By Zephyria The Starlight Road, cloaked in darkness, was bleak and eerie, a far cry from its name.
Jin Mu-hae strode quickly down the neighborhood streets, so familiar he could navigate them with his eyes closed.
A hooded figure, Joo-oh, scurried beside him, as if trying to keep up.
All the way here, Joo-oh had been repeating similar words like an automaton.
“Don’t leave me behind.”
“……”
“I was helpful.”
“……”
“I’ll help you a lot.”
“Watch your step when you walk. And stop chattering.”
Frustration repeatedly surged within Mu-hae. Yet, when he tried to get angry, his body stiffened.
The emotions swirling inside weren’t just frustration. Since earlier, the scene at the bar kept replaying in his mind.
…Joo-oh’s frightened face. His pitiful appearance, panting in panic.
Meanwhile, the knife Joo-oh had dropped was crushed beyond recognition.
It was as if he had tried his best to obey the order to stay still, his pathetic endurance evident.
‘Didn’t I tell him not to take off his hood?’
‘I didn’t. But that guy, he….’
Looking aggrieved, Joo-oh glanced back at the bar they had left behind several times.
Seeing him huffily adjusting his hood, Mu-hae couldn’t press the matter further.
At the mention of calling the security forces, he had simply hurried away. Getting caught up in troublesome matters was enough with the battle the previous day.
“It really wasn’t my fault.”
After that, Joo-oh attempted to converse several times, unsure whether he was being cautious or complaining.
It had already been over 30 minutes, so he seemed determined to continue until Mu-hae responded properly.
Clang.
As soon as they arrived home and opened the door, Joo-oh threw off his hood.
With slightly disheveled hair, he dashed inside.
His eyes were filled with determination, as if he were staking his claim before anyone could kick him out.
Mu-hae chuckled in spite of himself.
“Not taking off your shoes?”
“I will.”
Joo-oh cautiously backed away and took off his boots. His eyes, peeking up, were constantly scanning Mu-hae.
“Get in. Don’t block the way.”
Only after Mu-hae gestured towards the house did Joo-oh’s face brighten.
The drooping corners of his eyes perked up, as if he had never been sulking with his lips jutted out.
Jin Mu-hae cracked his neck, making a popping sound, and slowly followed him into the living room.
Joo-oh was audaciously hesitating between the old sofa and Mu-hae’s bed. He hadn’t been told he could go on the bed, but he subtly tried to lie down there whenever he got the chance.
“Sit down.”
Mu-hae said casually and took off his jacket. It was dry now, but he had sweated a bit earlier from hurrying so much.
He naturally had little body odor, so he didn’t smell bad, but he wanted to finish things quickly and take a shower.
Joo-oh, who had been staring blankly into space for a moment, crept towards the bed.
Thud. His not-so-small frame settled onto Mu-hae’s bed. Before Mu-hae could say anything, he smiled brightly, his eyes crinkling.
“At the bar earlier….”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“I’m not blaming you, just listen. You probably saw it at the bar earlier. How troublesome it gets if I don’t do as I’m told.”
Mu-hae sat on the sofa opposite him and crossed his arms.
Another aggrieved look peeked out from his eyes as he met Mu-hae’s gaze.
“But.”
“What.”
“Jin Mu-hae goes around with his face uncovered too.”
Backtalk… Now, he not only chattered at every opportunity but also expressed his own opinions quite well.
Mu-hae was about to snap, ‘Are you and I the same?’ but instead, he frowned and fell into thought.
This was a bit awkward. What should he say if Joo-oh asked how they were different?
That he looked like he was easy to take advantage of? That his face would attract all sorts of unsavory characters?
Simply put, it was because he was just good-looking. He had a captivating charm that immediately caught the eye.
But for some reason, Mu-hae didn’t want to say such things out loud. He raised one eyebrow and said in an unnecessarily stiff voice,
“Because you have the kind of face that attracts weirdos.”
“What’s that?”
Joo-oh, pouting again, wiggled his feet in dissatisfaction.
“Jin Mu-hae is better looking.”
Surprisingly, he seemed to understand what Mu-hae was saying right away.
Then, as if realizing something, Joo-oh’s eyes sparkled with energy.
“…Do you like looking at me?”
“What?”
“Does Jin Mu-hae like looking at me, too?”
Mu-hae visibly paused for a moment, then frowned and turned his head away.
Did he like looking at him? Was that even a question? From the moment he picked him up, he knew Joo-oh was a pampered young master.
Not only was he flawless from head to toe, but more than anything, if someone with his looks stayed in the slums, he wouldn’t have had a good time in any Comfort zone.
“Heh, haha.”
He hadn’t answered, but Joo-oh seemed to have read his thoughts. He giggled and swayed from side to side.
Suddenly, he jumped up and rushed towards the sofa.
Warm arms wrapped around Mu-hae’s waist, clinging to him.
