Chapter 109

“Hey, what the hell!”

“Watch it!”

It was peak hour, with people pouring into the place in waves. Kwon Mieon shoved through them without hesitation and climbed the stairs, and once they reached the top, Yeonhoo could see a long line stretching well beyond the outer wall.

“...Hey, you!”

The moment they stepped outside, Mo Yeonhoo tried once more to wrench himself free.

This time, though, his resistance was noticeably weaker.

Because of all the murmuring around them.

And all the eyes.

Are they all staring at him?

Yeonhoo was stunned.

People who had been blankly tapping at their phones turned their heads after Kwon like cats tracking a laser pointer. Plenty of °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° them were whispering to their friends about him too.

People actually live like this?

Everyone stared at Kwon, whispered to whoever they were with, then let out little noises of admiration.

Yeonhoo accidentally met the eyes of one of them and flinched.

“Oh, seriously...”

Kwon suddenly covered Yeonhoo’s face with one huge hand.

“You fucking love women.”

Yeonhoo, whose face had abruptly disappeared into Kwon’s palm, was dumbfounded.

He hadn’t even been looking at the women.

“That’s not why I was staring! They were looking at you—!”

He glared through the gaps between Kwon’s fingers, then jerked his head away.

“Let’s go somewhere without people.”

Kwon sighed and started walking again.

They were in the middle of a district packed with clubs, so the streets were overflowing with people.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

“Excuse me, are you drinking more tonight? If you come to our place, we’ve got whiskey...”

“Hey. You still partying? Where are you going?”

Yeonhoo’s jaw dropped.

Holy shit. How many guys are going to grab his arm?

Whether they were promoters or people trying to pick him up, they kept throwing themselves at Kwon like suicidal moths to a flame.

For the first time in a while, Yeonhoo was reminded just how brutally appearance-obsessed the world could be.

“......”

Kwon ignored every single one of them.

He just kept walking until he finally shoved Yeonhoo into a dark alley.

“This should work.”

“Hey, Kwon Mieon. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Only once they were standing in the deserted alley did the two of them finally face each other.

Yeonhoo immediately rounded on him.

“Why do you keep following me? You saw where I was on StarGram and came here, didn’t you? You did the same thing when I was out with Kim Seongjae and Park Taekyun! Why do you keep chasing me around?”

“You weren’t answering.”

Kwon answered as if it were obvious.

“If I don’t know whether you’re dead or alive, of course I’m going to look for you. And then I find out you’re at a club? You have any idea how ridiculous that sounded while I was on my way here?”

He was worried about me?

Now that Yeonhoo looked closely, Kwon’s forehead really was damp with sweat.

He was that worried? He actually came looking for me like this?

Yeonhoo couldn’t make sense of him.

Did friends normally go this far just because someone wasn’t answering?

Granted, the number of missed calls Kwon had left was already far from normal....

Most people would just assume you were busy. Who goes this far...?

Their eyes met.

Kwon was staring so intently at his face that Yeonhoo startled like he’d been burned.

“You know how weird this is, right? If someone doesn’t answer, you’re supposed to assume they’ve got something going on and leave it at that. Going through someone else’s social media and secretly following them is—”

The second the words left his mouth, Yeonhoo realized his mistake.

Kwon stared at him with an odd gleam in his eyes.

“Keep going. Following them is... what?”

His look seemed to say, Aren’t you exactly the same? Didn’t you secretly follow Kang Miyoung all the way into the game?

Yeonhoo, feeling guilty before Kwon had even said it aloud, clenched his hands.

No. There’s no way he knows that much. Sure, I accidentally called him “Ms. Miyoung,” but still...

“You didn’t start Zombie Village because of Kang Miyoung, did you? So doesn’t that make you a stalker too?”

Yeonhoo sucked in a breath.

How does he know?

His heart dropped.

When Yeonhoo froze after being struck dead center, Kwon gave a short laugh.

“Guess I was right.”

As though something he’d only suspected had just been confirmed.

Yeonhoo’s vision swam.

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What part don’t you understand?”

Yeonhoo tried playing dumb.

Kwon only laughed again.

“You started Zombie Village because of Kang Miyoung, then followed Miu around because you thought Miu was Kang Miyoung.”

And then he began reciting Yeonhoo’s entire history.

“You thought Miu—meaning me—was Kang Miyoung, so you drowned me in all those corny letters and presents. Showed up every single day practically wagging your tail. Said you didn’t care if I used you as long as I called you sweetheart....”

Oh, please.

Yeonhoo wanted to beg now.

Beg him to shut the fuck up.

