2.3 The Place Where One Belongs

In life, there are things you regret too late.

I wish I hadn’t done that then. Or, I should have done it that way back then.

Whether trivial or significant, such moments happened several times, and regardless of the scale, regret was never a refreshing emotion.

If it were the kind of regret that allowed one to believe they wouldn’t repeat the same mistake, it could perhaps be used for growth; however, a matter already concluded as a piece of the passed past is nothing more than an irreversible regret.

As is true for most, Jeong Tae-ui hated regret. He hated the act of constantly looking back, lamenting things that had already left his hands.

That was why, regardless of the task he faced in life, whenever he stood at a crossroads, that was the first thing he considered.

When I look back on this later, will I regret it or not?

If the possibilities were similar, he wondered which of [visit our site]visit our site -->the two paths would lead to a less painful regret—a regret that could be undone.

Thinking of such things, he chose, discarded, and moved forward.

Those choices weren’t always right, but he believed that thanks to them, he had lived with a lighter heart, looking ahead with fewer regrets.

What wasn’t finished remained unfinished, and what was finished was finished.

Thus, for the past few years, Jeong Tae-ui had lived without any particular regrets. It was a fortunate thing.

And now, for the first time in years, he was contemplating a life with regrets versus one without, recalling such grandiose thoughts. He was even pondering the nature of regret itself.

I wish I hadn’t done that then. Or, I should have done it that way back then.

“……I wish I hadn’t asked that then. Or, I should have responded immediately after hearing the answer.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered gloomily, resting [Read on Read BL Novels]copy]Read on Read BL Novels -->his chin on his arm which was draped carelessly over the railing.

In the waning light of the afternoon, Jeong Tae-ui was alone atop the temporary tower.

As the sun dipped red toward the west, the wind blew exceptionally strong today. It blew hard enough for his hair to whip against his face and his clothes to flutter with a snapping sound.

Despite the wind, the sunset was beautifully colored, making it a fine day. A place with strong winds and great weather. It felt exactly like being on a mountaintop.

“Even if it’s just a five-story temporary tower, it might actually be surprisingly high in terms of altitude.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered something entirely unrelated to the worries filling his head.

Facing the rear of the main building, he could see the annex standing at a fair distance. Beside the annex, there was a large, clean pool. Perhaps because it had been hot today, two or three people were soaking in the water.

At any other time, he would have thought the water looked refreshing, but right now, such a thought didn’t even occur to him. Instead, the water looked ominous, only adding to his gloom.

He shouldn’t have asked.

—Is the person you have feelings for me?

Immediately after asking, Jeong Tae-ui had regretted it.

It was a question that offered no gain and only potential harm.

If the answer were “no,” it would simply be embarrassing and awkward. As a bonus, he would receive a look of utter disbelief, and for a while, he would have to live with the feeling of having committed a crime every time he saw the person.

But that would have been better.

At the very least, he could have willingly accepted it as the price for failing to suppress a momentary curiosity.

However, in the case where the opposite answer returned.

“……. What do I do now…….”

Jeong Tae-ui let his chin slip from his arm and rested it directly on the railing. Then, he ended up clutching his hair in frustration.

 

 

The answer came a long while after he had asked.

When Jeong Tae-ui asked, Christophe said nothing. He simply gazed at Jeong Tae-ui in silence.

Under that subtle gaze, Jeong Tae-ui felt an ominous premonition. A sense of failure crept up his body—that he shouldn’t have asked, that he had asked for nothing.

While Jeong Tae-ui was worrying about how to break through this bleak situation, Christophe slowly lowered his head. He looked down toward Jeong Tae-ui’s chest. Silence flowed for a long time once again.

I have to laugh it off now.

That thought occurred to him.

It would be better to handle the situation by jokingly saying it was a prank, just a random question.

……Otherwise, something very troublesome would happen…….

He felt it instinctively. That instinct had been a wonderful ally that had protected Jeong Tae-ui until now.

‘Ah. Look, I just said that for a laugh—.’

‘I suppose so.’

But it was just as Jeong Tae-ui opened his mouth, belatedly trying to fix the situation.

As if he had been waiting, Christophe, who had been immersed [stolen content]content -->in thought with his head lowered until then, cut Jeong Tae-ui off.

As he slowly raised his head, his gaze met Jeong Tae-ui’s.

He felt like a frog facing a snake.

No, Christophe surely didn’t have thoughts of swallowing Jeong Tae-ui whole or killing him, but that was how Jeong Tae-ui felt. About the situation itself.

‘I think I like you.’

As if he had reached a conclusion during his contemplation, Christophe spoke this time with firm decisiveness. His expression was faintly stiff, making him look blunt.

For a moment, Jeong Tae-ui didn’t know how to respond—and his mind went completely blank—so he just stared blankly at the man’s face.

Upon hearing those words clearly, the first thought that came to him was, ‘I’m dead.’

And the second thought, despite the dozens of troublesome scenarios flashing simultaneously in his mind, was unauthorized [unauthorized [unauthorized copy]copy]copya somewhat dazed one: ‘A person this beautiful likes me.’

And only then, thirdly, did Jeong Tae-ui return to reality.

What should he do?

Of course, he could just reject him.

There was no need for further words.

However, the question was whether rejecting him would resolve everything cleanly.

There were times when the mere act of speaking words aloud created problems. He had a strong feeling that this was one of those cases.

No, first and foremost, he had to reject him.

‘Chris, thank you. I’m very happy that you’d say that.’

To start the conversation smoothly, he began with a suitable greeting. But it seemed that was another mistake.

A faint light flickered across Christophe’s blunt face. The corners of his mouth twitched, and he blinked a couple of times.

Jeong Tae-ui resented himself for being sensitive enough to detect that faint signal.

‘No! No, no, I mean, as you know, I already have a man I’m living with. We haven’t broken up.’

As Jeong Tae-ui hurriedly raised both hands and added the explanation, the signal vanished from Christophe’s face once more.

He returned to his usual cold and indifferent expression and spoke flatly.

‘You can just break up. I’ll treat you better.’

Damn it. This man, who lacked common sense in interpersonal relationships, surely didn’t know how to handle being rejected. Or perhaps he unauthorized copyhad never [Read on Read BL Novels]been rejected and didn’t know what unauthorized copyto do. Or perhaps he suffered from a peculiar brain ailment where he didn’t perceive a rejection as a rejection.

Then let’s try a different approach.

‘The person you’re telling me to break up with is, you know, your friend and former colleague.’

‘I believe I said we aren’t friends.’

Suddenly, Christophe’s attitude became prickly. It was a demeanor that suggested his mood had soured instantly.

He looked up at the sky and then shifted his gaze back to Jeong Tae-ui.

‘And.’

‘…….’

‘If that guy were in my position, what do you think he’d do? Do you think he’d step back quietly? Or unauthorized copyEND: unauthorized copy -->do you think he’d just steal you away?’

There was no answer to that. The answer was too obvious.

Jeong Tae-ui scratched his forehead with a hum. Before he knew it, a drop of sweat had formed at his temple.

‘Then the most important thing is my opinion. I don’t really intend to do that. Sorry.’

In cases like this, there was no benefit to dragging it out. Jeong Tae-ui quickly went for the direct approach.

This time, Christophe also seemed to have no intention of countering; he shut his mouth and glared at Jeong Tae-ui. He looked absorbed in searching for the right words.

While agonizing over how he had run into such a predicament, Jeong Tae-ui faced him.

It was flustering. While being popular should naturally be a happy thing, it depended on the person.

‘So, you’re rejecting me?’

Eventually, as if he had organized his thoughts, Christophe asked. Jeong Tae-ui answered immediately without thinking long. Yes. Then, Christophe fell into thought for a moment again before saying, with that same desolate face:

‘But I like you.’

……At this rate, it would likely become an infinite loop.

Jeong Tae-ui pulled at his hair as if he were about to tear it out. Perhaps because of that, a certain fact suddenly occurred to him.

‘Right. You hate it when other people touch you.’

This time, Christophe’s complexion stiffened more noticeably.

It seemed he couldn’t make an excuse for that particular point.

‘That, ……if it’s just holding hands, I might be able to get used to it.’

‘No, it’s more than that. As I said before, with that guy, it’s beyond just holding hands; we sleep in the same bed, we kiss, and we even masturbate each other.’

Jeong Tae-ui pushed forward, listing things off in a row, thinking he should close this conversation once and for all. Only after saying it did he feel it was quite awkward to have said it with his own mouth, but it was already too late.

Furthermore, as for the masturbation—they did things far beyond that, but he only mentioned that much to protect the pure spirit of Christophe, who held immense prejudices against physical relationships between men.

As Jeong Tae-ui quickly justified himself and finished speaking, Christophe’s complexion turned slightly pale. His eyes grew fierce.

‘I don’t like that.’

‘Huh?’

‘I don’t like that you do those things with him.’

‘…….’

Is this what they call a random guy acting like my husband? Jeong Tae-ui had a stray thought for a moment before quickly erasing it from his mind.

Christophe lowered his head again. Once more, he dropped his gaze to Jeong Tae-ui’s chest and sank into thought with a fierce face.

Having recovered somewhat from the defensive position, Jeong Tae-ui became a bit calmer. He quietly observed Christophe, who remained motionless in thought.

Even with a fierce face, it wasn’t much different from his usual face. This man never had great changes in expression. Unless he was running wild as if he’d lost his reason, his expression didn’t change much whether he was angry or in a good mood. Even when he smiled.

……. No……. Had he ever seen him smile?

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head slightly. He tilted it the other way, searching his memories.

It was as if he were facing someone who had never smiled in their life; the memory simply wouldn’t surface.

A person who had never smiled.

That person was now frowning, thinking hard right in front of him. It was a face that looked very slightly dissatisfied, but it was the face of someone lost in very serious contemplation.

‘Christo—.’

He almost called his name without realizing it.

But it was then.

Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes widened. He blinked several times.

He felt a sensation of incongruity somewhere below. It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, but it was definitely a strange feeling.

Jeong Tae-ui looked down to check, then raised his head in utter shock. He looked at the man in front of him with a feeling of disbelief.

‘……. What, it’s nothing special.’

He muttered with a click of his tongue, his tone sounding somewhat annoyed. A hint of dissatisfaction permeated his expression. It was a face that would perfectly suit someone snapping, Why do you keep making things troublesome?

However, the color of that face betrayed the expression.

It was bright red.

Red as a ripe persimmon, his face was flushed.

And below that face, there was Christophe’s hand, reaching into Jeong Tae-ui’s groin and gripping his private parts.

No, I’m the one being grabbed, so why is your face redder than mine…….

Even if Jeong Tae-ui tried to blush, seeing that face made him certain he could never be redder than the man before him.

Having uttered that it was “nothing [stolen content]stolen content -->special,” Christophe was kneading Jeong Tae-ui’s private parts over his trousers.

He was just kneading. Simply squeezing and releasing, squeezing and releasing.

‘…….’

‘…….’

Only a subtle silence passed between them.

In the midst of this, Christophe’s face—which Jeong Tae-ui had thought could not possibly get any redder than a ripe persimmon—surprisingly grew even redder, and seeing that, even the previously composed Jeong Tae-ui felt his own face grow hot for no reason.

‘Christophe…….’

Jeong Tae-ui called him quietly. Christophe, whose face was fully ripened but whose expression remained unchanged, expressionless and blunt, raised an eyebrow as if asking why he was calling.

Seeing that face, Jeong Tae-ui couldn’t bring himself to say anything else.

‘Let’s…… think about it more over time……. It takes a long time for a person to truly know another person. Look, there’s probably a lot you don’t know about me. Same for me.’

The situation—saying such things calmly while his groin was being held—was incredibly absurd, but regardless, Jeong Tae-ui spoke seriously.

Christophe, who was still holding Jeong Tae-ui’s groin with a burning face, remained silent after hearing the words, then eventually nodded.

Another subtle silence flowed.

Christophe had a crease between his brows, looking as if he didn’t know at what timing he should let go or how he should pull away.

Left with no choice, Jeong Tae-ui reached out and gently placed his hand over the hand attached between his legs. But the moment his hand was about to touch, Christophe quickly withdrew his hand.

At that swift motion, Jeong Tae-ui stopped his hand and looked at him, and Christophe—though it didn’t show much—had an awkward look on his face.

Soon, Christophe left the spot with an indifferent face, leaped onto his [Read on Read BL Novels]unauthorized copyty:0;font-size:0;">Read on Read BL Novelshorse, and vanished, leaving Jeong Tae-ui with only a single word: “Then.”

Left alone in an instant, Jeong Tae-ui grumbled that while he didn’t particularly want to ride, if someone went as far as confessing their love, they should at least ask, “Would you like to ride with me?” as he put on the rest of his clothes. And as he dressed and his reason returned further, regret surged like a tidal wave, and he collapsed right there on the spot.

 

 

Presumably, there was a high possibility that the man would burst into laughter and find this immensely amusing.

No, given his personality, he rarely burst into laughter while clutching his stomach, so to put it more realistically, there was a high possibility he would find it very amusing and his eyes would sparkle.

Thinking about it, he loved incidents and accidents. Or rather, incidents and accidents always followed him.

If something noisy broke out unrelated to him, he would watch with interest; if something noisy broke out related to him, he would find it annoying, yet he handled the matter quickly and efficiently when it came time to resolve it.

However, this matter wasn’t even something that could be called an “incident.”

Honestly, no matter how much Jeong Tae-ui racked his brain, he couldn’t understand why Christophe liked him—or why he said he liked him—but regardless, this was a situation that had happened despite the fact that it shouldn’t have. Therefore, that man would likely find it very amusing and watch with great interest.

The only thing that bothered him was.

“To what extent should I tell him…….”

With his chin buried in the railing, Jeong Tae-ui muttered while looking resentfully at the distant pool.

Even so, if he said, He told me he liked me while kneading my private parts.

……Even as I say it, it sounds strange.

Furthermore, another thing that bothered him was that it would have been better if he had shouted a firm “No” until the very end, but he hadn’t.

“…….”

Though he was a guy who showed obsession in strange places, he felt the man might just laugh and watch in this case. Somehow, if the opponent was Christophe, it felt like that would happen. Fortunately, he was the possessor of a pure spirit who believed without a doubt that physical relationships between men were platonic.

But still, those minor problems lingered.

“Should I just keep my mouth shut entirely?”

But after thinking for a moment, Jeong Tae-ui shook his head.

That wasn’t a very good method either.

Considering that Christophe and that man were soul twins in subtle ways, there was a high possibility that Christophe would go to him and openly pick a fight.

One worry here, another worry there, and yet another worry…….

“……Ugh, why did I end up having to worry about this……. I intended to leave Berlin and see some sights and have some fun before going, visit our sitebut what kind of fate is this…….”

Jeong Tae-ui slammed his forehead against the railing. Thump, thump—he kept doing it, two, three times.

Then, his worries reached a single conclusion.

As expected, the book was the problem. He felt that if his mind and body became any more exhausted, he would end up claiming that the book was the root of all evil.

Suddenly, a somewhat sly and cowardly thought occurred to Jeong Tae-ui.

If you truly like me, give that book back.

Should he try making such a request? …Was that too petty?

Jeong Tae-ui let out a sigh. He leaned his arms on the railing and propped his cheek up on his hand.

“Sigh… I don’t know. Everything will just happen as it’s meant to.”

“What will?”

“…”

By now, he wasn’t even particularly surprised when someone suddenly spoke to him from behind without a sound.

