Chapter : 2
Hyun’s greeting came a little faster than Jaehyuk noticing her presence.
“Lee Hyun? Since when were you standing there?”
“Next time you make a call, try looking around a little more carefully.”
Jaehyuk was flustered.
There was no way he wouldn’t have sensed someone approaching. Even if he had been on the phone, his hearing was extremely sharp, and he had clearly checked several times to make sure no one was around.
“…Did you hear everything?”
“Hear what?”
To meet the eyes of Jaehyuk, who was more than a handspan taller than her, Hyun slightly tilted her head up.
“If you mean that you’re investigating Jo Chihoon’s death. Yeah. I heard it all.”
“Could you at least keep it a secret from Daeik—”
“Stop.”
“What?”
At her firm tone, Jaehyuk frowned. She had suddenly appeared without a sound and was now interfering with his work—it was baffling.
“I’m saying this for your own good, Ahn Jaehyuk. Take your hands off that case.”
“…Do you even know exactly what kind of work I do before saying that?”
“Well, I probably know better than you what you’re about to get yourself into.”
Hyun, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened and faced him directly. Jaehyuk, his face crumpled with irritation, stared at her without understanding.
“Drop it—unless you want to die like a dog.”
“…What did you just say?”
“I said drop it, unless you want to die like a dog.”
Hyun enunciated every word again, even though she knew he hadn’t asked because he couldn’t hear her.
“Lee Hyun, I don’t know what you think you know, but this is official police business.”
“That’s exactly why I’m telling you to let it go. To you, it might just be part of the job—but to someone else, it’s more than that.”
“Can you explain that in a way I can understand?”
“Does this look like a request?”
At a glance, their size difference looked like twofold—no, threefold.
She was tall for a woman, but exceptionally slender. And Jaehyuk’s muscles, matching the exaggerated fuss men made about him, seemed to grow more defined by the day.
Yet in front of him, Hyun showed not a trace of intimidation. If anything, she looked threatening—as if she were his superior, delivering a warning.
“You’re no match for Jo Chihoon. Not even for his lackeys. If you want to disappear without a trace, keep going. I’ve warned you.”
It was already an act of considerable leniency for her to repeatedly tell him to step away. Though indifferent by nature, she was offering this much help out of old affection.
Whether he took that warning seriously was up to Jaehyuk.
Just then, Hyun’s phone rang.
“Yeah, why are you so late? I’ll head over there.”
Her tone was completely different from the gentle smile she had worn around their friends earlier. Seeing this side of her for the first time, Jaehyuk felt momentarily stunned.
Was all of that just an act?
After ending the call curtly, Hyun turned on the spot.
“Wait. You’re just leaving like this?”
It didn’t take long for his large frame to block her path.
“Move.”
Her cold voice was directed at him.
Hyun, who didn’t even bother lifting her head fully, glared at his chest and repeated irritably,
“I said move.”
“At least explain something properly— Aaagh!”
Finally, she raised her finger and pressed firmly into the spot near his upper chest. The area between the collarbone and sternum caused sharp pain when pressed hard. It was a method detectives used on one another to inflict pain without leaving visible marks.
How on earth did she know that?
Jaehyuk was utterly dumbfounded.
Stunned by the sudden pain, he could no longer stop her.
In that brief moment of hesitation, she quickly slipped out through the back yard.
“Let’s not see each other again.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, she left behind only those short words.
“Still, isn’t she ridiculously pretty?”
“She has a boyfriend. Wake up.”
“Then why did she tell us to pass this to Jo Daeik?”
By the time Jaehyuk returned, the topic of conversation over drinks was none other than Lee Hyun. One of the guys who had received her business card even pretended to save the number on it.
Jaehyuk ignored the lowlifes who existed everywhere and approached Daeik, who was passed out drunk.
“Think about it. If it were me, I’d want to hook up with Jo Daeik too.”
“She has a boyfriend.”
“Who cares about school ties or hometown ties when it comes to men and women? You never know. They could be secretly—”
“Cut it out.”
It had gone too far to let slide. The one who stopped the increasingly rude voices was Jaehyuk, who had been reaching out to support Daeik.
When his sharp gaze landed on them, they immediately shut their mouths.
Jaehyuk despised anything dishonorable.
Especially the kind who hid behind others and snickered like cowards. And people who changed their attitude depending on who they were dealing with—he didn’t even want to associate with them.
“If you’ve got nothing better to do, how about cleaning this up? The trash you drank.”
He jerked his chin toward the scattered bottles before turning back to Daeik.
In the end, the men who had been mocking Hyun couldn’t say a word to Jaehyuk, who was bigger than any of them.
Not wanting to waste another breath on meaningless conversation, Jaehyuk hoisted the unconscious Daeik onto his back and entered the lounge where the bereaved family was staying.
“Jaehyuk oppa?”
“Ajin.”
When he opened the door, Daeik’s only younger sister greeted him. He knew that Daeik, who had lost their mother at a young age, was especially devoted to her. Ajin looked surprised to see him after so long.
“Why did he drink so much? Oppa, could you move Daeik oppa over here?”
Quickly grasping the situation, she led Jaehyuk to the bedroom. He laid Daeik down on the bed she indicated.
“Thanks, oppa. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
Coming out of the bedroom, Ajin handed Jaehyuk a cold drink along with her greeting. Back when Jaehyuk frequently visited Daeik’s house, he had been close with Ajin as well. But after losing contact for several years, he had naturally grown distant from both of them.
“Yeah, I’ve been. You too—”
Jaehyuk trailed off. Asking Have you been well? didn’t seem appropriate to someone who was in mourning.
Feeling as though he had made a mistake, he cleared his throat awkwardly. Ajin smiled in response.
“I’ve been doing well. I was curious how you were doing. Oh, by the way…”
She took her phone out of her pocket and handed it to him.
“Let’s at least keep in touch. We’re not strangers. Haven’t we been too out of contact?”
Jaehyuk stared at the keypad screen for a moment. After seeming to think briefly, he took the phone. He had no intention whatsoever of using Ajin to dig into Jo Chihoon’s death. But sharing contact information didn’t seem like a bad idea.
He entered his number into her phone and handed it back. Ajin pressed the call button and only put her phone away after confirming the vibration from his.
“Can I call you?”
Seeing Jaehyuk hesitate, she asked again.
“I’ll call you?”
Unable to tell even a white lie, Jaehyuk ultimately couldn’t answer.
But Ajin was simply excited to see him again after so long. Smiling at his silence, she promised they’d talk again.
Unaware that he was desperately trying to find his father—who had staged his own death.
“Sunbae, who was that guy earlier that you’re so concerned about?”
Codename b0-13—also known as Viper—Lee Hyun’s sixth junior asked as he drove her car.
From Viper’s perspective, his senior had clearly been worried about a man who seemed to be an old classmate. It was unusual for her, someone who would mercilessly focus on her own mission even in the face of someone cornered. Moreover, she wasn’t supposed to let civilians learn her identity, so he couldn’t understand her earlier behavior.
“What if he starts suspecting you? Or do you not care if you’re exposed?”
Despite the barrage of questions, Hyun kept her gaze fixed outside the window.
“Could it be first love, or something like that—”
“Do you mind shutting up?”
He knew very well how to get her attention. Satisfied at having finally made her speak, Viper smirked.
“So what now? Are you going to China yourself?”
This time the question was reasonable. Hyun let out a small sigh and answered.
