In the Name of God - vanish into fiction

I replied noncommittally and pushed Lee Sunho’s back. He was a guy who wouldn’t budge even if I pushed with all my might, but he allowed himself to be moved obediently despite his reluctant expression.

While I watched the taxi carrying Lee Sunho depart.

Seong Do-wan spoke to me as if he had been waiting for the moment.

“I never imagined you would join Black Tail.”

“I suppose you’re surprised because it’s a place you can’t easily touch?”

I answered indifferently and shot him a sidelong glance.

“Were you planning to break another clan if it turned out to be nothing special?”

“…It’s not like that.”

As if.

People don’t change easily.

The only thing Seong Do-wan regretted was treating Seong Do-yoon harshly and neglecting him to the point that he faced a life-threatening crisis.

In that process, the acts of planting spies in the name of protecting his brother, shaking various corporations and organizations to the point of collapse, or tearing the culprits to pieces probably didn’t spark a shred of guilt in him. From Seong Do-wan’s perspective, he absolutely had to do those things to protect his younger brother.

Would a man like that just leave me alone to work in another clan? Especially a guy who, unlike in the past when he tried to keep his brother at a distance, has now made up his mind to keep me as close as possible to guard me.

‘He’ll pull strings to ensure every contract I sign gets terminated one after another. Then, once I’m exhausted, he’ll finally try to pick me up.’

However, even for someone like Seong Do-wan, it wasn’t easy to mess with a clan of considerable size. I knew that too, which is why I ignored the flood of love calls and took Black Tail’s hand. Collecting information is important, but first, I needed to avoid interference from Seong Do-wan’s overprotectiveness.

I felt once again that signing with Black Tail was a very good move.

Seong Do-wan, who had been standing silently with his mouth shut, finally hailed a taxi.

Come to think of it, this guy definitely has a car, yet he either intentionally didn’t bring it or is pretending not to have one. I couldn’t help but think he was going to great lengths just to separate me and Lee Sunho for even a short while.

Seong Do-wan opened the rear door for me as if it were the natural thing to do. It felt like being treated like a child, so I gave him a glare before climbing in; Seong Do-wan then folded his massive frame and climbed in next to me.

“What’s this? Why are you sitting in the back?”

Why are two grown men sitting side-by-side in the backseat when the comfortable passenger seat is empty?

Seong Do-wan didn’t even answer me and gave the destination to the taxi driver. I could feel the driver glancing repeatedly at the rearview mirror, perhaps recognizing the famous Seong Do-wan.

As the taxi started moving, Seong Do-wan grabbed my left leg and placed it on his rock-hard thigh. Before I could push him away and ask what he was doing, he rolled up my pant leg slightly to check my ankle. The bandaged ankle was revealed.

“I knew your gait felt subtly different.”

I was a bit startled by Seong Do-wan’s words.

The ankle injury I sustained while falling into the Disaster Zone dungeon was almost completely healed now. Only a slight tingling remained; there was no pain, and I felt no major discomfort while walking.

Still, it was unavoidable to unconsciously put a bit more weight on the healthy leg to avoid using the injured one. It was at a level that was almost unnoticeable, so no one except Lee Sunho knew, but I didn’t expect Seong Do-wan to catch it immediately.

‘His observational skills are no joke.’

I wasn’t sure if he just had naturally sharp eyes or if he simply couldn’t help but notice because the subject was “Seong Do-yoon.”

“When did you get hurt? Does it hurt a lot?”

Seong Do-wan looked down pitifully, not even daring to grip the bandaged ankle.

It was simply astonishing how a man like this could have treated Seong Do-yoon so coldly in the past.

“It’s almost all healed. It doesn’t hurt.”

“As if it doesn’t hurt….”

It was a sorrowful voice that one would never hear when he was with other people.

“Since you were little, your ligaments would give out if you played even a bit too roughly. Your body is agile, but perhaps because you’re naturally blunt, you’d sprain it the moment you let your guard down.”

Seong Do-wan’s gaze became momentarily distant as he recalled a time from the past.

I delved into Seong Do-yoon’s memories.

Just as Seong Do-wan said, Seong Do-yoon had been remarkably fast and agile compared to his peers since childhood. The reason he could move like that was thanks to a talent for analyzing and utilizing objects the moment they entered his sight.

I believe the fact that Seong Do-yoon obtained “Hawkeye” and became an Awakener ultimately stemmed from that talent.

However, there were times when his head couldn’t keep up with that agile body. Seong Do-wan described it as being “naturally blunt,” but in reality, it was because his physical growth lagged behind his talent.

Consequently, Seong Do-yoon has suffered many injuries since he was young. I began to think that perhaps Seong Do-wan’s overprotectiveness started from that trait of his brother’s.

Seong Do-wan with difficulty averted his gaze from my injured ankle.

“When you’re in a clan, you’re bound to be assigned dangerous missions occasionally, even if you don’t want them. That’s even more true for large-scale clans.”

He stared intently at me. His steady, determined gaze felt quite heavy.

“But if it’s me, I can block all of that on my end. I’ll make sure you never get hurt and that you can stay safe.”

Seong Do-wan, speaking as if he would boldly abuse his authority, grabbed my arm. It seemed he had now figured out how to hold me firmly without causing pain.

“I’ll pay the penalty fees or whatever else is needed, so come to Horizon. …I’m asking you, Do-yoon.”

Seong Do-wan’s expression crumbled little by little, bit by bit.

His cold face, which used to overflow with intimidation, gradually began to resemble the “Hyung” the past Seong Do-yoon knew, and soon he even showed a bitter smile while narrowing his brow.

“About everything until now… Hyung is sorry.”

But you know.

The person who needs to hear that apology isn’t here anymore.