Boy Monster Chapter 96

“Well, I wonder if he’ll make it. Still, he’s a friend I’ve seen for a long time, so it doesn’t feel great.”

He felt sorry for him, considering the sheer devotion Lim Geonhwi had poured into trying to keep Jae Eunho by his side for thirty years. Hearing his words, Hyeon Jaewoong’s expression grew heavy.

The fact that the head of the army had been cohabiting with a same-sex partner in an intimate relationship for a long time was an open secret among high-ranking officials and the wealthy. However, within S.E.T.U, it was treated as nothing more than a rumor, so Hyeon Jaewoong likely assumed their affair was a mere fling. Even so, it wasn’t something that would make him feel good.

“Should I not have brought it up? I should have been more considerate of your feelings.”

“No, sir. I already know everything. ……I know it all.”

The guy smiled with a remarkably solemn look on his face. When Eunho gave a slight smile and complimented him, saying, “You’re very mature,” a glimmer of hope lit up in his eyes. Hyeon Jaewoong—who knew nothing of Lim Geonhwi’s possessiveness, which involved forcing house arrest on Jae Eunho and displaying bizarre sexual proclivities under the guise of protection—was purely passionate and innocent.

It seemed he thought this way even after knowing the past connection with Sa Hwelju, the relationship with Lim Geonhwi… and all of that truth. ‘None of that matters. Someday, he will come over to my side. If I protect his side like a steadfast sunflower, like a tree unfazed by wind and rain, it will surely happen.’

His confident demeanor strongly reminiscent of the boy from the past. That attitude full of certainty that nothing could pose a problem.

When considering how someone could be that way, the answers narrowed down to just two.

First, a case where there are absolutely no feelings involved. If one only wants sex, what does the situation or condition matter? You just mix bodies and that’s it.

Second, a case where the feelings are too grand. A state where one is so deeply in love that all problems become invisible.

Although their attitudes of being certain in their feelings were similar, there was a decisive difference between Hyeon Jaewoong and the boy. It was a chilling weight. While Hyeon Jaewoong’s attitude was strictly warm, Shi Taehyun’s—no, Jang Hwonwoo’s—attitude possessed an overbearing pressure that frequently caught Eunho off guard.

—Yes, I don’t think of you as a teacher. You look like an obstacle that won’t go my way. You look like a desire that is harder to possess than the position of the head of the family.

It wasn’t merely due to a difference in impression or facial features. It was that looking-down gaze he possessed… hidden beneath politeness…. How should it be explained? An ambition to conquer the opponent? Or the bravado after already conquering them?

It was a trait that aligned perfectly with the desire he always exposed without filtration whenever he finished ejaculating inside Jae Eunho’s body.

—I’m not pulling out, don’t let a single drop spill.

That was a gaze that made Jae Eunho, who had known nothing of Eros, burn up. A gaze like a silent, wild hound, which at times pinned Jae Eunho down more thrillingly than the act itself.

Those eyes that remained unchanged or sank even lower after finishing sex so intense it felt like losing his mind.

When they panted heavily while pressing their sweat-soaked bare skin together.

The moment the desolate glint of his eyes looking down at Jae Eunho and his hot skin… the sound of Shi Taehyun’s breathing heating up the deep night, and the eyes of a ruler overlapped into a single scene, Jae Eunho hurriedly stepped away.

‘This is absurd. I just clicked my tongue inside the car watching Hyeon Jaewoong imagine our first night. And here I am, having these thoughts in the intensive care unit!’

Recalling the past days when he would occasionally satisfy his urges alone by reviving the sensations that touched his naked body made him feel all the more awkward. Cooling down the heat on his face, Eunho fell into a faint ache.

‘……How can something from so long ago be this vivid. I resent it. He is someone who died and will never return.’

Guilt preceded the monologue that quietly tore his heart apart. He desperately needed a cigarette. Because he couldn’t smoke in front of a critical patient, he chewed heavily on the tip of an unlit cigarette. In an era where everyone was switching to electronic cigarettes, Jae Eunho still stuck to traditional tobacco, living up to his nickname as S.E.T.U’s oldest old-timer.

I must find Sa Hwelju quickly. I must meet Shi Taehyun again. How?

“I have to call him out.”

