CH-035

My mind snapped awake. My body, which had been loosely relaxed, stiffened tight.

"You're saying he tailed us?"

'Why...?'

Even up to this afternoon when I ran into Yeom Ha-jae, nothing had happened. I had exchanged ordinary conversation with him as he approached me as if wanting to get closer.

No way.

'Did he approach me to find evidence?'

I realized the conversation had stopped while I was worrying. Jang Yi-jung had his mouth firmly shut and was staring piercingly at me. Exactly at the area below my neck.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"...Anyway, what's the point of that?"

Pushing someone down and suddenly bringing up Yeom Ha-jae out of nowhere.

"Mm..."

Jang Yi-jung, who had been whispering, suddenly raised his voice loudly.

"I think he's in love with you."

It was a resounding volume loud enough to be heard outside the room.

"Love?"

"Yeah. Love."

It was random.

"Haha..."

I thought it was a joke and laughed. But Jang Yi-jung had a face without any sign of laughter.

"Ha... Is the joke over? I'm going to go wash up."

"Does it seem like a joke?"

When I tried to get up, Jang Yi-jung pressed me down onto the bed with one hand.

"I have no intention of playing along with your prank. I'm a bit tired today."

Even while talking to me, Jang Yi-jung was looking toward the door. Only when I discontentedly smacked his arm did he turn his head. Jang Yi-jung lowered his head. Red eyes came right up close.

"Wanna test it out?"

What?

It was before the answer had even come out. Jang Yi-jung's hand entered my shirt.

"...!"

A cold hand groped my stomach.

"It's not fun, so please move aside."

"I don't want to."

This bastard.

"Keep doing that."

Being pinned under a man was not a pleasant experience. I pushed against Jang Yi-jung's chest, but he didn't move.

He didn't seem to have any intention of ending the prank easily.

The hand rubbing against my skin held no intention at all. It felt exactly like a hand-shaped machine wriggling arbitrarily on my stomach.

I gave up pushing and let my body go limp.

When I stopped resisting like that, the hand that had only been brushing my skin pinched my flesh.

"Ugh."

Jang Yi-jung was still expressionless. Whether I groaned because of him or not, the pinching hand didn't stop.

"Stop it..."

As if I had to make pained sounds.

It was then. A knocking sound came from the door.

"Hyung?! Are you okay?"

It was Yeom Ha-jae's voice. Jang Yi-jung glanced at the door that was shaking heavily.

"He's less patient than I thought."

'Ah.'

"He's still in front of the door right now."

It was true. And what Jang Yi-jung had said next.

"I think he's in love with you."

That was probably something he deliberately said for Yeom Ha-jae to hear.

This was a kind of play-acting. To provoke the person outside the door.

The unpleasant feeling of having been played by Jang Yi-jung was brief.

'How dare an Association pig mess with me.'

A desire for revenge began to burn.

"...Yi-jung-ssi, do you have some complaint against me?"

"......"

"Let's resolve this through conversation."

Pretending to be truly flustered, I consciously made my voice tremble. Whether Yeom Ha-jae heard it too, the knocking on the door grew louder.

"Stop it! I'm calling the police!!"

I hesitated briefly, but Jang Yi-jung spoke first.

"Call them if you want. But if the police come, this man will be the first to get arrested."

"!"

"And... keep knocking that loudly on the door. If people who've woken up start gathering, I don't know what I might do."

"Y-you!"

Anger was carried in the voice, but the act of knocking on the door stopped abruptly.

It became quiet outside the door. To ride the momentum and continue the act, I subtly pushed against Jang Yi-jung's shoulder.

"Don't do this, just tell me and I'll fix it."

"A complaint, huh... First, answer a question."

'A question?'

I had no idea what he would ask, but I nodded for now.

"Who did you meet? You told me you were going to work."

Jang Yi-jung rubbed around my neck.

'?'

I felt a sense of something being off, but I answered honestly.

"It was a job meeting someone."

"Hmm."

Jang Yi-jung made a meaningful sound.

Even seeing him from close up, he was completely different from during the day. I can't read his thoughts.

"Were you curious about what kind of work I did? If so..."

"Actually, I heard it."

"What?"

"The sound of you doing 'that' with the boss."

That?

'How am I supposed to know what "that" is?'

Seeing my expression, Jang Yi-jung added a word.

"It seemed like you... threw up while doing it."

"Urk."

Hearing that far, I guessed what he was talking about. I thought this office wasn't soundproof. When will we change hideouts?

"That sound traveled all the way there."

I forced the corners of my mouth up. Thinking that I had let him hear the sound of me vomiting was embarrassing.

"Dirty, right?"

"Yeah, it was dirty. Did you do it because you wanted to?"

"......"

Someone who wants to vomit... there probably is someone like that somewhere.

"I learned in training that you shouldn't use power to commit violence."

"You learned very well."

Did the Association also provide training on bootlicking superiors?

Bringing up someone's weakness in this situation was cheap. And quit pinching me already.

It was a bit flustering, but fine. The chance to take the lead still remained. I recalled what happened with Choi Hae-gang.

