Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 68

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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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68.
But Hee-ju feigned ignorance. It was her role in this performance.
“What’s his name?”
“Freddie Mercury.”
Sergei’s face hardened into something dangerous. He ground out his words through clenched teeth with a threatening edge.
“Do I look like I’m joking with you right now?”
At the menace in his voice, she flinched and stumbled backward. Hee-ju forced her legs to hold firm, refused to run.
“Or Paul McCartney. Sometimes Mick Jagger.”
……
“His name changed constantly. I don’t know his real one. If you find out, would you tell me? I mean, I traveled with that man for several days, and not knowing his name feels strange. Besides.”
Hee-ju met his gaze directly as she continued.
“If not for your people, I would never have had to travel with him. As you know, I ended up owing him favors more than once because of your subordinates.”
“So what? Is it gratitude? Love, perhaps, because he saved your life?”
“He’s considerably better than someone who just shoots indiscriminately.”
In that instant, something heavy grazed her cheek. She froze on instinct.
!
Crash—something shattered against the wall. Hee-ju’s eyes lowered slowly. An ashtray lay in halves on the floor.
……
She’d nearly been hit. If it had come just slightly to the side, it would have shattered her cheekbone. Her fine hairs stood on end, and a chill ran through her skin.
It was primal fear. The fear of prey before a predator.
Shiver-shiver-shiver. Her body trembled against her will, as though stripped bare and cast into a winter’s night.
Sergei watched her shake and pulled his mouth into a smile.
“If you hide him from me, I’ll send you both to hell together. I have a debt to settle with that man.”
Hee-ju knew how pathetic she appeared, but found no words in response.
The moment she opened her mouth, tears would spill. She might even crumple at his feet and beg.
The truth was, Sergei and Liam weren’t so different. Both were the type of man who could slit someone’s throat without blinking.
Yet she had never felt such overwhelming dread from Liam. He had never once treated her roughly.
That was the difference between them. And in this moment, Hee-ju desperately wanted to see Liam.
It was unimaginable compared to their first meeting. Liam had appeared suddenly at her Seoul office, and she’d shunned him, playing someone else.
She’d thought him a madman then. Filthy refuse to be avoided.
……That judgment hadn’t changed, yet somehow she genuinely missed the madman.
Ah.
She had to admit it now. She had fallen hard for that madman.
I have to go back.
Whatever it takes, I have to return to that madman. I’ll hold him like Nonggae did, and bear whatever comes.
“Why did you go to Wasatch State Park?”
At Sergei’s question, Hee-ju slowly raised her eyes. With a purpose in mind, her heart grew steady.
Hee-ju arranged her face into an expression of innocence—as if she wouldn’t know how to lie.
“I never intended to go there from the start. I was fleeing from your people. I didn’t have any particular destination; I just wanted to get as far away as possible. So I decided to stay one night in Utah.”
Sergei settled his weight on the edge of the desk and lit a cigar.
“A car crashed into the motel wall that night. At first I thought it was an attack from your men, but it turned out to be an elderly woman—her brakes had failed, they said. She invited me to dinner as thanks for helping. During our conversation, I learned she was in trouble.”
Lies must be sewn between threads of truth. That’s how they stay hidden.
“What kind of trouble?”
“Her nephew had been trying to kill her for her inheritance—multiple times. I even witnessed him showing up at her house causing a scene. So I decided to help.”
“What relation was she to you?”
“I’d never met her before that day. Do you only help people you know?”
At her question, Sergei lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
“I’ve never helped anyone before.”
“……That’s possible too. Everyone has different values when it comes to life.”
Hee-ju nodded as if she understood completely. She didn’t want to offend him here.
She would make him underestimate her. Make him careless. Eventually, a chance would present itself.
“If I hadn’t known, I might have left. But knowing what I knew, I couldn’t just walk away.”
“Why? Did she offer you a large sum of money?”
“No.”
“Then what did you get in return?”
Hee-ju had to accept the truth: she and Sergei were entirely different breeds. He didn’t understand her, and she didn’t understand him.
