Chapter 285

When he opened his eyes, it was well past noon.

I thought I’d be up by the morning, at least.

He’d fallen asleep the moment he lay down on the bed and had expected to wake up naturally around nine, but that had been a miscalculation. The hour hand was pointing to the number one. He’d never slept in this late before.

Jongsik will be happy.

The stubborn insomnia that had plagued him for years was clearly cured in a single night. And on the days he slept this soundly, Han Geon-joo was, without fail, by his side.

“Mmm…”

Speak of the devil. As if to show off his presence, Han Geon-joo began to fuss in his sleep. The hand wrapped around his waist tightened. They were already huddled close in the spacious bed, but he had no idea how much closer he was trying to get.

“How old are you, still fussing in your sleep?”

He asked with a hint of laughter, and Han Geon-joo’s brow furrowed slightly. Sa-yoon pushed himself halfway up and looked down at the man sleeping soundly, his head nestled near his hip. He reached out a hand. At first, he had only meant to block the sunlight streaming in through the window, having forgotten to draw the blackout curtains, but his hand moved of its own accord, gently caressing the man’s eyes.

He lifted the long eyelashes with the tip of his index finger. The thin strands tickled his skin as they slid off, a strangely pleasant sensation.

“Han Geon-joo.”

“Ngh…”

When he called his name, the head resting against his side shifted a couple of times as if in reply. His hair rustled against the skin exposed by his disheveled gown. Sa-yoon stroked the black hair once.

“Han Geon-joo.”

“…”

“Geon-joo.”

He called his name, and he didn’t disappear. The warmth of the arm draped over his waist was distinct, and his keen hearing picked up the beating heart within their pressed-together bodies. Sa-yoon let the familiar three syllables rest on his tongue once more.

“Mmm.”

A sound that could have been either a sleepy protest or a reply was heard. A memory of a situation similar to this one surfaced, and Sa-yoon’s gaze softened. He let his eyelids fall and leaned back against the headboard.

It wasn’t in the way I wanted, but in the end, you did save me.

The previous night, in the middle of a kiss, the man had bent his knees and fumbled at his chest until his hand came to rest over his heart. Then, he had lowered his lips to that exact spot. The expression he had worn then was still vivid in his mind even now, in the light of day.

With a strangely tender look on his face, he had acted like a priest in prayer. Seeing that, even Sa-yoon was not so cruel as to think of death. Han Geon-joo had softened him.

“You audacious yet admirable bastard.”

His fingers threaded through the black hair. With just a little bit of force, he could easily tilt the sleeping man’s head back. His wrist twitched, then the strength drained out of it. Whenever he looked at Han Geon-joo, he was always filled with a contradictory ambivalence.

He wanted to hold him so tight he couldn’t breathe, yet he also wanted to give him freedom. He wanted to make him cry, yet when he saw him smile, he wanted to let him do as he pleased. He was complex, which made him fun, and he was simple yet not easy, which always kept him interesting.

‘Do you regret meeting me?’

That was the question he had asked as they lay face to face. His answer then was the same as it was now. Releasing his hair, Sa-yoon stroked his cheek as if handling something precious, then patted his shoulder.

“If I was going to regret it, I never would have started.”

After the low whisper, he began to hum. The lyrics of a song, fading from a memory that was slowly growing distant, followed the melody. It was, he thought, a pretty good afternoon.

***

“…Is it 3 o’clock right now?”

An hour and a half after Sa-yoon had woken up, Han Geon-joo’s eyes finally fluttered open. He saw the clock and froze. Telling him to wash his face first, Sa-yoon pushed him toward the bathroom and picked up his phone. It was time for his third message to Gyeongjin, who was likely suffering from dog-like separation anxiety.

[Not dead, just woke up, so don’t freak out.] 1:27 PM 

[Pretty Boy’s sleeping. Will contact you when he wakes up, so wait.] 1:44 PM 

[Geon-joo’s awake, get the office set up.] 3:02 PM

As he hit send, the three messages he had sent over the course of the day filled the screen. It didn’t take long for Gyeongjin’s reply to arrive.

[ㅇㅇ]

A typical Gyeongjin reply.

He wasn’t even angry anymore. He turned off the screen just as Geon-joo emerged from the bathroom and opened the closet.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sleeping so soundly.”

“Still, isn’t 3 PM a bit much?”

“Babies need to sleep well to grow.”

“…”

At Sa-yoon’s confident retort, Geon-joo, who was in the middle of pulling on a shirt, turned his head, his arms still in the sleeves. The look he gave him conveyed his utter disbelief. Sa-yoon chuckled.

“I give up…”

With a sigh of resignation, Geon-joo finished getting dressed and ready to leave. Only then did Sa-yoon stop petting the snakes and get up to head down to the office with him. He threw open the door, and four men simultaneously looked up. It was the executives, still working tirelessly even in the middle of the day.

“Look who’s finally here.”

Gyeongjin said with a smirk. Chanhee got up to make coffee, and Yen waved.

“You’re late. Must have been quite a… mph!”

“Good morning, Hyung-nim.”

Jongsik, having clamped a hand over Yen’s mouth before he could say anything unnecessary, offered a greeting. Sa-yoon gave a dismissive wave, sat down, and began to go through the paperwork he hadn’t finished the day before.

