1.1 That Neighborhood (3)
Since when Park Gil-pyeong had been running auctions, and whether Geum Seoul was born in this village. Those were the two questions. Guichang had thought it was simply a process of narrowing down suspects, but perhaps those answers were what led him to deduce that Geum Seoul was the culprit. After racking his brain for a while, Yoo Jeong-ham eventually gave up on figuring it out. Regardless, the important thing was that a clue had been found, and there were more complex matters remaining before them.
For the past 20 years, the nation had never known stability. Wars, riots, and civil wars had been constant since the country’s founding, but the conflicts only deepened over time, and the neglected poverty grew exponentially. By the time many people had become impoverished, leaving destitution as their only legacy, and the wealthy had become a dwindling minority, a new government of a normal form—not an emergency coup—was launched for the first time in a staggering 15 years.
However, the country still had not found stability. Deep-set wrinkles, crumpled and ingrained over time, could not be smoothed out by a mere year of ironing. The government at the time had just finished warming up and was in the process of shaking out the most crumpled parts, while criminals burrowed deeper into the remotest places in search of survival. Guichang and his subordinates, who pursued them, were no different.
Currently, Guichang was aiming for the backs of two people. One was Gwak Chun-young, the CEO of Iljang Trading. The other was Team leader No Pil-gyu, Guichang’s immediate superior. The two were tied together by illicit dealings.
A year ago, as soon as No Pil-gyu took the position of Team leader, he began blatantly meeting power-hungry figures. Opposition party representatives and media company presidents were among them, but the one Guichang was targeting was Gwak Chun-young, the CEO of Iljang Trading. Guichang had been biding his time after capturing evidence of logistics laundering and arms dealing, but as long as No Pil-gyu—who became enraged at the mere mention of Iljang Trading—was his boss, he couldn’t dig openly. Guichang intended to cut No Pil-gyu’s throat.
A few days ago, a report came in from a confidant planted within Gwak Chun-young’s side. A gemstone named Lee Hee-jung, who had been living with Gwak Chun-young, had run off with the ledger of their clandestine transactions. The reason for the escape didn’t matter. The evidence of the deal between No Pil-gyu and Gwak Chun-young—that was what he had to find. For Guichang, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“…….”
Having spent a long time with him, Yoo Jeong-ham could roughly read his expression and mood. The reason he rolled around in this field with a nickname like “Ghost,” despite that face, was due to his twisted nature. Rather than highlighting his striking looks, it only served to chip away at them.
Though his words were cheap, he wasn’t the type to be overtly violent. He knew how to be flexible when necessary and could coax people with a ghost-like intuition. Of course, there were times when he would blindly crash into things and fire wildly, which meant his Rut was approaching.
“What are you staring at?”
“Yes. My apologies.”
Guichang spat a cold reprimand at the dazed subordinate and fumbled in his pocket to pull out a cigarette case. When he was in Seoul, he wore jackets or tactical vests, but now, with nothing to wear and nowhere to tuck things in, it was quite inconvenient. As soon as he fished a cigarette out of the silver case, Yoo Jeong-ham lit it for him. Exhaling a cloud of smoke with a distinct scent, he searched his pockets again.
“When did you pick this up?”
Lying solitary on his large palm was a very dainty-sized stone—the gemstone dropped by the rat from earlier.
To be precise, it was an Omega’s Tear from a Jewel Omega. It was said that while it is in the eye or touching the body, it looks like a transparent, ordinary tear, but the moment it leaves the skin, it hardens into a small stone. It was exactly as the information stated. However, it was opaque, cloudy, and irregular. It didn’t look particularly valuable.
“Find out the grade.”
“Yes.”
“Time.”
“It won’t take even 60 seconds. If I send it as a hologram to the people at headquarters, they can extract the data immediately.”
Yoo Jeong-ham pulled out a palm-sized pad. The white screen slightly brightened the surroundings. Meanwhile, Guichang turned his gaze back to where the subordinates had disappeared. Earlier, [visit [unauthorized copy]our site]the sky had at least been blue, but now it was complete darkness. Insects swarmed over the yellow lights in the back.
