2.3 Dawn After This Night (3)
Honestly, nothing comes to mind. He doesn’t even know what he saw. He doesn’t even know how many people there were. Seoul blinked a few times and answered slowly.
“…I didn’t see.”
“Then what was the guy on the far left doing?”
“I don’t know that either. I saw that there were several people.”
As the corners of Geum Seoul’s eyes dipped slightly in distress, the monitor went completely black. He felt a bit gloomy, feeling that he hadn’t met whatever expectations were set, but a playful smile remained on Gye Do-hyeop’s face.
“Fine. Scrap it.”
“Yes.”
Oh Ga-on answered the short command immediately and moved busily. Gye Do-hyeop began stroking Geum Seoul’s rough fingers again. Everywhere else was soft, but only the tips of his fingers were coarse. It was evidence that he had done a lot of menial labor.
Yesterday, Geum Seoul had filtered out a mole. He said he had only looked at the attire for a moment. The shoes of the two team members standing together were identical, and even though black suit pants all looked similar, Geum Seoul’s judgment had been swift. Gye Do-hyeop considered this something only Geum Seoul could do.
There was nothing special about the man who had been the mole. He said he had met Jin Go-hee at a drinking session, and it seemed he had been blackmailed over money issues.
He was a regular employee who wasn’t deployed on dangerous missions, and since he hadn’t known Jin Go-hee for long, he hadn’t leaked any important information held by the NSSD yet. However, due to the nature of the work, stolen contenthe couldn’t be kept on with just a disciplinary action. Naturally, he stolen contentwas fired. Gye Do-hyeop not only ensured the man could never work in a public capacity again but also handed him a slight handicap, wrapping everything up without No Pil-gyu’s knowledge. Naturally, it was thanks to Geum Seoul.
“Vision, cornea, and retina are all normal.”
“Average?”
“Yes. There is nothing special to report. The tear glands are also similar to other Gem Omega Values.”
He nodded. Geum Seoul looked slightly crestfallen, but it was merely a test. Gye Do-hyeop had no intention of treating the ability he had witnessed with his own eyes as non-existent.
It was simply that the intuition or ability didn’t manifest during tests in non-urgent situations. Since Seoul himself didn’t seem to be aware of it, Gye Do-hyeop would have to think carefully about how and where to utilize it, but he believed it was related to the boy’s tears.
Of course, it was all vague speculation. Since there were no cases where a grade soared this high, research on it couldn’t even be conducted. With no reference materials or records, Gye Do-hyeop had to guess everything himself.
Oh Ga-on provided a few more explanations, but they weren’t things he particularly needed to hear. Gye Do-hyeop spent his time touching Geum Seoul’s waist, wrist, or elbow while the boy listened intently to the explanation, and after about thirty minutes, he let go and stood up.
“Yoo Jeong-ham will take you back.”
“Yes. Are you going to work?”
As if reluctant, Seoul followed him for a couple of steps. Gye Do-hyeop curled one side of his lip into a smile and gripped the boy’s small chin. It was soft. He kneaded it with his fingers as if molding clay before letting go.
“Yeah. Should I buy something on my way in?”
Geum Seoul swallowed hard, his face slightly flushed.
“…No. That’s okay. Just…”
“Just what.”
Avoiding the eyes of others in the room, Geum Seoul leaned closer and whispered softly.
“Just, I hope you come back quickly….”
Then, he dropped his gaze sharply. Damn. Gye Do-hyeop smiled, chewing on a curse. He didn’t give a particular answer to the request for a quick return, but Yoo Jeong-ham, who was standing outside the door, immediately noticed that Deputy Director Gye, who emerged a few minutes later, was in a very good mood.
Beep.
●
SYSTEM ACCESS
Access Request: Gye Do-hyeop, Deputy Director of National Special Security Department
ID:
NSSD-DIR-2
As No Pil-gyu pressed the approval button on a window on one side of the monitor, the doors slid open and a large man entered. No Pil-gyu, who had just eaten a delicious dumpling from a steaming square plastic box, leaned back while sipping a glass of strong liquor.
