M 56

Sehwa had been circling the parking lot for an hour. There wasn’t really anywhere to walk near the House. Suspicious shadows appeared and disappeared intermittently beyond the sparsely parked cars. These were the tails Ki Tae-jeong had left behind to watch over him. While there was no sense of their presence when going outside, they made no effort to hide their surveillance when inside the House. It was a deliberate, oppressive act. As a result, Sehwa couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched even when outside. Conversely, when in the House, it reminded him that even when alone like this, he wasn’t really alone. …He found himself constantly aware of Ki Tae-jeong, anytime and anywhere.

“…What is this.”

A childish complaint suddenly burst out without him realizing. Sehwa stopped still and Stared blankly at his new shoes that were still stiff.

He had been allowed short outings for a few days now. Of course, it was with a patch wrapped around his d1ck. The fortunate thing was that it wasn’t as restrictive as when he was first tied up. It was just wrapped once around the base of his d1ck, so it didn’t hurt and using the bathroom wasn’t a problem at all.

The stamp was no longer imprinted on his perinevm either. Surprisingly, Ki Tae-jeong had been agonizing over this issue every morning. He said he liked leaving marks—it drove him wild—but he didn’t like the bruised, bluish stains that lingered, calling them unsightly. Previously, Ki Tae-jeong had repeatedly questioned why the color in his gro1n was so pale, and then would eagerly l1ck Sehwa’s lower parts. So Sehwa had simply thought that must be Ki Tae-jeong’s preference. That he was so disgusted because the color he liked so much had been ruined.

‘It’ll fade eventually. That’s not even what’s bothering me right now, babe.’

However, Ki Tae-jeong solemnly shook his head, denying Sehwa’s misunderstanding. He said it wasn’t that he disliked the blotchy, ink-stained perineum itself.

‘This wasn’t part of my orders.’

‘But… it can’t be helped, can it? Even writing on your hand lasts for a day…’

‘It’s that ‘it can’t be helped’ part that’s frustrating, I’m telling you.’

No matter how thoroughly he scrubbed, faint traces of bluish marks remained. It wasn’t something Ki Tae-jeong had intended, nor was it an outcome he had anticipated. Ki Tae-jeong seemed to strongly dislike anything that happened outside of his control. Even if it was just an ink mark from a stamp.

‘Maybe something like a tattoo would be better.’

He even said such a thing while tying the patch this morning. When Sehwa froze with his legs spread, Ki Tae-jeong laughed it off as a joke, but… it probably wasn’t entirely a joke. Ki Tae-jeong was a man who could easily do such a thing if he wanted, regardless of Sehwa’s will.

Sehwa took a deep breath with his hands on his knees. Suddenly, he felt suffocated.

What am I? What exactly am I to that man?

The first day he was officially allowed to go out was good. Although he couldn’t go far since he had to return within two hours, getting some fresh air definitely made him less sleepy. However, as the time spent outside accumulated, various thoughts Started to flood in. Especially about Ki Tae-jeong.

The stream of water falling from the ceiling, the sensation of leaning against that broad and firm chest, the low voice whispering gently in his ear. And the man’s feet supporting his own feet. When alone, that day’s events kept replaying endlessly. The black screen in his memory rewound everything that had happened since meeting Ki Tae-jeong.

On that day when they had a more intense and deeper relationship than usual, Ki Tae-jeong told him he had done well. Even when he had smuggled medicine from the shelter, he had never been praised for his efforts, but only after satisfying his sexual desires did he receive his first compliment. And it was in such a gentle and kind tone—a tone Sehwa had never heard from him before.

It should have been a good thing. He should have felt relieved that he was no longer being treated harshly… but the moment he heard those words of praise, it felt like a corner of his heart crumbled. To Ki Tae-jeong, it seemed that ejacvlat1ng and taking his large d1ck to the hilt… were the only praiseworthy things. It appeared that in his eyes, that was the only thing Sehwa had done well. When they had raided the shelter, he had also discovered the twin-tailed pattern, successfully transferred the drvgs, and even while crying uncontrollably, he had held onto the b0mb shell until the end… All of that wasn’t even worth a single act of s3x.

An empty wind rushed through the cracks in his fractured heart. Now Ki Tae-jeong no longer kicked him. After treating him harshly in the bunker, he had tried to comfort him in his own way by going out together and even grilling meat for him. Since that day when he had submitted and responded to the kiss, Ki Tae-jeong no longer did things that Sehwa absolutely hated, like mockingly calling his name or teasing him by calling him a male pr0stitvte.

