But Upsilon had ignored that period and barged in four whole days early without permission, so strictly speaking, he really had stolen Ro’s mission midway. Theta had asked if he had told Robert about this, but there had been no need. Before Ro could even complain to Robert, he had already issued multiple warnings about Upsilon’s unauthorized actions.

‘The problem is that even after being warned, there’s no sign he’s improving.’

In any case, the mission had ended successfully, Amabile had received a huge success bonus from the client company, and he had secured himself three days off.

“Why are you sitting here alone?”

Just as he was thinking he should make some plans for the next three days before heading out, an unwelcome voice came from behind him. Before Ro even turned around, the other person sat in the seat Theta had just vacated.

“You’re the one wandering around the lobby. Didn’t you get time off too? Go on your way.”

When Ro spoke bluntly without even looking at him, the other man leaned back in the chair and asked flatly,

“Are you still angry about the mission?”

“Angry? I’m not angry.”

“Earlier, you were at the boss’s detailed debrief, so you heard him too, but there was a chance to finish the job faster, and I simply took it. It ended with minimal damage and minimal sacrifice, exactly as you always pursue. Why are you angry?”

“I said I’m not angry.”

Whether he did not believe Ro or not, Upsilon actually looked displeased himself. In truth, Ro was not angry at Upsilon, just a little tired of his behavior.

Amabile valued mission success, but it was not a pure individual performance or results-only company, so it did not matter which of the deployed agents solved a mission. As Theta said, this was purely a matter of work style. Ro sighed briefly as he looked back at Upsilon, who was frowning at him.

“Upsilon, couldn’t you at least have told me you were going to step in midway? It wasn’t hard.”

“The situation was moving too urgently. I had no time for that.”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this to me. At this point it’s not a mistake, it’s deliberate. The boss keeps warning you not to do it, so why do you keep stealing my missions without saying anything?”

“I wasn’t trying to steal it. There was a more efficient and faster way to solve it, and I saw no reason not to take that route. I didn’t know you were so attached to meaningless results.”

“Oh, so what you’re saying is I’m the weird one?”

Ro laughed in disbelief, and Upsilon fell silent. The expression from moments ago had disappeared, but Upsilon’s blank face made it hard to tell whether he was agreeing or denying Ro’s words.

“The efficient method you’re talking about was threatening the Roelo president and the families of the board members by taking them hostage?”

“It was a classic method, so I didn’t expect much, but it worked better than expected, to the point it was almost disappointing.”

“You dragged innocent people into this just to bring the date forward by four days?”

“Whether they were truly innocent is still up for debate.”

“And if things hadn’t gone well, you really would have killed their families?”

“If necessary. But in the end no one died and it ended well, so what’s the problem?”

Not one inch gave way. This conversation that seemed to run on parallel tracks was exactly the difference in work style between Ro and Upsilon that Ro had in mind. Amabile was, after all, a private company seeking profit, and it belonged to the “gray zone” that operated in the blind spots of the law.

As a place whose very foundation blurred the line between good and evil, there was nothing more foolish than talking about justice or legality at Amabile, but there should still be some sense of boundaries, shouldn’t there? The agent in front of him did not seem to think so.

“Fine, if it ended well like you say, then that’s that. Good job. You worked hard.”

Ro stood from the chair with a hollow compliment and a weary face. He had thought that if Upsilon had just respected the one-week window, they would not have had to resort to such ugly methods, and he could have handled it well enough on his own. But as he said, it was already over. What he had done, coaxing Roelo’s president’s secretary to leak information, was not exactly legal either, so in the end the two of them were just comparing pebbles.

“Ro. What are you doing after this? You’ve got three days off.”

Ro was about to think of a plan for the next three days when Upsilon suddenly asked, and Ro was again struck by disbelief, then laughed.

“I’m going home, covering myself with a blanket, and sleeping all day. Why?”

“If you’re leaving right away, make some time and eat lunch with me.”

“Lunch? Just the two of us?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I?”

“You got the time off because of me. You can at least buy me one meal, can’t you?”

