Chapter 30: The Toy

With no interference from Seonwoo, Jinho—who showed dynamic expressions and reactions every time—quickly became their most favored toy in recent memory. Despite having the most ordinary appearance imaginable, his facial muscles seemed incredibly flexible—his expressions were countless. He wasn’t stupid—he didn’t do anything irritating or tiresome. The best part was how he constantly grumbled about everything without even realizing it.

The twins felt the monotony of daily life fading and spent their days satisfied. The peaceful days that seemed to flow on were soon shattered by an unexpected figure.

When they returned home, the twins encountered the Monster for the first time in a while. She had the same look in her eyes that the twins had before they met their toy Jinho. It was the look of someone driven mad by stress. The twins tried to leave the house again, but her single word—”don’t make this tiring”—sent them quietly to their rooms.

The twins had to endure all sorts of nagging from the Monster until the next day. Even knowing she was using them to relieve her own stress, they couldn’t argue back because nothing she said was wrong. The stress that had been gradually easing multiplied twofold.

“Hey. Are we really going to keep toeing the line?”

“No. Since when have we ever followed those rules to the end?”

The twins exchanged a sly smile. Their irritation having reached its peak, they felt that their usual pranks—which had stayed within reasonable bounds—wouldn’t satisfy them anymore. They couldn’t be the only ones carrying such humiliating memories. And conveniently, they had the perfect toy to take it out on.

“Let’s use it. That drug we got last time.”

The idea came from Ho. His reasoning was that the most humiliating thing for a man was getting completely aroused in front of others against his will. It was a brilliant idea that came just as Seonwoo’s lukewarm reactions were starting to annoy them too.

If that guy got aroused in front of a man who wasn’t even his type, even that psycho would be in trouble. As men of action, the twins each brought miniature cameras, bugs, and a potent aphrodisiac, and visited Seonwoo’s place for the first time in a while. Jinho was humming a song that sounded like random words with a melody slapped on, diligently cleaning the bathroom.

The old butler shot them a questioning glare asking what mischief they were up to now—but as always, the twins paid no mind and proceeded with their plan. They installed cameras to capture the kitchen and dining table, and stuck bugs under the table. The aphrodisiac bottle labeled “vitamin supplement” was placed in a spot visible as soon as one entered the kitchen. It was such an obvious trick that you’d think no idiot would fall for it—but they trusted their toy, Teddy Bear, wouldn’t disappoint. And sure enough, that trust was rewarded.

What happened that night shocked the twins. Nothing went according to their predictions from start to finish—but that didn’t annoy them. They actually thought it was a fascinating spectacle.

“Looking at it again, he really does have an ordinary face and body.”

Ho muttered while looking at photos of Jinho. Overhearing him, Hu nodded and replied.

“That’s true, but if it were that day’s Teddy Bear, I could go for it too.”

Hu said that because Jinho that day had an oddly seductive quality to him. When Jinho—with his flushed face, teary eyes, and furrowed brows—was entranced and took Seonwoo’s thing into his mouth, both of them had instinctively reached for their own crotches.

In that moment, the twins were insanely jealous of Seonwoo. He was enjoying the situation so much it was hard to believe he’d been cursing just moments ago.

And when Jinho buried his face in Seonwoo’s groin, leaving only the back of his head visible, both twins unleashed a torrent of curses at Seonwoo.

Watching Teddy Bear being carried out in Seonwoo’s arms a long while later, the twins grinned, thinking the world really was overflowing with entertaining things.

“This one gets more fun the more you play with it.”

The twins couldn’t suppress their smiles. Because while investigating Jinho to install bugs and cameras, they’d discovered something surprising. Jinho lived in the same house where Taehyuk had been hiding. Since there was no record of a recent move, the probability that Jinho had sheltered Taehyuk was very high. They’d heard a boy who looked like a high schooler was coming and going, thinking Taehyuk had just hired an errand boy—but that turned out to be Jinho.

The twins laid out the documents they’d received in the past alongside Jinho’s profile. The house was registered under someone else’s name, and the profile listed a different address—probably his official residence. No wonder they hadn’t known. The twins shrugged and exchanged glances.

“He’s even more interesting than we thought.”

