By Zephyria Sakdal’s evenings are a time when there’s no time to even blink.
Visitors flock from all over, drinking, playing games, laughing and enjoying themselves noisily, and then suddenly getting into fights.
This commotion continues until the late hours of the night, and most Sakdal employees are used to a life where day and night are reversed.
The same goes for the one who manages this licentious street, and Cheong would mix a stimulant into his smoke around 11 PM to wake himself up.
Sss- Thump!
Thud, Bang-!
It was around that time that the commotion broke out in the otherwise quiet building.
“What is it?”
He was exhaling white smoke through his teeth, trying to calm his throbbing head, when suddenly his secretary burst in to report an intrusion.
“By elevator? How?”
Even if the guys guarding the main gate were taken down, you’d have to use the elevator to get here.
It’s impossible to force it open, and even if someone stole another person’s Watch or chip to get on, the guard monitoring it could stop the operation and leave them stranded.
“Well… it seems they weren’t a stranger, so they were sent up.”
As soon as he heard the report, Cheong shut his mouth. He had recently singled out one person and instructed that if he visited, they should not be bothered and simply be sent up.
Joo-oh. A beauty with a strange atmosphere. He didn’t believe in ghosts or religion, but as someone with jinxes, Cheong thought that this interesting connection actually brought him luck.
For Cheong, another word for luck was interest and excitement, so it wasn’t entirely a wrong belief. Jin Mu-hae and Joo-oh, whom he had discovered this year, were both beings he wanted to observe for a long time.
But what was all this commotion about?
Bang-!
Was that just the sound of a gunshot?
“As soon as they asked about his purpose at the entrance to the VIP floor, he suddenly knocked down the guards.”
“What?”
Cheong, who was about to get annoyed at the absurd report, waved his hand to cut off the conversation.
Seeing is believing. He turned on the panel on the wall while still sitting. The entire wall with its high ceiling turned into CCTV screens from various angles.
In the first screen, one side of the luxurious hallway was largely destroyed from the entrance. When he turned his eyes to the screen where the guards were gathered, a person wearing a black hood was leaping up, using the wall as a foothold.
Catch him!
Taser… Keuk!
Because there are so many people in a circle, the guards Cheong employs are no ordinary guys.
Some were brought in after showing promise in gambling dens, and others are martial arts experts who could take down a Beast with their bare hands even if they were active duty right now.
And yet, they were making a fuss about not being able to stop just one person in the maze-like hallway. Every time Joo-oh’s hand brushed against one of them, they lost their balance and fell.
Keuk!
He even had a gun stolen just now. He threw it back, not intending to fire it, but if he had wanted to, there could have been fatalities.
Ding-!
Thinking that this was going to be difficult, the elevator opened with a bang and a group of guards rushed in.
Even if they just hit him once each with their numbers, the average person’s head would explode.
But Joo-oh’s face didn’t show a hint of embarrassment as he watched. He peeked his head up and stared at the CCTV.
Left, right?
As if asking the screen, Joo-oh brought his face close to the lens.
Jijijijik-!
Then the screen in the hallway where he was being filmed experienced a connection failure. Thump. Kwaang! Eerie noises were gradually approaching Cheong’s hidden office.
“Master?”
“Leave it.”
Cheong straightened his posture, adjusting his clothes. The headache that had been bothering him was, ridiculously, getting better.
Before long, the doorknob was twisted as if it were being torn off, and the figure he had been waiting for appeared.
A man who showed no signs of exhaustion or even a ruffled breath, despite all the commotion he had caused.
Eyes shining like jewels and a clear face that made it impossible to know what he was thinking.
“…You held back? Didn’t you?”
Opening his mouth, Cheong gestured for his secretary to leave. It was difficult to keep a dangerous person and his master together, but Cheong’s instructions were always firm.
Thud. Eventually, the secretary closed the broken door and left the room. Only after hearing the sound of the guards who had belatedly rushed in gradually dispersing did Cheong speak to the expressionless Joo-oh once more.
“It’s strange. I thought you were fighting on behalf of your protector.”
“……”
“Strangely, I feel like calling the guards would only make things worse for me. I have a pretty good sense for these things, you know.”
