Paintings of Terror

When Ke Xun walked out from his shower, he found Mu Yiran speaking on the phone. The other’s voice was very quiet and he seemed to be speaking in English.

Ke Xun slunk into his bedroom and made the bed. He then grabbed his own phone and returned to the living room. Seeing that Mu Yiran was still on the phone, he used gestures to indicate that he was going to step out for a moment.

With the clothes bags containing Mu Yiran’s suit and shirt, Ke Xun headed to the dry cleaners. He also visited a grocery store nearby. At the same time, he received Wei Dong’s call.

Wei Dong: “What are you doing?”

Ke Xun: “Buying c….”

Wei Dong: “Fuck! You managed to bag him already?!”

Ke Xun: “…Buying clothes. Can you let me finish my sentences before reacting? Your reaction is way too dangerous, ah.”

Wei Dong: “…Fuck, as if I could be more dangerous than you? Who knows what you plan on doing to the guy, whisking him home so abruptly.”

Ke Xun: “Hurry up and say what you wanted to say. Ge here still has stuff to buy.”

Wei Dong: “What are you buying clothes for?!”

Ke Xun: “For him to wear. He probably won’t be able to leave tonight. It’s too late to buy train and plane tickets now.”

Wei Dong: “Yo, you’ve even found out where he lives. You’re a skilled player.”

Ke Xun: “Beat it. I only know where he’s from because I saw it on the business card in his pocket.”

Wei Dong: “Oh? Tell me, what does Boss Mu do? Is he really a company boss or is he an idol?”

Ke Xun: “In any case, he’s definitely a ‘boss’. As for how big of a ‘boss’ he is, I need to get to know him to find out.”

Wei Dong: “You don’t mean what I think you mean when you say ‘get to know him’, right?”

Ke Xun: “…All right, you win. You could die at any moment now and you still have the mind to think so dirty.”

Wei Dong: “Well what else should I do? It’s not like I can hug my mom’s thigh and cry for the next thirteen days. My dad said that life’s short so we should do what we want to do. The eighteen generations of my Wei Family before me all held smiles on their faces right until the end. Although I don’t think I can smile at the end, I can at least act vulgar.”

Ke Xun: “…Your dad’s words are quite bold. Whatever, continue with your dirty thoughts. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be hanging up.”

Wei Dong: “So what kind of ‘boss’ is Boss Mu?”

Ke Xun: “…He’s an art dealer and he’s opened sixteen galleries that are situated in eight different cities around the world. He’s also an appraiser and buys and sells paintings personally.”

Wei Dong: “…Wait, all of this was written on his business card?!”

Ke Xun: “Don’t blame me for looking at you like you’re an idiot the next time I see you. His company name was on his business card and I searched the company online. Obviously, all this information popped up.”

Wei Dong: “…Fuck…wait, how old is he?! He’s already opened up sixteen galleries?!”

Ke Xun: “It was said that when he had been fifteen, he had bought a painting by some unknown painter for fifty thousand USD. Later on, he sold it for seventy-three million dollars USD, proving that he has a good eye for art.”

Wei Dong: “...I feel my chrysanthemum tightening.”

Ke Xun: “He’s pretty famous in the art world. He’s praised for his eye for art and capability. That’s how he had been able to open up sixteen galleries worldwide despite his young age. Do you have any other questions?”

Wei Dong: “Give me a second to calm down…. Okay, last question: you found out all of this on the internet?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Wei Dong: “W-wait a second—he has fans?!”

Ke Xun: “What’s weird about that? At the beginning of this year, even a delivery boy got famous and obtained fans. What, just ‘cause he’s a cool, charismatic iceberg president he can’t have thousands of fans? Even I have a hundred or so zombie fans on Weibo.”

Wei Dong: “…I feel like Boss Mu is too badass, to the point where it’s like he doesn’t even exist on the same planet as us. He can easily earn hundreds of millions of dollars—in USD to boot. He also has fans backing him up. Although you were chosen as the most handsome boy in university for three years in a row, and you’re currently the owner of a small gym, on the global scale, it’s obvious that…the two of you are on entirely different levels. It’s like you’re a simple drawing wanting to get together with a character in an oil painting. The two of you don’t go together, don’t you think?”

Ke Xun huffed in amused anger: “Who are you calling a simple drawing?! Spend more time raising your intelligence and spend less time imagining random stuff like this! Whatever, if you have nothing to say, beat it. It’s almost my turn at the register!”

