By Zephyria 
“Looks like you guys gather here often to drink.”
“Not often, but sometimes. This Hyung has a lot of people, so we get together once in a while.”
As he said, this place was more like a guest reception area than a personal sanctuary. Even the room with the round table felt like a secluded space when the door was closed.
“Looks like there’s a gathering.”
Joo-oh said brightly, tapping his glass, and Hwang-jae slowly turned to Choi. It was so awkward. Didn’t this make them look like they were hiding something?
“It’s not exactly a gathering, but I do meet with people I get along with.”
Choi Hyung explained casually, as if it were nothing. There were twelve chairs in this place. He must be quite the socialite.
Or it could be used when a group that’s perfect for a surprise attack meets. The windows on the wall were carefully covered with adhesive paper.
“It’s been a while since I went grocery shopping, so all I have for snacks is sweet corn. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the big friend over there?”
“……I don’t mind.”
Cheap processed meat, rumored to use bugs or low-grade Beast Meat, and which, from Mu-hae’s perspective, having been to the industrial district himself, might not be just rumors, was placed on the table.
Mu-hae didn’t fuss about food, but it was a common ingredient in the slums. Joo-oh’s eyes were already glued to the glossy seasoning, his mouth agape.
He’d only exchanged a few words, but he already had an impression of Choi.
He was skilled at handling people and had the ability to steer the conversation in the direction he wanted. The uncomfortable atmosphere from just a moment ago had somehow eased.
“……So, when I looked, they’d slathered so much slippery stuff on it, it wasn’t even industrial waste.”
The conversation that followed was trivial everyday talk. From what happened at the waste disposal plant to the latest news from the bar.
He wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking, but it was a bit of a letdown considering he’d sacrificed sleep for this.
Meanwhile, Joo-oh alternated between looking at Mu-hae’s hands and the food, slowly picking up pieces of sweet corn one by one. The way he smacked his lips with each movement was like a miser.
“By the way, how did you end up working there as a substitute? You’re a mercenary, right?”
“Things have been a little slow lately. I was looking for extra work this month because things are a bit tight, and someone I knew at the Company introduced me.”
“You know someone at the Company?”
“They often request mercenaries from us.”
Mu-hae, who was answering, flinched inwardly. He thought they were having a normal conversation, but when he thought about it, all the information had flowed to them.
His name, age, occupation, and even the fake connections he’d created. By saying he took requests from the Company, he’d even revealed his skills as a mercenary.
“He’s quite a capable friend, isn’t he? He seems calm too. Was he from the west? If he wasn’t from there, he’d have a position by now.”
“That’s right. Jin Mu-hae is good.”
“This Hwang-jae guy is good at thinking when he’s playing cards. It’s just that he’s not into studying, but if he’d met a good guardian, he could have been something.”
“Choi Hyung, don’t say things like that in front of others. Hehehe.”
Moreover, he was subtly flattering them, already winning over Joo-oh.
Hwang-jae had been giving him annoyed looks the whole time they were working, but now he was filling his need for recognition and his face was full of life.
If he’d gathered several people in the same way, he’d have enough to plan something. Hwang-jae, for one, roamed the underground of Central for a living.
Somewhere, there might be a ‘friend’ who went to the surface or the heart of the industrial district.
“What’s the point? In the end, after risking your life and deducting equipment costs and medical expenses, you’re left with just enough to make a living.”
If so, then having this seemingly meaningless drinking session wasn’t entirely pointless. Mu-hae stopped Joo-oh, who kept emptying his glass despite saying it was bad, and subtly inserted a complaint that they would likely react to.
Even though he’d lowered the mood, there was no sense of unease on Hwang-jae’s face. So this was their usual conversation flow.
Choi, who had been quietly watching Mu-hae, opened another cheap bottle of alcohol and opened his mouth.
“Everyone lives like that. Because that’s what they’ve been taught is right. No, if you’re outside the formal residential area, you wouldn’t even go to academies.”
“Is that so?”
“Did you say something earlier? Why don’t people just overturn everything and live quietly?”
After filling the empty glass with alcohol, Choi slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“It wasn’t quiet. Ordinary people might not know, but there were attempts to overturn things. I’m telling you because you seem like a friend who wouldn’t say strange things anywhere, but there was a fairly large secret society in Goryeo City.”
Choi’s voice became subtle, as if he were talking about a mysterious and great history. Then he stopped talking abruptly, and Hwang-jae quickly chimed in from the side.
“Choi Hyung was a member of that society. He held a high position.”
The gaze that didn’t deny it but just watched left a rather amusing aftertaste.
‘There’s a great operation that a guy like you wouldn’t know about. We might even include you.’
Mu-hae almost twitched an eyebrow but barely managed to regain his composure and looked at Joo-oh.
He was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, watching Jin Mu-hae. To be precise, everything surrounding Mu-hae. This unique place and the whole situation of talking with Choi, he was enjoying it as if he were watching a movie.
