problem given to him now?

Jeong Tae-ui had no way of knowing. He could only guess based on what the man was about to say.

“Tae-yi.”

Finally, he spoke. Jeong Tae-ui looked back at him in silence.

“Go back to Berlin.”

That was all he said. There was no further explanation.

…Aha.

Though he didn’t know the reason, he could vaguely tell what Ilay didn’t like.

“But I’m already here?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked, tilting his head as if he didn’t know.

However, as if it were obvious that he was pretending, Ilay narrowed his eyes. He pressed down harder on the top of Tae-ui’s foot. It hurt a little.

“Do you not want to go back?”

His low voice resonated above his head. Surprisingly, the voice sounded more like genuine curiosity than a command to leave, so Jeong Tae-ui looked at him and tilted his head with a hum.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go back. There was no particular reason to stay here in Tarten, nor any reason he wanted to. Both physically and mentally, he was more comfortable in Berlin.

However, he hadn’t found Kyle’s book yet. It was a rare opportunity to help Kyle, and if possible, he wanted to find the book for him.

Moreover.

“…”

Jeong Tae-ui glanced at Christoph, who was asleep behind him. Seeing this, Ilay raised an eyebrow.

“I want to stay here a bit longer… Is there a reason why I shouldn’t be here?”

Because this man looked extremely anxious.

Though there was nothing he could do about it, the man looked so precarious and unstable that he couldn’t turn his head away.

“Are you worried about Christoph?”

Ilay’s voice reached his ear.

Jeong Tae-ui flinched.

Until just a moment ago, they had been sitting with some distance between them, though their knees and [Read on Read BL Novels]feet were touching, but as soon as he turned his head away from Christoph, Ilay had already moved from the nightstand unauthorized copyto right in front of Jeong Tae-ui. Because he had stood up, more of his weight pressed down on Tae-ui’s foot.

“Tae-yi. Stop there. No further.”

The low voice touched his earlobe.

At some point, he felt the weight on his foot disappear. But simultaneously, the man’s entire body leaned over Jeong Tae-ui’s.

“—Hey, wait, stop.”

Ilay pushed Jeong Tae-ui down onto the bed and lay on top of him, putting his full weight on him. Pushed onto the bed in a moment of carelessness, Jeong Tae-ui glanced sideways in bewilderment. Right next to him, less than a few spans away, Christoph was lying.

“Hey, hey, why are you doing this here? Please, have some sense of place.”

Without any context, he suddenly remembered Yohan’s words about how grilled matsutake mushrooms taste good no matter when or where you eat them. Jeong Tae-ui quickly shook his head to clear the thought and whispered, breaking into a cold sweat.

“My room is right next to this one. Hey, hey.”

“I left him alone because it’s Chris.”

However, Ilay continued speaking as if he couldn’t hear Jeong Tae-ui.

After slowly licking from his earlobe to his cheek, he suddenly grabbed the front of Jeong Tae-ui’s trousers without warning.

Jeong Tae-ui gasped.

Although he grabbed him through the clothes, that large hand gripped Jeong Tae-ui’s member precisely and pressed down firmly.

Looking down at Jeong Tae-ui from a distance where their noses almost touched, Ilay spoke coldly, in contrast to the touch that was moving slowly and beginning to heat up below.

“Since I know the face you like isn’t a face that looks as sharply sculpted as that one, I didn’t say anything even when you stayed by his side and took his part.”

Yes, and since that guy happens to have severe haphephobia, Ilay continued, before sucking on Jeong Tae-ui’s lips. A sensation so intense it was almost painful swept across his lower lip, but the problem was below.

The grip that had begun to roughly squeeze and shake him through the clothes was painful. But the problem wasn’t just the pain. Even if he tried to push him away, there was no way this man, who seemed to have made up his mind, would be pushed. Meanwhile, breaths felt like they were about to burst from his mouth.

He was in trouble.

Jeong Tae-ui glanced to the side again. Someone covered in chloroform wouldn’t wake up that quickly, but the reality that another person was lying right next to them didn’t change.

“So, stop there. Don’t try to go any deeper.”