What had Geum Seoul been asked to do, and for what profit did he smuggle Lee Hee-jung out? Guichang’s thoughts remained there. He didn’t believe the claim that he helped because the person ‘said they had to go to their parents.’ He was a kid whose everything was fake to begin with.
Park Gil-pyeong had entered the gemstone auction business 15 years ago. It was 7 years ago that he moved to this region to succeed his Uncle Ji, who had been murdered while working here. At that time, Geum Seoul was thirteen. It had been about a year since he entered this neighborhood holding his mother’s hand.
This meant Geum Seoul had been living while hiding his true self since he was twelve. He heard his mother died the following year. So, from then until now, he had worn a fake face and thick silicone every single day? That wasn’t something an ordinary child could do.
After Lee Hee-jung was violated by Park Gil-pyeong, Geum Seoul must have gently coaxed him while heading to the second floor. He trusted to some extent the words of Park Gil-pyeong and the villagers saying, ‘Geum Seoul isn’t that kind of kid.’ If he had smuggled people out before, he—the one who always guided people to their rooms in this cramped village—would have been the first to be suspected.
Therefore, this was something Geum Seoul did for a specific gain. Did they agree to split the money if he got it from the ledger? Perhaps he was promised to be taken out of this ruin.
Tap.
Just as Guichang crushed the cigarette in his fingers, the presence that had disappeared below the ridge grew larger again. Unlike before, when Geum Seoul had led the way, a team member was now in the front. The subordinate, who had been walking with long strides, soon began to run. He expected it would be bad news. Sure enough, as he reached a distance where their eyes roughly met, he raised his voice.
“It’s empty! I think they’ve escaped.”
He shifted his gaze. In the distance, Geum Seoul, who had been following the men up, was panting with his waist bent. Perhaps exhausted from taking quick steps to keep up with strides that differed by as much as his height, the figure, breathing heavily enough to be visible even from a distance, suddenly collapsed forward.
“Oh, fuck. This is getting really interesting.”
He smiled. The dark sky tangled willfully with black branches that hadn’t held a single leaf even in this summer.
Swoosh.
Whirrr. Whirrr.
Overnight, a sudden heavy rain fell, and in the now thoroughly humid air, a circulator was running inside the CEO’s office. It was the only place in the building where a ventilator was installed. If it were Seoul, the AI would have handled the air circulation automatically, but here, it barely functioned even after pressing the switch.
On the day he promised to rent out the building, Park Gil-pyeong had moved about two boxes of luggage using his three-wheeled vehicle. Thanks to that, the safes that filled two walls were completely empty, despite not having a single broken part. Given his naturally distrustful personality, there was no way he would leave a single valuable behind.
Guichang shifted his gaze to Geum Seoul, who was lying on a sofa with worn-out leather. Having collapsed on the way, he had panted for quite a while even while unconscious. It was almost time for the sun to rise, but it was still dark due to the torrential rain.
‘He shows symptoms of dehydration and exhaustion.’
When Yoo Jeong-ham rolled up his long, cumbersome sleeves to administer the injection, he let out a sound as if he had realized something. Unlike his seemingly fleshy body, his thin, white arms created a strange dissonance. This must be what the Ghost meant by ‘fake.’
●
SYSTEM
Gemstone Appraisal Certificate
Appraisal Number:
GSR-066192LX-J
Clarity:
X-1
Grade Classification:
D-10
Geum Seoul’s appraisal was a mere Grade D-10. A grade lower than a common rolling stone.
‘Do you think he smuggled him out this time too?’
Five minutes ago, Yoo Jeong-ham, who appeared to report, asked quietly. Guichang, glancing briefly at the thin, white fingers that had flopped [stolen content]limply outside the sofa, didn’t answer easily, stolen contentsaying things like, ‘Am I fucking God?’ Ghosts are gods too, Yoo Jeong-ham [stolen content]grumbled softly. While he thinks everything through on his own.
The exact fact was that Geum Seoul, who had sheltered Lee Hee-jung in that house yesterday dawn, had stayed in the village all day today. Combining the times his subordinates had spotted Geum Seoul while poking around, he had not left the village for even 30 minutes. He was constantly running errands around this building or in the laundry room.