He wasn’t smiling knowingly, but his expectant eyes were obvious.
‘Damn it. Could this be the guy Gu-reum was talking about?’
From the moment he heard that people from various backgrounds had gathered on the Return flight, he didn’t think there would only be accomplices like Gu-reum.
But this was the first time someone was boasting about their past and creating a gathering around themselves, so he didn’t know how to react.
Hiding his complicated feelings, Mu-hae tried to think of other possibilities.
The Return flight was just people trying to get rid of Crystal Blue, so this guy might have joined another group that opposed the irrationality of Goryeo City. That’s probably it…….
“What…… what kind of group is it?”
Remembering Joo-oh buying fruit pies, he tried to act excited, which didn’t suit him at all.
Then the eyes that had been watching him curved into a smile. Mu-hae pretended not to see and turned his gaze to Choi.
“I don’t tell just anyone, but this is…… since I’ve already said it.”
Choi, who had been hesitating for a long time despite the earnest question, finally opened his mouth as if bestowing a privilege.
“There’s a group called ‘Return flight’ that disappeared a long time ago. I’m telling you because you seem like a friend with potential.”
Damn it. This was really the guy. Next to Mu-hae, who was uttering empty exclamations as if he were moved, Joo-oh couldn’t help but fold his eyes, grinning.
It seemed like he was having bad luck this year. Or maybe he was constantly getting caught up in incidents to balance out the good things that had happened so far.
He ran away from fanatics who said Blue Energy was the substance of God, and now he met a self-proclaimed ‘former member of a great secret society.’
As Jin Mu-hae shook his wet hair and came out of the bathroom, the guy who had been rolling around on someone else’s bed wagged his annoying mouth as if he had been waiting.
“Haha. Secret society Jin Mu-hae.”
“Shut up.”
“Mysterious successor.”
“You. Don’t watch TV and go to the study.”
Joo-oh belatedly shut his mouth, but he was still annoyed. Mu-hae kicked him off the bed and sat down in the warm spot he had left.
“What kind of expression would he make if I told him Jin Mu-hae was a baby Jin Seong-jo?”
“Offspring. I said offspring.”
Mu-hae was annoyed by the habit that wouldn’t be corrected no matter how many times he pointed it out.
He nodded now, saying he understood, but tomorrow Joo-oh would stubbornly call someone else’s offspring a baby again.
“There’s no reason to tell him. Especially not to a fool who blurts out his code name.”
New dawn? Whether that was real or not, it was a code name he had never heard of in his father’s records or the Return flight’s information.
In short, contrary to his claim that he held a high position, there was a high probability that he was no more than a member of some cell organization.
“But Gu-reum said so.”
As Joo-oh retorted, Gu-reum had specifically mentioned that he was a member of the Return flight, so there might be some information or traces left somewhere.
Moreover, even if he excluded the background of being from the Return flight, he was already a man who had created his own gathering. If he had more members like Hwang-jae who could come and go from Central without being suspected, he could do anything the moment he decided to do something.
“Jin Mu-hae. Did you wash well?”
The guy who had fallen to the floor with a thud climbed back onto the bed without getting tired. He leaned his head in as if he wanted to be touched.
As expected, he had taken out all the ice from the freezer and swallowed it as soon as he got home, but he had shown a commendable attitude in front of the shoddy food today.
Mu-hae sighed and rubbed his cheek. The smooth and soft skin felt good in his hand.
“Heung. Ears too.”
When he pressed the tip of his thumb against his ear, Joo-oh laughed and closed his eyes. Every time he relaxed like this and leaned in, Joo-oh was soft and defenseless, easy to touch.
“You have to go to work again in a few hours. Do it moderately and go to sleep.”
“I’m going to sleep here.”
“Who said they’d let you sleep here?”
“I’m the one who’s going to let Jin Mu-hae sleep.”
If only he couldn’t talk. Even if he pinched his earlobe tightly, he didn’t seem to be in pain, but laughed happily.
He buried his nose in Mu-hae’s neck and took a deep breath.
“It’s okay. Jin Mu-hae doesn’t smell like trash anymore.”
He must have thought that was why he had been feeling bad all along. He didn’t feel it was worth responding to, so he kept his mouth shut, and Joo-oh let out a small sound and wriggled his upper body out of the mattress.
He put his hand on the floor and looked under the bed, then picked something up in a precarious position.
It was a suspicious paper bag in his dusty hand. It was something he had seen often, and it seemed like bad memories were flooding back…….
“That sticky stuff. It was similar to this.”
Joo-oh took out a thumb-sized plastic tube from the bag. Inside the tube, which had already been opened once, a translucent white liquid was shaking back and forth.
Thud. The paper bag on his lap fell over, and the contents spilled onto the bed.
[Monster in Another Dream]
A grotesque creature you meet in your dreams every night!
Extra-large size with elasticity! Realistic implementation!
A red silicone pillar was sticking its head out from inside the packaging he didn’t even want to look at.