The gaze that had always wandered somewhere behind his nape suddenly disappeared, making him feel strange. Jeong Taeui did not know how many times he had turned his head to look back at the door, confirming no one was there, and then breathing a light sigh of relief. At other times, every time he did so, he would surely run into Aquino, but today that guy had practically not stepped out of his room.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head, thinking about grabbing a can of beer, then stepped out of the room.

“Well, it seems like something needs to be figured out.”

Recalling Alain’s words, Jeong Taeui glanced at Aquino’s door, still tightly shut, then headed into the kitchen. He grabbed a can of beer and drank, his gaze suddenly landing on the wall clock. Less than an hour until midnight. Ilay still hadn’t come back.

“…….”

Jeong Taeui slowly shook the beer can, his eyes looking out the window. In the pitch-dark yard, Alain was curled up sitting there. Upon closer look, he noticed the guy was playing with a few cats, feeding them bits of meat. Perhaps the stray cats from around the area had sneaked in.

‘This guy really is a peculiar character……’

Jeong Taeui drank his beer while watching Alain. That beaming smile of his, whether directed at people or cats, didn’t differ one bit.

Right after Ilay had left, that guy, with the same bright smile on his face, had stared fixedly at Jeong Taeui and said:

“So, that guy was too worried about you to leave, huh? Haha, you really do see all sorts of strange things as you live longer……”

Alain’s squinting, laughing eyes narrowed slightly. He stared intently at Jeong Taeui and muttered: “To that extent?”

“Well, maybe so.”

Jeong Taeui replied awkwardly, and Alain abruptly laughed even louder, then opened his mouth again:

“Don’t you find that a burden? Receiving such intense feelings from such a bizarre person.”

Jeong Taeui raised one eyebrow. He looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. It was true that Ilay was an oddball, and it was also true that those feelings were genuinely intense…… but what about himself?

The answer quickly emerged.

Jeong Taeui shook his head firmly.

“Not really…… It’s true that his methods are different from mine. He’s more cunning than I am, and too indulgent in carnal pleasures. Because of that, at times I feel annoyed or exhausted, but not to the extent that I see it as a burden.”

There were moments when he also felt annoyed or wanted to delay things, but he never thought of it as a burden or something troublesome. All of that was simply a part of Ilay Riegrow as a person.

Jeong Taeui shrugged and spoke casually. Alain stared at him with crescent-shaped eyes. Then suddenly, Alain burst out laughing. Although he was always someone prone to laughter, in this moment, Taeui felt that Alain was genuinely ‘laughing’ sincerely.

“You’re quite strange yourself, you know……”

Hearing Alain’s murmured comment, Jeong Taeui frowned in irritation.

“I don’t want to hear that from you.”

“Hahaha, I get it. But what I said is true. It’s precisely because it’s you that you can get along with him.”

“And there won’t be anyone else like you.” – Alain chuckled softly. Jeong Taeui found it incredibly odd, looking at Alain, then raising his gaze to the ceiling for a moment, sighing, and tilting his head.

“Well, maybe that’s true.”

Jeong Taeui answered vaguely, Alain smiled brightly and nodded, “Exactly, exactly.” But immediately afterward, Alain’s next words left Jeong Taeui frozen on the spot.

“Even the fact that Rick is excessively engrossed in carnal pleasures—you enjoy and indulge in it. It’s not easy to appreciate his enormous size, but now you often curse at how big it is, then end up crying because you enjoy it.”

“――, ――How do you know about that!”

Jeong Taeui stood motionless like a statue, his entire face turning bright red, and then suddenly yelled. Alain blinked at him, appearing to ask why he wouldn’t know about it.

“Last night, the sound of your ‘activity’ echoed all the way outside. And yesterday you spent the whole day complaining about being sore because the day before, Rick sucked too hard and made your ‘little bro’ swell up, yet last night you went through all that and ended up fine again?”

“Thank you for the unnecessary worry, but I’m fine! Last night, he didn’t even touch his front!”

Jeong Taeui blushed deeply and replied irritably, but immediately regretted it. Alain blinked a few times, then stared at Jeong Taeui, gradually smiling a very subtle smile.

“Oh…… so Rick left that ‘place’ alone because he was afraid you’d get hurt? Didn’t touch his front……? Is that enough……?”

“Ah, that’s right……” – Alain nodded, giggling with a very suggestive look, making Jeong Taeui seriously consider whether to grab and stretch that face or not. But in the end, he rubbed his burning face, then stood up from his seat, but……

“……”

Thinking over and over just made his face hotter.

