GCT 29

“Ugh.”

Aisha gagged the moment she heard Yohan. At the sight, Yohan let out a dry cough with a rather embarrassed face and spoke.

“Ahem. Hmph. Hmph. And a person’s heart doesn’t always do what you want it to.”

Aisha wondered how her friend had become such a lovesick fool. Then again, thinking back, Yohan had always been devoted and kind to whoever he was dating. You could say he was the type to give his all. Still, hearing her friend’s lovey-dovey stories out loud was unpleasant, plain and simple.

“Seriously, it’s disgusting. This is the same guy who was sniffling while stalking his ex-girlfriend’s social media until just a little while ago.”

“What are you talking about? A little while ago? It wasn’t that recent. It’s been ages since we broke up.”

“You really never know what will happen in life. Right? Assistant Deputy Director.”

Startled by Aisha suddenly pulling her into the conversation, Nasim was flustered.

“Uh, uh-huh? I guess so?”

“Come on, Assistant Deputy Director, you think the same as me. It’s not like this is the first or second time we’ve seen Yohan.”

“Well. That’s true. Still, it’s a relief. After that day, he was living like he wasn’t even human.”

At Nasim’s words, Yohan snapped.

“What do you mean, not even human?”

“Just, a little…”

“Assistant Deputy Director!”

“Still, you look good now. Inappropriate relationship aside… It’s like the dark aura that was around you, Yohan, has turned pink.”

Aisha, agreeing with Nasim, teased Yohan.

“It’s like you’ve become a true ‘Kitty.’ A pink, shimmery, limited edition version. Ah, you’re finally living up to that name. I don’t know who came up with it, but they sure picked the right nickname.”

“Whatever, it’s fine if you keep teasing me like that. I’ve gotten over it now.”

Deciding to be a little more brazen now that things had come to this, Yohan’s face flushed slightly as he shrugged his shoulders. Aisha then clicked her tongue as if she’d seen something she shouldn’t have.

“Ah, seriously…”

Jun, who had been listening to the conversation from the side, gave an awkward laugh, then glanced around cautiously as he brought up the main topic.

“That aside, there’s something we need to discuss for a moment…”

As Jun stepped forward, Aisha praised him, saying he wasn’t from New York for nothing and that it was cool how he clearly separated his public and private life. Jun was embarrassed but continued with what he had to do.

“More importantly, the situation has changed a bit, so I was thinking it might be better to change our plan as well.”

At Jun’s words, everyone’s eyes turned to him. Jun felt a little pressured but scratched his head and spoke.

“Mr. Crawford was supposed to enter the transaction site with Yohan, but now that the Assistant Deputy Director and Aisha are here, I was wondering if there’s any need to take the risk. After all, Mr. Crawford is… a civilian. Besides, they only have a list of names, they’re not checking faces.”

Yohan immediately took the bait. Aisha wasn’t a field agent and it had been a while since Nasim had left the field, but with the two of them having come all this way, he couldn’t push Lear into a dangerous situation. Of course, he knew Shadow wouldn’t do anything foolish in a crowded place, but not only could they not predict how the SVR would react, Lear was, as Jun said, a civilian.

Even if Lear hadn’t been a civilian in the first place, Nasim was a better option. Because she was a Beta, she would be less conspicuous than Lear. These days, people said traits didn’t matter, but Beta-Beta couples were still more common than Alpha-Beta couples. In many ways, it was better for Nasim and Yohan to enter the site than Lear.

“Now that I think about it, you’re right. I agree with Jun’s opinion. Lear is definitely conspicuous.”

Lear really didn’t like what Yohan said.

“But, Yohan…”

However, Yohan cut him off before he could say anything else.

“Aisha barely even knows how to hold a gun, so Assistant Deputy Director, you should go with me instead of this guy. Isn’t it thrilling to be back in the field after so long?”

Nasim felt Lear’s terrifying glare on her from behind Yohan, who was speaking with a bright smile, but she deliberately ignored it.

“Well, I’m not thrilled, but I guess it can’t be helped. Mr. Crawford is going to be an important witness, after all.”

Yohan nodded and chimed in with Nasim.

“Then, I’ll go to the site with the Assistant Deputy Director. And Lear. You help Aisha. We still have the O’Connell laptop case, don’t we? Right?”

Lear had a displeased expression but didn’t say anything else. He seemed quite annoyed.

‘He’s always been a guy who lives by his own damn rules… but this time it’s really dangerous.’

Yohan wasn’t oblivious to Lear’s feelings, but what was wrong was wrong. The others weren’t saying such things for no reason. Of course, among the people in the room, Lear was overwhelming in terms of traits and physical ability, but he hadn’t received formal training, nor was he a federal agent. So he was worried something might go wrong.