Crash! No sooner had he finished speaking than Joo-oh kicked the wall. The expensive panel shattered and instantly went black.
The corners of Cheong’s mouth, which had been smiling until then, hardened at the violent behavior.
“No matter how much I adore you, I can’t tolerate a rampage. Your protector is a beggar, so how are you going to pay me back?”
“Jin Mu-hae.”
“Even if he’s a beggar?”
“Jin Mu-hae almost died.”
The focus in his red eyes seemed a little blurry. As fragments of the broken panel fell onto his head, Joo-oh grabbed them without looking and crushed them into small pieces.
The hands that should have been stabbed and cut were not only unharmed, but didn’t even have a scratch. For someone who knew that those hands were soft without a single callus, it was enough to send shivers down their spine.
“Haha… I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I never tried to kill that guy.”
“You knew he’d get hurt.”
“That’s what mercenaries do.”
“Cheong sold Jin Mu-hae to murderers.”
Thuk. Unable to listen any longer, Cheong placed the glass rod he was holding on the desk. He frowned, exhaled smoke, and gestured to Joo-oh.
“That’s news to me? So come over here and tell me slowly. It’ll be easier for you to see if I’m lying if you sit here, wouldn’t it?”
Cheong’s back stiffened as he casually tapped his knee.
As Joo-oh approached without suspicion, his toe touched the lever under the desk at the right moment.
Paak!
A steel cage made of alloy rose from the floor. The spot where Joo-oh was standing was instantly isolated.
“Even if you weren’t educated, it’s not okay to use violence like a Beast. And there’s a misnomer in the word ‘sold’. I didn’t receive anything in return.”
Cheong got up lightly from his seat and tapped the cage.
“I was curious. I heard there were more people who knew about your interesting gathering. I thought it would be nice to set up a meeting to see what would happen.”
“……Not ‘that’?”
“What’s that?”
Cheong shrugged and turned his body at the small mumbling.
He was about to put the glass rod he had put down earlier in his mouth and inhale, but Puddeudeudeu…!
A strange noise, as if metal was twisting, came from behind him. Sure enough, the bars of the cage he glanced at were bent every which way.
He pushed the remaining bars with his arms and crushed them, and then delicate hands came right up to his face.
Kwok. Cheong’s body collided with the hard wall as his neck was pressed. His sharp eyes widened at the unbelievable sight.
“Keuk… This…”
“I’m going to scold you.”
“Kill, are you going to?”
“I didn’t know they were related to that place. So I’ll only scold you moderately.”
Cheong’s eyes scanned the broken cage, the shattered panel, and the tightly closed door before finally turning to Joo-oh.
A man with good sense and quick judgment. The manager of Sakdal who had crawled up to this position with just his rolling head.
He coughed, his face reddened, and then he smiled crookedly.
“I’m glad I sent them all out, Hoo-uk. You would have beaten me until only I was left, right?”
“Yes.”
“Are you even human?”
“I am.”
As if telling him to do whatever he wanted, Cheong tilted his chin, and Paak! With a painful impact sound, his body collapsed.
Finally, he could breathe, but Cheong couldn’t even touch his neck and was lying on the floor with his head buried.
His left arm, which had been hit, was trembling. He couldn’t put any strength into it, as if there was something wrong with the bone.
Crash, meanwhile, Joo-oh overturned the heavy desk as well. Only after turning the room upside down and venting his anger did the heavy and chilly air gradually subside.
“Haa… Call a doctor.”
Cheong, who had staggered to his feet, called his secretary on the intercom.
“No. Just leave the guy who’s leaving alone. Just the doctor.”
Even in a situation that could not be understood by common sense, his head was working quickly. Amidst the face enduring the pain, a faint desire was also rising.
His head was spinning from the sudden attack, but his eyes were clearer and more energetic than ever.
A strong interest that offset the pain was enveloping his entire body.
“A warning…”
Kwaang. Watching the back of the figure who had closed the door and disappeared with a strange gaze, Cheong tidied his disheveled hair.
It was surprisingly perfect for something he had re-tied with one hand.