“…Manager-nim, I’m not asking this in a weird way.”
“Yes.”
“Do I have a faint body scent?”
After asking, it turned out it was a weird question after all. Surim shook his head, turning red.
“No, no. Don’t answer. Please pretend you didn’t hear that.”
“Jin Surim-ssi has almost no body scent. Though it’s gotten a bit stronger recently compared to before.”
“Do I smell?”
Surim flinched in shock, shrinking back.
“The body scent ‘we’ talk about isn’t that kind of thing—it refers to a scent that stimulates appetite.”
“So, you’re saying I smell delicious?”
“You could put it that way.”
Song Hanyeong continued asking.
“But who said such things to Surim-ssi?”
“Uh…”
“Those three from earlier?”
“Yes…”
“I see. Understood.”
It was a calm response. Surim felt an ominous sensation and lifted his head.
“Manager-nim, I’m fine now, so please don’t worry about it. Those people were incredibly strong. When they grabbed my wrist, I couldn’t move at all. If you confront them for no reason, something bad could happen.”
“So they grabbed your wrist.”
“Yes, they said I didn’t need to show them the necklace…. No, that’s not the important part. Are you listening to me properly? I’m telling you they’re dangerous people.”
“Yes.”
“If we run into those people and they start trouble, it’ll be a disaster, so let’s go back quickly. Okay?”
“Understood.”
Contrary to his answer, Song Hanyeong stopped walking. When Surim looked ahead curiously, the three men from earlier were standing there. They approached Song Hanyeong with tense faces, smiling awkwardly.
“Hyung, it’s not like that…”
“Hyung, we didn’t know it was yours. If we’d known, we wouldn’t have done it.”
“We were wrong. So don’t be angry. Okay?”
Song Hanyeong seemed to know the three men. Fortunately, Song Hanyeong appeared to be their superior. Then maybe they could resolve this through conversation. Would he receive an apology? If that happened, Surim felt his heart would be eased.
“We said we were wrong.”
As the three men approached close range, Surim unconsciously flinched and clung more deeply to Song Hanyeong.
“Manager-nim…”
Song Hanyeong held him a bit tighter too. The moment their frightened eyes met, Song Hanyeong smiled coldly. He seemed angry.
Just as Surim was about to say something, Song Hanyeong gestured with his chin to the side. At the same time, a blanket dropped onto Surim’s head. As the flustered Surim tried to remove the blanket draped over his head, Song Hanyeong patted his shoulder.
“Just a moment, stay still.”
It was a chilling voice. Feeling fierce and dangerous, Surim froze stiff without time to think about anything.
At the same time, there was a thud, and someone rolled across the floor with a crash. Though he couldn’t see, he could tell from the sounds and movements.
“H-Hyung! They’re just prey anyway… Ahhh!”
At the cracking sound, Surim hugged Song Hanyeong tighter. He couldn’t understand what was happening. So right now, was Song Hanyeong beating people up?
“Sorry, never again— Urgh!”
The sound of kicking people continued several times. At first, painful groans echoed loudly, then after a while, they turned into intermittent sounds of suppressing pain.
Fortunately, the sounds of kicking and trampling people didn’t last long. Surim, who had been holding his breath the whole time, finally let out the breath he’d been holding.
“Is it hard to breathe?”
“N-no! I’m fine…”
“Just bear with it a little longer.”
“Okay.”
He had no choice but to bear it. Surim couldn’t quite believe that the gentlemanly Song Hanyeong had trampled people. But since he’d been held in Song Hanyeong’s arms while he did such things, he couldn’t help but believe it.
Then, suddenly, Song Hanyeong lifted the blanket slightly and asked.
“Jin Surim-ssi. Is there anything you want?”
Making eye contact through the gap Song Hanyeong had opened, Surim tilted his head.
“Anything I… want?”
“Those bastards are right here. Would breaking their legs make Jin Surim-ssi feel better?”
“…What?”
In an endlessly gentle tone, Song Hanyeong continued.
“No, perhaps it would be better to make the fingers that grabbed Surim-ssi’s wrist unusable. What do you think?”
“Hyung, wait… Ahhh!”
Thud. Song Hanyeong kicked someone once more. Along with a groan, someone flew through the air and crashed into something, tumbling with a loud noise.
Step, step. Every time Song Hanyeong walked, the blanket fluttered and swayed. Through the gap that opened slightly at the bottom, he could glimpse fallen shoes. Surim stared blankly at the intermittently twitching legs, then clung closer to Song Hanyeong.
“Surim-ssi.”
“There isn’t.”
Surim pressed his cheek against Song Hanyeong’s shoulder and quickly spoke again.
