GCT 17

‘It’s about time for him to show his face….’

Lear saw Yohan talking with someone. He could not see the other person’s face properly, but it was a man who was slightly smaller than Yohan. Lear wondered if he was already thinking of cheating, here in the space where people were mourning the deceased after the funeral had ended.

‘Surely, he isn’t holed up in a room doing something useless, is he?’

At this point, Lear thought that he himself might be the problem, worrying anxiously while being suspicious of Yohan here, but it could not be helped. This was because there was more than one person who coveted Yohan. And in fact, he had experienced such situations a few times.

Moreover, after deciding to acknowledge his feelings for Yohan to some extent, it had been a long time since he had lost all patience when it came to anything related to Yohan.

Lear, who had been anxiously looking around while pretending to be an acquaintance of O’Connell, decided he had to find Yohan. This was because the time spent searching O’Connell’s room was getting longer than he had expected.

He stealthily wandered around the inside of O’Connell’s house. And Lear’s expression gradually hardened as he opened the rooms one by one. It was because Yohan was nowhere to be seen inside O’Connell’s house.

‘Was he a damn bastard whose hobby is having sex with his roommate and whose specialty is running away whenever he pleases?’

Even while knowing that Yohan was not that kind of person, when he recalled him abruptly bolting from the funeral, the thought that it was not entirely impossible kept coming to mind. Still, was he not the one who came all the way here from Las Vegas, thinking he had to search O’Connell’s house? Furthermore, since Yohan’s cherished collection of loud Hawaiian shirts was still in Lear’s hands, there was no way he would just disappear like that.

‘There’s no way the guy who diligently took his 500 dollars and went home even after getting done by me high on candy would leave his belongings behind and just take off.’

Feeling frustrated, Lear first rushed out of O’Connell’s house. Then, he went to a place with few people, took a cigarette out from the inside pocket of his jacket, put it in his mouth, and began to search for Yohan using his phone.

Yohan did not know this, but Lear had secretly planted ransomware on his phone and would monitor him whenever necessary or extract the information he had and store it on a personal server. He did not look at it every time, but he had taken this measure in advance just in case something like today happened.

“He’s still here?”

Yohan’s phone was not getting a signal, but its last known location was O’Connell’s house. If Yohan had really run away, considering the signal had been cut off, he probably had not gone far yet.

‘Don’t tell me, is he hiding in a closet or a basement and doing something else?’

Lear clenched his jaw, biting down hard on his molars. Just the thought that Yohan might be doing something improper made him feel sick. But it was not as if he could go back inside the house and start interrogating the people who came to mourn O’Connell, showing them Yohan’s picture and asking if they had seen him.

Various frustrating situations confronted Lear, but he decided that he should first look around the area once more. He carelessly threw the unlit cigarette, which he had been holding while checking Yohan’s location, onto the ground and started walking. And as soon as he arrived at the spot where the signal had last cut off, Lear’s face contorted into a deep scowl at the sight of Avon’s back standing there.

“What is it?”

Avon, who was picking up something that had fallen on the ground, was startled by Lear’s extremely sharp pheromones and his voice, and he whipped his head around. Toward Lear, who had a hardened expression, Avon smiled awkwardly.

“We meet again. Haha.”

Lear clicked his tongue and made it blatantly obvious that he did not like Avon, and said. This was because he had already engaged in a tense battle of wills with Avon over Yohan at O’Connell’s funeral. Even back then, Avon had gasped for breath and coughed as if he were about to suffocate on the pheromones, yet he was now putting on a feigned smile as if he had not understood what was said. Lear, who was already annoyed to death because of Yohan, felt his nerves become even more frayed.

“I believe I told you to stay out of my sight.”

Avon scratched his cheek and said.

“Did you? I don’t really remember….”

When he felt the murderous pheromones from Lear again, Avon let out a dry cough and spoke with a slightly fed-up face.

“This, this…! Are you threatening me right now? Just like before, it’s very problematic if you use violence like this. I could post an article saying that Laura Crawford’s grandson goes around attacking people with his pheromones.”

While thinking that he had done a good job finding information on him, Lear scoffed at the sight of Avon threatening him.

“Let me say it again. Catalini, digging up your weaknesses is no trouble at all. Not to mention blowing away that blog you decorated as cutely as My Little Pony.”

At the mention of the blog, Avon was slightly flustered. From what he had looked up, he only knew that Lear was a corporate raider, but it seemed there was something more. To be honest, he had barely managed to find out that Lear was Laura Crawford’s grandson. He had thought that it was questionable in more ways than one, as there was so little information about him that it made one wonder if such an uninformed person could even exist. Especially his act of following Yohan around.

