It seemed that today this man would not stop at capturing just one person. Even as the police were rushing over, Jeong Taeui wondered how many more people he intended to catch.

Jeong Taeui felt a bit unsettled under the cold gazes of the others, including the man in uniform, and felt really uncomfortable. He sincerely wanted to justify that he had nothing to do with this crazy person.

The sound of sirens grew closer, Jeong Taeui couldn’t tell if it was the police or an ambulance.

The bloodied face of the man lying limp in front of Ilay showed a glimmer of life. Perhaps he saw a glimmer of hope for survival, but before it could even fully bloom, it shattered instantly.

The man on the phone said: “Yes, this is Robbie. There’s a bit of a commotion here. I’ll handle it soon and get back to you.” The man in uniform paused, looking at Ilay with a strange expression.

“Yes, yes.” – The man’s face showed clear disappointment as he responded on the phone. Anxiety was evident in his hasty movements as he glanced at Ilay.

“Can I go back to my room now?”

Jeong Taeui quietly asked, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. He had grown accustomed to the stares since becoming Ilay’s second-lieutenant at UNHDRO, but the cold gazes from ordinary people were much harder to bear.

“It will be over soon. Breaking each bone doesn’t take too long. –—–Liu. If it’s the police, let them in, if it’s an ambulance, tell them to wait. I’ll go to the room for a bit and then come back.”

Jeong Taeui didn’t know who Ilay was talking to as he stared into the void. The person who responded was a man sitting on a sofa across the lobby. Jeong Taeui recognized him as one of the tails that had been following him for days. The man gave a brief reply and left.

The man in uniform spoke reluctantly as he gestured for the burly men surrounding Ilay to step back with a look of frustration.

“I’ll prepare a room for you…. So you can talk with your friend. Also, if possible, we need to maintain the hotel’s image, so please….”

Despite his unwilling tone, his face was adorned with a commercial smile, full of respect for Ilay. Jeong Taeui thought this old man was also quite frightening and patted his heart, which had been working overtime.

A waiter ran over from the lobby, and Ilay nodded slightly as he received the key from him. He became pensive and glanced back at the bloodied man.

“Let’s go. Let’s go upstairs and have a calm conversation, my friend.” (Let’s count….)

Ilay grabbed the man’s collar and lifted him effortlessly, smiling warmly. The man clung to Ilay’s hand and stumbled along, dragging his broken leg. His mouth, hands, and legs trembled uncontrollably as he took shaky steps. He whimpered like a dying animal, blood spilling from his loosened teeth.

“L-Li…. —”

The man mumbled something desperately. Each time he opened his mouth, blood gushed out, making it hard to understand. Ilay smirked and lightly slapped his cheek—a “light” slap that sounded like tearing flesh.

“I can’t understand you.”

Ilay said curtly. This time, the man struggled to form coherent words.

“L-Ling…..X-Xin……i”

The fragmented, slow words came out unclearly, but they were audible. That was all he could manage.

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at the man and blinked.

“Ling Xin…..? Who is that?”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and mumbled. It was a name he had never heard before.

Ilay had said that this wasn’t someone he had sent, so Taeui wondered if it was someone related to his uncle or his brother.

Jeong Taeui fell into deep thought, considering whether to ask his uncle directly. In front of him, the man stuttered weakly and exhaustedly.

“L-Ling…. that guy…. b-bring him…. bring him to……”

“…..?”

The man’s bloodied hand pointed at Jeong Taeui. Reflexively, Jeong Taeui took a step back, watching the bloodstained hand reach toward him.

“Me? No, well, of course, it’s me. You’ve been chasing me. But who is that person?”

Jeong Taeui curiously tilted his head, wondering if the man was trying to find his missing brother. Then, he suddenly caught Ilay’s gaze.

Ilay was smiling. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a slender curve.

Jeong Taeui realized that Ilay might have known the answer even before the man spoke.

“Il….”

But before Jeong Taeui could call out Ilay’s name, Ilay spoke first, “I understand,” and delivered a heavy slap to the man’s other cheek. Blood and screams burst forth simultaneously.

“You should have answered sooner. There’s someone here eager to get back to his room. — —Chie. Take this man away.”

Ilay spoke loudly without looking back. A man who had been observing from behind a column stepped forward.

Now, it would be hard for even family members to recognize the man with his battered face.

In the oppressive silence and distant conversations, Ilay remained calm – no, with a slightly displeased expression, he wiped the blood off his hands.

