“This is embarrassing. But what about you, Hyun-ssi? Am I the only one eating?”
“I don’t have any particular thoughts. It seems better for you to eat quickly rather than making me repeat myself.”
What am I being prevented from saying… Jae-young pouted for no reason and put the porridge in his mouth. The savory porridge tasted good.
“And.”
Just when he thought the conversation was over, Sa Gong-hyun started again. Jae-young, who had been stirring the porridge, looked up.
“Next time, come in and wait. I’ll give you the entrance code.”
His lips moved of their own accord. Jae-young blinked blankly and belatedly raised the corners of his mouth.
“…I will.”
It was a tailwind he hadn’t even imagined.
After taking the fever reducer, he slept in Sa Gong-hyun’s bed. Each time he woke up once or twice, he changed his position and fell back asleep. It felt like he had been lying in bed almost all day.
He couldn’t gauge how long he had slept. Whenever he opened his eyes, all he saw was the same dimly lit ceiling.
His body felt much lighter now. Thanks to the medicine’s effect, he had slept well and his head felt refreshed.
With wide-awake eyes, Jae-young glanced at his side. It was a first—directly seeing Sa Gong-hyun sleep.
So this person does sleep after all. With his eyes closed, the fierceness that usually resided on his face was nowhere to be found.
Despite acting like he detested taking on troublesome tasks, his care was quite thorough. Honestly, such attentive nursing felt a bit surreal.
Even while thinking his kindness was strange, it made him laugh. Suddenly, he felt at ease, which was absurd even to himself.
There was a stark contrast between the Sa Gong-hyun who had harmed people and the current Sa Gong-hyun. It was truly strange. He wondered if this should even feel so incongruous.
This is how Sa Gong-hyun has always been. Even while pretending to be caring, he’s plotting malicious schemes inside, and despite his clean face, he commits merciless acts.
If so, which side of him was it that took care of him? Was that all a pretense too?
Suddenly, the image of Sa Gong-hyun from the photo flashed in his mind. His thoughts shifted as naturally as flowing water. In his head, the man’s bloody struggle was being replayed.
“…This feels uneasy.”
Yes, it was unsettling. Considerably so. Somehow, he felt responsible for the man’s death. It was too light to call it guilt, but a heavier burden than expected weighed on his chest.
Jae-young, who had been biting his lips, let out a long sigh. He forcibly cut off the continuous direction playing in his head.
He straightened his body, which had been facing Sa Gong-hyun. Seeing Sa Gong-hyun sleeping beside him reminded him of Seung-kwon. Along with his voice asking if he enjoyed it.
Just when I’m about to forget, it comes to mind… Jae-young pouted as he stared at the ceiling.
He regretted not snapping back more harshly. How much could I possibly like him? I barely liked him at all, and he’s making such a fuss. Jae-young quietly exhaled while swallowing his irritation.
The reason Seung-kwon could visit this place was because of Sa Gong-hyun’s instructions. The porridge and medicine that had been unexpectedly prepared must have been bought by Seung-kwon from outside.
He clearly said he got a job in security, so why is he running errands? The lingering doubt surfaced along with other concerns. Moreover, Seung-kwon even knew how much Sebin had tracked Hayashi Ren.
With a deeply furrowed brow, he glared at the ceiling before covering his eyes with his hands. The bright lighting seemed to make his eyes even more tired. Doesn’t he think about installing windows instead of these lights? It didn’t seem suitable as bedroom lighting.
While he was continuously sighing, he suddenly felt a presence beside him. When he removed his hand and turned to the side, he saw that the man’s face was contorted.
“…Hyun-ssi?”
Startled, Jae-young half-raised his body. When he called his name, the man exhaled a short, suppressed breath. Sa Gong-hyun had a pained expression on his face, unable to even open his eyes.
Is he having a nightmare? Jae-young swallowed hard as he examined the man’s complexion. The curse he had hurled earlier—wishing him not to sleep well—flashed through his mind. Now that he actually saw him having a nightmare, it wasn’t particularly pleasant.
After hesitating for a while, Jae-young placed his hand on Sa Gong-hyun’s chest.
“It’s okay.”
