Chapter Text
Kim Rok Soo found a windshield out of nowhere and used it as a shield to block the monster's venom attack. Choi Jung Soo's white dragon poured into the monster's wide mouth, showing off his dazzling skill, and the monster burst like an impatiens fruit, its body fluids and venom splashed.
Although Kim Rok Soo rolled to the side in time, the glass was not large enough to cover the venom spraying in all directions when the monster exploded, and the corrosive liquid sprayed onto his clothes and cheeks.
“Shit.” Kim Rok Soo wrinkled his entire face, quickly wiped the liquid off his face with his sleeves, and the clothes soaked in liquid gradually dissolved into holes. “Fuck!”
“Rok Soo! Are you alright?”
Kim Rok Soo glared at the unscathed initiator, “Didn't the captain say you shouldn't use this attack at close range?”
The monster in front of him belongs to a low-level swarming creature. It has neither sharp teeth or claws that can pierce through the skin, nor the skills of mind control. Its own attack ability is very low. They always wait after other monster causes damage, and take the opportunity to release venom to deal a fatal blow.
If the monster's venom hits an existing wound, it will be immediately paralyzing the limbs of those with ability within a few seconds, and even face amputation or death if the antidote is not given within a few days.
Fortunately, it won't have much impact when it touches the skin that is not injured, only a feeling of burning, and it will not be a big problem if wiping it off as soon as possible.
Choi Jung Soo laughed dryly, because there was only this single monster left in the visible range, and he forgot for a while that killing the opponent rashly would trigger the monster's self-destruction reaction. He hurried to Kim Rok Soo's side and wiped the mucus from his hair with a towel, like drying a wet puppy.
Kim Rok Soo stripped off his clothes, the holes on it were getting bigger and bigger, “Oh, it looks like the clothes have to be changed too.”
“It seems that no other monsters will appear for the time being. Let's go there and change clothes.” Choi Jung Soo raised his sword and pointed to a building not far away. The dilapidated signboard could barely make out what seemed to be a hotel. The glass door of the building has been completely shattered, but fortunately, the beams and columns that support the building structure have not suffered any damage.
Kim Rok Soo found a corner covered by the sofa, and took out the same style of black clothes from the prepared backpack, while Choi Jung Soo sat cross-legged to replenish water, his eyes wandering aimlessly.
Choi Jung Soo knew it was rude to stare at the person changing clothes, but in just a few seconds when Kim Rok Soo took off his clothes, his good eyesight trained by practicing martial arts still caught some kind of text-like pattern on Kim Rok Soo's arm. It didn't look like Korean or Chinese characters he was familiar with. Only then did he realize that since joining the team, he had never seen Kim Rok Soo's arms, and Kim Rok Soo always seemed to be wearing long sleeves, which would not be rolled up even on a hot day.
He blurted out, “I didn't expect you to get tattoos?”
“This is not a tattoo.”
“What else would it be? Tattoo stickers? Body painting? Well, it looks like text? What does that mean?”
Kim Rok Soo's rebuttal further piqued Choi Jung Soo's interest. Kim Rok Soo remains tight-lipped about his past, even though the two have been on the first team for a while. Rarely able to grab a strand of thread leading to his heart, Choi Jung Soo clung to the topic like a golden retriever biting a toy ball.
“You’re so noisy. I don't know.”
Kim Rok Soo, who was putting on his trousers, looked quite impatient, angrily stared at the squeaking Choi Jung Soo, his eyes were as sharp as ore that had just been hammered by a blacksmith.
Choi Jung Soo, who knows Kim Rok Soo's personality, is not deterred by the paper tiger-like threat of the opponent. In addition, the location of the text pattern somehow made him feel a little familiar. His brain was running fast, and after a few seconds, he finally picked up the memory fragments from a long time ago.
“Wait, isn't that the one in the TV series?” Choi Jung Soo tried to search for the correct word, “Soulmate?”
Speaking of which, TV dramas with the theme of soulmates were quite popular when they were in middle school.
Not only did his mother stay in front of the TV on time every day, waiting for the show to start, but there were also couples on campus who wrote each other's names on their arms with marker pens or tattoo stickers, and even more daring ones might violated school rules to tattoo themselves.
Of course, Choi Jung Soo has no interest in this kind of romantic drama, and he just remembered it because his mother mentioned the plot of this Korean drama several times at that time.
“It is said that this is adapted from a true story, so romantic!”, said his mother at the dining table, staring at the TV with a blushing face.
“They definitely tattooed it by themselves. Who would believe that babies would be born with others’ names?” Choi Jung Soo from the middle school silently complained in his heart, but if he really said these words out loud, he would definitely be slapped by his angry mother for shattering her dream.
Unexpectedly, after hearing “Soulmate”, Kim Rok Soo's firm eyes shook for a moment. He quickly regained his indifferent expression and smashed his changed clothes at Choi Jung Soo.
“Hey, hey! The slime stained my face!” Choi Jung Soo hurriedly rinsed off the slime with a towel wetted by mineral water, and Kim Rok Soo coldly said, “You deserve it. Let's go.”
Choi Jung Soo knew that there would be no answer if he kept asking at this moment, he looked at Kim Rok Soo's back, thinking about his weird reaction.
If others left someone else's name on their arm, then Choi Jung Soo would definitely laugh it off—who didn't have a young and frivolous middle school time?
But, that Kim Rok Soo? Choi Jung Soo looked at Kim Rok Soo, who was exuding a sharp attitude from time to time, and it was hard to imagine that this guy would endure the pain of getting a tattoo on his body for someone, let alone how dumb the whole thing was.
Even before the cataclysm, Kim Rok Soo didn't look like someone who would do this at all.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that Kim Rok Soo is shy because it is too out of character. However, it doesn't seem like he was lying when he said “it's not a tattoo”, and if it's another tattoo method, it should be removed at any time, and there's no need to be so secretive.
─Is it a very important person? Why not write it in Korean?
Choi Jung Soo thought of his own family and silently decided to leave this doubt to discuss with Captain Lee Soo Hyuk.