“Hey. Anything requiring attention lately?”
He framed it as a question a boss would typically ask, but neither the speaker nor the listener was unaware that there was a hidden meaning. Gye Do-hyeop stood opposite the desk in the team leader’s office, asserting his presence with his towering height and broad shoulders.
“There is nothing specific to report.”
“What did you do this morning?”
“I visited the hospital to investigate suspected contact with a terrorist organization related to the Buyongjeon market’s in-laws. As stated in the report.”
The content he had received through a separate background check matched the report he just received directly from the man. Despite this, No Pil-gyu’s face was full of suspicion.
For starters, he didn’t like the look of the man in front of him. Setting aside the polished appearance, it started with those pitch-black eyes that always seemed to look down on people. It wasn’t as if the bastard was bragging about being tall; he looked at people as if glancing down from above. No Pil-gyu brushed his hand off and asked, licking his teeth with his tongue.
“And the afternoon.”
“Patrolling the North. As stated in the report.”
The tone was also an issue. Strictly speaking, there was nothing to nitpick in the words themselves, but it felt insincere and arrogant. Fucking bastard, just looking at him makes me feel dirty. He wanted to crush this guy once and for all, but there was no legitimate excuse to do so, and since there was a game being played behind the scenes, he couldn’t tighten the leash on Gye Do-hyeop too much. He knew that a combination of carrots and sticks was generally best, but he simply hated the sight of him. No Pil-gyu pulled a tissue to wipe his mouth and leaned back.
“Report any anomalies immediately. Don’t go acting on your own. Got it? Make sure you proceed only after receiving orders.”
“Of course.”
As No Pil-gyu waved his hand as if to tell him to leave, Gye Do-hyeop bowed and turned to exit. After watching the glass door open and close, No Pil-gyu took a sip from a small ceramic cup.
“Hear that? That bastard is nothing special.”
A corner of the monitor that had been off suddenly flickered on, revealing Gwak Chun-young’s face. Gwak Chun-young, who was flattering him, was wearing yellow sunglasses and eating cup noodles while sitting in a black fishing chair.
“So, did you catch any big fish?”
Whether it’s fish or people, No Pil-gyu muttered. It was a cozy luncheon for the two of them.
“Anyway, I’ve got a tight grip on things here, so don’t worry.”
“I’ve always liked yellow things. They’re brilliant and good for the stomach.”
Bursting into a hearty laugh, No Pil-gyu filled his glass again.
“Right. I rely on our CEO Gwak a lot.”
“Ah, that. I looked at them and there was nothing much. There’s nothing for CEO Gwak to see.”
Gwak Chun-young dropped his friendly smile and scratched his cheek with a fingernail. That boar bastard, if he received something, he should be worth the money, but he always keeps his hands behind his back when it’s time to pay up. Thud. Gwak Chun-young put down his wooden chopsticks and flicked his finger. A hand appearing on screen to put a cigarette in his mouth vanished.
A look of discomfort appeared on his face as he inhaled smoke, his eyes suddenly turning sharp. No Pil-gyu frowned and tried to say something, but stopped and cleared his throat. It was fucking annoying that this drifting thug was acting arrogant, but the gold bars he received the day before yesterday flickered before his eyes.
“Ahem. Then, well… I’ll send them now, so make sure the data management is thorough when you delete them! Got it?”
Only then did Gwak Chun-young smile again and nod.
Click.
“Fucking bastard.”
No Pil-gyu spat out a crude word after seeing the screen go black as the call ended.
“Piece of shit.”
At the same time, Gwak Chun-young cursed. He flicked his hand to tell General Manager Lee to check the files, then pushed back his curly hair and sucked on the filter. In [Read on Read BL Novels]front of him, a thick machine fixed in place stood like a fishing rod facing the visit our sitesea, [unauthorized copy]and a thick wire stretched from the winch installed below down to the undulating ocean.
