Ian felt Choi Jaeheon’s hand, clasped with his, trembling faintly. That trembling was closer to despair rather than anger. A more desperate obsession than any demon’s madness he’d seen in Lancia pooled in his hyung’s eyes.
But he didn’t avoid his gaze. If he didn’t tie this up clearly here and now, the tangled threads would eventually destroy his hyung.
‘If that happens, it’ll be hard for me to endure too.’
He’d endured for five years with the desire to see his family again. He couldn’t lose them like this.
“I’m sorry, hyung. I can’t accept your feelings.”
At the firm rejection, Choi Jaeheon’s expression darkened. His pale face looked almost like a corpse.
“If it’s because I’m lacking—”
“No, it’s not that. Hyung, you’re the most perfect and precious family to me in the world. That’s why, all the more, I don’t want to part with you.”
Ian gripped Choi Jaeheon’s hand tighter.
“Lovers can become strangers and part at any time. But family isn’t like that. It doesn’t break until death, right? I don’t want to lose you, hyung. So hyung, please remain as my family.”
It was the most tender consideration Ian could give, and also a punishment. Choi Jaeheon bit his lip until it bled. In his head, the desire to immediately embrace Ian and hide him in a place only he knew surged wildly. The extreme impulse to destroy rather than not possess gnawed at his reason.
‘But.’
Choi Jaeheon looked at Vermouth standing far away. That bastard watching Ian’s back with a relaxed smile. If he acted stubborn here, his beloved brother would truly let go of his hand and run to that bastard. So he endured. Because in the end, the one who remained until the end would be family.
The shackles called family sometimes bound the other more terribly than the bond called lovers.
Choi Jaeheon squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. And as he had until now, he acted as the hyung Ian wanted.
“Yeah, you’re right. I must have been crazy for a moment. You and I have been family since we were young.”
Choi Jaeheon forced the corners of his mouth up and made a bitter smile.
“You must have suffered emotionally because of hyung all this time, right? I’m sorry.”
His still-trembling hand gently tidied Ian’s hair. Just that, yet Ian felt relieved. The hyung who’d felt unfamiliar for a moment had regained his original form.
“No.”
I’m the one who’s sorry. Ian swallowed the words trying to burst out again and hugged Choi Jaeheon. Choi Jaeheon, embracing him back, patted his back affectionately.
***
Stigma Guild headquarters, underground second floor logistics warehouse.
In this place removed from the commotion above ground, Kim Minchul was silently pushing his cart. Thanks to Alexander’s briefing, security inside the headquarters had become strict, but humans weren’t included in that scope of vigilance.
“Minchul-ssi, take this up to the pantry next to the strategy meeting room on the third floor. The meeting’s going to run long today.”
At the warehouse management employee’s words, Kim Minchul bowed his head with a naive smile. That wasn’t originally his job, but since he belonged to a subcontractor, he did whatever he was told without complaint.
“Yes, understood. I’ll be right back!”
Saying that, the expression disappeared from Kim Minchul’s face as he got on the elevator. He pulled out a single very thin black thread from his breast. A thread made by finely compressing the demonic energy of a high-ranking demon, with the property of dominating and monitoring space. Since it was an item neither easy to obtain nor create, this was the only one he had.
‘Fortunately, the only countermeasure humans have found is holy water.’
As Kim Minchul passed through the third-floor corridor, he seized a moment when no one was watching and pushed that black thread into the corner of a wall communication terminal box. The thread burrowed into the wall like a living creature and began spreading throughout the entire headquarters via the communication network.
‘The moment the Saint sets foot in this place, his every move will be in the palm of our hands.’
Kim Minchul looked around as he set down the coffee boxes in the pantry. Urgent voices of guild executives could be heard through the gap in the strategy meeting room door. Empire Guild’s announcement, followed by Korea’s Management Bureau’s confirmation, talk about demons and demonic energy, and so on. Information precious as treasure poured in.
Here, in the heart they believed to be the safest, humans were exposing all the cards they held to the enemy. Kim Minchul held a fishy smile on his lips as if satisfied, then pushed his cart again toward the elevator.