Ilay said lowly. Then he sucked on his lips hard again. As if competing with the stimulation below to see which was stronger.

While gripping and roughly kneading Jeong Tae-ui’s genitals through his trousers, Ilay looked down at Jeong Tae-ui’s expression from directly above.

Feeling that piercing gaze, Jeong Tae-ui frowned and turned his head away.

This man’s bad habit had come out again.

He couldn’t remember when that habit started, but whenever Jeong Tae-ui became aroused by stimulation, Ilay would stare intently at his expression until he didn’t know what to do with himself. Sometimes, he would provide stimulation until just before the climax and then grip him to block the ejaculation.

While Jeong Tae-ui trembled and struggled, blocked just before the end, Ilay would narrow his eyes and watch him for a long time, as if he greatly enjoyed that face. That look was probably the most cruel gaze in the world.

Right now, it was only stimulation through clothes, and his mind [unauthorized copystyle="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]was scattered due to the surrounding situation, so it hadn’t reached the point where Jeong Tae-ui would suffer from the memory for a long time, but it was still uncomfortable to have his aroused face stared at so intently.

“Stop looking…”

“What’s wrong with me looking at my own?”

When Jeong Tae-ui turned his head and raised his arm to cover his face, Ilay brushed the arm away. Then he bit the cheek beneath it.

“Ilay, please, just, …—”

“Go back, to Berlin.”

As Jeong Tae-ui tried to lower his arm again, Ilay whispered, pressing his mouth close to his ear.

At that moment, Jeong Tae-ui shut his mouth and looked at Ilay.

Looking at Jeong Tae-ui’s flushed face with satisfaction, yet while maintaining a sliver of coldness, Ilay was staring at him.

Suddenly, a question, resembling a sense of incongruity he had BEGIN: stolen content -->stolen contentfelt briefly in the past, flashed through his mind.

Unlike usual, Ilay had specifically told him to stay home before leaving. Then came the follow-up messages to double-check. The shock of running into him here was followed by the memory of that cold expression.

…. If I were to jump to the easiest conclusion based on that alone, it would be that this bastard has a second family in this neighborhood…. Damn it. I want to think about this properly, but that hand keeps distracting me….

Glaring resentfully at the white hand that obsessively scanned him from below and massaged his gradually erecting penis, Jeong Tae-ui tried his best to rack his brain, even as he flinched and curled his legs. He tossed aside the ridiculous thought of a second family.

…But as expected, it is far too difficult to organize one’s thoughts amidst physical torment….

“Is the problem that this isn’t Berlin, or is the problem that it’s Dresden?”

That was the question Jeong Tae-ui managed to squeeze out between his ragged breaths.

Then, suddenly.

The hand massaging Jeong Tae-ui’s groin paused for a moment.

The face that had been pressed close, sucking on his lips or licking his [Read on Read BL Novels]aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copy[visit our site]n>cheeks, pulled back slightly. He looked down at Jeong Tae-ui from about a hand’s span away.

Facing that expressionless face, Jeong Tae-ui could only blink in the short, sudden void.

…Uh…?!

A flicker of a question crossed his mind.

“Having good intuition isn’t always a blessing….”

He heard Ilay’s voice whispering low, almost to himself. At the same time.

“…Ah!”

The hand gripping him below suddenly tightened. His fingers accurately pinpointed and rubbed the underside of the shaft, the spot Jeong Tae-ui found most sensitive. The friction against the fabric of the clothes made the sensation increasingly acute.

“Wait, Il, Ilay….”

Unable to keep up with the sensation of friction [visit our site]aria-label="stolen content">stolen contentstyle="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">Read on Read BL Novelsthat was almost painful, Jeong Tae-ui stopped speaking.

His lower half was already as swollen as it could be. He was gripped firmly within a generous hand over his trousers, and the tip began to dampen.

He didn’t even have time to think that the feeling of his underwear becoming damp was unpleasant.

Just as Ilay, biting his lip with an irritating intensity, sucked in Jeong Tae-ui’s tongue to taste it in his own mouth, Jeong Tae-ui reached his climax.

