Chapter 14
As soon as Mu-gyeong let go of his grip on Hongju’s shirt, Hongju lost his balance and fell hard onto the floor. His disheveled state, sprawled across the ground, looked utterly pitiful.
"I thought maybe the two of you had a fight, since you took so long."
Mu-gyeong smirked as he raised his cigarette to the air. A flick— the ash dropped onto Hongju’s sneakers, crumbling into gray dust. Then, Mu-gyeong bent down, lowering himself to Hongju’s eye level. Hongju didn’t blink, staring at him in silence. Mu-gyeong didn’t avert his gaze either.
"......"
His pitch-black, icy eyes were unsettling. Mu-gyeong pressed the burning tip of his cigarette into the ground just in front of Hongju’s shoes. Ssshhh. A dark gray streak burned into the cement floor.
"The deal..."
He can’t be canceling it now, can he?
Hongju swallowed dryly at the vague ending of Mu-gyeong’s sentence. The rope that had descended before him— the only lifeline he had— suddenly seemed like it was swaying in the wind, just out of reach.
"Whether I’m in the gambling house or not, your job is to keep watching. Whatever happens to you, that has nothing to do with me."
It wasn’t wrong. Whether his secrets were exposed, whether he was beaten to the point he couldn't lift a finger, his job was to watch. That’s why Mu-gyeong had given him the phone in the first place.
"Yes. I’ll watch carefully."
Hongju nodded quickly.