Boy Monster Chapter 26

A low chuckle sounded from behind him, and then his body was lifted. Shi Taehyun had picked Eunho up by the waist and was carrying him out into the hallway.

“Honey, let’s do it now. I’ll make our baby pop out just the way you want…!”

The metal shutter of the storage room slammed shut. The sight he never wanted to see again was blocked. Jae Eunho tried his best not to touch Shi Taehyun, then swung his elbow hard. Hit in the solar plexus, Shi Taehyun groaned and gently set Eunho down in the hallway. Jae Eunho put his hands on his hips and instructed him.

“Go and resolve that. You hit a kid under the guise of sparring. I can’t let it slide, whether they’re in debt or whatever the reason.”

“Those birdbrains have been bored lately, finding creative ways to play. They’re all grown up with nothing but tricks….”

The moment Shi Taehyun let his guard down, Jae Eunho lifted the hem of his pants with his toe.

“…!”

The location tracking anklet, mandatory for parolees, was missing. Shi Taehyun clasped his hands together dramatically in front of Jae Eunho, who was staring up at him, aghast. Feigning a pleading gesture, he began to offer excuses.

“Ah, sorry. I have a lot of connections, you know. I know a technician who can quietly disable these. Wait, wait! Teacher! I was wrong. I made a mistake. Please forgive me, there’s a reason, really!”

He was pleading, but the knife scars scattered amongst the irezumi tattoos on his arms and hands didn’t match his actions at all. Jae Eunho backed away, preventing him from getting closer.

“The condition wasn’t removing the anklet. The agreement was different. It doesn’t make sense for you to expect me to understand this!”

“I couldn’t help it because only you, Teacher, were supposed to know the tutoring location today. I’m serious. It’s really at home, really! I’ve kept it safe and sound.”

“If you don’t disappear from my sight by the count of three, your abilities are deactivated.”

“Alright. If I take care of those guys, will you believe me?”

“…….”

“If the monster’s location is revealed, you’ll be in trouble too, Teacher!”

Jae Eunho took a deep breath to calm his anger. Shi Taehyun clasped his hands together again and nudged him.

“I’ll wear it properly when I’m not meeting you. Okay?”

The way he raised the end of his sentences in that thick voice was disgusting, so Jae Eunho turned completely away from him.

“Handle it properly. Make sure they can’t illegally collect debts or extort money for damages again.”

After shouting a loud reply, Shi Taehyun flung open the storage room door. He put one hand in his pocket and then waved his gold watch-clad wrist at Eunho.

“Lend me a thousand won.”

“What?”

“Just a thousand won. Five thousand is fine, ten thousand is fine too.”

“Why do you suddenly need money? I don’t have cash.”

“You told me to take care of those guys.”

He didn’t understand why he needed money to discipline some gangsters, but he didn’t have any cash. Jae Eunho reluctantly took a card from his wallet and tossed it over.

Shi Taehyun shook his head. He threw the card back at Eunho and went back into the storage room, making it even more puzzling what he was trying to do. Eunho prepared to deactivate his abilities and stood far away from the storage room.

“Hey, hey!” He heard shouts chasing people away. He also heard the sound of something like water splashing. The half-awake law firm director, the BJ, and a few other people were kicked out of the shutter door. They looked inside the storage room in horror and then ran up the stairs past Eunho. Their movements were those of sheer terror.

Now only the guys who had hit the man and the two gangsters were left in the storage room. Shi Taehyun, who came out of the storage room with the beaten man slung over his shoulder, had a packet of powder in his mouth.

Shi Taehyun stared straight at the gangsters lined up in the storage room and put a lighter to the medicine packet. He quickly shook the burning paper and threw it inside the storage room.

The fire caught the oil that had been sprayed on the floor and flared up. Shi Taehyun stood the gangsters inside and said,

“This is a fire you guys accidentally started while drinking and making bets, right?”

The gangsters lined up nodded silently. Shi Taehyun approached one man and bumped his shoulder.

“You know I’m fucking busy, hyung. How can you do something that would piss off the police in the storage room when I’m not here? Really, damn… I feel like crying, I’m so hurt. Are you going to go around using my name like this when you don’t think of me like this?”

“…….”

“You won’t, right?”

Shi Taehyun patted their arms, gestured for them to call 119, and turned around. The unconscious man began to stir. Jae Eunho alternately glared at the flames beginning to engulf the storage room and at Shi Taehyun.

“What. Why. You told me to handle it so they couldn’t do it again.”

“What the…! Who told you to set fire to the place?”

“Set fire? It was the gangster trash’s mistake. Didn’t you hear?”

After curtly replying, Shi Taehyun led Eunho inside the Dasarang Finance office. The empty office contained only a desk placed there for appearances and a computer that looked questionable as to whether it even booted up. There was a door on the wall behind the desk, cluttered with papers and documents. Shi Taehyun led Jae Eunho through that door.

As they went up the stairs, the music got louder. The end of the stairs led to a passageway connected to the hallway of the VIP rooms on the basement first floor. As a loud siren blared, the half-naked VIP guests rushed out. Shi Taehyun, once again, took Jae Eunho in the opposite direction. Not towards the stairs leading to the first-floor club, but towards the largest VIP room.

