Chapter 92
“……You’re crazy.”
Yeonbyeol took a step back and ascended another step.
“You’re really insane.”
The reason for wanting to kill Yugyeom was based on such nonsensical thoughts.
She knew that Taejun was a madman who didn’t make sense, but experiencing it firsthand was an entirely different level. It was beyond what she could understand through hearing and thinking.
“I’ve heard that nonsense enough times already.”
Taejun looked up at Yeonbyeol and smiled. He began to ascend the stairs, step by step, even though he was below her.
“One step. Two steps.
“Everyone has called me crazy.”
“One step. Two steps.”
“You all made me the crazy one before I even did anything.”
And their gazes met at the same height.
By now, the sun had completely disappeared beyond the window. The stairs, with no lights on, were dark.
In the shadowed face, a flash of red light flickered over the black pupils.
“Since I was born in this crazy state anyway, I decided to do whatever I want.”
The winter when everyone suddenly turned away from him; that feeling was still vividly tangible, but it felt like a long time ago.
Taejun climbed another step. As the distance closed and their eye levels rose, Yeonbyeol lifted her gaze.
“I don’t expect you to understand.”
“…….”
“In the end, no one can understand me.”
Yeonbyeol found herself frozen in place.
She knew this kind of person. Someone who wouldn’t listen no matter what was said, someone whose resolve wouldn’t waver even if the ground beneath them crumbled.
“You just need to stay still, like a piece on a chessboard. For my perfect game.”
Taejun whispered into Yeonbyeol’s ear with an excitement he couldn’t hide. Stay still. Those words pierced her mind like a dagger.
And a hollow laugh escaped her.
“Ha ha. Ha……”
I covered my mouth with my hand, but my shoulders kept shaking. I grabbed the railing as I felt like I was going to collapse from the laughter that kept bursting out.
I understood the shock of having the place I had stood in since the day I was born taken away overnight.
For Kang Taejun, that place had always been a given since his earliest memories; it was everything to him.
It wasn’t a normal standard that matched that of ordinary people. He was born with something wrong in his brain and did chillingly insane things.
He had been abandoned because of things he couldn’t understand and no one had ever told him, so how frustrating must that have been?
Yet the only desire left in his life was, at best,
“I’ll take back what I said about you being crazy.”
Just as my trembling began to subside, my mind gradually cleared like fog lifting.
I still held onto the railing to steady myself as I lifted my head.
“I just feel a little sorry for you.”
Kang Taejun’s pupils hardened.
“……What?”
The end of his questioning voice cracked dryly. I lowered my head and laughed once more.
When our eyes met again, Kang Taejun’s gaze had completely turned cold.
“Kang Taejun, you look pitiful right now.”
Even so, my mouth wouldn’t stay shut. Maybe the thought that I had nowhere to run had driven me half mad.
“Is that all you’ve been clinging to all this time?”
“…….”
“You think you’ll leave it as a perfect moment?”
My stomach churned. I felt like I was going to throw up at any moment.
“Killing Yu-gyeom won’t leave you with anything.”
With that sentiment, I let unfiltered words spill out without pause.
“You know, once you die, it’s all over. You can’t turn back.”
I looked straight at the cold face of Kang Taejun and raised the corners of my mouth in a smile.
His expression, becoming more rigid by the moment, was too complex to simply be read as displeasure.
“Even if your brother dies by your hands, you’ll still be right where you are.”
“……”
“Should I have threatened him to give up his position himself, or perhaps it would’ve been better to go to his father directly, taking her life as a hostage?”
“……”
“Even thinking of the dozens of methods I could have tried if I hadn’t killed him, it’s as if that card has already been torn up and thrown away.”
As soon as he finished speaking, my throat was tightly gripped.
Thud—the back of my body hit the window hard. The impact shook my entire body, cutting off my thoughts and casting my mind into darkness.
“You’re saying uninteresting things.”
The soft light coming through the window illuminated Kang Taejun’s face. He was smiling distinctly as he pressed me against the window with his hand around my neck.
“A young lady who grew up delicately like a flower in a greenhouse wouldn’t understand.”
My head knocked against the glass again as he pushed harder. My head was throbbing and ringing.
Even though it wasn’t that high up, the view through the window was dizzying enough when I glanced out, gasping for breath.
If the glass shattered and I fell from here, there was a chance I wouldn’t die if luck was against me. Maybe I’d survive, broken in multiple places.
