Episode 3
Am I going crazy?
Jiwoon put the gun he reflexively pulled out when Baekhawon grabbed him by the neck, and thought while rubbing the dark circles under his eyes.
“I’ll say it once, so listen carefully, boss.”
He grabbed the boss’s neck so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged, and even poked his chest with his finger.
Like his wrinkled forehead, Jiwoon also frowned.
“My heart has left here.”
“……”
“I’m going to become independent this week, so please prepare a farewell party.”
The heavy silence was shattered by the powerful voice.
His bright brown eyes, exposed to the sun, shone brightly and became slightly larger. It was a small change, but it was an unusual change for Jiwoon, who was seen as a robot by his subordinates.
The existence of Cha Yeon-byeol was not something that could be simply defined in Baekcheon.
A woman who resembled the deceased wife whom the former boss of Baekcheon brought in, and her daughter.
Although she did not belong to the organization, in another sense, she was in a position second only to the boss here.
The members of the organization called her “Miss” and could not treat her lightly. It was not a position created by the existence of Cha Yeon-byeol itself, but her words and actions made her own existence like that.
She had a foolishness that was naive and innocent, and a presence that overwhelmed people enough to believe that she was a high-ranking official in the organization even if someone who didn’t know her saw her.
And she told the boss that she loved him like a crazy person.
Whether it was an animal or a person, if his gaze lingered too long, she would confess her love while grabbing him with blood-stained hands.
The more he did, Baekhawon resented her.
Yet, the reason he kept Cha Yeon-byeol below Baekcheon was because of the unavoidable risk to the organization and the unyielding legacy left by the former boss, his father, that he would have to endure if she were placed elsewhere.
“Even the boss might be inclined to bow, in a flashy and extravagant way. Is that possible?”
But finally?
Am I really going crazy?
No,
It’s different.
What had always seemed so relentlessly the same, like the hands of a clock, had changed. It had changed so much that it was impossible to pinpoint the cause.
And Baekhawon felt that change as well.
Jiwoon noticed it immediately.
The abyss-like black pupils containing Cha Yeon-byeol, emitting a different light than before.
Until she, with a face full of anger and dazzling smile, crumbled into his arms, Baekhawon simply looked at her with indifferent eyes.
* * *
“The fever had exceeded 39 degrees. Fortunately, it has now come down to 38 degrees, but it’s still dangerous. It seems that the illness you had last time has worsened.”
The boundary between dream and reality was blurred. As if the intense heat had melted away the sense of reality, I was slipping into somewhere deep and confusing.
“Am I in my right mind now? It can’t be unless I’m in my right mind.”
The clear voice that made me wake up in an instant seemed like a mistake.
Ah, I’m wide awake now.
I blinked my heavy eyelids slowly and eventually closed them again. Even on second thought, I felt like I must have misheard. Was there really someone who could speak to Baekhawon like that?
“How could you let her faint twice like that?”
“What’s going on here? I don’t recall the successor of the Do family having to come in person.”
“She’s here to see him, what’s the problem?”
Click, a harsh sound followed. I hadn’t heard it many times, but it was an unforgettable sound of a gun being loaded.
“You raised her delicately, but she’s doing whatever she wants.”
“Yeah. If you raised her so strictly, why is she so unruly?”
Pretending to sleep in the truly threatening atmosphere where it seemed like someone could die was futile.
When I opened my eyes, the familiar ceiling painting that I had seen a few times already came into view. It was Cha Yeon-byeol’s room.
I managed to open my eyes, but the heavy weight pressing on me felt like a huge boulder, making it hard to breathe.
I contemplated closing my eyes again due to the overwhelming sense of helplessness washing over me like waves, but seeing the person who had always been on my side, I couldn’t look away.
First of all, her hair was the color of cotton candy.
Colorful cotton candy.
Her fashion was as unconventional as her hair color. A flashy jacket with embroidered flowers, red socks, yellow shoes, and dangling teddy bear-shaped earrings on her shoulders.
When I glanced away, I saw Baekhawon aiming a gun at the cotton candy.
That kid is always ready to cause a scene with a gun.
“Cotton candy.”
It was barely a word that slipped out.
Thankfully, it seemed to have been heard as cotton candy turned towards me, and our gazes met directly.
At first glance, the boyish charm suited her cotton candy hair. The soft yet strong features that naturally blended excessive fashion into her personality.
She would look really pretty when she smiles. I was having a frivolous thought about how a girl like her would usually be a troublemaker when her face, which I usually saw, contorted clearly.
The face, why did it get uglier?
What?
At the unexpected remark, I felt my face scrunch up.
I couldn’t have forgotten about this guy who’s a walking time bomb with every word he spits out, or is he just an extra?
Just looking at his face, he seems like a supporting actor, but since Cha Yeon-byeol dies early, there’s a good chance that someone from Cha Yeon-byeol’s side might not appear.
“Call the doctor.”
“Yes, boss.”
Baekhawon glanced at me and holstered his gun. Seeing that, Cotton Candy furrowed her brows as if she was displeased.
“Boss, aren’t you a bit old-fashioned?”
