2.4 At the Bar

The place was in a subtle location, on the boundary between the residential and commercial districts.

It was an alleyway without traffic lights, just wide enough for two cars to pass each other.

Shops and houses faced each other across that road.

Since it was already midnight, the street was deserted, and almost all the shops lined up were closed. Faint lights leaked out from between the stores that had their security shutters drawn.

Among those shops, there was a building that blended in so quietly and naturally that it was hard to notice at a glance.

A building with a simple exterior that looked somewhat secluded.

The entrance was located in a corner on the side of the first floor.

Following Christoph, who descended the stairs through that entrance without a moment’s hesitation, Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue.

He had followed along for now, swept up by the man’s relentless momentum, but he had no idea what this man was thinking, diving single-handedly into enemy territory.

If he hadn’t misheard earlier, he had clearly said it was Richard’s shop.

If so, those stationed inside the shop were generally people under Richard—at the very least, not people who would be allies.

“…Are you okay?”

When Jeong Tae-ui spoke, Christoph, who was walking ahead, looked back. His eyes asked, What? Seeing that serene gaze, Jeong Tae-ui simply shrugged.

Christoph Tarten.

He had heard countless stories about him—the protagonist of the European version of the killing fields, a madman of unparalleled danger. But it was only a moment ago that he had witnessed that majesty with his own eyes.

The overwhelming ability to tear apart three or four people in an instant without a care, to trample them while remaining completely unscathed even as he was covered in the opponent’s blood.

Having already witnessed another monster and even lived with that monster, he was somewhat accustomed to such shocks, yet his heart grew cold.

Still, the fact that he was breaking into enemy territory alone—Jeong Tae-ui knew he could protect himself, but he wouldn’t be a significant asset to Christoph—made his heart heavy.

He thought about calling the police to cause a scene inside the shop if necessary, but he also knew that in cases like this, the police were of no help whatsoever.

Jeong Tae-ui racked his brain for a long time, but without knowing the [stolen [visit our site]Read on Read BL Novelscontent]full situation, no matter how he simulated it, no clever solution came to mind, and he ended up clicking his tongue in frustration.

I don’t know. It’ll work out somehow.

The moment he thought that, Christoph, who was four steps ahead, pushed open the wooden door without hesitation.

Gazes poured in all at once.

Following immediately behind Christoph, Jeong Tae-ui clearly felt the stinging glares directed at them.

The gazes were primarily focused on Christoph; they scanned him first before darting toward his companion, Jeong Tae-ui.

“…Wow… the place looks nice.”

That was all Jeong Tae-ui could say.

The looks of horror at seeing Christoph appear drenched in blood were now being directed at Jeong Tae-ui as well, categorizing him as the same breed of person. Those glares were truly piercing.

It’s Christoph, it’s Christoph Tarten, he could hear whispered voices here and there.

Following those voices—a mixture of surprise, clear hostility, visit our siteanxiety, stolen contentand fear—Jeong Tae-ui looked around the shop.

It didn’t look much different from any other bar.

Inside, there was a separate counter area on a slightly raised platform, with tables arranged around it. The size was decent.

“Everything is great, but I’m not fond of the membership. Whether it’s the customers or the staff…”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, frowning slightly.

He had expected it to some extent, but among the people sitting inside, there were quite a few familiar faces. Most of them were people under Richard whom he had seen in the west wing.

Although he only recognized three or four, it was safer to assume the rest were similar. Judging by the way they looked at Christoph, it was certain they weren’t on their side.

Just as Jeong Tae-ui was fervently praying inside that he could finish the day without incident and took a long, deep breath—

“Christoph!”

A clear voice calling Christoph’s name echoed from the back.

The man who walked toward them from the counter area was wearing a semi-formal [stolen content]suit—neither too stiff nor too casual. Based on his attire and familiar d[stolen content]emeanor, he was someone who worked here. Likely someone with a fair amount of authority.

Christoph, who had been walking forward, turned his gaze toward the person calling his name. The moment he identified the man, his eyes widened slightly, and he stopped in his tracks.

“Erich!”

They seemed to know each other.

The man called Erich walked forward with his arms open, laughing cheerfully.

“My, how long has it been? Let’s see… it’s been since we saw each other in Serbia, right? Good to see you, good to see you. …Wait, what’s with the blood? You’re covered in it! Are you hurt somewhere?”

The man approached Christoph closely and, instead of offering a handshake, tried to pat his shoulder. When Christoph glared fiercely at his hand, he muttered, “Ah, right, I forgot,” and smiled brightly. Only then did he look genuinely shocked, realizing Christoph was covered in blood.

However, seeing the expression that lacked even a hint of worry, Jeong Tae-ui realized that the question about whether he was hurt was merely a formality.

If so, there was a high probability that this man already knew what kind of person Christoph was.

“Why are you here?”

Christoph asked the man with a frown. The man raised an eyebrow with a ̶stolen [visit our site]content0;Hmm?” and laughed out loud.

“Isn’t my life one of constant wandering? It wouldn’t be strange for me to be anywhere.”

“When did you get here?”

“Here? Ah, I came to Germany eight months ago and arrived in Dresden two months ago. I’ve been here for two months.”

The man said, shrugging his shoulders.

Christoph started to say something but closed his mouth again. A look of displeasure was clearly visible on his face.

“Did you attach yourself to Richard too?”

Christoph’s voice turned cold instantly. At that, the man’s eyes widened in surprise, and he feigned a grimace.

“What are you talking about? I was simply hired by Richard. He said people had suddenly left his ranks and he had no one suitable to look after the shop for a while, so he asked me to take over until he found someone. As you know, I owe Richard a debt for the help he gave me. I have a sense of propriety; how could I refuse?”

“Right, so you’re saying you attached yourself to Richard because of that debt.”

“Now, now, Christoph. You have to listen to the whole story. I am Richard’s friend, but I am also your friend. Isn’t that right? If I weren’t your friend, why visit [visit our site]our sitewould I have risked my life [Read on Read BL Novels]to save you in Serbia? My knee, which I injured then, still aches on rainy days, but I have never once resented you or regretted what happened.”

“…”

Christoph looked at the man in silence. His expression was incredibly bleak. He looked as if things had gone unexpectedly wrong.

“…So, Erich, are you going to use that incident as an excuse to get in my way?”

When Christoph spoke coldly, the man’s eyes widened in shock. He threw up both hands and exclaimed exaggeratedly.

“My goodness, me, getting in your way? No way! If it’s for my friend, I’d rather help with all my heart than ever hinder you! After all, aren’t we friends!”

In front of the man appealing to such close friendship, Christoph’s expression sank further. The line of his mouth was fierce.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at this dizzyingly cheerful man and then glanced at Christoph. Christoph looked as if he had the worst luck in the world.

From what he could gather, this man, who seemed acquainted with both Richard and Christoph, had once saved Christoph’s life at the cost of a severe knee injury. At the same time, for some unknown reason, he seemed to owe Richard a debt.

Christoph stared coldly at this cheerful man who had welcomed him with such delight. Then, clicking his tongue, he lifted his head slightly and spoke frostily.

“Bring Richard here. I have business with him.”

“Richard? …May I ask what it’s about?”

This energetic man, Erich, tilted his head in surprise at the mention of Richard’s name and asked cautiously. Christoph’s face twisted.

“That’s none of your business, Erich. I came here to settle things with him, and I know he’s here. If he hides and doesn’t come out, I’ll just smash this damn shop to pieces. If you don’t want to see the shop destroyed, bring Richard to me immediately.”

“What did you say?! This bastard breaks into someone else’s shop and…!!”

Those words were shouted by a man standing a few paces away.

The man, whom Tae-ui had crossed paths with a few times in the west wing, had been observing them with hostile eyes since they entered the shop, and now, hearing Christoph’s words, he stepped forward in a rage.

Christoph glanced over. The man brushed off those trying to restrain him and strode toward them.

“This is no place for you, you lunatic! I can’t stand seeing you at the house, and now you dare barge in here?! And what? You’ll smash the shop if Richard doesn’t come out?! Fine, go ahead and try! Take me down first, then try it if you can!”

Christoph looked indifferently at the man who was clenching his fists and shaking them in his face. He saw Christoph slightly clench his own fist.

So he’s the first target, Jeong Tae-ui thought, just as he shifted his gaze.

“Now, what’s wrong with this fellow! My friend has come, and if you act so hostile, what happens to my reputation, eh! Get back this instant!!”

The person who shouted that while slapping the man’s back was Erich, who had been chatting away incessantly with a beaming smile in front of Christoph.

As the man started to grumble, Erich quickly pushed him away, shouting, “Don’t talk back to the manager and get over there quickly! He’s my friend, my friend!” Before turning back to Christoph with a bright grin.

“My apologies for this, I hope you can understand. You know that most of the guys working here follow Richard quite closely, right? Hmm? Now, for my sake, please let it slide. Ah, that’s right, come this way, this way. A very, very rare liquor just arrived today! I thought I was incredibly lucky, but it must have been because you were coming. Come, hurry and sit here. —Ah, and the friend who came with Christoph? You come over here too, come along.”

Before anyone knew it, Erich had led Christoph to an empty seat inside the counter area.

Following a few steps behind them, Jeong Tae-ui couldn’t help but be impressed.

That resourceful man, whoever he was, was leading Christoph to the counter quite skillfully without even touching him. He seemed to be well aware of Christoph’s habit of reflexively avoiding hands that came too close to his body.

Somehow, he’s quite amazing, Tae-ui thought in admiration as he followed. By the time he arrived, Christoph was already sitting in the chair Erich had provided.

Rather than being caught off guard, it seemed Christoph had half-consented to the man’s will; although he wore a dissatisfied expression, he didn’t particularly get angry.

“Now, now, the liquor that came in today is—”

“I don’t need it. Bring Richard. I need to see him immediately.”

Christoph spoke coldly, flipping over the glass Erich offered and pouring the contents onto the floor at his feet. Erich clicked his tongue in regret. Muttering, “Oh dear, such a fine liquor,” he shook his head. Without answering Christoph, he looked at Jeong Tae-ui sitting next to him and gave a friendly smile, generously suggesting, “What would your friend like to drink? I’ll buy, so don’t worry and just order.”

“Then please give me that rare and fine liquor. I’ll drink Christoph’s share too. It seems I’m the one who’s incredibly lucky today.”

As Jeong Tae-ui murmured, Erich paused for a moment and then burst into laughter. He slapped Tae-ui’s shoulder hard.

“What an interesting fellow, a truly interesting fellow! Yes, I’ll give it to you. Now, this liquor is—”

“Erich.”

Interrupting Erich, Christoph spoke frostily. In that low, ice-cold voice was the determination that if the man interrupted someone one more time, he would flip the place over.

Whether Erich felt the same intent that Tae-ui had sensed so keenly, his expression suddenly dimmed, and he let out an exaggerated sigh as if the ground were collapsing beneath him. Strangely enough, if anyone else did that, it would look ridiculous, but this man looked truly disheartened and powerless, making one feel sympathetic.

I think I understand this man’s talent… Tae-ui thought, silently fiddling with his glass, while Erich sat before Christoph with a heavy face.

“Christoph. Couldn’t you give me a break just this once? unauthorized copyRichard is definitely inside the shop right now. But he’s currently meeting [Read [unauthorized copy]on Read BL Novels]a very important guest. I simply cannot ask him to come out right now.”

“I don’t care. I’ll leave as soon as I finish my business.”

“Listen, Chris. Please understand. You know I owe Richard a lot. He trusted me with the shop, and if something unfortunate happens while I’m in charge, how could I possibly face him? I’m begging you, just let it slide once. I’m not saying I won’t bring him. I’ll let him know the moment that important guest leaves. Hmm? Just wait a little, just a little.”