“I don’t want anything like that at all.”
“…Then.”
“Let’s just go back, Manager-nim…. Okay?”
“Let’s do that.”
Song Hanyeong walked straight out of the building and across the lawn while holding Surim. Finally, he removed the blanket only after seating Surim in the passenger seat of the car.
“……”
Surim, who had finally escaped the stuffy blanket, reflexively looked up at Song Hanyeong. Despite having just committed violence against someone, Song Hanyeong showed no signs of being disheveled at all.
“Should I have shown you what I did to those bastards?”
He’d already seen it. It was only their feet and legs, but just that was enough to know how badly injured they were.
“…No.”
“Right. It’s better not to see. Wait.”
Song Hanyeong grasped Surim’s chin and seriously gazed at the scratch from earlier in the banquet hall.
“I didn’t hear that you’d hurt your cheek.”
Song Hanyeong’s face contorted as he whirled around. Surim hastily grabbed his clothing to hold him back.
“No!”
Surim quickly continued.
“This is from when I scraped against the sofa by myself in the banquet hall earlier.”
“…You’re not lying.”
“It’s true. You saw me crawling on the floor, right? I got scratched then.”
“It looks painful.”
“Ah, it’s fine. It doesn’t really hurt mu—?”
Song Hanyeong leaned his upper body toward Surim sitting in the passenger seat. A sudden kiss? Surim stiffened and closed his eyes, then opened them in confusion at the sensation touching his cheek. Song Hanyeong was holding the wound with his lips and licking it.
“M-Manager-nim…?”
“Stay still.”
“Yesss…”
After wetting the wound with saliva several times, Song Hanyeong lifted his head. This time it really was his lips. After a short kiss, Song Hanyeong said.
“Haven’t you ever thought it strange that the wound on your neck healed so quickly?”
Now that he thought about it, he had. Not only his neck, but he’d thought it strange that the wound from biting his tongue had healed in just a day.
“Is healing wounds also a vampire’s power?”
“If wounds kept appearing and not healing every time we bit, no one would offer their neck.”
I would still offer mine though. Surim quietly hid his inner thoughts.
“So if you get hurt, come to me.”
Song Hanyeong smiled lightly, closed the passenger door, and got into the driver’s seat.
“Let’s go home.”
* * *
Today was the worst.
He’d said he wanted to hear about everything happening at the banquet and go together, but once he actually came, he threw a tantrum about not wanting to stay in the banquet hall any longer, and even made Song Hanyeong personally deal with those bastards. Song Hanyeong must have a social position in the vampire world—wouldn’t his image collapse because of today’s incident?
If he’d taken out the necklace and shown it to them more quickly when those three appeared in the lounge, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
Surim kept piling regret upon regret. That’s why he grabbed Song Hanyeong, who was turning away after seeing him to the door.
“Manager-nim. Wait, shall I make you some tea?”
Surim, who had grabbed Song Hanyeong’s sleeve, asked hesitantly.
“If you’re busy, it can’t be helped… but if you have time.”
“…Are you sure?”
“What? Me? There’s no reason I shouldn’t…?”
When Surim asked back questioningly, Song Hanyeong glanced inside the door. Then he nodded slowly.
“Shall we.”
“What would you like? Coffee? I have a capsule machine at home.”
“Yes, coffee.”
“Hot?”
“Yes.”
Inviting Song Hanyeong for the first time, Surim felt somehow excited as he led him inside. Song Hanyeong scanned the shoes in the entryway, then slowly stepped inside.
“Wait here on the sofa for a moment.”
Song Hanyeong stared intently at the coffee table in front of the sofa for a while, then nodded and sat on the sofa.
It felt strange to see that man sitting comfortably on the living room sofa. No, to be precise, he was extremely thrilled.
It was good that he’d moved the Song Hanyeong altar to the bedroom beforehand. Cups, chopsticks, pens, yellow sticky notes, spoons, bamboo toothbrushes, buttons, candy wrappers—it was a bit cluttered to leave them on the coffee table, so he’d emptied one shelf in the bedroom and moved the display location. Not only was it much safer to store them, but he could also invite Song Hanyeong over.
With a proud heart, Surim quickly brewed coffee and placed the white coffee cup on a tray.
‘Wait, Song Hanyeong coming to my house means he’ll leave behind all the things he uses!’
Surim smiled sinisterly and added vegan bread with apple jam and individually wrapped cookies to the tray. If Song Hanyeong used the fork and plate and left the cookie wrapper after eating, he planned to immediately place them on the Song Hanyeong altar.
Surim prettily packaged his dark scheme and presented it to Song Hanyeong, grinning broadly.
