# Chapter 46
“…What?”
Lee Hwan’s face noticeably hardened at Kang Dongha’s question.
“I asked you this last time too, didn’t I? Are you still pestering him? Moving around so obviously… you didn’t really think I wouldn’t notice, did you…?”
Then Kang Dongha picked up his cup as if buying time. The slight splashing sound of water grated harshly on Lee Hwan’s carefully composed nerves.
“Whether you stalk Kang Taesung or confine him, I don’t care about that… but I think there should be some business ethics between us.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
His tone and expression suggested he’d been blindsided. Lee Hwan was so dumbfounded by Kang Dongha’s reproach that he momentarily forgot his anger.
If things had gone as originally planned, Lee Hwan would have wanted to demolish the entire corridor as soon as he arrived at Building D. Ultimately, he would have liked to break Kang Dongha’s neck. However, since causing a scene might attract security guards and complicate matters, he had managed to suppress his anger enough to quietly close the door behind him.
Yet the other man’s brazen attitude left him not just bewildered but perplexed. He wondered if he might have done something to this bastard and forgotten about it. Should he grab him by the collar and demand he speak plainly?
His deliberation didn’t last long. Kang Dongha tapped his own face, pointing to the mask.
“You must have known when you broke it, so this conversation should go quickly.”
At this gesture that made his meaning unmistakable, Lee Hwan quietly clenched his teeth.
“You dare bring that up? Sounds like you’re asking to die.”
“Catching someone who cut and ran isn’t a capital offense. Or should I apologize just for the wiretap, and then we can talk about how you stabbed me in the back this time?”
Lee Hwan took a slow, deep breath. Otherwise, he felt he might snap something.
It was true that he had been tempted by Taesung. They had even met separately. But who Taesung met wasn’t Kang Dongha’s business in the first place, and unfortunately, he had rejected all those proposals long ago.
Wait… had he actually verbalized those rejections?
“Did Kang Taesung’s words sound quite sweet to you? Well, I was tempted too. But that face of yours, wasn’t it hidden because of Kang Taesung…?”
It seemed this rat had planted a listening device and eavesdropped on their conversation, causing his eyes to roll back. Perhaps his heart had skipped a beat imagining a job transfer story between Taesung and Lee Hwan.
However, even if he suspected Lee Hwan of betrayal, it seemed excessive to drive a wedge between him and Taesung before Lee Hwan had done anything, and to leave a person half-dead like this.
Originally, Lee Hwan and Kang Dongha were in a relationship where they shared a secret or two and exchanged benefits. Unless one side had a incident or weakness that forced them to submit, the balance between them shouldn’t suddenly collapse.
Kang Dongha had money and connections, while Lee Hwan, in Dongha’s eyes, had strength and information. In other words, both sides could seriously screw each other over if they really wanted to.
Yet this one-sided approach made little sense to Lee Hwan.
Moreover, even if Lee Hwan had truly tried to team up with Taesung, the normal Kang Dongha would have watched more insidiously from behind. Not confronting him directly like this.
Of course, the very act of meddling with Jade to drive a wedge between them was already insidious behavior…
‘This is different from his usual pattern of being cautious.’
It meant Kang Dongha might have gained some advantage somewhere that made him confident about his life, or perhaps the situation had become so urgent that he couldn’t worry about such things. Or both.
Either way, it wasn’t a welcome situation.
“What are you trying to say?”
“That trust has disappeared.”
“Was there ever such a thing as trust between us?”
Kang Dongha’s mouth closed at these undeniably accurate words. However, that annoying mouth of his would never admit defeat so easily.
“That’s true. Still, you know all my personal information, but what do I know?”
“You keep changing the subject with nonsense.”
“So I found out for myself.”
“I won’t let this slide… What?”
This time, it was Lee Hwan’s flowing speech that abruptly stopped.
“If you hadn’t done something foolish, I wouldn’t have needed to investigate your background as I promised.”
His heart sank ominously at this confession.
“…How’s life as a Supporter, Mr. Joo Lee Hwan?”
The moment Kang Dongha asked that, something heavy fell from above and enveloped Lee Hwan’s body.
* * *
The reason Lee Hwan hadn’t gone to the trouble of moving houses or taking detours to work to deal with Kang Dongha wasn’t because he thought the naive idea that “the darkest place is under the lamp” would work until the end.
It was because, as long as he wasn’t caught by Taesung, even if his identity was discovered, Kang Dongha would have no reason to make trouble by exposing it.
However, judging by the net trap now weighing down Lee Hwan’s body, it seemed Kang Dongha didn’t think that way.
“Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I’m trying to do anything, it’s just that I can’t trust your temperament.”
Did he think Lee Hwan would try to kill him once his identity was revealed? He’d already struck first—what a spectacle.
“If you’re going to be this scared, why did you even provoke me in the first place?”
