“First, get out of here……”
At that moment, Taejeong exploded and changed suddenly. He suddenly shouted and pushed Seonwoo. The desperate shouts didn’t stop. Something seemed to have burst inside Taejeong.
“You, fuck, when told to suck a dick you should have just quietly sucked it or thought this bastard is crazy and ran away, no, the moment you saw Father beating me you should have thought this household isn’t normal and used your head. Where is there kindness given without a price? You have nothing to trust so you trust that kind of person? Huh? While not believing a single word I say!!”
Taejeong didn’t stop and poured out all his suppressed emotions.
“That’s right, what is this place, in a place like this. Why, why did you crawl in here, even me……”
Suddenly his voice gradually diminished and he breathed strangely. Sweat dripped down from his face. From the hand gripping the collar to the shoulders trembled. He looked like he would roll his eyes back and faint at any moment.
Seonwoo unconsciously reached out his hand. He didn’t know himself whether he was trying to wipe the sweat or check his condition. But it was only a reverse effect on Taejeong, who had lost his reason.
For a moment, his breath was cut off. The collar caught by Taejeong was pulled tight. Before he could come to his senses, his body was dragged out. It was unbelievable strength for grabbing with one hand.
No matter how much weight he’d lost, Seonwoo was an ordinary twenty-year-old male. Yet to the point of making that fact meaningless, Taejeong moved Seonwoo far too easily.
Taejeong, heading somewhere as if sprinting, didn’t stop even at the stairs. Seonwoo’s feet had already tripped and his knees were bent. Taejeong went down without a sign of hesitation even at that recoil.
The two left the house in an instant. It was hard to believe it was a speed achieved while dragging a person. Seonwoo’s face was pale. Even trying to shake off the hand gripping his collar was useless because he couldn’t breathe. He was grabbing Taejeong’s arm, trying to escape somehow.
When he was finally dragged outside the front gate, Seonwoo gave up on removing the hand and was catching his breath. While regaining his breathing, he first tried to assess the situation.
That’s when it happened. Taejeong swung his fist at the defenseless Seonwoo.
“Ah……”
But Seonwoo only swayed slightly. Before, when hit once or twice his vision had flashed, but now his cheek didn’t even sting. Taejeong, unable to contain his anger, pushed Seonwoo’s shoulder. It had more strength than before. Seonwoo, pushed helplessly, plopped down on the road.
“Never set foot here again! If you come in, I’ll kill you, so get lost right now!!”
Behind the pouring abuse, the sound of a door closing was heard.
Seonwoo blankly stared at Taejeong moving away beyond the iron bars. Was he still dreaming? But his butt that hit the ground stung and his palm hurt.
Seonwoo, who walked limping, brought his hand to the door lock.
「Access denied.」
A dry mechanical voice flowed out. Seonwoo kept touching the door lock with an expressionless face. Access denied. Access denied. Access denied. The mechanical voice with no change in pitch flowed out endlessly.
Eventually, even the light on the number pad went out with no response. Seonwoo paused for a moment, then grabbed and turned the doorknob. Only the sound of being blocked by something rattled.
No matter how much he held the doorknob, there was no way a locked door would open. Yet Seonwoo didn’t stop. He grabbed and shook the doorknob until it would break, then soon clenched his fist.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Each time the swung fist touched the door, the vibration gradually intensified. A slightly weaker sound of “thwack” was added. Seonwoo even kicked at the closed door.
He was barefoot, having been chased out without even a chance to put on shoes. Protruding bones and skin collided directly. The area hit a few times quickly became red with pooled blood.
Yet he kicked like crazy as if unable to feel pain. Seonwoo was glaring with eyes wide open enough to reveal the whites, at the door that was closed without movement.
The words “I’ll kill you” constantly circled in his ears. It was a phrase Taejeong had spat out several times while threatening him until now. It was a phrase that had never once sounded threatening to Seonwoo.
But this time was different. Seonwoo was so angry he couldn’t bear it unless he gritted his teeth and kicked.
The target at whom Taejeong committed violence, spat curses, made threats, vented sexual desire, and poured out emotions suppressed until he couldn’t endure anymore and exploded—was only him.
To other people, to anyone else, he didn’t do that.
Even when his shoulder blade was broken, he didn’t make a single groan. Even when all the people coming and going from this house turned a blind eye as if united, he stupidly kept his mouth shut. Even when opportunities came to ask for help, he didn’t open his mouth.
Taejeong wouldn’t show his inner feelings to anyone except himself.
And yet he’s going to kill me? Me of all people? Not the Vice Director who blocked your future so you can’t go to college, broke your shoulder, and isolated you in this unnecessarily spacious house for so long—but me, he’s going to kill?
The kicking intensified. Seonwoo glared at the firmly closed door and ground his teeth. He glared with eyes wide open to the point where blood vessels formed in the whites and they became bloodshot.
The venting stopped only when his right big toenail broke and became covered in blood. He had been doing it for quite a while, but Taejeong didn’t look out even once.
“……”
Seonwoo stared blankly down at his bleeding sole, then suddenly looked up at the gate. At a glance, it was much higher than Seonwoo’s height. There was nowhere appropriate to step on in the middle, so it was impossible to go over with one hand. To anyone, it was an impossible task.
But such common sense had disappeared from Seonwoo’s mind. He stubbornly clung to the gate trying to go over. Of course, it couldn’t be possible. Eventually, he stopped only after his palm tore and he saw blood.
“……”
Seonwoo stared intently at the house blocked by the gate. It was an expression where it was unclear whether he had become calm after seeing blood or had stopped thinking.
After a while of that, he suddenly wiped the blood on his clothes and moved his steps.
**ლ**
Seonwoo walked perfectly fine through the familiar ward corridor. His expression was calm as usual and his steps were composed.
However, the bloodstains spread like stains on his top and the fact that he was walking barefoot covered in blood were not normal. But because he was walking too fine, the few people around in the corridor didn’t notice the strangeness.
Seonwoo, who arrived at the hospital room, first checked on his mom. After confirming there was no change at all from when he saw her in the morning, he opened the closet. As soon as he opened the door, he saw something crumpled in the corner. When he slowly unfolded it, Seungho’s contact information was written on the crumpled paper.
Seonwoo let out a silent sigh. He hadn’t been certain the whole way to the hospital whether this would be in its place, wondering if someone might have thrown it away.
While holding the paper, he searched his pockets. But there was no cell phone anywhere. He didn’t remember whether he had dropped it on the way or left it at home. Instead of retracing his path, Seonwoo headed to the nurse station.
“Can I borrow a phone?”
For a moment, the atmosphere became awkward. The closest nurse asked when he had come again, but Seonwoo had no answer.
The nurses exchanged glances with each other, then obediently placed the phone on the desk. They seemed to know there was no use trying to talk to him.
Seonwoo pressed the phone number while spreading out the crumpled paper next to him. When he brought the receiver to his ear, the connection tone was heard.
— Who is…….
“Excuse me.”
— Huh?
“You remember me, right? We met in front of the house.”
At that moment, perhaps Seungho adjusted his grip on the cell phone, as his voice suddenly got louder.
— What? Did something happen to Taejeong?
“Yes. He’s being weird right now. He’s vomiting and talking nonsense, so I need to take him to the hospital. But he blocked the door lock so I can’t get into the house. I think I need to call the police to open the door, but he said he’d kill me if I came in. So can’t you go there with the police?”
―What? Wait, wait.
Busy sounds continued from beyond the speaker.
