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I couldn’t properly explain what had happened inside the gate earlier, so I explained it there and then. When Jung Yi Joon heard about my sudden ability, his mouth dropped open.
“So… That’s what happened.”
Jung Yi Joon nodded and fell into thought alone. His mood suddenly switched again. When I looked at him, he growled at me.
“Eugeugeugeuk… uhh…”
“You did it three times, but I don’t remember. It’s frustrating, so let’s do it again.”
“You’re going craz…!”
“Stop it! Yoon Jae dislikes it!”
Jung Yi Joon kissed my lips, ignoring Jang Eui Yeol. In fact, he didn’t need to worry since I couldn’t even feel the pain in my squeezed cheeks. After Jung Yi Joon’s ability filled up half of the empty slot, Jung Yi Joon let go of my cheeks.
""
“Haa…”
He was looking down at me with a wobbly look, then he slumped down on the bed. His shoulders shook; I couldn’t tell if he was crying or laughing…
As I was rubbing my fingers on my cheeks that Jung Yi Joon had tightly pinched, I looked at Jang Eui Yeol, who seemed to be a little sulky. What was wrong with him?
“Yoon Jae… Are you not curious about my abilities?”
“Ah? Not really.”
When I said no to the sullen Jang Eui Yeol, Jung Yi Joon, who had been lying down, woke up and growled again.
“Hey, if you do it with him, you’ll die.”
“What do you mean, I’ll die? What do you mean!”
“I said you’ll die if you do it!”
Jung Yi Joon got angry and reached his hand out to grab me, so I stood up and dodged it.
Jung Yi Joon’s face became like, “What?” but since the hospital room was very large I could easily avoid him. Eventually, he flopped back down since the fatigue of overusing his powers had not yet been relieved.
“I’ll really kill…”
I looked at Jung Yi Joon, who was glaring with anger, and snickered to Jang Eui Yeol, as if to say, “What are you going to do, get mad?”
At that time, Jang Eui Yeol bowed his head to block my vision. Soon something moist touched my lips. “Eh..” In the meantime, Jang Eui Yeol’s ability filled as much as half the empty slot.
“Hey!”
“How was it? Well?”
“Uh?”
“If it’s not working, should we try it one more time?”
“It’s w-working…”
“Hey, you two bastards!”
Jang Eui Yeol laughed at the screaming Jung Yi Joon in the background.
“Tell me if you need my ability again. I’ll lend you as much as you want.”
Did he need to whisper faintly while smiling like that? He wanted to lend it to me? It felt like it wasn’t a big deal for him. No, I’d be happy if he lent it to me more, but…
Seeing him so unconcerned about skinship with others, I began to wonder if it was because he was the protagonist of a “harem story”, or if the world had changed so much in that short time that I had become an oldie. Whether or not he knew about my worries, Jang Eui Yeol just smiled at me.
After some time, Jung Yi Joon recovered his strength. We decided to leave the hospital since the person, who was supposed to be in the hospital in the first place, said he wanted to go home.
“Then see you at school. The contract… let’s do it on Monday.”
“Yes, go home safely.”
I called two cars, one for me to ride home and one to take Jang Eui Yeol home. I got into the car, ignoring Jung Yi Joon as he – overhearing my conversation with Jang Eui Yeol – angrily asked, “When did you decide to do that?”
“Hey, I’ll kill you if you do it with someone else. Kwon Jae Hyuk, the little kid, or Jang Eui Yeol, you can’t do that!”
“Ah, why do you keep saying that you’re going to kill me?”
“That’s why you should only borrow it from me! Okay?”
“I don’t want to!”
“This! Hurry up and say okay!”
“No!”
As I quarrelled with Jung Yi Joon in the car, we quickly arrived at the mansion. Once the security confirmed the car, the main gate automatically opened. I could hear a commotion inside as we entered.
“What’s going on?”
As I got out of the parked car, the commotion sounded clearer. Westerners dressed in white coats like researchers were making a ruckus in our garden.
As I stared blankly at them, Ki Hyun Joo, who was standing at the side of the garden while watching them, approached me.
“You’re here already?”
“Oh, yeah. What are they doing?”