Entering the pleasure-filled room and flinging open the inner door, Shi Taehyun went to a large display cabinet. He pressed a button hidden behind the artwork, the wall cabinet split open, and a corridor leading to the parking lot appeared. It felt like he was on a secret escape route exploration.

Shi Taehyun laid the unconscious man down in the parking lot and called an ambulance. He ignored the chaos of people pouring out of the club. Jae Eunho shook his head and declared,

“If you’re going to cause accidents like this, I’ll cancel your parole.”

“Ah, you told me to resolve it, Teacher.”

Beads of sweat formed on the forehead of the man, a strand of his bangs falling down. It was the middle of summer, July.

“And what accident? The accident we’re about to have, you and me, Teacher, that’s what you call an accident. Let’s hurry up and make a baby.”

Watching the chaos engulfing the club, Jae Eunho turned to look at him in annoyance. Shi Taehyun pointed his index finger down and drew a circle around Eunho’s lower waist. He couldn’t count how many times he’d been sexually harassed in their few encounters.

Immediately after the ambulance arrived, the man, who had regained consciousness, called someone. After watching him get into the vehicle, Shi Taehyun was nowhere to be seen. Jae Eunho quickly looked around the parking lot. An ear-piercing whistle came from the main street.

Standing on the main street of the bustling downtown area, Shi Taehyun beckoned him to follow. Jae Eunho followed him, keeping a safe distance.

After crossing the street a couple of times, Shi Taehyun waited for Eunho in front of some stairs leading to a worn-down alleyway. As Jae Eunho approached, he wordlessly lifted him up. Carrying Eunho on his shoulder and down the stairs, Shi Taehyun walked further down the uneven slope, arriving at a lower level.

Looking down, he was in front of a manhole. Shi Taehyun didn’t offer Jae Eunho any explanation. He simply lifted the manhole cover and disappeared below. Shi Taehyun, having dropped down into the deep underground, shouted.

“Hurry up. Aren’t we going to find the monster?”

Jae Eunho looked down into the manhole. Shi Taehyun, gripping the ladder, gestured for him to come down, wiping his forehead with a sigh.

Eunho looked back towards the club. Fortunately, it seemed the fire had been extinguished properly, as no more smoke was coming out and no additional fire trucks were being dispatched. Now he only had to worry about this side. Jae Eunho put both legs into the manhole and sat down.

Teacher, just hold my hand.

He thought he heard a hallucination from Shi Taehyun, who had extended his hand. Jae Eunho put his right leg on his shoulder without looking at him. The moment his weight shifted to Shi Taehyun, his body was pulled down.

“Uh… uh!”

Shi Taehyun, holding Eunho’s waist and lower body, buried his head between Jae Eunho’s legs and wouldn’t let go. He couldn’t even fight back for fear of falling from the dizzying height of the ladder. All Jae Eunho could do was suppress his anger at the pressure of teeth and jaw felt through his pants.

After setting Eunho down, Shi Taehyun went back up the ladder and closed the manhole cover. Eunho turned on his phone’s flashlight and walked behind Shi Taehyun, keeping a safe distance.

A foul odor enveloped the surroundings, carried by the darkness. Even having lived for a long time, there had been no reason to enter a manhole. It was his first time inside the city’s underground drainage system. Shi Taehyun’s loud voice echoed from ahead.

“You’ve never been to a place like this, have you?”

“I’ve never had reason to come to a place this low.”

“I mostly go to places like this. Living in low, low places. What about you, Teacher?”

“……The house I live in is too high.”

It would have been more accurate to say it’s a house where he’s confined, but. Shi Taehyun replied, “We’re complete opposites,” and then fell silent. After that, Shi Taehyun walked for quite a long distance. Jae Eunho, patiently following him, suddenly looked back.

He thought he heard the sound of a manhole cover opening in the distance, but there was no one in the passage. It felt like someone had definitely jumped down after them.

“…….”

Could it be that the superpowered individual from the group that tried to kidnap him was secretly following them? Jae Eunho shone his phone’s flashlight behind him. He checked for a while, but there was no one there, perhaps confused by the occasional sounds of cars from above ground.

Jae Eunho dismissed his suspicions and looked ahead. And when he saw where Shi Taehyun was standing, he had to rub his eyes in disbelief.

What Shi Taehyun was pointing at was a worn-out, single, yellow duck…. A bright yellow inflatable boat was moored on the water flowing beneath the city.

“I’ve always wanted to brag about having a lover somewhere, get in.”

The duck boat rocked as Shi Taehyun climbed aboard. Eunho, who had been lingering by the water’s edge, climbed into the seat next to him. Behind them, several unidentified black golf bags were piled up, leaving no room.

The deep hip-hop music that had been playing at the club just now started playing from Shi Taehyun’s phone. Shi Taehyun’s face was full of excitement, even though he was pedaling the boat alone.

“Welcome to the underground world of Seoul, ruled by monsters.”