Episode 8
“I liked it.”
Whether this choice leads to a happy ending was uncertain, but even if it turns out to be a wrong choice in hindsight…
“But doing this is too much.”
Still, I don’t want to die in the hands of my favorite character after coming this far.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, touched the back of Yugyeom’s hand holding the knife, and he looked at me with trembling eyes.
Yugyeom was someone who had never experienced affection from others, not even from shared blood.
Yet, he was always someone craving affection.
Though it was an extreme confession, this seemed to be the best I could do.
“…”
Fortunately, judging by Yugyeom’s expression, it seemed to have worked.
He was in a precarious state, as I had witnessed just before meeting Baek Hawon.
As expected, the knife slowly fell from his throat, and it was the perfect moment to escape.
Bang!
Gunshots echoed, and I was forcefully pushed to the ground by a strong force.
The reflection in the marble wavered.
Turning around in surprise, I saw blood oozing from Yugyeom’s arm, staining his white shirt red.
“Baek Hawon, that crazy bastard…!”
Baek Hawon, with an unbelievably calm face, loaded bullets into the gun.
Despite Yugyeom suppressing a groan, he urgently reached out with his other arm, gripping my wrist tightly.
In the conflicted moment, my reflection in Yugyeom’s wavering eyes was visible.
I pushed myself away the moment the gun was fired.
Why did you save me?
This hand should be holding the gun, not holding me.
That way, you would survive.
“Snap out of it.”
Amidst Yugyeom’s confusion, unable to avoid his gaze, a muffled voice came from behind.
Behind, a gun pointed from an outstretched hand aimed at Yugyeom, and at that moment, his frozen body moved as if released from hypnosis.
In astonishment, I turned to the unexpected face glaring at Yugyeom.
“Do Siyu?”
Breathing shallowly and having an unexpectedly fierce expression, he seemed different, perhaps due to his darkened hair.
Siyu glanced at me briefly. Seeing his pale, disgusted face soaked in sweat, I felt strangely uneasy.
And then, my original plan came to mind, and gradually, my senses returned.
“Get a grip, Cha Yeonbyeol.”
This isn’t a romance where I’m the protagonist. Even if I try to manipulate Yugyeom further here, how far can I really go?
Now that I’ve narrowly avoided a situation where I almost got stabbed, it’s time to escape.
“If you don’t want your head pierced, let go of that hand.”
The owner of the sternly whispered words seemed to be the same person I called Cotton Candy.
Unlike when we met to ask for a party partnership, his playful eyes were sharp, and his lively tone was cold.
With an uneasy gaze, I alternated between glancing at Doyi and Yugyeom.
Doyi might be able to shoot Yugyeom, but judging by the current momentum, it seemed like he was truly determined to make a hole.
Yet, despite Doyi’s stern warning, Yugyeom seemed unwilling to release my wrist.
Instead, he lazily raised the corners of his mouth, tilted his head toward me, and whispered loud enough for only me to hear.
“Should I command Prince too?”
What?
‘What nonsense is this in this situation?’
I looked at Yugyeom with eyes that contained thoughts I couldn’t bring myself to speak aloud. And then, at that moment.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots echoed multiple times, and in the confusion, Doyi’s arm shook. At the same time, Yugyeom pulled me into his arms.
“Don’t let go of me from now on.”
“…”
“I don’t plan on letting go anyway.”
With a calm voice, masks-wearing figures swiftly entered, their gun muzzles pointing in our direction.
To be precise, they were directed at everyone except me and Yugyeom.
Yugyeom, still smiling, lifted his arm with the blood-drenched sleeve.
At some point, he held a gun in his hand.
“Boss!”
Belatedly, members of the Baekcheon organization also entered the deck, but seeing the gun of Utopia pointed at Baek Hawon, they hesitated and couldn’t move forward.
A perfectly orchestrated situation, as if prearranged.
Things had gone awry, but like a puzzle, it was leading to the same outcome.
‘I’m going crazy.’
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Doyi desperately reached out to me, but Yugyeom, still embracing me, stepped back.
Utopia’s members, who had approached, aimed their guns at Doyi, and Doyi could no longer move.
Seeing Utopia’s members protecting Yugyeom, it seemed like they intended to escape from the cruise ship before being overwhelmed numerically.
No.
No!
If this continues, there’s no chance to negotiate!
“Scream!”
Struggling as Yugyeom carried me like a sack on his shoulder, the world turned upside down.
Despite delivering a strong punch to Yugyeom’s back, he didn’t flinch.
“Cha Yeonbyeol!”
Amidst the chaos, Cityu’s desperate voice calling my name reached my ears.
