At this moment, the ones those Scorpion bastards were most wary of were not the U.S. government, nor the Hunter Association, but himself, the one who had killed their leader, Deren. As long as they knew that their trump card, the Desert’s Punishment, was useless against him, they had no choice but to devise a new method.

Another way to pin him down.

Let’s assume a rumor started circulating while they were contemplating this. While they were racking their brains on how to stop Kwon Sa-yoon, a rumor gradually spreads among high-ranking Awakeners that the Night Rats Guild Master dotes on someone. At first, they wouldn’t believe it. But as the rumor continues to circulate, it’s bound to attract interest. They send someone to check, just in case, and find that he does seem to cherish him. So, what should they do?

They have to verify it.

Verification.

Right, their attempt to kidnap and kill Han Geon-joo wasn’t a warning to him. Nor was it to declare that Scorpion had returned.

Their main purpose was verification.

To confirm if he truly cherished Han Geon-joo, and if the extent of it was as the rumors said.

And I chased after him without thinking.

Recalling his past actions, Sa-yoon pressed a hand to his forehead. He had been so blinded at the time that he didn’t have the capacity to think this far.

Inside the gate he had chased Han Geon-joo into, he had realized that he was his weakness. The Scorpion bastards who kidnapped him must know this fact as well. Even he knew he had made an exceptional fuss.

And hadn’t he given that interview in such a way as well?

“Fuck.”

“……?”

Everyone turned their heads toward Sa-yoon, who had been sneering at his opponent one moment, only to suddenly freeze up with a serious expression and then spit out a curse. Under the collective gaze of the others, Sa-yoon cursed his own idiotic actions.

He had thought he was confident he could protect Han Geon-joo from anyone who came after him.

But that story changes if the Desert’s Punishment falls into their hands. The auction had not yet opened, and the artifact had not passed to either him or Scorpion, but the mere existence of the possibility was deeply unpleasant and unsettling.

“What’s wrong?”

While everyone else was watching him nervously, it was Geon-joo who spoke first. Sa-yoon chewed on his lip, hesitating. Should he say it now, or should he hide it?

Is there any need to scare him by telling him something that isn’t even certain?

It must have been a while since he was abroad; he didn’t want him to exhaust himself by being on guard. He could handle watching their surroundings on his own. He had no intention of making him suffer as well.

He had brought him here on a whim, so he had intended to let him be comfortable, at least while they were in the U.S., but his plans had all gone awry. Annoyance and regret surged simultaneously, and Sa-yoon gritted his teeth. A sigh escaped Geon-joo.

“Did a problem come up?”

He could do without being this perceptive sometimes.

He had hoped he would just let it go, but that wasn’t like him. If he tried to brush it off here, Han Geon-joo would surely press him until the end. Knowing his persistence, Sa-yoon let out a long breath into the air as if declaring his surrender and confessed everything. He told him about Scorpion’s purpose for kidnapping him and the danger if the Desert’s Punishment fell into their hands. As he explained his recent thoughts without omission, Han Geon-joo blinked. His face was surprisingly calm.

He could die, so why the hell is he so calm?

It was Sa-yoon who was burning up inside. He inwardly berated him, thinking anyone would assume he was the one with the immortality skill, not Sa-yoon. Geon-joo’s mouth opened.

“That Desert’s Punishment thing, you said it’s coming up at the auction house, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have money?”

“What did you say, you punk?”

The curse was a habit. Hearing the insulting remark, Sa-yoon let his killing intent flow without a moment’s thought and glared at Geon-joo. He tilted his head as if to ask what the problem was.

“Then you buy it.”

“……”

“If you win at the auction, you get to keep it. You can just buy it with money.”

“The reason I’m like this is because it’s not guaranteed to fall into my hands even if I buy it. Those bastards could intercept it in the middle…”

“Are you going to let them take it?”

The words, thrown so casually, struck a nerve. He was at a loss for words at the cheeky little brat, and Geon-joo continued nonchalantly.

“Just don’t let them take it. What are you worried about before it even happens? That’s not like you.”

The added, trivial chiding made it a perfectly Han Geon-joo-esque response. As Sa-yoon just blinked, Gyeongjin stepped forward, clapped his hands twice, and drew everyone’s attention.

“The Geon-joo kid is right. Just win the auction and don’t let them take it. We can always call in more guys right now, so there’s no need to worry needlessly, right? Besides, when it comes to causing trouble in a large place like an auction house, Yen’s the expert, not Scorpion. If we just trust Yen, we’re halfway there.”

He had a point. Sa-yoon belatedly realized he had been getting scared for nothing and let out a hollow breath. It was unimaginable that he would lose at the auction, but the thought that even if he won, Scorpion’s dirty tricks could lead to the artifact being stolen and Han Geon-joo’s death… that single, thread-like possibility had not just irked him but had gotten stuck in his brain, leading him to think in extremes. Thinking it over calmly now, the probability of it happening was very low.

