CH-040

Pink hair flutters in the air.

"Sunbaaaeaeae!"

It was a familiar voice, so I instinctively opened my arms. The person who came running with a clatter leaped into my embrace with full force. He hugged me with all his strength, enough to push my body back.

"...Ruru?"

Ruru. A member of the organization and a colleague who, for some reason, was playing the role of a staff member here and there.

I wondered where he had been, but to think he was in my room.

"Sunbae..."

"Ruru. Calm down."

Ruru rubbed his face against my chest. When I tried to peel him off, he burrowed even deeper into my embrace.

It was an unnecessarily persistent movement.

'...This bastard.'

Seeing him desperately trying not to let go, I got a feeling. It felt like he was deliberately acting exaggerated to hide something.

I humored his childishness for a bit, then began to interrogate him.

"Why are you coming out of my room?"

Since our bodies were touching, Ruru stiffening up was clearly transmitted.

"Th-that's..."

I grabbed his waist as he subtly tried to escape.

It was a relief that it wasn't Jang Yi-jung. But the fact that a thief had entered my room was unpleasant in its own way.

Suppressing my frown, I put my hand inside Ruru's jacket.

"Hyaat."

Ruru flinched. Paying no mind, I carelessly rummaged through his chest and pulled out whatever my hand caught.

The monster poked its nose at the object caught in my hand and sniffed.

My gaze grew cold on its own.

"Sunbae..."

"......"

The item Ruru was trying to steal. It was the socks I had taken off yesterday.

"Why are you trying to steal Yi-jung-ssi's socks?"

"What?! They weren't Sunbae's...?!"

I dropped the socks on the floor. The socks, falling powerlessly, landed in front of the door. Disgusted, I stepped on them once firmly and entered the room.

Yeom Ha-jae, who had been standing awkwardly, followed, and Ruru, entering last, was holding the socks with a footprint on them.

"It's a lie, right? There's no way Ruru mistook Sunbae's scent."

There was no time to respond to nonsense.

"Is Yi-jung-ssi not here?"

"There was no one in the room when Ruru came."

As expected, Jang Yi-jung seemed not to have returned since dawn.

As I was examining the items in the room, Yeom Ha-jae, who had been quiet, opened his mouth.

"Ruru-ssi is hyung's... friend?"

"That's."

Wondering if I should reveal it now that things had come to this, I glanced at Ruru. Ruru's eyes blinked rapidly. It meant he wanted it hidden.

'If you really want to hide it, what will you do about the title Sunbae.'

I answered while packing my valuables.

"We got close because I frequently come in and out of the hotel for work."

"...You seem quite intimate."

The choice of words was peculiar. This time, Ruru beat me to the answer.

"Yes! Ruru and Sunbae are very intimate."

"......"

His intention was clearly visible, but I didn't bother to deny it.

He had even just been seen hugging me. It would look strange to say we weren't close now.

"Very intimate, huh..."

Yeom Ha-jae, turning his gaze away, muttered quietly.

Regardless, while I was checking if anything else had gone missing.

'Huh?'

I could notice a slight sense of something being off.

"Did Ruru eat the bread?"

"Huh?"

The bread bag that had been on the table was nowhere to be seen. When I pointed that out, Ruru jumped up.

"No! Ruru isn't so thoughtless as to touch someone else's food."

Seeing his wronged expression, it didn't seem like a lie. If it wasn't Ruru, the culprit was obvious.

'Jang Yi-jung took it, I guess.'

I was sure it was there until this morning... Well, it's not important.

I finished organizing my belongings and turned around.

"Ruru, I have something I want to ask."

"Nyeh?"

"As a staff member, can you disable that security system?"

Ruru, who looked at the window following the direction my finger pointed, shook his head.

"It's possible, but the thing is, I don't know where the control room key is."

"The control room key?"

"Yes. If we get into the control room, we can probably resolve it."

Ruru brought his finger to his chin.

"The key might be on the 31st floor, or the Director-nim might have it..."

"What? Isn't the 30th floor the top?"

Yeom Ha-jae, who had been listening quietly, tilted his head.

"Ah, that!"

Before I could stop him, Ruru stated in a chirpy tone.