Boom. Thump.
It was a port where the mechanical sounds of containers being automatically sorted in autonomous mode could be heard incessantly from afar. The smell of the sea and oil were messily mixed, and the concrete floor, which didn’t dry well, dampened the soles of Gwak Chun-young’s shoes.
“Did the helicopter records arrive?”
“I just received them.”
Gwak Chun-young’s eyes narrowed as he took the terminal and scanned the screen. It was data he had barely managed to obtain after bribing No Pil-gyu with ten gold bars. The bastard didn’t even know why he was asking for it, but he knew exactly when it was time to make money and greedily held out his greasy hand.
The excuse was that he needed to know the patrol routine for the procurement business to run properly, but in reality, it was to find evidence that the person who had impersonated him last time was Gye Do-hyeop.
Since then, no matter how much he poked around and searched, there was no one other than that bastard who could have appeared impersonating Iljang Trading and vanished without a trace after taking Park Gil-pyeong and Geum Seoul. Based on the reviews that he looked “extremely flashy,” it was clearly Gye Do-hyeop, but according to the mission logs he obtained through No Pil-gyu, Gye Do-hyeop had been in Seoul all day on that date. The tracking files said the same.
This was the last resort. Unless he had sunk into the ground or crawled down, the only way would be the Phantom Transport that only the NSSD could operate, so he intended to check this one last thing.
“Hmm.”
The transports that Gye Do-hyeop could personally call and move had followed almost the same schedule and route for patrols until recently. However, Gwak Chun-young was looking for the movement of one specific day. And for that day, a record appeared that a Phantom Helicopter had conducted an irregular patrol.
“He flew it?”
“But it’s confirmed that Deputy Director Gye Do-hyeop was at headquarters. Everything from the access records to the entrance CCTV footage matches.”
A faint smile appeared on Gwak Chun-young’s face as he exhaled white smoke.
“Ho-hoon. You have to look bigger, bigger.”
It was possible for the NSSD to suddenly launch a helicopter and scour the high skies of Seoul in the middle of the night. However, the record for this date was enough to pour oil on the suspicions. He clicked on the helicopter’s flight path record, which would likely serve as the decisive evidence.
Beep.
●
SYSTEM
Deleted log.
“Look at this.”
Gwak Chun-young handed the terminal to General Manager Lee Ho-hoon.
“See if there are any other missing records besides this day.”
“Yes. One moment.”
He had tried to be clever, but this made it even more suspicious. If the flight path was deleted only for that specific date, wasn’t that circumstantial evidence that he had stopped by that neighborhood and taken Park Gil-pyeong and Geum Seoul? While he took a couple more puffs of his cigarette, he heard the sound of a tablet being tapped behind him.
“CEO.”
“Yeah.”
“It seems there are no flight path logs for emergency deployments or irregular patrols. All records other than regular patrols have been deleted.”
“Ha! That won’t do, this….”
Gwak Chun-young irritably threw away the cigarette he was holding. The suspicion was certain, but the risk of poking Gye Do-hyeop with just that was a bit too high. He had already gathered a handful of information from Gye Kyung-moo’s former aides, and he was debating whether to charge in with it or not. If he messed up, it could become a self-defeating move and bring unnecessary burdens.
“CEO. I just received a call.”
Gwak Chun-young, who had been rubbing his forehead in the fishing chair, looked up. Another subordinate walked over and displayed a screen on the tablet.
“It seems someone is living at Gye Do-hyeop’s house.”
A flash of light crossed Gwak Chun-young’s face, which had been clouded with worry until a moment ago.
“Show me the photo.”
Two faces were displayed on the screen. One was someone Gwak Chun-young already knew—Gye Do-hyeop’s lackey, Yoo Jeong-ham. The important person was the one following half a step behind him. It was an unidentified male wearing a ball cap and a hood pulled down over it.
“We made it so that signals wouldn’t work for a certain amount of time near the entrance. We bought the downstairs unit to lie in wait, and this photo was taken just as they were entering.”