Lear sneered at him, regardless of what Avon was thinking about him.

“And this is how you should threaten someone. If you do it pathetically like that, all you’ll get is a scoff.”

At Lear’s words, Avon’s face, which had turned pale, flushed slightly red. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing. He thought that he might look a bit pathetic in Lear’s eyes.

“More importantly, where did you put Yohan?”

“Yohan? You’re the one who threw a fit telling me not to even make eye contact with him, so why are you looking for him from me?”

Avon was dumbfounded by Lear’s behavior, who appeared out of nowhere and was suddenly demanding he produce Yohan. Lear spoke as if he did not like Avon’s reaction.

“You really don’t know?”

“I don’t. If Yohan were here, do you think I’d be doing this here?”

“True, it’s unlikely you two would have public sex here. Even though Yohan pretends not to be, he’s incredibly picky about faces.”

It was Lear, casually throwing personal attacks at Avon. Annoyed, Avon threw the object he was holding in his hand. Lear instinctively caught the object Avon threw. Not only was the screen cracked, but Yohan’s heavily damaged phone looked like it would be quite difficult to restore.

“Why is this….”

Lear, who had been spouting harsh words, looked at Yohan’s phone in his hand, then lifted his head to look at Avon again. At that, Avon’s eyes darted around as he scratched the back of his head and said.

“This is all I found.”

With an expression that looked like he could kill someone, Avon asked cautiously.

“Don’t tell me… is this Yohan’s phone?”

Instead of answering Avon’s question, Lear sighed and looked around the area. It was highly unlikely that anything would be visible just by looking like this.

Avon, cautiously observing Lear’s reaction, moved a little closer to him and asked.

“Did something happen to Yohan?”

“Shut up.”

“I could help, you know.”

At Avon’s words, Lear looked him up and down, acting as if he was spouting nonsense.

“The human resources you utilize are obvious, and there’s probably nothing you can do even if you step up. So don’t butt in unnecessarily and get in the way.”

“I know you look down on me, but if Yohan is in danger, please understand my desire to do anything I can as someone who likes him. Besides, I haven’t just been living idly during my time as a reporter. I also, in my own way—.”

As if he could not listen to Avon’s words any longer, Lear cut him off.

“So you’re going to call the police?”

Lear sneered at Avon. Then, he removed the USIM from Yohan’s phone. He did not know what had been done to Yohan, but if he had been kidnapped, figuring out his location was the priority. Lear began to wrack his brain, trying to squeeze out a method. Avon, as if he could not stand Lear’s actions, jumped up and shouted.

“The police, what areyou— just listen to me for a second…!”

“Shut up.”

Lear turned his back on Avon and walked out to the roadside. He carelessly threw Yohan’s broken phone aside and was about to take out his own phone to call a car.

At the shadow that suddenly fell over him, he raised his head with the thought of what kind of meddler had now appeared before him to bother him this time.

“What is it?”

The person standing before his eyes was Lucas Planco, whose eyes were swollen and puffy. When Lear glared at him with a murderous expression, Planco flinched and his body trembled.

“The, the pheromones, please, for a moment….”

“Why are you here?”

He was a shameless bastard to begin with, but he seemed to be an even more tenacious fellow than he had thought. For a guy who could not even get into an affair with the busy O’Connell to come to her house to mourn her.

Lear looked at Planco with an expression of incomprehension and said.

“Do you still have lingering feelings for O’Connell? When O’Connell’s wife and parents are inside that house, overcome with grief?”

Even as he spoke to Planco, Lear found it absurd, but what made him even more dumbfounded was the sight of him sniffling and appealing to his emotions.

“You will never understand the emotions I feel. Besides, I never thought she would leave like that….”

To Planco, who still had many lingering feelings for O’Connell, Lear spoke as if he could not listen anymore. In reality, he was also busy because of Yohan.

“You talk a lot for someone in an affair. Are you dying to have your other hand pierced too?”

At Lear’s words, Planco freaked out and shook his head frantically. Then he said in a trembling voice.

“N-no, that’s not it…. I mean, I have something to tell you.”

Only then did Lear shift his attitude as if he were slightly interested.

“Speak.”

“Um… you came with your partner, didn’t you.”

“So?”

“I happened to see it as I was passing by, I saw your partner being dragged away by some big men.”

“What?”

Who knew that Planco’s voyeurism, paranoia, and perverted behavior of separately collecting the company’s CCTV footage would be of help.

