A Strategy of Sustenance

Lee Dohun remained silent for a long moment as if hesitating. His gaze was blatantly observant, but unlike before, Seohan did not avoid his eyes.

A psychological tug-of-war with unknown intentions continued for several seconds.

“Didn’t you say you’d feed me?”

“……Excuse me?”

Seohan was left speechless by the ensuing words.

Lately, he had found himself questioning his own hearing more often. It was a sign of how many absurd things he was forced to listen to. Lee Dohun’s request just now was no exception.

Feed him? Who? Me?

‘I did… say that, though.’

He remembered the servant telling him that Lee Dohun had declared he wouldn’t eat unless the Young Master came and fed him personally. He had heard it, but.

‘Who would actually think that was real!’

He assumed it was just an excuse to see his face. The reason he brought the tray of neatly prepared food was simply because it was near mealtime. Seohan’s gaze poured out unconcealed bewilderment, but Lee Dohun didn’t seem inclined to take back his words.

“I’m in a position where I can’t eat because I’m tied up.”

Right then, the handcuffs let out a clank, asserting their presence. The moment Lee Dohun shook his wrists as if to show them off, Seohan realized.

This guy is waiting for an opening.

He’s making an absurd request to be fed, but if I actually get close, I’ll be the victim of a disaster. This time, it wouldn’t be a light choking like before; my head might actually get cracked open by those handcuffs.

Seohan fiddled with the stun gun inside his pocket. Could it fulfill its purpose this time? However, it seemed impossible to use it before getting hit in the head.

As he weighed the possibilities and thought through how to handle each situation, a look of deep concern appeared on his face. Dohun simply watched him quietly.

“Mr. Dohun.”

Calling him softly, Seohan finally stood up. His steps toward Dohun were slow and deliberate.

“Just know this. If I don’t make it out of here safely, your precious person won’t be safe either.”

Seohan’s choice was a threat.

From a standpoint where improving their relationship was the top priority, it was a heartbreaking choice, but he had no other option. He had to survive first. There was no point in trying to get close only to have his skull cracked.

The instant he spoke, the aura emanating from Dohun grew even more lethal. For Seohan, who had been terrified of Dohun since their first meeting, it took a massive effort just to keep his body from trembling.

‘It’s all a lie, though.’

Dohun seemed to believe it completely. Was it luck or misfortune? He couldn’t dare to say.

Inventing a lie was a precaution in case Dohun acted aggressively. He had no intention of actually harming Dohun’s precious person or family, but saying it would place a sort of restraint on him.

If it significantly lowered the probability of being attacked, it wasn’t a bad choice for Seohan in the end—even if he had to bear the weight of that fierce gaze.

Barely enduring the sharp eyes, Seohan reached Dohun and picked up the spoon he had turned toward him earlier.

‘Do I really have to do this?’

Putting food into someone else’s mouth brought on a sudden wave of reality. Of course, regardless of his personal feelings, his hands were moving dutifully.

Meanwhile, he didn’t forget to watch Dohun’s hands. He planned to go into a full alert state if those hands moved even slightly upward… but surprisingly, Lee Dohun was obediently waiting for the food Seohan was feeding him.

Today’s menu was abalone porridge. Seohan had specifically ordered it, considering Dohun had an empty stomach for a day. He was worried that Dohun’s stomach might get upset.

He scooped some into a small bowl and stirred it lightly with a spoon to help it cool faster. Once it seemed cool enough, he naturally brought a spoonful to Lee Dohun’s lips.

Surprisingly, Dohun accepted the food submissively.

“Are we done?”

“You have to keep going. Or you could just unlock these.”

Perhaps because he had been on guard the whole time, Seohan felt exhausted after just one spoonful. He asked in hopes that it would be the last, but the answer was firm. He started to get a bit annoyed, but he had nothing to say when Dohun brought up the handcuffs on his wrists.

[Synchronization Rate has increased by 0.1%.]

I know. I know too.

‘I know this is something Baek Seohan wouldn’t do…!’

The system kept thrusting a fact he already knew right in front of his eyes. Right now, due to the tension, he couldn’t even properly focus on the system window’s words. Seohan’s only wish was for this time to end quickly.

