Chapter 82
I jolted awake in shock. As soon as I regained consciousness, my body tilted uncontrollably, and with the sensation of my heart plummeting, I felt like I was falling straight down.
“Ugh…”
I groaned as I tumbled to the floor.
When I opened my eyes again, I realized that I had just fallen onto the bed.
My head throbbed as if it might split open.
Memories of before I lost consciousness rushed back with astonishing speed.
Angel, or rather that nameless person, was on Kang Tae-jun’s side.
How could I have been so thoroughly deceived? Was I really so dumb that I didn’t notice?
I looked down at my reddened fist. It seemed like it was when I had punched Angel’s cheek.
He also seemed to have a busted lip. I regretted not hitting him harder.
My clothes and hair, once soaked, were now completely dry. It seemed I had been unconscious for quite a while.
I struggled to breathe as my spinning memories choked me. Gasping, I managed to lift myself up.
My hands and feet weren’t bound, nor was my mouth gagged.
Dim blue light filtered in through the window. I was in a room with an unfamiliar layout.
I first tried to turn the door handle silently, but it seemed locked.
The white bed was as clean as new, and the furniture showed no signs of use. The wardrobe and vanity drawers were empty.
I approached the window.
‘Where am I…’
The view outside the window didn’t look very different from what I had seen from the casino hotel.
It might be the same hotel. It seemed quite likely.
At least it wasn’t some rural warehouse.
If I thought positively, this environment would be natural even if all those events had been a dream.
But the shock I had received was too great for that.
‘…Wow, really. How did this happen?’
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like it was a nightmare. Is this what betrayal feels like?
Was it really not Yugeom’s side but Kang Tae-jun’s? How was this possible?
The image of Angel I had known was completely mixed up and confusing.
Especially considering how he looked before we went to the pool yesterday. Was that smiling face I first saw all fake?
No, I shouldn’t think about that nameless person. This isn’t the time to think about him.
‘What should I do now?’
But I couldn’t stop thinking. That person had personally captured me and handed me over to Kang Tae-jun.
The situation was extremely serious.
In fact, it still didn’t feel quite real. It was right to say I didn’t want to believe it.
I desperately wished someone would tell me this was all a dream.
Even though I knew it was pointless, I clasped my hands and prayed fervently.
“…!”
The door, which had been closed, burst open. There wasn’t even time to pretend to be asleep like in the movies.
“Awake?”
Seeing Kang Tae-jun’s brightly smiling face made it feel as if a switch had been flipped and the lights turned on.
It was a different dimension from when I had seen him outside. My heart began to race uncontrollably.
I was scared.
A chilling fear suddenly engulfed me.
Even though my limbs were free, it was hard to take a single step. Kang Tae-jun scanned me up and down, then chuckled.
“You can stay in bed longer. It’s still night.”
Kang Tae-jun entered the room. I exhaled sharply and backed away. My bitten lips tasted metallic.
As he approached, I backed away until my legs were caught on the edge of the bed.
As my head went blank, I fell heavily onto the bed.
Kang Tae-jun continued to advance and stopped at a point where the distance between us couldn’t be any closer. His legs brushed against my knees.
“You’re already scared, and I haven’t done anything yet.”
A shadowed smile spread across his face.
Seeing that made me realize I couldn’t just stay still in fear.
I couldn’t just be dragged around and die like this. I had endured so much to avoid this…
Recalling the time I had spent, my emotions surged.
I didn’t want to die.
I vividly remembered Kang Tae-jun’s cruelty from the original work. He wouldn’t kill me gently.
He would use me in whatever way he could before torturing me to death.
Where I would be used was obvious. Yugeom, or Baek Ha-won. Or perhaps both.
That couldn’t happen.
As I struggled to lift my body back upright from the bed, Kang Tae-jun’s face drew closer. I could see the interest in his murky eyes.
“Do you have something to say?”
Just then, Kang Tae-jun squinted and asked. I was desperate to escape immediately.
“…What do you want?”
My voice cracked uncontrollably. My dry lips stung. I clenched my fists to avoid looking away.
Kang Tae-jun suddenly threw his head back and laughed out loud, like a madman.
“Ah, it’s really fun, you know.”
