Receiving the gift out of nowhere, Jang Yijung blinked.
“...What's this?”
“The Boss told me today's your birthday.”
He wouldn't tell me Jang Yijung's power, but he'd tell me his birthday. Once I'd heard it was his birthday, I'd brought him to the hotel on purpose. There'd even be a cake for dessert when we hit the restaurant later. We wouldn't get to eat it together, though.
Jang Yijung asked back dumbly.
“Me?”
“...Guess you forgot.”
I straightened my clothes and went on.
“Anyway, working on your birthday is kind of a downer, right? So take today off.”
I'm not sneaking off behind your back to do something shady.
I'm just giving extra special consideration to our birthday boy, Yijung.
Pouring that sentiment in, I smiled as much like a good person as I could manage.
“My birthday...”
Jang Yijung stared at my face, then dropped his gaze to the shopping bag. His expression was as vacant as ever. There was no telling whether he liked it or not.
“You got what I'm saying, right?”
I really had to head out now.
Knock knock knock knock.
Right on cue, the impatient knocking came. I quickly grabbed the door handle.
I turned my head one last time to check the room. Jang Yijung had taken out the gift box and was fiddling with it.
Glad he seemed to like the bribe.
“I'm off, so don't worry about work... just relax and go grab a meal.”
It meant don't do anything stupid, stay put.
“I won't be back tonight.”
Right up until I turned away, Jang Yijung kept gazing endlessly at the gift in his hands.
I didn't even get a thank-you, but I opened the door feeling rather satisfied.
Click.
“Ah, sunbae...”
Luru was waiting in front of the door, as expected.
Luru's face, which had brightened at the sight of me, gradually clouded with horror.
“Sunbae!”
Luru shrieked like a siren.
“What's that bandage? On that precious face of yours!”
“It's just a little scratch.”
“Let me see!”
“Hold on, easy.”
“Why'd you go and get hurt somewhere Luru didn't know about!”
Luru clung to me, insisting on seeing the wound. When I jabbed an elbow out to shake them off, they fell back obediently.
“...Are you actually hurt somewhere? Normally by this point...”
Crackle!
“Khgk!”
[Penalty triggered: 〈Restriction〉 in effect. (00:05)]
I'd bought my silence at the price of a penalty.
Once Luru had calmed down after getting zapped, I led them toward the elevator. Along the way, I checked my clothes here and there. Looking for any hidden surveillance cameras or listening devices.
Thankfully, there was nothing attached to my clothes. And I'd left my phone behind, just in case.
After finishing the check, I stood up straight, and Luru pressed the elevator button.
“I need to stop by the first floor. I left an item with the front desk.”
“Aha. Is it the goods for this job?”
“Yeah, something like that...”
Since I had to share a room with Jang Yijung, I'd stashed it away just in case.
The elevator doors opened. But out of those open doors stepped a familiar person.
“Cheolsu-hyung?”
It was Yeom Hajae, holding a convenience store bag. It clearly wasn't intentional, because Yeom Hajae looked startled too.
“Hunter...”
Seeing my face and grasping the situation, he averted his eyes.
Of all places, he's staying at the same one, on the same floor?
It was too much for a coincidence, and something about it felt off. I gave a nod and went to walk past, but the other party, blocking the elevator door, wouldn't budge.
“...Wh-where are you off to at an hour like this?”
“I've got work.”
“That's a lot of effort on your part.”
“Haha, it's nothing major.”
“Could it be...”
“?”
Yeom Hajae hesitated.
“Well, if it's all right with you, later...”
“Sunbae?”
The instant Yeom Hajae went to say something more, Luru tugged at my arm.
“Who's this? A friend?”
“Someone I know.”
“...”
Yeom Hajae clammed up in that moment.
“Ah! The doors are gonna close, sunbae.”
Luru didn't pay the dumbstruck Yeom Hajae any mind. Despite how recently they'd been zapped, they casually looped an arm through mine.
I laid a hand over their arm. But this time, no matter what I did, they wouldn't be shaken off.
This little-
Acting all confident now that there was an audience. As we tussled where it couldn't be seen, my shoulder brushed against someone's.
Yeom Hajae was watching the two of us blankly.
Before I could even say goodbye, Luru breezed past Yeom Hajae and boarded the elevator.
Luru jabbed the close button repeatedly. Yeom Hajae stood there, nudged a little back from the door. Seeing his expressionless profile gave me a bad feeling.
Just before the elevator doors closed completely, I hurriedly offered a parting word.
“Get some good rest in your room, hunter.”
“Yeah. Good luck with work...”
The doors shut on the last image of Yeom Hajae, who'd been dazed for a moment, breaking into a sheepish smile.
“...”
“Cheolsu, huh. Sunbae, you're still using that name?”
As the elevator began to move, Luru, clinging to my arm, snickered.
I ignored Luru and watched the red numbers on the display tick down one by one. For some reason, an uneasiness kept lingering in a corner of my mind.
After stopping by the front desk to grab the item, we headed straight for the hotel's top floor, the penthouse.
“Ding-dong~. Delivery!”
Not long after Luru rang the bell, the door opened from inside.
A flush-faced middle-aged man popped out through the gap, and a wave of liquor stench hit us at the same time.
Confirming who it was, Luru struck up a chummy greeting.
