Chapter 4 Part 2

“That bastard, if he finds a man who’s pretty enough to be ‘worth eating,’ he just beats them until they can’t move and then lays them down. After any branch has joint training with the Europe Branch, there’s never a young, good-looking guy who comes out unscathed.”

“What…?”

Jeong Tae-ui doubted his ears for a moment at the unexpected words. After confirming he had heard correctly, he doubted his comprehension. ‘Laid down’ couldn’t possibly mean what he was thinking, could it? However, judging by Tou’s context, Jeong Tae-ui’s interpretation seemed to be correct.

“It’s been a few years, but there was a guy who, after his close colleague ended up in the hospital for life because of that bastard, set out to kill him for revenge. But unfortunately, that guy was quite good-looking. Well… so in the end, as reality often goes, it didn’t turn into a story of good triumphing over evil, and he couldn’t get revenge, he just ended up getting laid… Some even tried to harm themselves because they couldn’t bear their shame.”

“That’s really… …regrettable.”

“Hmm… Anyway, that’s how it is. That bastard is bad quality in every way. Anyway, if you mess with him by bad luck, you’re the only one who will suffer the humiliation.”

After finishing his words, Tou suddenly scanned Jeong Tae-ui in the mirror. And then he smirked.

“But don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about anything unnecessary, just your life.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, “Well, thanks,” and raised his hand to smack Tou on the back of his head.

A young, good-looking, handsome man. Was he talking about someone like Shinru?

Jeong Tae-ui suddenly frowned, recalling someone who perfectly fit that description. If so, he shouldn’t be nodding so nonchalantly.

“Hey, doesn’t that mean Shinru needs to be careful?”

Jeong Tae-ui grabbed Tou’s wrist and spoke, and Tou turned back with a “Huh?” blinking.

“Oh… oh. Now that you mention it, yes. But what reason would a member and support staff have to run into each other? And if they’re from another branch, even less so. Besides, even that bastard wouldn’t cause trouble for himself by messing with support staff, would he?”

“Is that so… …I guess so, right?”

“…”

Tou’s pale gaze returned to Jeong Tae-ui, who was anxiously asking again. It was a look that seemed to say, You idiot, you simp… Only then did Jeong Tae-ui flinch and close his mouth. Had he made it too obvious?

“Even if you don’t worry, the instructors will take care of the support staff, so if Rick comes here, just take care of your own life. No one will look out for a member’s life but themselves.”

His words were correct. Jeong Tae-ui lacked the firm confidence to even take care of his own life before worrying about others.

“Hmm… It would be best if something went wrong with the personnel selection so that man, Rick, doesn’t come.”

Jeong Tae-ui muttered, knowing there was little chance of that happening, but with a hint of a wish.

“Well, that’s one way to put it, but anyway, they’ll be here this evening, so we’ll find out then.”

“They must be in Hong Kong by now.”

“Ah, I hope they arrived dizzy from jet lag.”

Seeing Tou playfully draw a line across his neck with his hand, as if saying “Then just thud!”, Jeong Tae-ui let out a small laugh. The playful gesture momentarily erased the dark afterimage that had clouded his mind.

Only a few hours remained. In half a day, they would see those they’d only heard rumors about. Although it was nothing like anticipation, he couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter and stir slightly.

“Now that I think about it, anyone moving rooms was told to come to the office to talk after they moved. They said they needed to check it.”

Tou said casually, wiping his mouth with a towel. Jeong Tae-ui flinched for no reason.

“You’ll see Shinru if you go to the office. No, wait. Since he’s in charge of internal affairs, you’d have to go talk to Shinru anyway. Lucky you, Tae-ui.”

Tou grinned mischievously and subtly poked Jeong Tae-ui’s side with his elbow. Jeong Tae-ui swayed and mumbled, “Uhm.”

It wasn’t good. No, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to see him. He wanted to meet him and hear his voice. He liked his fragrant soap scent too. But he didn’t quite have the confidence to face him yet. Somehow, he felt that if he ran into Shinru now, he’d freeze up again, looking like a boiled octopus.

And… if they met again, what kind of face would that guy make when he saw him?

Jeong Tae-ui wiped his already dry neck with a towel. His mood quickly darkened.

Since that day, he hadn’t met Shinru once. Not that support staff and members usually had reason to meet unless something happened, but he avoided places where he might run into Shinru as much as possible. When he went to B1 to visit his uncle’s room, he even looked around cautiously like a thief.

Facing someone who kindly applied medicine to his injury, and he became aroused – what on earth was he thinking?

Next to Jeong Tae-ui, who was deep in thought, Tou tossed his towel into the collection bin, habitually patted his pocket to check for his cigarette pack, and walked out of the bathroom. Jeong Tae-ui, feeling gloomy, stopped him.

“Going for a smoke?”

“Huh? Yeah. Want to come?”

“Uh, give me one.”

“…You know there’s no place to get cigarettes here, right? Fine. I’ll lend you one, but you owe me a pack next time.”

“You know you just made a very disgusted face, right? I wish I could show you a mirror.”

Tou, a chain-smoker to the bone, excused his pettiness with, “Damn it, I’m stuck here for another two weeks, and my stash of cigarettes is almost gone.” Jeong Tae-ui patted Tou, saying he understood, and they left the bathroom together.

Jeong Tae-ui, having made his way through the bustling corridor to the ground floor, quickly followed Tou, who had already exited the elevator and was heading out of the building without hesitation, glancing around nervously. He felt a bit pathetic doing this, but still, he really didn’t know what kind of face to make if he happened to run into Shinru.

Stepping outside the building, dazzling sunlight poured down, making it hard to properly open his eyes.