***
The sudden gate incident that had driven the entire nation into fear had come to an end. Thanks to Empire Guild’s radical information sharing and the Vatican’s promise to supply holy water, the world seemed to be regaining stability. Of course, in exchange, Korea’s Management Bureau had agreed to hand over various classified information and gate samples to Alexander.
“Ian, I have good news.”
In the returning vehicle, Choi Jaeheon spoke in a gentle voice. Ian, who’d been blankly staring out the window, turned his head.
“What news?”
“You can return to the house you used to live in now. Anyway, that entire area is privately owned land, so I’ve blocked access. So there won’t be any more reporters making a fuss. So let’s go home. We can’t keep borrowing Hong Seoyoon’s house forever.”
“That’s… true.”
But even though his relationship with his hyung Choi Jaeheon seemed to have recovered, unease still remained. Could he return home and live alone with him like before?
‘No, I have to!’
Because we’re family. Besides, he felt bad about continuing to impose on Hong Seoyoon. Of course, he’d always been wealthy, but receiving help one-sidedly was burdensome.
“Yeah, let’s go back.”
And Hong Seoyoon wasn’t the only one he felt sorry toward. This time, Ian said thank you to Choi Jaeheon instead of sorry. Because this seemed better.
“Thank you, hyung.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“But then what about my luggage?”
“We can hire someone to bring it. Your stuff is still at the original house anyway.”
“True.”
The car that had been running for a while soon stopped in front of Ian’s house.
“See, no one’s here, right?”
“Really.”
The front of the house was quiet, as if the sight of reporters swarming tenaciously had been an illusion.
“Just in case, there are patrols going around nearby, so don’t worry.”
Choi Jaeheon said that and let Ian off in front of the house.
“What about you, hyung?”
“I still have business to take care of.”
Saying that, Choi Jaeheon tried to grab Vermouth, who was about to follow Ian. But was Vermouth someone who’d be caught easily? He slipped out of Choi Jaeheon’s grip and approached Ian.
“You should go too.”
Ian lightly waved his hand at Vermouth.
“Must I go as well?”
“Of course. Where did you say you’re staying here?”
“I’m currently staying at a hotel.”
“Don’t you think about finding a house?”
“Do I need a house?”
He said that while looking at Ian’s house.
“You need one. We need a bit of distance.”
“Why? Didn’t you accept me? I can’t understand why we must live separately.”
Disappointment and doubt rose simultaneously in Vermouth’s violet eyes. In Lancia, he would have acted even more selfishly. Ian sighed and lightly pushed Vermouth’s chest with his palm.
“Vermouth. How about we start over from the beginning normally this time?”
“Normally?”
“Yeah. Meeting and greeting, eating together, watching movies, going shopping. Let’s get to know each other slowly. Neither you nor I ever had a proper conversation even in Lancia.”
Even when we did, we only talked about how to beat down demons. Ian had never fully opened his heart to Vermouth, who’d tried to keep him bound in Lancia. And that was the same for Vermouth too.
“Always fighting, or confining, or running away. Now, let’s try something different instead of that.”
Vermouth didn’t fully understand what Ian was saying. But he glimpsed sincerity in Ian’s words. So for now, he had no choice but to follow his will.
“Understood. If that’s what you want.”
Thus Vermouth yielded to Ian’s stubbornness. Ian found the knight’s appearance a bit cute and also admirable, so he stood on tiptoe and briefly kissed his cheek. Actually, there was a bit of intention behind it too.
“Good boy. See you tomorrow.”
With those final words, Ian slipped inside the house and locked the door. Vermouth, left alone in front of the entrance, touched his own cheek in a daze. It was a more intense shock than the thousands of life-or-death battles he’d experienced in Lancia. He stood there for a long while before raising his head.
Choi Jaeheon was glaring at Vermouth with an expression that said he’d kill him, but he didn’t care. He left that spot as if walking through a dream. Everything felt like a fantasy.
