By Zephyria “What? Hangover Soup? I’m going too!”
“Ah, don’t come. Get lost!”
“Oh, great! Once you taste it, you won’t be able to forget it.”
“Haha, Hong Ye-seong, you have to go to Bukhansan this time. Will you have time to go to the Hanover Soup Restaurant?”
As Hong Ye-seong cleverly tried to squeeze in between the regulars, a cartel of Rankers was instantly formed. And behind the firmly established Hangover Soup cartel, the strange confrontation between Cha Eui-jae and Lee Sa-young continued without any sign of ending.
Sa-young was smiling, but the problem was that it was worse than not smiling at all. Compared to his twisted, raised lips, his eyes weren’t smiling at all, and his lightless purple eyes were still glaring at Cha Eui-jae.
Cluck, who was nestled in his arms, made a sound and buried its head in Eui-jae’s chest. It seemed Sa-young was scary. Eui-jae gently stroked Cluck’s head with his finger and sighed inaudibly. He thought his mood had improved a little…
‘There’s no way that bastard would.’
If anything, his mood would be more twisted, and he would never be okay. Eui-jae narrowed his eyes at the beautiful face with a sneer. At that moment, Bae Won-woo’s face turned pale as he spotted Lee Sa-young.
“S, Sa, Sa, Sa-young-ah.”
“What? …Ugh, damn it. Now that I think about it, why did he take off his Gas mask? Are you trying to kill someone?”
Honeybee, who turned around with him, shuddered. As soon as Lee Sa-young met their gazes, he erased the smile he had been wearing and returned to his usual indifferent face. He adjusted his posture, crossed his legs, and placed his bound wrist on his crossed leg.
“What did I do.”
“What do you mean, what? You were just glaring like you were going to kill someone.”
“Are you blind?”
“Ah, look at that rude way of talking.”
“Honeybee, let’s just bear with it this once. Okay?”
“I’m sad I didn’t get to see it in person earlier. Can’t you fight one more time?”
In the midst of the chaos where Honeybee flipped Lee Sa-young off, Bae Won-woo threw himself to tank, and Hong Ye-seong incited the fight, Lee Sa-young, who had taken his eyes off Eui-jae, slowly opened his mouth.
“Jung-bin.”
“Yes, Lee Sa-young.”
Sa-young raised his bound wrist. The clanging sound rang out clearly.
“When are you going to untie this?”
“Well, I was going to untie you after the auction. You can still eat the pads while tied up. If necessary, Secretary Kim can eat them for you instead.”
“Oh… is that so?”
Sa-young replied in a monotone voice and looked askance at Jung-bin.
“I think I can break things here without using my ability.”
“Haha, are you threatening me?”
“Does it look like a threat?”
“……”
The atmosphere, which had been cheerful and harmonious with the Hangover Soup cartel, suddenly sank in an instant. Lee Sa-young was indeed a heartless killer. A killer with the talent to kill the atmosphere with a single word. Jung-bin put his hands behind his back and smiled.
“There should be no exceptions to the law. Even if Gyu-Gyu struck first, didn’t Lee Sa-young break his shoulder? Besides, you were going to use Poison too.”
“I didn’t end up using it.”
Bae Won-woo, who had been watching the situation, quickly squeezed between them.
“Ah, it’s okay. Please untie him when it’s over! Haha, thank you for your hard work, really.”
“What are you doing.”
Sa-young asked irritably, but Bae Won-woo glanced at Eui-jae and pretended to tear something. It seemed he meant to tear up the ticket and go to the waiting room. His heart was really grateful, but…
‘…This crazy brat has the ticket.’
Of course, he had to isolate this guy to avoid escalating things further. Eui-jae put Cluck down on the floor and stealthily approached Sa-young. A pretty face covered in irritation looked up at him. Eui-jae lowered his head slightly and whispered very quietly.
“Let’s go to the waiting room.”
“……”
“I’ll tell you everything when we get there. Let’s go inside for now.”
Sa-young, who had been staring blankly at the Gas mask at the coaxing tone, let out a long sigh. And he took out the ticket from his Inventory and tore off a corner. The scenery changed with Honeybee’s surprised face, Hong Ye-seong’s subtle face, Jung-bin’s inscrutable face, and Bae Won-woo giving a thumbs up as if to say he did a good job.
After going through so much in just a few hours, this quiet waiting room was now so welcome. Eui-jae sighed and took off his Gas mask.
Lee Sa-young, still with his hands tied, strode over and sat down on the sofa. Sa-young, who was tapping the floor with his foot, opened his mouth.
“So, I know you went into Hong Ye-seong’s Shield…”
The hearing started right away. Eui-jae pouted with a sullen face.
