The ones who greeted Sa-yoon as he entered the airport after parking were, of course, Geon-joo and Gyeongjin’s group, who had arrived at some unknown time. The three who had hastily fled the car now wore infuriatingly pleased expressions, likely having sensed the relaxed atmosphere from Geon-joo’s softened features. Watching them chat so cheerfully completely soured his villainous mood.

“Must be nice, all happy while I’m over here losing my mind…”

Muttering to himself from a distance, Sa-yoon shoved one hand into his pocket and dragged the tip of his shoe across the ground. It was a quiet sound and a small gesture, but four of the five members of his small, elite team were S-rank. They were not at a distance where individuals with such physical capabilities would fail to notice him.

As expected, three of them, excluding Gyeongjin, spotted Sa-yoon at once. Yen waved his hands high above his head with a broad smile. His red hair immediately caught the eye, but there was someone else who drew his attention even more.

Han Geon-joo, with his placid face.

His gaze, as it drifted this way, held no trace of bewilderment or anger. It was as if he had sorted out all his emotions on his own; the composed face that looked at him was no different from usual. It was not a sight he particularly liked.

I’d rather he cry.

Sa-yoon found that expression on Han Geon-joo to be the most unsettling. If he was going to be angry, he should be angry. If he was hurt, he should cry. A blank expression that hid his thoughts only made one feel frustrated. A faint smile that seemed to conceal his true feelings was in the same category. Although it was an expression Geon-joo rarely showed him, Sa-yoon felt an unexplainable discomfort whenever he did. He was experiencing a similar feeling now.

Slowly, the corners of Han Geon-joo’s lips curled upward. The mask-like expression seemed to disappear.

And then.

“Am I on your mind?”

The plain, monotonous voice cut through the noisy chatter of the airport and shot straight to his eardrums. The other members of the group, perhaps finding the man’s question random, turned their gazes to Geon-joo. Despite this, the man’s eyes didn’t waver. As those eyes captured him completely, Sa-yoon instinctively glanced around.

For a moment, he thought Geon-joo might have been looking at someone else, but Han Geon-joo’s lips moved once more.

“Hyung.”

“……”

His head, which had turned away in denial, snapped back to the front. A smiling Geon-joo, his eyes curved, was the first thing that entered his vision. He looked to be in a good mood.

Sa-yoon’s expression, on the other hand, crumpled.

He said he’s honest in front of me, didn’t he? That much was true. The Han Geon-joo before him now didn’t seem to be hiding anything. In fact, it felt like he was revealing something. Yet, Sa-yoon felt ridiculous for being unable to even guess what that unhidden something was. He was like an audience member who couldn’t understand a magic trick even after it was shown.

Feeling like a spectator waiting for an explanation, Sa-yoon swallowed hard, his fingertips twitching. The craving for a cigarette, a habit he had quit, came to mind.

“This is annoying.”

This time, it was Sa-yoon who uttered the words he had heard so much from Han Geon-joo in the car. He let out a long breath, melting away his pent-up emotions, and took out his phone to check the time. He was quite delayed, thanks to all the chaos. And yet, the man before him looked so carefree, as if he had neatly sidestepped all the turmoil Sa-yoon had just experienced. His eyes gleamed.

This is getting on my nerves.

He, on the other hand, had spent the whole time cooped up in the car, banging his head against the steering wheel about twenty times. He didn’t like how peaceful Geon-joo looked compared to his own troubled state. He instinctively thought about “educating” him but quickly shook his head.

He didn’t have much time; he had to move quickly. The most important thing now was to scout the auction location in advance.

…Is it right to keep Han Geon-joo by my side?

At this point, Sa-yoon was confused once again.

Of course, it was annoying when he wasn’t around. With his track record, how could he possibly let him out of his sight? Locking him up somewhere would be useless. He was certain of it. Han Geon-joo was the type of man who could break out of the specially made cage he’d just commissioned within two days, unless Sa-yoon himself stood guard and checked on him every hour.

That was why he couldn’t let him go. That was the reason he had decided to take Geon-joo with him to San Francisco.

But keeping him by his side…

“He’s just so distracting.”

