"Alright, ready? One, two."
Wilkins checked before giving the signal. The colleagues lined up on both sides shouted their enthusiastic support, calling out the nas of Dane and Grayson. Dane leaned forward, preparing to dash. Wilkins alternated his gaze between the two and shouted, his face tense.
"Three!"
"Woaaah!"
"Dane, Dane! Our hope! Our hero!"
"Grayson, my love!"
"Run, run! Grayson, you have to win!"
"Dane, you're our pride!"
With the start signal, the cheers erupted, and both of them quickly hit the ground, racing forward. Their colleagues at the bottom of the mountain were watching them. Even though they could only see them faintly, they could still catch glimpses of them, except when they turned a new course.
That part ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) of the course was a steep incline around a mountain, so the colleagues watching below couldn't see them again until they appeared on the opposite side of the mountain. That spot was where Dane was about to make his move.
The flat terrain ended quickly, and soon an uphill path appeared. It served as a substitute for the first stage of the test, the stair climb, and now they had to drag a fire hose up the mountainside. Even though it was a moderate hill, the incline was steep, and with the heavy fire hose to carry, the physical exhaustion started to set in early. During training on flat terrain, they filled the hose with water, but here, they used the empty hose as an advantage for the ti being.
As they skillfully dragged the fire hose upwards, they ca to a spot where equipnt was placed. They then had to drop the hose and drag the firefighting gear. As soon as they saw the target, they threw down the hose and grabbed the pre-prepared equipnt. With a chainsaw in each hand, they circled the trees about 100 ters away and returned to the starting point. If they dropped the saw during this process, they would be disqualified. Because their colleagues below could see them, even a small mistake was unacceptable.
Damn, why am I doing this...
Already feeling the sweat on his back, Dane cursed. As he turned around the tree, he inevitably ca face to face with Grayson. Reflexively, he felt the tension rise, but to his surprise, Grayson passed him without a word, his expression blank, and circled back around the tree. For a mont, he almost lost the lead but quickly picked up the pace and overtook Grayson.
Next, Dane grabbed the rope, replacing the ladder climb with a rock wall climb. He thought he could faintly hear his colleagues shouting from below, but it seed distant, like the buzz of insects. As soon as the rope climb ended, he grabbed the tree trunk and crossed a small stream.
The uphill climb continued. Dane moved chanically, not resting for even a mont as he ran until he reached the spot he had been anticipating. After completing a couple of courses, as he rounded the mountain and entered the steep slope, Dane realized this was exactly the spot he had been waiting for.
The faint cheering that had been audible earlier completely vanished. In the silence, he quickly turned around. Grayson’s figure was still absent. Panting, Dane quickly scanned his surroundings. This spot, clearly inserted as a substitute for the exploration part of the test, had no clear path, and there was nowhere solid to step. He found a fairly flat spot and placed his foot, adjusting his posture. Two and a half of these should cost $38.25.
Co on.
Standing silently, ears tuned, he heard a faint rustling sound. It was Grayson’s footsteps. The sound was approaching at an incredible speed and would soon reveal him. Dane held his breath, waiting for the perfect timing. One, two. And finally...
As Grayson rounded the slight incline, he hesitated. At the end of his gaze, Dane stood tall. He saw Grayson’s eyes narrow as he nodded slightly.
"Hey, pretty boy."
His casual tone was full of mockery. Grayson stared at him silently.
For a while, the two simply stood in silence, eyeing each other. To be precise, Grayson was glaring at him, and Dane was looking back with a disinterested gaze. It was Grayson who spoke first.
"You waited for like this! Were you worried about ? Truly, a firefighter, our hero! How moving this is..."
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
"Shut up and take a hit."
Dane cut off his words ruthlessly. Since indulging in nonsense wasn’t part of their contract, he had no patience for it. As Dane ward up, rolling his shoulders and tilting his neck side to side, Grayson’s eyes widened in surprise.
"You're going to hit ? ? You're saying you're going to hit ? Right now? Why?"
The man was excessively chatty. For Dane, who was usually reserved, it felt like his ears were about to ring.
"It’s a job."
"A job?"
"Yeah."
He stopped massaging his shoulder and spoke.
"Just enough to be worth $38.25."
Grayson’s face contorted. He might have been surprised by the situation, but that was only sothing an ordinary person would feel.
"$38? Is that all you’re going to pay to hit ?"
He asked in disbelief, clutching his forehead. It seed more shocking to him that Dane was even willing to strike him than the fact that it was about to happen.
As a notorious playboy of the Miller family, countless people had tried to pay him for a taste of sothing, whether it was love or temptation, or even requests for harm or murder. Of course, it was all part of his karma. Those he abandoned after a fleeting affair were always sharpening their knives for revenge.
But that was Grayson’s problem, and Dane had absolutely no interest in it. He was just filthy rich, so Dane assud he was shocked by the small sum of $38. That made sense. Dane easily accepted this reasoning and nodded indifferently.
"Right, I don’t take reverse requests. It breaks the trust."
"Oh, that’s difficult. Trust is very important, you know? But..."
Grayson waved his hand exaggeratedly, looking disappointed as he sighed.
"This is too cheap. Out of all the people who’ve co to hit for money, you’re by far the cheapest. They all feared the Miller law firm so much that they wouldn’t even consider it unless it was a considerable amount. You should have asked for more, don’t you think? Or is your fee just that low? Seems like you’re really cheap, huh?"
He kept on with his long-winded comntary about how cheap Dane was, but Dane didn’t take the bait. Casually brushing his hair back, he spoke.
"Nothing surprising, just saying you're worth that much. If you want more, raise your own value."
After giving Grayson a once-over, Dane added.
"With so effort, maybe I can stretch it to $40."
"Ha."
Grayson blinked, then broke into a strange smile.
"Not bad."
Although Grayson’s behavior wasn’t pleasant, he certainly had a talent for ruffling other people’s feathers. If Dane had cared about others as much as Grayson did, he would have been offended by his words. But Dane had a natural gift for tuning out the words of those who weren’t relevant to him. Grayson Miller’s words couldn’t possibly hurt his feelings.
When Grayson saw that Dane didn’t react as expected, he quickly shifted the topic. He glanced toward Dane’s hand and asked.
"Is that it? The tool you’re going to use to kiss ?"
What a disgusting talent, Dane thought, adding another note to his ntal evaluation of Grayson. He opened his mouth.
"If it makes it less painful for you to say that, sure, call it a deep kiss."
"Nice, deep kiss. Really good."
Grayson clapped his hands as if he had made a great discovery. Dane was starting to get tired of talking to this madman. He’d already spent too much ti speaking with soone who didn’t seem to be in his right mind. Not wanting to waste any more ti, he threw a punch. He had given enough warnings, and Grayson had more than enough ti to run.
In the quiet forest, a loud crack echoed.
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