By Zephyria 
“Min-ho Hyung is waiting outside, right?”
“…Forget it. Just finish up quickly.”
He didn’t want to stain others with his nightmare. Everyone probably noticed that he couldn’t go deep inside and was only lingering near the entrance. Min-ho moistened his parched lips and spoke, pretending to be calm.
“How on earth do you find places like this?”
It was the kind of place that only appeared in movies when gangsters fought over territory. A dark, desolate, and musty atmosphere. The only saving grace was that it was very different from the abandoned warehouse in his memories, and he had reliable colleagues by his side. He also wasn’t in a position where his hands were tied or he was being threatened. Perhaps that’s why he felt he could hold his own.
“How scared I must have been, being all alone.”
For someone who claimed to be scared, wasn’t he sitting too comfortably smoking a cigarette? Moreover, the guys on their knees were all beaten up, so it was obvious which way the momentum had swung. Min-ho and Mu-gyeong’s gazes met as they shook their heads. If he’d been scared twice, he probably would have killed someone. They didn’t say it, but it was clear they were thinking the same thing.
“Phew.”
Gyu-oh took a deep drag of the cigarette, making his cheeks hollow, then exhaled a long breath and threw the butt to the ground. In a way that didn’t match the cluttered space, he crushed the ember out with a clean sneaker. Min-ho’s eyes followed that brief movement.
“Then let’s get on with this quickly.”
“…”
He’s still wearing them. He seemed to wear them almost every day since they were bought. That makes it worth giving him another gift. That frivolous thought was abruptly cut off by someone’s scream.
“Ugh, ack!”
Gyu-oh, lowering his body by bending his knees, grabbed the collar of the man sitting in the middle. He was a man with a particularly thin build among the bulky guys. Although Gyu-oh’s touch was somewhat rough, he had merely pulled the man’s upper body upright, yet the man let out a strange scream and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Stop choking. Repeat what you said earlier.”
“E-earlier? W-what part?”
“W-what part?”
Gyu-oh, mimicking even the stutter, glared fiercely. His naturally sharp eyes pierced through even more coldly.
“W-wait, just a moment. There was too much… too much that I said earlier…”
“Hey. Did you get your intuition beaten out of you too? Are you playing games while we have busy people waiting?”
The guy let go of the collar as if throwing it away and sprang to his feet. Then, he stomped hard on the cigarette butt rolling on the floor, threatening the man. The man’s shoulders flinched at the erratic behavior. Only after Gyu-oh swayed his body from side to side did the man seem to realize what Gyu-oh was talking about.
“Ah, I remember! He, he just said if I pretended to be an employee, the taxes would be, be lower, so he asked to borrow my credit for a few years! I found out later, later that it was a newspaper company. I’m not a reporter, or anything like that…”
“You human, why are you skipping the introduction? This guy is another reporter who worked at that newspaper—no, just the lackey of the guy who wrote the article.”
“Yes, yes, a lackey. He, he even operated that newspaper company. But he wasn’t originally a reporter, just a guy who worked at an errand center… The person who put him in as CEO was probably someone else, probably.”
The thoroughly intimidated man continued to ramble. Gyu-oh, standing crookedly with his arms crossed, had to translate in between.
“A guy from an errand center started a newspaper and released articles pretending to be a reporter. He hired his lackeys as fake employees to pretend to be staff. But why did you write our article?”
Gyu-oh asked, lightly kicking the man’s knee with the tip of his foot. As blood from a burst inside the mouth seeped through the lips and stretched long, the stuttering voice continued.
“I don’t really know that part, I don’t… but the company name changed several times. The reason was, they repeatedly published and then took down articles while digging into construction companies. They said if they got close to the executives? The managers? Of those companies, they should change the newspaper’s name. So, maybe it’s for the same… reason…”
“Then do you know Son Pro?”
Min-ho, who had been standing near the entrance with his arms crossed, abruptly interrupted the man.
“He came a few times. When that person came and went, I could fill my pockets a bit. So I remember him, but I really didn’t know that was… that kind of money when I received it!”
The guy, who had been shouting so fast his face turned bright red, caught his breath.
The connection, which had been blurry, was finally becoming a bit clearer. Mu-gyeong also seemed to have confirmed something from the brief exchange as he brushed off the hem of his coat. It meant their business here was finished.
“Okay. Then today’s visit ends here. Dismissed.”
Gyu-oh clapped his palms together. Taking that as the signal, they stepped away, leaving the bulky guys kneeling behind them.
“W-when do we leave…”
“Until it’s over? That’ll be safer for you too.”
Gyu-oh was right. Since this was a place completely cut off from outside communication, even if someone wanted to retaliate for talking, they wouldn’t be easily found.
After coming completely outside, Gyu-oh closed the iron door. With a screech, he locked the latch and wrapped a rusty chain around it several times. Meanwhile, Min-ho caught his breath, standing a bit apart from Mu-gyeong, who was heading toward the car. He scanned the surroundings with a gaze that hadn’t fully relaxed.