That didn’t mean the suspicion vanished. He might have told Lee Hee-jung the route to leave the village in advance, or he might have confessed to another location to divert attention. In any case, to catch Lee Hee-jung’s tail, Geum Seoul had to open his mouth.
Whirrrr.
Hiss. Hiss.
Between the sound of the pouring rain and the noise of the cheap circulator, Guichang, distinguishing a noise with a strangely different temperature, looked up from the monitor.
It was a sound coming from Geum Seoul. He had been told he collapsed from exhaustion, but it seemed he had fallen into a refreshing sleep as if to show off. Guichang stood up.
He leaned against the desk without making a single sound. From a slightly closer distance, his appearance was more visible. Whether he was wary of something, he always walked stiffly and kept his body hunched, yet his sleeping face, making sounds like a child, was perfectly peaceful. When the team member picked him up, a small snack bag that had fallen onto the grass was placed on the table. It’s so pathetic I can’t even look at it.
Three layers of tops. Through the neckline of a loose, wrinkled, strange t-shirt, the layered clothes were visible. Probably to avoid having the fake flesh discovered. When his bangs were pushed up earlier to check his pupils, long eyelashes and a round forehead were revealed. Neatly shaped eyebrows as if drawn. The part where the bridge of the nose began from the glabella was strangely awkward. I get that he’s living desperately. Guichang’s gaze flowed down the jawline, to the sternocleidomastoid muscle and just above the collarbone.
Recessive Omega. That was the expectation. No matter how thoroughly he managed it, the traces were too faint. About the body scent of a common beta. In the second floor of this building, the Omega Pheromones of quite a few people were wafting. Since it was harder to manage one’s secondary gender the poorer they were, the situation was roughly clear.
While medicine could be obtained for free from the health center, looking at the state of this neighborhood, [Read on Read BL Novels]style="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">unauthorized copyeven Read on Read BL Novelsgetting there seemed difficult. Moreover, there were rumors that Jewel Omegas obtain the best gemstones when they don’t take medicine, so it might be related to that.
Rustle.
A noise came from the sofa, where the skin had peeled away to reveal brown inner lining and yellow sponge. Geum Seoul’s brow furrowed slightly, and his twitching eyelids began to slowly open. Guichang, breaking the long chain of thought, stared at his plump lips. He expected the first words to be something like ‘I’m sorry.’
“…….”
Blink. Blink.
As if trying to focus, he blinked a few times while staring at the ceiling, then suddenly bolted upright. Then, he tilted his head while staring intently at the back of his hand where the injection mark was. Instead of speaking first, Guichang observed the behavior. Let’s see what he does. That was the calculation.
After taking his eyes off the back of his hand, he tidied his messy bangs that had fallen back and looked around. Only then did their eyes meet. His eyes grew round, wide enough to see the pale, high-saturation grayish-brown pupils. A panicked expression. And then, just as his mouth seemed to open.
“Gasp!”
In the windowless CEO’s office, Geum Seoul, seeing the circulator spinning noisily, suddenly stood up. In the process, his knee buckled once before he straightened up.
“Is it raining now?”
That was the first question. Because he asked with a surprised face, rather than being nervous or trembling as before, Guichang’s eyes narrowed slightly. Along with the suspicion that he might be thinking of visit our sitestyle="position:relative;display:inline;">[visit our site]something reckless, he replied kindly, “Yeah.” And then.
Tap.
Geum Seoul dashed out like an arrow.
…Is that rat bolting right now? Guichang, suddenly left alone in the office, smirked and stood up. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the office, Yoo Jeong-ham and the subordinates, who had been resting on the first floor because they couldn’t go down to the lodgings due to the heavy rain, jumped up. They rushed over as if they had never fallen asleep, but Guichang raised his hand. This was after confirming that the place Geum Seoul headed for was the stairs to the second floor.
Swoosh.
The walls of the building only had rectangular holes shaped like windows; all the glass was gone. The violently falling rain poured almost entirely into the hallways, except for places blocked with cheap cloth or vinyl, and even in the blocked areas, rainwater leaked sluggishly down the walls.
