“Why are you cursing?”
“How could I not?”
“I thought it was a decent guess.”
Eun Woojeong stood up. Following the sound of his shoes, a deep shadow fell in front of me.
The building's interior looked like an abandoned office, filthy and disordered. A newspaper was half-peeled and stuck to the window. Through that gap, moonlight spilled in and lit up Eun Woojeong, standing before me.
Wearing a mask, he stared down at me for a moment, then reached out.
“Ugh...!”
A gloved hand grabbed my hair without hesitation. A sharp sting pierced my scalp as my head was yanked upward.
“Hmm.”
Even though his face was hidden behind a mask, I could feel his gaze sweeping across my face. It was so intense and sticky that it was impossible not to notice.
“This is my first time seeing your face with your eyes open.”
“......”
“When you were unconscious, I just took off your hat and mask and tossed you aside. So this is the first time I’ve seen you up close.”
Eun Woojeong leaned down and jerked my head around with the hand gripping my hair. My head flopped from side to side with his movements.
Fuck. I barely swallowed the surge of murderous rage, and Eun Woojeong began to ramble excitedly.
“I didn’t think the resemblance would be this strong. This isn’t just a sibling thing. Are you twins, by any chance? But even twins usually call the one born first the older brother, right? Then are you the hyung? Or the younger?”
“Let go.”
“If twins were fooling around together, that’d be kinda thrilling, huh.”
There was a faint sneer in his tone. I was just dumbfounded listening to him.
So that incest comment I overheard earlier really was what I thought.
Me, fucking Cha Seohu? What kind of psycho thinks someone can have sex with their own self?
Fucking lunatic.
At this rate, maybe Eun Woojeong was the incestuous gay freak.
Probably thought everyone else was doing it too, since he was into that kind of filth.
“Ha...”
I wanted to scream right then and there, but instead, I shut my eyes tight and swallowed the fury.
No matter how many times I denied it, this bastard always spewed the same bullshit.
Whether Eun Woojeong mistook me and Cha Seohu for twins or assumed we were incestuous lovers, it was better to just ignore him. I didn’t want to waste words on this trash.
I bit my lip and tested the movement of my arms. But the chains binding me tightly didn’t show any signs of loosening.
“Cut the bullshit and undo these.”
“That’s not happening.”
Only then did Eun Woojeong release my hair and straighten his back.
“We need to make a new deal. You know my identity, and now I’ve seen your face. Shouldn’t we renegotiate the terms?”
“What kind of lunatic treats a negotiation partner like this?”
“We’re not exactly on normal terms, are we?”
The bastard never let up for even a second.
I looked at him, then turned my gaze toward the window.
‘...Guess the match is out of the question now.’
From what I remembered, it was around 7:30 when I got out of the taxi.
That was an hour before the match began, so even if I knocked him out now and ran straight to the arena, it’d already be too late. Not that I even knew where “here” was.
Eun Woojeong took a few steps away from me, then stopped.
“You want the same thing, right? Info and tracking on that cult you found at the church. There’ll be surveillance too.”
“......”
“I did pretty well, didn’t I? If not for me, you’d never have found that church in Zone B-37 or the spot where the kid was kidnapped. That child. The one Hunter Cha Seohu is protecting.”
I narrowed my eyes calmly.
This situation fucking sucked, but unfortunately, Eun Woojeong was right. He had been helpful.
So even if he wasn’t one of the “Main Characters,” I wouldn’t have killed him.
At most, I would’ve roughed him up a bit. But since he was a “Main Character,” the quest telling me to make allies made even that difficult.
Why someone like Eun Woojeong, with those filthy fantasies, was needed to save the world—I had no clue. But for now, I couldn’t touch him. That meant I’d have to use him.
“And what about you? What the hell do you want from me to pull this shit?”
“Your skill.”
He answered instantly, like he didn’t even need to think.
“Specifically, I want you to use your skill to help me.”
“And you think you know what my skill is?”
“That’s what I need to find out now, isn’t it? But I do have some guesses.”
“Guesses?”
That actually made me laugh.
No matter how much he thought about it, he’d never even come close.
“Alright then, let’s hear it. What do you think my skill is?”
I relaxed my shoulders, stiff from tension, and leaned the back of my head against the wall.
If I really wanted to, I could take him down right now. I had the shadow Cha Sahyeon gave me.
Unless my mouth was gagged like when I was kidnapped, one word—“kid”—and the shadow would appear.
With Cha Sahyeon’s shadow working alongside me, someone like Eun Woojeong wouldn’t be a problem.
He turned slightly to face me.
“You said it was a skill that lets you uncover other people’s weaknesses, but like I told you before—I don’t buy it.”
As I visibly loosened up, he tilted his head, then shrugged like it didn’t matter.
“You weren’t seriously trying to fool me anyway, were you? Hm. Now that I break it down, you’re hiding quite a lot.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“Haha, fair enough. Anyway, a skill that detects others’ weaknesses... that’s considered an insight type, right? But I’m sure your skill isn’t that. ESP types are supporters, but your physical abilities when we fought were clearly that of a dealer.”
“Talkative, aren’t you. So?”
“I’m still wondering how you suddenly appeared at that office where you were attacked.”
“......”
“You only showed up well after the situation ended, so I figure your skill has some kind of limitation. But it’s S-rank, so it should still be useful. I’d like you to tell me exactly what that limitation is too, if possible.”
“Aha.”
At that, I curled my lips into a smirk.
“So... you think my skill is some kind of warp ability?”
“From what I found, all Hunters with warp-related skills were dealers. Surprising, right? I thought they’d be supporters like ESP types, but nope, all dealers. Of course, you’re S-rank, so you’re way more capable than the average ones I looked up.”
