* * *
The reason the manager requested a meeting with him was to resolve issues related to the tea room’s business operations. Originally, this tea room was managed by Nasol, but recently he couldn’t be contacted at all.
Originally, the operating rights of the tea room belonged to the head of the Song family. Since Nasol had only been acting on behalf of his dead father, once the revenge was complete and Song Hanyeong safely succeeded to the position of family head, the operating rights of the tea room would also become Song Hanyeong’s possession. Even without knowing the details, the manager, who was well aware that Song Hanyeong was the next rights holder, had sought him out.
“So.”
The manager, sweating profusely, held out documents with both hands. Song Hanyeong received them and examined the contents.
“Recently, the supply of prey has not been smooth. It seems we need to secure new routes.”
“…There is a problem indeed.”
The tea room needed sufficient prey, especially during banquets. Otherwise, idiots who complained about being hungry and coveted other kin’s prey would always appear.
The prey that numbered about one hundred fifty five years ago was now only about seventy. They hadn’t disappeared from the world by being devoured, but because they had aged or their blood became unpalatable and were retired. So they needed to consistently discover and incorporate new prey, but recently it seemed they couldn’t do so due to insufficient budget.
“What was the budget when Father was here? Increase it to that level.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The manager looked almost ready to cry from emotion. Even though Nasol had managed it as a proxy, he had only minimally interfered with the shop’s operation, and meanwhile the budget coming down from the main house gradually decreased, making him feel troubled about what to do—genuine relief was evident on the manager’s face as he complained.
Song Hanyeong thought he should check if there were problems with the other tea rooms as well while he was at it.
“Next…”
“Master.”
At that moment, Lee Myeongho burst open the door and entered.
“Surim-ssi has entered the banquet hall.”
* * *
Surim walked blankly through the dim corridor. His mind was complicated. He had already guessed that ‘they’ were a promiscuous species. Since they excited their partners every time they drank blood, it would be more difficult not to be that way.
But after encountering bastards asking for just one bite, his chest felt stuffy and an indescribable indignation welled up.
Surim roughly rubbed his lips that the man had touched earlier with the back of his hand. He also rubbed above his wrist several times to erase the sensation of being grabbed.
‘I was scared.’
His heart pounded at the helplessness of being unable to resist and the humiliation of becoming a spectacle.
Walking frantically, Surim suddenly realized that even though he had walked quite far down the corridor, the bathroom hadn’t appeared.
“Uh…”
He had even almost reached the end of the corridor. At the end of the long corridor hung a single large painting. It was a painting of a tiger in a threatening posture beneath a tree with a magpie sitting on it.
Surim, who had unconsciously walked up to it, smelled acrid smoke coming from somewhere. An unfamiliar plant smell circled around his nose. Surim confirmed that it was flowing out from the gap between the painting and the wall and unconsciously reached his hand there.
The next moment, the painting spun around and a door opened.
“Ah…!”
Surim, who had been leaning his upper body that way, slipped and tumbled inside. Having fallen face-down, Surim heard sticky, squelching sounds and sharp moans and jumped up.
‘Where is this?’
Surim, who scanned his surroundings in bewilderment, was shocked and covered his mouth at the unbelievable things happening all around.
To be having sex without caring about others’ gazes in a place where, even if dim, everything could be seen if you paid a little attention!
“I-I need to leave…”
The moment Surim turned around, some people leaned against the door Surim had just entered through and started kissing. They impatiently threw off their clothes.
He didn’t have the courage to go between them and ask them to move. Surim looked for another exit with a tearful face. Fortunately, he could soon find an emergency exit sign.
He lowered his body and began moving while being careful not to be noticed by people.
“Mmh, can I drink a bit more?”
“Bring the alcohol.”
“Ah, harder…!”
“Didn’t they say the prince would come today too?”
“It hurts, stop…”
Moving half-crawling and half-rolling, before he knew it his body was soaked in alcohol and his cheek was scratched somewhere, but he had no presence of mind to care about such things. He wanted to quickly escape this strange place.
It was the moment when Surim, who had crawled to beside a large planter, was panting and about to move again. Someone grabbed his forearm.
“Let go!”
Surim shouted and resisted. However, that touch, far from moving away, pulled Surim to turn his body.
“…ssi.”
“Ha-ji…”
“Surim-ssi!”
“…Manager-nim?”