It was his first time on the second floor. He had only sent the kids and thought he wouldn’t have a reason to come personally until the day he left, but Guichang followed Geum Seoul’s presence, which was half-buried in the sound of rain, climbing the stairs two at a time.
A long hallway first caught his eye. The rooms on both sides had doors that were open by a hand’s width or wide open, so Park Gil-pyeong’s words about not locking them seemed to be true.
The peculiar thing was that paint had been applied to the doors. Red, green, pink, blue. He felt he could roughly guess the meaning. Compared to the high saturation, they were blotchy and peeling, showing other colors or turned pitch black by mold, so they didn’t create a very cheerful atmosphere.
Occasionally, the presence of someone was heard. However, instead of turning his eyes to the sides, the man walked forward with a constant stride and constant speed. At the end of the hallway, he saw Geum Seoul climbing over the largest window. Compared to his thick torso, his raised buttocks were small and dainty.
For a split second, Guichang thought he was escaping [Read on Read BL Novels]through a different route, but it took only a few seconds to realize that wasn’t the case.
Swoosh.
In the early dawn when thunder and lightning struck. The first thing Geum Seoul did after waking up from fainting due to dehydration and exhaustion was to gather the laundry.
“…….”
Guichang, with his hands in his pockets, tilted his head. He thought the boy would do something slightly interesting. This wasn’t so much interesting as it was eccentric.
“Wow, what do I do….”
Geum Seoul, quickly drenched by the pouring rain, muttered. Not only was his messy hair soaked, but the three layers of clothes he wore clung to his body in wrinkles. It must have been heavy, yet he hurriedly hugged the wet laundry he had gathered.
Squeak. Squeak.
A sound occurred every time Geum Seoul walked. The man noticed that Geum Seoul’s shoes were worn out, that the front sole was lifting and the half-exposed cushion was absorbing water to make that sound, and also that what he was stepping on wasn’t a real roof, but merely slate or pieces of tin. Even a slight slip would send him plummeting straight into the alley, yet Geum Seoul gripped the clothes tightly with hands protruding from his sleeves and pulled down the last pair of pants.
“Phew….”
Only then did Geum Seoul, stepping back onto the roof and returning to the window, look as if he had just come out of swimming. Unable to do anything about the bangs that kept blocking his vision as water dripped, he hesitated for a moment and then turned around. He seemed to intend to climb back over the window frame. Since he was clutching heavy clothes in his arms, he copy">unauthorized copyawkwardly moved his legs over first, and since his feet didn’t reach the floor, he stretched the tips of his toes downward. The soles, dripping water, dangled precariously. He was short by a hand’s width.
Ridiculous. He sneered softly. He was definitely stupid. The fact that the first thing he did upon waking from exhaustion was worry about laundry, and that even though his thighs were a mess from rubbing against the window frame, he kept pulling the laundry up into his arms to keep it from touching the dirty water.
Grab.
“Ah!”
Geum Seoul was startled by the force grabbing him from behind. Gripping him under both armpits as if catching a stray cat, Guichang lightly lowered him down and let go as soon as the goal was achieved. Even then, still clutching the laundry in his arms, he bowed his waist deeply. Thanks to that, he neatly picked up a dropped sock before speaking.
“You didn’t have to help me. Thank you.”
“Yeah. Cut the crap.”
He hadn’t done it to receive such a thank-you. He had acted simply because it was frustrating to see him continue to do such incomprehensible, pathetic things. Since he had touched a drenched mess, it was natural that his own hands were wet and glistening. He frowned in annoyance.
“Tsk.”
He thought Geum Seoul would go into the room now that the goal was achieved, but Geum Seoul just stood still, dripping rainwater. At the lack of movement, he shifted his gaze forward again. Their eyes met.
“…….”
Under the hair pushed back by the rainwater, his eyes were clearly visible. A pale double eyelid that gathered in the front and slightly widened toward the back. Long eyelashes. Guichang’s glabella twitched in a way no one could notice.
“Ah. Just a moment.”
Having thought of something in that gap, Geum Seoul, rolling his brown pupils, waddled away. Squelch. Squelch. Walking clumsily in sneakers that had absorbed plenty of rainwater, he headed toward the room at the end of the hallway. The door was the only one made of cheap plywood without any paint.
