A time when even the mountain birds hold their breath. In the pitch-dark forest, not a single one sings. Rustle, rustle—only the grass scraps let out terrible groans as they die.
…Swoosh, thud. Swoosh, thud.
Ominous footsteps burrow into the quiet forest. Soon Woonghee’s feet stopped dead. In front of a rotting tree. After glancing around, Woonghee buried his forearm deep inside it. A plump coconut fruit was pulled out.
Thump thump, his heart pounded. Would the sap really be safe? Clutching his anxious heart, he opened the lid.
“Ah…”
Only then did Woonghee let out a sigh of relief. His narrow chest fluttered with joy. The sap, filled about halfway, was still moist. The moisture hadn’t dried out—it was good enough to drink right away. He cradled that flesh like a baby. Then he busily moved his body. Moving from tree to tree, he gathered it drop by drop, bit by bit.
“Ugh, ahh, it hurts…”
If he stepped even slightly wrong, his ankle would twist right around. It felt like his limbs would tear apart at any moment. It was a wonder he was enduring with this shitty state.
“……”
Then it happened in an instant. A strange uneasiness pulled his nerves taut. As if licking and tasting to give a warning. Something seemed to be poking, poking, poking at his head. It felt like countless tree thorns were embedded in his head.
What is it? Where exactly is this unpleasantness blooming from?
Eventually, the fragmented pieces of his brain slowly clumped together. Soon he realized the source of that dissonance.
“Why…”
Why is it the same?
Wasn’t it Director Hwang who had been acting like a crazy bastard, desperately wanting to fix this tube and escape the island somehow? Why hadn’t he touched it at all?
Woonghee’s eyes dropped downward. Caw, caw. From somewhere, an ominous crow’s cry echoed. The ominous cry reverberated and burrowed into the grass.
‘The more expensive the wine glass, the more it breaks if you grip it hard.’
Following that, the man’s ominous voice tickled his skin. Just like lacquer, like a crow’s feather, it tickled his body.
‘The glass shatters fragilely. …It’s like it’s screaming.’
While spouting off like he’d crush his ankle right then and there, he pressed down on Woonghee’s ankle bone. That tingling ache still shook him as if it would shatter him.
“Don’t make me laugh. I, I’m going to get out of here.”
And then. From somewhere, a gloomy gaze flew at him as if to pierce through him. Woonghee flinched. The coconut he’d been holding in his arms rolled across the ground with a clatter. Even though he’d treasured it like his life and held it so preciously, he couldn’t even think to pick it up, frozen stiff as ice.
“Managing Director Gi…?”
Managing Director Gi, is that you? Did you follow behind me, even pretending to disappear? Did that bastard find that life raft after all…!
Wasn’t he the man who threatened me to stay in the bungalow? Spouting off like he’d take my ankles if I left the cage he made for me. Did I get caught by that bastard like this?
I knew it…! Didn’t the man act like he’d split Woonghee’s skin and look underneath? Wasn’t he the man who dug into everything, no matter where he was or how he breathed?
“It’s you…!”
It was actually more comfortable when they were just entangled in sex in a filthy way; now these needless creepy things kept intruding on him. Woonghee found it extremely irritating. Like a tree thorn stuck in his sole, like an eyelash in his eye, it was bothersome.
But before this emotion, Woonghee was helpless. Managing Director Gi was like a natural disaster. He seemed to grip the folds of Woonghee’s heart tightly and forcibly pry open the gaps, letting everything flow out between them.
Woonghee sniffed frantically like a madman. Trying somehow to catch even a scrap of that bastard’s pheromones. The only way to quell this maddening anxiety was in that direction.
But all that dug into his nose like a probe was only the dampness of the darkness.
Nowhere was there any trace of Managing Director Gi’s characteristic destructive pheromone.
…Could it be that bastard killed off all his pheromones?
And the next moment, a scraping sound reached his heightened, sensitive hearing. It was footsteps…!
“Who is it!”
It was definitely the sound of mud being crushed underfoot.
He limped toward where the sound came from. Eventually, where he arrived, there was pitch-black mud with footprints stamped in it. The footprints were extremely deep and clear.
These were definitely made just now.
“Who the fuck are you, you son of a bitch!”