It was truly a chicken-rib situation.¹

When Han Geon-joo was around, he was as bothersome and distracting as a hangnail.² The cons outweighed the pros.

Sa-yoon didn’t like how they clashed over every little thing, and he was dissatisfied with his own inability to act on his temper in front of Han Geon-joo. He was also getting sick and tired of his plans getting twisted time and again because he had to consider Han Geon-joo as a variable.

And yet, he couldn’t give up.

Because the feeling he had realized inside the gate, inside Adelia’s tomb, was just too sweet.

The magnitude of that realization was too large to empty out.

Sa-yoon touched his lips, sucked in a breath, and clicked his tongue. It had been a long time since he’d been this shaken by something. It was strange how Han Geon-joo changed him and shook him. It was pleasant, yet unpleasant, and also mysteriously addictive.

He thought he had become immune to all sorts of drugs, but now he was being swept away by a person.

It was an indescribable stimulation. Stimulation was one of the elements that made a person feel alive, something Sa-yoon had lost for a long time and found again through Han Geon-joo. No matter how he looked at it, the fact remained that all these were feelings he could only experience with him by his side.

And so, he couldn’t let him go. His head knew, and his emotions knew, that if he just gave in a little, both of them would be more comfortable. He had even made up his mind to let him go, but when he actually tried, he would find himself holding on somehow. Bringing him to the airport in the passenger seat was another example of that.

It was extreme ambivalence.

Trapped by his contradictory emotions, unable to move forward or backward, he just stood there holding his phone. Gyeongjin called out, asking if he was coming. Yen urged him on as well, while Jaehee and Geon-joo remained silent.

“Let’s go together.”

His timing is impeccable.

Just when he thought the man was being quiet, he spoke up at the perfect moment. At this point, Sa-yoon started to wonder if the System was displaying all his inner thoughts in a monologue window for him.

After a moment of deliberation, he swept his hair back and started walking. He had already given their luggage to Association employees to be taken to the hotel ahead of time, so there were no unsightly suitcases to drag along.

As they passed through the departure gate without any security checks, Geon-joo tilted his head.

“Don’t we need to go through security?”

His voice sounded so innocent that Sa-yoon forgot for a moment it was Han Geon-joo and turned his head. A pair of bewildered eyes met his. Han Geon-joo glanced at the crowd lined up for the security check and continued.

“…We should wait and go.”

Pfft-hahaha!

At the added remark, Gyeongjin and Yen, who had been blinking for a moment, burst out laughing. Lee Jaehee just smiled gently, whether out of ignorance or a desire not to embarrass Han Geon-joo. Sa-yoon, thinking he might be joking, studied his expression, but upon seeing Geon-joo scowl at the laughing Gyeongjin and Yen, he realized the question was genuine.

He wasn’t joking; he was serious.

Thanks to that, a dumbfounded laugh escaped Sa-yoon as well. Finally breaking free from his confusion and regaining his composure, the leader of the Night Rats Guild grinned.

“Look at this guy.”

Acting like such a country bumpkin.

He said it with a laugh, and Han Geon-joo’s eyebrows twitched. His face didn’t change color, but the tips of his ears turned a little red. Feeling genuinely cheerful for the first time, Sa-yoon looked at Geon-joo and spoke.

“There are no procedures to follow.”

“What?”

“Buying a plane ticket, waiting for the time, rushing to the departure gate, getting your luggage checked, getting pushed around by people while boarding. We don’t do that.”

Even with the kind explanation, Han Geon-joo still looked like he didn’t understand. Sa-yoon let out a truly baffled laugh.

Who did he think he’s been hanging out with all this time?

Wherever he went, just saying his name would guarantee at least a minimum level of courtesy. The more well-known his name, Sa-yoon, and the name of his guild, the Night Rats Guild, were in a country, the more true this was, especially in countries with high-ranking officials with whom Sa-yoon had close ties.

Yet, Han Geon-joo’s face showed that he hadn’t guessed this fact in the slightest. Then again, since the only places he ever went were gates and the guild building, it was possible he wouldn’t have known.

Only then did Sa-yoon realize.

I’ve never taken him anywhere.

