Translator: Nox

Chapter 13

It was when she was looking out the window, searching for an escape route, that she felt something was wrong.

A strange scent brushed past the tip of her nose, and Seo-ah tilted her head, inhaling a little deeper. All the windows were closed, and the room was no different from a sealed chamber; where was the smell coming from?

On her second breath, she thought it might be acrid smoke.

As the deep breath seeped into the depths of her lungs, the smell vanished as if it had been a lie. Instead, her ears began to ring, as if water had suddenly rushed into them.

First her nose, then her ears, and next were her eyes.

Every time she blinked, the world shook violently. The dizzying afterimages of the swaying world blurred her vision.

She was clearly standing upright, so why… why was this happening…

Instinctively, she grabbed onto something. She felt a long fabric-like object sag. Then, she thought she heard the sound of a distant crash, but for some reason, she was the one lying on the floor.

Why am I… why am I like this…

Her thoughts felt elongated. Time seemed to stretch, and she wondered if this was a dream. The floor felt like an abyss. It felt as though a pit was right behind her back, ready to suck her in.

But the shape of the abyss did not appear from behind.

She thought she heard a blunt, breaking sound, and then someone’s face suddenly entered her field of vision against the ceiling. Though her consciousness was hazy, her heart sank at the man’s smirk.

“My, my. I’ll have to air this place out. Before you lose your mind completely.”

She had to see where he was going, but she couldn’t muster any strength in her neck.

She felt a breeze. It felt as if there was a thin layer between her skin and the air. The man’s face appeared in her frozen vision once more.

“Where do you think you’re going, gorgeous? Hmm?”

Seo-ah desperately widened her eyes, struggling to breathe. I have to get up, get up.

She took a deep breath. She felt the air enter the tip of her nose.

Sensation gradually began to return to her limbs, which had felt like they didn’t belong to her. The ringing in her ears seemed to subside a little, and the feeling returned to her skin, which had felt as if it were covered by a veil.

Seo-ah desperately rolled over. She braced her palms against the floor and pushed herself up. Her elbows buckled, sending her crashing down several times, but she couldn’t give up. She didn’t even have time to think about what had gone wrong. There was nothing else but to get out of here.

The man chuckled.

“Time for your medicine. Taking it at this stage is just perfect.”

At those chilling words, her body was hoisted up. She tried to scream, but since she couldn’t put any strength into her abdomen, no sound came out.

A bizarre sensation, as if a layer had been draped over all her senses.

She was thrown somewhere. An overwhelming force pressed down on her entire body. Even as she struggled while being buried, the man only laughed. He sat on her stomach and pinned her arms down with his knees. She felt like a helpless insect.

“Ah, ah…!”

“Why on earth did you put this back on?”

The man leisurely unbuttoned Seo-ah’s coat. All the while, he scanned the face of the woman pinned beneath him as if licking it with his eyes.

The large pupils nestled within her almond-shaped eyes seemed to flicker before welling up with moisture. She was squirming in refusal, but her eyes, clouded by the drug, were hazy and dim. Her small lips parted as if she didn’t know what to do, and a faint groan escaped each time.

The woman in his grasp turned her head from side to side. He felt her feet struggling behind his hips, but he didn’t care.

Into her mouth, he poured a precious liquid that cost hundreds of thousands of Kerete per drop. Then, he clamped his hand over her mouth so she couldn’t spit it out.

“Ugh, mmp, hmph.”

“Let’s just wait a moment, shall we?”

The man slowly stroked Seo-ah’s struggling legs.

“Did you just bite me?”

The hand covering her mouth had been bitten, but the man only grinned before suddenly slapping Seo-ah across the cheek.

Slap!

“Will you be in trouble if you bite again? I didn’t leave a mark, did I?”

The man, who had been examining Seo-ah’s cheek, whispered as he toyed with the curve of her ear.

“You’ve never done this before, have you?”

Seo-ah desperately exhaled ragged breaths.