No, it couldn’t even be called a room. The spaces stretching along the hallway as one passed by at least had the basic requirements to be called rooms, but this was not one of them. A narrow storage closet beneath the stairs leading to the roof. In a place where a single person could barely lie down with their legs stretched, Geum Seoul entered naturally. Without hesitation, he placed rain-soaked laundry atop a thin mattress that had been kept neat, flat, and tidy, then switched on the lightbulb dangling from the ceiling.
“Here. Use this. It’s clean.”
Immediately after, he reached for a towel hanging from a nail driven in at eye level and handed it over. Despite his own eyes blinking from the sting of rainwater dripping from his hair, he offered the only towel in the room first.
The towel, which looked clean at a glance, smelled of detergent. In this weather, where all sorts of odors seeped in like discharge because of the rain, only Geum Seoul and this towel emitted a fresh scent.
And that was when.
Swoosh.
“Ah.”
Guichang realized something.
Was this the bastard’s pheromone?
The faint scent of a forest he had been smelling ever since arriving here was Geum Seoul’s pheromone. He had simply failed to notice because it was a scent he had naturally inhaled the moment he stepped out of the car, and because it wasn’t a fragrance he ever expected an Omega to emit.
In Geum Seoul’s tiny room, where not a single weed grew, the scent of nature was springing up very faintly, yet steadily. It was as if it were another world entirely within this musty, mold-ridden concrete building.
Meanwhile, Geum Seoul pulled at the hem of his T-shirt instead of using the towel, pressing it firmly against his wet forehead and eyelids to wipe away the discomfort. When the towel—which had absorbed all the moisture just by being held—was returned, he hung it back where it belonged. He then diligently turned away, placing the laundry that had left dark water stains on the blanket into a basket.
“Where are you going now?”
Startled by the question about his destination, Geum Seoul’s shoulders jerked, and he slightly lifted his arm to show what he was holding in his embrace.
“If I leave it like this, the smell will soak in. I’ll have to wash it three times later.”
He meant he was going to resolve that. After waiting a moment for a response, Geum Seoul walked down the hallway and descended the stairs. Guichang’s gaze dropped from the nape of his neck and lingered briefly on the wet footprints.
“What is it?”
On the first floor, the subordinates, startled by Geum Seoul’s sudden dash earlier, were in a state of alert. Although their superior had restrained them from following, it was bound to be absurd to see him descend the stairs soaking wet, clutching a large laundry basket after having vanished in an instant.
In the early dawn, when the temperature had risen after the rain and everyone was already irritable, Geum Seoul—who had surprised everyone—instead looked around with round eyes as if wondering why people were standing in a line instead of sleeping at this hour, then hurried out the door as if not wanting to be a hindrance. He seemed to have no idea that he was the cause of the commotion.
“What are you just staring at? You on a camping trip? Follow me.”
Instead of gesturing to the team members, Guichang called Yoo Jeong-ham and walked toward the CEO’s office. Sensing the tilt of his head, the quick-witted Yoo Jeong-ham closed the office door.
Click.
“Hey. Describe Geum Seoul’s pheromone scent.”
“Pardon?”
“Am I fucking speaking English right now?”
Hating it when people asked for clarification, the superior’s stern face prompted Yoo Jeong-ham to quickly add a “Sorry” and rack his brain. He hadn’t particularly noticed any distinct scent from Geum Seoul. When talking to other Omegas on the second floor, there were scents—faint as they were—that each of them emitted.
“Isn’t he a Recessive? He feels like an Omega, [visit our [unauthorized copy]unauthorized copy -->site]but I’m not sure if the scent is distinct enough to be identified.”
“Yeah, fucking useless. Just bring the syringe.”
“Yes. Understood….”
As Yoo Jeong-ham immediately opened the door and turned to leave without further questioning, the man looked down at his fingertips for a moment. If he was the only one who smelled the scent emanating from Geum Seoul, however faint, there were two possibilities. Either he was the only Dominant Alpha in this group, or his rut cycle, which had been getting shorter, was approaching again. He switched off the noisily running circulator. The dispersing air quickly became stiflingly hot again.
