Just because his arm was twisted and he was interrogated a little, he ended his own life right there?
He did not seem like a simple thief.
He was a professional assassin or a trained operative.
Lee Kanghyun’s thoughts raced.
‘Was he targeting me directly?’
No.
If that were the case, his level was far too low.
And he had been startled when he saw Lee Kanghyun inside the apartment.
If assassination was not the goal, then why had he broken in?
Lost in thought, Lee Kanghyun suddenly looked down at his own palm.
The life that had been moving and screaming just moments ago had disappeared within his grasp.
That unpleasant and horrifying sensation remained like an afterimage, refusing to fade.
‘He’s dead.’
So easily.
So pointlessly.
“Ugh…”
Suddenly, his breath caught.
His chest felt tight.
Lee Kanghyun rubbed the hand that had held the man with his other hand.
He rubbed it until the skin turned red, but the horrible sensation would not disappear.
A chill began at his fingertips and spread throughout his entire body.
His vision spun.
The world seemed to grow distant, buzzing faintly.
The sharp sound of wind entering through the broken window.
His own rough breathing.
He could not hear any of it.
He simply stood frozen, staring blankly at the corpse at his feet.
How much time had passed?
The front door opened, and someone entered.
“Lee Kanghyun, you didn’t eat dinner again, did you? I bought sushi on the way here, so let’s eat to—”
Kang Yujun’s footsteps stopped.
The broken window.
The living room turned into a mess.
The black-masked corpse lying on the floor.
He looked at them one by one.
And finally, he saw Lee Kanghyun standing before it all.
His face drained of color.
The sushi bag slipped from Kang Yujun’s hand and dropped to the floor.
Kang Yujun closed the distance in an instant.
He grabbed Lee Kanghyun’s trembling shoulders tightly.
“Lee Kanghyun.”
“……”
There was no answer.
Lee Kanghyun’s eyes shook without focus.
“Snap out of it. Lee Kanghyun!”
Kang Yujun grabbed Lee Kanghyun by the collar and shook him roughly.
“He’s dead.”
Lee Kanghyun finally opened his mouth.
His voice came out broken.
He raised a trembling hand and pointed at the corpse on the floor.
It was as if he did not even realize Kang Yujun was standing right in front of him.
“I didn’t kill him. He did it himself. He took some kind of drug… and just died.”
Lee Kanghyun muttered incoherently, as if defending himself.
His breathing was rapid, and his words kept breaking apart.
“I only twisted his arm. I just asked who he was… Why did he die? Why…”
“I know. I know. It’s not your fault.”
Kang Yujun firmly held Lee Kanghyun’s trembling hand and looked directly into his eyes.
“Breathe. Slowly. Inhale… and exhale.”
“Hk…”
“It’s okay. Stay calm. Nothing happened.”
Kang Yujun’s low, steady voice sank into Lee Kanghyun’s ears.
“Haa… haa…”
Only then did Lee Kanghyun’s breathing burst out harshly as his awareness of reality returned.
Kang Yujun was in front of him.
Kang Yujun, looking at him with worried eyes.
“Damn…”
The voice escaped on its own.
Through his blurry vision, he confirmed Kang Yujun’s presence.
“When did you get here?”
He tried to ask as normally as possible, but the end of his voice cracked miserably.
“Just now.”
Kang Yujun let out a quiet sigh and pulled Lee Kanghyun into a tight embrace.
Startled by the sudden hug, Lee Kanghyun twisted and struggled.
Kang Yujun loosened his arms slightly, but he did not let go.
“What are you doing?”
Lee Kanghyun resisted a few more times, then unknowingly relaxed.
Kang Yujun’s body heat gave him a sense of stability.
Something so insignificant was comforting him.
“When you come over, make some noise so I know you’re here. And stop barging into my house.”
Lee Kanghyun scolded him for no reason.
But unlike his usual sharp tone, there was no strength behind his voice.
It sounded less like a complaint and more like a childish grumble.
“Yeah. Sorry. I come over too often.”
They stayed like that for a while.
But he could not cling to him forever.
It was embarrassing.
He was a Hunter, after all.
To tremble just because he saw one person die…
“Hey. Let go now. I can’t breathe. What are you doing? It’s creepy.”
Kang Yujun slowly released him, but his eyes remained fixed on Lee Kanghyun.
“What are you going to do about that?”
Lee Kanghyun pointed at the corpse as if nothing had happened.
Now that he had calmed down, he finally remembered that the body needed to be dealt with.
“Don’t worry about it. I called the Association.”
