Substitute-Chapter 118
“Jiwon?”
Relief washed over Nam Kyuwon’s tense face.
“Seeing you here—really a relief.”
He stepped out of the brush and strode over.
“Yeah.”
Glad as well, Jiwon flashed a bright smile.
Nam Kyuwon looked around behind Jiwon, then asked, “Are you alone?”
“For now, yeah. What about you?”
“I’m with someone.”
“With someone? One of our teammates?”
Jiwon perked up.
“Ah, no. Not your team.”
Nam Kyuwon looked apologetic.
“Why? Are you looking for someone?”
“Yeah. Park Geonwoo.”
“Ah, Park Geonwoo. I’m with another Geonwoo, though.”
He hesitated a beat, then said,
“Son Geonwoo.”
Fuck. Of course it had to be Son Geonwoo.
Jiwon lifted his brows, working to hide his distaste.
“He should’ve been ahead of me. Guess you didn’t run into him.”
Nam Kyuwon cocked his head.
“Ahead?”
“Yeah. We scouted around together and then split. I chose to hide here, and Geonwoo went farther up.”
Jiwon retraced his route in his head.
On the way here he hadn’t seen so much as a shadow or heard the slightest movement.
He definitely hadn’t been moving quiet enough to be invisible, which meant that bastard Son Geonwoo had heard him and stayed dead still.
Asshole. Craven as ever.
Nam Kyuwon with Son Geonwoo, though—an unexpected pairing. He’d never seen those two chatting or getting friendly, so it surprised him.
He was about to ask how they ended up together when Nam Kyuwon gestured toward the speakers carrying those screams and said, “I’m not big on getting hit.”
Who would be.
“You don’t have to be too bothered by the noise. Half of them were enjoying it.”
“Huh?”
When he blinked at that,
“During the whipping,”
he added.
So half the ones taking the whipping sentence were enjoying it.
“Ah... right.”
Jiwon ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) had forgotten Team 2’s sexual kinks; now he understood and nodded.
“I can tell just by the sound.”
Nam Kyuwon smiled sheepishly.
“Uh, Jiwon, sorry but... should we talk while hiding? Even if it feels empty out here....”
Glancing past Jiwon, he suggested it.
“Yeah, let’s.”
They crouched in the brush.
Each grabbed a fan of grass to screen their faces and clear a sightline. Two grown men doing that looked pretty ridiculous.
“So, is it just you and Geonwoo hiding together?”
Fighting a grin, Jiwon asked.
“No. Four total with Minjae and one of Geonwoo’s teammates. The other two are behind us.”
Nam Kyuwon lifted a hand and pointed past.
“Choi Minjae?”
“Yeah.”
Choi Minjae being here was a lucky break.
“When did you manage to talk that much?”
He finally asked what he was actually curious about.
Scratching his head, Nam Kyuwon said, “I got lucky.”
[We will now proceed to the tenth and final runner’s punishment. Our final runner looks calm. Let’s see if he can stay calm through the lashes.]
The voice in the speakers was lively, like a sports broadcast.
Both glanced that way, almost at the same time.
“Somehow I came out almost at the same time as Geonwoo. He moved without a second’s hesitation, so I asked if I could follow and we came together. Met Minjae on the way, and one of Geonwoo’s teammates.”
Nam Kyuwon’s words sped up.
“What about you, Jiwon?”
“Hm?”
“Where were you?”
“Oh. Near the first gate. I was with Yunho.”
Nam Kyuwon nodded big, then said he’d actually run into Kim Yunho before coming here.
Which meant Nam Kyuwon’s group had passed the gate ahead of Jiwon. Not bad.
“So where’s Yunho, and why’d you come alone?”
A whip sliced the air and a raw scream rolled out.
“Yunho’s still high, so I moved alone for now. I need to get back soon.”
Jolted, Jiwon answered.
“By the way, is there an open gate back there too?”
[Our tenth runner’s buttocks are bright red. But the expression is still cool as you please. Impressive, no?]
Glancing to the speakers again and again, they kept talking.
