Chapter 125
He had only guessed based on the outline, but even if it wasn’t a revolver, it was extremely suspicious that he had secretly gripped something while going to talk one-on-one.
“What should I do?”
He felt like he should follow them, but Seokjae’s face pleading for him to wait came to mind, making it difficult to move easily. If Lim Sangjin really had a dangerous object, then not listening to him would be the right choice, but if not, he might disappoint Seokjae by failing to grant one small request.
‘I asked you to wait, didn’t I? Why did you eavesdrop?’
Just imagining Seokjae’s disappointed gaze made his chest tighten.
Muyoung wandered around the study cafe, making groaning sounds. As he was deliberating for a while—
*Thump-*
Something caught his foot and he crashed into the wall.
Meanwhile, while Muyoung was agonizing over his dilemma, the two men entered the management room located at the innermost part of the study cafe. Seokjae, who went in first, threw a bag covered in bloodstains and unidentifiable dark red substances onto the floor.
*Splash.*
A wet, sticky sound that was more nauseating than the sound from the soles of their shoes echoed loudly. Lim Sangjin, who had been glancing back to see if Muyoung was following, flinched at the sound as if he’d been slapped.
“Coming in anytime soon?”
“I got it, I got it.”
At Seokjae’s urging, he trudged in like a cow being led to slaughter. As he stood awkwardly in the management room, Seokjae, who had been watching him, gestured with his chin toward the partially open door.
“Close it.”
“Huh? The door? Why the door?”
Seokjae, perched on a table with CCTV monitors, played with the machete he still hadn’t put away. *Swish swish*, the weapon spun around in his hand.
When Lim Sangjin’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to this, Tae Seokjae tilted his head slightly.
“Should I do it?”
“Ah, no. This door is broken so it doesn’t close properly. Really!”
In truth, that wasn’t why he had only half-closed the door, but it wasn’t a lie either. It just wasn’t in such a state that it wouldn’t close at all like now.
“Then step away from the door.”
Seokjae flicked his finger, worried that their voices might leak outside. He intended to block that possibility entirely.
Lim Sangjin glanced outside once more but ultimately couldn’t spot even a shadow of Muyoung.
‘Why isn’t he following? He’s not some slave! Just because he said to wait, he’s actually waiting?’
After inwardly criticizing, he finally moved with a sullen expression. Yet he couldn’t let go of hope until the end, standing where he could see through the door crack and listening for any movement outside.
“……”
His posture, pressed flat against the wall, might have looked strange, but coincidentally, except for the doorway, it was the spot furthest from Seokjae. Thus, Seokjae thought he was maintaining distance to ensure he could escape at any time.
‘This is ridiculous. If he’s this scared, why does he keep acting like he wants to die?’
In fact, just earlier, thinking Lim Sangjin had broken their condition, Seokjae had almost swung his knife and cut his throat. That is, if he hadn’t calmed down upon seeing Muyoung rushing in.
‘The fact that his attitude hasn’t changed means he didn’t hear that conversation… But I don’t know when he might approach Kang Muyoung again.’
Seokjae inwardly resolved to stick close to him until they left this place.
‘If he tries to avoid me like before—well, what can I do? I’ll have to forcibly keep him close.’
Annoyed by both Muyoung, who kept approaching and then running away—not even playing hard to get—and Lim Sangjin, who kept bothering him, he clicked his tongue.
Lim Sangjin, who thought he was facing off with Seokjae and hadn’t dared to glance at the door, flinched at the irritated sound. He assumed Seokjae was annoyed by the delay.
Lim Sangjin hurriedly dragged over the bag Seokjae had thrown.
“Urgh, ugh…”
Though he didn’t want to touch the handle covered in disgusting slime, it was so heavy that it wouldn’t move without using both hands. As he gagged and struggled, he caught a contemptuous look mid-way and, embarrassed, picked a fight to deflect.
“You, you, did you take anything out of here?”
“If you’re sincerely asking that, I’m amazed you’ve survived this long.”
“What…! Ahem.”
Though bristling at Seokjae’s sarcasm, he soon closed his mouth. The Tae Seokjae before him was essentially empty-handed, with only pants pockets for storage. After much struggle, he moved back to the wall where he had been standing and opened the bag to check its contents.