Lear urged Planco to tell him more. At that, Planco held out his hand to Lear.

“What is it.”

“I-if you want to hear more here….”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve. Really.”

Lear clicked his tongue, then took his wallet out of his pocket and handed over a few bills.

“Why? Go over to that house and tell Mrs. O’Connell you want to divide the assets.”

“That is….”

“Never mind. Keep talking.”

Planco crumpled the bills in his hand into his pocket and continued talking about Yohan.

“I was a little far away so I couldn’t hear the conversation properly but…. I heard your partner call the other person’s name, ‘Kouri’.”

“Kouri?”

“Yes. Kouri. He definitely said that. I don’t know about anything else, but the name stuck out in my ears.”

One of the two Kouris was with Lear, and there was no way that guy would escape and seek some pathetic revenge. In that case, there was only one Kouri Planco could be talking about.

‘Glen Kouri.’

Lear clenched his fists tightly.

*

Blocked Caller

<Photo>

If you want your lover back

One million dollars

Prepare it in cash

Place and time will be announced later

For a moment, Lear almost crushed the phone in his hand. It was because of the photo of Yohan, gagged and bound, with an extremely angry expression, and the text message demanding money.

‘What is this….’

Anger rose to the top of his head, but Lear suppressed his boiling emotions as much as possible. It was important to maintain his composure and focus on finding Yohan at times like this. He felt his body heat up and his heart felt like it would explode, but he gritted his teeth, endured it, and started racking his brain.

There was no way Yohan would have memorized his number, and it was even more unlikely that Glen would send him such a text. And since Lear had not done something as stupid as handing out his number in Declan territory, if someone were to send him a direct text like this, it might be Shadow after all.

In any case, ‘Shadow’ was likely the closest person to Joel Declan, who had provided Lear with his DNA.

‘If I knew this would happen, I should have planted a GPS in Yohan’s body.’

Regretting it now was useless, the deed was already done, and there was no way he could have actually planted a GPS in Yohan’s body. On top of that, just as expected from bastards who do bad things for a living, they used and discarded a prepaid phone, making it difficult to trace. The location where the text was sent was a place northwest of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona. The place, commonly called ‘Blade,’ was an active site for drug trafficking and manufacturing, as it was near the border between the United States and Mexico. Without digging deep, it was certain that Glen had used a contact there to send the text to Lear.

Lear’s face contorted as he looked at the text message he received again. It was not difficult to cash out the one million dollars the guy was demanding and give it to him, but it seemed unlikely that they would simply take the money and be done with it. There was definitely something more.

‘If he pulled in Declan’s funds when setting up the club, and brought in candy because of that…. One million dollars definitely won’t be enough. In that case….’

Hoping that Yohan, who was a Ranger before becoming an FBI agent, had received proper SERE training, Lear got out of the car. The place he arrived at was a motel named ‘Gardena,’ which he and Yohan had passed by once before.

Lear pounded on the door of the room in the most secluded corner with his fist. Not long after, the door flew open. The loud sound of a television was heard first, and soon Fiona, with Cheetos in her hand and a face full of dissatisfaction, greeted Lear.

“I’m dying from this unexpected prison life, so what is it?”

Lear, who had stashed Fiona in a nearby motel after her surgery at the Kiev butcher shop, made a displeased expression at her complaining voice. Of course, he understood her complaint. There were hotels and other places nearby, after all. However, those places were easily spotted by Declan or Vazquez, so a disgusting-looking motel in an ambiguous location was perfect. After looking into it, he found that after a rumor started spreading that it was haunted, the neighborhood residents did not even go near it.

Fiona had heard the rumor too, so she felt uneasy, but putting aside her own physical pain, she had personally experienced that her life was in danger, so she was obediently following Lear’s words. At the very least, ghosts do not take people’s lives.

“Where’s Kitty?”

“Your friend took him.”

“My friend?”

“Glen Kouri.”

Fiona licked the Cheetos powder off her fingers with a sucking sound and gestured with her head to Lear. Lear entered the musty room she was staying in. In a place worse than Yohan’s Compton house, he did not even dare to sit down and stood there, looking down at her. Fiona sighed, turned off the television, and looked at Lear to ask.

“So, Glen took Kitty? He wouldn’t have any interest in that kid other than the fact that Kitty makes good money for him…. Wait, is it because of me?”

Lear, without any particular change in expression, played an audio file for Fiona. It was a recording from Club 40123.

