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Lee Jaha heard that Cha Sungtae often walked around, bragging about being the second-ranked of his clan. In some way, it was true, so Lee Jaha didn't want to pursue this matter further.
It's just that Cha Sungtae dares to show his face and go around with that heroic title, with that cat-scratching martial arts skills. So far, he hasn't been targeted by any assassin... that's quite strong of him. Lee Jaha had no intention of reminding Cha Sungtae to be careful. If Cha Sungtae did something stupid and got killed, he would tear down the assassin organization anyway. That'd be fine
...
This idiot, really. Lee Jaha didn't care what Cha Sungtae was doing, but just the thought of a main member of his clan being this careless made his blood boil.
Well then, as a leader, Lee Jaha will give in and silently slip behind to protect Cha Sungtae. Why wouldn't he say it directly? Eh. Why ruin his own image for that? Even if it meant dying again, Lee Jaha would never admit he was worried about Cha Sungtae.
After that, there was a series of days of protecting (following) Cha Sungtae.
For Cha Sungtae's safety, Lee Jaha frequently follows him into restaurants through the back entrance to try some of the dishes before Cha Sungtae is about to eat. Or sometime, Lee Jaha will wait until Cha Sungtae finishes his meal and then "borrow " the eating utensils he uses. It's all to prevent poisoned food/eating utensils.
Sometimes, he will interrogate (kill) suspicious people (everyone) interacted with or were intending to interact with Cha Sungtae. Lately, there have been a lot of people sneaking up to probe Lee Jaha, even though he had already killed most of them. But he hadn't gotten rid of the whole organization yet, so there's a lot more to worry about.
No one dared to betray him, but Lee Jaha admitted he was pretty kind towards Cha Sungtae, and perhaps Cha Sungtae didn't like him very much. So what if that old fox seemed loyal to let him lower his guard and take advantage of that and betray him??
Lee Jaha rubbed his chin to convince himself, continuing to search Cha Sungtae's closet for hints of betrayal or any other shady thing
___
Cha Sungtae looked at his room, and his paperwork was a bit different from before he left. He thought someone had come in, but after asking a few people, he didn't know who it was. His sister probably just came in looking for something, so Cha Sungtae didn't pay much attention.
A few days later, he saw that the wardrobe had been ransacked, vaguely thinking that he had been robbed. But after checking a few times, he didn't see anything missing. He didn't understand this guy's purpose. Cha Sungtae didn't have anything valuable to steal. Most of it became the clan's property.
One day, he truly lost something. A robe, just a normal one, it isn't worth as much as others in the wardrobe. It isn't a fancy one, a mid one that he usually wore that robe, since its quality wasn't very good so even if he got into a fight and it got torn, he would not feel upset about it.
A pervert...?
Then, Cha Sungtae saw Lee Jaha wearing the robe he was missing.
...Maybe he's dizzying... or it's just a coincidence.
Cha Sungtae paused and gazed intently at Lee Jaha. Noticed the attention. Lee Jaha nodded, confirmed.
"Oh yes, this is yours."
Cha Sungtae doubted saying something, but Lee Jaha quickly added, claiming:
"Well, it's not like we haven't swapped clothes before."
Cha Sungtae felt like there was something very wrong here, but he couldn't figure it out, so he just nodded. Waddle along on patrol with Lee Jaha.
At noon, Cha Sungtae was a bit surprised because Lee Jaha took him to a nearby restaurant that Cha Sungtae often went to, instead of Jang Deuksu's place where Lee Jaha usually ate.
Lee Jaha also decided the dishes for the two of them. Cha Sungtae is in a subordinate position, so he didn't have anything to complain about.
An errand boy brought out two bowls, placing one in front of Cha Sungtae and one in front of Lee Jaha. Cha Sungtae had already poked his chopsticks in and about to eat, yet Lee Jaha spoke up.
"Oh, wrong one, this bowl is yours."
Then Lee Jaha changed the bowl of noodles along with Cha Sungtae's chopsticks and proceeded to eat the food as usual.
Cha Sungtae was quiet but freaked out when he discovered that the noodles given to him were the kind he always picked, Lee Jaha already added a little lemon and chili. A bowl of noodles that perfectly matched his taste, as if Lee Jaha had gone out of his way to prepare the dish to fit Cha Sungtae's liking.
Looking up, Lee Jaha is eating his noodles deliciously, even sucking on his chopsticks. Tilts his head in confusion.
"Why don't you eat it? Is it not to your liking?"
"...No."
Cha Sungtae gets another pair of chopsticks and lowers his head to eat the meal, muttering to himself
'That's such a coincidence! Just a coincidence.'