After saying this, he hung up.

A toothbrush, a towel, a pair of pyjamas and a pair of sneakers.

Mu Yiran’s dress pants were gone. He probably wouldn’t leave with the suit on. That meant that he probably wouldn’t wear his dress shoes either.

Ke Xun picked up his bags and headed outside. The moment he was about to open the door, he paused. He recalled what Wei Dong had said and the things he had found out about Mu Yiran on the web.

Mu Yiran and him, one of them was a proud son of Heaven while the other could be considered part of the dregs of Heaven.

Indeed, they didn’t belong to the same world.

Ke Xun laughed. He ruffled his hair and then headed into his apartment.

Mu Yiran was sitting on the sofa, his cell phone on the short table.

“Are you done with work?” Ke Xun asked.

Mu Yiran asked expressionlessly, “What brand is your phone?”

Ke Xun smiled. “Is your phone out of power? Luckily, our phones are of the same brand. The charger’s in the bedroom, in the outlet by the headboard of the bed.”

Mu Yiran picked up his phone and headed into the bedroom.

Ke Xun thought, He’s such a bigshot but uses such an ordinary brand. Pretty down-to-earth.

Ke Xun was too lazy to hang clothes up to dry so the washing machine he bought also had a drying function. He dried the newly bought set of pyjamas after washing them and then took it to the bedroom.

Mu Yiran was sitting at the head of the bed, talking on the phone while his phone charged.

Ke Xun walked over and sat down next to him. After the call ended, Mu Yiran looked like he was about to make another call. However, Ke Xun reached out to stop him. “Aren’t you afraid of your phone blowing up in your face if you charge it and use it at the same time?”

Mu Yiran glanced at him and pushed his hand away. Nevertheless, he didn’t continue to make his call. He only said in a flat voice, “Could you help me find a place to stay the night?”

Although time hadn’t moved in reality while they had been in the world inside the painting, their bodies had continued to function in accordance to the painting world’s time. They hadn’t slept well for a few days in a row.

“If you don’t mind, you can sleep here.” Ke Xun placed the clothes on the bed and then started to head outside.

The moment he reached the door, he heard Mu Yiran ask, “Where are you going to sleep?”

Ke Xun turned his head back and smiled. “My place, although it’s small, it’s complete. There’s a guest room on the other side. There’s also a study. Although there isn’t a lot of furniture, it’ll be fine for me to sleep there.”

Mu Yiran got up. “I’ll sleep in the guest room.”

Ke Xun waved his hand. “My hooligan buddies made a mess out of it. You sleep here.”

After saying this, he walked out and shut the door behind him.

Mu Yiran stood for a while before sitting back down.

The screen on his phone gradually dimmed and then faded to black. His pensive expression was reflected on the screen.

A moment later, Mu Yiran unlocked his phone and was about to dial a number when he paused. He then put his phone on do-not-disturb and then placed it near the pillows to keep charging. He then got up to pull the curtains closed. When he came back to this side, he looked at the new pair of pyjamas.

They were a solid icy blue, devoid of any patterns. There was only a white border.

The style and colour suited his tastes. It was obvious that Ke Xun had carefully chosen this for him.

Regardless, Mu Yiran still picked the clothes up for a careful examination, just in case there was a B word or F word printed somewhere on it.

After he changed his clothes, he lifted the covers up and lied on the bed.

It’s difficult to sleep in an unfamiliar place. He stared at the white ceiling and walls, eyes open. As a force of habit, he analyzed the colour scheme in front of him.

Ke Xun was a very complicated person.

He seemed laid-back and had a bit of a weird, unprincipled and unbridled nature. However, his home was so cold.

White falls, white floor, white furniture, black-framed doors, black-lined geometric lights, silver curtains and sheets.

Even the bowls and cutlery he used were simple, pure white designs.

One’s aesthetic was often related to their real personality.

From the photographs, Mu Yiran could tell that he had been filled with sunshine-like warmth when he had been a teenager.

This person was sloppy but earnest, unbridled but dedicated, filled with warmth but also a cold loneliness.

Mu Yiran didn’t sleep for long. When he opened his eyes, it was dark outside. Looking at the time, he found out that it was eight in the evening.

He changed his clothes and opened the bedroom door. He saw that the door to the guest room on the other side was open.

Mu Yiran paused for a moment before walking over to peek inside. However, what he saw took him aback.