“Lear?”

Yohan looked up at Lear with a slightly surprised face as he suddenly shot up from his seat.

“I think it’s right for the civilian to step aside. My role is pretty much set, so I’ll go back to my room first.”

Yohan flinched at the sight of Lear speaking with a stern face. However, he couldn’t bring himself to stop him as he returned to his room.

“Is he going to be okay?”

Aisha, who had been watching cautiously, carefully brought it up. Yohan scratched his cheek and met Aisha’s eyes.

“Well… no reason he wouldn’t be okay. We have things to do before that, right? We can’t just keep chatting like this forever. The conference is the day after tomorrow.”

Aisha didn’t say anything more at Yohan’s words. And the four people remaining in the room talked in preparation for the events of the day after tomorrow.

They double-checked the likely sniper positions and re-examined the photo of Paraguay’s Minister of National Defense, Ángel Ávalos, several times, making thorough preparations for the upcoming conference.

Yohan was a little excited, feeling like he was doing proper work as an FBI agent for the first time in a while. When he looked at the people in the room with an emotional expression, it felt like they were all avoiding his intense gaze, but Yohan didn’t care at all.

Suddenly, his heart started pounding, so to calm himself, he took out a beer from the minibar and drank it.

“Let’s all go for a drink after work. All right?”

“We were allowed to drink from the minibar? You should’ve told me earlier.”

Aisha’s response to Yohan’s question wasn’t particularly to his liking, but unlike his usual self, Yohan smiled benevolently and nodded. With the alcohol entering his system, his strange anxiety seemed to calm down a little.

After a long while, Yohan returned to the room and hesitated in front of the door. He hadn’t thought much about it while working, but now he glanced self-consciously at a passerby and carefully pressed the doorbell. He briefly thought that since he hadn’t gone to stop Lear, he might not open the door.

‘He’s not really going to refuse to open it, is he?’

He’d become someone who couldn’t sleep without Lear beside him, and he wondered if that guy was irresponsibly going to abandon him and sleep soundly alone in the wide bed. Yohan bit his lower lip slightly.

‘If I have to sleep in that room, I’ll have to sleep on the floor!’

Just as Yohan was thinking, ‘Surely the worst-case scenario won’t happen?’ and was about to press the doorbell again, the door swung open.

Lear didn’t even look Yohan in the eye and acted coldly. Yohan watched Lear’s back as he strode toward the laptop, feeling him out.

“I thought you weren’t going to open the door.”

Yohan had expected Lear to at least say some nonsense in response to his words, but he didn’t even reply. Feeling awkward, Yohan sidled up to Lear, who was staring intently at the monitor, and said a word.

“Hey, are you sulking?”

Lear still didn’t say anything. He just frowned, looking back and forth between O’Connell’s laptop and his own.

‘He’s seriously sulking.’

Yohan sidled closer to him and poked him with a finger. Normally, he was a guy who would react to even the smallest thing, but this time he didn’t budge.

“Lear.”

“…”

“Rhys.”

“…”

“Honey.”

Only then did Lear raise his head to look at Yohan and say one word.

“It’s dangerous.”

“I know.”

“That’s why I wanted to be by your side.”

“I know. How you feel. But this is my job.”

“It’s my job too.”

“No, it’s not.”

At Yohan’s firm words, Lear’s expression crumpled. Seeing this, Yohan first lifted the table in front of Lear and moved it to the side.

“Because you’re a citizen that people like me are supposed to protect.”

“What does that…”

“That’s why you pay taxes, and I get a salary from the government.”

“You don’t pay taxes?”

“I do. Still, Lear…”

At Yohan’s words, Lear bit his lower lip as if he didn’t like it. Seeing this, Yohan moved closer to Lear, held his cheeks, and said.

“The Assistant Deputy Director and Jun are right. So don’t be so stubborn. Besides, you’re already doing more than enough with just this, and you have a lot more to do.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Then you should’ve become an FBI agent too.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. But this is the right way. The process exists for a reason. And like you said, it’s a dangerous job.”

“Yohan.”

“You think you’re something, but training and real situations are always different. You haven’t even been properly trained.”

As if telling him not to be so stubborn, Yohan stroked Lear’s face once and said in a placating tone.

“Don’t be like that. Lear.”

“…”

“Should I suck you off?”

“I’m not in the mood right now.”

“Playing coy.”

Yohan snorted, then knelt down and grabbed Lear’s firm, thick thighs tightly. He really had a ridiculously good body. Sometimes he was annoyed by Lear, who was naturally blessed with all this, but it wasn’t so bad when he thought that it would all soon be his.

