Aggro Hunter 74

“I’m scared someone might see. Get in the back first.”

“Kyaa, what a gentleman~.”

He only opened the door because one arm was in a cast, but he twisted his body and made weird sounds. Yoon Gyeom got goosebumps and unconsciously closed the door hard.

When he climbed into the driver’s seat, Dohae pointed to the back seat and spoke.

“Byun Sejung’s son, Byun Taehui. Identity verification.”

“Ha…… Not Taehui, I mean you.”

Byun Taehui’s identity was certain, but he wasn’t the one who wanted the coach position. Moreover, Byun Taehui was an acquaintance he was meeting after ten years. Even Byun Taehui, whose identity was certain, was hard to trust, so needless to say someone who was Byun Taehui’s acquaintance.

“Yoon Gyeom hyung, I’ll vouch for our honey. His personality is a bit dirty, but the more you see him, the cuter he is?”

“Honey?”

Byun Taehui stuck his head into the front seat and grinned. Yoon Gyeom frowned and looked back and forth between the two. Surely they weren’t in that kind of relationship…… When Yoon Gyeom sent a suspicious look, Dohae turned to look at Byun Taehui and snapped irritably.

“Fuck, speak properly. Unless you want your other arm broken too.”

Yoon Gyeom learned that Dohae was the one who broke Byun Taehui’s arm. From the reaction, they didn’t seem to be lovers, but it was also ambiguous to see them as friends. What kind of friends unilaterally threaten to break each other’s arms? His wariness toward Dohae deepened further.

“Taehui, are you being threatened right now?”

“Hm? No~ Our honey just talks like this, but doesn’t really hit me. He’s sweet~.”

When Byun Taehui waved his hand, his sleeve rolled up. Dark bruises were visible on his white skin. He hadn’t noticed because it was covered with makeup, but looking closely, there were spots here and there on his face too.

The warmth disappeared from Yoon Gyeom’s expression. He didn’t say a word, but the atmosphere in the car grew heavier and heavier.

Dohae in the passenger seat slowly turned to the side. He too said nothing, but was blatantly displaying displeasure through his crooked posture.

“Shh! Both of you, stop!”

Byun Taehui spread his hand wide and extended his arm between the two. He could see why Dohae had sent him an SOS. Yoon Gyeom was someone who would never yield to power, money, or authority. For Dohae, who was hiding his identity, the difficulty level was way too high.

“Hyung, I did something that deserved a beating.”

“Something that deserved a beating?”

“I thought he was cute so I teased him by groping him here and there and kissing him, and the kid started crying. So I got beaten up, so don’t think too badly of our honey, okay?”

“Who did you do that to?”

“Uh, Pyeonghwa……”

“Byun Taehui! Are you crazy? Do you know how old Pyeonghwa is right now?”

Yoon Gyeom’s reprimand fell. Byun Taehui inwardly shouted ‘nice’. He’d brought up Pyeonghwa’s story mixed with provocative words to give legitimacy to Dohae’s violence. Yoon Gyeom’s reaction continued more intensely than expected.

“Did you forget you got hit back then for trying to do that crap to me too? You still haven’t come to your senses! Now you’re even touching a twenty-year-old? Don’t tell me, Taehui, you’re not deliberately going around looking like that to do such things, are you?”

Right, there was such an incident. Byun Taehui recalled the memory he’d forgotten. In the past, when they were deployed together on an operation by government summons, he’d touched a sleeping Yoon Gyeom for fun.

The result was disastrous. Yoon Gyeom was horrified and slapped Byun Taehui’s cheeks repeatedly. It was fortunate he’d been gritting his teeth, otherwise all his molars might have been pulled out. That was when he first learned Yoon Gyeom was someone who could curse.

At that time, he’d gotten out of the situation by pretending to have made a mistake in his sleep. He never laid a hand on him after that, but it seemed Yoon Gyeom was getting more immersed in the memory of that incident.

“And you should dress appropriately for your age. If someone over thirty goes around with hair braided in pigtails, wearing clothes that look like school uniforms, what will people think? In my opinion… I’m sorry to say this, but you look like a pervert and disgusting, Taehui.”

Kkeung. At the endless nagging, Byun Taehui banged his forehead against the back of the passenger seat. Yoon Gyeom was so rigid he was called “Master” among his junior Hunters. He was incompatible with Dohae, but even more incompatible with him.

It was impossible to gain trust without revealing Dohae’s identity to Yoon Gyeom. But after showing all that temper, he couldn’t reveal that he was Do Dohae either.

Of course, even if Yoon Gyeom knew, he wouldn’t harbor much malice, but you can know ten feet of water but not one foot of a person’s heart. He couldn’t gamble with Haedo’s life.

