“Mmff...!”
The mont I ca to, I tried to scream, but sothing was stuffed in my mouth. All that ca out was a muffled, suffocating groan.
My head spun, and pain exploded like it was going to split open.
It took a while before I realized I was sitting up.
Even though my vision had returned, a thick darkness blanketed everything—I couldn’t see a damn thing.
Only a faint sliver of light slipping through a window told I was inside so building.
“Looks like you’re awake.”
Then, from within that darkness, a low voice rang out clearly.
I turned my head toward the sound and waited for my eyes to adjust.
But until then, the owner of the voice stayed completely silent, like I’d imagined it.
“Mm—mmph!”
I could barely make out a shape.
Even so, that voice—at once unfamiliar and so familiar—made my body start to thrash violently.
The man who’d asked for directions earlier...
Han Yejun’s long-ti lover—Lee Jiseok.
“It’s probably better to have this conversation face to face, right?”
Like a shadow shifting through the dark, the man approached , and I stopped moving.
He walked up calmly, as if this pitch-black room was nothing to him, gave my shoulder a light pat, and walked past toward the back.
A sharp click!—then a few flickers—and fluorescent lights blasted into my pupils.
“Not surprised? You’ve been here before, huh?”
I blinked a few tis and looked around the room.
Of course. I knew this place all too well.
“Figured as much.”
They say a house falls apart if no one lives in it.
And this one had.
It was a shithole to begin with, but now it had collapsed into sothing even worse.
More like an abandoned wreck—this was Han Yejun’s old ho.
I would know. I’d personally helped him move out of it.
“This house—yeah, it was a gift. From to Yejun.”
He leaned against the wall and started talking—words I couldn’t understand.
This... was the first I’d heard of it.
Even with the background check I did on Han Yejun, this had never co up.
It wasn’t sothing the drama had ntioned either, nothing significant enough to be a plot point.
“I was going to prison. What was Yejun supposed to do, live alone? That kid...”
From what I’d found, Han Yejun and Lee Jiseok were the sa age.
They’d been together since high school—longti lovers.
“Mm—mph...!”
But I had no idea why he was saying all this to .
Let alone why he’d kidnapped just to do it.
“What, you wanna talk? Fine. But if you scream, I’ll cut out your tongue first, so don’t even think about it.”
Still leaning against the wall, Lee Jiseok walked over and untied the cloth strapped around my mouth and behind my head.
Now that I looked, it was my own damn necktie.
“Haah... There’s gotta be so kind of misunderstanding here. Why are you doing this to —urk!”
“I said we’re having a conversation. So why the fuck are you spewing bullshit?”
The guy who had seed relatively normal just a second ago... wasn’t.
He grabbed my throat and squeezed hard.
His eyes, right up close to mine, didn’t look sane in the slightest.
“That bastard Yejun didn’t tell you about ? I’ve got more rage than you’d expect.”
Oh, I knew.
Lee Jiseok had a temper, and when he drank, he turned into a monster.
He’d been rough from the start—picking fights since he was a kid.
He’d laid hands on Yejun more than once.
But every ti, after he ca to his senses, he’d grovel and apologize, and Yejun—unable to throw him away—always forgave him.
He kept telling himself it was all because Lee Jiseok loved him.
“Stop—guh...!”
Blood wasn’t reaching my head.
My face burned.
My bound fists clenched so tightly they trembled.
I thought he was going to choke the life out of , but finally, he let go.
“Be a good listener. Makes wanna kill you on the spot.”
He slapped my cheek a few tis—not hard enough to bruise, but enough to sting—and I nodded reflexively from the impact.
“Where was I?”
“...Haa... You said... the house, you gave it to Han Yejun....”
“Oh! Right.
I took the fall for a cri I didn’t even commit and went to prison.
Gave him a house before I left.
And after all these years, I co back and it’s empty.
Can you imagine how fucking great that felt?”
He sat right in front of , on the floor, as if he were planning to talk for a while.
That murderous rage he’d shown earlier had evaporated completely.
There was no way this guy was ntally sound.
“But Yejun... that bastard’s always been within reach.
All I had to do was look up a few online accounts—boom, new address.
Looks like he landed so rich fucker. Living it up.”
He pulled sothing wrapped in newspaper out from his chest.
Unwrapping it layer by layer, he kept talking.
“And you know what? I get it.
That shitty house I gave him—who wouldn’t want sothing nicer?
And I was gone for a few years... Maybe he got a little tempted.
Fuck, who even stays loyal anymore these days?”
Then he casually tossed the item into the air and caught it again and again, like a toy.
A knife—jet-black handle, razor-sharp blade about the length of two handspans.
The way it caught the fluorescent light as it spun didn’t look fake in the slightest.
Even sitting down, I felt a cold sweat run down my back.
“I think you’ve misunderstood—”
“Shut your mouth. I’m talking. What, you think you’re better than ?”
“...No... sir, please... go on...”
I nearly pissed myself.
The mont I opened my mouth, he smoothly jamd the knife between my feet—fast and deadly.
If his hand had slipped even a little, or if I’d twitched, the blade would’ve gone straight into my foot.
Lee Jiseok was rough.
Way more dangerous than I’d expected.
This wasn’t like with Kim Daehyun—I couldn’t afford to take any dumb risks.
“I was gonna let the past go.
I an, I fooled around with other people inside, too.
That’s just... scratching an itch, right?”
“...Yes...”
I nodded along, giving him whatever reaction he seed to want.
He finally smiled. A smile that looked almost normal.
But to , it just looked like the twisted grin of a lunatic.
Still, maybe sowhere in all this monologue was a hint—so reason he brought here.
And maybe even a way out.
At the very least, it couldn’t hurt to listen.
Dragging things out was its own kind of tactic.