He had at least taken Lee Jaehee to a festival, but the only place he had ever taken Han Geon-joo was to a gate.

We were supposed to go on a date.

Remembering the joke he’d made in the Swamp of Specters, Sa-yoon tilted his head and looked at Geon-joo.

“…Well, taking you to the U.S. this time will be a start, I guess.”

“What?”

Geon-joo reacted to the unconsciously muttered words. Sa-yoon didn’t answer, just gazed at the man’s face. Looking at him like this, he did seem a bit young.

Younger than he thought.

His future looked quite bright and young.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be okay for me to have him for a little while?

The thought that suddenly came to mind connected with the worries that had been occupying him just a moment ago, and his lips parted. An emotion he had not faced before reared its head. It was a profound selfishness.

Once ‘The Resistor’ was activated, he would be one step closer to death anyway. That meant the time he had left with Han Geon-joo wouldn’t be very long.

If so, wouldn’t it be okay for him to use that time for himself?

Just as he had been doing, he would continue to be shaken and swept away, feeling a variety of emotions. He would savor his remaining days as life itself.

Even if it resulted in them destroying each other, they had been in a mutually destructive relationship for a long time, ever since he ran away. A few more months wouldn’t change much.

Sa-yoon’s fingertips trembled once. For some reason, his gaze turned to Lee Jaehee. When their eyes met, the man gave an ambiguous smile. The smile looked both sad and filled with pity. Sa-yoon turned his gaze back to Geon-joo.

The plan was simple.

It was Han Geon-joo’s choice to stay by his side, and all he had to do was turn a blind eye, knowing full well it was the worst possible choice. Then, when the time came, he would use him and escape into death.

It was a perfectly selfish, cowardly, and therefore, quite fitting end.

The moment his dilemma of ‘Is it right to keep Han Geon-joo by my side?’ was resolved, Sa-yoon felt not clarity, but a sense of suffocation. As his gaze kept drifting to Lee Jaehee, someone called out, “Hyung.” His mouth moved reflexively.

“Have you ever been abroad?”

At the sudden question, Geon-joo looked at him suspiciously. Just as Sa-yoon was about to feel indignant, thinking he couldn’t even ask such a question, an answer came.

“A few times when I was a kid.”

“When you were a kid?”

“Why are you suddenly investigating me like this? Am I under suspicion for something again?”

I think I’m the one being suspected right now.

Sa-yoon felt a little pathetic. It wasn’t like he was filming a soap opera with this kid, but their conversations were nothing but suspicion and anger. Waving his hand as if to dismiss another budding argument, Sa-yoon took a step forward and spoke.

“I asked because we’ll be traveling abroad a lot from now on. Why are you getting so defensive?”

“We’ll be traveling abroad often?”

“Yeah. So next time, don’t act like such a country bumpkin.”

Sa-yoon paused, turned to look at Geon-joo, and then smirked.

“Whether I go as a member of the Night Rats Guild or as Noah, leaving Korea is no problem. It’s immigration that’s the issue.”

“……?”

“It means I get special treatment and abuse my power, so departure procedures are unnecessary.”

At the simple summary, Geon-joo let out a soft “Ah.” Soon, a scolding look, as if to say, “Is that something to brag about?” came his way. Pretending not to have seen it, Sa-yoon plugged his ears and hummed a tune. Someone approached his side.

“I respect your choice, Sa-yoon. Everyone has the right to decide their own end.”

It was Lee Jaehee.

Sa-yoon looked in surprise at the man who had approached with his presence completely concealed. When their eyes met, Lee Jaehee glanced at the floor once before looking back at Sa-yoon.

“But… from my experience, the one left behind will feel quite empty.”

“……”

“Just as I did.”

A sense of déjà vu emanated from his gentle smile. Sa-yoon asked instinctively.

“What did you see?”

“……”

“You saw something again with that damn ability of yours, didn’t you?”

If you can talk, then talk.

The question was more of an interrogation, laced with a threat. Despite Sa-yoon’s sharp gaze, the man just hummed calmly before answering softly.

“That’s a slightly difficult question to answer. According to my calculations, I think I’ll die if I say.”