In the end, Seohan had to serve the entire bowl of abalone porridge to Dohun before escaping that place as if fleeing.

<Come tomorrow too.>

Come tomorrow too? You devil!

While repeatedly putting food into his mouth, Seohan felt Dohun’s gaze. It never wavered for a single moment; it was clearly a gaze of observation. Every time he realized that, his throat felt dry for some reason.

He almost wished the guy would just ask him directly. The problem was that Dohun seemed to have no intention of asking about what had happened previously.

“Haah…”

No longer hiding his exhausted face, Seohan opened the system window. Checking the synchronization rate at the end of every day had become part of his routine.

“……Eh?”

Until the moment he checked the rising number, his expression was normal. But the moment he saw the value, Seohan’s mouth fell open. He stared blankly at the number written on the blue, translucent window, even going as far as to rub his eyes.

He repeated the action for a long time, as if witnessing something unbelievable. As the fact that it wasn’t an illusion became certain, his heart began to swell.

[Current Synchronization Rate is 13.1%.]

Lately, even when he donated, the rate only went up by 0.1%, so the progress had been slow. When he last checked yesterday, it was around 11%, but in just one day, it had risen by nearly 2%!

Seohan urgently called out to the system.

“Can’t you check the logs for this?”

[Checking logs……＿〆(。。).]

Before long, logs announcing the increase in the synchronization rate rained down before his eyes. It didn’t take long for Seohan’s eyes to widen as he scanned them.

“No way…”

It was certain. While he was out of his mind feeding abalone porridge to Lee Dohun, the synchronization rate had spiked in heaps. He had been so busy being wary of Dohun and feeling self-pity for his own situation that he hadn’t noticed.

‘Does feeding Lee Dohun increase the synchronization rate…?’

Eventually, he might develop a tolerance and the effect would dwindle, but right now, there was no better way. To think it rose this much just from feeding him once. Light quickly filled his vacant eyes.

‘Feeding him… might not be so bad?’

The Seohan who had been tearing his hair out over having to repeat the same thing tomorrow was gone.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow…….”

By now, a satisfied smile had appeared on his face.

The strange behavior of one person feeding and the other obediently opening his mouth to eat continued until the next morning.

Seohan’s expression as he left the basement looked nothing but proud.

[Current Synchronization Rate is 14.6%.]

Even though he had been nervous and walking on eggshells around Lee Dohun the entire time he was down there, the harvest was worth it.

‘I hope it keeps rising like this…….’

However, aside from his small hope, there was one thing that bothered him.

Up until Dohun made the strange demand to be fed, Seohan thought he had some ulterior motive. Wasn’t he the guy who had faked being sad just to launch an attack? So, Seohan thought he was trying to lure him close to overpower him and demand his release.

But that wasn’t it. Throughout the time Seohan served the food right to his face, Lee Dohun simply opened his mouth and chewed mechanically, never once laying a hand on Seohan.

It could be a high-level tactic to make him lower his guard before attacking, but…

“……I don’t think that’s it, either.”

Dohun’s eyes kept coming to mind. His gaze felt less like someone looking for an opening and more like someone taking an interest in something and analyzing it piece by piece.

Of course, that hypothesis was discarded shortly after it came to mind. Lee Dohun taking an interest in ‘Baek Seohan’? Impossible.

It was unsettling that he hadn’t asked anything about the previous events, but Seohan tried to push that fact to the back of his mind. Since no one else was asking directly, worrying or obsessing over it would only wear down his nerves.

After coming upstairs, he ate a meal prepared separately for him. However, the picky palate of ‘Baek Seohan’ even made him a fussy eater. If the food was even slightly too salty or bland, he would notice it immediately and refuse to eat.

‘I want fried chicken…….’

With the food in front of him being criticized as too spicy or whatever, there was no way he could eat chicken, but he wanted what he wanted. Thinking of the crispy skin made him feel gloomy. But if he ordered it like before, he felt like ‘Baek Seohan’s’ body would recoil in horror once it hit his mouth.

Still, this much was fine.

It would have been even better if it weren’t for Secretary Choi approaching him after he finished his meal.