So it wasn’t just his imagination after all. Someone had been standing here watching him until just moments ago. Maybe it wasn’t just today. That’s right, they’d been watching him all along. Creepy bastard. When he felt that keen suspicion, that bastard must have been nearby for sure.
Alphas and Omegas were species less evolved from beasts. If not, what else could explain this body with not only five senses but even this sixth sense developed?
And right now his sixth sense was saying…
That rat bastard was still watching him. Swish, swish, Woonghee rolled his large eyes. His greatly dilated pupils swished around, chasing the culprit’s traces.
“I know you’re still there, if I catch you I’ll…!”
Then, something caught Woonghee’s gaze. Among the characteristic green of the grass that undulated like waves, a bright pink flashed briefly. It was fluorescent. An artificial color you’d never see in nature like this.
…That’s the bastard, that’s him! He had to chase that bastard.
“Stop right there! You fucking, who the fuck are you, you bastard.”
He even grabbed and flung away his walker boots and ran like hell. Huff, gasp, panting for breath, he ran like a dog. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t grab anything with his hands.
“Who the fuck are you, fuck!”
He felt like he was losing his mind. It felt like he was being toyed with. All his senses were saying it. Someone was definitely right in front of him. In a spot where he just needed to reach out a little harder, right there.
Hidden silently in the pitch-black darkness created by the ominous grass, neither approaching nor moving away, just watching him like that—it was certain.
With those creepy, sticky, damp eyes.
He was being toyed with. In whatever way. Was he prey to that bastard, or just a plaything for one night? Or if not that, was he an experiment subject?
Countless questions he wanted to ask floated up in Woonghee’s mind. The first question that came to mind was ‘Why?’
He wanted to ask why the bastard was watching him so creepily.
You creepy son of a bitch. Did you kill the Captain?
Did you steal food while pretending to be me and isolate me?
“Fuck, come out right now. Don’t hide!”
Woonghee, who had plunged into the dark grass, excitedly swung his machete to break down tree branches that had grown huge like walls. He was extremely out of breath. The excitement made his heartbeat pound against his eardrums like it would burst. It felt like burning oil was flowing through his body instead of blood.
“Heuuk…!”
Eventually he burst through the opened grass, but there was no one there.
The grass that had been like a wall split apart and the sharp mountain air struck his face. Woonghee hurled his body forward at full speed. Eventually, what Woonghee faced wasn’t Managing Director Gi or that suspicious bastard.
Under his feet was a cliff. And Woonghee’s feet were suspended in midair.
“Aaaahhh…!”
The fall was instantaneous. Woonghee literally rolled down the precipice like a rock. It was as if someone had stuffed him in a hard container and shaken it wildly. The fall, which seemed short but was long, only ended when something stabbed into his back with a thunk.
“Uugh…”
He bit down hard on his molars at the shock and pain that struck his entire body. Woonghee’s small jaw clenched tight. When he barely forced his squinting eyes open, he could see the dizzying cliff above.
“Ha, haa…”
He gasped desperately for breath. It felt like there was a hole somewhere in his body and his breath was leaking out with a hiss. Holding back his breath that went down in gulps, he looked up powerlessly at that cliff as high as a mountain.
It was a stone mountain. A sheer stone mountain where you couldn’t even wedge in a toe, one that seemed absolutely impossible to climb.
“Is, is anyone…”
Is anyone there?
Is anyone there, there, there… His voice trembling with anxiety echoed like a refrain.
No matter how much he looked around, he couldn’t see any familiar scenery. He couldn’t even gauge where he’d run to. Since he’d snuck out secretly, no one would know, and the person looking for him would probably also…
Not exist. Because they’re people crazy about reducing mouths to feed by even one.
Fuck, so am I going to die here without anyone knowing? Am I going to disappear forever like this without being able to tell anyone about my death?
Then, is this all I’ve been struggling for until now? Regret rushed in like high waves and swept over his body.
My corpse will surely be torn apart and eaten by crows or something like that dead shark and disappear from this world.
It’s really fucking terrible… As he was biting down hard on his tongue. He felt a gaze from above. Woonghee was in a posture of kneeling as if submitting to heaven. In that state, trembling, he raised his head.
Ahh, fuck. A deep sigh flowed out naturally.
From atop the cliff, a pink raincoat was looking down at him.