Jeong Tae-ui turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. Ilay was approaching from the stairs.

“What brings you here alone? Where’s Richard?”

Usually, whenever Ilay appeared before him, he had Richard in tow, but today he was walking alone.

Ilay let out a scoffing laugh, as if it were absurd.

“Do I always travel with him? Now that you mention it, I suppose visit [visit our site]our sitewe were together almost every time I ran into you.”

But what’s the point of being together even on a holiday like today, he thought, as he came to a stop behind Jeong Tae-ui.

Only then did Jeong Tae-ui remember seeing Richard earlier, strolling along the walking path with a woman who looked like a piece of candy. He had been so preoccupied with his own worries that he had forgotten.

“Ah, right, that’s true. I ran into him on the forest path earlier.”

Jeong Tae-ui nodded as he spoke, then looked at Ilay.

“He was with his lover. She was a beauty.”

“Lover? Hmm… A slender woman with fair skin and light brown hair reaching her waist, who looked like she’d be easily frightened?”

“Oh, I guess you’ve seen her.”

“No. I haven’t.”

Jeong Tae-ui frowned with a strange expression. He spoke disapprovingly to the profile of the man who had come right up beside him to watch the sunset over the railing.

“How did you know if you’ve never seen her?”

“Because that guy’s taste in women has always been exactly like that.”

“It hasn’t changed in over a decade,” he added with a smirk. However, as the smile faded, he looked slightly puzzled.

“A walk with a woman… Did something happen when you ran into him?”

“With me? What could possibly happen with me? We just happened to cross paths at the entrance of the walking path, exchanged greetings, and passed each other.”

Jeong Tae-ui rewound his memory to try and think of anything that could be considered ‘something’ happening between him and Richard, but there was no reason for anything unusual to have occurred. If anything unusual had happened, it would be more likely that…

…Ah.

Jeong Tae-ui glanced at Ilay and asked tentatively.

“Why? Why do you ask if something happened with me?”

“Nothing. I ran into him briefly at the main building on my way here, and he didn’t look great. That guy, who always wears a smiling mask, had his true nature written all over his face and wasn’t even pretending to smile.”

“Hmm? …Maybe he fought with his lover.”

Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head.

He had encountered Christoph earlier and they had created a somewhat hostile atmosphere, but that was no different from usual. Even the time they had fought much more viciously before, hadn’t Richard shown a grim side for only a very brief moment before returning to a cold smile?

However, Ilay did not agree with Jeong Tae-ui’s plausible deduction. Instead, he looked down at him from the corner of his eye and chuckled.

“He’s not the interesting type to unauthorized copy-->fight with a woman, nor is he naive enough to scowl just because he fought.”

“Hmm… then was it because he fought with Christoph earlier? Since he fought in front of his lover, it might have left a more resentful mark on his heart than expected.”

“Christoph? Was he in the forest with you?”

Ilay asked with a faint look of curiosity.

This was because he knew that Jeong Tae-ui could not ride horses, and Christoph only went to the forest on horseback.

“Ah. No, I ran into Christoph while I was taking a walk. Richard happened to show up there too.”

“It wouldn’t have been easy to run into each other like that in such a vast forest…”

Ilay’s gaze narrowed as he looked at Jeong Tae-ui.

Uh, well, I was bathing and playing in the stream and Christoph came [unauthorized copy]aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelsby on horseback… As Jeong Tae-ui was giving a casual explanation, he suddenly shut his mouth.

He had been momentarily dazed by the conflict between Richard and Christoph and had forgotten. Come to think of it, there was one more thing he had been debating whether to mention or not.

Jeong Tae-ui stood at a crossroads again. The option with a higher probability of regret later versus the one without.

In that case, there was no need to think long. When things got tangled, the one who would regret it more later was the one who kept their mouth shut and deceived.

“Now that I think about it, Christoph said something quite interesting to me.”

Jeong Tae-ui brought it up as lightly as possible, like a joke.

Just as the body dominates the mind and words dominate emotions, once he had spoken the words, it didn’t seem impossible to think of it as something truly interesting.

Thinking about it, at this age, from a guy like that, in this situation, hearing that he liked him was indeed an interesting experience. Or rather, it was a highly unlikely occurrence.

Suddenly finding it funny, Jeong Tae-ui looked at Ilay with a beaming smile. For some reason, Ilay was smiling too. A beaming smile. [unauthorized copyclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]With his eyes curved into crescents, Ilay asked.

“Why? Did that guy tell you he likes you or something?”

“Yeah, you know me well. Ahahaha.”

He laughed out loud, pretending to respond to the joke as a joke, but no response came back to his laughter.

Huh, thinking, Jeong Tae-ui slowly stopped laughing and looked at Ilay again. Then, the smile vanished completely from his face.

In that short span of time, the trace of a smile had entirely disappeared from Ilay’s face. Instead, the gaze he cast down at Jeong Tae-ui, with his head slightly tilted up, was chilling beyond measure.

Strange. The atmosphere had suddenly plummeted.

Only then did Jeong Tae-ui think, I stepped on a landmine. Instinctively, this was a total ‘landmine’.

But he felt that if he also sank into this mood, the atmosphere would become irreversible.

With a bitter smile, he lightly patted Ilay’s arm.

“Hey. Why are you suddenly getting so serious? It’s Christoph, Christoph. Not anyone else. I thought you’d find it incredibly amusing.”

“If it were anyone else, I would have found it amusing.”

Ilay’s voice in response was simply cold.

Jeong Tae-ui no longer had the courage or confidence to lighten the mood, so he just shut his mouth.

I mean, really, to get this serious…

“…Aren’t you going to ask what I answered?”

Jeong Tae-ui struggled to somehow loosen the atmosphere that [stolen [Read on Read BL Novels]Read on Read BL Novels -->content]had turned murderous in an instant. However, it had the opposite effect.

Ilay muttered, “What you answered…?” and looked down at him with an even colder face.

“You probably tried to reject him flatly, but since he couldn’t take a hint and showed signs of continuing to cling to you, you had no choice but to put it on hold, saying something like you’d think about it more over time.”

“…”

Jeong Tae-ui was speechless.

He had always thought he was a scary human being, but he felt it vividly again at times like this. A truly terrifying man.

Thinking that his behavioral patterns might be read too easily, Jeong Tae-ui smacked his lips bitterly.

“Why are you being so serious? When Kyle said something similar to me before, you laughed it off. This time is the same. It’s not much different.”

When was it? Having lived together for several years, Kyle, who couldn’t help but know what kind of relationship Read on Read BL Novelssite" style="display:none;" aria-label="visit our site">visit our sitevisit our siteJeong Tae-ui and Ilay had, had once poured out his drunken truths after drinking heavily for business.

‘You should dump a guy like that and meet a sturdy human like me. How did you get caught by a guy like that and have your kind life go astray like this… oh, you poor thing…’

Moved by the grateful Kyle who wept for him, Jeong Tae-ui had hugged Kyle and agreed, saying “I know, right,” only to be caught red-handed by Ilay.

He thought he might die if things went south, but Ilay had just snorted and let it slide. He had simply delivered a severe slap to the cheek of the drunken, passed-out Kyle.

Though slightly different, he thought it was in a similar vein to that time.

However, this time, Ilay let out a hollow laugh.

“The person is different. Christoph is a headache.”

He said, clicking his tongue. Then, suddenly narrowing his eyes, he stared intently at Jeong Tae-ui.

“And.”

“Yeah?”

“He said he likes you. Other than that… did nothing else happen?”

At that low, interrogating voice, Jeong Tae-ui fell silent for a moment.

What flashed through his mind was that face, ripe and red like a persimmon. And that hand, moving clumsily between his thighs.

He realized instinctively. If he mentioned that, nothing would be left intact.

When Jeong Tae-ui just stared up at Ilay without saying anything, Ilay’s eyes narrowed further.

“Tae-yi.”

“What do you mean ‘anything else’? It was only a while [Read on Read unauthorized copyBL Novels]style="position:relative;display:inline;">[visit our site]ago that he claimed physical relationships between men are pure.”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke sullenly. Ilay stared piercingly at Jeong Tae-ui with narrowed eyes, then muttered “I see” with a somewhat suspicious tone and straightened his posture.

With a frown of annoyance, Ilay silently looked down at the scenery below the small tower. The hand resting on the railing tapped lightly. He felt extremely anxious about what thoughts were swirling within that gesture.

Suddenly, those fingers stopped. After remaining still for a while, Ilay abruptly turned around.

“I’ll have to talk to him myself. Though I don’t think it’ll be listened to.”

Leaving only those words that sounded like a monologue, he strode toward the stairs.

Jeong Tae-ui, left alone behind, stood dazed for a moment before snapping out of it and hurriedly following after him.

 

* * *

 

It was a truly awkward situation.

Jeong Tae-ui thought that when he and Ilay arrived side-by-side in front of Christoph’s room.

Maybe it would have been better to just pretend not to know and keep quiet. Or perhaps a method of natural extinction, like returning to Berlin, would have been good.

As Jeong Tae-ui stood beside Ilay with his head lowered in disappointment, Ilay, who had just gripped the doorknob, spoke without even looking at him.

“If it’s Christoph, unless he is convinced in his own way, he’ll follow you and cling to you even after you go to Berlin.”

Jeong Tae-ui gasped inwardly and stole a glance at Ilay.

This guy—he’s not a ghost, visit unauthorized copyour [Read on Read BL Novels]sitebut it feels like he’s been looking into people’s heads as if they were his own.

Then, once again, he said one thing.

“Sometimes you do things that are completely unpredictable, but generally, everything you’re thinking shows on your face. Then again, you don’t really try to hide your thoughts; you just let them all out, originally.”

He concluded with a short laugh.

Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head, thinking, Is that so? As he said, since he had rarely felt the need to hide his expressions or emotions, he hadn’t tried to.

But it couldn’t be easy to read someone that well, Jeong Tae-ui grumbled, and in the meantime, Ilay had already entered Christoph’s room.

Christoph was in the study. Sitting on a single-person couch by the window with his legs resting on a stool, he was flipping through a book in a lazy posture that would have been fine for falling asleep.

When his gaze reached Ilay, who had opened the door and entered, and then Jeong Tae-ui, Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue softly. This situation was utterly awkward.

To use a metaphor, it felt like bringing an adult along to a children’s fight.

“You’re later than I thought.”

As if he had already guessed they would come, Christoph muttered languidly without even getting up from the couch. Even after closing the book and placing it on the windowsill, he seemed to have no intention of standing up.

Ilay stood beside him, looking down at Christoph crookedly. Then, suddenly, in a light tone, as if smiling or not, he asked.

“Chris. What do you plan to do?”

“Give him to me.”

“…”

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu at that short line. This feeling that the pieces of the conversation didn’t fit together seemed to be something he had felt very recently.

However, while immersed in that inexplicable sense of profound emotion, he wondered for a moment, Bu[unauthorized [visit our site]copy]copy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyt where did my opinion go?

To be in a scene where two men are surrounding him, arguing over whether he is yours or mine—Jeong Tae-ui is quite popular.

Jeong Tae-ui had such a thought. Self-deprecatingly.

If those two men were Ilay Riegrow and Christoph Tarten, anyone who knew them would surely look at him with eyes full of pitiful sympathy.

But, how should he put it, fortunately, it didn’t go in the dangerous direction Jeong Tae-ui had feared from the start. It seemed the conversation was going to flow surprisingly quietly.

Jeong Tae-ui still harbored a sliver of anxiety, but with that anxiety—which was less than half of what he had felt on the way here—he pulled over a nearby chair and sat down. He decided to quietly watch them.

Let me know once it’s all decided. Then, after hearing that decision, regardless of what the conclusion is, I will make a decision as I wish.

Jeong Tae-ui watched them for a while, noting how they were overlooking who actually held the power of choice in this situation, then he noticed the mini-bar in the corner of the study and approached it. He took out a couple of cans of beer and returned to the chair, now fully prepared to watch.

Ilay stood beside Christoph, staring Read on Read BL NovelsBL Novels -->down at him intently. As if contemplating what to do about this, he suddenly asked abruptly.

“What is it about him that you like?”

When that question flew, Christoph tapped his knee with his interlaced fingers. The way he tilted his head and remained silent for a long time suggested that he couldn’t quite think of an answer even after thinking hard.

Jeong Tae-ui—even though he hadn’t necessarily wanted an answer about what was good—looked at him with blank eyes.

Hey, if you don’t even know that, you shouldn’t have said you liked me and confused people in the first place.

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue and swallowed his beer. He felt Christoph’s gaze staring intently at him, as if he needed something to use as an answer.

“Well… I don’t know. Now that I think about it, there isn’t any particular part of him that seems likable, is there…?”

Along with Christoph’s answer, the half-drunk beer can in Jeong Tae-ui’s hand crumpled.

What the hell is this guy doing, was he just playing with me?!

Feeling as if he had been starring in a delusional movie by himself, Jeong Tae-ui smacked his lips bitterly. The beer tasted especially bitter today.

“But I think it might be nice to be together.”

Christoph spoke slowly, hesitating slightly, as if saying, ‘But I’m still not quite sure…’ His gaze flew toward Jeong Tae-ui, who was holding the crumpled beer can to his lips.

“If we keep living together, I think it would be kind of nice. I don’t know how it would be nice, just… somehow. It’ll be better than the idiots swarming this west wing, regardless of how it turns out.”

It was an extremely ambiguous answer. He didn’t know how it would be nice, but he just thought it would be kind of nice.

Jeong Tae-ui ruminated on that answer while sipping his beer.

But perhaps he understood.

The man standing beside Christoph and looking down at him right now—if asked, he probably stolen contentunauthorized copycopy" style="display:none;" aria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copypan>wouldn’t be able to explain exactly what or how he liked him either.

I just think it would be kind of nice to live together.

Life can go on without them without any problem, but still, it would be kind of nice if they were here.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at Ilay without a word.

“…”

If I said that I momentarily thought of him as a ‘chicken rib’—something useless to keep but a waste to throw away—I probably wouldn’t live to see my natural death.

But it was truly so. Thinking about it anew now, that was how it was. Perhaps many people who live together are like that.

They can live without each other. It’s not particularly inconvenient. But still, they think it would be nice to have the other. Though there are times when their presence causes rage, they still want them there.

“So, give him to me.”

Then, after giving that ambiguous yet vaguely understandable answer, Christoph spoke. His indifferent face looked as if he would say ‘If you don’t want to, then whatever’ at any moment, but those words never came out.

Ilay looked down at Christoph. Then, at some point, he let out a soft, scoffing laugh.

“Right, so you don’t know what’s good about him, but you just think it’ll be kind of nice anyway?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“That’s exactly what I thought when I first brought him here.”

Ilay glanced at Jeong Tae-ui. Jeong Tae-ui gave a small nod. He had gone in with a spirit of sacrifice, but since the other party simply thought it would be nice as it was, he was nothing but grateful.

“Do you know how much time has accumulated? While time passed, I put in the effort, stained it with my own touch, and made it mine. Perfectly suited to me. And yet you covet it? You covet what is mine? …Have you lost your mind, Christoph Tarten?”

Ilay’s voice dropped slightly.

However, Christoph, sitting across from him, said nothing. Nor did he shrink back or show any sign of fear. He was simply lost in thought for a moment.

“Still… I need it. I want it.”

“Christoph. You must know. To keep someone by your side, you need the qualifications.”

Suddenly, his voice sank even further. The subtle, low voice whispered, brushing against Christoph’s ear.