“Hmm, well done.”
Only then did Gwak Chun-young smile brightly and gently rub the gemstone on his finger. It was a candid photo, and since the face was mostly covered, only the nose and jawline were visible, but even that was enough to see he was a beauty.
“…Bring up the photo of Geum Seoul from last time again.”
A split screen. On the left was the photo he had received previously of Park Gil-pyeong and Geum Seoul together, and on the right was the photo he had just obtained. Both were poorly taken with terrible quality, and the fine features seemed different, but it took Gwak Chun-young less than ten seconds to be certain they were the same person. It was an intuition.
Clap!
A cheerful sound of applause echoed through the port. Bursting into laughter, Gwak Chun-young rose from the fishing chair and brushed off his clothes.
That day, Gye Do-hyeop had stopped by that neighborhood and taken Park Gil-pyeong and Geum Seoul. And there was a high probability that he had taken the ledger with him that day. No, he must have. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to suddenly return after a few days and take the two of them.
“Bunhong-i? You kept Bunhong-i alive, right?”
“Yes, I will prepare.”
“Let’s go.”
As he turned around, General Manager Lee Ho-hoon pressed the button on the winch to wind the wire. At the end of the wire slowly being pulled up from the sea, only an empty iron cage was spraying seawater.
Having finished all his schedules, Gye Do-hyeop was lying flat on his back in a chair, legs propped up on the desk in a crooked posture, puffing out thick clouds of smoke.
●
SYSTEM
Empirical Study on the Correlation Between Gemstones by Grade and Omega Values
What was displayed on the monitor was a research paper sent by Oh Ga-on, but it wasn’t practically helpful material. It was natural, as there had never been a gemstone whose grade changed like Geum Seoul’s.
Tap. Tap.
Tapping the armrest of the chair with his index finger, he scratched the rim of his ear with his nail and spoke as if he were bored to death.
“Call Gi-dong.”
Rrrrring. Rrrrring.
●
SYSTEM
Connecting call to ‘Gi-dong’
A screen immediately appeared on the monitor. The ringing tone that followed was very long, but Gye Do-hyeop waited persistently, exhaling smoke.
That was the first thing the plump middle-aged man on the monitor spat out grumpily. He quickly scanned Gye Do-hyeop’s attire and spoke.
“Yeah. Since he’s the one who plugged me in.”
The man on the monitor, Hwang Gi-dong, was the person who first recruited him, who used to wander the back alleys, into the Security Department’s Counter-Terrorism Team. He was also the man who had looked after Gye Do-hyeop, who ran wild here and there, by calling him ‘a kid who’s just a bit sick,’ and he was now the Chief of Staff to the Grand Chancellor.
The Grand Chancellor. That was the name of the presidential residence. After being appointed as the highest-ranking member of the direct staff from being a Security Department team leader, his last call to Gye Do-hyeop had been, ‘Let’s contact each other after one of us gets fired. Otherwise, I’ll see you in hell.’
Since Gye Do-hyeop didn’t usually contact Hwang Gi-dong, it was no wonder he was surprised by this call. As the phone rang, it was natural for him to think, ‘Why the hell is this bastard calling?’ or ‘Did he dial the wrong number?’
“Chief of Staff. Just drop a piece of data for me.”
“Put your neck on the line a bit. You’ve lived a damn long time.”
He was excessively shameless. However, since Hwang Gi-dong knew Gye Do-hyeop’s personality and was curious about the reason he contacted him despite that, he pulled the tie he was wearing forward. What a nuisance of a bastard.
“Grade A Gemstone data. I can’t see the related ones.”
“Or just get me a gemstone. Something that’s at least Grade A-3.”
At the unexpected words, Hwang Gi-dong’s eyebrows furrowed sharply. Then, he sat up straight.
“Up to what. Do I look like I have free time? I’m damn busy wiping the ass of that piece of shit No Pil-gyu.”
