Ch.49Chinese Iced Tea 7

Ilshim Corporation, Baeksa General Hospital.

A familiar name is written on patient room 404.

<VIP, Team Leader Han Surin>

Before entering the room, Sangmun brushed off his collar.

Then, with a light cough, he opened the door.

The blinds in the bedroom were drawn tightly.

Sangmun speaks in a solemn voice toward the other side.

“Sister, it’s Sangmun.”

After a long pause, a woman’s voice is heard from behind the blinds.

“I said I want to be alone…”

“I came alone, without the others. I also have something to report.”

Sangmun responds calmly, not backing down.

The woman behind the curtain hesitates to answer.

Then, as if finally composing herself, she orders him to come in.

The bull-like massive man pulled back the curtain.

Inside was the sister he had served his entire life.

She was lying quietly on the hospital bed, staring out the distant window.

“Are you feeling better…”

“Yeah.”

An awkward atmosphere hangs in the room.

Both remember what happened last night.

But Sangmun wasn’t disappointed in Red Snake despite seeing ‘that scene’ yesterday.

He knows well that all this was because of the aphrodisiac from Wei Chengshan, the master of Chinatown.

He gathered his courage and approached his sister.

Then carefully says:

“We’ve dealt with Wei Chengshan.”

“How?”

Red Snake asks, glaring with her red eyes.

Not with the eyes of a female in heat from yesterday, but with the calm eyes of a killer.

Sangmun takes out his phone and plays a video.

The background in the footage is a harbor.

Red Snake knows it’s Incheon Harbor.

It’s a place she often used when disposing of targets.

Sangmun’s subordinate rolls a drum down a cliff.

Wei Chengshan was inside the drum.

With all his limbs removed.

“Anna cut them off herself. She’s certainly skilled.”

Red Snake instinctively stroked her neck at the thought of her.

She knows well the power of the woman who could slice through a ranker dummy with a single stroke.

“Well, that’s clean. The Chinese track their dead comrades themselves, so it’s better to erase the traces.”

“We’ve also successfully absorbed Chinatown into our territory. The Chairman was very pleased.”

It’s fortunate that the Chairman was pleased.

He usually dislikes such unilateral actions, but they were lucky since he had always looked down on Chinatown.

“Good… I’m glad it was handled well.”

Red Snake took a deep breath.

Her breath was no longer pink-tinged.

Sangmun looks down at his sister, who has returned to her normal self.

Then he brings up what he had been saving to say.

“The kids… they understand too.”

“Wh-what…”

Red Snake stuttered, as if finally facing what she’d been dreading.

Having shown such an unseemly sight to her subordinates, her dignity as their sister must have fallen to the ground.

The scene of a grown woman putting her lips between a girl’s thighs.

A vulgar sight difficult to see even in adult videos.

“That moment, I mean…”

His face reddened as if recalling the scene.

With both hands in his pockets, he barely continued.

“The doctor said it was a concentration close to a lethal dose.”

“It might be fortunate that it ended with just that scene. You could have died otherwise…”

Red Snake bows her head deeply.

Her hands were trembling, clenched into fists.

“Si-sister…?”

Red Snake took a deep breath and glared with snake-like red eyes.

Soon her lips parted, and sharp fangs snarled.

“Get out now–!!”

Startled by the sudden outburst, Sangmun fled the room in a hurry.

“Haah…”

Once her subordinate left, Red Snake sighed deeply.

Then she rubbed her throbbing forehead with the back of her hand.

“Fuck…”

To think that she, who had lived her entire life as a dignified executive, would lust after a young woman like a bitch in heat…

And even marking her with a kiss out of jealousy toward Anna?

You’re truly insane…

She covered her face with both hands, too embarrassed.

She groaned, feeling her face burning.

She wants to believe it was simply because of the aphrodisiac.

But Miho’s image still filled her mind.

To think that the seemingly innocent child could act so seductively in such an erotic costume…

It was too stimulating.

But still.

For her, who was older, to become the same kind of bitch.

It’s irritating.

This is all because of that damn Anna.

Just because Siho called out that name at that moment.

“—.”

While thinking about the white-eyed killer.

The blinds begin to sway gently.

Her black hair flutters softly.

She was sure she had closed the window, so where was this breeze coming from?

Red Snake pushed her bangs to the side.

And stared intently at the source of the wind.

It was the windowsill.

The silver-haired killer was already sitting there.

Her white pupils and hair sparkled in the sunlight, creating a mysterious atmosphere.

Anna slowly enters the hospital room.