CCTVs, whether they worked or not, were half-detached and rolling on the ground as if someone had intentionally broken them, and the surroundings were all fields with few cars passing on the road. Because the streetlights were spaced too far apart, it was a place where you truly wouldn’t be able to see an inch in front of you at night.
“If I knew Hyung was coming along, I would have met you somewhere else.”
Gyu-oh approached, dusting his hands together as if he had finished tidying up. In the way he tilted his head and glanced at Min-ho, there was clearly concern. Perhaps it was because it was the first time he’d heard his voice up close in a few days. For some reason, it felt both unfamiliar and awkward.
“It’s fine. A place like this is perfect for kidnapping threats.”
“…”
Gyu-oh only shrugged without answering, his face looking paler than a few days ago. His weight usually fluctuated a lot when he worked, but it seemed this time had been particularly grueling. After a quick, secret glance, Min-ho reached for the passenger door. He intended to sit in the passenger seat as he had when he arrived, but he was stopped instantly by a large hand. Gyu-oh grabbed his wrist firmly and pulled him by the shoulder with force.
“Why are you spacing out? Get in, quick.”
Gyu-oh acted so frantically that it was dizzying, pushing him toward the back seat. He was practically shoved through the gap in the door, and there was no time to resist. Gyu-oh continued to gesture for him to move further in, tapping his thigh as he sprawled halfway across the seat. As Min-ho hurriedly moved inside, Gyu-oh quickly took the spot next to him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m hungry. Let’s move quickly. Now, go!”
Ignoring his words, Gyu-oh tapped the headrest of the passenger seat, signaling to start. Mu-gyeong, who was just starting the engine, turned his head to scan the back seat.
“One guy says he can’t drive because he’s not sober yet, and another treats me like a taxi. This is so fucking annoying I can’t stand it.”
The voice muttering with a twitching eyebrow was very cold, but he wasn’t particularly angry. Gyu-oh knew that too. That’s why he added playfully, “Driver, to the nearest restaurant, please.” After a few more empty exchanges, Gyu-oh leaned back deeply into the seat.
“I think Son Pro told them to release articles while testing the waters with construction companies. Once they got a bit close, he probably bragged that since he knows the guys who use their fists, he could quietly handle difficult tasks. He’d solve the problem, get a reward, and in the meantime, take some bribes by saying he’d put in a good word with the Executive Director.”
Now Son Pro’s goal was clear. If Son Pro, who was close to the Executive Director of T Corporation, actively dealt with the newspaper publishing malicious articles and promised to help with contract acquisitions, they would believe him, even if it was just a gamble.
“I guess that’s why. I was supposed to take the bait, but I kept slipping away.”
Since he didn’t fall for the trap, they must have published the articles more persistently to put pressure on him. To push the situation into a more difficult corner. He must have noticed I was on the same side when he tried to approach me, which is why he showed such unusual interest.
“See. I told you there was no need to respond.”
Mu-gyeong, gripping the steering wheel, suddenly turned his arrow toward me.
I didn’t want it to be known that I had the intention of contacting Son Pro. Especially not in front of Gyu-oh. Min-ho cleared his throat for no reason and turned his gaze out the window.
“……I guess so.”
Even amidst the continuing silence, his cheeks stung. As he slowly turned his head away from the persistent gaze, those black pupils awkwardly shifted. He stared for a moment at Gyu-oh’s back as he rolled down the window.
He thought they had kept quite a distance for a while, but the air was still strange. Was this merely his own delusion?
“I just told you to buy some time. Why are you even thinking about crossing over?”
The murmuring voice reached his ears clearly, even through the rushing wind. In that moment, he was certain. Ah, it wasn’t just my imagination that the atmosphere has been weird. Min-ho silently bit his lip and closed his eyes. The wind rushing into the car busily stirred his thoughts.
How long had they driven like that? By the time the tip of his nose felt cool, Gyu-oh rolled the window back up.
“Hyung.”
Gyu-oh whispered, lowering his voice and subtly leaning his shoulder against him. Even so, they were in a car, so the sound would reach the person in the driver’s seat.
“What.”
“Your face looks a bit pale.”
Sensing that Gyu-oh was concerned about the fact that he had stepped foot in the abandoned warehouse, Min-ho answered bluntly on purpose.
“I’ve always looked like this.”
“……No. You look more worn down. Are you eating on time?”
“I am.”
“Leaving work on time? Alcohol? Cigarettes?”
Exercise? Decaf? Questions marked with question marks poured out endlessly. Anyone listening would think they had been apart for several years. He had only been out of sight for about two weeks, yet the worries continued in a line. And yet, why wouldn’t he even meet his eyes properly?
While he responded with a half-hearted nod and a ‘fine,’ a question laced with a hollow laugh cut in from the front.
“Won Gyu-oh, aren’t you worried about me?”
“You’re polished enough as it is. You’re shinier than a ring that gets polished every single day.”
Even while snapping back like that, Gyu-oh kept glancing at him. Unable to cut off his interest, yet unable to give it fully—he was exactly in the same state as Min-ho.