A short while later, Yoo Jeong-ham returned to the CEO’s office with a small medicine vial and a syringe in his hand. With practiced ease, he tore off the label, filled the cylinder, and injected it into the crook of his arm with the sharp needle.
“Already? It hasn’t even been fifteen days.”
“Stop bullshitting. What is Geum Seoul doing?”
To the question that cut off any interference, Yoo Jeong-ham shrugged, his lips stretching thin.
“He says he’s spin-drying clothes in the laundry room.”
It was exactly as Geum Seoul had said.
‘If I leave it like this, the smell unauthorized [[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]copywill soak in. I’ll have to wash it three times later.’
After the plunger was pushed all the way in, he pulled out the needle and tossed it into the trash along with the empty vial, nodding. He still had things to discuss with that little rat, but he had missed the timing because the rat had bolted the moment he woke up.
“What about Lee Hee-jung?”
“There’s no sign of him anywhere around here yet. If he went down alone, we’ll likely find him around tomorrow afternoon.”
“He didn’t go alone. Bring up the location.”
At the ghost’s command, Yoo Jeong-ham immediately took out the pad and displayed a wide map. Across the map of the surrounding area, green pins were popping up and sparkling along the roads.
“Still nothing here?”
The place he pointed to with a long finger was where the former military base had been. Due to its nature, it was difficult to install cameras or sensors, so he had sent team members to install them separately, but only the pin for this location remained red.
“It’s taking some time to divert attention due to permit issues. I think it’ll be ready by tomorrow; until then, I’ve stationed patrols and standby units.”
“Why? Let’s just do it next year.”
“Yes… we are moving as quickly as possible….”
“If you see him, cut off his toes first. So he can’t run away.”
“Understood.”
He slid the map slightly to the right with his finger. There were quite a few abandoned neighborhoods nearby. Villages where people would have lived together thirty or forty years ago. Now, they were full of empty houses, likely inhabited instead by a small number of the impoverished who weren’t even registered as residents. To leave the area and go far, they would inevitably be caught by the hub, but he wanted to capture him as soon as possible. His eyes scanned the map several times. Fuck, of all places, he crawled into a shitty neighborhood with no cameras.
“This one already bolted. Scrape every frame captured here and inspect them.”
“Yes.”
“Report it even if it’s something small if it looks suspicious. If you can’t pinpoint him, know that you’ll be the first one thrown into the interrogation room.”
“Yes… I’ll make sure three sets of eyes go over it.”
The ledger Lee Hee-jung possessed was quite important, so it had to be recovered no matter what. He couldn’t just wait after finally finding a clue. While No Pil-gyu, consumed by a lust for power, was gaping open, wanting to start something, Gwak Chun-young was feeding him increasingly dangerous things. The offerings that stupid piece of shit had swallowed had to become his sacrifice.
“What about Gwak Chun-young?”
“He’s currently coming in from the Philippines.”
After the current government took over, backlash was inevitable during the process of pruning rotten branches. They were the ‘Node faction,’ the lackeys of the failed government. Those at the forefront were currently all awaiting trial or in detention centers, but recently, they had begun gathering again under the surface one by one. Naturally, they were far more violent and far more meticulous.
Recently, Gwak Chun-young had started tinkering with the idea of joining the Node. He should have had his hands tied and been thrown behind bars for traveling abroad to buy weapons, but the fucking bastard of a boss, far from helping, was acting as a giant shield for him.
The reason his fatigue had doubled over the past year was entirely because of No Pil-gyu. To avoid the eyes of his closest superior while working twice as hard, the man felt as if ten bodies would not be enough.
“Confirm if weapons are going into the Node.”
“Yes.”
Even if the core strength of the Node had diminished slightly with the new administration, it was a different story if Gwak Chun-young joined. If weapons were handed to losers living in a delusional state of persecution, it could escalate into a coup or terrorism. Even if the ledger was found first, putting Gwak Chun-young away was a higher priority than No Pil-gyu. Where and how should I start breaking this bastard? He pondered, his eyes fixed on the map.
Knock, knock.
“What.”
The one who answered beyond the door was Yoo Jeong-ham. He had expected that only a team member would knock at this hour, but the hesitant response that came back missed the mark completely.
