.

Although Jooin had driven him into the corner, Lucas didn’t look upset at all. Instead, his sky-blue eyes were sparkling in delight. Switching his gaze to me, Lucas looked like a dog begging for its owner’s permission to eat the food in front. Unlike the way he put up reasons to Jooin shamefully just now, Lucas was now looking incomparably naïve and somewhat excited.

I wondered for a second. For what reason would Lucas have that look on his face as if he was begging for my permission? I mean, how long had it been since he and I met? Only two days ago…

I suddenly recalled our conversation in the hallway. It was me who dragged Lucas out to the hallway. During our conversation, I felt that Lucas was concerned about revealing Ruda’s real gender. Thinking to that extent, I noticed my face turning pale.

I shouted, “Hold on, Jooin! I think we don’t need to hear the truth.”

“What?”

It was, however, already too late. Lucas opened his mouth with a swiveling smile.

“Cool. I’ve thought it isn’t necessary to tell you, but why not when we’re all in the same boat?”

His following words, which sounded very unanticipated, startled me.

“Ruda stole something precious from me. I’m actually here to take it back.”

What? Ruda stole something from Lucas? While I was astonished by his remark, Jooin squinted his eyes and replied as if he felt sick with annoyance.

“You mean… the Ice Princess thing?”

Lucas still responded delightfully, “No, not that one.”

“Then?”

“Do you know something called a heart-looter?” Lucas then spoke with his hand on his chest, “Lucas has stolen my… heart.”

“…”

There was a moment of heavy silence. Feeling so nervous, I turned my head and observed the looks on Jooin and Yeo Ryung’s faces.

I thought, ‘Now they would be aware that Ruda was actually a girl. I can’t help that though. Lucas has been wandering around while talking about the Ice Princess thing to everyone… and now he’s joking about a heart-looter…’

At that moment, Jooin showed a composed smile and replied, “Do you know something called sense-looter?”

“What?”

“I think you just stole my sense and left nonsense…”

Watching Jooin speaking in that way with an enigmatic smile, I understood why he was displaying that look on his face.

It was then Yeo Ryung, who spoke next while flaunting the most beautiful smile that I had ever seen during these days. Raising her hand, she detached her lips. Her following words made my face lose colors.

“Lucas, have you ever wondered what would happen if your heart is really stolen away…?”

Calm down, Ban Yeo Ryung! Why were you trying to disregard the all ages admitted-rating that the Four Symbols struggled to protect while sacrificing the plot of this novel?!

At that moment, the cab pulled over. We turned our heads at the same time. The bright light of City Hall station was welcoming us nearby. ‘So, are we just glossing over the question of Lucas’s identity?’ Exchanging eye contact, we bent our steps toward the head office of Reed Enterprise.

On our way to the building, Jooin uttered, “Well, love has no borders and genders.”

“Come to think of it, you crossed both.”

Listening to what Jooin and Yeo Ryung just said, I wondered, ‘Don’t you guys ever felt suspicious of Ruda’s real gender when you even heard about the Ice Princess thing?’

I turned my head to look at Lucas. He was smiling delightfully with his sky-blue eyes knitted into a crescent shape.

Before bending our steps to the head office building, Lucas, who just approached the alley, sat down on the dusty ventilation fan and took out his laptop.

I stared at his bag in mystery, thinking, ‘His bag is really like Doraemon’s 4D pocket. Things keep come out…’

Lucas then said, “I’m gonna incapacitate the security system, so hold on for a second. It won’t last long but still long enough for us to take Ruda out.”

“Okay…”

Yeo Ryung and I waited nervously. Only Jooin, who had some knowledge of hacking, threw a glance at the laptop and was blown away by Lucas’s ability once in a while.

When Jooin came closer to us, I asked, “How is it, Jooin?” He then shook his head and uttered, “He’s a monster. Not only Ruda hyeong but also Lucas… where did these guys come out from?”

At that moment, Lucas closed his laptop and said, “Okay. Finished the preparation. Let’s get inside now.”

“Cool.”

With that response, we walked out of the alley.

* * *

Inside the building of Reed Enterprise, many people were still left on the basement floor regardless of the weekend. Instead of suits, they were wearing comfortable tracksuits and was looking up at dozens of monitors that filled one side of the wall.

As soon as a guy suddenly massaged his stiff nape, the door opened. Another guy then stepped inside. The people sitting in the room then flung the same question.

“How’s the boss’s son doing?”

The guy who just came in shook his head. With a shrug, he replied, “Don’t even talk about it. I guess he attempted another escape. He pretended he was sick and let someone come into his room then attacked the person while hanging himself on the ceiling. He even proceeded this while finding the blind spots of the surveillance cameras.”

Those who listened to this story were astonished.

“Oh my god!”

“He’s just like a beast trapped inside a zoo. I think he’s so eager to go out that nothing seems to scare him. The person, who went inside his room, had to be carried off on a stretcher.”

Another guy, who was chewing a donut, asked, “Dosnt ddu booah sonav angwe fwengs? (Doesn’t the boss’s son have any friends?)”

“Please speak after you finish that.”

“A-twinkee awswo eshkapolo na wen sumwon comeer ttoo bwingima dassufuo. (I think he also escaped alone now. When someone comes here to bring him out, that’s a fuss.)

“WHAT??”

That was when everyone squinted their eyes to decode what he was saying. An employee, who barely didn’t pay attention to the chatter and was staring at the monitor, emitted a whoop.

“Eh??!”

Every eye was bent in that direction. The guys then exclaimed one after another.

“What the hell is that?”

While Ban Yeo Ryung, Jooin, and I gazed at Lucas, he swiped the card through the card reader next to the door. With a beep, the door simply opened, which was such a ludicrous sight.

Lucas beckoned to us, “Come in.”

Watching Lucas walking forward confidently without standing close to the wall to hide, Yeo Ryung asked, “Are we okay to get in that much confidently?”

“I told you the security system wouldn’t work for a while. The video is still on but it won’t be able to shoot us. If someone wanders around the spots I’ve manipulated, it will cause a problem, but we can leave before that happens, can’t we?”

Lucas replied so gallantly and cheerfully that I felt somewhat dumbfounded. Standing still for a moment, I quickly bent my steps when Lucas waved his hand in the air and asked me, ‘Aren’t you coming in?’ Everything around the place, where I stepped inside, was silvery gray from wall to the floor; the glittering floor, which looked as if it was coated, seemed like I was inside a city in the future.

Moving at a fast pace, Lucas said, “Based on the building structure, I estimate two places where Yi Ruda may be trapped.”

“Where?”

“One is on the lowest basement floor, the other is the top room just below the rooftop.”

“So?” asked Jooin.

“We don’t have enough time to check both spots, and it’s also too dangerous, so let’s split teams…”

“I thought you’re gonna mention that. I’m asking you how we’re gonna split teams.”

After Jooin’s remark, Lucas looked at me and Ban Yeo Ryung alternately then pointed at my side. ‘Eh? Me?’ I wondered.

When I slowly walked toward him, he pulled my arm and had me right beside me then flaunted a grin. Putting his arm around my shoulders as if we’re close friends, Lucas said, I mean, he tried to say, “Cool. I’ll go downstairs with her, and you two go below the rooftop––”

“Do you want to break your wrist?”

Once he heard Yeo Ryung’s savage comment, Lucas took his hand off from me. He then continued as if he felt ashamed, “Wouldn’t you… two go below the rooftop floor?”