Chapter 94
– Kill your father.
The moment I heard those words, I immediately understood what Yuhwa was trying to convey.
Because she was the same in the original story.
In the original story, Yuhwa used the hand of someone she usually disliked to kill the boss of Utopia, her father.
With the boss gone, filled with anger and sorrow, the members of the organization turned to eliminate the one who had been a thorn in their side, making it easy for her to take the boss’s place.
– Do it here, right in front of everyone, and kill your father.
So, it’s like asking someone to jump off the rooftop voluntarily.
I forgot about the gun pressed against my chest and looked up.
Yugyeom and Yuhwa stood side by side next to the glass wall, in a position where they could be seen clearly from here. The glass was transparent, so I could see their facial expressions.
The countless gazes directed at me from above the stage.
Among them, the one belonging to the man I was searching for was drawn into my eyes like a magnet.
“…That can’t be true.”
I let out a hollow laugh. It was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Do you really think this will work on Yugyeom?”
Would Yugyeom kill his father to save me?
No sane person would do such a thing.
Even though he feels emotions for me that can’t be expressed in simple words, this was an entirely different level of a situation.
There’s something bigger than life on the line here.
“You’re thinking wrong.”
“You’re not thinking wrong.”
Kang Taejun shook his head negatively. With one hand not gripping me, he still held onto his phone, which hadn’t disconnected yet.
“I’m not wrong.”
Kang Taejun spoke with confidence, playfully tapping me with the barrel of the gun.
Every time his hand shifted the gun, it became increasingly dangerous. If his finger tightened even slightly on the trigger, my heart would stop instantly.
Normally, this kind of situation would feel unreal, almost surreal.
But right now, everything was alarmingly clear.
The gun barrel pressing into my chest, my near future, and the thoughts consuming my mind were all vivid.
So, with a clear mind, I realized:
“You’ll be wrong.”
If I die here, that’s it.
Since fate has placed the trigger in my hands, it would be best to pull it and end this game cleanly.
The best possible happy ending I could create in this situation is just this.
“You will never…”
I spoke with force to Kang Taejun.
“You’ll never see the outcome you desire.”
I firmly gripped the gun.
The only downside is that I won’t be completely honest with you until the end.
But confessing my true feelings over a phone call to Yugyeom is impossible. Even if we’re not face-to-face.
In this world, where I no longer exist, you are not a fictional character from a story; you are a real, living person.
So, filtering my words down, there’s only one thing I can say:
“…Goodbye.”
I raised my head and looked up at Yugyeom beyond the glass wall.
At the end of my words, a small smile appeared. My soft voice, whispered at the end, might not have reached Yugyeom on the other side, but I was unsure.
However, I didn’t speak again. This was enough.
As I broke eye contact with Yugyeom, I moved the gun.
Kang Taejun, who had been gripping my hand holding the gun all along, was dragged along with my movement.
Before he could resist or push me away, his face froze in an instant.
“What are you doing…!”
Without any resistance, the barrel of the gun pressed against my forehead as I intended.
This was a selfish choice for me.
No matter how hard I tried to learn to use the gun, I was still overwhelmingly inadequate. I knew my incompetence all too well.
Being at the mercy of threats and manipulation had become exhausting and repetitive. It was something I longed to be free from.
And all those feelings combined left me terrified that the ending of this story could be the death I read about in your story.
Ultimately, this time too, the only thing I could wager on was my life.
Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger.
—
The sound of the shot tore through the air, leaving silence in its wake. The quiet was heavy, like waterlogged cotton.
I didn’t feel the pain or the separation of my soul.
Nothing happened to me.
“…Wow!”
Kang Taejun exclaimed in amazement. The silence was broken, and reality came back into focus.
“This could’ve been really bad.”
The gun was pointed at the ceiling. The chandelier hit by the bullet swayed dangerously.
Thoughts of what transpired in the split second flashed in my mind.
– Stop.
At almost the same moment as I pulled the trigger, a low voice echoed from the phone.
Reacting instantly, Kang Taejun grabbed my arm and raised it upwards. The gun fired towards the ceiling.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
“Yugyeom, if you were a little later, Miss’s beautiful head would’ve been blown off.”
Kang Taejun smiled broadly, releasing my arm. Now, my hand only held a useless gun.
“Are you finished thinking?”
Yugyeom, with his back completely turned toward me, smiled brightly as he asked.
Was it relief that the moment his hand gripped mine, the bullet didn’t pierce my head? No, it wasn’t that.
“Or maybe we should continue Russian Roulette? There are plenty of bullets to spare.”
But I’m not sure if I still have the courage to point the gun at myself again and pull the trigger.
There was only one moment I truly believed I could go through with it.
“There might not be time for Russian Roulette.”
Listening to Kang Taejun’s words, I heard distant sounds as if someone was arguing through the phone.
From my position, scanning the audience and combining the voices from the phone call, it became clear.
A man, whose graying hair betrayed his age, exuding a commanding aura—he must be Utopia’s boss. The man Yuhwa couldn’t bring herself to kill, her own biological father.
It seemed he had sensed something amiss as he quickly left with his men.
– What will you do?
Yu Hwa’s voice came through the phone.
I raised my gaze, staring into the skyward audience. Behind Yugyeom, like a ghost, Yuhwa clung to him, whispering in his ear.
– You don’t have much time left to kill your father.
Yugyeom didn’t speak a word. He just kept looking somewhere offstage. His eyes, a light color, didn’t seem to be directed at me.
Since I barely heard his voice stop my death earlier, I was constantly anxious to hear it again.
Sure, his emotions wouldn’t fully reveal themselves, but even so, I wished he would say something.
Yet, Yugyeom remained silent, offering no response to Yu Hwa’s taunts laced with amusement.
– Well, let’s try this another way.
I reached down to my thigh. My fingertips brushed against the hem of my dress, dangerously close.
If I couldn’t get out of here alive, there would be no future to prepare for. There was no need to hold back anymore.
– Your time alive, that’s running out.
I drew the gun from the holster.
With countless hours of practice, I held the gun steady and aimed directly at Kang Taejun’s heart.
Even if this struggle is futile, Yugyeom had stopped my death once before. I couldn’t point the gun at myself again.
As I was about to pull the trigger—
Bang!
“…”
The gunshot didn’t come from me.
I couldn’t even turn my head toward the sound. My body froze.
Two more gunshots rang out, followed by the sound of shattered glass. Only then did my body start to move, freed from some strange spell.
“If this is a nightmare…”
A low voice echoed through the vast space. It was a soft voice that felt almost like a hallucination.
Where the glass wall had been shattered, Yugyeom stood with a gun in hand. His eyes met mine, and as our gazes locked, he slowly pulled up the corners of his lips into a smile.
The sight of his face with that smile made my heart race uncontrollably.
“If this dream simply ends after waking up with everything forgotten…”
I couldn’t understand.
The situation, the words he was speaking to me right now.
Yugyeom stepped forward, crushing the shattered glass beneath his feet with each step.
Stopping just a few steps away, he continued to gaze directly at me.
“Maybe it would be better not to wake up at all.”
His voice was like a sigh, carrying a faint smile. That desperate look in his eyes was unrelenting, and I couldn’t move at all.
The moment stretched, feeling slow and distant—like a dream.
“Because when you wake up, nothing will remain.”
Yugyeom raised his gun again, his gaze still locked on me, not the barrel of the weapon.
In that final moment, his intense gaze carved deeply into my mind.
The weight of it made my breath catch.
“Thus, I’ve decided to sink into this dream and die.”
Bang—
The world in front of me flickered as the gunshot echoed.