Jeong Taeui rubbed his burning hot face, glancing at Alain playing with a cat in the middle of the night.

At that moment, the cat Alain was luring with food – or teasing – suddenly kicked, and it seemed to have scratched very hard on the back of Alain’s hand, causing him to jerk and fling his hand. Ah, that was satisfying. It felt like a long-built frustration was somewhat relieved.

Jeong Taeui sighed and looked at the cats with affection. Then he thought to himself.

‘Is it because it’s me that I can get along with him——?’

No.

In any relationship, nothing is one-sided. Especially if it has to last for years, decades, or even longer than that.

Jeong Taeui lived his life, and Ilay did too. Certainly, there were parts both had to adjust to fit each other. But that’s the responsibility of both, and it can’t be just the effort of one side. There is no such thing as one-sided feelings in this world.

It’s just a matter of whether you have enough feelings for each other to be willing to accept those efforts to adjust.

“……Why is my face getting hot like this……”

Jeong Taeui rubbed his face, trying to regain composure. He told himself it was probably because he drank beer, then opened a can and finished it in one go, even though he had only taken a few sips before.

“Well, probably no one but me could look after him properly……”

Jeong Taeui muttered to himself, threw the can into the trash, and was about to turn away when he suddenly stopped.  

As he took a step toward the kitchen door, his steps abruptly halted.  

Aquino was standing right at the door.  

It was unclear how long he had been there, but Aquino stood motionless like a statue, his eyes eerily bright as he stared intently at Jeong Taeui.  

Jeong Taeui froze for a moment, looked at him for a while, then tried to speak. But before he could,  

“…… Who are you?”  

Aquino asked in a deep voice. His unsteady, wavering tone made Jeong Taeui’s ears ring unpleasantly, and he felt a coldness gradually spreading in his chest.  

“……You’re asking who I am?”  

Jeong Taeui replied calmly, though he wasn’t sure how Aquino interpreted his response. Aquino’s eyes remained fixed on Jeong Taeui’s face, and the corner of his mouth lifted. Whether it was a smile or a distorted grimace, it looked truly bizarre.  

Jeong Taeui noticed what Aquino was holding in his hand. At first glance, it looked like a book, but the thin, square object was actually a laptop. Jeong Taeui instantly recognized it as Shima Qinwei’s laptop, the one Aquino had taken on the first day he arrived.  

Alain had confidently asserted that the password on that laptop was unbreakable, but Jeong Taeui merely glanced from the laptop to Aquino and silently clicked his tongue in his mind.  

“That’s my laptop. You can’t use it, so why did you bring it?”  

Jeong Taeui said with an annoyed tone. Aquino’s strange smile – if it could even be called a smile – grew even more peculiar. He slowly raised the laptop.  

“That’s right…… I wonder what’s inside this thing? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t break the password. I have someone who is very skilled in this field. He can hack into any system on this planet, but even after I connected him to this laptop and he spent all day wrestling with it, he still couldn’t crack it. Truly, the password created by Shima Qinwei is exceptional. He admitted it himself, saying it was the first time he’d encountered such a complex layer of security. He said only the owner could unlock it. ——But then, just a while ago, he suddenly said he figured it out.”  

Aquino paused for a moment, looked at Jeong Taeui with his bizarre, twisted smile, and softly said,  

“He said that this laptop will never be opened.” 

Although he ultimately failed to crack the password, Jeong Taeui still couldn’t shake off the unease creeping into his heart. So then, what was it, what was the reason Aquino was so certain that Jeong Taeui wasn’t Shima Qinwei?

Aquino was scrutinizing every nook and cranny of Jeong Taeui with an expressionless face. Then he opened his mouth.

“Because the security layer of this password is linked to the biological signals of someone—someone who uses this the most frequently—so if it’s not that person themselves entering the password, even if the password is correct, it still can’t be unlocked. ……However,”

Biological signals.

Jeong Taeui suddenly recalled what Shima Qinwei had once said.

Shima Qinwei, a man plagued by an almost paranoid anxiety, checked his biological signals daily. The perfect password devised by that suspicious and intelligent man, who always tried to reveal no information about himself under any circumstance. ……Damn it.

Aquino took another step forward. Jeong Taeui almost stepped back but managed to hold his ground. The distance between them gradually shrank.

“Human biological signals are constantly changing, and this security code changes accordingly, making the security layer nearly perfect. But not too long ago, that change completely stopped. Exactly three days ago……In other words,”

Only a few steps remained between them.