‘Should I bet my own life?’

Yoon Gyeom was someone weak to emotional appeals. Byun Taehui decided to target that aspect.

Even while thinking about putting himself on the gambling table, Byun Taehui’s eyes showed no wavering. From a very long time ago, he had something more important than his life.

Ahem, ahem! Byun Taehui cleared his throat and opened his mouth. Instead of his gentle high voice, his original thick voice came out. It was to appear even a little more serious.

“Hyung, let’s talk about our Chunsik first. I’ll listen to the nagging later. I know it’s suspicious that I’m all wrapped up like this. But Chunsik also has unavoidable circumstances.”

“Ha, fuck……”

“Hey there, Kim Chunsik! Don’t curse when you should be making a good impression.”

As if displeased that he’d used the name ‘Kim Chunsik’ again, Dohae ground his teeth. Byun Taehui pressed down on his shoulder as if telling him to endure it a little.

“Yoon Gyeom hyung, his name is Kim Chunsik, and he’s twenty-four. He hates people gossiping when they see his face, so he always goes around like this.”

It wasn’t a lie. People gossiped when they saw Dohae’s face, and Dohae hated that reaction terribly. It was because he was too beautiful, but Byun Taehui cunningly expressed it as if there was a problem with his appearance.

“Actually, Chunsik is also a pseudonym. He’s an existence that mustn’t be known to the outside world, so he can’t say his real name. Chunsik is…… a slave of the Do family.”

“……A slave? With that kind of power, you call him a slave?”

“What good is power? If he doesn’t do as he’s told, he’ll die, so he’s no different from a slave.”

Yoon Gyeom was flustered by the unexpected story. The Do family was a prestigious family that everyone in South Korea knew. It was where Do Jeongwang and Do Dohae belonged, and was also the core of Dojeon Guild. It was a hard-to-believe story, but since Byun Taehui was Do Dohae’s cousin, it was difficult to think it was entirely false.

“This time he received an order to eliminate Pyeonghwa.”

“Pyeonghwa? Why?”

“Precisely, Pax. I guess those above found him irritating. He posted tons of hateful comments about Dohae.”

This also wasn’t a lie. Do Jeongwang’s order to find and eliminate malice was no different from telling him to kill Pyeonghwa.

However, at the point when he learned Pax was Pyeonghwa, Byun Taehui had falsely reported to his superiors that he’d eliminated the malice, so the threat had disappeared. Haedo’s health had improved just in time, so there were no particular signs of suspicion.

“But Chunsik got attached to Pyeonghwa and can’t kill him? What can we do? We have to create a reason why he has no choice but to fail.”

“A reason why he has no choice but to fail……”

“If Pyeonghwa becomes a famous pro gamer recognized by the entire nation, it’ll work. Then there’ll be too many eyes watching, so they can’t touch him carelessly.”

Yoon Gyeom’s face hardened seriously. He didn’t know Pyeonghwa was under such a threat. He thought he should hurry and bring him into the team to protect him.

But bringing in a suspicious person as a coach still felt uncomfortable. Was it okay to keep an assassin who’d received a kill order by his side? Another worry arose.

As if knowing Yoon Gyeom’s anguish, Byun Taehui’s smile deepened. Byun Taehui deliberately rattled off words that would make Dohae disgusted.

“Think of him as a pitiful kid and let it slide just once. Do you think he wants to live like this? In a prison without bars, suffocating without being able to breathe……”

“Fuck, that’s enough.”

Dohae roughly shook off Byun Taehui’s hand on his shoulder, took ragged breaths, opened the car door, and stormed out. Bang! The door closed violently.

Byun Taehui watched Dohae’s retreating figure in silence for a long while, then soon leaned back against the seat and let out a deflated laugh.

“He’s my little brother, hyung.”

“…….”

“When I first saw him, he was like a baby kitten dropped in an unfamiliar place. Running away, biting, scratching, kicking…… Then once in a blue moon he’d smile, and it was so cute. I always carried a camera around chasing him because I wanted to capture it.”

Sincere affection that couldn’t be fabricated even if one tried oozed from Byun Taehui’s voice. Yoon Gyeom silently listened to his story attentively.

“But at some point he stopped smiling. I wish he’d at least cry refreshingly, but he doesn’t even cry. Anger piles up layer upon layer, but he endures that too, and endures again……”

The reason Byun Taehui had been poking at Dohae’s nerves all this time also included the hope that he’d vent his emotions even through misbehavior. But Dohae never got angry beyond a certain level. When he saw those hollow eyes with no expectations or trust in others, his heart sank.