“Because I need it to dig out that fucker Gwak Chun-young.”
No Pil-gyu is a piece of shit and Gwak Chun-young is a fucker? Hwang Gi-dong narrowed his eyes. If it was data needed to link Gwak Chun-young, a gemstone enthusiast, it made sense, but it was still highly suspicious.
“You put that fucker in as a team leader while hoping for that?”
Gye Do-hyeop wore an expression of boredom at Hwang Gi-dong’s voice.
“For someone who seems worried about [Read on Read BL Novels]getting [visit our site]fired, you sure do ramble. Just give me a Grade A Gem.”
Gye Do-hyeop and No Pil-gyu were a set. When the NSSD was first established, Gye Do-hyeop had been designated as the team leader, but the opposition party had gone ballistic. Lawmakers, gathering the press, glared with wide eyes, threatening to expose everything that crazy psycho had done.
Regardless of the fact that Gye Do-hyeop was perfectly suited for the position at the NSSD, it was true that he was not sane. Since any attempt at persuasion would obviously only spark backlash, they eventually compromised by putting No Pil-gyu in the team leader position and limiting Gye Do-hyeop to deputy director. Seeing Gye Do-hyeop snicker, fully aware of how that process had unfolded, Hwang Gi-dong scratched his cheek in exhaustion.
At those words, Gye Do-hyeop tilted his head slightly and inhaled from his filter. His face seemed expressionless, but his lips clearly muttered, “The Minister, my ass.”
“If you have no intention of handing over the data, hang up. I’ve wasted so much fucking time. I could’ve taken a piss in two minutes.”
Click.
Hwang Gi-dong frowned at the monitor that went black instantly.
“That… that rude little shit, that… that…”
“Honey. Did he already hang up? I wanted to say hello too.”
His wife, who rarely entered the study, suddenly poked her head in. Since she had seen the terminal when the call came through earlier, it seemed she had been waiting for a chance to speak.
“His face looked polished and smug; what’s there to say hello for?”
Hwang Gi-dong shook his head as if there was no need to hear such things and took off his shirt. He had only just sat down after returning from work.
“Is that so? He seems to be doing well.”
When she first saw Gye Do-hyeop, he had seemed dangerously volatile, but now, as the position shaped the man, he looked quite masculine. Of course, he was still temperamental and seemed to harbor a great deal of resentment toward No Pil-gyu, but it was a relief that someone like Gye Do-hyeop had found a profession that suited his aptitude.
Gye Do-hyeop’s grandfather, Gye Kyung-moo, had been a renowned politician in many respects, but that didn’t mean his personality was virtuous. In the first place, reforming a stubborn and rigid military was not something a person with an ordinary personality could achieve.
His only son and Gye Do-hyeop’s biological father, Gye Jung-won, instead of living under Gye Kyung-moo’s control, cut ties and paired up with an Omega who wandered the back alleys of Seoul. Not long after they had Gye Do-hyeop, the two of them died. It was an accidental death caused by a dump truck at dawn.
Since it was an unknown fact that Gye Jung-won, who had been living under a different identity, had a son, Gye Do-hyeop grew up hidden in Gye Kyung-moo’s shadow immediately after the couple’s death. The existence of the grandson was first revealed when Gye Do-hyeop was fifteen, and Gye Kyung-moo died the following year.
Hwang Gi-dong recalled the day he first met Gye Do-hyeop. Eighteen-year-old Gye Do-hyeop had a cigarette wrapped in yellow paper in his mouth and a rusted nail gripped in his hand. Before him, six people were rolling in the filthy water on the pitch-black asphalt, and among them was a suspect Hwang Gi-dong had been chasing for three months. While the team members were picking up the thugs sprawled on the ground one by one, Gye Do-hyeop had already vanished, leaving behind only the faint scent of burnt leaves.
He encountered him three times in that month alone. It was only later that he learned the young brat, who acted like a ghost of the back alleys and took money to dispose of people, was Gye Kyung-moo’s grandson, Gye Do-hyeop.
