Tracing the volume revealed on the arm upward with his eyes, he reached the hand holding the documents. The lines of the fingers and the shape of the neatly trimmed nails were elegant, but the tendons protruding on the back of the hand and the size of the hand were distinctly male.
The moment he tried to shift his gaze elsewhere, his eyes met Moon Woo-shin’s.
“……”
“……”
He had no idea when he’d been looking this way instead of at the documents.
His heart sank rather noisily.
Throughout the unexpectedly long eye contact, Hae-il couldn’t even think of the option to turn his gaze away.
Only after the strange silence began to feel heavy did the eyes facing him feel reproachful. As if telling me not to bother him.
Unable to stand the strange atmosphere any longer, Hae-il opened his mouth.
“…Director.”
Instead of answering, Moon Woo-shin gestured with his eyes. It meant to speak.
It was just as he was about to open his mouth.
Along with a knock on the door, a loud voice was heard from outside.
“Director, it’s Kang Cheol-hyeon!”
It was the first time feeling both gladness and regret simultaneously at that very familiar voice.
Hae-il immediately got up from the sofa and moved toward the door first.
“I’ll open the door!”
Moon Woo-shin stared at him while vividly revealing his absurd feelings, but there were no words telling him not to.
Hae-il, who reached the door like that, opened it with a pleased face.
“Hyung!”
It was only natural that his voice came out much more excited than usual.
In the middle of being tortured by having to do nothing and stay still, a partner he’d conversed with every day for nearly a year, whether he liked him or not, had appeared, so it was worth being glad.
Kang Cheol-hyeon, who seemed surprised at first when he saw Hae-il, soon smiled with a pleased face.
“Hey, you brat. You missed your hyung a lot overnight. Right? Huh? As expected, there’s only me, right?”
“Of course. Naturally. Please come in quickly.”
Hae-il, who bowed slightly, stepped aside so Kang Cheol-hyeon could enter the room. Then Kang Cheol-hyeon, who suddenly reached out his hand, roughly stroked Hae-il’s head.
His hair, somewhat dried out from frequent dyeing, fluttered under the thick hand. He felt a bit like he’d become a dog, but gladness came first, so even this wasn’t bad.
That’s when it happened.
Suddenly, loud thud! sounds rang out noisily from behind several times.
Startled, Hae-il turned around.
The bundles of documents that had been stacked high on the desk were scattered messily on the floor, and Moon Woo-shin, who’d gotten up from his chair at some point, was standing crookedly.
It seemed he’d knocked over the piles of documents while getting up.
“Seo Hae-il.”
“Yes?”
“Pick them up.”
Moon Woo-shin tilted his head toward the floor. His face was hardened as if his mood had worsened because the quiet office had suddenly become noisy.
“Yep.”
Hae-il, who tactfully moved his body immediately, hurriedly approached beside the desk. Moon Woo-shin, who’d been looking down at him crouching on the floor gathering the documents, moved his steps.
“Kang Cheol-hyeon.”
“Yes, Director!”
“Is this your room? Openly chatting and everything. You’ve gotten cocky in just one day since coming up, huh?”
“…No, it’s not like that… I’m sorry!”
“Or are you idle? Loitering in my room without even business? I’ve been too lenient. Want me to work you hard right away?”
At the out-of-the-blue scolding, Hae-il’s eyes slipped toward the door.
Kang Cheol-hyeon, still standing at the doorway, was bent at 90 degrees and floundering, and Moon Woo-shin, who’d walked right up to him, was looking down at him in a posture as if about to kick him any moment. Since his back was to this side, his expression wasn’t visible.
‘He got pissed because his concentration was broken.’
Well, even when there was nothing particularly to be pissed about, Moon Woo-shin sometimes picked fights at random timing.
Anyway, since he wasn’t scolding this side, it wasn’t his concern. Rather, the longer he chewed out that side, the better.
Hae-il didn’t miss the opportunity and quickly scanned with his eyes while pretending to scrape together the documents.
‘Gate, Magic Stone, money laundering.’
Broadly categorizing keywords, those three were estimated.
