#5
[I knew you were insane, but I didn’t think you were this insane. What the hell are you planning to do with her?!]
[Stay out of it.]
[How the fuck am I supposed to ‘stay out of it’ when you’re going to get me killed too?! Stop whatever you’re thinking and just hand her over to the boss. A civilian consuming was—no matter what—an accident. We can still fix—]
[Fix? You’ve been with Baekwoon for twenty years, and you still expect mercy? That’s kind of stupid… and kind of cute.]
The words poured in rapidly, the translation app barely keeping up.
I held my breath, eyes darting over the screen as I hurried to read through everything.
Then—
My scrolling thumb froze.
Baekwoon.
No way.
Could they really be talking about that Baekwoon?
It was impossible not to know the name.
Unless you lived completely off the grid, everyone had heard of Baekwoon Group—a Hong Kong-based global investment company that frequently made headlines.
A massive corporation.
With luxury hotel chains in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai—
With museums, theaters, and even Olympic sponsorships under its belt—
With a ridiculous amount of wealth and influence—
An elite powerhouse in the corporate world.
While quietly listening to the two of them talk, Baekwoon felt like an elite company had transformed into some kind of giant mafia organization. With a sense of disbelief, I continued reading the translation app.
[So what are you going to do! You saw how that girl changed. We need to take her to the boss first and then research it if we want to survive. We have to prove whether we can re-extract the drug or if it has some other value.]
[What if I don’t want to?]
[Wei chen!]
[She’s mine. Don’t get any ideas.]
[Please get a grip. If that girl suddenly dies from side effects, you won’t even get to use the necktie before it disappears. You know what that means.]
[My head will explode too. It’s not surprising.]
I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping in shock. Not screaming was almost a miracle. Even if I didn’t understand everything they were saying, one thing stood out clearly.
Side effects! Could I really explode and die overnight? I struggled to resist the urge to check my still intact limbs.
So, to sum it up, the ring that Seon-ah’s boyfriend bought for a high price at the Hong Kong night market wasn’t just an ordinary ring.
What on earth did I just swallow?
At that moment, the woman let out a long sigh and continued speaking. Perhaps she was exhausted by the man’s rigid attitude, as her previously heightened voice had calmed down.
[She’s no longer human. No matter what you dream of, you can’t control her alone without the organization’s help.]
[That premise is wrong, Xuan. The organization can’t do anything without my assistance. The necktie only reacts to my blood.]
[…You haven’t forgotten why the boss tolerates your reckless and ridiculous actions, have you?]
[I appreciate your concern.]
[I’m not concerned!]
[So it’s a curse then. But the way you look at me is affectionate, Xuan.]
[Shut up and go die!]
Crash. A heavy object hit the wall and then fell to the floor. The woman, referred to as Xuan, was breathing heavily. Despite this, Wei chen still looked calm and collected, seemingly unfazed.
[Wei chen, I’m warning you, you must never let this kid find out about the necktie or Baekwoon.]
Unfortunately, the translation app was diligently converting Xuan’s words into Korean and relaying them to me.
[The moment news leaks that Baekwoon has developed a biological weapon drug, we’re all done for. You know that high-ranking officials in Hong Kong, businesspeople, and even foreign investors are all tied to the boss. The test subjects sacrificed for the development of the necktie, the hidden deaths… Once this comes to light, it’s clear that those who have been protecting us will be the first to turn their backs. So, I’ll say it again…]
“Never let this information leak. This is beyond what we can control.”
“……”
A disturbingly low voice tickled my ear and resonated softly. And it was in Korean, not Cantonese. I froze, unable to blink.
A long finger reached for my phone and gently took it away. As the phone, which I had held like a lifeline, vanished, my empty hand groped aimlessly in the air.
“Did you get caught?”
“……”
A chilling silence filled the room. Both Xuan and I seemed speechless in shock.
“What do we do now?”
Before I knew it, Wei chen had come closer and handed my phone back to me while whispering. His low words felt less like a monologue and more like a direct question aimed at me.
In that moment, the instinct to survive surged through my fear.
I immediately threw off the blanket and knelt on the bed with both knees.
“I’m sorry. I’ll really keep my mouth shut.”
“Everyone says that.”
“But I didn’t actually want to know everything you two were talking about.”
“Did your ancestors come and turn on the translation app for you?”
The man sat on the edge of the bed and tucked the hair sticking to my face behind my ear. I was soaked in sweat, not just on my face but all over my back and groin. The thought that I could genuinely die wasn’t a joke; it made me feel like I was about to wet myself.
“I just wanted to know where this place is, that’s all. Really. But suddenly, you all started talking about everything…”
“So it’s Xuan’s fault?”
“No! It’s not anyone’s fault; I’m just saying that I didn’t dig this up on purpose, and I just want to… sigh…”
“That’s what she says, Xuan. What do you think?”
Wei chen asked the woman behind him while keeping his gaze fixed on me. I managed to move my trembling eyes to look at Xuan.
She stared blankly at the back of his head with a pale face and then left the bedroom. Bang. The door slammed shut, and it felt significant.
Even someone completely oblivious could sense that the atmosphere was tense; the air had turned icy.
“By the way, what do you plan to do with knowing where this place is?”
The man suddenly asked. I looked at him, feeling the heat rising in my eyelids. Unlike Xuan, whose emotions were clearly visible on her face, I couldn’t read anything from the man’s expression.
“Are you planning to run away?”
“……”
I was hit right on target. I needed to make some excuse, but despite usually being able to come up with something, I couldn’t get the words out due to the overwhelming tension.
“Really?”
Wei chen tilted his head and asked again, even though he had already read the answer in my silence.
The man’s piercing gaze seemed to bind me, making it hard to breathe. I pressed my lips tightly together and just shook my head.
Only then did the corners of his mouth curve upward.
“Yeah. If you want to live, you have to stick around, even if you don’t want to. Next to me.”
This meant that at least he didn’t intend to kill me. At least not right now.
“Relax your legs. You’ll cramp up.”
“Ah!”
“Why are you so tense?”
The man suddenly slipped his hand under my armpit. Without much effort, he lifted me up and set me down on the edge of the bed. No matter the difference in gender, I was still an adult, and the strength he used to lift me like a teddy bear was extraordinary.
Well, he was dealing with a monster that had transformed.
“……”
Suddenly, I looked down at my arms. The black feathers that had covered my skin were now completely gone. I swallowed hard.
“What’s going to happen to me now?”
I forced out the question I really wanted to ask.
“Am I really going to explode and die? Or will I turn into that monster again? What if I can’t come back for the rest of my life? Will I be dragged into a lab and dissected or exploited as a human weapon?”
Those were the only futures I could think of right now. It was terrifying. Really, horrifyingly scary. I had no ambition to conquer the world, nor did I possess the holiness or courage to uphold justice.