It couldn’t be considered an attitude towards a mere decoy in an operation. Nor did it seem like treating him as someone to use and discard after a few encounters. Sehwa felt it too. That he had become a distinctly different entity to Ki Tae-jeong compared to before. But… could that really be considered a good thing?

“…If this isn’t being a s3x toy, then what is it…?”

He had tried to console himself by thinking this was better than being beaten and degraded, but the more he thought about it, the less true it seemed. The words were just dressed up differently, but the treatment felt worse.

Sehwa unconsciously felt his chest tighten and patted it. The words ‘You’ve done well’ and that low, refined voice kept weighing on his heart, making his eyes sting with unbidden tears.

Ever since getting entangled with Ki Tae-jeong, Sehwa’s days had been drenched in tears, but recently, it seemed worse than ever. His mood swung wildly, catching even himself off guard. Perhaps it was because he’d never had so much idle time to dwell on his thoughts before.

“…What’s wrong with me, seriously?”

Sehwa wished he would forbid him from going out again. Although he reluctantly went out each time to avoid giving him reasons to find fault, being alone like this, seeing other people working and living normally… it kept making him feel strange. It seemed like there was something wrong with him for not even mentioning bets anymore and taking it for granted to fall into Ki Tae-jeong’s arms. Sehwa almost felt it was easier on his mind when he was confined and just slept on the waterbed, when he could make excuses that none of this was his own will.

“Get a grip, get a grip…”

His own muttering voice sounded unfamiliar. Too many things had changed. Quickly resigning himself and figuring out how to survive used to be one of his strengths, but now even that wasn’t working well. A lump kept forming deep inside him. Sehwa knew it was because of Ki Tae-jeong, but everything else just felt numb.

Sehwa didn’t know how to express these emotions. More accurately, he was avoiding facing them because he didn’t want to. If he were to extract precise sentences from this crushed mass of feelings. If he were to realize the emotions he didn’t want to know. He felt like he would collapse and never be able to get up again…

“…Stop thinking about it.”

It’s not like there was anything he could do anyway. Sehwa slapped his own cheeks a few times. Scolding and encouraging himself as he forced his drooping steps forward.

Today, he had taken all the important items out of his lodgings. Ki Tae-jeong had informed him that he’d be moving to the official residence in the afternoon while he was away. Of course, he would only stay there for a few days before returning, but Ki Tae-jeong had made it clear that Sehwa wouldn’t be going back to that small room after this.

‘When you’re with me, you won’t have any reason to go outside the office anyway, and after everything is done, won’t you be living inside the castle with a new identity?’

He told him not to hide things here and there in a place with no security whatsoever, only to get everything stolen and then whine about it, and to bring all his personal belongings this time. Sehwa didn’t entirely believe his words about giving him a new identity, but it wasn’t a difficult instruction to follow. The things he had hidden in his lodgings were just some drvg distribution records and a little cash anyway.

“Oh? Aren’t you Samwol?”

Someone waved their hand at the entrance of the parking lot, acting like they knew him. It was the fence auntie.

“Wow… look how good you look now. Why did you go around looking like a beggar all this time?”

“Have you been well?”

Sehwa asked with forced care, suppressing his turbulent feelings. The fence auntie shuddered dramatically, saying not to even get her Started.

“Did you know that all the odd-job workers here died a while ago? They say even Mr. Kim and Mr. Choi who used to clean up after the card games are gone.”

“What? Why?”

“That’s what everyone’s going crazy about, not knowing the reason. It seems like this new director guy is killing people like they’re chickens.”

If it was Mr. Kim and Mr. Choi… they were quite experienced odd-job workers even within the House. They were also people who occasionally looked after Sehwa. Knowing that he often Starved himself to avoid increasing his debt, they always shared when they had food. They even introduced some customers in their own way. Of course, it didn’t make much money. Honestly, it was a loss. Still, he didn’t show it, fearing they might stop talking to him if he refused. Sehwa knew it wasn’t kindness from the bottom of their hearts. But since no one had ever cared for him even that much until now, he was grateful even for their fickle generosity.

People working here often disappeared without a word even the very next day. Death wasn’t unfamiliar or sad, but… knowing that the person who killed those uncles was Ki Tae-jeong, that felt a bit strange. Did he know that those uncles had looked after him? He probably did… Ki Tae-jeong knew everything about him. That man seemed determined to destroy everything of his, leaving not a single grain behind.

