"Nooo!!! Why can't I go!? That f****** idiot gonna get in trouble again for sure!"

*sobs* "Chief... I'm sorry...*sobs*..."

"I will do my homework properly! please, beautiful Miss Yoo Sang-Ah, please let me go with them!"

Even though they were a whole door apart, Cinnabar could still hear the children's wail clearly, before they were all driven away to their class. She scratched her neck, couldn't help but feel pitiful for the kids:

"Chief truly is liked by children, isn't he?"

Garofano pressed one hand on her cheek, smiling gently:

"Indeed, I almost wanted to bring them along if it weren't weekdays."

Yoo Sang-Ah looked at the two Sinners and the guard in front of her, confirming their presence, and started the final briefing:

"As you know, our primary objective is to monitor and protect Chief. The destination is District 3 of NeoHive. This is a highly populated area, so you must refrain from any overt displays of our abilities to the civilians. I have arranged a place near Chief's chosen location. You all must operate from the shadows and only intervene if Chief's safety is directly compromised, unless he explicitly requests your presence. Are we clear?"

"Yes!"

With that, the team headed to the elevator and left the underground structure. Overground, the MBCC headquarters looked no different than any normal office building on the fringe of Discity, so they just needed to go by the side entrance like any other non-Sinner-related staff. And since Cinnabar and Garofano were one of the most stable Sinners, the team's overall atmosphere was relaxed, as if they had just gone out to grab their lunchtime snack.

Due to the distance between the two cities, when they reached their destination, it was already 9 P.M. As they entered the cozy hotel and received their rooms, all were exhausted. Harry - the guard, let out a sigh after dropping their final luggage, while Garofano was checking for a dining spot. She showed them a place on the phone:

"How about this one? Their rating is high, and near us too."

"Look good, but are you sure we can afford this place? It looks expensive to me."

Due to the dangerous nature of their job, the MBCC guard's salary was quite high. Although if they want to have the quality of life of the upper class, they still have a long way to go.

"It isn't, look."

She swiped to the menu column that the restaurant had posted. To the other's surprise, its price range was very affordable to them. Thus, their dinner spot was decided.

Unknown to them, three pairs of eyes were sneakily watching them walking over from the second floor.

Lee Gilyoung poked his head up from the window sill, just enough for his eyes to look outside. Even though the windows were one-way glass, they still had to be careful of the MBCC guards' sensitivity.

"Those are the ones from MBCC right? Sooyoung-unnie said one normal guard and two Sinners were dispatched, but I can't really tell which is which from here."

Shin Yoosung pried through the curtain edge while fixing her bowtie:

"Does it matter? We need to establish a good relationship with all of them anyway."

She eyed upstairs, where Kim Dokja was sleeping. Their head chef A.K.A Mentor had decided to camp there under the label of 'protecting', so Han Sooyoung was automatically put in charge. Then, her eyes moved to the black-haired girl sitting on the couch, her twin tail flowed down past her shoulder. A laptop unfolded on the coffee table in front of her, footage from all cameras around and inside the restaurant were clearly displayed. In front of the main door, Han Sooyoung was already on standby.

"...Why are you here?"

"Brother didn't come home last night, he never did that, so I decided to visit him myself."

Yoo Mia wasn't allowed to join in The Garden, per Yoo Joonghuyk's order, so she didn't know the full details about Kim Dokja's disappearance. Although Shin Yoosung thought she must have figured it out to some extent already, as the first thing she did after seeing Yoo Joonghuyk sitting next to Kim Dokja's bed was to close the door, pull her down two floors below, and then whisper:

"Did he finally fuck ugly ahjussi?"

Her voice didn't even show any surprise about a person who suddenly showed up after years. Shin Yoosung could feel the corner of her lips twitched:

"...Please don't ever say that word in front of Mentor, and no, he is just sleeping."

"Hmph!"

Yoo Mia's pissed face was clearly inherited from her older brother. Shin Yoosung then had no choice but to tell her about yesterday's event. So here she was, acting as their backup forces.