“Yes? Who should I call? Just say the word!”

“You can’t call him. ……This is something only I can do.”

Jae Eunho calmly delivered his secret instructions.

“Hyeon Jaewoong. From now on until I return, you were with me the entire time.”

“Pardon?”

“I have to complete an important operation starting now. Deputy Director Oh Jigeun will absolutely not approve it, so I have no choice but to do it secretly. I’ll be back within an hour, so don’t let anyone into the hospital room. Tell them I want to be alone, and if anyone tries to enter, block them using whatever method necessary, whether it’s wall permeation or transformation. For an intelligence agent, situational coping ability is the most important. Think of it as practical training.”

Hyeon Jaewoong looked confused as he listened. A conflict seemed to arise at the news that Jae Eunho was taking independent action outside the manual. He felt a strength grabbing and stopping Eunho as he tried to leave the room.

‘……?’

Jae Eunho looked up at Hyeon Jaewoong without a word. The strength gently gripping his arm was Herculean. Hyeon Jaewoong, who stood blocking Eunho, nodded firmly as if he had made a resolute decision, his face showing no trace of lingering hesitation.

“Understood. I’ll take responsibility here. I will follow your words unconditionally, Boss. Um…, that…… I think I’d gain strength if you did it for me.”

“What? I didn’t hear you well.”

“If you pat my head.”

To think he thought the guy would demand a kiss or a one-night stand…. Jae Eunho realized his own mature sexual concepts. Perhaps his only ex-lover had been too much of an express train. The speed of his ex-lover, who immediately advanced from a cocky, head-on confession straight to erotic kissing and tangling their naked bodies together, was admirable in hindsight.

Jae Eunho patted the head a few centimeters above him and brought his face close enough for their noses to touch. Flinching, Hyeon Jaewoong held his breath tightly.

“I’m counting on you.”

“…….”

A long while later, a resounding “Yes!” came back. Taking advantage of a moment when the hallway was deserted, Eunho quickly left the hospital room. He manipulated the mind of a guardian to borrow clothes and shoes. ‘I’ll return them in an hour, so this is strictly borrowing, not stealing.’ He put his hands together in prayer and offered a silent thank you.

Not stopping at wearing a short-sleeved school uniform and a backpack, he hid his face with a mask. Jae Eunho, who easily slipped past the armed military forces using his resonance ability, got into a taxi and headed for Shi Taehyun’s house.

Tense with the worry of being tailed or running into enemies, he maintained his situational resonance on the way, but there were no suspicious movements. The inside of Shi Taehyun’s house was exactly the same as when Jae Eunho had last left it. Except for the kitchen being turned into a sea of water due to the torrential rain pouring through a slightly open gap in the window, the messy room and the bedding on the bed where Eunho had lain were identical to before.

‘He didn’t come back home. There are no traces.’

The records of tracking Jae Eunho inside the small room were also completely intact. Eunho cleared out the room while still maintaining his guard. The photographed copies of confidential files. Photocopies of documents. Photographs secretly taken of Jae Eunho near the National Intelligence Service, all over Jongno, and at his mission sites. Camera memory cards. He shoved every single item into his backpack. He intended to burn them to ashes immediately. Documents that didn’t fit into the bag were torn up and flushed down the toilet, erasing all evidence that Shi Taehyun had stalked Jae Eunho.

Lastly, the duplicate of the S.E.T.U ability control system remained. After transferring the disk directly to a prepared laptop, he stuffed the wires and internet network cables into the bag. After completely formatting the computer, he disassembled the main body. It had to be broken beyond forensic recovery.

Taking out the hard drive, Jae Eunho picked up a hammer. Thud. Thud. The hammering echoed through the house a few times. He wrapped the shattered disk in tissue paper and packed it. If an investigation occurred, they would search even the trash cans, so it had to be discarded separately in a reservoir or a remote mountain to prevent future trouble.

An alarm rang on his cell phone just as he left the room with the heavy backpack slung over his shoulders.

$$𝙴𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙰𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚝$$

𝙰 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝟺.𝟷 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚂𝚎𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚎𝚜𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝙾𝚔𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚗-𝚜𝚒, 𝙲𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚋𝚞𝚔-𝚍𝚘.

𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚜, 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜.

