Near the Requiem Guild, the car stopped in a rare alleyway. I opened the car door and said to Ha Tae-heon, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Then, I’m going first.”
“Han Yi-gyeol.”
Ha Tae-heon, who hadn’t said a word after leaving the house, opened his mouth as he saw me getting out of the car.
“As long as you’re not at the gate, I will answer your calls unconditionally, so if there’s anything, call me.”
“…yes.”
I hesitated for a moment at the unexpected words then nodded.
‘I thought you were mad at me, but do you understand me a little bit?’
I felt a little reassured at the last words. I smiled at Ha Tae-heon, pushing my uneasy feeling.
“I understand. Ha Tae-heon-ssi, please take care of yourself.”
Ha Tae-heon, who looked at my smile for a while, immediately started the car. Leaving behind the black sedan that was moving away, I used my ability to rise high. It was a little late, but it was still quite early.
‘Kim Woo-jin also has to come after 11 o’clock, so I have about two hours to spare.’
Flying straight to the 23rd floor, I opened the window and went inside.
“Phew.”
As I sat on the window sill and untied the laces of my sneakers in the spring breeze from outside, the bedroom door that had been closed suddenly swung open. Kim Woo-jin, with a cold expression, was standing there when my head rose in surprise.
“……”
“……”
As I was holding on to my shoelaces, I couldn’t even close my gaping mouth and looked at Kim Woo-jin blankly.
“Kim Woo-jin?”
Why were you here at this hour… Leaving me in a panic, Kim Woo-jin entered the bedroom and closed the door.
Shudder.
He didn’t just come in, he even locked the door altogether. With Kim Woo-jin’s hardened face and heavy atmosphere, I couldn’t even take off my shoes and rolled my eyes.
“Where have you been? Leave the guards out at the best and go alone.”
“That…”
There was no excuse, so I just laughed awkwardly. As I smiled awkwardly without taking off my shoes or coming down from the window sill, Kim Woo-jin approached with sharp eyes.
“I didn’t have morning training today, so I came here to cook breakfast for a while… but the room was empty.”
“Is, is that so?”
Come to think of it, the last time I slept, I didn’t want him to wait, so I gave him the door lock number. Yeah, I totally forgot about it. I was wondering how did you get in.
“I’ve been waiting for an hour.”
Kim Woo-jin, who grumbled with a sullen voice, knelt down in front of me and sat down. Then he started untying my shoelaces instead.
“Ya, Kim Woo-jin. Get up. I’ll do it.”
What was wrong with this kid? I shook my foot slightly to say to let go, but Kim Woo-jin answered firmly by holding my ankle tightly.
“Stay still.”
Despite my rejection, Kim Woo-jin, who stubbornly untied my shoelaces and took off the shoes on both feet, got up.
“What about food?”
“Oh?”
“Did you eat?”
Kim Woo-jin, with a shoe in his hand, looked down at me and asked. Food. Food… I had eaten. Should I just pretend I didn’t eat? Kim Woo-jin pouted his lips with a sulky expression at my hesitating appearance without an answer.
“Looks like you’ve eaten.”
“……”
“I see. I had something to talk about anyway. I’ll leave the shoes behind.”
Kim Woo-jin turned his back on me and opened the locked bedroom door and left. Fortunately, he didn’t seem too angry. Then why was the door locked?
‘But why was I minding Kim Woo-jin so much?’
What was wrong with going out for a while? I couldn’t understand my own heart, so I scratched my cheek for nothing.
* * *
Whether it was true that I was going to have breakfast together, a sandwich was made on the table. Seeing that made my conscience hurt even more.
“Kim Woo-jin, come here.”
I gestured to Kim Woo-jin, who had a grim expression, and took out the cell phone I received from Ha Tae-heon.
“The one I used before was broken and I made a new one. I came out because of this.”
“What? Why is your phone broken?”
Notifying my changed number, I also re-registered Kim Woo-jin’s number.
“…just, somehow. It doesn’t matter. After all, it was the cell phone that Cheon Sa-yeon gave me.”
“Then what about this? Under your name?” (네 명의야?, really not sure)
“No. Not that.”
The cell phone I made under my name was caught by Cheon Sa-yeon in less than ten days and almost got smashed again. After thinking for a while, I just answered honestly.
“I asked Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon. Get me a cell phone. Anyway, it’s convenient to have it.”
“Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon?”
Perhaps my answer was unexpected, Kim Woo-jin’s expression, with his eyes wide open as if a little startled, quickly withered darkly.
“That person, did he even offer to come to Roheon last time, right? You must be… really close.”
We weren’t close, but it was vague to say no in this situation, so I just nodded my head.
“A little bit?”
Kim Woo-jin muttered as he turned his face to the side.
“…I can get you a new cell phone for you too.”
“Cell phones are important too, but we met to turn down the offer to come to Roheon.”
Let’s stop this question here. I roughly threw my cell phone on the living room sofa and asked Kim Woo-jin.
“So, what do you want to talk about?”
“Uung.”