More maddening than the whisper crawling into her ear was her consciousness, which was drifting far away. Everything seemed to recede, and she felt as if she were falling into a bottomless pit. She was certain that if she fell into that abyss, everything would come to naught.

She should have followed that man back then.

Even if it was terrifyingly stifling, she should have followed him then.

If anyone could get her out of this hell, if anyone could just take her away from here, she wouldn’t have cared if it were the devil himself.

It was then, as she was searching for a devil in the middle of hell.

She thought she heard the sound of a long exhale, followed by the acrid scent of a cigarette. The movements of the person restraining her body stopped at the same moment the smell of tobacco appeared.

Through her desperately held vision, she saw him whip his head around.

Dazed, Seo-ah also turned her eyes toward the direction the man was looking. Instead of her neck, which wouldn’t move, she rolled her eyes with all her might. Her slowly rotating vision moved from the ceiling to the door.

A room cast in shadows.

At the entrance of the room—which she had hoped would be paradise but was actually an abyss—that man stood like a miracle.

Even in her hazy state, Seo-ah recognized him at a glance.

A man who looked as if he were sculpted from the darkness.

The tip of his cigarette glowed red, harboring a spark. That acrid light was the only light existing in the darkness.

She prayed this wasn’t an illusion.

The moment she desperately wished for that acrid, red light to be real, he spoke as if by magic.

“Do you want to keep going?”

His low voice, enough to make her heart sink, was remarkably flat.

He looked relaxed, as if the violence occurring in this darkness was nothing of consequence.

“If you want to do more, I’ll wait for a bit.”

His tone was light, as if her situation were no big deal.

Seo-ah had no choice but to cling to him desperately.

Help me.

Her voice wouldn’t come out. No, she didn’t even know if it was coming out or not.

Seo-ah could only plead with him with her entire body.

Help me.

She could only hope her plea would reach him.

Please, don’t… don’t leave me like this.

Inexplicable events sometimes cause errors in proper cognitive judgment.

The man, who had been burning with the desire to ‘educate’ Seo-ah, should have thought a little more deeply about who the man suddenly appearing at the door was and how he had gotten in. Or at least, he should have realized that the chill crawling up his spine was an instinctive alarm.

“If you want to do more, I’ll wait for a bit.”

He should have properly understood that in the strange words the man tossed out, there wasn’t a single shred of caution toward him.

“Guest, perhaps you have found the wrong room.”

The gaze that had been fixed on the woman finally lifted. The tip of the cigarette glowed red again. After taking a deep drag, he exhaled the words along with the smoke.

“Get out.”

The neck of the man on the bed prickled at the strangely calm attitude. Unconsciously, he rolled his eyes to scan the surroundings. Fortunately, there was no one else but the man.

He was momentarily stunned, not knowing how the man had entered, but he figured he hadn’t noticed because he was excited. The guys guarding the outside… right, they probably stepped away for a moment. Slackers. They should be back by now.

“I said, I think you’ve got the wrong room.”

“……”

“The person who found the wrong room should be the one to leave, shouldn’t they?”

It was the moment he deliberately raised his voice so those outside could hear.

The man who had been leaning against the door straightened up as if by magic. Then, before the other could even try anything, he approached in an instant, and the next moment, the man on the bed was grabbed by the back of his hair. Only after his neck was snapped back did he see the chilling blue eyes.

“Every single one of you lacks reading comprehension.”

Letting out a dry laugh, Oscar dragged the man off the bed. After kicking the backs of the man’s knees to force him down, Oscar stepped on his thigh and shoved the cigarette backward into the mouth of the man who was trying to scream.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, as natural as flowing water.

“Mmmgh, mmph, mmmph!”

He tried to open his mouth at the horrific pain of his tongue being seared, but he couldn’t possibly open it against the force applied to his jaw. The strength of the foot pressing down on his thighs and the grip on the back of his head and jaw were overwhelming. He desperately waved his only free hand, but it was futile.

It felt as though he had become an insect.