CH-032
I sprang up from the sofa.
"I'll be going now."
"Wait, wait a minute."
The druggie kept mumbling from behind, but I walked on without stopping.
"Hey, I said stop. I got a valuable item..."
I flinched, instinctively stopping my steps.
'...No way?'
The druggie rummaged through his pocket and took something out. An object that sparkled beautifully even under the dim light caught my eye.
"!"
"You like this kind of thing, right? Sparkly stuff."
It was 'Hyun-woo'.
As soon as I saw it, I promptly turned around and approached the sofa again.
Just as I was about to grab it, Hyun-woo vanished before my eyes. The druggie, who had dodged my hand, grinned.
"Uh-uh, no can do."
"......"
"What should you do to receive this?"
"Didn't you take it out to give it to me?"
"Right. But I suddenly felt it was a waste."
The druggie made a pretense of being indifferent while fiddling with the gem. Then he went so far as to pin the brooch onto his clothes.
"Should I just keep it?"
"Haha."
It was like a pearl necklace on a pig.
Looking at that attitude, it seemed he wanted something else...
I bowed my body in a servile manner.
"Please don't do that. Is there nothing else you would like to order me to do?"
"Something to order? Hmm."
"Yes, Director-nim. Just give me an order and I'll do anything. If you just give me Hyu— the brooch..."
"How cheap."
The Director, laughing as if dumbfounded, flicked his index finger downward.
'Kneel, is what that means.'
I roughly cleared away the liquor bottles scattered on the floor and knelt near the druggie's feet.
"Awakened ones only seem to understand when they're treated like animals."
"Indeed. Those damn bastards."
I should just give up on going back early.
"Hey, how is your boss doing?"
I picked up the glass the druggie had dropped earlier and poured whiskey into it.
"He's doing well, as always."
"Really... how does he live so thoroughly hidden. He'll get sick that way. He should show his face appropriately at these kinds of gatherings."
"......"
At those words, the boss came to mind. The boss was always coughing in a dark room. I could almost hear the heavy coughing sound.
'He's definitely not a healthy person.'
While I was nodding my head internally, the druggie muttered.
"I'd like to see his face once, whoever he is."
"I agree. I've never seen his face either."
At the words I threw out without much thought, the druggie's eyes widened.
"What? You've never seen his face?"
"? Yes."
"Don't tell me you've only ever heard his voice?"
"That's right."
The boss never takes off his mask no matter what.
"Is there some problem?"
"...To think he's hiding that thoroughly."
When I handed him the glass, the druggie took a sip of the alcohol.
"Hmm..."
He seemed to be thinking deeply about something. Though how much can he think with a brain pickled in alcohol.
"That's unexpected. Still, I thought he would at least trust you. Even if you are a rootless thief bastard, you've been around for quite a while."
"Of course he trusts me. If only I had some ability to speak of."
"You said you don't even know his face."
"His face, probably..."
No one knows. I was about to say that, but hesitated. It was because I remembered Go Sang-won, who always stuck by the boss's side like a shadow, both then and now.
When I couldn't continue my sentence, the druggie sneered.
"See, you don't know, right?"
I don't know. All this time, I naturally thought he was reluctant to show his face because of burn scars.
But, did Go Sang-won see the boss's face?
'No way, that bastard before me?'
Recalling that possibility felt like getting smacked in the back of the head.
"So ditch that shady guy you don't even know the identity of and join me."
The Director, clicking his tongue, picked up the item he had tossed on the table. Checking the inside with a rustling sound, he raised his eyebrows.
"What's this, it's just trash."
"......"
I had no excuse for that point. I just smiled wordlessly.
"Are you kidding me? Where am I supposed to use something like this."
"It seems like an item that suits you very well, Director-nim."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
The druggie unfurled the tightly folded whip.
"With just this, it's nowhere near enough to develop a new product that surpasses that guy."
"Haha, it may look like that, but it's an artifact from inside a dungeon. As you research it, won't you find a use for it?"