After laughing for a while, Kang Tae-jun wiped the tears forming at the corners of his eyes with his fingertips.
“What do I want?”
Raw desire flickered in his dark eyes.
I looked into those eyes, desperately hoping he would just tell me what he wanted, that he would ask for something I could give.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
But, of course, there were no easy answers. I clutched the blanket in my hands.
“What I want is something Yugeom will give me. For that, I need you.”
It was suffocatingly dreadful. This crazy man, this situation.
Kang Tae-jun straightened his body, which had been leaning toward me.
The shadow that had been swallowing me was gone, but I still felt a sense of darkness enveloping me.
“…What about Ji-eun?”
I clung to a sliver of hope.
But I immediately regretted speaking. The answer was too terrifying to bear.
“He’s not dead, is he?”
I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my skin and turned my head away.
Kang Tae-jun still wore the same outfit from the pool. The bloodstains on his cheeks were gone, but there were still traces on his neck.
Shirt, jacket, watch, shoes. I traced the remnants of the bloodstains with my eyes. It felt like there was the smell of blood.
There was no way to identify the owner of the blood.
“What do you think?”
The yellow light flickered. His burgundy hair seemed unusually dark.
“Poor princess.”
Kang Tae-jun wore a peaceful smile on his face.
“If you didn’t want someone to die because of you, you shouldn’t have come out of the castle in the first place.”
A brief laugh followed. Each of his words pierced my heart like a sharp needle.
“If you had done that, this fairy tale would have had a happy ending.”
My heart raced wildly.
The blood-stained watch’s hands still ticked away. Time continued to run on, never stopping.
I struggled not to be swayed by his words.
If I hadn’t left where I was supposed to be, this story would have been a sad ending, just like the original.
It was just a wrong answer spouted by the clueless Kang Tae-jun.
I repeatedly reminded myself of this. If my mental state broke down now, it would be the end.
“Since you can’t do anything anyway, can I tell you?”
Kang Tae-jun’s gaze shifted to the door. Yuhwa, who was leaning against the door, gave a vague nod.
“Do as you please.”
Unlike Kang Tae-jun, who seemed excited like a cat playing with a mouse, Yuhwa seemed to have little interest in me at the moment.
I should be thankful that there’s only one insane hedonist.
“Want to guess? What we’re trying to do. If you guess right, I’ll give you a present.”
Kang Tae-jun said with a wide grin. I swallowed a bitter laugh inwardly.
How could I possibly guess that? Even if I did guess, he wouldn’t give me a present.
But since I wasn’t in a position to speak my thoughts freely, I pretended to think and looked down.
Is this what it feels like to be a rat in a trap?
While squeezing out whatever creativity I had, I was suddenly shoved with a firm grip on my shoulder.
“Ah!”
With a thud, my body slammed hard against the wall.
Tears welled up due to the sudden pain.
Before I could even gather my senses, a huge hand wrapped around my neck as if it would strangle me at any moment. Breathing became difficult.
With my breath being cut off, I was frozen and unable to move.
“Guess.”
The face that filled my vision was smiling widely. His shadowed eyes sparkled like fireworks.
This madman.
“Oh, should I help you?”
At that moment, the hand gripping my neck tightened. I was suffocating.
I had no time to think about pride.
I desperately grabbed the arm that was tightening around my neck. I struggled, but it didn’t budge.
His gaze was as indifferent as if observing an ant trapped in a jar, circling endlessly.
“This should help you think better. People can do anything when they’re desperate, right?”
He smiled as if he was genuinely trying to help. It seemed sincere.
From his face, I felt a terror I had never experienced before.
There was nothing I could grasp, and my vision grew increasingly blurred. Just as I thought I might really die like this and squeezed my eyes shut.
“Stop.”
A dull voice came through. I opened my eyes again. I felt tears running down my cheeks.
“Stop.”
Yuhwa, who had come closer, pushed her hair back with a bored expression and spoke again.
But her words seemed not to reach Kang Tae-jun, whose crazed gaze remained fixed on me.
And then, immediately after.
Thunk!
With a vicious sound, Kang Tae-jun was knocked away from me. A grating voice erupted in irritation.
“Are you deaf?”
