Chapter 77
Angel looked down at me with a peculiar expression. His emerald eyes seemed to sparkle with a strange light.
I grabbed Angel’s wrist and pulled him towards me. He followed without resistance, as if he had no strength left in his body.
I guided the unsteady Angel, who swayed like an inflatable tube man, to a chair and personally placed a spoon in his hand.
“You haven’t eaten anything today, have you?”
“…No.”
His response was three beats late.
Given that he was still in his shirt, there was no way he had taken the time to eat anything.
“Come on, eat up.”
I urged Angel eagerly, convinced it would taste even better than when I had sampled it mid-preparation.
“I don’t have an appetite.”
“Just eat the porridge, alright?”
“…”
“Today, I’m your doctor. You need to listen to me right now.”
I pointed at the spoon and spoke in a deliberately stern tone.
“…You’re getting back at me, aren’t you?”
Angel asked, glancing between the spoon and the porridge with a hesitant look. His voice was weak, as if resigned to his fate.
Resting my elbow on the table, I propped my chin up and smiled.
“Yep. You have no idea how tough it’s been listening to your constant nagging.”
I was enjoying this role reversal immensely, vowing to repay all the nagging I’d endured.
“Well, that was necessary…”
“You’ve already braced yourself, huh? I’m really thorough with my paybacks.”
I thought I saw his hand tremble as it held the spoon.
After a long moment of hesitation, Angel took a bite of the porridge. I watched him anxiously.
His already frowning face contorted even more.
“Is it bad?”
I asked tentatively, but Angel didn’t look at me as he took another bite of the porridge.
The heavy silence that followed was unexpectedly tense. Angel’s expression remained unchanged.
“Is it good?!”
I couldn’t help but raise my voice.
Seeing him take another bite, it must have been good. There’s no way porridge could be that…
Just then, Angel glanced at me and put the spoon down. His eyes darkened as he stared at the plain porridge.
“It’s bad.”
“What?”
I was shocked by his blunt critique.
Isn’t porridge just rice and water? How bad could it be?
Convinced that Angel had an exceptionally picky palate, I took the spoon and tried a big bite myself.
“Ugh!”
I almost spat it out immediately.
Every taste bud in my mouth was rejecting it.
‘What the heck did I put in this?’
Why did it taste sour, sweet, and spicy all at once?
I must have ruined it by trying to season it to avoid blandness.
The fact that Angel had taken two bites made me reevaluate his character.
“…Sorry.”
I put the spoon down and avoided Angel’s eyes, muttering an apology.
I just wanted to make sure he had something to eat since he was too weak to cook. But this might have made him feel worse. I felt so embarrassed I wanted to crawl into a hole.
“HaHaha.”
A laugh broke the silence. I raised my head, unsure of my hearing.
Angel was laughing, his flushed face bright with amusement. I stared at him, entranced.
His pale face, now tinged with red, was illuminated by a clear, glass-like smile. He laughed deeply, like a boy.
It was the first time I had seen him smile.
* * *
Under a tree with unopened flower buds, bright hair fluttered in the wind. Transparent eyes took in the dazzling city spread out below.
Tiny lights lit the hanging garden, twinkling like stars.
It felt like a different world from the city below, where lights never went out, even at midnight.
The boundary between reality and dreams seemed to blur.
This space was designed to help forget the memories that brought him here, even if just for this moment.
Today was the second time he had come here.
“Are you sure about this?”
Leaning against the tree, Chan, with a candy in his mouth, asked.
“About tomorrow.”
His question was more mocking than concerned. Yugyeom, understanding his meaning, smiled slightly.
“I’m not sure.”
“…”
“I didn’t expect my father to come personally, though.”
Crunch, crunch. The sound of the candy breaking filled the quiet garden.
Chewing on candy when anxious had become a habit for Chan ever since he started carrying candy around all the time.
He practically chewed on candy all day. Some gang members warned that he’d need dentures by his 30s, but Chan ignored them.
You never know when you’re going to die, so live doing what you want.
“It shouldn’t be a problem. It might even make things easier.”
Yugyeom’s calm attitude was driving Chan crazy. Chan nervously ruffled his curly hair.