That's a lie. According to the info displayed on the status window, it was just a very sturdy whip. I knew it was trash, but I tried to sell it anyway.
Even when I tried to subtly persuade him, the druggie frowned. What he was so dissatisfied with when he wasn't even a researcher himself was beyond me.
"Next time, bring something more useful. Not this kind of trash."
"Understood."
I just nodded vaguely. As I was half-listening to his grumbling, a remark the druggie made in passing caught my ear.
"It's a relief I got another business partner this time..."
"Another business partner?"
Did he mean there was another person besides the boss who would hold hands with such a pathetic man?
"Yeah. From the guild side..."
The druggie, gauging my reaction, stopped talking.
"Curious?"
Looking at his tone, it seemed like only troublesome things would happen if I looked into it in detail.
"No. More than that, my knees are starting to hurt."
I just wanted to go back quickly. Naturally, my knee started fidgeting. The quick-witted druggie stepped on my thigh.
"Take off your clothes."
"Excuse me?"
"Surely you don't think it's over just because you handed over the item... that you'd think about it so irresponsibly?"
In terms of business, since I delivered the item, it was fine to leave. But...
The druggie licked his lips and tapped his chest. The brooch attached to his clothes swayed, reflecting a brilliant light for a moment.
My eyes flashed open.
'Hyun-woo.'
Right. A hostage was being held. The reason I started this conversation in the first place was all to save Hyun-woo.
As a hyung, I can't abandon my dongsaeng.
"Since you brought it, you should personally prove whether it's a usable item."
That deeply twisted guy ultimately just wanted to see an Awakened kneeling and suffering.
I instinctively realized this was the final ordeal.
'The best thing would be to show myself suffering as much as he wants.'
Now that things had come to this, there seemed to be no way to avoid a flogging.
Even so, I took off my clothes with a pounding heart.
I want to get my hands on that sparkly thing quickly!
***
Seo Shin-woo took off his top and knelt. It was a posture obediently waiting for the next order.
The Director approached Seo Shin-woo with a satisfied expression.
"You're unusually docile today. Let's see, it's not a fever... Did you go get beaten up somewhere else again and are low on energy?"
A touch so rough it was rude brushed over Seo Shin-woo's forehead. Even with a hand on his face, Seo Shin-woo, for some reason, stayed quiet.
Finding it curious, he stroked the head a few times, and the neatly arranged bangs became disheveled, with a few strands falling over the forehead.
"There's no fun in it because you don't have that taste for throwing a fit."
As soon as he spoke, the corner of Seo Shin-woo's mouth twitching caught his eye.
'Is he forcing himself to hold back?'
As expected, it seemed he disliked others touching his head.
"Should I just go back?"
"No."
The Director suddenly thrust his glass forward.
"Here."
"......"
Seo Shin-woo took the cup. He didn't drink it right away but stared intently into the cup. A brownish liquid was sloshing in the transparent glass.
The Director knew. Seo Shin-woo can't drink alcohol well. Even when suggested to have just one glass, he always adamantly refused.
Seeing him hesitate again this time, the Director added a remark.
"I'm giving it to you for your own good."
It was obvious nonsense, but Seo Shin-woo pondered. And then.
'Hyun-woo, hyung will save you.'
He brought the glass to his lips. The strong smell of alcohol stung his nose, but he endured it.
Gulp, gulp.
A burning sensation followed down his throat to his insides. After his Adam's apple bobbed a few times, the liquid in the glass was all gone.
"You drink well. No gagging either."
The man, who had arbitrarily stroked Seo Shin-woo's head, tapped the table with the whip.
"Bend over."
Perhaps the alcohol was already kicking in, as Seo Shin-woo staggered to his feet. Unable to stand seeing him hesitate, the Director unfastened the brooch.
Smiling a nasty smile, the Director checked that Seo Shin-woo's gaze was focused and threw the brooch in his hand onto the table.
"!"
Crash!
Seo Shin-woo lunged over the table and snatched the brooch. In that opening, the Director placed his foot on the back before his eyes.
"Ugh!"
When he put his weight on it, Seo Shin-woo ended up sprawled over.
