Suga followed the man who walked ahead of him.
Throughout the journey, the man didn’t say a word.
Occasionally, he glanced in Suga’s direction, but his mouth remained shut, and under the red eyes that lingering, staring at him, Suga couldn’t help but feel a shiver running through his bones.
The setting sun with the darkening sky did nothing to lighten the eerie atmosphere.
Prior to this, after Suga brought the injured man to the nearest medical team, he met Yuki, whose thin smile immediately disappeared from his lips.
Yuki’s facial expression changed for a moment as he saw Suga standing next to an instructor named Zion.
Then Yuki’s eyes narrowed, seemingly giving him a mischievous look as if silently saying ‘I told you that you always meet crazy people’ — and that look, for obvious reason, irritated him so much.
‘Ah, Suga…
There’s bloodstain on your cheek.’
Yuki slowly walked towards him, his hand pulling a plain handkerchief from his pocket.
Suga accepted it and wiped his face, also dabbing his forehead covered in sweat.
‘Aha, is this the guy I heard rumors about?
Captain Nakajima bringing someone to IHPS …
that’s what I heard, so this little guy here…
heh…’
The condescending sentence ended with a small, unhidden mocking laugh.
Instructor Zion tilted his chin and threw a thin smile, which only lifted the corners of his lips towards Suga.
It was anything but a friendly smile, the kind of smile that he often saw on people who had a superiority complex.
What’s up with this guy?
Can an instructor act like that?
Suga kept his expressionless face, his eyes shifting to Yuki, who pretended to ignore him, even though this man was usually loud and found it difficult to keep his mouth shut.
Suga’s and Yuki’s eyes met, but Yuki didn’t say anything to him, quickly diverting his gaze.
Now, Yuki and the man with red eyes were locked in, as if having a staring contest.
‘He’s my friend, so don’t touch him, not even with the tip of your finger.’
‘Hm, ah …
Your friend …
This guy—’ Zion let out a short snort of laughter, ‘He’s too weak to be considered a prey anyway.’
To the red eyes that glanced briefly at Suga, Suga silently watched the conversation between the two of them.
‘Say whatever you want, just don’t touch him….
I’d appreciate it if you’d just ignore him, yeah, it would be better if you pretend he doesn’t exist’
‘How can I ignore him when he keeps staring at me…
Immediately, Suga turned his head away to avoid eye contact with the man who gave him a faint smile, again, that smile looked cold and robotic— it feels like I’m watching a character from a horror movie right now.
Overhearing Yuki’s words to the man, yeah, it’d be better if he didn’t interact too much with this guy.
If possible, he didn’t want to get involved in something that seemed like it would become troublesome.
Besides, he hadn’t heard a single positive thing about this man— Let’s avoid a guy who looks like a lunatic, and only interact with him when necessary.
‘Suga, do you know the way back to your group’s tent?’
In the long awkward silence, Yuki suddenly asked him.
Startled, Suga raised his head.
Damn, he didn’t know the direction, especially now that the sky was dark, and it wouldn’t be easy for a normal human being to walk alone in the middle of the forest without any light.
So he shook his head, as if already knowing the answer, Yuki let out a faint chuckle.
He extended his hand and lightly squeezed Suga’s shoulder.
‘Let me take you there.
Farrukh has noted the locations of all the groups scattered in this forest.’
Suga’s eyes widened.
How could he do that?
Were there CCTV cameras installed in this forest?
Or was Farrukh a man with superpowers?
Seeing Suga’s easily readable reaction, Yuki laughed again.
‘Farrukh has been to this forest many times.
It’s like a second home to him, so he can easily memorize the whereabouts of the groups spread across various areas.’
That man is really something.
Thinking about it again, Farrukh, that man, also had a somewhat mysterious aura.
It seemed like he was the only person who could work with the peculiar guy Nakajima Yuki.
They had different personalities, but surprisingly, they made a great team.
‘Nakajima, I was the one who brought this kid here, and…
there’s something I want to discuss since I caught him with Marcus.’
‘Didn’t I tell you to ignore his presence?’ Yuki protested, however as if bored, Zion just shrugged indifferently, his eyes now falling fixedly on Suga.
Shuddering.
He would never get used to those red eyes.
Nakajima, you’re getting annoying now, geez …..
Don’t you remember?
I’m an instructor here, and I have a responsibility for the members in this place.’
So that was the reason why he was currently walking with this man in front of him, guiding him back to the tent.
But the longer they walked, the more suspicious Suga became, was this man really taking him back to his group’s tent?
“Are you trying to blow my head off?”
Suga almost slipped on a small rock.
His heart began to pound violently like he just finished running a marathon when the man finally spoke.
And the thing he feared the most happened, the man suddenly stopped in his tracks, swiftly turning around and walking with purpose towards him.
This caused Suga reflexively step backward.
But in the blink of an eye, the man grabbed his wrist.
“Haha, why are you looking at me like that, you’ve been staring at me intently as if you want to do something.”
“Huh? I didn’t—”
“Those blue eyes ….”
“????”
I don’t understand, I don’t understand!
Please speak clearly!
Whoever is out there, please help me run away from this man!
The grip on his wrist tightened, or maybe the man wasn’t aware of his strength because as soon as he saw Suga wincing in pain, he loosened his grip.
Lowering his body so that their eyes were at the same level.
At this exact moment, Suga could clearly see those red eyes, a red similar to the color of blood.
“Haha, sorry.” The man finally said casually after observing his face for a long time, then released his grip, “You remind me of someone.”
Who?
Actually, no, he didn’t want to ask.
The man made a laughing face as if trying to be friendly but Suga couldn’t see it that way.
As Zion continued walking and turned his back, Suga let out a sigh of relief.
They walked for quite a while until finally in the distance Suga saw a bonfire and a familiar car, and as they got closer, the voices and laughter of people he knew, made Suga almost tear up.
Danny, your brother luckily survived today.
Suga quickened his pace, and without any hesitation he ran faster to approach his team with a cheerful feeling.
But the moment they saw who was following Suga from behind, their laughter gradually turned into silent.