By Zephyria 
Cheong grinned, baring his fangs. He listlessly stirred his salad.
“More than anything, the bracelet—the one who needs it isn’t you, but the leader of the secret society. So, the Deal should be with them, right? Don’t you think?”
The man, who had been talking nonsense, quickly got to the point with a serious look on his face. At some point, his gaze was fixed on Mu-hae.
His lips were still curved in a smile, but it didn’t seem like he would simply hand over the bracelet.
He must have a price in mind, talking in circles and dragging out the time. Mu-hae, with a calm expression, cut his steak, trying to figure out Cheong’s intentions.
“You’ve risen in status, haven’t you? Seems like you’re making more money than last time too.”
“More than someone who talks about 100,000 Deal with stolen goods, I’d hope so.”
“I’m not joking. I really need luck. The world is usually seventy percent luck and thirty percent skill, so I have to scrape up even the tiniest bit of someone else’s luck to keep my position.”
He didn’t turn his head once while speaking. But even with such brief hints, it was clear what Cheong wanted.
Damn it. Mu-hae’s face, which had been trying to maintain composure, turned cold. He glanced at Joo-oh, who was swallowing a large piece of meat as if his cheeks hadn’t been puffed up just moments ago.
“And at this point, it’s not just about being lucky. Either the heavens are helping you, or you’re helping yourself like crazy, and I’m all for either.”
Crunch. As soon as he finished speaking, Cheong put a mouthful of fresh greens into his mouth. The scene alone made Mu-hae lose his appetite, and he pushed aside the steak he had only been cutting.
“Like someone said, the one who needs the bracelet isn’t that guy, but me. According to that logic, shouldn’t you be making a Deal with me?”
“Haha, since there’s something you want, you’re not leaving your seat this time.”
The way he was grinning was like a sly merchant. If Cheong’s head was working properly, he would know that such a request would never be accepted, yet he was being overly nonchalant.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something from last time, but I’m not saying to hand over anyone’s personal safety. I know that there’s an owner, so you don’t have to glare at me like that.”
Cheong picked up a piece of braised meat and suddenly held it out to Joo-oh. Joo-oh readily took it and even enjoyed the hand that stroked him.
Then, remembering the warning not to let just anyone touch him, he belatedly pulled his head back slightly and looked at Mu-hae.
But… hadn’t he already done everything? Mu-hae’s expression, which had been unchanging, slowly began to crack. If it was a ploy, it had worked perfectly.
“I just want to borrow him. Whether your puppy knows anything or not, I think he’ll definitely be helpful.”
“Borrow? A person?”
“Think of it as sending manpower support to our side. I’ll pay you separately, about three or four days a month.”
Cheong’s voice lost its playfulness, as if he thought it was a reasonable offer. Objectively speaking, it wasn’t a bad condition.
In exchange for sending Joo-oh for just a few days a month, he could get the bracelet and a steady payment.
Joo-oh would also be able to gorge on expensive food while he was here, and maybe he would bring back information he overheard from Cheong’s side.
But Mu-hae’s gaze remained fixed on Joo-oh’s disheveled hair.
“Jin Mu-hae…”
He was the kind of guy who looked for warmth and crawled into someone else’s bed every time he slept. Since bringing Joo-oh from the hospital, Mu-hae had never let him sleep outside the house even once.
So, no matter the conditions, he felt disgusted. Before rationally weighing the pros and cons, annoyance boiled up.
“Support my ass.”
The sharp knife was placed on the table with a thud. Jin Mu-hae pushed the neatly cut steak in front of Joo-oh.
“Eat it all up. We’re leaving.”
Joo-oh, who had been staring blankly into space, nodded as his eyes lit up. Waap. Three pieces of steak disappeared into his mouth at once.
Cheong must be mistaken about something, but Mu-hae had no intention of clinging to him and making a Deal from the start.
What Olga asked them was the whereabouts of the bracelet, not its return. Now that he had heard the person himself confirm that he had taken it, whether that crazy bastard asked for 100,000 Deal or 1,000,000 Deal, it was her problem to deal with.
“Really? You’re just leaving like this?”
It wouldn’t be good for Cheong to know about his promise with Olga. Mu-hae ignored Cheong’s attempt to probe his hand with silence.
Meanwhile, Joo-oh, who had completely devoured not only Mu-hae’s steak but also the braised meat, dangled his legs as if he was ready.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Joo-oh pushed back his chair with a clatter and stuck to Mu-hae’s arm. Cheong, who had been silently watching the scene, shrugged and muttered.
“That’s not what I meant by borrowing, you’re being too sensitive.”
“Mu-hae says no.”
“Too bad. Right? By the way, where did you put that?”
Cheong, who was incredibly quick to speak again, raised his thumb and made a gesture of slitting his throat. Unlike Mu-hae, who wondered what trick he was up to, Joo-oh seemed to understand the meaning immediately.
“It’s gone now.”
“Did you cross the line first?”
“Yeah. Cheong wouldn’t have liked it either.”
Only after hearing that did Mu-hae realize that there was something between them that he didn’t know about.
When exactly? They were always together for requests and Return flights, and Joo-oh always stuck to him like glue whenever they went anywhere.
“Wait a minute.”
