[“……——Taei?”]

That voice was deep, slow, and familiar.

Jeong Taeui unconsciously grabbed the phone. A wave of anxiety rose in his chest.

Even if it were decades later, he would always remember this voice clearly.

Jeong Taeui bit his lip and heard Ilay shouted.

[“WHERE ARE YOU NOW!?!”]

Hmm, not like this, he thought for a moment. But it didn’t matter, he had already spoken.

[“TAEI……—WHERE ARE YOU?”]

His voice changed in an instant. The low tone turned into a growl of a wild beast.

[“WHERE ARE YOU. TAEI? WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW…………TAEI!”]

Ilay kept repeating his name. Jeong Taeui suddenly couldn’t speak.

“Umm…….”

What should he do?

Jeong Taeui anxiously clenched his fingers. Suddenly, his mind went blank.

He hadn’t heard that voice in a long time. He didn’t know what was happening on the other end, didn’t know how he was searching, or where he was looking.

His voice sounded like vibrant colors to his ears. Jeong Taeui felt inexplicably anxious and didn’t understand why. This anxiety was different from the worry about being chased. His mind was blank in the face of this strange, unnamed emotion. It felt like he had something to say. There was something he needed to confirm. Before calling him, he had a few things he wanted to ask. But he was also afraid to ask those things, worried he wouldn’t know what to do if he got the answer he was hoping for.

What was it? His inner voice……

Jeong Taeui’s palms were sweaty. He switched the phone to his other hand, nervously wiping his hand on his pants. So, it was……—

[“Taei. Answer me!…….—Damn it. Is your body okay? You know if you dare to get hurt, you will die by my hand…… answer me! Taei. Jeong Taei!…….”]

[“……JEONG TAEUI!”]

Oh, there it was again. This man sometimes pronounced it well……Did someone teach him to correct his pronunciation?

Jeong Taeui was dazed when a strange voice passed by his ear like a hypnotic chant. At that moment, he didn’t even know what he had said unconsciously.

“Ya. Maybe I like you.”

Hmm. Not like this!

As soon as he said that, Jeong Taeui’s mind came back. Oh my God. But it was good, he had said it. But what did he say? It seemed that due to his schizophrenic tendencies, he had just said something strange that his brain hadn’t caught up with yet.

Jeong Taeui nervously brought his fingertip to rub his lips.

Suddenly, the other end of the phone went silent. Not a single sound came through.

“Umm, hello, hello? Hey, Ilay!”

Did the phone get disconnected? In this urgent situation, did he dare to hang up?

Jeong Taeui awkwardly called Ilay’s name two or three times.

At that moment. It wasn’t clear if someone was just passing by, but he heard a noise at the end of the hallway. And then the footsteps got closer and closer.

Jeong Taeui quickly turned in the opposite direction and picked up speed.

“Hey, what if the call gets disconnected right now? I don’t know when I’ll be able to call again, but…… Ilay!”

[“……——I’m listening.”]

[“Hurry, tell me where you are.”]

“Um, this, this is Raman’s villa. It’s an annex building, but I can’t leave here so I’m not sure where it is within the villa complex. But they said it’s built on the highest ground in this villa.”

[“The highest ground in the villa……”]

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue. The sounds behind him seemed to indicate that it wasn’t just someone passing by. Jeong Taeui moved in the opposite direction and walked faster and faster, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor.

Almost running, Jeong Taeui glanced back. At that moment, he saw a figure approaching at the corner of the hallway. It was the young guard – the owner of this phone.

As soon as he saw Jeong Taeui, the young man shouted something and ran towards him, his face flushed. And of course, Jeong Taeui couldn’t afford to be caught, so he ran at full speed without looking back.

“Damn it. Hey, I probably won’t be able to call you again for a while. It’s really hard to escape from here. Raman is demanding that my brother make some kind of weapon. He says he won’t let me go, and if there’s any outside pressure, he’ll lock both of us in a prison cell and pretend not to know anything…… Anyway, so I won’t be able to see you for a while, but I have no intention of running away from you, so don’t send me to my ancestors when we meet later.”

[“……—Damn it. It’ll be very difficult to get you out from the outside.”]

The voice on the phone sounded slightly worried, but otherwise it was as normal as always. That voice had a slightly lower tone, and if you didn’t know him well, you might not even realize he was angry.

Jeong Taeui was silent for a moment.

