Damn! Damn! Chapter 18

Looking to the side, Wolfgang was standing there. Achim’s eyes widened. It was impossible to tell why Wolfgang, who wasn’t even the housekeeper, had come to find him during work hours.

When Achim offered a polite nod, Wolfgang adjusted his monocle with a white-gloved hand and spoke.

“I came to convey Mr. Michael’s words for you to come to his office in thirty minutes.”

“…”

Achim’s eyes naturally drifted over to the maid sitting across from him.

Seeing the maid’s widened eyes fixed on him, Achim knew. In the end, trying to remove a lump had only resulted in adding another one.

…Damn it.

Achim dropped his gaze back to his plate and quietly nodded.

🖤🥀

After finishing his meal, Achim left the servants’ building with Wolfgang, who had been waiting for him.

The entire time they walked toward the main building, Achim was deeply lost in thought. While he was excited to finally set foot on the third floor, he was simultaneously tense because he couldn’t even guess what business Michael had with him.

Since Michael Bernhard’s word was law in this mansion, Achim didn’t even think to ask Wolfgang about the nature of the business.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he could decide whether to go or not based on the type of business anyway, so Achim merely turned over various guesses within the limits of what he knew.

Walking in absolute silence, they reached the main building in no time.

Having climbed the stairs to the second floor, Achim paused for a moment out of habit, but Wolfgang kept treading up the stairs toward the third floor without a hitch.

There was no identity verification process. The five guards evenly deployed across the center, left, and right sides cleared the path with swift, uniform movements the moment they saw Wolfgang, as if they had practiced it just moments before.

Achim casually rolled his eyes while pretending to look straight ahead, carefully taking note of the passing guards.

Every single one of them had a physique similar to or slightly larger than the guard he had seen yesterday. These men were undoubtedly Alphas too.

Since they possessed superior physical conditions and vastly stronger brute force compared to ordinary people, Alpha guards were commonly found in places where government officials, conglomerate heads, or high-ranking figures stayed.

While the number of Alphas wasn’t large, the guard application rate was quite high because the compensation was hefty in proportion to their rarity.

The guards were guaranteed a stable life with high pay, and the employer got to bring in personnel suited to their own tastes, so it was a win-win situation for both sides.

As the reality of that inherent inequality of traits struck him once again, Achim pulled up one corner of his mouth in a scoff before letting it drop.

— Wolfgang Apel. This man, who is the butler of Michael Bernhard’s mansion, literally has a clean past. I’m not talking about his career or criminal record. Surprisingly, marking exactly forty-five years old as the starting point, there is absolutely no information left about his personal life before that.

At Linus’s words crossing his mind, Achim looked at Wolfgang walking ahead of him in the hallway.

— For this man, the point in time when his non-existent identity suddenly appeared overlaps with the point in time when he entered that place.

The person who held all authority in this mansion next to Michael. What on earth was this man’s identity? According to what Linus investigated, it meant he had formed some sort of connection with Michael and come to work with him…

Once he knew that, the incident with Dora from before became even more suspicious.

Right after that incident, he had wanted to ask for news about Dora immediately, but fearing that they wouldn’t tell him the honest truth if they really were in cahoots with the warehouse manager, Achim had refrained from asking.

Better to look into it myself later.

While he was staring intently at the back of the grizzled head, Wolfgang soon came to a halt. Naturally, Achim’s steps stopped as well.

The door that appeared to be Michael’s office was vastly wider compared to the other rooms, but delicate, harmonious patterns were engraved into it everywhere, giving off a sense of refined extravagance.

Achim thought for a split second that although it was obnoxious, it suited the master perfectly.

Knocking on the door twice with his knuckles, Wolfgang called out to him.

“Mr. Michael.”

Michael didn’t answer, but Wolfgang stepped back and opened the door outward. His rigid, perfectly squared posture, which seemed ingrained into his very body, displayed his years of experience and skill. Bowing slightly at the waist, Wolfgang politely and smoothly gestured inside toward Achim.

“…Ah.”

