"Stop right there!"
Yumanbi ran, fear gripping his heart like a frozen vice.
The adrenaline coursing through his veins was no longer the heady, intoxicating rush of pleasure and dopamine, but was now the frantic, raw energy of a prey escaping from a hunter.
He was seen!
The thought vibrated in his skull with the force of a funeral bell. Once again, he was seen! And by the same person who had caught him on the act in the streets, by the same boy who had chased after him like he was a dog!
Why!? Why was his luck so catastrophic?
He had done everything right! He had waited for the cover of night, he had chosen a new building, he had stayed in the shadows.
Everything was perfect!
But the moment he stepped out of his sanctuary, there he was—that same dude who had seen him, standing like a sentinel of fate right at his doorstep.
"Stop right there!" Taro shouted, his voice booming in the narrow concrete stairwell, echoing off the stained walls.
