“I heard noise.”
“You mean gagging.”
“Violent gagging,” Seungho corrected, deadpan.
Haneul rolled his eyes but pocketed the handkerchief. It smelled faintly of sandalwood and paper money.
??????
Later that night, after Junseo forced him to drink ginger tea and sleep early, Haneul padded back up to Yul’s office and found a box on the desk.
It was smaller than the last one. Inside: three mooncakes. Two were walnut. One was filled with soft sweet milk. There was no note. Only a folded red napkin tucked inside. Clean. Smooth. Monogrammed.
??????
Chapter 15 – The Missing Laugh
The club had been loud once. Not anymore.
Tonight, Velvet Eclipse thrummed with something quieter than silence. Like a held breath. Like the moment before a needle touches vinyl. Haneul didn’t notice it at first—just the subtle drag of tension in the floorboards, the way Junseo’s favorite playlist looped one track too long, and nobody changed it. Someone had spilled glitter in the hallway. Junseo hated that powder. Called it herpes with a marketing budget.
But he hadn’t cleaned it up.
No one remembered who found him. Not exactly.
The police report listed the time—3:42 a.m.—and the location: a back alley behind a gimbap shop two blocks off the club circuit. A bloodstain that ran in a crescent across the cement. No CCTV. Just shadows and cigarette butts, and a smear of glitter that never came off.
Junseo’s shift had ended an hour before. He’d gone out the back door, texting someone with his usual grin. He’d worn the black bomber with the heart pin, the one Haneul had mocked as “discount cupid.” He never came back.
Yul didn’t say it aloud. Not to the police. Not to Haneul. But the bruises said it all.
A hate crime.
A brutal one.
Someone who didn’t like glitter on boys, or the way Junseo laughed too loud, or how his eyeliner winged out like he knew he was beautiful. Someone who wanted him gone.
When the news broke, the club didn’t open. Yul locked the doors and didn’t answer calls. Haneul stood in the center of the club, fox mask in hand, shoes soaked, eyes ringed with disbelief. Like he was waiting for Junseo to jump out from behind the bar and yell “Just kidding.”
He never did.
??????
“Haneul,” Yul said gently. “Go home.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Then rest here.”
“No.”
Haneul shoved a stool. It hit the floor with a dull metal bang. Nobody came to check.
“Who did it?”
Yul looked away.
“Say it.”