“But then... that fuck told not to co looking for him.
Said he was in love with soone else.”
“No way... that can’t be...”
“Yeah. You don’t get it either, do you?
I go to prison for his sake, get him a place to live, and this is how I get repaid?
Fucking ungrateful little shit!”
...This is insane.
Han Yejun is supposed to choose Lee Jiseok in the end.
That’s how it’s supposed to go.
So why... why did he co to this ti?
Why was he so sincere—sincere enough to push Jiseok away, and why did he have no interest in Yoon Taeo at all?
None of it makes any sense.
But the most absurd part is that I’m the one who got kidnapped just for doing my damn job.
This isn’t just a deviation from the original story—it’s a total derailnt.
I have no plan for this.
“So why the fuck is it you, of all people?”
“No! No, it’s not like that...! There’s nothing between us!”
I shook my head wildly, denying it with everything I had.
This is bullshit.
All I did was eat with him a few tis, exchange a few ssages.
There were no feelings between us.
Sure, he’d said so weird things—but for , it was just business. Strictly professional.
“Maybe I should carve up that pretty face of yours.
Bet Yejun wouldn’t like you as much after that.”
He stood up and ran the blade gently across my cheek.
There was no pressure—it was just enough to tickle.
But that alone was more than enough to terrify .
I couldn’t even squirm. My arms and legs were bound tight to the chair. I was completely helpless.
“You could just ask him. Ask Yejun—he’d tell you the truth...”
Even the voice I forced out trembled miserably.
“Yeah, I was gonna do that anyway. Might as well kill you right in front of Yejun so he never gets any funny ideas again.”
The more I dragged this out, the better it was for .
If I disappeared in the middle of work, the company had to have noticed by now.
Maybe not everyone, but Yoon Taeo...
He’d realize I was gone, wouldn’t he...?
No, no—he can’t even recognize people’s faces properly, there’s no way he’d notice my absence.
And even if he did, it’s not like he’d co looking for .
“Oh, sounds like he’s here. Hang on—I’ll send you off soon.”
The mont the front door clicked open, Lee Jiseok walked out like he was just heading out to accept a package.
Outside, voices rose in a sharp, chaotic argunt.
Jiseok hadn’t been wrong—his guest was definitely Han Yejun.
Even Yejun, who was usually so soft-spoken, was shouting—his emotions clearly out of control.
“Hyung!”
Yejun burst into the room, his face already a ss of tears.
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine... I’m okay....”
He rushed to untie , fumbling helplessly with the knots.
Maybe they were tangled—or maybe he just didn’t know what the hell he was doing.
“Still saying there’s nothing going on? Looks like we’ve got a romance for the ages here.”
Lee Jiseok stood by the door, sneering at the sight of us.
“Run. Call the company. Not the police—call the company.”
I whispered fast into Yejun’s ear, but he was already halfway to a panic attack.
He didn’t seem to hear —he was too focused on the ropes.
“Fuck! What’re you whispering over there, huh?! You trying to piss off?!”
“Ah—agh...!”
Lee Jiseok grabbed Yejun by the back of the neck and yanked him away from .
“You trying to make snap? Is that it? Should I just kill this fucker first, Yejun?”
“Get a grip! It’s over. We’re done!”
“No, we’re not. I went to prison for you, Yejun. You can’t throw away.
How about I tell them you did the killing and go to prison? You can’t do that, right?
So you can’t leave .”
...What the hell was that supposed to an?
I knew Lee Jiseok went to prison for murder and got out on parole.
But... that murder wasn’t his doing? It was Han Yejun’s...?
“Yejun, you love . Right?
That’s why I went in for you—because I love you.”
“Please... stop...”
Yejun’s eyes flooded with tears as he trembled in Jiseok’s grip.
Honestly, I wasn’t much better.
Their conversation was too shocking—it was hard to even process.
“It’s all his fault. That fucker kept hanging around, seducing you.
So once he’s gone, we can both go back to how things were. Just like before.”
Lee Jiseok kissed Yejun’s cheek, like sealing a promise, and then—
Whatever he’d made up his mind about, he turned and started walking toward .
There was no doubt in my mind—he wasn’t coming over to spare .
I thrashed like mad.
Thankfully, Yejun had loosened the ropes a bit.
The one tying my wrists behind the chair had started to slacken.
“You’re the fucking problem, you piece of shit.”
The knife’s target was my chest.
Lee Jiseok ca at , blade raised to pierce straight through my heart.
I tipped my body sideways.
The mont I hit the floor, the rope on my arms slipped free.
I kicked out with all my strength, chair and all, slamming my bound legs into his shin.
“Agh...!”
CRACK—
The chair shattered against his leg.
While his focus broke, I managed to untie [N O V E L I G H T] the last rope on my legs, too.
“Ghhhk...!”
But then his boot caught square in the chest.
I crashed to the floor, gasping for air.
Lee Jiseok had the build of an Alpha, even though he was technically a Beta.
And ? I was an Oga—naturally weaker than even an average Beta.
This was never going to be a fair fight.
It felt like my ribs had shattered—I couldn’t breathe.
“Stop! I’ll do it, okay? I’ll do whatever you want—just please stop!”
“No. It’s too late. You should’ve said that yesterday, Yejun.”
Lee Jiseok straddled my chest.
He raised the gleaming blade again, high above his head.
His eyes were completely consud by madness.
I debated whether I should try to block it with my free hand.
Better to lose a hand than have a knife go through my chest.
But I didn’t need to.
Maybe it’s true—his sense of sll always worked faster than anything else.
That sharp scent of cigarettes hit my nose first, just a second before the voice followed.
“Secretary Kim, looks like I won the bet, huh?”
It was Yoon Taeo.
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