Lovers

41

Excuse me, I’m not finished speaking yet

After spending the night with Sebastian, we continued to be together.

Sebastian, despite being unemployed, met with his secretary David Nakaban every day. At first, I wondered why they needed to meet, but upon closer inspection, they had business to discuss almost daily. Nakaban sought Sebastian’s opinion on his assets and business matters and implemented his decisions, while Sebastian had to keep updating his understanding of the situation by listening to Nakaban’s reports. As a result, the two had breakfast together, and I felt somewhat like an intruder at those times. However, I didn’t mind because while they were enthusiastically working and eating, I leisurely enjoyed my meal while reading webtoons.

Sebastian was a shut-in, but he was a shut-in who lived quite diligently in his own way. He exercised, did business, and engaged in romance, including sex, with me.

I was living a semi-forced shut-in life, but I was also living healthily. I exercised, engaged in romance including sex, and also worked.

“Is the computer working well for you?”

Birde Efroy, the assistant Sebastian assigned to me, was a person who could do anything. When I mentioned I needed a computer, she ordered all the parts separately and assembled them in my room. It was more comfortable than any computer I had ever used in my life. Not only the computer setup but also the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and even the chair were comfortable. I asked what would be needed to set up such a computer. I wanted to replicate everything exactly the same – the computer, desk, chair, and everything else – if I ever managed to return home successfully. Efroy wrote down all the components and added a comment.

“It’s a bit expensive, but it’s good.”

“How expensive is it?”

“About… 1.4 million Leed, I guess?”

1.4 million Leed? That’s $15,000? Wow, that’s as expensive as finding out about Josef Kuno. I thought I couldn’t afford it… but I carefully tucked the note into my pocket anyway.

Then I looked at the monitor screen.

Josef Kuno

Based on the information provided by the informant, I could summarize everything about Josef Kuno. Josef Kuno is the only child of August Kuno and a man with a violent personality. The man who will turn 30 this year spent his 20s stained with violence. He’s homosexual and has had quite a few male lovers, but cases where they parted on good terms were rare. Most suffered severe abuse during the relationship and violence when breaking up. Among his ex-lovers, there were those who were murdered, committed suicide, and suffered irreversible disabilities. He currently has a lover who appears to be suffering abuse and confinement.

Such trash is generally useless. Josef Kuno was no exception. He used his father August’s credit card like water. He had no assets of his own. Well, one couldn’t give assets to such a son. No matter how much he had, he would squander it in an instant.

Who sent the photo of Josef Kuno? It might be a trap. But the information received from the informant wasn’t false, at least. Sebastian bought information about Josef Kuno from another informant, and it mostly matched. There were slight differences in the details of information secured by each informant, but there were no signs of deception.

Now, it was time to sit at the negotiation table.

I didn’t tell the people in Department 2 about Sebastian’s situation. Could there really be no spies among the Department 2 people? As long as I couldn’t be certain about this, I had to be cautious. Hadn’t I once acted naively, resulting in my team being disbanded and my team members being killed? Some might still be alive, but in this situation where I didn’t know how many were alive, I needed to tread carefully, step by step. Above all, Sebastian had told me this in confidence, so to repay that trust, I had no choice but to accelerate my stupid brain as much as possible.

“One of Josef Kuno’s ‘victims’ is acquainted with Sebastian Riegel?”

“Yes, that’s why Seba- I mean, Riegel seems to have approached Canaris. He suspects that Josef Kuno is the killer who murdered the victim.”

It was easy to pretend that one of the victims was acquainted with Riegel. Fortunately for us, one of the men who had been Josef Kuno’s lover and died suspiciously was an employee of Riegel Bank.

“A Riegel Bank employee, huh.”

Nina Volkari clicked her tongue.

“He was an employee at the main branch, so it seems they met and made an impression on each other. That’s how they became acquainted.”

I had fabricated this story in great detail. Sebastian spilled coffee on the employee’s pants, so he bought him new clothes, and then the two of them became friends… However, as soon as Sebastian heard my story, he was disgusted. He criticized me, saying it was a cheap story that no one would believe, and told me to just end it with ‘They seem to have met at the main branch.’ When I complained that it seemed too lackluster, he scoffed, saying that the truth is often unremarkable.

“An impression, how?”

Volkari asked a very reasonable question. And Sebastian had already given me the answer to this question.

“He didn’t want to tell me. He said it wasn’t important and seemed reluctant. It felt like it was something personal that he was hesitant to share.”

At my words, Viviana Dogen stood up abruptly.

“It’s an ex-boyfriend.”