“I told you I don’t care—”

“Oh, oh my… my, suddenly my knees… Because of these knees, I haven’t been able to work properly anywhere… That’s why I’m so grateful to Richard for entrusting me with the shop… Ah, but of course, I consider it a true blessing that I could save you by sacrificing one of my knees!”

“…”

It looked as if blue flames were erupting from Christoph’s eyes. The fist he was clenching on the table trembled slightly.

After staying like that for a few seconds, Christoph finally let out a bitter sigh and relaxed his fist. Then, showing his displeasure openly, he asked.

“When is this ‘important guest’ leaving?”

“Hmm? Ah, as for that… they haven’t been here long, so I think it might take a while… Just wait, I’ll sneak over to Richard and tell him as soon as there’s a gap, even if the guest hasn’t left yet. He’ll probably come running the moment he hears you’re here.”

Hearing that, it sounded like they had a very friendly relationship, but remembering the relationship between the two—where it wouldn’t be strange [stolen content]at all for Christoph [unauthorized copy]to stolen contentland a cross-counter the moment Richard came running—Jeong Tae-ui quietly sipped his drink.

Christoph glared at Erich with a look of disgust—judging by his reaction, this wasn’t the first time he’d been lured in like this—and let out a harsh sigh.

“One hour. I won’t wait longer than that, so handle it.”

“One hour? That fast?! Ah, no, no, of course, there will be a gap by then.”

Erich, who had shrieked with a cracking voice, quickly changed his tune and beamed when he saw Christoph’s face, looking as if his thread of patience was about to snap.

Thinking that he now understood why Richard had hired this man as the manager, Jeong Tae-ui looked around the shop once more with his glass in hand. However, no matter how much he looked, he saw no one who looked like Richard.

…Ah. If he’s with an important guest, he must be in one of the separate rooms. Is that corridor over there the way…?

Jeong Tae-ui thought as he looked at another corridor, almost hidden by a large potted plant, right next to the small hallway marked for the restroom.

But…

“What is it?”

Christoph, who had been drinking water he’d [visit [Read on Read BL Novels][visit our site]our site]asked for, asked when he noticed Tae-ui looking around. Tae-ui shrugged and said, “Nothing.”

“I just thought the layout was a bit strange. I assume there are rooms if you go down that corridor? Somehow, the atmosphere of the shop is a bit subtle…”

Tae-ui trailed off.

The atmosphere of the shop was subtly… dangerous.

The people working there, the layout that seemed to have several emergency exits, and the surveillance cameras hidden in every unseen corner of the ceiling and walls.

Furthermore, the shop was much smaller than he had expected when entering the building. The bar itself wasn’t small, but considering the scale of the building, it was far smaller than average. In other words, it meant there were quite a few rooms in the unseen areas.

It felt a bit off to view these simply as facilities to make a liquor business involving some illegalities safer.

As Jeong Tae-ui murmured this, Erich, who was mixing a cocktail across the table, slightly raised an eyebrow. He glanced at Tae-ui and then lowered his gaze again without a word.

Beside him, Christoph spoke nonchalantly.

“That’s because it’s a dangerous shop.”

“A dangerous shop…”

“Richard owns and manages it, but in a broader sense, it belongs to Tarten. It’s a place that customers who use Tarten often visit. Well… naturally, there have to be several rooms that are practically sealed.”

Only after hearing Christoph speak so casually did Jeong Tae-ui remember Tarten’s family business.

Information brokerage. A private intelligence agency.

“Aha… I see.”

Jeong Tae-ui nodded. If that were the case, the strange layout of the shop was understandable.

Christoph added to the nodding Tae-ui.

“It was originally a club that dealt with drugs on a large scale in secret, which was then bought and renovated, so the structure is a bit odd.”

“Ah… …Is it okay to tell me things like that?”

Jeong Tae-ui stopped nodding and looked at Christoph suspiciously.

Somehow, based on the content of the story, it didn’t visit unauthorized copyour siteRead on Read BL NovelsEND: visit our site -->seem like something that should be told so freely to an outsider.

At that, Christoph nodded.

“Because Richard is the one who would be in trouble if some accident happened and the shop suffered. If you want to spread rumors, feel free.”

“…Uh.”

Even if he were to spread rumors, the only people he could tell would be Ilay, Kyle, or perhaps his uncle or brother. But somehow, it felt like they already knew. It wasn’t particularly strange that there was one unusual shop.

There was something else bothering him more right now.

“I thought only the west wing of Tarten was ominous, but the atmosphere here is also quite…”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured, emptying his glass.

He waved off Erich, who was tilting the bottle to give him more, and asked for a beer instead. The liquor seemed to have a good scent and feel, but beer suited his taste better. Judging by the look of things, it seemed he could get as much as he wanted for free, which was great.

The problem was that it came with an atmosphere that could significantly ruin the taste of that beer…

“Somehow, the atmosphere is incredibly hostile.”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured, shrugging his shoulders. Christoph nodded slightly, but he didn’t seem to care much.

Then again, why would a man who had been covered in blood until he roughly wiped his face and hands with the towel Erich provided care about such things?

But Jeong Tae-ui cared.

It had been like that from the start, but now, perhaps because of his mood, the countless gazes glaring at them seemed to have become even more vicious.

He had received plenty of menacing looks while spending time in the west wing, but since he was in Richard’s shop, it felt even more special. It was an atmosphere where they might just gang up and beat him if things went south.

“Even if it’s Richard’s shop, isn’t the atmosphere here too bad?”

As Jeong Tae-ui grumbled, Christoph moistened his lips with the water glass and spoke indifferently.

“Contact should have come in by now.”

“What contact?”

“News about the six guys—probably friends of those bastards—whom I left unauthorized copystyle="opacity:0;font-size:0;">Read on Read BL Novelslying in Masa.”

“…”

Aha. I see.

Jeong Tae-ui finally understood. He nodded and glanced at Christoph. Completely indifferent to whether the gazes were hostile or not, he was still covered in blood, except for his face and hands. Since the indoor lighting was dim, a stranger might just think he was wearing black clothes, but in a bright place, he would look truly terrifying.

Of course. It’s only natural to be angry.

It’s bad enough that a sworn enemy suddenly appears, threatens to flip the shop, and screams for the owner, but to find out that the blood he’s covered in is actually the blood of their own friends.

…Those guys have quite the temperament. They’d probably feel it’s not enough to just grab a mop and beat him with it.

“Hmm, this is troublesome…”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured with a long sigh. Beside him, Christoph asked, “What is?”

“I’ve wanted to go to the restroom for a while, but I feel like I might suffer some misfortune while I’m gone…”

Jeong Tae-ui looked around the shop again with a pitiful [unauthorized copyunauthorized copystyle="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]expression. unauthorized copyThe path leading to the restroom in the corner looked strangely dark. It seemed the road would be treacherous.

“It’s an atmosphere where I’m likely to be dragged away and beaten with a straw mat on the way there or back…”

“…Want me to go with you?”

Christoph looked at the heavily murmuring Tae-ui with a bewildered expression and then spoke as if granting a great favor. However, Jeong Tae-ui shook his head and waved his hand.

“No, it’s better if one person stays behind to notify the police immediately if the other doesn’t return. What if we both get beaten with straw mats at the same time?”

“If you put it that way, doesn’t it occur to you that the moment the two of us separate, dangerous hands will reach out to each of us?”

At Christoph’s words, Jeong Tae-ui nodded, thinking, Ah, that’s true. He looked up at the dim ceiling lights for a moment and reached his own conclusion.

“In short, it means it’s dangerous either way.”

Christoph didn’t answer. He didn’t think it was dangerous at all, but it seemed he felt that, based on the context of the conversation, the conclusion was the same regardless.

Jeong Tae-ui stood up readily.

“I’ll be back from the restroom. Please pray for my safe return.”

Lamenting the atmosphere that forced him to say such solemn words just to go to the bathroom, Jeong Tae-ui turned away.

This is no joke.

Jeong Tae-ui felt that from the moment he rose from his chair.

As soon as he stepped away from the counter to head toward the restroom, stinging gazes poured over his entire body all at once.

Feeling the gazes piercing him like arrows from both the front and back, Jeong Tae-ui walked toward the sign marked ‘Restroom’.

He turned the corner following the restroom sign—which actually had its own light!—that flickered faintly under the dim lighting. The path turned again about ten meters ahead, and at the end, there was another restroom sign.

Rather than the restroom being located deep inside, it was simply a shop with a very strange layout.

Reaching the end of that path, Jeong Tae-ui glanced around.

There wasn’t just one path leading to the restroom.

One was the path he had just walked, connected to the shop hall. Another unauthorized copystyle="position:relative;display:inline;">[stolen content]was a wide, [unauthorized copy]deserted path on the opposite side, where it was unclear what lay beyond. And further inside, there was yet another path.

“The layout is strange, and it’s a perfect place to get lost.”

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head, murmuring, “I could probably report this for building code violations…”

Stopping on his way to the restroom, Jeong Tae-ui took a peek down the opposite path. He was simply curious about what was there.

From the point a few meters inside the path connected to the hall, the interior decoration of the opposite path changed.

A thick, soft carpet was laid across the floor to the end of the corridor. The lighting cast a soft yet moderately bright glow, and the doors arranged in a zigzag on both sides of the corridor were made of heavy oak.

“My goodness, I guess they make the poor customers sit in uncomfortable seats in the hall and serve them cheap liquor, while only the wealthy customers are brought to these luxurious rooms to drink expensive liquor like water, oh my, oh my.”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured in a tone he had picked up from a cunning, fox-like girl he had occasionally played with among the children Christoph was teaching, as he peered down the corridor.

Among those many doors, some likely had people inside, but it was impossible to tell from the outside. It was just a corridor that looked unusual at a glance.

Jeong Tae-ui shrugged and turned back.

It had nothing to do with him anyway. He had no reason to enter those rooms, and even if he did, unauthorized [Read on Read BL Novels]copyhe didn’t have the confidence to afford the liquor prices.

As he turned back from the corridor and headed toward the restroom again, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly froze.

“…Uh.”

A short sound escaped his lips unconsciously.

The corridor extending inward from the restroom.

A fair distance inside, a man was opening a door and entering a room. It was the room at the very end of the corridor.

By the time Jeong Tae-ui had turned back from the other corridor, the man had already stepped into the room, and by the time he looked again, only the man’s shoulder and back had brushed past his vision as he entered.

Soon, the sound of the heavy door closing echoed very faintly.

“…Huh…?”

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head.

That man from a moment ago felt strangely familiar. [Read on Read BL Novels]wm: Read on Read BL Novels -->No, he hadn’t seen his face, but the faint profile, the shoulders, the back, and the way he walked were all incredibly familiar.

Among the people Jeong Tae-ui knew, someone with that build…

“… … …No way, surely not…”

After staring into space in thought for a moment, Jeong Tae-ui soon laughed and waved his hand. There was no reason for that man to be in a place like this. That man should be lounging comfortably in a guest room for VIPs in the east wing of Tarten right now.

Jeong Tae-ui shook his head and entered the restroom.

The spacious restroom was empty.

If it were a shop of this scale, Jeong Tae-ui thought that even considering timing, it would be rare for the restroom to be this empty. Then, he nodded to himself, realizing why.

Given the size, there might be one or two more restrooms. Moreover, there were likely private ones attached to each room, so it made sense that there were no people here.

Nodding, Jeong Tae-ui approached the toilet.

“I really can’t predict the future…”

Muttering with a sigh, he slowly began to relieve himself. In truth, he had wanted to go to the bathroom Read on Read BL Novels[stolen content]since he was in the study with Christoph. He had held it for quite a while.