It was Song Hanyeong. Relieved, Surim threw himself at him as pitiful tears welled up. When he wrapped his arms around his neck and leaned his cheek against his firm chest, only then did his heart, which had been beating roughly, slow down.
“Manager-nim, Manager-nim…”
“Yes.”
“Hah… I was, so scared… Hic.”
Hiccups suddenly came out. As Surim hiccupped and rolled his eyes, Song Hanyeong lifted him up. Supporting his back and shoulder with one hand and hooking his arm behind his knees with the other, Surim, who was lifted up in one swoop, opened his eyes wide and hiccupped again.
Song Hanyeong asked affectionately.
“What scared you?”
“Earlier… some people kept saying to let them have just one bite…”
“…Who?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen them before, how would they know who I am?”
When he questioned him with a sense of injustice, Song Hanyeong patted his shoulder with the hand holding him.
“That’s right. It was my fault.”
“Anyway, so I tried to show them the necklace like you said, but they said they weren’t curious.”
“They should have been curious.”
“Exactly. And yet they kept asking for just one bite…”
Surim pressed his lips tightly and suppressed his tears. He didn’t want to cry in a place like this as a full-grown adult.
“I hate the banquet, Manager-nim…”
“Did you hate it?”
“Yes, everyone’s stripping without any shame…”
Surim complained while rubbing his cheek on Song Hanyeong’s shoulder. Song Hanyeong’s chest vibrated with laughter.
“That’s right. Everyone tends to be like that.”
“I’m sorry, I said I’d come with you first…”
“Not at all. Since you suffered such a thing while I was away, it’s my fault.”
“No. Those bastards are bad.”
Those bastards. Song Hanyeong laughed once more at Surim’s cursing. He didn’t know he could curse. Surim, as if he didn’t like that laughter, lightly hit Song Hanyeong’s chest with his fist. When he twisted his head to glare, Song Hanyeong soothed him again.
“That’s right. Those bastards are bad.”
“Right. Even though I said no, why did they keep saying they’d just have one bite…”
“Then let’s go punish them.”
“…We can’t. There were three of them.”
Surim answered sullenly. Song Hanyeong alone couldn’t handle three.
“Manager-nim, don’t you have friends?”
Song Hanyeong laughed again at the hopeful voice.
“I don’t have any friends who would be helpful right now.”
“Sigh. I thought so.”
Surim, who sighed deeply, continued.
“Manager-nim only does research all the time.”
It seemed likely he didn’t have friends. That didn’t mean he disliked it. Wasn’t there even a saying that a man without friends makes the best husband material?
Of course, the possibility of him and Song Hanyeong becoming that kind of relationship converged to zero.
“I want to go home.”
“I’ll take you.”
“Yes…”
Only then did Surim, relieved, comfortably lean his cheek on Song Hanyeong’s shoulder and go limp. Once freed from the fear and tension that had been squeezing him all along, fatigue rushed in rapidly. Surim closed his eyes tightly and waited for Song Hanyeong to quickly leave this space while leaning on him. Soon Song Hanyeong began moving with a slow gait.
Once both fear and anxiety had subsided to some degree, the reason and situational judgment ability that had been pushed back gradually returned.
If he went back like this, wouldn’t he be causing trouble for Song Hanyeong? Shouldn’t he say even now that he would participate in the banquet as Song Hanyeong’s partner?
At some moment when he couldn’t reach a conclusion about what to do, light poured from behind. The door leading outside had opened. Since Song Hanyeong’s both hands were used to hold him, it seemed someone had opened the door.
Surim, who timidly looked back with his chin resting on Song Hanyeong’s shoulder, saw shock lingering in the eyes of the employees who had just opened the door. Though they were pretending to be expressionless, it was clear. And he also noticed that the banquet hall inside, where strange sounds had been endlessly heard, was now quiet as a mouse.
In the dim interior, glistening eyeballs followed Surim with creepy persistence. Surim could only escape their gazes after the door slammed shut.
The two employees who closed the door bowed politely toward them.
“Manager-nim, something’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Just now, the people…”
Surim, who had been whispering softly, trailed off.
“The people?”
“Never mind. I thought they were looking at me, but thinking about it again, they might have been looking at Manager-nim.”
“I see.”
Silence circled between the two for a moment. Though Surim always had many things to say in front of Song Hanyeong, today for some reason no words came to mind. Was it because he was too shocked?
He kept remembering only the men who had pressured him earlier.