Indeed, Cityu was Cha Yeonbyeol’s partner.
But at this point, what use were such connections? It seemed like I was about to be kidnapped according to the novel’s plot.
“Let go of me, you lunatic!”
No matter how much I yelled and struggled, Yugyeom only quickened his pace. As I looked back, the gazes watching me from afar became more distant.
“…”
At that moment, I hesitated as I looked at Baek Hawon, who was staring at me from the farthest distance.
He didn’t seem desperate like Cityu, nor was he bewildered like the others. His face showed no emotion, but it was as pale as paper, frozen in place.
Seeing that face for the first time, I felt strangely uneasy.
But before I could think more about it, without doing anything, that face was gradually fading from my sight.
* * *
Even though I couldn’t hear Cityu’s voice anymore and had entered a dark and quiet space, I was still vigorously struggling.
Hanging like this and imagining the future ahead, I couldn’t possibly stay still.
In the end, I was being kidnapped, and the scale had even increased.
Honestly, looking back at my actions, it wasn’t certain whether Baek Hawon would come to rescue me.
And I had said unsalvageable words to Yugyeom.
“Damn.”
As I sorted through the situation, I found myself in a situation where I couldn’t help but curse.
Everything has gone completely wrong.
“…!”
In the midst of futile struggling, Yugyeom suddenly lost balance.
Yugyeom barely steadied himself against the wall, and I realized that the corridor we were passing through now was the same one I had escaped from earlier.
And in the path Yugyeom had walked, vivid red blood was clearly visible even in the darkness.
“Gasp…”
Yugyeom exhaled heavily, continuing to walk despite almost stumbling.
Once I recognized it, I couldn’t take my eyes off the blood splattering with each step.
Yugyeom, who was almost staggering, continued without stopping and opened the door to the terrace, heading back to the earlier scene.
With trembling hands, he locked the terrace door, then finally lowered me gently to the floor, collapsing as if drained.
“Ugh…”
Yugyeom groaned, his face contorted.
Only now did I notice not only blood from his arm but also fresh, crimson blood flowing from his side.
When was it?
There wasn’t a moment when my mind was properly focused, so even looking back, I couldn’t recall.
Yugyeom suddenly vomited blood, and I reflexively reached out to him but stopped myself.
“This isn’t the time for this.”
However, contrary to my thoughts, I couldn’t withdraw my hand.
It was my first time seeing so much blood, and he was the only bias in my life, someone I had never liked an idol as much as.
Whether he looked better than I had imagined or not.
Chewing on my dry lips, I pulled back my hand and stood up from the floor.
“Why.”
I couldn’t imagine how Yugyeom was looking at my face right now.
Yet, I spoke the words that had been pent up, almost like vomiting them out.
Even stepping one pace backward to escape the piercing gaze felt blocked by the door.
“Why go this far?”
“…”
“If you were hurt, you should’ve just run away.”
Yugyeom swept his sweaty hair back, twisted the corner of his mouth, and, as if a hole had been pierced, blood flowed from his injured side. He pressed the bleeding wound with his hand and slowly stood up.
With dried, pale lips, a low voice flowed out from between them.
“If you love me so much.”
Suppressing a groan, Yugyeom fixed his gaze on me and, with his other hand, aimed a gun at my heart.
“…?”
“Even if I kill you as a hostage, I have to hear the reason for that.”
“…”
“First, do you want to go with me?”
He spat out words like a death sentence.
Yugyeom, who had closed the distance in an instant, embraced my stiff waist without doing anything. He then wrapped my arms around my neck.
The gun was still pointed at me, and my mind was filled with scenes of him killing Cha Yeonbyeol. I couldn’t move.
In that state, Yugyeom walked slowly to the terrace, tied the terrace railing to my waist, and only then did I snap out of it.
‘Wait a minute.’
I tried to push Yugyeom away, but he already held me tightly, and I couldn’t even flinch.
Yugyeom, who had closed the distance in an instant, embraced my stiff waist without doing anything. He then wrapped my arms around my neck.
The wind blowing strongly made Yugyeom’s hair flutter, shining like moonlight.
The sound of waves beneath my feet echoed particularly vividly.
No, right?
Looking at Yugyeom with desperate eyes, he, as always, smiled gently and sweetly, like a poison,
“Let’s go together.”
He smiled with that expression.
“To my hell.”
My heart felt like it would burst, thump, thump.
Beyond the bright face smiling brightly, the moon shone painfully.
“Screaaaaaam-!!!!”
Riding the fierce wind, Yugyeom and I tilted under the railing and began to fall at an incredible speed.
In the end, the unfolding fate remained unchanged.