Suddenly, a few steps away, he walked towards the man in uniform who stood frozen like a frog before a snake and pulled out a white handkerchief neatly folded in the man’s breast pocket. The silk handkerchief gilded slowly over Ilay’s hand, quickly soaking up the dark red blood.

“Can I cancel the room?” 

Ilay smiled, placing the bloodstained handkerchief back into the man’s pocket, then turned his back to him. He headed towards Taeui, who stood in the void, looking weary.

“Now that I have a rough idea of what’s been bothering me, let’s go to the room.”

“…..”

Jeong Taeui really didn’t want to reinforce everyone’s perception that “these two know each other” by leaving with this man, but since he had made it clear, it was best to leave immediately.

Jeong Taeui nodded unconsciously and quickly turned to head towards the elevator. As he did, he caught the gaze of the broker sitting a few tables away. The broker stared at Ilay with a bewildered expression, realizing just how lucky he had been.

He was indeed very fortunate. See, after disappearing before Ilay, he would never have to face him again. But what about Taeui? He didn’t even know how long he would have to stay in this hotel.

Jeong Taeui intentionally left the lobby and walked along the corridor leading to the new building before entering the elevator. The countless gazes behind him had vanished, but the smell of blood seemed to linger at the tip of his nose.

“Anyway, there was an elevator there, so I wonder if it was necessary to go this far?”

A casual voice followed Jeong Taeui, a few steps behind. Standing in the empty elevator lobby, Jeong Taeui pressed the button for the 10th floor, turned to look at Ilay, and sighed.

“All right. So ——who is that?”

“Who?”

“The one behind that guy?”

Jeong Taeui frowned and asked again.

There was no way this man wouldn’t know. If he didn’t know, he obviously wouldn’t let that man go. (No, even now, it can’t be certain that he let the man go.)

The person is called Ling Tao. And what else did he say? His master told him to bring him back.

He couldn’t say he understood it exactly. The bloodied tongue and damaged mouth prevented the man from speaking clearly. But that was all Jeong Taeui heard.

But….

“I don’t know anyone like that.”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and mumbled, tilting his head. In response to Jeong Taeui, Ilay, who had been staring at him, suddenly laughed.

“Speaking of the Ling family, the whole world knows them. Currently, the head of the family is a seventy-year-old man named Ling Ho Long. Despite his age, he’s still shrewd and wields his power everywhere, but he’s notoriously authoritarian and greedy. Haven’t you heard of him?”

“Never.”

“Really? Well, did you know that when he was around fifty, he fell in love with a young girl, not even twenty at the time, and took her as his seventh wife, doting on her? It’s a very famous story.”

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay with a strange expression as he continued the unexpected story. It seemed like a weird story that could only appear in women’s magazines or from over 20 years ago. Jeong Taeui pondered for a moment to find the connection between this story and the prestigious person who ordered the man to capture him.

“I hope you’re not saying that the seventh wife is related to my brother.”

Of course, this could never happen with his brother Jaeui, a genius with no talent for flirting with women.

If he had decided to flirt with someone, Jeong Taeui might not have known, but as far as he understood his brother, Jeong Jaeui had no interest in such matters. Especially with a married woman. Furthermore, she would be ten years older than him.

Jeong Taeui imagined it for a moment and immediately shook his head. Ilay laughed down at him, as if not expecting such thoughts from him.

“Ahaaha, Jeong Jay and that woman? No relation at all. That woman poured all her attention and soul into the son she bore. Her youngest son declared that it didn’t matter if Ling Houlong didn’t care about him. The neglect was so intense that even her own family criticized her.”

“….—”

Jeong Taeui stared at Ilay. Suddenly, something seemed stuck in his throat. And then, the weak suspicion that had gnawed at his mind made his heart feel suffocated.

“That, that son….”

Jeong Taeui mumbled. At the same moment, the elevator stopped and opened. Under the light shining from the elevator, Ilay looked at Jeong Taeui. His eyes narrowed into a slender line, staring intently at Jeong Taeui’s face as if to devour every nook and cranny.

“It seems you forgot the full name of that kid, didn’t you? That brat would cry from being ignored. No, it’s from anger, right?”

“Ling…. Xinlu….”

Jeong Taeui muttered in a daze. In reality, his mind felt as if half of it had flown away.

“Moreover, he has a very good background. He is the son of a famous business family in China; just hearing the name makes you know his stature is significant.”

“Indeed, his family is greedy. But I didn’t expect them to go to such lengths to get Gil Sang Cheon.”

“Originally, he is the son of a wealthy family with a long history, so he would handle things by establishing a company of his own in his hometown.”

