IDSEGI Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The guide who had witnessed Lim Juho and his group vanish stiffened in fear and glanced at Ihan.

Contrary to how he looked or how the media portrayed him, Ihan was rough and savage. Thinking back on what he had just seen, the guide was sure Ihan would soon fly into a rage.

Then I’ll just tell him I know where Lim Juho might go.

If it was about survival, there was nothing he wouldn’t do. He couldn’t feel safe until that man promised to keep quiet about him being here.

Besides, hadn’t that guy been planning to sell me out anyway?

Sure, they had shared nothing more than physical company, but to be discarded so easily—he replayed the betrayal in his mind and waited for Ihan to explode.

But contrary to his expectation, Ihan simply operated his watch in silence. Soon, a red dot and a location appeared on the screen.

They haven’t gotten far.

It was not too far from here. Ihan sent the location to Yushin and the others before starting off in a hurry.

That was when the guide grabbed him.

“Wait, you’re just going to go like this? Lim Juho ran off with your guide…”

Shaking off the man’s arm in irritation, Ihan replied coldly,

“I know. I know where he went.”

Without another word, Ihan headed off. Earlier, when he had grabbed Juho by the collar, he’d attached a tracking device to his clothes. It had been a precaution—but it had paid off.

Yeoul, just hold on a little longer.

Ihan chased with everything he had to find his lover. Even if he didn’t make it in time, Yushin would get there first and catch them.

But Lim Juho was not an easy opponent.

“Interesting trick you pulled.”

Juho casually crushed the tracker stuck to his collar and smirked with narrowed eyes. He turned to Chi-ho.

“Chi-ho, let’s move.”

“Where to this time?”

“Who knows. If we don’t decide fast, they’ll catch up.”

Juho glanced at Yeoul.

“You choose, brother. At least you should be able to pick the place you’ll die.”

Yeoul slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky and blinked.

“…The sea.”

His cold, steady eyes shifted back to Juho.

“Let’s go to the sea.”

The sea, huh. Juho had just been thinking it might be better to go somewhere wide open. He tilted his head toward Chi-ho.

“You heard him, Chi-ho. Let’s go.”

When they arrived at the shore, Yeoul looked at Juho with eyes that showed not a trace of hesitation.

“Now kill me.”

Juho opened his palm toward Yeoul, then slowly closed it into a fist again. Yeoul urged him on.

“Why are you hesitating?”

Juho was silent for a moment, then relaxed his expression and smirked, adding a sly condition.

“Thinking about it, it feels like a loss for me. You should give me something in return.”

“What do you want?”

Juho’s fingertips slowly brushed the back of Yeoul’s neck.

“What else do you have right now besides that body of yours?”

At those words, Yeoul smiled faintly. It wasn’t a sneer or a bitter laugh. He was genuinely amused. The sight of misfortune clinging to his ankle to the very last moment—

“Hah… how can you be so consistent?”

At this point, applause would be fitting. Was it not enough to drag him through the mud for three lifetimes?

How utterly laughable.

They said life was a comedy from a distance—maybe it was true. In this moment when he was ready to give up on it, Yeoul became the spectator to his own life. So this is why you tormented me? Yeah, I see it now—it’s entertaining.

The truth behind all his misfortunes finally made sense. Only at the brink of death did he understand the mechanism of his own suffering. That too was laughable.

While Yeoul laughed, Juho stared at him blankly.

That smile—seeing it for the first time—was… ticklish, somehow.

It was a thrill of a different kind than the one born from cruelty. A sensation so unfamiliar it made him want to scratch at his skin. Like having a bug on you but sitting there stupidly watching it drink your blood.

It was a truly strange feeling. Juho, unusually for him, hardened his face and asked seriously,

“Why are you laughing?”

“No reason. Just thinking how bad men are all the same.”

Misfortune had always gotten in the way of Yeoul’s death. Of course it had—it wouldn’t want its toy running away.

“Bad bastards never want me to die.”

It was such a startlingly blunt answer that it left him momentarily at a loss.

What, had he been tortured or something?

The thought stirred something in his chest—an urge to spit out whatever was pressing inside. The image of Yeoul’s smile filling his head, that strange ticklish sensation he felt when looking at him…

Juho wet his dry lips with his tongue, searching for a question, and ended up blurting out what even he thought was the dumbest one.

