LBOT-7

Zhan sat down in the empty bathtub and retrieved his laptop from his bag.

After turning on the power, he took off the frame of the glasses he had been wearing.

It was unplugged and converted to a USB drive, which he placed into his laptop and a file appeared on the screen.

The files were recorded while walking around the house.

He looked through the footage and discovered the scene in which Wang Yibo was filmed.

When he noticed him having a chat in front of the living room window, he clicked the pause button.

A smiling face toward Zhan was as cool like a model. His self-esteem was slightly harmed as a guy.

Feeling an unexpected defeat, Zhan moved the screen a little further back.

After saving the video in his hand, he immediately forwarded it to Kim Joon.

He closely examined Wang Yibo’s palm on the screen while waiting for a call.

A Chinese man he has known in Sydney since last year taught him how to do palmistry, but Wang Yibo’s lifeline was excruciatingly long.

Based on the fact that it came down to the wrist, it appeared like he would live for a thousand years unless someone killed him, on the other hand, Zhan’s palm line was cut off in the middle and disappeared.

It was an unfair world.

He took out an e-cigarette and put it into his mouth while waiting for a call. The phone rings while he hangs in the bathtub, smoking into the air.

He heard Kim Joon’s voice after putting on his earbuds and pressing the call button.

[The picture came out well.]

“How long do you think it will take?”

[Even if I start working right away, a week?]

He needed Wang Yibo’s fingerprints to search the basement or enter his room. There was also a method for obtaining fingerprints on objects, but the pictures were more accurate.

However, he had no idea how things would change in a week. He must locate the safe and inspect the contents as soon as possible.

“Couldn’t it be a little faster?”

[I’ll try. What more do you need?]

Zhan, who was worried, shook his head.

“Nothing for now.”

[Take care of yourself.]

“Yeah. You too, Brother.”

After the call, Zhan placed the laptop on his upper body and laid it down completely in the bathtub as a bed.

His long legs protruded out of the bathtub, but he didn’t care and continued to smoke.

The smoke was sucked in without a break through a large ventilator.

No matter how you look at it, the ventilation system here was amazingly well-designed.

….

Xiao Zhan, who was tossing and turning on his bed, opened his eyes to the sound of music coming from outside.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was ten o’clock in the morning. He stood up and sat, rubbing his face.

With twinkling lights on the room’s ceiling, CCTV cameras were still watching him. It felt like he was in a prison.

Zhan stepped out of bed and into the living room. He was puzzled as to who had turned on the music in the morning, but a head poked up from the sofa.

Perhaps it was Wang Yibo, but the loud EDM didn’t seem to be his taste.

“Who are you?”

The man sitting there turned his head and looked at Zhan. He then stood up and turned off the music.

He was shorter than Zhan had imagined and wore dark sunglasses, but the atmosphere was eerily similar to Wang Yibo.

He could tell that he was Wang Yibo’s younger brother he was talking about yesterday without even asking.

“Are you awake? You slept late, so I thought about whether I should wake up.”

If he was truly concerned, he would not play music until his ears were ripped apart. Why didn’t he simply walk in and shake his head instead?

The word came to the back of his throat. Furthermore, the other party spoke informally without introducing himself or anything.

“Wash up and go out. I have a place to go with you.”

“Where… to?”

“The second brother told me to take you to the exhibition.”

When Xiao Zhan noticed the tip of his lips twisting spitefully, he assumed Wang Yibo had forced him to do it.

That was what Zhan had heard about Wang Haoxuan before coming to China. Twenty-one years old. The son of the third wife, a drug addict, and a party fanatic.

Sure enough, seeing him sniffing his nose was quite familiar.

“And talk informally. I’m the same age as you.”

Wang Haoxuan sat down again on the sofa before hearing the other person’s response and turned on loud music.

Xiao Zhan entered the room because he would be irritated if he said anything else. He took a nicotine suppressant and showered to get rid of any remaining drowsiness.

