Kill the Lights by Jangryang
Translator: Love Hwarang
Editor/Proofreader: Kaima
I really want to meet and ask him.
‘Seriously, what’s the matter with you?’ –Mason murmured, while pushing the things he bought inside the basement with his foot. Even if he had met Noah alive, they would’ve acted like strangers and not talked to each other. But still, he really wanted to ask him, ‘what were you thinking? I mean, do you even think?’
Click. When he switched on the light, the same scene greeted Mason, like that of a few hours ago.
“…..”
When he checked Haley’s financial situation, he had noticed considerable money being spent on items likes ‘totem’ and ‘talisman’, so he’s had his suspicions. Well, he hadn’t cared since Haley did not spend it on his relatives and had used it by himself. But he should have paid attention, what if any of those ‘items’ were this kind of nightmare. Mason considered he was very lucky to have found this early on and glanced around the basement area.
In a corner of the basement there was an unusual sight, something that one could only have seen in a fictional story. There was a magic circle, surrounded by many molten candles, and there was blood rotting in the middle. There were traces of something having been ground in a mixer on the table, and it was hard to tell if the hairs on the floor were human or animal.
Mason could only just guess, what Haley did in that place. It looked as if after having done some dangerous ritual, Haley had ground all the products he had used and dumped it in the drain.
To be honest, the spectacle wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t look at it. It wasn’t as if there was a corpse, and even if there had been, Mason wouldn’t even flinch. He had been a mercenary, who ran around the battlefields, hired to do all kinds of dirty work. Of course he had killed a person before, and the first person he killed was chopped up enough, to be frowned upon by a veteran police officer.
So, he was confident that even if Haley had done something involving a corpse, he wouldn’t even bat an eyelash. There was no corpse here, and in this the era where people joke around about having at least one hidden corpse in their basements; it wasn’t even a big deal.
But the problem was, he should’ve cleaned it up properly, after doing something like this.
“Whew….”
‘If this kid was my underling, I would’ve given him some very sound training.’ Mason glimpsed at the drain that was clogged with flesh and congealed blood and put on a gas mask and disposable rubber gloves. He sighed slightly as he poured the chemical he had bought into the drain. He was trying to imagine if this guy led a very hard life, but after looking at the dirty mixer and sorcery tools that were not even washed, he got a headache. Using a detergent to erase the magic circle that stinked of blood, Mason murmured.
“I’ve been told that I’m a very indifferent person, but….”
He had heard many complaints from his former team members, for executing dangerous missions without any plans, but even he was a little sick of Haley’s easy-going attitude. Unlike others, if one had to deal with paparazzi standing in front of their door, every day, to catch any of his flaws, how could he have thought about dying without cleaning up behind him?
Mason erased every mark that Haley had left behind.
He poured whatever was left of the chemical, in order to leave no residue and wiped all the places wherever the blood had splashed. He pulled apart the mixer and washed it with water and the cleaning liquid and stashed it deep inside storage. He repainted the table that had bloodstains.
He moved pretty quickly, but it still took three to four hours. After finishing everything, Mason was completely exhausted.
Maybe this life wasn’t so comfortable after all…. Mason thought belatedly and crawled back upstairs. When reached upstairs Tony, who had left earlier, was back again. He exclaimed, “What did you do down there?” Tony had thought that Mason was not home, but then he saw him dragging himself up from the basement.
“Cleaning. By the way, what’s up? Didn’t you go home already?”
Mason inquired, but before Tony could reply he said, “No, wait” and shook his head.
“I think I’m going to die right now, so if it’s not important, can you tell me later?’
The soreness he felt was alarming. Haley’s body was fragile and delicate, and trying to use it like his old self again and again had caused it to overload. Actually Mason had already cleaned up the basement, even if he had found about it only yesterday. It looked like this body that was drenched in drugs and alcohol took longer to heal.
“It is important!”
Tony said in a confident voice and put a few books and files in front of Mason, who had collapsed on the sofa.
“….What are these?”
Mason slightly frowned, and Tony smiled as if his chubby cheeks were going to burst. His cheeks were sparkling, and he clenched his fist saying, “You’ve got new job offers coming in!”
“Huh?”
“I think it’s because Raynoah said he doesn’t dislike you, in the interview yesterday! I went to the office this morning, and suddenly there were movies and dramas coming in right and left, no, of course not all of them were main roles…. But this one is a leading role!”
Tony hesitated a bit before picking up the script. ‘War on Drugs.’
“…..”
Mason stared at Tony, and Tony rolled his eyes in order to avoid eye contact. One by one, he picked up another manuscript and handed it over to him.
“How, how about this one? I read it, and it was simple and acceptable. The role is about some sort of a prodigal gay….” It looked like it was a story about an easy-going, promiscuous gay guy.
Tony said in a bit of an exaggerated tone. “The main role is Brick Womun, and you will have a bed scene with him! You’d wanted to sleep with him.”
“It’s good, right? Well, of course, you wouldn’t actually be doing it, but if everything goes well during the filming, you might actually sleep with him after the shoot!” –Tony probably thought Mason would definitely pick up this script because his eyes were all sparkling as he stared at him. Mason said in an indifferent tone.
“Did I say that? I don’t remember.”
“Oh yeah! You do have amnesia. But don’t you still have those feelings?”
“I’ll tell the director to have some hot scenes”, said Tony and Mason’s hands slid down his tired face. “Is there anything else?”, he asked.
“You, you don’t like it?”
‘Why doesn’t he like this?’ Tony was tilting his head with an awkward look on his face and handed over several other manuscripts. Mason made a huge effort to stay awake and took hold of the scripts.
“But why did these suddenly come in? Didn’t you say I don’t have a job anymore?”
Noah’s few words on television were that of a big deal? Of course, I knew how incredible Noah was, but he didn’t even directly say that he’ll take care me or push me. He just said ‘I don’t dislike him.’ Not one or two, but several jobs had come in at the same time.
“Well….? It, it might be jobs that were about to come your way, but didn’t, because of Noah?”
Tony didn’t seem think there was anything unusual. Mason wondered for a second if Haley was that kind of an actor, who was wanted for different sorts of roles; but looking at the movies offers that had come in, they were either prodigal gay roles or ‘War on Drugs: Heroin and Marijuana.’ So, Tony might be right.
Anyway, why would Noah do that interview….. Mason slightly sighed and thought about how to politely decline all these roles.
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No corpse! HAHA fooled you guys!
