S Chapter 76

“If you’re done, go. I’m busy.”

U-dam turned away as if he had no more business, and began swinging his Wooden Sword. A hint of nervousness was evident in his fingertips.

My brother, whom I thought was good at hiding everything, was actually more honest than anyone. Shin Jukyeong held a bitter smile as he smoothly snatched the Wooden Sword from U-dam’s hand. It was as natural as flowing water.

‘I can’t solve the parental issue right now, but this is possible.’

“Do you really think you can beat that guy by practicing with this for a hundred days? He looks formidable at first glance. And isn’t he the one who entered as Runner-up?”

“How do you know that?”

U-dam flinched and asked. His tone suggested he was wondering if there was a CCTV camera.

“Why wouldn’t I know? I’ve told you repeatedly. I know what you’re doing, no matter where you are.”

Shin Jukyeong shrugged his shoulders and spun the Wooden Sword expertly in his hand.

“I can’t just stand by while my student gets beaten up somewhere. I told you I’m your master, even if I don’t look like it.”

“Huh! Master, my ass. You just neglected me.”

“That’s why I’m here now. To finally act like a master.”

Shin Jukyeong said with a confident smile. “Alright, shall we start the first lesson?”

“You’re ready to pull an all-nighter, right?”

From that dawn, Shin Jukyeong relentlessly pushed U-dam. He showed him hell under the guise of training. There was little preparation time, so he couldn’t go easy on him. It pained him greatly to see his brother worn to tatters, but it was better to be thrashed by his own hands than by some other bastard.

To give a rough interim evaluation, it was ‘beyond expectations.’ The red light had at least turned yellow. In other words, he wouldn’t get beaten up badly.

‘The outcome… I don’t know yet.’

Whether he would achieve victory was uncertain, but at least no one would dare treat U-dam like a pushover after the sparring match.

‘That’s enough then. No need to be greedy. For now, I’m satisfied with that.’

It was then that Shin Jukyeong was twirling his ballpoint pen, lost in thought.

“Shin Jukyeong, I’m heading out first. Good work.”

His senior colleague next to him bid farewell. Shin Jukyeong gathered his thoughts and returned the greeting.

“You too. Thank you for your hard work.”

The office was silent after everyone had left. Shin Jukyeong put down his pen and stretched. His stiff shoulders felt refreshingly loose.

After loosening up, he shifted his gaze to the calendar on his desk. Finally, it was tomorrow.

‘I pushed him hard until yesterday, so I told him to rest today.’

…But he’s not one to listen meekly. His stubbornness is just like mine. Shin Jukyeong chuckled softly.

‘Now that I think about it, I miss him. Hmm, I’ll stop by briefly before heading home.’

The thought of seeing his brother made a surge of motivation, which wasn’t there before, well up in him. He needed to finish up quickly and go.

‘…I burned out.’

Shin Jukyeong trudged along, his face pale. He wondered if it was just his imagination that the present felt harder than the past.

No. Absolutely not. It wasn’t his imagination. There was simply too much work. This was workplace abuse.

‘I should sue them all.’

Muttering curses to himself, he headed to the annex building. As soon as he opened the door, a round head caught his eye. His unpleasant mood was instantly cured.

‘He’s working hard.’

Shin Jukyeong watched his brother training, drenched in sweat.

‘I told him to rest, but as expected, he never disappoints.’

Shin Jukyeong was about to call his brother as usual, but paused. He realized he wasn’t wearing Eve today. This was the first time he had come to see his brother in this form, at this hour.

‘I came too naturally!’

He had just missed him too much… He was pondering what to do.

“Haah, ha… who, Hyung?”

U-dam noticed him first from across the room. Oops, Shin Jukyeong, hiding his surprise, naturally waved his hand. Uh-huh. Hi.

“You, ahem! Why are you here? I, I’m just here to check on supplies…”

When a crisis struck, lies flowed out of him automatically.

“Since the annex is the last one, I just came by…”

“Alone?”

“Huh?”

He was frantically making excuses. U-dam abruptly cut Shin Jukyeong off. The boy caught his breath, wiped the sweat from under his chin, and pointed out the window. Shin Jukyeong’s gaze followed U-dam’s finger towards the window. The black sky came into view.

“Are you still working alone at this hour? It’s past 11 already. What are the others doing?”

Crazy bastards. The Cliques are really something. U-dam added a harsh curse after his words.

What should I do about this? Should I explain that it’s not true? If I explain, what else would I say to cover it up?

“Uh… well, hmm… ha… I mean…”

In the end, Shin Jukyeong, unable to clear up the misunderstanding, bowed his head and conceded. He had suddenly turned his kind senior colleagues into the biggest jerks who engaged in Cliques.

