Chapter 39

“Did I mishear you, by any chance?”

Jongsik, who had been gripping the steering wheel and rubbing his ear, glanced at Sa-yoon, groaning before finally asking again. Sa-yoon, with his legs crossed, denied it monotonously.

“No. You heard correctly, so turn the car around.”

“Hyung-nim“

“What.”

“I clearly told Geon-joo that it’s too early for an S-grade gate…”

“Jongsik.”

He quietly addressed the man who was opposing him in alarm. At the more sober address than usual, Jongsik swallowed his agitation and straightened the steering wheel.

“…Yes.”

“I’m desperate.”

Five syllables uttered without inflection. Although his voice sounded dry, lacking any appeal, Jongsik, who caught the meaning behind it, quietly turned the steering wheel. Sa-yoon felt the car making a sharp turn as he fiddled with the empty perfume bottle in his hand.

A-grade Floria’s Sleeping Scent.

It was a fragrance that assisted in immediate sleep for entities below A-grade and fully restored all conditions to 100 percent upon waking from a deep slumber.

As it was an item that restored both mental and physical fatigue, it was used more for therapeutic purposes than crime, making it an expensive item, but it was worth it.

This should be enough.

It was an item that aided in a comfortable sleep. Although it wouldn’t last until they reached the field, if he let Geon-joo sleep in the car for about four hours, he would wake up perfectly fine without any signs of exhaustion.

Still, there was a trace of a conscience that had left home, and as Sa-yoon gazed at Geon-joo, who had fallen asleep with the world’s most beautiful face, he stroked his fingers over the eyelashes that entered his sight. He felt the urge to stroke them upward, but it seemed like that would wake Geon-joo up. Having no choice but to avert his gaze, Sa-yoon leaned his head against the window.

After obtaining the status window, he occasionally found himself becoming serious without realizing it, which Sa-yoon disliked immensely.

When he came to his senses and faced reality, he inevitably had to bear the weight of his own life. It was incredibly annoying. Living lightly and mindlessly all the time and suddenly becoming aware of his own life made him feel like he was sinking into a thick swamp without any chance to escape, so how could he not be irritated?

Desperate.

It wasn’t an empty word. He was truly desperate. Even though he had brushed it off lightly, he had gone through hell and ruined his body for three months just to find Han Geon-joo, and now that he had finally found him, he was desperate enough to cancel all his scheduled plans to raise him to S-grade.

It was the same reason why he had kept Geon-joo’s neck intact despite the fact that he would have died three times over if it were anyone else.

Perhaps this was his last chance. The thought that there might not be a second chance if he failed this time made him more and more cautious and hesitant. Feeling the serious emotions that had come after a long time, Sa-yoon looked at his own face reflected in the window.

The usual face, which was always filled with a crazed smile, now had the smile erased from it, so he immediately raised the corners of his mouth. The red lips curved upward, and his blue-tinted eyes narrowed mischievously. Now he felt more like himself.

Deciding to put aside his heavy thoughts for a while, Sa-yoon tapped on his phone and sent a message to the other guild members, telling them to prepare some necessary items for the field raid and wait in front of the field.

As it wasn’t the first or second time they had experienced Sa-yoon suddenly heading to the field, the guild members sent a question mark but then replied that they understood with familiarity.

[Going to the field?]

A text arrived from Kyung-Jin, who seemed to have heard the news.

[Yeah.]

[With the newbie?]

[Yup.]

[Okay, got two return stones ready.]

He was a guy with short words but good intuition and sense. Even before Sa-yoon mentioned it, Kyung-Jin assisted him neatly and sensibly, so Sa-yoon decided to tolerate his increasingly cheeky texts.

“I… I don’t know. I know you come first, hyung-nim, but there’s always the possibility of something happening, you know.”

“I know.”

“So please don’t push him too hard. Didn’t you have a hard time finding him?”

“I’m planning to push him just enough anyway.”

“I’m saying this because your standards and our standards are different.”

Jongsik, who had been driving in a discouraged state, timidly added. When it came down to it, it was ultimately a concern for Sa-yoon, so he reassured Jongsik by saying he understood and changed the subject.

The new topic was about what feats Geon-joo had shown in the C-grade gate. Sa-yoon explained the scenes he had witnessed without a single exaggeration, his voice slightly excited.

“I think it will take a little less than half a year.”

“For what?”

“To make Han Geon-joo an S-grade.”

“He’s not even an A-grade yet, is he?”

“He’ll probably level up after going into this field and coming out. After leaving, we’ll go to another field and take him to a new S-grade gate and an uncleared gate, so he’ll surely grow.”

“Didn’t it take you two years, hyung?”

“I am me, and he is he.”

Our talents are different.

