Honey-Coated S-Class Guide — Chapter 16
Ahn Dante went out with Flat, saying they would pick up dinner. Flat protested loudly, demanding to know why they had to get takeout when they could have it delivered, but he was dragged along in the end. The hierarchy between them was strangely absolute.
Jin Hyoseop returned to the suite without having dipped so much as a toe in the pool. Czerny went straight to the shower after swimming, leaving four espers in the room.
With all the usual talkers gone, it was quiet. Coda was reading, as always, while two espers Hyoseop had never spoken to sat pressed together, looking at a phone. The pair looked twenty at most and were always together. With their identical appearances and the names Lydian and Dorian, they had to be twins.
The last person was curled up asleep in a corner.
What was his name again?
It hovered just beyond his grasp. While Hyoseop was trying to remember, Czerny emerged from the shower and wrapped his arms around Hyoseop’s neck from behind.
“What are you thinking about, hyung?”
The fragrant scent of shampoo washed over him.
“I was trying to remember someone’s name.”
“A name? Oh, their names?”
Rubbing his cheek against Hyoseop’s hair, Czerny pointed to the guild members one by one.
“You already know Coda. Those twins beside him—the one on the left is Lydian, and the one on the right is Dorian. They both have serious trust issues, so don’t bother with them.”
The twins glanced at Czerny. They must have heard him, but their expressions remained blank. Coda was expressionless too, yet it felt different. Coda was quiet and composed, while the twins were cold as blades. The way they seemed to look down on everyone gave weight to Czerny’s claim that they distrusted people.
“And the guy sleeping in the corner is Cindy. He’s usually quiet, but when the time comes, he gets a little crazy.”
“The time?”
“Yeah. His body’s a bit weird. You’ve been here about a month, so you probably know by now—there’s nobody normal in our guild.”
Hyoseop had to agree. Every single person in Noapi was peculiar.
“But why are you suddenly interested in them? Is there someone you like?”
“It isn’t like that.”
“Then?”
“We’re in the same guild. I thought I should at least learn their names.”
Czerny sat down beside Hyoseop and pressed close.
“Wow, hyung. You really are conscientious. You could just ignore them the way they ignore you.”
They were ignoring me?
Hyoseop blinked at the revelation. Czerny smiled brightly and rested his cheek on Hyoseop’s shoulder.
“Forget them. Give me some affection. I’m much cuter than those cold, silent guys, aren’t I?”
“…How would you like me to do that?”
“However you want?”
His round eyes sparkled at close range.
After some thought, Hyoseop cautiously stroked his hair. The damp strands slipped between his fingers. It looked unruly, but it felt surprisingly silky. Even the slight dampness was pleasant. It reminded him of a cat he had once petted, and the memory lifted his spirits.
“You must like touching hair, hyung. You did it last time, too.”
“I never particularly did…”
Hyoseop toyed lightly with the ends of Czerny’s hair.
“But I think I’m starting to.”
Without meaning to, his fingertips brushed Czerny’s ear.
In that instant, Czerny’s eyes flashed. His black pupils narrowed into slits, and his red lips twisted. A long, crimson tongue swept lightly over them.
“Ah. I can’t resist this.”
Czerny seized the back of Hyoseop’s neck. It was only a hand on his neck, yet Hyoseop felt as though his entire body had been bound tight.
“Hyung. Does the boss treat you well?”
“Pardon?”
“You said you wouldn’t do anything beyond contact guiding, but your neck’s covered in bite marks. They don’t look like they came from guiding… Do you let your bondage partner go further?”
Before Hyoseop could ask what he meant, Czerny’s nails scraped down the back of his neck, right where Flat had bitten him.
“If that’s how it works, can’t you let me be your bondage partner? I’d treat you better than the boss.”
Bondage partner? What is he talking about?
Hyoseop wanted to explain the marks on his neck and ask about this supposed bondage partner. But before he could speak, Czerny brought his face close and made a demand.
“Hyung. Guide me. With a kiss.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, Czerny pushed him down onto the sofa. Before Hyoseop could do more than gasp, Czerny’s face was right in front of his again. When he smiled, his unusually sharp canines gleamed. Those fangs approached as though they might pierce straight through Hyoseop’s lips.
Their mouths were about to meet.
Then an unfamiliar voice spoke right beside his ear.
“You can’t do that.”