“…Does that guy from earlier count too?”

“He’s the worst of them all.”

Yoo Ihan was the one who had committed the cruelest acts in Yeoul’s life. He was also the one who most desperately wanted to keep him alive.

“So every man you’ve met turned out to be bastards like me, huh.”

Juho muttered under his breath, then plastered on a playful smile again. He looked over Yeoul’s face, then nodded as if something made sense.

“You do have the kind of face that would attract only perverts. All innocent-looking and all.”

“Cut the chatter and just kill me. Before we’re interrupted.”

“I told you, I’ll do it if you give me something in return. Otherwise, I’ll go straight to him and tell him where you are.”

Yeoul let out a short, derisive laugh.

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“You’re awfully sure of yourself, brother. How do you know I won’t?”

“You’re not the kind of man to do anyone a favor.”

Juho readily admitted to the cold assessment.

“Pff—right. I’m not that kind of guy. You’ve figured me out pretty quick, haven’t you?”

He grasped Yeoul lightly by the neck and grinned.

“Like you said, I don’t do good things for people.”

Yeoul closed his eyes without a word, and Juho tightened his grip. A stifled groan escaped Yeoul’s lips, his face twisting in pain.

Juho sent an electric current into him. In an instant, Yeoul’s body went slack. Juho set him down on the sand, and Chi-ho clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“That’s a shame. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a guide.”

“Chi-ho.”

“Yes?”

Without taking his eyes off Yeoul, Juho gave his order.

“There’s a warehouse nearby, right? Move him there.”

“Uh… the body?”

“He’s not dead.”

“What?”

“I said, he’s not dead.”

Juho crouched and pressed his palm against Yeoul’s cheek.

“Like you said, I don’t do good things for people.”

He brushed the grains of sand from Yeoul’s hair.

“So why would I do you a favor by killing you? Who would that benefit?”

He hoisted Yeoul into his arms and jerked his chin at Chi-ho.

“Let’s go.”

“Gonna keep him for yourself?”

“Thought about it, and I don’t like the idea of you touching him.”

Juho walked ahead, Chi-ho following behind, thinking his boss was acting strange.

Juho locked Yeoul inside the warehouse and shut the door.

Through the crack, muffled voices could be heard. Yeoul slowly opened his eyes and checked carefully that no one was inside.

He’s right outside the door.

It seemed Juho was guarding the front. Yeoul got to his feet and took two small stones from his pocket—picked up earlier when he pretended to collapse.

The truth was, he hadn’t passed out. He had felt the current running through his veins, but it hadn’t been enough to knock him unconscious. He’d only pretended.

It must have been his first time trying to control his power to keep someone alive—he’d used too little force.

Looking around, Yeoul spotted a small window. He calculated the angle as if something had been thrown from outside, then set one stone on the floor and threw the other at the glass.

With a sharp crash, the window shattered. Juho kicked the door open. Yeoul lay motionless as before.

Scanning around the window, Juho found the stone rolling on the ground.

“It came from outside. Let’s check the back.”

Juho and Chi-ho headed out. The moment Yeoul heard them move away, he sprang to his feet and peeked through the crack in the door.

They had already gone to the back where the window was. Yeoul bolted from the warehouse in the opposite direction, running with all his strength.

Fortunately, the warehouse was near a cliff. Yeoul kicked off his shoes and peered down. The sheer drop yawned beneath him, as if waiting for him to leap.

He stood there in the whipping sea breeze, taking in the view.

Seagulls gliding low. Waves endlessly crashing against the rocks. Stones slowly worn down by time.

Beyond the horizon, where sea met sky, the distance seemed infinite. Knowing he would never reach it, he still stretched out his hand.

It was hard to believe that such a calm, beautiful sea could swallow him and lead him to death.

An old, weathered boat floated on the wrinkled surface of the water, no doubt abandoned.

A hollow, worn-out smile tugged at his lips.

“Ha ha!”

The day had finally come. A day he had wished for without pause since the day Ihan had died.

There was no hesitation. Yeoul stepped toward the edge of the cliff without a second thought. The wind pushed at him, as if trying to stop him, but if that were enough to deter him, he would have given up long ago.

At some point, the ground vanished beneath his feet. As he fell toward the sea, an old memory surfaced—

One from long before he had ever met Ihan.