SLC 2

The shower stopped running, and the hum of a hair dryer began. Kim Jinkyung was sitting in the chair with a pale face, racking his brain.

Am I hallucinating? No. A black panther had definitely appeared. It hadn’t fallen from the sky, nor had it emerged from the ground, nor had it leaped from the water.

Kim Jinkyung slapped his cheek. He’d repeated this action countless times, but reality wouldn’t return.

It hurt. It hurt so much. He wasn’t even dreaming, so how could it be…

He carefully replayed the events of the past in his mind once more.

After entering this palatial house, he looked at the lilacs in the garden, then he was startled by a man calling from behind him, tripped, and fell into the pond, then, as he was trying to get out of the pond, something got into his clothes, causing him to panic, and then…

Kim Jinkyung frowned, trying to slow down the film as much as possible. A man reached out to help him, but he shook him off, knocking him over, and a black panther…

Kim Jinkyung quickly shook his head. No, no. Try again. How could a black panther come out of there? Where did the man go? Could it be that the man transformed into a black panther…

“That’s ridiculous.”

Kim Jinkyung clutched his head.

Ah, right. Drugs! Drugs!

Kim Jinkyung finally concluded that he was hallucinating under the influence of drugs.

These bastards, not just savages, but also drugging the pond? Could it be that they were even trying to trick him into quitting tutoring…

Someone sat down in front of Kim Jinkyung, who was furious. He looked up in surprise, then gasped and lowered his head again.

It was Mok Seongha. He wiped his wet hair with a large towel and sat down across from him. He looked completely human.

“You saw it?” A low, icy sound pierced his heart.

“Huh?”

“That one, earlier.”

Kim Jinkyung avoided his gaze.

“…What are you talking about?” He desperately pretended not to understand.

“We made eye contact earlier.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t see anything. I passed out right away, so I didn’t even have time to look.”

He quickly answered. Denial was the only way to survive.

“Really? Then one more time…”

The man stood up. Kim Jinkyung screamed and flinched. Mok Seongha stared at him, his hands on the table. Kim Jinkyung muttered, his face practically on the verge of tears.

“…Because of drugs…”

“What?”

“Drugs… dissolved in water…”

He trailed off with a trembling voice.

“I didn’t intentionally fall in, but I never thought there would be drugs… I’ll never tell anyone… Please, if you give me the antidote… I won’t report you.”

Once he concluded it was drugs, Kim Jinkyung was suddenly terrified. He knew all too well the chemical reactions drugs cause in the brain. And once you step into it, you can never go back.

Mok Seongha stared at Kim Jinkyung, who was crouched in panic and rambling nonsense.

“Who took drugs?”

“I did…”

“When?”

“…A little while ago?”

Kim Jinkyung asked. The man sat back down. He spoke, his chin tilted slightly.

“Why do you think you were on drugs?”

“Because I saw a hallucination…”

“And now?”

Kim Jinkyung blinked. The man, who had just finished showering, sat there in a robe.

He could see things. That scary man was handsome… Ugh. The drug hadn’t worn off yet.

Kim Jinkyung picked up the glass of water on the table and quickly drank it. The cold water calmed his heart. He put the glass down and, like a person who had regained his senses, answered calmly.

“…I’m fine now.”

“Of course. There’s no such thing as drugs.”

Mok Seongha’s voice left no room for doubt, and Jinkyung felt relieved. At least it meant he wasn’t under the influence of anything.

But even that was fleeting.

“So, you saw something?”

“Huh?”

“A hallucination.”

The man smiled, revealing his white, even teeth. His canines were unusually sharp.

When Jinkyung finally admitted he’d seen the “hallucination,” the man called someone in.

He’s going to kill me. I’m dead. I’m definitely going to die.

Kim Jinkyung, pale, frantically searched for a way to escape. When the door opened, he, who had been sitting on the sofa, jumped up, clasped his hands together and begged.

“Please, spare me. Please…”

“Did you do something worth dying for? If you did, you should die.”