A subtle sense of unfairness was evident in his casually added words. Geon-joo, who had awakened with the title of “One and Only Under the Heaven,” started as a B-grade and displayed overwhelming skills. If one had a narrow mind, they could feel somewhat inferior, considering how Sa-yoon had struggled and become an S-grade through his own body.

However, that was already in the past.

Sa-yoon quickly sorted out his thoughts of unfairness, as harboring unnecessary feelings could ruin the task at hand.

Instead, he made a plan to draw out Geon-joo’s innate talent to the extreme.

As he was grinning, Jongsik abruptly spoke.

“By the way, does Geon-joo know that he’s going straight to the gate?”

“Probably not.”

“What?”

“I tempted him by saying we should rest a bit at the guild before going.”

“Where did you say you were going?”

“An A-grade gate.”

That way, he might take the bait.

When Sa-yoon proudly asked if it wasn’t a good scheme, Jongsik looked at him like he was the most wicked person in the world. Clicking his tongue, Jongsik asked what Sa-yoon would do if Geon-joo ran away, to which Sa-yoon let out a hollow laugh.

“Jongsik, you should say something that makes sense.”

“I think it makes perfect sense, considering the current situation. If I were Geon-joo, I would have already run away.”

“Running away requires the will to do so. When he can gain benefits that rival high-class buffets just by sticking by my side, do you think he’ll have any thoughts of running away?”

The three most intense desires of humans are:

Desire for wealth, desire for power, and sexual desire.

Others may have mentioned different things, but Sa-yoon thought so, at least. If he were to include the criteria for awakened individuals, the only thing he could add would be the desire for improvement.

He didn’t know about sexual desire, but he could automatically fulfill the other three just by having Geon-joo by his side.

Desire for wealth?

If he took Geon-joo to an uncleared gate and carried him through it, his eyes would roll back in ecstasy.

Desire for power?

Even if he just sat still, he was set to have the position of an executive in the world’s top information guild in his hands.

Desire for improvement?

Wasn’t he diligently fulfilling that right now? It was training that Geon-joo couldn’t receive anywhere else.

With all these things being fulfilled, how could the word “running away” even be plausible? When Sa-yoon confidently stated that it wouldn’t happen, Jongsik sighed and countered.

“Fundamentally, isn’t the strongest desire the will to survive?”

“In a world where countless people would jump off the 10th floor of an apartment building if offered a billion won on the spot, you’re talking about the will to survive?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Moreover, Jongsik. When did I say I would kill him? I said I would make him suffer to the point of dying. If he can endure a little hardship and have a flowery path unfold before him, do you think my pretty boy won’t be able to bear it?”

From what he had observed by his side, Sa-yoon had realized that Geon-joo had quite a bit of desire for improvement. He also had a competitive spirit and high self-esteem. A guy like that wouldn’t give up just because it was hard, so Sa-yoon snorted. When he confidently said it was an unnecessary worry, Jongsik, whose worries were as high as a mountain, repeatedly brought up the possibility of something happening.

“Still, you never know what might happen. Please be a little more careful.”

“Even if he does run away, I’ll find him right away, so what’s there to worry about?”

“Well, I guess it would be difficult for him to run away without being caught by the information network.”

“If I find him and break his ankle, he’ll change his mind.”

Sa-yoon muttered, resting his elbow on the window and propping his chin up. Jongsik, who was considered a sensible person in Night Rats, immediately objected.

“Please, let’s stick to non-violence, hyung-nim. In a sensible world, no one breaks someone’s ankle just because they ran away.”

“What do you mean no one does that? The mafia even puts holes in people’s heads.”

“This is Korea, hyung-nim.“

“We’re global, Jongsik.”

At the cheeky play on words, Jongsik exclaimed in frustration. Judging by his expression, he seemed to be thinking, “Is this really the guild leader?”

“Anyway, my pretty boy won’t run away, so just focus on driving properly. I’m planning to let him sleep in the car for a bit, so don’t go too fast.”

As soon as he said that, Jongsik lowered the speed. Calling Geon-joo a poor guy and pitying him, Jongsik checked the backseat through the rearview mirror. Sa-yoon’s attention shifted to his phone, which had buzzed with a notification, when Jongsik suddenly let out a hollow laugh.

“Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

“Hyung-nim, Geon-joo is smiling.”

At Jongsik’s words, Sa-yoon turned his head and looked at the person sleeping with his head leaning against the opposite window. The man, unaware of which gate he was about to enter and ignorant of his own fate, was indeed smiling faintly as Jongsik had said, showing off his long eyelashes as he slept soundly.

The Floria perfume was said to aid in a comfortable deep sleep, and it seemed to make him dream a pleasant dream.

Sa-yoon, who had never experienced it himself and could only speculate, took in the picturesque sight and laughed softly.

“Leave him be, he must be having a good dream.”

Yes, even if it was only in his dreams, where else would his pretty boy smile so much?

He only had days of crying ahead of him anyway.

He had to let him smile beautifully, at least for now.