Aquino stopped right in front of Jeong Taeui, his unblinking eyes fixed intently on him, then he murmured softly.

“The origin of the biological signals that ceased activity—Shima Qinwei, who became a corpse three days ago—must be the one to enter the password. Hence, this device will never be usable again.”

“……”

Jeong Taeui clenched his teeth. Aquino’s eyes grew brighter as he gazed at him.

“Who are you……?”

Aquino asked softly. In his other hand, a Magnum revolver glimmered coldly under the lights. Jeong Taeui glanced at it and slightly furrowed his brows.

“The code……? The code that Shima Qinwei deciphered—what about it? You know it, don’t you?”

Aquino took another step towards Jeong Taeui, seemingly fully convinced that he must know, otherwise, he wouldn’t be here replacing Shima Qinwei. The man’s piercing eyes resembled those of a madman, causing Jeong Taeui to instinctively step back.

This wasn’t good. The situation was far from favorable.

A sense of unease flashed through Jeong Taeui’s mind.

He had no weapons to rely on. The only thing he could count on at this moment was……

“——.”

Jeong Taeui unconsciously glanced out the window. At that very moment, his eyes met Alain’s, who had just stood up after scattering food for the cats and was dusting off his hands.

Alain looked at Jeong Taeui, still wearing an enigmatic smile, then tilted his head slightly as if he had noticed something unusual. In just a fraction of a second, as Jeong Taeui was about to turn and shout something back at Alain……

*——Swesh.*

A searing hot bullet pierced through his thigh.

Jeong Taeui nearly collapsed but managed to steady himself, leaning against the wall. His right leg felt like it was on fire. Shifting his entire weight onto his left leg and bracing himself against the wall, Jeong Taeui clutched the wound on his right thigh—dark red blood had soaked through the fabric. His legs and hands were trembling violently. Cold sweat beaded along his spine.

“Be grateful I didn’t shoot you in the head. I can’t kill you recklessly before getting the code.”

Aquino spoke while walking toward Jeong Taeui. Cold sweat trickled down Jeong Taeui’s forehead, dripping heavily onto his face. He looked up at the man. Aquino was no longer smiling. His entire face radiated cold indifference, with his eyes the only thing shining fiercely.

“Shima Qinwei is dead, so it doesn’t matter who you really are. The fact that you’re trying to impersonate Shima Qinwei means deciphering the password isn’t pointless. ——Speak! Where’s the code?”

Aquino stood in front of Jeong Taeui, raising his foot to kick him hard in the thigh. Jeong Taeui swallowed, gritting his teeth firmly. His vision blurred.

Aquino bent down, lowering his gaze to meet Jeong Taeui’s eyes. Locking eyes, he softly said:

“If the code is delivered to me safely, I’ll let you live……If not, you’ll be begging me to kill you for what’s coming.”

Aquino bared his teeth, growling as he slammed his fist into Jeong Taeui’s thigh. Jeong Taeui jolted, groaning in pain. At that exact moment……  

“Aquino. Are you crazy? Let him go and step aside.”

Alain entered the kitchen, his voice as cold as ice. His hands were in his pockets, gripping a weapon inside, ready to draw it at any moment.

Aquino turned to look at Alain. Then he abruptly stood up, gritting his teeth and yelling at Alain:

“AM I CRAZY? DON’T JOKE AROUND, WE’VE BEEN DECEIVED! THIS GUY ISN’T SHIMA QINWEI!”

Aquino flung his hand and shouted, growing more agitated with each word. While cursing and kicking the chair, he took his eyes off Alain, who was looking at Jeong Taeui leaning against the wall, one leg drenched in blood.

Ah, even now, the corner of that man’s mouth held a faint smile. But looking at those quiet eyes, perhaps that was his serious expression. Jeong Taeui looked at Alain, but his eyes gradually blurred as cold sweat dripped down his forehead, then suddenly, he started laughing. A laugh so faint it was barely recognizable.

“Not Shima Qinwei?”

Alain murmured, first scanning the bullet wound location, then carefully observing the other parts of Jeong Taeui’s body.

“Yes, not him! Shima Qinwei is dead!”

“What are you talking about? How would you know that?”

Alain raised both hands as if signaling calm and questioned Aquino, who was yelling in anger. Aquino pointed toward the laptop placed on the table.

“Its security password is tied to Shima Qinwei’s own biometric signal. But three days ago, it stopped. Stopped! This guy killed Shima Qinwei and has been impersonating him!”

Alain glanced at the laptop and fell silent, as though he understood.