“Chairman, here's your-”
They didn't get to finish. The man leaning on the door pitched forward. I had no choice but to catch him with my body.
“You've had quite a lot to drink.”
“Ugh, the smell...”
Luru openly plugged their nose. It wasn't like I couldn't understand the reaction.
The inside's bound to be a disaster, no need to even look.
In this state, and no one came out to check.
“Mind helping me move him?”
“!”
Luru backed away as if dodging a monster.
“S-sunbae, Luru will be going now.”
For all their earlier clinging, Luru fled in a hurry, like something was chasing them. I looked at the man with his face buried in my shoulder and scratched the back of my head.
“Honestly...”
It wasn't as if these were busy men, yet here they were, dead drunk at this hour. Since when had they been at it?
The old man's beet-red face struck me as comical, and I snorted out a laugh.
Doesn't even know he's going to die tomorrow.
On this mission, I had two things to do.
First, deliver the item.
Second, save the client.
A gate was set to open inside this hotel tomorrow.
Normally, harboring ill feelings toward the client, I'd turn a blind eye whether or not he got swept up in the gate. And the client would die inside it.
That was how things had gone in my previous life.
But this time, I have to save him.
The eyes that had glared at me right up to the final moment still lingered in my memory. The fact that I'd never get to feel that exhilaration again was a bit of a shame.
Planning to wrap up the job as fast as possible, I propped up the old man and went into the room.
The dim interior was incomparably more spacious than a regular room. Befitting a penthouse, it had high ceilings and a wide-open floor-to-ceiling window. Outside, a rather impressive view unfolded, but inside, the reek of cigarettes and alcohol hung thick in the air.
Checking the living room, there was only one person sitting upright on the sofa. Showing me the back of his head, he too seemed drunk enough that he hadn't noticed me yet.
I dumped the old man I'd been propping up wherever and lightly rapped on the wall.
The man, in the middle of lifting his glass, stopped.
“Director Kim, have you been keeping well?”
Clack. Registering me, the man set his glass down roughly. He draped an arm over the sofa and turned around in a crooked posture.
“Seo Sinwoo...?”
“Good evening, Director.”
“It's Managing Director now.”
“Good evening, Managing Director.”
The corner of his mouth curled up askew. His face already looked sharp and high-strung, and that nasty smile made the impression even uglier.
How many years has it been since I last saw him.
Struck by the fresh feeling, I briefly looked over the man's gaunt face.
Kim Hyunwoo. The former owner of the brooch, Hyunwoo.
The name Hyunwoo had been taken from this man. Half in mourning, half in mockery...
The Director brushed off my greeting and turned his head away.
Has he been at the drugs again?
From this angle, the table was blocked from view, so I couldn't see well.
I stepped closer to him, partly to check his state. On the table were several kinds of liquor and a blue powder laid out on a sheet of paper.
Catching where my gaze had landed, the junkie pinched up a bit of the powder.
“It's an experimental new drug. Made by drying out Siren's blood.”
“Is that so.”
The junkie cackled and rubbed his fingers together. The faintly lustrous powder glittered as it fell.
Pretty, I'll give it that.
“Want to try?”
“Haha, no.”
After turning him down at once, I handed over the item I'd stashed in a black plastic bag.
“It's a weapon a monster was using. I went to a lot of trouble to procure a real beauty for you.”
“Hm...”
The junkie took the item and, without even checking it, carelessly set it on the table.
It was a relief he didn't go nitpicking and finding fault with this and that.
“Well then, I've delivered the item, so I'll be on my way.”
“No. Come here.”
“Where?”
“You kidding? Here.”
The junkie patted the empty seat beside him. I'd planned to play dumb and leave, but I guess he wasn't going to just let me go after all.
“You came all this way, so you ought to pour the chairmen a drink each, don't you think.”
“...”
Those so-called chairmen were sprawled out asleep on the sofa.
“Yes, yes.”
It was a nonsense excuse, but if I just left, the junkie would clearly throw a fit. Planning to wrap it up quickly, I sat on the sofa.
“Seo Sinwoo.”
“Director, your words are starting to slur.”
“So what.”
The junkie raised his glass. I obediently poured liquor into the held-out glass. Drink to your heart's content and pass out fast, I hoped.
“Seo Sinwoo!”
“Yes, Director.”
“Feels like it's been a while since I've seen you.”
“Haha. I've been a bit busy.”
The hand that had been tapping his thigh started making a subtly groping motion.
The junkie gripped my thigh hard once, knocked back his drink, and dropped his glass. He didn't care that the liquor spilled onto the floor, blinking languidly.
“Haah...”
Then, reeking of alcohol, he leaned his head on my shoulder.
“So, you still got no plans to switch jobs?”
“Switching jobs, is it.”
Here he goes again, this bastard...
My desire to save him kept dwindling. To hide my irritation, I smiled deeply.
“No. I've still got a lot of contract time left.”
“...”
The moment I refused, the hand pawing at my thigh went still.
“...Is that right?”
When I looked down at him with a smile, the junkie cleared his throat with an ahem and straightened up. And then...
Whack!
He smacked me upside the head out of nowhere. Not hard enough to really hurt, but plenty hard enough to feel disgusting.
“Shi-”
“Then kneel. A dog's got no business sitting in the same seat as a person.”
I kept the smile up, but a curse slipped out on its own.
His proper drunken tirade had begun.