“Just this morning, I thought I’d be spending a peaceful night. How was I to know I’d end up in some bar after leaving Tarten?”

Thinking that, he continued to mutter to himself that who knows if he might be able to hug his books and return to Berlin to live peacefully tomorrow; one must always live with hope.

It was just as he finished his business and was adjusting the front of his trousers.

Suddenly, there was a clatter from behind as the restroom door opened.

Two men entered. One of them closed the door and stood in front of it.

As he zipped up his pants, Jeong Tae-ui muttered.

“When two men enter a restroom together and even close the door, nine times out of ten they’re either gay or—”

Before he could finish his sentence.

The man who approached him immediately swung a fist at Jeong Tae-ui’s head. —No, to be precise, he swung, but Jeong Tae-ui quickly snapped his head to the side, narrowly avoiding it.

“Right, this is it. A group with Read on Read BL Novelsill instolen contenttentions. But to suddenly do this without warning…”

Jeong Tae-ui quickly backed away from the man and moved toward the mirror.

When his punch missed, the man turned back with an even fiercer scowl.

“You, you’re the one who came with Christoph.”

Right, that was the only possible reason to earn a grudge here.

“That is true, but…”

“You bastard, that means you’re in league with him too! Why are you playing dumb?!”

Approaching Jeong Tae-ui again, the man shouted menacingly and swung his fist. Avoiding the punch easily once more, Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue.

“Doesn’t that mean you’re the one who helped him beat my brother into a pulp?!”

The man roared like a beast and chased after Jeong Tae-ui.

He didn’t know which of the six men was the brother being mentioned, but regardless, visit our sitestyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]BL Novels -->Read on Read BL Novelsthose were the only people who fit the description.

“No, no. I just watched; Christoph did it all by himself. I’m an innocent bystander!”

Jeong Tae-ui thought he sounded a bit cowardly for shouting that so readily, but he wasn’t in a position to worry about such things. He was preoccupied with dodging the man’s reckless punches.

Besides, even if he shouted that…

“Don’t make me laugh! How could one guy smash six people like that?!”

See, he knew he wouldn’t believe him.

Even Jeong Tae-ui, who saw it firsthand, couldn’t believe it. A miracle where one person could easily handle six in a fair fight without any weapons.

“Cowardly bastard, trying to lie your way out of it?!”

I wondered why that sounded familiar.

Feeling somewhat wronged, Jeong Tae-ui pleaded that it was the truth, but it didn’t work at all.

Meanwhile, seeing Jeong Tae-ui effortlessly dodging and moving visit our sitearound stolen content-->the restroom, the man guarding the door decided that one person wasn’t enough and joined in.

“Aha, I’d appreciate it if you stepped aside like that.”

Jeong Tae-ui smiled brightly.

The miracle of one person handling six doesn’t happen easily, but the skill of one person handling two in a confined space was quite common.

First, before the man guarding the door could get close, he grabbed the man who had been chasing him. While dodging a punch, he simultaneously grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and slammed him into the wall. With a satisfying thud and a short scream, one was dealt with.

And just as the other man distorted his face in shock and prepared to attack, Jeong Tae-ui sent a fist flying straight into the bridge of his nose. He felt the distinct sensation of the nasal bone breaking. Droplets of blood splattered across the floor.

“Why did you both attack me? If only one of you had come, I would have just kept dodging.”

Jeong Tae-ui said as he straightened his collar.

Unlike the man whose head was embedded in the wall, the man clutching his nose was still conscious and shouted something, but because blood was flowing down his throat, the sound wasn’t clear.

“Sorry, but I’ll be taking my leave first.”

Jeong Tae-ui politely waved goodbye to them and was just opening the restroom door to leave alone.

Right at that moment, a massive man was about to enter the restroom.

“Uh…”

“Hmm? …Huh?!”

The giant, wearing a hooded jacket that reached down to his thighs, looked at Jeong Tae-ui with indifference and tried to step aside, but then he saw the man collapsed on the floor and the other curled up beside him and let out a loud shout.

Jeong Tae-ui tried to disappear quickly before things got worse, but the giant glared at him with menacing eyes.

“Is it you?! You bastard, now that I look at you, aren’t you the guy who came with Christoph?!”

Damn it. It seems everyone in this shop remembers me.

“It’s a very kind shop to remember every single customer, but for some reason, I’m not feeling it…”

While Jeong Tae-ui rambled and racked his brain on how to handle this giant, he sensed several more people approaching from the corner of the hallway, likely having heard the commotion.

“What’s going on over there?”

“It’s getting a bit noisy, isn’t it?”

“Is there a problem?”

The ones who appeared around the corner weren’t just one or two. Four appeared immediately. In other words, there was a high possibility of more.

For a moment, Jeong Tae-ui’s world went dark.

Behind him was a man whose nose was broken but whose limbs were still functional; in front of him stood the giant; and beyond the giant, four more were swarming in.

“Wow… they say when you see one, there are actually thirty more you can’t see… I guess that’s true…”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered blankly as he counted the men.

Since there were exactly six, it matched the number of the miracle Christoph had performed earlier, but Jeong Tae-ui had no confidence in creating such a miracle.

In a situation where he faced six people, Christoph chose to fight his way out, but Jeong Tae-ui was different.

“My most confident field is, after all, making a run for it…”

Muttering this, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

It didn’t seem difficult to avoid these men and return to the hall, but the problem would be what happened after. Judging by their expressions, they would likely chase him there, and it would be a disaster if a large-scale brawl broke out inside the shop. Moreover, if that happened, he would have no way of stopping Christoph.

Then he would have to flee in another direction, but as an outsider, he would stand out no matter where he went. He needed a temporary solution, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to think of one right now.

“Let’s just run first. Hey, sorry.”

Jeong Tae-ui gave a short apology and lunged at the giant standing right in front of him.

The giant, who had been looking back at his approaching comrades, let out a startled “Huh?!” at the sudden attack. However, by the time he tried to throw a punch at Jeong Tae-ui, it was already too late.

With a leg trip that would have been difficult to pull off if the man hadn’t been off guard, Jeong Tae-ui knocked the giant over. Leaving behind the heavy sound of the man hitting the floor, he leaped over him and ran.

The men who had just arrived were surprised by the sight and began to chase him frantically.

Fortunately, Jeong Tae-ui was faster, so the distance gradually widened, but the problem came next.

Damn it, he didn’t know the way. He had thought the layout was complicated earlier, and since he visit our [Read on Read BL Novels]sitehad been running blindly without properly observing his surroundings, he couldn’t tell where he was.

Without even realizing which way he had turned, Jeong Tae-ui had somehow returned to the front of the restroom. Meanwhile, he could faintly hear the men searching here and there, perhaps thinking it was better to scatter.

Now, what to do. Would it be better to go back to Christoph? No, with that personality, blood would definitely be shed.

“…”

Let’s just try running wherever.

Standing blankly in front of the restroom, Jeong Tae-ui began to walk aimlessly again.

It was then.

“Huh?!”

Hearing a strangely familiar voice behind him, he turned around to find the giant from before. Perhaps he had been injured when Jeong Tae-ui tripped him; his elbow was slightly scraped.

“Uh… that must have hurt. Sorry.”

There was no intention to mock. He had genuinely apologized, but the giant seemed Read on Read BL Novelscopy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">visit our sitestyle="opacity:0;font-size:0;">unauthorized copyto take it differently.

His face turned beet red in an instant, and he lunged at Jeong Tae-ui.

“You little—!”

Seeing the menacing momentum, Jeong Tae-ui quickly ducked back into the restroom behind him. The giant quickly followed.

“You bastard, now you’re a rat in a trap.”

Shouting triumphantly with a face full of rage, the giant pounced on Jeong Tae-ui, who was hesitating in front of the sink.

And then.

Jeong Tae-ui leaned his body slightly to avoid the giant’s bulky arm and kicked his ankle hard. The man let out a wheezing sound and collapsed flat on the floor.

This young man is hopeless. He has no ability to learn.

Feeling somewhat sorry for his future, Jeong Tae-ui aimed precisely for the spot just above the nape of the neck, below the back of the head, and delivered a short, powerful strike. With a choked sound, the giant’s eyes rolled back, and he passed out.

As the giant, who had been shouting like thunder until a moment ago, stolen [Read on Read BL Novels]Read on Read BL Novelscontentcollapsed, the surroundings became instantly quiet.

Jeong Tae-ui wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and looked down at him. The jacket’s hood had flipped over, covering the giant’s head.

“… …Should I borrow this?”

Jeong Tae-ui stared at him.

A spacious hooded jacket that reached the thighs, and himself, who was being hunted.

It seemed like a very plausible combination.

 

 

Plausible combination, my foot…

Jeong Tae-ui soon realized that his choice had been a mistake.

After stripping the hooded jacket from the [unauthorized copyclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]giant and putting it on himself, he dragged the unconscious man into a restroom stall and secured the door by sliding a broom inside.

The hood covered Jeong Tae-ui’s head deeply, coming down almost to his nose, just below his eyes. The clothes that had reached the giant’s thighs now reached near Jeong Tae-ui’s knees.

He had been delighted for a moment, thinking that since it covered almost everything, it would be great. But the giant in the stall was discovered far too quickly.

Because of this, the giant’s hooded jacket became extremely conspicuous.

“There he is! That’s him! He’s wearing Wilhelm’s clothes!!”

…God damn it.

Running like a madman in a sprint through the maze-like interior of the shop, Jeong Tae-ui realized the mistake he had made.

This guy’s clothes were too hot. It made sense since it covered him from head to knee, but it didn’t let the heat generated by his running body escape.

Furthermore, the size he had thought was an advantage became a disadvantage. The hood came down to his eyes, blocking his vision, and the hem reached his knees, hindering his stride.

He wanted to rip it off and throw it away, but whenever he stopped somewhere to take off the jacket, some guy who had followed him like a ghost would shout, “There he is!”

How long had he been running?

He couldn’t gauge where he was in the shop, nor could he estimate how much time had passed.

Even now, one guy was following Jeong Tae-ui from a decent distance. It didn’t seem like he was chasing Jeong Tae-ui visually. Rather, he seemed to be following the sound of footsteps and presence.

If I can just find a suitable place to hide for a while, that guy will probably just pass by.

While running, Jeong Tae-ui kept a keen eye on his surroundings.

It was then.

Beside the path he was sprinting down, another path branched off. At the end of that path, something like a built-in storage cabinet caught his eye.

“—…!”

A cabinet at the end of a dead-end alley.

If he hid in there and got caught, it would be the end; there would be nowhere left to run.

In short, it was a jackpot if he could hide safely, but a disaster if he were caught.

Jeong Tae-ui hesitated for a moment.

Normally, he wouldn’t have chosen such a place. He wouldn’t have entered unless it was a place where he could escape again in case of emergency.

However, Jeong Tae-ui’s legs were already becoming sluggish, and sweat was pouring down inside the hooded jacket. He desperately wanted to stop his legs and rest for just a moment.

That was why his judgment had clouded.

“—…Eh, whatever. Whether I die from shortness of breath while running or die from a beating after being caught, life is the same either way.”

Rambling without even knowing what he was saying, Jeong Tae-ui ran toward it.

Before he knew it, he had entered a path where a plush carpet was laid under his feet. The sound of running didn’t echo. That was good.

He felt the presence of someone chasing him from beyond the corner.

Before that presence saw him. Quickly, before that.

When Jeong Tae-ui, running until he was out of breath, finally reached the built-in cabinet, [[Read on Read BL Novels]style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">stolen content]the presence had chased him right up to the corner.

“…!”

He opened the cabinet and dove inside blindly. Then he closed the door. The wooden door clicked shut silently, cutting him off from the outside. At the same time, the presence chasing him reached the corner.

