MNP Ch11

As the sound of the door closing was heard, Seokha took deep breaths in and out repeatedly. His stomach was unpleasantly full. He couldn’t even guess when his stomach would settle. He had been lying there for who knows how long when he heard the bathroom door open and lifted his body. Steam came out along with Eden, who was shaking his head, suggesting the water had been warm.

Seeing him like that, his physique suddenly felt real. Eden, who had to duck to come out due to the low bathroom doorframe compared to his height, was even shirtless. As a fellow man, it was a body that inevitably drew the eye. Even trying to look away, Seokha’s gaze kept returning to Eden’s body unconsciously. His large skeletal structure made his thick upper body look even more massive. Seokha, who was startled looking at the tightly packed muscles, glanced down at his own arm he was resting on. He’d never been called thin anywhere, but compared to that… Seokha stopped thinking further. It was just depressing.

Eden walked over to the table. Even with small movements, his muscles seemed to writhe as if alive. Seokha stole glances at the perfect body. How much exercise would it take for him to become even remotely similar to that?

“Why do you keep looking?”

“…What?”

“You’ve been staring at me. Like a pervert.”

“Me? A pervert? No way.”

“You’re more lecherous than you look.”

“What are you talking about…”

Seokha shook his head and abruptly stood up, heading to the bathroom. Had he been looking so obviously that it was noticeable? He didn’t realize it was that apparent. Feeling awkward, he snatched up the clothes bag placed in front of the bathroom and went in. His previously bloated stomach had somehow settled down.

Washing with warm water after so long felt like it was relieving fatigue from his whole body. After standing under the falling water for a while, Seokha grabbed a towel folded in the cabinet when his face felt hot enough. He tried to dry off and put on new clothes, but the steam made it difficult to get dressed. Seokha, who had barely managed to put on underwear, had to open the door, rendering the effort of bringing in the bag meaningless.

As he opened the door wide, cold air rushed in. Goosebumps rose as he stepped out and immediately rummaged through the bag for clothes. As he pulled on his pants and looked up, his eyes met Eden’s, who was sitting leaning against the bed. Just like last time, it seemed to be a habit of his to stare openly. It was hard to tell who the real pervert was.

Seokha, who finished putting on his top, looked down at himself. His appearance had become similar enough that he could no longer deny being in the same group as Eden. After folding and placing his worn clothes on the table, Seokha looked out the window. Night was falling again.

“Lie down quickly. You must be tired.”

“Yeah. I’m exhausted.”

Seokha turned off the lights and sat down on the floor, grabbing one of the pillows from the bed. The weather wasn’t cold, so it seemed he could sleep well enough without a blanket.

“Why are you lying there?”

“To sleep.”

“Come up here.”

Eden patted the space next to him. He even lifted the blanket.

“I’m fine.”

“The bed is wide.”

“Use it yourself.”

Why lie down together so awkwardly? Seokha lay down on the floor with his back to the ground. It wasn’t without a bit of coldness, but it was bearable. Seokha crossed his arms and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep. The chill was slowly creeping up, but it was still tolerable. Eden, who had been quiet for a moment, sat up. There was a creaking sound of wood friction, and then a cool breeze came in.

“Why are you opening the window?”

“Isn’t it a bit hot?”

As the window happened to be at the head of the bed, the wind struck directly at Seokha’s crown. No matter how tightly he crossed his arms, his body temperature was cooling down.

“It’s not hot. Let’s close it.”

“I’m hot. If you’re cold, come up here.”

As if I would. Seokha turned over with his back to the bed. He stubbornly insisted that he couldn’t possibly be unable to endure this level of cold, having come from the desert. He curled up his body and tried to minimize exposure to the wind, but as time passed, his body began to shiver.

“You’re cold, right?”

“No. Not at all.”

“It’s warm up here. Even hot…”

“Let’s just sleep?”

“I can’t sleep because I’m worried.”

“Hah…”

It didn’t take long for Seokha, who had kept his mouth shut for a while, to crawl up onto the bed. Eden, who had been teasing, quietly shared the blanket soon after. Seokha, pressed tightly to the edge of the bed, wrapped himself in the blanket as if snatching it away. Eden quietly closed the window.

Seokha, who had been in a deep sleep, opened his eyes hazily to a hand shaking his body.

“…What is it.”

A heavily sleep-laden voice came out. As he pulled his arm free from Eden’s grasp and looked towards the window, it was still dawn with darkness not yet faded. Just as he was about to complain about being woken so early, Eden put his index finger to his own lips. Shh. Seokha closed his mouth that he had been about to open. Eden raised his body that was straddling Seokha. Suddenly looking out the window, Seokha put his hot hand to his forehead. Several bikes were messily parked in front of the lodging.

“How can they not even let a day pass?”

“I didn’t know they’d be this persistent.”

What do you mean you didn’t know…

Seokha glared once at Eden, who was rolling his eyes, then got up and packed his things. All he had were the clothes he had been wearing. As he put the folded clothes into the empty bag, he tucked the two guns he had kept in his pocket into the pants he was wearing. When he put his ear to the door, he could hear the sound of footsteps and shoes hitting the stairs. They seemed about to arrive soon.

“What should we do? We can’t jump out.”

It wasn’t impossible to jump from the third floor, but Seokha’s ordinary legs would be ruined.

“Come here.”