“You don’t want me to?”

Lear was dumbfounded by the sight of Yohan looking up at him, seducing him. Unlike usual, he looked at Yohan with an indifferent face. But Yohan didn’t care at all.

“Can’t be helped even if you don’t want me to.”

“Don’t.”

“Because I want to suck it.”

To be honest, Yohan was a little intimidated by Lear’s stern expression. If he were a person with traits and could feel his pheromones, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to move an inch.

‘Instincts are really something…’

He supposed this was why people who admired Alphas and whatever started eating candies.

“Besides, you’re hard.”

Yohan lowered his head and used his teeth to pull down the zipper on Lear’s pants. Lear let out a deep sigh and toyed with Yohan’s hair.

“This isn’t something that can be solved like this. I mean…”

“A confession comes before a proposal. Keep things in order. You’ve never once properly told me you like me.”

“That’s, ah…”

Lear tried to stop Yohan, but he unbuckled Lear’s pants just like that. And then, with his teeth, Yohan gently bit Lear’s penis, which was revealing its formidable shape through his drawers. He then looked up at him with upturned eyes, then smiled with his eyes and licked and sucked on it with his tongue. Because of that, Lear’s drawers were a mess. It was hard to tell if it was because Yohan was sucking on him, or if his lower body had just naturally reacted and gotten wet because of the action.

Yohan felt Lear’s penis, so aroused he could tell even without taking it out of the underwear, and moved the hand he’d placed on his thigh further up, this time grabbing his waist. He slightly parted his lips and pulled down the drawers. In that moment, Lear’s erect penis revealed itself and hit Yohan’s face.

“Ugh!”

A startled Lear reached out a hand to Yohan. However, Yohan, perhaps embarrassed, looked at Lear with a beet-red face and pushed his hand away.

“I-It’s okay… It’s embarrassing… so just, pretend you didn’t see.”

Yohan clicked his tongue once, then sighed and looked at the penis in front of him. Damned Alpha bastard. Good-looking face and a good-looking dick.

‘Well, either way, he’s mine.’

Hard, erect, and wet with precum, the penis was large and thick. Just looking at it made him so tense his back straightened, and he swallowed hard.

Yohan poked Lear’s penis, which looked even more formidable with its bulging veins, with his index finger. At that, Lear flinched and said to Yohan.

“Do you really… have to do that?”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to talk, being this hard.”

Besides, he’d even been slapped in the face by it; he didn’t want to just let it go. Yohan opened his mouth wide and took the head of Lear’s penis. It wasn’t the first time he’d sucked him off, but now that he had it in his mouth again, his jaw already felt sore.

“Yohan, ah…”

With Lear’s penis in his mouth, Yohan diligently licked around the head with his tongue. Yohan’s warm and soft tongue stimulated Lear with clumsy movements, then it sharpened its tip and persistently tormented his urethral opening. He seemed to think he was a master of fellatio now, having done it a few times.

“Mmm, nngh… feel good?”

The moment Lear’s body flinched, Yohan asked him with wide eyes while still holding his penis in his mouth. Lear swallowed the curses that were about to escape and let out a deep sigh.

Good? It was more agonizing because of how clumsy it was. If he was going to take it, he should take it properly. He couldn’t even get half of the penis in his mouth, just fussing with the tip and making slurping sounds like he was sucking on a candy, rolling his tongue however he pleased. Lear’s face crumpled.

“Are you messing with me?”

“Whaddaya shean.”

I told you not to mumble with it in your mouth. When Lear clicked his tongue, Yohan lifted his body slightly and took Lear’s penis deeper into his mouth. Still, it was too much to take all of it.

‘It’s unnecessarily big.’

Yohan sighed slightly and sucked hard on his firm penis, flicking the menacingly protruding veins with his tongue. He then slowly moved his head to induce Lear’s ejaculation. And Lear stared intently at Yohan, who was holding his member and moving diligently in his own way.

He could see Yohan’s masculine jaw and nose, and his incongruously long eyelashes. And yet, how cute were the things he did. Though he himself denied it every time, when Lear looked at Yohan, he found him so lovely that it wouldn’t be strange if he went into an unscheduled rut on the spot. He just wanted to eat him up right then and there. He wondered if Yohan had any idea how he felt.

“Hah…”

“Feels ghood?”

“Don’t, talk.”

“Hehe.”

Yohan found it cute how Lear acted like he was about to come just from having it in his mouth for a bit, and he smiled until his dark eyes disappeared into crescents.

Because of that, the vibrations from Yohan’s body were transmitted directly to Lear. In that moment, Yohan swallowed Lear’s penis, which felt somehow bigger in his mouth than before, even deeper. Then he shifted his body, rubbing his knees against the floor and whimpering.