Jeong Tae-ui held his breath inside the cabinet.

This built-in cabinet, which seemed to be a small storage room modified with wooden doors, had short wooden slats attached diagonally like wood blinds. He could see the outside through those slats.

The young man who had chased him passed the corner, looked around for a moment, and then ran off toward the other end of the path.

“…—”

Holding his breath inside the cabinet, Jeong Tae-ui breathed a sigh of relief. And just as he was about to let out a long breath to recover from his exhaustion.

A small, frail sound, like “Ah…”, seemed to be heard right next to him.

“—?!”

It wasn’t right in his ear, but it was very close, not even a few steps away.

Startled, Jeong Tae-ui held back the breath he had been about to exhale. Then, slowly, he turned toward the side where the sound had come from.

Just like the door facing the hallway that Jeong Tae-ui had checked earlier, he realized the side of the cabinet was also made of a door. No, it wasn’t a door. There was no handle. Perhaps it happened while changing the interior structure; the side of this built-in cabinet, which had a door facing the hallway, was adjacent to the room at the end of the hallway.

It seemed as though an open space had been blocked with plywood; the side was treated with blinds like a door, but there was no handle.

Wondering why they had left the blinds if they were going to block it instead of leaving it as a door, he looked up and saw a ventilation hole with a fan spinning above him. In the corner next to it, a small hole had been drilled to connect a exhaust pipe. It seemed it was unavoidable because of the piping.

Damn it, just when I thought I’d hidden well, why is this happening? To think there’s another person beyond the open door.

Jeong Tae-ui held his breath for now. Since he didn’t know who it was, he couldn’t risk letting them know he was here. Moreover, this was the end room of a carpeted hallway lined with sealed rooms. The location of the room alone was enough to guess that a suspicious person would be sitting inside.

Very carefully, taking care not to make a sound, Jeong Tae-ui turned his body and peered into the room adjacent to the side of the cabinet.

“—…Ah, …ah, …ah…”

That frail, faint voice from before was heard again. The sound, repeating several times at intervals, eventually turned into a sob mixed with crying. It was the sobbing of a woman.

Jeong Tae-ui frowned and turned his gaze toward the source of the sound. The fact that it was sobbing already bothered him, but the stolen contentunauthorized copyfact [unauthorized copy]that it was a woman’s voice made him even more reluctant.

However, when he caught a glimpse of the woman through the wooden slats, Jeong Tae-ui flinched and froze instantly.

It wasn’t simply because the woman was naked. Nor was it just because a man—whose face was hidden by the angle of the slats—was thrusting his hips between her thighs.

It was a face Jeong Tae-ui knew.

Or rather, it was a face he had seen before.

There was no way he had misseen or mistaken her. He had seen her just a short while ago. In the Tarten forest. Standing beside Richard.

Her beautifully curving blonde hair was drenched in sweat and tears, clinging to her face. She was sobbing, pleading in a small, mumbling voice that was difficult to understand.

“Please… please—, …the, …in the…, …please….”

The fragments of her pleas were mixed with words so obscene they made Jeong Tae-ui’s earlobes burn, even as he stood frozen like a stone statue at the scene unfolding before him.

As if she were deathly ashamed to utter such words herself, her face was flushed bright red and smeared with tears.

Unable to move an inch, Jeong Tae-ui simply rolled his eyes upward. He couldn’t bring himself [unauthorized copy]content">stolen contentto look further, and felt that he shouldn’t.

But why was that woman here, in such a state?

He had clearly heard that she was Richard’s lover….

“…….”

The moment that thought occurred to him, Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes widened.

Come to think of it, this was a shop owned by Richard. And that woman was Richard’s lover. If so, the man currently gripping her waist must be—.

“Good, you said it well. Since you were a good girl and said exactly what I told you to, I’ll let you off now.”

The voice of a man speaking to the woman with a low laugh reached his ears.

Sure enough, it was a voice Jeong Tae-ui knew.

As the man bent his waist to stroke the woman’s back, his face became visible. There was no room for doubt.

Richard Tarten.

It was him.

Smiling with satisfaction, he began to thrust violently. Soon, the room was filled with a mixture of screams and moans. Even then, Richard whispered words to the woman that were too lewd to bear, and forcibly drew similar words from her mouth.

Jeong Tae-ui’s complexion turned pale.

My god. He really is a pervert. A total degenerate….

It felt like a dream. This was not the Richard that Jeong Tae-ui knew. He was murmuring things that the Richard living in the west wing of Tarten would never say, with an expression he would never make, in a way that was cruelly impossible.

Jeong Tae-ui’s head suddenly spun, and he forced his gaze upward to avoid the scene.

He wanted to cover his ears. The vivid, explicit sounds were echoing right next to him. He was appalled that someone could wear a human face and make another person feel that ashamed.

His tightly closed lips trembled. Wow, he really is a total degenerate. To think such a person actually existed in my circle.

Somehow, he felt like he would die if he were caught. If by some chance he were discovered, Richard would probably mutter, “So you saw…?” and instantly transform that gentle, smiling face into the face of that cruel degenerate.

Just as Jeong Tae-ui was struggling to keep his fading consciousness and wondering if this was a dream or [Read on Read BL Novels]reality, another low male voice sounded stolen contentfrom the right, out of his line of sight.

“Your taste really never changes. You always pick women who are all similar.”

Gasp.

That voice pierced through his ears like an awl.

He felt suffocated. His ears seemed to go numb. His vision went black.

That voice was far too familiar. He hoped he had misheard it, but it was a voice he couldn’t possibly mistake. They had lived together for years.

…Ilay. Ilay Riegrow.

…I’ve escaped the fox’s den only to enter the tiger’s den.

Jeong Tae-ui clenched his trembling hands and looked into the room with a pallid face.

Richard, who had calmly engaged in sexual intercourse even in front of someone else—Ilay—was now pulling away from the woman, as if he had finished his business, and wiping his body with a towel.

The act of sex itself was perverted enough, but now he saw that Richard had [stolen contentclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]aria-label="visit our site">visit our siteset the stage right in front of someone else. He truly deserved the title of a total degenerate.

After throwing the used towel into a basket in the corner, Richard picked up his clothes. He smiled as he dressed, nonchalantly exposing his naked body.

“I love these lovely things. Do you know how lovely their voices are when they cry and beg for forgiveness, saying they’ll do whatever I say if I just stroke them a few times? There’s nothing quite like these lovely things for tasting the feeling of having them completely under my control.”

“Still the same, I see,” Ilay replied with a smirk.

But before that—to think that the mouth that always smiled softly and spoke only kind and sincere words could utter such appalling things in that same voice. He didn’t even call her a lovely person, but a lovely thing. Wow… he was a top-tier candidate for someone to avoid at all costs.

Unable to believe it, Jeong Tae-ui stared at him with eyes wide open, but no matter how many times he looked, he was still Richard Tarten.

While Richard dressed, the woman, who had been there for who knows how long, lay collapsed and motionless as if exhausted. Her face was drenched, and she occasionally gasped for air, a sight that was somewhat pitiful.

“More importantly, how are things on your end?”

Ilay’s voice was heard.

Positionally, he was even closer than Richard. His voice sounded from just a few steps away. It was simply that he wasn’t visible from where Jeong Tae-ui was standing.

Richard looked back at Ilay while pulling on his trousers.

“My end? —…Ah, as for that, there’s no big change for now. I haven’t seen any signs of change in the known situation yet.”

As he spoke, Richard finished putting on his pants and picked up the shirt draped over the back of a chair.

“It’s not a situation where I can step forward yet. Nothing has been decided. I’m just waiting for the decision to become certain, one way or another.”

As Richard shrugged, Ilay, who had been silent for a moment, spoke.

“If Al Fad holds out a bit longer, things might flow in a different direction.”

It was hard to tell from that ambiguous tone whether he hoped for it, found it regrettable, or was simply intrigued. It would have been easier to tell if he could see his expression.

Richard seemed to ponder, murmuring, “Al Fad holding out…?” before shaking his head.

“It’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll flip. It’s just a matter of whether it happens sooner or later.”

“Even so, the pro-American regime of that country won’t be overthrown. No matter who succeeds him, the direction of policy won’t change much.”

“True. But the point is that the day the real power shifts is not far off. The problem stolen contentRead BL Novels" style="display:none;" aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelsis who takes that position….”

Richard trailed off there. A faint smile mixed into the end of his sentence.

In a voice containing exactly that much of a smile, Ilay responded.

“So, which of the two do you want to take it?”

“Haha, I’d prefer the side that offers conditions that are easier to settle.”

“Conditions that are easier to settle.”

As if underlining the words, Ilay repeated the phrase.

A moment of silence followed. Stillness filled the room.

Jeong Tae-ui swallowed his breath.

Damn it. It’s not good when it’s quiet. Just say something, sing a song, or move around, for god’s sake.

Looking at the scene in the room through the gaps in the wooden slats beneath the [stolen contentunauthorized copyBEGIN: Read on Read BL Novels -->Read on Read BL Novelsition:absolute;left:-9999px;">]vent, Jeong Tae-ui cursed inwardly.

Who would be happy to unintentionally eavesdrop on others, but this situation was truly wretched.

The inside of this tiny built-in cabinet was stiflingly hot. The fan in the vent directly above his head was blowing hot air straight onto him. Furthermore, the hooded jacket he was wearing from head to nearly his knees partially blocked his eyes, making his vision frustratingly limited. He was already feverish from running like crazy, and the air inside the cabinet was humid. To make matters worse, this damn hooded jacket had perfect insulation, and he was already bathing in sweat.

Why did I take and wear a hooded jacket? If I was going to hide in a corner like this, I wouldn’t have worn something so suffocating.

Now, even if he wanted to take it off, he couldn’t. If he moved so much as a finger, he would likely be discovered by the people in the room.

Because it was so suffocatingly hot, his breathing was gradually becoming labored.

This was a disaster.

When the room was that quiet, not only could he not move, but he had to kill his breathing.

If it had just been that, he would have thought he was just unlucky or that it was a disaster, and left it at that.

But of all the people he had to unintentionally eavesdrop on, it had to be that guy.

He was truly cursed.

He could understand Richard being here. After all, wasn’t it his shop? So he figured it was possible for him to be in the room located in the deepest part of the place.

But why did the person talking with him have to be that guy?

Moreover, the worst part of all was that if he had overheard a conversation that didn’t matter, he could have just smiled awkwardly and slipped away, but a serious atmosphere was brewing, and it felt like he had heard something he shouldn’t have.

It’s unfair. Even listening to it, I don’t understand what they’re talking about. Yet, somehow, just by hearing it, a subtle atmosphere of unforgivability is flowing.

Damn it. Whatever, for now. Please, stop just staring at each other and let someone say something, anything. I can’t hold my breath forever.

Jeong Tae-ui was on the verge of his vision blurring. He was suffocating as he barely suppressed his heavy breathing, and sweat kept seeping into his eyes.

Just as the thought crossed his mind that he might faint from respiratory distress and collapse inside the cabinet, getting caught in the process, Richard broke the silence.

“The only thing that bothers me is that, as far as I know, Al Faisal is a person who values practical benefit. He is very good at identifying what will bring him profit. But this time, the prediction was off. In other words….”

“Either someone is behind him, or there’s some kind of move that we aren’t aware of…?”

Ilay’s low voice followed.

Jeong Tae-ui exhaled silently. Sweat kept getting into his eyes, blurring his vision. He couldn’t see properly anyway because of the hood hanging down over his eyes, but now it was even worse.

When would they leave? He had to hold out as long as possible.

Silence fell again.

He wanted to scream out loud.