It was raining the last time they met. The eyes that sparkled with a smirk from within the pitch-black shadows, watching Hwang Gi-dong press down on a suspect’s neck to stop the bleeding, were still vivid. His first thought was that if the boy continued to live like that, he might become a monster. And next, he thought about the talent for wiping out several people without leaving a single shred of evidence. That was why he made the offer.
‘You’re Gye Kyung-moo’s grandson, right?’
Wiping his blood-stained hands in the rainwater falling from the eaves and lighting a cigarette, the boy looked up with a smirk. The cigarette he chewed on beneath his hood still smelled of grass.
‘Why are you acting like you know me?’
‘Do you want to talk with this ahjussi?’
‘Do you have a taste for eating kids?’
Gag. Gye Do-hyeop made a retching sound, sniffed lightly, and tapped the toes of his shoes on the asphalt. It was a signal that he was about to run.
‘Hey, damn it! It’s not like that, you brat!’
Hwang Gi-dong had tried to coax him with a relatively gentle manner of speaking, but Gye Do-hyeop simply moved the cigarette to his finger, let out a wide yawn, and picked at his ear.
‘That little…’
Almost letting out a curse, Hwang Gi-dong composed himself once more. Gye Do-hyeop was already turning around and exiting the dark alley. Entrusting the hemostasis to a subordinate who had just arrived, Hwang Gi-dong hurriedly chased after Gye Do-hyeop.
‘Hey!’
He knew that chasing him like this would lead nowhere. After all, the people Gye Do-hyeop dealt with or was hired to kill were all the same kind of scum. This was the absolute bottom of Seoul. A place where people, with no way to make money, betrayed others, sold their bodies or drugs, and struggled together in the mire.
‘I’ll make it so you can do this legally.’
Gye Do-hyeop looked back. As if to show he wouldn’t chase him any further, Hwang Gi-dong raised both hands, took out a unauthorized copybusiness card, and placed it on the hood of the car parked right next to them. Because of the rainwater, the thick paper stuck firmly. He tapped it with his index finger.
‘I’ll let you beat them up way more. From politicians to junkies, without any sanctuary, so you don’t have to run around like this.’
So make sure to contact me. Three months passed after that plea before Gye Do-hyeop finally reached out. It was with the words that he was now bored and wanted to play something new. Hearing the laughing voice asking, “This is fun, right?”, Hwang Gi-dong wondered if he had made the right choice.
Recalling the past for a moment and lightly scanning the inside of his mouth with his tongue, Hwang Gi-dong turned the terminal back on.
“Crazy bastard, why the hell does he need a Grade A Gem?”
The fact that Gye Do-hyeop, with that temper, had reached out first meant that the data was truly difficult to obtain. After pondering for a moment, Hwang Gi-dong finally stood up upon hearing his wife’s voice telling him to go wash up.
●
SYSTEM
Gemstone Appraisal Certificate
Appraisal Number:
SR-102831PQ-K
Clarity:
M-2
Grade Classification:
C-9
Sitting in the living room, Geum Seoul held cherry tomatoes in one hand and the terminal in the other.
‘Your grade must have gone up.’
That was because the deputy director had said so. They say that tears shed from happiness are of better quality than tears shed from being pinched or in pain, but such occurrences were rare. Usually, the gemstones bought at auctions always shed tears in their own way, and Geum Seoul was gradually learning how to do so.
“Becksa, turn on the lights.”
The air was such that one could not gauge the time at all. In the house where curtains were drawn on all sides, the illumination gradually increased at Geum Seoul’s request.
“How did I become a C…?”
No matter how much he thought about it, it was strange. No matter how he looked at it, it was slightly different from the gemstone he had seen before, so Geum Seoul rolled the gem in his hand for a long time.
“Is the color not visible because it’s too small?”
The one he had just shed was a cloudy white color with almost no pink, regardless of how hard he looked, unlike when he had seen it with the deputy director last time.
