He came. That perverted thief bastard came again. Woonghee’s gaze sharply fixated on the footprints.
“…….”
Woonghee stealthily approached closer. Carefully tiptoeing on the balls of his feet so as not to step on those footprints, he moved toward the cave.
There were especially many prints around the entrance. That pervert must have been pacing around here. Woonghee furrowed his gentle brows.
…He was checking to see if I was inside or not.
He approached the dangling leaf door. There, the shining champagne gold-colored tie pin was attached. But it was slightly askew.
“Look at this….”
When the tail is too long, it gets stepped on. To others it might seem like an insignificant change, but it couldn’t fool Woonghee’s eyes.
He definitely went inside and came back out!
“Which son of a bitch….”
Woonghee quickly stepped inside. He strode in and began to examine the inside of the cave one by one with sharp eyes, as if poking around.
Right, first the bedding. He had woven large grasses together and laid them thickly like a mat. And on top of that he had folded a blanket.
…It was gone, the blanket was missing.
Moreover, two matchsticks had disappeared as well.
How dare he steal fire?
Over there, they were taking turns keeping watch over the fire, and seeing how Managing Director Gi was lighting his cigarette with a lighter, it seemed they still had fire to spare.
But why on earth….
Why on earth did he steal his matches? Here, fire was as important as drinking water or food. It was as if he was deliberately trying to screw him over.
He spun his body around to see if anything else was missing. Then something caught his eye with a thud.
“Ah, my machete!”
He clung to the smooth rock on his knees in a flash. He had laid grass on top of this to make it like a nightstand.
So this place was the weapon storage. He would make things like machetes or new slingshots and display them here. His craftsmanship kept improving, so he felt proud and his heart would melt whenever he looked at them.
One of the machetes was nowhere to be seen. Seeing how he chose the best one, he was truly a gloomy bastard beyond compare.
…Moreover.
Moreover, as the final touch, even the spare raincoat he had carefully dried and set aside on one side had vanished without a trace. Everything else was fine. He could tolerate anything. That brand new machete? He could just make another one.
Fish, matches, firewood, whatever—it was all fine. The irritation was only temporary; he just needed to move his body diligently again.
But the raincoat, why on earth….
This really crossed the line. Woonghee rushed out of the cave while clutching the machete tightly. He picked up a tree branch from nearby and brought it to the footprints stamped countless times on the sandy beach.
He stuck the machete into the sand and knelt down on one knee.
Woonghee snapped the tree branch to match the size of those footprints. He compared the size by holding the branch against each footprint one by one.
And he became more and more certain. He bit down hard on his lower lip.
One person.
This is definitely one person.
Since the feet were bigger than Woonghee’s, they must be at least 265. Woonghee slowly gauged the foot size of Paeng Hana that he had just seen. Since she was on the tall side, her feet seemed large too, but they didn’t seem to reach 260.
Then it probably wasn’t that woman. Now the suspect was one of the remaining six people.
He only had circumstantial evidence, no physical proof. Moreover, they were all closely connected with each other, except for him. Wouldn’t stirring things up just provoke them and make him kindling? He needed to investigate very quietly and secretly to find out.
…Who could it be.
Who on earth had been watching him and stealing his things? He was lost in thought for a while. Then he felt a gaze directed at him. Woonghee slowly turned his head.
“…….”
His eyes met with another person’s. It was Managing Director Gi. Standing over there across from him, watching him.
Why was this man’s timing always so artful? Whenever he was cornered in a predicament, they would coincidentally run into each other just like this.
No, was it really a coincidence? Wasn’t this bastard the very person who cornered him into this predicament?
A man who wore a decadent atmosphere like a suit, who seemed to wrap pleasure and crime around his wrist like a watch.
With that near-perfect appearance, he must be doing incredibly rotten things behind the scenes. He’d probably pair foie gras made from fattened goose liver with wine.
A perverted human. A man who would use anything as material for his desires, who would exploit humans and livestock alike without discrimination.