Talk, just talk! When it’s this quiet, even the sound of exhaling becomes precarious—do you know how hard this is?!

Despite the fact that he was hiding and eavesdropping—again, he emphasized it was truly unintentional—Jeong Tae-ui thought with indignant irony and swallowed more curses.

Fortunately, this time the silence was broken more quickly than before.

Ilay’s low laughter was heard.

“Tarten must be having a hard time. Facing a choice where you can’t readily say which side takes priority must be quite a dilemma.”

“It can’t be helped. You reap what you sow. But….”

“Yes, but….”

Suddenly, Ilay’s voice dropped. He heard the sound of someone standing up from the sofa.

To Jeong Tae-ui’s ears, which had become more sensitive as his vision blurred, he heard the sound of footsteps walking leisurely and slowly.

“I’ve been wondering for a while.”

The footsteps approached. Thump, thump, slowly. Along with a voice that sounded amused.

In an instant, his entire body went cold.

A chilling sensation that completely wiped away the heat of the stifling cabinet from his mind.

Those footsteps were coming exactly toward Jeong Tae-ui. Or more accurately, toward the plywood that separated the built-in cabinet from the room.

The sound stopped right there. In terms of distance, exactly one and a half steps away from Jeong Tae-ui.

“What on earth are you raising in this narrow, dirty place?”

“Just to avoid any misunderstanding, I’m not the one raising it.”

“Aha, really? Then let’s see—.”

The voice mixed with laughter seemed to drop.

At that exact moment,

Crack—…

The plywood blocking the room and the cabinet split, creating a long, sharp fissure.

Through that gap, where a single line of light from the room shone through, a tightly clenched fist narrowly brushed past the tip of Jeong Tae-ui’s nose.

“……!”

“If you were going to build a nest, you should have built it in a wider place. Why did you bother crawling into such a narrow spot?”

A low voice sounded right in his ear. He was laughing [Read on Read BL Novelsvisit our sitearia-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelsstyle="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]lowly, close enough for his breath to be felt.

Under his blurred vision, there was a hand wearing a dark blue leather glove.

That monster-like fist, which had split the plywood in one go, finally opened, and then crack, crack, it tore the plywood away. The light that had been leaking in as a single stream now flooded in.

Jeong Tae-ui was frozen, unable to move a single finger.

Right beside him, Ilay, who had pushed the plywood aside, leaned his arm against the wall and looked down at him with a faint smile.

“Aha… wearing such a pitch-black hood from head to toe, wasn’t it hot? Tsk tsk…. Look at this, the nape of your neck is completely drenched.”

The glove slid down over Jeong Tae-ui’s back. Every time the hand, pretending to be gentle, pressed firmly against his clothes, his heart sank. It was a hand that wouldn’t be strange to rip out a piece of flesh at any moment.

Richard, who was sitting on a stool a few steps away, asked calmly without even bothering to turn his head.

“Is it from our side? Or the other side?”

“Well, I wonder where he came from….”

Ilay murmured with a smirk. His other hand came under [Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]the hood. He grabbed the chin of Jeong Tae-ui, who flinched reflexively.

That strong hand, capable of crushing a human jaw without effort, gripped the lower part of his face from the chin to the cheek and moved slowly.

“To think you’d hide yourself by covering up with such a black piece of cloth….”

The smell of leather from the glove stung his nose.

At that eerie smell he hadn’t encountered in a long time, Jeong Tae-ui closed his eyes.

Damn it…. I had a feeling it would end up like this…. I’d rather have been tricked by a ghost.

Knowing that the grip would likely crush his jaw without mercy if he tried to pull away, Jeong Tae-ui opened his eyes while leaving his face quietly in that hand.

Under the hood that blocked more than half of his vision, he saw the lower part of Ilay’s face.

Below the familiar bridge of the nose, he saw the familiar lips. Lips wearing a smile like a child who had found a living toy, forming a gentle curve.

With a single layer of thin leather between them, Ilay’s hand stroked Jeong Tae-ui’s chin. The hand then lightly brushed down his cheek.

It was then.

Suddenly, the hand paused.

At the same time, the faint smile that had been lingering on his lips vanished.

“…….”

His lips seemed to part slightly, but then closed again.

His firmly closed lips, now devoid of any smile, frowned slightly.

The grip on his chin tightened. The hand stroked his face once more. From the cheek to the nose, and from the chin along the neckline.

The fingers, which had been groping over the skin slowly and sluggishly, finally touched Jeong Tae-ui’s lips. Slide, the finger traced over the lips and pressed firmly on the corner of the mouth.

“……. …―.”

The mouth that had been about to say something closed, and instead, he saw him click his tongue silently.

Then, from a short distance away, Richard asked.

“Who is it?”

Ilay slowly removed his hand from Jeong Tae-ui.

“Well… before I find out who he is, this actually works out well.”

Ilay’s voice as he answered was no different from before. Still relaxed and languid.

“Because you put on a show right in front of me a moment ago, I’m feeling a bit worked up down there. I was thinking of grabbing anyone suitable to relieve myself before heading back. But since a commendable fellow has walked right in on his own two feet, this is perfect.”

A very faint smile mixed into the end of his sentence.

The moment that low chuckle burrowed into his ear.

Thump.

His heart dropped.

Suddenly, an ominous premonition washed over him.

Cold sweat, which he had momentarily forgotten, began to prickle down his spine.

“You’re saying you’ll do it with that guy?”

“Ha,” Richard asked with a hollow, incredulous laugh. However, from a much closer distance, the distinct clink of a belt buckle being undone echoed clearly.

“Either way, he’s been abstinent for two months, so it’s about time I let him loose. Besides, they say there’s nothing one can’t say in the heat of the moment in bed; if we share some pleasure through the lower half, this fellow will gladly tell me with his own mouth where he crawled in from. —Come to think of it, you didn’t enjoy anal, did you? In that case, it’s better if you don’t look this way.”

Hey, wait. This is a joke, right? Hey, you, wait.

Countless words hovered at the tip of his tongue, but not a single one managed to escape his lips.

In front of a frozen, stiffened Jeong Tae-ui, Ilay—having undone his buckle—suddenly muttered to himself, “Ah, that’s right,” and pulled off his gloves.

From within emerged a familiar, white, and well-shaped hand.

“What do you think? A beautiful hand, isn’t it? There’s even someone who loves it so much that he can’t bring himself to scratch it, even while he spends all day struggling in bed, scratching my shoulders and back until they bleed.”

Along with a voice laced with a low laugh, that beautiful hand approached.

Thinking that, in his current state of mind, he might actually bite that hand to pieces, Jeong Tae-ui glared at him with a pale face.

“Talking so much ruins the mood, so should I shut your mouth first…?”

Ilay murmured slowly as if talking to himself, then shoved the removed glove roughly into Jeong Tae-ui’s mouth. Instinctively, Tae-ui shook his head, trying to spit out the foreign object filling his mouth, but the hand gripping his head easily suppressed his resistance.

“It would be more exciting if he made a moderate amount of noise.”

Richard’s voice drifted in.

Though his seated figure was hidden by the hood, that slow, languid voice was heard clearly.

“That’s your taste. Making them cry and scream until they spit out the words you want. I absolutely detest noise.”

Ilay replied, his voice carrying a low smile.

Jeong Tae-ui struggled desperately to spit out the glove filling his mouth, mumbling through the fabric, You liar.

It wasn’t that long ago that he had made a huge fuss, insisting he would hear those sounds, even after [Read on Read BL Novels]Tae-ui said he would keep his mouth shut because hearing his own moans [Read on Read BL Novels]was horrific—so embarrassing his brain felt like it was melting!

But no matter how loudly he screamed in his heart, it was useless as long as it didn’t come out of his mouth.

“Mmm—… mm, mmm—…”

Jeong Tae-ui thrashed about, making meaningless sounds, but it was futile.

Easily turning Jeong Tae-ui around, Ilay pulled his wrists behind his back and tied them. It felt like a belt; the sensation of hard leather dug firmly into his wrists.

I’m going crazy. I’m really going crazy.

I must be insane. To avoid a fox, I’ve shoved my head into a tiger’s maw.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he would never have run away from those men earlier. Instead, he would have knelt obediently and held out his wrists. Take me anywhere you want, as long as it’s not the innermost room, anywhere is fine, he would have said.

As the freedom of his wrists—and arms—vanished, his body became equally restricted. With his arms tied behind him, even maintaining his balance felt different from usual.

Whether he knew or not that Jeong Tae-ui was screaming at the top of his lungs through his blocked mouth, Ilay dragged him toward the console leaning against the inner wall of the room. With one hand, he swept away the ornaments and frames resting on the console to clear the space. The loud clatter of objects falling and rolling across the floor echoed at his feet.

“You’re going to do it while he’s bent over there? It’ll unauthorized [Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]copybe cramped; why not just use the sofa?”

“I don’t intend to be that thorough. If I loosen the tension below a bit, that should be enough.”

Lightly dismissing Richard’s suggestion, Ilay pushed Jeong Tae-ui face-down onto the empty console. His stomach and chest pressed against the surface. Standing with his legs supporting him on the floor while bent over the narrow console, Jeong Tae-ui’s heart sank the moment the preparations were actually complete.

Wait. Is he seriously going to do it? Is he really?! In a place like this, in such an uncomfortable position, and even in front of that absolute pervert?!

His heart hammered against his ribs at every detail. He hated every single condition.

However, when a large hand approached and pushed his hooded jacket up from his knees to above his waist, the vague, wavering bad feeling took on a strong sense of reality.

“…!!”

Don’t do it, you bastard. I said don’t do it. When have I ever blindly refused when you said let’s do it?! I’ll do it as much as you want later when we go home, so don’t. Not now. Please, just stop for now!

Jeong Tae-ui cried out desperately in his mind until the end. He didn’t actually expect this plea, screaming from the depths of his heart, to reach Ilay’s ears, but he couldn’t bear it if he didn’t at least scream like that.

His mind became a white blur, and his thoughts tangled into a mess.

Damn it, why did I even come here? Why am I doing this here?

Even those things wouldn’t come to mind no matter how hard he tried to think.

And in the next moment, a sensation arrived that ripped those thoughts clean out of his head.

A hand sliding in front of his waist to undo the belt buckle, lowering the trouser button and zipper.

He didn’t need to look to know. It was that hand—the most beautiful hand in the world (in Jeong Tae-ui’s view), and also the most hateful hand in the world.

In the very next instant, that hand gripped his trousers and underwear and pulled them down in one swift motion.

“…!!!”

His mind went blank. His vision went dark.

While his upper body was still covered by that dull, suffocating hooded jacket, everything below his waist was completely exposed, without a single thread of clothing.

“… … …”

What is this. What is he doing. What is this situation.

He felt like crying out of sheer patheticness. He felt like crying out of anger.

This damn bastard definitely knew.

He definitely knew that the person he had just stripped naked from the waist down was Jeong Tae-ui. There was no way he didn’t know.

“You look quite delicious.”

Ilay’s low laughter sounded from behind him.

Jeong Tae-ui wept tears of blood in his heart.

If I look delicious, then eat me. Just kill me right here, then grill me or boil me, do whatever you want. Just kill me right now.

Jeong Tae-ui felt the heat rising up to his neck.

His neck was burning, and his face was burning. Soon, his entire body would probably be burning.

“Well, I’ve never seen a man’s backside Read on Read BL Novelsstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]like that before, but now that I see it, it’s not as unpleasant as I thought.”

Richard’s voice drifted from a short distance away.

…Fine, look all you want. Go ahead and show it to everyone.

In his heart, Jeong Tae-ui was already sobbing.

But—naturally—that wasn’t the end.