He had Yen, and as Gyeongjin said, if he was worried, he could bring in additional guild members of A-rank or higher. And.

“I know how to play dirty, too.”

“Why are you stating the obvious? You’ve lived nearly half your life that way.”

“Are you asking for a beating?”

“I oppose violence.”

Gyeongjin, who had been teasing him, retreated again, protecting the back of his head. Sa-yoon let out a small smile and cleared his head.

He hated to admit it, but the two of them were right. There was no need to worry in advance. He had already thoroughly crushed Scorpion once before. Should he be scared just because a bug was squirming?

If they were going to pull tricks at the auction house, then let them. They would still be nothing more than pathetic losers.

“A villain has to have style.”

Sa-yoon planned to gain the upper hand in the information war and watch them with his legs crossed. Once again, a wicked smile graced his features. Gyeongjin was relieved to see the Sa-yoon who seemed to have returned to his senses. Or rather, the Sa-yoon who had been sane and then gone mad again.

“I’ll scrape up as much information as I can until the auction opens. The showdown is set, right?”

“Right.”

The day the Pathfinder Auction opens.

On that day, he would kindly shatter those Scorpion bastards’ plans.

As he and Gyeongjin looked at each other and smiled, Geon-joo smirked along with them. Only Jaehee, who had been keeping his mouth shut as if under a gag order, had a strange expression on his face.

“Why the long face?” Sa-yoon pointed out. The man scratched his cheek and gave a pointless smile.

“It’s just a strange feeling, like I’ve become a hero saving the world and a villain destroying it at the same time.”

It was an incredibly naive statement. To think he was still thinking about saving the world in the midst of all this. Sa-yoon looked at him with a slightly weary face, then picked up the wine bottle that Yen had proudly placed on the table, saying he had bought it on his way back.

“Then be a savior who came to destroy.”

He felt just good enough that tonight seemed like a good night for a drink.

***

“Hyung.”

“……”

“Hyung, wake up. We have to go.”

His eyelids felt heavy as lead, but someone kept shaking his body, trying to wake him up. He scowled and forced his eyes open to see Han Geon-joo’s face. Once, twice. After blinking blankly a third time, Sa-yoon suddenly let out a groan-like sound and sat up. His head was pounding. Wondering about the headache, he clutched his forehead and looked around, only to see about a dozen bottles of liquor displayed on the table.

The faint memory became clear. Sa-yoon clamped his mouth shut.

Did I drink all of that?

He wanted to ask, but the clarity of the memory meant he already knew the answer. He just wanted to deny reality.

Perhaps because it had been a while since he drank, he had let loose and really gone for it. It had been a long time since he had poured enough down his throat to get drunk.

Racking his brain, Sa-yoon was relieved that he didn’t seem to have made a drunken fool of himself. There was a memory of making Han Geon-joo sit in front of him and ordering him to smile, but that was something he might do even when sober, so he let it go.

There was something else that was bothering him more.

Has my poison resistance weakened?

Compared to about a year ago, he had gotten drunk much earlier. The thought that his resistance had lowered made him feel strangely uncomfortable. As he sat cross-legged on the bed, Geon-joo, who had been bustling around cleaning the room, held out a bottle. It was honey water.

“Where did you get this?”

“Jaehee-hyung bought it.”

“Hyung?”

He wrinkled his nose. It was the first time Han Geon-joo had called Lee Jaehee ‘hyung.’ He had always called him ‘that person,’ ‘this person,’ or ‘that guy,’ but never ‘hyung.’

Wondering what had happened while he was asleep, he blinked. Han Geon-joo picked up a shirt that was lying on the floor. It was a familiar shirt.

That’s mine.

Sa-yoon’s head immediately looked down. He wondered if he had slept without clothes, but a white shirt was neatly dressed on his body. Come to think of it, the size seemed a little different.

As if noticing his questioning gaze, Geon-joo spoke.

“Your clothes had vomit on them from yesterday, so I washed them and laid them out on the floor.”

“Ah, crap.”

Now that he mentioned it, he remembered. The scene of Gyeongjin slinging an arm around his shoulder and then emptying the contents of his stomach.

Wincing at the extremely unpleasant memory, Sa-yoon scowled. Ignoring him, Geon-joo gathered the clothes and pulled out a chair to sit down, continuing his explanation.

“The clothes you’re wearing now, Jaehee-hyung and I went out in the middle of the night to buy them. I picked the size, but it’s bigger than I thought.”

He spoke while staring at Sa-yoon, who was dressed in the white shirt. Sa-yoon squeezed the bottle of honey water.

“Is the word ‘hyung’ so easy for you to use, you punk?”

“…What?”

Geon-joo was taken aback by the sudden profanity. Sa-yoon clicked his tongue, irritably set down the honey water, and headed for the bathroom.

“…What was that?”

Left behind, Geon-joo stood there blankly for a moment before letting out a small laugh. He glanced at the clock. It was almost 3 o’clock.

It was time to meet Mille.