The sour evening air seeped through the window cracks. The hospital, with all its lights turned off, was covered in silence, like an isolated abandoned building. The only sound was the faint wind—a persistent stillness permeated the air.
Should I go in or not?
Left alone in the car, Hyungoh fidgeted with the door handle. Though Michael had clearly insisted that he wait here, when he recalled Michael’s ominous retreating figure, his mouth felt dry.
I have a bad feeling about this. His anxiously trembling legs noticeably increased their pace. Thinking music might help, he turned on the audio system, but it crackled and poor-quality sound poured out.
Take me to church, I’ll worship like a dog…
This is Uncle’s ringtone. He hurriedly pressed the stop button, startled by the desperate voice filling the car. What an eerily perfect timing to make me anxious. Swallowing hard, so much that his Adam’s apple bobbed, he rolled his eyes searching for Hunter who would be somewhere in the hospital.
After rubbing his head vigorously in distress, Hyungoh boldly unfastened his seatbelt. Both Hunter and Michael were in the hospital, and if he trusted his ominous feeling, something bad was definitely going to happen.
If that’s the case, I’ll just be standing by and watching until it’s all over.
The thought of spending meaningless time in this vast parking lot, having to accept the outcome without any countermeasures, brought an emptiness that ironically sparked motivation.
Why did Michael refuse to let me go in with him? What was he thinking?
Don’t die, Choi.
Suddenly, the words Michael habitually muttered flashed across his mind. Could it be… that I might die here? Is Michael taking risks to save me again?
He finally caught the tail of the sourceless ominous feeling. Even though we promised to be together. His shadow, stretching long beneath the headlights, rippled finely toward the hospital.
Michael was no longer someone Hyungoh could ignore. Their bodies and hearts had become tightly intertwined since Michael had followed him and thrown himself into the river. No, that’s what he thought.
Hyungoh carefully touched his aching chest. Does he not trust me? This time, I firmly resolved not to struggle in the shackles of the past. An inexplicable sense of betrayal made him scuff the dirt with his toes before letting out a long sigh.
I said I wouldn’t run away!
Ah. So this is how Michael felt. After a moment of solemnity, realizing that time was short, he lifted his head. At this point, there was no need for further delay. Michael was the type of person who would injure himself if it meant saving Hyungoh.
Just in case, he opened the trunk looking for a weapon for self-defense. But instead of the metal he was hoping for, a blue box with a famous animation’s princess character and luxurious palace appeared.
Why is this here? Upon examination, it was an assembly toy for children. Finding a note in the corner of the box saying “Isabella, happy birthday!” he remembered that this was Lucas’s car.
Oh, it’s her birthday soon. Feeling apologetic, he gently pushed the box aside and looked deeper inside. Lifting a dusty black blanket, he found an unloaded gun and a pocket knife.
Thinking they could be used as threats, he quickly pocketed them. Though the lack of bullets was slightly concerning, it was also a relief. At least he wouldn’t end up shooting and killing someone.
As he tried to walk confidently through the main entrance, men in black suits were guarding it menacingly. With no other way in—no peepholes or unwatched passages—he reluctantly began to move stealthily.
Tense and reminding himself of the gun hidden at his back, contrary to his expectations, the men stepped aside willingly. Could this be a trap? Though perplexed, feeling he had passed the first hurdle, he quickly opened the door and entered.
A long corridor stretched before him, covered in pitch-black darkness that threatened to swallow everything. As he hesitantly stepped back from the darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, the men locked the door behind him.
“Wait, hold on…!”
Surprised by the unexpected situation, Hyungoh leaned against the wall and took deep breaths. The cold chill rising through his thin clothes helped him regain his composure. Yes, so this is how it’s going to be. Though he heard no signs of anyone, he moved forward with his nerves on edge, feeling as if someone might ambush him at any moment.
* * *
Federico, who had been glaring fiercely at the elevator, spoke in a gentle voice as Michael raised his head through the light-emitting doorway.
“Child.”
Michael, approaching with calm steps, didn’t say a word. He merely scanned Hunter lying beside Federico with his characteristic dreamy expression, then smirked.
“It was my first time lying, but I didn’t know it would be this easy.”
I always thought deceiving others would be as intricate and challenging as deceiving dreams. If I had known it would be like this, I should have tried it earlier. His voice, filled with regret, provoked Federico.
“Would you believe me if I said Father lost a bet?”
Federico, who had been watching with narrowed eyes, burst into laughter and shook his head.
“That’s impossible. I still don’t understand Hunter’s way of loving.”
“Why is that?”
“He’s like a gentle lamb in the face of love. He’s so blindly devoted that he doesn’t care even if that path destroys him. Poor thing, he mistakenly believes that the true essence of love is being swayed by emotions and showing a pitiful, base side.”
Pausing briefly, Federico clicked his tongue bitterly and shook his head.
“It’s a foolish judgment. Love can never be blind. Humans can never escape being cunning beasts that move for their own benefit.”
“Then what do you think love is?”
“Michael, you already know that too. Despite all the embellishments, love is ultimately nothing more than a means to pursue pleasure. After obsessively clinging to that pleasure and then facing the wall of reality, one finally comes to their senses.”
Otherwise, this man wouldn’t have been shot while protecting someone so senselessly, nor would he be lying on this hard bed.
“Did you love Hunter?”
A brief silence fell. After meeting Michael’s unwavering gaze, Federico turned his eyes to Hunter and subtly raised the corners of his mouth.
“…Yes, because he was like a brother to me.”
Though his mouth was still smiling, his empty eyes told a different story. He must be thinking of Paolo.
“Then what benefit did you gain after secretly killing Hunter’s neighbor?”
“…”
“I mean Theodore Cooper’s biological father. The man who begged to join the organization and then threw a punch at Hunter.”
According to you, there must have been a good reason to kill a common criminal like him. Michael continued questioning Federico, who remained silent, as if cornering him.
“It couldn’t simply be because you didn’t like the fact that he injured Hunter, right?”
Two large men blocked Michael’s path as a threat. Pushing them aside as easily as if brushing off dust, Michael placed his hand on the wrinkled back of Federico’s hand. Then he leisurely gazed into those cloudy eyes.
“Six years ago, on the day Hunter stabbed you, why didn’t you pull out the gun hidden at your waist?”
The eyes that had persistently remained steady finally wavered precariously.
“Although you couldn’t avoid the surprise attack because you were off guard, you still had enough strength to counterattack. You had plenty of time to call your subordinates to capture him.”
But you didn’t do that. As a cold light flashed in those transparent eyes, the sound of guns being loaded echoed in succession.
“…I was under the influence of drugs.”
“It was a small amount of morphine. If anything, it would have acted as a painkiller, giving you even more opportunity to counterattack.”
Invisible, cold scales gradually tightened around Federico’s throat. Even as he barely drew in air, pain rose in his chest as if his airways were blocked.
“You deliberately let him go, knowing he would be labeled a traitor and killed? Choosing to become half-crippled by leaving your fatally wounded body unattended for a long time to give him time to escape…”
With a gun barrel pressed against the back of his head in this critical situation, Michael smiled faintly and whispered in his ear:
“To me, that sounds too much like ‘blind love.'”
