The man literally pushed him to his limit. He relentlessly pounded into him with such ferocity as if he’d devour even a single strand of his hair, and eventually made Woonghee pass out.
To put it crudely, he’d been fucked unconscious.
Woonghee opened his eyes to intense sunlight. His dry eyes rolled around. He hadn’t slept properly. His head felt heavy.
“…Ngh.”
As he slowly sat up, he saw a thick forearm constricting his body. He carefully lifted it and stealthily moved it aside. The man had so much muscle that even just his forearm was incredibly heavy.
Huu, huuk.
The man made absolutely no sound while sleeping. If anything, his breathing was rougher when his eyes were open. It was as if he was hiding his most vulnerable state.
That aspect of him gave Woonghee chills, like he was an untamed wild beast.
“……”
Was he really asleep? He wasn’t an ordinary man. He was a man who could fake anything with acting, so confirmation was necessary.
Woonghee placed his palm in front of the man’s closed eyelids and waved it gently, creating a breeze.
Deeply sunken eye sockets, a nose bridge that stood tall and arrogant as if it knew no fear, looking down at him haughtily, even the subtly twisted corners of his mouth.
Seeing no reaction despite hovering this close, he must definitely be asleep.
Right, no matter what, he’s still human—how could he always show only his composed side? Woonghee slowly got up. The muscles throughout his body screamed savagely. It was as if they were barking at him to lie back down immediately, but he couldn’t do that.
“Huu.”
He heard a very soft breathing sound. He could have woken the man to say let’s go catch the thief right now, but Woonghee didn’t. Because right now, he wanted to see that son of a bitch’s face.
His neck area was mottled as if gnawed by a swarm of maggots. Woonghee clutched his collar to cover the marks as much as possible and stealthily went outside.
Once outside, the first thing that caught his eye—on the sandy beach were clearly imprinted footprints.
“In front of my cave too…”
They looked similar in shape to the footprints that had been in front of his cave. Woonghee followed those footprints.
Had they rushed out hastily? Only the front parts were dug in, but thanks to that, they remained even more clearly visible.
Come to think of it, he really did hear the sound of someone running away yesterday. Managing Director Gi had even called out to someone during sex. The person who had seen him humiliatingly expose his belly like a surrendered dog, getting pounded by the man while pissing himself pathetically.
“……”
Was that silhouette he saw through the door crack just his imagination, or had Managing Director Gi simply violated him for show?
Were that bastard and the thief really the same person?
“Son of a bitch…”
Whatever the truth is, fuck, I’m catching you. Woonghee huffed and moved his feet haphazardly.
He bustled about like a dog that had come out for a walk, pressing its nose to the ground and sniffing around. He glared with both eyes wide open, following the footprints. All his nerves stood on edge with sensitivity. The sunlight streaming down the back of his neck, the sound of wind, the sound of sand grains crumbling, even the sound of birds chirping…
Then suddenly, he felt a gaze from somewhere. Woonghee snapped his eyes around.
‘…What?’
It was behind a rock on the beach side. Someone was hastily hiding their body there. Woonghee was about to run straight toward them.
But suddenly, with a whooshing gust of wind, his sticky long hair flew about. Then a black figure cautiously peeked out again from behind the rock. The owner of those large eyes without double eyelids was definitely Paeng Hana.
Was that woman the owner of the pink raincoat?
Woonghee briefly doubted it, then soon shook his head. That couldn’t be. The foot size was different from the footprints in front of the cave.
Then what was that woman doing, hiding behind that rock?
Looking more carefully, the woman was hastily holding a flailing crab in her arms. It seemed she had urgently fished it from the sea. Next to her, seaweed and such were torn up haphazardly. Apparently, unable to overcome her hunger, she had been tearing at and eating even that.
Managing Director Gi—she must have needed to move swiftly to avoid that man’s eyes.
Woonghee quietly raised his hand. Then slowly brought his index finger to his lips. Meaning be quiet, don’t cause unnecessary commotion.
“……!”
