CH-033

Yeom Ha-jae, who had become puzzled, picked up the shoe.

'As expected, it is.'

It was definitely the shoe that Seo Shin-woo had been wearing earlier today.

'But why is hyung's shoe here...?'

Could he be nearby? The thought that losing a shoe and heading somewhere at this hour couldn't be a good situation gave him a foreboding feeling. Yeom Ha-jae urgently looked around.

And then he discovered.

"?!"

In a corner barely touched by the streetlight, someone's foot was sticking out from the bushes in the flower bed.

A chill ran down his spine. Yeom Ha-jae hurriedly ran toward the flower bed.

"......"

Only after reaching the flower bed did Yeom Ha-jae's breathing calm down.

Inside the bushes was Seo Shin-woo in a disheveled state. Seeing his flushed face, he seemed quite drunk.

"Ngh..."

The heavily drunk Seo Shin-woo groaned and stirred. He had leaves stuck all over his body, as if he had been on the dirt ground for quite some time.

Yeom Ha-jae knelt down and gently tapped Seo Shin-woo's shoulder.

"Hyung, are you okay?"

"Huh...?"

Seo Shin-woo slowly lifted his eyelids. He seemed to stare blankly at the sky for a moment with his barely open eyes, then rolled his pupils toward Yeom Ha-jae. Upon confirming it was Yeom Ha-jae, Seo Shin-woo smiled with a slack face.

"It's Hunter-nim..."

"......"

He reached out his hand weakly while lying down. It was a distance far from reaching Yeom Ha-jae. Yeom Ha-jae strode closer, grabbed his hand, and helped him up.

"You said you were going to work... Did you drink a lot?"

"Yes."

"What's your room number? I'll take you there."

At those words, Seo Shin-woo pulled his hand away and waved it dismissively.

"No, no. It's okay."

Then he pushed away the hand trying to support him and stood up straight.

He left the fidgeting Yeom Ha-jae behind and walked forward. His pace was quite fast, making one momentarily confused about whether he really was fine.

But.

"!"

Both feet were only wearing socks. Yeom Ha-jae, who realized this fact belatedly, checked the flower bed but couldn't find the dress shoes even inside the bushes.

When he raised his head, Seo Shin-woo had already walked far away. Yeom Ha-jae hurriedly followed after him.

"Hyung, you have to wear shoes."

"Haha... It's okay."

The man walking boldly by himself never looked back. He was in a state of walking completely looking only forward, like a racehorse. Even when Yeom Ha-jae tried to subtly support him, Seo Shin-woo kept pushing him away, as if it felt like he was being ignored.

In the end, Yeom Ha-jae just hovered around him, fretting. He couldn't take his eyes off him, as his appearance walking with his hands in his pockets looked precarious.

"!"

As expected, Seo Shin-woo's body tilted forward. It seemed his foot had caught on a curb while walking without looking down. Yeom Ha-jae, who caught his arm and supported him by a hair's breadth, let out a sigh of relief.

"Lean on me."

"Mm..."

To support him, Yeom Ha-jae placed Seo Shin-woo's arm around his own shoulder. Seo Shin-woo quietly entrusted his body to him. He seemed to be aware himself that he had almost fallen just now.

'Whew...'

Yeom Ha-jae's shoulders heaved greatly. He finally felt a load off his mind. Before he could go off alone again, Yeom Ha-jae firmly supported Seo Shin-woo's body with his remaining arm.

Being close to him, he could feel his body temperature was hotter than normal. When the wind blew, Seo Shin-woo pressed closer, as if he was cold. Yeom Ha-jae unconsciously smiled.

"Let's hurry inside before you catch a cold."

Yeom Ha-jae carefully led him and moved his steps.

After much difficulty, when he entered the hotel lobby with Seo Shin-woo, one staff member approached.

"Oh, Sunbae?"

It was the person who had been beside Seo Shin-woo in the evening. The staff member also seemed to recognize Yeom Ha-jae, pointing a finger at him.

"The person I saw in the evening!"

"......"

Yeom Ha-jae crossed the lobby pretending not to hear. At the blatant disregard, the staff member backed off without another word. Although they sent a gloomy stare...

'Feels unpleasant.'

The two got on the elevator in that state. Entering the confined space, the smell of alcohol felt even stronger. Yeom Ha-jae checked Seo Shin-woo's condition.

Seo Shin-woo had his eyes half-closed. The laughter had disappeared at some point, leaving his face looking blank.

'It feels strange when he's not smiling...'

While looking at him with such thoughts, something smeared around his mouth caught his eye. Had it been invisible until now because it was dark? Wiping it with a hand and smelling it, it seemed like vomit.

"Mm..."

Lick.

"Ah, shi—"

He rubbed his saliva-wet finger on his pants.

Meanwhile, Seo Shin-woo, who had been nodding off, leaned his head against Yeom Ha-jae's shoulder with a thud.

"H-hyung?"

As if he hadn't heard the flustered voice, Seo Shin-woo rubbed his face against the shoulder. As he tilted his head, his shirt, which had its buttons undone, opened up even more.

Yeom Ha-jae's cheeks reddened briefly, but he quickly hardened his expression. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he seemed to smell blood from somewhere.

"...?"

Yeom Ha-jae's heart sank heavily as his eyes briefly glanced inside the shirt.

'I must have seen it wrong, right?'

His urgent hand slightly pulled back the collar of Seo Shin-woo's shirt.

Between the loosely opened shirt, red marks were visible.

Distinct teeth marks and even red bruises. Traces he had failed to discover in the dark place.

