Chapter 135
The House of Do was distinct from the other four houses that supported Baekcheon, possessing its own unique nature.
It was close to art and desired beauty.
The obsessive habit of pursuing perfect beauty was an instinct passed down through generations, like an inherent trait.
And the ultimate destination of that instinct was, naturally, their master.
For Baekcheon.
As the man walked, the red drapes fluttered.
On the blood-colored fabric, a snake was etched, so vivid that it seemed ready to come alive and sink its fangs. The red snake was the symbol of the House of Do.
Hundreds of people bowed their heads beneath him.
The man’s steps toward the central altar were emotionless.
The joy of finally gaining the position of head of the family after this ritual, or the sorrow of losing his father and relatives and suddenly becoming alone.
It was all as familiar and natural as going back to where he originally belonged.
“For the new head of the family.”
The people standing at his feet raised their cups toward the man.
At the same moment, the man stopped in front of the altar.
On the pure white altar, a cup adorned with elegant patterns was placed.
Inside the cup was the most crimson liquid among all the things present in this space.
The man extended his arm and grabbed the cup, a slight smile curling at his lips.
A bird, soaring high in the sky, was etched on the part of the cup he touched with his fingers.
The impulse to break those wings and possess that bird from time to time, and the strange excitement he felt realizing the bird was now in his hands, was overwhelming.
The man raised the cup high.
“For Baekcheon.”
As he raised the cup, his gaze followed, and it reached the deep blue sky.
The walls around him were covered in red drapes, but beyond the transparent ceiling, the night sky was visible.
His hair, dyed a blue much more saturated than the sky, was stirred by the wind that blew from somewhere.
The man never once forgot that the sky was above his head.
But sometimes…
“You’re going to go to Utopia yourself? To the forest where the hunting game is in full swing? Boss, are you finally losing it? There’s no need for you to go personally; we could find a way to bring Chayeon out of there…”
“No need to waste time.”
“Are you in a hurry?”
Sometimes, didn’t he feel envious of the stars embedded in that sky?
“Why, are you worried that they might never come back? Our boss?”
“…Well, it seems like there’s not much time left.”
Sometimes.
“I really hate having things taken from me.”
No, more and more often.
There were times when he found it unbearable, hating and despising something that had always been there, something he never dared to touch.
“For Baekcheon.”
The blood that overflowed stained the hands of the new head of the House of Do, turning them bright red.
And everything else was swallowed through twisted lips.
So that it would flow inside him forever, as blood and breath.
***
“Do you really want to know?”
Are you sure you won’t regret it?
The words Yugyeom had asked repeatedly, scaring me every time, echoed in my ears.
What did I answer back then?
I think I answered that I wanted to know. Even if it was something better left unknown.
Who the hell was the bastard who wanted to kill me?
“Doshiyu.”
After a brief silence, I spoke that name again.
It was the only thing I could be sure of, the only thing I could confirm as real.
In the tension of my words, anger seeped out, impossible to hide.
I passed the woman standing at the door and took a step inside.
“Yes, Yeonbyeol.”
As the door closed behind me, Doshiyu laughed mischievously. It was the kind of bright laugh a teenage boy might have.
It felt so familiar, like when I saw him as just a friend, that I didn’t even feel out of place.
Today, his attire felt somewhat ordinary, a far cry from what would seem fitting for him.
Except for the jacket he wore over a white shirt.
The elaborate pattern on the jacket from his shoulder to his chest was unmistakably a snake, and suddenly, I felt an inexplicable déjà vu.
His hair, calmly settled, was still a vivid red.
The hand holding the ragged sack made of old cloth also reminded me of something—of the whispered words from early this morning, wishing me a good trip to the amusement park.
Dried bloodstains.
“You…”
I now understood why Yugyeom and Baek Ha-won had tried so hard not to tell me.
“Isn’t it?”
I couldn’t possibly pretend to accept this indifferently.
