Chapter 21
From behind, it looked like our lips had met.
“My lover.”
Yugyeom continued to grip my wrist tightly as he stepped forward.
Standing beside the man, still without putting the gun away, Yugyeom stopped and turned his head to smile at him.
“Next time, you should bring your father’s words with you.”
“….”
“No matter how much your mother cares for you, I might not be able to restrain myself next time.”
His smile seemed affectionate, but his eyes did not.
Yugyeom, dragging me along, turned towards a corridor I didn’t recognize.
The corridor, painted entirely gray, was dimly lit.
“Wait a minute…!”
Only then did I try to pull my arm free, but he seemed unwilling to let go.
I tried hitting Yugyeom’s arm and pushing against him, but his grip on my wrist only tightened.
“Yugyeom! What are you doing…?!”
Yugyeom, walking briskly, opened the door at the end of the corridor.
As soon as he opened the door, the fading sunset light poured in, making me squint.
The room was similar in size to Yugyeom’s, but there was no trace of anyone ever having been here, like a hotel room.
Yugyeom led me to the bed in the center of the room and finally let go of my hand.
Then, he walked to the door, locking it with a click, and retrieved his phone from his jacket pocket.
“Ha.”
I laughed nervously at his flawless movements, as if he had foreseen everything.
Did I install a location tracking app just in case I succeeded?
Yugyeom loosened his tie and made a call while pulling it.
“I need some guards sent to the room. Yes, that room. About ten of them.”
As I anxiously listened to Yugyeom’s words, his gaze fell on me.
“And put my partner’s name on the guest list.”
His fixed gaze became intense.
“Under Cha Yeon-byul. Use a different name on the list.”
After a few more words, Yugyeom hung up the phone and finally threw his loosened tie carelessly.
“What are you doing right now?”
When I asked sharply, instead of answering, Yugyeom knelt down in front of me with one knee and hesitated.
“I’m sorry for grabbing your wrist. I think people will gather soon, but still, I’m sorry.”
Yugyeom reached out towards my wrist, but hesitated and withdrew his hand.
He had a genuinely apologetic expression, but it wasn’t a situation I could trust.
“Let me go. Just let me go…”
“No, I can’t.”
Despite his firm words, his eyes, looking up at me, softened gently.
“I told you. It’s not going to happen. I won’t let go.”
“…What?”
I was genuinely taken aback, and a foolish question slipped out.
“Why?”
As Yugyeom stood up, shadows cast over his face in the dim light.
Yugyeom leaned towards me, holding onto the bedpost next to me.
The shadow engulfed me, darkening my vision.
His long fingers trailed down my cheek, and a white string wrapped around one of my wrists like a bracelet.
Yugyeom casually tied the other end of the string to the bedpost next to me and sat down beside me.
As my heart sank along with the sunken bed, Yugyeom whispered, “I don’t know either. But I don’t want to lose you.”
I couldn’t escape from his gaze.
His gaze weighed heavier on me than the metal cuff around my wrist.
Yugyeom fiddled with the shimmering piercings in his ear.
“On the last day of the establishment, there’s a party.”
“….”
“Our people who were left at Baekcheon are coming back dead, so Baek Ha-won will probably attend.”
Unexpected words left my mind blank.
If it followed the original, Baek Ha-won would come here on the last day of the establishment.
But did Yugyeom know in advance in the original too?
I couldn’t tell if something was off, or if everything was heading towards the same ending after all.
“I’ll be by your side that day.”
My heart raced at his low whisper.
Whatever the case, it was clear that something was seriously wrong.
“I can’t kill you.”
“….”
“Since begging you not to go doesn’t work, there’s nothing else I can do.”
Yugyeom clasped my hand tied with the string.
And still, with his gaze fixed on me, he pressed his lips onto the back of my hand.
“Don’t run away anymore, Princess.”
* * *
“Don’t run away anymore, Princess.”
It’s been three days since that bombshell of a statement was uttered.
I was in a perfect confinement.
It was different from being in Yugyeom’s room. Everything, starting from the atmosphere, was different.
Inside the room, two people and at least eight guards were thoroughly guarding the door.
“Can I at least get some fresh air?”
“I’ll increase the air conditioner’s airflow.”
“But it’s winter?”
I had been trying to escape continuously, but for three days, I hadn’t been able to step out of the room.
“Could I possibly…”
“No, you can’t.”
“But I haven’t even said anything yet?”
If they weren’t going to let me escape anyway, why did they tell me not to?!
Hearing that “No” twenty times a day, my once resilient mindset was gradually fading away, even though I remained unharmed physically.
No matter how spacious the room was, a prison was still a prison.
“Why on earth?!”
I screamed, tearing my hair out, while the man standing awkwardly in front of the wall looked at me with a strange expression.
But I couldn’t care less about such looks.
‘Why did this happen?!’
Locked in the room, I kept replaying Yugyeom’s words over and over in my mind.
“Don’t go.”
“I won’t let you leave.”