Hyoseop flinched so violently he nearly cried out. There were two faces close enough for him to feel their breath. Czerny addressed the intruder irritably.
“What do you want, Lydian?”
“The boss asked me to stop you from getting guiding whenever you feel like it.”
Czerny’s expression crumpled. Behind the sofa, a man with an identical face rested his chin on his hand and chimed in.
“That’s right. He said if you helped yourself to guiding, he’d send you straight out into the sea tonight.”
With the twins pressing him from either side, Czerny backed off, looking as though every last spark of desire had been extinguished. Lydian, however, remained curled in place, gazing up at him.
“But Czerny. You do know, right?”
“Know what?”
Being interrupted just before receiving guiding seemed to have left Czerny thoroughly on edge. Lydian paid no attention to it. His gaze shifted toward Hyoseop.
“That you’re not supposed to touch Guide Jin Hyoseop.”
“I didn’t.”
“You were going to.”
“I said I didn’t.”
Dorian picked up where Lydian left off from behind the sofa.
“Really? You were definitely going to. You would have if Lydian hadn’t stopped you.”
“Oh, come on! I didn’t do it, so what’s the problem? Are you two Hyoseop-hyung’s bondage partners? No? Then why are you being so fucking annoying?”
“We aren’t, but his bondage partner asked us. He said to stop any guild member who tries to kiss him or go further while he’s away. He promised ten million won every time we stop someone.”
“…”
“Can I tell the boss? That you tried to kiss him or do more while his bondage partner wasn’t around?”
“Oh, lucky you. You’ll get ten million.”
“Yeah. I’m excited. Should I buy new bullets with it?”
“Sounds good.”
“But Czerny. Give me twenty million and I won’t tell. How about it?”
“That would be better. The boss is scary when he’s angry. You’ve got plenty of money anyway. Sell a jewel.”
After trading remarks, Lydian and Dorian stared straight at Czerny.
“Watch it, you little shits.”
Even as Czerny’s face flushed with anger, the twins remained unfazed.
“Why? Give us twenty million.”
“Yeah. Twenty million.”
Czerny finally snapped.
“You little fucking beggars!”
A red aura surged around him. At the same time, veinlike lines spread in geometric patterns from his fingertips to his elbows. His canines sharpened, jutting past his lips, and his golden eyes turned feral.
But the twins refused to back down. Standing on either side of him, they held guns thicker than their forearms, their fingers hooked around them. Hyoseop had no idea when they had drawn them.
“Want to fight? Fine by us.”
“Yeah. We’ve had a lot building up lately.”
The twins stared at Czerny without expression, murderous intent pouring from their eyes. The relaxed atmosphere became oppressive in an instant. Just sitting in the middle of it made Hyoseop feel as though he were suffocating.
“Stop.”
Coda, who had remained silent until then, finally intervened. Yet even with the normally quiet Coda telling them to stop, not one of them eased up.
With a small sigh, Coda took Hyoseop’s arm and pulled him out from between them. Hyoseop had been frozen, unable to breathe. Once Coda had him in his arms, he sucked in a desperate, ragged breath.
“The boss will be back soon. That’s enough.”
Czerny spat out a curse, his eyes gleaming. Lydian and Dorian frowned in displeasure. Neither showed any sign of lowering his gun.
“Why should we?”
“Yeah. Why should we?”
Coda addressed the twins firmly as they remained poised to fight.
“Because you provoked him first.”
“We only told the truth.”
“Czerny was going to jump that guide.”
Coda shook his head.
“If that were his intention, he wouldn’t have done it here.”
“But you don’t know that, do you? Czerny doesn’t care where he does things.”
“No. In the end, nothing happened. Your killing intent, on the other hand, nearly left Guide Jin Hyoseop unable to breathe.”
“…”
“The boss asked me to tell him if anyone threatened Guide Jin Hyoseop.”
Coda slowly patted Hyoseop’s back as he struggled to catch his breath. Unlike his gentle touch, the look he directed at the twins was cold.
“Should I report this as a threat, too?”
“…”
“…”
The twins said nothing. But the guns in their hands had already disappeared.
“Tch.”
Clicking their tongues in annoyance, the twins returned to their original sofa and resumed looking at the phone together. Czerny struggled to contain his agitation before storming out, fuming.
The already quiet suite fell silent in an entirely different way.
Hyoseop almost envied the man called Cindy, who had slept through the entire commotion.