「I heard many times that my hyung brought in a lot of money because of the c-club. His voice is so loud when he talks on the phone at home…. Of course, I don’t know where he got that much money to set up a place like this in Las Vegas. But, he did bring in a huge amount of funds, and I think that’s why he started bringing in candy. As you all know, the business did better than expected.」

“This voice is….”

「So that’s why you decided to get rid of Fiona?」

「He said her demands kept growing. He said she was getting on his nerves. Plus, unlike us brothers who are Betas, she’s an Alpha…. She might have seemed threatening.」

Fiona’s expression hardened. Hearing the voices of Glen’s younger brother, Miguel, and Yohan alternating gave her the chills.

“What is your real identity?”

“I believe I’ve told you several times that you don’t need to know that.”

At Lear’s words, Fiona pressed her lips together firmly and avoided his gaze. She could not figure out who the Alpha in front of her was, but he was undoubtedly a dangerous person in many ways. His threatening pheromones aside, just seeing how he had led her this far told her he was no ordinary person. Fiona thought that if she had not been from Compton, she might have made a scene right here, and pretending to be as nonchalant as possible, she asked him.

“Fine. I get it. I won’t ask about your identity. Mr. John Doe.”

For a moment, silence filled the room. Fiona swallowed hard and said a word.

“So, according to that recording, the one who attacked me back then wasn’t Jamal but… Glen?”

“That’s right. I heard it directly from the younger brother that Glen Kouri keeps hidden away. His name was Miguel, I believe.”

“Miguel… you actually met that kid?”

“You know his voice. I saw your expression.”

She could not believe it and did not want to believe it, but Fiona knew Miguel’s voice better than anyone. The voice Lear played for her was definitely Miguel’s. Besides, she knew that Glen had brought in a huge amount of capital to establish the club in Las Vegas. And that he had started to get his hands on New Candy because of it. Even so, Fiona, who had never dreamed that Glen Kouri would try to kill her just for money, trembled with a sense of betrayal.

“Then….”

“I figured out why Glen Kouri kept his younger brother cooped up at home.”

“He is a little stupid.”

“A little?”

“A lot.”

For a moment, silence filled the room. At Lear’s words, Fiona chewed on her lower lip and her eyes darted around. Then, after biting her nails furiously, she made eye contact with Lear. She had only faced him like this about twice, but she knew that given his personality, there was no way he would have played the recording for her for no reason.

“So what do you want from me?”

At Fiona’s sharp voice, Lear showed her the photo of Yohan. It was a picture of Yohan, gagged and bound.

“Do you recognize this?”

“Kitty?”

Fiona looked at the photo with a surprised face.

“Do you think I’d be asking something like that?”

Lear waved the phone in front of Fiona’s face and continued.

“Do you know where this is? A place where they could keep Kitty like this. Since you were Glen’s close associate, I thought you’d know well.”

Fiona frowned and hesitated for a moment, then answered Lear’s question.

“It’s a little difficult to judge by the photo alone but…. It’s probably a warehouse named ‘Teya’ in the Cerritos area. Glen rented the warehouse because rumors were circulating that the crackdown had gotten severe, enough for the DEA to launch a buy-bust. He said he was moving all the valuables from his house. It’s probably… unit 59.”

As soon as Fiona finished speaking, Lear said thanks, lightly tapped her on the shoulder, and left her room. Then Fiona wiped her hands on her pants and urgently grabbed Lear.

“What?”

He was in a hurry as it was, and at Fiona grabbing him, Lear gave her a murderous look as if he could chew her up and spit her out.

“I know the place well because I checked it out before the contract.”

“So?”

Lear pulled Fiona’s hand off him and asked her for the reason.

“So, can’t I go too?”

With someone like Glen Kouri, he could probably handle it with just his own security personnel, not mercenaries. No matter how much it was a rental warehouse, the number of people Glen could deploy was limited. Of course, someone like Fiona would have her own skills for self-defense to survive in a region rampant with violence since childhood, but… honestly, he did not trust her.

“I know you don’t like me. But since Glen backstabbed me, I don’t want to just be cooped up in a corner. Shouldn’t I at least blow off one of his arms?”

“……”

“And I’ll definitely be helpful. Besides, after actually getting shot, it made me think a lot about various things. It’s not like I can do this job forever. And being confined here, I don’t think prison would be my thing.”

“I don’t think that’s something for you to say, having been stuck in a corner of a room but…. Well, fine.”

Lear immediately contacted someone on his phone. Fiona might not be of much use, but in the world of the survival of the fittest, there was no weapon more superior than the thirst for revenge.

