Lovers

30

I’ll Take Responsibility

Shit. This isn’t good. I managed to dodge, but I still got cut. And I don’t have any weapons right now because I’m on a date with Riegel. He has four bodyguards from SARD, and I could be subject to a body search, so I couldn’t carry any weapons.

Having to face a guy with a knife barehanded? With a cut on my side? Not good.

I’m losing too much blood. I need to end this quickly, but he’s backing away from me. His smirking face is despicable yet composed. He knows the longer this drags on, the more advantageous it is for him. Outside the door, screams and shouts are swirling.

I quickly turned and ran for the bathroom door. Once out of the bathroom, it’s a hallway with security guards. I almost reached the door, but he was fast. His knife drew a large arc in front of me. I jumped back, moving away from the doorknob again. He and I ended up on opposite sides of the door, staring at each other.

“I was curious,” the man said. He’s burly but quick. He’s an active mercenary.

“About what?”

“About you.”

“What do you mean?”

We circled each other. The standoff was tense.

“The Asian guy leading the Security Bureau’s hunting dogs.”

“…”

“I heard you shot my brother who was trying to surrender in Maderke.”

My eyes widened.

Maderke. One of the Canaris members there tried to surrender. He was coming out with his hands up, begging to be spared. But we had already received the kill order. Capturing alive wasn’t our mission. Otto didn’t want us to capture Canaris alive.

“Are you that ‘other client’?”

When I asked, the man grinned.

“No, I’m a volunteer employee. The other client is someone else.”

Should I try to open the bathroom door again? No, that’s probably futile. I don’t see anything in the bathroom I could use as a weapon. Perhaps noticing my eyes scanning the surroundings, he leaped forward. At that moment, I ducked in the opposite direction, lying flat on the bathroom tile floor. As the target’s height lowered, his center of gravity momentarily wavered. I didn’t miss that chance. I planted both hands beside my head, used the momentum to raise my waist, and kicked hard at his back. He fell with a thud, dropping the knife. The knife spun as it rolled on the floor. As soon as I turned my head towards it, he shouted, “Don’t you dare!” and recklessly slid full-body towards the knife. That’s when—

I ran in the opposite direction, towards the door.

I grabbed the doorknob. He grabbed the knife as he slid, and I grabbed the doorknob. When he turned his head to check my position while holding the knife, I also checked on him as I opened the door. As soon as I saw his eyes widen, I immediately jumped out.

It feels like my side is on fire. I ran while pressing my hand against my side.

But the hallway isn’t safe either. Just making it to the hallway made my legs, ready to collapse from relief, barely move.

I can’t collapse here. I need to get to the second floor. But can I trust Riegel? What will happen if I tell him I’ve been stabbed? Wait, where should I go? Should I call and bring out Department 2? But who is this “other client”?

‘I heard you shot my brother who was trying to surrender in Maderke.’

Who else knows that information?

I barely managed to hide among the crowd in the hallway. I was out of breath. Something felt off. That statement is clearly strange, but why? Because, because…

It’s true that there was someone who tried to surrender in Maderke. However, he didn’t originally intend to surrender; he came out with his hands up after we started sniping his comrades around him. So it was more of a surrender than an attempt to turn himself in. And the person who gave the final kill order in that situation was Otto Layer.

The reason this is strange is because, apart from our team members, the only person who knows that a Canaris member surrendered in Maderke and was shot is…

Otto Layer.

My head is spinning.

Layer could leak my information to Canaris. If I’m trying to kill him, Layer would need to defend himself. But information like that… it’s almost like he’s colluding, isn’t it? Layer, colluding?

With Canaris?

The Department 1 Chief, with Canaris? Is such a thing possible?

“Aaaaaah—”

People screamed. The fight in the ring had finally reached its conclusion. Someone lost, and someone won. From far away, I heard someone shout, “Move it!” I turned my head to see the guy who had been swinging the knife at me earlier. He had spotted me in the crowd and was chasing after me.

I need to run. I know, but my body won’t move. I need to run, but run… where? If Layer is a spy, who should I trust?

Who should I tru—

“Oh my.”

Someone in front of me didn’t move aside, and I bumped into him. As I tried to pass by, he grabbed me. It was a gentle touch. The moment I felt that touch, I realized who he was.

I looked up to see Riegel standing there. He had a strange look on his face. His pale face, as if drained of blood, looked at me oddly before glancing behind me. The guy chasing me was probably there.

A faint expression appeared on Riegel’s face. A smile, or something close to it. But it was too eerie to be called a smile.

“I have business with that man,” the information broker’s guard said from behind me. As if saying I should hand over his package.

“Is that so? I think I’m first in line.”