“Fuck. Yohan. Right now… do you really, have to do that?”

Yohan had no pheromones, but he could feel that he was aroused. So damn lewd. It was absurd that he hadn’t known the taste of men until now with such a sensitive body, but on the other hand, Lear thought it was a relief and grabbed Yohan by the hair. At that moment, a startled Yohan tried to pull the thing in his mouth out, but he was soon caught by Lear and couldn’t escape.

“Ugh…!”

Lear pulled Yohan’s head toward him, shoving his penis deep into Yohan’s throat. With Lear’s penis going past his uvula and deep inside, Yohan barely managed to open his throat. But it was so overwhelming that he gagged over and over, trying to push Lear away, grabbing his thigh with his fingers and trembling, scratching the skin with his nails.

Yohan’s breaths, which he barely managed to exhale through his nose, grew rough. Even so, the sight of him struggling to take it all while fighting back was maddeningly lovely. What was he thinking, recklessly provoking someone like this.

“I, hah… told you I didn’t want to. I’m sure of it.”

Lear, reaffirming that Yohan had started it, squeezed the hand holding his hair tightly. And he rammed his member into Yohan’s throat so hard it made slapping sounds. Though with Yohan, anywhere would make him aroused, not just his throat.

Feeling an unbearable sensation, Lear looked down at Yohan, who was kneeling beneath him, writhing in pain.

Looking at Yohan, who seemed on the verge of tears, who was struggling in agony yet clinging to him as if he were the only one, all while aroused—how could he possibly leave him be?

Lear came deep in Yohan’s throat and only then pulled his penis from his mouth.

“Hahh…”

Yohan, who had been coughing, let out a moan and looked up at Lear with reddened eyes. Lear ran a hand through Yohan’s black hair, then pressed his foot firmly against the area of his groin and said.

“You came already?”

At Lear’s action, Yohan’s body trembled and he spoke as if wronged.

“Because you’re so… lewd.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Don’t be like that, will you touch me properly? Just don’t put it in.”

Lear clicked his tongue and wiped Yohan’s lips, which were covered in semen and saliva, with his hand once.

“You don’t have to force yourself, Yohan.”

“It’s because I like you…”

Perhaps because he had said he liked him once before, the words came out smoothly now that he was saying it again.

“Don’t do that from now on.”

“Are you listening to me? I said I like you.”

“I know. That’s why…”

Yohan frowned at Lear’s words. He was about to snap at him for being so talkative after shoving it in his mouth and filling it up, but just then, Lear suddenly put both hands under Yohan’s armpits, lifted him up in one go, and sat him on his lap.

At Lear’s unexpected action, Yohan wondered if it was okay for a man in his mid-thirties to be treated like this, but he didn’t dislike the way the guy treated him like a child, so he rested his head on his silver hair. Then, Lear put his large hand inside Yohan’s shirt and said.

“From now on, just kiss me instead of giving me blowjobs.”

“Then…”

“I’m not over my anger yet.”

“You petty bastard.”

Lear laughed at Yohan’s words. And, just as Yohan wanted, he began to touch his body. His heart began to pound like crazy again at the feel of his warm skin in his hands.

“Hmph.”

Thinking that he wouldn’t have this kind of leisure for a while, Yohan rummaged through the booklets next to the bed. There was a Chula Vista travel guide, a memo pad, an extension phone, and a room service menu. Yohan put everything but the menu back where it was and seriously chose what to order.

“Move it.”

While heartily eating the room service he’d ordered, he had a home shopping program on the TV. The show host began to advertise a product with dazzling flair. Three pairs of jeans for $39.99 sounded like something he should buy immediately. He barely had any proper clothes anyway. The house he lived in before the undercover investigation had been sold, and the house he’d lived in while supposedly undercover had been wrecked. Given the neighborhood, he had been away from the house for a long time; there was no way any of his belongings would be intact by now. Just as Yohan was about to focus more on the show host’s explanation, Lear suddenly picked up the remote on the bed and changed the channel.

“Hey, what was that for? That was an important scene!”

“Watch it later.”

The screen Lear had changed to was none other than the news channel. A very familiar-looking store appeared on the screen. With police tape, no less.

“That’s…”

Yohan put down the fork he was holding. His appetite was completely gone. As if they had a big story, the news was loudly reporting on the two bodies found at the Kiev Butcher Shop and the true nature of the place. Yohan had been quite surprised when he found out what kind of place the Kiev Butcher Shop was, so the reporters would be even more interested. It was the kind of place you’d only see in dramas or movies, after all.

“A gang attack?”