“It’s probably too late, but I still think it’s a bad idea. She’s not the type to take this lying down. She’s probably furious right now.”
Originally, the casino belonged to Yuhwa. It was the main source of her power and what elevated her to her current position.
Now that Yugyeom had taken that position, she wouldn’t just sit quietly.
“Did you plan to take Baekcheon from the start?”
“…”
“I thought you were just obsessed with Cha Yeonbyul.”
Yugyeom neither confirmed nor denied it.
Would it mean anything to differentiate now? In the end, it would all conclude in the same place.
“So, it wasn’t just a rumor?”
Chan finished chewing his candy and spat out the stick.
“That your father was the one who got Baekcheon’s former head killed.”
His dark eyes met Yugyeom’s.
“Seeing him give you the casino just for bringing back information on Baekcheon.”
Yugyeom continued to face him with an unbroken smile.
Chan sighed, tilting his head back to the sky.
“You’ve really come this far, haven’t you?”
Chan threw the empty candy stick into the trash.
He searched inside his jacket.
When he found nothing, he checked his pants pockets.
“Want one?”
A voice came from above him. It was Yugyeom.
Chan emptied his pockets with one hand while extending the other to Yugyeom.
Then he suddenly stopped moving and fell into thought.
“But how do you have…?”
A familiar object dropped into his outstretched hand. Chan, who had been looking down, quickly raised his head.
“Hey!”
Yugyeom, holding a cigarette pack, smiled with his eyes.
“Exactly.”
At that moment, a low voice carried by the wind pierced Chan’s ear. He froze in place, barely managing to turn his head.
“You’ve come this far?”
Click, clack.
Short pink hair, cut just above the ears, swayed as she walked.
“Sena?”
Chan’s voice came out dazed.
It was indeed Sena. Petite in stature, with fierce bunny-like eyes glaring sharply.
Noticing where her gaze landed, Chan quickly raised his hands beside his head.
The cigarette that had fallen at his feet drew both their eyes again.
“T-this is a misunderstanding!”
Desperately, Chan tried to kick the cigarette away.
But the cigarette clung to his shoe as if glued there, refusing to fall off.
Chan’s face twisted as if he were about to cry.
Yugyeom watched him with amusement in his eyes.
Feeling uneasy, Chan looked up and met Yugyeom’s gaze.
“Do you think Sena will believe it’s a misunderstanding?”
Yugyeom whispered just loud enough for Chan to hear, a slow smile spreading across his face.
His eyes, beautifully curved, shone with a malicious glint in the shadows.
“You bastard…!”
“Is this the time to swear at me?”
Oops. Chan quickly averted his eyes.
Sena, who had been staring at him with cold eyes, turned away without mercy.
Trying to stand, he nearly tripped but managed to steady himself.
“I’ll deal with you later.”
Chan threw a threat at Yugyeom before running after the rapidly retreating Sena.
“I really quit! I swear!”
Chan flailed helplessly behind the much smaller Sena, unable to even lift a finger.
As the two disappeared from view, bickering, the phone Yugyeom had left on the bench rang.
He ignored the call as if he hadn’t heard it, but when it rang again after a brief pause, he slowly reached for it and answered.
“Why are you ignoring my calls?”
A male voice emerged from the phone lying on the bench.
“I answered, didn’t I?”
“You ignored the first call.”
“If you know, shouldn’t you stop?”
A chuckle came from the other end.
“You’ve seen Cha Yeonbyul, but he’s fine.”
Yugueom fiddled with the ring on his finger without looking at the phone. The gold ring felt cold, like a shackle.
“What did you feed him? If you’re going to feed him, at least give him something decent.”
“If you accept anything for free, you might end up dead.”
Yugyeom replied softly.
“You’re implying you don’t trust me, right?”
Laughter mixed with a low voice.
“I only trust relationships with clear give and take.”
“You know what I want.”
The response didn’t come from the phone but from nearby. A sweet grape scent wafted on the breeze.
Yugueom slowly turned his head toward the approaching presence.
“Get rid of him in front of my eyes.”
Purple hair swayed in the wind against the pitch-black night sky.
“Either kill him directly or use another method.”
His eyes, curved like a painting, shone brilliantly in a radiant purple.