Poke. He felt some resistance from the net he touched. He could tell it contained gate byproducts that interfered with or repelled the flow of abilities.
Well, restraints that completely blocked abilities were ridiculously expensive and not easily obtainable under government management, so this was probably a tool similarly mimicked by a company.
However…
‘He still thinks I’m an ice-type.’
Lee Hwan couldn’t help but laugh despite the situation.
Materials that blocked abilities were produced in small quantities from specific gates. Therefore, civilians often used gate “debuffs” for the purpose of controlling high-ranking Awakened abilities or for restraint in emergencies.
For example, the net trap holding Lee Hwan now probably used byproducts from monsters resistant to cold or minerals from within gates. Moreover, since it was made of metal and difficult to tear off without abilities, if Lee Hwan really had ice-type abilities, he would have been completely subdued.
That’s why he was annoyed. He could guess what Kang Dongha was aiming for by preparing such a tool.
‘If he wanted to eliminate me, he wouldn’t have let me come here. Since he’s exposed my identity and tied me up, he’ll probably say something like that now.’
I’ve taken the high ground, but I’ll still give you the opportunity to be my lackey. You can’t go to Kang Taesung anymore, so wouldn’t it be better to side with me?
“I still think we can be good partners.”
‘I knew it, you bastard.’
Lee Hwan snorted derisively. He could clearly see how this guy’s mind worked.
“Don’t I treat you pretty well? It’s the first time I’ve stood in line and brought dessert for someone.”
As if he’d bought it himself. If this was the price of that dessert, he could turn his stomach inside out and vomit it right now. Kang Dongha had ruined his sweet memories of that dacquoise.
Still, he should be patient for now. Be patient and listen to what more nonsense he might spout. Lee Hwan tried to hold onto his fading rationality and smooth it out.
“There were rumors among smokers about a masked madman, so I wondered why you weren’t coming straight to the lab but were poking around here and there…”
‘Oh shit… it was there.’
He thought it would end after passing by silently, but he hadn’t known that his movements had become an urban legend among hot spots for smokers.
“You should have said you were coming to work. Then I could have arranged some vacation time.”
Is he crazy? Lee Hwan had no intention of handing over his peaceful, boring, blissful life away from everyone’s attention, using only 60 percent of his ability, to this bastard. Therefore,
“Now you can come on weekdays too, right?”
The moment he heard those words, Lee Hwan finally let go of his patience.
‘This crazy bastard…’
His brown eyes blazed with anger. With a crunch, part of the metal net trap tore, and Kang Dongha’s startled appearance became visible.
“It’s no use…”
But without responding, Lee Hwan inserted his hand into the hole in the net trap and poured out his remaining strength to extract his ability.
Rumble- Crack-.
Crackle, crackle…
BOOM!
With a sound like the sky and earth splitting open, dust filled his entire field of vision.
The research building seemed to be built as solidly as he had thought. There wasn’t a single crack in the floor or walls.
However, the fragile human office was crushed like cheesecake by the combination of gravity and spatial control abilities. Among the flattened, broken furniture, Kang Dongha stood frozen like a statue.
“This is ridiculous, really.”
Lee Hwan muttered, dusting off his hands as he looked at the sight. He was infuriated that the face covered in wood fragments before him still looked unharmed.
Always overstepping boundaries, hitting from behind once you turn your back, striking again just when you’ve forgiven him—a person impossible to coexist with peacefully.
Thinking of the stress he’d endured, he really wanted to deliver one satisfying slap across the face. However, if Lee Hwan hit him anywhere, this civilian would immediately be fighting for his life.
In the end, Kang Dongha once again became a fragile card that couldn’t be discarded and survived with all limbs intact.
“No, even false accusations have their limits. This guy’s a lunatic.”
As Lee Hwan approached while muttering, Kang Dongha stared at him with a deathly pale face. In this office where everything was smashed, the only intact things were Lee Hwan, Kang Dongha, and the chair he was sitting on.
Clank, thud!
The metal pieces that until recently had been a well-made net trap rolled across the floor. Startled by the sound, Kang Dongha followed the movement of Lee Hwan’s hands as he dusted off his clothes, then looked up at his face again.
He had a blank expression as if his soul had left him. Was it because of the threat that he would have become a human pancake if he had been just one step forward or back? The composure from moments ago was completely gone.
“I have ears and a mouth too, couldn’t you have just come and asked?”
Crunch. Every footstep crushed countless fragments under his shoe sole. Lee Hwan approached Kang Dongha, stepping on the broken objects.
Then suddenly, he felt something strange about the frozen Kang Dongha’s appearance.
Having seen him in a panic at the gate, he knew this guy would fall into panic when his life was in danger. However, despite the fear and anxiety in his eyes, Kang Dongha didn’t even step back when Lee Hwan walked toward him.
As if he wasn’t afraid of being killed by him, as if what he feared wasn’t this situation.
‘…He’s not simply frightened because the office was crushed.’
