Se-yul’s eyes wavered anxiously as he faced the man who refused to back down. The man took another step forward, pressing his forehead dangerously close to the muzzle of the gun.
“Go on.”
Even in a situation where a single bullet could pierce his skull at any moment, he looked utterly delighted. His eyes gleamed with unmistakable madness, like a child engrossed in an exciting game.
Se-yul’s finger twitched on the trigger, but in the end, he did nothing and lowered the gun. Unlike the earlier misfire, if he were to fall for the man’s provocation now and actually pull the trigger, a war between territories would erupt in an instant.
While Se-yul seemed deep in thought, the man, treating this as nothing more than an amusing game, frowned at the lowered gun. Clicking his tongue softly, he muttered,
“How dull.”
With disappointment evident in his gaze, he swept his eyes over Se-yul before turning his back. Se-yul’s shoulders flinched, his grip tightening around the gun at the blatant disregard. Sensing the tension thickening, I quickly grabbed Se-yul’s hand.
“Stop it, Se-yul.”
Hearing my whispered words, Se-yul barely managed to suppress his rising anger. Only after a moment did his expression relax slightly as he gently pushed my hand away.
“Don’t worry, hyung.”
His voice, now calm, was different from before. Tucking away his gun, Se-yul was about to wrap things up when the man, loosely gripping the knot of his robe, spoke up.
“You should leave now. I need to change.”
Without waiting for a response, he shrugged off his robe.
Unlike me and the attendants, who swiftly turned away to avoid looking at his completely bare form, Se-yul continued to glare at him, unblinking.
“…Then, I’ll assume we’ll meet again shortly.”
Se-yul, stopping the silent battle of wills, gave a slight nod before grasping my shoulder and leading me out of the room. Just before the door closed, I stole a glance back at him.
He was watching us as we walked away—no, to be precise, he was watching Se-yul’s hand gripping my shoulder. His piercing gaze vanished behind the firmly shut door, along with the pheromones that had been suffocating me.
“Fuck.”
As soon as the door slammed shut, Se-yul spat out the curse he’d been holding back. Wasting no time, he quickly scattered the attendants still lingering in the hall and approached one standing beside the butler.
“What the hell happened?”
“I-I only went in to clean the room, but—”
The attendant, voice trembling, recounted what had just happened. He had only gone in to tidy up the room, yet suddenly, a gun had been pointed at him. Se-yul listened silently, his voice strained with suppressed anger as he asked,
“Besides that?”
“I didn’t do anything else! I really just went in to clean the room!”
His voice was thick with frustration, clearly feeling unjustly accused. The butler shook his head slightly as he met Se-yul’s gaze—a signal that the attendant was telling the truth. Seeing this, Se-yul didn’t press any further.
While Se-yul questioned the attendant, I looked around the now-quiet room. My heart was still hammering in my chest. The image of him so casually aiming a gun at someone played over and over in my mind. Was that really the same Vin I knew?
—Vin, promise me. That you’ll never kill a person with a gun. That you’ll never shoot anyone.
The first day I taught Vin how to shoot, we had hooked our pinkies together and made a promise. No matter what happened, he swore never to take a life with a gun.
The situation had fortunately been defused, but the way he aimed at someone without the slightest hesitation made it clear. He had killed countless people before.
It was just like the Vincent Shining I had seen in Mad Love.
“Go rest for now. You must still be shaken. Don’t worry about work for the next few days.”
After sending the attendant and the butler away, Se-yul finally turned to me. His brows were deeply furrowed, his expression heavy with concern. With Han Jae-hoon absent, all the responsibilities of the mansion fell on Se-yul’s shoulders.
Of all the Shining family members, why did it have to be him? We didn’t need to say it aloud—we were both thinking the same thing.
“Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not.”
I wanted to comfort Se-yul, who looked too exhausted to even lie and say he was fine. But I had no idea how.
If we were kids, I could’ve handed him a chocolate bar to cheer him up. But unfortunately, we had been adults for a long time now. We weren’t young enough for something like chocolate to fix anything.
“Hyung, I told you earlier, I have a favor to ask.”
I remembered our conversation from before, interrupted by the sudden gunshot. When I nodded, Se-yul glanced at the closed door, then grabbed my hand and started striding down the hallway, leading me away from that room.
“What is it?”
