The man pulled out a silver Zippo lighter. Its smooth surface gleamed with a razor-sharp, blade-like glint.
Why the hell is he taking that out right now?
In that hair-trigger moment, he flicked open the Zippo’s lid with a *ting*. Then, like someone deliberately trying to burn the onlooker’s heart to black ashes, he slowly parted his lips.
“We should have a dinner show at least once. Since we’re all gathered here like this.”
*Drrk, drrk.* The sound of the lighter wheel scraping grated on Woonghee’s nerves.
“Shall we see? Whether a little rat will pop out or not.”
Soon the lighter flame ignited. A bright red light bloomed gorgeously and flickered.
‘No…!’
Woonghee reached his hand toward the flames. But the man throwing the lighter was faster. Terror flooded Woonghee’s eyes.
“Run away…”
Run away, Tula…!
Woonghee screamed and lunged toward the tree, but was stopped by strong arms that sprang out from behind. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the lighter struck the ground instead of the bushes, and the forest didn’t catch fire.
However, there was no way this was the end. A strong force pressed down as if to crush his neck. That force crushed his throat and made choking sounds come out, but Woonghee didn’t give up and squeezed out his voice. Blocked by the solid body and unable to move at all, he had to send a danger signal at least this way.
“I said run away…!”
At that moment, a commotion arose from the bushes. *Flap flap* – crows scattered, spewing black feathers, and leaves poured down from above. The tree writhed as if breathing alive.
“Wh-what is that, what the hell!”
People were terrified by that eerie scene. In a situation they couldn’t comprehend at all, they stammered “Uh, uh” and staggered backward, and into the space they’d cleared, a black form rolled and fell.
“…Who the hell is that?”
“Was there really someone here besides us?”
As inexplicable events continued, people’s confusion intensified. While everyone was in chaos, Tula, who had been face-down on the ground, suddenly jerked his head up and ran this way. He was charging at Managing Director Gi, who was gripping Woonghee’s neck. Then he tried to swing the machete he’d stolen from Woonghee.
“You son of a bitch, I told you to run…!”
Tula’s clumsy counterattack ended at the attempt. Because Managing Director Gi had stabbed Tula’s ear with a sharp knife one step ahead. “Ahhh!” Tula screamed, clutched his ear and staggered backward, and was grabbed by the neck by the man’s subordinate who rushed in as if waiting for it.
“Got him.”
The man smiled slowly with the face of someone who’d just hunted wild game.
[Let go of this!]
When Tula resisted fiercely, the man slashed Tula’s Achilles tendon with the blade in one stroke. There was no time to stop him. Bright red blood gushed violently from the wound.
Woonghee, who witnessed that situation from the closest distance, exhaled a blade-like breath. His whole body trembled at the unbelievable reality.
“…Managing Director Gi, stop it now.”
Please, please just stop. Gathering people like this and acting cruelly isn’t your style.
If all of this is just to provoke me, if you’re really putting on a show…
“Shhh.”
The man brought his index finger to the center of his lips and demanded silence. The gaze directed at Woonghee seemed to say exactly this: You know I’ve already shown a lot of mercy, don’t you?
“Woonghee-ssi, come here.”
There was no way he could defy those words. Woonghee tried to steady his trembling body and slowly stepped forward. In his head, he ran simulations of whether there was any way to break through this situation.
…Should I quickly run to where the lighter is? If I just set a fire, won’t everyone scatter trying to save themselves?
While thinking such thoughts, he approached the man. Except for the two of them, people were watching the situation with tense expressions in a quietness where even the air seemed to hold its breath.
“Look at this. I told you if I followed Woonghee-ssi, something would pop out.”
At those words, the color drained from Woonghee’s face. Was that what he meant when he spouted those words back then? He was just announcing this? Without knowing any of that, like a naive idiot, I tried to take the hand he offered. Not knowing it was a pit of fire that would drop me into hell.
“This brat bastard, isn’t he quite audacious? Hm?”
Veins bulged on the back of the man’s hand gripping Tula’s hair.
“Urghh!”
Tula let out a suppressed groan. The man spoke to Woonghee with a triumphant attitude.
“I should show you nicely, hm? This is the face of the bastard who drove Woonghee-ssi to become a thief.”
“……”
“The bastard who stole my jewels twice. Really has no fear at all.”
Thick hands struck Tula’s cheeks *smack, smack* mercilessly.