Zhan put on the clothes he brought with him after wiping away the water and drying his hair.

He has to change his clothes in the bathroom because of the damn CCTV. He put on his horn-rimmed glasses and looked in the mirror while wearing all of his clothes.

Regardless of the glasses, the navy blue checkered pattern that looked neat was not to his liking.

He shook his head and walked into his bedroom to put on his watch.

He bought a few expensive items to imitate the young master, one of which was the watch. He had to sell everything when he was finished. None of them were to his liking.

Wang Haoxuan stands up with his feet on the table when he comes out. He followed him downstairs, but Wang Yibo was nowhere to be found.

According to the butler of the house, he was preoccupied with work and left work early in the morning.

After Zhan stated that he disliked rice, the butler prepared toast and salad for him.

Wang Haoxuan sat across from Xiao Zhan, engrossed in a game on his phone, while Zhan was eating his meals.

His brow on the sunglasses kept getting wrinkled, and if things didn’t go as planned, he’d curse.

He drank the juice that the butler made and observed him. He couldn’t keep his lips still, and he looked nervous as he chewed.

“Why are you looking at me?”

Zhan assumed Haoxuan was distracted by the game, but it turns out he wasn’t.

As he bit the toast, Zhan smiled vaguely. He was almost done eating when he heard a noise in the living room.

This time, who would it be? He leaned back in his chair, surprised to see Wang Yibo approaching him.

Huh? He didn’t go to work.

“You are here, sir.”

Wang Haoxuan jumped up from his seat and shoved his cell phone into his pocket as soon as he heard the words.

Xiao Zhan, who sat across from him, noticed that his nerves were tense. Wang Haoxuan took off his sunglasses and bowed his head to greet Wang Yibo.

“You are here, Brother …”

Wang Yibo did not respond and pulled out the chair next to Zhan and sat down.

After greeting Wang Haoxuan also sat down and looked at his eyes. The attitude he had had a while ago was gone.

Zhan put down the toast he was eating and grabbed the juice. It feels like food was on top of an unexpected appearance.

The awkward atmosphere was relaxed a bit when the butler intervened.

“Sir. You left work after only two hours.”

“I have something I left behind in my study. I‘d like a cup of coffee, please.”

Wang Yibo’s right arm was naturally draped over the chair in which Xiao Zhan sat.

When he realized Wang Yibo’s arms were touching behind his back, Zhan purposefully raised his back and widened the gap.

Wang Yibo then greets him by making eye contact.

“Did you sleep well?”

Xiao Zhan felt uncomfortable. He swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded.

“Yeah… Thanks….”

Wang Yibo’s gaze now shifted to Haoxuan.

“Did you two greet each other?”

Wang Haoxuan was restless like a puppy dog.

“Yes….”

His face resembled Wang Yibo’s without his sunglasses, but his eyes were completely different. He felt withdrawn and timid, like a student being scolded by his teacher.

Zhan hadn’t noticed it before, but Haoxuan had a noticeable scar on his temple.

The butler arrived with coffee just in time, and Yibo took it and stood up. His hand, which had been resting on the chair, moved to Zhan’s shoulder.

Zhan stiffened at the sudden contact.

“Wang Haoxuan.”

Wang Haoxuan raised his head as if on fire. “Yes.”

“You take good care of Xuanyu.”

“All right… . brother.”

It was amusing that a twenty-one-year-old kept using the title ‘brother.’ That’s how challenging the relationship was. Or at least it was uncomfortable.

The hand on the shoulder naturally fell off. Wang Yibo grabbed the cup of coffee and went inside after saying his goodbyes.

Zhan moved his shoulders unconsciously to shake off the warmth.

After a small sigh, his gaze met Wang Haoxuan, who sat in front of him, and for a brief moment, he felt a sense of unity on his face.

Those eyes appeared to be a representation of his heart.

You also… Wang Yibo, that bastard, you don’t like him, do you?

===

Even painting with his feet would be better than this.