A flicker of ice-cold expression crossed Christoph’s otherwise quiet and bored face.

The hand resting on the armrest of the couch flinched for a second, clenching into a fist before relaxing. His lips closed and opened briefly.

“Riegrow. I’m in a rare good mood today. So, it would be better to save that conversation for later. Right now is a very rare occasion. Very.”

The low voice murmured. The voice, growing slower and lower, [[visit our unauthorized copysite]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]dragged out the final word. Ve-ry, he said. The voice seemed to tremble slightly.

Come to think of it, Jeong Tae-ui thought.

He hadn’t complained about it being noisy today.

Normally, from the moment he woke up in the morning, Christoph would have clicked his tongue and muttered to himself out of habit that it was too noisy or that his ears hurt. While the frequency varied from day to day, there was almost no day when he didn’t say it.

But today, he hadn’t said it. He didn’t particularly look like he was in a good mood, but he certainly seemed more peaceful than usual.

Don’t touch me. Don’t make it noisy for me anymore. It’s finally quiet. Don’t call those voices back together.

With a voice that sounded like that, Christoph spoke to Ilay.

Ilay narrowed his eyes. As if knowing that just a few more words like that could easily trigger Christoph, a faint, satisfied smile appeared at the corners of his eyes.

“Fine. Then I’ll tell you just one thing for now. I won’t give him to you.”

Christoph did not answer. Ilay continued.

“For now, I’ll just keep an eye on things. There’s less than a month left, and I don’t want to cause any problems. Christoph, once I finish my work, I want to leave this place very amicably.”

Adding that he didn’t particularly want to cause trouble with the Tartens or with him, Ilay curled the corners of his mouth slightly.

Jeong Tae-ui watched them while crushing an empty beer can.

For some reason, he felt an infinitely ominous vibe, but he thought this gathering would wrap up smoothly without anything major happening.

Yet at the same time, those words sounded as if he were saying that even if he tried to leave amicably, there would be obstacles preventing it.

Jeong Tae-ui frowned slightly. A thick sense of unease remained, as if the hidden meaning beneath the words was enveloping his heart.

Ilay, who had leaned forward to speak softly close to Christoph’s [visit [visit our site]our site]stolen contentvisit our site -->face, straightened his body again as if he had said everything he wanted to. Then he took a step back.

“I’ve clearly warned you in advance. No matter when it happens later, don’t say you didn’t receive any warning.”

Ilay turned around. Having finished what he had to say, he strode away toward the door, but then he noticed Jeong Tae-ui sitting a short distance away.

Slowing his pace and looking at Jeong Tae-ui, a smile suddenly played on his lips. It was the smirk he most commonly wore when looking at Jeong Tae-ui. However, a chilly light soon mixed into that smile. A cold voice whispered one last time.

“Christoph. If you covet something you shouldn’t, you’ll only end up making yourself miserable. It’s not something a cripple who can’t even feel pain or smile can hope for.”

The final phrase was exceptionally harsh.

At those low yet clear words, Jeong Tae-ui’s heart turned cold.

It was a clear warning. From Ilay to Christoph.

Ilay headed for the door again. As he brushed past Jeong Tae-ui, he left behind the [visit our siteclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">stolen contentvisit our sitestyle="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]incredibly generous remark, ‘Make sure to comfort him well before returning to your room.’

 

* * *

 

He was looking in the mirror.

He didn’t know how long he had been standing in front of the mirror.

It was a morning on a day with no other schedules—an hour closer to noon for others—when Jeong Tae-ui went to Christoph’s room to wake him up.

Unless it was a day he taught the children, Christoph almost never woke up before Jeong Tae-ui came to find him. He always struggled, waking up only when the sun was high in the sky. As soon as he opened his eyes, he would frown and groan, “I can’t open my eyes,” and then start his day by habitually muttering, “It’s noisy,” or “My head hurts.”

However, on that day, when Jeong Tae-ui—who had woken [visit [unauthorized copy]our site]wm: visit our site -->up at a similar time to others and spent a leisurely morning without any demanding superiors—went to his bedroom, he was already awake.

Seeing that he hadn’t changed out of his pajamas yet, it seemed he hadn’t been up for long. While it couldn’t be called a quirk, one of his habits that was incomprehensible to someone like Jeong Tae-ui, who lived moderately like other people, was that he strictly adhered to a dress code.

Usually, casual wear for daily life, athletic wear for exercise, and pajamas for sleep—this much was similar to others—but he had to match the clothing exactly to the situation.

After getting out of bed in the morning and returning from the bathroom, he always changed his clothes first. Even if he had several dozen minutes of spare time before leaving the room and felt it would be uncomfortable to change into outdoor clothes early, he did not walk around in pajamas after washing. Even if it meant changing into loungewear first and then changing into outdoor clothes shortly after, he matched the clothing to the situation with surgical precision.

This guy really has every kind of mental illness available: haphephobia, OCD, personality deficiency, and so on…

Even while thinking that, having spent time with him, Jeong Tae-ui had become reasonably accustomed to it.

Jeong Tae-ui was surprised to find Christoph already awake upon entering the room, but he seemed to have just gotten out of bed. He was still in his pajamas. Now that he looked closer, his hair was a mess.

Whether his hair was a bird’s nest or whether he was wearing cat-patterned pajamas at his age—perhaps he always changed quickly because he didn’t want others to see him like that—Jeong Tae-ui thought that people with good looks really did have an advantage.

Christoph stared intently into the mirror, motionless.

Standing in front of the half-length mirror hanging on the wall, he didn’t even turn his head as he watched Jeong Tae-ui enter the room through the reflection.

Because he was staring so intently, Jeong Tae-ui initially thought a bug had attached itself to the mirror.

“What’s wrong?”

He approached, but the only thing Christoph was looking at in the mirror was himself.

When Jeong Tae-ui appeared in the reflection, Christoph glanced at him for a moment but soon ignored him and looked back at himself. Jeong Tae-ui silently watched the scene from the side.

Watching a man who looked like a sculpture stare longingly at his own reflection without even blinking, Jeong Tae-ui felt like he should put some daffodils in the vase below.

Is this guy planning to add narcissism to his list of mental illnesses?

Observing this bizarre behavior he had never seen before with interest, Jeong Tae-ui asked him.

“Did you suddenly fall in love with your own face?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

Christoph murmured indifferently.

Even Jeong Tae-ui thought Christoph wasn’t the type of person to fall in love with his own face. He had never shown such a side of himself.

He thought that if he had suddenly fallen into narcissism this morning, it wouldn’t be strange given that face, but seeing him flatly call it stupid, that wasn’t it either.

“Don’t tell me you don’t like your face and are thinking about where to get plastic surgery…”

“If you’re going to keep talking like an idiot, get out. You’re distracting. My ears are already ringing enough as it is.”

Christoph irritably cut him off before Jeong Tae-ui could even finish his sentence.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at him doubtfully, wondering if this was really the same guy who had told him he liked him, then opened the window and tidied the bed, muttering, ‘I’ve practically become a housekeeper now.’

“It’s not working…”

Just as Jeong Tae-ui finished tidying the bed, Christoph suddenly muttered to himself. His face in the mirror frowned slightly.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at him with a curious expression and scratched his neck.

“Do you want me to help with something?”

Whatever it was, staring at the mirror looked quite exhausting, so Jeong Tae-ui spoke up. He expected another reply telling him to stop being distracting and get out, but after a moment of silence, Christoph slowly turned to look at Jeong Tae-ui.

“Yes, then.”

“Yeah, how can I help?”

“How do I smile?”

Hearing him speak in such a nonchalant tone, Jeong Tae-ui was momentarily speechless.

 

* * *

 

After smiling for several hours, it felt like his face was going to cramp.

The desire to deny the theory that a smile is a person’s most beautiful expression had long since surged violently.

Jeong Tae-ui continued to smile while facing Christoph.

And in front of Jeong Tae-ui, Christoph was staring intently at that smile.

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. The edges of his lips rose diagonally.

“The cheeks, the cheeks. Lift the muscles in your cheeks.”

Beaming, Jeong Tae-ui placed his index fingers at the corners of his mouth and pushed them up. Christoph followed suit.

Something resembling a smile appeared.

As he had asked at the very beginning, it seemed there was nothing wrong with his facial muscles. If he consciously forced it, he could create such an expression.

The problem was that for some reason, it didn’t look like a smile.

“…”

Eventually, Jeong Tae-ui wiped the smile from his face. He could no longer tell what his own expression looked like.

Jeong Tae-ui collapsed onto the spot and groaned.

“Hey, go grab someone who can smile instead of me. I can’t do it anymore. Ah, my face hurts…”

He muttered while rubbing the corners of his mouth.

Christoph clicked his tongue.

He looked down at Jeong Tae-ui for a moment and shrugged. Then he spoke without much expression.

“Forget it. It was a pointless attempt.”

“…”

Hearing that made him feel uneasy again…

Jeong Tae-ui bolted upright. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he scratched his head vigorously. Then he stared quietly at Christoph.

Christoph, seemingly agreeing that it had been a pointless act, had his lips slightly pursed.

“No… don’t frown like that, lift them.”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke softly, like a sigh. Raising an eyebrow at the remark, Christoph did as he was told.

Jeong Tae-ui fell into thought.

“What’s the problem? The lips are in a proper curve, and he put strength into his eyelids to curve the eyes… so why doesn’t it look convincing…?”

To Jeong Tae-ui, who was muttering with a quite serious face, Christoph waved his hand. Read on Read BL NovelsBL Novels -->Then he returned to his usual indifferent expression.

“Forget it. Now that I think about it, there’s no one I want to smile for. There’s no situation where I need to smile. I’ve lived this way so far without any particular inconvenience.”

“No, I used to think smiling was an instinct.”

In truth, he still thought so, but he spoke in the past tense because he had lost some confidence.

But it was as Christoph said. Even if one could create a smiling face with the facial muscles, it was useless if they weren’t actually smiling.

“…That’s a shame.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered unconsciously.

The reason he had continued to smile until his face cramped while comforting Christoph was, in part, because Jeong Tae-ui himself felt it was a waste. He had been curious about what kind of face would emerge if that man smiled brightly.

The thought that he had the face of an angel and the mouth of a demon remained unchanged, but regardless, his face was stolen contentthat stolen contentof an angel. However, no matter how many famous paintings or religious icons Jeong Tae-ui had seen, he had never seen a painting of an angel with a bright, full smile.

He wondered if Christoph smiling would be infinitely close to that. That sudden thought had led him to bring Christoph all the way up to the roof of this temporary tower.

It was by no means easy.

“…Let’s rest for a bit, first.”

Jeong Tae-ui flopped back down.

Above him was the sky. The sunlight was so wonderful that instead of sitting on the shaded bench with an awning, he sat here, on the ground.

“…”

He shifted his gaze slightly from the sky. He looked at Christoph. Even looking up at him from a slightly lower angle, Christoph’s beauty did not fade.

He was looking at the panoramic view visible through the railings of the temporary tower’s roof. What was in the direction of that [[visit our site]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]gaze? To the left of his field of vision, the [Read on Read BL Novels]forest stretched out, and to the right, there seemed to be an annex with a mountain range behind it. Some grass was visible, partially blocked by the annex, and behind the annex was a fairly large stable.

It was such an obvious fact that he had hardly thought about it, but strictly speaking, this place was the childhood home where Christoph was born and raised.

From the west wing where they were currently staying, to the main building, the east wing he rarely visited, the annexes, and the resorts within the grounds surrounding all those buildings.

Until the moment he left this place, he must have naturally blended into all of these things.

“How is it here? Is it a good place to live?”

“Dresden, or Tarten?”

Jeong Tae-ui, who had asked without much thought, shut his mouth at the immediate counter-question. In his mind, Dresden and Tarten were separate. As if Tarten were an autonomous district located within Dresden from the start.

“Both.”

At that, Christoph seemed to fall into thought [[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]for a moment. After blinking slowly a few times, he spoke.

“Hmm, it’s good.”

That was all.

Jeong Tae-ui waited for some further explanation, but he showed no sign of saying more. Jeong Tae-ui looked at him with a strange expression, but it seemed that was truly all.

Jeong Tae-ui considered asking more but stopped. Then again, if someone asked him if his own home was a good place to live, he didn’t have anything particularly special to add. Because he knew it well, it was familiar and comfortable. That was the greatest advantage of one’s home.

Familiar and comfortable.

Even Jeong Tae-ui, who was praised for adapting easily and becoming familiar with any place he went, found home the most comfortable. Perhaps he would feel some dissonance if he went back to the house he left empty in his home country now, but Berlin, which had become his current home, was like that.

Not long after arriving here, he had become reasonably accustomed to the atmosphere—though he didn’t like it—and was moving around quite comfortably, but still, the best place to live was Kyle’s house in Berlin.

“…”

—The place where one belongs.

Suddenly, a conversation they had once had came to mind.

The place where I rightfully belong. The place where he rightfully belongs. Or the place where one should not be.

“What do you do when you’re in the place you’re supposed to be but you can’t like it, or vice versa, when you’re in a place that wasn’t given to you but you love it too much…?”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered softly. Christoph looked at him as if wondering what he was talking about, but said nothing. He wasn’t saying it expecting any particular answer anyway.

Jeong Tae-ui looked at Christoph. He was still gazing at the scenery below the temporary tower. Vacantly. As if entranced.

—How is it here? Is it a good place to live?

—Hmm, it’s good.

Perhaps he did like this place.

But this was not the place where he belonged. There was no place carved out for him.

“…I moved. In a house I’d lived in since before I came of age, since I can’t even remember, I think it was in middle school.”

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly brought up a memory from the past. Christoph gave him a sidelong glance.

“Since it was a city located right next door, it wasn’t that far, so I could go quickly if I set my mind to it. But since I had no business there, I just ended up not going.”

It was after graduating from high school that he finally went back there.

Just before entering the academy, a memory suddenly surfaced for no particular reason, and on a sudden impulse, he decided to pay a visit.

The place where he had lived had changed a lot. Though only a few years had passed, a building had already risen on the vacant [visit our site[stolen content]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]lot in front of the house, and the house with the wide yard next door had become a row of townhouses.

However, the appearance of the alleys and the scattered landscapes overlapped with the images in his memory, and as he strolled through those paths, he felt a simple sense of longing and happiness.

He still liked and missed that place, but it was no longer a place where he belonged. He remembered returning with a slightly lonely heart after realizing that fact while walking those streets.

“……. Chris.”

Lying with his head on an arm pillow, he stared silently at the sky before calling him. He didn’t look back, but there was a sense that he was listening.

“Were you bothered by it?”

“By what.”

“The part about Ilay calling you a retard who can’t even smile.”

Would it have been better to put it more mildly? But he felt that softening it would only make it weirder. [Read on Read BL Novelsclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]It would make it seem as if he were paying too much attention to those words.

Jeong Tae-ui soon thought, Eh, whatever. If he were a soul fragile enough to be hurt by that, he wouldn’t have grown up to be who he is now.

“No.”

The answer came back quickly this time as well.

There was no feeling that he was intentionally shielding or sugarcoating himself. Then again, he was a man who was naturally clumsy with such things. If so, those words were his truth. Or a lie that he sincerely believed to be true.

Right, Jeong Tae-ui murmured. After a moment of silence, he added.

“You don’t have to force a smile.”