Ki Hyun Joo’s lips twisted at my question. She talked in a subdued voice, sneering instead of smiling.
“They’re from the U.S.A. I heard it’s SNT.”
“So? Why are they here? Don’t tell me…”
I was embarrassed that it was because of the bull. No, was that why they were on private property and making a fuss? I looked at Ki Hyun Joo with a face saying, ‘It’s not ‘that’ right?’; however,Ki Hyun Joo still had a cold face.
“They came into the private property and made a fuss, but you didn’t kick them out?”
“…The house owner allowed it.”
“What? Me? When?”
While I was puzzled – wondering if I had given permission – Ki Hyun Joo, who was staring at the researchers with a cold face, turned her eyes to me.
“Not you.”
“Of course…”
“Your father, I mean.”
Heup, suddenly my heart started pounding. I was so flustered that my body became stiff because of the nervousness. Ki Hyun Joo turned towards me and ran her hands through my hair to see if I was annoyed.
“Plus, the Chairman1 called. He told me not to inconvenience them… I guess the U.S. government’s offer was something especially great.”
“…I see. But what are you doing here?”
At my question, her cold face turned strange and burst into laughter.
“They tried for a while, but when those people went near, the docile bull suddenly got angry. They couldn’t approach it, which is why they’re like that.”
Ki Hyun Joo made a bitter smile. It felt good to see that they were in a difficult situation, but I didn’t feel good about them wandering around the mansion all the time.
The researchers kept trying to solve the problem on their own, but in the end they couldn’t; they approached Ki Hyun Joo and talked to her.
“Miss, we’d like your help.”
“Me? Why?”
“Don’t be like that… We came in with the permission of Mr. Ki (KYJ’s father), the owner of this house.”
Ho, I laughed when he said it so brazenly. Let’s see, let’s see… I guess I looked like a pushover who deliberately gave information at a loss. I blocked Ki Hyun Joo from trying to step up.
“You came in with my father’s permission?”
“Yes. That’s right. And I think Chairman Ki asked you to help us.”
Hoo, I was speechless. Ki Hyun Joo muttered behind me at the condescending behaviour, “What are we going to do?” I smiled at him.
“Really? If the Chairman said so, we should help you.”
“Hey! Ki Yoon Jae.”
“Mr. Ki speaks better than Ms. Ki. Then please aid us…”
“But what should we do? That’s not ours.”
“Huh?” He said; I smiled brightly at the researcher who asked back.
“That’s not ours. So it doesn’t matter if you got permission to enter my mansion, you still can’t touch that.”
“T-That… That’s not Sungwoon’s?”
“Yes. It’s my friend’s, but I’m keeping it for a while because he didn’t have anywhere to put it.”
“…I was told that he belongs to the Sungwoon guild.”
I smiled broadly at the researcher looking at me with suspicious eyes.
“Oh! Unfortunately, we haven’t signed the contract yet! And even if they are guild members, we can’t take their personal property.”
“If you’re gonna be like this, you’ll get in trouble later on.”
“Haha, that’s why…”
I smiled and approached the researcher. He looked at me with an angry face as I whispered with a smile.
“If you’re going to ask for a favour, be polite. Don’t order us with a face that looks down at us.”
“…”
“Stay as you’d like. But that’s not ours, so don’t touch it. Do you understand?”
I patted him lightly on the shoulder and turned around. Ki Hyun Joo, who was listening to the two of us, looked at me with wide eyes. When I moved, she quickly stuck to me and asked me.
“Are you okay? Can you say that?”
“I’m pissed. Once you lose, people will think you’re a pushover.”
“That’s true. I’m relieved. Did you see his expression? He was so mad.”
Annoyed or not… The reason why I gave information to the Americans was because I wanted to find the traitor immediately, but I also wanted something else. However, did I give them the information too easily? I think they judged me as a kid who didn’t even know the importance of information.
Jung Ji Yoon was standing by the front door waiting for me. As Ki Hyun Joo and I approached him, someone called me from behind.
“Mr. Ki!”
It was a different researcher than before. He seemed to be the person in charge, given that he looked older.
Footnotes
Previously I used “President”, but I’ll use “Chairman” from now. Sorry for the inconveniences.