While he was half-dazed by the shy shock of having his private skin, which only a tiny handful of people had ever seen, boldly exposed before another person—he could have proudly shown it to millions in a public bath, but he never imagined he’d be stripped in front of someone’s eyes in a place like this—the sound of a zipper lowering reached his ears. This was followed by the faint sound of fabric shifting.

…? He already lowered my zipper…? That’s why my backside is so exposed…

As he thought this with a vacant mind, the sound of Richard clicking his tongue hit his ear.

“It’s not a matter of my taste, Ilay. You’re the same as ever, that thing of yours. …I know it’s partly a punishment for eavesdropping on others, but even so, putting that in makes me feel a bit sorry for the man.”

The moment he heard those words, his dazed and dreamy consciousness snapped back instantly.

He had momentarily forgotten in the shock of having his backside exposed.

He could forget anything else, but how could he forget that?

What Jeong Tae-ui really needed to worry about wasn’t the uncomfortable position of standing bent over a console, nor the fact that Richard was watching. Simply the fact that he was about to do it with a human being like Ilay in such an unpredictable situation was enough to plunge him into deep agony.

“…! …!!”

Jeong Tae-ui leaped in panic at the horrific sight unfolding behind him, which he could feel vividly without even looking.

The fear of that thing, which must be slowly rearing its head behind his back, surged back vividly for the first time in two or three months.

Wait. Calm down. Let’s calm down. It’s okay, Jeong Tae-ui. You’re already used to it. Why are you acting like this now? You just spent a couple of months apart after doing it every single day. Your body will remember everything anyway. Of course it will. It’s okay.

Another version of himself tried hard to soothe him in his head, as if a self-defense mechanism had kicked in.

And yet.

…To be honest, he was scared.

Even though he was used to it, that suffocating thing that forced its way in while parting his body truly took his breath away every single time. He had seriously wondered if it was trying [stolen [unauthorized copy]content]to rearrange the position of his internal organs.

To encounter such a thing again in a place where neither his body nor mind were at ease.

His mind grew distant.

He wished he could just faint, but even that wasn’t possible at a time like this.

Ilay. Ilay. Hey, please. Let’s not do it here. Please.

Since that absolute pervert had said that sobbing voices begging for forgiveness, promising to do whatever he said, were so lovely, Jeong Tae-ui was willing to sob as much as Ilay wanted.

…So let’s just not do it here.

Especially not in front of another person.

Please.

But no matter how fervently Jeong Tae-ui prayed, the movement behind him remained heartless.

“From where I’m sitting, I don’t think that thing of yours will fit in that narrow space. …Wouldn’t [unauthorized [Read on Read BL Novels]copy]content" style="display:none;" aria-label="stolen content">stolen contentit be better to have an ambulance on standby?”

Jeong Tae-ui grew resentful even of Richard for saying that.

If he was going to speak, he wished he would have tried to stop them more seriously.

However, Ilay’s laughter reached him from behind.

“I didn’t know it would end up like this either, but since it has, I might as well. …That’s why no one should eavesdrop on conversations. He dug his own grave.”

The last words were undoubtedly meant for Jeong Tae-ui to hear.

The grip on his buttocks tightened. As his cheeks were parted, he felt the outside air touch the inside.

His heart dropped once more.

In the end.

Jeong Tae-ui closed his eyes tightly, pouring every curse he knew into his mouth. Every muscle in his body tensed and froze, bracing for the sensation that was about to hit.

Finally, a searing heat approached the deepest part of his groin.

Just then—.

Knock, knock.

A dry, hollow sound echoed in the room.

In that instant, everything in the space seemed to stop.

The air, time, space, the people, and the sensations.

Jeong Tae-ui, who had his eyes tightly shut and was bracing for the immediate future, couldn’t tell what the sound was for a moment.

But the sound didn’t make him wait long before it echoed anxiously once more, and only then did he realize it was the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Jeong Tae-ui snapped his eyes open.

Someone who had come to save him—that was probably unlikely; instead, the number of people watching his backside had increased by one.

While he felt incredibly embarrassed to have his backside so brightly [visit visit our siteour site]our site -->exposed, Ilay, who had exposed his genitals—which were even more embarrassing than a backside—looked back nonchalantly.

“Someone seems to be looking for you. Why don’t you open the door?”

The relief of narrowly escaping a critical moment lasted only a split second before Jeong Tae-ui was overwhelmed by thoughts like, ‘One more person to stare at my ass,’ ‘This guy should at least put that thing away if he’s letting someone in,’ ‘The crisis will return once that person leaves,’ and ‘Surely he won’t do it while that person is watching too.’

While his head was full of such thoughts, the door opened. At that moment, Ilay slightly pulled up the hooded jacket to cover Jeong Tae-ui’s head.

Hey, if you pull it like that, my backside is even more exposed!! —But that thought was short-lived; seeing the person who entered through the gap in the jacket, Jeong Tae-ui wiggled his head deeper under the fabric.

“Richard, sorry to disturb you. A bit of a headache of a situation—oh my, you were in the middle of something wonderful. I truly am sorry for interrupting. But that’s a matter for the guest; Richard, a problem has arisen.”

That cheerful and lively manner of speaking belonged to the manager who had temporarily taken over the management of the shop from Richard. The one who had instantly charmed Christoph with his silver tongue.

The shop looked fine, what problem could have suddenly… Just as Jeong Tae-ui was wondering.

In the room, which had perfectly blocked out external noise while the door was closed, the faint sound of something crashing and breaking could be heard. Simultaneously, something resembling a shout seemed to drift in.

Richard frowned slightly.

“Was there a drunk among the customers? Then just have the employees kick them out. There’s no need to worry about stolen contentthe shop’s [unauthorized copy]Read on Read BL Novelsspan>image for such a person, so feel free to beat them up and throw them out.”

As Richard waved his hand and spoke nonchalantly, the fast-talking manager, Erich, hurriedly shook his head.

“No, if it were such a person, I wouldn’t have bothered you! The thing is…”

Erich lowered his voice slightly.

I don’t care about anything, I just wish I could cover my backside, Jeong Tae-ui was thinking of only that trivial wish, when suddenly a familiar name seemed to reach his ears.

At the same time.

“…Who?”

Richard’s voice followed.

As if doubting his ears upon hearing the name Erich had just mentioned, a crease formed between his brows.

“So, Christoph has come and is currently causing a riot outside. I tried to stop him as much as I could, and it seemed to be working at first, but it’s just not going well. I did manage to get him to agree to wait for about an hour, but…”

Erich clicked his tongue, sounding troubled.

Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes rolled around inside the hooded jacket. Then, he glanced at the clock hanging on the console right above his head.

An hour had not yet passed.

However, the sounds drifting faintly from outside were clearly the sounds of something being overturned and smashed. Judging by the mixture of shouts and screams, some idiot must have recklessly challenged Christoph and was now being brutally trampled.

But why was he already turning the shop upside down before the time was up?

Damn it, I followed him to stop that guy, so what the hell am I doing here?

Jeong Tae-ui lamented, thumping his head against the console. Meanwhile, Erich’s words continued.

“The friend he came with said he was going to the restroom, but it seems he left first without even leaving a word. Because of that, he’s started raging, asking where he’s hidden his friend, what he’s done, and demanding he be handed over—it’s simply become impossible to handle.”

Erich let out a deep sigh. At those words, spoken in a tone of utmost regret, Jeong Tae-ui shut his mouth. A feeling that his exposed backside had turned pale flickered through his mind.

Does that mean the commotion happening outside right now is all because of me? It sounds like it’s because of me.

He had followed to stop Christoph from turning the shop into a bloodbath, but he hadn’t realized [stolen contentclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]he would end up being the one to light the fuse.

Jeong Tae-ui thumped his head against the console again. Thump, thump, small sounds echoed inside the hooded jacket.

“Why don’t you go? If you don’t go out, that guy might actually try to demolish the entire shop.”

Ilay spoke from beside him. His voice sounded somewhat amused.

Leaving a word that he would go first to minimize the damage and that they should come quickly, Erich disappeared back out the door. Once the door closed, a brief silence filled the room.

“Hurry up and go. If it’s that guy, he’ll devastate at least half the shop on his own. Even if the operating costs of this place are less than a sparrow’s tears, there’s no reason to intentionally smash things just to buy new ones.”

Ilay’s voice was still laced with an amused laugh.

In front of him, Richard gave a vague “Right,” and slowly stood up.

Straightening his disheveled clothes, Richard glared at his own reflection in the mirror. From the moment he heard the name Christoph, his gaze froze over bleakly.

“He’s got some nerve coming to someone else’s shop. No matter how high and mighty he thinks he is, to come into my shop and break things…? Ha.”

Muttering low as if to himself, Richard [visit our site]copy">unauthorized copystyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[Read on Read BL Novels]fastened the buttons on his shirt cuffs. He then fastened the collar button.

“I thought it was because I hadn’t heard any news, but it seems you two still haven’t gotten along.”

Ilay asked with a subtle smile. Richard cast a cold glance at Ilay, looking displeased.

“There’s no such thing as ‘getting along.’ That guy is crazy. Do you think it’s possible to get along with a lunatic?”

“Hmm.”

Ilay gave a vague response, a smile lingering on his lips. In front of him, Richard continued.

“When the time comes, I intend to crush him thoroughly at least once. I’ll trample him down so he can never act so arrogantly in front of me again, and so he can never set foot in Tarten ever again.”

A faint trace of anger clung to Richard’s voice. It was anger accumulated over decades.

It was certain that Richard felt the same way as much as Christoph hated and loathed him.

Then, suddenly, Ilay murmured, “Ah…” and began to laugh softly.

The quiet laughter coiled around the room, and Richard, who had finished preparing to leave by putting unauthorized Read on Read BL Novelscopyon his suit jacket, looked at Ilay with curiosity.

“What is it?”

“No, it just occurred to me. I think it wouldn’t be very difficult to make Christoph shudder in absolute horror.”

“What?”

Richard paused in his tracks. He looked at Ilay with a suspicious face for a moment before turning back toward him.

“If there’s a way to do that, it would be interesting. What is it?”

“Well, it’s nothing grand. I just thought that for someone who avoids contact as much as Christoph does, even a touch like this would make him recoil in disgust.”

As he said ‘a touch like this,’ Jeong Tae-ui felt a hand sliding up his buttocks. Tae-yi flinched and shrank back, pouring out curses he had momentarily forgotten.

This damn bastard! Someone’s ass, right in front of another person’s eyes, just like that!!

However, only after venting his anger did the words sink in.

Christoph, who avoids contact. The man who would hate it and shudder even visit our siteif touched ‘like this.’

The meaning was clear.

In an instant, Jeong Tae-ui’s body stiffened. He listened to the words with a feeling of disbelief.

Richard seemed to have understood what Ilay meant as well, as he also fell silent for a moment. However, he soon frowned, as if he didn’t particularly like the idea.

“He would certainly hate it, but I don’t have that kind of hobby.”

To Richard, who spoke bluntly in an unpleasant voice, Ilay shrugged with a nonchalant smile.

“It was just a thought that crossed my mind. I just thought he’d really fly off the handle.”

“…—.”

“Well, let’s get going for now. While we’re doing this, the fixtures in this shop must be getting miserably destroyed.”

Richard frowned for a moment as if he had something more to say, but soon shook his head and turned away.

“Right, I’ll be back in a bit. You enjoy yourself with that man in the meantime.”

“Ah, of course.”

Ilay answered with a cheerful laugh.

Soon, Richard left the room and the door closed.

After a sudden, heavy silence fell, the sound of Ilay’s low mutter reached his ears.

“That’s why you shouldn’t covet what’s mine, Chris.”

A voice laced with a faint smile.

