Chapter 331

“Unfortunately for the people who escaped, there’s no longer any room to doubt that the governor was deeply involved in Hybris.”

Isaac spoke as if he’d read Anna’s thoughts.

“The flooding of the drainage tunnels is an incident that threatens the very survival of the Hybris organization. Whether he’s the Designer or not, more than one person died in that submersion accident, so as governor he won’t be able to dodge responsibility. The escaped Hostages are just as much of a burden. That’s why they’ll be desperate to capture the escapees, us included. This incident can’t be allowed to leak outside.”

After slowly regulating his breathing, Isaac continued in the same flat tone.

“It wouldn’t be an impossible choice for the governor to mobilize the state National Guard to hunt down the escapees. The vehicles we used may already be identified. Before we completely leave Helso State, it’d be better to change the license plates.”

Hearing that, Rachel brightened and said,

“We have spare license plates. The bus is running temporary plates right now, but when it was converted to a leisure vehicle, they said they issued standard plates.”

“That’s good,”

Isaac nodded, then immediately pushed the conversation forward to the next decision, like an operations officer clearing an agenda at speed.

“Anna, ask for a show of hands.”

“Huh? A show of hands all of a sudden? ...What are we deciding?”

Feeling pressured by the opaque request, Anna asked.

“Whether to stay in Helso State or leave it. Let the people choose.”

“Why? If we go, we should all go together.”

“Not everyone will agree. We can’t force people who want to reunite with their families right now to come with us. They’d just become dead weight.”

Isaac explained the plan going forward. Isaac, Baekgyeong, and Siron would track down the materials Jackson Cliff had siphoned off in Manhattan, while Anna, Lewis, Rachel, and the Hostages would have to go into hiding at Stonecreek Psychiatric Hospital for a while.

However, for security reasons, they couldn’t tell the Hostages the destination until they arrived. The only information they could give them now was that once they reached a place where they could stay safely, they would have to cut off all outside contact and disappear from the world for at least a month—possibly longer—until the situation was somewhat resolved.

Even so, what “resolution” meant was vague. Even if the Designer died, or Hybris’s criminal materials were exposed through the media, there was no guarantee that exposure would immediately lead to fair punishment or proper compensation. Whether the victims could reclaim their everyday lives afterward was a separate matter entirely.

Still, if they wanted to escape the immediate danger, they had to leave with Anna. Fully grasping Isaac’s intent, Anna felt a heavy weight of responsibility settle on her. It was a responsibility she didn’t want, but at this point there was no backing out.

“Alright. I’ll do the show of hands. The ones who stay will stay, and the ones who leave will leave.”

Letting out a bitter sigh that seemed to cave the ground in, Anna forced a smile and offered Rachel her hand.

“Rachel, I’ll be relying on you.”

“We kind of stumbled into this together, but I’ll be relying on you too.”

“But Rachel, are you sure it’s okay for you to miss work? I’m fine—I live like garbage anyway—but you...”

“I’m a full-fledged member too. Don’t tell me to sit out a once-in-a-lifetime adventure like this. Honestly, I was really impressed by Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island. An island where murderers with mental illness are isolated...”

Watching Rachel’s eyes sparkle, Anna stared at her in disbelief, then suddenly furrowed her brow. As if she’d forgotten something important, Anna rubbed °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° her lower jaw and asked Isaac with an awkward look,

“Can we really trust Baekgyeong?”

“Is there a problem?”

“I get that Baekgyeong is the representative director of Stonecreek Psychiatric Hospital. But if we just barge in, will he really set up rooms for us right away without any procedures or records? That’s a realistic, important issue.”

Picking up his empty plate and standing, Isaac said,

“We’ll find out if we ask him.”

“Wait! If you’re thinking of asking right now, I’m against it.”

Anna waved her hands frantically, teeth chattering. Isaac stopped, clearly not understanding her reaction, and looked at her as if asking for an explanation. She hesitated, choosing her words, then finally spoke with an embarrassed expression.

“You know. They’re in Rut. They’re right in the middle of it.”

The place where the Ford Van was parked was a campsite carved into the mountainside. Beside the flattened dirt ground was a reinforced support holding the slope, and below that a short descent led down toward the valley.

And next to it was a waterfall. Water gathered from the mountain formed a thick white column, falling endlessly into a shallow pool before flowing down the mountain. Siron, who had been soaking his body at the edge of the pool, reacted like a deer lifting its head at the presence of people when he heard someone calling him.

“Yoon Siron! Where are you!”

