Chapter 18
“Yes. Yes, I’m here. What? Damn it, you almost killed me and Yugyeom?”
I woke up abruptly at the sound of a voice filled with anger.
As I struggled to open my eyes, I felt relieved seeing the familiar ceiling. Yugyeom’s room, just a plain white ceiling with nothing else.
Even though I lay still, my whole body ached in every corner.
The blanket on my back felt soft, but my body felt stiff and heavy, as if every joint had turned into stone.
“Ah!”
Just a slight movement of my body caused excruciating pain to shoot through me like electricity, and I let out a groan.
I could barely breathe, unable to move a single finger anymore.
! Are you okay?
“…Ah, yeah.”
“What? You’re okay?”
“Your eyes are swollen, sniff…”
Feeling choked up, forgetting the pain, I sat up abruptly, and my vision blurred. It seemed like I could see a few stars.
Why does my body ache like this?
“Did you hit me somewhere thinking I fainted?”
Looking at Chan cheon with suspicion, I stiffly moved my arm. Yi Chan burst into laughter, looking incredulous.
“You’re always lying around in the room and suddenly move so violently, it’s bound to strain your body. You’ve only slept for two days.”
The warmth I felt on my skin was still vivid, but as my memory faded, the reality seemed to crumble.
“I lost.”
Except for the muscle pain, I could almost believe that everything up to now had been a dream.
I feel like I’m really dying.
Groaning, I pulled back the blanket and managed to sit on the edge of the bed, legs dangling.
Looking at Ichang’s gaze, I realized the sorry state of my clothes, now as tattered as my arms and legs.
Of course, it would be awkward even for me to put on new clothes without realizing it, but this pitiful state was no joke.
“I can’t dress myself, can I?”
Ichang shrugged and turned to open the wardrobe.
After rummaging around for a while, he handed me a white shirt and a pair of trousers still on the hanger.
“I’m not sure if the pants will fit. Anyway, just put on the shirt for now; it’ll cover up t your knees”.
“ Anyway, I’ll go buy it in a bit.”
A neatly ironed shirt was gently grasped in hand without a single wrinkle. The scent of cologne, which lingered strongly on Yugyeom, filled the air.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what scent it was, but it left a lingering impression in memory.
“You brought Yugyeom with you, didn’t you?”
Tears still seemed to glisten in the dried-up eyes.
As the sturdy mask was peeled away, what was revealed beneath was like the beating heart of a newborn baby, thrashing fiercely to live.
The movement was so fervent, it couldn’t possibly be just a dream.
For a moment, Lee Chan remained silent, then he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me.
“Yeah. But what are you exactly?”
His gaze was unusually serious, not matching his eyes. I almost looked away.
“What’s that?”
“Why did you jump into the fire because of Yugyeom? Why did you bite me like this?!”
I shook my hand, where the marks from Yugyeom’s bite were still vivid.
I barely held onto my composure and focused all my attention on managing my expression.
“Are you saying you wanted to hear that I jumped in to save Yugyeom’s life, risking my own, because I was worried about him dying?”
I said briefly, smiling casually. If I talk too much, I might get caught up in it unnecessarily.
Chan couldn’t immediately respond, unable to assertively confirm any facts.
“In the end, Yugyeom saved me.”
While I casually lifted the corners of my mouth, my inner thoughts, groping for memories, were burnt black.
Tears soaked eyes stared down at me from above.
“It was vivid.
Like a miracle, did my senses return in that instant?
‘I waited, but when no one came out, I was about to call for someone to go in, then Yugyeom came out carrying you. As soon as he came out carrying you, Yugyeom also fainted.’
Lee Chan frowned slightly before adding,
‘You knew, didn’t you?’
My heart sank. I clenched my fist under the blanket with all my strength to not show any expression.
‘Yugyeom gets panic attacks when trapped in fire.’
The most unsettling fact was finally brought up.
Yugyeom must have been convinced that I knew about him being in that fire, and he must have told that fact to Lee Chan.
‘No? How would I know that.’
Still, Lee Chan won’t be certain. The fact that I, with my limited knowledge, know something unknown to me .
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“I was confident that Yugyeom wouldn’t be able to escape, so I went in to save him.”
“I was outside even before the bomb went off. Among the people coming out, I didn’t see Yugyeom.”
“Most people were wearing masks and wigs, so it doesn’t make sense to find him among them.”
I almost choked on my words for a moment. Swallowing my breath discreetly, I continued speaking.
“You seemed like you were just trying to get out too. Isn’t it reasonable for me to know something you don’t?”
Instead of answering, Chan sighed heavily and roughly wiped his face with his hand. He looked tired.
As tension continued to build, waiting for the next words, the bell rang once, and the door opened.
Except for Yugyeom, it was the first time someone else had entered this room.
A cute woman with short pink hair that didn’t reach her shoulders and dressed in a black suit whispered something to Lee Chan.
The fleeting glance that touched me wasn’t particularly pleasant.