“It’s bulging here. Is it because he’s a kid?”
In just two strikes, bright red blood burst from Tula’s lips. In an instant, white teeth were stained red.
“Ah, did he stuff it in here?”
The man raised one corner of his mouth as if he’d caught on to something. The way he smiled showing sharp teeth was exactly like a shark threatening its prey.
[Anyone would think he’s got a dick in his mouth.]
Soon exotic language flowed from the man’s mouth. It was a language he’d never heard from him before, spat out while clicking his tongue all around the inside of his mouth.
It was definitely Tagalog.
[This fucking bastard…!]
Whatever the hell he’d spouted, Tula’s large eyes completely flipped. Where that strength came from, Tula shook off the man’s subordinate and ran this way. But the man easily subdued him this time too. His throat was caught in an instant.
[Huk, kuk, krgh.]
Tula groaned in pain as if the force choking his throat was strong. *Tap tap*, he also struck the man’s large hand.
“Curious what I said?”
The man asked quietly.
“I said when Woonghee-ssi sucks cock, his cheeks get like this.”
Then, as if recalling that time, he exhaled a long sigh with a reddish tinge below his eyes.
“You were so pretty back then…”
Managing Director Gi muttered while curling up the corners of his mouth. At the same time, thick fingers twisted and gripped Tula’s hair. Tula’s head swayed like a flail.
“Hrk! Kuk…!”
After shaking him a few times like that, Tula, who had been enduring while scratching at the hand gripping his head, finally collapsed face-down on the ground like a frog. Following that, metal items spilled from his mouth. It was a jeweled necklace tangled with sticky and slimy saliva. What it was was obvious.
Fuck, he said it wasn’t there… That son of a bitch deceived me to the end? Woonghee trembled with a sense of betrayal.
“…Oh my.”
Managing Director Gi beckoned toward the back with an expression of having seen something unpleasant. A subordinate who immediately grasped the man’s intention picked up the necklace and washed it clean in the valley water. After receiving the necklace back from the subordinate, the man for some reason placed it around Woonghee’s neck. Then he looked around as if viewing a high-quality work of art.
“I’m this sincere… Why can’t you forget this young bastard and act like this?”
“Krrgh!”
Even in that moment, Tula, unable to escape Managing Director Gi’s grasp, was swung around while letting out pain-filled groans.
“No integrity, these fucking things.”
“Managing Director Gi-nim.”
Woonghee swallowed with the feeling of swallowing a pit of fire. Something hot and sharp scratched down his esophagus and plummeted, then stuck in his stomach and writhed. What kind of emotion was this? It wasn’t anger or sadness. It was like a monster that couldn’t even be named.
“I want to ask one last thing.”
Actually, he didn’t want to ask. Your thoughts, your mood, your feelings—if possible, he wanted to keep not knowing them. But, with the situation reaching this point, he absolutely couldn’t not ask.
“…Why the hell are you doing this?”
Why the hell are you doing this to me? Until now, you never revealed your true self in front of others.
Wasn’t he the man who always hid behind a mask and manipulated others?
Then shouldn’t you punish me by locking me in the bungalow or something? Not provoking me like this!
“Do you know how crazy you look right now? What’s the reason for going this far? Do you love me or something, you sociopath who can’t even feel emotions? Tell me what the hell you’re thinking!”
It flew like a blade splitting the mountain. It echoed as if splitting even the flesh of dead trees.
“Love…?”
The man muttered with an extremely shocked face, then soon showed an expression filled with ecstasy like an alchemist who’d solved a problem even gods had given up on. His eyes emitted a gleaming light and the corners of his mouth curled up.
He was a man who always gracefully manipulated his facial muscles like a mask, but now it was as if his reason had been carved out.
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
The instinct that had been writhing behind the mask finally raised its head.
“Woonghee-ssi.”
The man called him. Woonghee was shaken.
“Stop, stop talking…”
“The art therapist told me. That if I make postnatal efforts, I’ll be able to feel love.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear! So shut that mouth, please.”
Making a person a complete mess in front of everyone, and finally making them kneel at your feet.
What the hell do you want to say?
“Listen quietly. I’m talking.”
Inside his pupils, indefinable emotions were boiling.
And in that moment, Woonghee realized. What this man was trying to say to him now, why he was trying to say it, and what destructive power those words would bring.
It seemed he didn’t need to hear it. Because it was already aimed at him like a blade.
“I think I love you.”