As Jeong Tae-ui spoke nonchalantly, Christoph looked down at him from the side. Their eyes met. Both Christoph’s gaze and Jeong Tae-ui’s were casual, as if they were discussing a topic that neither of them particularly cared about.

“It shows in its own way.”

Jeong Tae-ui added one more comment.

However, to this as well, Christoph merely nodded a couple of times as if it didn’t matter.

……. Come to think of it, if he was going to act like it was no big deal, why did he ask how he should smile in the first place?

Having told him he didn’t need to smile, Jeong Tae-ui now found himself thinking somewhat crookedly, staring at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes. Unaware that the gaze was piercing his back, Christoph spoke casually.

“I tried before, but I stopped. It didn’t work well.”

“Hmm…… you’re a man who gives up quickly.”

“It wasn’t something I wanted enough to put effort into achieving.”

He added that it was merely a matter of feeling a slight regret that he lacked it.

Jeong Tae-ui fell silent. Only after a while did he murmur, I see.

There were plenty of things around that weren’t absolutely necessary but were regrettable if missing. Thinking about it, there were surprisingly few things that were truly essential.

Things that one feels they cannot live without. Excluding food, water, air, or sunlight, there was almost nothing that one could not survive losing.

There are plenty of things one can live without.

But there are things that one can live without, yet still deeply miss.

People who can no longer be met, words one wants to hear from anyone, the unnecessary warmth of another person, a longing voice that is rarely reached.

“……. Let’s try again.”

Jeong Tae-ui sat up abruptly. He sat facing Christoph again and gave a bright smile.

Christoph frowned slightly as he looked at Jeong Tae-ui.

“I told you to stop.”

To the man speaking as if it were a nuisance, Jeong Tae-ui sent a sharp gaze while maintaining a smiling face.

“Why? You have to at least be able to smile if you’re going to tell someone you like them or whatever. Look, you have to lift your cheeks like this. Like this.”

Jeong Tae-ui placed his hand on his own cheek and lifted it.

However, as expected, a plausible expression rarely appeared on Christoph’s face. With a sigh of goodness, he suddenly brought his hand toward Christoph’s face.

“Just lift it a bit like th—”

But just before his finger poked the cheek, Jeong Tae-ui noticed Christoph’s face stiffen and immediately realized [Read on Read BL Novels]ovels -->his mistake. His hand stopped abruptly, barely an inch away from his face.

“……Sorry. I did that without thinking.”

Jeong Tae-ui quickly withdrew his hand. He had almost touched him. If he had, a deep furrow would have instantly appeared between those eyebrows, and he would have seen something unpleasant.

Jeong Tae-ui fidgeted with his withdrawn hand and smiled brightly again, as if to smooth over Christoph’s momentarily frozen expression.

Christoph was staring at Jeong Tae-ui with a dissatisfied look.

“Hey, I didn’t touch you. I didn’t.”

Thinking it would be terribly unfair if a bloody incident occurred because Christoph suddenly snapped, ‘Who told you to touch me as you pleased,’ Jeong Tae-ui quickly held up both hands as he spoke. Christoph glared at those hands with very displeased eyes.

His gaze shifted to Jeong Tae-ui’s face. Jeong Tae-ui looked back at him ambiguously, grumbling, ‘I didn’t touch you.’

After staring intently at Jeong [visit our site][visit our site]on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL NovelsTae-ui for a while, Christoph suddenly let out a silent sigh. Then he spoke.

“You can touch me.”

At that quiet and calm tone, Jeong Tae-ui nodded with an ‘Oh,’ but a few seconds later, he stopped dead with a ‘Huh?’

“…….”

Jeong Tae-ui stared at him blankly. The first reason was that he wanted to confirm if he had heard the words correctly, and the second was to confirm if he had understood them correctly.

“Touch what.”

He asked a question to resolve both doubts at once.

Christoph frowned and clicked his tongue. After appearing to hesitate for a moment, he suddenly grabbed both of Jeong Tae-ui’s hands.

Ah, right, he said he didn’t mind touching other people [stolen content[Read on Read BL Novels]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]with his own hands, but he tostolen contentld me to touch something.

While Jeong Tae-ui was thinking in confusion, Christoph held Jeong Tae-ui’s hands and pulled them toward his own cheek.

“Uh…….”

Jeong Tae-ui could only mutter a clumsy sound, blinking his eyes. Something strange was happening before him.

Having pulled Jeong Tae-ui’s hand right in front of his cheek, Christoph seemed to hesitate for a moment. He made a truly disgusted face, as if facing some abhorrent food. He frowned so hard it was pitiful to watch.

“……Hey, you don’t have to go that far…….”

Unable to watch any longer, Jeong Tae-ui spoke up, and upon hearing that voice, as if it were a signal, Christoph placed Jeong Tae-ui’s hand on his cheek.

“…….”

“…….”

The warm, soft sensation touching his palm.

Jeong Tae-ui was startled.

He was surprised by the fact that his hand was on Christoph’s cheek, and surprised that Christoph had led him to do so, but above all, he was surprised by the texture of the cheek touching his hand.

It was warm and soft. It felt like stroking a silk cushion that had been warmed.

“What’s wrong with your face?”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke with a serious expression while firmly cupping the cheek.

Only after saying it did he think the words could be somewhat misleading, but that didn’t matter.

“No, wait. But is it okay to touch you?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked the question he should have asked first.

Still gripping Jeong Tae-ui’s wrist, Christoph, who had a strangely distorted and very picky expression, looked at him. It was a gaze that seemed to be a mixture of unpleasantness and relief.

“……Hmm. I think it’s okay. But I don’t particularly like it.”

“Right……. Then why did you pull my hand over here? Let go.”

“I thought I should get used to it.”

Christoph murmured in a still dissatisfied voice. Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes widened slightly.

This might actually be a good sign.

“To get used to being close with people?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked hopefully. However, Christoph shook his head. Jeong Tae-ui raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“To you touching me.”

“……. Why.”

“Thinking long-term, I think it’s better to do this if I’m going to live with you.”

Christoph spoke bluntly.

Jeong Tae-ui fell silent at the tone, which wasn’t a question testing the other’s intentions, but a direct delivery of something he believed without a doubt.

I’m pretty sure I rejected him yesterday…….

Jeong Tae-ui was about to speak again, but he shut his mouth upon seeing [unauthorized copy]Christoph’s serious face as he began to [Read on Read BL Novels]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized copy]rub his cheek very slightly with the hand, as if he had become somewhat accustomed to having someone else’s palm on his cheek.

Very gradually, the frown between his brows smoothed out. A slight glimmer of confidence even spread across his expression, as if he felt he had become somewhat used to another’s hand.

On a sudden impulse, Jeong Tae-ui flicked his finger. The tip of his index finger sank slightly into the soft cheek. At that moment, Christoph’s hand, which was gripping Jeong Tae-ui’s wrist, reflexively tightened.

“……You’re going to break my wrist.”

He spoke calmly, but Jeong Tae-ui murmured it with half-seriousness.

Because he gripped it so violently all of a sudden, he thought his wrist bone might have cracked.

Christoph didn’t jerk Jeong Tae-ui’s hand away, but he immediately narrowed his eyes and spoke displeasedly.

“Why did you move all of a sudden!”

“If I don’t move and just stay still, how is this someone else’s hand? It’d just be a lump of flesh stolen Read on Read BL Novelscontentattached to someone’s arm.”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke indifferently. Then he watched as Christoph’s expression changed strangely before his eyes. He suddenly felt like laughing.

“Chris. How did you end up liking me?”

He almost added of all people at the end, but he suppressed it.

However, although he asked with a smile, it was actually a serious question.

Why did he come to like him, what part did he find appealing, why of all people did he choose him, when he couldn’t respond in kind.

But to Jeong Tae-ui’s question, which contained a faint sense of regret, Christoph spoke casually.

“I don’t know……. Do I actually like you?”

“…….”

Christoph’s words were not a joke or a prank either. With a serious face, he lowered his head slightly and sank into thought, as if asking himself.

How long has it been since he told me he liked me with that mouth?

Jeong Tae-ui looked at Christoph with a skeptical gaze, but seeing him lost in thought with his hand still on his cheek, he sighed and shut his mouth.

“I just suddenly had the thought. That it would be nice to be together. ……Since it was the first time I had such a thought, I concluded that I must like you. But I don’t know…… do I really like you?”

Christoph looked up with a face that showed he was questioning it himself. Under long eyelashes, blue eyes looked at Jeong Tae-ui inquisitively.

Jeong Tae-ui gazed back at him and slowly sighed.

“Just because it’s nice to be together doesn’t necessarily mean that.”

“But now it’s okay for you to touch me. I can endure it.”

Christoph repeated. Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes widened at the cold tone, which almost sounded like he was getting angry. Then, he spoke in a quietly sunken voice.

“Being able to endure it isn’t the same as it being okay.”

If it’s something so undesirable that one has to endure it, then it’s nothing more than training one’s patience.

Jeong Tae-ui slightly pulled his hand away from the cheek. Christoph gazed blankly at Jeong Tae-ui.

There was a sense of dissonance, as if things were subtly misaligned.

There was no reason for Christoph to like him.

They say there’s originally no reason for liking someone, but he couldn’t see the probability of why it had to be him.

He told Jeong Tae-ui he liked him. As if he had to.

Perhaps Christoph felt that dissonance as well. No, it was his own matter. Even if he couldn’t bring it to his conscious mind, there was no way he wouldn’t know that faint dissonance.

Christoph looked at Jeong Tae-ui in silence for a while. However, as if he couldn’t reach his own conclusion, he only said once more in a weak voice, “I like you,” as if telling it to himself.

“It’s okay for you to touch me.”

“That’s only because you endure it. Anyone can do that if they want to endure it.”

“Still, you’re okay.”

Instead of answering further, Jeong Tae-ui just nodded.

If that was what he wanted, it seemed okay to go along with it for a while. At least while he was here.

A moment of silence passed.

In the end, neither Christoph, who failed to smile satisfactorily, nor Jeong Tae-ui, who failed to see that satisfactory smile, thought about smiling anymore.

It was then.

The presence of people coming up from below the temporary tower was heard.

Christoph and Jeong Tae-ui turned their gaze toward the stairs almost simultaneously.

The multiple presences, who seemed to be coming up from a couple of floors below, were cheerful and lively enough to be recognized even from a distance. They were the presences of children.

“……Ah.”

Jeong Tae-ui murmured unconsciously.

He had encountered children here before. Come unauthorized copyto think [visit our site]content" style="display:none;" aria-label="stolen content">stolen contentof it, it seemed to be the same day of the week and the same time as today.

Which meant.

“The children must be coming.”

Christoph murmured in an annoyed tone. He frowned slightly, but didn’t show great displeasure.

“Ah…… Chris. But the one bringing the children is probably Richard.”

Jeong Tae-ui said, scratching his head.

At that moment, Christoph’s expression, which had been annoyed but not displeased, changed abruptly. It instantly shifted to a look of annoyance and displeasure.

“How do you know that.”

As if he didn’t want to believe it, Christoph interrogated Jeong Tae-ui with an upset face for no reason. Jeong [visit our site]Tae-ui shrugged, saying he had run into him once before.

“If I had known in advance, I wouldn’t have come here from the start.”

Christoph clicked his tongue and stood up. Jeong Tae-ui didn’t particularly feel like leaving just because Richard was coming, but considering Christoph’s blatant dislike, he stood up as well with an ‘Oops.’

When there are two people who get along extremely poorly within a group, the people around them tend to get tired. Although in this case, the people around them were forming groups to engage in brawls together, so they probably weren’t tired in the same way as Jeong Tae-ui.

While grumbling that the neighborhood’s quality was indeed poor, the children reached the rooftop.

“……Oh.”

“Huh? There’s another one.”

“Huh? Christoph is here too!”

The children, who rushed up without anyone leading, were glad to see Jeong Tae-ui [Read on Read BL Novels]there, saying there was another one, and then looked even more surprised to see Christoph beside him. They were children Christoph taught regularly.

Jeong Tae-ui gave a slight wave to the children who were running toward them, chatting noisily. Then, he suddenly murmured ‘Ah’ and saw Oliver mixed among the children.

Oliver, whose head showed no traces of injury as if it had all healed, smiled and greeted Jeong Tae-ui from a few steps behind. He smiled just as innocently at Christoph, who was standing next to him.

As always, Christoph had an indifferent face with a look of annoyance and boredom.

“Oliver, I guess you’re all healed now. There’s no gauze or bandage on your head.”

“Yes, I went to the hospital for the last time a few days ago.”

The boy, answering politely, gave a beaming smile. Then he glanced at Christoph’s reaction.

Christoph was merely giving him a cold gaze, pretending not to notice.

After the children finished greeting each other while chatting away, they [visit our site]site" style="display:none;" aria-label="visit our site">visit our sitestyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized copy]scattered and wandered around the rooftop as if their business was done.

Richard was not yet visible, appearing to be coming up slowly behind the children.

“I should go down before that face I don’t want to see appears.”

“You’ll run into him on the way down.”

“……. I can just slip away to the west wing or the main building from the floor right below.”

To Jeong Tae-ui’s plausible remark, Christoph replied sullenly.

Following Christoph as he strode away, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly spoke.

“It’s a relief that Oliver is all healed.”

Christoph slowed his pace slightly. After Read on Read BL [unauthorized copy]Novelslooking down at Jeong Tae-ui with a frown, he glanced at Oliver, and finally looked back at Jeong Tae-ui.

“I think I told you before, I don’t care.”

Right, Jeong Tae-ui nodded casually. He didn’t mean anything else by it anyway. He just remembered it because he saw Oliver and Christoph in the same place.

However, despite saying he didn’t care, Christoph stopped walking. He gazed at Oliver from a distance for a moment. His eyes were vacant, as if looking at something other than Oliver.

“It’s just that when I see Oliver, it reminds me. Because they look so much alike.”

He whispers softly, as if talking to himself. Watching that face, which seemed slightly sunken, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly spoke.

“With Richard?”

“Well, they do look a lot alike,” Jeong Tae-ui added, nodding to himself, causing Christoph to glare fiercely at him.

“No! Whether that bastard looks like him or not is none of my business! No, [unauthorized copy[visit our site]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]actually, it’s even more unpleasant if they do!”

“Oliver and Richard look alike. To that extent, I’d believe it if someone said they were stamped out of the same mold.”

“They don’t look alike; they’re completely different on the inside. I’m telling you, Oliver looks more like Olivia!”

Christoph shouted, clicking his tongue. Realizing that anger and agitation were laced in that harsh voice, Jeong Tae-ui fell silent. He looked back at Oliver.

The boy, who was deep in thought while holding some toy or puzzle with another child, did indeed look like Richard to Jeong Tae-ui, who didn’t know Olivia. But then again, who knew? To those who knew Olivia, he might look exactly like her.

“Is Olivia Richard’s younger sister?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked again. Christoph nodded.

Jeong Tae-ui started to say something to Christoph, who was staring blankly at Oliver, but then closed his mouth again.

There was nothing to say.

What could he say to him?

Is Olivia the person whose grave you buried a dog’s carcass in? —He couldn’t ask something like that.

Jeong Tae-ui silently followed Christoph’s gaze and looked at Oliver.

Then, suddenly, Christoph spoke quietly, as if he had read Jeong Tae-ui’s thoughts.

“He was a stray with no owner, but Olivia used to secretly feed him and adore him. When she was hospitalized and couldn’t take care of the dog, she asked me to look after him.”

Jeong Tae-ui slowly looked up at him.

