VDN Ch 131

“And also a mosquito repellent bracelet, glow-in-the-dark stickers, the goblin watch, the Guide Pin, the Esper Pin, and…”

The little mouth chattered on and on without stopping. It seemed like Se-han was listing all the toys he’d wanted under the guise of school supplies. Nam-woon, smiling faintly at how cute Se-han was, decided to buy as much as his wallet would allow.

After sweeping through Namnam Supermarket, the two returned home and played a water gun fight shirtless in the yard. Se-han’s water gun was huge and reloaded quickly, while Nam-woon’s was barely the size of his palm and reloaded slowly. Because of that, Nam-woon had to work two or three times harder than Se-han. Se-han shouted in a bright, clear voice.

“Hmph, even though you’re a Guide, you’re on par with an Esper! Not too bad at all.”

“What’s a Guide?”

“Oh, come on! Wooni Hyung, just say, The world’s strongest Esper is too strong!

“The world’s strongest… Es-Esper? You’re too strong! You rascal!”

“Kyaaa-!”

As they continued to play without a care, before they knew it, the two of them were soaking wet like drowned rats.

“Se-han, you’re going to catch a cold. Let’s hurry inside, wash up, and get dressed.”

“Ahh! I’m still too hot. Let’s keep playing!”

He barely managed to coax and soothe Se-han into the house. Worried that he might catch a cold, he nudged Se-han towards the bathroom and picked up his phone that was plugged into the charger. He wanted to check if there were any additional messages from Detective Jang. However, when I saw the missed call on the screen, my expression stiffened unnaturally.

[Chairman Seok (Father)]

He never expected him to call him. Chairman Seok had never once called him directly, he always sent someone to relay his messages. But today was different. Sweat began to form on his palms.

His gaze drifted to the drawer of the wardrobe where he had hidden the recorder. He clenched his fist tightly.

***

[Mr. Seo-oh~ Are you coming tonight~~ I’ll be waiting for you^^]

[Why aren’t you answering? ;;] 

[I’m on my way.]

Seo-oh sent a message while walking. He had decided to go to the <Threep> perfume shop tonight to help organize the inventory. Originally, he didn’t want to work anywhere associated with Chairman Seok’s business, but he changed his mind after hearing Mr. Park’s grumbling voice.

“The order volume suddenly increased, right? I thought maybe the manager made a mistake while I was away, but apparently, the order came from the higher ups. I mean, our warehouse is already cramped. Maybe it’s because we’ve been getting more bookings from wealthy customers lately.”

Hearing that, Seo-oh volunteered to take a night shift. Even though the likelihood of illegal activities being involved in a private business was low, he still had suspicions about potential illegal dealings at the perfume shop. Since new stock typically arrives late in the evening, it would also be a good time to check the sales and order details.

After accepting the job at the perfume shop, he asked the Korean restaurant if he could finish a few hours early. He did so just to stop by home. Just one word from Nam-woon, saying he missed him, was enough.

“Kwon Seo-oh, do you trust me?”

Seo-oh suddenly stopped in his tracks as Nam-woon’s voice echoed in his mind. He covered his chin and lips with his palm. When he glanced down, his lower body was swollen as if it was going to burst. If he continued to walk around like this, it would be easy to misunderstand his intentions. Seo-oh hid himself in a nearby alley and waited for his excitement to subside.

I’m going crazy.

To calm down, he needed to think about something else, but the image of Hyung from earlier kept replaying in his mind.

It was a dizzying situation. Hyung, who was openly seducing him while wearing only underwear. He wanted to grab Nam-woon and torment him as much as he could, but Seo-oh held back his desire with superhuman patience.

However, he couldn’t hide the intense aura, as pheromones burst forth like an explosion. The moment Seo-oh saw Nam-woon trembling and clutching his arms tightly, he couldn’t help but rush out. It was due to the thought that this might be a side effect of the medication. Nam-woon looked pitiful, surprised by Seo-oh’s sudden action, but there was no other choice. Otherwise, it felt like he would push him as he pleased.

There was only one day left until the medication was fully taken. He couldn’t afford to lose control in that remaining day.

The hospital told him that if he stopped taking the medicine, he could experience a pheromone shock as a side effect, so Seo-oh had no choice but to endure. He had two packets left. One tonight and one tomorrow morning, and then it’ll be over.

The day he would confess to Nam-woon was the day after tomorrow. Everything had to be perfect on that day. For that sake, Seo-oh was willing to endure any discomfort.

Before heading to the perfume shop, he stopped by the library and searched for a bicycle to give to Nam-woon on his laptop. While working part-time, he had been scouting for a suitable bicycle as a gift for Nam-woon and had narrowed down to a few candidates. His plan was to visit the store tomorrow, choose a pink bicycle that would suit Hyung the best, and then pick it up to hide it.