“Even those who had nothing they couldn’t say end up speaking sense in the face of death.”
While I was immersed in those disturbing thoughts, the grip around my throat, tight enough to make breathing difficult, loosened.
Cold fingers slowly brushed down the nape of my neck.
As those dreadful thoughts filled my mind, the grip around my neck, tight enough to make breathing difficult, loosened.
Cold fingers slowly slid down the back of my neck. The sensation made me shudder, like bugs crawling on my skin.
“How about you, miss?”
My reflection shone in his dark eyes, glinting with desire.
“If the moment ever comes when you feel like you might really die, what would you say? Would you spout the same words you just did?”
Kang Taejun tightened his grip on my neck once more before letting go.
I nearly stumbled forward, barely steadying myself against the wall to avoid tumbling down the stairs.
“Oh, right. I’ll save this for later. I can wait. It won’t be long.”
Twisting his wrist, Kang Taejun gave a crooked smile.
“Forty-four.”
“……”
“Is everything ready?”
Angel passed by me and Kang Taejun, heading downstairs. She flung open the door on the lower floor.
“If we go now, we’ll be right on time. Stop with the pointless talk and just go in already, will you?”
Her pale face was sharp, as if she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.
“You heard her, didn’t you? Get inside already.”
Kang Taejun gestured toward the door with a nod.
Knowing that standing still wouldn’t let me escape, I had no choice but to descend the stairs.
Beyond the open door stretched an endlessly dark passageway, seemingly without an end in sight.
It looked so ominous that even at a glance, I hesitated to take a step. My feet refused to move.
“Let’s go.”
Kang Taejun wrapped his arm around my shoulder and guided me forward, past the door.
It was so dark all around that it was impossible to guess where we were. I wondered if there was an end at all.
Thump, thump.
The sound of my heartbeat filled my ears. I could almost smell blood in the air.
What lay at the end of this darkness?
My steps grew stiffer with each step, yet Kang Taejun didn’t stop.
The urge to shake off his hand and run back surged within me, reaching the tip of my throat.
Flash-!
At the exact moment Kang Taejun stopped walking, the surroundings lit up.
A painfully bright spotlight fell directly on me. Instinctively, I squeezed my eyes shut and hunched my shoulders.
A loud roar of cheers echoed around, a sound oddly familiar—like a mix of screams and the cries of beasts.
I lowered my hands from my face and slowly opened my eyes.
“……”
I was standing on a stage. A vast circular stage, surrounded by glass walls with seating suspended in the air on a second level.
The seats on the right side were filled with men in black suits, while the left side was relatively more spacious.
“……What is this supposed to be?”
Kang Taejun, standing in front of me, was laughing like a madman.
A chill ran through my body. Unconsciously, I turned my head away, looking toward the audience I couldn’t reach.
And then, our eyes met.
“Do you like it?”
There was no way I could fail to recognize him, even from a distance. It had been that way since the first time we met.
I bit the inside of my lip and turned my head away.
“I like it.”
I couldn’t tell exactly when the laughter had stopped. Kang Taejun’s face was noticeably calmer than when he had been openly laughing.
At first glance, he seemed expressionless, but he was clearly smiling.
He moved the gun, which I hadn’t even noticed him holding until now. The barrel pointed at me just as the faintly smiling expression twisted sharply.
“Russian roulette.”
The barrel gleamed white under the lights.
His words entered my mind slowly, sinking in one by one. My breathing began to quicken as I bit down hard enough to draw blood from my lip.
“It’s the moment closest to death. What could be a more entertaining spectacle than this?”
I should have been unable to look away from the dark gun barrel, but I turned my head once more.
The view that filled my eyes hadn’t changed at all from what I saw before.
Those pale, wide eyes were still fixed on me, and the tightly clenched fists seemed to tremble slightly.
They weren’t smiling. I could at least be certain of that.
“How is it?”
The cold barrel pressed against my forehead. I looked forward once again.
“Don’t you feel like saying something different than before?”
My heart was pounding so hard it drowned out my fear of the gun. I couldn’t blink.
One thought crossed my mind.
Maybe, this could be the end.
“Not yet?”
And then, at that exact moment, he pulled the trigger.
Click.
The sensation was as if my heart had been pierced, and I felt my breath cut off.
Only then did I let out a trembling breath. My body began to shake uncontrollably.
Clinging desperately to my fading vision, I focused and met Kang Taejun’s eyes, his face alight with satisfaction.
“Guess it’s not time yet.”