“Um. It’s Geum Seoul.”
At those words, Yoo Jeong-ham closed the program and looked toward his superior. Silence meant he could be let in. As he pulled open the heavy door, Geum Seoul was standing there, still looking drenched. Stepping aside to let him in, Yoo Jeong-ham passed the doorway of the CEO’s office.
“Excuse me….”
Instead of answering, Guichang silently increased the depth of his inhalation. It was to gauge the pheromone scent.
“I’m sorry for suddenly running out earlier.”
“Yeah. You should be sorry.”
Though fainter than when the door first opened, Geum Seoul, who was still emitting the scent, simply stood there despite the gesture toward the sofa.
“My clothes are wet.”
If one had to choose between the rain-soaked Geum Seoul and the sofa that Park Gil-pyeong probably spent all day chatting on, the latter would be far filthier, yet Geum Seoul insisted on standing steadfastly, showing a consideration for whom he didn’t even know. Guichang, not bothering to invite him to sit again, spat out the question he should have asked earlier.
“Are you sure Lee Hee-jung is hiding in that house?”
“Yes. He said his parents were looking for him and he had to go meet them. But, [visit our site]class="wm-strong" style="position:relative;display:inline;">[stolen content]because it was too early and dangerous, I told him it would be better to wait there until sunrise….”
Why is this bastard so scared? He didn’t even raise his hand, let alone show any spirit. He cut short the thought that arose while watching the trembling Geum Seoul through narrowed eyes. It was too generous a gaze to be one given to a disadvantaged neighbor.
“I’ll ask again. Are you sure? The other kids said there was no sign of you after you went into your room in the early morning.”
“I went down by climbing over the second-floor window frame. Right there.”
His fingers, poking out from his sleeves, wiggled slightly, and only after he gripped the index finger of one hand tightly with the other did he speak again.
“I’m sorry. For lying….”
“Yeah. You should be sorry for that too. What did he say? On the way you were taking him.”
Ignoring the second apology, the man continued to check off his list of questions. Geum Seoul glanced at him and pressed his lips together once more. Even so, because of the fake braces, his upper lip quickly popped up and parted again.
From the previous encounter at the vacant lot, Guichang had figured out how to handle the wretched man before him. He might not know how to pry apart fingers that fidgeted anxiously, but the way to open his throat was as clear as if he had seen an instruction manual. He leaned down.
Screech.
He pulled out a bottle of bottled water from a bulk-packed stack inside the desk and Read on Read BL Novelsvisit our siteEND: Read [stolen content]on Read BL Novels -->walked over. The transparent plastic bottle was placed on the edge of the cheap glass table.
“If you’re exhausted, you need to drink plenty of water. Take it.”
He spoke words that mimicked kindness, sounding very generous, but in reality, it was a type of coaxing tactic. The first lure. And immediately after, he added soothing words.
“You have to tell me everything without leaving anything out so I can find him quickly and take him to his parents.”
At the honey-like lies, Geum Seoul’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Guichang wondered if it was necessary to make such a determined face while staring intently at the water bottle. In any case, it meant it was time for the correct answer to emerge.
“This place… it’s hard to get up here without a car.”
He wasn’t unaware of that. From the mountainside, there was only one road, and even that was so narrow and rugged that one had to switch from a Humvee to a two-wheeled or three-wheeled vehicle. It wasn’t as if it were filled with trees like the intentionally designed parks inside Seoul. It was all blackened ash, collapsed houses and their debris, or otherwise, unidentified trash that Seoul had dumped in heaps.
This too was part of the previous government’s ‘Rogue Expulsion Operation.’ There was nowhere to lean or rest for a moment. That was why he had judged that Lee Hee-jung could not go down alone.
Presumably, people with means of transportation would be the suspects, but there were quite a few people in the neighborhood with three-wheeled vehicles, and there were a few transport vehicles available for public use in emergencies, so that level of speculation wasn’t very helpful.
“But we, um… there’s a separate time for moving guests during the auction.”
Guichang’s eyes, leaning on the desk, held a slight hint of a smile.
“Nice size, you’ve even got a shuttle.”
“There’s a guy who lives behind here and only does that job. Usually, he goes around gambling, and only comes during the auction….”