Joo-oh suddenly let go of his arm and quickly approached Cheong. As he whispered something in the man’s ear, an intriguing smile appeared on his unpleasant lips.
“So that’s how it was? I really want him.”
Cheong’s gaze went under the table. He reached down, and there was a sound of something small breaking.
He quickly looked around and called a guard with a gesture. Soon, a man with a pale face was dragged in front of them.
“From now on, it’s a bit personal, so shall we meet again later?”
“I helped you.”
“Well. It’s not enough of a price… but it was useful. I’ll keep it as a debt, I guess.”
Cheong rummaged through his inner pocket and took out something that made a clinking sound. A pure white metal object. A Platinum bracelet.
In that instant, Mu-hae felt his nerves vibrate like guitar strings. Before he could even figure out what was going on, he walked straight to Joo-oh.
He grabbed the hood that had been pushed back and pulled it up, causing Joo-oh, who had his neck dangling, to gasp.
“Who told you to accept something like that without permission?”
“I didn’t, cough, accept it yet.”
“Wow. Do you need permission for something like this?”
Cheong’s face, which was clearly admiring in a negative way, was disgustingly slick. Mu-hae pushed Joo-oh away with a stern look and snatched the bracelet with a thud.
He ignored the muttering voice that said, “He’s taking it anyway,” and grabbed Joo-oh’s arm, dragging him out the door.
Bang. Until the moment the door closed, Joo-oh couldn’t even throw out a meaningless greeting like “Goodbye.”
“What did you do?”
“Huh?”
“What kind of flattery did you use to get him to just give it to you?”
The simple Platinum bracelet sparkled in Mu-hae’s fingertips. Joo-oh, not knowing what was going on, just followed Mu-hae with a wronged expression.
After escaping the noisy goblin neon buildings and completely leaving the bustling streets of Sakdal. After boarding the train, Joo-oh finally seemed to realize the reason and tugged at Mu-hae’s sleeve.
“I didn’t give it because he touched me.”
“What?”
“He would have given it to me even if he didn’t touch me. I told him about the bug.”
He had a truly confident look on his face. As if he had completely forgotten that he had put his mouth to Cheong’s ear and whispered.
Even so, he was still cautiously watching Mu-hae. He seemed to be bothered by the fact that he had let him stroke his head.
“…Damn it.”
At this point, the one who got angry felt embarrassed. Cooling down the heat that had risen to his head, Joo-oh hadn’t really done anything wrong.
Accepting the meat that someone gave him was a natural thing for him, and he had rushed in because it seemed like Mu-hae was giving up on the bracelet.
But he still couldn’t shake off the frustration. Mu-hae, with his brow furrowed tightly, sat him down on the window seat with a thud.
“You didn’t have to take the bracelet. Why did you act on your own?”
“I know. But.”
Joo-oh pouted and looked out the window. The train slowly started, and the sleepless city of Sakdal was gradually moving away.
“There was something I wanted to see.”
Muttering in a voice so small it was almost swallowed, Joo-oh stared blankly at the passing scenery of the city.
He looked unusually subdued, unlike his usual self.
It was late at night when they arrived at Starlight Road.
Mu-hae took a quick shower and went to bed early.
If it had been Jaegang District, Joo-oh would have quickly taken the seat next to him, but here, he had his own room.
A dark study where his father’s furniture was still intact.
“……”
When he woke up in the middle of the night. Mu-hae saw a figure crouching next to the bed.
Joo-oh, as if he had woken up from sleep, was sitting there, staring blankly into space. Even in the darkness, his eyes were particularly easy to read.
“What are you doing, not coming up?”
When he spoke in a deeply sunken voice, the crouching body flinched.
“I thought Jin Mu-hae was angry.”
Joo-oh turned his head slightly and looked at Mu-hae. Since when had he been so considerate of other people’s feelings and kept his distance?
When Mu-hae lifted the blanket, he quietly climbed into the bed. The body that was close to him made his heart pound.
After sleeping for a while, the events of the previous day felt as distant as someone else’s memory. Joo-oh, who was creating secrets one by one without him knowing, and himself, who had been getting more and more annoyed since some point.
“Really, I still don’t remember.”
“……”
“But I wanted to see her.”
“Who?”
“Olga. What she likes.”
As if he had said a secret, Joo-oh took a breath. Then he snuggled even closer into Mu-hae’s arms and slowly inhaled his scent.
Come to think of it, Joo-oh was going to give her a Tinkle figure too, wasn’t he? He made it obvious that he liked her so much, even though he had only seen her for one day.
Well, he was like that when he first met Mu-hae too. He desperately followed him as if he were his mother duck, even though he didn’t know him.
Except when he was blankly spacing out or eating, he was always talking about Jin Mu-hae, Jin Mu-hae all day long. As if he had met someone he had been longing for for a long time.
Right. Joo-oh still had a past that he hadn’t found. Mu-hae vaguely guessed that if he kept blocking him, he would remain in this state forever.
But was that necessarily a bad thing? His subconscious murmured in his sleep…
“But if Jin Mu-hae doesn’t like it, I don’t have to see her.”
Soon, a pleasant whisper awakened his mind. Hearing the determined voice, as if he had made a big decision, the sinister inner thoughts disappeared.
Feeling a strange change of heart, Mu-hae closed his eyes again.
“Do whatever you want, and go to sleep.”