“…I’m not exactly sure.”
Should he ask the deputy director? He popped the remaining cherry tomatoes in his hand into his mouth and chewed. The deputy director tended to answer well whatever he asked. Of course, as Yoo Jeong-ham said, his mouth was foul, but he always gave a definite answer without avoiding the things Geum Seoul was curious about. To Geum Seoul, that was the most important thing.
It was the same in the conversation they had before parting after the tests at the hospital. The center director had stepped out for a moment, leaving only the two of them in the room.
‘Deputy director.’
‘What.’
‘Why… why do you have sex with me?’
It was an abrupt question, completely disconnected from the situation. He didn’t know why he asked it then, but it was a question he had really wanted to ask, and the other man answered nonchalantly.
‘Because it’s hot.’
‘…….’
‘You get hot when you see me too.’
After hesitating for a moment, Geum Seoul eventually nodded, and Gye Do-hyeop burst into laughter, saying, ‘Want me to tell you more about what’s hot? First of all, fuck, those tits of yours—’ and lunged at him, so the conversation couldn’t continue for long. Still, it was the truth. It was the first time he had ever had sex, but it was enough to make him realize why trait-bearers were captivated by each other’s pheromones, their bodies aching to become partners.
Because it’s hot. It was a simple answer, but it was better than an answer like ‘because your gem grade goes up every time we have sex.’ No matter how much he hoped for a use, that would have been too heartbreaking. With the deputy director’s looks and position, he could have had sex with anyone he wanted, so it was amazing that his own unremarkable body looked that way to him.
“Becksa, remind me to take my medicine before I go to sleep later.”
“Thanks.”
The artificial intelligence said it was bored. He blinked.
“…Does the deputy director not talk to you?”
“I see.”
Geum Seoul smiled slightly at the AI’s friendly words and turned his gaze. On the table lay the injectable medication he had received from the hospital.
‘Your pheromone levels have risen quite a bit, so there’s a high possibility that your heat will come soon. It will probably be harder to get through than before. I’ll provide you with oral medication and injectables, so if anything feels wrong, inject yourself immediately and take the medicine.’
That was the advice from Center Director Oh Ga-on. His body hadn’t shown any abnormalities yet, but since the time for heat was approaching, he intended to use the injection for now. When he lived in his previous neighborhood, he spent his heats by occasionally injecting medicine he got from Mr. Jang or taking pills, and he had never suffered much. Bunhong-i said his heats were stable because he had received all his vaccinations as a child, and Rini said the same, but there were still times they would lock their doors and suffer.
‘Since the levels jumped [stolen content]suddenly, I gave you [Read on Read BL Novels]a strong injection. It’s best to take it before you sleep.’
“…….”
What would happen if heat broke out in this house? There were many days when the deputy director couldn’t come home because he was so busy, and it would actually be a relief if that happened. While living as a guest in someone else’s home, he didn’t want to suddenly scatter his presence everywhere by going into heat.
“I wonder if I can lock the door…”
Would that be more rude? But still…
Knock, knock, knock.
Geum Seoul, who had been lost in thought, suddenly straightened his back. It was a sound he had never heard once since coming to this house. He turned his head. His gaze shifted toward the entrance.
“……What is it?”
It was definitely a knocking sound. Geum Seoul slowly rose from the sofa. He moved his steps very little by little. His heart began to throb.
He couldn’t have misheard such an unfamiliar sound. The only people who would come to this house were the deputy director or Mr. Jeong-ham, and neither of them knocked. A visitor. With his nerves on edge, Geum Seoul stood before the entrance, holding his breath.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Someone began to pound on the door violently.
At the voice calling from outside the front door, Geum Seoul almost fell backward. He barely managed to step back and return to the living room.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Bang bang!
This time, the fist-pounding grew even more violent along with the doorbell. His heart began to race with anxiety, and he turned his head toward the wall pad in the living room. The screen lit up blue from the bell that had just been pressed, and soon, a face filled the square screen.
“…….”