He hadn’t expected that the ‘messy’ room would actually be completely empty. Not only was there no bed, there was no furniture whatsoever.

He then walked over to the living room. There, he found Ke Xun huddled on a beanbag. Most of his body had sunk into the bean bag and he looked like a silly but cute husky sleeping there with no worries.

Mu Yiran silently stared at him for a moment before heading to the bathroom.

Ke Xun was woken up by his alarm at a bit past nine in the evening. The apartment was completely dark and he could only make out the distant city lights through his windows. The lights cast a colourful, mottled glow on his walls and floor.

Ke Xun sat up and slowly came out of his daze. Suddenly, he realized that something was wrong. He noticed that the bedroom door was open and that Mu Yiran was gone.

He searched throughout the apartment—even the bathroom. In the end, Ke Xun had no choice but to accept that Boss Mu had left without saying goodbye. He had even taken the pyjamas, new towel, new toothbrush and new shoes with him.

Ke Xun scratched his head. He simply sat there and stared out at the city through his windows.

Did Boss Mu leave because he felt bad seeing him sleep on the bean bag? Maybe he was already at a hotel.

Should he call him? Ke Xun fiddled with his phone as he entertained this thought. He remembered the other’s phone number from when he had looked at his business card.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Ke Xun gave him a call.

“Male God, Male God, guess who I am?”

A purposely deepened voice came through the phone receiver. Mu Yiran couldn’t help but want to pinch his glabella.

“What do you want?” There was no hint of emotion in Mu Yiran’s voice.

On the other side of the phone, the person cleared his throat. Ke Xun switched back to his normal voice and spoke in a serious tone. “You left something at my place.”

Mu Yiran raised a brow, pondering over what he might have forgotten. However, nothing came to mind. He asked, “What?”

“Me, ah.” The other person continued to speak in a serious voice but there was a hint of a smile in his words.

“….” Mu Yiran’s face sunk even though the other party couldn’t see him. “Is there anything else?”

“I just wanted to say that you’re too polite.” Ke Xun smiled, scratching his ear. “I sleep on the beanbags quite often. They feel more secure than the bed. Are you staying at a hotel right now?”

Mu Yiran: “…Mn.”

Ke Xun: “Are you going back to S City tomorrow?”

Mu Yiran: “Mn.”

Ke Xun: “Should I take you to the airport?”

Mu Yiran: “No need. I’ll be borrowing your clothes for now. I’ll send them back to you when I get home.”

Ke Xun: “Then add me on Vchat. I’ll send my address to you.”

Mu Yiran: “….” You really know to take advantage of a situation.

Ke Xun: “Send me your address too. I’ll send your dry-cleaned clothes to you.”

Mu Yiran: “….”

Ke Xun: “Will the next time we meet be in the next painting?”

Mu Yiran: “Mn.”

Ke Xun suddenly didn’t know what to say.

The next time they would meet would be in a terrible life or death situation.

Next time, he might not be able to survive. If he’s lucky, he’ll straightforwardly die. If he’s unlucky, he’ll have to face-off against Mu Yiran.

Mu Yiran, who was on the other side, was also silent. Who knew if he was also thinking about this?

Ke Xun thought, if he were to really be so unlucky to fall into such a situation, he would give way to Mu Yiran.

Even if the other was cold, he was really handsome.

As someone who was completely weak against attractive people, he was even completely unreasonable when it came to himself.

The author has something to say:

The second painting “Faith” will officially start. Welcome everyone, as we watch our protagonist and co. enter the next painting~~

As for the ‘sixteen galleries all over the world’ and the part about the painting he bought for fifty thousand, that was all based on a true story! There’s a real bigshot like this. The paintings he deals with exceed one billion USD every year. He could even sell a rotting fish as a piece of art for twelve million USD. Reality is truly stranger than fiction~~~

Eve: My Ke Xun is a poor baby my heart hurts for him. Also, if anyone wants to know about their relationship, I’ll hide some spoilers under the dropdown box below. About who falls first, when, and when they get together.

Spoiler:

Ke Xun falls first and it happens in the next world (so fast I know lol). Yiran takes comparably longer but they get together by mid story. Somewhere around arc 5-7, can’t rmb precisely which chapter. Therefore, it might hurt a bit to see Ke Xun love Yiran so much and be willing to give up so much in the beginning. But the two of them are very sweet together after getting together.