“…! …!!”

While holding Jeong Tae-ui tightly in his arms as his body shuddered intermittently once, then twice, Ilay whispered something to him.

The voice was far too quiet.

In that moment of climax, with his mind momentarily drifting, it was too low to understand.

—But, yes, now that we’ve run into each other like this, I’ve found myself reluctant to let you go back. Even if it’s only for another month.

With vacant eyes, Jeong Tae-ui stared at the lips fluttering before [Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">stolen content]him. It felt like he had said something important, something he needed to hear, but he hadn’t caught it.

Lost in the characteristic lethargy that follows ejaculation, Jeong Tae-ui—perhaps because his soul had completely left his body—unwittingly mumbled these words.

“Aren’t you going to do it?”

He only regained his senses after the words had left his mouth.

He gasped. His heart turned cold in an instant.

Wait, wait, I’m in someone else’s bed—and the owner of that bed is lying right next to me—as if doing something I shouldn’t have wasn’t enough, what kind of reckless thing did I just say?

No, that’s not it, first of all, this place is a bit awkward, and what I meant was just—as Jeong Tae-ui flusteredly scrambled for words, Ilay suddenly sat up from on top of him. As if sensing something, he walked to the window and looked outside; Jeong Tae-ui watched him with an awkward expression.

What on earth is he doing…, Jeong Tae-ui wondered suspiciously, and soon he heard the sound of a car pulling up outside. The light of the headlights flickered across the window.

He wondered who would be coming at this hour, then realized. Come to think of it, it was about time for Richard, who had gone to the hospital, to return.

Ilay stood by the window, looking outside in silence. The way he tapped [stolen content]the glass with the stolen contenttip of his index finger made it seem as though there would be no answer even if he were spoken to.

The sound of the car faded, and Ilay’s gaze followed it until the vehicle completely disappeared from sight. Those eyes, which had been coldly assessing something, lingered outside for a moment after the car vanished, and only after complete silence returned did he turn away from the window.

Jeong Tae-ui sat up in bed and looked at Ilay.

Something felt subtly off. An unsettling feeling remained in a corner of his mind, gnawing away.

He tilted his head and thought about it for a while, but in the end, he couldn’t even figure out what it was, so he let out a sigh. Then he looked at Ilay again.

“…….”

Come to think of it, they had been tossing and turning on the bed until just a moment ago.

Somehow, when the sequence that always naturally followed was skipped, he felt anxious. It felt as if his daily routine had been suddenly flipped over and he had fallen into an unknown place. That man isn’t that kind of person—as that thought occurred, his agony deepened into something closer to suspicion.

He reached the conclusion that it would be better to just get it over with and end it cleanly.

“……. …….”

To be honest, he didn’t want to say it. For the sake of his own safety and a vibrant tomorrow, he really didn’t want to say it.

But it felt like unfair play to satisfy his own desires alone, and since he had just brought it up—even if it was a reckless remark made in the heat of the moment—it seemed a bit cowardly to just let it slide now.

“……. Aren’t you going to do it? ……If you do, just not in this room.”

After speaking, he added a condition just in case.

Right, he had already prepared himself to die once. In his current state of mind, he felt he could do it anywhere, as long as it wasn’t in this room, on this bed, next to the sleeping owner of the room.

Actually, he felt like he was going to die of exhaustion.

He had been pushed to the limit both physically and mentally all day, and his whole body felt like water-soaked cotton.

He felt that if he just collapsed and fell asleep right now, he would be infinitely happy.

Still, he pushed those trivial regrets aside.

Ilay stood by the window and looked at Jeong Tae-ui in silence. He seemed lost in thought, but his gaze did not leave Jeong Tae-ui.

Suddenly, his gaze seemed to linger around Jeong Tae-ui’s cheek. As if something were stuck there or a bug had landed on it, Ilay stared intently at his cheek, and for a moment, his gaze turned cold. Then, the sound of a click of the tongue followed. He frowned slightly in disapproval.

But that was only for a moment; returning to his usual expression, he stepped away from the window. Then he walked straight toward the door.

Uh…?