"It's not written in the lobby, right? Actually, there's one more floor."

"!"

'If he says that...'

Thinking this was disastrous, I glanced to the side. Yeom Ha-jae narrowed his eyes.

"I remember the stairs ended at the 30th floor too."

"You went up the normal emergency stairs, right? You have to use the other stairs. There's a separate card key too..."

A detailed explanation continued after that.

.......

And so we ended up returning to the 1st floor.

"Then let's go to Director-nim right away!"

I grabbed Ruru's arm as he tried to go ahead.

"Before that, can I stop by the restroom for a moment?"

I wrapped my arm around Ruru's shoulder with force.

"Ruru, you come too."

"Su-Sunbae?!"

Yeom Ha-jae nodded weakly. For some reason, he had seemed downcast since earlier.

But it's none of my business. Grabbing Ruru, I started striding toward the restroom.

"Ah, that's the men's restroom..."

I heard Yeom Ha-jae, left behind with Whitey, quietly muttering from behind.

"In the restroom... just the two of them..."

Bang!

As soon as the door closed, I pushed Ruru against the wall.

"Ruru."

I twisted one of the pink pigtails. Ruru groaned softly.

"Ah!"

"Are you trying to sabotage my work, right now?"

"...Sunbae."

Ruru looked up at me with the tips of his eyebrows lowered.

"Try making an excuse."

"The Director-nim really does have the control room key. I wasn't lying."

"Not that."

The reason he mentioned the 31st floor.

If Yeom Ha-jae went inside and a problem arose, it was the druggie who would be in trouble. The very person who guided me to the penthouse floor yesterday couldn't possibly not know that.

With such thoughts, I smiled and pressured him.

"......"

For some reason, the other had an entranced expression.

'Having other thoughts in this situation?'

Only after I tapped his cheeks did focus snap back into Ruru's eyes.

"You even kindly told him about the stairs. Why not just guide him all the way to the 31st floor? Huh?"

"Bu-but there might be a reason to go there..."

"Enough with the excuses."

Irritated, I pulled the pigtail I was holding.

"Uun, Sunbae..."

His blushing face was unpleasant.

"Do you want to die?"

"Nooo..."

Squeeze.

When I applied force once more, Ruru's head tilted.

"You led Yeom Ha-jae to take interest in the 31st floor, didn't you?"

"That's right. Ruru was wrong, Sunbae."

"Apologies are fine, but tell me the reason."

"......"

After hesitating for a long time, Ruru began to speak.

"Ac-actually."

As if being shy, he pulled the other side of his hair to cover his face.

"Doing it that way seemed... more fun..."

"......"

Thwack!

"Cough!"

My fist went out reflexively.

When I let go of his hair, Ruru, who had been hunched over, collapsed on the floor. He seemed to clutch his stomach while lying face down, then trembled all over.

"Hoo..."

Even seeing him in pain didn't particularly improve my mood. As expected, I didn't have a hobby of hitting people like the boss.

Annoyed, I just turned around. I was about to just leave first.

Grab.

My ankle was caught.

The eyes looking up at me with a thrown-back head were gone.

"Sunbae, more, more..."

"......"

I shook off my ankle.

"Aah..."

I'd like to beat him satisfyingly as he wishes...

Thud thud thud!

I couldn't ignore the voice faintly heard from outside the door.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I'll come out soon."

I lowered my voice again and stated.

"Acting on your own should end with this time."

"Sunbae..."

Despite being the one who interfered, he was acting pitiful alone. Ignoring the call, I approached the sink. I wanted to wash my dirty hands.

I turned the faucet. No water came out.

A hand holding a handkerchief popped out from beside me.

"...Sunbae. Please just believe this."

I slowly lifted my eyelids. Ruru reflected in the mirror looked messy, with one side of his hair almost undone.

When our eyes met through the mirror, he grinned.

"Ruru just wants to be helpful to Sunbae."

"......"

I took the handkerchief and wiped my hands.

"Um, Sunbae..."

Ruru lifted his shirt. The belly skin beginning to redden was revealed.

"That thing from earlier, could you do it just once more?"

"I said no, so straighten yourself up."