By Zephyria 
The man’s brown, muscular body was slick and glistening, drenched in water. For some reason, even his voice sounded dampened.
“I bet you’re the only person in this world who worries about whether I’ll get hurt.”
The Medi-X patch stuck to the back of his hand caught Eun-myeong’s eye.
Of course he had to worry. No matter how strong the man was, he was still human; if he was stabbed, he would bleed, and if he fell, he would tumble. His body already bore too many scars, both large and small. Lacerations that took Eun-myeong’s breath away every time he saw them…
“Do you really worry about Mister that much?”
“Yes.”
This time, Eun-myeong nodded honestly. Eun-myeong was very fearful. He was afraid of getting hurt himself, but the thought of the man returning injured was something he truly couldn’t bear. It felt as if a blister had formed on his heart, stinging and throbbing.
“I could just nip the danger in the bud entirely.”
There was a splash of water. The man raised a hand to sweep back his hair. His gaze, which usually harbored a sharp poison, was melted and languid today.
Eun-myeong loved that more than he could stand. The thick white steam surrounding them, the warmth enveloping his body, and the man—usually so unlike himself—being relaxed, kind, and gentle. His mind felt hazy and distant, as if he were in a dream.
“You know, Baby, I’ve never done this in my entire life, but I think I need to put some people on you.”
“People?”
Eun-myeong blinked slowly at the following words.
“Yeah, so that Baby can run around and cause a bit of trouble. They’ll stick to you like a shadow twenty-four hours a day and report your every move to me.”
“Will you be okay with that?” the man asked. Eun-myeong fiddled with his fingertips. They had become plump with moisture, forming tiny wrinkles. After kneading them like dried persimmons, he eventually nodded.
“To think I’d actually put people on someone.”
The man muttered as if sighing deeply. It was a strange thing. The man Eun-myeong knew was someone capable of far worse things, and indeed seemed to be doing so. It was plain to Eun-myeong’s eyes that he was merely pretending.
“I’ll change your bandage today, too.”
Still, Eun-myeong didn’t go out of his way to point that out. He simply smiled awkwardly and averted his gaze. With wet fingers, he lightly touched a scar on the man’s chest.
Splash—the water rippled once more. It was just a very small sound of water, yet Eun-myeong felt his own chest tremble slightly.
Today, as always, Eun-myeong worked diligently inside the shop. Even so, he occasionally hunched his shoulders, feeling a gaze piercing into him like a harpoon.
Setting aside the sashimi restaurant owner, who had come down from Seoul and was lounging at the front desk watching Eun-myeong…
“…….”
Eun-myeong stealthily shifted his gaze. In a corner of the shop, two men who looked like gangsters to anyone who saw them were sitting firmly. Having ordered a mountain of food, they sat with their thick arms crossed, staring intently at Eun-myeong. Their eyes were fierce, as if they had come to collect a debt.
Meanwhile, they took turns stuffing their faces with food. They ate with a vigor that looked as if they might smash the bowls. Their immense physique and overwhelming aura were enough to easily dominate the surroundings, leaving other customers walking on eggshells.
No matter how much he had told the man he was okay with it, he hadn’t expected them to monitor him so openly. Eun-myeong moved his feet awkwardly, as if he were on a dog leash.
“What a joke.”
Just as he finished a transaction and was telling the customers to have a safe trip, he heard the sashimi restaurant owner’s high-pitched voice from beside him.
“Pardon?”
Eun-myeong looked up in surprise. Her eyes were fixed on the corner.
“Aren’t those Kang Pyeong-won’s lackeys?”
She let out a scoff, seemingly recognizing them instantly and finding it absurd.
“He must be dying of anxiety that I might touch you, dear.”
That wasn’t it… but it was awkward to explain the situation in detail, so Eun-myeong just smiled awkwardly. The sashimi restaurant owner frowned deeply, saying it was truly unpleasant.
“By the way, Pretty, did you spray Kang Pyeong-won’s perfume? And you absolutely drenched yourself in it. Truly the worst.”
She even fanned herself with her hand, telling him to get lost. Her long hair waved and curled like a tide. For some reason, her reaction was more intense than yesterday.
At that, Eun-myeong recalled the events of the morning.
Before leaving for work, Eun-myeong had looked at the perfume bottle resentfully. Was the smell really that bad? His shoulders slumped. If it was disgusting to that extent, he didn’t want to spray it anymore, regardless of whether it cost ten thousand won or not.
‘You have mine.’
As Eun-myeong looked in the mirror gloomily, the man appeared. He opened a pitch-black perfume bottle. When he pressed the button firmly, a pale mist flowed out, enveloping Eun-myeong like a fog. The perfume was smeared thickly over his white skin.
Eun-myeong’s watery pheromones, which usually seemed to moisten the air like subtle droplets, were gone. Only an intense, sensual rose scent remained, surrounding Eun-myeong like armor.
The same scent came from the man, making it feel impossibly erotic.
Eun-myeong glanced up at the sashimi restaurant owner.
If there was a silver lining, it was that even though he had rushed out while working, the owner didn’t say anything particular to him. Even with those gangsters clinging to the shop like barnacles because of him, she merely twisted the corner of her mouth in disbelief.