Geum Seoul covered his mouth with a trembling hand.
A swollen face. One eye was almost closed, and hair was completely wet and matted with something that could have been water or something else. A scabbed area under the nose and a slack mouth. Cheeks full of dark red scars where he had been scraped and covered in dust. Even seeing the completely ruined face, Geum Seoul recognized the person.
It really was Bunhong-i. However, what made Geum Seoul freeze more stiffly than the sudden appearance was…
The voice saying those words was not Bunhong-i. Bunhong’s pupils were almost rolled upward, so he wasn’t in a state to speak, and above all, at the top of the wall pad screen, a hand was visible gripping his hair. Someone had shoved Bunhong’s face right up against the camera. Goosebumps rose on his back.
Beep beep beep beep, beeep—
Bang! Bang!
Behind the sound of the password being pressed haphazardly, someone pounded as if they would break the door at any moment. But soon, tap. tap. The wall pad screen was covered in black, and a brief silence followed. Geum Seoul remained frozen, covering his mouth. His instinct screamed that he must not open the door or make any sign of his presence.
“…….”
The silence that settled after the commotion lasted more than five seconds. Only the sound of his heart, beating like thunder, was loud, and Geum Seoul barely managed to swallow his dry spit. Every nerve in his body was directed toward the entrance. He slowly, very slowly, moved his steps toward the door again.
He stood still, not even breathing, sensing for any sign. A few seconds of stillness. But immediately after, an unfamiliar voice flowed softly from beyond the door.
“You’re quick on the uptake…”
The muscles in his entire body contracted and tightened all at once.
“Seoul. Should I just open it myself?”
Whirrrrr—!
At the noise that immediately began to blare, Geum Seoul, curling his trembling hands, ran back to the living room. Pretending not to be home was useless. In that case, he had to notify someone of the intrusion. Just then, Becksa’s voice came from the speaker.
“No! Call the deputy director.”
Ring. Ring.
The dial tone mixed with the metallic sound of the front door. It was the sound of heavy iron twisting. Screeech, the blade of a machine gnawed into the steel plate. Beep. Beep. Beeep. The warning sounds indicating the failure of the door lock also grated on his nerves frantically. A chilling cold brushed the nape of his neck.
Geum Seoul grabbed the terminal that had identified his gem grade and entered the bedroom. As soon as he pushed it into the thin gap under the large bed, he scanned the table and the cabinet. Other things that needed to be hidden. Things that should not be seen when a stranger entered this house. Things that might cause harm to the deputy director.
Flash.
Geum Seoul, who was about to enter the dressing room for the first time since coming to this house, looked up. However, since he had already left the living room, he could only hear Gye Do-hyeop’s voice. Turning the doorknob, he asked urgently.
“Deputy director! Please tell me if there’s anything I should hide in the house. I’ll—”
Only then did Geum Seoul stop his movements, look back at the dressing room anxiously, and run back to the living room.
Gye Do-hyeop appeared on the monitor. His expression while sitting in the car seat wasn’t much different from usual, but perhaps because he was wearing glasses, he looked slightly more sensitive. Near Gye Do-hyeop, the sound of a radio could be heard saying, ‘Team Eos ETA 405 seconds.’ Before he could focus, the noise of steel plates being struck again echoed from outside the door, and Geum Seoul turned his head.
“That…”
Seoul’s gaze, his lips pressed together, reached Gye Do-hyeop again. His insides were wearing away from urgency. He hoped the other man would quickly tell him what to hide in the house, but those pitch-black eyes just stared straight at Geum Seoul, as if they would not let him go for a single moment.
“…….”
Geum Seoul curled his trembling hands.
Gye Do-hyeop’s lips beyond the monitor were still curved in an arc, but it didn’t look funny or interested. Geum Seoul reflexively stopped breathing. His brown eyes shook violently with anxiety. It felt as if all the blood in his body had drained to his feet, leaving his brain feeling as if it were cracking open.
<To be continued in Volume 3>
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