“Work as soon as we wake up. This is horrible.”

“Get used to it, pretty boy.”

“No, but more importantly, I’m not even in the Night Rat Guild, am I?”

A little late to be bringing that up. Sa-yoon snickered at the absurdity of him saying that now, after having been buried in work and falling asleep the previous day. He extended a hand toward Gyeongjin.

“What.”

“Give it to me.”

“Give you what… ah.”

As if realizing something, the man pulled a file from a bookshelf. Sa-yoon passed it to Geon-joo.

“What’s this?”

He took it, puzzled, and a moment later, his expression turned to one of disbelief.

“A merger between Swallow and Raven?”

“It must be a lot of work for you to manage a one-person guild on your own. Just merge and join Swallow. The name suits you, too.”

Jebi. Swallow.

He emphasized the name, and Han Geon-joo’s eyebrows twitched in displeasure. It was the reaction he’d expected. Sa-yoon presented the carrot he had prepared.

“You can be the Co-Guild Master. I’ll put your name on it.”

“……!”

His narrowed eyes widened in an instant. As the good-natured Chanhee walked over and added a few words about the benefits of the merger, Geon-joo’s expression grew more and more tempted. Sa-yoon delivered the final blow.

“The residence at the Swallow Guild HQ will be made inaccessible to others. If you’re interested, sign.”

“Just for you and me, hyung?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

Sa-yoon smiled at the conflicted look on Geon-joo’s face. Ten minutes later, his signature was on the merger proposal.

“In that case, you have to work, too.”

“The Swallow Guild is also the Night Rat Guild,” Sa-yoon said, naturally passing off more work as he mechanically signed the documents Gyeongjin handed him. Around 5:30 PM, the office door opened.

“…Good evening.”

Lee Jaehee, looking like he had just woken up from a long sleep, entered as the newest slave. After handing him some work as well, Sa-yoon finally brought up a new topic when the clock struck six.

“What happened with Noah?³ Yesterday you were saying something about a return announcement.”

He suddenly remembered something he had glossed over the day before due to his exhaustion. Gyeongjin spun his pen and frowned.

“We have to make the announcement, but the situation is quite complicated.”

“Why?”

“Because you were gone for a year, public opinion has gotten really bad. Not Noah’s public opinion, but yours. There are rumors that you abandoned Korea, that you joined a criminal guild and are hiding your identity…”

“The latter is sort of true.”

“That’s not the point.”

Annoyed by Sa-yoon’s nonchalant response, he got up from his seat.

“Anyway, with public opinion in the gutter, the Association took its own measures to quell the rumors. They officialized your disappearance and stipulated a temporary withdrawal if you didn’t return within six months. But it’s been longer than six months. So it’s become a headache.”

Gyeongjin, chiding him for not returning half a year earlier, groaned and handed a new document to Sa-yoon. It was a report detailing Noah’s status since Sa-yoon’s departure. Sa-yoon quickly flipped through it.

“So you’re saying Han Geon-joo and I have been withdrawn from Noah?”

“A temporary withdrawal. That’s why you have to make a return announcement and meet with the Association President.”

“Can’t we just stay withdrawn? It’s not like I wanted to join in the first place.”

“If you do that, it will significantly impact your activities. More importantly, didn’t you say you wanted to shed the criminal guild image? Turn it into an information guild that deals with the black market.”

That was what Sa-yoon had declared the day before when he had announced his attribute activation. With his True Evil of Humanity inactive, he was no longer obligated to continue committing evil deeds, so there was no reason for the Night Rat Guild to continue down the path of a criminal organization. He had expected strong opposition from the guild members, as he had primarily recruited criminals and villains, but it was not something that could be postponed. A restructuring like this was more beneficial the sooner it started.

“…I guess I have to stay in Noah for the sake of our image. How are the guild members?”

If the Night Rat Guild were to shed its criminal skin, three would agree and the other seven would oppose. There were those who were content to belong to a guild created by Sa-yoon, even if it was a criminal one, and there were those who were not. Those bastards could be re-educated, and if that didn’t work, they could be culled. Since Yen had been in charge of that education, he looked at him. Yen smiled sweetly.

“Seventy percent are still with us.”

“And the other thirty?”

“Half of them couldn’t get their act together, so they’re in the basement. A quarter of the rest are being educated in the field. As for the remaining ones… do you really need to know?”

“That’s a lot more than I expected.”

Satisfied, Sa-yoon closed the report. With the guild’s transformation underway, it was about time to notify the Association President.

“Contact Min-cheol.”

“What should I say?”

“Tell him I’m coming to the Association tomorrow morning, so he should set the stage.”

At Sa-yoon’s words, Gyeongjin immediately made the call. The Association President, Min-cheol, who had been ecstatic at the news of Sa-yoon’s return, sighed at his high-handedness and ended the call by saying they should meet first and talk. Gyeongjin frowned at the one-sided hang-up and looked back at Sa-yoon.

“He doesn’t seem very welcoming.”

“That’s to be expected.”

Telling him it was fine and to get back to work, Sa-yoon tapped his foot.

The stage was set. All the player had to do was make his entrance.