Kim Woo-jin, who had saved the changed number, seemed to choose a word for a moment and opened his mouth carefully.
“It’s the information you asked to know last time. The situation is a little bad.”
“If it’s not good, is it hard to get?”
“First of all, I think we need more information to find out about Samael or the puppeteer.”
So that was. It was definitely going to be hard to get something like that. It would have been nice to at least know the name of the puppeteer.
It was an understandable explanation. I nodded my head.
“I see. What about Kang Seung-geon?”
“Kang Seung-geon…”
At that moment, a strange light passed through Kim Woo-jin’s auburn eyes. It was such a short moment that I wasn’t sure if I was seeing it right.
“I can get it, but it will take some more time. Someone must have locked up Kang Seung-geon’s information.”
“Locked the information?”
When I frowned at the unfamiliar words, Kim Woo-jin added an explanation in a calm voice.
“It’s a priority task in order to erase relevant information at once. They say that it is a method that only the most skilled can do, so it takes a bit of effort to break through the locked information.”
“It’s not anyone else, but Kang Seung-geon…”
I didn’t expect this. I pondered while touching my chin.
“Who the hell is trying to erase it?”
Who would benefit from deleting Kang Seung-geon’s information? I needed to calmly organize my thoughts.
“I get it for now. How long does it take?”
“At first, about two weeks. If anything happens in the meantime, they will contact me from there.”
“If that’s the reason, I have no choice but to wait. Thanks for letting me know.”
Kang Seung-geon’s information was one of the essential things to get in order to find out about Han Yi-gyeol’s past. When I thought about what Kang Seung-geon said to me, I thought Cheon Sa-yeon had something to do with it.
“That, Han Yi-gyeol. I have one more thing to tell you.”
“Um?”
While calmly examining the relationship between Han Yi-gyeol’s past, Cheon Sa-yeon, and Kang Seung-geon, I lifted my head at Kim Woo-jin’s words.
Kim Woo-jin, who had been hesitating for a while even in my eyes, carefully opened his mouth.
“I was contemplating whether I should tell you or not, but I thought it would be better to know.”
“What is it?”
“When you were kidnapped.”
Kim Woo-jin’s reddish-coloured eyes turned to my wrist, A-class bracelet.
“Master found your location. So we weren’t too late to save you.”
“Cheon Sa-yeon found out?”
Of course, I thought he came there based on the traces left by Kang Seung-geon. The place where I was kidnapped was in the area belonging to the Jayna Guild and there must have been more than one or two people who saw Kang Seung-geon.
Kim Woo-jin, who had the same expression on his face as me, answered.
“I’m sure. Because I saw it right in front of me. At that time, I was renewing the contract.”
“How did he find out?”
“He called a woman. As soon as he told the code of the item, he immediately identified the location. Han Yi-gyeol, the bracelet you are wearing.”
It was then that I realized why Kim Woo-jin was looking at my bracelet. I bit my lip at the rising feeling of displeasure.
“…if he asked over the phone, I guess he can’t tell in real-time.”
“I guess. Judging from the atmosphere, I think it’s a group rather than an individual moving. Because they called each other code names.”
“If it’s a code name, at least Cheon Sa-yeon also belongs to that group, right?”
“It is difficult to determine the size and affiliation of such groups because they operate in secret. Above all, most of those who belong to the group are highly likely to be professionals.”
“Wait a minute. Kim Woo-jin, you…”
Recognizing the meaning of the explanation, I faced Kim Woo-jin’s pure white face.
“Are you doubt him? The person who wants to delete information about Kang Seung-geon is Cheon Sa-yeon?”
“I’m grateful to Master for saving you before you get hurt further, but apart from that, I’m suspicious.”
It was rather me who was embarrassed by the firm answer. Even if Kim Woo-jin became close with me, he must have had good feelings for Cheon Sa-yeon.
“Hyde, my informant and I have known each other for quite some time. Thanks to that, I’ve seen and heard a lot.”
“……”
“Of course, it could be my misunderstanding. I’m not asking you to believe me, but I just mean to tell you to be careful just in case you don’t know. Han Yi-gyeol. Because your safety is the most important thing to me.”
I felt an unfamiliar feeling with sincerity from Kim Woo-jin, who lowered his head slightly and spoke in a calm voice. So it was even more confusing.
‘Because of me, Kim Woo-jin’s future, as well as emotions, had changed from the original. Is this really okay?’
Now I didn’t know what was the right answer and what was the right path. Here, too many things were changing from the Abyss in the novel.
Kim Woo-jin, who said that my safety was the most important thing while ignoring the longing for Cheon Sa-yeon, caught my eye.
After thinking about it for a while, I lightly grabbed Kim Woo-jin’s hand, who blinked his eyelids as if impatiently. Kim Woo-jin’s hand wrapped around my palm flinched as if surprised.
“Me too, Kim Woo-jin.”
I had come too far to turn around. Now, I had no choice but to protect them in my own way. I tried to ignore my heavy sinking heart and smiled lightly towards Kim Woo-jin.
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