To avoid getting entangled with that man, would he really have to stab that man to death with a knife?
“Fucking hell, seriously….”
Woonghee soon went pat, pat, pat. He stomped across the sandy beach. Squish, squish—the damp grains crumbled under the soles of his feet.
As he moved his feet diligently, that large body drew closer and closer.
What’s the point of setting rules. They were all being smashed to pieces. The second rule, excrement should be disposed of downstream in the valley, but wasn’t it being firmly upheld?
What kind of son of a bitch.
“Managing Director Gi-nim, how long have you been here?”
He pretended to be lost in thought and hummed low in his throat. He leisurely rubbed the back of his neck with the back of his hand, acting relaxed, but Woonghee felt like grabbing his cuff and shaking him.
How long have you been here!
“Since Woonghee-ssi was going crazy with that tree branch?”
“…….”
Woonghee lowered his eyes. In his hand that had dropped limply beside his thigh, a tree branch was still gripped.
“Have you seen anyone come to my cave?”
“Well.”
The man slowly drew out the ending sound while bringing his finger close to Woonghee.
“I haven’t been here long either.”
It seemed his words were true. The cigarette squeezed tightly between his thick fingers was a long one. Woonghee roughly compared the tree branch in his hand with the man’s foot size. At a glance, the man’s feet were considerably larger.
“Your expression looks exactly like.”
So it’s not this man.
“Like you’ve been robbed.”
He pressed down firmly on the corners of his mouth that were about to tear open lengthwise with his smooth tongue.
“Could it be Director Hwang-nim who snuck in?”
That was a question even Woonghee didn’t know the answer to. As he just furrowed his brow, the man gazed at Woonghee with eyes that looked like he was holding back laughter.
“Because he got turned on by Woonghee-ssi?”
Son of a bitch, talking that way again. As Woonghee’s cheeks twitched, the man showed both his palms saying he didn’t mean anything bad by it.
“Whoa, whoa.”
Whoa, whoa—a tone used to calm a wild beast. Those palms were so large. They were big enough to cover Woonghee’s entire head and then some.
“Why? It’s entirely possible, isn’t it?”
The man babbled on about how they needed to be honest to build trust between them.
“What if he goes into heat?”
There were only fourteen of them, Woonghee-ssi’s pills. The man said that. Smiling slowly with his eyes curved, as if enjoying himself.
No, that’s wrong. Now there were only thirteen pills.
“…I told you I have more besides those.”
“Then why do you eat suppressants so secretively?”
The man smiled deeply.
“Lies. Woonghee-ssi is bad at lying.”
It’s not like you’re swallowing drugs, isn’t it too secretive, the man said as he playfully poked at Woonghee.
“What if you’re not my type either, and Director Hwang isn’t interested either?”
Woonghee absolutely couldn’t meet his gaze. Instead, he cast his eyes beyond the man’s shoulders where thick muscles clung. Standing there was the man’s right-hand man.
Managing Director Gi wedged himself in between.
That boldly featured face approached right up to Woonghee’s nose. Their noses were really close enough to almost touch. A distance where they could feel each other’s breath. For a moment, at his pheromones that surged deeply into his nostrils in one chunk, Woonghee felt dizzy for an instant.
…Please, just stop. Stop crossing the line.
How should he put it. Whenever he did this, Woonghee felt like he was tumbling down from a high valley. He became captivated by such a dizzying feeling.
“Why? You want to stick with Daehyung?”
He’s quick, you know—the man’s massive shoulders shook as he said that. His upper arms were so large, like two of Woonghee’s machetes placed side by side.
“Daehyung-ah.”
The man called the name softly. Just by calling that name, his subordinate was fired off like a bullet that had been loaded in the chamber and came running. The firewood he had been holding in his hands had long since tumbled down to his feet with a clatter.
“Yes, Managing Director-nim. Did you call for me?”
“Take off your shoes.”
Then Managing Director Gi gestured with his eyes toward his subordinate. It meant to measure that muscular guy’s foot size.