Im Gyun-il. He was a guy he had seen in the documents when checking the personnel of this neighborhood. He even recalled the specific detail that the man rarely returned home recently because he was obsessed with a gambling house in the next neighborhood.
“So. Did you tell him he could leave then?”
Geum Seoul nodded vigorously. That was truly all. He said he had to go to his parents, that he had been captured and brought here on the way to them, and asked for help. That’s why he wanted to help. Because his parents were looking for him.
Park Gil-pyeong might fume for days and swing his fists, but he wasn’t the type to personally wander around looking for a missing Gemstone. Especially in the hot summer, he found it grueling even to come to the neighborhood, so he usually ordered someone else to find the person. Therefore, he just had to get him out of this building. While thinking, a house came to mind where he could hide for a while, and since there was an auction in a few days, he told him to hold out until then and he would have Im Gyun-il take him.
“…Uh.”
He looked as if he were about to say more, then suddenly fumbled with a wet pocket. Guichang shifted his gaze to where he was looking. On the table, next to the water bottle, was the snack bag he had dropped when he collapsed. It was a size that probably held only two or three square biscuits, and he seemed bewildered as to whether it was his. His obsession with food was a result of a poverty ingrained in his body.
“You think it’s mine? Take it.”
Rustle.
Only then did he quickly bend his waist and put the snack bag in his pocket. In the process, he grabbed the water bottle as well. The plastic bottle, which was small in Guichang’s hand, was large enough to be slightly cumbersome for those fingers. Guichang wondered if he was hungry, but the parting lips said something else.
“I thought Noki might not have eaten anything.”
“…….”
For an excuse, the voice was too neat. Since the other party had disappeared, it didn’t mean he was going to give it now. It meant he had been caught by Guichang on the way to find Lee Hee-jung with that. The sound of rustling could be heard slightly through the fabric, as if he were lingeringly rubbing the single snack in his pocket. He had heard that among the Gemstones, there were some who diligently sold their own Gemstones to save quite a bit of money, but since he lived in this kind of neighborhood and his grade was such a mess, even a cheap piece of food seemed precious.
There was no pity. Life was naturally unfair. Guichang was simply bothered by the raw, subtle green scent that still brushed beneath his nose.
“By the way, what did you agree to receive?”
At the dry voice, Geum Seoul, who had been looking somewhere into the air, lifted his chin. He blinked with an expression that suggested he didn’t quite understand.
“What thing?”
To the blankly asked question, Guichang asked again.
“The price for letting Lee Hee-jung escape. What did you agree to receive?”
He wondered if this kid even knew what Lee Hee-jung possessed. Even if it wasn’t broadcasted, if the ‘share’ had been emphasized, he might have noticed the weight of it. However, this time too, Geum Seoul only repeated the slow lowering and raising of his eyelashes.
His hair, not yet fully dry, revealed his eyes more clearly than when it was frizzy and clumped together. Even just looking at them, his eyes were quite neatly round. Even with a fake nose and fake mouth plastered on, they held enough sorrow that Guichang could somewhat understand why he walked around with his hair covering his eyes as if to stab them.
“Uh….”
While having such thoughts, Geum Seoul, who seemed to be searching his mind diligently, slowly dragged out his words.
“…I told him it would be good for me too if he found his parents. I said that.”
When asked for the price, a nonsensical answer returned, which, from Guichang’s perspective, seemed like an incredibly stupid move. This time, he asked something else. Regardless of what he had agreed to receive or if he had decided to help without conditions, Guichang would find Lee Hee-jung anyway, so Geum Seoul would end up empty-handed.
“How much is the errand fee?”
“Pardon?”
Despite being asked to repeat himself twice, Guichang was unusually patient. Because of the color of the pupils he had just seen. Or because of Geum Seoul’s pheromones.
“The price for your body, scurrying around.”
A life moved by pocket change. The price of his utility would be cheap. At that question, Geum Seoul’s gaze slanted downward. Whether he didn’t know how to answer, or if his pride was wounded. Just as the prolonged silence was becoming frustrating.
“…It varies a bit, but the most expensive is….”
“What, is it market price?”
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