Only when we reached the end of the corridor did Se-yul finally let go of my hand. Even as he stood still, he fidgeted with nervous energy, his gaze flickering as he asked,
“Hyung, tell me the truth. Eight years ago… what really happened?”
“…What?”
Very few people knew about the secret dealings between District 1 and District 5. Just me, Han Jae-hoon, and the butler. Everyone else believed that the missing Shining heir had simply returned to his own district without a word.
Se-yul included.
But the look in his eyes right now—it was as if he knew.
Who had told him? My head spun at the realization that Se-yul had uncovered a past I had wanted to keep buried more than anything.
“Hyung, don’t you get it? Out of all the Shining family members, the District 1 boss chose to send that bastard here.”
“What do you mean—”
“I think I know why.”
Se-yul was right. Out of all the Shining, the fact that the First District Leader had chosen him—someone who harbored nothing but hostility toward the Fifth District—was all too obvious.
The so-called investigation was nothing but an excuse. That man would fabricate problems if he had to, all to ensure that the First District reduced the electricity support it provided to the Fifth. And if that happened, the Fifth District would crumble in an instant.
“This is something only you can do.”
Se-yul gripped my shoulders firmly. It was only now that I understood what he meant by a task only I could handle. That man, who loathed everything about the Fifth District, was benevolent toward only one person.
“So, hyung, you need to talk to Shining. Make sure this investigation goes by without any issues.”
***
Left alone, he stood there motionless, doing nothing at all. His cold eyes remained fixed on the tightly shut door.
There had been some commotion on the other side earlier, but it quickly faded as if nothing had ever happened. Even the faint traces of Seo-yul’s pheromones had completely vanished.
Kicking aside the robe that lay crumpled at his feet, he pushed it far away before reaching for the clothes someone had placed on the bed. It was likely left behind by the very attendant he’d aimed his gun at, simply because they had been bothersome.
As he buttoned up his shirt with practiced ease, Seo-yul’s face surfaced in his mind once again. Buttoning his shirt, opening bottle caps, even pulling a trigger—everything he knew had traces of Seo-yul in it.
Then why…?
For the past eight years, he had been forced to live in an endless darkness. He had tried to hate Seo-yul, but he couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t. Instead, his longing for him grew, day by day. And so, he endured, clutching onto that unbearable yearning while dirtying his hands with every wretched task the First District Leader demanded of him.
Yet the Seo-yul he had finally reunited with rejected him with every fiber of his being.
Unlike him, who was overjoyed at seeing Seo-yul again, Seo-yul refused to even meet his eyes. Not once, not even once, had he heard the words I missed you from him.
“Haa…”
He let out a deep sigh before abruptly ripping all the buttons off his shirt. But even that wasn’t enough to ease his frustration, so he grabbed at the irritating fabric and tore it apart completely.
Ever since seeing Seo-yul again, he had been unable to control his emotions. In the First District, this had never happened. But standing before Seo-yul, he felt as if he had regressed—back to the boy he had been eight years ago.
A foolish, naïve, and pathetic child.
He had sworn that if he ever saw Seo-yul again, he would not repeat the same mistakes as before. He had finally become strong enough to never let Seo-yul slip away again.
But he had forgotten—forgotten that in order to stay by Seo-yul’s side, he had to be weaker than anyone else. Seo-yul was the type of person who only gave his kindness to those who were vulnerable.
“Weak, huh…?”
His gaze drifted to the full-length mirror leaning against the wardrobe.
The reflection staring back at him was anything but weak.
While Seo-yul, an Omega, had stopped growing entirely, he, an Alpha, had continued to grow stronger by the day. He had become someone completely incompatible with weakness.
There was no way to change his outward appearance overnight, so he had to find another way to provoke Seo-yul’s sympathy.
Having made up his mind, he opened a bag filled with weapons and pulled out a small, sharp knife.
If I do this—
Staring at the blade, he lightly slashed his forearm. Blood beaded up, pooling into thick droplets, and a quiet chuckle slipped from his lips.
As if a few more scars on his body would make Seo-yul look at him differently.
Pathetic.
Lowering the bloodstained knife, he used a torn piece of his ruined shirt to casually wipe the blood off his arm. His pale skin now bore a fresh, vivid scar.
Without a second glance, he pulled out a new set of clothes and got dressed.
oh yeah he crazy