In the Name of God - vanish into fiction

Lee Sunho, having received the meaningful question, was neither flustered nor puzzled.

He merely stared at Nam Ho-jin in silence, showing no emotion at all.

Nam Ho-jin, meeting Lee Sunho’s gaze, felt his entire nervous system gradually stand on end.

He was the one trying to analyze and dig into the other, yet he felt as if he were the one being dissected alive down to every single cell. And that was from just a single exchange of glances.

In terms of age, rank, and experience as an Awakener, Nam Ho-jin should have held the upper hand.

Nevertheless, Lee Sunho, who was said to have only recently become an Awakener, was swallowing Nam Ho-jin’s entire spirit like a silent darkness that consumes everything.

Just as cold sweat began to bead on Nam Ho-jin’s forehead.

“…Well now.”

Lee Sunho turned his gaze away with a smile. With just that small movement, the bizarre pressure surrounding Nam Ho-jin vanished instantly.

“He’s quite insensitive to his own pain. No matter how much he’s hurt or aching, he tries to pretend he’s fine.”

Lee Sunho’s eyes gradually took on a different light. That look, as if reminiscing about something distant, stood in stark contrast to his gaze from a moment ago that seemed to have the abyss embedded within it.

“Even if the moment of death approaches, he’s the type of person who would calmly close his eyes… rather than screaming that it hurts or that he wants to live.”

It was a statement that sounded as if he had personally witnessed such a scene.

Faint resentment and a massive, undeniable affection could be glimpsed. Given the flow of the conversation, Nam Ho-jin could not help but look at Lee Sunho strangely, as it was impossible not to know that the object of those emotions was Seong Do-yoon.

Lee Sunho did not mention Seong Do-yoon any further.

Taking the eye-patch-type cooling pack from the medical team member who arrived just in time, Lee Sunho gave a bright smile. It was a smile that felt distinctly mechanical, the kind he only displayed when with people other than Seong Do-yoon.

“Thank you for your concern.”

Leaving those words behind, Lee Sunho moved his feet and headed straight for the office where Seong Do-yoon was, without looking back.

Once Lee Sunho left the spot.

“Haa…”

A long breath escaped Nam Ho-jin’s lips of its own accord.

He unconsciously stroked his neck. There were no wounds on his neck where a bit of cold sweat had broken out, but it was stiff with tension as if a sharp blade had been aimed at it the entire time.

‘As I thought… he’s suspicious.’

The light in Nam Ho-jin’s eyes as he watched the direction Lee Sunho had disappeared into gradually sank coldly.

A few days ago, an incident occurred where an Awakener whom Nam Ho-jin and several other Special Duty Officers had been watching went missing in the middle of a cruise.

The Grade 4 Pain Control Awakener, Oh Cheol-hwan.

Acting secretly as an organ trafficking broker and an illegal anesthesiologist both domestically and abroad, he was right on the verge of being caught by Nam Ho-jin, who had secured numerous testimonies and pieces of evidence.

However, before Oh Cheol-hwan could be formally arrested, his disappearance occurred, and whether he is alive or dead has not been revealed to this day.

While investigating the disappearance,

it was confirmed that a man not on the cruise passenger list had been briefly captured on the ship’s internal CCTV. He was filmed for only a split second, so not even his face could be recognized other than that he was a tall man, but Nam Ho-jin’s intuition brought someone to mind.

That was Lee Sunho.

Since his physique and height were similar and his vibe was also alike, he immediately tracked Lee Sunho’s alibi, but it was confirmed that he was at his home in Seoul on that day. Records even remained of him clearing a dungeon with his current partner, Seong Do-yoon, so no matter how one thought about it, it was an impossible feat.

Nevertheless, Nam Ho-jin could not erase his suspicion of Lee Sunho. His reason was telling him the man wasn’t the culprit, but this intuition, which had protected him even during the Holy War, was saying something else.

‘I’ll have to hope my gut isn’t what it used to be.’

Withdrawing his gaze with a complicated mind, Nam Ho-jin looked around at the Awakeners swarming into the Convention Center.

For now, settling the situation on the field came first.

Standing in front of the office with the cooling pack in one hand, Lee Sunho opened the door without knocking. The shadow that had been naturally dissolved into the gap of the door was sucked back into him in an instant.

The role of the shadow wedged in the door gap was nothing grand. It was designed so that a signal would go to Lee Sunho, the owner of the shadow, the moment its flow was broken—acting as a sort of alarm system.

Inside the office, there was only Seong Do-yoon, asleep on the bed.

Perhaps because the door felt a bit stiff despite entering with his presence completely killed, a very minute noise occurred. From that alone, Seong Do-yoon, who had been sleeping as if dead, twitched his fingertips.

“…Are you back?”

There was a bit of haziness contained in Seong Do-yoon’s heavy, sleep-laden voice.

Lee Sunho felt pity for Seong Do-yoon, who woke up from just that minute sign of presence. He wished he could sleep more soundly and comfortably, but it seemed his old habits remained intact despite his body having changed.

Seong Do-yoon tried to pull off the cooling pack from his eyes with a natural movement, as if he had never been asleep.

“I’ll do it for you.”

Approaching the bed in a single bound, Lee Sunho caught Seong Do-yoon’s hands and pulled them down. The thin forearms and slender fingers wrapped tightly in bandages were heart-wrenchingly pitiful.

Lee Sunho sat on the edge of the bed and removed the cooling pack that had become lukewarm due to the heat from the eyes. Because his touch as he put on the newly received eye patch was excessively careful, Seong Do-yoon, who was quietly submitting his head, let out a smirk.