It hadn’t been years; it had only been a short while, but I had already forgotten.
When Angel pulled me up from the water, my heart had felt like it had stopped. It was the same, the struggle to breathe.
“Say it’s not true.”
I muttered, mixing my suppressed breaths.
“Tell me everything I’m thinking is wrong. That it’s just my misunderstanding.”
“What difference would it make if I say it’s not true?”
Cutting off my words, Doshiyu showed his palm, which had been gripping the sack.
Thud. The heavy sack, now released from his hand, spun half a turn on the floor.
There was no movement. I couldn’t take my eyes off the sack, large enough to hold a small child.
“I’ve been caught.”
My heart raced wildly.
“And you’ve figured it out.”
The red blood that flowed from the sack pooled on the cement floor.
A cold, sharp intuition gripped me, and chills ran through my body.
‘Do you know what kind of deal I made with Doshiyu when I first entered Baekcheon with the young lady?’
Yugyeom’s words, which he had poured out while holding me, rewound in my mind.
Listening to him, I recalled the first time I met him.
Now that I knew the truth of the situation I had thought was possession, it didn’t make sense that he had come to Baekcheon because of me. I had been just a shell, barely existing before I entered this body.
The words he had always spoken to me, like a habit, since the first moment we met.
He always spoke in a playful, roundabout way, but the meaning was always the same.
“I asked you to remove it from in front of me. Something that doesn’t belong in Baekcheon.”
To leave Baekcheon.
To get out of my sight while I was still speaking kindly.
“He couldn’t kill or harm me directly. It’s something only a few people know, but the Do family’s hunting dogs are so loyal that they’d slit their bellies if the boss ordered it.”
Doshiyu, with a casual expression, dusted his jacket off as if nothing had happened.
“Rumor has it that every time the head of the family changes, they all drink the boss’s blood together.”
But the dried bloodstains, like a tattoo, remained, impossible to erase.
“That’s not something that can be changed—emotions or betrayal. It’s just the nature of the blood and the way they’re born.”
“….”
“And honestly, even if it’s not that bloodline, no one, even a street kid, would disobey the boss’s orders for just personal feelings.”
Doshiyu, still uninterested in his red-stained palm, lifted his gaze to meet mine.
My frozen eyes stayed locked with his.
In his dark eyes, I could clearly see a red aura glowing faintly.
“So when he shot the young lady in the forest…”
I had been caught, and now he knew.
The words, if twisted, meant this:
“Even if you have to go against the boss’s will, that bastard could kill you any time.”
He wouldn’t try to hide anything anymore.
A dull pain spread through the spot where the bullet had once lodged. The sensation, whether real or just a trick of the mind, felt like I was suffocating.
He slowly closed the distance between us, leaving a trail of bright red blood from the sack on the floor. The blood was about to reach me.
When Angel had pulled me from the water and handed me over to Kang Taejun, I thought that, even if the situation was clear and all I had to do was pull the trigger, I wouldn’t be able to kill him.
…But was it the same now?
The sack on the floor remained still, and the location of Ivy marked on my phone was exactly where I stood.
“I don’t know why you haven’t done anything until now, even though you’ve already shot me once.”
I now understood the answer to Yugyeom’s last question.
In the reality that felt as distant as a dream, I decided to chase the truth that I could hold in my hands.
“You didn’t give me a proper answer this morning.”
I gathered all the remaining strength I had, scraping the bottom, and poured it into my voice, determined not to let it tremble.
He pulled the corner of his mouth into a grin.
The crescent-shaped line at his lips, under eyes that didn’t smile, was no pure expression.
“The person you like.”
His gaze and attention were still fixed on me, as if nothing else mattered.
I didn’t avoid his gaze, instead digging into it deeply as I asked:
“You like my older brother, don’t you?”
And with the hand that had fallen below my waist, I readied the gun that was still loaded.
“As much as you’d die in his place.”
I was ready to point the gun at my target and pull the trigger at any moment.