‘I’m sorry. I’ll buy you coffee later.’

As Shin Jukyeong was silently apologizing, U-dam, who had already put away his Wooden Sword, approached him and spoke.

“What should I check first?”

“Check?”

“You said you came to check on supplies. You have to do that to go home, right? I’ll help you. It’ll be faster if two of us do it.”

As Shin Jukyeong awkwardly hesitated, U-dam furrowed one eyebrow.

“Aren’t you doing it?”

‘Yeah. I don’t have to.’

If only I could be honest!

‘I just wanted to see his face and leave… But now I’m stuck doing inventory management, which wasn’t in my fate.’

But if I say no here, it’ll look suspicious, right? Shin Jukyeong’s eyes twitched. What’s more, his brother’s consideration for him in this situation was so beautiful that he was thoughtlessly moved. He truly considered himself severely ill if this was the case.

‘Still, U-dam has a sparring match tomorrow, so let’s try to dissuade him one more time.’

“Ah… right. You have an important schedule tomorrow. Don’t waste your energy, rest. I can do this alone later.”

The key point was ‘later.’ That’s right. In fact, Shin Jukyeong just didn’t want to do inventory management. Anyway, he subtly asked with such earnestness, but…

“It’s just this much, it’s nothing.”

A glorious failure! He was assigned inventory management that no one had asked for!

‘…Damn it.’

Should he call it a Self-Inflicted Disaster? Or justice realized? In the end, Shin Jukyeong had to pay dearly for his lie.

The meaningless inventory management finally ended close to 1 AM.

“It’s finally done.”

U-dam said with a proud voice.

“…Indeed.”

It was a time when he would have already gone home and been long asleep. Shin Jukyeong had to clench his teeth and swallow his true feelings.

“And a weak person like you was trying to do all this alone?”

U-dam clicked his tongue, wondering if Shin Jukyeong was being bullied at work.

The kind senior colleagues who used to bring him snacks flickered before Shin Jukyeong’s eyes. What if there was a junior who, after being treated kindly, turned them into absolute trash behind their backs?

‘If it were me, I’d sue them out of betrayal.’

As Shin Jukyeong was scolding himself with hazy eyes, a stunningly handsome face suddenly appeared right in front of him. Their eyes met for a moment.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

He asked with an even more indifferent expression than before. A sweet, fragrant scent wafted with his fluttering hair. He was surely drenched in sweat, so how was this possible? This was proof that U-dam was indeed an angel—

“Why are you spacing out?”

As Shin Jukyeong was gushing internally, U-dam lightly tapped his forehead, not hurting him.

“Aren’t you going home? Are you going to live here now?”

“No. I should go.”

Shin Jukyeong lightly rubbed his forehead and smiled faintly. He suddenly felt good, as if the relationship between him and his brother had become quite a bit closer than before.

U-dam, who had been staring at Shin Jukyeong, suddenly blurted out a question.

“Are you coming tomorrow?”

“The match?”

“Yeah.”

“I want to see it, but… time. Because I’m a junior employee.”

Shin Jukyeong lowered his eyebrows apologetically. This, too, was a lie. There was no way his kind senior colleagues wouldn’t let him go see his brother’s match. No, they would probably even push him to go cheer for his brother. In fact, Shin Jukyeong did intend to watch his brother’s sparring match.

However, he deliberately said he couldn’t go in case of an unforeseen situation. Because he didn’t know when or how he might need to help U-dam. In other words, he was creating an alibi.

“What should I do? I’m sorry.”

Really sorry. As Shin Jukyeong was repeatedly apologizing, U-dam, who had been silently keeping his mouth shut, suddenly curved the corners of his lips into a smile.

“Sorry?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. You worked so hard, but… I can’t go.”

“Then, will you help me with just one thing?”

“Help? With what?”

“It’s nothing much. You just have to stand still.”

As Shin Jukyeong blinked foolishly, U-dam grabbed his forearm and dragged him along.

“You said you were sorry. Then you have to do it.”

His voice was brimming with interest. U-dam then led Shin Jukyeong to a platform set up in one corner of the annex, made him sit, and stood in front of him, saying.

“Focus on me.”

At this moment, Shin Jukyeong realized. His brother was trying to use Hypnosis on him.

‘I’m the one who taught him this.’

Moreover, it wouldn’t even work on him. That’s because he had immunity to most mental-type abilities. But currently, he would appear to be just an ordinary person…

‘Hmm, what should I do about this?’

As Shin Jukyeong pondered, recalling his own terrible acting skills, U-dam used his Innate Ability. His lips parted, and a clear voice, like glass beads rolling, resonated.

“From now on, you’re going to forget everything.”

The sound of fingers snapping echoed in the air.