Still staring at Oliver, Christoph said nothing more, his face indifferent.

—Christoph found that dog absolutely tedious. He openly mistreated it whenever it followed him.

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly recalled something he had heard once.

“…So, did you give him something tasty?”

“Yeah. For a stray, he had a picky appetite; he’d only eat if the food had pieces of meat in it, acting as if he were doing me a favor. Even though his tail would wag whenever I approached, he’d just flick his head away.”

“He was a bit of an arrogant dog,” Christoph added, shrugging his shoulders.

Christoph. Christoph. The way people look at others is so different.

Jeong Tae-ui nodded. Then he looked at Oliver.

“That dog only followed Olivia… so they’re probably together now.”

Christoph concluded simply.

“Right… right,” Jeong Tae-ui said once more.

A silence fell over the place for a moment.

Both of them stared out from the top of the temporary tower, looking nowhere in particular.

Just as Jeong Tae-ui was about to say, “Shall we head down now?”

A young girl came running up to Christoph, who was just about to turn around as if to say something similar.

“Christoph, Christoph! I learned how to break-fall the other day, but it’s not working! Heinrich keeps bragging that he’s the only one who’s good at it! What do I do?!”

The girl appealed to him with a flushed face, huffing in frustration. The child shouting from a distance with a mischievous face, saying, “You still can’t do it, so you went to learn again?” seemed to be Heinrich.

Christoph looked down at her, frowning as if she were a nuisance. She flinched, [stolen content]content -->but unwilling to back down helplessly in front of the friend mocking her from behind, she clenched her fists and didn’t move an inch. “Christoph, please teach me,” she pleaded in a voice that sounded like she might cry.

Jeong Tae-ui glanced at Christoph. Christoph looked like he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He couldn’t hear anyone coming up from below yet, but the man who taught the children would be arriving soon. And Christoph absolutely did not want to encounter that man.

“Ask Richard to teach you.”

Christoph spoke coldly and tried to turn away. At that, the girl shouted in frustration.

“I learned it from Richard! But how can I tell Richard directly that I don’t know how?!”

“…I think it would be more efficient to tell him than to tell me.”

Christoph grimaced. However, the girl seemed to have her own sense of pride. Jeong Tae-ui smiled quietly at her desire to appear as though she had understood and mastered it perfectly on the first try.

“Break-falling… Hmm, do you think you’ll understand if I show you a demonstration?”

When he asked, the child frowned and tilted her head with a “Hmm.” She seemed unsure her[visit [unauthorized unauthorized copycopy]our site]self whether that would help.

“Want me to do it?”

Jeong Tae-ui smiled, looking back at Christoph, who was scowling with a face that clearly screamed annoyance—though it didn’t show much regardless—and Christoph shrugged. “Be my guest,” he muttered.

Jeong Tae-ui turned back to the child. He bent his waist to meet her eyes.

The child looked at him suspiciously, as if thinking, Wait, isn’t this the mister who was doing errands… which hurt his feelings a bit, but Jeong Tae-ui smiled and reached out his hand.

He extended his hand with a seriousness and elegance as if asking a lady to dance, and the child hesitantly placed her small hand atop his.

At that moment.

“Now, try doing what you know first. Here I go.”

As soon as he finished speaking with visit [unauthorized copy]our sitea smile, Jeong Tae-ui lightly twisted his body and threw the child.

Just before she hit the ground, he lightly supported her waist and the back of her knees, positioning her so she could roll easily.

However, the child, who had not expected to be flipped so suddenly, fell straight to the ground. With Jeong Tae-ui’s assistance, she landed softly without impact and blinked while staring at the sky before her.

“…Oh my. I think I did a break-fall without even knowing it.”

The child whispered, her eyes wide. “It doesn’t hurt at all,” she added, her blinking face looking extremely happy.

“Why did you assist her? You learn by feeling the pain.”

Christoph, who had watched everything from the side, clicked his tongue and muttered bluntly. Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head.

“Hmm… I guess that doesn’t work… Then just watch closely. It’s hips, then back, then shoulder, then arm.”

After explaining gently to the child, Jeong Tae-ui turned to Christoph. Feeling the gaze staring intently at him, Christoph, who had been watching visit [stolen content]our sitewith hivisit our sites arms crossed in disapproval, frowned.

“What.”

“Throw me.”

Jeong Tae-ui said, pointing to himself.

Christoph let out an annoyed sigh, his face overtly showing how bothersome this was, before approaching Jeong Tae-ui. Then, without a word of warning, he grabbed Jeong Tae-ui’s forearm and pulled. A short impact hit the back of the ankle, just below the knee, and Jeong Tae-ui’s balance collapsed.

“…!!”

The next moment, Jeong Tae-ui was lying on the ground.

At a speed that would have succeeded even if he hadn’t anticipated the attack, Christoph had thrown Jeong Tae-ui to the floor and was now looking down at him, standing upside down over him.

Christoph glanced at the child with an unkind look.

“See? This is how you do it.”

“…I’m not sure. Please show me again.”

The child spoke boldly and clearly. Seeing that she didn’t back down even as Christoph’s gaze instantly turned vicious, and even added the request, “Please show me more slowly,” it seemed this child would also grow into a great person.

“What’s the harm? Showing it one more time is fine. Then try rolling more slowly.”

“Oops,” Jeong Tae-ui said as he stood up. Christoph shook his head with a frown.

“I can’t do it any slower.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t learn this for sparring.”

He had learned it solely for actual combat, to actually take people down.

That was what Christoph was saying. Because he had only learned how to neutralize an opponent as quickly as possible, he wasn’t used to showing it slowly for others to see.

Aha, Jeong Tae-ui nodded. As Christoph gestured with his chin toward the stairs, suggesting they head down, Jeong Tae-ui said:

“Then I can be the one to throw you. Slowly. Try to take the fall well.”

“You?”

Christoph made a strange face. He looked slightly bewildered and as if he disliked the idea. Seeing him hesitate just as he was about to shout something, Jeong Tae-ui finally realized.

“…You said it was okay if I touch you.”

“I didn’t say it was okay to touch me in order to attack me.”

“Attack? Whatever… Here I come.”

Jeong Tae-ui approached him with a grin.

Yes, he felt a slight streak of mischief, wanting to see exactly how much of his haphephobia was waived for him.

Suddenly, the soft sensation from when he had stroked his cheek earlier revived in his hand. It was a surprisingly wonderful texture.

“…”

Jeong Tae-ui, who had been staring at the sky with a slightly ecstatic expression without realizing it, snapped back to his senses as Christoph approached and muttered to himself.

Sorry. For a moment, I thought it would be truly ecstatic to sleep with you. Please forgive me for manipulating you as I pleased, even if only in my head. …If I said this to Ilay, I think I’d end up in a sorry state that very day, so I’ll keep this a secret for life.

But come to think of it, I wasn’t originally the type [unauthorized copy[stolen contentclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]to enjoy being the one on the bottom, Jeong Tae-ui grumbled as he grabbed Christoph’s collar and forearm.

Flinch. He could clearly feel the other man’s body recoil in his grip. As Christoph reflexively tried to shake him off, Jeong Tae-ui lightly lifted him into the air.

It felt as if a whoosh sound echoed.

Drawing a slow yet clear trajectory, Christoph twisted his body once in the air and rolled the moment he hit the ground, clicking his tongue. Absorbing the impact with his entire body, his hand slapped the floor.

Even Jeong Tae-ui, who had thrown him, was impressed by the textbook-perfect form.

He said he only used it for actual combat; if there were a man who fought with these movements in a real fight, he wouldn’t be able to kill him carelessly, if only because he’d want to keep watching those movements.

In a sense, he’s a terrifying man to have as an enemy, Jeong Tae-ui thought with a somewhat misplaced admiration as he turned to the child.

“Did you see it well?”

The child stared intently without even blinking, then nodded ambiguously. Seeing the sparkling [unauthorized copy]content]copy -->expression, it seemed she had seen it properly, but wasn’t sure if she could actually use it.

“Yeah… I saw it, but one more time—”

“Since when do you learn just by watching? Go practice and master it.”

Before the child could finish, Christoph, who had sat up from the floor, shouted coldly. The child flinched, shrugging her shoulders and pouting. While glancing at him sharply like a little fox, she gave a bright smile and bowed politely, saying, “Yes, thank you.”

Jeong Tae-ui chuckled and looked back.

Christoph was sitting on the ground, clicking his tongue.

“My clothes got dirty. I’ll have to change.”

He complained in a dissatisfied tone.

Because he had fallen, dust had settled on the back of his pants, his back, shoulders, and sleeves. Even though unauthorized copycopy">unauthorized copyit wasn’t a light-colored outfit and wasn’t very noticeable, Christoph clicked his tongue while brushing the dust off his sleeve.

Feeling inexplicably cheerful, Jeong Tae-ui took a step toward him.

“Then let’s go back to the room. That’s for the best; I actually didn’t like those clothes.”

At that, Christoph, who had been checking if there was more dust on his sleeves or hem, looked up.

“What don’t you like about them?”

His voice was menacing.

He had spent a long time and a lot of effort choosing those clothes this morning. Hearing that they weren’t liked seemed to upset him.

“The color. I think that grass-green knit you wore the other day was prettier.”

“That’s in the laundry.”

“Then that camel-colored… no, that one wasn’t great. How about that navy blue shirt?”

Jeong Tae-ui stepped closer and reached out his hand.

Christoph, who had been dusting himself off, gave the hand a puzzled look. Then, still looking bewildered, he placed the dust he had brushed off his clothes onto that palm.

“What is this!!”

“Weren’t you giving it to me?”

Jeong Tae-ui shouted in disbelief, shaking off the dust and reaching out his hand again. Christoph looked at him puzzledly and said:

“Why on earth would I give you dust! I thought you were telling me to get up, that you’d help me up!”

Jeong Tae-ui shouted. Then, he suddenly realized.

This man had never experienced this before.

Holding someone’s hand to stand up, or being supported by someone—such things had never happened.

Always alone.

Entirely alone.

That was why he didn’t know how to ask for a hand. He didn’t even consider the fact that it was okay to ask for such a thing.

Jeong Tae-ui looked down at Christoph, who was still staring at the hand with a bewildered face, and fell silent as a warmth surged in his chest. After watching him silently for a while longer, he asked:

“Is it really okay if I touch you?”

Hearing those words, Christoph looked slightly uneasy. His face said that it actually wasn’t okay. [unauthorized unauthorized copycopy]However, he seemed reluctant to say it out loud.

“You said it was okay if I touch you, right?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked once more, and this time, before he could answer, he grabbed his wrist. Flinch. He felt the reflexive force trying to shake off Jeong Tae-ui’s hand as he recoiled. Regardless, Jeong Tae-ui pulled the arm.

“Stand up.”

He pulled the arm diagonally upward. Only then did Christoph rely on that hand to spring up from the floor.

Even after he stood up, Jeong Tae-ui didn’t let go of the arm for a moment.

Christoph seemed uncomfortable, all his attention focused on the hand gripping his arm, but perhaps because of his own words, he kept his mouth shut.

Christoph glared at Jeong Tae-ui with a face that explicitly wrote ‘Why don’t you just take the hint and let go already’ on his forehead, but Jeong Tae-ui continued to hold on, pretending not to notice. He even went a step further and asked:

“Can I touch your cheek one more time?”

“…”

“It was really soft. The texture was incredibly good. I can touch it, right?”

“No—”

“Earlier, you said it was okay if it was me, right?”

“…”

Receiving the full force of Christoph’s glare—his face turning ashen and fierce—Jeong Tae-ui happily reached out to him.

As the hand drew near, Christoph’s upper body slowly retreated. Jeong Tae-ui firmly gripped the arm he was still holding and pulled him back. Then, he cupped the cheek with his hand.

“…!”

Looking at Christoph’s expression—frowning and casting his gaze downward—Jeong Tae-ui felt like an old man harassing an innocent maiden, and he smacked his lips bitterly.

Despite that, he continued to stroke his cheek. Eventually, he began to lightly touch other parts of his face. As he confirmed the distinct features with his hand, he briefly thought it felt like touching a museum sculpture with a ‘Do Not Touch’ sign.

“…Now stop it…”

It was just as Christoph, unable to endure any longer, spoke in a gloomy tone.

Jeong Tae-ui, who had been in ecstasy while holding his arm with one hand and stroking his cheek with the other, froze upon seeing a man who had just come up the stairs.

The man he locked eyes with over Christoph’s shoulder was Richard.

“…”

“… …—”

Seeing as there had been almost no sign of his presence, he must have come directly from the west wing or the main building and come up.

Richard stood still, his eyes slightly wide as he looked at them. For some unknown reason, Jeong Tae-ui felt somewhat awkward and just stared back at him without moving.

Usually, he’s a man who smiles and greets me first when our eyes meet, but he’s strangely quiet today… Just as Jeong Tae-ui was thinking this.

Realizing that Jeong Tae-ui had stopped moving and that his gaze was directed over his shoulder, Christoph turned his head to follow that gaze.

“…!”

The moment he discovered Richard standing there, any remaining semblance of warmth vanished from Christoph’s face.

With a face left only with unpleasantness and coldness, he clicked his tongue and muttered softly, “I ended up facing that unsightly mug after all.”

At that, Jeong Tae-ui withdrew his hand from Christoph and rubbed the back of his visit our sitestyle="display:none;" aria-label="stolen content">stolen contentneck, glancing between them.

Since there were children nearby, a violent situation likely wouldn’t break out, but the atmosphere was still incredibly bleak. It felt as though a single misplaced word could spark a fight at any moment.

“The children are waiting over there.”

Giving him a polite nod, Jeong Tae-ui quickly pointed toward the children playing among themselves a short distance away. Immediately after, he grabbed Christoph.

“Aren’t you going to change your clothes?”

He spoke brightly with a beaming smile, recalling the proverb that one cannot spit on a smiling face.

The two men remained silent for a moment, staring at Jeong Tae-ui. While they weren’t the type to brawl without a specific reason, there was a mutual desire to escape this desolate atmosphere quickly.

Christoph clicked his tongue and walked toward the stairs. Richard also stepped out onto the rooftop, passing by him with only a hand’s breadth of space between them.

Just as Christoph stepped onto the first stair of the landing, Richard, who had already stepped out from under the stairwell’s visit [visit our site]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]our siteawning into the sunlight, suddenly stopped.

“I see you’ve cured at least one illness.”

His expression was as gentle as always, but his voice carried a hint of ridicule as he spoke, half-turning his head over his shoulder.

Jeong Tae-ui, who was about to follow Christoph down, faltered. Christoph, a few steps ahead, also came to a halt.

Christoph turned his head silently, glaring coldly at him, and his gaze met Richard’s as the latter slowly turned around.

“How fortunate. It seems that particular mental illness—the one where you can’t even brush against another person—has improved.”

“……Ha.”

Listening quietly, Christoph let out a hollow laugh, his face remaining frigid. He turned slowly to face Richard.

Standing between them, Jeong Tae-ui sighed and took a step aside. It was uncomfortable to feel their glares piercing -->stolen contentthrough him as they stared each other down.

Having cleared the way so that these two people who hated each other could glare to their hearts’ content, Jeong Tae-ui looked at Richard with curiosity.

He hadn’t expected Richard to be the one to pick a fight first.

From what Jeong Tae-ui had seen since arriving here, Richard never initiated conflict. He always dealt with others with a calm, smiling face, acting as if Christoph didn’t exist—unless someone else was caught in the middle, forcing them to intertwine.