Baekgyeong was looking for him. Like an ascetic practicing under a waterfall, Siron had been submerging himself in the cold water, trying desperately to suppress his Rut. He sighed. One of the people he least wanted to see right now was stubbornly trying to track him down.

“He just won’t leave me alone.”

Knowing that Baekgyeong would scour the entire campsite if left alone, Siron let out a deep sigh and sprang to his feet. Moving along the embankment at the pool’s edge, he shouted up toward Baekgyeong above.

“I’m here!”

Baekgyeong immediately turned his head toward the sound. The voice came from the valley beyond the slope, but leaves blocked his view. Leaning forward to look, Baekgyeong then dashed straight down the slope toward the valley.

Coming down the steep path almost tumbling, Baekgyeong couldn’t control his speed and yelped as he plunged straight into the pool. Near the waterfall, the depth was considerable; water rose to the top of his head. Worse, the whirlpools created by the falling water kept dragging his body toward the bottom. Barely making it to the edge, Baekgyeong raised his voice as water streamed off him.

“Why the hell are you in a place this dangerous!”

Perched on a rock, watching Baekgyeong struggle through the water in a pathetic display, Siron sighed as if feeling sorry for him.

“I didn’t go somewhere dangerous. You were careless and jumped straight in—no, you rolled down stupidly.”

Baekgyeong wiped the water from his soaked face with his palm and flicked it away.

“Stupid? If you watch closely, you never say a word to that bastard Isaac, but you’re always fucking vicious to me.”

The sharp jab was impossible to deny, and irritated, Siron splashed the water, flinging it into Baekgyeong’s face.

“Stop it.”

Pretending not to hear him, Siron repeatedly splashed water at the approaching Baekgyeong.

“I said stop.”

“Don’t come any closer!”

He deliberately scooped the surface more roughly, sending water spraying into Baekgyeong’s face. When Baekgyeong finally reached him, he grabbed Siron’s wrist hard enough to seem like he might break it, stopping the splashing.

“Why are you picking fights? Water— I’m fucking sick of it.”

“If you’re sick of it, then don’t come!”

“Say something that makes sense.”

Faced with Baekgyeong’s unilateral, arrogant assumption that Yoon Siron naturally belonged at his side, irritation surged up in Siron. And yet, paradoxically, relief bloomed as well. Baekgyeong would not abandon him or kill him. No— even if the entire universe were overturned, Baekgyeong would remain a fixed point, grabbing onto him like a lifeline. But confusingly, Siron wasn’t sure whether he should take hold of that lifeline.

“It’s hot. I was cooling off. I want to be alone.”

With Baekgyeong’s Pheromones wafting openly, pushing Siron’s patience to its limit, he complained in a voice full of irritation. He was barely keeping his overflowing sexual urge under control, and Baekgyeong prowling around nearby only muddled his head, stoking his anger.

“So, did it cool you down?”

Catching on to what kind of heat Siron was trying to cool, Baekgyeong tested him with a teasing, oddly colored voice.

Siron didn’t even answer, his expression icy, but his body reacted to Baekgyeong’s Pheromones, leaking desire without restraint. Vulgar as it was, he needed an Alpha right now.

Forcing Baekgyeong’s arm off his wrist, Siron hugged his legs and rested his chin on his knees.

“You know this isn’t the time for that.”

Lewis was unconscious, Isaac was in surgery, and Anna was in a panic. Rachel was probably struggling to manage the Hostages. Sex, in a situation this complicated— even animals would know better timing.

But Baekgyeong, worse than an animal, stepped closer and bent down, placing a hand on Siron’s shoulder.

“It’s better to relieve it now. If we have sex, Rut clears within two days. If you just endure it, you’ll suffer for a week.”

Baekgyeong leaned his face right up close, grinning crudely. Siron lowered his gaze, trying not to be fooled by that beautiful face that glittered falsely like a fake diamond.

“Do you really think so?”

Even as he spoke, Siron felt that he was looking for an excuse to give in to temptation. Deep inside his body, something loosened and opened, and slick fluid spilled out in a rush.

“Yeah. It’s the rational choice. We’re rational people, right?”

Baekgyeong chuckled as if amused by the nonsense he’d just spewed. His familiar laughter and breath, and his still-unfamiliar Pheromones, beat restlessly against Siron’s chest. Siron drew in that complex, layered scent—impossible to describe in any terms—and sensed it deeply.

Saliva pooled at the corners of Siron’s parted lips and dripped down from his chin. His tongue felt so swollen inside his mouth that he couldn’t even swallow it back.