“Don’t run away.”
Wasn’t this starting to feel like Yugyeom was obsessing over me rather than caring for me?
“Haah….”
I buried my face into the pillow as if collapsing.
The string tied around my wrist lay untouched by anyone, right next to my head.
Although I could untie it with just one hand, the fact that it was tied by someone else felt eerie.
Was it meant to signify my ownership, like a symbol of obsession?
Were the words to prevent me from getting killed the issue?
Yugyeom might have said he liked me even on the cruise ship, but it was all part of the atmosphere where we pretended not to notice each other’s lies.
But there was nothing particularly concerning about the other words.
Yugyeom was always casually flirting with women, so I thought he might be used to that.
But why on earth…
“….”
Was that day the problem after all?
The day I jumped into the fire to face you directly, when you were crumbling down.
I even said things like “I liked you even on the cruise ship,” but it was just part of the atmosphere where we pretended not to notice each other’s lies.
There wasn’t anything particularly suspicious about the other words.
Yugyeom was always naturally flirtatious with women, so I thought he’d be used to that.
But why on earth…
“…Was that day the problem after all?”
Jumping into the fire to face you directly when you were crumbling down.
But even that couldn’t be helped, so there was no point in regretting it.
Even if I went back, I couldn’t ignore it.
How could I let my favorite character die there?
But I never once thought that Yugyeom would like me.
This isn’t a romance fantasy with princes or dukes.
There’s no main character, so how could an extra villain who dies on the first encounter become the main character?
“You shouldn’t be doing this to me, you bastard! I’m really going to die like this!”
My fluctuating emotions turned into anger and resentment.
There were probably at least four days left until the end of the establishment.
At this rate, I would just stand next to Yugyeom like a doll at the establishment’s party on the last day.
Next to Yugyeom, who suddenly started obsessing over me on the day Cha Yeon-byeol died in the original?
This can’t happen.
“I have something to say, so call Lee Chan for me.”
I was contemplating.
How did the protagonist turn the obsessing male lead into a regretful male lead?
—
Lee Chan does come when called.
“Did you call for me?”
But he doesn’t look at me.
According to what he blurted out when he first came to this room, he misunderstood that I had discovered the secret door because of traces left by Lee Chan.
So Yugyeom scolded Lee Chan severely or something.
Thinking back, it felt like there might have been something buried in the square hole of the picture.
Strictly speaking, it was purely luck that I found it.
But since Lee Chan wasn’t on my side anyway, there was no need to correct the misunderstanding. There was no opportunity to correct it either.
“How long are you going to use honorifics?”
As he sat down on the couch, Lee Chan awkwardly settled down on the opposite side.
His poodle-like hair and awkwardly calm demeanor, along with his quirky personality, made me wonder if he was alive or dead.
“It’s funny that being polite is considered an honorific. It doesn’t suit you, so just relax. Yugyeom won’t mind.”
“Do you think that bastard won’t notice just because you don’t say anything? Or do you think he doesn’t care? How much…”
Lee Chan abruptly stood up, blurting out words in a frenzy, then seemed to realize something and clenched his lips shut.
Behind Lee Chan, two guards were standing watch.
“Don’t blame me. I didn’t know that bastard was such a snake. It’s not my fault.”
Yeah, I really didn’t know.
I thought he was just a mischievous puppy wanting love, not someone who would lock people up overnight like this.
This incident made me realize deeply. Being a scheming male lead may be thrilling from the viewer’s perspective, but in reality, it’s quite dangerous…
“Hey, Lee Chan.”
When I put down the glass I was holding with a loud thud on the table, Lee Chan’s eyes turned towards me. His black pupils seemed half dead like frozen fish eyes.
“Why is Yugyeom doing this to me?”
Instead of answering, Lee Chan gestured desperately behind me with his eyes.
Please get rid of that. Lee Chan silently pleaded with his eyes, tracing his dark circles.
“Excuse me. Since Lee Chan is here too, please stop.”
“No, you can’t.”
That irritating ‘No, you can’t’ again.
“If I don’t leave, what will happen?”
When I smirked, both the guards and Lee Chan’s faces froze simultaneously.
As Lee Chan belatedly tried to intervene, my words were faster.
“I’m going to start talking about Yugyeom now.”
“…But this is so secretive… and sensitive… Will you be able to survive even if you hear it…?”
Secretive.
Delivering each syllable with emphasis, my face looked quite pale as it weakened.
The guards, who had been spreading their wings of imagination, seemed to rationalize that it would be okay with Lee Chan and eventually left the room.
“Phew, you’re really something too.”
With a relieved expression, Lee Chan exhaled a sigh of relief.
“If you don’t want to be next, speak now.”
I swallowed the non-alcoholic cocktail I had obtained by demanding it forcefully. It was still bland.
“Did I hear everything?”
With my legs crossed, I leaned forward towards Lee Chan.
“You’re telling me to kill you.”
As I pretended to smile with closed eyes, Lee Chan’s face hardened.