Christoph was the same.

Fundamentally, he had little interest in other people.

Unless someone picked a fight with him or gave him a reason, he didn’t even put them in his line of sight.

While he often drew resentment and complaints for overreacting to others’ actions, he never attacked someone first without reason.

Because of this, although everyone in Tarten knew that Christoph and [unauthorized copy]visit our siteunauthorized copy -->Richard were hostile toward one another, they had rarely been seen clashing.

…Or perhaps there was still lingering resentment from when Oliver was injured a while ago.

Jeong Tae-ui glanced toward Oliver.

The children were gathered there.

Seeing Richard and Christoph facing off, the children were frowning with worry. Then, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly locked eyes with the little girl from before.

“…….”

Jeong Tae-ui gave the girl a meaningful look, gesturing toward Richard and Christoph.

The clever girl seemed to understand immediately. She gave a barely perceptible nod, cleared her throat a couple of times, and shouted.

“Richard—! You’re too late—! Do we have to wait even longer?”

At the girl’s shout, the children exchanged glances and began raising their voices one by one.

“I have to leave as soon as this session is over!”

“Ah—I’m bored of waiting!”

“He always does this when we’re busy!”

Watching the smart children unite in their grumbling and complaints, Jeong Tae-ui turned his head slightly and smiled.

Whether the children’s shouting worked or not, Richard seemed to frown slightly, but he soon turned back to them with a casual smile.

“Sorry, my apologies.”

As if deciding to act as though nothing had happened, he turned away.

As Richard headed toward the children, ignoring Christoph, Christoph let out a short, hollow laugh behind his back.

“Mental illness—. Right. Even if I cure that illness, I think I’ll always be a patient in your eyes. Since I don’t even want to brush a single finger against you.”

Richard seemed to slow his pace.

But only for a moment; he continued walking without looking back.

Once he had reached the children and was a fair distance away, Jeong Tae-ui sighed and shrugged.

“He must have really fought with his lover……. He said he’s been in a bad mood lately, I guess he still is.”

As he murmured to himself and approached Christoph, the latter looked at him with a strange expression.

“Fought with a lover? With that woman? No way. No, he’s [stolen content[Read on Read BL Novels]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]not the kind of human whose mood would sour just because of a fight.”

Snorting, Christoph turned to head back down the stairs. Following him, Jeong Tae-ui tilted his head.

“Ilay said something similar, and now you’re saying it too. I guess they’re so close they don’t even fight. Ah, well, they did seem to get along well yesterday.”

“Not a lover, more like a toy slave. Use and discard. Ah—just thinking about it makes me feel disgusted again. Stop talking about that guy.”

Jeong Tae-ui blinked in surprise, but Christoph waved his hand as if the mere mention of Richard’s name was irritating.

Suddenly, the words about the “pervert” that he had found so jarring from the start flashed through his mind.

Thinking that there must be something only those in the know understood, Jeong Tae-ui simply shrugged and followed him. Regardless, he preferred not to know.

 

* * *

 

Jeong Tae-ui believed he wasn’t particularly sensitive to the gaze of others.

While there were times he felt a gaze and turned to find someone looking at him, it wasn’t always the case. There were often times when he remained completely oblivious even if someone was staring intently at him. In elementary school, his parents had visited during an outdoor class and stared at him from a short distance for the entire duration, yet he hadn’t noticed until they told him later.

Similarly, even if he knew someone was watching him, it didn’t bother him much. He would simply think, Ah, that person is looking at me, and move on. Whether they stared enough to burn a hole in his face—though that rarely happened—he would ask an acquaintance if they needed something, but he hardly paid any mind to strangers.

During his school days, he once noticed a student sitting diagonally behind him blatantly staring at him—or rather, his exam paper—during a test, but he didn’t care, to the point where a teacher later suspected they were accomplices. He had even nearly been kidnapped because he ignored a man who kept staring at him, thinking nothing of it.

Though he had nearly come to harm a few times due to his indifference to others’ gazes, it seemed his nature prevailed over learning; Jeong Tae-ui remained largely insensitive to the attention of others.

However.

Right now.

There was a gaze fixed on him from a sofa located about three or four meters away from the bed where Jeong Tae-ui was leaning.

To put it slightly exaggeratedly, that gaze had not left Jeong Tae-ui for a single moment, except for the time spent blinking.

It was a piercing gaze, as if trying to burn a hole in his face—persistent and tenacious.

“…….”

Jeong Tae-ui was leaning against the headboard of the bed, reading a book.

Christoph’s study contained several rare books that Kyle did not possess. Among them, he had found a book he had wanted to read for a long time and brought it out.

The book’s content was fascinating. The author had entered a remote region fifty years ago, where almost no one had set foot, and lived among the locals. The accounts were even more interesting because they contrasted sharply with the current state of the same region, which he had read about recently.

Although it was a thick book, he had read half of it in two hours last night and intended to finish the rest today. And, about two hours had passed. He hadn’t evRead on Read BL Novelsen finished a quarter of the remaining half.

“……. Christoph.”

Eventually, Jeong Tae-ui closed the book.

He had had nightmares and slept poorly last night, so he had planned to just read and go to bed early today, but it seemed that was out of the question.

He was feeling sleepy and his eyes kept closing, yet that unwavering gaze continued without a moment’s rest.

After dinner, for some reason, Christoph had come to Jeong Tae-ui’s room and sat on the sofa, and he had been there ever since. Jeong Tae-ui had tilted his head a few times wondering why, but decided to just do his own thing. He’ll stop eventually.

……But he didn’t stop.

“I usually don’t care whether people look at me or not, but…….”

Just as Jeong Tae-ui was about to sternly scold him, thinking that two hours was a bit too much, the ph[stolen visit our sitestyle="position:relative;display:inline;">[unauthorized copy]content]one on the nightstand rang.

Jeong Tae-ui stopped his pointing finger and looked at the phone. It was rare for anyone to call his room. The few times it happened, it was usually an internal call from the man currently sitting there. The other man who might contact him tended to visit in person if he had something to say.

If there was a call, there was only one person it could be.

“Yes, it’s been a while, Kyle.”

As he answered without checking who it was, a familiar voice came through after a brief silence.

Does he just assume it’s me without even asking who it is?

“You’re the only person I have to call. I’m out here in the middle of nowhere; who else would reach out to me?”

Jeong Tae-ui laughed. He could hear Kyle laughing over the phone as well.

When he had called a while ago, he had unloaded on Kyle, asking why he hadn’t told him in advance that Ilay was here. It was Read unauthorized copyon Read BL Novelsprobably the first time he had ever lost his temper with Kyle.

Well, it was technically confidential, Kyle had stammered an apology, and since then, he had called two or three times with a contrite tone. By now, things were back to normal.

Why? There must be other people he could call via internal line.

“Ah. Ilay comes in person if he has business, just like he did back then. And Christoph is right in front of me.”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke while glancing at Christoph, who was still staring intently at him. Once Jeong Tae-ui answered the phone, he stared even more piercingly.

Chris was there? No wonder he didn’t answer when I called. For that guy to go and sit in someone else’s room… how unusual.

“Ah. Do you want me to put him on if you have business with him?”

No, no. That business is actually the reason I called you.

Jeong Tae-ui smiled bitterly.

“I’m not giving it to him. I haven’t received it yet.”

That guy really……! When did he say he’d give it back?

“I’m not sure…….”

Jeong Tae-ui trailed off.

He hadn’t known when he would get the book back from the start, but lately, it was even more uncertain. In fact, it had become difficult to even bring up the subject of returning the book.

—If you like me, give those books back to me.

Driven by his greed to get the books back quickly, he had tried to phrase it in a long-winded, roundabout way. He knew it was petty and childish, but he had to get the books back somehow.

But he shouldn’t have said it.

Christoph had responded even more pettily and childishly.

—If you abandon Riegrow and stay with me.

He couldn’t bring himself to answer that.

Consequently, every time he brought up the books since then, Christoph would stare at him with a silent, meaningful gaze, so he had barely mentioned it lately. He had dug his own grave.

However, he couldn’t tell Kyle that, so he kept quiet. Kyle simply thought Christoph was being stubborn and refusing to give them back—which was also true.

How is Ilay doing?

“Ah. Ilay is doing well. Is he the kind of person who couldn’t manage anywhere? He seems to be strolling around Tarten looking like some successful young lawyer.”

Ahaha, he used to say he was a rising entrepreneur; I guess his [unauthorized copy]style changed. But he looks more human when he’s dressed up like that, right?

“He always looked human enough on the outside…….”

Right, right. Is that why you were fooled?

“…….”

No, I already knew he was extraordinary before I saw him in person. Various recorded videos and evidence that one should not get close to him were circulating within the branch even before he arrived.

But if he said that, he felt a pitying silence would follow, asking why he ended up like this despite knowing, so he kept his mouth shut.

True. He should be arriving soon; have you not received it yet?

“Huh? Received what?”

I guess you haven’t. I went on a business trip recently and bought some beer that’s only released in limited quantities as a local specialty. The taste was quite unique and good, so I thought of you and sent unauthorized [Read on Read BL Novels]copya few cans. I had some things to send to Ilay, so I sent them together. Make sure to get them from him.

“Oh…… thank you.”

Jeong Tae-ui’s face brightened as he thanked him. Kyle’s voice, laughing and saying It’s nothing, it’s nothing, sounded exceptionally kind today.

Strictly speaking, Kyle had his own share of sins, but after a formal closing remark asking him to take care of the books, he hung up. Jeong Tae-ui put the phone down, dreaming of the beer that would soon be delivered to him.

“What are you thanking him for? I suppose he’s giving you a gift.”

Then, Christoph, who had been staring at him from the sofa, spoke. Since he hadn’t said a word and had only watched quietly while Jeong Tae-ui read, this was the first time he had spoken since sitting down.

“Oh, he’s sending some local specialty beer.”

“Beer. Come to think of it, you seem to drink a lot of beer. Do you like it?”

“Hmm? No, not that much, I just drink it if it’s there.”

Jeong Tae-ui lied with a casual smile. However, he wasn’t consciously aware that he was lying. In his own mind, it was the truth.

“Hmm,” Christoph murmured, switching the arm he used to prop up his chin.

Although that gaze had been very bothersome until a moment ago, Jeong Tae-ui, now in a great mood because of Kyle’s gift, hummed a tune and sat back up on the bed.

“Ilay…….”

Suddenly, Christoph murmured.

At that unfamiliar sound, Jeong Tae-ui looked up.

Murmuring “Ilay” once more, Christoph frowned slightly.

“What an unlucky name…….”

Seriously, this guy thinks every single person’s name is unlucky…….

Having unintentionally become the “Kim Young-soo” of this household, Jeong Tae-ui glared at him. However, Christoph didn’t budge and let out a sigh.

“I thought the only people who called him that were the ones living in that house.”

To the man who spoke with a sense of great surprise despite his indifference, Jeong Tae-ui replied sullenly.

“Maybe you wanted to call him that too. Then go ahead.”

“I’ve seen more than a few people become unlucky after calling him by that name without knowing any better.”

Jeong Tae-ui could easily guess the truth behind the murmur about how there was always one or two such people whenever there was a gathering in his youth.

Jeong Tae-ui fell silent. Christoph didn’t stop there and continued.

“A name is just a title anyway; I don’t understand why he makes such a fuss about being called whatever.”

Even in his casual tone, thorns of dissatisfaction were densely embedded.

Why was a man who had neither positive nor negative interest in others suddenly bringing up old grievances……?

He had no intention of taking Ilay’s side—in fact, Christoph was right; it wasn’t as if he was calling him something bizarre, so what was the problem with using his name?—but he suddenly felt an impulse to say, ‘Christina is a pretty name too.’

However, glancing at Christoph’s face, it didn’t look like the right time to poke him, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Did you meet Rick at that UNHRDO?”

“Uh, yeah. You know about it.”

“Ah, he was famous. Jeong Tae-ui.”

Because his name followed words he hadn’t expected at all, Jeong Tae-ui looked at him, bewildered. Then, he let out a short laugh.

“You just got the name wrong. You meant Ilay was the famous one.”

“Ah—there’s no need to even mention that bastard.”

Christoph pulled over a stool located a short distance from the sofa and rested his feet on it. His voice quickly became languid, as if he were about to fall asleep right then and there.

“From the moment that guy entered UNHRDO, there was a lot of talk about whether they hire people without doing personality tests.”

Everyone thinks the same thing…

“But I heard rumors that the mobile task force over there is also a den of lunatics.”

“Yeah. That’s because we hired without personality tests.”

“No, I don’t think it’s a matter of whether they do personality tests or not, I…”

Jeong Tae-ui spoke quite seriously, but Christoph didn’t seem to care much. He murmured with distant eyes, reminiscing about the past.

“When I heard he had been promoted within UNHRDO and sent to the Asia branch as an instructor, everyone questioned the legitimacy and ethics of UNHRDO. They wondered what kind of human resources they were trying to cultivate.”

“Even if it’s a den of lunatics, I guess most of them still had their sanity intact. Seeing as they didn’t try to protect their own.”

If someone had praised Ilay for becoming a UNHRDO instructor, calling him “one of their own,” they would have deserved the condemnation of the masses.

However, Christoph only snorted again.

“Protecting their own? That place was a collection of internal strife.”

“…Why… still, they committed terrorism together quite amicably…”

“In the first place, they contacted radicals first and paid them. …Well, the guys who joined in the terrorism back then were lunatics who worshipped Riegrow in their own way.”

Now that is truly insane, Jeong Tae-ui thought, nodding his head. After saying that, Christoph stared into space in silence for a moment before returning his gaze to Jeong Tae-ui.

“Other rumors circulated back then too. That he was doing things that would make him a wanted man and restrict his future actions for no gain—that he must have been given a terminal diagnosis. Plenty of people were delighted when that rumor spread.”

“…”

“Amidst all those countless rumors flying back and forth, he suddenly became a celebrity. The Asian who was tucked under Riegrow’s arm when he entered Kyle’s house.”

“…I was a celebrity in that sense?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know?”

He didn’t.

No one had gone out of their way to tell him, and he had rarely left Berlin anyway. He had spent most of his days peacefully at home.

He could understand the feeling of waking up one morning to find out he had become a celebrity… but it wasn’t welcome. He didn’t want to be that kind of celebrity. It felt the same as when he suddenly found himself on the newspaper pages as a terrorist.

“Since he hasn’t taken on many outside jobs since then, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen that guy.”

Christoph bent his fingers one by one as if counting how long it had been, then suddenly looked at Jeong Tae-ui. He asked:

“How does he act at home? With you.”

“With me?”

Jeong Tae-ui frowned.

If he had just asked how Ilay acted at home, he could visit our sitehave answered, but since Read on Read BL Novelshe asked how he acted with him, it was difficult to answer.

“What do you mean ‘how’… we just live while doing our own work. When we’re both busy, we both mind our own business; if only one is busy, the other helps out a bit, or brings a beer to drink, or just leaves them alone to play. When we’re both free—though that doesn’t happen often—we just lounge around the house or go somewhere to hang out.”

“Hmm… I see, so you can live like that too.”

Christoph murmured as if it were fascinating. His voice, whispering to himself that there was a way to live like that, sounded as if he had realized something new. As if he had never lived that way, nor ever thought of it.

“You know. I thought Rick would definitely not die a peaceful death.”

