* * *
“Johan, why are you here?”
In the lobby of a five-star hotel, a blonde Caucasian wearing sunglasses approached a strikingly handsome Latino man, visibly displeased.
“I had some business to take care of. What about what I asked you to check on?”
“It’s just as you said. Some people who looked like hunters were spotted heading towards the evacuated lab a few days ago.”
“Hmm… Could it have been them who meddled there?”
Johan rubbed his smooth, unshaven chin as he pondered, and the blonde man shook his head almost immediately.
“Doubt it. Even the top guilds wouldn’t go all the way to the other side of the world just to stir up trouble.”
“Then who could it be…?”
“Isn’t that what we’re here to figure out?”
True. That was indeed the reason.
Yet Johan couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling about the largest guild from the country he was currently most invested in suddenly showing up here.
“It’s a shame, really. I even met someone who caught my eye.”
“What? Johan, did you come here just to flirt? Get it together! Work comes first!”
Johan gave the complaining blonde a pat on the shoulder and cast a wistful glance back at the hotel before stepping forward.
It was disappointing, but unfulfilled connections could wait for another day.
For now, it was time to focus on work.
◇◆◇◆◇
“This feels like a full-on burglary.”
Doyoung muttered in disbelief as he surveyed the scene.
Indeed, the place had been so thoroughly cleaned out that it was almost impossible to discern what had once been there.
“Reminds me of before,” he added.
“Before?”
Beom Sinje, arms crossed as he scanned the lab’s interior, turned his gaze to Doyoung.
His steady stare carried an unspoken reproach, or so it felt.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
What was that look supposed to mean?
Doyoung arched a brow, his irritation showing.
“When we raided a base once, it was just as neatly prepared, like they knew we were coming.”
Why did Doyoung get the distinct feeling he knew what Beom Sinje was alluding to, even though it wasn’t explicitly stated?
It was like his buried conscience was being poked.
He grumbled more loudly than necessary to cover the guilt.
“It’s not the same place. These guys might be copying, but that’s it.”
“Of course not. They’re leagues apart.”
Even though Beom Sinje agreed, the lingering unease in Doyoung’s chest didn’t dissipate.
“What do you mean everything was taken? That never happened! I made sure to leave behind the essentials.”
“Oh sure, you left behind essentials. Like a meticulously maintained building, a storage vault filled with useful things in case it was discovered, and even a sword I might need.”
It wasn’t just his imagination.
The more Beom Sinje spoke, the clearer the subtle reprimand in his tone became.
Feeling his discomfort grow, Doyoung averted his eyes.
There was no benefit in meeting that gaze head-on, especially when Beom Sinje seemed intent on airing every grievance he had bottled up.
“The funny thing is,” Beom Sinje continued, “you prepared everything so thoroughly and then hid away like you had no regrets.”
“I didn’t hide! I just wanted to live peacefully for a while!”
“You faked your death, made everyone worry, and lived like that for your own peace of mind?”
“That’s not…!”
The truth was, he’d staged his death so convincingly because he needed government agencies and the public to believe he was gone.
If the leader disappeared, so would the seeds of unrest.
He’d even staged a dramatic, movie-like fall from a building for added effect!
That his consideration wasn’t appreciated felt deeply unfair.
Doyoung, who’d impulsively raised his voice, quickly realized the attention he’d drawn and winced.
“You didn’t even think people would worry, did you?”
“…”
He couldn’t exactly admit that outright.
Especially not now, with everyone’s eyes on him and Beom Sinje’s expression shifting into something even more unsettling.
‘Why do you look like you’re the one who got hurt?’
Doyoung exhaled a long sigh.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have done it.”
The words were calm, yet they carried a faint bitterness.
It made him feel the guilt he’d been suppressing all the more keenly.
“Do you know what it was like? Watching you fall from that building, not knowing if it was real or not, and then searching for you below, only to come up empty? Do you know the despair I felt?”
“Okay, I get it. I was reckless back then. I’m sorry.”
He clasped his hands together and bowed his head, his voice earnest.
He silently pleaded for the conversation to end here.
He didn’t want more attention, nor did he want to see Beom Sinje dredge up those memories, looking so pained.
“Are you really sorry?”
“Yes.”
“Then, will you do whatever I say without question?”
Doyoung hesitated, looking up at Beom Sinje.
The tone was suspicious, given the context of their conversation.
“Without question? What do you mean?”
His curiosity wouldn’t let it go.
If there was something unclear, Doyoung would dig until he fully understood.
This trait had served him well as a research scientist, making him a valuable if occasionally vexing asset to his peers.
‘That’s not the point right now, though.’
Doyoung squinted at Beom Sinje, whose face betrayed hints of mischief.
“If you can view my feelings for you more positively, I’ll forgive you.”
As expected of the main character, he didn’t miss his chance.
Doyoung gawked at the flawless face before him, his mouth hanging open.
“Oh my! Wait, what? Are you two actually a thing?”
The lively, shocked voice from the side broke the tension.
“What…!”
A flustered Doyoung turned to Bora to deny it, only for Beom Sinje to speak first, dropping an even bigger bomb with his usual composure.
“No. To be precise, I’ve already been rejected by him once.”
A moment of stunned silence followed.
Their companions exchanged silent but intense looks.
Among them, the hunters of the Chunho Guild seemed especially frantic.
“Hunter Park Chanoh! Did I just hear correctly?”
Song Jihee gaped at Park Chanoh, her eyes demanding answers.
“Did the Guild Leader really get rejected by his secretary?”
Beside her, Lee Jihoon looked equally desperate for clarification.
Park Chanoh firmly shook his head.
“I don’t know. This is news to me.”
“But you’re close to them, right?”
“I am NOT!”
Where did such absurd rumors come from?
If anything, he often felt excluded when around the two of them.
“Though, in hindsight, there was something strange about the atmosphere between them back then.”
Park Chanoh thought back to instances when Beom Sinje’s overt fondness for Doyoung had puzzled him.
In retrospect, it seemed obvious, yet none of them had expected this outcome.
Looking back, Beom Sinje had openly expressed his affection for Doyoung.
Even Park Chanoh had moments where he tilted his head in confusion, sensing something different from the man he thought he knew.
The problem, if any, was that no one anticipated these feelings to manifest in this way.
“You two were practically inseparable! Even when the secretary was recovering at home, you visited every day!”
“But I wouldn’t know what went on inside the house!”
Although they refrained from voicing these thoughts aloud, the guild members struggled to piece together the current situation through their whispered conversations.
Yet, in the end, they unanimously concluded that none of them had noticed any peculiar tension between the two.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my! Our leader—no, Secretary Na Doyoung, I mean—is a fortress of steel, isn’t he?”
Park Bora, who nearly referred to him as “our leader” before correcting herself to “secretary,” clapped her hands dramatically.
“I’m not sure what ‘fortress of steel’ means, but you’re mistaken, Guide Park.”
Doyoung’s gaze swept over the guild members, a silent plea to drop the subject and focus on their work.
His eyes trembled with exasperation.
‘What’s with this atmosphere?’
How did things even get to this point?
His glare, brimming with unspoken blame, turned to Beom Sinje.
“Hyung is right. It’s not like that. Not yet, anyway.”
“Hey!”
What’s with the not yet?
* * *