Achim, who had been scanning Wolfgang up and down, took a step forward a beat late. Bowing his head awkwardly in a nod, he stepped inside, and right behind his back, he heard the sharp click of the door closing. Judging by the intuition of it, Wolfgang didn’t seem to be entering.

Achim tore his gaze away from the closed door and looked ahead.

“…”

Michael’s office exuded an atmosphere similar to the door he had seen from the outside. From the solid wood furniture to the small ornaments, and even the circular carpet laid out on the floor, there was nothing that didn’t show a clear sign of painstaking effort.

At a glance, it was something that would make anyone let out nothing but admiration, but within it, Achim could feel the master’s fastidious nature and meticulousness.

Could the semen be in here…?

It was just when Achim was looking around his surroundings, his sense of purpose suddenly rearing its head.

“Closer.”

At the heavy yet smooth voice that carried over, he snapped his head around. There, standing a few paces away diagonally, he saw Michael flaunting his long stature.

Michael was perched on top of a large solid wood desk with his legs crossed.

With both hands thrust into his suit pants pockets, Michael tilted his head to the side and commanded,

“I happen to dislike making myself repeat things twice.”

“…”

“Hurry.”

Achim let out a sigh mixed with resentment internally, but ultimately moved his feet according to his demand.

When Achim walked over and stood at a distance of a couple of paces, Michael curved the corners of his eyes in satisfaction.

“Hmm…”

Fuck. At this point, he was about to develop a neurosis from that sound. Feeling like his heart was pounding from the stress, Achim was staring at the reddish lips with a trembling heart when the man soon beamed and asked,

“Have you eaten?”

Compared to what he had anticipated, it was an entirely dull remark. However, because even that was suspicious, Achim stared at him as if trying to gauge him before throwing a question back.

“Have you not received a report, sir?”

He maintained a somewhat blank face. Since Wolfgang wasn’t here and it was just the two of them, and since they already knew each other’s bare faces anyway, Achim decided to lay down Yvonne’s smiling face for a moment.

He must have clearly received a report beforehand on whether he had eaten or not. Failing to understand the malice behind bothering to ask anyway, Achim returned the words, causing Michael to narrow the corners of his eyes even more than before.

“Even if one knows, asking is common courtesy, isn’t it?”

“What does tha—”

It was just when Achim was about to shot back asking what that was supposed to mean at the incomprehensible statement. Michael raised his hand to sleek back his glossy golden hair lengthily and lightly pushed himself up from the desk.

At the eye level that soared in an instant, Achim unconsciously faltered on his heels.

Michael gazed at him with amused eyes, then whispered in a voice so sweet it felt as though he were cradling candy in his mouth.

“Between people who are dating, that is.”

“…”

Only then did Achim realize two facts he had been overlooking.

That he hadn’t expected the rumor to reach all the way to Michael’s ears, and that a piece of bullshit always followed that goddamn groan.

Furthermore, to display his unpleasantness in that kind of manner… It was an expression completely characteristic of the fellow.

Achim knitted his brows out of habit and let out a sigh.

“Ha… please don’t misunderstand, sir.”

“…”

“It wasn’t me. The person who spread the rumor.”

He was a fellow whose mind was a mystery to begin with. Since he might try to frame an innocent person over a useless misunderstanding, it was better to beat him to the punch.

What if he chokes me, claiming he doesn’t believe it? If he did that by any chance, he would subdue the fellow first, then jump out the window, and as for reaching the front gate…

It was right after he had swiftly drawn out an escape route in his head. Suddenly feeling that the surroundings were quiet, Achim looked ahead again.

Far from choking him, lips that curved into an arc entered his vision, prompting Achim to raise his eyes a little further.

“You don’t seem to welcome the rumor.”

At that, Achim pondered for a moment before asking,

“…Should I welcome it, sir?”

At the innocent question, Michael pulled up the corners of his lips even further than before. It was a smile that would make anyone think he was truly beautiful if they looked at him without knowing his true nature.

“Everyone is dying to spread their legs for me.”

“…”

“Do you lack career ambition?”

However, at the words that followed immediately after, Achim looked at the man before his eyes and thought that he was truly like a piece of pretty trash.