Yohan, who had been staring blankly at the screen, asked Lear with a serious expression.

“Yeah. That’s the LAPD’s official announcement. That’s what the reporters are interested in.”

“Then…”

“As you’d expect, the bodies found were Lazarev and Kozlov.”

“What?”

Yohan adjusted his posture. He had somewhat expected it when they said bodies had been found, but hearing it confirmed sent a chill down his spine.

“Then…”

“I don’t know who the culprit is either. But Isabelle Lazarev’s sister is in the LAPD, so she’ll probably try to find the culprit relentlessly. But it won’t be easy. There are no CCTVs there, and they only do cash transactions.”

“…”

“I didn’t know things would turn out like this. I asked Kozlov to look after Lazarev for a while, but I never imagined something like this would happen.”

Lear said calmly. Yohan’s energy drained away at the unexpected news. It was because he hadn’t been able to properly tell Kelita about Isabelle Lazarev.

When he met Kelita at the restaurant, Yohan had suddenly run out after Isabelle Lazarev, so of course, he had to clean up the mess. With Lear’s help, he found a photo of a criminal who looked similar to Isabelle Lazarev, and Yohan sent the photo to Kelita, telling her that he had mistaken Isabelle for a wanted person he was chasing.

He had said things to Kelita like perhaps her sister had been so startled that she ran away. But for things to turn out like this, he was honestly flustered.

For now, it was being treated as a simple gang incident, but with Isabelle involved, Kelita was unlikely to stay quiet. Especially since her sister was found dead in such a secret place. The only fortunate thing was that Kelita was still just a police officer.

“Damn it.”

“As soon as I heard the news, I checked the LAPD’s forensics report. It looks like someone staged it as a gang attack. There were three 9mm bullets lodged in his chest.”

“What? That’s… Declan’s mark, isn’t it?”

“It is Declan’s mark, as you said, Yohan.”

“You’re saying it wasn’t Declan?”

“There’s nothing definitive. But it’s a little different from Declan. It’s the left side of the chest, but it’s closer to random than Declan’s typical mark, should I say. Besides, there were no signs of a struggle.”

“In that case, there’s a high probability that it was an acquaintance…”

His head throbbed. Yohan met Lear’s eyes and asked him.

“Don’t tell me, the SVR?”

“There’s a high possibility.”

“Did they eliminate Lazarev because she was no longer of value?”

“And Kozlov would have been a nuisance when they were trying to deal with Lazarev. Especially since he blabbed about O’Connell’s laptop and even let her get away.”

Listening to Lear, Yohan grew even more worried about Avon. He recalled Avon being shot by an SVR agent at the safe deposit box. Avon had said he would take care of things himself from then on. He was a CIA agent and seemed accustomed to all this.

Yet, there had been no news of Avon since that day. It was as if he had vanished from the face of the earth. Yohan wondered if something had happened to him.

It wasn’t like he had anyone in the CIA he could ask about Avon, and he felt awkward asking Lear. He knew he didn’t care for Avon. If he brought up Avon for no reason, Lear, who was already having a hard time with Shadow, might get needlessly stressed.

‘It can’t be. He’s probably just busy. Since the SVR is involved.’

He was a surprisingly resilient guy. Hadn’t he said at the time that he would take care of it himself and not to worry? Yohan let out a deep sigh and looked for his phone.

“Yohan?”

Lear looked at Yohan with a worried face.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah… It’s just… she’s Kelita’s sister, after all. As you said, she’ll probably try to find the culprit relentlessly.”

“…”

“Of course, if she finds out about Isabelle Lazarev, this incident will probably be covered up as usual… Still, since it’s a friend’s business, it’s bothering me. It’ll be quite a shock for Kelita if Isabelle is revealed to be a double agent and sentenced for treason.”

Just like it had been for him when he found out his brother Philip was committing shameless acts. The more Yohan thought about Kelita, the more troubled his heart became. As Yohan’s expression darkened in real-time, Lear looked at him with a pained face, reached out a hand, and patted his back, saying.

“It’ll be okay. Maybe your friend also sensed that something was strange about her sister.”

Yohan nodded at Lear’s words. But the real problem he was thinking about wasn’t Isabelle Lazarev.

Yohan sighed deeply once more, put down his phone, and opened his arms to Lear. He felt that instead of a big teddy bear for mental and physical stability, he should at least hug Lear. He firmly resolved to focus on the Shadow case for now.

Although some unsettling matters remained, the preparations to face Shadow were almost perfect. All that was left was for the field agents to be deployed to the conference venue. The final objective was to prevent the SVR from assassinating the Paraguayan minister and to capture the elusive Shadow alive. Yohan would surely be able to do it well.