“Let go.”
“Mmm.”
“I said let go.”
“I’m glad you like looking at me.”
Joo-oh mumbled, hugging Mu-hae without permission.
It was an awkward closeness. It was almost better when he was clinging to his arm in front of others.
Seeing how happy he looked as he glanced down, Mu-hae couldn’t bring himself to kick him away and just rubbed his forehead.
“Anyway, make sure no one touches your hood. Keep it on unless you’re told to take it off.”
“Okay. I understand.”
“And get lost.”
He couldn’t kick him, but he did push him away with his foot. Joo-oh, who seemed like he would resist with all his might, surprisingly let go easily.
“I’m going to shower first, so don’t do anything weird and just rest quietly.”
“Can I stay here?”
“No. Go to your room.”
He quickly stopped Joo-oh from returning to his bed. With a stern face, Mu-hae grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom.
Swish-.
As the hot water poured over his head, the tension in his shoulders melted away.
Jin Mu-hae closed his eyes and let out a long, languid sigh. Clear water dripped down his firm jawline.
‘A document with conditional formatting….’
The unexpected result made the bleak future seem a little brighter.
Mu-hae’s job wouldn’t be to fill the empty space with new information, but to find clues and reveal the hidden document.
“Hooo.”
The more he thought about it, the more amazing it seemed. Just a month ago, he had been running like a bison, trying to raise over 200,000 Deal.
No one had ever told him to complete it, but he had taken it as a mission and charged straight ahead. He had lived like that for so long that it felt like he would live that way forever.
Sleeping, working, eating, working, sleeping, and working again.
But now, he was involved in a mission that had nothing to do with money.
Project Solar. It was still related to his father, but… this was more idealistic and grand.
It was the most exciting and unique goal he had ever experienced in his 24 years of life.
‘Things are quite eventful.’
However, too much had changed suddenly.
The pawnshop issue, which had occupied a large part of his life, had been resolved, and he had taken on a seemingly dangerous project.
And he couldn’t leave out the fact that a human had joined him so naturally.
It was clearly separate from his father’s legacy, but Mu-hae felt that this mysterious missing person was on the same track.
Clearing all his remaining debts and stepping into a new world had definitely happened after he found Joo-oh.
In the face of all those changes, Joo-oh always had a look in his eyes that said he ‘knew’ something.
‘Project Solar… experiments in Solar City….’
Something suspicious was in the air, but in the first place, Kan Rano, where Jin Mu-hae had found Joo-oh, was located in a completely different direction from Solar City.
If you were to go from Goryeo City to Seogyeong City in the north, and then to Kan Rano in the north, and then circle around the sea, you could say you were heading towards Solar City.
However, no one, past or present, would have visited Solar City that way. It was more logical to cross the sea by hovercraft or fly by plane.
So, the idea that Joo-oh was an Experiment from that area and that Project Solar was related to Solar City was just a far-fetched guess.
As a mercenary, Mu-hae inevitably valued his senses, but he had never neglected cold-blooded judgment.
Beep- beep-!
Wiping the water dripping from his hair, Jin Mu-hae casually tapped his Link Watch and manipulated it.
Whoosh!
A hologram appeared, displaying a new document in front of him.
The information obtained through Shin Dae-soo, as expected, was not closely related to the research content.
He seemed to have been involved in the network and security aspects of the project rather than Crystal Blue as a participant.
Still, as Mu-hae carefully examined the document, he learned that there were a total of twenty-one people who shared the same goal.
Assuming that all of them were intellectuals with some level of education, Project Solar would have been a much larger study than Mu-hae had guessed.
And….
‘There’s something like an emergency contact network.’
There were nine-digit numbers attached to unknown categories such as River, Mountain, Gu-reum, and Sun.
They seemed to be contact numbers, but the length and structure were slightly different from the phone numbers used in Goryeo City.
He needed to investigate further, but it seemed he had obtained quite important information. Mu-hae grabbed a towel, finished drying his hair, and put the Watch in his pants pocket.
Opening the bathroom door, he felt the silent, dry air brush against his skin.
‘Is he asleep?’
The light in the study he glanced at was completely off. Joo-oh often stayed awake without turning on the lights, but he couldn’t even hear humming or the clatter of various objects.
Well, he had a reason to be tired. He had traveled a long distance for two days, and to top it off, he had gotten into a fight.
Clicking his tongue softly, Mu-hae turned towards the living room, and an unexpected sight caught his eye.
“……”
A man was curled up on the bed, which had sunk slightly.
He had Mu-hae’s jacket, which he had taken off, draped over his shoulders like a blanket.
His eyes, which had been closed, suddenly fluttered open. When he met Mu-hae’s gaze, his alluringly curved eyes held a deep satisfaction.
His brazen face was so presumptuous and absurd.
Jin Mu-hae was about to kick him off, but he lost his energy, frowned, and turned away.