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸, 𝟷𝟿:𝟹𝟼

To think he went all the way to Chungcheong-do, he’s really doing this intentionally. He couldn’t even control his magnitude while hiding.

He wasn’t spotted by a reconnaissance plane or captured on satellite imagery on his way flying over, right? Jae Eunho bit his lower lip hard at Sa Hwelju’s even more distant location. He needed to return quickly and lure Shi Taehyun out. Approaching the front door, Jae Eunho turned around with a sharp gasp.

The trash can. I have to empty the trash can too. Checking the house again, the only trash can was the one in front of the entrance. When he turned it upside down and shook it out, no trash came out; instead, only a National Museum of Korea pamphlet, two business cards, and a ziplock bag containing dozens of SD cards emerged. Inside the ziplock bag, an MP3 player connected to earphones was also included.

“What is this. This isn’t a trash can, it’s a wiretap file archive. It would have been a disaster if I missed it.”

Eunho put down the backpack, which was as heavy as a boulder, and opened the ziplock bag first. He had anticipated the identity of the SD cards, but it was shocking nonetheless. They contained wiretapped phone calls spanning from this recent June to a year and a half ago.

<Jae Eunho_July_Wiretap>

<Jae Eunho_April_Wiretap>

<Jae Eunho_November_Wiretap>

<Jae Eunho_September_Wiretap>

…….

Among the numerous SD cards, there was one labeled , so he picked it up first.

Swiftly plugging the earphones into his ears and connecting the SD card to the player, he checked the contents of the business cards. Bizarrely, it was a business card for a model agency. There was even a direct cell phone number handwritten by the casting team leader.

This is definitely a secret contact address disguised as a model agency! Someone approached Shi Taehyun secretly! Suspecting a mastermind, Jae Eunho performed a resonance toward the address written on the business card.

However, his expectation missed the mark. Surprisingly, it was a genuinely existing company, a top model agency that represented famous models and actors and actively expanded overseas. Searching the consciousness of the casting manager revealed a memory of meeting Shi Taehyun by chance in Itaewon, handing over a card, and when there was no contact, visiting the place where she encountered Shi Taehyun once more to propose casting again.

「We could easily hype him up as a fitness model or an underwear brand model with a beast-like concept. A gentlemanly face but a body that says otherwise, and those vivid eyes….」

After searching the casting leader’s mind to verify the facts, Jae Eunho let out a hollow laugh. It was real. This damn occupational disease. I’ve eaten the bread of an intelligence agent for too long. By the way, Shi Taehyun, to think you receive this kind of proposal even when you kill your presence and live as an underground monster roaming beneath manholes. Past or present, that appearance draws eyes wherever it goes.

‘If there’s no contact, it means he rejected it, so why bother visiting twice. Do they have personal feelings or something?’

Even while recognizing that he was thinking twistedly, Jae Eunho ripped the business cards to shreds. And then, it was the exact moment he turned the earphone volume to the maximum.

—Ah-ut…!

What is this.

Jae Eunho doubted his ears at the sound of a man’s groan flowing out from the earphones. He checked the file name, and it was correct that was playing. Before he could hit pause, another moan leaked out.

—…Ah…. Ut. Haa. …Mmm….

Although it was chopped up in places, playing it continuously made it sound like moans. Furthermore, this wasn’t just any man’s groaning. It was Jae Eunho’s voice.

“……..”

Languid sighs and short gasps gathered to flow out, creating a strange rhythm.

—Ah…! Stop…. Haha. Uh…. Don’t do it…. It hurts. Huum….

These were all his voices from during phone calls. Eunho froze right there at the entrance, holding the MP3 player. Goosebumps erupted from the tips of his legs clad in the school uniform.

—Ah-eu! Ah, wait a minute. Ah…! …Haa!

If there was a part where he raised his voice and shouted while talking to team members during personal phone calls or minor missions, it was all included. It was an audio file that anyone listening would mistake for Jae Eunho having sex.

—Cock. Put it in. Yours. Quickly. Shi Taehyun.

Crazy bastard. Perverted criminal bastard. Crazy stalker bastard. Just what kind of nymphomaniac pieces together wiretapped voices to turn them into sex sounds? Just what kind of lunatic! Jae Eunho rubbed his face hard and glared at the MP3 player that had finished playing.