When he came to his senses, Yohan realized he was trapped in a cramped warehouse and lifted his head to look around. The area where Glen had hit him was throbbing and his head felt like it was ringing, but he had no choice but to endure it to get out of this situation.

‘Really….’

Putting aside the fact that all sorts of objects reeking of Glen’s disgusting smell were disorienting him, there did not seem to be any proper way out. Even if he managed to untie his hands, he might be caught by the subordinates Glen had stationed outside.

‘This is tricky.’

Yohan tried to move his wrists. His wrists, tightly bound with a cable tie, throbbed with pain. Still, Yohan managed to push himself up to a sitting position, let out a deep sigh, and lamented his situation.

‘At my age, in this state…. I’m not Tom Cruise, what is this nonsense.’

In the midst of it all, an image of Lear came to mind. He worried that Lear might have noticed something strange at O’Connell’s house and was now blubbering like a lost child. On the other hand, he also had a thought that he wished Lear would come and rescue him in a cool fashion. But he decided to put that thought aside for a moment. After all, wasn’t that guy just a computer geek who knew how to handle some dangerous items pretty well?

‘If anyone’s doing the rescuing, it would be me….’

Still, Yohan decided to hold on to hope. Since Joel Declan had provided half of the DNA that constituted Lear, perhaps he would boldly show his violent side to Glen.

He even had bodyguards like Dwayne Johnson that he always dragged around. Thinking his own thoughts were pathetic, Yohan made his way to the corner of a metal furniture piece in the corner. Then, he brought his wrist to a slightly rusted part and attempted to cut the cable tie.

His own actions of filming a Mission: Impossible movie in California were absurd, but he did not have many options.

‘It’s better than doing nothing.’

Yohan twisted his hands and applied force, bringing his wrists to the sharp part of the metal furniture and started moving his arms. Then he rolled his eyes and looked around once more. It was a wide space with literally all sorts of things. If only his hands were free, he would have wanted to search this place. Just from a quick glance, he could see a few items that looked quite valuable.

‘What has he been collecting so diligently? Anyone would think this is a squirrel’s den where it has hidden its acorns.’

For now, he hoped the cable tie would break quickly. He felt that if it were cut even just a little, he could break it with force.

‘Damn it.’

Yohan gritted his teeth and moved his arms faster, praying that things would work out. Of course, he did not believe in God, but you never know what can happen in life. Perhaps Lear would notice his disappearance and come to rescue him.

Just then, he heard a snapping sound as the plastic broke. Yohan thought that with a little more force, he could break the cable tie completely. As he was about to twist his wrists and apply force, he heard voices from outside.

‘Always at times like this.’

Yohan returned to his original position, lay down, and closed his eyes. Not long after, he heard the sound of the door opening, followed by a familiar voice.

“Get up.”

Yohan, whose body was forcibly pulled up, let out a pained groan. Then, his hair was grabbed and he was slapped across the cheek out of nowhere.

“Ugh….”

The bastard had a really heavy hand. Yohan thought that he would definitely throw the guy in front of him in jail, and opened his eyes. Glen was smiling broadly, looking at him with his detestable face. It was only then that Yohan realized he was extremely picky about faces. Seeing Glen this up close made his stomach churn.

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

Yohan wanted to either curse at Glen or spit at him, but he felt annoyed by the fact that he could not do either because his mouth was gagged.

“I heard you’ve been doing some pretty cute things lately.”

Gagged, Yohan could not ask Glen what he meant, so he frowned instead. At that, Glen smacked his lips and began to say what he wanted to.

“By the way, when I saw you from the outside, I just thought that some weirdo had rolled in. After all, you were making good money for me. But seeing you like this is new. I think you’re a little hot, too. Is that why Declan’s Alpha bastard went crazy and fucked you? A Beta, not even an Omega.”

What kind of dog-shit nonsense was this. Yohan glared at Glen with a disgusted look.

“Kitty, don’t look at me like that. The situation won’t change anyway. I never intended to ask for Miguel in the first place. I’ve put up with him until now because he’s my younger brother, but he’s never been of any help to me. He needs to go to jail once to come to his senses…. You know what I mean, right?”

Yohan got chills at the sight of the psychopath, who was speaking in a pleased tone as if everything was going exactly according to his plan.

‘He kills people for just a few dollars, so with a business involving clubs and candy and whatnot, millions of dollars must be on the line…. It’s not strange for a person to go crazy like that.’

As if it did not matter what Yohan was thinking, Glen took another picture of him with his phone.