The woman then rapidly nodded her head up and down. Her sticky hair, like seaweed, became disheveled.
Woonghee finally pointed at the bungalow he had just emerged from. He was letting her know that Managing Director Gi was inside there right now.
His business was done. Whip—Woonghee turned his back first. Following that, Paeng Hana also quickly moved her feet. He secretly glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
‘Why is that woman acting like that again?’
She was walking backward. It was incredibly suspicious behavior. He wondered what she was doing, but on the way back to the bungalow, she was carefully erasing the footprints one by one.
The reason was only one. It must be to avoid being discovered by Managing Director Gi.
…Right, it’s not Paeng Hana. She didn’t seem to have even the slightest interest in him. She had just rushed out of that prison-like place because she was hungry. Paeng Hana wasn’t the person Woonghee was chasing.
Woonghee diligently followed the trail of footprints again. Then he entered a thicket blocked by lush vegetation. Was it because he was overexerting himself after being tormented all night?
One step, another step. With each step he took, his spine tingled and the area between his legs trembled. His ankles weren’t normal either. They were swollen like seaweed soaked in water. The muscles throughout his body were crying out. But he couldn’t stop like this.
Swoosh, thud. Swoosh, thud.
Woonghee dragged his feet as he climbed the mountain with difficulty yet diligence. With both eyes, he thoroughly searched for where the footprints were imprinted.
“Haa, heok…”
The footprints with mud—by what trick were they sometimes imprinted on rocks, sometimes newly imprinted two steps away? An extremely quick bastard.
If nothing else, he was someone with very fast and nimble movements.
How much time had passed like that? Suddenly the footprints broke off. Woonghee blankly looked down at the marks.
Again. Again they had vanished without a trace like this. Where the hell was the next trace?
Woonghee looked around the surroundings repeatedly. Why does this bastard always disappear like smoke like this? Even when suddenly stealing glances at him, if he became aware and seemed to be chasing them like this, they would vanish like smoke.
“Come out.”
Woonghee, who had stopped in place, muttered lowly. Did they jump high? He also looked behind the rocks a little ways away, but there was nothing anywhere.
That meant the culprit was still here.
“Come out, you son of a bitch. There’s nowhere else to run even if you hide like this.”
He spat that out, but only a chilling wind was rustling around Woonghee.
What was it?
Where? Where exactly are you hiding and watching me again?
Woonghee’s senses were stretched to their limit, and in that moment, something entered both sides of his vision at 1.7 meters high. Woonghee quickly approached it.
It was tree bark he had seen so tediously over and over again. Between the rotten tree bark, sticky mud was smeared. Unless someone had deliberately smeared mud with their hands, it was in a position where it absolutely shouldn’t be.
“…Ah.”
And the realization came in an instant. The scattered thoughts gathered together quickly to form a single picture.
Why he had missed those eyes that were gloomily glaring at him every time, why he couldn’t reach them no matter how desperately he chased, and so on. Among the numerous suspicions, the biggest question was undoubtedly this:
‘How could they avoid being seen by the other survivors?’
There were no traces of lighting fires. Where exactly had they been hiding so thoroughly that they weren’t attacked by beasts or noticed by other survivors?
There was no one to give him answers, so it was completely shrouded in mystery. And now Woonghee finally figured out that answer. Thanks to this small bit of mud the bastard had left behind.
The bastard hadn’t been living with feet planted on the ground.
The bastard hadn’t been living somewhere on this land with his body pressed against it.
Which means the bastard…
Woonghee’s eyes slowly moved upward along the rough tree bark. Slowly, very slowly and carefully. His heart pounded as if it would burst.
Soon after, his gaze met with eyes glinting through the lush tree leaves.
“Fuck…”
They were familiar white eyeballs. Which means the bastard had been living with his body attached to the trees.
But what truly made Woonghee jump wasn’t just that fact. It was because of the identity of the opponent he never could have imagined even in his dreams.
Woonghee screamed in shock.
“Why are you here…!”