Just as there are few people who want to vomit, I remembered that there are also few people who want their shoes licked.

"I understand well what you desire."

I deliberately let out an exaggerated sigh. As expected, Jang Yi-jung's hand stopped.

"Shall I do it?"

"No."

Quickly pulling his hand out, Jang Yi-jung tried to get up.

'Where do you think you're ending this on your own terms.'

I swiftly grabbed the hand about to fall away and pulled it back to my body.

Jang Yi-jung, having been returned to his spot, blinked. I could feel him flustered.

"What..."

"You want it, right?"

The spy shook his head from side to side.

"I'll do it, then."

I have no intention of doing it. There was no reason at all for me to lick this guy's shoes here.

However.

'I'll make you disgusted enough to vomit.'

It was an offer I could make because I knew Jang Yi-jung would refuse to the end.

When I pulled his hand again, I heard a small whispering voice.

"You seem really drunk."

"No, if Yi-jung-ssi wants it, I'm truly fine."

"I said I don't want it."

I smiled a beaming smile as if to show off.

"It's already a rag-like body anyway, so do as you please, right? Besides, today's 'work' was that kind of thing anyway."

My back became a rag getting whipped.

"Though I might end up throwing up."

I held Jang Yi-jung's hand tightly so he couldn't escape. When I even interlaced fingers and tangled them firmly, Jang Yi-jung groaned as if troubled.

"...I don't want to."

"Ah, is it dirty?"

I wriggled my tongue out to provoke him.

Whatever answer he gave, I was planning to find fault and tease him more. Jang Yi-jung shut his mouth.

"......"

"Huh?"

Come to think of it, I hadn't heard Yeom Ha-jae's voice since some point.

'Did he give up and leave?'

As the silence grew long, my steam ran out. I laid my body completely down on the bed.

To be honest, the guy trying to do the play-acting had no emotion, so there was no feeling of tension at all. Plus I was sleepy. I wanted to just fall asleep like this.

Pop!

"!"

In the midst of my consciousness fading, a button suddenly popped off.

Jang Yi-jung had grabbed both sides of my shirt and torn it. When he let go, the half-torn shirt fell to both sides.

'What's he doing...?'

Red pupils began to scan the exposed upper body.

"......"

Soon, his gaze stopped near the chest.

Jang Yi-jung slowly lifted his head. Then he stared piercingly at me.

"How far have you gone with the boss?"

It was just as I was about to ask what he meant.

Boom!

My body flinched and trembled at the thunderous noise ringing in my ears.

The door opened. No, it broke. I felt the alcohol buzz disappear instantly.

Outside the door, Yeom Ha-jae was standing with his eyes glaring, holding a fire extinguisher.

"Hunter-nim?"

He looks around the room. Lying on the bed, I met eyes with Yeom Ha-jae. After confirming my condition, Yeom Ha-jae glared at Jang Yi-jung.

"No, this is!"

It was the moment I opened my mouth, not wanting it to look strange. The door that was barely hanging on finally fell to the floor.

Thud.

That sound was the signal flare.

The fire extinguisher flew toward the bed at high speed. I, still pinned under Jang Yi-jung and finding it hard to dodge, freaked out.

Fortunately, the fire extinguisher was aimed precisely at Jang Yi-jung. Jang Yi-jung caught the flying object and retreated off of me.

"Hyung!"

Yeom Ha-jae came running to me in one dash. And seeing the shirt with the buttons torn off, his hands trembled violently.

"Y-your clothes..."

Yeom Ha-jae laid me back down as I was awkwardly raising my upper body, then wrapped me up by rolling me in the blanket. He rolled it so tightly that it was hard to even squirm inside the blanket.

That left me with no choice but to watch the situation unfold.

While Yeom Ha-jae was clinging to me, the instigator leisurely approached the window. He opened the window and climbed onto it, and I wondered if he was going to just jump and fall, but Jang Yi-jung stopped and turned back.

"Your chest, it'd be better to at least put a bandage on it."

Standing on the window frame, he tapped his own chest with his finger.

"?"

"Get lost!"

Yeom Ha-jae grabbed and threw a chair. But just before being hit by the chair, Jang Yi-jung jumped down below.

Crash!

The chair that hit the window frame couldn't go out the window and tumbled to the floor.

"Huff, huff..."

After checking outside the window, Yeom Ha-jae staggered over to the bed.

Now that I looked, he was crying and sniffling like a little kid. Was it that much of a shock? Yeom Ha-jae plopped down beside me, so I placed the hand I had barely pulled out of the blanket on top of his head.

"I'm sorry..."

Yeom Ha-jae, who had been quietly heaving his shoulders a few times, suddenly hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I should have stopped it to the end, but I just let you go."

...There was no way I could say it was a set-up now.

"Nothing happened. I'm not hurt either."

I had played along under the influence of alcohol, but thinking back, it was an unpleasant play-act. To voluntarily participate in being pinned under a man on a hotel bed.

Because the window was wide open, the curtain swayed and a cold autumn breeze blew in.

'Love...'

I shook my head to shake off the unpleasant thoughts. Now was the time to focus on cleaning up the aftermath.