“Try to make your expression a little prettier. Wouldn’t that make your boyfriend’s anticipation grow a little more?”

Glen burst out laughing, sneering at Yohan, then moved closer and shoved the camera in his face, saying.

“Kitty, say chee—se. Cheeese—.”

As if he were joking around, Glen’s behavior was infuriating, and Yohan glared daggers at the camera. At that, Glen said with regret.

“Don’t be like that. This could be your last picture. Come to think of it, there’s a small lake nearby. If your boyfriend brings the money, it would make a pretty picture if I tie you two together and drown you. Wasn’t there a similar fairy tale?”

Are you trying to ruin children’s characters…. At the sight of Glen chuckling, Yohan could not suppress his boiling anger, and as soon as he pressed the shutter button, he lifted his body and slammed his head into Glen’s. With a loud ‘thwack—!’ sound, Glen fell backward and his phone dropped to the floor. Yohan did not miss that moment; he twisted his arms, applied force, completely broke the half-cut cable tie, and grabbed the guy by the collar. Just as he was about to punch him in the face, Yohan was caught by Glen’s subordinates and forced to his knees.

“Fuck—.”

Glen got up, holding his head, cursed, and looked at Yohan. Glen, whose face was flushed red with blood, kicked Yohan in the stomach. Yohan’s body was sent flying. Glen let out a deep sigh, picked up his phone from the floor, and said to Yohan.

“Still don’t get the situation?”

At Yohan’s glare, Glen let out a deep sigh and said with a voice full of annoyance.

“To think you’d run wild like such a damn hooligan. Fuck, where did this, just this stupidly strong.”

Glen spit on the floor once and said to his subordinates.

“Grab him.”

Yohan clenched his jaw, struggled, and tried to charge at Glen again. At that, Glen, with a displeased expression, looked at Yohan with cold eyes, and three burly men held Yohan down.

“Haa….”

Glen let out a deep sigh, clicked his tongue once, then gestured for them to remove the gag from Yohan’s mouth and said.

“I didn’t want to go this far with a brother, though.”

As soon as his mouth was free, Yohan scoffed and said.

“Me? Did you ever think of me as a brother? You just kept me around because I made you money. And think about what you did for money.”

“You were the one who betrayed me first, Kitty. You were bewitched by that Alpha bastard and kidnapped my younger brother!”

“That’s hilarious. Don’t you remember saying just now that your real brother deserves to be sent to jail? And you have the nerve to call me a traitor?”

“Shut up!”

An agitated Glen struck Yohan in the face once more. He had hoped he would hit the other side, but the right-handed bastard hit the same spot again. Yohan felt the inside of his mouth burst and glared at Glen.

“And you betrayed me first, didn’t you? You know Fiona came to our house, right?”

When Yohan spoke with a scoff, Glen’s expression hardened. At that sight, Yohan cursed him, saying he looked just like his stupid younger brother. At that, Glen washed his face with his dry hands once, then took out a pill from his pocket.

“Let’s see if you can keep spouting such words.”

It was a different substance from the usual candy or heroin. He could not tell exactly what it was, but since they were villains who did bad things for a living, Yohan thought that they would not be giving him vitamins, and comforted himself that it would be fine as long as he did not die. Of course, O’Connell had died after taking a drug.

Glen sneered at Yohan, who seemed slightly scared at the appearance of the drug, forcibly opened his mouth, and shoved the pill down his throat. Yohan moved his body and resisted, but it was difficult to handle three men while being held down.

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!”

In the end, unable to hold out, only after seeing Yohan’s Adam’s apple move did Glen smile and say.

“Delicious, right?”

Yohan endured, trying to act as nonchalant as possible, and asked Glen.

“W-what kind of drug did you give me?”

“You’ll know when the effects kick in.”

As soon as Glen finished speaking, the effects of the drug began to spread through his body. A fever rose so high he felt like he wanted to strip off all his clothes. Seeing Yohan gritting his teeth and trembling, Glen approached and pressed his crotch with the tip of his dress shoe.

“Kouri!”

Yohan shouted, but Glen shrugged his shoulders and gestured for his subordinates to let him go. Yohan wanted to go to Glen and wring his neck, but his legs gave out and he could not move. He could only collapse helplessly on the floor, look at Glen, and his eyelids trembled. Glen stared at Yohan and said.

“Well then, have fun by yourself. Who knows, maybe your cute and adorable lover will come.”

Glen said a lot of things to twist Yohan’s insides, then checked his phone, which had started to vibrate. Then he led his subordinates and left the warehouse.