Jesus. What a load of nonsense.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
While I’d been rescuing Cha Sahyeon and returning from the snowy mountain, this bastard must’ve been obsessing over that ambush incident.
A warp skill... it was unexpected, but given his reasoning, it sounded plausible.
‘Yeah. An S-rank presence suddenly appeared. No wonder he got confused.’
To transform into Cover, I had to use my hidden skill, and during that process, my S-rank aura would always leak out. I couldn’t suppress it in the moment of transformation.
I’d been wondering how to explain that aura, but thanks to Eun Woojeong, I had an excuse now.
Might even come in handy somewhere else later.
“So, how about it? I’ll keep providing information like before, and you use your skill to help me. Sounds like a fair deal to me.”
His certainty that my skill was warp-type made me chuckle.
“And if I say yes? You think you can trust that?”
“It’s not like I’ll take your word right away. I’ll need to verify it, right? First, I need to see with my own eyes that you really have a warp skill. Then, I’ll want your personal details. We’ll need a contact method too. You’ll be helping with my work—if I don’t know what you’re doing or where you are, that’s a problem for me.”
The moment he brought up the skill, I’d sensed it—Eun Woojeong had a lot he wanted to say to me.
That’s why he’d tracked me all the way to the match venue and kidnapped me without warning once he found out I was competing.
Drumming his own beat, banging the gong, shaking the damn cymbals all on his own—Eun Woojeong was truly something else.
“And once you confirm all that, you’ll trust me?”
“You planning to accept the deal?”
Would I?
“No.”
“Why not? Too many demands? Then tell me what you want from me. I’ll consider it.”
For some reason, Eun Woojeong kept trying to persuade me.
“Well...”
I did need his intel, so his willingness to negotiate wasn’t a bad thing. But I couldn’t just accept.
There was no warp skill. And there was no way I could meet his ridiculous conditions.
‘What to do.’
Telling the truth recklessly would only hurt me.
He believed I had a warp skill and wanted to make use of it.
‘If I ask for something too crazy, it won’t work.’
That’d only raise his suspicion. I thought hard for a moment, then replied.
“Not really feeling it.”
“...Not feeling it?”
“Yeah. All that stuff you offered—tracking the cult, giving me info—it doesn’t really interest me.”
“You say that, but didn’t you threaten me for information? Pretty sure you saved that kidnapped kid thanks to what you got from me.”
“Well. Turns out I met a much more capable tech guy afterward. I don’t really need you anymore. Wasn’t looking for you on purpose or anything, but I didn’t expect you to cling so hard you’d resort to kidnapping.”
“......”
“If you really want me to consider a deal, fine. But this atmosphere isn’t it, don’t you think?”
Eun Woojeong silently looked down at me.
I couldn’t see his expression because of the mask, but the air around him definitely changed.
“If you really want me to want to make a deal, the least you can do is take that mask off. You stripped off my hat and mask, but you’ve got yours on tight all the way to your neck. Makes me not want to deal. Just pisses me off. Don’t you agree?”
“......”
“I mean, whatever. Refuse if you want. Like I said—you’re useless to me now. And since my match got canceled thanks to ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) someone, I’ve got a lot of free time. Do whatever you want.”
Even if he didn’t free me from the chains, it didn’t matter—I leaned against the wall, almost lying down.
Eun Woojeong stared at me in silence for a long moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“...Alright.”
That same tone of reluctant acceptance I’d heard before. Was that just his way of speaking?
“I get it.”
He repeated, raising his hands. His gloved hands reached for his neck.
He undid the clasp of the robe covering his throat, and the red fabric dropped to the floor.
Underneath, his slim, sharp frame was revealed.
Black jeans that clung to his long legs and combat boots up to his ankles—his outfit was clearly meant for mobility.
His top matched the pants: a black shirt left unbuttoned near the collar, probably because he’d thrown the robe over it.
“......”
I paused as I looked between the open shirt.
It wasn’t a mistake. It couldn’t be. The marks were too many, too dark.
Those scars...
Deep, slashing wounds were clearly visible even in the dim light. They were etched from below his collarbone up to his neck and shoulder.
Seeing the scars didn’t make me feel pity or sympathy.
He wasn’t some rich heir or anything, and knowing his background, it wasn’t surprising that his body was covered in them.
I just wondered—how the hell does he act like that?
“I said earlier,”
Eun Woojeong removed his gloves and let them fall to the floor.
“This is the first time I’ve seen your face up close.”
The hand reaching for his mask had the same scars as the rest of his body.
“You’re the same as me now. This is the first time I’m showing my face to someone like this too.”
As he removed the mask, a pale, small face appeared.
Snow-white hair, softly gleaming gemstone eyes, a sharply raised nose, and blood-tinted lips formed a perfect arc.
Wrapped in black, staring right at me—Eun Woojeong looked dangerously fragile.
“You got what you wanted. Shall we talk about the deal now?”
“Hm... sure.”
I hadn’t expected him to actually comply. That made things a lot easier.
“Then, that warp skill of yours...”
“Hey.”
Still bound, I spoke to Eun Woojeong.
“Be careful not to damage that pretty face of yours.”
“...What?”
At the sudden warning, Eun Woojeong’s brows furrowed slightly. Before he could catch on, I shouted quickly.
“‘Kid’!”
Seriously, if I’m gonna use a code word, I wish it were something cooler. “Kid”? Really?
Grumbling inwardly, I shouted loudly—and the floor beneath me erupted in shadows, quickly forming a figure.
Screech!
Far larger than what I’d seen at the hotel, a massive bird spread its wings and looked back at me. Its gentle eyes, just like its master’s, waited for a command.
Grinning, I jerked my chin at Eun Woojeong, since my hands were still bound.
“Beat the shit out of that bastard.”

Comments

Loading...