Jeong Tae-ui stared at him blankly, caught off guard. Ilay glanced at Jeong Tae-ui while grabbing the doorknob.

“If you’re staying in Berlin for a while, it’s fine if we don’t do it right now. You have a face that looks like you’d fall fast asleep if I just laid you properly in bed and stripped your clothes; I’m not so desperate that I’d perform night duties with someone sleeping like a corpse.”

You liar, you once insisted on satisfying your desires while I was half-asleep from exhaustion after repairing the roof; I remember it vividly because I almost died the next day from the muscle pain of the roof repair, the words surged up to his throat, but Jeong Tae-ui kept his mouth shut.

It was unbelievable, but could this be….

While Jeong Tae-ui stared at him with a face full stolen contentof doubt, Ilay Read on Read BL Novelslooked at him just before opening the door. Then, with a face devoid of any hint of a smile, he spoke with absolute sincerity.

“Let me tell you, if you stick your neck into a dangerous place one more time, I’ll make you think that dying by my hand would have been better.”

“……. Yeah. I won’t.”

He had no intention of risking his life for someone else’s business, but instead of arguing, Jeong Tae-ui chose to simply nod obediently.

However, perhaps because it was such an uncharacteristic thing for that man to say, he continued to stare at him with a lingering sense of doubt.

Having finished speaking, Ilay opened the door and stepped outside.

“Just go to sleep. ……Not there, but go back to your room.”

Leaving only those indifferent words, he closed the door.

“……. Uh……?”

Jeong Tae-ui sat alone in the suddenly [visit our site]quiet room—not counting the unconscious person as a head—and stared at the closed door.

How should he put it, it felt like he had fallen into a new world….

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head. He tilted it the other way. No matter how many times he tilted his head, he couldn’t quite comprehend this reality.

Did he suddenly have a change of heart? Or had he been replaced by another person, or perhaps he thought it was better to refrain from overly libertine acts since it was someone else’s house… no, that’s probably not it.

No matter how many hypotheses he formed, he couldn’t understand why Ilay had retreated so quietly without any particular violence. He had been prepared to die, or at least be half-dead.

“Strange. ……I guess I must have looked a bit pitiful.”

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head and scratched his cheek vigorously. Then he stopped with an “Ouch…”.

His cheek was swollen on the outside, and the inside of his mouth was torn. It stung so much he wondered if the bone had cracked, so he hadn’t dared to touch it.

He had forgotten for a moment in the confusion.

Come to think of it, he had intended to grumble a bit, but he forgot.

Earlier outside, that ignorant brute had hit him so hard with that monstrous strength that the inside of his mouth tore and one side of his face swelled up. By tomorrow, he’d probably be a sight too gruesome to look at. ……Christoph, who took several hits, would be even worse.

For a moment, Jeong Tae-ui looked down at Christoph with a feeling of regret that such a sculpted face had been ruined, even more so than his own.

But in truth, he didn’t really intend to complain; considering the situation at the time, it was a miracle that with that personality, Ilay hadn’t just thrown a punch and said, ‘If you want to die that badly, just die by my hand.’

“…….”

Jeong Tae-ui looked up at the ceiling while sitting on the bed. The heavy-colored ceiling with dark wallpaper was far above him.

—Just go to sleep. Not there, but go back to your room.

Suddenly, the last voice he heard came to mind.

Jeong Tae-ui sat blankly for a while, then scratched the back of his neck.

—You have a face that looks like you’d fall fast asleep if I just laid you properly in bed and stripped your clothes; I’m not so desperate that I’d visit [unauthorized copy]our sitearia-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyperform night duties with someone sleeping like a corpse.

He also remembered that voice, which seemed to have a hint of something close to a sneer.

This time, Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head.

“He seems easy to understand, yet he’s completely impossible to figure out….”

He unconsciously spoke to himself. He let out a sigh.

But the mouth that exhaled the sigh was curling into a smirk. He chuckled softly, air leaking out, and eventually let out a low laugh.

Then he winced and clutched his cheek with an “Ouch, ouch, ouch,” but after that, he started chuckling again.

[Continued in Volume 2]