“You didn’t? Good lord. This bastard’s gotten too comfortable!”
Kim Yunho called Jiwon bastard at the end of every other sentence.
It was just his way of showing affection, so it didn’t bother anyone.
Bastard — it’s not that big a deal.
“Why does he keep saying bastard after everything.”
But Number 3 felt the need to point it out.
“Is he your kid or something?”
He said it with a smirk, needling away.
“Aw, come on. It’s just something we say between us. And technically, bastard isn’t even a swear word.”
“It is, though? Could you call an instructor that?”
“Well, that’s — “
“Did you give birth to him? You got a uterus?”
“No, I — “
“If you’ve got a uterus, go ahead and own it.”
He was relentless.
Number 3 pressed on until Kim Yunho was squirming with embarrassment.
“Ugh, you’re making me look like the weird one here.”
Kim Yunho finally looked away, grumbling.
Park Geonwu burst out laughing, delighted.
“Pfft. Totally my type.”
He gave Number 3 a thumbs-up.
Humiliated by Number 3 and Park Geonwu, Kim Yunho crossed his arms and turned away. He pretended to stare at the entrance, waiting for his friend.
“Anyway, let’s get back to what we were talking about. So you didn’t want to do it with me, Sailor?”
Number 3 ignored Kim Yunho and turned back to Jiwon.
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse me?”
He mimicked Jiwon’s words and expression right back at him.
“…What.”
“What do you mean, what?”
This bastard, seriously.
“I wanted to — but what about you? Did you want to do it with me? Or not? Were you not feeling it?”
Number 3 had Jiwon in his sights the same way he’d gone after Kim Yunho. It felt like this wouldn’t end until he got an answer.
Internally grumbling that this guy had an absolutely insufferable personality, Jiwon gave him what he wanted.
“…Yes. I… wanted to.”
Saying he didn’t want to — in front of a man like Number 3, in a place like this — would have been its own kind of problem. So he answered in the positive, and Park Geonwu let out a shriek like he’d just won something. He was thrilled beyond reason, as if it were happening to him.
At that, Number 3 threw both hands up in the air like he was celebrating.
Jiwon laughed despite himself, exasperated.
“Hey. That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile.”
In an instant, Number 3’s face was right there.
He pressed a kiss to Jiwon’s cheek, loud and deliberate.
It happened so fast there was no time to dodge.
Park Geonwu witnessed the kiss and writhed dramatically, hollering.
“Are you insane. Just get a room already, get a room.”
He looked ready to book one for them if he could.
Jiwon just widened his eyes, then scrambled to lean back — but Number 3 closed the distance by the same amount.
“They said sex and ejaculating are off-limits. Pretty sure kissing wasn’t on that list.”
He grinned, saying something like that.
“Physical contact is prohibited. Want extra penalty points, go ahead.”
The words came out before he could stop himself — his real personality slipping through.
He heard Park Geonwu go, “Whoa.”
Number 3, who Jiwon had expected to push back just as relentlessly as before, instead tilted his head slightly to the right and studied Jiwon with curious eyes. Without making a sound, he seemed to mouth, Interesting.
Jiwon realized too late that he’d slipped up, and was trying to smooth things over when Kim Yunho inadvertently came to the rescue.
“Kkwakchan!”
Number 3 reacted sharply to the name Gwak Chan.
He whipped his head toward the entrance, and when he saw who walked in, he seemed — not exactly relieved. Almost the opposite.
Maybe he knew someone with the same name, or someone with a nickname that sounded similar. Whatever the case, he clearly wasn’t pleased to see him.
Gwak Chan — nicknamed Kkwakchan, Wild Dog 4 — was dressed in a shower robe like the rest of them, without a muzzle.
And behind Gwak Chan came a familiar figure. Also without a muzzle — Wild Dog 6. The same one who had shown off his chest in front of everyone and winked at Jiwon.
Wild Dog 6 caught sight of Jiwon and his expression shifted — barely, almost imperceptibly — but he didn’t acknowledge him. They weren’t acquainted, after all.
Everyone except Number 3 was in shower robes, but Gwak Chan and Wild Dog 6 hadn’t bothered to tie the sashes. Gaps of bare skin showed through the loosely hanging fabric.
“I’m Choi Minjae. Twenty-seven.”
Choi Minjae reached for Jiwon’s left hand to shake it, then said, “You’re left-handed?” and applied pressure in an unusual, deliberate way.
So it’s you.
Jiwon recognized his ally in an instant.
Wild Dog 6. The replacement who had made it to the surface on the third try.
But he wasn’t happy about it at all.
That unusual handshake — he’d been told to try it on the last day of the party. If he had a hunch about someone, to casually take their hand under the guise of a handshake, and if the other person was a real ally, they would recognize it immediately. That was what he’d been told, seriously and plainly.
And yet this guy had done the secret handshake openly, the moment they met.
In a case like this, he figured it was better to play dumb and look away —
“Gyeongseok, my uncle, has told me a lot about you.”
He whispered it anyway, deliberately.