“No. Locked. I checked all the way there before hiding.”
“Got it.”
Locked.
He’d expected as much, so he wasn’t crushed. Still, it stung to lose even one more place to tuck away.
Enough chatter. Time to go find Choi Minjae.
Jiwon got set to move back.
“If you see Park Geonwoo—”
“I’ll tell him you’re looking.”
Nam Kyuwon smiled as he answered.
“Minjae is right in front of the second gate.”
He didn’t forget to give Minjae’s exact position.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Good luck.”
Nam Kyuwon said, a little shy.
“You too, Kyuwon. Win this game.”
Jiwon returned the cheer and slipped off.
The voice in the speakers announced the end of the last runner’s whipping.
Using the speaker noise like a shield, Jiwon pushed through the grass. To provoke Choi Minjae—who might be hiding like a weasel like Son Geonwoo—he ran in a zigzag.
[Good work, everyone. Ten at once made the penalty run a bit long. Now the two seekers and the ten runners will move to Glasshouse 1. What will happen in the glasshouse? Secret. Shh!]
Even after coming a fair distance, he still couldn’t see the gate.
Where the hell is it?
He grumbled inwardly but didn’t slow.
[Seekers, thank you for your patience. Shall we restart the game? Are you ready? Runners, you’re hiding well, aren’t you? Hide tight. If your hair shows, the seekers will spot you. If you’re spotted, you’ll be whipped. And if you’re whipped... what comes next is a secret. Shh!]
And then:
The moment the voice ended, whistles shrieked for about ten seconds.
Hide-and-Seek resumed.
A brief swell of crowd noise came through the speakers, then silence.
The live feed stopped. Apparently they’d keep it quiet until the next runners were caught.
Which meant Jiwon couldn’t just crash around anymore.
He started to lower his posture, and only then did the trace of the second gate catch his eye.
And beneath it stood Choi Minjae, waiting for him.
Surprise showed on his face. Like he hadn’t expected Jiwon to actually come find him, he didn’t know what to do.
“Finally.”
Shouldering through the brush, Jiwon grinned wide at him.
“Let’s hide first.”
Flustered, Choi Minjae dropped down and tugged Jiwon’s arm.
In the brush, they faced each other.
“Have you seen Park Geonwoo?”
He asked about Park first.
Choi Minjae tilted his head. “Haven’t seen him.”
A guy who’d ditched even Han Seoho could just as easily pretend not to see Park Geonwoo—but Jiwon chose to believe him. He had something more important to ask, and he wouldn’t waste time.
“One question. Why are you in here? What’s your objective?”
He finally voiced what he’d wanted to ask ever since he’d realized Choi Minjae was a cop.
“Objective?”
“What’s your assignment?”
At that, Choi Minjae raised his brows.
“You didn’t know?”
His tone held pure puzzlement.
He seemed to think Jiwon obviously knew his assignment.
“If you’re testing me—”
No—he clearly believed it.
“How the hell would I know?”
Jiwon narrowed his eyes and snapped.
“You really didn’t know?”
“...”
“Ah. You didn’t.”
Nodding to himself, Choi Minjae added,
“I thought you knew everything. Detective Kim said you knew.”
Detective Kim Gyeongseok said that? No way.
“When you say Detective Kim, you mean Inspector Kim Gyeongseok, right?”
He shot back, sharp.
“Of course. What other Detective Kim?”
Now that he thought about it, Jiwon hadn’t met any other detectives. He’d never met another one besides Detective Kim Gyeongseok.
The moment that hit him, it felt like a hammer to the skull.
It had been Kim Gyeongseok alone who’d come to the hospital. Kim alone had proposed the undercover. Kim alone had given him the place to come when he decided. Even over eight months of undercover training, the only detective he’d met was Kim Gyeongseok.
Why had it never once struck him as odd?
“Choi Minjae. Have you ever seen any cop besides Inspector Kim?”
He blurted it out.
“No.”
“Not once?”
“No.”
Same for Jiwon.