Paradeiso would never leave Kim Dokja alone, and Kim Dokja wouldn't leave his Sinners either. Naturally, their only choice was to cooperate and establish a trusting relationship with the MBCC. As long as they didn't explicitly take him away, Langley wouldn't consider them her enemies.

Han Sooyoung was very confident that, aside from Paradeiso, The Garden right now could stand head-on to anything.

As Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung went downstairs, Cinnabar's group also just arrived at the door. Even though it was already a quarter past 9, the restaurant was still pretty crowded. Han Sooyoung opened the door and greeted them with a smile:

"Good evening, how many p—"

"...Miss ***** ?"

Han Sooyoung's smile frozen.

Harry - who just uttered that name, eyes widened in bewilderment:

"Is it really you? I can't believe it. I'm a huge fan!"

The others obviously didn't anticipate this situation, including Han Sooyoung. Garofano asked him:

"You know her?"

"Yes! She was my favorite novel author. I met her once at a convention booth during my college days. Her ************ was a masterpiece!"

Han Sooyoung could hear the sound of her plan rolling down the hill, and a lot of censors.

No doubt, this person was a fan of hers during her early days as a web novel author. She used a lot of pen names before, each for different genres. But out of all aliases, why does it have to be that cursed one?

Her dark era, the one she was renowned for ages ago...

Never in her life before did Han Sooyoung want to bang her head on the floor so bad.

His shout turned the heads of other customers in the restaurant, they whispered to each other curiously. Harry noticed this, and quickly lowered his voice, but still couldn't hide his excitement.

After leading them to the table while being bombarded with questions, Han Sooyoung retreated to the kitchen, never feeling so mentally exhausted. Lee Jihye immediately materialized next to her, wearing a vicious grin:

"I thought I knew all of your pen names, what did you use ***** for? Something dirty, perhaps? ~"

"..." Just shut up.

Aside from the embarrassment, this was a really good chance, as now they have a legitimate reason to contact those MBCC guys. Han Sooyoung sighed, and decided to just go with the flow.

The next to go on the 'stage' were Shin Yoosung and Lee Giyoung. After delivering dishes to other tables, they stopped in a hidden corner not so far from Cinnabar's table, pretending to chat:

"Has the guy upstairs woke up?"

"Not yet, but doctor Lee said he is just tired, so I guess he will be fine."

"Thank goodness, it was the first time I saw someone literally fall asleep right after eating... What did you say his name was again?"

"Kim Dokja, his name was peculiar, so I couldn't forget it..."

Cinnabar flinched slightly. In their earpieces, Yoo Mia updated them:

"They took the bait, be ready."

A neutral yet clear voice rang out from behind Shin Yoosung. She pretended to be startled, then quickly turned around. One of the Sinners from MBCC stood there, a soft smile resided on her handsome face. At first, they thought this was a slightly feminine man, only after hearing her voice that they realized this was a woman - a very handsome one that could even slap Mentor, once.

"Yes? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Watching Cinnabar's face closely with such a smile, even Shin Yoosung couldn't help but slightly blush.

"The one you mentioned earlier, was he came at around 12 P.M today? About this tall, black hair, fair skin, looked pretty thin?"

Shin Yoosung nodded, pretending to ask her:

"Are you his friend?"

"Something like that, we were worried since he didn't call us again. May I take a look at him?"

The worry in her eyes was so genuine that Lee Gilyoung felt that even if they really didn't know anything, they would still immediately assume that this person was a very close friend of Kim Dokja. He replied:

"Sure... I will ask the kitchen to deliver your order later."

"Thank you."

With that, Cinnabar and the others went to the third floor. Yoo Joonghyuk was already being chased out earlier by Han Sooyoung, so there was no one but Kim Dokja in the room. Upon seeing him, the guard immediately checked his condition. From his expressions, it seemed like he couldn't come to any better conclusions than Lee Seolhwa's.

After confirming Kim Dokja was just sleeping, Harry lowered his hands, about to lift him up when Shin Yoosung stopped him:

"You can let him rest here until he wakes up! I think it'll be weird if you just carry him down like this..."

God knows what their Mentor was going to do if he returned to find ahjussi gone again!