It was the same secretary who’d once told him that it didn’t matter if he liked men as long as he didn’t fall for the young master. He dropped a stack of papers on the table.

“I didn’t!”

Kim Jinkyung answered immediately. Regardless, the secretary nodded and left the room. Left alone with Mok Seongha, Kim Jinkyung desperately begged for his life.

“Please, spare me. I won’t tell anyone about what I saw earlier…”

“How can I trust you?”

The man pulled out a pen.

A pen? Was he going to stab me with it?

Kim Jinkyung’s already pale face, haggard from lack of exercise, turned pitifully white.

“Here.”

“Save me…!”

Kim Jinkyung covered his face with both arms as the man held out the pen. Mok Seongha sighed in disbelief.

“Read it and sign it.”

“…Huh?”

“The contract.”

Kim Jinkyung slowly lowered his arms. A stack of papers labeled “Contract” lay on the table. It looked to be over a hundred pages.

“W-what kind of contract is this?”

“A non-disclosure agreement.”

Kim Jinkyung quickly scanned the words on the paper. Unlike the tutoring contract he’d first received, it was filled with meticulously detailed confidentiality clauses.

The gist of the lengthy contract was, “You will not reveal anything you saw here to anyone.” After reading a couple of pages, Kim Jinkyung put the contract down.

“…What happens if I don’t sign?”

Mok Seongha chuckled briefly at Kim Jinkyung’s question.

“There are simpler ways to keep a secret. Here, this is a gift.”

Mok Seongha handed him a photo. Kim Jinkyung’s parents were smiling brightly, holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Isn’t the photo a little warm? It’s just been printed.”

“How on earth did you get my parents’ address…”

“Do you think that’s the only thing I know?”

Kim Jinkyung picked up a pen and hurriedly signed on the signature page, his fingers nearly breaking. As he signed the lengthy contract, the man asked.

“Are you allergic to cats?”

“Yes! Very much!”

Convinced this was his only way out, Kim Jinkyung clutched the pen and shouted.

“Take your medicine.”

“……”

“Keep signing.”

Only after signing every page of the contract was Kim Jinkyung released from that house.

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“Save me.”

Kim Jinkyung, who had arrived at his friend’s studio apartment, immediately revealed the purpose of his visit.

“What? What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden? Didn’t you say you were going to tutor?”

Seo Sangil scratched his disheveled hair and yawned lazily.

“Save me. I’m right now…”

“Right now what?”

Before leaving the man’s house, Kim Jinkyung mustered up all the courage he had and asked.

‘So, about that thing earlier… was it… real?’

Kim Jinkyung definitely saw the black panther then. The man who’d been soaked in water was gone, and the panther had looked at him with a tired, annoyed gaze. That meant the man had turned into the leopard….

‘It’s as written in the contract.’

The contract only specified detailed confidentiality obligations. The identity of the secret and its exact nature weren’t documented.

‘If I had a head injury and was seeing things I shouldn’t have, then I should go to the hospital right now…’

‘There’s a hospital run by our foundation. I can take you there if you want.’

That was the most expensive-sounding threat he’d ever heard. I’ll personally have you locked up in a mental hospital where no one will find you.

Kim Jinkyung shook his head.

‘Believe it or not, just keep the secret. Kang will explain the penalties for breaking the contract.’

‘It’s just… everything’s happened too suddenly…’

‘Kim Jinkyung.’

‘Yes!’

Even when the drill sergeant, known as a tiger, had called his name in boot camp, it hadn’t been this terrifying.

He straightened his back and answered.

‘Between the living and the dead, who do you think talks more?’

Without answering, Jinkyung bowed his head and left the house. Secretary Kang drove him home in a Maybach.

‘…Why are you letting me go home? What if I run away?’

He wanted to stuff his own mouth shut the moment he said it. Idiot. If you’re going to run, just run. Why would you ask that out loud?

Secretary Kang, who was steering the car, slowly continued his explanation.