“It’s insanely dangerous work. As you saw with Sergeant Yoon, one of our guys is in the ICU. Secrecy is everything now. There could be a mole among us, so starting with this operation it’s a man-to-man system. In other words, just you and me—one team. Nobody but me knows about Yoon Jiwon. Of course, our overall operation lead knows everything.”
Detective Kim Gyeongseok had lowered his voice, then smiled at the end.
“Partner. That’s what we called it. Did you?”
He’d teased.
“Did Inspector Kim ever say that to you?”
When Jiwon summarized what Kim had said to him, Choi Minjae nodded big.
“He called me partner too....”
He trailed off.
Fuck. What is this?
Unlike rattled Jiwon, Choi Minjae stayed oddly calm.
Was he always like this? Or was he doing it on purpose to feel Jiwon out?
His expression had rubbed Jiwon wrong since last time. But now that even Detective Kim might not be trustworthy, what use was reading Choi Minjae’s face?
Forget Minjae—Jiwon was the crazy one.
He blamed himself.
How could he stake his life on an op and trust Detective Kim blindly, without checking anything? He’d price-check and compare features to buy a gadget—so why had he been so irrational with his life on the line?
It wasn’t the kind of thing you could wave off as “past is past.” Jiwon froze. His thoughts stopped.
“My objective.”
Choi Minjae’s voice tugged him back into the present.
“The reason I came here.”
Right. He’d asked that.
Jiwon stared at him, silent.
“I was told to do nothing.”
“What?”
The speakers clicked on and a fanfare played.
[A third seeker has found three runners. Three and three—nice, isn’t it?]
The emcee tittered at their own flat joke.
“To do nothing. To just enjoy the Party.”
“Hold on. Choi Minjae—hold on.”
Jiwon couldn’t process what he’d just heard.
Not a single word would land.
[Wow. Thirteen found in the first thirty minutes? Our seekers are killing it. All right, enough fuss—time to go take your punishment. Let’s go!]
“Choi Minjae. You are a cop, right?”
At that, Choi Minjae frowned.
Like he’d just heard the dumbest question, he straightened and squared his shoulders.
“Central Police Academy, Class x11. Patrol Officer Choi. Min. Jae.”
He rattled it off without a hitch.
Class x11 put him at last February’s graduation.
“But your assignment...”
Jiwon couldn’t finish.
Do nothing?
“So—don’t interfere with me, that kind of—”
“No, not that.”
Choi cut in, frustrated.
“If you want to label it, call it noninterference. Literally do nothing and stay to the end, enjoy the Party. Of course I still have to do my duty as Crew. I can’t get expelled.”
[One of the three runners is crying. With a face that beautiful, seeing it scrunch hurts my heart. Don’t cry. Where there’s a whip, there’s a carrot. Oh dear—now that’s sobbing. So beautiful I wish I could take the lashes for him.]
Even if you wanted to shut it out, the volume made it impossible.
At the emcee’s goosebump patter, Choi Minjae snorted.
“One of yours? Doesn’t sound like my team. Right?”
A few minutes ago Jiwon would’ve snapped—“You can joke right now?” Not now.
He was just blank.
Honestly, past bafflement and into fear.
What terrified him was that he’d never once doubted Detective Kim Gyeongseok.
Operation “Judgment.”
Did it even really exist?
“Choi Minjae.”
He squeezed the words out.
“Yeah.”
“How much do you know about me?”
“Sorry?”
“How much do you know about me?”
Until he’d introduced himself, Jiwon hadn’t known the kid’s name, age, or face. He’d only realized he was a cop because the kid tipped his hand.
But Minjae—maybe he was different?
Maybe he was pretending otherwise but had been briefed on everything about Jiwon?
So the assignment from Detective Kim wasn’t “do nothing,” it was “don’t obstruct Jiwon,” and he’d twisted it on his own?
He clung to the hope.
At least he didn’t want to believe this kid had risked his life just to play bystander. Even less that the person who’d made that call was the same Detective Kim who’d sent Jiwon here.
Without a blink, Choi Minjae said,
“I don’t know anything.”
“Nothing.”
And smiled, bright.