The brief, scattered words from his uncle, Morer, and Ilay floated through Taeui’s mind. Shinru. Ling Shinru. That lovely and adorable child. He had forgotten about him. Since he met Ilay again, he had completely forgotten about that person.

Jeong Taeui stared at Ilay in shock. His mind became muddled. How could he forget that kid? He hadn’t even thought about him once. How could he completely forget that adorable child?

“…..!”

Jeong Taeui turned and frantically walked back the way he had come. He hadn’t seen Shinru in a long time. Since Jeong Taeui left the island, he had heard that Xinlu had immediately left UNHRDO as well. After that, all contact was lost.

Does he resent him? Did Xinlu feel resentment because Jeong Taeui left without a word, and that’s why he ordered the man to capture him? If that was the case, all the man had to do was tell him that Xinlu was looking for him, and Jeong Taeui would have willingly followed without resistance.

But as he hurried back to the lobby, a strong hand grabbed him from behind, stopping him. Jeong Taeui halted, feeling the beautiful hands tightly gripping his shoulders. He turned to look back anxiously, and Ilay held him with a cold expression.

“The man has been transferred to a hospital or somewhere else. And even if he was still there, he wouldn’t have the capability to bring you to Ling Xinlu.”

“Where is that place?”

Jeong Taeui immediately asked but received no reply. Instead, he got a cold gaze from Ilay. After a moment, Ilay’s voice sounded slowly.

“Do you plan to go?”

“….”

Jeong Taeui didn’t answer. Gradually, under those cold eyes, he remembered his reality. The fleeting emotions that had occupied his mind began to subside.

If he went, he would see Xinlu again. Would anything change? It seemed not. Xinlu would still be the Xinlu that Jeong Taeui knew, and Jeong Taeui would still be himself. Nothing would change.

But it felt like there was something he wanted to say, something he hadn’t yet said. Thinking about it, Jeong Taeui faced Ilay in silence. Suddenly, Ilay spoke in a deep voice.

“I really….. I can’t stay calm when I hear that name. Jeong Taei, do I need to tell you this? I assure you that if you go to that house now, you will never come out again. Before you become a corpse.”

The hand on Jeong Taeui’s shoulder seemed to loosen a bit, then the fingers gently touched his shoulder. It was like trying to advise a disobedient child.

“I have to see him.”

I have to see him once. I need to say something. Even if decades pass, human relationships will remain the same. If I don’t make a decisive move now, this vague situation will continue forever.

Suddenly, the hand resting on Jeong Taeui’s shoulder froze. Ilay’s gaze also settled on him.

“Alright…..”

Ilay released Jeong Taeui’s shoulder. Jeong Taeui exhaled a slight sigh and stepped back a bit. “I give up,” Ilay shrugged slightly as he spoke.

“I’ve been a bit busy these days, and it seems my mind has been wandering. I’ve been talking about useless things.”

“Tsk”- Ilay clicked his tongue, his expression darkening with a chilling coldness, and spoke.

“I’ll just give you the conclusion.”

“You can’t go.”

“You can’t go” – those seemed to be the last words Jeong Taeui comprehended. It seemed Ilay said a few more things afterward, but Jeong Taeui couldn’t understand any of them. Only a few seconds after the pain hit, did he realize Ilay’s fist had sunk deep into his stomach.

“….—-.”

Jeong Taeui couldn’t utter a word. The urge to vomit surged from within. Ilay gently supported him with one arm as Jeong Taeui instinctively bit his lip and collapsed on the spot.

His vision darkened. His back was drenched in cold sweat, and his ears rang. It felt as if his internal organs had shattered into pieces. If he lost consciousness like this, he might die immediately and never see the light again. In a semi-conscious state, Jeong Taeui stared at the ground, seemingly shaking before him. He couldn’t move even a finger as Ilay carried him back to the elevator.

It hurt terribly.

No, it hurt so much that he could barely feel the pain anymore. His senses seemed numb. Perhaps this was what approaching death felt like.

Only when he sensed the elevator moving to his floor did Jeong Taeui manage to lick his lips and speak.

“Bastard…. it’s really ineffective….”

It felt almost funny to say this after being hit, but that was the first thought that crossed his mind. Jeong Taeui would rather die instantly from a shot than endure the excruciating pain of wanting to faint but not being able to.

He let his body go limp and let himself hang down. It hurt even more than running with a bruised ankle. If he could just faint, it would be so much easier, but he couldn’t.

As he hung over Ilay’s shoulder, swaying with each movement, Jeong Taeui lamented: “You’re a monster. A monster…..”