Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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48.
Hee-joo, who had been glancing back and forth between Liam and the bed, suddenly posed a question.
“Are you busy?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Then would you like to take a walk with me?”
“By all means.”
Liam sprang to his feet as if he might wag his tail like a dog. He left the room, then returned just as quickly to fetch his outer coat.
The two of them quietly opened the front door and stepped outside. A hazy moon hung in the pitch-black night sky, and orange streetlamps stood scattered throughout the garden.
The wind was quite sharp. When Hee-joo wrapped her arms around herself, Liam draped his coat over her shoulders.
“Thank you.”
“For the coat, or for the walk?”
“Both.”
Hee-joo began walking. Liam, whose legs were considerably longer, kept pace beside her.
She quickened her steps, then slowed them again. Regardless, Liam remained at her side.
They didn’t exchange many words. In fact, silence filled the space between them far more than conversation.
Yet it was comfortable. That was the surprising part—that silence with this difficult man didn’t feel difficult at all.
Remembering their first meeting made it hard to imagine such a thing. A smile suddenly escaped between Hee-joo’s teeth.
“Why are you smiling?”
At Liam’s question, Hee-joo lowered her gaze to her feet.
“I suddenly remembered when we first met.”
“The day you deceived me at the Seoul office and ran away?”
“Before that.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Liam seem to grasp what she meant, nodding his head. Likely the day they first greeted each other through a screen.
As Liam recalled those memories, he asked in a suspicious tone.
“It’s a good memory, at least?”
“Well, I do remember thinking you were an incredibly disagreeable and arrogant person.”
“How can you judge someone on first impressions alone? Forget what you thought then.”
“I also remember thinking you were exactly the type of person I never wanted to get involved with.”
Liam clicked his tongue softly in disapproval, then quickly composed his expression into something wry.
“Yet here we are, entangled. Doesn’t that suggest fate?”
“The reason you came looking for me was far too ruthless to wrap up in something as sweet as destiny, wasn’t it?”
“Why did you come looking for me?”
Liam looked down at her with evident curiosity. Hee-joo stopped walking and exhaled sharply. White breath rose into the air.
She lifted her head slowly, gazing up at him. His face lay in deep shadow, silhouetted against the light.
Because of that, she couldn’t see his pale gray eyes. And that was a pity.
“You told me to stay quiet, and I followed you anyway. My eyes were blazing.”
“That’s not right.”
Liam tilted his head slightly. The streetlamp’s light then fell across his face. He narrowed his eyes into slits.
“I simply wanted to see you. I was curious about what kind of person you were, let’s say.”
Hee-joo shrugged lightly. Regardless of her reasons, the fact remained that Liam had helped her more than once. One might even call him her savior.
If Liam hadn’t existed, she would by now have been….
She didn’t want to think beyond that. Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, Hee-joo changed the subject.
“You said Margaret has a cabin. Do you think it might be near my father’s cabin?”
“I don’t think we’d be that fortunate.”
“True. It’s not a campground, so there’s no chance cabins would be clustered together in some rural village.”
Hee-joo nodded in agreement. Then she posed the most important question.
“You can find it, though, can’t you?”
At that, Liam let out a short laugh. It was a remarkably confident smile.
“If that’s all, you’ve picked the right person. I’ve never failed to find anyone I’ve been looking for.”
“Ah, the Grim Reaper? I’ve heard the rumors well. No one can escape the Grim Reaper’s scythe, the saying goes. No matter how hidden the place where they shelter.”
“Then you should be careful too.”
At this sudden warning, Hee-joo’s brow furrowed. Liam lowered his head. He brought his lips close to her ear and whispered in a honeyed voice.
“No matter how far you run, I will always find you. That is the price of making me sincere. Are you prepared?”
Hee-joo couldn’t speak. She’d been seduced by his voice—thick and rich as chocolate—and only belatedly grasped the meaning of his words.
“!”
Hee-joo’s eyes widened as she drew in a belated breath. Liam’s eyes met hers; he was still smiling. His face was as gentle as his voice.
Yet somehow it didn’t look like a smile. Whether because of the deep shadows cast across his features or the chill in his pale eyes, she couldn’t say.