What was that tone? Ro was speechless at Upsilon, who demanded it shamelessly without even changing expression. It was maddening.

✿ • ✿ • ✿

“I was wondering what kind of amazing menu you’d pick.”

At lunchtime in New York, where people were packed in everywhere, Ro let out a dry laugh as he set down the tray he had picked up from the counter in front of Upsilon. On the red tray sat two hamburgers, two colas, two orders of fries, and two packets of ketchup, all neatly arranged.

The moment Ro set the tray on the table, Upsilon peeled open the hamburger wrapper and took a bite. Ro bit into one of the fries and thought back to the conversation they had just had at Amabile headquarters.

“Take it easy, Upsilon. You keep screwing me over and I’m letting it slide again, and now I’m supposed to believe you think I’m easy?”

“……”

“Do you think I’ve been doing this job for only a day or two? Why are you suddenly acting up over a few days of vacation that come standard after every mission? I’m not a child, I can handle lunch myself.”

“Maybe I don’t understand why you hand drinks to Theta every chance you get, but are so stingy with me. Is it because I’m an alpha?”

“…I don’t even want to talk.”

Ignoring Upsilon’s miraculous logic about alpha and omega discrimination, completely unconcerned with his own behavior, Ro really had planned to go home. But if he had not heard the growling of Upsilon’s stomach, followed by a deep sigh the moment Ro turned away, he would have.

He ignored him and walked a few more steps before glancing back, only to see Upsilon sitting there motionless, wrapped in a depressed atmosphere. No, even calling it a depressed atmosphere was uncertain. Upsilon was obviously expressionless, but maybe the situation just moments before had created an optical illusion that made him look pitiable to Ro.

‘This is insane. So what exactly do you want me to buy?’

And so it had become this situation now, this ridiculous scene of sitting face-to-face with Upsilon in a large fast-food chain and eating hamburgers and fries.

“……”

“……”

Naturally, any conversation in a space filled with ordinary people that might make them suspect Amabile was absolutely forbidden. But if they excluded talk about Amabile, there was no real common ground between them, so silence naturally settled between Ro and Upsilon.

Ro nibbled on a few fries without even dipping them in ketchup, and after Upsilon finished his hamburger, Ro pushed the untouched hamburger in front of him toward Upsilon.

“If you’re still hungry, eat more. If not, fine.”

He said that, but even a single hamburger was clearly too little to fully satisfy a strong adult alpha like Upsilon. Upsilon looked at the hamburger Ro had yielded to him, then spoke.

“You.”

“You’re eating cola and fries.”

“Will that fill you up?”

“I wasn’t that hungry.”

With that, Upsilon wordlessly unwrapped the second hamburger, and Ro watched him eat while sipping cola through a straw. For some reason, if Theta had seen this scene, she would probably have scolded him, “Ro, are you a pushover?!”

He had complained to Theta about Upsilon screwing him over from time to time, and yet here he was buying lunch for the very person responsible. Without meaning to, Ro imagined that if the same thing had happened between other agents, it would have turned into a fight long ago. Not because it did not matter who solved the mission, but because that did not mean you could steal another agent’s mission whenever you wanted. This was not just an Amabile issue, but a matter of manners in any organization, and Robert’s warnings to Upsilon had always pointed at this very thing.

Even so, Ro always let Upsilon’s behavior slide and brushed it off for two reasons. First, aside from the emotional issue, the results had been good, as Upsilon claimed. And second, paradoxically, because of that emotional issue. In Ro’s view, the second reason was large enough to outweigh the first entirely.

‘It’s already been five years. Isn’t he tired yet?’

Ro looked at Upsilon, who was eating his hamburger with a fry in his mouth. Robert had already acknowledged Ro’s specialty at Amabile: a honey trap, a beautiful-man trap.

To use a honey trap as a scheme, it was not enough to simply be handsome or pretty. You had to be skilled at reading and moving people’s hearts, and Ro had known the true identity of Upsilon’s grand feelings for a long time already.