Her cloudy white eyes draw closer to Red Snake.

Silver hair and black hair intermingle.

Soon Anna’s expressionless lips twitch.

“Bitch.”

A short, blunt two syllables.

Hearing those words, Red Snake felt dazed, as if struck by a hammer.

“What…?”

“Awake now, slut?”

The Russian-born killer kindly repeats herself.

At her consideration, the area under Red Snake’s eyes trembled.

“Look, I keep telling you, that was really the aphrodisiac…”

“Slut. Whore. Bitch. Skank.”

She jabbed at Red Snake’s heart with words learned from who knows where.

The killer had grown beyond her previous self, now mastering how to kill not just the body but also the spirit.

“Stop it… I get it.”

Red Snake muttered with a reddened face.

Satisfied with her reaction, Anna finally closed her mouth.

“So why did you come to me? Siho is downstairs.”

The red-eyed woman preemptively changed the subject.

She thought Anna might be seeking compensation for helping with the Chinatown operation.

But unexpected words came from the killer’s mouth.

“Siho needs. A guardian.”

“Guardian?”

“Yes, the guardian receives the antidote. Must feed it to the patient. For one week.”

Anna leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

“Some women deliberately refuse. To take it. Wanting to keep their lewdly. Enhanced bodies.”

She clicked her tongue, wondering what kind of woman would do such a thing.

“I can’t be the guardian. I’m a wanted person.”

Red Snake listened calmly to Anna’s words.

It’s not a difficult task.

Just giving medicine on time.

But there’s one problem.

Just as Anna is wanted, Red Snake is also a member of the organization.

If the name ‘Ilshim’ appears on the guardian form, it could cause problems for Siho’s future.

Those associated with the organization could face various injustices.

Neither of them was suitable for “protection” in the first place.

Killing someone would be another matter.

Red Snake falls into thought.

She suddenly recalls what Siho said in the Jasmine Room.

That voice saying she had something to tell Anna.

Her first words after escaping the aphrodisiac’s effects.

Above all else, her priority was Anna.

Red Snake snorted derisively.

And realizes that it had already been decided which of them was more suitable as a guardian.

“You do it, be the guardian.”

Red Snake looked up at Anna with a calm voice.

Anna’s eyebrows twitched in response.

“Why? I’m wanted. Being with me will only put her under the Association’s surveillance.”

“I know. But that child needs you more than me right now.”

Red Snake smiled bitterly.

“Go see Siho. She said she had something to tell you.”

Red Snake indifferently pulled up her blanket.

And turned her head away completely.

“Acting high and mighty, only saying what you want to say.”

The red-eyed killer found those words very irritating.

But she deliberately kept her mouth shut and closed her eyes.

Soon Anna’s clicking footsteps are heard.

Her boots stomped on the windowsill and departed outside.

“Leaving through the window when there’s a perfectly good door…”

Red Snake grumbled as she covered herself with the blanket up to her head.

And slowly tries to fall asleep.

“…”

But soon her blanket violently shook.

With each distortion of the blanket, the shape of feet pounding became visible.

Anna secretly entered the hospital corridor.

And opened the door to Siho’s attending physician’s office.

A doctor in a white coat was leisurely leaning back in his chair.

He startled and rose when he saw the white-eyed killer.

It was because Anna approached with an eerie, doll-like expressionless face.

“Wh-what can I do for you?”

“Guardian.”

“Pardon…?”

The doctor’s brow furrowed at the abrupt word.

Anna moved even closer to him and repeated:

“Han Siho. Guardian.”

“Ah… Are you perhaps the guardian for the patient in room 304?”

The doctor asks, seeming to understand now.

The killer slowly nodded.

“Then, please sign here as the guardian.”

He took out various documents while temporarily tucking the antidote into his doctor’s coat.

“And… your hunter registration card, and ID…”

He placed everything on the desk and held out a pen.

“…”

But Anna didn’t take the pen.

She just stared intently at the antidote.

Was there something wrong with what I said?

The doctor scratched his head, confused after presenting the proper procedure.

Anna moved right up to the doctor’s face.

Her fragrant soap scent captivated the attending physician.

Taking advantage of this, the killer pulled the antidote from his chest.

And whispered softly:

“Anna. Anna Danilova.”

She gracefully left the office.

The doctor could only stare blankly at the killer’s retreating figure.

Because he realized that the person he had just encountered was the Grim Reaper.

The psychopathic killer mentioned countless times on TV.

The doctor had no choice but to sign the form himself.

(Signature) Anna Danilova.

