It hurts.
It hurts.
It hurts to death.
Min struggled wildly inside the man’s broad embrace with a face frozen white.
At his sudden action, K opened his eyes wide and discovered the boy’s crying face. He was sensitive to sleep sounds, so he was the type to open his eyes quickly even at the slightest rustling sound. That also meant he had never had deep sleep in his entire life.
Even to K’s eyes, the boy’s condition looked particularly serious today.
He locked and embraced the small struggling body in one embrace. Then he felt the boy’s body like a fireball. Hot enough to burn himself along with it.
“Natasha.”
K whispered softly in the sobbing Min’s ear. Hot tears surged from Min’s eyes.
When the man whispers to me like this….
Min doesn’t know how to react and just feels sad. The face of his father, who died long ago and whose face is now hazy, suddenly comes to mind.
Why does this beast-like vicious man call me this way?
Is it a new type of torment where he gives illness and medicine and abuses me?
The boy desperately wishes they would rather be cold to him from beginning to end.
“Does it hurt?”
“……”
Min nods while sobbing. On the boy’s deathly pale cheek, K lightly kissed him—chu—as if soothing a young child.
At this moment, K is like a father soothing a child he truly loves.
“Go to the hospital with J today.”
K whispers sweetly. The breath he exhales. The characteristic breathing sound that touches his ear each time is ticklish, and Min falls into terrible self-loathing.
“Natasha.”
“……”
“Tell me something you want to eat.”
The boy slowly shakes his head. Come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten anything properly for a long time. Unable to properly consume even the small amount of food they threw at him, the boy’s body was miserably emaciated compared to when he first came to this place.
“After coming back from the hospital, shall we grill some meat today?”
K whispers cheerfully in the boy’s ear.
“I should fatten up my cute little bear cub.”
***
AM 11:10
He doesn’t know how long it’s been since he’s seen the outside.
Min raised his haggardly frozen gaze and blankly watched the passing scenery. It’s the first time he’s set foot in the world since being kidnapped.
What was once extremely natural… it’s amazing that such an act has now become a luxury that can no longer be looked upon.
K’s words to go to the hospital were true.
He who hadn’t even snorted no matter how much he complained of pain and clung to him crying.
Can I hope that he’s changed a bit now?
Then… if I beg more pitifully even later.
If I do, will they perhaps have even a little desire to let me go?
Certainly K sometimes showed weakness to the boy’s tears.
More precisely, he was quite satisfied with himself occupying the position of an omnipotent ruler. The more the boy clung to him crying, the more he knelt before him and begged desperately.
He liked situations where he acted as if bestowing mercy on the boy from the position of an omnipotent god.
K felt a strange pleasure in watching the boy’s begging or tears. Every time he recognized the fact that this pitiful existence caught in his grasp couldn’t live without only his care, he was seized by a maddeningly thrilling sensation.
J, who is driving, says nothing.
The boy’s wrists, seated in the back seat, were tied behind him with handcuffs. Duct tape was attached to the mouth hidden by a mask.
Still, it was good.
That I could see the world even like this.
“We’ll go in together and receive treatment.”
J’s calm tone is so composed that it’s hard to believe he’s a kidnapper attempting threats.
“Never show suspicious behavior in front of doctors, nurses, or people.”
“……”
“If you do.”
A chill reflected in J’s cool eyes.
“You and your grandmother won’t be safe either.”
Grandmother.
At his words uttering “grandmother,” the boy’s head immediately nodded frantically.
The time at the hospital passed quickly.
Inside the examination room where he dragged the boy in, J’s eyes moved faster than usual. The gleam locked in his slender gaze stood sharper than usual.
Fortunately, it was just a simple cold. The doctor’s dry words that he needed to pay special attention to eating due to his extremely weakened physical strength echoed in the quiet hospital room.
Since he’d brought him to the hospital anyway, he had the laceration below treated as well. This case was a bit different. The doctor they met this time blatantly looked back and forth between the boy and J. While the boy’s head hung deeply in shame, J glared at the impudent doctor’s eyes with a piercing gaze. Eventually, the embarrassed doctor turned his head first.