“My business is more urgent, so after that—”

“No, my business is more urgent. I just developed some business with you.”

With Riegel’s words came screams. The man’s screams and the screams of those around him were heard together, but they were gradually fading away. Strength was leaving my body. Riegel supported me.

Nakaban!

The sound of Riegel calling his secretary was the last thing I heard before darkness came.

*

Blink.

I tried to open my eyes, but for some reason, they wouldn’t open easily.

Blink.

Why are my eyes so hard to open?

“Don’t open your eyes yet. I don’t want to see your face.”

Only then did I realize. Riegel was forcibly keeping my eyes closed with his hand.

“Why, face—”

I tried to ask why he didn’t want to see my face, but a cough burst out. My throat felt choked.

“You’re really something else.”

Riegel sounded annoyed. But he removed his hand from my eyes, so I could finally open them.

It’s a truly mysterious experience to be able to know where you are even though it’s a place you’ve never seen before. This is clearly Riegel’s residence. There’s no other place like this in Rotman.

Wow, it’s a bed but not a bed. It’s fascinating to be lying on what seems to be a thick sheet rather than a mattress. Why are you using something like a sleeping bag instead of a mattress at home? Of course, it’s too luxurious and beautiful to be called a sleeping bag.

Meanwhile, a cup was thrust in front of me. It was a porcelain cup. The cup with its elegant curves had bamboo painted on it. Even as I thought how ridiculous this was, I took it and drank the water, which made my throat sting. I must have been thirsty from not speaking for a long time.

“This place—”

It seems pointless to ask where this is when I know too well.

“How did I end up here?”

“You, who said you were going to the bathroom during our date, were caught two-timing with another man—”

What?

Two-timing with another man? How many deceptions are packed into that short sentence?! Whether I widened my eyes or not, Riegel, seated in a plush-looking chair in front of my sickbed, continued speaking.

“You got hurt while offering your body in the bathroom, so you went into surgery, and the guy had a chat with me. A week has passed since then, and you’re naturally detained, while he’s still chatting with me.”

“You know, you have a habit of talking in a really shitty way, don’t you?”

As I frowned, Riegel crossed his legs. Maybe because his legs are long, it seemed to take twice as long as it would take me. Or perhaps he deliberately crossed them slowly.

“And you have a talent for royally screwing up situations.”

“What?”

“You were quite famous, Armin Schnieke. Why? You think you can use information brokers but I can’t?”

It seems he didn’t just have a chat with the guard guy. Judging by how freely the guard spilled information.

“Armin Schnieke, 28 years old, affiliated with Department 1, Team 9 of the Security Bureau, rank Team Leader, 179cm, 78kg, lifelong single, no sexual experience.”

“Why are being single and having no sexual experience important?!”

This guy really has a knack for pissing people off. I yelled angrily, but Riegel remained cold.

“What information could be more important for dating? You think I care whether you’re from the Security Bureau, the police, or if you’re a beggar?”

“What do you mean, dating—”

“Ah, so the Security Bureau deliberately sent an agent to approach me?”

A cold wind was whirling in Riegel’s black eyes. Think carefully before you speak. His eyes were warning me. I quickly shut my mouth. If it becomes known that the Security Bureau sent an agent to approach the eldest son of the Riegel Group, it would be a massive disaster. That scandal would probably be big enough to force even the current director, Andrea Dill, to submit her resignation. I can’t handle that.

“…I didn’t approach you, you approached me.”

At my timid rebellion, Riegel’s eyes seemed to grow colder for a moment, then suddenly softened. Why? What made them soften?

Riegel clicked his tongue and lightly acknowledged, “That’s right.”

“With no sexual experience and no dating experience, why did you suddenly meet another man in the bathroom and offer your body?”

I was about to ask why he talks in such a trashy way, but then I realized. Riegel is saying that if I don’t want to hear this dog shit, I should speak honestly. Ah, he’s really twisted. I licked my lips furiously with my tongue. The room wasn’t particularly dry, but my lips were a bit chapped, so it hurt a little every time I spoke.

I rubbed my face and looked out the window. The bed was positioned inside, and beyond Riegel was a tall, large window. Through that window, I could see heavy snow falling.

“I have no idea how I ended up here either.”

I’m trying to figure things out, but I haven’t learned a damn thing, and the things I don’t understand just keep piling up. At my words, Riegel closed his mouth. He held out his hand. Not having anything to give to that hand that seemed to be asking for something, I placed my hand on it, and he smiled with his eyes.

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

Riegel said, as if reluctantly. But his face was smiling as if he had been waiting for this.

“Since I’m the one who brought you there, I’ll have to take responsibility.”