"...Hyung."

Yeom Ha-jae tightly gripped the shirt collar in his hand. His hand was trembling and shaking. At that vibration, Seo Shin-woo woke from his drowsiness.

But without reading the strange atmosphere, he closed his eyes again.

"Seo Shin-woo."

The voice calling his name was cold. Finally, even in his drunken state, sensing the strange mood, Seo Shin-woo gently lifted his head.

"Ah...?"

His unfocused pupils met eyes tinged with red.

"What is this?"

As soon as their gazes tangled, Seo Shin-woo lowered his head again and gave no answer. Yeom Ha-jae slowly grabbed and pulled down the hand that was heading toward his own pocket.

"Let's go to the room first."

His footsteps quickened. Even with Seo Shin-woo's rough gait, being practically dragged along, no sound was made on the soft corridor carpet.

Eventually, when Yeom Ha-jae flung the door open and led him inside, Seo Shin-woo grabbed the wall next to the door and started resisting.

"Not Choi Hae-gang..."

"Don't worry, it's just me."

The meaningless resistance ended quickly. Having put Seo Shin-woo inside the room, Yeom Ha-jae locked the door.

With impatient hands, he took off the jacket of Seo Shin-woo, who was leaning against the wall and muttering something. Only after pulling his precariously standing body and carefully laying him on the bed did he feel a sense of relief.

"You'll feel better if you drink some water."

The lights weren't turned on, but the stand lamp was dimly illuminating the room. Yeom Ha-jae grabbed a water cup and perched on the side of the bed.

"...Hyung?"

No answer came back. The other person had closed his eyes before he knew it. Regular breathing sounds leaked from his slightly parted mouth.

"......"

Confirming that the other was asleep, Yeom Ha-jae leaned his body toward Seo Shin-woo. He pulled down the tie that looked stuffy and checked the mark he had just seen once more.

It was definitely a human teeth mark. In addition to that, there were red bruises as if sucked by a mouth. Looking at the color, they were undoubtedly freshly made.

An expressionless face quietly stared down at someone's traces. The light gradually faded from the eyes that had been shining clearly.

Yeom Ha-jae took off his shoes and climbed on top of Seo Shin-woo. Pale fingertips slowly swept over the reddened skin.

"Who..."

When he scratched with force, the skin reddened along the path his nails passed. The staff member who had been bothering him all along suddenly came to mind.

"Was it that woman?"

"Uhm..."

"No, that person was in the lobby so..."

It didn't seem like she had just been with Seo Shin-woo.

Perhaps uncomfortable with the sensation of being rubbed hard, Seo Shin-woo tossed his head and frowned. Only then did Yeom Ha-jae come to his senses and remove his hand.

Having added only red lines, he quietly stared at the marks that were not erased at all, and then lowered his head. Now the only person that came to mind was the woman he had met at the bakery during the day.

He had confirmed her leaving in a taxi after fighting with Seo Shin-woo, but had she returned already? Or was it someone he met for work?

No matter how much he agonized, there was no way to know what had already happened.

"I'm upset."

He felt as if his head was filled with fog. Yeom Ha-jae relaxed his body and collapsed onto Seo Shin-woo. However, something sharp in Seo Shin-woo's pants pocket poked his thigh.

Yeom Ha-jae reached down and rummaged through Seo Shin-woo's pocket.

"A watch?"

When he pulled a bit more, a necklace came up caught on the watch strap. Following that, expensive-looking items came trailing out one after another.

The amount was substantial. It didn't seem like an amount that would come from one person.

"......"

Yeom Ha-jae put the valuables back into Seo Shin-woo's pocket and raised his gaze.

A red nape was right in front of his nose. Yeom Ha-jae blinked blankly, then brought his mouth to the bruise that had been bothering him all along.

"Mmph."

Even after diligently nibbling, the skin had no taste whatsoever. Still, when he detached his mouth, the existing marks were covered by new ones and were no longer visible.

Yeom Ha-jae's mouth, his mind somewhat calmed, jutted out slightly in a pout.

"Liar. You said you were going because of work, but it was a total lie. Dressed up this prettily, who on earth did you do naughty things with?"

He grumbled quietly.

The man named Seo Shin-woo lies so well he could be called a con artist. He definitely said he was going to work.

"Work..."

Suddenly, Yeom Ha-jae stopped talking. The large quantity of valuables he had just seen bothered him for some reason.

Come to think of it, he still didn't know exactly what kind of work he did.

Choi Hae-gang's reaction, the information the child named Mo Joo-eun had told him, and crucially, the terrorist incident that occurred at the Association party where he met Seo Shin-woo. Putting that information together, he had only guessed that he belonged to a new terrorist organization called Smile Clean.

In the first place, if he belonged to an illegal organization, it wouldn't be strange whatever work he did.

Like stealing.

'But do people usually dress up like this to steal?'

Maybe stealing was simply a hobby.

He wasn't quite sure, but anyway, it seemed Seo Shin-woo had met people with a lot of money.

So, meeting people with a lot of money...

...To talk?

'Could it be that the work is?!'

Yeom Ha-jae shot his body upright.

"Ah, no."

Just imagining it made his heart pound like crazy. He felt like his eyes were spinning around.

"It's probably nothing, it's probably nothing..."

His trembling hand reached for Seo Shin-woo's shirt. He undid the shirt buttons one by one.

'It's not that I have other intentions. I just need to know what kind of danger this person is in...!'

When he undid the last button, the shirt slid smoothly off his body. Under the dim lighting, a reasonably firm body was revealed.

"!"