With the antidote in hand, Anna slowly reads the instructions.

“Take 1 tablet daily. With water.”

“Confirm daily. That the patient has properly taken it.”

The killer pronounced each word clearly like a child.

She looks around the corridor for water.

But there was no water dispenser in the corridor.

Only a vending machine.

There was no water in that vending machine either.

The killer blankly scanned the drinks before stopping at iced tea.

It was the only non-carbonated drink among the vending machine options.

Plus, its name is tea.

Tea is good for the body, right?

Anna searches her pockets.

But she had no money.

The killer falls into thought briefly.

Then suddenly recalls the claw machine she saw at the department store.

Siho, whom she met at the mart, also often pushed machines to get dolls.

A vending machine is the same kind of machine, right?

After a brief calculation, Anna clenches her fist.

And forcefully strikes the iced tea button.

“—!”

The metal machine crumples like tofu.

Soon, Chinese iced teas pour out of the dispenser like pachinko balls.

Anna picks up one of them.

And calmly heads to the hospital room.

The VIP private room door opens.

There was a very faint aphrodisiac scent inside.

Probably the remnants of the drug in Siho’s body.

Anna quietly pulled back the blinds with muted footsteps.

A bob-haired young woman lies peacefully on the white bed.

She looks up at the visiting killer with half-open eyes.

“Hello…”

Siho greets with a dry voice.

Despite all her hardships, she’s smiling gently.

Like Sonyeo.

“You look ridiculous.”

Anna calmly approaches the bed.

Up close, Siho doesn’t seem to have fully recovered yet.

Her once slender body is still enlarged compared to before.

Though much better than when seen in the Jasmine Room.

“I know, I should have gone straight home instead of stupidly getting kidnapped.”

Anna muttered whatever came to mind.

Siho smiled broadly and replied:

“I know… I’m really stupid.”

Siho slowly sat up.

And sitting against the pillow, she looks at Anna.

“There’s something I still haven’t told you. That’s why I couldn’t leave.”

“Something you haven’t told me?”

Anna repeated Siho’s words.

Siho looks at her with a sad expression.

With the most serious face ever.

“I’m sorry.”

It was a brief statement.

Anna calmly tried to understand this ‘apology’.

When no answer came, she asked Siho:

“What are you sorry for?”

“For deceiving you all this time, calling myself powerless. And for peeking at your memories on my own.”

Siho looks at Anna with wavering eyes.

“And… for bringing up memories you wanted to forget.”

Anna calmly listened to her apology.

Has Anna, who usually acted immediately upon hearing anything, ever listened so calmly?

“If I hadn’t deceived you, I thought you might kill me.”

Siho mumbled with her head bowed.

Anna stares intently at such a Siho.

As if responding to the apology, the killer opened her mouth in a calm voice:

“That’s right. If you hadn’t given me Black Velvet then, I would have definitely killed you.”

Anna indifferently picked up a glass from the table.

Then unfolded the bed tray and placed the glass on it.

“But such a gloomy expression doesn’t make me want to kill you.”

She threw out these savage words.

The killer opened the iced tea she brought.

The amber-colored drink fills the transparent glass.

Black antidote drops into it.

Eventually, the black medicine slowly mixes with the iced tea like ink.

<Anna’s Chinese Iced Tea>

Grade: ★★★

Effect: Detoxifies aphrodisiacs.

Information: Mixed Chinese iced tea with antidote. The originally bitter and terrible taste of the antidote is neutralized by the iced tea. Sweet and slightly bitter.

The first drink Anna has ever made for someone else.

“Drink.”

Anna hands the glass to Siho.

The bartender was surprised to see the killer making a drink specifically for her.

She carefully wrapped both hands around the glass.

“Thank you…”

Siho looks at her with a touched expression.

Anna turned her head away from that affectionate face.

“Get better quickly. I don’t want. To see your face. Every day for a week.”

Siho smiled at the grumbling Anna.

And slowly drank the sweet iced tea.

“…”

Siho drank half the tea and licked her lips.

That sight strangely catches the eye.

“It’s delicious! I think you might have talent as a bartender too.”

The killer frowned at her words, as if finding them absurd.

“What’s so good about cheap iced tea? That’s all just sugar taste.”

Anna found it difficult to look at Siho’s face today.

Because the girl who used to seem just like a child has changed in atmosphere since the Chinatown incident.

Siho gently tucked her bangs behind her ear.

Her subtle white skin stands out.

At that sight, Anna’s lips twitched.

Surprised by her own reaction, the killer turned away.

It wasn’t just Siho who was changing.