Upon hearing the woman’s words, Lee Chan cursed under his breath and immediately stood up.
“Take a shower and change your clothes. If you’re hungry, grab something from the fridge.”
“When will you be back?”
As Lee Chan turned around, grabbing the end of his jacket, he looked puzzled. Realizing, she added with a fearful voice,
“What if that person comes again?”
“He won’t.”
His response was firm. Lee Chan looked at me with a strange expression and then called the woman who had left ahead.
“Sena, Call the doctor again. Tell them to give her some sedatives or sleeping pills.”
The woman and I locked eyes.
Her gaze was so sharp it felt like it could cut. It was clear that she really disliked me.
“I don’t need that kind of thing.”
“Just try getting up once.”
At Chan’s unexpected remark, I completely threw off the blanket and stood up.
The moment I let go of the bed, my legs lost strength as if in jest, and my body slumped forward.
As if he had anticipated it, Chan reached out lightly and supported me.
“What’s wrong?”
“They say you’re not in good condition. It seems like it’s due to a lack of sleep and stress.”
Unable to sleep, I did feel somewhat tired, but was it to the point of being overwhelming?
Certainly, Yu gyeom seemed to have a delicate constitution. Just by looking at her, her pale skin made her appear fragile, almost like a vampire.
Moreover, considering all the experiences she had gone through since entering Yu gyeom body, it felt more dynamic than 25 years of life combined…
“Alright. I should just sleep.”
As if preparing for an injection, she quickly slipped under the covers.
I wasn’t fond of sleeping pills or anything that made me feel like I couldn’t control my own body.
I gestured for her to pull her hand out from under the covers.
‘Me. Go.’
With a wry smile, I mouthed the words, and Lee Chan nodded vigorously.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the midst of a blazing fire.
Another nightmare.
It’s so repetitive that it could dull my senses, yet it’s always agonizingly suffocating.
“I don’t want this. I don’t want to die.”
Wiping away tears, I turned my head to where he always stood.
“Princess.”
With a bright smile, he aimed the gun at me.
As I tried to run away, a red snake slithered up my legs and sank its fangs into my thigh. Screams echoed along with the gunshot.
Bang!
The end of the dream had never changed once.
“With a dizzying sensation as if falling, I opened my eyes and reality poured in.
I couldn’t even breathe, just blinked my eyes. The dizzying pain piercing through my heart felt vivid.
Somehow, it was another nightmare after easily falling asleep. I barely pulled my arm out from under the blanket and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
As I turned my head, I saw Yugyeom’s back. Next to him was Ichan, and their conversation seemed faintly audible. As I tried to listen more closely to their voices, I rolled my body sideways, and Yugyeom suddenly turned towards me. Without realizing it, I tightly shut my eyes before our eyes could meet. ‘Our kids on our side are coming back as corpses. Sometimes just an arm or a leg, sometimes a head. Sometimes detached from their bodies.’”
“It seems serious, what’s going on?
I relaxed my body and breathed naturally. The sound of footsteps drew nearer.
“I was mistaken. I thought he was going to propose a deal, but that crazy bastard is just giving warnings. He’s confident. Even if we attack soon, it won’t be surprising.”
As if a shadow were falling over my closed eyelids, a cold finger touched my cheek.
Startled, I almost opened my eyes again.
“The situation isn’t good, and I’m regretting being greedy. We risk losing everything for nothing. Let’s try to expose the spy Cha Yeonbyul brought. He’ll ruin us starting with my father.”
“So, what do you suggest?”
The chilly finger swept through my hair.
I should have focused on Lee Chan’s words, but my nerves were tingling along with that touch.
“We either quietly kill him or.”
He held his breath for a moment. But soon exhaled naturally and clenched his fist under the blanket.
“Or should I inform Father, that old man, right now.”
Either way, it would lead to the same conclusion. In the end, Yu gyeom would die as originally destined.
His heart pounded as if it would burst. The sound was frightening enough for Yugyeom to hear.
I’ve been too careless.
In a gangster noir, peaceful transactions like this were impossible.
Like an unchanging nightmare, is nothing going to change after all?
“But Chan.”
Yu-gyeom’s finger, previously detached from his cheek, now touched his neck.
It was a cautious touch as if afraid it might break with a flick, but it sent shivers down his spine.
The wound, which was almost completely healed, caused by Yugyeom’s knife, no longer seemed to be there.
The chill touching his neck reminded him of the pain from back then. It was a moment when he no longer had the confidence to not be caught not sleeping.
“I need to know.”
A voice, almost like sand blowing in the wind, whispered softly.
He couldn’t bear it. The thought of opening his eyes and seeing Yugyeom’s face surged strongly within him.
But it remained just a thought.
It was because the eyes that looked down at him from within the flames came to mind like a piercing gaze.
“About Cha Yeonbyul, all of it without exception.”
The first time Yugyeom uttered that name, it was as unfamiliar as the tears of that time.
Instincts raced faster than thoughts and made a decisive judgment.
“I have to run away, from fate and from Yugyeom.”