Shit. What the hell is this?
The other person knew exactly who Jiwon was.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Jiwon.”
“Speak comfortably with me. Hyung.”
“Oh, speaking of which — Number 3, what’s your name and age?”
Park Geonwu, who had been exchanging names with the newcomer, turned to ask Number 3.
“Twenty-five. As for my name — just Number 3 is fine, I’m used to it.”
Number 3 answered cheerfully.
Given the nature of the place, no one was particularly eager to give their real name. In fact, the names everyone had assumed were real had turned out to be aliases — all except for Park Geonwu and Kim Yunho.
“If we ever run into each other outside, we absolutely don’t know each other.”
Everyone laughed at Park Geonwu’s comment.
But Jiwon couldn’t laugh.
Hadn’t they agreed they wouldn’t know each other’s identities?
Jiwon was furious at the detective’s carelessness in giving away his identity. If it ever came to light, the others would be in danger too. He had said it would be kept secret — and yet, breaking that promise, he had leaked his information to this guy.
Shit. Shit. Shit!
His rage spiked, but it was done and couldn’t be undone, so there was nothing to do but accept it.
He pulled himself together as best he could.
That was when he found himself curious about Choi Minjae’s story.
What had brought that guy to do this kind of work?
What mission had he been assigned before diving into this?
Was it his choice, or someone else’s?
Was revenge his goal, like Jiwon’s own — or was it money? Or was he trying to avoid some kind of disciplinary action?
“The reasons vary. To be honest, cases like Sergeant Yoon’s — where someone throws themselves in for revenge — are rare.”
Fucking bastard. The fury surged again.
Jiwon thought about how to handle things going forward.
Since they knew each other’s identities, he wasn’t the only one with a vulnerability exposed.
But he couldn’t be certain the guy’s goal was the same as his own, so his thoughts only grew heavier.
“Okay okay, let’s drink, drink!”
Park Geonwu shouted, lifting a nearly empty glass.
Non-alcoholic, but after draining the rest of their drinks, they all moved to the bar as if on cue to order beer and cocktails. They stood in a rowdy line in front of the bartender.
Kim Yunho and Choi Minjae huddled together over the menu, and Park Geonwu — clearly interested in Gwak Chan — kept him close while firing questions at the bartender.
“Are you interested in that bastard?”
Apparently he’d been staring at Choi Minjae without realizing it.
Number 3 had appeared beside him and whispered in his ear. Close enough that turning his head would have meant a kiss.
Jiwon stepped to the side and looked up at Number 3.
“Hm? No, it’s not like that.”
“Want to rack up an extra five points?”
Number 3 had spoken at the same moment as Jiwon, making a strange offer as he moved even closer than the gap Jiwon had just created. Dangerously close.
“Ten extra points is fine too.”
“No. I’ve got a long way to go, so not right now.”
Jiwon’s expression went flat.
Number 3 laughed.
“Interesting.”
“What is?”
“You.”
He tapped his finger against Jiwon’s chest — right where a name tag would have been.
Right over the tattoo, of all places.
“You got one too, Sailor?”
The fact that Crew Zero had gotten tattoos on their chests had spread through the entire Crew in no time. There were more than a few who openly showed theirs off or pestered others to show theirs. So Number 3 couldn’t have not known.
“Want to see it?”
Number 3 hooked a finger into the lapel of Jiwon’s shower robe.
As if to say he wouldn’t look without permission, he waited for Jiwon’s answer.
His finger was only caught in the lapel — and yet the tips of Jiwon’s nipples tingled. At the same time, a jolt ran through his lower body.
Jiwon swallowed.
“Look. If you want.”
He forced himself to seem indifferent.
It was a tattoo everyone would see at the gym tomorrow anyway, and one that would stay on his chest for two full weeks according to the tattooist. So showing it to Number 3 first didn’t change anything.
Of course, there was more to it than just that.
Something he was secretly hoping for, even while pretending not to be. Something his instincts wanted.
Number 3’s lips parted slightly. A flash of red tongue showed between them. His finger slid into the robe to pull it aside —
“Jiwon hyung, what are you drinking?”
Choi Minjae cut in.
Number 3’s eyebrow lifted slightly, then settled back down.
“Nobody ever tell you that you have no sense of timing?”
He smiled at Choi Minjae, but there was an edge in his voice.
“Why? What were you two doing?”
Choi Minjae asked with an innocent tilt of his head.
“I’ll just have whatever I was having before…. What was it called.”
Thanks to Choi Minjae, Jiwon came back to his senses.
He was startled to realize he had been expecting something intimate — or more precisely, something sexual — from Number 3.
“Menu, please.”
He deliberately moved toward Choi Minjae and took the menu from him.
Choi Minjae probably hadn’t heard what he and Number 3 had been saying, and yet his ears burned as if they were on fire.
After that, he couldn’t bring himself to look Number 3 directly in the face.
Afraid he’d start expecting things. Afraid he’d start wanting something sexual without even meaning to.
He steeled himself against having a dangerous night.