Christoph spoke abruptly. It wasn’t a pleasant topic, but Jeong Tae-ui nodded. He had thought so himself. In fact, even now, he felt he could accept it if the man were found as a gruesome corpse.

Although to him, Ilay Riegrow was a bad guy who was tolerable, there were surely many people in the world who considered him an intolerably bad man. And since that was the result of what he had built, he couldn’t blame them.

“Well, that’s possible.”

“Just as you said, I never imagined he could live such an ordinary and unremarkable life. I thought [unauthorized copy]he would always live [stolen contentclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]in places smelling of blood, where screams and shouts erupt.”

Jeong Tae-ui didn’t answer, but he couldn’t help but agree with this as well. Even in his own opinion, Ilay seemed more suited to living in danger than living in tranquility.

“But living like that now is…”

Christoph trailed off as if talking to himself. Then he suddenly looked at Jeong Tae-ui. Jeong Tae-ui frowned slightly, feeling somewhat burdened by the sudden gaze.

Suddenly, Christoph stood up from the sofa. He approached Jeong Tae-ui and sat on the edge of the bed.

Jeong Tae-ui met the face that was staring intently at him.

That face, whose thoughts were unreadable, gazed steadily at Jeong Tae-ui before tilting subtly.

“Then maybe I can do that too.”

Christoph spoke. He wasn’t speaking to Jeong Tae-ui. He whispered softly, unauthorized copyvisit our sitearia-label="stolen content">stolen contentas if to himself, his lips barely moving.

“Maybe I can also… not have a headache anymore, not hear noises so loud they hurt my ears, maybe I can do that too.”

“Chri…”

“Every day is like that. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after. It’s like this every day. From now on, continuously. Last time, it was so loud and my head hurt so much that I hit my head with a hammer. But even after I came to my senses, it was still loud…”

“Chris.”

Christoph silently rubbed the bedsheet. His hands were as white as the plain, snow-white sheet. Though they were equally white hands, they were different from Ilay’s. Christoph’s hands were like porcelain. As if they would break if touched.

Christoph lifted his head and looked at Jeong Tae-ui. Even though his face was indifferent as usual, he looked precarious and unstable. Come to think of it, he seemed to have always been that way. Beneath that nonchalant face.

“Stay with me.”

“Christoph.”

“I can be good to you too. I can do that too.”

The voice reached his ear piteously. At the same time, Christoph leaned over Jeong Tae-ui. And he gripped both of his wrists.

The next moment, their lips overlapped.

“…?!”

Jeong Tae-ui frowned. It barely touched his lips, but when he tried to avoid it, the lips followed. It was a kiss that only carefully brushed against the lips. Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps because it was horrific, his lips were trembling. Perhaps this was the first time he had had such contact with another person.

Jeong Tae-ui shook his wrists, trying to fling off the grip. However, he couldn’t pull his wrists away.

He was flustered.

It didn’t feel like he was gripping them that hard, but no matter how much he struggled and shook, ChrRead [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novelsistoph’s hands didn’t budge.

Only then did he realize that Christoph possessed a physical strength that was incomparable to his appearance.

“Hey, this is too much!”

He shouted while turning his head, but Christoph followed regardless. Yet, as if such contact was too unfamiliar and eerie, Jeong Tae-ui could feel him flinch every time their cheeks or lips brushed.

Not long ago—even if it was over clothes—he was groping someone’s crotch, and now it’s the mouth. Give it a rest, you lunatic.

He wanted to scream that with all his heart, but first, he wanted to get these wrists free, so Jeong Tae-ui violently shook his unmoving wrists. But still, those hands did not move.

But then.

Of all times. Exactly at that moment, as if the timing were perfectly synchronized.

The door opened.

Jeong Tae-ui’s room door opened, and the footsteps walking in leisurely came to a dead stop.

…Ack.

Over Christoph’s shoulder, he saw Ilay entering, carrying a large box in one arm.

Ilay stared at the ambiguous overlap of the two on the bed with an expressionless face for a moment, then at some point, narrowed his eyes slightly.

Without rushing, he slowly approached the table and set the box down on it. The sound of something hard and heavy clashing inside could be heard.

Then, he approached.

Still with a leisurely stride.

Without changing a single expression.

However, by the time those steps reached the bed, they had become quite fast, and an expression—whether it was a smile or something else—had appeared on his face. One that was simply eerie.

“I believe I told you clearly.”

The low voice reached his ear.

“Why can’t you understand and keep doing this shit.”

As he said, ‘I believe I told you clearly,’ the hand that gripped Christoph’s nape pulled him away from Jeong Tae-ui at ‘Why can’t you understand.’ And as he spoke the final words, he struck him in the stomach. Mercilessly.

Thwack. A horrific sound, like pounding a bag of meat, rang out.

“Wake up, you brainless idiot. Can’t you even distinguish whether you’re allowed to touch something or not anymore? The best policy is to avoid dangerous things that are above your station, did you forget that too? Get your head straight, Christoph.”

The sound of striking the same spot twice, three times, echoed in succession.

It was a bizarre sight.

Even though he was driving his fist into the stomach so relentlessly, even though a sound that was chilling to hear rang out, there was no scream. Christoph only frowned faintly; not a single groan escaped his lips.

—Because if he said it hurt even once, it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to hold back and would continue to complain about the pain, so he endured it.

He could have said it hurt. He didn’t have to endure the scream that would have burst forth like a flood once he let out a single cry.

A pang of ache hit Jeong Tae-ui’s chest.

When Ilay swung his fourth punch, Jeong Tae-ui brushed back his hair with a heavy sigh. Then he called him.

“Ilay.”

At that voice, Ilay paused his fist for a moment. A cold gaze turned toward him. [Read [visit our site]visit our sitewm: visit our site -->on Read BL Novels]As if saying, Go ahead and say whatever you want.

Geez, his mood has soured again.

Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head. Then he smacked his lips bitterly.

“In this situation, I think I’m actually the victim, so could you give me a turn to hit him too?”

When Jeong Tae-ui spoke in a drained voice, Ilay, who had been clutching his fist for a fifth blow, stared steadily at Jeong Tae-ui before slowly unclenched his fist. Then he threw Christoph onto Jeong Tae-ui’s bed.

In the process, Christoph’s knee hit the edge of the bed. It made a sound that seemed extremely painful, yet he didn’t even blink. To the point where one might suspect he truly had no sense of pain.

Christoph lifted his head. If it weren’t for the hand clutching his stomach, it would have been impossible to tell that he had just been hit with such terrifying sounds.

“…What goes around comes around, Chris. But I agree with the part about getting your head straight.”

Jeong Tae-ui got up from the bed and knelt. Shaking his wrists a couple of times, he approached Christoph. Immediately after, he swung his fist. He also showed Read on Read BL Novelsaria-label="visit our site">visit our siteno mercy, aiming precisely for the solar plexus.

Christoph’s breath stopped for a very brief moment. His eyebrows knit together so slightly it was almost imperceptible.

“You hate it when others touch you, so what do you expect when you do that to someone else? Get it together.”

Jeong Tae-ui said, clicking his tongue. Only then did he turn around.

Ilay stood by the table with his arms crossed, looking at them as if he weren’t entirely satisfied. Jeong Tae-ui felt an ambiguous emotion and just smacked his lips.

Seeing this, Ilay opened the box he had brought, took out an aluminum can, and threw it without a word. Catching it reflexively, Jeong Tae-ui’s eyes widened.

“What’s this… Ah. Perhaps.”

“Your brother sent it for you. …So, how was it? That guy’s lips.”

At that casually asked question, Jeong Tae-ui, who had been [[visit our site]visit our sitevisit our site -->class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]delighted while checking the beer, instantly became sullen.

This guy found another nit to pick. He’s been waiting for a chance to devour me, and now he’s got it.

“Well… lips are just lips.”

“That’s what happens when you’re unnecessarily friendly. Be more selective about the friends you make.”

At Ilay’s words, spoken with a click of his tongue, Jeong Tae-ui’s breath caught for a moment.

No, this guy… who is he to tell whom to be selective about friends…

He glared at him with wide, shocked eyes, but Ilay still had a displeased face as he took another beer from the box and emptied it in one go.

Ah, the specialty Kyle gave me to drink…

For a moment, he felt it was a waste, but since he had “committed a sin”—though he felt very wronged since he hadn’t Read on Read BL NovelsEND: Read on Read BL Novels -->actually done anything—he couldn’t say anything and just glared at the can.

Behind them, Christoph, who had been sitting motionless on the bed pressing his stomach, finally slowly climbed down. For some reason, his steps seemed unstable as he took them one by one.

“I don’t want to fight with you…”

Christoph murmured in a weak voice.

The moment he heard those words, Ilay’s eyebrow twitched as he set down the beer can. An icy gaze turned toward Christoph.

“That’s a coincidence. I also don’t want to fight with you if possible. I don’t want a fight where the damage to this side is too great.”

Ilay spoke lowly.

Tapping the table with his knuckle, he remained silent for a moment before asking again.

“And yet, you still covet him…?”

“Yes.”

Christoph did not hesitate. His voice, answering quietly, was more sunken than usual, but his tone was as cold and emotionless as always.

The sound of tapping the table with his knuckle became a bit clearer. Ilay’s blade-like gaze did not leave Christoph.

“Christoph. Don’t be mistaken. You’re just pinning useless hopes on that guy. You’re hungry and want to fill that hunger, and because that guy is visible, you’re reaching for something that isn’t yours. That guy isn’t your share. He’s mine.”

“Rick. You said you wanted to stay quiet while you were here. That you didn’t particularly want to lay a hand on me.”

Christoph spoke quietly, looking at the knuckle tapping the table. A hollow laugh formed at the corners of Ilay’s mouth.

“Yeah. And?”

“Then I will steal him in the meantime.”

Christoph spoke calmly. And Ilay did not answer.

A silence followed, as if they had gone deaf.

In the midst of it, Jeong Tae-ui was drinking his beer while glaring back and forth between the two.

The beer Kyle had specially sent was indeed unique and had an excellent taste, but now he couldn’t taste it at all. These damn bastards were ruining the taste of the alcohol.

He wanted to ask what happened to his opinion, but the atmosphere was not one where such a remark would work.

Jeong Tae-ui had no choice but to leave the two to talk among themselves, as he had done before. He would let the guys who blabbered as they pleased while ignoring the person involved do their thing, and he would just make his own decision.

Jeong Tae-ui watched them, only regretting that the taste of the beer had diminished because the atmosphere had sunk.

However, he couldn’t remain so carefree for long.

In an instant, it felt as if the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

The faint smile that had remained on Ilay’s face vanished. That expression, frozen coldly, and those pitch-black eyes, sharp as glass, looked at Christoph.

Jeong Tae-ui knew that face.

He had that same face even when he was tearing people apart with his bare hands.

“Ila…”

But even as he tried to call him, his chest froze coldly, and the words wouldn’t come out easily.

Eyes he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Air that hadn’t circulated in a long time.

For a very brief moment.

Madman Rick was there.

It seemed his hand moved. That white and beautiful hand twitched.

In the very next moment.

Clink. A small, clear sound rang out in the silence.

It was the sound of the beer can, which Jeong Tae-ui had unconsciously gripped, hitting the edge of the bed.

For a brief moment, Ilay’s gaze shifted toward him. His eyes met Jeong Tae-ui’s.

Jeong Tae-ui was looking at ‘Mad Rick’ with an expressionless face.

“…―.”

Ilay frowned slightly. In that instant, his expression shifted back. The emotion—even if it was just a chilling anger—surfaced on his face once more.

It felt as though a low sigh reached Jeong Tae-ui’s ears.

Soon, Ilay spoke softly, as quietly as a terrifying beast holding its breath.

“Christoph. Making enemies unnecessarily is not a good choice.”

“Making you an enemy is an even worse choice.”

Christoph replied in a voice just as quiet as Ilay’s. Ilay arched an eyebrow slightly.

“And yet, you’re still greedy?”

“Yes. I am greedy. I want to have it. ……I want it too.”

Christoph spoke without expression.

Listening to him, Jeong Tae-ui wiped his own expression clean.

He couldn’t tell anything for sure, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that whatever Christoph desired was not here.

And the only person who likely didn’t know that fact was Christoph himself.

“Fine. ……In that case, I shall remove you from my sight in my own way.”

At Ilay’s words, Christoph shrugged slightly, as if telling him to do as he pleased.

Ilay said nothing more. He simply gave a light nod with his eyebrow still arched.

 

* * *

 

The last few days had been exceptionally bad.

Christoph would often rub his temples and spit out curses, claiming that something was chatting noisily in his ears—sounds that grew louder and softer—and that the resulting headache was unbearable.

The severity varied from day to day.

Some days, he would spend the entire day peacefully, saying it wasn’t that noisy; other days, he would be chewing headache medication from the moment he woke up.

However, for the past few days, Christoph had been complaining of severe headaches daily. [Read on Read BL Novels]unauthorized copyRead on Read BL Novels -->Every morning when Jeong Tae-ui woke him, Christoph’s face would be pale and drenched in sweat as he muttered under his breath.

It’s noisy, be quiet, please shut up……!

That low, rough voice, muttering to someone unknown, continued incessantly for a while.

Today, too, Christoph spent the entire morning covering his ears and groaning softly with a pale face. It wasn’t until the afternoon that he seemed to feel slightly better and went out to ride his horse. However, not long after leaving, he returned to his room, claiming the horse seemed to have injured its leg.

Then, he sat in the study with an art book open, resting his chin on his hand, staring blankly at a single painting. He didn’t turn the page, just kept looking at the same image. Perhaps he wasn’t even looking at the painting.

“Why don’t you try getting some sleep? You look very pale.”

Jeong Tae-ui looked around the study, which was now tidy with nothing left to organize, and then looked at Christoph, who had been sitting there with his eyes open as if asleep in front of the art book.

Without even glancing at him, Christoph shook his head.

“No……. I hate sleeping. I only have strange dreams.”

“What kind of dreams?”

Jeong Tae-ui asked back, frowning. He took a bottle of water from the minibar instead of beer and approached him. He set the palm-sized water bottle down in front of him and sat in the seat across the table.

“I don’t know. Something whitish moves back and forth. That’s all.”

“That’s all? ……Then can’t you just ignore it? As long as it’s not harming you.”

“It feels unpleasant when it brushes past……. Because it feels like something is touching my body, I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

Christoph shook his head.

Jeong Tae-ui let out a hum of a sigh and drank directly from the water bottle. Since it was a small bottle, he could empty it in one go.

“But in your case, it seems like you can endure your haphephobia if you set your mind to it. When I touch unauthorized copyyou—though you did frown—you endured it well.”

“That doesn’t mean I like the sensation. And there’s no reason for me to intentionally endure touching other things.”

Ah, right, Jeong Tae-ui muttered, gulping down the water.

Reinterpreting those words: ‘You can endure being touched, but you never like it.’

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue inwardly. Then, he asked tentatively, as if testing the waters.

“Why don’t you talk things over with Ilay and make up? It’s not good for either of you if things stay awkward, since you’re friends.”

“We aren’t friends. That is an unwelcome misunderstanding.”

Ah, right, that was it, Jeong Tae-ui thought, looking at Christoph. Normally, he would have flared up in anger, but seeing him so quiet, it seemed his condition today really was poor.

It was then.

The phone on the study table rang.

No matter how many times it rang, Christoph made no attempt to answer it and didn’t even look at it. After glancing back and forth between Christoph and the phone for a moment, Jeong Tae-ui scratched his cheek and picked up the receiver.