"You act like a dog, you seem like a dog, so did you really become a dog?"
The body pinned underneath was trembling. It was so much so that at a glance it was confusing whether he was crying or laughing.
'He's still afraid of pain, I see.'
The Director let out a short laugh and ran his hand over the whip. The whip had several flat straps attached to the end of the handle. The leather-like straps gathered and scattered softly in Director Kim's hand.
"When I was young, the house next door had a dog."
"?"
"That mutt followed the kid from that house really well, but whenever it saw me, it barked like it wanted to kill me."
Seo Shin-woo spit out a single sentence in a subdued voice.
"Your face must have been... really unlikable."
"Shut up."
Smack!
"Urk!"
"There was a fire at the house next door and that son of a bitch burned to death.... But whenever I see you, I'm reminded of that time for some reason."
The Director looked down at the skin where red marks were starting to rise. Unlike before, the expression was hardened tightly.
"......"
Actually, there was one more existence he recalled when looking at Seo Shin-woo. It was his own younger brother. The enemy who stole his position with a single supernatural power.
The Director hated those who easily coasted through life just because they were Awakened, without any effort.
He swung the whip, full of anger.
"Ugh!"
Every time the body before his eyes flinched, he felt a tight satisfaction.
The man who was now helplessly offering his body to him was an Awakened. A fairly competent one at that. And such a person was complying without resisting as the whip was brandished.
'Power or whatever, it's just a mere tool in front of authority.'
***
"......"
When I opened my eyes, my surroundings were quiet.
'Did I doze off for a moment...'
I barely managed to get up, staggering. As my vision rose, I felt even more nauseous.
"Urrp!"
As I was bent over just dry heaving, someone grabbed my collar.
"Where are you going?"
The speech was mumbled, perhaps because his mind was hazy. When I tried to ignore it and leave, the druggie pulled with his weight.
Crash!
Because of that, we got tangled up and fell together. The druggie flopped onto me and struggled. I wish he would stop since weird body parts kept brushing against me every time he moved...
The druggie, who had buried his snout near my neck, chewed on the flesh his mouth touched. Then he suddenly lifted his head up with a jerk.
"Ah.... Look at this pretty-faced bastard."
Now he outright bit my cheek and mumbled on it. While I was momentarily dazed from the drunkenness, my face became smeared with saliva.
After licking my face to his heart's content, the druggie even targeted my mouth, wriggling his tongue. I freaked out when his tongue brushed my front teeth.
Zap!
[Penalty Occurred:
Maybe because he was drunk, he collapsed right away even from a weak current.
'Should I have just done this earlier and stolen it?'
I roughly dismissed the window that appeared before my eyes. After checking that the collapsed druggie had a pulse, I pushed him away. Anyway, he was completely plastered, so he probably wouldn't remember when he woke up.
"Mmm..."
I looked around to see if anyone was awake. Once I confirmed everyone was asleep, it suddenly occurred to me that it would be a waste to just leave like this.
Carefully, I took jewelry off the bodies of the men sprawled all over the place. I searched the room once, and it seemed all the wallets had been put in the safe.
After trying a few passwords, I gave up and stood up.
I confirmed one last time that the item was on the table, then headed to the front door.
"...Huh?"
Just as I was really about to leave, something caught my attention.
There was no wind, but the curtain was swaying slightly. It seemed like a bird that had been sitting on the railing flew away.
Though it was a dog-like situation in many ways, I had obtained Hyun-woo, so as a service I meticulously closed the windows and left the room.
***
Late at night. Yeom Ha-jae came out for a walk. His mind was complicated, so he couldn't sleep.
'Hyung... didn't look well.'
The face he saw in the evening kept lingering in his head. He was smiling, but it was different from when they met during the day. His eyes were definitely sunken. Like someone going to do something they hate doing.
It was the moment he was wandering aimlessly around the hotel, lost in worry.
Thud.
Something hit his foot. When he lowered his head, he saw a single dress shoe.
It was a familiar pair of shoes.
"...Hyung?"