Eden opened the bathroom door and went in. As it was a time when everyone should be asleep, the sound of footsteps approaching could be heard clearly. Seokha followed into the bathroom, glancing back. Eden pulled on a small rusty iron door in the corner of the bathroom. The rattling door opened with a chilling sound after being pulled two or three times. It seemed too tight for Eden, but Seokha could probably squeeze through.

“Go down the ladder and you’ll reach the basement. Meet me near the truck.”

“No, you know this place well?”

Seokha retorted sarcastically, dumbfounded. He had seemed to know this village well, but it appeared he had been here more than just a few times. It seemed being chased wasn’t a one-time thing either.

“Just who are you? I think I need to know at this point.”

Ah, so being chased was an everyday occurrence for him, Seokha thought, but it was too precarious for his own safety to just let it go. Seokha suppressed his irritation and entered the iron door. The entrance was so small that he had to crumple his whole body to barely fit through. After crawling a bit, there was a ladder leading down into a cylindrical passage that opened up below.

“Are you going alone?”

The voice echoed. At the same time, the sound of the next room’s door opening loudly could be heard. They seemed to have come right up to them.

“No. With this.”

A large lump was pushed towards Seokha’s feet. When he turned his head, it was one of the weapon bags Eden had been carrying. Hah… Seokha sighed deeply, then put his foot on the ladder and pulled the bag. It was quite heavy. When he dragged it to the ladder, it was heavy enough to make him stagger.

“Ah. You can’t go alone.”

With Eden’s last words, the lodging room door was roughly opened. At the same time, the iron door slammed shut and Seokha was plunged into darkness without a single ray of light. So I have to go down to the basement like this… Seokha carefully moved his arms that were trembling from the weight of the bag.

How far have I come down? Seokha glanced down at the bottomless darkness below with frightened eyes. It felt like he had come down quite far, but he couldn’t gauge it at all. It felt like he was carrying two people on his back as he descended. Sweat was breaking out to the point where the previous bone-chilling cold felt like a dream. As he moved his left foot to the rung below, his body swayed.

“Ugh…”

With a terrible feeling of weightlessness, Seokha’s body slid down. The bag fell to the floor first, and Seokha fell on top of it. Seokha, who had properly hit his back on the bag full of weapons, rolled on the ground groaning. Fortunately, it seemed he had fallen when he was almost at the basement. Seokha, who had rolled around for a moment, raised his upper body. He must have gotten a dark bruise. As the pain slowly subsided, Seokha looked around. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, allowing him to vaguely see his surroundings. It was a storage room for food ingredients.

Should I just hide here? Seokha pondered as he picked up the bag, when urgent footsteps were heard again. From how close they sounded, it didn’t seem safe to hide here either. He started looking for a way out while holding the bag. Being a storage room, there should be a back door somewhere. As Seokha felt along the wall, his hand grasped a metal handle. He shook it vigorously back and forth, but it didn’t open as easily as when Eden had opened it.

Bending down to look closely, there was a large padlock. Judging by the faint light coming in, it seemed the door would open if only the padlock was removed. Listening for a moment, voices began to be heard. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, but the tone was heated. As the sound came closer, Seokha finally took out the gun from his pocket. It was Eden’s gun that he had swiped.

With the tension of feeling like he would be caught at any moment, Seokha aimed the gun at the padlock. The sound of the gunshot reverberated through the basement. At the same time, the footsteps of those who heard the sound changed to running. As the padlock flew off, Seokha kicked open the door and ran out.

He couldn’t go very fast because of the heavy bag. Looking around, it seemed he had come out behind the building. Remembering that the truck wasn’t parked far from here, Seokha headed towards it as fast as he could.

“Catch that bastard!”

“Oh no…”

The voice came from right behind him. What a predicament. Seokha ran towards the familiar truck that came into view as he turned the corner. But he soon had to curse. The key was in Eden’s hands.

Seokha ran past the truck and sprinted down the alleyways that were empty due to it being dawn. The weapons in the bag made clanking noises, weighing down Seokha’s feet. The small fortune was that he had gained some distance from his pursuers. After running through alley after alley until even Seokha didn’t know where he was anymore, he realized there was no sound of anyone following. It seemed he had entered an area with many residential homes.

Seokha trudged through an area with laundry lines messily strung between buildings, catching his breath that had risen to the top of his throat. Thinking he should hide a bit more and assess the situation, Seokha entered the garage of a house. He put down the bag in a corner where tools were scattered on the floor, hid his body, and caught his breath for a moment.

It seemed he had fallen asleep while catching his breath. When he opened his eyes, sunlight was slowly entering the garage. As he carefully came out of the garage, children’s laughter could be heard as they rushed past Seokha. It was a peaceful scene unlike the thrilling dawn. Seokha moved his feet while gathering up the heavy bag. He walked back the way he had come. As he turned a corner in his hazy state, Seokha suddenly stopped in his tracks at a thought that occurred to him.

Why should I go back?

Whether Eden had succeeded in escaping or not, the truth was it would be better for Seokha if he was caught. The weight of the bag that had tormented him all dawn suddenly felt welcome to Seokha. How much was all this worth? Even without knowing exactly, he could tell it was expensive. If he sold it off properly, he could buy four more trucks. There was no reason to continue as a fugitive, as a driver, in an open-ended journey with Eden. Seokha turned around and went back the way he came, preciously hugging the bag. He was glad he came with it.