Seeing his face now filled with greed, Seokjae warned:
“Now stay out of my business until we leave.”
However, Lim Sangjin had just confirmed Seokjae’s ability, which had procured this much in less than an hour—more impressive than he remembered.
*Gulp.*
Greed swallowed fear. He swallowed dry saliva due to tension and sneaked a glance at the doorway while pretending to look down. Then, with a brazen voice, he began to persuade.
“Aw come on, why so distant? Considering how far you’ve come, it seems like you’re trying to leave. Instead of that, how about staying here together a bit longer?”
“……”
“I’m not saying let’s live here forever, just enjoy ourselves a bit before leaving. As you know, to leave, we must pass through here anyway, right? With this much food, we could attract others and grow our group.”
When no response came, Lim Sangjin, mistakenly thinking his persuasion was working, continued to boast about his damaged humanity.
“In this world, if you have strength, you can do whatever you want without consequences. Right?”
Looking at him, Seokjae thought, ‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone so sincerely wanting to die.’ But thinking of Muyoung waiting for him outside, he answered as politely as possible.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“It’s good for you too. Oh, is it about this? Fine, I’ll be second-in-command, and you can be the leader!”
“Could you just shut up? I really feel like killing you.”
Seokjae frowned, feeling the limits of his patience at Lim Sangjin’s never-ending suicide show. Then…
*Swoosh-*
A small human-shaped shadow fell on the wall visible through the door crack. Lim Sangjin, who had been checking the gap occasionally and not taking his eyes off it, immediately muttered with a nasty smile spread across his face:
“He’s acting so clean.”
*Twitch.*
“What?”
“No, I mean you. That guy, Kang Muyoung or whatever. You touched him like that, right? Judging by his reaction, it seems you went all the way.”
“……”
“Even if you’re desperate for a woman, how could you touch another man with a dick?”
Before Muyoung came closer, Lim Sangjin needed to provoke Seokjae into attacking him. So he deliberately mentioned Muyoung, who he expected would elicit a sensitive response, and attacked mercilessly.
“Well, he is prettier than most women. I could do it with him too. Of course, only if I covered his face. Hahaha.”
Though suspicious of Lim Sangjin’s sudden madness, Seokjae’s patience finally snapped at the remark that crossed the line. He needed to crack that head that dared to imagine Muyoung naked.
“You fucking bastard, who do you think—”
Just as he raised his hand to strike Lim Sangjin’s head with the machete handle, Lim Sangjin pulled out a weapon from his pocket, pointed it at Seokjae, and shouted:
“Don’t come closer! You murderer!”
*Thud, creak-*
Amidst the booming voice, a faint noise mixed in, and the door opened slowly.
“…!”
Seokjae frantically turned his head to see who was standing there. His face soon resembled the time when he watched Muyoung falling from the window.
“Kang Muyoung, you…”
*Thud.* Seokjae, calling him in a dazed voice, weakly lowered the weapon he had half raised.
“Muyoung! Perfect timing! Come over here quickly! I should have told you what kind of person he was from the beginning! I was wrong to keep quiet because of our past relationship. People really don’t change!”
Lim Sangjin, completely emboldened thinking he had won upon seeing this reaction, shouted toward Muyoung. His face looked odd as he applied force to lower the corners of his mouth that were rising up.
And Muyoung, who somehow ended up standing between the two men, looked at them with their contrasting expressions…
‘W-what’s going on? No, more importantly, it really was a gun!!’
He was extremely confused.
‘What did he just say? Mur-murderer? Someone who saved?’
Muyoung half-heard Lim Sangjin’s shouting directed at him, racking his brain to understand what had made Seokjae make such an expression.
‘Hyung saved someone but why is he pointing a gun at him?’
There was a reason why he couldn’t understand what was being said in this moment.
‘I can’t hear properly because of the earplugs!’
It was because he had earplugs in his ears that he had found outside.
‘The case looked expensive, but I didn’t know they would work this well!’
Muyoung’s solution, which he had accidentally found, was based on his assumption that Seokjae had asked him to wait outside because they would be having a private conversation. As a result, most sounds except for extremely loud ones were muffled and unclear.
Muyoung had simply wanted to keep his promise to Seokjae as much as possible. But the result was him standing there, frozen in confusion, which was enough for Seokjae to misinterpret as him being shocked and feeling betrayed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