He knew that very well. If it were easy to rescue someone, there was no reason why Jeong Jaeui would have been trapped here all this time. Ilay Riegrow was no fool. In the Middle East, the Royal family was like a beehive. If he made even a slight misstep, it would be like poking that dangerous hive.

“I know. So I’ll be spending some time here……—”

[“Taei. Do you want to get out of there?”]

Before Jeong Taeui could finish speaking, Ilay suddenly interrupted. Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue.

“Um, if only I could get out……”

Jeong Taeui fell silent. Another guard was chasing him from behind. Worse, there was one rushing towards him from the front. He guessed he wouldn’t be able to hold onto this phone much longer.

[“……Alright. I understand.”]

Ilay had been silent as if deep in thought, and soon his voice grew heavy. After that brief, low reply, his slow but resolute voice echoed.

[“But Taei. Remember this well. Whatever I have to risk for this, I will make sure to take it back from you.”]

“What……”

Jeong Taeui was speechless.

It was strange. A feeling of unease rose in his chest. Was this the feeling of having crossed the river without being able to turn back?

Jeong Taeui mumbled – “Um…… uh……” – and continued running, his panting breaths echoing through the phone. But the gap between him and the three pursuers was steadily closing. He was confident in his ability to escape, but with three people chasing him, it was a different story. And then, one of them grabbed his shoulder.

“Damn it.”

Jeong Taeui muttered and punched the guy in the face. Only then did he realize it was the owner of the phone. Suddenly, he felt a bit guilty.

[“Taei?! What are you doing?”]

“I’m trying to make a call while being chased! Oh, damn it! They’ll catch me soon.”

Jeong Taeui panted and answered briefly. Should he keep running or stop and end the call now? He was going to be out of breath and dead soon. Clearly, he would be caught either way. Jeong Taeui dashed into the bathroom right in front of him and slammed the door shut. Instead of being caught immediately, hiding in the bathroom and blocking the door might buy him a few extra seconds to make the call.

*Bang*

The door slammed shut mercilessly. But before he could lock the bolt, one of them rammed into him, preventing him from securing the lock.

[“Taei!……. Damn it…….. Do not hurt yourself!”]

“If I get hurt, I feel the pain, not you! Are you crazy…… AAAAAAAAA——!”

As he tried to close the door, his finger got caught in the crack. Tears welled up in his eyes. When he thought about what he was doing just to make a brief phone call, tears streamed down even more.

All of this just to extend this call by a few seconds? Maybe after this call ended, he wouldn’t be able to dial this number ever again. And perhaps this was the last thing he could do before getting out of here.

It felt like there was something more important he needed to say. It seemed like there was something he had to tell him. Jeong Taeui anxiously thought.

“How dare you hurt yourself like that! Damn it, how dare they chase you so recklessly……!”

Jeong Taeui opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, the sound of Ilay’s angry voice on the phone startled him, making him shrug. His eyes widened.

He had seen this man angry many times before. Not only would Ilay go berserk, but he would also beat people like they were dogs. Jeong Taeui was no longer surprised by his ruthless, cold eyes. But perhaps this was the first time he heard him say such nonsensical things in anger.

“……”

He suddenly remembered what he needed to say to this man, something he needed to confirm.

Jeong Taeui hesitated for a moment. If possible, he wanted to meet Ilay and talk to him directly. Because he wanted to see how his face would change upon hearing those words……, ……Or, maybe, asking over the phone while they were far apart like this was wise, because if he asked directly, he might have to witness Ilay turning into a monster after hearing his question……. No, but asking over the phone felt a bit……

However, his hesitation was immediately blown away when the bathroom door, which he had been trying to hold shut, was kicked open by the three men.

“Ilay, do you…… do you like me?”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue again, not like this.

No, that was exactly what he wanted to ask. But he could have said it more comfortably if it wasn’t in such an urgent situation. Because it was so rushed, he shouted it into the phone.

But he didn’t get any response. Or maybe he just didn’t hear it.

Before he could wait out the brief silence on the phone and hear Ilay’s answer, the guy he had punched earlier roughly snatched the phone from his hand and hung up.

“Hey! That was the most important thing! How dare you hang up!!!”

Jeong Taeui yelled at the man who was pinning him to the floor. He knew no matter how much he yelled, the guy wouldn’t understand what he was saying. And after all, the young man – the rightful owner of the stolen phone – glared at him with a face full of anger. It seemed he had been scolded by the older Arab man.

Jeong Taeui had to endure the furious punches from the young man and the Arabic curses. The only fortunate thing was that he didn’t understand what those curses meant.