“She was a good woman. All the family she had was a helpless younger sister and a nephew trying to kill her. I wanted her old age to be more comfortable.”
“Hmm.”
“So I waited for her nephew to arrive with reinforcements and showed him what I was capable of.”
Sergei’s eyes narrowed. It matched Andrei’s report—that corpses had piled up at the estate they’d been staying at, and police had arrived.
“That was an action according to my own values.”
Hee-ju paused briefly and exhaled a sigh.
“But because of it, I became hunted by their associates. Your men, the CIA, now gangsters from Utah itself. I borrowed the elderly woman’s cabin just to hide briefly. Once things quieted down, I planned to leave Utah.”
“That’s quite the story. Almost as if you’d prepared it beforehand.”
“Because it’s the truth. Why would I need to lie to you?”
“You’d have plenty of reasons to lie. Especially to fool me.”
Hee-ju asked as if genuinely curious.
“Tell me directly. What do you want from me?”
……
“What could I possibly have that makes both the Mafia and the CIA chase me simultaneously? Is it really that valuable? What kind of man was my father?”
Sergei studied her with thoughtful eyes. That last question wasn’t a lie.
The woman before him didn’t know what she or the CIA were after. Either that, or she was the finest liar he’d ever met.
“Take her.”
“What are you going to do with me? I’m telling you, I really don’t know anything.”
“You’ll serve well enough as bait for that man.”
“……You mean Freddie Mercury?”
Each time she spoke that name, Sergei’s expression crumpled like crinkled paper.
He had good reason. Hee-ju had made the same incredulous face every time Liam signed something with an alias.
“If he’s been pursuing you so relentlessly, he’ll show his face here. And I’ll cut his throat with my own hands. Only then will I settle the debt between us.”
Sergei’s eyes glinted with murderous intent as he spoke in a low murmur.
Before leaving this place, he’d planted explosives in his restaurant. That must have stung his pride badly. It was not a good sign.
“He won’t come here. He knows this is a Mafia stronghold. He wouldn’t come alone. That man doesn’t fight battles he can’t win.”
“We’ll see.”
As Sergei finished speaking, Andrei jabbed her back with his finger. Move forward, it said.
As Andrei shoved her toward the door, Sergei’s voice followed her into the hallway.
“Send Roji. Have her check everything down to her undergarments.”
“Yes.”
As Hee-ju walked down the corridor, she turned her head toward a window without thinking. A familiar sound had caught her attention.
When she looked out at the view beyond the glass, her eyes widened.
!
Whoosh—splash.
Beneath her feet spread an expanse of brilliant blue sea. The back was ocean, the front was the Russian Mafia. There was nowhere to run.
***
Liam surveyed the room with dispassionate eyes. The suite his Grandfather had arranged was perfectly appointed in every detail.
A comfortable bed, a soft sofa, state-of-the-art appliances, and courteous staff. It bore no comparison to the shabby motel where he’d stayed with Hee-ju.
Everything he needed was here. Everything except Hee-ju.
……
His stomach burned like he’d swallowed medicine on an empty gut. Liam drew a quiet breath and swallowed slowly, his throat working.
A knock sounded, and his Grandfather’s secretary opened the door.
“Dinner is prepared.”
Liam rose slowly and made his way to the dining room. His Grandfather was already seated at the head of the table. Liam nodded to him and took his place.
The dining table was quiet as if doused with cold water. Only the occasional scrape of knife against plate, the soft clink of a glass on the table.
Liam cut into his steak and brought it to his mouth. It was tough as sand. It wasn’t a matter of the meat—not in a five-star hotel.
Yet he tasted nothing. He pushed some mashed potatoes in. Same result. Dry, flavorless sensation.
Liam chewed mechanically. The beef was ground fine and slid down his throat. He swallowed and stuffed another piece in his mouth.
He had no appetite, but he had to eat. To save Hee-ju, he needed his condition at its peak.
Were there surveillance systems in Sergei’s estate? How many security personnel were stationed there? What routes of entry existed? Was there a way in without being detected?
Then, at that moment.
“The food doesn’t seem to please you.”

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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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