The moment that voice hit his ears, Jeong Tae-ui felt a surge of indignation.

This crazy bastard. I knew he had no concept of ethics, but still, this evil piece of work.

Jeong Tae-ui bolted upright from where he had been lying face down on the console. He shook his head violently. The hood that had been pulled over his head slipped off and fell behind his back.

With his vision finally clear, Jeong Tae-ui glared at Ilay with terrifying eyes.

In front of him, Ilay smiled smoothly. The smile playing on his lips looked particularly unusual today.

“What a great coincidence to run into each other like this in a place like this, Tae-yi.”

“……! ……!! ……!!!”

If a person could speak using only their facial expressions, the room would have already been filled with curses, but unfortunately, Jeong Tae-ui, who only knew how to speak with his mouth, currently had his mouth blocked.

As if only then realizing it, Ilay widened his eyes in a mock expression of surprise and clicked his tongue, saying, “My, my.”

“Come to think of it, I forgot. What should be in this mouth isn’t something like a glove.”

Ilay’s lips curved gently. With that subtle smile, he inserted his finger into Jeong Tae-ui’s mouth and pulled out the glove that had been blocking it.

“……Puh!”

One can breathe through the nose, but the frustration of having one’s mouth blocked was indescribable. After finally letting out a large breath and coughing several times, Jeong Tae-ui was finally able to speak.

“You knew from the start, you damn bastard!!”

At that, Ilay arched an eyebrow. Facing him as he stared intently at Tae-yi with that ambiguous expression, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly realized something. And it seemed that look of realization was plain on his face.

Then, Ilay laughed. Deeply.

“Tae-yi, you seem to have forgotten. I haven’t untied your hands yet. …Well, that’s fine. My patience was reaching its limit anyway, and since you’re already tied up, it wouldn’t be bad to just do it like this.”

“It is bad!!”

Jeong Tae-ui countered immediately, but Ilay had no ears for it.

“Don’t… do it…!”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured softly. Even though no one was touching his throat, his voice came out hoarse and strained, as if he were being strangled.

The large hand pressing down on his back didn’t budge. Jeong Tae-ui soon realized that no matter what he said, that hand would not move until it achieved its goal.

There wasn’t much strength in that hand. If Jeong Tae-ui twisted his body and shook it off, it would easily detach.

He tried moving his body slightly.

A tiny bit of strength entered the hand pressing his back.

Damn it, if I even try to push this hand away, it’ll probably take only a few seconds before this hand grabs me again and pins my back down. Since his arms were tied behind him and his body was restricted, grabbing him would be as easy as twisting a child’s arm. And after that, this time, it truly wouldn’t move, as if pressed down by a boulder, no matter how violently Jeong Tae-ui struggled.

Jeong Tae-ui decided to stay still under that hand for now, keeping it as a last resort for when his body and mind could no longer endure the situation. Ilay had probably calculated all of this from the beginning. He was doing this, predicting exactly what judgment Jeong Tae-ui would make.

“Cunning bastard…”

Jeong Tae-ui hurled the strongest curse he could manage in this situation at the man behind him, who was pressing his back with one hand and sliding the other toward his groin. He heard the sound of Ilay laughing, having understood the meaning perfectly.

“Are you scared? You’re trembling.”

The palm pressing his back caressed him, drawing circles of a few centimeters over his skin. Jeong Tae-ui flinched, his shoulders shrinking at the touch pressing firmly into his skin.

“I’d really like to see a brave human who isn’t scared in the same situation as me.”

Jeong Tae-ui replied bluntly. However, only after saying those words did he realize that his body was indeed trembling faintly.

“Scared. Why? You know. That there is no threat visit our siteunauthorized copy -->unauthorized copysite -->to your life or your safety. Knowing that I would never take your life, what reason is there to be scared?”

A voice laced with laughter touched the nape of his neck. The sensation of it lightly touching and then pulling away was hot.

“No… I don’t know about my life, but at the very least, I feel a serious threat to my safety.”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured, clenching his fists. The knuckles turning white over his clenched fists were shaking unstably.

To be precise, he wasn’t scared. As Ilay said, there was no reason to be afraid. At least he knew that much. The fact that Ilay would not harm his life.

However, instinct brought on tension.

Anticipating the burden that would soon crash over him with a force close to an impact, his body instinctively tensed. Because of that tension, a slender tremor occurred.

Ilay seemed to have noticed that tension. He slid his lips over the nape of the neck and shoulders where the trembling was noticeably apparent. The laughter leaking softly from those lips tickled his skin, and this time, his body trembled in a slightly different sense.

“Tae-yi. Today, you were entirely the fool.”

Suddenly, he whispered in a slightly lowered voice.

As if he were angry or perhaps troubled, he clicked his tongue while keeping his lips pressed to the nape of the [[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized stolen contentcopy]neck. That movement was conveyed with a vividness that was almost chilling. Perhaps it was because it had been a while.

“It’s not like I did it knowing it would be like this…!”

Jeong Tae-ui replied indignantly.

He knew the man was right. What he had done was certainly foolish. He should have backed out from the moment he felt it was dangerous. Or, if he couldn’t back out alone, he should have dragged Christoph somewhere else before coming here.

Damn it, if I knew it would turn out like this, do you think I would have come? I wouldn’t have come even if they threatened to beat me to death.

But it was too late to say such things now. It would only be a futile lament.

“Foolish. You shouldn’t have come here, and you shouldn’t have hidden in this room. Moreover, you absolutely shouldn’t have been caught. So, think of this as the minimum price for your foolishness. For the record, I intended to behave quietly and modestly while I was in Dresden.”

The Ilay who said he intended to behave quietly and modestly used the tip of his foot to push away Jeong Tae-ui’s pants, which were scattered on the floor. Along with the underwear, the clothes were pushed far away like a shed skin. He wouldn’t be able to reach them from here.

Then, the Ilay who said he intended to behave quietly and modestly inserted his leg between Jeong Tae-ui’s legs without any hesitation and pried them open. He also pushed the hand that should have behaved quietly and modestly inside.

“……!”

Jeong Tae-ui gasped involuntarily.

Without any warning, fingers suddenly dug into his body, beginning to enter and exit while prying the inside open.

Jeong Tae-ui could feel the sensation of the moistureless inner walls sticking stiffly to the fingers. Tasting a feeling closer to discomfort than pain, Jeong Tae-ui clamped his mouth shut. He felt as if some unsightly sound might leak out.

But he didn’t forget to pour out curses in his head, thinking, this damn bastard, he should have at least warned me or used some saliva.

“We don’t have much time, so put up with some discomfort. Besides, it’ll be better for you if we finish quickly.”

As if he could hear the flood of silent curses Jeong Tae-ui was pouring out, Ilay whispered in his ear.

“And one more thing, while you’re still conscious, let me tell you now. Tae-yi, you are sometimes excessively reckless. Even when you clearly know how dangerous something is—or even if you don’t, while having a nearly accurate hunch—you stick your head in. From my perspective, it’s not something I’m particularly fond of.”

“Damn it, what do I know? I’m a safety-first person who avoids dangerous things at all costs…! Do you think I wanted this situation where I don’t know what’s what?!”

Jeong Tae-ui shouted, his temper flaring.

Meanwhile, the fingers increased from one to two, then three. However, because the stiffness didn’t fade easily, those fingers entered and exited carefully for a long time.

The body has a way of adapting ridiculously easily [stolen [unauthorized copy]content]wm: stolen content -->to regularly given situations. Jeong Tae-ui had already realized this fact because of this man.

He couldn’t remember exactly how much time had passed since he started sleeping with Ilay, but it seemed to be around the time he had become reasonably accustomed to it, almost to the point of habit. At some point, he suddenly realized that Ilay didn’t use lubricant.

Looking down blankly at the object digging between his legs, Jeong Tae-ui had asked vacantly, “The lube?!” and Ilay had stared at him with a face that asked why he was bringing it up now, before suddenly smirking. Then he said:

‘Your body has become so accustomed to taking me from behind that now, just stimulating the front makes the back wet naturally. Didn’t you know yet?’

Jeong Tae-ui could never forget the shocking feeling he had when he heard those words.

He knew, of course, that the human body possesses adaptability for survival, but he never imagined he would realize it in this way.

It was a frustration bordering on shock.

If he had lived his life without meeting Ilay, he would never have known such a fact, nor would he have had any reason to know it in the future. Without tasting such frustration, he would probably be living as a reasonably popular and well-mannered top, embracing a kind and lovely young man of his taste.

Now, his body had become irrevocably tailored to Ilay.

It wasn’t that he hated being tailored to Ilay, but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of frustration as a man.

The depression that had lasted for several days due to that shock had long since disappeared, but since then, whenever he felt his [unauthorized copy]our site">visit our sitebody getting [stolen content]wet while doing things with Ilay, he would feel a faint sense of regret.

And now, too.

The fingers that had been entering and exiting while prying open the inside as if digging through his body were gradually becoming wet. Now, the stiff feeling had almost disappeared, and the sound of squelching water could be heard from below.

He had heard it countless times, but every time he did, it was deathly embarrassing. No matter how much time passed, he never got used to this embarrassing feeling.

It was simply lamentable that while the body adapts so easily, the heart cannot keep up.

“Tae-yi. Go back to Berlin.”

Just as he felt the sticky sound of water was filling his head, Ilay spoke softly, as if casting a spell.

The moment he heard that, it felt as if cold water had been poured over his head, which had been heating up.

“……Why…….”

“Go back and wait. I’ll return as soon as I finish my work.”

“…….”

Jeong Tae-ui shifted his body slightly. Ilay’s hand was still pressing his back, but he ignored it, twisting his body and turning his head. His face was less than a span away.

“What’s the reason?”

Come to think of it, he had forgotten for a while.

The things that had been faintly gnawing at the back of his mind for some time.

Ilay narrowed his eyes and looked at Jeong Tae-ui. He quickly realized that Ilay didn’t particularly want to speak. However, Jeong Tae-ui had to know. If things remained awkward, nothing would be resolved internally.

Even if he went to Berlin, he didn’t want to go with suspicion.

“…….”

As Jeong Tae-ui stared back at him without even blinking, Ilay, who had been staring back just as intently, eventually let out a light sigh, “Hmm.” He looked at Jeong Tae-ui as if he were reluctant, then opened his mouth.

“This year is a very important year for Tarten.”

Jeong Tae-ui blinked and looked at him.

He already knew that. He felt like he had heard the words “the succession date is coming soon” hundreds of times while staying at Tarten.

“It is a time to choose one from among the succession candidates raised over twenty years, and it is also the year when a long-standing debt relationship ends.”

“Debt relationship…?”

“Tarten has a fairly old debt.”

Jeong Tae-ui looked at him blankly. Come to think of it, he had heard something about a loan.

However, he still didn’t know the reason why he had to return to Berlin.

“The elder of the Tarten family is more greedy than he looks. He had a great ambition to build up the family business, so he expanded the foundation laid by the generations before him. It grew exponentially during his time. Until then, Tarten was considered a decent private intelligence agency, but it wasn’t exactly one of the top-tier ones. However, after he gambled his entire fortune and succeeded, there was almost no other intelligence agency that could keep up with them.”

Ilay continued speaking as if it were nothing. Even as he talked, he meticulously probed Jeong Tae-ui’s lower body, as if they were merely chatting while working.

Occasionally—Tae-ui was certain it was intentional—he would rub the moisture seeping from the inside to create a squelching sound. Every time that sound echoed, Tae-ui felt the reality of preparing his body to mingle with this man so vividly that his head felt hot. He would instinctively hang his head low, and Ilay, seemingly finding this amusing, would make those sounds on purpose from time to time.

Like right now.