His lips trembled on their own, and he pressed them together hard before forcing himself to answer as calmly as possible.

“G-game? What are you talking about? Who plays games? I don’t know anything about games, so I have absolutely no idea what you’re saying.”

“Huh?”

Kwon stared at him like he couldn’t believe the sheer audacity.

“What are you talking about? I literally saw you playing Zombie Village at home last time—”

“No. That was John Village.”

“...What?”

Kwon’s face twisted into something bizarre.

“John Village.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

Was there a single person alive who would believe this?

Still, Yeonhoo decided to brazen it out to the bitter end.

“Stop talking nonsense. You’re Momo. I saw your nickname that day.”

Of course Kwon immediately shot him down.

“Don’t know what you mean. Got proof?”

“Proof?”

“Yeah. Do you have proof I’m this Momo person?”

“Your StarGram ID alone is—ah, just wait.”

The moment Kwon pulled out his phone, Yeonhoo wanted to tear his own hair out.

That’s the phone I saw back then!!

The exact phone he had mistaken for Miyoung’s.

Kwon immediately made a call.

Then he looked Yeonhoo straight in the eyes.

Yeonhoo understood exactly what he was doing.

He’s calling me.

But Yeonhoo’s phone didn’t react at all.

Kwon frowned.

Of course it didn’t.

I already blocked him....

While Kwon had been dragging him out of the club, Yeonhoo had quickly blocked the myYoung♥ number.

He’d done it just in case.

“Look. This number I’m calling right now is yours.”

“Don’t know. Can’t see it.”

“And the messages? These are the messages you and I have been sending this whole time.”

“Told you, I can’t see.”

Kwon shoved his phone in front of Yeonhoo’s face.

Yeonhoo squeezed both eyes shut, doing everything in his power not to look at the screen hovering inches from his nose.

“Ha....”

Kwon let out an incredulous laugh and reached for him.

“Then give me your phone.”

He tried to snatch Yeonhoo’s phone away.

No.

Absolutely not.

If Kwon got his hands on it—if all those messages were exposed in their full, unfiltered glory—Yeonhoo might actually die.

“N-no.”

Because whatever scraps of dignity and pride he had left would be completely fucking annihilated.

Yeonhoo clutched his phone for dear life while Kwon tried to take it from him.

The struggle barely lasted a moment.

Kwon overpowered him almost instantly and looked down at him.

“What kind of stupid stunt is this? You blocked my number, didn’t you? Seriously, you only ever go out of your way to do the most pointless shit.”

Then Kwon suddenly paused.

Their position was strange.

Yeonhoo had been pushed back against the wall, both wrists pinned, staring up at him.

And Kwon finally seemed to notice.

“I’m telling you, it’s not me.”

Yeonhoo’s eyes were reddening with indignation.

“It’s not me.”

Kwon stared at him.

Then, without realizing it, loosened his grip.

Yeonhoo did not waste the opening.

Crack!

Without warning, he smashed the phone in his hand against the corner of the wall.

And that was only the beginning.

Smack! Crack! Smack!

He attacked the phone with almost deranged determination.

Within seconds, the latest-generation smartphone was mangled beyond recognition.

Kwon stared at the spectacle in stunned silence.

Then his face hardened into something demonic.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

At the murderous voice, Yeonhoo immediately looked ready to cry again and nervously watched Kwon’s expression.

He must have been furious because Yeonhoo had destroyed the evidence.

He’s going to beat the shit out of me now, isn’t he? He must be pissed because he thinks I’m his cousin’s stalker.

Looking at the difference in their builds, one punch might be enough to send Yeonhoo across the River Styx.

One hit? Two? Three?

Maybe it would actually be easier to just get beaten and have it over with.

But Kwon was built like a fucking tank. If he hit Yeonhoo, survival might be questionable.

How am I supposed to get hit so it hurts less—

“Your hand, fuck.”

...Huh?

Kwon grabbed Yeonhoo by the wrist.

“Use your words. Your words.”

He didn’t even spare a glance for the phone that had been reduced to debris.

Instead, he bent down and carefully inspected Yeonhoo’s palm.

His touch was absurdly gentle as he checked whether any glass had gotten embedded in the skin, whether Yeonhoo might have injured a bone when he struck the wall.

All the menace from a moment ago vanished.

Only after confirming that Yeonhoo’s hand was completely unharmed did Kwon finally let go.

“I understand words perfectly well, so don’t do stupid shit like this.”

Yeonhoo stared at him blankly.

He couldn’t take his eyes off Kwon’s face as Kwon carefully lowered his hand as though it were something precious.