Surely, he hadn’t expected such an unbelievable truth to be revealed at this moment.

After a while, looking at Jeong Taeui and Aquino with cold eyes, Alain slowly nodded.  

“If you say so, then it must be true. So, who is this man? Why is he pretending to be Shima Qinwei?”

“What other reason could there be but the code!”

“If Shima Qinwei is dead, then this man can’t possibly know the code.”

“No, there must be something. There has to be. If not, he wouldn’t still be here. ——He definitely knows a clue about the code.”

Aquino’s confident words seemed to carry a sense of compulsion. It had to be. There was no other way. Since Shima Qinwei’s death, the only person they could pin their hopes on tonight was this man.

“Spit it out. You definitely know a clue, don’t you…………

“Hurry up and talk. You surely know the clue, don’t you……!”

Aquino turned around and kicked Jeong Taeui hard in the thigh. Jeong Taeui’s body trembled violently, and Alain held Aquino back when he was about to continue kicking relentlessly.

“Stop it, Aquino. Let me try convincing him.”

“Convince him? There’s no time for that! It’s almost midnight! ……Hmph, if I cut off one finger at a time, will he stay silent? Not just fingers, there are plenty of other things to chop off too. ——Speak, tell us everything you know about the code.”

Aquino’s eyes gleamed intensely as he gripped Jeong Taeui’s neck tightly. “AQUINO!” – Alain called out, but the man acted as if he didn’t hear, his vicious hand tightening around the throat, making Jeong Taeui grimace.

Aquino’s face was right in front of him. His red eyes blazed, the corners of his eyes lifted menacingly like a demon, and his bared teeth resembled those of a wild beast. It was an image no longer human.

“……”

Only when Jeong Taeui’s lips moved slightly did Aquino finally loosen his grip on the neck. His eyes, filled with anticipation, fixated on Jeong Taeui’s lips as if urging him to speak. Those lips coughed softly a couple of times, then curved into a faint smile.

“Look at the clock……, there’s still time before midnight, you bastard…….”

“This——.”

Just as the broken words escaped, Aquino’s eyes widened as he raised the gun. But before he could act,

*——Click*

A cold sound echoed next to Aquino’s ear.

Time seemed to freeze, Aquino stood motionless. Next to him, Alain slowly spoke, the gun now aimed straight at Aquino’s head.

“Do not get agitated, Aquino.”

“——.”

“If this man is the only clue to the code, I cannot let you harm him. Calm down and let go.”

Aquino widened his eyes as he glanced at Alain. His eyes darted repeatedly toward the barrel pointing at his head, the threatening gaze directed straight at Alain. Then slowly, very slowly, he lowered the gun in his hand. “Put it on the floor.” – Alain repeated, and Aquino, with eyes filled with rage, glared at Alain before placing the gun on the floor. Afterward, he gradually let go of it.

Alain used his foot to push Aquino’s gun away. Only after retrieving the gun from Aquino did Alain smile brightly as if nothing had happened.

“The fact that this man mentioned midnight suggests that perhaps something will happen then. In any case, if the clue is not in our possession, we have no choice but to wait. Shooting a bullet into his head can happen anytime, but for now, let him breathe and maintain a cordial relationship, alright?”

Aquino raised his head like a creaking robot. His eyes, brimming with fury, glared at Alain. He looked at Alain with an irritated gaze, then turned to Jeong Taeui, his eyes filled with rage so overwhelming it bordered on madness.

Jeong Taeui relaxed his shoulders and sighed. Blood continued to flow from the wound on his thigh, and all sensation in that area had completely disappeared. ‘If the situation has settled down for now, could I pass out for a while?’—just as he was about to ask……

Aquino, still with glittering eyes and slightly trembling shoulders, glared straight at Jeong Taeui and let out a snarling laugh. When his wild beastlike teeth were bared, the hand that had just released the gun reached out and grabbed Jeong Taeui’s arm.

“Yes, let him breathe…… but his limbs don’t need to stay intact, do they?!”

“AQUINO!”

Alain’s shout sounded distant.

Even though the scream resounded right next to him, it sounded distant because the *CRACK* of his arm breaking rang out vividly in Jeong Taeui’s ears.

He couldn’t tell if the groan that had just escaped came from his own mouth. The pain blurred his vision, and it took him a few seconds to realize the source of the pain was his own arm.

His arm was bent in the wrong direction, and Aquino gripped it tightly, laughing like a demon. He seemed intent on twisting it further as his hand gradually clenched——.

“What the hell is going on?”