# Chapter 11
Like it or not, Kang Dongha was the only sponsor and somewhat of a business partner to Lee Hwan who had just regressed. Until he could awaken some other use for him, if he couldn’t give the guy his trust, he should at least become someone Dongha wanted to catch.
In the end, as Lee Hwan was exiting after his final gate run, he casually dropped some information to him, almost in passing. As if it didn’t matter whether Dongha eagerly swallowed it or ignored it, since it would be revealed when the time came anyway.
‘It’s not that big… but there’s no harm in looking into it, I guess.’
Fortunately, Dongha took the bait. Since an individual couldn’t own a gate, he had probably attended the auction with company money, taking on the risk… and by now, he would have built up some achievements under his name.
But the reason for his excitement wouldn’t just be because of one measly achievement. Lee Hwan had estimated the value of the unopened gate, and his guess had matched perfectly.
For Dongha, no, for anyone, Lee Hwan was now a goose that laid golden eggs. Of course their eyes would roll back. Even if he didn’t provide any notable information after this, this effect would last at least a couple of months.
“What do you want?”
Dongha abruptly asked, getting straight to the point.
‘For you to be desperate without daring to test me.’
Lee Hwan swallowed those words and opened the lid of his cup ramen, picking up a large clump with his chopsticks. As he blew on it—whoo—the noodles gently swayed back and forth.
“Whoo, whooo… I’ll tell you that gradually.”
“You don’t just know about magic stones, right? Like how you told me the trick to conquering that D-rank gate last time.”
“That too, gradually.”
“…Want me to buy you meat?”
Lee Hwan, who was about to bring the noodles to his mouth, quickly stopped. He was so offended by the attempt to trade his precious information for mere meat that he almost hung up. But regardless of how irritating Dongha was, meat itself was innocent.
“That’s now. I’ll tell you what I want whenever I need to, so just wait quietly.”
Lee Hwan realized he had been touching his speaking mouth for some time. He wanted to know if it was still moving, or if it was stopped by what was it—’causality’ or whatever.
It was the same as telling Dongha information about the future, but for some reason, there were still no restrictions.
That meant the plan to stick with Dongha, give him scraps, and prevent the destruction hadn’t gone awry yet. Lee Hwan felt somewhat relieved.
Click. After hanging up, Lee Hwan pushed aside his cup ramen and sprang to his feet. The place decided at the end of their brief conversation was a restaurant in a hotel lounge. The two words ‘hotel’ and ‘restaurant’ sounded incredibly smooth and sweet to his ears.
He was glad he hadn’t eaten even a bite of the ramen. Lee Hwan intended to fill that space completely with steak instead.
Though the heartache hadn’t subsided yet, he couldn’t just lie around forever. Lee Hwan encouraged himself as he always had before his regression. With all the rock bottoms in life, he shouldn’t be discouraged by something like this.
Just remembering the time when he became completely alone was enough. Generally, any experience in life was better than that day.
Lee Hwan hummed out of habit as he opened his closet. Did hotel restaurants have a specific dress code? He would know only if he had been to such places before. Thinking that being neat was better than looking shabby, Lee Hwan dug out the suit he had worn to his interview.
A 1+1 men’s suit set in navy and gray purchased from a home shopping channel. He wore a turtleneck instead of a shirt, and over the dark blue suit, he put on a poly coat pretending to be cashmere. Lee Hwan felt pleased as he looked like the well-raised second son of a nouveau riche family.
* * *
The top floor of the hotel. Lee Hwan stepped into a glittering space where three of the walls were made of full-length glass windows. Everyone he saw was so well-dressed. Lee Hwan felt relieved by his choice and lightly dusted off his coat.
At the window seat guided by the waiter, Dongha was already sitting. Sensing someone approaching, the guy turned his head. Swish, his gaze swept over Lee Hwan once.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m used to seeing you with your mask on, so it’s new seeing you looking normal.”
Without replying, Lee Hwan snatched the menu first. It was utterly absurd how the menu was written entirely in English despite being in the middle of South Korea. Thankfully he had studied hard during his school days; otherwise, he might have ended up drinking only mineral water.
“Order everything in the steak section.”
“If you’re going to do that, why did you even look at the menu…”
Before the food arrived, Lee Hwan sipped a cocktail first to set the mood. The sweet and sour taste was so delightful that the corners of his mouth naturally lifted. All the despair he had experienced while meeting Taesung was momentarily washed away brightly by the power of alcohol and sugar.
Of course, he still felt angry when thinking about the System, and he felt lost not knowing how his future would unfold. But he couldn’t afford to ruin his deal with Dongha by becoming consumed by it.
The more relaxed he appeared now, the more it would seem like he had many cards to play.
“I won’t rush you, so take your time. We’ll be eating for quite a while anyway.”
Dongha even made reasonable statements in an annoying way. Lee Hwan mentally punched him a couple of times before deciding to get straight to the point without measuring anything.