“Why did that crazy brat suddenly… drag Hyung in there?”
“……”
“I want to hear from Hyung what you talked about in there… in detail.”
A vivid gaze swept over Eui-jae from head to toe. As he stood with his hands behind his back, Sa-young gestured to his side with his chin.
“Sit down.”
“I’ll just stand and talk.”
“Sit down.”
Okay, if he sat next to him, he wouldn’t have to look at him. Eui-jae sat about a space away from Sa-young and racked his brains.
He couldn’t tell him everything about the conversation he had with Hong Ye-seong. Lee Sa-young had seen the Basilisk Fang at the Gwangjin-gu Rift, but ‘having a weapon’ and ‘having a weapon made by Hong Ye-seong’ were different in weight. Somehow, the number of things he couldn’t tell Sa-young was increasing.
“First of all… Cluck took me to Hong Ye-seong’s Shield.”
“Yeah.”
“Hong Ye-seong was lying down eating red ginseng, and he told me to come here and sit down, so I sat down.”
“Uh-huh.”
“……”
This was a disaster. Once he took out the Basilisk Fang, there was nothing to say. Did he have to subtly change the truth again this time? Eui-jae stared at the white wall with soulless eyes and continued to speak.
“Then… Hong Ye-seong suddenly… turned on his Emotional Eye and said he knew everything.”
“Knew what?”
“That I have a Mana Stone.”
“Mana Stone?”
“Yeah… the Mana Stone Hong Ye-seong was looking for.”
“…How did that crazy brat know that?”
I’m sorry. I told him. Eui-jae turned his head slightly. But if he told Sa-young about the Fang, it would be the same as revealing that he was J. Moreover, considering Honeybee’s testimony earlier, it seemed that this guy didn’t have a very good feeling about J.
“Do you want J to stay dead?”
“Do you not want J to appear?”
Eui-jae quietly bit his lip. Was it because he lost first place? No matter how much he thought about it, he had never met someone like Lee Sa-young when he was active as J, so he couldn’t figure out why he hated him. Lee Sa-young and J in the Fragment seemed so close…
At that moment, Sa-young frowned and cursed.
“Ah… damn it.”
“Hey, why are you suddenly cursing…”
“I can’t do it. My head isn’t working…”
A short sigh was heard, and soon soft hair touched his shoulder and neck. Eui-jae opened his eyes wide and turned his head slightly. Lee Sa-young was leaning on him as if curling up. Eui-jae, who was frozen with his arms awkwardly raised, blinked.
‘Why is he like this?’
Was this a new type of attack? If the purpose was to embarrass the opponent, it was a great success. Eui-jae was more embarrassed now than ever before.
However, Sa-young, who was leaning his head and body, didn’t move much after that. Instead, his small breaths and breathing were particularly loud. He must have moved his hand, because there was a clanging sound of chains colliding.
And Eui-jae couldn’t help but doubt his ears at Sa-young’s next words.
“I’m tired…”
Was that really what Lee Sa-young said? It was as if he was complaining… Eui-jae, who was stiff and only rolling his eyes, muttered slowly.
“You keep making me dig things up.”
“……”
“You keep making me worry…”
“……”
“It’s annoying.”
It ended with annoying, so it was definitely Lee Sa-young. Eui-jae tried to say something but closed his mouth. The breathing he heard from his neck seemed a little faster than before.
‘Ah.’
Clang. Along with the small sound of chains, Eui-jae wrapped his arm around Sa-young’s shoulder and began to pat him. The shoulder, which had twitched for a moment, calmed down quietly.
Jung-bin’s chains were based on the principle of binding the source of Awakened’s Awakening ability and restraining them. If you were used to the ability after Awakening and suddenly lost your strength, you would naturally not be able to adapt. Even though only his wrists were tied, he probably felt like his whole body was tied up. It was obvious that the burden would be great even if he didn’t show it.
Eui-jae patted his firm shoulder and clicked his tongue softly.
‘I think I’d rather have him act up…’
Sa-young muttered again.
“It’s so annoying…”
“Yeah, yeah. I know, so rest for now.”
“……”
“Sleep if you can.”
“……”
Lee Sa-young closed his mouth tightly and leaned in a little more. It felt like he was comforting a child, and Eui-jae barely managed to hold back the laughter that was about to escape. When he raised his hand and gently stroked his hair, the strength also drained from the leaning body. The hair that brushed between his fingers was softer than he thought.
At that time, a new phrase was added to the warning on the wall.
The Artisan Exhibition auction will resume in 30 minutes.
Hunters waiting in the waiting room should return to the hall when the time below expires.
Time remaining 29:59…
The numbers on the timer began to decrease. Eui-jae stared at it blankly, hoping that time would pass a little slower, at least for now.