However, Lear was still displeased with the fact that he couldn’t follow Yohan into the party venue. Because he was the only one who could be by Yohan’s side. Of course, he also wanted to hear them being called Dr. and Mrs. Crawford during the identity check.

From the hotel room, Lear watched Yohan, who had neatly combed his hair back and was wearing the suit he had prepared. Right, he didn’t like it. Just the thought of leaving Yohan, dressed like that, in a place full of people was irritating.

Of course, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen Yohan dressed properly, and he knew that as an adult, he shouldn’t have such crooked thoughts, but he couldn’t help feeling jealous.

In particular, Yohan wearing disguise glasses looked surprisingly intelligent and ascetic, drawing more attention than usual. What if that crazy Shadow tried to pull some perverted stunt…

Lear felt like his stomach was turning just from the thought. Even if it wasn’t Shadow, he felt like some socially inept doctors would hit on Yohan.

“How do I look?”

“Pretty.”

At Lear’s Siri-like tone, Yohan looked at him with a displeased face and said.

“What’s with that tone?”

“You’re complaining even when I say you’re pretty.”

Lear got up from his seat. And he reached out a hand as if to touch Yohan’s hair, but instead, he lightly touched his ear and said.

“Is the in-ear in properly?”

“Yeah.”

“And…”

Lear, who met Yohan’s eyes, soon shifted his gaze to the carelessly tied necktie. He hated showing him off to others, but he hated it even more when Yohan was treated like an idiot in front of others.

“And you need to tie your necktie properly, Dr. Kwon.”

“For goodness’ sake.”

Yohan pouted but didn’t push away Lear’s hand, which was fixing his necktie.

He didn’t mind Lear calling him ‘Doctor,’ and he liked the gentle touch of his hands fixing his tie.

With his necktie entrusted to him, Yohan slowly admired Lear’s face. He was so ridiculously handsome that he wanted to do more than just kiss him; he wanted to throw him onto the bed. Instead, though a little disappointed, just as he was about to sneakily touch Lear’s waist, Aisha, who had been checking the monitor, saw the strange atmosphere and interjected with disgust.

“It’s great that you two are playing lovey-dovey and enjoying your newlywed life, but we don’t have time. People are starting to come in. Get ready, quickly.”

At Aisha’s scolding, saying this couple got horny just by making eye contact, Yohan couldn’t hide his embarrassment and let out a dry cough for no reason. However, with the most brazen face possible, he asked Aisha.

“Where’s Jun?”

“He left first. Said there were a few places to check out. People are entering, so you’d better go quickly too. The Assistant Deputy Director is waiting in the hallway.”

At Aisha’s words, Yohan said he understood, hurriedly got himself ready, and patted Lear’s shoulder with his fist as he went out. Lear watched Yohan’s back, worried sick. His shoulder wasn’t fully healed yet, and there was no telling how Shadow or the SVR would act.

“Can you hear me?”

— Yeah.

As soon as he stepped into the hallway, Yohan spoke to Lear. Hearing Lear’s voice through the in-ear, Yohan fiddled with his glasses for no reason and glanced at Nasim, who was next to him. Nasim looked at him and said.

“Are you okay?”

Yohan nodded at Nasim’s voice.

“We’ve only just gotten on the elevator.”

“By the way, seeing you all dressed up like this, Yohan, you look quite… good.”

Just then, a coughing sound came from the in-ear. At the sound, Nasim shook her head.

“Looks like your boyfriend is jealous because you look a little better than usual.”

Yohan, as if he couldn’t care less, tugged at the hem of his jacket and said.

“I’ve got a great body, you know.”

“Ah, ah. Well. That’s true, but…”

It was Nasim’s reaction, as if to say, are there only one or two people with good bodies among the field agents, but Yohan wasn’t discouraged.

“I told you there’s a reason I usually wear loose-fitting clothes. Well, people still don’t leave me alone, though.”

Nasim had a dumbfounded expression on her face.

“You said you didn’t like looking like you’re from the FBI.”

“That’s a reason too.”

“And a person should know how to be humble.”

“I’ve become a bit more brazen thanks to someone.”

Yohan relaxed by exchanging jokes with Nasim. He thought Lear would have chimed in by now, but he still remained silent. Was he nervous about meeting Shadow soon? Still, thanks to that, Nasim and Yohan arrived at the conference hall in no time.

“So far, there’s nothing that looks particularly special. By the way, with this kind of atmosphere, isn’t this more of a social gathering than a conference?”

“Hmph. Well, I guess they blabber on about science and whatever while pretending to party.”

“Haha. Nice. That’s something.”