“Don’t monitor me. And don’t test me either.”
“…I haven’t investigated you.”
While he kept trying to probe and observe, it probably wasn’t a lie. Dongha was trying to hide Lee Hwan in his own way.
Despite being someone who built his power through backdoor channels, most of the personnel he used were his brother’s people. His relationship with an unregistered Awakened person could become a weakness at any time.
It was the same when Lee Hwan was running gates. Instead of assigning someone to monitor him, Dongha had stuck around in front of the gate for that long time, hadn’t he?
But the reason for mocking his thoroughness was…
‘I wasn’t particularly hiding anyway.’
Monday through Friday at 9 AM, Lee Hwan would casually walk into Naru, and at 6 PM, he would nonchalantly walk out, yet Dongha, a direct descendant of Naru, didn’t know.
‘Bourgeois bastard…’
Putting aside being in different departments, it seemed these Kang people didn’t come to work on time.
Well, no matter how dark it is under the lamp, who would have imagined that an unregistered Awakened person who had shown his face to him would be brazenly in the middle of Seoul, and moreover, inside the Naru Group?
“If you’re curious about something, just ask instead of playing games.”
“You won’t answer anyway, right?”
Clack, just then, the steaks arrived one after another.
“That’s right.”
Lee Hwan agreed nastily as he pulled the plates one by one in front of himself. Regardless of whether Dongha was watching him from across the table, Lee Hwan cut a big piece of meat and put it in his mouth.
The tenderly chewed texture and the juices filling his mouth. It felt like moisture rushing into his drying mind.
“So you’re not going to tell me what you want right now, but leave it like a blank check?”
“Mmm, mm… that’s right. Wow, is this meat or juice?”
“And you’ll reveal small things one by one whenever I please you?”
Silence meant yes. Lee Hwan continued to swallow the meat without responding. It felt quite good. The meat with bone had a wild flavor, and the feeling of this annoying guy hanging on his every word wasn’t bad.
However, if there was something he had forgotten, it was that Dongha was a formidable person, just as he had sensed from the beginning.
Lee Hwan was in the middle of devouring his second chunk of meat when suddenly, Dongha, sipping his wine, dropped a comment.
“You’re not still obsessing over Kang Taesung, are you?”
The question, which came out of nowhere as if asking about his well-being, made Lee Hwan feel like the meat he was eating had gotten stuck in his throat. Since it truly came without any context, it was essentially saying he knew about yesterday’s foolishness.
Lee Hwan drained his cocktail, pretending to be thirsty. It felt like his esophagus and stomach were burning sharply.
‘When… did I ever mention meeting Kang Taesung?’
Plus, how on earth did he know about yesterday? He thought there wouldn’t be any surveillance…
Lee Hwan mechanically moved his jaw, which was about to stop, and raised his head, pretending not to know.
“Obsession? I don’t obsess over anything except meat.”
“He’s basically meat and bones too, if you think about it.”
“Are you in your right mind?”
Lee Hwan lost his composure at the creepy remark, his face distorting. Dongha, as if it had been an amusing joke, snickered to himself before continuing.
“Jade was going in and out of the information room, looking for something. He usually doesn’t do that on his own.”
“Jade?”
“Yeah, the one with the fucked-up eyes.”
There was a faint trace of contempt mixed in his voice.
“…And what’s this information room?”
“Originally a department created for information warfare with other business people or politicians… but roughly for the past 10 years or so, it’s been managing our mess-ups along with that.”
“…Did Kang Taesung mess up?”
“No, that would have been interesting, but that’s not it.”
Dongha finished the remaining wine and turned his head. A passing waiter caught his eye and was slowly walking over.
“They manage the young masters, checking and storing things like CCTV footage. Those bastards.”
Gulp. Lee Hwan swallowed the rest of the meat and pretended to be calm as he continued cutting, lowering his gaze. However, his head was spinning painfully with tension.
It was an easy explanation to understand. Dongha hadn’t tailed him, nor had he commissioned anyone to investigate him, but instead, he had been watching Taesung. In less than a month, he had felt suspicious on his own from Lee Hwan’s tone or attitude when mentioning Taesung.
‘Annoying bastard.’
While the waiter poured red wine, Dongha remained silent, as if gauging Lee Hwan’s mood. It was irritating how he acted like he hadn’t dug into anything first, showing his hands as if to say he was innocent, and putting on an expression suggesting it was all just a coincidence.
The fact that he ordered several cocktails without being asked showed he was still maintaining a somewhat humble attitude. However, Lee Hwan could read the unspoken words.
‘You’ve been hanging around Kang Taesung.’
“Is that your type?”
“No.”
Lee Hwan finally frowned at the question that came flying as if Dongha couldn’t hold back his curiosity anymore. The guy was treating his pure feelings for a friend as if he was someone looking for a one-night stand at a bar.