“So I couldn’t do business properly until yesterday, the smell of bleach was everywhere. They’ve never cleaned so thoroughly even when the cops were coming, how much blood must have been spilled inside for them to do that.”

The fence auntie made a retching gesture, saying she still felt sick.

“Ah…”

Could it be… that day? The day he told him he did a good job.

That day, Warrant Officer Choi suddenly approached him and said his superior was feeling down. When Sehwa went inside, Ki Tae-jeong was sprawled on the sofa with bottles of alcohol lined up on the table. He thought he had noticed the bleach smell was stronger than usual even while going up to the office.

But Ki Tae-jeong… he was the kind of man who would order to cripple even his own subordinates without batting an eye. For such a man to be in low spirits because he killed some House workers he didn’t even know. That didn’t make sense.

“Oh right, since I ran into you, can you take a look at this?”

The fence auntie held out a few pills, as if to wake Sehwa from his thoughts.

“They say this is a new product mixing Kepo and Dina… but can you trust what those 3-hwan guys say? You know their home base is ruined and they’ve been out of their minds lately.”

“Ah… It’s not really a good idea to check this out here, where people can see. Just give it to me for now. I’ll be running errands and coming back in a few days, so I’ll let you know then.”

Sehwa had no choice. He couldn’t taste them right away with the patch on, and he would be staying at Ki Tae-jeong’s official residence for a while, so it would be difficult to meet. The fence auntie scratched her cheek uncomfortably before placing the drugs in Sehwa’s hand.

Here’s the English translation:

“Well, you’re not the type to go around spreading gossip anyway.”

“Yes. Let’s meet here in a week. I’ll be out around this time.”

Sehwa, who was putting the drugs into the front pocket of his crossbody bag, noticed something deeply embedded inside and stopped the fence who was about to turn away.

“Auntie. Do you know what this is?”

Since he only had money and a few documents to bring anyway, he had just carried this bag when cleaning out his lodgings today. After returning to the office from the bunker, all his clothes and bags were taken away again, so he had forgotten about it too, but Ki Tae-jeong had given him something like a badge to keep at that time. Even he didn’t seem to know its purpose, which he had found curious.

“Wow… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this. This is something they used for port transfers a long, long time ago. They made it to give as a reward to rebel informants, but the 5-Star Council got angry, saying what was the point of dividing districts if they were going to do this, so it disappeared right away. It’s been over 30 years? No, almost 40 years?”

“Ah… I guess it’s like a free pass or something.”

“Yeah. I only knew about it because smugglers sometimes looked for it, most people these days wouldn’t recognize it. Are you planning to sell all of these?”

“Ah, no. It’s not mine. Someone I know asked me to inquire about it.”

The fence auntie smacked her lips regretfully.

“If you’re going to sell it, make sure to come to me. Don’t give it to anyone else.”

“I will.”

Just as Sehwa pushed the bundle of badges into his crossbody bag, his phone alarm went off loudly. It was the signal marking the end of his short outing.

***

“From here on is 2-Star territory.”

Warrant Officer Choi briefly explained what each building was, pointing at structures beyond the window. Sehwa just nodded, feeling dazed.

3:43 PM. At this awkward time to do anything, Warrant Officer Choi knocked on the office door. Saying that Ki Tae-jeong had some business and would come straight to the official residence in the evening, so they should get going. The car parked in front of the building was a type Sehwa had never seen before. The body was so long that he wondered if it could actually roll on just four wheels, and it had a somewhat unique license plate.

Noticing Sehwa’s furtive glances, Warrant Officer Choi quietly informed him, ‘This is a limousine that only officers can ride.’ After hearing that, familiar emblems caught his eye here and there. The bird’s eye placed in the center of the license plate was glinting threateningly.

And so, they were heading towards 5-Star territory in this strange vehicle. He would have been nervous even if it was just 3-Star. Moreover it was the 5-Star. And the car they were riding in was so unusual that it didn’t feel real at all. Sehwa was surprisingly calm, to the point where even he found himself unfamiliar.

“It would be faster and more convenient to move by port, but for entering 5-Star territory, he… um, Brigadier General Ki suggested that we should let Mr. Lee Sehwa see the scenery once.”

“…The Brigadier General did?”

“Yes. Since this is your first visit to 5-Star territory.”

As he said this, Warrant Officer Choi Stared intently at Sehwa. His gaze was so direct it was almost burdensome. It was as if… he expected Sehwa to show an incredible reaction upon hearing his words.