However, for some reason, Igor didn’t say anything as time passed.
He just rested his forehead on my shoulder, letting out stifled breaths.
‘Damn it, did I pull his hair too hard?’
Just when I was starting to feel uneasy because there was no response, I felt the man’s penis, which was touching my abdomen, twitch terrifyingly.
Since we were stuck together like one body, I felt every movement even though I didn’t want to.
It turned out that he wasn’t quiet for any particular reason but was simply excited.
Fortunately, my provocation had worked perfectly.
“…Very well.”
Before long, the answer I wanted to hear flowed from Igor’s mouth.
He should have questioned my behavior, but he was so consumed by immense excitement that he couldn’t even register that thought.
“Wash off the bubbles and come out. I will wait in the bed.”
I slowly got up from the bathtub without any sign of hurrying.
As I did, I deliberately stroked the man’s cheek slowly as if to provoke him.
I didn’t let my guard down for a moment, even as I left the bathroom, leaving his eyes flickering with lust behind me.
Thud.
And as soon as the bathroom door closed, I immediately ran to the bed and snatched up my pants.
I didn’t have time, so I simply forced my legs into them while they were still dripping wet.
Since the pants were leather, pulling them up to my waist was a considerable struggle.
After much difficulty, I somehow managed to put on the pants, but I couldn’t afford to waste any more time here.
I quickly gave up on the top and hastened toward the door.
“Let’s go, Chirpy.”
Click.
However, I was in such a rush that I had completely forgotten that Rod was guarding the door.
The door wasn’t locked, and as I pulled the doorknob without thinking, I came face to face with Rod.
“…”
In that brief moment, all sorts of excuses and alibis flashed through my mind.
I had a premonition that if Rod caught me here, everything would truly be over this time.
I was seriously considering making up the wine excuse again, when I suddenly felt a sense of puzzlement.
Rod, who should have been blocking my way like yesterday, was strangely quiet.
Although he was looking down at me, there was no sign of emotion in his eyes.
He was just reflecting my image hollowly.
I felt an odd discrepancy, as if he wasn’t looking at me at all, rather than merely lacking emotion.
This reaction felt somewhat familiar, similar to when I had encountered him in front of the fireplace.
There was a subtle crack in his expression, and his heels were twitching, as if there was a glitch.
‘Is Rod’s remaining self holding him back?’
Now that I thought about it, there were still no accurate research findings regarding the Slave Bug.
Not only was the bug itself difficult to obtain, but because it was mostly used illegally in the shadows, there was very little concrete information.
It was only a year ago that the information about the 70% success rate was even circulated.
Whatever the reason, there was no better opportunity than this.
I watched his movements and moved sideways little by little, but Rod stood still in the same spot.
His gaze was also still directed straight ahead.
As soon as I was a certain distance away, I started to quicken my pace.
Chirpy, who had been using transparency, revealed itself and took the lead, and I followed closely behind it.
Reaching the grocery storage room was the top priority right now, so I didn’t have time to worry even if I encountered a housekeeper.
Chirp!
“Where is it? Is it far from here?”
A moment later, we arrived near the kitchen.
Even as I panted roughly, out of breath, I continued to scan the surroundings cautiously.
Fortunately, I didn’t feel anyone chasing us yet.
But Rod could snap out of it at any moment.
In my haste, I kept looking back even as I ran down the corridor following Chirpy.
After some time, Chirpy finally stopped in front of a door.
It was an ordinary door, no different from the other rooms.
I wondered where the grocery storage room was, and it turned out to be at the very end of the corridor.
“There was a reason they hid it here.”
I wondered what meaning it had as a grocery storage room when it was so far away from the kitchen.
In any case, without waiting any longer, I threw the door open, and a musty smell and dust wafted out, making me sneeze.
The inside of the storage room looked completely unmanaged and had been abandoned for quite a long time.
In the space, which was less than two pyeong (approx. 71 square feet), countless boxes and cans with unknown expiration dates were piled high.
“Crazy, are there cockroaches too?”
I jumped back, startled by the presence crawling on the floor.
This was why people didn’t come near here.
At this point, even if there was no explicit instruction not to enter, people would avoid it naturally.
Chirp!
It was then.