In the midst of the boiling heat, Yohan gasped for breath as his vision blurred, and he glared at the man’s back.

However, the feeling of helplessness that he could do nothing and the extreme fear of his own body getting high on the drug consumed his mind. And at that moment, Yohan desperately wanted to see Lear.

*

Blocked Caller

<Photo>

In one hour

Heritage Park

I will contact you again later.

It was a photo of Yohan, looking like he had been beaten up. Still, seeing his extremely angry face, Lear was relieved that he was still alright. Lear decided that after rescuing Yohan, he would ask for something tremendous from him as a price for his life, and swiped the phone’s screen with his thumb. Just then, Fiona, who was sitting next to Lear, glanced at the screen and asked him.

“Did Glen send that?”

“He wants to meet at Heritage Park.”

“Heritage Park is not that far from where the warehouse is.”

At Fiona’s words, Lear nodded slightly and looked at his watch. There was still a lot of time left. As long as Yohan held on, they would be able to rescue him even without the police or the FBI.

“Amell, Toby. Provide cover.”

At Lear’s words, the two men simply nodded and began to arm themselves. At those words, Fiona, who was beside Lear, called out to him.

“Hey, Mr. John Doe.”

At Fiona’s cautious voice, Lear raised an eyebrow and received a pistol from Amell. He checked the magazine and sighed. It was a weapon he had not touched in a long time. After getting unavoidably entangled with Declan, he had lived at the shooting range for a while, half by his own will and half by others’.

“Those people aren’t terminators, are they? How can they not say anything… how can people be like that?”

“Are you going to keep blabbering like that?”

“No, it’s just…. I mean, I’m going with you, so aren’t you going to give me anything?”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t be like that. It’s good to have even one more person for combat power. Besides, we’re entering enemy territory, so we can’t go in empty-handed. We’re not the Cruise family, you can’t play hero by breaking a tree branch in front of you. This is the 21st century, not the prehistoric era.”

At the sight of Fiona asserting that she was a fully evolved modern human, Lear scoffed and asked her.

“Do you even know how to shoot a gun properly?”

“Our young master might not know, but if you grow up in Compton, you have no choice but to learn even if you don’t want to.”

He did not like the idea of giving Fiona a gun, but he trusted her thirst for revenge against Glen Kouri for betraying her, so Lear gestured with his chin to his bodyguards. At that, Amell handed Fiona a pistol. As soon as Fiona had the gun in her hand, she checked the magazine and said to Lear.

“A Smith & Wesson 640.”

“A .38 caliber is enough for you.”

“Yes, sir. This is enough to pierce Glen’s head.”

To Fiona, who spoke sarcastically, Lear lowered his voice and spoke in a threatening tone.

“Yes, I hope you keep that mindset.”

“……”

“If you pull any funny business, you’ll soon be in the same boat as Glen.”

Fiona laughed awkwardly, “Haha,” and then her expression became tense. Although Lear was speaking lightly as if it were nothing, he was emitting murderous pheromones as if he meant every word.

“The moment we enter the warehouse, I’ll move first, so it would be best for everyone to move from different directions and then gather. Sif, you follow Amell.”

“Yes. Yes. I must listen to Captain America-nim.”

Fiona, who had quickly submitted and stuck close behind Amell, gave Lear a thumbs-up. Then she looked back and forth between Amell and Toby with a slight look of admiration.

Lear did not like that side of Fiona, but he held it in for now.

Right now, in this very moment, he was worried about Yohan and felt like he was going crazy from wanting to see him. He wanted to find him and see his face as soon as possible. Of course, Lear knew that Yohan was a capable agent, but even so, he did not want to be separated from him any longer.

‘Thanks to O’Connell, my feelings are becoming clear.’

Not that he wished for O’Connell to go to heaven, but he prayed for about three seconds that she would rest a little more comfortably in hell. And after today, Lear intended to escape from Yohan’s crappy roommate. He hid his expression for the time being and walked toward warehouse number 59.

“Is something the matter?”

Lear asked the men loitering in front of number 59. At that, one of the two spoke to Lear without hesitation.

“Mind your own business.”

The rude tone was annoying, but Lear held it in and continued his act.

“I was just wondering if there was anything I could help with. I also left some of my things here because I’m moving….”

At Lear’s words, the guys who were standing guard in front of the door, with displeased expressions, approached him and subtly showed him a gun. Seeing the flashy-looking gun, he wondered if they actually used it for other purposes besides showing off, but Lear raised both his hands and said.

“I, I didn’t see anything. I’ll just find my things and leave right away.”

