Le An blinked, staring at the man's face as if trying to find his eyes. The man's shoulders shifted in a shrug.
"I won't need much guiding tonight."
"Oh. Okay…"
Before the man could reach for his wrists, Le An was already holding them out, as if expecting to be handcuffed. He heard the man click his tongue.
Instead of grabbing his wrists, the man gently wrapped his hands around Le An's clenched fists. A jolt of tension ran through Le An's body, and his fingers twitched slightly.
"You can start now," the man said, watching Le An's anxious expression.
"Ah… right," Le An murmured, beginning the guiding. Then, after a moment, he added, "Is it because of the IV? Is that why you're holding me differently?"
"What else would it be?" the man replied with a firm tone. "You look like you're going to pass out the second I touch you."
Le An wriggled his fingers slightly, trying to adjust to the sensation. His palms were warm. "I look kind of a mess today, yeah…" he said, hesitating before continuing. "And… guiding through the hands is faster. You probably know that. So that's..."
The man remembered the medicine Le An had taken before he came in. That must be why he's like this now, the man thought. Talking too much, eyes unfocused, words slipping out before he could think them through. He was talking more, rambling even, but the man listened quietly.
"It's better for you this way, too. More effective. Uhm... Anyway. Thank you," Le An said awkwardly. The man didn't respond.
They could go back to their usual guiding posture once Le An adjusted to the injections. But for now, this worked. The man was… being oddly kind today. Maybe he was in a good mood.
"You know…" Le An muttered, his head tilted down.
"You don't have to hold me that tightly," he mumbled. "What am I gonna do, run away? You'd catch me in a second anyway. Shout? Your oppression game is... no joke. And with that tulle up there, it's not like I could do anything. So… why grip so hard?"
"…"
He exhaled softly. "And how long has it been now? Over two weeks, maybe? I haven't told anyone about you. Not even by accident. I mean… I don't even know anything about you. Nothing. And you…"
He trailed off like a drunk man lost in thought, then suddenly dropped his head against the man's chest. Then he jerked back instantly. "Sleepy… Ugh. What was I saying? Are you even listening?"
"Ah, yeah. Back then, you held me like I was some kind of wild animal. Like this, here."
Le An freed one of his hands, took the man's right hand, and placed it gently on his own neck. He closed his fingers around the man's and pressed his nails into his nape. His face was half visible now, scrunched into a grumpy expression.
"Like that. And you don't even have a face," he mumbled. His head kept lightly tapping the man's chest, as if he didn't know where else to lean. "You're scary… But…" His hand stayed on his neck. "But I'm okay with you touching me now. If you're gentle. I know you're not…"
He trailed off into a mumble. The man leaned in to catch his words.
"Not what?" he asked.
"What?" Le An blinked up at him, unfocused.
"You said you'd let me touch your neck because you know I'm not what?"
Le An stared at the black strings on his face, dazed. He wanted to stop talking, He could feel the words tumbling out of his mouth. He wasn't even sure if he was making sense. Is he getting annoyed?
But…silence felt worse. So he filled it. "Because… You're not a bad person."
The man grabbed the back of his neck, not forcefully, just enough to lift Le An's head and look into his face, like he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.
"How can you say that while I'm-"
But then he noticed Le An's body trembling slightly. He had been guiding him this whole time, ten minutes at least, and his palms were soaked with sweat.
"Stop guiding," the man said sharply. "That's enough."
Le An slowly withdrew his energy. And as he did, it felt like his entire strength drained away, too. The man caught him, holding him by the shoulders and waist, then carefully laid him down on the bed. His body felt lighter than expected.
The man was about to leave when Le An spoke again, voice groggy.
"Lock the door… Please… Y-you didn't leave yet, right?"
"…"
"Don't want them, I don't… mm…" Le An slipped into sleep.
The man sighed and locked the door, the soft click echoing in the quiet room. There was something deeply wrong about how easily Le An had slipped into sleep while he was still in the room. He wasn't even pretending to be cautious anymore.
He was about to melt into his shadow form when his steps faltered. He glanced back at the sleeping figure. It was irritating. That kind of comfort wasn't something he was meant to give. And the treasure... The treasure had no right to expect it from him.
He stared at Le An's curled-up sleeping form. Unbothered. It made his skin crawl. This fragile thing had the nerve to let his guard down completely right in front of him.
After a beat, he stepped closer, pulled out the IV needle from Le An's arm, and placed a band-aid over the spot. Then he took Le An's watch and slipped it back onto his wrist.
Innocent? He asked himself. No. Not when millions are suffering. Not when their screams had been swallowed by silence, while he was kept protected like some national heirloom. He snapped a photo of the IV bag's label with his phone, noting the formula written there.
With a final irritated look at Le An's sleeping face, he left the room.
---
When Le An woke up, he was bundled tightly in a blanket. A knock on the door stirred him.
It was still dark. It wasn't even morning yet.
"Yes?" he mumbled, stretching his arms out from under the blanket.
"Representatives from the GAC have arrived, Le An. They want to meet with you."
"At this hour? What for?"
There was a pause. Then the guard replied.
"The sleep imaging item in your contract was approved despite our objections. The monitoring device has arrived. They need your presence to install it."
Le An groaned and dropped his head back onto the pillow. "What a lovely start to the day…"
He couldn't remember much from the night before, but he had a nagging feeling that he'd said some embarrassing things. Since he couldn't remember a time when the man was angry, none of what he said must have mattered then.
After that morning, surprisingly, things progressed just as the GAC's doctor had predicted. Despite the injections, Le An recovered quickly. The herbs and meds were still awful, but his stay in the facility was extended until his body fully adapted to the treatment.
Still, Emerald and his expert team remained deeply concerned. Many of the procedures were vague, implausible, or just plain reckless. The legal team was equally alarmed.
All Le An kept hearing was how unacceptable everything was. But no one could stop it now. Practitioners, sensing the anxiety from Le An's side, kept coming in to explain things in detail—likely under orders to calm them down.
"Your body reacts pretty aggressively to the injections at first. Think of it like your cells going crazy trying to purge the medicine," one of the practitioners explained. "That's what happened last week. We could've slowly increased the dosage, but we chose to start high and reduce it instead."
"Because it's faster?" Emerald asked flatly. The practitioner couldn't hold his gaze and looked down.
Le An tilted his head. "Isn't it risky to start with an estimated dose? What if my body reacts in a dangerous way?"
The practitioner replied with a gentle voice, "We haven't started the actual experimental formulas yet. These injections are to prepare your immune system. If we went ahead without this step, your body would treat the experiment like an enemy."
"So… right now, you're training my body not to fight back?" Le An asked, weariness creeping into his tone.
When the practitioner hesitated, Emerald stepped in. "Exactly, Le An. Isn't that brilliant?" His sarcasm was directed at the previous day's practitioner.
Nothing about this was brilliant.
Le An locked eyes with the woman. "What would happen if you were the one injected with this stuff?"
She shifted uncomfortably, as if he'd threatened to stick the needle into her own neck. Her voice came out hoarse.
"Physiologically speaking, we're similar. You'd see the same symptoms."
"I see… And this immunity reorganization—are you strengthening it or weakening it?"
"We're strengthening it too, but… It's more open to new threats now."
Le An gave a tired smile. "I see. I'm sure everyone's going to want this once it's on the market."
Silence fell.
He was joking. He had to be. But he wasn't. This was his reality.