Zhan thought to himself as he looked at the picture that he could not understand at all.

It was a painting of a human face, but it also had eyes on the back of its head.

He wondered what the artist wanted to say. He was curious as to what the artist intended to say.

Make sure you don’t get hit in the back?

Zhan spent the whole day looking around with Wang Haoxuan.

After going to Insa-dong to view exhibitions and purchase souvenirs, they arrived at the art museum run by the shipping group around the time the sun went down.

Even though he looked at the pictures all day, he was not interested at all because he was an outsider.

He felt sorry for the young deputy director who had been explaining for a long time.

Zhan has been mentioning his art major, so he must respond… At best, he nodded, and sometimes he only said a lot of soulless lines such as wonderful, cool, and awesome.

“Even if I paint with my feet, I’ll paint better than this.”

Zhan looked back at the sudden voice.

Wang Haoxuan, who had gone to the bathroom, arrived later and shared his thoughts on the painting without filtering.

The smile on the deputy chief’s face faded as she listened to the harsh tone, saying that it would be better if he hung a picture he drew when he was seven years old, or what the hell was he going to buy and use this for.

“How much is it?”

Wang Haoxuan asked, and the deputy chief tried to smile.

“Are you talking about the painting?”

“No, how much does it cost to sleep with you?”

“What?”

“Why are you pretending not to understand? Stupid.”

The deputy chief’s neck and ears were bright red.

Just then, an employee called to inform her that she had received an urgent call. She tried to hide her embarrassment as she politely excused herself and walked to the staff.

Wang Haoxuan smacked his lips boldly as he looked back.

“Doesn’t she look delicious?”

Haoxuan raised and waved his little finger when Zhan didn’t respond.

“That, Wang Haikuan’s? Do you know Wang Haikuan? My big brother. There is a reason why he got the position of deputy chief here at a young age.”

“…”

“Should I ask one for you as well?”

“…”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you shy to talk about something like this?”

Zhan was baffled as to why he had asked him if he was shy while he himself had done something embarrassing.

Zhan would have smashed the back of his head until the eyeballs popped out if he had been a close friend.

Just then, Wang Haoxuan received a phone call. He was on the phone right next door, and the other person’s voice rang out loudly.

Wang Haoxuan didn’t even consider turning down the volume.

“How many times do I have to tell you, damn it. I told you I couldn’t make it.”

[Why.]

“A guest came to my house, and my brother asked me to take care of it.”

[What guest? Is it a woman?]

“It sucks, you asshole. It’s a man.”

[That’s great. Ask him to play together. Wen Chao is going to come with something amazing today.]

Wang Haoxuan’s irritated eyes lit up for a moment. His gaze was then fixed on Zhan.

Xiao Zhan moved a little further away and gazed at another painting.

He hung up the phone and called Zhan’s after some thought.

“Hey… What was your name?”

They’d been together all day, but Zhan was taken aback when Haoxuan couldn’t remember even three words of his name.

He wondered if it was because Haoxuan took too much drugs and his brain grew stupid, or if he was born with a stone head.

“Mo Xuanyu.”

“Yes, Mo Xuanyu. Do you need to see more paintings?”

“Why…?”

“I need to go see my friends for a while. Do you want to go with me?”

“Now?”

“Yeah. I just have to go and sit down for a while.”

“…”

“But don’t tell the second brother.”

“…”

When there was no reaction from Zhan, Haoxuan’s expression became anxious.

Zhan kept his mouth shut, so Haoxuan took off his watch and held it out.

It was an expensive watch worth over a billion dollars. It was ridiculous to toss something like that to a passing dog as if it were a snack.

“Condition to keep your mouth shut.”

Zhan stared at the watch and nodded his head up and down. There was no reason to refuse.

Zhan, too, was slowly getting tired of appreciating paintings that he didn’t even want to see.

As soon as he received the watch and put it in his pocket, Wang Haoxuan said he liked him and patted him on the shoulder, and smiled.

“Let’s go.”

====