Yohan grumbled, saying it was absurd to put on such a play just to make a deal all the way in Chula Vista. However, Lear still remained silent. He couldn’t tell if it was because he was nervous about finally meeting Shadow, or if it was because he was worried about him.

Feeling awkward for no reason, Yohan scratched his head and popped a small, cute, bite-sized cake he had taken from a table at the entrance of the conference hall into his mouth. The moment it entered his mouth, it melted, a taste that made his eyes widen. Yohan reached for another cake and pressed the communicator button installed on his button to speak to Jun.

“Jun, did you find anything good?”

— I’m moving to a different location. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary yet. If there’s a sniper, the locations are quite limited… but there are more places to hide than I thought. There are also a lot of people attending the conference.

At Jun’s words that at this moment, no one was visible, so it was either they had other plans or the person was really skilled, Yohan looked around once. As expected, there was nothing that stood out.

Since he didn’t know Shadow’s face, he tried to find the distinguished guest from Paraguay, but as expected, he didn’t come into view.

Looking at the conference hall with its very high ceiling and a long corridor on the upper level like an opera house, Yohan thought Jun would have a very hard time. As Jun had said, looking through the entire place seemed quite challenging.

— Wait, Yohan, turn back towards the three o’clock direction.

Just as Yohan was looking around and diligently searching for the target, he heard Lear’s welcome voice. Yohan turned his body slightly as Lear instructed. However, there was nothing particularly unusual. For God’s sake, all the people who came here to this ‘conference’ weren’t talking about research related to Esprit, but were all going on about “The Legend of Zelda.” He thought it was Comic-Con, not a pharmaceutical-chemical conference.

“What, did you see?”

— No, I must have been mistaken. I thought I saw a familiar face.

At Lear’s dejected voice, Yohan sighed slightly. Then he nudged Nasim and said.

“I’ll go to the right and take a look around.”

As soon as Nasim nodded, Yohan immediately turned and moved. Even so, he didn’t see anything particularly special. It was to the point where he wondered if Shadow had changed his plan. Of course, there was no better place for a rendezvous than here.

‘Where the hell are they and what are they doing?’

Just as Yohan was chewing on his lower lip and thinking he should have one last snack, he reached out his hand.

“You…!”

At the familiar voice, he turned his head to see Philip standing there.

“Fuck.”

Why did this bastard crawl all the way here when he’s so busy? Yohan tried to avoid Philip’s gaze and run away, pretending not to see him, but as expected, he strode over and grabbed Yohan.

“Yohan.”

“Ha, this is just one thing after another.”

Yohan shook off Philip’s hand. And now that it had come to this, thinking he had to get rid of the nuisance quickly, Yohan grabbed Philip’s arm tightly as if to break it and dragged him to a less crowded area.

“Hey, that hurts. It hurts!”

“Shut up.”

Yohan pushed Philip against the wall as if throwing him and dusted off his hands. Then Philip, with a crumpled face, said to Yohan.

“Ah, what’s with the glasses?”

“What do you mean? I wear them because my eyesight is bad. Do perverts like you use glasses for other purposes?”

“Who are you calling a pervert?”

“Where do you get off raising your voice? Do you know where you are? Huh?”

“…”

“And since when did you care about my business, you bastard?”

“I didn’t go as far as to call you a bas—”

“More importantly, you’ve been acting pretty familiar whenever you see me lately, huh? You used to act like you’d die of embarrassment if we ran into each other.”

Yohan pressed Philip with a sharp-edged voice. As if he wasn’t busy enough, of all people to run into, why Philip? It just left a bad taste in his mouth. Anyway, once Shadow was caught and Esprit was turned upside down, Philip would be heading to prison too.

“And are you free? Why are you all over the place? Weren’t you busy? When did you stop playing the part of the esteemed doctor?”

Before Philip could blabber on, Yohan shot at him so he couldn’t even open his mouth. Philip was slightly taken aback by Yohan’s demeanor.

“You were acting all high and mighty, so what brings you to Chula Vista? Huh?”

Looking closely at Philip’s face, it was a mess. Well, he didn’t know about his work, but his family life must have been very complicated lately, so there was no way his face would look good. Yohan glared at him, hoping Carolyn would take as much of his fortune as possible. Philip flinched at his brother’s sharp-edged demeanor.

Thinking that his head must have filled with muscle from only doing sports since he was young, his actions were also brutish, Philip spoke with a slightly trembling voice.

“A, a conference is being held. More importantly, why are you here…? Why are you here? Is it because of me? Did you come to block my path?”

“Mind your own business.”

“What?”

“Mind your own business, like usual. Whatever I do.”

“Yohan!”