‘The reason I’m sending you home is because recapturing someone like you is easier than swatting a fly. If you flap your tongue too much, you’ll drown in the sea with it in your arms, and your loved ones and family will be by your side. If you suddenly feel the urge to spill the secret, just choose which ocean you want to drown in. We’ll take care of the rest. Easy, right?’

“What? Why are you suddenly asking me to save you? Are they threatening you or something? Are they forcing you to do something strange instead of tutoring? Are they trying to sell organs?”

Seo Sangil frowned.

“Oh, no. They’re not making me do anything strange…”

“Then what is it?”

“…No. Nothing.”

Kim Jinkyung trailed off.

He trailed off. He didn’t love this friend, but if Sangil even overheard a hint of what had happened, they’d both end up buried at sea.

“Why did you come when it’s nothing? Oh, did you get tutoring money?”

Kim Jinkyung remembered the envelope the man had handed him before leaving.

“Oh, I did.”

“Then let’s go eat meat. That new place across the street is delicious. And expensive.”

“…You bastard.”

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

Seo Sangil put his arm around Kim Jinkyung’s shoulder and hummed. He seemed excited by the thought of eating free meat.

As soon as they sat down, Seo Sangil ordered five servings of meat without permission.

“One bottle of Cass and one of Chamisul too, please.”

“What are you drinking for in the afternoon?”

“Should I not order it then?”

“…Order it.”

There was no need to refuse alcohol when you were upset.

“But why did you really come here? Is it because of the tutoring?”

A friend with a peculiar personality who enjoyed being blunt and rude, but sometimes quick-witted, asked that question. Kim Jinkyung downed a glass of soju and then answered.

“I don’t think I’ll get fired from my tutoring job.”

“Why? Hey, you think that guy likes guys too?”

“No!”

“But he didn’t fire you? He’s got patience.”

“…….”

He wanted to hit him, even though they were friends.

“Ah. I get it. You didn’t pretend to like guys.”

“…I couldn’t.”

“You still don’t want to get fired.”

“That’s not it…!”

“If that’s not it, then what?”

He felt his stomach churn. After experiencing something that defied modern science, like a man turning into a black panther the moment he was splashed with water, his mind was filled with the single thought of surviving that place. Naturally, he couldn’t even think about pretending to like men.

“What do I do now? Seriously.”

Kim Jinkyung clutched his head in agony, and Seo Sangil clicked his tongue and refilled his glass.

“What else? You get fired. It was the same solution as before.”

“I told you, I can’t get fired!”

The nondisclosure agreement he’d signed had over twenty extra pages. It even stated he couldn’t quit unless the employer dismissed him first. After witnessing what he’d witnessed, there was no way they’d let him go easily.

“What’s so impossible? I could get fired in a day.”

“…….”

Kim Jinkyung looked at his friend, who was stuffing three pieces of meat into his mouth, with cold eyes. What had possessed him to crush on this idiot for three whole years in high school?

“Should I go and talk to him instead? I’m tough, so I can take a few beatings.”

Seo Sangil said nonchalantly, mixing soju with beer.

Oh, right. That was the reason. Of course, the handsome shell was the biggest reason.

Kim Jinkyung sighed and said, “Forget it,” as he chewed his meat. Sangil was a friend who lacked thoughtfulness and consideration, but he didn’t want to drown him in the ocean.

“Then should I take your place as the tutor? I’m confident I’ll get fired right away. But in return, you’ll owe me two more servings of beef. How about that?”

“No matter what, that’d be impolite.”

“You’re being needlessly polite. You should be a little rude. Everything about you just screams polite.”

Seo Sangil chuckled, downing his drink. Then he continued.

“There’s no need to think too deeply. Just pick the behavior the other person dislikes and do the opposite of what you usually do.”

Kim Jinkyung, shaking the water off the lettuce, said, “Hmm,” deep in thought. After a moment of contemplation, his eyes turned gravely serious before he spoke.

“You have a cat, right?”

“Uh. Not me, but my older sister.”

“What do cats hate?”