Garofano pressed her hand on her cheek, spoke with concern:

"But we can't keep bothering everyone here...."

"It's OK! He is our diner, so this is what we need to do! Besides, we have plenty of spare rooms."

The third floor was usually used as a safe house for Garden's members, so this wasn't a lie. On the other hand, Cinnabar's group seemed to have misunderstood that she meant resting area for staff. After exchanging a few words and glances, they still put Kim Dokja back to bed. Then, Harry pulled out his comm:

"In that case, please allow us to pay for his expenses!"

...In the end, Shin Yoosung couldn't reject him.

Even after the Cinnabar group left the restaurant, she still felt unreal.

That... it?

Wasn't ahjussi their mission target? Did they leave him in strangers' care just simply like that?

"...They didn't worry that someone might harm him?"

"Of course not."

Han Sooyoung stood next to her, chewing lemon candy:

"First, our intel said their mission was just to protect him from afar. Secondly, we weren't supposed to know who he was, let alone take advantage. The cover I created isn't that easy to be exposed to."

Of course, that also meant they would be supervised 24/7, but that was just a piece of cake for The Garden. Yoo Joonghyuk had returned to his previous spot next to Kim Dokja's bed, earning a deadpan eye from Han Sooyoung:

"Are you seriously going to sit there all night?"

"What?"

A vein popped on her temple:

"[What?], What my ass! It's been 7 years, show some progress would you? At least lying with him!"

Sometimes Han Sooyoung just wants to crack this guy's head open to see what he was thinking. He slightly frowned at her lousy voice, but only turned his head to the side indifferently, successfully pissed Han Sooyoung off even more:

"Fine! Keep staying single forever you dumbass!"

And then she left the room.

Yoo Joonghyuk let out a loud 'hmph' as if irritated, but still climbed on the bed after a while. Kim Dokja tended to have a very neat sleep posture when he had bad dreams, so he barely moved an inch. Yoo Joonghuyk set himself in a comfortable half-sitting position next to him, absent-mindedly caressing his face, as if touching a fragile, breakable glass sculpture.

Longing mixed with tenderness swirling like a whirlpool in his eyes - a sight so different from his usual image that could make the jaws of all Garden members drop open.

Sheer curtains covered the glass window, enough to block any prying eye, yet provide a sense of space. Light orange light from the nightstand lamp overlayed on Kim Dokja's features like a layer of amber silk, making him look like a mirage that emerged from Yoo Joonghyuk's deepest dream.

From the outside view, Yoo Joonghyuk just lowered his head inebriated, as if being hypnotized.

This whole time, the desire to kidnap Kim Dokja and hide him in some secret place kept flickering in the back of Yoo Joonghyuk's head. It wasn't that they hadn't tried before: drugged him with anesthetic, locked him away,... yet one way or another - whether it was Kim Dokja's own efforts, or external factors intervening, he always left.

He gently kissed Kim Dokja's eyelashes, nose, bits and bits until reached his dry lips. Too treasured, to the point of almost being an act of worship.

Yet, his thoughts were clearer than ever.

Even though those bastards couldn't reconstruct Kim Dokja's personality and have to erase his memory multiple times, they still use him. For those control freaks to compromise this much, it alone speaks how important he was to them.

The thought pissed Yoo Joonghyuk to no end. The tender kiss suddenly turned violent, he forcefully pried Kim Dokja's mouth apart, sucking, almost gnawing on his dry lower lips. A metallic taste soon washed over his senses. His tongue was instantaneous, rhythmically pulsating as it traced a sinuous path across the inner recesses of Kim Dokja's mouth, hungry to do his own exploration, as if claiming ownership.

There were too many flies after him right now. If he didn't want history to repeat itself, he needed to get rid of all those pests first.

He let out a silent sigh, resting his head on Kim Dokja's forehead. Despite the fervent kiss, Kim Dokja didn't show any sign of waking up, only his puffed and chapped lips were evident. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't say that he wasn't disappointed, his eyes glowed like an awakened predator. He murmured:

"You will not go anywhere this time, Kim Dokja."