One side was documents listing information about general Gates currently existing in the Korean peninsula, such as names, grades, and management cycles, and another bundle was investigation materials about Magic Stones. It looked like a report on utilization methods.
The rest were all filled with unknown numbers, which looked like accounting ledgers at a glance. He didn’t know this side well, but the numbers a criminal organization would handle were obvious.
Roughly speculating, Moon Woo-shin’s role in Ban seemed to be overall management of illegal Gate infiltration operations, and money laundering and procurement.
‘What’s with the Magic Stones?’
He couldn’t readily understand what they were investigating and planning to do with Magic Stones that were only generated upon Gate conquest completion.
Ban had illegally infiltrated Gates a few times until now. That’s why they’re doing business with monster corpses.
If they just entered a Gate, smuggling out monster corpses wasn’t difficult. The Special Abilities Agency didn’t bother managing useless byproducts in duplicate or triplicate.
However, unlike monsters, for Magic Stones, it was nearly impossible for anyone who wasn’t a Special Abilities Agency-affiliated department employee to get their hands on them.
Magic Stones, which are widely utilized in the production and operation of energy and items, are very important national resources that the Special Abilities Agency collects in full and thoroughly manages the quantity. As far as Hae-il knew, there were no gaps at all in that process.
The conquest team that entered the Gate had to kill all the monsters inside for the Magic Stone to be generated, and the conquest team that confirmed Magic Stone generation waited in front of it and directly handed it over to the support team that arrived. The support team recorded the quantity of collected Magic Stones in front of Audit Office staff once inside the Gate, and checked again after arriving at the Special Abilities Agency. Even when Special Abilities Agency employees used Magic Stones, they could only receive them after going through confirmation by five people in charge of the relevant department.
If there was even the slightest hint of such Magic Stones leaking to civilians, no, even if mere rumors close to that circulated, special audit teams and response teams would be formed in a line right away.
‘They can’t be planning to smuggle out Magic Stones, right?’
It was realistically impossible, but he decided to remember it for now.
If he tried to establish a slightly more plausible hypothesis…
‘They said they’re planning to completely seize a Gate… So are they preparing in advance to handle the Magic Stones they’ll obtain afterward?’
It was the most plausible speculation for now.
He moved his hands while spinning his head as fast as possible, but his thoughts couldn’t continue deeper.
“So, what’s your business?”
Because Moon Woo-shin, who’d been chewing out Kang Cheol-hyeon for a few more words, quickly turned back toward this side.
Hae-il, who quickly got up, neatly placed the documents he’d gathered in a pile on the desk. When he stepped back and took a respectful posture, Moon Woo-shin, who passed by his side, sat in the chair again.
When he glanced, Kang Cheol-hyeon’s spirit was more crushed than ever. At the sullen appearance he was seeing for the first time, he felt a bit sympathetic as someone in the same situation, but since there wasn’t really anything he could do, he appropriately pretended not to see.
“Yes, well… lunch, what will you do about it…”
The time was already approaching 12 o’clock.
Finally, I’ll get to go outside. His eyes sparkled with joy, but Moon Woo-shin dismissed the anticipation in one word.
“Get it delivered.”
If even meals were delivered, he’d really be locked in this room all day long. While doing nothing and spacing out. Then when Moon Woo-shin got off work, he’d barely get up and go straight home to be locked up. It was like being monitored 24 hours a day with only the location changing.
Hae-il, whose heart became urgent, called Moon Woo-shin first.
“Director! I’ll go out and buy it!”
Kang Cheol-hyeon’s flustered gaze and Moon Woo-shin’s irritated gaze stabbed at him simultaneously.
“Seo Hae-il.”
“Yes.”
“I told you not to leave my sight. Want to make me say it twice? Is it hard to just sit still? Then want to stay with your head bowed?”
It’s not like I’m going out to do spy work, I just want to run an errand and get some air, but he’s really being so strict. At least bowing with my head down would be exercise.
He wanted to retort for him to try sitting still himself, but since only he was the one in need right now, he held back.
Instead, very politely, he presented an appropriate solution that fit Moon Woo-shin’s orders and could legitimately go out.
“What do you think about me going with a video call on…?”