Her accusatory finger-pointing was unusual. I didn’t understand why she was saying such things while pointing at me. However, Alfred Baral seemed to understand. He also stood up with his large frame.

“No way! Really?”

Then Nina Volkari’s eyes widened. I’ve been working with her for almost two months now, but this is the first time I’ve seen her this surprised. She muttered, “It can’t be,” and then denied it with, “No.” Then she rolled her eyes once to the left, once to the right, and suddenly slammed the table.

“How could this be!”

Suddenly? She’s shouting like this?

I looked at her in bewilderment, but she seemed completely lost in her own thoughts. Her thoughts must have been deeper than any ocean floor, no contest. Still, thinking I should try to draw them out, I was about to speak when suddenly she let out a long sigh and muttered to herself, “I suppose it could be.”

At that point, I shifted my gaze from Nina Volkari to her subordinates.

Shouldn’t you do something about your superior?

When I gave them such a look, Baral simply turned his head away, avoiding eye contact, and Viviana shook her head slightly. As if to say, there’s nothing we can do.

But suddenly, Nina Volkari covered her face with both hands and groaned, “Ah… that’s right, you might run into an ex in life. I really hate it…” Then she suddenly raised her head and said to me.

“It can’t be helped, right?”

The five stages of grief passed like a storm.

What’s going on? Volkari was talking to me, but somehow I felt like she was telling me something she wanted to say to someone else, not me. When I blinked silently, Volkari nodded.

“You might run into an ex, and you might get involved in their business. Right, it can’t be helped.”

“This is still about my story, right?”

No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t about my story anymore.

Regardless of whether my face was contorting or not, Baral shook his head.

“An ex-boyfriend, huh. Wait a minute. So this ex-boyfriend dumped Sebastian Riegel and went to someone like Josef Kuno?”

Hold on, I’ll accept the ex-boyfriend part. But why is Sebastian the one getting dumped? I spoke as calmly and carefully as possible.

“Couldn’t he have been the one who did the dumping?”

“Someone like that long-haired pervert would be the one getting dumped,” Baral scoffed.

I understand why he’s saying that, but still, that long-haired pervert is actually quite dependable and kind! However, if I said that, it was obvious I’d be grilled about having real romantic feelings for the target, so I kept my mouth shut.

The person who spoke instead of me was Viviana Dogen.

“What are you saying, Team Leader? Even if they’re both psychos, one is a chaebol heir with mountains of businesses and land, and the other is a loser who doesn’t even have a credit card in his name.”

Viviana argued that there was no way someone would leave Riegel for Kuno, and that Riegel must have been the one who was dumped. But she fell silent at Baral’s next words.

“You’re right. But how about thinking of it this way? The ex-boyfriend is Riegel, and the last boyfriend is Josef Kuno. How twisted must his taste be?”

This fucking…

They say a bear can tear a person apart, but I’ve caught a bear before! With my bare hands! Fuck, I’ll tear the bear apart! No, our lover, no, lover doesn’t sound right, that, no, no, I mean, what’s wrong with our guy!

– I can’t shout like this, and it makes me feel miserable.

As I was suppressing the irritation that was about to erupt like an active volcano, suddenly there was a bang- no, more precisely, a crashing sound mixed with a bursting noise. Nina Volkari was standing up, having half-destroyed someone else’s table.

“Love.”

Huh? Even I, who was indignant about what was wrong with our guy, Viviana who was arguing that the ex-boyfriend left Riegel for Kuno, and Baral who scoffed that Riegel was the one who got dumped, all stared blankly at Volkari.

“How can it change?”

Nina Volkari’s eyes were blazing. Without realizing it, I leaned towards Viviana and whispered a question.

“Your section chief, is something going on?”

I asked Viviana, but it seems Volkari heard it. Volkari opened her eyes wide and said through gritted teeth, “Nothing’s going on.” To my ears, it sounded more like ‘Nuffing’s goin’ on.’

“Section Chief, let’s step outside for a moment.”

In the end, Baral took Volkari out of the store. I looked at the table that Volkari had half-destroyed and pondered. Should I throw it away or tape it? But then Viviana, after confirming that Volkari and Baral had slipped out through the back door, said:

“The Section Chief has a lover. But while the Section Chief considers this person her first love, apparently it’s not the same for them. Maybe that’s why she has a bit of a jealousy issue.”

“Jealousy issue?”

Isn’t that too horrific? To have the Section Chief of Security Department 2 as a lover, and on top of that, she has jealousy issues?

“Yes, she gets like this when something bad happens with her lover.”

She must love them too much.

I was dumbfounded by Viviana’s additional comment. Hey, shouldn’t we not call that love? No, putting that aside, I wasn’t finished talking, where did everyone go?