As soon as they left the examination room, Min, who was quickly dragged into the bathroom by J’s hand, looked up at his face with a terror-stricken gaze. Now, the existence the boy feared most was J rather than K. There was no way to grasp J’s intentions at all. That’s why the boy feared him more. Unlike K who always openly harassed and toyed with him, the usual J who was only coldly silent was a frightening existence whose inner thoughts couldn’t be known.
Duct tape was firmly attached to the boy’s mouth again.
When he raised his head with a tear-filled gaze, the cruel man before him sealed the boy’s mouth with tape once more without changing his expression even once.
The boy, walking staggeringly toward the parking lot caught in J’s grasp like a criminal being escorted, widened his eyes greatly upon discovering the presence visible ahead.
Grandmother.
Grand…mother……??!!!
It’s definitely grandmother.
An existence I’ve never forgotten even in dreams.
Across the crosswalk a little distance away.
An elderly person’s figure walking laboriously with a bent back is visible.
It’s definitely grandmother. It’s unmistakably grandmother’s appearance.
Grand…mo…ther……
“Hnngh… mmph… uuungh……!”
J is flustered for just a moment by the boy who shakes off his grasp with all his might and attempts an unexpected action. He quickly surveys the surrounding situation. Fortunately, there weren’t many people or vehicles passing by.
He roughly twisted the boy’s frail wrist.
“Hngh…! Unnngh…! Hnnnngh……!!!”
Min’s resistance was fiercer than expected.
The boy showed incomprehensible behavior as if possessed by a ghost. Quite different from usual when he always showed a powerless appearance before them, he quickly noticed the boy’s strange attitude.
“Hey!”
Simultaneously with J’s sharp call, the boy whose hand was freed swiftly removed his mask and then ripped off even the tape that had been blocking his mouth—riiip. The sensation of skin tearing hurt, but such pain wasn’t the problem right now.
“Gra… Grandmother……!!”
The boy called desperately to the elderly person across the crosswalk.
His trembling legs, losing reason, rushed into the middle of the roadway recklessly.
“Grandmother…! Grandmotherrr……!!!!”
But J’s steps were faster than that.
J quickly blocked Min’s mouth who was screaming desperately like someone possessed by something, and imprisoned his slender body in his arms. Several passing people were watching their suspicious actions. Min struggled like mad in J’s arms. J was newly surprised by the unidentifiable stubbornness emanating from the boy.
“Grand…… mmph! Ungh…! Hngh…mmph……!”
The boy bit and scratched J’s hand blocking his mouth fiercely with his teeth. Soon the nail marks the boy carved became vivid on J’s white hand.
“Sorry for the commotion.”
J responded calmly to the people gathering around one by one.
“He’s my younger brother, and when he occasionally has seizures, he shows this kind of behavior.”
He looked coldly at the middle-aged man standing in front of them while forcibly leading Min who was struggling and resisting like mad.
“I’m sorry, but… could you please move aside?”
“Your brother’s condition seems quite serious. What’s wrong with him?”
To the man’s question, J just responded calmly.
“He has symptoms of schizophrenia. Today is his appointment day, but he keeps refusing treatment, so I think I need to take him home.”
“At such a young age… that’s really unfortunate. You must have it hard, brother.”
J replied briefly to him.
“If it’s not rude, would you mind helping me move him to the car?”
Thanks to the middle-aged man’s kindness, J was able to easily subdue Min who was struggling as if having a seizure. People who quickly lost interest in the result that became more anticlimactic than expected scattered in all directions.
“Please hold him down.”
Aaaargh!!! Beads of sweat soon formed profusely on the nose of the man pressing down with all his might on Min’s body who was screaming. He grimaced and grumbled.
“Still, you’re really kind, brother. If it’s this severe, wouldn’t the family have practically abandoned him?”
To his reproachful sound, J responded calmly.
“Thank you. Since it’s noisy, let’s put tape on his mouth for a moment.”
J ripped the duct tape—riiip—and firmly attached it to the boy’s mouth trying to scream again, then tied his arms and legs in order. He performed all these acts too calmly and skillfully, like a skilled hunter setting traps for beasts. Enough for the middle-aged man watching this entire process from the side to stick out his tongue.
“Having a family member with mental illness is really difficult.”