‘Sigh.’
As he sighed inwardly, the telephone rang throughout the shop. Eun-myeong snapped his head around and wiped his hands on his apron.
“I’ll get it.”
Eun-myeong picked up the receiver with wet hands.
“Yes, this is Emperor’s Palace Seafood.”
A brief silence followed, and then a low voice flowed from the other end.
Screech, screech.
A large study desk and chair groaned. Click-clack, shoes with an excessively smooth gloss swayed rhythmically.
“Yeah, just wondering if everything’s alright.”
The man asked. He was sitting in the CEO’s office at Gangseong Capital. Thanks to senses that were sharp from birth, a sweet sound of breathing reached his ears, which were always wide open like trumpets.
—Yes, nothing’s wrong at the shop… but I think I smell too much like perfume today. The sashimi restaurant owner said something.
When the man asked what she had said, he heard a small whispering voice. He could vividly picture those large eyes quickly scanning the surroundings.
—She said I smell like President Kang, and asked if I’d drenched myself in perfume.
…Ahaha. The man laughed low, his chest vibrating.
She likely hadn’t smelled only the perfume. She must have smelled the pheromones he had pushed into the armpits and the crevices of the groin, making her shudder.
This was no different from a dog urinating to mark its territory. If another dog dared to invade the territory and leave even a single drop of urine, they would have no right to complain even if their neck was ripped open.
—But, Boss.
A moist sound, as if licking lips, was heard.
—Did you enjoy the sashimi I mentioned yesterday?
Hmm, sashimi. The man murmured softly and fixed his eyes on the cell phone screen.
Since early this morning, a red dot had begun to move. The location tracker embedded in Eun-myeong’s phone was shifting. The phone’s last location had been at that small fry’s house, so that bastard must have found it.
The man was following the trajectory with his eyes.
“Not yet. It’s about time I go eat it raw with some cho-jang.”
It was moving quite fast. The direction was toward the sashimi restaurant. In terms of distance, it would take about 15 minutes.
—If the quality is too poor, I think it would be okay to grind it up with other fish and make something like fish cakes. I asked Aunt Jeong-hye, and she said the more fish meat you put in, the chewier and springier it becomes.
He was unusually talkative. At first, he had kept his mouth shut tight like an immature scallop.
Moreover, ‘chewy and springy.’ Didn’t that sound like a slogan selling himself? The man alone read the eroticism embedded in those words and curled the corner of his mouth.
—Boss, I… I have to go back to work now.
A voice dripping with regret was heard. As if waiting, the sound of orders being shouted followed from the other end of the receiver.
The man tapped the armrest of the chair with his middle finger. When he told him to go, the call slowly disconnected.
He pressed the end-call button and stood up, grabbing his jacket. As he fastened the buttons one by one, he cracked his neck from side to side with a loud crack, crack.
As if waiting for its turn, a call came into the cell phone. The caller was the shadow he had attached to the small fry.
—Boss, I’m moving by bike.
“Mm,” the man hummed in his throat.
—It looks like he’s heading toward the sashimi restaurant. Should I grab him for now?
“Yeah, ram into him.”
—Yes, Boss.
The sound of a roaring engine followed as the speed increased. As the man pushed his chair back to leave, the wheels let out a screech. The chair hit the wall with a thud.
As the presence in the office became loud, a faint thumping sound came from a storage room attached to one side, as if someone had heard it.
“Oh dear.”
The man frowned his handsome brow. His polished shoes clicked as he approached, inserted the key into the lock, and opened the door with a creak.
Then, something buried in the darkness was revealed to his sight.
“Hah, haaa.”
Eyes filled with terror met the man’s. A sight of someone rolling on the cold floor, wearing nothing but disgusting zebra-print underwear.
“Didn’t I tell you that if you made a single sound, I’d smash your occipital lobe?”
When he asked “Hmm?”, a muffled “mmp, mmmph, mmp” sound came through the duct tape. Having repeated the cycle of eating and vomiting, and having expelled filth from his body, his pants were soaked, and a rotten stench vibrated from his entire being.
It was a hideously disgusting sight, but today, the man decided to be generous and forgive him.
“At any other time, I would have smashed your skull. But today, I’m in a bit of a good mood, so I feel like letting it slide.”
A musty space not even a span of a palm wide. Looking up at the man with eyes swollen like walnuts from violent punches was the Director, who had become so thin he was almost unrecognizable.
“Baby has been acting so pretty and good lately. That’s why I’m in such a great mood.”
He had sealed the windows with cement so that not a single sliver of sunlight could enter, completely isolating the place. And he would pour in something like pig-slop and spread it on the floor. Then all sorts of insects would swarm, some of them crawling up the body.
It must be painful and miserable. In a place like this, regret is useless. He would probably prefer to be killed.
However, killing someone instantly without pain is far too luxurious a treatment. The man preferred to slowly bleed them dry.
“Just wait your turn for a bit. I’m going to ask Baby how it’s best to handle the sashimi.”
With those final words, the man elegantly stepped back out.