Just then, the guys started to exchange glances. Putting aside the fact that the man in front of them did not look like an easy opponent, they felt like they should not just let him go. However, Lear continued to act as if he knew nothing, and in the meantime, Amell and Fiona, who had entered from the opposite direction, struck the guys from behind.

Lear nudged the guys who had fallen in front of him with his foot. At that, Fiona clicked her tongue and said.

“Well, they’re properly knocked out.”

“But it’s too early to be complacent. It’s only two of them for now, but….”

“I wasn’t looking for praise, but you’re overly composed.”

“I don’t know if they were this careless because they underestimated me, but. They’ll probably swarm in soon.”

Lear watched as Toby picked the lock and opened the warehouse door. It seemed that 60% of the guy’s thinking was treating him as Joel Declan’s coddled idiot son, and about 40% was that he could not station many people because the distance between the warehouses was narrow, making it tactically difficult. It was fortunate if it was fortunate, but he did not know what variables there might be.

Lear waited anxiously, then rushed into the warehouse before the door was even halfway open. Discovering Yohan collapsed in the middle of the cold floor, he was horrified and ran to him, pulling him into his arms to check his condition.

“What is this….”

Just as he was about to call 911, Fiona casually commented on Yohan’s condition.

“It’s candy.”

“What?”

Lear looked up at her with a disbelieving face. At that, Fiona clicked her tongue and said.

“Not the recent kind. The old version.”

Lear held Yohan tightly in his arms. The high fever, his hot body temperature, and his skin soaked in sweat made him anxious. Fiona sighed and moved a little closer to look at Yohan’s condition. It was a complete mess. A Beta’s body, unlike an Alpha’s, would have no tolerance for the drug, making it harder to endure.

“Vicious bastard.”

Fiona knew Glen, who would do anything for money, well. In the beginning, he had gotten involved in all of this to make a better life for his crew members, whom he called brothers. So, she knew well that Glen was even more obsessed with money, but she had never thought that he, who had at least kept his lines, would eventually betray his brothers and drive himself crazy for money. Fiona still could not believe what she had been through, but now she thought she had to face reality and continued to speak to Lear.

“I’ve seen it before.”

Lear looked at Fiona as he held Yohan in his arms. At that, Fiona continued with a serious face.

“Glen sometimes uses it when he’s having fun with his lovers. It’s almost like an aphrodisiac. It makes the body heat up intensely, like an Omega’s heat cycle. A drug for ultimate pleasure, you could say.”

It was not for nothing that the hippies of the 80s loved it, Fiona clicked her tongue. That being said, she did not sense Omega-like pheromones from the Beta Yohan, but his physical reaction was almost the same as an Omega in a heat cycle. Perhaps, if it was not detoxified, his brain might be damaged by the intense heat.

“We need to get out of here and go to a hospital right now.”

“Candy can’t be fully detoxified with just naloxone.”

“……”

“In the end, the only way is to release the heat trapped in the body. You know what that means, right?”

“There must be another way.”

Ignoring Fiona’s words, Lear glanced down at Yohan. He did not want to touch Yohan, who was high on drugs, as he pleased. Even if he were to use the method Fiona mentioned, he thought that taking him to the hospital to lower his fever and attempt detoxification was the priority. Lear gave a look to Amell and Toby. They quickly assumed a guarded stance and covered Lear. It was just as he was about to exit the narrow rental warehouse pathway and head to where he had parked the car.

“Damn.”

Lear and his group were surrounded by Glen and his subordinates. He was already in a hurry, and Lear clicked his tongue at the guys blocking his way. He held Yohan in his arms in a more comfortable position and pulled out his gun.

“I don’t think this was the meeting place.”

Glen looked Lear up and down, then his gaze fell on Fiona next to him. Fiona spit at Glen and said.

“Don’t look me up and down like that, you filthy piece of shit. You’re so fucking ugly it makes me sick.”

“The neighborhood has been quiet lately, so I thought you were dead, but you’re still alive?”

“Yeah. Thanks to you, I’m going to live a long fucking life.”

Fiona spit on the floor once more with a face that said she was disgusted to death. Glen deliberately ignored her and looked at Lear.

“How about you put the gun down first? It’s pretty obvious we have the advantage.”

Lear was in a hurry, but for now, he had no choice but to listen to Glen. As Lear sighed and dropped the gun in his hand as if tossing it, the rest followed his action and raised their hands. Only then did Glen look satisfied. He even had the thought that even the most outstanding Alpha was nothing in the face of death. Not that he intended to let him go, though.

“The money?”