My guard went up against Cotton Candy, and my opinion of her went up. It’s rare to see that kind of mindset on this floor. Do I like you a little bit?
As I struggled to sit up, Cotton Candy grabbed me and helped me lean against the headboard of the bed.
I hadn’t seen it in a book, so I didn’t even know the three-letter name. Since they said he was the successor of the Do family earlier, it seems like his surname is Do.
Leading Baekcheon was the Baekga, and five Ga followed him, dividing and managing Baekcheon’s territory. One of them seemed to be Cotton Candy’s family.
“Hey, Cotton Candy.”
“Cotton Candy?”
“What’s your name?”
Because of the fever, unfiltered thoughts popped into my hazy mind.
Cotton Candy’s eyebrows narrowed seriously.
“What? Are you still out of it?”
Do Si-yoo. Stop going out.
The answer came out of my mouth involuntarily.
Do Si-yoo.
I rolled the three letters in my mouth, but nothing came to mind. It’s a name I’ve never heard before.
Cotton Candy, or rather Do Si-yoo, openly scowled but got up from the bed without defying the boss’s words.
Just when I thought he was going to leave the room, he turned around, grabbed my shoulders, and came so close that our breaths mingled.
His unexpected action made me hold my breath without realizing it.
“Tell me anytime.”
“….”
“When you want to get out of here, tell me.”
I didn’t respond to the incomprehensible words and just stared at him with a blank face, but it seemed like Do Si-yoo didn’t even notice my gaze and just left the room.
Want to get out? Cha Yeon-byeol wouldn’t want to get out of Baekcheon.
Is it because I came into a novel that I’m so clueless? Or is it because I’m the villainess who dies in the first chapter of a BL novel?
My head felt like it was going to split. But seeing that Baekhawon is friendly with me, it seems unlikely that Do Si-yoo is the villain who killed Yoo Gyeom.
I wasn’t sure what the relationship was between Cha Yeon-byeol and Do Si-yoo, but the fact that there was at least one person who was friendly to Cha Yeon-byeol gave me a little sense of relief.
As the tension eased and drowsiness came back, I thought I would go back to sleep, but just then, I met Baekhawon’s eyes, who I thought had gone out with Do Si-yoo.
“Boss.”
His eyebrows twitched and twisted at my words.
I couldn’t read his eyes, but they made me shrink for no reason.
Baekhawon’s face was like a night sea or a swamp. It looked calm on the surface, but you couldn’t know what was inside until you touched it.
It evoked a fear that felt like it would suck you in the moment you touched it.
“Aren’t you going out?”
Baekhawon, who had been leaning against the door all along, took a step forward. Even if I walked in my sleep, I couldn’t be more perfect than him.
“A party.”
The slow, deliberate steps he took had a weight that seemed to be made of things born to be squeezed, and it was impossible to decorate.
The atmosphere was like the arrogance of the top predator in the food chain.
“Open a party for me.”
Baekhawon’s white hand touched the rose on the table, which looked out of place. The movement of touching and fiddling with the red petals like blood made me nervous, but I tried to ignore it.
I said I would be independent and leave Baekcheon. I even grabbed Baekhawon’s neck.
It was clear that I wasn’t in my right mind at that moment, but looking back, it wasn’t such a crazy thing to do.
If I leave this island, there won’t be any chance of being kidnapped by Yoo Gyeom, who might sneak in, or of being killed by Yoo Gyeom’s hand when Baekhawon goes to find me after meeting Yoo Gyeom.
“I’m not going to join the organization even if I can’t shoot a gun. I think it’s time for me to go out and live.”
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask for help from Do Si-yoo, whom I just saw. I don’t know exactly what kind of relationship we have, but at least he seems like a ‘friend’.
I smiled at Baekhawon. It seemed like there was a way to survive, and my mouth naturally curled up.
“Boss, you wanted me to disappear in front of you too, didn’t you?”
At that moment, Baekhawon clenched the flower in his hand so tightly that the veins popped out, still expressionless.
The delicate flower broke so easily in his hand, and the bright red petals fell to the ground, scratched by the thorns, along with the dripping blood.
It gave me chills, but I opened my mouth to break the oppressive silence.
“Boss.”
Baekhawon let out a cold, mocking laugh.
“Chayeonbyeol.”
Slowly uttering my name, he came closer to me. Red petals scattered like blood with each step he took.
The more I tried to contain the urge to run away, the stronger it grew.
Baekhawon stood right in front of me and reached out his hand, and I instinctively closed my eyes tightly.
The chilly sensation of his fingers touching my cheek was vivid.
“…You keep doing things you shouldn’t.”
I opened my eyes at his voice.
I felt like I was solely contained in the pitch-black eyes that seemed like they could freeze me if I touched them. It was exactly like the description in a book, with unfathomable depths.
“I feel like I know.”
“From the moment I first saw you.”
“I knew I would fall in love with you.”
As his eyes deepened, he seemed to overlap with the character from the novel.
“It also feels like I don’t know.”
I felt like crying at the incomprehensible plot and dialogue.
It felt like I had just set a new death flag.