Chirpy flew off somewhere and nudged something on one wall with its body.
It was behind the second shelf on the left, just as the man in the basement had told me.
Scrape.
Soon, with the sound of the wall being pushed, the metal shelf slowly began to move inward.
The dark space that appeared simultaneously, like the fireplace, had a long stretch of stone stairs. However, they were straight, not spiral.
“What kind of messed-up mansion is this…”
This made it the third secret space I had found in the mansion.
Two of them were thanks to Chirpy’s efforts, but that wasn’t important right now.
“Let’s hurry.”
To buy as much time as possible, I bolted the storage room door and immediately went down the stairs.
The space was already narrow and dark, and there were only a few small light bulbs for illumination.
Because of this, every step I took had to be careful.
I was desperate, but I didn’t want to die by foolishly missing a step after coming this far.
And when I finally reached the end of the stairs, a completely unexpected situation was waiting for me.
I wondered why it had been so easy…
A keypad, which looked complicated just by looking at it, was attached to the seemingly specially-made iron door.
Strange, unknown symbols, not numbers or letters, were engraved in each square.
“What is this? A password now?”
If it were a normal keypad, I would try something, but I dared not even consider touching this one.
Igor must have designed it like this, targeting this very fact to prevent people from easily messing with it.
I couldn’t guarantee what would happen the moment I got it wrong even once.
A signal going to Igor would be obvious, and perhaps a deadly trap might be activated.
For example, arrows pouring out from all directions.
Although it seemed a bit of an exaggeration, it was definitely not impossible if this was an important treasure vault.
“…”
As I hesitated, unable to even touch the keypad, Chirpy suddenly stepped forward.
Then, before I could even stop it, it began to rapidly press the keypad.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation in its movements.
Beep.
Beep-beep. Beep.
Beep-beep. Beep.
Beep-beep-beep.
Beep. Beep-beep-beep.
The whole thing happened so quickly that my mouth dropped open.
I thought, no way, but then I gasped as the door slowly opened with a clank.
“No, did that seriously open?”
‘How long did this crazy bastard Igor set the keypad password for?’
I thought Chirpy had only found the location of the storage room, but it had cleverly memorized the complex code of the keypad as well. It was truly an astonishing ability.
“You’re the best, Chirpy!”
Chirp!
As I showered it with compliments and admiration, Chirpy puffed out its chest in a dignified posture.
If it hadn’t been for Chirpy, I would have wandered around here for a long time and been caught without a chance.
I wanted to give it a big kiss, but I had to hurry and get the job done.
“Is this it?”
Less than a minute after walking inside, my steps gradually slowed.
A space much wider than I had imagined unfolded before my eyes.
Various items were neatly arranged and lined up, like in an exhibition hall.
True to its name as a treasure vault, the massive space was packed with expensive-looking collection items.
I felt a sense of familiarity, and I remembered seeing some of them in my family’s bribe vault.
Of course, the comparison was meaningless in many ways, but seeing familiar objects made me feel a complicated mix of emotions.
“Huh…”
I shook my head belatedly after being captivated by the overwhelming scale.
This was not the time to be leisurely sightseeing.
I quickly scanned the surroundings with a hawk’s eye to find the S-Rank antidote.
I had worried just a moment ago about what if there was no S-Rank antidote, but it seemed I had worried for nothing.
As I could see, if he was this serious about collecting rare items, it would be strange if he didn’t have it.
“This is obviously poison… and this is it.”
And my prediction was correct.
In the section where only potions were displayed, only two types were arranged.
S-Rank poison and the other one.
Since the green liquid was clearly poison, the transparent liquid next to it had to be the S-Rank antidote.
“…”
‘Hmm… is this right?’
Truthfully, I had only received treatment in the hospital when I was unconscious, so I hadn’t seen the potion myself, and I couldn’t be 100% sure.
But it was ridiculous to deliberate now.
I had no choice but to trust my gut.
I picked up one of the many transparent potions lined up in rows and opened the lid.
The moment I gulped it down, my eyebrows instantly furrowed.
“Ugh, this tastes like poison though.”
The taste was so awful that I momentarily considered spitting it back out.
But that was only for a moment, as a familiar sensation quickly spread throughout my body.