Kang Yujun answered calmly.
“Shouldn’t we call the police?”
“If the police come, it’ll get complicated. Hunter-related incidents are cleaner when handled by the Association’s dedicated team. I’ll take care of it, so forget about it.”
Kang Yujun’s eyes briefly turned cold.
“What happened?”
Lee Kanghyun briefly explained everything.
“So I subdued him and tried to interrogate him. But the moment I grabbed him, he took some kind of drug and died.”
“Drug?”
“Yeah. A capsule hidden inside his mouth or something. He died the moment he bit down on it. Without hesitation.”
Kang Yujun’s brows narrowed.
Of course, he was not some ordinary thief.
But immediately choosing suicide was strange no matter how he looked at it.
Ding dong.
A short while later, the doorbell rang.
The Association personnel had already arrived.
“I’ll get it.”
Kang Yujun turned and headed toward the entrance.
Association employees poured inside.
They moved quickly.
Covering the body.
Preserving the scene.
Cleaning up the broken glass.
The sounds filled the apartment.
Lee Kanghyun sank deeply into the sofa and watched everything blankly.
A man in a suit approached him.
“Hunter Lee Kanghyun. I’d like to ask you a few questions regarding the incident.”
The investigator took out a notebook and asked in a businesslike tone.
Lee Kanghyun did not look at him and only gave a small nod.
He was exhausted.
He just wanted to pull the blanket over his head and sleep.
“When exactly did you discover the intruder?”
“I don’t know. I woke up and came out.”
“Was the intruder carrying a weapon?”
“He had a dagger. The one lying over there.”
Lee Kanghyun pointed at the floor.
The investigator frowned slightly and wrote something down.
The questions continued.
How he subdued the intruder.
What conversation they had.
What the intruder looked like.
“So, to confirm, Hunter Lee Kanghyun twisted the intruder’s arm to subdue him, and immediately afterward, the intruder committed suicide?”
“Yes. That’s what I’ve been saying. How many times do I have to repeat it?”
Irritation seeped into Lee Kanghyun’s voice.
The investigator tapped the end of his pen against the notebook while staring at him.
His eyes were suspicious.
Lee Kanghyun was famous for having a bad reputation.
“Was this not excessive force? Is it possible that the intruder died because Hunter Lee Kanghyun failed to control his strength…”
Lee Kanghyun’s eyebrow twitched.
Excessive force?
Failure to control his strength?
Are you saying I killed him?
Anger surged up instantly.
Frustration and resentment rose to his throat.
But he did not say anything.
Arguing was annoying.
When Lee Kanghyun pressed his lips shut and remained silent, the investigator’s expression hardened further.
Just as the atmosphere was about to become hostile, Kang Yujun stepped in.
“That’s enough. Hunter Lee Kanghyun is still shaken. It would be better to continue the investigation later.”
Standing between Lee Kanghyun and the investigator, Kang Yujun looked down at him coldly.
“But Hunter Kang Yujun. We need to determine the exact circumstances of the incident.”
“The victim is Hunter Lee Kanghyun. If you continue being disrespectful, I will personally file a complaint with the Association President.”
Faced with Kang Yujun’s firm attitude, the investigator backed down.
He cleared his throat and put away his notebook.
“Understood. Then we will contact you again later. Please cooperate then.”
The investigator stepped away, and the employees carried the body out.
Soon, the front door closed, and silence returned to the apartment.
Lee Kanghyun tried to shift his thoughts elsewhere.
As an S-rank Hunter, he was not even arrested at the scene as a murder suspect.
Wasn’t this too much special treatment?
Cold air entered through the broken window.
“Are you okay?”
Kang Yujun asked carefully.
Lee Kanghyun nodded.
In truth, he was not okay.
His stomach still churned.
But he did not want to show weakness in front of Kang Yujun.
“Yeah. I’m hungry. Give me the sushi.”
Lee Kanghyun spoke bluntly.
“Yeah. Let’s eat. You need to eat and regain your strength.”
Kang Yujun picked up the fallen sushi bag and placed it on the table.
Fortunately, the packaging had not opened.
He tore apart the chopsticks and handed them to Lee Kanghyun.
Lee Kanghyun accepted them, picked up a piece of sushi, and put it into his mouth.
He could not taste anything.
He simply chewed and swallowed.
“Is it good?”
“It’s edible.”
A lie.
It felt like he was chewing sand.
But Lee Kanghyun forced himself to keep eating the sushi.
Because he hated Kang Yujun worrying about him.
Because he hated being pitied.