“Fuck, you’re the one who should stop blocking my path.”

Yohan clicked his tongue. And just as he was thinking he should just tie Philip to a shelf in the corner, a gunshot suddenly rang out. With people’s screams, the situation instantly became a mess. Yohan turned his head in the direction of the gunshot. He didn’t know if it was the SVR or Shadow yet, but it seemed to be one of the two. When the hell did they show up? Yohan clicked his tongue and handcuffed Philip’s wrist.

“Hey!”

“You should have been prepared the moment you set foot in Esprit. Hyung.”

“You, really! Aren’t you going to take this off?”

Panic was evident on Philip’s face. Yohan looked at Philip as if he were pathetic and advised him.

“There’s a reason for everything when someone is nice to you. The CEO of Esprit wouldn’t want to sleep with you, so he’ll probably use you to his heart’s content and then throw you away. Why is someone as educated as you acting so stupid?”

Yohan attached the other part of the handcuffs to the shelf. Anyway, he was a person he had disliked since they were young.

“Don’t move unnecessarily. Then everything on the shelf will fall. And you’re not going to drag this outside, are you?”

“Hey! I said take it off! Huh? Do you know where you are!”

“Anyway, hyung. I don’t know if this is a conference or a party or what, but have fun.”

Winking at Philip, who was jumping up and down with a flushed face, Yohan ran to the center of the banquet hall.

“Damn it.”

As people, startled by the gunshot, fled the hotel banquet hall, the inside became a scene of chaos. Yohan looked around, trying to assess the situation. And just then, he heard Nasim’s voice.

“Yohan!”

He saw Nasim collapsed next to a table.

“Assistant Deputy Director!”

Yohan looked at the assistant deputy director with panicked eyes. Blood was trickling down her leg. Nasim swallowed a groan and said.

“It just grazed me.”

“So careless! Goodness. What is this.”

“It’s been too long since I was in the field.”

“Will you be okay?”

“I’m fine, so for now, go help Jun.”

Looking where Nasim was pointing, he saw Jun fighting with someone on the upper floor. It seemed everyone had gotten busy while he was spending some quality time with his estranged brother. Yohan finally nodded, exchanged a look with Nasim, and then immediately ran to where Jun was.

The elevator was obviously unusable, and as he was madly running up the emergency stairs, he heard Aisha’s voice in his in-ear.

— Yohan!

“What is it?”

Why were so many people looking for him today? Especially at Aisha’s unwelcome voice, Yohan didn’t stop heading toward Jun and urged her to speak quickly as he bounded up the stairs.

— Mr. Crawford suddenly ran out.

“What?”

Yohan paused for a moment, caught his breath, and then ran up the emergency stairs again. He wanted to go after Lear, but he thought he should assess the situation as calmly as possible. First, the sniper. He would deal with that, and then he could go after Lear. Yohan asked Aisha.

“Where did he go?”

Yohan couldn’t understand Lear’s psychology, why he would act so impulsively instead of sitting quietly in the hotel room and watching the monitors.

‘This bastard… I even sucked him off, he’s not still sulking, is he?’

Amid his turmoil, Aisha’s troubled voice came through Yohan’s in-ear.

— I don’t know where he went. Seeing as there was a gunshot, it seems Shadow has appeared. I didn’t get a good look.

“Me neither. I didn’t see the minister’s face here. I couldn’t find him no matter how hard I looked… He just suddenly appeared?”

— I was splitting the screen with Mr. Crawford to watch. I think he saw something I didn’t. The banquet hall was large and crowded, after all.

“All right. Just in case, please search the hotel. The list of people staying here, for instance. Let me know immediately if there’s anything unusual.”

Yohan, panting, threw open the emergency door and went inside. A long corridor appeared before him. The banquet hall was visible just beyond the railing, and at the end of Yohan’s line of sight, Jun was intensely rolling around with some man.

Jun’s fate, coming all the way from New York to fight an SVR agent, was quite dramatic. Thinking he had to help Jun quickly and find Lear, Yohan loaded his gun. And as soon as he confirmed Jun’s location, he aimed his weapon.

They were tumbling back and forth, making it hard to aim, but the unfamiliar man had soon pinned Jun down and was not only grabbing the nape of his neck with enough force to break it, but was also aiming a gun at his head. Yohan finally shouted at the man.

“Hands up! FBI!”

The man on top of Jun suddenly burst out laughing.

‘Is he insane?’

Yohan’s expression hardened as he commanded the man once more.

“Didn’t you hear me say hands up? Put your hands up and back away, now!”

Only then did the man raise his head, and in that moment, at the unbelievable sight, Yohan felt his vision go completely white.

“A-Avon?”