When it got dark, he packed his bags and headed to the perfume shop. Inside the closed store, there were a lot of large boxes piled up. Mr. Park, who was standing in the middle of the chaos, was delighted to see Seo-oh enter through the shop door.

“Seo-oh, you’re here!”

He rushed out, grabbing Seo-oh’s hands tightly, his eyebrows drooping as he whined.

“If it weren’t for you today, Seo-oh, I would have been in big trouble. Everyone else said they had things to do and couldn’t help… I was wondering how I was going to handle all this alone, you really saved me, Seo-oh.” 

“Hello. Do I just need to move everything here?” 

“Yes, yes. Oh, except for these over here. I’ll handle those. Today’s deliveries were quite heavy. Can you manage on your own?” 

“It’s fine.”

Seo-oh went into the break room, placed his bag on the sofa, and put on the gloves Mr. Park had given him. He quickly picked up a large box and started moving it to the warehouse. Blue tendons bulged on his arms. After lifting and moving the box three or four times, sweat began to bead on his forehead, despite the cool air conditioning. 

But it wasn’t hard at all. Since this was an unexpected night job, Mr. Park promised good payment, enough to buy a bicycle for Se-han. He had been worried that if he only gifted Nam-woon, Se-han might feel left out, so he was relieved he could buy it for both of them this time.

Should I get Se-han a bicycle with training wheels? It would be nice for the three of them to go to the Han River together, ride bikes, lay out a mat, and enjoy ramen and packed lunches. Despite his seemingly expressionless face, his mind was filled with happy thoughts.

At that moment, Mr. Park could be heard talking on the phone.

“Hey, honey. …What? The others can’t come? What do you mean they can’t come now! Ugh… I keep telling you, I can’t get excited unless there are three of us!”

Mr. Park, who had been grumbling, glanced at Seo-oh and coughed in vain. He put his phone in his ear and gestured to Seo-oh. He pointed to the box in front of him and pointed toward the warehouse before leaving the store. Seo-oh headed toward the box that Mr. Park had pointed to.

“You said you’d move this one yourself earlier.”

It seemed Mr. Park had changed his mind about moving it himself. The perfume bottle was thick and the belongings were all liquid, so the boxes were all heavy. However, Seo-oh worked quietly, showing no signs of struggle as he tackled the boxes one by one.

How long had he been working? When he picked up the last box, it weighed much differently than the previous ones.

“….?”

When he shook it, something moved around inside. It felt like there was another small box inside. Seo-oh, who had been watching Mr. Park’s movements, calmly moved the box into the warehouse and ripped off the tape attached to the box. Seo-oh’s eyes narrowed as he checked inside, then suddenly opened wide.

“This is…”

What was inside was a safe. The safe that had been near Nam-woon, who had collapsed the day he had barged into Chairman Seok’s company. Could there be an identical safe in the perfume shop? It was too much of a coincidence to call it a coincidence. It was the moment when he bent down to examine it up close. Mr. Park, who had finished the call, grumbled and came back into the store.

Seo-oh quickly placed another box on top of it. Mr. Park surveyed the mess and sighed deeply. Then he looked at Seo-oh and asked, almost apologetically,

“Are you tired?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“But Seo-oh, wow… I didn’t realize how strong you are.”

Mr. Park looked Seo-oh up and down with a strange smile playing on his lips. Seo-oh ignored him and surveyed the surrounding boxes.

“Mr. Park, all of this is perfume, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. This time, there’s a specially crafted perfume, so they keep saying to store it in a cool place. I don’t get why these clueless thugs, no, people talk so much. Do they really think I don’t know that? I really don’t understand.”

Seo-oh observed Mr. Park, who was fanning himself with irritation. He seemed completely unfazed by any important details. Deciding to take a step back, Seo-oh said,

“I’ll take care of everything over here. You can handle the stuff outside.”

“Oh, really? There are only a few items left outside.”

“You’re tired. Just go home early. I’ll make sure to lock up.”

“…Is that okay?”

Mr. Park hesitated for a moment, but as soon as Seo-oh nodded, he turned and headed toward the door. Before stepping outside, he added, “Oh, by the way.”

“You asked if you could sleep in the break room today, right? Turn up the air conditioning and get some rest.”

Since he’d be working part-time at the perfume shop until four in the morning and had to report to a Korean restaurant by eight the next morning, he wouldn’t have time to go home. Both his home and workplaces were quite far, and he had asked about sleeping here. He was relieved to have received permission so easily.

Once Mr. Park left the storage area, Seo-oh opened the box containing the safe again. He started to take a few pictures of the safe with his phone to send to Nam-woon but quickly stopped.

“I’ll show it to him in person.”

If the safe was indeed the one Nam-woon was planning to open that day, leaving photos on his phone could be dangerous. He had a feeling that the villainous Chairman Seok might even tamper with Hyung’s phone.

Seo-oh carefully packed the box with the safe and pushed it deep into a corner of the storage room where it wouldn’t be seen.