The fingers of Han Jihyuk, who had been turning the pages, abruptly halted their movement.
It was not because the documents had reached the final page.
He hadn’t even checked half of the documents.
Yet his cool eyes, which were no different from usual, were strangely straying away from the paperwork.
“…….”
Complete silence persisted for a while. Han Jihyuk’s hand, which had been lost in thought without even blinking, drifted toward his earring before stopping short.
Though he had verified that there were no wiretapping devices or CCTVs inside the office, this was still inside the Center.
In other words, it was within Koo Hyukjun’s palm.
Therefore, letting his guard down was strictly forbidden.
Right. Just a moment ago, he had been well aware of that fact.
And yet, to fall into such a foolish state in that brief span of time—Han Jihyuk let out a dry, scornful laugh soon after.
Even so, his mind remained filled with completely different thoughts.
Go Yeonwoo, who had grown strangely quieter than before, kept bothering him.
His abrasive personality was still the same, but lately, even when Kang Taewon picked a fight or Shin Heesung acted annoying, his attitude was subtly subdued.
Or rather, should he say he hardly reacted compared to before?
Of course, it could be because his body wasn’t in a normal state.
But considering it solely as that, something still felt grating.
If there was a point in time when Go Yeonwoo’s attitude had turned subtle, he could make a fair guess.
A week ago, when everyone including himself had been away from the mansion.
That must have been it.
Back then, Han Jihyuk had gone out for a gate mission along with Kang Taewon and Shin Heesung.
Lee Dohoon had been away separately due to an investigation.
When the three of them quickly finished the gate mission and returned to the mansion at dawn, the deed had already been done.
A fainting Go Yeonwoo was being tossed this way and that in Lee Dohoon’s arms, and his physical condition was far from intact.
Honestly, he hadn’t thought much of it.
Go Yeonwoo was a cock socket, not a person, so treating him roughly wasn’t unusual.
But ever since all of them realized that Go Yeonwoo’s body was not in a normal state, they had been exercising a degree of restraint in their own ways.
Of course, their attitude toward treating Go Yeonwoo had grown violent again ever since the gate incident.
But physical violence was being self-regulated to a certain extent.
He had driven his fist into the hole a few times, but he didn’t think of that as particularly violent anyway.
Wasn’t the hole practically blown out at this point?
Since it took anything so well that it didn’t even bleed anymore, what was there to make a fuss about?
However, actions that could directly inflict critical harm on the body were a bit different.
Leave alone the past, Go Yeonwoo in his current state was walking a tightrope.
It was a level where it wouldn’t be strange for his body to break down and rupture at any moment.
Under those circumstances, the moment he saw Go Yeonwoo’s two ankles dyed in a dark purplish bruised hue, Han Jihyuk felt like his reason was slipping away.
The situation was different from the time Shin Heesung had broken his ankles before.
Han Jihyuk realized it the instant he saw them.
That Lee Dohoon had repeatedly broken both of Go Yeonwoo’s ankles.
Meaning, every single time the ankles showed signs of healing, he kept snapping them over and over again.
This was no different from inflicting continuous damage on Go Yeonwoo’s physique.
Even Han Jihyuk hadn’t expected that Lee Dohoon, of all people, would commit such a boneheaded act.
The team’s atmosphere, which hadn’t been good to begin with, had deteriorated even further starting from that day.
Kang Taewon would rush at Lee Dohoon and pick fights at the drop of a hat, and Shin Heesung would stay glued to Go Yeonwoo’s side all day long, whining that he didn’t want to go on missions or do anything else.
With all the team members acting so damn difficult, Han Jihyuk found it just as annoying.
It was only because he was the team leader that he was struggling to maintain his sanity.
Han Jihyuk himself was already feeling the limits of his patience.
On top of that, even Go Yeonwoo kept grating on his nerves, putting his temper severely out of joint.
“……Whew.”
Soon, setting the documents down, Han Jihyuk irritably pressed hard on the bridge of his nose.
Then, alerted by a team leader viewing notification email, he checked his electronic pad.
Checking the notification document, it was an official notice containing instructions to cooperate with an upcoming event.
A large-scale event commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Center’s founding was scheduled to be held in a few weeks.
Because it wasn’t a standard event, they seemed to intend on deploying each team to various locations to ensure security.
“What a bothersome piece of work.”
From Han Jihyuk’s perspective, however, it was merely a cumbersome and annoying event.
Wasting manpower on this kind of event—he deeply disliked how they were pushing forward with a founding celebration at a time when gate outbreaks had become frequent.
Furthermore, the fact that everyone, including himself, had to attend also rubbed him the wrong way.
It was already anxiety-inducing as it was, with gate missions frequently leaving the mansion empty, and now they were adding this on top.
The bunker where Go Yeonwoo was locked up had security so tight it was impenetrable, making it safe.
But it was no reason to feel entirely at ease either.
Especially in a situation where Koo Hyukjun kept his eyes wide open, trying to sniff out Go Yeonwoo’s whereabouts.
Right, more than anything else, Koo Hyukjun got on Han Jihyuk’s nerves.
Immensely so, to a degree incomparable to the past.
A fierce impulse arose to rip that neck out with his bare hands.
Ever since it became certain that Go Yeonwoo was tied to it, homicidal urges kept welling up.
Since the bastard was already rotting away, shouldn’t he just cut him out?
Of course, the process would by no means be smooth.
Han Jihyuk barely managed to suppress the impulse that kept trying to burst out, and his gaze shifted back from the email to the paperwork.
Or rather, to be precise, he forced his gaze away.
Finishing his document review at an even faster pace than before, Han Jihyuk submitted the approval and stood up from his seat.
He didn’t want to stay a moment longer in the Center, which was Koo Hyukjun’s domain.
It only deepened his displeasure, so Han Jihyuk hurriedly left the office.
Pressing the button and waiting, the elevator doors opened.
Just as he was about to step inside, Han Jihyuk’s brow twitched at the passenger already inside.
There was a figure inside the elevator whom Han Jihyuk found entirely unwelcome.
None other than Seok Kiwoo.
The two of them were similar yet dissimilar.