Tae-ui lowered his head further and curled his body, unconsciously trying to slide away. He wanted to escape this nerve-wracking sensation, even if only for a moment.

But whenever he did that, Ilay’s large hand would grip his waist and pull him back violently, delivering that moisture even deeper with his fingers.

“If you’re going to talk, talk! And if you’re going to do that, do that! Just do one thing at a time!”

Tae-ui shouted sullenly, his neck turning red from the sensation of fingers sliding in and out of his lower body.

However, only after shouting did he realize his mistake.

Naturally, Ilay responded with:

“Is that so? Then let’s stop talking and focus on this instead—”

“No, wait! Keep talking!!”

Tae-ui shouted quickly. Ilay shut his mouth and gazed at him intently. Unable to withstand that gaze, Tae-ui muttered, feeling as if he wanted to slam his head against the floor.

“…Keep talking… and keep doing that, too…”

Only then did Ilay let out a smirk. He opened his mouth again.

“That gamble I mentioned—it wasn’t just about the money; the risk was quite high. In the situation twenty years ago, it was literally a gamble. As the Cold War system began to slowly collapse, intelligence agents planted by the East and West in various countries began to defect on a massive scale. …At that time, the elder hired those agents into Tarten.”

Tae-ui paused for a moment. He turned his head to look at Ilay. Ilay spoke as if he were telling a trivial story.

But it wasn’t trivial.

If they were agents planted by the East and West, the scale would have been enormous, and the internal information they possessed would have been incomparable.

Even as the Cold War collapsed, war did not disappear, contrary to people’s expectations. And wherever there is war, agents and information always lurk. It went without saying what kind of advantage it was to have them in one’s hand.

“The cost must have been astronomical…”

Tae-ui muttered in bewilderment.

It wasn’t just one or two agents, nor was it just one or two pieces of information. The fields they operated in were vast.

To take over and manage all of that meant visit unauthorized copyour sitestyle="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">visit our sitethat a single misstep could cause everything built up until then to collapse together.

It was, without a doubt, a gamble.

“Yes, the cost was enormous. No matter how sound a company is, it wasn’t an amount a single firm could handle. So, they brought in loans.”

Ilay continued.

Loans.

The things he had heard in the past were beginning to piece together.

“Even private loans—with some exceptions—basically require a government guarantee. I won’t bother explaining what kind of deal took place between the government and Tarten, but regardless, Tarten obtained the loans. To ensure smooth fund management, they split the loans across four different sources. And in doing so, the lenders set conditions.”

“…”

“Repayment would occur one by one every five years, but the creditor could choose to be reimbursed in cash depending on the situation at the time, or make any corresponding demand.”

“Every five years… Then this year is…”

“Right. This year is the final repayment. Once [Read on Read BL Novels]this [Read on Read BL Novels]year passes, Tarten will no longer have debts anywhere. As a side note, the one settled five years ago was T&R. Though that wasn’t exactly a loan.”

Ilay stopped there. Then, suddenly, he curled the hand that had been rubbing Tae-ui’s lower body.

Tae-ui frowned at the sensation of his insides being stretched and the volume increasing.

“Wait, wait, finish the story first—”

As the tingling sensation reached deep inside him, Tae-ui spoke in panic. If this continued, his lower body would be completely heated, and then the conversation and everything else would become a mess.

However, as if he hadn’t heard Tae-ui, Ilay suddenly leaned down. He sank his teeth into Tae-ui’s shoulder.

Tae-ui flinched at the sharp piercing sensation. The “Ah, ow” he unconsciously muttered was less about actual pain and more a plea for him to stop.

Then, the biting sensation vanished. Instead, a hot tongue traced a slow line, licking over the spot.

“Now… I’m coming in.”

The low voice seemed to seep into his ear.

Tae-ui, who had been waiting for the follow-up to the story about why he had to return to Berlin, visit our sitesnapped awake when he heard words that were completely [Read on Read BL Novels]out of context. He instinctively recoiled.

“Wait, finish what you were saying…!”

But before Tae-ui could properly speak, the fingers that had been opening him up withdrew.

And almost simultaneously, a hot, wet sound pushed into the place that had become slick with moisture.

“…!!”

His body froze.

He barely managed to suppress a moan that was nearly a scream. He swallowed his breath and the moan along with it.

Instead of screaming, Tae-ui stared wide-eyed at the wood grain in front of him.

Damn it. Jenjang. This is why I shouldn’t do this after such a long time.

It really hurt.

He had loosened himself up enough to be wet, and he had confirmed that [visit [unauthorized copy]unauthorized copyour site]two or three fingers could enter without difficulty, but it was always an ordeal when this man pushed inside.

The object, so heavy and vigorously swollen that it felt suffocating, made it feel as if his entire abdomen were being ripped open even when only the tip was touching.

“Relax more, Tae-yi. …I told you to relax your ass.”

It seemed he had put too much tension into his body.

Ilay’s voice dropped slightly. Though he didn’t show it, it seemed he was in pain because Tae-ui was gripping him too tightly.

“I can’t… just… relax… on my own…”

Tae-ui answered in short bursts. His breath kept shortening as he felt suffocated.

Behind him, Ilay clicked his tongue.

“It’s harder for you if you stay like this. Just try to relax.”

The hand that lightly slapped his butt was undoubtedly that hateful hand.

“You’re wet enough, but if you’re this tense…”

Ilay muttered while clicking his tongue. Then, as if he had a thought, he leaned over and bit Tae-ui’s ear, whispering into it.

“Just bear with it for a moment. It’ll feel good soon.”

The low voice breathing into his ear sent a chill through his body. Tae-ui shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost unconsciously. Ilay’s laughter brushed against his nape.

Ilay placed his hand on Tae-ui’s buttocks. He gripped the area right next to where the tip of his member was already lodged and pulled.

“…Ah!!”

His hand stretched the area even further, which was already open enough to hold the thick tip.

Tae-ui’s body shuddered, but Ilay pressed his chest firmly against Tae-ui’s back.

Soon, Ilay’s member pushed into the space he had widened by pulling the flesh. With every shallow thrust, the depth increased bit by bit.

Slowly, lightly, pushing deeper and deeper into the body.

“…, …! Ugh, …!!”

His frozen body began to tremble slowly.

Whether it was just his imagination or not, it felt as if his insides were becoming even wetter.

As soon as that thought occurred, his neck turned red and he hung his head low. Though it didn’t have much effect since he was already lying face down.

Suddenly, Ilay laughed behind that reddened neck. He lightly bit the nape. The sensation was somehow chilling, making Tae-ui recoil again.

Slowly, bit by bit, the mass of flesh that persistently thrust and opened his body felt as if it were digging into his stomach, intending to fill it completely. When another person’s body constantly filled his own, he sometimes felt a sudden, instinctive terror.

The sensation that his body was no longer his own. Or the sensation that his body would not move according to his will.

But before he could be seized by that instinctive fear, the object slid out. And as soon as it left, it slammed back in with a force that took his breath away.

“…Ah!”

A small, single cry escaped along with his breath.

It felt like someone was punching his stomach.

It was always like this after he had painstakingly carved a path inside.

Saying that once the path was open, it wouldn’t easily tear, Ilay relentlessly pushed his flesh into Tae-ui’s body.

It was tight. Despite the moisture, the member had swollen so massively that it was woefully insufficient, and the flesh plowed through his abdomen.

“I… die… that… ah…”

Tae-ui gasped for air, stammering words that wouldn’t form properly. Physiological tears already pooled in his eyes and began to drip.

“Tae-yi, don’t cry. Be a good boy, don’t cry. …I’m not the one who won’t stop. You’re the one swallowing my member and refusing to let go with your mouth shut tight.”

Ilay’s voice had also grown rough. His breathing was becoming ragged. Yet, Tae-ui found it irritating that he still sounded so composed.

As if soothing a child, he whispered for him not to cry, tilted his head close, and licked the tears flowing down Tae-ui’s cheek.

Only then did he untie Tae-ui’s wrists, which had been bound tightly. The wrists, marked with clear imprints, finally gained their freedom.

However, there was only one thing the freed hands could do.

“Now, let’s lie on your back… and hug me.”

As if it had become a natural routine, Ilay pulled Tae-ui into an embrace. He pushed deep into the body one more time as if reluctant to leave, then withdrew.

Tae-ui, whose insides had finally become a bit more comfortable, barely managed to roll over, dragging his throbbing lower body. But as soon as he lay flat, he saw Ilay lift his arms and wrap them around his own neck, and Tae-ui sighed.

Embraced by Tae-ui, Ilay laughed softly. Burying his lips in Tae-ui’s nape, he once again pushed his hips between Tae-ui’s legs.

“When are you going to finish…”

Tae-ui barely endured the terrifying weapon digging back into him, asking in a voice that was barely audible.

He only hoped it would end before the owner of this room returned.

As he pushed relentlessly deep into the body, Ilay answered, “Well…”

“Just the two months’ worth I missed.”

“…Damn it…”

As soon as he heard “two months’ worth”—even knowing it was a joke—Tae-ui muttered, his mind going blank.

Then, Ilay suddenly stopped talking. He rubbed his lips against Tae-ui’s cheek before lifting his head to look down at him intently.

A smile suddenly touched his eyes.

“Come to think of it, I asked Instructor Jeong Chang-in about that phrase before.”

“…?”

With his mind gradually turning white, Tae-ui couldn’t properly understand what he was talking about and only gave him a puzzled look.

“I asked him what the Korean phrase ‘mang-hal-nom’ meant, and he answered quite readily.”

He let out a smirk as he spoke.

Slowly, a memory surfaced in his blank mind. In that instant, he snapped awake.

“No, wait, that’s, that’s not it…”

“If it’s not enough, just tell me. I can handle it.”

“No, that’s not it, that phrase means—”

“What does it mean?”

The moment Ilay asked back, Tae-ui suddenly shut his mouth.

He couldn’t… exactly tell him the truth about what that phrase meant.

“… … …”

“Why? What does it mean, hm? This ‘mang-hal-nom’ thing.”

“… … …It’s similar… to what my uncle said…”

As he answered, Tae-ui suddenly felt he understood. Why he always dug his own grave, climbed in, and covered himself with dirt.

In a situation like this, the best way to escape was simply to change the subject.

Tae-ui tightly hugged Ilay’s neck. He squeezed his arms, thinking let’s see if I can choke you, but Ilay only laughed and bit Tae-ui’s nape hard.

“…So.”

“Hmm?”

Something he had forgotten while being dazed suddenly came back to him.

While still hugging Ilay’s neck, Tae-ui whispered in his ear.

“What does Tarten making its final repayment have to do with me going to Berlin?”

“…”

No answer came for a while.

Instead, Ilay buried his flesh inside Tae-ui’s body and simply rocked Tae-ui’s body slowly, as if he were pleased with the sensation itself.

“I mean… why is that…”

Tae-ui asked again, swaying as Ilay rocked him.

How long did they stay like that?

Eventually, the object that had been filling his abdomen for a long time began to spray its contents inside. As Tae-ui flinched and recoiled, Ilay tightened his arms around him and planted himself deep inside Tae-ui.

Only after pouring in every last drop did Ilay speak languidly, as if satisfied.

“Because the final repayment target is a state-owned company in Saudi Arabia.”

“Saudi…”

Something felt subtly off.

What did that have to do with him?

Was there a possibility that it was connected to him in some way?

There was only one answer.

Tae-ui stared blankly at Ilay, his expression instantly vanishing. The possibility connected to him was undoubtedly connected to this man as well.

However, even though Ilay must have known the meaning of that gaze, he remained composed, merely smirking as if Tae-ui’s reaction was amusing.

“And the management there chose a demand instead of money as the method of repayment.”

[Continued in Volume 3]