She felt a chill run down her spine. She wanted to turn and flee that very instant.
Yet Hee-joo opened her mouth with a composed expression. After all, even if she ran, she’d be caught within a few steps.
“Who told you to become sincere on your own? I haven’t even answered yet.”
“How can you be so irresponsible…….”
Liam stopped mid-sentence and lifted his head. For a moment, his expression vanished entirely from his face.
He slowly turned his head toward the entrance. Hee-joo followed his gaze, bewildered.
There was nothing there. All that was visible was the garden, swallowed by darkness.
But then—angry footsteps sounded. A strange shadow burst from the darkness, moving rapidly toward the mansion’s entrance.
Hee-joo lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Who could it be? Peter?”
“Hard to say. The build is different. The gait seems younger too.”
The shadow didn’t notice the two figures standing in the shade and made straight for the estate.
Upon reaching the entrance, he raised his arm. Only then did the iron pry bar in his hand become visible.
“!”
As Hee-joo gasped and covered her mouth, another figure came running from the direction of the entrance.
This time it was Peter. He shouted at the shadow.
“Stop it, James! Get out of here now!”
Ah, so that’s James. Margaret’s nephew, as they said.
Before Hee-joo could even nod, James swung the iron pry bar at Peter. A sinister, whooshing sound cut through the air.
Hee-joo covered her mouth again. If she didn’t, she feared she’d scream.
“James……!”
Peter, trying to stop him, jumped back in shock.
James advanced toward him, swinging the pry bar wildly. The metallic whoosh reached them even from where they stood.
“Why don’t you just get out! Fawning over Aunt like some brown-noser! Who do you think can’t see through your filthy schemes? You’re nothing but a rat scurrying after scraps!”
“James, shut your mouth!”
“You think I’d let some rat steal my share? Get out of here now!”
The pry bar sliced through the air once more. Peter, backing away, fell hard on his backside with a thud.
Just then, a light came on in a first-floor room—Margaret’s bedroom. She could be seen approaching the window and drawing back the curtains.
James, sneering at the fallen Peter, raised the iron pry bar high in both hands. Then brought it down with all his strength.
“Die!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Margaret’s scream shook the night sky. At the same moment.
“…….”
James collapsed to the ground. Unable to comprehend what had happened, he clutched his waist and groaned, then lifted his head.
“Who are you! What bastard——!”
James roared. But Liam gazed down at Peter with leisurely composure.
“Are you all right?”
“Much obliged.”
Peter nodded and got to his feet.
“And who the hell are you?”
James, snarling, rose and rushed at Liam. Whoosh, whoosh. The iron pry bar passed by Liam’s body multiple times at a terrifying speed.
But it never once landed on him. Deftly evading the attacks, Liam seized James’s wrist with his right hand.
“Let go! I won’t!”
Liam yanked James’s wrist toward himself and drove his elbow up into the man’s jaw. James crumpled to his knees.
James looked dazed, as though he couldn’t comprehend why he’d fallen. The pry bar he’d dropped rolled across the floor.
It rolled to a stop at Liam’s feet. He bent down and picked up the iron pry bar slowly.
And in the next moment, he brought it down on James’s back with brutal force. No wind-up, no warning—just a sudden strike.
Crack!
James’s upper body slammed to the ground. Liam tossed the pry bar aside and dusted off his palms as he asked.
“Should I throw him out the door?”
“No, that would be too much to ask a guest. I’ll throw him out myself. Though he’ll probably be back tomorrow. A few days ago he came empty-handed, today with an iron pry bar—I wonder if next time it’ll be a gun?”
Peter grabbed James by the collar and dragged him away. His bitter lament hung in the air like dust.
The two figures disappeared into the darkness. Only then did Hee-joo release the breath she’d been holding and step toward Liam.
The moment she was about to speak, the front door opened. The motion-sensor light above came on.
Margaret stood there, her face drained of all color, staring endlessly into the black darkness.
Hee-joo turned to face her.
“Are you all right? You seem quite shaken.”
“Oh, you’re here too, Hee-joo.”
Margaret exhaled deeply and rubbed her arms with both hands. Hee-joo tapped Liam’s arm and gave him a meaningful look.
“Let’s go inside.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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