He whispered softly as he patted his chest.
“It’s okay, Hyun-ssi. Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s okay.”
Comforting a criminal having a nightmare like this. It was absurd. However, remembering the care he had shown when nursing him back to health, Jae-young decided to continue this preposterous act a little longer.
It’s okay. As he repeated those words several times, suddenly Sa Gong-hyun’s eyes flew open. In the blink of an eye, he climbed on top of Jae-young and roughly grabbed his neck.
“Kugh…”
With his neck suddenly constricted, Jae-young’s eyes widened. He tried with all his might to grab Sa Gong-hyun’s arm and push it away, but it wouldn’t budge at all.
Sa Gong-hyun, who didn’t move an inch despite Jae-young’s struggle, opened the drawer next to the bed with his left hand.
What he held in his hand was the gun Jae-young had seen before. Seemingly bothered by the thin cloth, he roughly waved his hand. A flimsy piece of cloth drifted down gently with the flow of air.
Eventually, he aimed the gun barrel at Jae-young’s forehead.
Sa Gong-hyun’s eyes were turbid. As if he had completely lost his mind. Yet, even in that state, he wore a chillingly savage smile.
The blood coursing through Jae-young’s entire body froze in an instant. Without oxygen reaching his brain, his thought process seemed to halt along with his blood flow.
At this moment, all Jae-young could feel was the murderous intent in the eyes staring at him and the cold gun barrel pressed against his forehead.
Judging by his excited, ragged breathing, he truly wasn’t in his right mind. Still, Jae-young needed to stay calm. Stay calm and escape this crisis. The veins on his neck stood out as he clenched his teeth.
He rolled his eyes to look around, but couldn’t see anything. He thought about hitting Sa Gong-hyun’s head with a pillow, but the agitated man might pull the trigger.
Even as his body stiffened, his eyelashes trembled. Jae-young rolled his eyes down a bit more. His gaze moved past the unfocused eyes to the trigger in Sa Gong-hyun’s hand.
…Silencer. Suddenly, he realized that a silencer wasn’t attached to the gun barrel. If the gun were to be fired here, an immense gunshot would surely ring out. If Sa Gong-hyun was aware of this, he probably wouldn’t hastily pull the trigger.
In that moment, his mind became calm. Just then, the hand gripping his neck loosened.
Taking in a desperate breath after being choked for a while, he let out a dry cough. The hand that had been strangling his neck now held his jaw firmly in place.
“Haa, ugh…”
*Click*-
When Jae-young expressed his pain, Sa Gong-hyun pulled back the hammer to load the gun.
Right. This crazy bastard isn’t in his right mind now. Reflexively, Jae-young squeezed his eyes shut. He forcibly suppressed the coughs that were trying to burst out without pause.
A gun was incomparable to a knife, where you only die if you’re unlucky. He thought that he might really get a hole in his head at this rate.
They say if you keep your wits about you, you can survive even in a tiger’s den, but that only applies when the other party is sane. The current Sa Gong-hyun was acting as if he had fallen into a state of delirium.
With his eyes closed, taking ragged breaths one after another, Jae-young gripped Sa Gong-hyun’s wrist with both hands. When he painfully opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Sa Gong-hyun’s pale face.
“Hyun-ssi…”
He took another deep breath. Though he thought he couldn’t overpower him with strength or persuade him with words, he couldn’t just sit still and watch.
Jae-young, with particularly sorrowful eyes, put strength into his hands.
“…It’s me.”
Even while worrying about what would happen if he pulled the trigger, he stubbornly looked up at Sa Gong-hyun.
“…Hyun-ssi, it’s me. Me… I’m Do Jae-young.”
He didn’t even realize that his fingertips, which had swallowed fear, were digging into the other’s skin. His head felt like it was going to split open due to the gun barrel pressing firmly against his forehead.
“Hyun-ssi, please… Please! Please come to your senses, you crazy bastard!”
He held his wrist so tightly that his hands trembled even as he exerted all his strength.
It was no different for Sa Gong-hyun. The arm with strength firmly loaded into it transmitted through the peripheral nerves of his fingers. It felt like the pressure from the gun barrel alone would make a hole in his head.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