“Hello.”

‘Christoph? ……Oh, perhaps not.’

A slender, elegant voice.

After calling Christoph’s name, the speaker added a hesitant comment. It seemed they weren’t very close to Christoph.

“One moment,” Jeong Tae-ui said, handing the receiver to Christoph.

Christoph, who had been staring at the painting as if entranced, looked at the receiver and then glared at Jeong Tae-ui with a momentarily annoyed stolen contentexpression. Then, he answered the phone in a voice laced with faint irritation, stolen contentas if he were reluctant. He said only one word: “Yes.”

Beside Christoph, who was taking the call, Jeong Tae-ui stood up with the empty water bottle.

It was getting quite late. He thought he should head back to his room.

I’ll throw away the empty bottle, put back the few books I took out, and then I’ll leave.

However, as he tossed the plastic bottle into the trash and walked toward the bookshelf, Jeong Tae-ui suddenly tilted his head.

Even though Christoph had answered the phone a moment ago, the room felt strangely quiet. It didn’t seem like he had hung up either.

Jeong Tae-ui put the books back in their places and peeked toward the table. He thought Christoph might have hung up by then, but Christoph was still holding the phone.

He didn’t hang up after all. Now that he listened, it was just that the voice was so low it was hard to hear, but Christoph was giving short answers into the phone. Yes, yes, no, yes. Yes…….

Hearing those sporadic, short answers, [Read on Read [Read on Read BL Novels]BL Novels]Jeong Tae-ui looked at Christoph with a strange expression as he walked toward the table. Then, he realized.

Christoph’s face was pale. He was so white that he looked like a meticulously crafted wax doll whose only moving part was his mouth.

A face drained of all color. His slightly widened pupils were trembling faintly. Just like his lips.

Jeong Tae-ui stopped in his tracks without realizing it. He stood there, staring at Christoph with disbelief.

He had never seen Christoph like this.

With a face frozen pale, he was barely answering mechanically, like a doll. Whether it was fear or anxiety, his eyes, his lips, and even his pale hands were trembling slightly.

A voice so low it barely reached the ear was whispering.

“Yes. ……Yes. ……Yes, Mother. ……Yes…….”

If voices had colors, this voice would undoubtedly be the color of unstable, shaking glass. Thin and precarious, unauthorized copystyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novels]as if it might shatter at any moment.

Then, the words Christoph whispered pierced Jeong Tae-ui’s ears.

Mother.

That thin, faint voice had clearly said that.

Christoph’s complexion grew even paler. Eventually, as if he were suffocating, the grip of the hand clutching his throat tightened, making his knuckles turn white.

Jeong Tae-ui’s frozen feet began to move slowly. His pace gradually quickened, and soon he was almost running toward Christoph.

With a face so pale he looked as if he might faint, and while barely catching his breath, his voice remained merely quiet. Judging by the sound alone, it was just small enough to be hard to understand; it didn’t tremble or shake. It sounded as if he were speaking calmly and composedly in a low voice.

However, Christoph was already shaking violently, and his gaze was fixed vacantly on the air.

“……Chris.”

Just as Jeong Tae-ui reached Christoph, the call ended.

Lowering the receiver slowly from his ear, Christoph curled his body inward, his face still pale. Inside the study, where the air conditioning was set to a comfortable temperature, he looked freezing, shivering with a ghostly pallor.

“Chris.”

Jeong Tae-ui called him once more and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. But—as he had somewhat expected—Christoph’s shoulder jerked violently as he recoiled, shaking off Jeong Tae-ui’s hand.

Christoph slowly lifted his gaze. Only then did his blue eyes look at Jeong Tae-ui.

The trembling gradually subsided. His shoulders, his body, his lips, and his hands stopped shaking one by one.

He sat like that for a long time. He remained silent, staring down at his interlaced fingers. Even after a long while, his pale complexion did not return to normal.

Eventually, he stood up. Rising somewhat abruptly, he left the study without looking back. [Read on Read BL Novelsstyle="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized copy]Jeong Tae-ui hesitated for a moment before following him.

“Christoph, where are you going?”

“To ride.”

Christoph said shortly. That brief, cold tone was no different from usual. It seemed he had already returned to his normal self.

Jeong Tae-ui frowned and clicked his tongue.

“How do you plan to ride through the forest paths at this hour? It’s too dark to ride.”

“I can ride.”

Christoph answered without looking back as he descended the stairs.

Jeong Tae-ui followed him down. Pitch-black darkness had already fallen outside. No matter how many lights [Read on Read BL Novels]were scattered through the forest, it was dangerous to ride. But it didn’t seem like Christoph would listen to anything Jeong Tae-ui said.

……Ah.

“The leg! You said your horse seemed to have injured its leg!”

Earlier, he had said he came back because the horse seemed to have injured its leg while riding.

As if only then remembering, Christoph slowed his stride for a moment as he walked briskly toward the stables upon leaving the mansion.

“If you really want to, just take a walk in the forest instead. The walking paths have lights.”

Jeong Tae-ui offered a second-best option, but after hesitating for a moment, Christoph continued walking toward the stables.

“I always went to that forest with that horse. Even if I don’t mount it and just lead it by the bridle, that’s how I’ll go.”

Jeong Tae-ui started to say something but eventually sighed and shut his [unauthorized copy]visit our siteunauthorized copy -->mouth. It felt like nothing he said would reach Christoph right now.

However.

“Christoph.”

Jeong Tae-ui called his name.

Christoph, who was several paces ahead, looked back with an annoyed expression. Jeong Tae-ui asked him quietly.

“Can you see clearly in front of you?”

Whether he had regained his reason, whether his body was still shaking, or whether he was so overwhelmed by nervousness and anxiety that his body wouldn’t move properly.

Christoph looked at Jeong Tae-ui in silence for a moment. Then, he frowned slightly. Only then did he seem to have returned to his usual self.

“Of course.”

He left only those chilly words and turned back. Then he walked toward the stables.

Jeong Tae-ui followed him slowly, wondering what to do. Since he couldn’t ride a horse anyway, he couldn’t follow him on horseback. Maybe he’d just watch him leave and then take a lap around the walking path himself.

Following Christoph, who had disappeared into the stables, Jeong Tae-ui decided that since he was already out, he might as well take a short stroll.

At night, the forest walking paths changed daily, with lights lit on only one specific route. Because of this, he occasionally ran into other night walkers, but generally, few people went into the forest at night.

It might be nice to enjoy the starry night in the forest, Jeong Tae-ui thought with a light sigh as he entered the stables. The guard who should have been in front of the stables seemed to be away for a moment, as the chair next to the entrance was empty.

The stables, shaped like a ‘U’ with two entrances, were quite spacious, as they housed a dozen or so horses divided into wide sections.

The horse Christoph always rode was at the very back of the stables. It was located around a corner, making it invisible from the entrance.

Christoph, who had been walking toward the back, had stopped just [unauthorized copy]unauthorized copywm: unauthorized copy -->style="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">stolen contentbefore the corner. He stood there, staring blankly inside.

“……? Christoph.”

Jeong Tae-ui called him, tilting his head in confusion. But Christoph continued to stare inside, as if he couldn’t hear Jeong Tae-ui’s voice.

Jeong Tae-ui scratched his head and approached him. It was strange that he stopped there when he had to go further in to get the horse.

As he walked beside him, calling out “Chris” once more, Jeong Tae-ui fell silent. Faint voices were drifting from the back of the stables. By the sound of it, there were five or six people; low voices mixed with laughter leaked out.

“That’s why I told you not to damage the leg. If the leg is injured, he can’t ride, so naturally, there’s no risk of anything happening.”

“Still, that crazy bastard’s face was a total mess all day because he couldn’t ride the horse he loves so much.”

“Look, just slide a few thorns under the saddle. Then, as the horse runs, the saddle will rub slightly and prick the thorns. No matter how well that guy handles horses, it’ll be hard for him to ride without problems.”

Low, snickering voices blended together.

Listening to those leaking words, Jeong Tae-ui’s face gradually clouded. He had realized what these vulgar and malicious words meant.

Clicking his tongue, Jeong Tae-ui looked at Christoph with an uncomfortable feeling. And then, he stopped in his tracks.

Christoph was standing there silently, listening to those words. While they were invisible from Jeong Tae-ui’s position, they seemed to be visible from Christoph’s.

The thought momentarily crossed his mind that Christoph’s complexion might turn pale again, as it had before.

However, Christoph did not turn white, nor did he tremble with spasms. He was simply looking at them with cold eyes.

“……Right. This is actually for the best.”

Christoph said quietly.

But that voice, cold as ice and sharp as a blade, echoed visit our sitechillingly [Read on Read BL Novelsvisit our site-9999px;">]through the stables, and the voices from inside ceased instantly.

The men inside turned around, their expressions shifting. As they moved and changed positions, Jeong Tae-ui was finally able to see them.

The group of six men gathered there were all followers of Richard. Although they had never spoken, he had encountered one or two of them in the dining hall. He remembered them because whenever they passed Jeong Tae-ui, they would glare and mutter curses about either him or Christoph.

“Did Richard order this?”

Christoph asked. In his eyes, there was a faint, fleeting trace of ridicule. It was the look of someone looking down on a man who was only worth that much.

Realizing the meaning, the men’s eyes instantly flared with hostility.

“This has nothing to do with Richard! We just hate seeing a lunatic like you lingering around Tarten!”

“Nothing to do with Richard……? Fine. Even if this has nothing to do with Richard, you certainly have something to do with him.”

Christoph spoke quietly. He suddenly looked at Jeong Tae-ui, who was a few steps behind, and with a slightly bothered expression, said visit our siteshortly, “Don’t get [visit our site]involved.” Then, he turned back to the men.

“I happened to be in need of a proper distraction. I think I’ll catch you all today, and catch that guy along with you.”

“……You crazy bastard……!!”

It didn’t take long for the men to move.

And it didn’t take long for Christoph to step in front of them with an expressionless face.

Jeong Tae-ui didn’t know exactly what kind of man Christoph Tarten was.

He had only heard fragments of how he fought and survived in numerous battlefields.

He didn’t know his cruelty, his violence, or what expression he wore and what look was in his eyes as he laid people down one by one.

He had only guessed based on parts of him.

That expressionless face that looked as if he had lost his mind, the blurred focus, and the movements of a body that moved as precisely and relentlessly as a machine.

Jeong Tae-ui saw it for the first time then—the way he dismantled people, cold and quiet, without so much as a violent seizure racking his body.

In that place, he was like a machine.

A machine that felt no hesitation even while drenched in blood, a machine without a heart that viewed humans only as objectives.

Beautiful as a finely crafted glass doll, that machine was terrifyingly decisive. Whether it was tearing away chunks of human flesh or ripping out the red and blue things that filled them.

Wherever he passed, fragments of flesh—so mangled that it was impossible to tell where they had originally belonged—lay scattered, pooling in thick puddles of blood.

It didn’t take long.

Only a few minutes.

Covered in blood from head to toe, he eventually stood silently in the place where even the ear-piercing screams had ceased, leaving only groans that writhed like insects.

As if bothered by the blood on his shoes, he rubbed them against the hay to wipe them clean while looking around.

There was no one left to attack him. The six men collapsed on the ground could no longer harm him.

“So many rumors must have circulated about me, yet you people are truly foolish…”

Muttering as if he actually felt pity, he sighed and lifted his head. However, there was not a shred of lament or compassion on his face. He was expressionless.

Lifting his head, he slowly scanned the surroundings before suddenly fixing his gaze on Jeong Tae-ui, who was standing to one side.

Before Jeong Tae-ui could intervene—or rather, while he stood dazed, blocked by the men and unable to step in even if he wanted to—the place had already fallen silent.

“Oh… you’re still there?”

Christoph muttered ambiguously.

The way he raised an eyebrow as he asked made it seem as though he had assumed Tae-ui had run away long ago.

“Christoph, these people…”

“They’re alive. I didn’t kill them. This isn’t the field, so I mustn’t kill.”

He spoke clearly, as if reading from a textbook or reciting something he had been forced to memorize: that he does not kill outside the field.

Jeong Tae-ui stared at him with a hardened expression and let out a low sigh.

At least someone, whoever it was, seemed to have programmed that into his head. To not commit murder in unauthorized places. To this man, who was as dangerous as a clueless child.

Christoph wiped the blood from his face visit stolen contentour sitewith his sleeve. However, it was useless, as the sleeve was already soaked through with blood.

He showed no sign of exhaustion. He wasn’t even out of breath.

His rationality seemed perfectly intact. Except for the overwhelming stench of blood, he was no different from his usual self.

“Now… shall we go catch that guy?”

Christoph muttered, slowly tilting his head from side to side.

“That guy?”

“The one sitting above these fools. He needs to be held accountable for failing to manage his subordinates. I’ve been thinking it was about time for a cleanup anyway. I might as well go now. This actually worked out well.”

Jeong Tae-ui soon realized who he was talking about.

Richard.

Jeong Tae-ui clicked his tongue. If they faced off again now, it wouldn’t be a simple matter.

“Chris, you can’t start something like this inside the house—”

“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine. He’ll be at the bar today.”

“The bar?!”

“He has a spacious pub… and since today is Tuesday, he’ll be there.”

Adding that he usually leaves the operation to others and only visits on Tuesdays to check in, Christoph shook his hands. Droplets of blood flew from his fingertips.

“It’s a suspicious pub with several secret rooms in the back where people don’t go, and no one knows what he does in there. Isn’t it the perfect place to visit to hold him accountable? Yes, while I’m at it, it would be nice to have a cocktail. I just hope he doesn’t poison it.”

Christoph shrugged.

Then, without hesitation, he turned and walked straight out of the stables.

Jeong Tae-ui stared blankly at his retreating back, his face twisted in a deep frown.

He felt that things were about to become incredibly tedious. No, they already had.

“…First, I have to do something about these people…”

The men rolling at his feet like corpses, occasionally twitching, looked as if they would truly become corpses if he didn’t contact someone soon. He had to deal with these men, who were in such a horrific state that their original forms were unrecognizable, first…

“…Damn it. I should follow Christoph and stop him… He’s the type of person who would turn someone else’s shop into a bloodbath and then just leave.”

Jeong Tae-ui looked anxiously at Christoph’s receding figure. It was obvious he would lose him while tending to these men.

However, while he was futilely searching his pockets for a phone he didn’t have, Read on Read BL Novelsstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit [unauthorized copy]our site]a guard—who seemed to have stepped away to the restroom—returned.

Seeing the interior of the stables, which had transformed into a gruesome hellscape in the blink of an eye, the guard’s eyes widened.

He likely found Jeong Tae-ui, the only person standing there unscathed, suspicious. He glared at Tae-ui and shouted something stutteringly, but Tae-ui didn’t have the luxury to listen.

“Please call a hospital. And the mansion. Please, I’m begging you.”

Lightly patting the shoulder of the guard, who was pale and trembling at the sight of the bloody scene, Jeong Tae-ui quickly rushed out of the stables. The guard shouted something behind him belatedly, but he wasn’t listening.

Christoph was already rounding the corner of the mansion toward the garage.

Driven by the single-minded determination not to lose him, Jeong Tae-ui ran like mad.

Damn it, what is this? How did it come to this? He just wanted to live peacefully, so why again?

Pouring out a torrent of curses under his breath, unauthorized copyJeong Tae-ui spotted Christoph inserting visit our sitethe car keys into a sedan parked quietly inside the garage and ran toward him with everything he had.