“Right.”

For them, this was genuinely the first time in a long while they’d felt this entertained.

Thanks to this, they found themselves in quite a thrilling situation. Since Taehyuk had returned to his place, they’d assumed there’d be no trouble breaking into Jinho’s house—but their expectations were beautifully wrong. A considerable number of security guards were visibly stationed in front of Jinho’s house.

The twins thought this was unlike Taehyuk. Normally, Taehyuk wasn’t the type to go this far for someone who saved his life. He didn’t value life that much himself—even when someone’s life was involved, he’d usually just throw money at it to brush it aside. Even the reward money wasn’t given out of gratitude, but to avoid future annoyance if the person tried to claim credit in some unwanted way. That was the Taehyuk they knew.

So they’d assumed he’d just give Jinho some money and be done with it—but Taehyuk was actually protecting Jinho. The only way to interpret that was that Taehyuk considered Jinho extremely important.

Considering Jinho’s safety, having protection was a good thing. After all, among the information they’d leaked to organizations opposing Taehyuk—to drive up the bounty—was the detail that he was staying with “a boy who looked like a high school student.” With the gender specified, if they even found the hiding house, Jinho would become very dangerous. He’d become a resentful figure who’d ruined their plans by saving and sheltering Taehyuk.

But did he really need this many guards? That was another matter. The opposing organization Taehyuk was systematically dismantling currently had no resources to spare for Jinho. They were busy dealing with simultaneous incidents across multiple districts, and worrying about the people being killed, kidnapped, and going missing in succession—when would they have time to touch him? In short, Taehyuk’s defensive posture was overkill from Taehyuk’s perspective and overkill from the overall situation’s perspective.

“Oof—, here we go!”

Still, the twins managed to find a gap and scale the wall. Then they opened the window. Their information that it was always left open was correct—it slid open easily. Ho shook his head, thinking their Teddy Bear had no sense of danger despite having security guards posted outside.

Ho signaled to Hu, who’d entered behind him. Hu nodded and slowly walked toward his assigned area. They hadn’t done anything this hands-on in a while—they wondered if they’d gotten stiff—but it was an unnecessary worry.

Breaking into someone’s house just for fun—the twins themselves knew anyone would call them lunatics, but they didn’t care. They had no intention of losing the entertaining plaything they’d found after so long. Especially since Taehyuk and Seonwoo were involved, Kim Jinho had already become someone they absolutely had to get their hands on.

“Wouldn’t it be fun to play with Teddy Bear whenever we’re stressed?”

“Yeah. And those two who seem interested in Teddy Bear would be like dogs chasing chickens.”

“It’ll be hard because of them, but it’s not impossible.”

Games are always more fun when they’re harder.

But contrary to their expectations, they got caught red-handed on the spot.

“We were in the same club?!”

“…Yeah. Apparently.”

The twins made a mental note to read through Jinho’s documents thoroughly—very thoroughly. They couldn’t understand why, with so much documentation on him, they were always learning new information. For people whose philosophy was “live easy, but take what you want,” this was the first time their prior investigation had been this lacking.

Feeling a sense of defeat, the twins clenched their fists. They cautiously lifted their heads, expecting more nagging from the bastards who’d been pressing them as if they’d committed a capital offense. But contrary to expectations, they were both silent.

“What, you too?”

When the twins mouthed the question so only the two of them could see, Taehyuk and Seonwoo nodded. The club could only have had seven members—the twins included, plus the other three, and Yeryeong—so it was practically a miracle that they had this little memory of Jinho. And even more remarkably, the twins, Taehyuk, and Seonwoo all had excellent memories. Yet none of them remembered. The only thing they recalled was that someone had been next to Yeryeong—and the four of them guessed that someone was Kim Jinho.

The twins didn’t know whether to laugh at this bizarre situation or feel sorry for Jinho. If they had one complaint, it was that they’d only been ignorant about the club—they’d actually known he’d graduated from the same university.

The twins thought they should have read the documents more carefully, so they could have pretended to remember. Then they could have made a better impression on Jinho—who’d sulked and gone into his room—than Taehyuk and Seonwoo.

They stared at the already closed door, ruffling their hair in regret.

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